The 31 Days of WrestleMania

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 7- Review

When I was younger, I used to like watching the first half of WrestleMania 7 on my VCR... and much like the rest of you, start to draft a little bit come the second half. But my criticism of this event will be about the whole show. That's lucky for you... and unlucky for me.

WrestleMania 7
From the L.A Sports Arena
Attendance: 15,500 (PPV buys: 400,000)
​

Celebrity count: Willie Nelson (He did a good job singing "America the Beautiful"), Regis Philbin (Good), Marla Maples (Who?), Alex Trebeck (OK), Chuck Norris (in the crowd), George Steinbrenner (He was there for some weird "instant-replay" segment), Lou Ferigno (also in the crowd), and Donald Trump (Oh! NOW I know how Marla Maples got here).

Best Match: Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior in a "Career-Ending Match" (You can cite the careful planning by Savage, or Warrior doing his best, or that whole thing with Miss Elizabeth after the match. Either way, this match'll get you every time.)

Worst match: Earthquake vs. Greg Valentine, the Main Event (Tie) (At first, I thought Earthquake vs. Valentine was going to run away with this. I mean, a year earlier John Tenta looked like a boss in Toronto. And now Greg is kicking his butt for the majority of this 4-minute match? DAMMIT, HOGAN! And then I remembered watching the main event... and how BORED with it I was.)

Most pleasant surprise: British Bulldog vs. Warlord (Despite these 2 guys being HUGE, this match moved at a good clip and both of them worked their @$$ off. Nice job, lads!)

Biggest disappointment: Legion of Doom vs. Power and Glory (Let me get this straight, WWF. You had 14 matches on this card?! Why didn't you just give Power and Glory [who was pretty good back then] more time against the Legion of Doom, instead of them getting pounded in 58 seconds? It would have been better than Bravo vs. Tornado and Santana vs. Mountie.)

Main Event: Hulk Hogan defeats Sgt. Slaughter for the WWF World Title (Just watch OSW's review of WrestleMania 7. They've done a better job than I can possibly do of tearing this awful [and exploitative] match apart.)

Other notes: Of course, this was where the Undertaker started his 21-match winning streak at WrestleMania.
- Hey, folks! Did you know that Genichiro Tenryu was a 3-time Triple Crown winner in Japan? Neither did WWF (apparently), as his first WWF match was at this event against a handicapped (no Ax) Demolition team.
- Regis joined Monsoon and Heenan to comment on the main event, and he shatters kay-fabe while doing so. It is AWESOME.

Bottom line: Nostalgia can be a dangerous thing sometimes. But now that I'm older and wiser, I've realized (with a little help from OSW Review) that this event is one of the weaker WrestleMania's in terms of in-ring quality.

Will WrestleMania 8 be better? I guess we'll see...

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 8- Setup

Okay. This one's gonna be a little crazy, mainly because a LOT of things happened backstage between WrestleMania 7 and 8. So let me explain it the best way I can. Ahem...

In July 1991, WWF was already setting up Hulk Hogan vs. Undertaker at WrestleMania for the world title, with Jake Roberts facing Randy Savage also set. And then Ric Flair had an argument with then-WCW president Jim Herd, leading Flair to move up north.

A couple of months later (while Piper was dealing with Flair), Undertaker was gaining popularity faster than WWF anticipated. So they moved the Hogan-Taker match to Survivor Series, and had the two guys swap the title around.
And then WWF realized what they had in their hands: A dream match between WWF main-stay Hulk Hogan and WCW big-wig Ric Flair. So WWF had Flair win the WWF world title at Royal Rumble 1992, and positioned Hogan as his #1 challenger. Meanwhile, Undertaker was set to face the unique big-man Sid Vicious while Savage vs. Roberts proceeded as planned.

And then 3 things came in and ruined everything. #1: Hogan and Flair had a number of house-show encounters... which didn't draw as well as WWF had hoped for.
#2: Hogan's ego (I just know that played a factor in the "dream-match" not taking place).
And maybe most importantly, Flair wasn't being embraced by WWF fans. At the time, WWF fans were conditioned to believe that EVERYTHING from WCW was bad.

