Wrestlemania XXV (Written By: Maurice D. Proffit)

Wrestlemania XXV (25)

 

Date: April 5th 2009

City: Houston, Texas

Venue: Reliant Stadium

Combined Attendance: 72,744

Sub-Theme: “The 25th Anniversary of Wrestlemania”

Celebrities: Mickey Rouke, Nicole Scherzinger and Kid Rock

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.

Wrestlemania XIX (Written By: Maurice D. Proffit)

Wrestlemania XIX

 

Date: March 30^th 2003

City: Seattle, Washington

Venue: Safeco Field

Combined Attendance: 54,097

Sub-Theme: “Dare to Dream”

Celebrities: Limp Bizkit and the “Bud Light Girls” (smh) and Ashanti

 

 

Wrestlemania 19 was live from Seattle, Washington. Depending either how you look at it or who you are, you can say this was either the 2^nd outdoor wrestlemania or the 1st semi outdoor wrestlemania. Either way, it was a fully eventful mania.

This would be the first Wrestlemania where both of the company’s main championship titles would be defended. Since the Undisputed title was born a year prior (the physical belt), the idea of the champion bouncing back between the Raw and Smackdown Brand just wasn’t enough. And there was no way in the world that the IC title would be parallel as the main title on Raw, next to the Undisputed Championship on Smackdown. To remedy this situation, Eric Bishoff brought back the World Heavyweight Championship belt on an episode of Raw in September 2002 and awarded the title to Triple H. Triple H was the Champion on Raw and Brock Lesnar was the champion on Smackdown (which was now the WWE Championship). Brock lost the title at the 2002 Survivor Series to The Big Show, after being betrayed by Paul Hayman. Kurt Angle defeated The Big Show at Armageddon 2002 to win the WWE Championship. Brock Lesnar goes on to win the 2003 Royal Rumble, but there is a fall out between him and Angle. Angle is dead set on making sure that Brock is in no condition to wrestle for the title at Mania. Paul Heyman (no aligned with Kurt) Awards him with two wrestlers who are known as “Team Angle” Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin. Each week, both Haas and Benjamin try to take out Lesnar, but the plans never work out. After a series of matches between the three, this leads us to the final solution, Angle has to face Brock and defeat him himself, and this brings us to Wrestlemania. In the meantime, Triple H has been defending the title left and right against many competitors. Between RVD, Bubba Ray Dudley, Kane, Shawn Michaels and more, it’s been a nonstop battle. Booker T, wins a Raw battle royal to see who will wrestle the champ at Mania, and this leads to Triple H’s next opponent, Booker T.

Wrestlemania 19 is one of the most stacked Manias ever and loaded with top tier main event caliber matches. It’s hard to determine where to start since it seems as if every match on the card is worthy enough to close the show. An intense mania this is, indeed.

Undertaker Note: The Undertaker was originally involved in a tag match, teaming up with Nathan Jones to take on The Big Show and A-Train. Nathan Jones suffered an “injury” and could not compete, leaving the dead man to fend for himself. Undertaker took on both giants and defeated them both. The Undertaker is 11-0 at Wrestlemania.

Shawn Michaels vs Chris Jericho goes down as one of the top 10 greatest wrestlemania matches of all time. This would be Shawn Michaels Wrestlemania return to the ring. He has not been at a wrestlemania since WM 14 when he dropped the belt to Austin. The story leading into this Mania was about Chris Jericho’s (legitimate) childhood obsession of HBK. Hair like his as he’s coming up, style like his, build like his. Jericho admired Shawn to the fullest extent and naturally when you’re obsessed with someone, the best thing to do is take them out. This match was almost like a mirror match watching these two men go at it with each other. It was move after move, hold after hold, bump after bump that was a mimic of the other. But Late into the match, Michaels attempted to hit Jericho with Sweet chin music, however, Jericho countered it into a Walls of Jericho. After Michaels freed himself from Jericho’s submission hold, Jericho attempted a suplex that Michaels countered into a roll-up that gave Michaels a successful pinfall, thus Michaels won the match.

Triple H would successfully defend the World Heavyweight Championship belt against Booker T, but Booker T definately took Triple H to the absolute limit. With the exception of losing the WHC championship in the elimination chamber to Shawn Michaels, Booker legitimetly looked as if he was going to take the championship belt off the waist of Triple H.

