Celebrities: Snoop Dogg, Snookie, Keri Hilson, Pee Wee Herman and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Wrestlemania invades HOT-LANTA!!!!!!! The ATL!!!! What was once the official territory of World Championship Wrestling, was now being taken over and flooded by The World Wrestling Entertainment! This would be the final PPV to be under the “World Wrestling Entertainment” banner. A few days later the company name changed to just WWE. Wrestlemania 27 would once again be a duo brand show.
The road to wrestlemania started at the Royal Rumble. The 2011 Royal Rumble would be the largest Rumble in history, this time having 40 men. Alberto Rodriguez would win the Royal Rumble and would challenge the World Heavyweight Champion, Edge at Wrestlemania.
The WWE Champion, The Miz has been on a tare since Nov 22nd 2010 as WWE Champion, but he has yet to meet an opponent to pose a major threat to him, in John Cena. The WWE made the announcement, that Wrestlemania would have a “guest host”. The guest host was announced on the Feb 14th edition of Raw, when we found out it would be…THE ROCK! The Rock made his return to the WWE! Rock poked his attention toward the two men involved in the WWE Championship match, both Cena and Miz. We can assume that The Rock will be involved in the WWE title match in some way, shape and form.
The PPV started out, for the first time with one of the main title main events! The World Heavyweight Championship was on the line as Edge face Alberto Del Rio. Del Rio would be at the ring along side with Ricardo Rodriguez and Brodus Clay. Edge would be at ringside with Christian. During the match Del Rip put a lot of focus on Edge’s arm, looking to lock him in the cross armbreaker. Edge locked in the Edgeucator while Del Rio locked in the Cross Armbreaker. When both men got up, Edge hit the Spear for the win. After the match, Edge and Christian both destroyed the luxury car that Del Rio came out in.
Undertaker Note: After defeating The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels in two wrestlemanias in a row and retiring him, The Game Triple H felt he would be the only one that would be able to be fit to finish what Shawn couldn’t by defeating The undertaker. Triple H would bring nothing but intensity in the match against Taker. Triple H would make this one of his most physical matches of his career, even crashing Undertaker through Michael Cole’s “Cole mine” as well. The match was a back n forth exchange between the two from spinebuster, to chokeslam, to bodyslams. But no move was strong enough to put down undertaker. A gasp went through the crowd as Triple H, gave Taker the cut throat and then tombstone. When Triple H crosses Undertakers arms over his chest and even sticks the tongue out, but even that wasn’t enough to put away Taker. When Triple H went to his last resort, the sledgehammer, Taker caught Triple H in the “Hells Gate” and would make Triple H tap out.
The Undertaker is 19-0 at Wrestlemania
The last match was for the WWE Championship. It featured John Cena facing off against current champion The Miz (accompanied by Alex Riley). The first highlight of the match occurred when Cena hit the Five Knuckle Shuffle on The Miz. Cena then went for the Attitude Adjustment, but Miz countered with a DDT. There was a lot of back and forth action until The Miz hit the Skull Crushing Finale. That didn’t keep Cena down as he managed to hit the Attitude Adjustment; however, that didn’t keep Miz down either. Both men fought outside of the ring, but knocked each other out in the process. The match ended in a double count out, meaning The Miz would retain his title. The Rock came out to intervene, but the Raw GM made an announcement. The Rock went to read it, but then disregarded it. He called for a restart to the match with a no disqualification, no count out, no time limit stipulation. The match restarted and, with Cena dragging Miz back inside the ring and attempting to execute an Attitude Adjustment, wasn’t successful. In retaliation for the Attitude Adjustment that Cena gave him on the Raw episode prior to WrestleMania, The Rock stalked Cena from behind and hit a Rock Bottom on him. Taking advantage, The Miz then covered a fallen Cena for the win.
