Bleacher Report - Articles by Garrett Gonzales

Oscar De La Hoya and Chuck Liddell: Going Out at the Same Time

Garrett Gonzales — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:27:59 -0400

I didn’t even think about this until yesterday morning, but in the same week that Oscar De La Hoya announced his retirement, we have probably seen the last of Chuck Liddell in the octagon.

According to Dave Meltzer’s post-fight press conference report, Dana White said that Chuck Liddell is done as a fighter.

While Liddell and De La Hoya may be completely different types of fighters, they’re not all that different when it comes to how they represented their sports.

Oscar De La Hoya was boxing’s biggest star, and Chuck Liddell was also the UFC’s biggest star.

Oscar was well spoken, had tremendous charisma, and was someone who understood how to sell fights.

Chuck’s charisma was different. He looked like what you expected a UFC fighter to look like. He wore a mohawk with extreme facial hair. He was an aggressive fighter and simply wanted his fights to end in one way, which was via a punch from his right hand. He used his granite chin to take a punch so that he could give a harder one.

Even though their styles were so different, they were still had similarities. They weren't unbeatable. They simply had the type of star power that comes along only once in a blue moon.

Oscar De La Hoya lost big fights to Shane Mosley, Felix Trinidad, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Chuck Liddell lost fights to Randy Couture (which he avenged), Rampage Jackson (twice), Rashad Evans, and now Shogun Rua.

While each guy won also won big fights, their legend as the best in the sport was hurt by their big losses. And it never once hurt their stardom, even as they retired in very similar fashion.

For De La Hoya, that lasting bad memory is of him not leaving his stool while Manny Pacquiao waited anxiously to dish out more punishment. For Liddell, his are being knocked out with one punch by Rashad Evans, and being knocked loopy from a Rua punch that really wasn't a hard shot.

But both guys were special—one of a kind-type fighters. They were the most important fighter in each sport. And they both retired in the same week.

(Liddell’s retirement hasn’t been officially announced, but based on what’s been said, it looks like it’s it for him.)

Someday, we’ll look back on this week and note how historic it was.

UFC 97 Preview: Thales Leites Vs. Anderson Silva

Garrett Gonzales — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:59:34 -0400

Before every big UFC card, my FightGameBlog crew makes predictions on the main fights.

UFC 97 looks like a two fight show. The card leaves a lot to be desired. Other than the middleweight championship fight between Anderson Silva and Thales Leites, the rest of the main card is either heavyweights or light heavyweights.

That can be good and bad, but it probably means that we won’t see any quick hitting and fast fights, unless one of the undercard fights make it on the main show. But even on the undercard, most of the fights are middleweight or higher.

You can see the entire card at Wikipedia’s UFC 97 page.

Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

Big D: Liddell by second round TKO
Alan: Liddell by second round KO
Duan: Liddell by decision
Stevie J: Liddell by second round TKO
Cactus Jim: Liddell by second round KO
GG: Liddell by decision

Big D says

This is the most interesting fight on the card. It’s essentially “Loser Leaves Town”, especially if it ends early and violently. If either one of these guys gets knocked out, it’s safe to say they aren’t coming back.

I’m a bit torn here. I’m sick of betting on Chuck and having him disappoint me. I’m not as big a Chuck fan as GG, but it still bothers me to see him get beaten repeatedly. At the same time, Shogun Rua embarrassed himself in January against a man twice his age.

We went into a bit more detail on FGB Radio so check that out too!

I want Chuck to win and hope it happens, but it may not. Still, I’m gonna bet on him ONE LAST TIME.

Duan says

I have said it before so I’m not going to dwell on it here, but I don’t believe Chuck Liddell should be fighting anymore. The signs are there that he should be calling it a day. Let’s consider the last time Chuck landed that big one punch knockout.

It was six fights and almost three years ago against Renato Sobral. That is a huge concern for a guy who really doesn’t have a Plan B.

On the other hand we have Shogun Rua, who has been a colossal disappointment in his UFC tenure so far. His cardio has been abysmal, there’s no snap in his punches, and physically he looks weak. There isn’t really any reason for him to be a shot fighter.

He is still young, and he hasn’t ever taken a huge amount of punishment. That begs the question; can he just not perform under UFC regulations?

Given both guys recent performance, I don’t believe a win here should be enough to put either back in the title picture. But my gut feeling is that Liddell will take this. I think that even a faded Iceman will have enough to see off the UFC version of Shogun Rua.

GG says

I’m probably not the right guy to be unbiased here since Chuck Liddell is my favorite fighter of all time.