Hulk Hogan faced off against his former employer, Vince McMahon in a street fight. Vince made the claim that he was the one that created Hulkamania, and that Hogan should acknowledge it. Hogan was hell; bent on the fact that the FANS were the ones who created Hulkamania. Due to Hogan’s defiance, Vince stated that he is going to kill what he created, and that would be Hulkamania. Both Hogan and McMahon tested each other’s strength in the beginning of the match, until McMahon tossed Hogan onto ringside. Hogan then countered a chairshot by McMahon into several of his own, that caused McMahon to bleed from the head. Late into the match, Roddy Piper interfered in the match as he hit Hogan with a pipe. Hogan however, later retaliated by hitting McMahon with a Big boot into a Leg drop and successfully pinned McMahon, thus Hogan won the match.

The next sharing the main event was the impeccable; Rock vs Austin Part 3. Never in the history of the WWF or WWE, has there been two men who main evented 3 wrestlemanias against each other. That just tells you a lot about the impact of influence that both Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock have on the business. They wrestled at both WM 15 and WM 17, on both occasions Stone Cold Steve Austin would leave victorious. This match proved that this was The Rock’s destiny to win. The match was a nonstop brawl between the two as they engaged in a heated exchange with each other. Austin was suffering from complications from his neck and looked as if he may not be able to compete, but he did indeed and gave a helluva match. Throughout the match, Rock worked over Austin’s leg, which included Rock applying a Sharpshooter on Austin. Rock then began to taunt Austin, as he put on his vest and imitated his taunts, which led to The Rock running into a Rock Bottom by Austin. Rock then retaliated by hitting Austin with a Stone Cold stunner. Earlier, The Rock cut a promo in which he stated that in Hollywood, it’s not about Act 1 nor Act 2; everyone goes home and remembers Act 3. And Act 3 is what they remembered. Because after he failed to pin Austin with the People’s elbow, Rock then hit Austin with three Rock Bottoms that led to the Rock successfully pinning Austin, thus The Rock won the match.

The final main event was a WWE Championship match between Brock Lesnar and the champion, Kurt Angle, with the stipulation that there would be no Champion’s Advantage (in other words, the title could change hands on a disqualification or a count out). Both men put on a clinic! The match began with Lesnar and Angle wrestling back and forth, until Angle countered a shoulder block into a German suplex. Lesnar would then attempt to retaliate by attempting to F-5 Angle, however, Angle countered it into an Ankle lock, that Lesnar was able to escape out of. As Lesnar escaped, Angle would attempt to deliver an Angle slam, however, Lesnar countered it into an F-5. Instead of covering Angle, Lesnar climbed to the top rope and hit a botched Shooting star press on Angle, which Angle covered for by going for the pin attempt and getting a two count. After Lesnar kicked out, Angle picked up Lesnar only to be hit with another F-5, Lesnar then successfully pinned Angle, winning the match and the WWE Championship.

Match Card

 

Heat- Lance Storm and Chief Morley (c) (with Dudley Boyz) defeated Kane and Rob Van Dam to retain the WWE World Tag Team Championship titles (First time a title match was on a Wrestlemania pre show)

PPV

–Matt Hardy (c) (with Shannon Moore) defeated Rey Mysterio to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship

–The Undertaker defeated The Big Show and A-Train in a handicap match.

–Trish Stratus defeated Victoria (c) (with Steven Richards) and Jazz to retain the WWE Women’s Championship

–Team Angle (Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas) (c) defeated Los Guerreros (Eddie and Chavo Guerrero) and Chris Benoit and Rhyno to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship  (The Smackdown Tag Team Titles)

–Shawn Michaels defeated Chris Jericho

–Triple H (c) (with Ric Flair) defeated Booker T to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.

–Hulk Hogan defeated Vince McMahon in a street fight

–The Rock defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin

–Brock Lesnar defeated Kurt Angle (c) to win the WWE 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.
 
 
 
 

Wrestlemania X (Written By: Maurice D. Proffit)

Wrestlemania 10

 
Date: March 20th, 1994
City: New York, New York
Venue: Madison Square Garden
Combined Attendance: 18,065
Sub-Theme: “Ten Years In The Making”
Celebrities: Burt Reynolds, Rhonda Sheer, Jennie Garth, Little Richard and Donnie Walberg
 
 
 
Wrestlemania 10 was the celebration of the 10 year anniversary of Wrestlemania. Bringing it back to where everything started, Madison Square Garden in New York city. This was an obvious celebratory weekend for the World Wrestling Federation; due to the fact that just 10 years earlier, Vince McMahon was doubted and laughed at, that his vision of Mania would actually work. And here were are 10 years later with the WWF still to be a prominent force.
 
The WWF wanted to make sure that this event had a unique and special feel to the event, to keep the fans attention strong. This is also the first Wrestlemania, where Hulk Hogan would not be attending, due to not being with the company anymore and is on the horizon to sign with World Championship Wrestling (WCW). With this and the absence of the popular Undertaker, it was imperative, that all talent would make the in ring work memorable. And according to what was given us (the fans), the word “memorable” is an understatement.
 