So considering all that, WWF replaced Hogan with Randy Savage for the WWF title match. So what will Hogan do? A rubber-match with the Undertaker?
Nope. Try Hogan vs. Vicious, and Jake Roberts vs. a now-babyface Undertaker.

And that was just the main-event scene! Elsewhere, Shawn Michaels was supposed to have a match with his former tag-team partner Marty Jannetty, but Jannetty got arrested in Tampa for drug possession and was suspended. Also, the Legion of Doom was supposed to face the Natural Disasters, but Hawk failed a drug test and so Animal and Hawk was de-regulated to a segment involving their old manager Paul Ellering. That meant the Disasters would face Money Inc. for the Tag Titles.

With all this madness happening backstage, what happened in the ring in Indianapolis for WrestleMania 8? Find out tomorrow!

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WWF WrestleMania 7 (1991) – OSW Review 22

Here it is, guys. The video that woke me up about WrestleMania 7.

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 8- Review

I already mentioned the backstory 2 posts ago, so keep that in mind as I give you my picks:

WrestleMania 8 ("The Macho-Flair Affair")
From the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, IN
Attendance: 62,167 (PPV buys: 390,000)
​

Best match: Randy Savage beating Ric Flair for the WWF World title (If you ignore the story-line involving Miss Elizabeth [again], you have a match between 2 Hall-of-Famers. And as you would expect, Savage and Flair gave it their all.)

Worst match: Jim Duggan, Virgil, Sgt. Slaughter, and Big Bossman vs. Repo Man, Mountie, and the Nasty Boys (As a youth, this match did nothing for me. At least Ray Combs [who was the only celebrity on the show] gave us a few laughs introducing the heels.)

Most pleasant surprise: Lex Luger (Initially, Vince hired Luger to promote his brand-new venture called the World Bodybuilding Federation. And when Luger appeared on WrestleMania with Gorilla and Heenan, it was a nice surprise.
And when the WBF went down the brain, Luger stayed with the WWF as a wrestler. So, win-win for Lex.)

Biggest disappointment: Money Inc. vs. Natural Disasters for the Tag Team Titles (Okay Vince, so you couldn't get Legion of Doom to face the Disasters. Fine. But you could've at least gave us a clean finish in THIS match!)

Main event: Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Vicious (It was an interesting match between 2 huge men, so this wasn't the worst match of the night. It was, however, the worst ENDING of the night.
See, the plan was that Hogan will hit Sid with the "hulk-up, big boot, leg-drop combo", but new-comer Papa Shango would break-up the pin. Well, Shango blew his cue, so Sid actually kicked out of the leg [which the announcers sand-bag]. And then... it just turned into a mess.
Oh well. At least the Ultimate Warrior returned here.)

Other key notes: This was Jake Roberts' final WWF appearance for about 4 years, as he left for WCW among-st a contract dispute and his own personal demons.
- On this show Roddy Piper, Tito Santana, and Jake Roberts (stars of the 80's) respectfully jobbed out to Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and the Undertaker (future Hall-of-Famers).
- In my opinion, the commentary team of Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan did their best job on this show, as they were MONEY all night long.

Up next, the WrestleMania that almost everyone regards as the worst. But hold on a minute, boys! A lot of things DID happen between WrestleMania's VIII and IX...

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 9- Setup

Ah, WrestleMania IX! Just the name alone will make internet reviewers laugh with glee as they tear it a new one. But let me explain what happened between WrestleMania's VIII and IX before you judge.

Firstly, there was a exodus of talent. Sid Vicious was shown the door soon after he fought Hogan. Hogan, meanwhile, had an infamous interview with Arsenio Hall and then f--ked off to Hollywood. LOD also left, the Warrior would leave before Survivor Series, and by 1993 Randy Savage (for some reason) was removed from competition and put on commentary.

There was also some form of sex scandal involving a ring-boy and one of WWF's non-wrestling employees.

But the biggest thing to happen during this time period was a U.S government inquiry about steroid use in wrestling, which would later put Vince McMahon on federal trial for steroid distribution. The trial would take place in 1994, but the immediate impact was that the big-guys like Warrior and LOD would be phased out.