For the first time ever Wrestlemania culminates from the desert! Yes, Wrestlemania is taking place in Arizona. The land of the massive mountains, cacti and ranches will be the home of the greatest sports entertainment show of the year. Wrestlemania 26, produced by the World Wrestling Entertainment.
This would be the first Wrestlemania since 2005 where it would be a two brand presentation, as ECW is officially no more. The road to Wrestlemania actually started almost 1 year before; as Edge and Chris Jericho were an established tag team and they won the unified tag team championships at “The Bash” ppv. However, due to an injury received by Edge, the partnership died. During Edge’s absence, Jericho would make references about Edge and his injury, claiming he was the weaker force in the team. However, fast forward to the Royal Rumble 2010, we would see the return of the Rated R Superstar (Edge). And not only did he get a piece of Chris Jericho that night, he also won the Royal Rumble. Edge would earn a title shot at Wrestlemania against either the WWE or World Heavyweight Champion. Edge would chose Chris Jericho and the showdown will take place at Wrestlemania.
John Cena would defeat Shemus at the 2010 Elimination Chamber PPV, to win the WWE Championship in the chamber. However, shades of the 2005 New Years Revolution peered up when Vince McMahon would announce that Cenas night would not be over, and he would have to put the WWE Championship on the line and face Batista….NOW! Cena after going through a grueling 20 min+ battle of torture in the chamber, had nothing else left in the tank, and Batista would capture the WWE title from John Cena that night. John Cena would exercise his rematch clause and have it set for Wrestlemania 26. Cena vs Batista for the WWE Championship.
Wrestlemania 26 would start out with Fantasia Barrino singing American The Beautiful. Wrestlemania would start out hot with a victory by Show Miz over R-Truth and Morrison to retain the WWE Unified Tag Team Titles.
We would then go on to the 6th annual Money In the Bank Match between Jack Swagger, Christian, Matt Hardy, Evan Bourn, Kane, Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, Shelton Benjamin and MVP, making this (up to that time) the largest MITB match in history. Some of the spots were undeniably impressive and all 10 men gave up a thrilling contest. Even Kofi had a creative spot by turning two ladders into stilts. But in the end it would be Jack Swagger to grab the briefcase and be declared the winner.
One of the most anticipated matches of the night was 13 years in the making. We would see the wrestlemania return of “Bret The Hitman” Hart facing Vince McMahon. 13 years ago, we all experience the Montreal Screw job at the 1997 Survivor Series; between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship. After it, Bret left to work for WCW. Bret was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005 and made a mini return to the WWE at the beginning of 2010; being the guest host of Raw. While back in the WWE, Bret made amends with Shawn Michaels, and their 20 year rivalry was officially dead. However, one chapter still wasn’t closed and that was the tension between Bret and WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. Vince wasn’t fully ready to make amends yet, instead wanted more. Vince would involve Bret in some screwball attacks to make a point to Bret as far as “who runs the show”. Being fed up with the antics, Bret would challenge Vince to a match at Wrestlemania and Vince would accept. At the match, Vince shooting for his “Wrestlemania Moment” would announce that he bought out the entire Hart family. And out with Vince came out Bruce, Keith, Diana, the Hart Dynasty and other members of the Hart family. However, the joke was on Vince as the Hart family turned on him. Bret viciously took Vince out and placed him in the sharpshooter to tap out.
The World Heavyweight Championship would be on the line as Edge challenged Chris Jericho for the title. Back n forth match as each man tried to get the better of each other only to be countered every time. The match ended when Jericho hit Edge with the championship belt and a Code breaker to win and retain his title.
The WWE Championship would be on the line as John Cena would challenge the champion, Batista. Batista dominated the first half of the match. Cena made a return after hitting a suplex. The match started to go evenly after that. One spot included Cena hitting the Five Knuckle Shuffle off the top of the turnbuckle. The match came to an end after Cena reversed a Batista Bomb into an STF. Batista eventually tapped out. Cena won the match and the WWE Championship, making him a nine-time World champion. The Next night on Raw, Batista would announce his “Retirement”.