Due to the results in the 1994 Royal Rumble (2 months earlier), both Lex Luger and Bret Hart (co-winners of the Rumble) had to determine a coin flip as to who would get the first WWF Championship match at Wrestlemania. If Luger wins the coin toss, Luger would get the first shot at Yokozuna (WWF Champ); while Bret would have to wrestle Owen Hart. Bret would then wrestle the winner of Luger and Yoko. If Hart wins the coin toss, Bret would get the first shot at Yoko; while Luger would have to wrestle Crush. Luger would wrestle the winner between Bret and Yoko. This way, making sure that either man or both, wrestles twice that night. Luger wins the coin toss. The main event matches have been set for wrestlemania 10.
 
 
Wrestlemania 10 starts out on the right foot…a clinic. The opening match was Bret “The Hitman” Hart vs “The Rocket” Owen Hart. Owen for quite some time was more so a forgotten wrestler. He wore the proverbial “Oh yeah, Bret’s brother” hat for a long time. But since he made a name for himself at the Survivor Series 93 and Royal Rumble 94, he made it clear that he was paving a new path for himself, and Wrestlemania would be the grand stage to show that he was more than just “Bret’s baby brother”, but that he was indeed BETTER. Watching these two in the ring, you could tell that they knew each other very well and were each other’s best opponents they’ve had in their careers. The match was a clear back and forth of give and take in terms of move after move after move. This was 20 of the best minuets you could ever spend. Until at the pivotal point of the match where Bret went to victory roll his brother, but Owen blocked the move and got the 1-2-3 victory in the middle of the Garden. Owen didn’t just jump out the shadow, but sky rocketed out of the shadow from Bret. From this day forward, Owen was now a player in the World Wrestling Federation.

 
First WWF Championship match; Yokozuna vs Lex Luger; special surprise guest referee “Mr. Perfect”, question is, how would this fare when Luger and Perfect had history at last year’s wrestlemania? Let’s find out. The match was as good as it could get. This was really Lex’s last chance at winning the WWF Title, since his plans of winning it at SummerSlam 93 didn’t work out, and his popularity was threatening to wear thin. Plus he got new music that night which threw everyone off. I’m not sure if this is legit, but rumor has it that Lex was supposed to win the WWF title this night, and someone found out that he was bragging about it with Bert Reynolds the night before, and those plans were scratched immediately. Not sure how valid that was, considering the booking, but if true, Luger, your idiocy never ceases to amaze me. Back to the match, Luger knocked Yoko out with the leaded forearm, but attacked and brought in both Jim Cornett and Mr. Fuji into the ring. With them still in the ring, Luger was trying to pin Yoko, where Perfect was more concerned with getting the managers out the ring. Luger let his frustration get the best of him, and he pushed Mr. Perfect and Perfect had no other choice but to disqualify him. Luger lost by DQ and Yoko retains.

 
 
Undertaker Note: The Undertaker was not at Wrestlemania 10. Taker is still 3-0 at wrestlemania
 
The highlight of the night (once again) for the undisputed Intercontinental Championship was the first ever WWF PPV ladder match between The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels vs Razor Ramon. Back in Sept 1993, Shawn was stripped of the IC title for not “defending it in 30 days” (aka: failed drug test). WWF held a battle royal and the last two into eh BR would wrestle the next week on Raw. Those two would be Razor and Rick Martel. The next week, those two gave a solid match and Razor ended up winning the IC championship. Months later, Shawn returns to the WWF with his own IC championship, claiming to still be champion because he never lost the belt. Since there are now two IC champs and two belts, there needs to be a match to determine 1 winner. The ladder match with both titles hanging in the balance is more than appropriate to finally settle this. For 1994, this match showed us moves and spots that we as fans have never dreamed of. This every move that was done was an “ooohhhh…oooooohhhh” moment. It was painful to watch because of what they were putting their bodies through, but you couldn’t miss the next move because you knew the next move would top the previous. This match was unreal and deserved the honor it received later as being “Match of the Year” and to this day, still regarded by many as the greatest ladder match in the history of the company. The end saw Razor Ramon, climb each rung, as Shawn was tied up in the ropes and Ramon grabbed both titles and stood tall as the winner and undisputed Intercontinental Champion.