What does that mean for the stuff in the ring? Bret Hart would defeat Ric Flair (who also left WWF in early 1993) for the WWF World title, and he was assigned to face the surprisingly agile Samoan Rodney Agatupu Anoa'i (also known as Yokozuna). Hulk Hogan would later return to tag up with old-buddy Brutus Beefcake to face Money Inc. for the Tag Titles.

As for the Undertaker, he had to be feeling MISERABLE. He was a former world champ, and in Las Vegas he would have to face some 8-foot tall guy named Giant Gonzalez (known as El Gigante in WCW). And I'll bet that Undertaker wrote the first of MANY resignation letters to Vince McMahon leading up to Vegas.

Dear Vince McMahon, Stop.
My name is the Undertaker. Stop.
This is the last time you're putting me
up against a big guy with no real talent. Stop.

So despite all of their problems, WWF was forging ahead as we enter WrestleMania IX, and tomorrow we'll see how it goes.

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 9- Review

From Caeser's Palace in Las Vegas, NV
Attendance: 15,045 (PPV buys: 410,000)
​

Oh! One more thing before we go on. Caeser's Palace payed WWF around $400,000 to have WrestleMania, and the average ticket price was over $70 dollars, so I'll bet WWF was in the black after this event... at least financially.

Best match: Lex Luger vs. Mr. Perfect (These two guys performed at a good clip, and since Luger won it's clear WWF had SOMETHING planned for him.)

Worst match (in terms of in-ring product): Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez (Just a train wreck from start to finish. And what's with the Gonzalez's outfit? I don't need to see that, and neither do you, America.)

Most pleasant surprise: Rick and Scott Steiner vs. The Headshrinkers (It may not feel like a WrestleMania level match, but the in-ring action here was pretty good.)

Biggest disappointment: Razor Ramon vs. Bob Backlund (You'd thought these 2 would have a good match together. Nope, it only lasted 4 minutes and was pretty unmemorable.)

Main Event: Yokozuna beats Bret Hart for the WWF Title (I thought this match was okay, but it could have gone another 6 or 7 minutes. But what could make it worse?)

Worst match (in terms of WWF's reputation): Hulk Hogan beats Yokozona for the WWF title (Having Mr. Hogan come back to WWF to NOT help the "New Generation" of WWF talent, but to screw over Bret and Yoko in a matter of seconds!

WWF WrestleMania 9 (1993) – OSW Review 30 Once again, OSW Review will do a better job of explaining this disaster than I can.)

Bottom line: WrestleMania IX isn't AS bad as you think it is. But screwy finishes, Undertaker and Gonzalez sinking up the joint, and Hulk Hogan beginning his reign of being an @$$hole backstage (1993-2000) DOES put this event in the Top 5 of "Worst WrestleMania's Ever".

Don't worry. By WrestleMania 10, Vince and the WWF will have it's s--t together as they return to Madison Square Garden.

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 10- Setup

The setup to WrestleMania 10 was actually pretty quiet. But there WAS some problem with the main event.

See, after Hulk Hogan left the WWF again, the company positioned Lex Luger to take his place. But a botched finish against then-WWF champion Yokozuna at SummerSlam 1993 kinda ruined that idea. Meanwhile, the fans were beginning to come around to Bret Hart as "the guy".

So at the 1994 Royal Rumble, Vince did an experiment. He had both Lex Luger and Bret Hart win the Royal Rumble match in order to see who the fans would go for. And when the fans cheered for Bret louder than they did for Luger, the pain was set for the main event.
Only problem is, Bret's little brother Owen wanted a share of the spotlight, too.

Come tomorrow, we'll see what happened at WrestleMania 10!

 

[futballiscool]

Main Event: Yokozuna beats Bret Hart for the WWF Title (I thought this match was okay, but it could have gone another 6 or 7 minutes. But what could make it worse?)

Worst match (in terms of WWF's reputation): Hulk Hogan beats Yokozona for the WWF title (Having Mr. Hogan come back to WWF to NOT help the "New Generation" of WWF talent, but to screw over Bret and Yoko in a matter of seconds!

