WWF Wrestlemania X

WWF Wrestlemania X
Venue: New York City, New York
Date: 20/03/94
Attendance: 18,065
Commentators: Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler

The World Wrestling Federation returned to Madison Square Garden to celebrate the 10th annual Wrestlemania and Vince McMahon pulled in the celebrities for the occasion. Little Richard (badly) mimed "America The Beautiful", Rhonda Shear (TV personality) and Jennie Garth (actress) were guest time keepers, while Donnie Wahlberg (singer, actor) and the biggest coup of all Burt Reynolds (actor) were guest ring announcers. There was also a Bill Clinton lookalike that fooled nobody. It had been decided that Royal Rumble co-winners Lex Luger and Bret Hart would both receive championship matches on the night. Luger would face Yokozuna first (decided by coin toss on Raw) and Hart would take on the winner later in the evening. Hart would also be in the opening match after finally agreeing to battle his brother Owen after the younger Hart went full heel at the Royal Rumble. There was also a certain Intercontinental Title Ladder Match on the card which you may have heard about. Jerry Lawler made his return to TV as colour commentator and did an excellent job.

Review

Owen Hart scored a big upset win over older brother Bret in a fantastic opening bout. Owen had to cut some of his more high flying manoeuvres out of his arsenal to suit his new heel stance but that did not detract from this technically superb contest. Owen was of course the aggressor as the younger hot-headed sibling but he didn't overdo the heel shortcuts. Bret was excellent in his role as babyface older brother and the match told a great story. Both men survived each other's version of the Sharpshooter. Bret attempted to perform a victory roll but Owen countered it for a shockingly clean three count. Lawler sold the significance of Owen's victory fantastically.


Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon defeated Doink and Dink in an acceptable mixed tag team match that was always going to feel flat after the Hart classic. It was what it was, a bit of fun. Bigelow scored a decisive win for his team when he pinned Doink following his top rope head butt.


After being built for around five months, Randy Savage and Crush finally collided in a "Falls Count Anywhere" grudge match. The rules were amended so that falls had to take place outside of the ring and the beaten wrestler would get one minute to return to the ring or lose the match. It was not a change for the better. Crush beat Savage in less than a minute after dropping him onto the guard rail in the aisle. Savage survived and pinned Crush after the big elbow off the top rope. He then had to roll Crush outside to pin him but Crush just made it back inside in time with the help of Mr Fuji. The finish came when Savage threw Crush into a few doors and attempted to hang him upside down after pinning him. Crush did not make it back and Savage was declared the winner of a fairly good brawl.

Women's Champion Alundra Blayze beat Leilani Kai in a short match which nobody really cared about. Kai's appearance was a nice nod to the original Wrestlemania but this did nothing for Blayze or the women's division.


Men on a Mission scored a weak count out win over tag team champions The Quebecers. The match wasn't very good but at the same time not as bad as expected.


Lex Luger was unsuccessful in his quest to become WWF Champion after he was screwed by guest referee Mr Perfect in his match with Yokozuna. Going nearly 15 minutes and filled with rest holds, the match was offensively boring. Towards the end Luger finally made his comeback by body slamming Yoko and KO-ing him with the formerly illegal elbow. He then nailed Jim Cornette and Mr Fuji before covering the champion but Perfect refused to count. Luger lightly shoved Perfect urging him to count but instead Perfect disqualified Luger. The crowd chanted "bulls**t" in response to the screwy finish. Apparently McMahon changed his mind about Luger very late in the day and effectively killed him as a top babyface. His feud with Perfect went nowhere as Curt Hennig would soon leave the company once again.


Harvey Whippleman made fun of Howard Finkel's new hairpiece and bullied him until "The Fink" shoved him down. Adam Bomb came out and grabbed Finkel but Earthquake made the save and squashed Bomb in about 30 seconds. Pointless. Who did this benefit?