Undertaker Note
The Final match of the night would be Streak vs Career. In a very anticipated rematch from last year’s wrestlemania, Shawn Michaels would once again face The Undertaker. If Wrestlemania 26 was a night that focused on closure, then this match would be no exception. The rivalry between these two men date back to 1997 when Shawn Michaels “screwed over” The Undertaker, as he lost the WWF Championship to Bret Hart at SummerSlam 1997. These two would go on to having the first Hell in a Cell match at Bad Blood 97. Shawn was a beaten, battered and bloodied mess, but overcame the Dead Man and won the match. Here we are 13 years later on the grandest stage. If Shawn loses, he will walk away from the business. This match meant more to Shawn than a title, this was his life. The match started hard early on with both men exchanging a fury of offense on each other. The match, Taker attempted to do “Old School” on Shawn, but was unsuccessful and injured his leg in the process. Shawn made it a point to go after the leg and put concentration on the area. Without the legs, Taker would be useless. But that didn’t stop him, even with Shawn hitting Taker with SCM, Taker wouldn’t die. Taker would give his own offensive retribution on Shawn as he delivered the choke slam and the last ride. But still unsuccessful to put HBK away. Shawn decided to switch his game up to a more ground base game of various submission holds; delivering the Ankle Lock, Figure Four leg lock and crossfire to Taker. Anything he could piece together to rid his worries of the Dead Man. After being unsuccessful with those Taker went for Hell Gate, but Shawn would counter that move as well. Taker would attempt the last ride through the announcers table, but Shawn would counter that. This really was an example of how much this match really meant to both men! Shawn hits SCM 3 times on Taker, but still nothing. Taker gives Shawn the 2nd Tombstone, nada! WHAT A MATCH!!!! But Shawn had very little left and that last kick out may’ve been his last effort. Taker would give us the “cut to the throat” and deliver a 3rd Tombstone piledriver to Shawn Michaels and pin him 1,2,3 and ending the greatest career in the history of Professional Wrestling. Shawn Michaels career was over. The Greatest of All Time, has left the building…for good.
The Undertaker is now 18-0 at Wrestlemania.
Match Card
Dark- Yoshi Tatsu won by last eliminating Zack Ryder in a 26 man Battle Royal
PPV
– ShoMiz (The Miz and The Big Show) (c) defeated John Morrison and R-Truth to retain the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship.
– Randy Orton defeated Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase in a Triple Threat Match.
– Jack Swagger defeated Christian, Matt Hardy, Kane, Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, Shelton Benjamin, Montel Vontavious Porter and Evan Bourne in the Money In the Bank Ladder Match.
– Triple H defeated Sheamus
– Rey Mysterio defeated CM Punk (with Luke Gallows and Serena). If Rey had won, then he would have had to haved joined the Straight Edge Society.
– Bret Hart defeated Mr. McMahon via Submission in the Sharpshiooter in a No Holds Barred Lumberjack Match.
– Chris Jericho (c) defeated Edge to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.
– John Cena defeated Batista (c) via submission to win the WWE Championship
– The Undertaker defeated Shawn Michaels in a Streak vs Career Match.
Wrestlemania 25 is the 25th annual Wrestlemania PPV event produced by the World Wrestling Entertainment. Wrestlemania returns back to Houston Texas, the home of the critical favorite, Wrestlemania 17. However, this time, this event would take place next door to the Astrodome and would be held in Reliant Stadium.