Apparently the Yoko/Bret match was cut short because Yoko was blown up. Not surprising given his physique. Also according to Bret Hart's biography Hogan was supposed to put Bret over for the belt at Summerslam but Hogan refused (He would lose the belt back to Yoko at KOTR on outside interference instead)

WM X should be a interesting call for match of the night.Two legitimate classics on the card

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 10- Review

WrestleMania X "Ten Years in the Making"
From Madison Square Garden in NYC (and also a special screening at the Paramount Theater)
Attendance: 18,065 [4,200 in the Paramount] (PPV buys: 420,000)
​

Best Match: Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels in a Ladder Match (Up yours, WrestleCrap.com. This match was brilliant.)

Worst match: Lelani Kai vs. Alundra Blayze (I've heard a few good things about Debrah Miceli, but this match just let me down. But to be fair, having Lelani Kai as your opponent won't help you out at all.)

Most pleasant surprise: Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart (When WrestleMana X first started, we expected a good opening match between brothers Owen and Bret. NOBODY expected it to be the classic it would eventually become, and it's so good some people on this forum even put this match on par with the Ladder Match!)

Biggest disappointment: The fake President Clinton (When I was younger, I remembered seeing "Mr. Clinton" on my VHS copy of this event, and I was amazed. Then Todd Pettengill spoke to him... and then things went downhill, especially when Dibiase and I.R.S came in. Now I just fast-forward through those bits.)

Main event: Bret Hart makes Yokozuna fall off the second rope to win the WWF World Title (Despite rumors that Lex Luger would still leave MSG with the WWF title, WWF had Mr. Perfect DQ him when he fought Yokozuna. This meant that WWF had indeed put their arms around Bret as he won the title, and then everyone on the roster came out to congratulate him... except Owen Hart.)

Other key notes: After he defeated some guy named Crush (in a falls-count-anywhere match, by the way), Randy Savage went to the Paramount to surprise the fans there.
- Did you know that WWF once had something called "WWF Radio"? Well, it didn't last long, as this was the last PPV that they used it in.
- Celebrity's in this event were Little Richard, Sy Sperling (the "Hair Club for Men" guy), Rhonda Shear (from some USA segment called "Up All Night"), Donnie Wahlberg, Jeanie Garth (Who?), and Burt Reynolds.
- The WWF had it's first official "Fan-Fest" at this WrestleMania.

Strangely, nothing big happened between WrestleMania's 10 and 11, so I guess tomorrow we'll jump straight into WrestleMania 11 from... a shopping mall in Connecticut?!

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 11- Review

WrestleMania 11
From the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut
Attendance: 15,000 [sell-out] (PPV buys: 340,000)
​

Best Match: WWF Champion Kevin Nash (AKA Diesel) beats Shawn Michaels (In my opinion, this was where Shawn began to earn his moniker as "Mr. WrestleMania", as he helps Kevin Nash have one of his best matches in the WWF.)

Worst match: Undertaker over King Kong Bundy (After this match, Undertaker wrote another letter to Vince:

Dear Vince McMahon, Stop.
My name is the Undertaker. Stop.
A past-his-prime King Kong Bundy is NOT
an acceptable alternative to the fake Undertaker
you gave me last summer. Stop.)

Most pleasant surprise: Nicholas Tuturro (Call me crazy, but I thought Nicholas [from NYPD Blue] did a good job being guest interviewer at this event.)

Biggest disappointment: Bret Hart over Bob Backlund in a "Submission Match" (In his auto-biography, Bret called this match "one of the worst matches I ever had". What does THAT tell you about how disappointing this match was? Piper, I'm looking in your direction...)

Main event: Lawrence Taylor over Bam Bam Bigelow (This was the closest WWF ever got to celebrities main-eventing PPV's. But to fair, in a PPV where almost everything went wrong, Lawrence surprised by doing OK against Bam Bam.)

Other key notes: The Hartford Civic Center is now the XL Center. And back when WrestleMania 11 took place, it had a shopping mall right next door to it (which closed down in 2004.)
- In a confusing move (considering how shallow the talent pool was for singles competition in 1995), Lex Luger and Davey Boy Smith started being a tag-team at this event.
- There was a LOT of technical problems at this WrestleMania, including poor audio quality during some of the interview segments. And it also plagued the singing of "America the Beautiful" at the start of the show.
- Speaking of which, singing "America the Beautiful" at this event was a Special Olympian named Kathy Huey. It was a part of promoting the Special Olympics World Games that would take place in New Haven, CT later that year.

