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Post by saneiac on Mar 26, 2024 21:22:49 GMT -5
Demolition losing so quickly was sad and to a team that most fans probably didn't even know. I doubt WWF did much to promoter Tenryu and Kitao on TV. I was an avid watcher of Prime Time Wrestling, Wrestling Challenge, and Wrestling Superstars at the time. I can confirm that the WWF did NOTHING to promote Tenyru and Kitao. No interviews. No background profile. We didn't even know what they looked like, body-wise, until they came out for the WM match.
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CMWaters
Ozymandius
Rolled a Seven, Beat the Ads.
Bald and busy
Posts: 63,072
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Post by CMWaters on Mar 26, 2024 21:32:04 GMT -5
Demolition losing so quickly was sad and to a team that most fans probably didn't even know. I doubt WWF did much to promoter Tenryu and Kitao on TV. I was an avid watcher of Prime Time Wrestling, Wrestling Challenge, and Wrestling Superstars at the time. I can confirm that the WWF did NOTHING to promote Tenyru and Kitao. No interviews. No background profile. We didn't even know what they looked like, body-wise, until they came out for the WM match. Random side question since I didn't start watching until 1994: just wanted to confirm for sure, Superstars was considered the A-Show at the time like how Raw became that during the Attitude Era, right?
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Post by Ludwig Kaiser’s Walk on Mar 26, 2024 22:39:31 GMT -5
Wrestlemania IX
-They sold the hell out of the Caesar’s Palace motif, just totally over the top and pretty fun. I know they had to do this one earlier in Vegas so it is in the daytime, but I think it could’ve been even more fun if it was starting to turn to evening like we would see later.
-Was JR even discussed on one of the other shows prior to his introduction here? I know he talked about his first appearance being in a toga, but was that really the first ever time he was mentioned on WWF programming?
-Brain coming out backwards on the camel is dynamite comedy, Bobby was truly one of the greatest at selling his character and being able to be the butt of the joke.
-Luna! Luna and Sherri were the type of women I could see HBK ended up with lol But, those were great characters as well
-I was kinda bored with the Tatanka/HBK match, especially with the non-finish
-Headshrinkers vs The Steiners was decent, kinda crazy that it was the Steiners only match at a Wrestlemania with how storied of careers they had
-I love the Doink stuff, sue me. The mirror spot is so damn good, I just wish Borne could’ve kept it together to see what they could have done with the character.
-Razor vs Backlund happened
-Going through these shows and you just see how much Hogan’s character slowly turns into a massive douche over the years. This show is rough with his bullshit, starting with the tag match…really, starting with that weird ass finish
-Jimmy Hart counting the fall with the wrong referee shirt on is a great touch for how bad this show was. The finish reminded me of JYD vs Moondog whoever at the Wrestling Challenge, when he somehow advanced by counting his own fall.
-9 year old Ludwig Kaiser’s Walk would have loved the showgirls walking out with Luger and 39 year old Ludwig Kaiser’s Walk also loved the showgirls
-A fine match, it’s just crazy how quickly they aborted the Narcissist character after beating someone like Mr. Perfect…I do like the character nuance that Mr. Perfect didn’t forget when he officiated next year
-HBK with a cheap shot to set up the next program, which should’ve been much better than it was
-Harvey Whippelman goes from managing the master and ruler of the world to managing a guy in an airbrushed body suit with hair glued on it. That shit sucked. Also, from personal experience, you can’t smell chloroform from feet away.
-Hogan’s promo about challenging Bret Hart or the Jap sure was a thing. Also, I’m glad he knew the belt was going to stay in the USA when Bret won.
-Yoko getting blown up took that match from possibly being okay to not very good.
-Is Mr. Fuji the worst manager ever? He ditched the tag champs years before this and then challenges a fresh man to a title match after his exhausted charge finally wins the title.
-I hate it, but Hogan winning did get a massive pop from the crowd
Overall, this show sucks. Even the stuff that doesn’t suck, kinda sucks. It just really stands out with how much better VIII and X were.
