WWE WrestleMania 9 Review

The ninth WrestleMania was a historic event because it marked the first time a WrestleMania would be held outdoors. They were at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and they were able to seat nearly 17,000 people in the venue.

It was an interesting year for WWE. The mix of aging stars and the upcoming Vince McMahon steroid trial cast a shadow over the company, leading to changes in the roster.

This show marked a changing of the guard, so to speak. The mid-90s brought in a new era for WWE. Of the four wrestlers in the double main event from the previous year, only Hulk Hogan participated here, as Randy Savage moved to the announcer’s desk while Ric Flair and Sid Justice moved on. Note: I did not miss Sid. It was the start of a transitional period that led to the next five WrestleManias featuring some incredible matches, although there were plenty of bad moments too. Yokozuna went from not even being part of the roster to main eventing this show, while Bret Hart moved up from being the Intercontinental Champion to the World Champion. It was a time of change in WWE.

It was a big year for WWE because they debuted Monday Night Raw on January 11, 1993. It was also the year the company introduced its fifth annual PPV, June’s King of the Ring, alongside the four biggest events known as WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble. The show was a major milestone for the company, and since it was the first WrestleMania after the Raw debut, they probably had high expectations for it. Did it deliver? Let’s find out.

There are a lot of things to criticize with this show with good reason, but I thought the set looked fabulous. In terms of set design, it was pretty impressive.

WWE WrestleMania IX
April 4, 1993
From Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada

Vince McMahon did the voiceover before the show. We met the host, Gorilla Monsoon. This was the first WrestleMania where he’s not doing play-by-play. He was dressed in a toga for the first time in his life. He handed it over to Jim Ross, who would be calling the action in his WrestleMania debut. He was in a toga. It looked odd.

We were introduced to Caesar and Cleopatra, followed by Randy Savage, who was carried out to the ringside area where he’d be calling the action along with the announcers. Lastly, Bobby Heenan was introduced, and he was on a camel. Oh, the comedy. Howard Finkel’s name was “Finkus Maximus” for this show. The show’s intro lasted about eight minutes, and I wish I could have that time back.

The first match was for the Intercontinental Title. Shawn Michaels entered as the IC Champion with Luna Vachon by his side. He had split from Sherri by this point, so he brought Luna along. His opponent was Tatanka, who came out to a big pop. After Tatanka walked out alone, Sensational Sherri made her way to ringside and stood with Tatanka.

Intercontinental Title: Shawn Michaels vs. Tatanka

I was a fan of Sherri and Luna because they were great managers who also had experience as wrestlers. In other words, they knew what they were doing out there. Tatanka was a midcard babyface who was undefeated while Michaels kept getting better as a performer every year. Tatanka countered a side headlock with a back suplex. He missed a charge in the corner, but put Michaels down with arm drags followed by a dropkick. Michaels did the upside-down bump over the top to the floor. Sherri prevented Luna from helping Shawn. Michaels hit a sunset flip off the top for two. Impressive spot there. Tatanka hit the inverted atomic drop and then a DDT. Michaels was selling a shoulder injury, so Tatanka worked it over and used an armbar. Michaels came back, whipped Tatanka into the corner and made a charge shoulder first that Tatanka avoided so Shawn went crashing left shoulder first into the ring post. Tatanka put him in another armbar. The match picked up only for Tatanka to slow it down with another armbar. Tatanka gave him a shoulderbreaker…on the right shoulder. Oops. Then he hit a chop off the top rope. He went to the top again, but this time Michaels countered with a superkick to the face. Great spot. Michaels dumped him to the floor so Luna could go after him, but Sherri stopped it from happening. Michaels ran on the apron and hit a clothesline to Tatanka while he was out on the floor. Michaels taunted Sherri, which got a nice reaction from the crowd, who didn’t care too much about Tatanka. Michaels hit a dropkick for two. Michaels put him in a chinlock. Michaels went for a victory roll, but it didn’t really work as Savage busted out a McMahon-like: “What a maneuver!” Michaels went on Tatanka’s shoulders and Tatanka fell back to send Shawn crashing to the mat. That got Tatanka a two count. Michaels came back with a double ax to the back three consecutive times, but Tatanka used it to power up. He’s Tatanka-ing Up…or something. Not exactly the same ring to it as Hulking Up huh? Tatanka hit a big chop to the throat that Michaels sold by spinning around in an overdramatic way. Tatanka hit a crossbody for two. Best nearfall of the match so far. Tatanka hit a slingshot into the ring post, which was a bump Michaels always did and that got Tatanka a very good nearfall as well. Michaels got a pinfall attempt with a rollup. Michaels went up to the top, jumped and was caught by Tatanka, who gave him a powerslam for two. Michaels kicked him out of the ring. Michaels went for a crossbody block off the apron. Tatanka moved. Tatanka went back into the ring and Michaels pulled ref Joey Marella (son of Gorilla Monsoon) to the floor. When Michaels went back in, Tatanka hit the Fallaway Slam (Samoan Drop) and instead of counting, the ref DQ’d Michaels for putting his hands on him. Tatanka won via DQ at 18:19, so Michaels kept the title.

