Wrestlemania XXI (Written by: Maurice D. Proffit)

Wrestlemania XXI (21)

 

Date: April 3^rd 2005

City: Los Angeles, CA

Venue: Staples Center

Combined Attendance: 20,193

Sub-Theme: “Wrestlemania Goes Hollywood”

Celebrities: David Arquette, Motörhead, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top, The Black Eyed Peas, Billy Corgan from The Smashing Pumpkins, Anthony Kiedis from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ice Cube, Carmen Electra, Sylvester Stallone, Marge Helgenberger, Matt Groening, Rick Rubin, and Will Sasso.

 Hall of Fame Inductees: Hulk Hogan, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Cowboy Bob Orton, Jimmy Hart, Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff, Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik

Back in California! Wrestlemania has returned to the golden state! First time in 5 years to celebrate the 21^st annual Wrestlemania produced by the World Wrestling Entertainment. WWE wanted to lean greatly on the Hollywood theme of this show. Leading into wrestlemania were many WWE vignettes of the WWE superstars doing parodies of some Hollywood classics. Some of the classics included Braveheart, Taxi Driver, A Few Good Men and more. Giving this Wrestlemania a very over the top feel with it being sensational eye candy for the media.

Going into Wrestlemania, Batista would be the winner of the 2005 Royal Rumble. In what looked like was going to be a replay of the 1994 Royal Rumble; since both Batista and John Cena went over the top rope eliminating each other since they were the final two men. However, per Vince McMahons order, the match continued and Batista won. Batista would go on and chose to face his former co-member of the stable “Evolution”, The World Heavyweight Champion, Triple H. This would be set to be the Main Event at Wrestlemania. The Royal Rumble ruling didn’t fall short in holding back John Cena. Cena would eventually go on to be at scheduled to face off against the WWE Champion John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) at Wrestlemania.

Wrestlemania started off with the WWE Tag Team Champions facing each other in the opener contest. The historic rivalry of Eddie Guerreo vs Rey Mysterio would continue as they went head to head in a decent match with each other. Rey would go on to be the victor. This would be Eddie Guerrero’s last Wrestlemania, due to his passing in November 2005.

Shawn Michaels faces Kurt Angle and once again, Shawn displays why his nickname is “Mr. Wrestlemania”. These two put on a Wrestlemania classic that is still being talked about to this day amongst wrestling fans, as these two showcased some of the best most, counters and holds anyone could ever ask to see. This inter promotional match would bring out the best from these two men, especially from Kurt Angle who was hell bent on defeating the man who was been dubbed as the greatest in the world. Naturally the Olympic Gold Medalist thinks differently about this. At the end of the match, Kurt would block Shawn’s superkick and trap him in the ankle lock. Shawn would fight this hold for minutes (which felt like hours), but instead of dealing with the risk of not being able to walk, Shawn taps out and Kurt wins the match. Unreal.

Undertaker Note: The Undertaker would face The Legend Killer Randy Orton in the other Inter promotional Match of the night. Orton is motivated to be the man to end the Wrestlemania streak of the Undertaker. Orton has been trailblazing in taking out WWE Legends such as Jake The Snake Roberts, Hacksaw Jim Duggan even Harley Race. The Undertaker would be next on his list. Orton gave Taker hell in this match. Too young, too quick, too motivated. But the Deadman brought experience to the table and the Tombstone Piledriver would prove to be too much for young Orton as he was pinned 1, 2, and 3 in the middle of the ring. The Undertaker is now 13-0 at Wrestlemania.

The next match was John Cena Vs JBL for the WWE Championship. JBL controlled most of the bout. In the end, Cena would win the match after ducking a clothesline attempt from JBL, hits him with the FU and pinning JBL to become the new WWE Champion. This would be Cana’s first reign as WWE Champion. Ushering in the new era of the World Wrestling Entertainment.

The eighth and final match of the night was Triple H defending his World Heavyweight Championship against Batista. Triple H entered to “The Game” performed live by Motorhead, shades of Wrestlemania 17. The action was back and forth, with neither man in control for very long periods. In both the match’s and the event’s climax, Batista would hit Triple H with the Batista Bomb and pin him 1, 2, 3 to win the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time.

Match Card

Dark- Booker T won the 30 man interpromotional battle royal by last eliminating Chris Masters.

PPV

-Rey Mysterio defeated Eddie Guerrero.

