I have received some mail asking me why I don't review PPVs that I DISLIKE. Sure I have seen Uncensored 96 and SummerSlam 95, but for some that isn't enough. So, fine, if I must sit through a boring PPV, I will. WrestleMania X it is ...
- Let's start with an FYI, according to PWI Magazine the exhibition match was a Heavenly Bodies victory over the Bushwhackers. I'm sure it was as excellent as the Tag Team title match. - We open up the show with some clips of WrestleMania I and we see the Rockettes and Liberace dancing (did you know that he was you know ... but you keep that to yourself), Muhammad Ali (The Cat's the greatest), Mr. T, etc... - 'WELCOME TO ... WRESSSSSSTLEMANIA TENNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!' And who eld but ol'good ol' pre-Russo Vince McMahon can host this galant extravaganza !??!?!?? Joining him is the retutning Jerry The King Lawler. Last we saw of Lawler was a week before the Survivor Series 93 (which is a good one folks ... Bushwhackers DOinks and MOM Doinks !!!) when he was arrested for supposedly raping a 13 year old girl. WHAT A DEPLORABLE KING !!!! - Where else but Madison Square Garden can host the tenth WrestelMania ?? - I think it will be better if I do my pattented 'back-story' BEFORE the event itself. (BTW, I did not steal this idea from Scott KKKeith's WMX review) - Well, at WrestleMania IX, Yokozuna defeated Bret Hart to win the WWF title for the first time. Hulk Hogan then came storming out of the back to defend his GOOD BUDDY Bret. Mr. Fuji challenged Hulk to a match right there and then ! After consulting with Oscar (the MASTA RAPPA) - I am not kidding, check the tapes BRAHS, he was there in plain view - Hulk accepted. Yoko manages to hold on to the Immortal One, and Mr. Fuji plans to lay the salt-down on him, but missses and hits Yoko. Hulk hits the big man and gets the BIIIIIIIG leg. Hulk obviously gets the win. At the King of the Ring, Yoko got a rematch, and with the help of an EVIL photographer (maybe it was Vince Russo, he DID work for the WWF Magazine at the time), Yoko won the match and the title. When the WWF needed a hero to replace Hulk Hogan (who was a year away from signing with the BIG BOYS). On the 4th of July, Yokozuna and Fuji challenged any American to slam the FOREIGNER on the deck of the U.S.S. Intrepid. After the Macho Man, Crush, Tatanka and others all failed, Yoko was about to be named the winner. Then, in the sky, a helicopter. Who was in it ?? No not Jim, but none other than LEXXXXXX LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He got off the copter and proceeded to SLAM the big man !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Despite Fuji caliming that it was a hip-toss, Luger won one for America. Lex went on to go around the country in order to get support to face Yoko at SummerSlam in a title match. The Lex Express was succesful. Fuji hired Jim Cornette as Yoko's American Consultant and he was on-hand when Lex signed the contract for the two to meet at SummerSlam 94. What Lex didn't know was that Jim (maybe under the tutelage of Clarence Mason) put in a clause; Lex would receive only ONE shot at Yoko's world title. At the PPV, Lex blew his chance when Lex took off his elbow pad and hit Yoko with his steal plated forearm. Yoko was so shocked by the move that he fell to the floor. He could not get up and Lex won the match. Beforehand, Bret Hart had won the first ever King of the Ring PPV telecast. The King Jerry Lawler took offence to that and 'crowned him' during the ceremony (Note: This was where Bret first called Lawler 'Burger King'). They went on a summer long feud which went all the way to the USWA where Lawler bloodied Bret's younger brother Owen Hart. At the Survivor Series, we were supposed to see Bret, Owen, Bruce and Keith Hart against Lawler and his three Knights. Lawler was suspended from the WWF (because of the rape charge), so Shawn Michaels took his place. Bret, Keith and Bruce each eliminated a Knight. Then when it was Shawn alone against the whole Hart clan, Owen accidently ran into Bret, causing Shawn to pin Owen. Ultimately Shawn ran away and was counted out. As the family celebrated, an embarrased Owen Hart returned and confronted his brother Bret. They shoved each other and Owen left. Near Christmas time, it seemed like the brothers pached things up. They were so on the same page that they were scheduled to team up against the Tag Team champs the Quebecers at the Royal Rumble. Meanwhile, Lex Luger was entered into the Rumble itself. One problem.The winner was to get the title shot against Yokozuna at WrestleMania X. Lex blew his one opportunity already. Fuji agreed to let Luger enter the Rumble if he had say in two entries into the Rumble (Tenryu and the Great Kabuki). Finally the day of the Rumble arrived. Yoko succesfully defended his title against the Undertaker, Ted DiBiase returned for the first time since SummerSlam 93, Diesel's first shot at dominance, and controversy. First off, in the Tag Team title match, Bret was severly injured in the match, and yet he did not get a chance to tag out to Owen. In the end, the Quebecers won, and Owen was so disappointed