Winner: Tatanka by DQ

Analysis: **3/4 It was a decent match, although it was hampered by going about five minutes too long. There were too many rest holds, and Tatanka went to the armbar far too often. The shoulder injury that was emphasized during the first half of the match was completely ignored by the end. Michaels’ bumping in the last five minutes was pretty spectacular, though. You could tell he was on another level from everyone else. They booked the finish that way to avoid giving Tatanka a loss since he was undefeated.

Post match, Luna hit a clothesline on Sherri followed by a body slam. I remember they had a wild brawl on Raw after this that was better than most women’s brawls.

Backstage, Mean Gene was also dressed in a costume and he talked to the Steiner Brothers, who were making their WWE debut. This was when Scott Steiner had long hair and looked pretty normal.

The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott) vs. The Headshrinkers (Samu & Fatu)

The Steiners were the faces here while the Headshrinkers were the heels. Fatu went through a lot of gimmicks, though he was most famously known as Rikishi. He was a lot smaller here. Scott hit a big clothesline early. Headshrinkers threw the Steiners out of the ring. Steiners recovered, went to the top rope and hit top rope clotheslines on each of their opponents. Afa regrouped his team by giving Samu & Fatu a DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER~! That’s how you motivate a team I guess. Rick got a clothesline on Samu and followed that up by throwing Samu’s head into the turnbuckle. Scott hit a butterfly suplex followed by a dropkick. Scott Steiner was an incredible athlete. Scott took a scary bump over the top rope after a move that looked like a stun gun, but the rope got pulled down and Scotty took the bump face first. Then Afa hit him with a cane. Fatu hit a headbutt. Rick saved his brother. Fatu hit a running knee on Scott and knocked him out to the floor. Savage fired off a lot of clichés on commentary, this time saying that he thinks the Steiners will “rise to the occasion.” Nice dropkick by Samu as they continued to work over Scott. The ref in this match is Bill Alfonso, who was a manager in ECW. Heenan said they had been working over Scott for 15 minutes. It was half of that. Steiner hit a double clothesline with Fatu. Crowd was dead. Samu went up for a splash, Scott moved and got the hot tag to Rick as the crowd woke up. Rick cleaned house until he tried a DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER~! but that’s not an effective move against the Headshrinkers. Fatu put Rick on his shoulders, Samu went to the top and Rick caught him and slammed him! Holy crap that was amazing. I didn’t remember that spot. Scott tagged in and hit a belly to belly suplex on Fatu, but Samu was there to kick him in the head. Steiner whipped him in and finished off Samu with the Frankensteiner for the win at 14:22.

Winners by pinfall: The Steiner Brothers

Analysis: *3/4 It was okay. Ran a little long. The crowd didn’t care for the drawn-out babyface in peril spot where the Headshrinkers worked on Steiner. There were two amazing moves in this match: Rick’s powerslam and Scott’s Frankensteiner, which wasn’t a common move in American wrestling at that time. The right team won this match.

Backstage, Mean Gene talked to Doink the Clown, who was an evil clown. They showed clips of his feud with Crush, who was now a Hawaiian rather than being a part of Demolition.

Crush vs. Doink The Clown

Crush was the face who was angry with Doink for all of his tricks that angered Crush. Crush attacked Doink outside the ring before the match. Back in the ring, Crush overpowered him with a hard whip into the turnbuckle. Savage: “Crush em, Crush.” Okay then. Crush hit a neckbreaker that JR called beautiful even though it was the complete opposite of that. Crush hit a backbreaker. Finally, Doink got an offensive move in by choking Crush along the top rope and then hitting some double axehandles off the top. Doink hit a piledriver. Doink slammed him down and then missed a leap off the top thanks to Crush getting his foot up. Crush hit a clothesline to send Doink outside the ring. Doink tried to crawl under the ring, but Crush stopped him. Crush signaled for his finisher, which was a head squeeze. One of the worst finishers ever. Doink shoved him off, which caused the ref to get bumped. Crush hit a spin kick and then crushed his head with the hand squeeze on the head. From behind, a second Doink attacked with a loaded fake arm (just like when he attacked Crush prior to this match) and he hit Crush in the back with it. He hit Crush in the head twice. Heenan called it one of the greatest tricks he’s ever seen. “What a great illusion.” That’s funny. Of course, the ref was out for all of it. Then Doink covered and the ref woke up to count the pin at 8:28.

