WWF WrestleMania X Classic ReviewBy Dan| March 11, 2004 Classic WWF Reviews For most fans of the WWE, this time of the year has to be the most exciting as we all wait in anticipation for one the biggest date in the wrestling calendar, Wrestlemania! Since 1985 Wrestlemania has been the jewel in the crown of the WWE, providing some of the most memorable matches and moments in wrestling history. As the WWE celebrate the 20th Wrestlemania, I have decided to go back 10 years and look at Wrestlemania X “10 years in the making” and look at how that event shaped up… Cert: PG Length: (VHS) 192 Mins Matches Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart Mixed Tag Team Match:Bam Bam Bigelow & Luna defeated Doink and Dink Falls Count Anywhere Match:Randy Savage vs. Crush WWF Women’s Championship Match:Alundra Blayze vs. Leiani Kai WWF Tag Team Championship Match:Men on a Mission vs. The Quebecars WWF Championship Match with Mr. Perfect special referee:Lex Luger vs. Yokozuna Earthquake vs. Adam Bomb Ladder Match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship:Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon WWF Championship Match with Rowdy Roddy Piper special referee:Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna This event would be the second consecutive Wrestlemania where the WWF Championship would be up for grabs twice in one night, the only difference this year was that both WWF Championship matches has been advertised and the fans were expecting them. At the previous Wrestlemania, Yokozuna had defeated Bret Hart for the WWF Championship, this led to Hulk Hogan coming down, and he was then involved in a title match with Yokozuna where he won the Championship. A few months later Yokozuna defeated Hogan for the belt at King of the Ring ‘93, and Hogan soon left the WWF. This created a void for a challenger for Yokozuna, until a special “Yokozuna Bodyslam Challenge” on board the U.S.S Intrepid on July 4th occurred, many superstars such as Randy Savage, Crush, Bob Backlund and Scott & Rick Steiner tried, but it would be Lex “Made in the USA” Luger who would slam Yokozuna and get a shot at the World Champion at Summerslam 1993. At Summerslam Lex failed to win the WWF Championship as he knocked Yokozuna out of the ring, and Yoko failed to get back in the ring by the 10-Count, thus giving Lex the victory but only by count-out. It would not be until the Royal Rumble where Luger would be able to win a shot at the WWF Champion by entering himself into the 30- man Royal Rumble. Luger lasted until him and Bret Hart were the two final men in the ring, where they both battled and eliminated each other at the same time, causing the match to be declared a draw and both men joint winners. WWF officials decided the Championship would be decided twice in one night at Wrestlemania, firstly Lex Luger would take on Yokozuna, and then Bret Hart would challenge the Champion, either Luger ok Yokozuna, and that’s pretty much how the WWF Championship matches came about at Wrestlemania X. But Bret Hart would not only be involved in the WWF Championship match, no, in actual fact he would be involved in a match that could potentially be more important for Bret than any WWF Championship match, he would step in the ring with his brother, Owen Hart. Over the past months, Bret and Owen had been going through some trouble, with Owen blaming Bret for “hogging” the spotlight, however it seemed as though the brothers had settled their differences as they fought The Quebecers for the WWF Tag Championships at the 1994 Royal Rumble, however the match was called to a stop when Bret could no longer carry on as he was “injured”, this infuriated Owen, and he attacked Bret after the match, kicking Bret’s bad knee, This all lead to the match between the two at Wrestlemania X, and I think everyone knew, Owen and Bret would not let us down. And if all that wasn’t enough, there would also be a WWF Intercontinental Championship Match between Razor Roman and Shawn Michaels. This match came about as WWF President Jack Tunney stripped then Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels of the belt as he failed to defend it. This led to a Battle Royal with the winner being awarded the vacant title, it was down to Razor Ramon and Rick Martel, and Razor won the match and Intercontinental Championship. Only thing was, Shawn Michaels still claimed he was champion, this led to the match at Wrestlemania X, where both