-Edge defeated Chris Jericho, Shelton Benjamin, Chris Benoit, Christian (with Tyson Tomko) and Kane. In the first ever Money In the Bank Ladder Match

-The Undertaker defeated Randy Orton (with “Cowboy” Bob Orton).

-Trish Stratus (c) defeated Christy Hemme (with Lita). To retain the WWE Womens Championshop

-Kurt Angle defeated Shawn Michaels.

-Akebono defeated The Big Show. In a Sumo match (yeah…a Sumo Match)

-John Cena defeated John “Bradshaw” Layfield (c). To win the WWE Championship

-Batista defeated Triple H (c) (with Ric Flair) to win the World Heavyweight Championship

Wrestlemania 2000 (Written By: Maurice D. Proffit)

Wrestlemania 2000 (XVI)

 

Date: April 2nd 2000

City: Anaheim, California

Venue: Arrowhead Pond

Combined Attendance: 18,034

Sub-Theme: “California”

Celebrities: Michael Clark Duncan, Dustin Diamond, Martin Short, Pete Rose, Carrot Top

 

This was a very unique Wrestlemania. Wrestlemania, for the 2nd time is back in the Arrowhead Pond, where it was for Wrestlemania 12 (4 yrs earlier). Making up for what they missed out on 4 years earlier, the WWF made sure to bring a solid celebrity feel to the event and show all together. After all….it IS in California. So no excuse this time. Another factor that made this event interesting was, this was the first wrestlemania without 1 one on one match. (with the exception of the “catfight”) All matches has multiple people involved. Not sure if this was a concentrated effort or if it just happened to work out this way with the booking, but every match had 3+ people involved. Looking on the horizon of this show, the action should be hot and heavy.

 

The backdrop of the main event started at The Royal Rumble, where The Rock wins the Rumble and earns the right to Mania. Triple H retains the WWF title that same night against Cactus Jack. So at the time, the main event at Mania will be Triple H vs The Rock for the WWF Championship. The next month at the No Way Out PPV, The Big Show faced The Rock for the right to wrestle in the main event at Wrestlemania, and he defeats the Rock now earning him the championship match against Triple H. W few weeks later, The Rock defeats The big Show on Raw to earn back his title shot with the help of Vince McMahon. Not taking away Show’s title opportunity, the match is now a Triple Threat Match. The next week on Raw, the triple threat match came early and the three fought it out that night. Triple H went on to win the match, but now the title match at mania has been altered as Linda McMahon announced that Mike Foley would be in the match as well. Making it a Fatal Four Way for the WWF Title, with a McMahon in each corner of each wrestler. Triple H – Stephanie McMahon; The Rock – Vince McMahon; The Big Show-Shane McMahon and Mick Foley – Linda McMahon.

During the PPV, we witnessed the Triangle Ladder Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Edge/Christian vs The Dudley Boyz vs The Hardy Boyz. This match was shades of Shawn Michaels vs Razor Ramon Ladder match for the IC belt at Wrestlemania 10. The reason why I say this, is because we saw moves and situations in this match that at this time were completely unheard of. We have seen ladder matches since WM 10, but they were more grounded, were as this match was half the time on the ground and half the time in the air. They gave some incredible moments and unforgettable spots. One spot that will not be forgotten was then Jeff Hard set up a 20 foot tall ladder in the middle of the aisle way, and Bubba Ray Dudley laid on the tables in front of the ladder and Jeff commenced to do a swan dive from the top of the 20 foot ladder. Unreal. Edge and Christian constructed a self made structure using 2 ladders and a table in the middle of the ring, and used it to grab both the belts and went on to victory.

There was also a very unique match for both of the mid card titles. It was a two fall triple threat match for the WWF IC title and WWF European title. Kurt Angle was holding both belts entering into this match. The first fall was for the IC belt and Chris Benoit won that fall to win the IC belt. The next fall was for the European title and Chris Jericho won that fall and the belt. Both men left with a championship, Kurt Angel let beltless.

Undertaker Note: The Undertaker did not particpate in this Wrestlemania. Undertaker is 8-0 at Wrestlemania.

The Main event was for the World Wrestling Federation Championship. Triple H, the defending champion is facing off against The Rock, Mick Foley and The Big Show. This was an elimination match, so it would be 3 falls.

The match went very intense from the sound of the bell. The Big show was the first man to be eliminated after a chair shot to the back by Foley and a Rock Bottom by The Rock. Mick Foley was the next to go down after two pedigrees (the latter being on a chair) which “retired” Mick Foley.