Winner by pinfall: Doink

After the match, ref Bill Alfonso told ref Joey Marella there was a second Doink. They looked under the ring for the other Doink. He was not there.

Analysis: -* Terrible match. The crowd was completely dead the whole time until the second Doink appeared. I’m jealous of the ref who was knocked out during this boring match. I wish I had been knocked out too.

Annoying interview guy Todd Pettengill talked to some foreign photographers who were marking out for Yokozuna.

Razor Ramon vs. Bob Backlund

This was the first WrestleMania for both of them. Razor was the cocky heel here. Backlund was the experienced former babyface champion who was really nice. Even though Razor was the heel, the crowd chanted for him. He was cool. Backlund was not. Backlund started it off with some leg trips. Heenan mentioned that Backlund was 43 years old and was making a comeback after being off for the previous eight years. Razor attacked with stiff punches to the head. Backlund came back with arm drags and a forearm shot to the head. Backlund hit a butterfly suplex, followed by an atomic drop. Razor countered him with an inside cradle for the win at 3:45.

Winner by pinfall: Razor Ramon

Analysis: 1/2* The right guy won. He should have won with his finisher, though. I guess the point of it was that he beat the wrestler with a wrestling hold.

Backstage, Mean Gene interviewed Ted Dibiase and Irwin R. Schyster, the tag team champions. They showed a clip of IRS attacking Brutus Beefcake with a briefcase shot to the head, which set up this match. They threatened Brutus, saying they would break his face.

Hulk had a black eye. He got into some kind of jet-ski accident days before the show, but they covered it during the pre-match promo by saying Money Inc caused it. Brutus was wearing a mask to sell the broken face injury. With Hulk’s music playing, they cleared the ring of Money Inc. Hulk had been away for much of 1992 due to acting commitments, and he looked as thin as I’ve ever seen him here. Whatcha gonna do with a busted-up eye, brother?

Money Inc. (Ted Dibiase & Irwin R. Shyster) vs. The Mega Maniacs (Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake)

The champs doubled on Brutus, but when Ted tried to hit him in the face, he hurt his own hand due to the mask on Brutus. Beefcake rammed their heads into eachother for the DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER~! Then Brutus rammed Ted’s face ten times into the turnbuckle and then into Hogan’s boot. Savage really enjoyed saying “Mega Maniacs” with a lot of oomph to it. Hulk got his punches in and then a double boot with Brutus. Hulk hit a double axe off the middle rope. It’s so weird seeing Hogan this slim. I guess if you want to know what Hogan looked like without the help of steroids, you can see this match. Hulk cleared the ring of Dibiase and then he threw IRS out as well. Money Inc. tried to walk out, so ref Earl Hebner ruled that if they left they would also lose their tag titles. They ran back in. Back in the ring, Dibiase cheated to get control of Hogan. They cheated a lot behind the ref’s back. Like I always say, no ref in wrestling history was better at missing the action than Earl Hebner. Dibiase hit the Million Dollar Dream. The crowd didn’t react at all for his finishing move. Slowly, they did make some noise. Savage with another cliché: “Hanging from the rafters…if there were rafters.” That was awkwardly funny. Hulk powered out before his arm dropped three times. Brutus ran in and put Dibiase in a sleeper, but IRS was arguing with the ref. When the ref turned around, he tripped over Dibiase. That was funny. Hogan & Dibiase were both down for the double knockout spot. Hulk sat up just before the ten count. Hot tag to Brutus, who hit a running knee on IRS, and an atomic drop sent Dibiase to the floor. Then he hit punches on IRS. Brutal hot tag sequence. Brutus sucked. Dibiase hit a cheap shot on Beefcake. They worked over Beefcake and ripped his mask off. If this were the WM3 or WM6 crowd, they’d be freaking out about the heels working over a guy with a broken face, but this crowd only reacted when Jimmy Hart urged them on. Brutus hit a double clothesline and he put the sleeper on IRS. Dibiase hit Brutus in the back, BB & IRS crashed to the mat while also running into Hebner. Earl was so determined to go down in that spot that he ran into position. Even with the ref out, there were tags to Hulk & Ted. Hulk hit the boot to Ted’s face. Then he stole the titanium mask weapon from IRS and hit both guys with it. He covered Ted while Brutus covered IRS. Jimmy Hart turned his jacket inside out so that it had stripes and counted pinfalls. Then he gave them the tag titles. Meanwhile, another ref came out to announce that Money Inc. had won the match by disqualification at 18:27.