men would fight in a ladder match to crown an Undisputed Intercontinental Champion. They were plenty more matches on the PPV, but I think I have bored you enough with that little history lesson, here is the rest of the PPV card: Before the matches start we have the tradition of a famous celebrity rendition of the American National Anthem, and this year, Little Richard, choir and all opens the show. Bret and Owen HartGetting down to business the opening contest was the “Brother vs. Brother” match as Owen Hart and Bret Hart faced one another. From the get-go this match was pure wrestling excellence, but that’s what you get when you put two of the greatest in ring wrestlers together. Bret and Owen went back and forth “wrestling” one another, they exchanged hold for hold, move for move, punch for punch. It doesn’t occur that often in the WWE where a match has superior wrestling displayed, and emotion at the same level, it’s a difficult balance to strike, but if anyone could have pulled it off, it would be Bret and Owen. Back to the action, both men continued to entertain the fans with some of the best pure wrestling I have seen, with Owen working on Bret’s knee with a variety of submission moves and lots of near pinfalls. The ending finally occurs when Owen plants the Sharpshooter on Bret and it looks like this may be the end, however Bret manages to escape and he sticks his own Sharpshooter onto Owen, looks like this could be the end, but Owen makes the ropes. Owen is in the corner and Bret whips him into the turnbuckle, but Owen reverses it and whips Bret into the turnbuckle, Bret goes up top, for what looks like a roll up pin manoeuvre, but Owen manages to get the leverage and he pins Bret for the victory. If there was a match to epitomise both Owen Hart and Bret Hart’s wrestling career this would be it, pure excellence. This feud between the two was emotional, the heat from the crowd seemed electric and the match, well that was fantastic. When Vince McMahon took Owen Hart and Bret Hart and decided to square them off with one another on the biggest wrestling show at that time, he must have knew he would get something that little bit special that not only provided one of the greatest wrestling matches in WWF history, but also one of the best moments in WWF history. What a way to kick off Wrestlemania X. And now for something else ………… Bam Bam Bigelow & Luna vs. Doink and Dink. Not entirely a bad match, obviously the clowns were pretty over with the fans and Bam Bam and Luna fed from this heat. The match was pretty good with some good basic wrestling from Doink and Bam Bam who pretty much done all of the hard work. Luna made her presence felt with a bit of wrestling and one or two comedy skits with Dink. Luna and Bam Bam got the victory when Bigelow hit a flying head butt onto Doink Suppose the match filled some time and all in all wasn’t terrible. Falls Count Anywhere match now with “Macho Man” Randy Savage taking on Crush. These two had been friends or something like that anyway, until Crush turned on Savage by attacking him. Crush along with Mr Fuji, downed the tropical fruit crush gimmick or whatever it was supposed to be and he became Crush without the tropical fruit crush gimmick and thus he was a heel. Anyway the match was a Falls Count Anywhere match, with some minor adjustments to the rules. The pinfalls had to take place outside the ring, and once a pinfall had taken place, the pinned wrestler had 60 seconds to get back in the ring, if he did so, the match would then continue. Savage made his entrance with quite a reaction from the fans, and as Crush made his entrance, Savage ran down the aisle way and attacked him. Both of them exchanges fists and brawled for a while, and then Crush picks Savage up and throws him onto the guardrail and then pins him. Crush makes his way to the ring and the 60 second count is under way. Savage eventually gets back to his feet and he just makes it to the ring in time. As the match continues Crush has some white powder in his hand and he goes to throw it at Savage, however Savage manages to kick the powder at Crush and he hit’s the big man with a body slam, Savage then goes to the top rope and he hit’s the patented Elbow Drop. Savage pins Crush on the outside of the ring and he gets back in the ring and waits to see if Crush responds. Crush eventually gets back to his feet as Mr. Fuji help him with a bottle of water to wake him. Both men are back in