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Post by jason1980s on Mar 27, 2024 0:08:55 GMT -5
WM8 is also notorious for the magazine preview of it being way off due to plans changing and the preview basically telling WWe’s original plans…before the Internet came around. This was my second ever WWF PPV I got (Rumble 92 was first) and third I saw on PPV (Summerslam 91 at a friends house). When I got magazines years later I was shocked at the changes to this mania. It had Money Inc v. Slaughter and Duggan, Bossman/Bulldog/Virgil v. Nasty Boys and Mountie and LOD v. Disasters in a street fight. Not sure those are better than what we got. I hated the Money Inc count out matches but Duggan and Slaughter were really going down on the card by this point. The eight man tag was pretty cool on the PPV. I just wish I knew whose themes they all came out to. LOD and Disasters would have been a funky finish, I'm sure.
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CMWaters
Ozymandius
Rolled a Seven, Beat the Ads.
Bald and busy
Posts: 63,072
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Post by CMWaters on Mar 27, 2024 6:40:49 GMT -5
Wrestlemania IX -They sold the hell out of the Caesar’s Palace motif, just totally over the top and pretty fun. I know they had to do this one earlier in Vegas so it is in the daytime, but I think it could’ve been even more fun if it was starting to turn to evening like we would see later. -Was JR even discussed on one of the other shows prior to his introduction here? I know he talked about his first appearance being in a toga, but was that really the first ever time he was mentioned on WWF programming? -Brain coming out backwards on the camel is dynamite comedy, Bobby was truly one of the greatest at selling his character and being able to be the butt of the joke. -Luna! Luna and Sherri were the type of women I could see HBK ended up with lol But, those were great characters as well -I was kinda bored with the Tatanka/HBK match, especially with the non-finish -Headshrinkers vs The Steiners was decent, kinda crazy that it was the Steiners only match at a Wrestlemania with how storied of careers they had -I love the Doink stuff, sue me. The mirror spot is so damn good, I just wish Borne could’ve kept it together to see what they could have done with the character. -Razor vs Backlund happened -Going through these shows and you just see how much Hogan’s character slowly turns into a massive douche over the years. This show is rough with his bullshit, starting with the tag match…really, starting with that weird ass finish -Jimmy Hart counting the fall with the wrong referee shirt on is a great touch for how bad this show was. The finish reminded me of JYD vs Moondog whoever at the Wrestling Challenge, when he somehow advanced by counting his own fall. -9 year old Ludwig Kaiser’s Walk would have loved the showgirls walking out with Luger and 39 year old Ludwig Kaiser’s Walk also loved the showgirls -A fine match, it’s just crazy how quickly they aborted the Narcissist character after beating someone like Mr. Perfect…I do like the character nuance that Mr. Perfect didn’t forget when he officiated next year -HBK with a cheap shot to set up the next program, which should’ve been much better than it was -Harvey Whippelman goes from managing the master and ruler of the world to managing a guy in an airbrushed body suit with hair glued on it. That shit sucked. Also, from personal experience, you can’t smell chloroform from feet away. -Hogan’s promo about challenging Bret Hart or the Jap sure was a thing. Also, I’m glad he knew the belt was going to stay in the USA when Bret won. -Yoko getting blown up took that match from possibly being okay to not very good. -Is Mr. Fuji the worst manager ever? He ditched the tag champs years before this and then challenges a fresh man to a title match after his exhausted charge finally wins the title. -I hate it, but Hogan winning did get a massive pop from the crowd Overall, this show sucks. Even the stuff that doesn’t suck, kinda sucks. It just really stands out with how much better VIII and X were. Match cancelled due to time constraints that may or may not have made this show better: Kamala vs. Bam Bam Bigelow. Would have kept Bigelow's WrestleMania run weird at the very least if the next two matches still happened as we saw them. I mean yeah, Fuji is dumb for challenging Hogan on Yoko's behalf, but given at the time how dominant Yoko had been on TV he was confident. Plus Hogan wasn't entirely fresh having the tag match earlier, plus the injury from whatever the cause was. Wonder how much money between Andre at Mania 1, Jake at Mania 6 and Hogan/Beefcake/Jimmy here was given away by WWF. As for Jim Ross, just recently watched a video on this: he was fully introduced here at WrestleMania IX on WWF programming, but at the time he did have his own radio show that he would talk wrestling stuff. Up to a point he was mostly talking NWA/WCW stuff since he worked there, but a week before Mania IX he had Vince, Heenan and Michaels on the show in an episode that was pretty much an infomercial for the then upcoming event, where Vince announced JR's signing with the company. EDIT: Also, Tito sorta finally got another WrestleMania win...in a dark match before the show against Papa Shango.
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salz4life
Grimlock
Prichard is a guy who gets that his job is to service his boss.