that he kicked Bret's injured leg !!! He verbally berated the former Champion as he was sent to the back in a stretcher. In the Rumble itself, Bret Hart somehow made way to the ring and competed in the Rumble. The final two men was Luger and Bret. The two were eliminated AT THE SAME TIME. Over the next few weeks, it was decided that the two would get a shot at WrestleMania, but who (nN) would face the Champion first ? A coin toss would decide that. If Bret won the toss, he would face Yokozuna first, and Lex Luger would wrestle Crush to even out the number of matches the challengers wrestle. If Lex wins, Bret would be forced to wrestle Owen. Even if Bret lost to Owen or Lex lost to Crush, they would still get the title shot later in the evening. As it turned out, Lex won the coin toss. Oh yeah, for each title match, there would be a special guest referee that will be remain a mystery until the match occurs. Oh yeah, one more little thing, Lex Luger and Curt Hennig got into a little feud before WrestleMania IX. They met at the PPV, and Lex cheated to win the match. Curt was last seen before the 93 Survivor Series. Now, onto the show ... - Bret Hitman Hart vs. The Rocket Owen Hart: Why not start the show with the first ever WWF brother vs. brother match on PPV ? Now, I DON'T do play-by-play. If you want that stuff, you go to wwwf.com and go to the Scott KKKeith section. Me, I give you some of the highlights and tell you my opinion of the match. Now the highlight of this match was that Brett lost and Owen won. That's it. Owen wins with a reversed 'honor roll' (that was the Genius' finisher IIRC). I'll be generous and give it * - WrestleMania II : Mr. T and HOT ROD (not the Transformer) fight it off in a Boxing match ! - Doink and Dink The Clowns vs. Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon: Before the match, Sy Sperling (he's not only the owner, but he's also a member) of the Hair Club for Men and introuces the ALL-NEW Howard Finkle .... with hair~! Eitherway, this is what you can expect from these guys. Dink is playing games with Luna and so is Doink with Bam Bam. After an instant classic match-up, Bam Bam cheats his way to the win with a top rope diving headbutt onto Doink. ***3/4 - WrestleMania III : What else can you show other than the big staredown and the slam?? - Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Kona Crush (with Mister Fuji) in a Falls Count Anywhere Match: On an episode of Raw before SummerSlam, Crush challenged Yokozuna for a match. Crush, the good friend of the then-RAW announcer Macho Man, wanted another chance to slam Yoko (since he failed on July 4th). Yoko systematically destroyed the man. After getting the win with the Bonzai, he did it at least two more times. Macho just stood there and did nothing. A month or two later, Crush returned from his injury and he attacked his former friend for doing nothing during the Yoko attack. A few weeks before this PPV, Macho had his chance to regain the WWF title for a third time. He hit the big elbow, but Crush broke the count, just as the ref was about to hit three. So there's the story BRAHS. Now this was a HARDcore match before HARDcore was famous. The rules was that you can pin your opponent ANYWHERE, but the guy you pin must NOT reach to the ring by the count of 60. So the match begins and Crush immediately attacks the Mach' in the aisle way. He gets the 3, but Macho makes it back to the ring in time. The two brawl all over the place. This was a major feud that gave Crush is well deserved push. Macho pins Crush, but with the help of Fuji, Crush makes his way back to the ring in time. As the two go all their way to the back, Macho manages to ram Crush into a bunc hof doors and gets the 3-count. He hogties the Hawaiian punching machine (SHAKKA BRA!) and Crush cannot make the 60 count. ***3/4 Nice HARDcore match, but nothing compared to today's Geral Brisco title defenses. - WrestleMania IV : Macho wrestling four times in one night to become the Champ ! - WWF Women's Champion Alundra Blazye vs. challenger Leilani Kai: FYI, Kai was the ONLY wrestler who (nN) WRESTLED in both WrestleMania I and X. Kai is looking great and Alundra is looking like that spunky woman who (nN) brilliantly threw the WWF Women's title in the trash. Vince gives these two women a couple of minutes until Blaze pins Kai with her german suplex. Sheesh, you'd figure with her American wrestling outfit, her finisher would be AMERICAN *** ?? - WrestleMania V : Morton Downey Junior and Brother Love get theirs at the hands of the Rowdy One. - WWF Tag Team Champions The Quebecers (with Johnny Polo) vs. challengers Men On a Mission (with OSCAAAH): Oh boy, this one was a HUGE one BRAHS. When you talk about the dark days of the Tag Team scene in wrestling in North America, you DON'T talk about 1994 !!! This was one of the BEST parts of wrestling. No Steiner Brothers or LOD, since they were off in Japan (and Animal was injured), the Rockers were broken up, Demolition were a thing of the past, Arn and Tully are gone since Tully was a Preacher by now, no LOSERdores tag teams, or anything like that. Only big men like MOM, the Smoking Gunns, and generic