Then came the match to determine the undisputed Intercontinental Champion in the first ever WWF ladder match on pay-per-view. There had been ladder matches before, even in the WWF but this one was a game changer. Featuring an incredible performance by Shawn Michaels who bumped like a man possessed, this match remains the ladder match that all others are judged by. Michaels claimed to be Intercontinental Champion despite being stripped of the title in September and still carried the belt when he returned from suspension. Meanwhile a new champion had been crowned in Razor Ramon who defeated Rick Martel to lift the vacant title so the two men were on a collision course the moment Michaels returned. The difference between this ladder match and the previous one in the WWF between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels in 1992 was the ladder was now being used as a weapon as well as a way of getting the title belt. Ramon and Michaels thought up many innovative ways to do this including baseball sliding the ladder, jumping off the ladder, performing moves off the ladder and just plain old beating your opponent with it. Watching this match when it first took place you knew you were watching something special. Ramon won the match after shoving Michaels off the ladder causing his leg to be tied up in the ropes meaning Ramon could retrieve the title belts to be confirmed as the undisputed champion. There was lots of talk of Michaels being WCW-bound at this time but although he took an extended break from in-ring action he remained with the WWF.

The main event was always going to feel a bit of an anticlimax after Ramon/Michaels but the introduction of Roddy Piper as guest referee helped as he came out to a great reception. You could argue that as entertaining as Piper was, he overshadowed the match itself. Yokozuna and Bret Hart had an okay title bout but it wasn't was good as the one they had in Las Vegas. However the finish was equally lame. Yokozuna inexplicably just fell backwards off the middle rope as he prepared to hit the Banzai Drop. Hart then pinned him for a complete fluke victory. That being said the crowd did pop huge for the three count. After the match wrestlers and celebrities filled the ring to celebrate with Bret. Owen Hart then appeared in the aisle to stare at his brother which was important because Owen now had a legitimate claim to be the number one contender.


Overall
Wrestlemania X is remembered as a great WWF show on the strength of two phenomenal matches. Without them the card is just average but that's how strong they were. The ladder match was the one that really pushed Shawn Michaels to the next level while at the same time casting the die for all future ladder matches. Owen Hart was also well and truly put on the map after his world class match with Bret. The brothers were set to collide for the title at Summerslam and would remain on opposite sides of the fence for the next three years. Wrestlemania X drew 390,000 buys for a Wrestlemania low buy rate of 1.68. Considering how business had been going this was still a satisfactory number.


Results
1 Owen Hart pinned Bret Hart (20:26) *****
2 Bam Bam Bigelow & Luna Vachon def Doink & Dink by pinfall (6:09) *1/2
3 Randy Savage def Crush in a "Falls Count Anywhere Match" (9:43) **1/2
4 Alundra Blayze (c) pinned Leilani Kai to retain the WWF Women's Title (3:23) *
5 Men On A Mission def The Quebecers (c) by count out. Quebecers retained the WWF Tag Team Title (7:45) *1/4
6 Yokozuna (c) def Lex Luger by disqualification to retain the WWF Heavyweight Title (14:40) 1/2
7 Earthquake pinned Adam Bomb (0:35) SQ
8 Razor Ramon (c) def Shawn Michaels in a "Ladder Match" to retain the WWF Intercontinental Title (18:47) *****
9 Bret Hart pinned Yokozuna (c) to win the WWF Heavyweight Title (10:36) **1/4


Rating
19/45 = 42.22%

WWF Royal Rumble 1994

WWF Royal Rumble 1994
Venue: Providence, Rhode Island
Date: 23/1/94
Attendance: 14,500
Commentators: Vince McMahon & Ted Dibiase


With the tenth annual Wrestlemania just around the corner, the WWF had already laid the foundations for grudge matches between Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels, and Randy Savage and Crush but it remained to be seen who would be squaring off in the main event for the WWF Heavyweight Title. That was to be determined at the Royal Rumble where Yokozuna would defend the championship against The Undertaker with the number one contender being decided in the Rumble match itself. With Bobby Heenan now in WCW and Jerry Lawler suspended, Ted Dibiase was placed in the slot of colour commentator alongside Vince McMahon. Sadly, he wasn't very good.