We would get to this Wrestlemania starting at the 2009 Royal Rumble, where we would see Randy Orton, with the assistance of his fellow “Legacy” members, go on to be victorious and win the match. Orton would be given the option of wrestling for either the WWE Championship, the World Heavyweight Championship or the ECW Championship at Wrestlemania. Randy made his choice clear, as to what direction he wanted to go in for the title, as he persisted brutal assaults against the McMahon family. Assaulting both Vince and Shane McMahon and taunts to Stephanie. Triple H would avenge his family’s honor by coming to the aide of his wife, father and brother in law by going after Orton. These attacks saw Orton locking Triple H up to a pair of hand cuffs in the ring and making inappropriate taunts to Stephanie, in front of H. This also lead to a “home invasion” where Triple H invade the Home of Orton and attacked him there. The only way to settle this score would be at Wrestlemania 25.
Edge and Big Show would sign contracts for a match at Wrestlemania 25 for the World Heavyweight Championship, until John Cena appeared and crashed the party. Vicki Guerrero (Smackdown GM at the time) eventually would announce that the WHC match would be a Triple Threat between Big Show, Edge and John Cena.
Wrestlemania 25 started out with one of the most popular matches in the company, this would be the 5th annual Money In the Bank match. Participants would include CM Punk, Kane, Mark Henry, MVP, Shelton Benjamin, Kofi Kingston, Christian and Finlay. Just like in the past, this match did not disappoint and to elevate the excitement, Shelton Benjamin stood out like a sore thumb when he executed a Senton Bomb from the top of the ladder onto his opponents. Unreal. The end of the match would see CM Punk kicking Kane off of the ladder, leaving him enough room and time to grab the briefcase. CM Punk is a (and the only) two time (besides Edge*) money in the bank winner.
One of the highlights of the event would be the match between Chris Jericho facing 3 WWE Legends; Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat, SupaFly Jimmy Snuka and Rowdy Roddy Piper (accompanied by Ric Flair), in a 3 on One handicap elimination match. Jericho was able to take out both Snuka and Piper, but when it was time for Ricky Steamboat to come in, he gave us all a quick reminder as to why he is nick named “The Dragon”. The last time Steamboat Wrestled was in Nov of 1994 in WCW, so we’re talking an over 15 year absence from the ring. To be honest, Ricky looked like he never missed a beat. For many in the crowd, this was the first time they had a taste of seeing Ricky Steamboat perform and they were not disappointed. For those who are old school fans this was a bit of a dream match seeing Ricky Steamboat face off against Chris Jericho in an unbelievable back n forth exchange. In the end, Jericho would capitalize the situation and defeated Steamboat with the Codebreaker. Actor Mickey Rouke who was just nominated for an academy award for best Actor for “The Wrestler” was ringside for this match, and Jericho would challenge him to enter into the Ring. After some trash talk from Jericho, Rouke had enough and knocked out Y2J with a right hand.
Undertaker Note: The First Main Event we would see The Undertaker face off against The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels. Shawn would enter the arena, as if he was ascending from the heavens wearing all white. Hat, long coat, all white as if he was an angel. To artistically show that he is a direct contrast from The Dead Man. The match started out fast paced between these two legends. Both men, on the early onset went for their signature moves but were blocked by the other. Undertaker, lately had adopted the suicide dive as one of his signature moves, when attempting to do this to Shawn, Shawn would move out the way and throw the “cameraman” in front of Taker instead, avoiding the collision, but with Taker nearly landing on his head. Taker was able to get back into the ring. The match continued, in the match, Shawn was able to hit SCM twice on Taker, with Taker kicking out. Taker hit Shawn with the Tombstone piledriver, which has put many bodies away, but Shawn still kicked out. When Shawn was able to gain back momentum, he went to the top rope and attempted the moonsault, but Taker caught him and hit him with the Tombstone, putting Shawn Michaels away and Taker gaining the victory. The Undertaker is 17-0 at Wrestlemania. It was also declared, critically, as match of the year.