single wrestlers vying for the gold. Anyways, this was a big and huge match up up. Johnny sadly aren't wearing his robe & duck slippers that he wore in the past. The FOREIGNERS try their best, but they cannot overpower the massive MO~! and Mabel. Boy is that Polo as sneaky as a Raven out there ! or maybe a Flamingo too ! So the match goes outside, and seeing that MOM is about to win the gold, the FOREIGNERS stay outside on purprose and gets counted out. ***1/2 - WrestleMania VI : The ULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLTIMATE CHALLENGE. - WWF World Champion Yokozuna (with Mister Fuji and James E. Cornette) vs. challenger The Man Made In The U.S.A. and The American Patriot Lex Luger with Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig as Guest Referee: Curt Hennig who also disappeared at Survivor Series makes his big return to the WWF (part 2) and in true Perfect fashion, is never seen again afterwords. At least not until Survivor Series 95. The match begins and Lex is a house of fire. Then Yoko gets that nervehold in for a while. Boy is that enthralling ! Lex miraculously gets out of it and slams the big man again and hits him with the steel enforced elbow. !!!!!!!!!!!!! To quote Vince : "YES YES YES YES YES YES!". Lex is gonna win !! Wait there's Fuji on the apron. Down he goes. There's James. Down again. MSG IS the place to be as they all want DA MAN (not Goldberg) to cover the FOREIGNER. Lex covers the big man, but Curt won't cover. He's trying to get the managers off of the apron instead. Lex goes over to Curt and shoves him while asking why he isn't making the count. Curt, is not pleased by that and disqualifies the man made in the USA. **** Oh boy, is the crowd angry (and so was I) ! - Backstage, my favorite announcer and yours, Todd Pettingill is interviewing Curt and Todd asks why Curt didn't make the count. Curt responded by saying that 'once you put your hands on the referee, you're automatically DQed". Then Lex storms on down to the back and says the infamous "It's bogus ... AND YOU KNOW IT" line. - WrestleMania VII : The classic Blindfold match. - Earthquake vs. Adam Bomb (with Harvey Wippleman): According to the WWF Magazine, this was originally supposed to be Earthquake against Ludvig Borga, but he got injured in January. Anyhoo, the Fink with his new found hair is on the receiving end of a verbal beatdown from Harvey Wippleman. Harvey even rips up Howard's tuxedo, so the Fink pushes down Harv. Just as Adam is about to interfere, the big Earthquake comes in and demolishes Adam. he win with the Earthquake splash. **** - WrestleMania VIII: The Hoosier Dome is filled up as they watch the final chapter of Hulkamania. - WWF Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon vs. challenger Shawn Michaels (with Big Daddy Sexy Cool the Gaint Killer Kevin Diesel Nash) in a Ladder Match: Ever hear about ONE match ruining a whole PPV. Well, this is it. Sure we have seen one 4 star classic, and three ***+s, but this (along with the first match) really ruined this event. While walking down the aisle, Razzor walks UNDR the ladder. Diesel starts out with Shawn, but after punching Razzor a bit, the ref sends him out to the back. The two brawl and once they get the ladder, the fun stops. Shawn imitates the Superfly from teh top of the ladder. Shawn makes the ladder fall on top of Razor. The ends is that Shawn is about to grab the belt but Razor wakes up and pushes the ladder down. Shawn falls on the ropes as Razor climbs his way to victory. -************* This is NO Hacksaw/Andor that's fer sure ! - WrestleMania IX : The awesome appearance of the Unnnnnnnnnnnnnderatker (and Sting's turkery) - The Smoking Gunns, Thurman Bob Sparky Plugg Holly (for Marty Jannetty), Tatanka and The 1-2-3 Kid vs. IRS, Rick Martel, Jeff Jarrett and the Head Shrinkers (with Afa): This EXCITING 10 man tag was supposed to occur, but since the bad guy team could not decide who (nN) was the team leader, the match never takes place. - WWF World Champion Yokozuna (with Mister Fuji and James E. Cornette) vs. challenger Bret Hitman Hart with Rowdy Roddy Piper as Guest Referee: WHY !?!?!?! Couldn't Vince get HULK to be the guest ref ??? So it is official, this WrestleMania stinks, because there was no HULK !!!!!!! And six years later, it still holds true. Boy does MSG love Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrowdy Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroddy Pippppppppppaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah !! Eitherway, after one whole year, we come back to Bret and Yoko. As Bret comes on down to the ring (and introduced by his good buddy Burt Reynolds) it appears that his knee is still injured from his match with Owen. The match goes on. As Yokozuna goes for the Bonzai Drop, he falls and Bret quickly covers him and grabs his leg. Piper counts the 1-2-3 andBret Hart wins his second WWF title. This match was ALMOST as good as Lex's. *** Then, EVERY good guy in the building comes down to the ring, from Macho to Gorilla Monsoon to Bob Holly, and they lift Bret up. Then in the entrance is an angry Owen who (nN) is saying that should be HIS title.