Review
The opener saw Tatanka defeat Bam Bam Bigelow in a fairly good bout. It was originally scheduled to be Ludvig Borga versus Tatanka after Borga broke the Native American's long unbeaten streak in November, however Borga was pulled due to injury and would soon leave the company.

"All you had to do was tag me!"

Next up The Quebecers retained the World Tag Team Title with a referee stoppage victory over Bret and Owen Hart. This was a really good, heated match and told a great story. Owen and Bret had recently made up after the Survivor Series incident and deciding they were stronger together they channelled their energy towards winning the tag belts. However, Bret would suffer a knee injury during the bout and despite having a golden opportunity to tag his brother he instead attempted to apply the Sharpshooter. This decision led to their defeat and Owen, quite rightly, was livid. He yelled at Bret before sweeping his injured leg and walking away. Owen then famously cocked up his promo on the big screen as Bret was being helped to the back.


Razor Ramon's Intercontinental Title defence over IRS was okay and furthered the growing feud between Ramon and Shawn Michaels. Michaels was claiming to still be IC Champion despite being stripped of the title for falling foul of the 30 day mandatory title defence rule (in reality he failed a drugs test) and still carried the original title belt around with him. After a ref bump in the match, Michaels ran in and clobbered Ramon with his title belt which led to Ramon being pinned. Then (in one of those incidents when they randomly decide the referee's decision is not final) another referee ran down to demand the match continue, which it did unbeknownst to IRS who got Razor Edge'd from behind and pinned. In the end it felt like the heel got screwed here.

"I'm about to die, but don't worry I'll be reborn in time for Summerslam"

Then came the "Casket Match" for the WWF Title between Yokozuna and The Undertaker. It was a really poor match that became and absolute joke by the end. When it looked like Undertaker was about to win the match, no less than nine other wrestlers came down to attack. The heels opened Undertaker's urn which allowed his 'power' to get away (there was green smoke escaping from the urn) and Taker became weaker and weaker until he was placed into the casket. If that wasn't stupid enough, as the heels pushed the casket back down the aisle smoke began to rise from underneath and the lights went out. The fallen Undertaker then appeared on the big screen 'live' from the casket which apparently had a microphone, a light and a camera in it. The coffin-cam somehow managed to zoom out so we could see the top edges of the casket despite the lid being on. Taker refused to rest in peace, died (or something) and then levitated to the heaven (or somewhere), not from the casket but from behind the big screen?! This was one of the stupidest and most embarrassing things I've ever seen in wrestling.


The Royal Rumble match was entertaining without being anything special. Diesel looked like a star for the first time as he tossed out several guys before being double crossed by Shawn Michaels, a subtle detail they saved for a later date. There was a nice continuation of the Randy Savage/Crush feud and a brief clash between Michaels and Marty Jannetty. Nobody came out at number 25 so McMahon and Dibiase concluded it must have been Bret Hart's slot. But no, Hart hobbled out at number 27 like a hero. The 25th slot should've been Bastion Booger, but he was sick. That was the best they could come up with?! Predictably the final two were Bret Hart and Lex Luger but they did nothing more than exchange a couple of punches then topple over the top rope together rather oddly. Couldn't they have done a clothesline spot or something? The referees argued over who had won until Jack Tunney came out and declared they were co-winners as opposed to just say, sending them back in to settle it. The question now was who would face Yokozuna at Wrestlemania; Bret Hart or Lex Luger?

Lex Luger and Bret Hart both claim victory in the Royal Rumble

Overall
Aside from the casket match debacle, Royal Rumble 1994 was a decent enough card. The Quebecers versus The Hart Brothers was the stand out match (and angle) but the other match-ups weren't bad either. The feuds between Ramon/Michaels, Savage/Crush and now Bret/Owen were furthered with the question remaining whether Bret Hart or Lex Luger would face Yokozuna at Wrestlemania. At the time it was expected that Luger would win the Rumble so the non-finish finish came as a bit of a surprise. Royal Rumble 1994 drew a worrying 0.9 buy rate which was around 200,000 buys. This was only slightly up from Survivor Series and a massive 100,000 down from Royal Rumble 1993.