The World Heavyweight Championship was contested for in a Triple Threat match between the champion, Edge, The Big Show, and John Cena. The action started with some brawling and some early teamwork from Big Show and Edge before their alliance crumbled. The match spilled to the outside seeing Edge tackling Big Show through the guardrail with a Spear. Cena returned Edge to the ring before applying the STF before Big Show came to his senses, and broke up the action, leading to Cena and Edge teaming up to remove Big Show from the equation before turning on each other. Cena won the match by lifting The Big Show and set up the Attitude Adjustment, then dropping Edge onto Big Show with the same move before pinning The Big Show to win his second World Heavyweight Championship.
The third and final main event would be for the WWE Championship. match was contested between the champion, Triple H, and Randy Orton. As per a pre-match stipulation by Vickie Guerrero, if Triple H had been disqualified or had been counted out during the match, he would have lost the title to Orton. The match started out as a brawl with both men hitting their respective finishers to try and end the match quickly with both leading to only two-counts; the action continued immediately between the two with Triple H doing everything in his power to hurt Orton without being disqualified in the process. Orton tried to gain more advantage went out of the ring to pick up Triple H’s signature weapon, the sledgehammer. As Orton made his way back to the ring, Triple H ran to Orton, and delivered a punt kick across Orton’s face. The champion would defeat Orton hitting him with it and the Pedigree to retain the WWE Championship.
Match Card:
Dark- The Colóns (Carlito and Primo) defeated John Morrison and The Miz in a lumberjack match to unify the WWE Tag Team Championship and World Tag Team Championship into the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship
PPV-
– CM Punk defeated Kane, Mark Henry (with Tony Atlas), Montel Vontavious Porter, Shelton Benjamin, Kofi Kingston, Christian and Finlay (with Hornswoggle) in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match.
– Santina Marella won by last eliminating Beth Phoenix and Melina in the 25-Diva Battle Royal to crown “Miss Wrestlemania”.
– Chris Jericho defeated Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat and Jimmy Snuka (with Ric Flair) in a Handicap Elimination Match
– Matt Hardy defeated Jeff Hardy in an Extreme Rules Match
– Rey Mysterio defeated John “Bradshaw” Layfield (c) to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship. After this JBL would announce his retirement.
– The Undertaker defeated Shawn Michaels
– John Cena defeated Edge (c) and The Big Show in a Triple Threat Match to win the World Heavyweight Championship
– Triple H (c) defeated Randy Orton to retain the WWE Championship.
Sub-Theme: “The Biggest Wrestlemania Under The Sun”
Celebrities: Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Snoop Dogg, Raven Simone, John Legend and Kim Kardashian
Hall of Fame: Nature Boy Ric Flair, “High Chief” Peter Maivia, “Soulman” Rocky Johnson, Mae Young, Eddie Graham, Gordon Solie,
Wrestlemania is back for more fun under the sun. This time resorting in the land of Mickey Mouse; Orlando, Florida. This would be the 3rd Outdoor Wrestlemania (or 2nd if you truly count 19) produced by the World Wrestling Entertainment. But this would be the first Wrestlemania taking place in Florida. Around this time is when the WWE announced that they wanted to place Wrestlemania in more tourist friendly/family vacation friendly locations. And what better place to start then being down the street from the Magic Kingdom.
Going into this Wrestlemania, John Cena made his epic return to the WWE after a 3 month absence of being “injured” (making a movie), at the 2008 Royal Rumble as the surprised #30 entrant in Madison Square Garden. Cena would get retribution against the man that he was last in the Rumble with in 2005; Batista. Him, Batista and Triple H were the last three in the ring, but this time it would be Cena who would be the victor. Cena earned the right to face the WWE Champion at Wrestlemania. In this case, it would be Randy Orton. Now, in a move that I still question to this day, Cena “cashes in(?)” his Wrestlemania Title match against Orton at the No Way Out PPV. In the match, Orton (being smart) got himself disqualified and retained the title. That same night, Triple H won in the elimination chamber, to make him the #1 contender for the WWE title at Wrestlemania. The Next night on Raw, Cena demands his rematch clause be exercised. This would bring us to this match now being a Triple Threat Match at Wretlemania for the WWE Title.