the ring and they continue to brawl with one another, Crush backdrops the “Macho Man” over the tope rope and the fight goes down the aisle way to the backstage area. Savage and Crush brawl and Savage throws Crush into some doors, and he then pins him. To make sure Crush doesn’t get back to the ring, Savage ties Crush up with what looks like camera cable or something like that, and he ties him to some backstage scaffolding that just happens to be lying around and leaves him dangling by his feet. Crush fails to respond to the 60 second count, and Savage is declared the winner. The match was what I expected it to be, I wanted it to be much more, but in reality I knew it couldn’t be. Randy Savage for me was one of the greatest WWF stars of the late 80’s and early 90’s, his infamous match at Wrestlemania III with Ricky Steamboat could be considered one of the greatest matches in wrestling history, but the truth of the matter is, Crush isn’t and never has been a Ricky Steamboat. The match was typically average, and really seemed very disjointed at points. This was Randy Savage’s last Wrestlemania appearance to date, and to be fair it was nothing more than mediocre, for a man who fought in so many great matches with the likes of Steamboat and Flair, this was very disappointing. WWF Women’s Championship up for grabs now as Alundra Blayze takes on Leiani Kai. Not a bad match, but not a great match either. Bit of brawling with the two women, a pitch of wrestling and a dollop of well doing stuff and the match is over. Alundra pretty much has the flow of the whole match, and she hit’s a German Suplex with a bridge for the victory. Average at best, thinking about it, Women’s wrestling has improved in recent years, ………….really it has. Tag Team Championship match is up next as Men on a Mission take on The Quebecars. Please what’s worse, the ring attire that MOM where wearing which made them look like they have been gift wrapped or the crapiest rap song in the world, when Curt Henning and the West Texas Rednecks said “Rap is Crap”, they must have been talking about this song. Anyway back to the match, it was ok to a point. The Quebecars done a lot of the hard work and carried Mo and Mabel to a half decent match. The ending came when Mo knocks Pierre out of the ring and Mabel and Mo splash him out to the ringside, meanwhile in the ring, Johnny Polo pulls Jacques out of the ring as MOM get back in the ring. The referee ends up counting out The Quebecars and MOM win the match. Overall nothing special at all. Its now time for the first WWF Championship Match of the night as Lex Luger takes on Yokozuna. Before the match kicks off, we introduced to the special guest referee, Mr. Perfect, Curt Henning. The match starts off with a pretty fast pace, which is unusual for Luger and even more unusual for Yokozuna. Luger has the early advantage taking Yokozuna down with a variety of clotheslines and forearm shots. Luger even does the very unexpected move of a flying body press on Yokozuna. As the match continues, Yokozuna begins to gain the advantage and starts to attack Luger with the nerve hold on the rear of the neck. Yokozuna wears Luger down with this for some time, but the resilient Luger battles back and he goes out charging full of steam. Luger works his way on Yokozuna and eventually body slams him, he then hit’s the Forearm and subsequently knocks the big man off his feet and out cold. This leads to Mr Fuji and James E. Cornette jumping up on the apron in protest, only to be brought in by Luger. Luger then covers the Champion, but Mr Perfects attention is elsewhere with Cornette and Fuji, Luger places his hands of Perfect and tell him to count the 3 count, however Perfect calls for the DQ and awards the match to Yokozuna much to the crowds dismay, and he makes a quick exit backstage. Backstage Perfect talks to Todd Pentingale explaining himself, and why he called for the DQ, Luger soon rushes back and confronts Perfect, leading to several officials splitting the two apart. This match actually wasn’t to bad at all really, both Luger and Yokozuna performed good enough, and the swerve at the end was pretty good. I suppose in reality, McMahon could have well given the title to Luger, it beats me why he never actually, I’m not saying he should have, its just Luger was pushed he might as well have been given the title, yeah, ok, he wasn’t the best in the ring, but that hasn’t stopped McMahon before. Overall not