The next 16 min would be between Triple H and The Rock, going all into the crowds and brawling everywhere. But not only did it take the current champion, but also the chairman of the board who turned on The Rock (after being in his corner) and gave The Rock two chair shots to the head. Triple H goes for the pin and obtains the victory. This would be the first time the WWF title was retained at Wrestlemania since WM 11.

 

Match Card

– The Big Boss Man and Bull Buchanan defeated The Godfather and D’Lo Brown (with Ice-T and The Godfather’s hos).

– Hardcore Holly won by last defeating Crash Holly (c)  in a Hardcore Battle Royal for the WWF Hardcore Championship

– T & A (Test and Albert) (with Trish Stratus) defeated Head Cheese (Al Snow and Steve Blackman) (with Chester McCheeserton).

– Edge and Christian defeated The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) (c) and The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff). To win the WWF Tag Team Championships in a Triangle Ladder Match.

– Terri Runnels (with The Fabulous Moolah) defeated The Kat (with Mae Young). In a Catfight

– Too Cool (Grand Master Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty) and Chyna defeated The Radicalz (Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko) in a 6 person intergender tag team match.

– First fall: Chris Benoit defeated Kurt Angle (c) and Chris Jericho.

Second fall: Chris Jericho defeated Kurt Angle (c) and Chris Benoit. In a two fall triple threat match for the WWF Intercontinental championship and WWF European championship.

– Rikishi and Kane (with Paul Bearer) defeated D-Generation X (X-Pac and Road Dogg) (with Tori).

– Triple H (c) (with Stephanie McMahon) defeated The Rock (with Vince McMahon), Mick Foley (with Linda McMahon) and The Big Show (with Shane McMahon) to retain the WWF Championship.

 

 

Wrestlemania XII (Written By: Maurice D. Proffit)

Wrestlemania 12

 
Date: March 31st, 1996
City: Anaheim, California
Venue: Arrowhead Pond
Combined Attendance: 18,853
Sub-Theme: n/a
Celebrities:  n/a
 
Wrestlemania 12 was back in California and looking to be the rebound Wrestlemania. The Main event was announced on an episode of Monday Night Raw, that for the World Wrestling Federation Championship; Bret “The Hitman” Hart would defend the title against “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels in an 1 hour Iron Man match. The winner of the match would be the man with the most decisions over a 60 min period. Shawn won the 1996 Royal Rumble in January (first back to back winner since Hulk Hogan in 1990 and 1991) and earned the spot to wrestle the champion at wrestlemania. Bret and Shawn have had history in the past, main eventing two Survivor Series PPV’s (1992 and 1993) and also being the first to introduce the ladder match to the WWF. For those who are familiar with their past, this was a fantastic match to look forward to. Especially considering the fact that the WWF never did an iron match before. This was more prevalent in the NWA and WCW.
 
The show was an overall hit and a blatant rebound from the previous year. This Wrestlemania would be Steve Austin’s wrestlemania debut. He wrestled Savio Vega in a grudge match with Austin winning.
 
The Ultimate Warrior made his in ring return to the WWF to wrestle Hunter Hurst Helmsley. The last time the Warrior was in the WWF was in Oct 1992. When he was announced that he would be making his return, it just added to the already beefed up card. Warrior Returned with the full head of steam that we are so used to seeing him have, with a bit more of a modern look to him. He defeated Hunter in about a min and a half, in typical Warrior way.
 
Undertaker Note: The Undertaker faced Big Daddy Cool Diesel in a one on one match. Physical match of the battle of the big men; but Taker was just too much for Diesel as he defeated him with the Tombstone piledriver. This would be Diesel’s last Wrestlemania for the next 6 years. Undertaker is now 5-0 at wrestlemania.

 

 
Goldust and Rowdy Roddy Piper fought in what was called a Hollywood back lot brawl. They started their match, earlier in the evening, in the “back lot” of the Arrowhead Pond, in what looked to be a shoot fight. Both men gave each other potatoes and receipts, as there seemed to be legit blood. Goldust took off in his Gold Cadillac and Piper followed and chased him in his White Bronco. The WWF production did a parody of the OJ Simpson police chase, due to this. Later in the evening after the Undertaker match, both men “made it back” to the arena and finished the match in the ring, with Piper being victorious.
 