Almost one year ago, Edge pulled off one of the biggest swerves in the company history when he cashed in Mr. Kennedys MITB briefcase against The Undertaker to win the World Heavyweight Championship. And thanks to Mark Henry, “injuring” Taker, this would leave Undertaker on the shelf for the rest of the year. After Edge successfully defended the World title at No Way Out, it was now time for him to pay back what is owed. The Undertaker wants a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania 24.
Wrestlemania starts off and starts off hot! One of the first matches on the card is the 3rd annual Money in the Bank Ladder Match. The contestants would be CM Punk, Shelton Benjamin, Chris Jericho, Carlito, MVP, Mr. Kennedy and John Morrison. We saw some unbelievable spots in this match between these men. Shelton, no doubt, showed out to be the most impressive, next to John Morrison. This may’ve been one of the most exciting ones to date, but in the end, it would be CM Punk to climb the ladder and obtain the briefcase to win the match.
In the return of the Inter-promotional matches, Batista (representing Smackdown) defeated Umaga (representing Raw).
In what is said to have been one of the most emotional matches in Wrestlemania History, Shawn Michaels faced The Nature Boy Ric Flair in a “Career Threatening Match”. Back in November 2007, Ric Flair made a strong return to the ring and was back for action. However, Vince McMahon said otherwise. Vince put a stipulation in his contract that if he were to lose one more match, then his career with the WWE would be over. Flair went on a very successful run, since November of defeating wrestler after wrestler. Winning match after match. But Flair, being the man that he is, lives by the phrase (that he made popular) “To Be The Man, You Got To Beat The Man!” This would only be true, if he were to beat “the man”, and that is Shawn Michaels, Mr. Wrestlemania. This match would be signed for WM 24. Flair came out in front of the sold out crowd in a breath taking brand new robe, for this would be the night where he would fight for his career. In the match, both men engaged in a series of counters with each other. We saw some classic HBK and of course some classic FLAIR! Later in the match, Shawn went for Sweet Chin Music but was stopped by Flair and wrapped in the Figure Four Leg Lock! Later Shawn actually HIT Sweet Chin Music on Flair, but he kicked out. Shawn locked him in his own version of the figure four, but Flair (being the dirtiest payer in the game) gave Shawn a thumb to eye to get out. After an exchange of moves, Shawn hits Flair one more time with SCM, but Shawn knew that if he was going to put him out, he had to take him out for good. Flair saw that it was coming, but he was not willing to go down without a fight. Urging and challenging Shawn to “come on”, Shawn whispered the words “I’m Sorry, I Love You” to Flair. Just as those words flowed from his mouth, it was almost like a poetic rhythm, when Shawn landed Sweet Chin Music on him, and just like that the historic career of the Nature Boy Ric Flair, came to an end, as the referee counted the mat, 1, 2 and 3. As the two men hugged in the middle of the ring, 70, 000 plus fans stood on their feet and gave him the most well deserved and emotional farewell standing ovation in the history of Professional Wrestling. Ric exited the Citrus Bowl to the sounds and chants of “Thank You Flair. Thank You Flair.” And yes…Thank you, Flair.
The WWE Championship would be on the line against 3 of the biggest stars in the business today. Randy Orton, defending the WWE title against Triple H and John Cena. This would be the first time in Wrestlemania History where the WWE Championship was defended in a scheduled triple threat match at Wrestlemania. This match was unique as the three of them displayed many moves which involved them together. It really was hard to tell who would be able to take this match and gain the victory as we have three of the best in the world in the ring at the same time. The ending of the match showed Cena having Triple H in the FU position, looking to hit it and regain the WWE title, but Triple H, falls out from it, counters it and hit Cena with the Pedigree. As Triple H is going for the pin fall, from out of nowhere, Orton punts Triple H in the head and it is Orton who covers Cena for the 1,2,3 victory to retain the WWE Championship.