a bad match. Back in the ring Harvey Wippleman is there along with Howard Finkle, Harvey starts a verbal assault on Fink, and he then pulls the pocket out of his jacket. This leads to Finkle pushing Harvey over, but out comes Adam Bomb. Before Adam Bomb can do anything, Earthquake comes down, nails Adam Bomb with the running sit down squash thing and gets the victory. Extremely short match, but suppose played its part, crowd popped nicely for Earthquake. Now it’s the match that everyone wanted to see, Razor Roman vs. Shawn Michaels in a ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship. This was the match that almost certainly took both Razor Roman and Shawn Michaels and pushed them to new heights in their wrestling career. For a ladder match it had everything new and old fans could ask for. It wasn’t full of “high spots” like so many of the ladder matches of today are, it was methodical and technical. It also provided some great entertainment, as Shawn played the ultimate cocky bad guy like only he can, and Scott Hall played the battling “face”. HBK and Razor RamonThere was some nice “spots” in the match that thinking about it, were probably very pioneering in the wrestling world, particularly in the WWF, this match may well have lead the way for many matches seen in the WWF with the likes of the Hardy Boys, Edge and Christian and Rob Van Dam. After several attempts to get the gold, it would be Razor Roman who climbed the ladder and grabbed the gold, to become the Undisputed Intercontinental Champion. This was a superb effort by both men, it may well have been Shawn Michaels best match, and it was definitely Scott Hall’s best match. Could it get any better than that? Probably not, but the show wasn’t over, it was now time for the second WWF Championship Match. Yokozuna had survived Luger, it was now time to face Bret Hart. As in the previous WWF Championship match, there was a little surprise for the fans, as Rowdy Roddy Piper made his way to the ring as special referee. And you thought that Mr. Prefect’s crowd response was loud, the fans went mad for Piper. Bret HartMatch starts off quite slow with Yokozuna dominating for a lot of it, Bret tries to battle back with a series of punches, but Yokozuna just dominates him, Bret is still suffering from the “bad” knee from his match with Owen. Bret manages to get some offence as he takes Yokozuna down, he goes for the cover, but Cornette pulls Piper out of the ring to break up the pinfall. Obviously Piper didn’t take to well to this, and nailed Cornette. Match continues with Hart getting some near pinfalls. Yokozuna is down on the mat, and Bret goes to the top rope, as he does Yokozuna gets up and nails a Belly to Belly on Bret. Yokozuna signals for the Bonzia drop and pulls Bret to the corner. Yokozuna goes to the top, but somehow loses his balance and falls down to the mat, with Bret just narrowly avoiding getting splattered, Bret capitalises on this and he pins Yokozuna for the 3 count. The crowd goes absolutely wild, and your new WWF Champion is Bret Hart. As Bret celebrates, Luger comes down and congratulates Bret followed by Piper, Savage, Scott Hall and the rest of the faces. As the faces celebrate Owen comes down but refuses to get in the ring, and stares down Bret. Overall, not Bret’s best WWF match, but I never thought it would be. While the match was average, this was one of the best WWF moments, it was one of those moments that you’ll remember for along time. Overall Since 1985 Wrestlemania has certainly provided some of the best moments and matches, this was no different, in fact it may well have been one of the best Wrestlemania events ever. With two tremendous matches from Bret and Owen and Michaels and Scott Hall the card was a winner, the other matches were pretty decent, there wasn’t a horrible match on the card, just plenty of mediocre matches. When Bret won the WWF Championship that was something special, and it certainly as Vince said, “kicked off the New WWF Generation”. Wrestlemania 9, a year before this event was horrible, however the WWF redeemed itself with this one, Wrestlemania X, made careers for many stars, and also showed that Vince McMahon was still the “top dog” in the wrestling world. If you can get this Wrestlemania on video it is certainly one of the best , whether you find it in a Car Boot sale, on an internet auction site or wherever, I’d certainly pick it up if I were you. Good stuff. Points: 10/10