Results
1 Tatanka pinned Bam Bam Bigelow (8:12) **1/4
2 The Quebecers (c) def Bret Hart & Owen Hart by stoppage to retain the WWF Tag Team Title (16:48) ***1/2
3 Razor Ramon (c) pinned Irwin R Schyster to retain the WWF Intercontinental Title (11:30) **1/4
4 Yokozuna (c) def The Undertaker in a "Casket Match" to retain the WWF Heavyweight Title (14:20) 1/2
5 Bret Hart & Lex Luger won the Royal Rumble match (55:08) **3/4


Rating
11.25/25 = 45%

WWF Survivor Series 1993

WWF Survivor Series 1993
Venue: Boston, Massachusetts
Date: 24/11/93
Attendance: 15,500
Commentators: Vince McMahon & Bobby Heenan


After changing the format of the previous year's Survivor Series to a regular card, the 1993 edition reverted back to all tag team elimination matches, with the exception of one. The trouble was the WWF no longer had the roster to pull off four eight-man elimination matches and going in the card looked less than exciting. The show was also massively hindered by the suspension of Jerry Lawler who was facing charges of statutory rape (later dropped) as it meant the culmination of his feud with the Hart family could not happen. Lawler had to be replaced by Shawn Michaels who himself had not long returned from suspension for failing a drugs test for steroids. The match didn't make any sense without Lawler and interest waned. The show was headlined by the "All Americans" versus the "Foreign Fanatics" featuring the hardly riveting feud between Lex Luger and Ludvig Borga, the seeds for which were sown in a backstage confrontation at Summerslam. This would also be Bobby Heenan's final WWF pay-per-view before heading to WCW, but at least he went out with a bang.


Review


Razor Ramon, Marty Jannetty, The 1-2-3 Kid & Randy Savage vs IRS, Adam Bomb, Rick Martel & Diesel


The first elimination tag team match was the best of the four on the night and was centred around Razor Ramon's feud with Irwin R Schyster. It was announced by Ramon that Mr Perfect would not be taking part and Randy Savage would be replacing him. Curt Hennig was unhappy with the direction of his character and would soon leave the company.  Savage scored the first decision of the night pinning Diesel after the flying elbow drop. Savage was then distracted by the arrival of Crush and was rolled up from behind by IRS. Crush had recently turned on Savage and so intent on getting revenge, Savage lost his job as colour commentator on Raw. Ramon then pinned IRS after the Razor's Edge but when Ramon attempted to do the same to Rick Martel, IRS struck him with his briefcase and caused the Intercontinental Champion to be counted out. Martel and Adam Bomb took control before a quick fire double elimination saw 1-2-3 Kid pin Martel with a sunset flip in the corner before Jannetty pinned Bomb with a sunset flip over the top rope. Kid and Jannetty would soon get a very brief run as tag team champions. This was a fun match to kick off the show.

Bret, Owen, Keith & Bruce Hart vs Shawn Michaels & "Three Knights of the Squared Circle"


Next up was the "Family Feud" match as Bret, Owen, Keith and Bruce Hart (along with father Stu) battled Shawn Michaels (replacing Jerry Lawler) and his "Knights of the Squared Circle" who were Greg Valentine, Jeff Gaylord and Barry Horowitz under masks. Ray Combs of the TV show Family Feud was guest ring announcer and colour commentator and personally I thought he did ok. Many members of the Hart family were also seated at ringside for the match. The match was long, boring and lost the heat it would've had with Lawler in there. The Knights were nameless and faceless nobodies to the crowd and there was little reaction when they were in the ring. Owen pinned Gaylord with a top rope dropkick, Bret made Horowitz submit to the Sharpshooter, and Owen then forced Valentine to surrender in his version of the Sharpshooter. Owen then accidentally collided with Bret knocking him into the guard rail and causing Owen to be pinned by Michaels. Michaels then continued to take a pounding before walking out on the match with the odds firmly against him. Owen returned to the ring to confront Bret and begin his heel turn. The highlight of the match was Bobby Heenan's first rate performance on commentary.