It was now time for the main event. The 1 hour Iron Man Match. Both men went back to their home towns to train for this match. We’ve seen weeks and weeks of footage of Shawn training at Jose Lothario’s gym and Bret Training with his father Stu Hart in the dungeon and in Calgary in general. Shawn entered the match in an overtop elaborate way of entering the ring, from doing a zip line from the very top of the Arrow Head pond and slid down all the way to ringside. Very impressive. Bret had the traditional entrance to the ring. The match build was so intense for this match, that even the mere going over the rule of the match, heightened the anticipation. Two year prior, both of these men stole the show in their matches at Wrestlemania 10 and here we are, 12 years later in what is to be looked upon as an epic. Let the classic begin.

 
As soon as the bell rang, the crowd sits down, to enjoy this story that was going to be told to them for the next hour. Bret and Shawn went at each other, and we see a more technical side to Shawn Michaels, that we’ve never seen before. We’re used to Shawn being more so in attack mode, but due to his endurance needing to be taken into consideration, he ground based his offense considerably. Bret on the other hand was a countering master. Not letting Shawn’s unseen style get the best of him, Bret made sure to capitalize on all any and all counters that he could onto Shawn, to make sure that Bret had very close holds on him. For the most part, that is what the match was, very close very tight between the two. They did a great job in breaking up the monotony and not making the match dull at all. There were parts in the match where we saw an immediate burst of energy. Shawn unexpectedly hits Bret with a flying cross body block to the outside of the ring. Shawn meaning to superkick Bret, accidently superkicks the time keeper at ringside, due to Bret ducking and moving. The match had many surprises from both men and kept the match going. At the final minutes of the film, we see Shawn getting a new surge of energy in him, after being dominated by the champ for a while; however, the score is still 0-0. Shawn goes for his patent moves for fly elbow off the ropes and flying elbow drops off from the top turnbuckles. We were seeing the Shawn Michaels that we are all familiar with, until the closing minute, Bret, counters one of Shawn’s offenses and turns the counters into the Sharpshooter. Bret locked the sharpshooter on perfectly and Shawn was left there screaming in pain. The clock continued to clock down until the final seconds and then the buzzer sounded. 60 min have past and the match was over with a tied score of 0-0. Bret “The Hitman” Hart was still the champion and leaves the ring. However, Interim President Gorilla Monsoon comes to ringside and orders that the match to continue and for it to be sudden death overtime. Bret was besides himself as he couldn’t understand as to why this was the decision, since the original rules were “60 Min Match”. Bret voiced his disagreement with the ref, but with no choice, the bell rang and Bret went back after Shawn. This was not the Bret that we saw for the last hour, but a more aggressive unorthodox Bret, who was attacking Michaels lower back with punches and with back body drops. When Bret went to throw Shawn into the turnbuckle; Shawn leaped over Bret when Bret came in to run in for the offense, but when Bret turned around POW, Shawn hits Bret with the superkick. But not thinking it was enough, Shawn prepares for a more set and on the money superkick, measures him and hits Bret Hart spot on.

 Shawn goes for the cover; and for the first time ever, Shawn Michaels defeats Bret Hart and wins his first World Wrestling Federation Championship.
 

 
Personally, I thought this wrestlemania was great to watch and went back to being a epic level event. It felt like a mega event again, unlike the year before. I was not a Shawn Michaels fan, I was (and still am) a mega Bret Hart fan, and I was convinced that Bret would win the match and retain the title, since he beat Shawn before, but that wasn’t the fact though. For the rest of the year, I had to watch my WWF weekly programs without one of my wrestling heroes on the show, and I despised the companies champion, since he was the sole reason why Bret was no longer on the show. But as I got older, I learned to appreciate the match and I can see how and why it is regarded as the best match in the company history. 
 
 
Match Card
 
– The Bodydonnas (Skip and Zip) (with Sunny) defeated The Godwinns (Henry and Phineas) (with Hillbilly Jim) to win the vacant WWF Tag Team Championships (Finals of Tournament)
 
– Camp Cornette (Vader, Owen Hart and The British Bulldog) (with Jim Cornette) defeated Yokozuna, Jake Roberts and Ahmed Johnson (with Mr. Fuji)
 
-Steve Austin (with Ted DiBiase) defeated Savio Vega
 
-The Ultimate Warrior defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley (with Sable)
 
– Roddy Piper defeated Goldust (with Marlena)
 
– Shawn Michaels (with Jose Lothario) defeated Bret Hart (c) 1-0 to win the 1 hour Iron Man Match to win the World Wrestling Federation Championship.