 
 
The closer of the evening was for the World Wrestling Federation Championship (match #2). Yokozuna (champ) vs Bret The Hitman Hart (rematch from last year). Neither man had a physical advantage going into this match, as they were both fatigued from their earlier encounters with their respected opponents. This match’s special surprise guest referee would be “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. Similar to the first championship bout, an obvious question looming over the heads was, “how would this fare with Piper and Hart having history with each other, two wrestlemanias ago”? The match started with Yoko having a head full of steam. Bret still collecting himself from the loss to his brother, earlier in the evening, was obvious as he was off the mark and Yoko just kept connecting move after move. But it’s the will and the perseverance of Bret that kept him going and drove the monster into a rage of frustration as he was realizing that pinning the challenger would not be easy after all. There seemed to be a strong surge that came over Hart when he was able to use dome defense to his advantage. It looked promising until Yoko cut him off and was ready to finish him with the Banzi Drop. As Yoko took him over to the corner, and climbed to the 2nd rope, awaiting to drop the 500+ on Harts chest, Yoko lost his balance on the ropes and fell backwards. Aware of his situation, Hart immediately moved out the way, and just by instincts, Hart went for the cover, hooked the leg, 1-2-3, Bret Hart has won the World Wrestling Federation Championship title for the 2nd time. Madison Square Garden erupted, there wasn’t a fan insight who was not full of elation. This was a celebration worth recognizing, due to the fact that the entire roster came out to congratulate the Hitman in the ring and celebrate his impossible accomplishment.

 
Match Card
 
Dark: The Heavenly Bodies (Jimmy Del Ray and Tom Prichard) (with Jim Cornette) defeated The Bushwhackers (Luke Williams and Butch Miller
 
-Owen Hart defeated Bret Hart
 
-Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon defeated Doink the Clown and Dink
 
-Randy Savage defeated Crush (with Mr. Fuji) (this would be Savages last wrestlemania)
 
-Alundra Blayze (c) defeated Leilani Kai
 
-Men on a Mission (Mabel and Mo) (with Oscar) defeated The Quebecers (c) (Jacques and Pierre) (with Johnny Polo) by countout; but the Quebecers still held on to the WWF Tag Team Championships.
 
-Yokozuna (c) (with Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette) defeated Lex Luger by disqualification to retain the WWF Championship.
 
 
-Earthquake defeated Adam Bomb (with Harvey Wippleman)
 
-Razor Ramon (c) defeated Shawn Michaels (with Diesel) and was declared the Undisputed Intercontinental Championship.
 
-Bret Hart defeated Yokozuna (c) (with Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette) to win the World Wrestling Federation Championship
 

 

Wrestlemania 3 (Written By: Maurice D. Proffit)

Wrestlemania 3

 
Date: March 29th, 1987
Cities: Pontiac, Michigan
Venue: Pontiac Silverdome
Combined Attendance: 93,173
Sub-Theme: “Bigger, Better, Badder”
Celebrities: Mary Hart; Bob Uecker; Alice Cooper and Aretha Franklin
 
At this time, the WWF is smoking hot. They are getting a larger audience by the days, more and more people are purchasing merchandise and shows around north America are selling out faster and faster. The WWF was now, not just a entity by itself, but it shared the limelight with 1980’s pop culture in general with the heavyweight champion of the world, Hulk Hogan, being the symbol behind all of this. With the combination of great business and strong buzz, it was only fitting that taking wrestlemania to the next step up would make sense. With this being said, Vince McMahon, who is no stranger to looking danger dead in the eye, set his sights on creating the largest gathering of wrestling fans and not only break a wrestlemania record, but also a world record of the largest indoor attendance for a show.

The only thing that would make this happen is to book the biggest wrestling match in history, which, to this day, still is being spoken about. Enter in Andre The Giant vs Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship. Andre had a very strong and very dominating career with the WWF and at this time he was in his twilight. Andre, at one time was the biggest draw of the company. Putting him on a wrestling card guaranteed big money, but his glory days were soon behind him. Hulk Hogan was now the face and hero of the World Wrestling Federation. Fans all over the world were hooked onto his determination and charisma, to see him overtake evil. Long time friends they were, but the angle for this was that Bobby Heenan convinced Andre that he should have a crack at the World title that Hogan never gave him a shot at. It was almost instant where the influence of Heenan voided out a nearly 7 year friendship with the two, where greed made friendship subservient. Andre wanted the belt, but Hogan wasn’t ready to die. Hogan vs Andre was the classic “passing of the torch” match. One generations leader was passing the torch to the next to lead the company into the future. Although there was looming doubt that was above the heads of management and the wrestlers, regarding how Andre would handle this match, it was clear and obvious that Andre knew what was best for business when Hogan body slammed the monster and hit him with the leg drop for the 1-2-3 victory. Ending Andres 10 yrs undefeated streak and Hogan retaining the world title. The match cemented both men into the history books not only as competitors, but also legends.
 