Winners: Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake via DQ

After the match, the Mega Maniacs wanted to attack referee Danny Davis, who disqualified them. Instead, Jimmy Hart threw him out of the ring. Then they attacked the referee who disqualified them because they cheated by using the “titanium” Brutus mask on his face. Are these babyfaces?

Analysis: 1/2* I wish I could get those 20 minutes back. That was a brutal match, and the ending was terrible. There was no flow to the match. I don’t see why I should feel sorry for the faces in this match. Ted Dibiase was too good a wrestler to be part of such a bad match.

In the crowd, Todd P talked to singer Natalie Cole and the Caesars Palace CEO…some rich guy.

Backstage, Gene talked to Mr. Perfect, who was back in action after being out for a lot of 1992. He was a babyface and messed up saying The Narcissist, who was his opponent. I liked Perfect more as a heel, but that story with Flair did a good job of turning him face.

Prior to the next match, The Narcissist Lex Luger posed in front of mirrors. Vince McMahon must have been touching himself during this.

Mr. Perfect vs. “The Narcissist” Lex Luger

Luger was the heel who had been knocking people out with his loaded forearm for months, building up to this match. Everyone he was in the ring with got knocked out by that forearm. Perfect started strong with a great dropkick early on. He arguably had the greatest dropkick in the history of the business. Perfect worked him over with punches and chops, which woke the crowd up a bit. Luger whipped Perfect into the turnbuckle twice in a row, knocking him down. The announcers mentioned that Perfect missed ring time because of a back injury. Luger continued to focus on the back, hitting a backbreaker for two. He tried to cover by putting his feet on the ropes, but the referee saw it. Luger then hit a nice powerslam for two. Perfect responded with a nice sunset flip followed by a sleeper hold, while Savage commented he didn’t know Perfect knew that move. Everyone knows a sleeper, Randy. I love Savage, but he wasn’t a great commentator. After a whip into the ropes, Perfect got an inside cradle for a nearfall. He then did a slingshot into the turnbuckle and punched him in the head for another nearfall. Perfect decked him with a forearm, followed by a neckbreaker for two. He kept going for pinfalls. From the top, Perfect hit a missile dropkick, although it wasn’t a great one. Luger got a backslide for two. Lex went for another cover, but Perfect’s feet were on the ropes. The referee didn’t see it. Lex won at 10:56.

Winner by pinfall: “The Narcissist” Lex Luger

Analysis: *1/4 It picked up a bit when Perfect went on offense. The first part of it was pretty boring, though. Luger didn’t have many good matches during his career in WWE, although he had some nice ones in NWA/WCW when he worked with guys like Ric Flair.

Post match, Perfect argued with the ref. While that was happening, Luger hit him with the running forearm to the head. The story was that Lex had metal in his forearm. I love how Perfect was knocked out, and the ref left the ring.

The camera tracked Perfect as he made his way up the aisle. He recovered quickly from the attack. Perfect found Luger backstage, and Shawn Michaels was there too. Michaels went after Perfect, attacking him with trash cans. They had a feud afterward, although it wasn’t as good as it could have been. However, Perfect did have a great match with Bret Hart at King of the Ring 1993.

Gorilla reminded us about The Undertaker vs. Gonzalez & Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna still to come. As the host, that’s all he did apparently.

Oh no, it’s Giant Gonzalez time. What a disaster. He wore a skin-tight bodysuit because he wasn’t as ripped as Vince McMahon wanted, so they covered it up with the suit that even had hair drawn on it. Undertaker had a really cool entrance here. That’s the highlight of this match.