The 2nd Main Event would be the highly publicized Big Show vs Floyd Money Maywheather. Boxer vs Wrestler in a no DQ match. The story with these two came about at the No Way Out PPV, where Floyd Maywheather, broke the nose of The Big Show with bare knuckles. Since Floyd wants to play rough, Big Show challenged him to a one on one fight in the middle of the wrestlemania ring. Maywhether came to the ring with his entire entourage, he needed all of the backup help he could get. Early in the match, Floyd tried exercising whatever tactics he could so he could escape from The Big Show, but nothing was working as Big Show kept catching him. Floyd was looking for any excuse to not do this match, even resorting to him and his crew leaving the arena, but Big show caught him. Floyd was able to get his hands on a steel chair, but even that wasn’t enough to put out the Giant. Floyd resorted back to what brought him to the dance in eh first place, he took off his gloves and put on a pair of brass knuckles and clocked Big Show with them across the face. The Big Show was knocked out and couldn’t answer the 10 count. Money Maywheather is declared victorious. Still undefeated.
Undertaker Note: The 3rd and final Main Event would be for the World Heavyweight Championship. This would also be the two men with undefeated Wrestlemania streaks going against each other. Someone will leave Mania with their streak broken. The early going of the match was slow-paced, in which both superstars countered each other’s maneuvers. During the match, Undertaker ran and leapt over the top rope from the ring onto Edge on the outside. Then throughout the match, Edge was able to counter Undertaker’s numerous signature moves, including the Chokeslam, Old School and the Last Ride, a variation of the powerbomb. Near the end, Edge hit Undertaker with a television camera while the referee was knocked down. When he proceeded to deliver a Tombstone Piledriver to Undertaker, the latter countered it into his own version and successfully delivered it to Edge for a two-count. Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder came to the ring for Edge’s aid, but Undertaker took them out. Because of their distraction, Edge was able to hit a spear on Undertaker, but was unable to pin him. When Edge delivered another spear to Undertaker, the latter caught him in his Hell’s Gate submission hold and forced Edge to tap out to become the new World Heavyweight Champion. The Undertaker is now 16-0.
This would bring Edges’ Wrestlemania undefeated streak to an end, as Edge would now be 5-1.
Match Card
Dark- Kane won by last eliminating Mark Henry. The other participants were: Elijah Burke, Lance Cade, Deuce, Domino, Tommy Dreamer, Jim Duggan, Festus, The Great Khali, Hardcore Holly, Jesse, Brian Kendrick, Kofi Kingston, The Miz, Shannon Moore, Trevor Murdoch, Jamie Noble, Chuck Palumbo, Cody Rhodes, Snitsky, Stevie Richards, Val Venis and Jimmy Wang Yang in a 25 Man interpromotional Battle Royal, to determine who would face the ECW Champion later on in the night.
PPV
-John “Bradshaw” Layfield defeated Finlay (with Hornswoggle) in a Belfast Brawl
– CM Punk defeated Shelton Benjamin, Chris Jericho, Carlito, Montel Vontavious Porter, Mr. Kennedy, and John Morrison in the Money in the Bank Ladder match.
– Batista (representing Smackdown) defeated Umaga (representing Raw) in a inter-promotional match.
– Kane defeated Chavo Guerrero (c) to win the ECW Championship
– Shawn Michaels defeated Ric Flair in a career threatening match.
– Beth Phoenix and Melina (with Santino Marella) defeated Maria and Ashley. In a Playboy Bunny Mania Lumber Jill Match.
– Randy Orton (c) defeated John Cena and Triple H to retain the WWE Championship
– Floyd Mayweather defeated The Big Show by knockout in a no DQ match.
– The Undertaker defeated Edge (c) (with Vickie Guerrero, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder) to win the World Heavyweight Championship.
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)
Maurice D. Proffit
proffitspiledriver 