Bottom line: Another weak WrestleMania, but part of it wasn't WWF's fault. And besides, 1995 was maybe the worst time to be a pro-wrestling fan.
But soon, WWF would change all that...

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 12- Setup

This little tale starts with a little man named Vince Russo. He started as a freelance writer for "WWF Magazine", and then worked his way up to the TV creative team. Around that time, WCW was starting to rise from the "runner-up" hole WWF threw them in during the 80's... all thanks to "WCW Monday Nitro". When ratings hit all-time lows, Russo and the others were told to make changes to the WWF product.

It started quietly, as Russo would turn Kevin Nash into a top-flight heel who would occasionally "shoot" on Vince McMahon. Then a few comedy segments were done about Ted Turner and his merger with Time-Warner, and to me this meant that WWF was acknowledging their biggest threat.

But as for the in-ring product, they felt like it was time to give Shawn Michaels the world title. And Bret Hart (who was at this time was WWF Champion again) didn't hate Michaels yet, so he was glad to pass the torch. But Pat Patterson had a crazy idea for their title match: Make it go 60 minutes. Wait, is that going to work?

And what about the mid-card? It was full of stupid gimmicks, like some weirdo guy wearing a wig and claiming to be from Hollywood, a aristocratic jerk with the last name of Helmsley, and some mute guy that was called "The Ringmaster". There's no way ANY of those guys are going to get over.

Or WILL they? We'll see tomorrow as we go to WrestleMania 12, from Anaheim, California!

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 12- Review

WrestleMania 12
From the Anaheim Pond in Anaheim, California
Attendance: 15,855 (PPV buys: 290,000)
​

Best match: See the Main Event.

Worst match and biggest disappointment: Steve Austin vs. Savio Vega (I'm giving HHH vs. Warrior a pass here; I think that match was just to get Warrior back into the good graces of the fans.
But as for Austin vs. Vega, I just couldn't get excited for it, and it did nothing for me. Thankfully for Austin, his 2nd ex-wife would help him with a "stone-cold" cup of tea... which would lead to "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.)

Most pleasant surprise: Goldust vs. Roddy Piper; Undertaker vs. Kevin Nash (tie) (Originally, Razor Ramon was supposed to fight Goldust in Miami in a street fight, but he got suspended. Thankfully, Piper stepped in beautifully and gave Goldust his "WrestleMania moment".
As for Taker vs. Diesel, as a child I always thought that match sucked. A decade later I actually watched the match... and thankfully I was wrong. It wasn't overly pretty, but it still was exciting.)

Main event: Shawn Michaels beats Bret Hart for the WWF Title in a "Iron Man" match 1-0 in OT (It's not the greatest WrestleMatch ever. It's not even the greatest "Iron Man" match ever [See HHH vs. Rock at "Judgement Day 2000" or even Orton vs. Cena in 2009 for better ones]. But it's still a grand time to see 2 men at their athletic peak go at it.
And you can't deny this: Shawn's entrance in this match is still one of the best ever.)

Other key notes: Due to time constraints, the Tag Team title match (where the Bodydonnas won against the Godwinns) was moved to the "Free for All" portion of the show.

Now we move on to WrestleMania 13... where we had main-event changes just as weird as WrestleMania 8.

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 13- Setup

By December 1996, the WWF was on it's way with a new, edgier product. And the main event was already being plotted out: A re-match between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, with Bret Hart winning this time to set up a HUGE rubber-match between the 2 sometime later.

Meanwhile Sid Justice had returned as "Psycho Sid", Vader was at or near the top of the card, and Steve Austin was storming upwards thanks to his devil-may-care attitude... and a great match he had with Bret at Survivor Series. However, there was one TINY problem...

...and that problem was Shawn. At the time, he was, to put it bluntly, a @$$hole. And he didn't want to job to Bret. So to keep Shawn happy, Vince allowed Shawn to forfeit the belt in an annoying "I've lost my smile" promo. Which to me is the worst thing Shawn Michaels has EVER done in wrestling, bar none.