Giant Gonzalez w/Harvey Wippleman vs. The Undertaker w/Paul Bearer

Obviously, The Undertaker is the face here. They said Gonzalez was eight feet tall. He was actually about 7’7″, which is still very impressive. Lots of choking early. Poor Heenan; all he could do to sell this match was to ask if these guys were human. Gonzalez hit a big foot and a clothesline. That’s about all of his move set gone within a few minutes. Gonzalez put him in a choke hold. Undertaker wouldn’t give up. Gonzalez knocked Undertaker out of the ring. He whipped him into the ring steps. Heenan was yelling about Undertaker getting back to his feet. The crowd only cared when Undertaker sat up. It was only a brief moment of interest. I can’t blame them because this show has been awful so far. Undertaker attacked with punches as Gonzalez comically tried to sell the punches. His facial expressions were terrible. Wippleman jumped on the apron, Undertaker went after him, and Wippleman threw a cloth to Gonzalez. Gonzalez gave a headbutt to Paul Bearer, which made me laugh. I don’t think that was the intent. Gonzalez used the cloth and put it in Undertaker’s face as he choked him out. The announcers determined that it was chloroform. Savage: “You can kill a guy with that.” Maybe, but you shouldn’t say things like that on a wrestling show. The ref disqualified Giant Gonzalez at the 7:33 mark. Undertaker is 3-0 at WrestleMania.

Winner: The Undertaker by DQ

After the match, officials checked on Undertaker. This completely killed the crowd. Gonzalez tried to taunt him, but he was so bad that he could barely get heat from the crowd even after knocking out one of the biggest babyfaces in the company. Gonzalez put ref Bill Alfonso in a chokehold and then gave him an awkward chokeslam. That was awkward too. Undertaker was taken away on a stretcher. As he made it to the back, Undertaker got up and walked to the ring. This at least woke the crowd up. Undertaker hit Gonzalez with four clotheslines in a row. Gonzalez sold it by quickly rolling out of the ring. Security officials made sure Gonzalez went to the back.

Analysis: -** Yep, that’s negative two stars. I usually don’t rate things so poorly, but this time it’s justified. I found some of the earlier matches really bad, but this one took it to a new low. The action never really picked up or gave us any excitement. That only happened during the post-match attack. Even then, Gonzalez didn’t know how to sell it properly. They had a rematch at SummerSlam that I’ve completely blocked out of my mind. I’m just glad that Undertaker went on to have an amazing career after this brutal match with Giant Gonzalez. This was one of the worst matches in WrestleMania history. No question about it.

They showed clips building up the Bret Hart and Yokozuna feud.

Backstage, Gene talked to Hulk Hogan. Oh no, I wish he had left. Hulk cut a promo saying that he is on Bret’s side. So are his Hulkamaniacs. He said he wants the first title shot at the winner of the title match.

Todd Pettengill wasted our time again by talking to some fans. This guy was very annoying.

Yokozuna entered with Mr. Fuji. He was the heel challenger who won the 1993 Royal Rumble. He was billed as being from Japan, even though he was a Samoan born in San Francisco. I believed he was from Japan at the time. Bret got a nice pop. He won the title in fall 1992 and had a good run during his first reign as the World Champion.

WWE World Heavyweight Title: Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna w/Mr. Fuji

Bret tried to use his speed early, but it wasn’t that effective. Yoko knocked him down and Bret went flying to the floor. Bret tripped him up thanks to the ropes, which he used to knock him down. Bret hit the elbow off the middle rope. Bret hit him with two clotheslines, but they didn’t hurt Yoko, who decked Bret with a clothesline and hit a huge leg drop. They shot it from a great angle too. Crowd let out a big “ohhhh” in support of Bret. Yoko slowed it down with a hold on the trapezius muscle (hi Gorilla Monsoon). Savage said he never faced a guy like Yokozuna before. He was the second last man in the Royal Rumble, losing to Yokozuna. Yoko charged in the corner, Bret got his foot up and then he knocked him down by jumping on his back. Back to their feet, Yoko knocked him down with a side kick. Yoko slapped on another hold where he held onto Bret’s trapezius muscle. No more close-ups of Yoko’s giant ass, please. Some people in the crowd were chanting “USA” even though Bret is Canadian and Yoko was actually born in the US even if most didn’t know it. Fans like to chant USA against any heel waving another flag whether the other guy is American or not. With Bret up against the turnbuckle, Yoko charged at Bret, who avoided the running butt splash. Bret got a bulldog off the middle rope. Bret got the elbow off the middle rope for two. Bret hit a clothesline off the middle rope and then a Hart Attack style clothesline to knock Yoko down. Yoko did a good job of selling there. Not easy for a guy of his size to do. Bret charged him in the corner, Yoko caught him and Bret ripped the turnbuckle off. Yoko tried to throw Bret into the turnbuckle, but he avoided it and threw Yoko into it, sending the challenger down. With Yoko face down on the mat, Bret applied the Sharpshooter. Ref Earl Hebner checked on him. Meanwhile, Mr. Fuji took out his Fuji Dust and threw it into Bret’s eyes. Yokozuna covered Bret. The ref counted the pinfall at 8:55.