Posts: 13,967
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Post by salz4life on Mar 27, 2024 8:20:14 GMT -5
The older I get, the more I appreciate Wrestlemania IX strictly for the production aesthetic. It is absolutely unique and fun.
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Post by saneiac on Mar 27, 2024 9:39:53 GMT -5
I was an avid watcher of Prime Time Wrestling, Wrestling Challenge, and Wrestling Superstars at the time. I can confirm that the WWF did NOTHING to promote Tenyru and Kitao. No interviews. No background profile. We didn't even know what they looked like, body-wise, until they came out for the WM match. Random side question since I didn't start watching until 1994: just wanted to confirm for sure, Superstars was considered the A-Show at the time like how Raw became that during the Attitude Era, right? Superstars was the A show for angles and promos and interviews. All new storylines tended to be shown there first, and then repeated and reviewed on the other two shows. Matches were different. All three shows were primarily jobber squashes. Prime Time, though, would always have a couple of matches between “name” guys. They weren’t necessarily GOOD “name” guys. You might get Koko B Ware vs Blake Beverly. But you always got something. Superstars and Challenge didn’t have “name” matches every week, just occasionally. When Superstars did get a big match, it tended to be a better one than the other shows (and would probably be repeated on the other shows a week later). Prime Time was the show on USA Network on weekday evenings that became RAW.
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Post by Ludwig Kaiser’s Walk on Mar 27, 2024 23:52:19 GMT -5
Wrestlemania X
This was the first Wrestlemania that I ever saw, it was on VHS at my friend’s house that same year it came out. I was a fan growing up, but this was a big step forward in my fandom, so it is one of my favorites to this day
-It’s too bad that they show didn’t feature the dark match, because any time I could see Gigalo Jimmy Del Ray, it made my day. I’m only halfway kidding, his mustache, little “sexy” dance and nickname were all hilarious
-I’d watch Owen vs Bret every day. It was a fantastic battle and told a brilliant story. The prematch video was very good showing the history of them falling out. Just an amazing opener that still holds up today.
-Owen’s spit was gross though
-I forgot about the Hairclub for Men and I’m disappointed that Wippleman didn’t rip the Fink’s toupee off during their confrontation.
-Bam Bam and Luna win their mixed match challenge over Doink and Dink. Some fun spots, probably a good cooldown match after the hot opener
-Unique Falls Count Anywhere rules for Macho Man and Crush. It was fine, nice to see Macho Man go out with a win in his last Mania match. Crush did not have a whole lot of success at Wrestlemania.
-The King was so lame on commentary and it wasn’t helped by being with Vince. That’s probably my biggest downer for this show
-Leilani Kai getting a title match while looking like she was 60 when she was 37 was fun. It really is crazy how much younger people look now, because I was shocked to find out that she wasn’t over 50 at that time
-Madusa did have a very good bridging German suplex. Crowd was hot for how quick it was
-Not the Mounties vs Men on a Mission sure was a match. Nice to see Johnny Polo get a WM payday before discovering grunge music…but, maybe he didn’t get the payday and that’s what caused his to find his dark side?
-Mr. Perfect was a great official and I liked how they mentioned that both sides had to agree to the official…which seems like it may not have happened for the main event
-Lex was such a choker lol, like, just ignore the managers and let the referee do his job. Don’t push the official because he’s trying to clean up your mess! The crowd audibly chanting “bullshit” was nice though, it showed that Luger did have a large amount of fans at least
-Mr. Perfect was in the right! Cornette even said so and he’s never wrong!
-The squash of the century was next. Adam Bomb had a worse Wrestlemania career than his future partner. No wonder they turned to the weed.
-What an amazing way to get the ladder match introduced to the PPV audience. Everything about this match is fantastic, my biggest issue would be Diesel getting ejected shortly after Bill Dunn (who?) announced that there were no rules! That’s my only negative thought on the match, might’ve preferred HBK to be so cocky that he told the big man to stay in the back? Great, great match!
-There’s no team captains in a traditional 10-man tag you silly gooses!!
-Bret wins a solid match with Yoko, although I don’t think the Yoko group could have loved Piper being involved!
-The post-match is amazing and I would’ve loved to have seen it with some more modern filming, because when Owen comes out, it’s a great view with 1994 video equipment. A great way to sell the new champion, especially with Macho Man out there and also to show who his first challenger will be.