However, Bret's loss would be the gain of both Undertaker and Austin. Austin was allowed to continue feuding with Bret, and Undertaker was tapped to win the WWF title from Sid at WrestleMania 13 in Chicago.

Did this patch-work job save the day? We'll see tomorrow, but here's a little spoiler: No, it didn't.

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 13- Review

WrestleMania 13 "Heat!"
From the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago, Illinois
Attendance: 18,197 (PPV buys: 237,000) (By the way, this would be the lowest PPV buys a Wrestlemania would have... maybe ever.)
​

Best Match: Bret Hart over Steve Austin in a "Submission Match" (HBK's loss was Steve Austin's gain. Since HBK was too wimpy to lose to Bret, Austin did the job... and changed the course of history while doing so. To date, it's my favorite WrestleMania match of all time.)

Worst match: Legion of Doom and Ahmed Johnson over Nation of Domination in a "Chicago Street Fight" (The problem was, not much else about this card screams "WrestleMania" to me [at least not now]. The biggest symbol of this? Having this stinker right after the Hart-Austin classic! It lasted 10:45, and 8 minutes of it was just people hitting each other with sticks!)

Most pleasant surprise: Shawn Michaels in the main event (Not as a wrestler, mind you [which is what everyone wanted], but as a commentator. And HBK actually did okay in this spot.)

Biggest disappointment: The Fatal-4 Way Tag-Team Elimination Match (The Tag-Team title match, I'll give a pass. There was some good action, and it was a "purpose-build" match: Owen, Bulldog, Vader, and Mankind would all get on the card.
But the tag-team elimination match to start the event was for a title shot... for tomorrow night's Raw. Not for the next PPV, but for tomorrow night! ...Russo.)

Main event: Undertaker defeats Psycho Sid for the WWF title (It was great to see Undertaker as the champion once again, but this match just drags after a while.)

Other key notes: Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon had been a long-running team in All-Japan Pro Wrestling, the UWA, and ECW before being on WrestleMania 13.
- If you payed attention, there wasn't a single celebrity ANYWHERE on the card.

You know, around this time, I started watching WWF programming again. And around this time, WCW was running amuck. So Vince McMahon needed an idea, something out of left field to survive.

Luckily for him (and for me), the answer fell into his lap in the form of Mike Tyson...

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 14- Setup

In November 1997, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels HATED each other. So much so that neither of them wanted to job to the other as Survivor Series, and so much so that Bret was talking to WCW (Of course, that last part was due to WWF's financial troubles).

All of that combined in a backstage plot by McMahon, and it resulted in the biggest mixed-blessing in wrestling history: The Montreal Screwjob.

After that, the fans saw Vince McMahon as a heel, saw HBK's new faction "De-Generation X" as a faction to be feared, and Steve Austin as their savor from both of these problems. And to promote this show-down between HBK and Austin, Vince went out of his way to get Mike Tyson (who was suspended from boxing at the time).

You know, I'll bet someone in the WWF offices told Vince that "We can do the show without Tyson and make money off of 400,000 buys". And then Vince punched him in the face and said "But we'll get 800,000 buys WITH Tyson! We need more eye-balls on the product!"

Did it work? You probably already know, but we'll see tomorrow.

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 14- Review

WrestleMania 14 "DX-Raided"
From the Fleet Center in Boston, Massachusetts
Attendance: Around 18,000 (PPV buys: 730,000)
​

Best Match: See the Main Event

Worst match and biggest disappointment: IC Champ The Rock vs. Ken Shamrock (Considering that both of these guys can go, I was disappointed that this match only went 5 minutes and wasn't great.
Also, this match was a victim of Russo's over-booking, as we all thought Ken Shamrock won the IC title here but then it got reversed. Shoulda left it alone, Russo...)

Most pleasant surprise: Undertaker vs. Kane (When Undertaker finally agreed to fight his brother, we really didn't know what it was going to be like. Happily, this match turned out to be the epic show-down we all wanted, so congrats!)