Rock N Roll Express (c) vs Heavenly Bodies - Smoky Mountain Tag Team Title


The Heavenly Bodies defeated the Rock N Roll Express to win the Smoky Mountain Tag Team Title in a good match. The problem was the WWF crowd did not come to see Smoky Mountain Wrestling and couldn't care less. It was a typical NWA-style tag team bout with good action but it played out to mostly silence. Radio commentators Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon took over announce duties for this one. The Bodies victory came when Jimmy Del Rey hit Ricky Morton with Jim Cornette's tennis racket off the top rope.


"The Four Doinks" vs Bam Bam Bigelow, Bastion Booger & The Headshrinkers


This match evoked more of a reaction from the Boston crowd, but not much more. The "Four Doinks" who turned out to be Men on a Mission and The Bushwackers (complete with Doink face paint and masks) scored a clean sweep victory in an abysmal 'comedy' match that made a mockery of pro wrestling. The Headshrinkers and Bastion Booger were made out to be morons with the minds of wild animals as they were easily distracted by turkey and bananas leading to their eliminations. At one point Mo rode a scooter around the ring for a laugh or something. With the rest of his team eliminated Bigelow was then also beaten as all four of his opponents lay on top of him for the pin fall. He was then mocked by Doink on the big screen. This was terrible.

Lex Luger, The Steiner Brothers & The Undertaker vs Yokozuna, Ludvig Borga, Jacques Rougeau & Crush


Things thankfully got more serious for the main event which was decent enough but felt a bit flat for a headline match. Rick Steiner looked ridiculously weak as he was pinned by Borga early on after they botched whatever they were trying to do when Rick came off the top rope. Randy Savage came out for Crush which caused the Hawaiian to be counted out. Luger pinned Rougeau with his strangely no-longer-illegal forearm smash. Yokozuna pinned Scott Steiner. Undertaker then finally tagged in for the hottest part of the match as he battled Yokozuna, although it lasted all of three minutes and both men got counted out. Disaster was also narrowly avoided as Yokozuna almost came down on Undertaker's head as Taker sat up to avoid a second Banzai Drop. Borga then beat up Luger for a few minutes before Luger made a Hogan-like comeback for the win. Santa Claus then joined Luger in the ring to celebrate for a happy ending.

Overall
A very average show that was hurt by the lack of depth on the roster and by the lack of a climax to the Hart Family/Jerry Lawler feud, although there was little they could do about that. Lex Luger was lacking the charisma and appeal that Hulk Hogan possessed and his main event match fell flat in a way that no Hogan top liner ever did. Bobby Heenan (like Gene Okerlund before him) soon said his farewells and left for WCW after refusing to relocate to Connecticut as requested by Vince McMahon as part of the WWF's cost cutting measures. Survivor Series 1993 drew a company low buy rate of 0.82 meaning 185,000 buys, 65,000 less than the 1992 event.


Results
1 Razor Ramon, Randy Savage, Marty Jannetty & The 1-2-3 Kid def Irwin R Schyster, Rick Martel, Adam Bomb & Diesel (26:58) ***
2 Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Bruce Hart & Keith Hart def Shawn Michaels, The Black Knight, The Blue Knight & The Red Knight (30:57) *3/4
3 The Heavenly Bodies def The Rock N Roll Express (c) to win the Smoky Mountain Tag Team Title (13:43) ***
4 Men On A Mission & The Bushwackers def Bam Bam Bigelow, Bastion Booger & The Headshrinkers (10:58) DUD
5 Lex Luger, The Undertaker & The Steiner Brothers def Yokozuna, Ludvig Borga, Jacques Rougeau & Crush (27:59) **1/4


Rating
10/25 = 40%