Overall, not a perfect show, especially timing wise with an entire match having to be cut. But, I thought the celebrities were good and it was great to see them back at MSG for the 10th edition. I know why they can’t do it now, but I loved the setup and everything at the MSG PPVs. I highly recommend this one.
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4real
Wade Wilson
Posts: 27,780
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Post by 4real on Mar 28, 2024 1:47:27 GMT -5
The older I get, the more I appreciate Wrestlemania IX strictly for the production aesthetic. It is absolutely unique and fun. That saves it for me. The setting & the characters because I had about 90% of those guys Hasbro figures. The only ones I never had were Razor, Beefcake, Crush & Giant Gonzalez. And Backlund obviously never had a figure. The matches are awful though. HBK v Tatanka is boring but probably the second best match behind Steiners v Headshrinkers. Doink v Crush is also fun because of the finish. The rest is pretty forgettable.
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msc
Dennis Stamp
Posts: 4,448
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Post by msc on Mar 28, 2024 4:16:20 GMT -5
My wife insisted I get the Network for Mania 40 (otherwise I'm a grumpy sod apparently) so doing my usual marathon, and I've discovered the 3x speed option for duff matches.
Can confirm if you watch David Sammartino vs Brutus Beefcake at 3x speed, it is still shit.
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CMWaters
Ozymandius
Rolled a Seven, Beat the Ads.
Bald and busy
Posts: 63,072
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Post by CMWaters on Mar 28, 2024 8:51:37 GMT -5
Wrestlemania X This was the first Wrestlemania that I ever saw, it was on VHS at my friend’s house that same year it came out. I was a fan growing up, but this was a big step forward in my fandom, so it is one of my favorites to this day -It’s too bad that they show didn’t feature the dark match, because any time I could see Gigalo Jimmy Del Ray, it made my day. I’m only halfway kidding, his mustache, little “sexy” dance and nickname were all hilarious -I’d watch Owen vs Bret every day. It was a fantastic battle and told a brilliant story. The prematch video was very good showing the history of them falling out. Just an amazing opener that still holds up today. -Owen’s spit was gross though -I forgot about the Hairclub for Men and I’m disappointed that Wippleman didn’t rip the Fink’s toupee off during their confrontation. -Bam Bam and Luna win their mixed match challenge over Doink and Dink. Some fun spots, probably a good cooldown match after the hot opener -Unique Falls Count Anywhere rules for Macho Man and Crush. It was fine, nice to see Macho Man go out with a win in his last Mania match. Crush did not have a whole lot of success at Wrestlemania. -The King was so lame on commentary and it wasn’t helped by being with Vince. That’s probably my biggest downer for this show -Leilani Kai getting a title match while looking like she was 60 when she was 37 was fun. It really is crazy how much younger people look now, because I was shocked to find out that she wasn’t over 50 at that time -Madusa did have a very good bridging German suplex. Crowd was hot for how quick it was -Not the Mounties vs Men on a Mission sure was a match. Nice to see Johnny Polo get a WM payday before discovering grunge music…but, maybe he didn’t get the payday and that’s what caused his to find his dark side? -Mr. Perfect was a great official and I liked how they mentioned that both sides had to agree to the official…which seems like it may not have happened for the main event -Lex was such a choker lol, like, just ignore the managers and let the referee do his job. Don’t push the official because he’s trying to clean up your mess! The crowd audibly chanting “bullshit” was nice though, it showed that Luger did have a large amount of fans at least -Mr. Perfect was in the right! Cornette even said so and he’s never wrong! -The squash of the century was next. Adam Bomb had a worse Wrestlemania career than his future partner. No wonder they turned to the weed. -What an amazing way to get the ladder match introduced to the PPV audience. Everything about this match is fantastic, my biggest issue would be Diesel getting ejected shortly after Bill Dunn (who?) announced that there were no rules! That’s my only negative thought on the match, might’ve preferred HBK to be so cocky that he told the big man to stay in the back? Great, great match! -There’s no team captains in a traditional 10-man tag you silly gooses!! -Bret wins a solid match with Yoko, although I don’t think the Yoko group could have loved Piper being involved! -The post-match is amazing and I would’ve loved to have seen it with some more modern filming, because when Owen comes out, it’s a great view with 1994 video equipment. A great way to sell the new champion, especially with Macho Man out there and also to show who his first challenger will be. Overall, not a perfect show, especially timing wise with an entire match having to be cut. But, I thought the celebrities were good and it was great to see them back at MSG for the 10th edition. I know why they can’t do it now, but I loved the setup and everything at the MSG PPVs. I highly recommend this one. I agree about the entryway, not just because of the MSG set up, but I always like the sliding doors entrances. Why I like the old factory WCW Saturday Night set up too. Didn't look up that Leilani was that young at X. Still prefer her 1 look though.
