PPV review

This is widely considered one of the worst WrestleMania's ever, and to many the worst one ever. Rewatching it for the first time in years, I have to agree although there were some entertaining parts. This was Jim Ross' debut and it was interesting to hear how much his voice has changed over the years. It was a lot more high-pitched back then. Randy Savage was introduced as one of the announcers. I'm sorry to you Macho Man fans, but Savage had no business being a color commentator. I felt he was one of the worst announcers in WWF history. So much he said during this show was stupid or out of place. Then Bobby "The Brain" Heenan came out riding backwards on a camel, which will probably never cease to make me laugh. I love Heenan and seeing him at this years Hall Of Fame ceremony and last year's made me sad for all the illnesses he's had to deal with. But I'm happy that he seems to be healthy, and he remains my favorite announcer ever. The PPV was outdoors at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and the whole show had a Roman gladiator feel to it.

Shawn Michaels defended the Intercontinental Title against Tatanka to start the show. At this point, HBK was a bad guy and I think Tatanka was still undefeated. HBK was accompanied by Luna. I don't need my women to be absolute eye candy, but all the same, I can't stand to look at Luna. Tatanka was accompanied by Sensational Sherrie in one of her final WWF appearances. Tatanka won by countout which would be just the start of a night of crappy and controversial finishes. But it was a good match and these two went at it for 18-20 minutes. I'm one of the people who believe HBK is just as good or probably even better now then he was in his "prime", the mid-90's. Grade: B

Next was The Steiner Brothers versus The Headshrinkers. It was the first WrestleMania for all 4 guys and I had to admit that I really liked this match. I'm not sure if there was any history between these two teams leading up to this match or not. Nice to see Scott Steiner and Rikishi so early in their WWF careers. At this point, I was real hopeful for a great PPV. There were two very cool spots in this one. One where one of the Headshrinkers pulled the top rope down and Scott Steiner went over the top and nearly landed on his head. This could have done serious damage to him. Another came when one of the Headshrinkers had Rick Steiner on his shoulders and the other was on the top turnbuckle as if they were going to deliver LOD's finisher The Doomsday Device. Well when the Headshrinker leapt off the top to deliver the clothesline, Rick caught him and delivered a powerslam off of his opponent's shoulders. Very innovative. Scott won the match for his team with the Frankensteiner. Grade: A-

Next, Crush who was in his Hawaiian gimmick fought Doink The Clown. I had forgot that Doink was originally a bad guy when he entered WWF. I always remembered him as a fun loving clown and also with his midget companion Dink. Well, this match was nothing special, but the ending was kind of cool when a second Doink came out from under the ring and helped the other Doink get the win. I can't remember if they ever did anything with this or if the second Doink was just forgotten about. Otherwise, not that special of a match. And that's what needs to be emphasized. This is WrestleMania, the biggest PPV of the year, and at this time one of only 5 PPVs a year. These matches need to be special when they're on the grandest stage of them all. Of course this was Austin-Rock compared to what followed. Grade: C

Razor Ramon beat Bob Backlund. Backlund looked absolutely awful in this match. I think I've only ever given two F's (Big Bossman-Nailz, Survivor Series 1992; Ivory-Tori, SummerSlam 1999) but this match is probably even more deserving. JR kept mentioning Backlund's technical prowess but it was not on display here. Considering a year later Ramon would be in a five star ladder match with HBK, he probably would like everyone to forget this, his first ever WrestleMania apperance. Grade: F

Next, one of my all-time favorite tag teams, Money, Inc. defended against the "Mega-Maniacs" Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake and Hulk Hogan. I guess the goal of this match was to have DiBiase and I.R.S. keep the titles but look bad in the process, because WWF had bigger plans for Hogan. Beefcake's popularity is mystifying to me. I think the thing was, he was only popular with kids. When I was a kid, I kind of liked him, but looking at him now he rivals Hacksaw Jim Duggan as the worst wrestler of all-time among guys who were actually over and popular. Money, Inc. tried to get counted out, but the ref said they'd lose the titles if they did, so they came back in the ring. It was as decent a wrestling match as you can have with Beefcake and Hogan in the same ring but it had a stupid ending. The ref gets knocked out, and then Hogan uses Beefcake's protective mask to knock out DiBiase and I.R.S. So the ref is out and Jimmy Hart counts the pinfall which of course doesn't count since he's not a real ref. Then another ref comes out from the back and wakes up the knocked out ref and gets him to disqualify the Mega-Maniacs for using a foreign object even though he never saw it. At least, that's why I assume there was a disqualification as it was never even explained. So Money, Inc. keeps the titles but they leave I.R.S.' briefcase in the ring, so Hogan and Beefcake pass out money to all the fans. That was cool, but the match was just OK. Grade: C+