Winner by pinfall and New WWF World Heavyweight Champion – Yokozuna

Analysis: *3/4 It was an okay match for a Yokozuna. You don’t want to book someone like that in a longer match, so getting around 9 minutes was fine by me. I always thought he should have hit his Banzai Drop after the Fuji Dust because it would have made the win more impressive. He looked really tired, though, so it’s understandable they went right into the finish. Bret worked his ass off here even though he was probably not happy with the booking decision.

Post match, Hulk Hogan ran to the ring to tell the referee that Yokozuna cheated. Mr. Fuji talked trash to him. He said Yokozuna was issuing a challenge to Hulk. Actually, Yoko’s face said: “I’m really tired.” That’s how I interpreted it. The crowd was yelling for Hulk to accept the challenge. Bret Hart told him to go for it, while under his breath, he was probably thinking that Hulk Hogan better put him over for the title. Hogan slid into the ring for the match. He was in his “street clothes” or whatever you would call that outfit he was wearing.

WWE World Heavyweight Title: Yokozuna w/Mr. Fuji vs. Hulk Hogan

Hulk slid into the ring. Fuji was in the ring. Yoko held Hogan. Fuji threw the dust. Hulk ducked and the dust went into Yoko’s face. Hulk hit a clothesline. He followed it up with a leg drop. Hulk won via pinfall at 0:21.

Winner and New WWE World Heavyweight Champion – Hulk Hogan

Analysis: No rating because it was so short. It was an angle more than a match, obviously. It was definitely a shocking ending, but was it the right move? I don’t think so.

The show ended with Hulk Hogan celebrating.

This event had a runtime of 2:43:18 on WWE Network.

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FIVE RANDOM THOUGHTS

– I hated Hogan’s title win in 1993. I still do. Vince made the wrong decision putting the title on Hogan when he wasn’t a full-timer. His heart wasn’t in it anymore, and he wasn’t as popular as he used to be. It was a bad move. The only reason to do it would be if Hogan was going to tap Bret to win the title later, but that didn’t happen. He dropped the title to Yokozuna at King of the Ring with a messed-up finish. That match was terrible too. Hulk was in WCW a year later, and I didn’t miss him. I was tired of him by then, and so were many others.

– The finishes of these matches were very questionable. They didn’t do much to highlight the winners or evoke sympathy for the losers. When you did feel sorry for a loser like Bret Hart, the moment was taken away because of Hulk Hogan’s presence.

– Instead of Michaels/Tatanka and Luger/Perfect, couldn’t they have just done Michaels vs. Perfect in a 25-minute classic here? If that had happened, I could have endured the two hours plus of total crap.

– I’m too upset with this show to count, but it was filled with a number of wrestlers making their WrestleMania debut. As I said in the opening, it was a changing of the guard.

– I love Randy Savage the wrestler, but Randy Savage the commentator wasn’t very good.

OPINIONS

Best Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Tatanka – The work was okay. The finish could have been better.

Worst Match: Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez – Tough to pick just one. That was the worst, though.

Most Memorable Moment: When this show ended. I was relieved. Does that count as a moment? It does now.

Five Stars:

1. Bret Hart – Worked hard with Yoko despite being booked in a terrible way.
2. Shawn Michaels – He wasn’t extraordinary, but still had the best match.
3. Scott Steiner – Loved the Frankensteiner.
4. Rick Steiner – That powerslam he did was impressive. It’s not like it took a lot to be a star on this show.
5. Bobby Heenan – He’s here because this was his last WrestleMania because he jumped to WCW although he would have some cameos down the road.

Show rating (out of 10): 2

WORST. WRESTLEMANIA. EVER.

Holy crap, this show sucked. To answer my question in the opener, this show did not deliver. It was terrible. I think maybe giving it a two might have been too generous.

Take my advice: Don’t ever waste your time watching this show.

Is a 2 out of 10 too low? Maybe. I’m a nicer person now, so I’d probably go to 3 at the most.

That’s all for me. Check out the full list of my WWE PPV Review archive right here. Thanks for reading.

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My contact info is below.

John Canton

Email [email protected]