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4real
Wade Wilson
Posts: 27,780
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Post by 4real on Mar 28, 2024 10:42:28 GMT -5
My wife insisted I get the Network for Mania 40 (otherwise I'm a grumpy sod apparently) so doing my usual marathon, and I've discovered the 3x speed option for duff matches. Can confirm if you watch David Sammartino vs Brutus Beefcake at 3x speed, it is still shit. Matches that function is needed for: Rick Rude v Jake Roberts (IV) Sid v Hogan (VIII) Bret v Vince (26) Cole v Lawler (27) Reigns v HHH (32) actually just end the show after the ladder match opener Orton v Edge (36) Add in others where applicable.
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msc
Dennis Stamp
Posts: 4,448
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Post by msc on Mar 28, 2024 10:45:09 GMT -5
My wife insisted I get the Network for Mania 40 (otherwise I'm a grumpy sod apparently) so doing my usual marathon, and I've discovered the 3x speed option for duff matches. Can confirm if you watch David Sammartino vs Brutus Beefcake at 3x speed, it is still shit. Matches that function is needed for: Rick Rude v Jake Roberts (IV) Sid v Hogan (VIII) Bret v Vince (26) Cole v Lawler (27) Reigns v HHH (32) actually just end the show after the ladder match opener Orton v Edge (36) Add in others where applicable. The thing I've noticed is that at 3x speed most promos and commentary is unintelligible and the middle of all of that... Howard Finkel is still as clear and crisp as ever.
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Post by Ludwig Kaiser’s Walk on Mar 29, 2024 1:33:48 GMT -5
Wrestlemania XI
This sure was a show. A ton of issues with sound and video and if I didn’t already know that WWF was in trouble at the time, I would have known it just from watching how bad this show’s production was.
-Vince and the King, continuing their poor run at the commentary table
-The Allied Powers just escape the Blu Brothers, who felt like they got screwed when they came to the big city of Hartford. They really showed their dominance with their sunset flip finish.
-I did like the post-match interviews on the way back, if they weren’t going to let JR do what he was best at, you might as well use him. I felt like it added some good stuff to the show.
-1-2-3 Kid gets the prematch promo, which was a great decision. I was a huge mark for the Kid when I was growing up…not because of his promos, but definitely for his kicks and shit, which he showed off well later on.
-It’s always a good thing when you use Wrestlemania to advance your feud to an In Your House, which is all that the Razor vs JJ match did
-Also, it might not have been the best idea to double up on the classic ‘heel attacking before the match, only to be thrown over the top to the outside for the face to pose in front of their fireworks’ trope on the night
-Double J retains via disqualification, so through 2 matches, we have a sunset flip and a DQ, what a start!
-Undertaker keeps his streak alive with a clothesline to beat King Kong Bundy! So, our current streak of dynamite finishes continues!
-At least Kama stole the comically huge spotlight urn to melt down into a comically huge necklace!
-The Smoking Gunns with a great prematch promo! I can’t imagine why they went with Billy over Bart when it came time to push one of the Gunns. Bart showed his ability to talk here…it wasn’t pretty.
-I love Owen, he’s at his best as a heel in this match. Literally everything he does is perfect, including literally jumping for joy after they win the belts. Good reintroduction of Yoko here…who had to be close to 700 lbs cause he was absurdly fat, but dominant at least.
-Todd Pettengill did a great job with crowd interviews, including with Neil Anderson and some kid who didn’t talk. Todd was fun and imo wouldn’t be the worst Hall of Famer if they ever put him in. I was a big fan growing up, especially on Mania and Live Wire.
-We had 3 guest referees in this one: Pat Patterson, MLB umpire Larry Young and the worst, Roddy Piper
-Hot Rod ruined the I Quit match, which wasn’t very good to start with, but he made it so much worse with his screaming in the mic the whole time. Of course, Backlund doesn’t say I Quit, so there was no true winner in the match.