Main event: Steve Austin defeats Shawn Michaels, wins the WWF title (Much like Hogan vs. Andre, this is one of the most famous wrestling matches EVER. And it's worth watching just for the crowd reaction, as Austin ushered in WWF's 2nd "Golden Age". And Tyson thrilling the crowd didn't hurt, either.)

Other key notes: We all know about Pete Rose being at this event, but do you remember Gennifer Flowers? She had a role on this show, too. Look it up!
- Remember that obscure guy who was fighting Taka Michinoku for the Light-Heavyweight title (WWF's answer to the WCW Crusierweight Title)? The guy named Aguila? He's really not that obscure; he would later become Essa Rios. Now-a-days, he's wrestling in CMLL in Mexico.

After that WrestleMania, WWF skyrocketed back to the mainstream. They would catch and then move ahead of WCW during the summer, and by the time WrestleMania XV rolled around they were ready to do more damage.
But some people REALLY don't like WrestleMania XV. Why is that?

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 15- Setup

In the last post, I mentioned that a few people REALLY don't like WrestleMania XV.

I think I know the answer why. Two words: Vince Russo. By this time, he was in almost complete control of the storylines. His tricks included Billy Gunn (IC Champion) and "Roaddog" Jesse James (Hardcore Champion) switching their belts around for... no good reason. Also, he would have new-comer Paul White (who was supposed to be the new big giant of the WWF) job out to Austin, then stick him with Mankind in a "winner refs the main event" contest.

Had enough? That was only the beginning, and we'll see it unfold tomorrow in my review!

 

[jakedog56]

Nice write ups!

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 15- Review

WrestleMania XV "The Ragin' Climax"
From the First Union Center in Phildelphia, PA
Attendance: 18,274 [announced as 20,276] (PPV buys: 800,000)
​

Before we go any further, let me explain what happened with the main-event setup.

- First on Sunday Night Heat, we learn that Rock vs. Austin is now a No-DQ match.
- Then we had Mankind vs. a heel Big Show, where the winner gets to referee that main-event. And Mankind would win... via DQ. And then he got taken away in an ambulance, while Big Show turned baby-face on Vince.
- And then, Mr. McMahon says he'll be the referee for the main-event... only for him to get pushed out by Shawn Michaels at the last minute.

Got all that? Good. Let's continue.

Best match: See the Main Event.

Worst match: Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett vs. D-Lo Brown and Test; Butterbean vs. Bart Gunn in a boxing match (Tie) (The former match gave us a question: Can 2 guys who barely met win the Tag Team Titles at WrestleMania? And the answer is... No! The match did nothing for me.
As for the other one, do you remember Vince's attempt at the UFC called "Brawl For All"? No? Ah, don't worry about it; Bart Gunn made sure it would stay irrelevant as he got K.T.F.Oed by Butterbean.)

Most pleasant surprise: Shane McMahon vs. X-Pac (This was the first time everyone was like "Okay, so Shane McMahon CAN do something inside the ring", as he gave X-Pac a good match.)

Biggest disappointment: Undertaker over Big Boss Man inside "Hell in a Cell" (Easily the most forgettable "Hell in a Cell" match in history. And by the way, do you remember Michael Cole at the end of this match? He sold the hanging of Big Boss Man for about 10 seconds, and then is like "Well folks, coming up next...". Moron.)

Main event: Steve Austin beats Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to win the WWF Title (If you ignore all of Russo's shenanigans and that mess with the referee, you have 2 Hall-of-Famers going at it in a WrestleMania main event. And that's all we want.)

Other key notes: At this time, Rena Mero was on the hottest-selling Playboy Magazine in 15 years. But 7 weeks after WrestleMania, she was gone from the WWF.
- This event had Gorilla Monsoon's final appearance on WWF TV.

Well, there you have it. Maybe the most chaotic WrestleMania ever is in the books. I said MAYBE, because by WrestleMania 2000 Vince Russo may have left, but the chaotic booking still remained.
Will Wrestlemania 2000 suffer because of it? Find out tomorrow!

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

Oh, the WRESTLECRAP that was Brawl for All!!! The worst part was the complete derailing of Dr. Death Steve Williams' WWF/E career before it could even get started.