MATCH CARD
-The Can-Am Connection (Rick Martel and Tom Zenk) defeated Bob Orton and The Magnificent Muraco (with Mr. Fuji)

-Billy Jack Haynes and Hercules (with Bobby Heenan) fought to a double countout
-Hillbilly Jim, The Haiti Kid and Little Beaver defeated King Kong Bundy, Little Tokyo and Lord Littlebrook by disqualification
-Harley Race (with Bobby Heenan and The Fabulous Moolah) defeated The Junkyard Dog
-The Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake) (with Johnny Valiant and Dino Bravo) defeated The Rougeau Brothers (Jacques and Raymond)
-Roddy Piper defeated Adrian Adonis (with Jimmy Hart)
-The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) and Danny Davis (with Jimmy Hart) defeated The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and The Dynamite Kid) and Tito Santana
-Butch Reed (with Slick) defeated Koko B. Ware
-Ricky Steamboat (with George Steele) defeated Randy Savage (Intercontinental Championship) (with Miss Elizabeth). Steamboat wins the Intercontinental Championship; in what is being said (to this day) is the greatest match in history.
-The Honky Tonk Man (with Jimmy Hart) defeated Jake Roberts (with Alice Cooper)
-The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff (with Slick) defeated The Killer Bees (B. Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell) by disqualification
-Hulk Hogan (World Wrestling Federation Champion) defeated André the Giant (with Bobby Heenan)

 
 

Wrestlemania 1 (Written by: Maurice D. Proffit)

Wrestlemania 1

Date: March 31^st 1985

City: New York, New York

Venue: Madison Square Garden

Attendance: 19,121

Sub-Theme: “The Greatest Wrestling Event of All Time”

Celebrities: Mr. T; Muhammad Ali; Billy Martin; Cyndi Lauper; Liberace and the Rockettes.

Wrestlemania 1. The event that started this worldwide phenomena. Vincent K. McMahon Jr. purchased World Wide Wrestling Federation from his father (Vincent J. McMahon Sr.) in 1980. Immediately after the purchase and when he became chairman, Vince Jr. renamed the company “World Wrestling Federation”, this all took place after he purchased the Cape Cod Coliseum where he was promoting hockey games. Vince was reinventing the wheel in terms of the concept of professional wrestling. Getting away from its archaic ways of dark dingy halls, and stiff long lasting matches. Vince looked to go in a more modern direction with his company and embrace pop culture. Vince was working side by side with MTV. MTV just launched its network of embracing edgy rock music, and anti establishment message behind its product. It was a perfect match that Vince wanted, since he wanted to reach out to a new demographic. Between 1984 and 1985, The WWF and MTV were airing wrestling shows, that had a cross connection with Pop culture and wrestling. “The Brawl to End it All” and “The War to Settle the Score”. This all lead up to what Vince dreamed as the biggest wrestling show in history…Wrestlemania. And his concept did NOT disappoint. He put his all and everything into this one event, and if it was a failure, then so would be the WWF. It was the ultimate gamble and he succeeded beyond imagination. The Main event of Wrestlemania was WWF Champion Hulk Hogan teaming up with Mr. T  (with Superfly Jimmy Snucka in their corner), to face Rowdy Roddy Piper and Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff (with Cowboy Bob Orton in their corner). Muhammad Ali was the outside enforcer of the match. Billy Martin (of the NY Yankees) was the ring announcer for the main event. The Main Event saw the Team of Hulk Hogan and Mr. T prevail into Victory. Not only was this team victorious, so was Vince McMahon and the WWF!

Match Card:

–Tito Santana defeated The Executioner (4:50)

–King Kong Bundy (with Jimmy Hart) defeated Special Delivery Jones (00:23)

–Ricky Steamboat defeated Matt Borne  (4:37)

–David Sammartino (with Bruno Sammartino) fought Brutus Beefcake (with Johnny Valiant) to a double disqualification  (12:43)

-The Junkyard Dog defeated Greg Valentine (Intercontinental Champion) (with Jimmy Hart) by countout. (7:05)

–Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik (with Freddie Blassie) defeated The U.S. Express (Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham) to win the WWF Tag Team Championships. (6:55)

–André the Giant defeated Big John Studd (with Bobby Heenan). In a $15,000 Body Slam Challenge.  (5:53)

–Wendi Richter (with Cyndi Lauper) defeated Leilani Kai (c) (with The Fabulous Moolah). To win the WWF Womens Championship.  (6:12)

–Hulk Hogan and Mr. T (with Jimmy Snuka) defeated Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff (with Cowboy Bob Orton).  (13:13)