-At least Backland did put over Jonathan Taylor Thomas in a chess match in a creepy dark room
-Nick Turturro was much better as Brucey in the Longest Yard, but he tries to get some chicken salad out of the chicken shit of this backstage stuff. He never did find Pam Anderson, but did locate Jonathon Taylor and Jennifer McCarthy at least.
-Oh yeah and we got lots of crazy ass Sid promos, so the show wasn’t all bad
-HBK and Diesel tried, but they had a much better match 13 months later at Good Friends, Better Enemies. The Jackknife was ugly. At least the celebrities got to celebrate with Diesel.
-I legitimately forgot how gorgeous Pam Anderson was before she started to up the ante on how much work she got done. Like, she looked like a gorgeous human here and not like a blowup doll like she would after she got with Tommy Lee.
-It probably isn’t a good thing to have the NFL players look so much more like legitimate threats than the Million Dollar Corporation did. Nikolai Volkoff looked like less of an intimidating Russian than Teddy KGB from Rounders.
-The NFL players cut pretty decent promos until they got to Chris Spielman, which makes me wonder how bad Rickey Jackson and Ken Norton Jr were that they picked Spielman over them to talk. Spielman would later parlay this great promo into a terrible talk radio career in Columbus, OH.
-Mongo rules! I’m glad that man is getting into the NFL Hall of Fame
-Bam Bam did a great job of carrying LT to a passable match. The crowd believed in LT and that credit goes to Bam Bam. Not a great match, but it’s definitely watchable.
-The finishes for the night were: a sunset flip, a DQ, a leaping clothesline, (even though there was a banzai drop) Owen simply pinning a lifeless Billy instead of making him tap, Bret being awarded a win despite I Quit not being said, a botched powerbomb, and a second rope clothesline
This is my least favorite Wrestlemania, but I still have to rewatch 27, 32 and 36, so there’s still hope. This shit sucks though.
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Post by Ludwig Kaiser’s Walk on Mar 29, 2024 1:46:33 GMT -5
Just starting XII and I forgot to mention the way that Vince introduced Little Richard at X should’ve let everyone know that he was going to be a huge Marc Mero fan
Pettengill definitely pronounced Mero’s name weird on XII too
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Post by Ludwig Kaiser’s Walk on Mar 29, 2024 2:47:03 GMT -5
Wrestlemania XII
Not one of my favorites and I’m not even sure that the Ironman match is the best one on the show. The winner of the main event of Wrestlemania has never been more telegraphed than this one was either.
-Tag Title tournament ends on the preshow and it wasn’t even the main event of the preshow lol, congrats to the Bodydonnas for winning I guess
-The Billionaire Ted skits died on the Free for All too at least…when they all died in the ring
-I liked the 6-man opener, the crowd was pretty hot throughout it. Jake still got some great reactions, especially when hitting Owen with the DDT. Ahmed was looking extra oily for this match too.
-Stone Cold beating Savio via an ass kicking. At least Savio cut a pretty good promo before the match. I think this may have been the first Stunner, even though it didn’t have the eventual setup, still pretty neat.
-The worst part of the entire night was the pinning combo marathon that SCSA and Savio did, just because Vince kept yelling “1, 2, yes! Oh, no” for like 2 straight minutes.
-This definitely was the first usage of a cell phone call-in during a Wrestlemania. I’m also pretty sure that this was the debut of OJ White Bronco footage on Wrestlemania as well.
-The debut of Sable! Thankfully she wasn’t talking.
-The crowd was into the Ultimate Warrior at least. Still atrocious booking, but I think Triple H bounced back from it alright.
-Marc Mero really selling his eyes in his debut promo. I’d rather have seen Johnny B. Badd.
-I liked heel Diesel, especially his taunting of the Undertaker when he was trying to sit up after the Jackknife. Diesel was so damn cool and I get why folks would want to watch him when he went to WCW
-I thought the Diesel/Taker match was a fun big man match. Definitely the best of the streak so far. Crazy to think that it would be the last match Nash ever had at Wrestlemania
-The backlot stuff was fine for what it was, but man this show is absolutely bare bones as far as workers go. 28 characters appeared, with only 16 being in-ring. Also, it’s a stretch to say Sweatsock is a character, but he did point well.
-King and Vince were slightly better, but I would’ve preferred to see more of Dok Hendrix’s lame ass. What a weird character for Purely Sexy to be…also, my older brother is 100% Michael Hayes and he always has been. He even had the Dok Hendrix haircut and mustache during the mid 90’s…and he was living in Texas in the 80’s, so maybe he really is him.