The parade of wrestlers who have a hard time actually wrestling continues with "The Narcissist" Lex Luger. But his opponent was one of the best of all-time, Mr. Perfect so the match wasn't a total loss. I always preferred Mr. Perfect as a bad guy and that's how I always remember him, so it always takes me a second to get used to him as a good guy. Luger was so limited in the ring. What baffles me is that unlike a Hogan, he had little to no charisma outside the ring either. His was just a case of a guy getting over because of his body. Another stupid and controversial ending as Luger wins it with a backslide despite Mr. Perfect having his feet in the ropes. The ref just missed it, I suppose. Grade: C

Next up, The Undertaker versus Giant Gonzales. Gonzales only made three WWF PPV appearances and the reason is his atrocious ring skills. For once, I can understand the WWF's attraction to a terrible wrestler, though. He wasn't just your average big guy, he was 7'7". He dwarfed the Undertaker. Anyone who ever watched one of his matches is probably continually haunted by not only his terrible ring skills, but his atrocious costume. WTF was with that thing? It was supposed to make him look naked or something with rippling muscles and patches of body hair. For the life of me, I'll never understand it. This match ended when Gonzales' manager Harvey Whippleman threw him a rag covered in chloroform (WTF??!?) and this preceded to knock out the Undertaker and caused the ref to disqualify Gonzales. How many awful finishes can we have in one night? Well, the PPV isn't over so let's just wait and see. Taker gets taken out on a stretcher and then comes back out and attacks Gonzales but doesn't really do any damage to him. I guess this set things up for the rematch at SummerSlam. Can't wait to pull that one out of the archives and watch it. Grade: F

Now, Yokozuna challenged Bret Hart for the WWF Title. I've always thought Yokozuna was a little underrated and Bret Hart was a little overrated. They put on an OK match if it was just a normal match, but when you consider the WWF Title is on the line, this wasn't very good. The worst part was - surprise - the finish. The Hitman has the Sharpshooter locked on and Mr. Fuji throws salt in Bret's eyes and this allows Yokozuna to get the pin. What in the blue hell? Bret's got a little salt in his eyes so he can't even kick out? I'm not sure why they decided to end it like that, but whatever. Grade: C-

So, now Hogan comes out to check on Bret. I forgot to mention during the Tag Team Title match that Hogan's left eye is all screwed up. Apparently, he was injured in a jet-skiing accident. The WWF played it off as Money, Inc. hired people to take care of Hogan. But it was pretty rough looking. Anyway, Hogan is out helping Bret. Before the match, Hogan challenged the winner to a title shot one day. So now we're thinking Hogan vs. Yokozuna at SummerSlam or maybe the new PPV King Of The Ring, right? Wrong. Mr. Fuji challenges Hogan right then and there. What kind of heel champion, after wrestling a 10-15 minute match where they win the title, immediately challenges someone else to a match? One who has to deal with Hogan's backstage power, I guess. Anyway, salt in Yokozuna's eye, big boot, leg drop, Hogan is the champ. Nothing like a 10-second championship match to give your title some integrity. Grade: F

Let's look at the finishes. We had 3 clean finishes, 1 countout, 2 times where the ref didn't notice cheating which lead to victory, 1 time where the ref didn't notice a man's feet in the ropes as he was pinned and 2 disqualifications. That's a month's worth of crappy finishes all rolled up in one PPV. Another thing that was awful was the in-the-crowd interviews done by Todd Pettengill. God, was this guy a dork or what. Some would call this the worst PPV of all-time. I disagree although I wouldn't hesitate to call it the worst WrestleMania ever. It's still kind of fun to watch for the sake of nostalgia, but other than that, this isn't good.

P.S. Check my profile for other PPV reviews I've done. Check them out and let me know what you think.