-The Ironman Match is fine. To me, the best part is listening to Earl Hebner slowly remember his lines in the prematch.
-Vince definitely had a hard-on for HBK throughout this match.
-HBK is such a dick, especially back in the 90s. But, that’s probably what made him such a great performer, but his postmatch stuff is ridiculous.
Overall, it’s a fine show. Probably in my bottom 10, but it’s fine overall. I think if I enjoyed the Ironman match more, then it would rate much higher for me. It’s a one-match show overall, but outside of the Warrior squash, there’s nothing BAD here.
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CMWaters
Ozymandius
Rolled a Seven, Beat the Ads.
Bald and busy
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Post by CMWaters on Mar 29, 2024 7:39:35 GMT -5
Mania 11 was the first Mania I watched live, so I do have sort of a soft spot for it. The Network version doesn't have Salt 'n Pepper's remix of "What a Man" that praised Taylor and dissed Bigelow. Biggest thing I remember watching live though was there was a glitch with my cable company, and the feed went out pretty much the entire Hart/Backlund match.
Mania 12, the 6 Man was originally going to be two matches IIRC: Vader vs. Yoko one on one, and then Jake and Ahmed vs. Owen and Bulldog. Yoko's health concerns switched it to the 6 man.
Also, the Hollywood Back-Lot Brawl was gonna be original a Miami Street Fight with Razor instead of Piper. They only built that way a short time before Hall got suspended, thus missing this Mania.
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thirteen3
Dennis Stamp
posted with a broken freakin neck keyboard
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Post by thirteen3 on Mar 29, 2024 8:11:24 GMT -5
Mania 11 is not the worst one. Not while 27 and 32 happened.
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fg
Unicron
Gaming
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Post by fg on Mar 29, 2024 10:48:48 GMT -5
Mania 11 was the first Mania I watched live, so I do have sort of a soft spot for it. The Network version doesn't have Salt 'n Pepper's remix of "What a Man" that praised Taylor and dissed Bigelow. Biggest thing I remember watching live though was there was a glitch with my cable company, and the feed went out pretty much the entire Hart/Backlund match. Mania 12, the 6 Man was originally going to be two matches IIRC: Vader vs. Yoko one on one, and then Jake and Ahmed vs. Owen and Bulldog. Yoko's health concerns switched it to the 6 man. Also, the Hollywood Back-Lot Brawl was gonna be original a Miami Street Fight with Razor instead of Piper. They only built that way a short time before Hall got suspended, thus missing this Mania. My cable company at the time (now known today as Altice USA (Aka optimum) of Northern NJ) had that same glitch. Since I recorded WM11, I recorded the glitch as well. I later decided to record footage of an I Love Lucy episode (a show that I like) over the glitch. In 1999, I had people over and since we were watching WM11, well I had to explain why there was a clip of I Love Lucy there. Oh boy! As far as Larry Young goes, I heard he got that gig to MLB being on strike and as luck would have it, it ended right around the time of the event and Larry went back to baseball immediately. In a case of poor timing, the magazine did an article on him showing pics of his match with “Larry” (I’m pretty sure he didn’t say this) saying that you will see him again in WWE and he said that it’s easier to officiate when you have better athletes in front of you.
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Post by DiBiase is Good on Mar 29, 2024 17:49:05 GMT -5
Someone should have told Vince that it was a Backlot Brawl, not a “Backlot Broar”. Speaking of that “match” there’s a punch during it that I swear was 100% legit, Piper absolutely cracks him one with it.
HHH would at least have a big Wrestlemania win in the very same arena four years later. (Which was a very surprising finish to me as I put The Rock winning at WM16 on a level of obviousness as HBK at 12).
The problem I have with this period of Manias (11-16) is that there’s no real spectacle to it. I know business was in the shitter so stadium shows were out of the question unless they gave away a f*** load of freebies (97 Rumble for example) but you can still put it in smaller arenas and make it seem special. Even though went overboard with the number of celebs at 11 (although admittedly Pamela Anderson was at that time one of the most famous people on the planet) they reigned it in the next couple of years. The issue with that is having celebrities at Mania has always been part of the feel of it and although I’m sure there were some, I can’t recall any celebs at 12 and 13 (and 12 was supposed to have a Hollywood feel to it).
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