However, I still think he has the best chance to win. I don’t think it’s going to be a violent knockout loss for either guy and I don’t expect it to be a necessarily exciting fight. I think Chuck keeps his distance and boxes his way to a decision win.

Thales Leites vs. Anderson Silva

Big D: Silva by second round TKO
Alan: Silva by second round TKO
Duan: Silva by first round TKO
Stevie J: Silva by second round decision
Cactus Jim: Silva by first round TKO
GG: Silva by second round TKO

Alan says

Man, Leites came across as the nicest guy on the Countdown. It’s got me rooting for him. If he gets Silva down, anything’s possible. He just has to avoid the most lethal striking in MMA first. I REALLY want to stick my neck out and say Leites will pull it off, but I just can’t pick against Silva until he loses a fight.

Cactus Jim says

I think Silva dictates that this fight stays on the feet where he has a decided advantage and that he out strikes Leites ending the fight in round one. I would really like to see this fight go to the ground though.

I think it would be a more level playing field and that Leites would have a better chance at picking up a win. Leites has looked good in his last couple fights, but not good enough to beat Silva in my opinion.

This is a bit scary. We all have Liddell and Silva winning, which means if they don’t, we could have a curse of FGB.

We’ll be back on fight day Saturday with a live play by play of UFC 97 on FightGameBlog.

Wrestlemania XXV: Thoughts on HBK Vs. the Undertaker

Garrett Gonzales — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 04:02:29 -0400

When you are a passionate fan, you’ll argue about something to the death that is probably insignificant to 99.9 percent of the world. Let me introduce you to wrestling fans.

Actually, wrestling fans are no different than baseball fans in the '60s who argued who was better between Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays (Mays), movie fans who argue about which actor or actress deserved the Oscar or not, or rap music fans who will argue until the stars come out about who the greatest rapper of all time is (Rakim).

The primary difference is that wrestling in general is just seen as low brow entertainment while baseball and movies aren’t.

The jury is still out on rap music, especially with the over 30 crowd. Really, all four are just different forms of entertainment.

The wrestling world has been in argument over the last few days about whether or not the Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker match at Wrestlemania XXV was worth a five-star rating or not.

Let’s remember that star ratings are completely subjective and how one perceives a match is based on their entertainment value from that match.

I was at the match live and I didn’t think it was a five-star match. But that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t great. It was. It was superb. It was fantastic. It was the best match that I’ve ever seen live. But I don’t think it was the best match I’ve ever seen.

One thing was very certain that I noticed while live at Wrestlemania XXV. No matter what I thought about the match, Taker and HBK had Houston in the palms of their hands.

Part of my initial issues with the match had to do with the fact that we all knew that the Undertaker was winning. I had a hard time suspending disbelief because every time Michaels went for a pin, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he wasn’t ever going to get it. I desperately wanted to.

One of the things that I enjoy about watching a match is the surprise. I don’t necessarily like knowing who is going to win.

When Chris Benoit beat Triple H and Shawn Michaels in the main event of Wrestlemania XX, I thought Benoit had a chance to win the match and the title, but didn’t really know until the time Triple H tapped out. That feeling made that match even better than it already was for me. But I didn’t have that feeling with this match.

I thought the first tombstone from the skin the cat spot should’ve been the finish. At that point, I thought the match was at its peak. But I don’t fault those who thought likewise and loved the eventual finish.

The match did get really good again, but it felt like a match that had to get too many spots in and I thought it could’ve finished naturally after the first tombstone. But I think I was in the minority.

The fans in the building ate up the rest of the match and loved it. I’m not sure that I’ve ever watched a match or an MMA fight live where the crowd was as into it as Houston was with this match.

There was another part of the match that I thought could’ve been awesome because it made so much sense, but I don’t think it entirely worked. It was the spot where the Undertaker took the dive over the top rope and nearly killed himself.

I thought it was great because the story was that Michaels would accept a victory in any way possible. And when Taker took the dive, Michaels didn’t want him to hit the referee. The referee would have to count for the possible count out.

But when Taker’s dive landed short, and when he went head first to the floor, again, the ability to suspend disbelief left me. If he hit that dive clean, I think my rating would’ve probably been slightly higher.

All in all, it was still the best match on the show, and the greatest match I’ve ever seen in person. It just wasn’t the best match I’ve ever seen, nor was it a five-star match for me. For those who thought it was, I’m glad you enjoyed it so much.

I do want to see it on Blu ray next month to see how some of those spots played out on TV. I have a feeling my rating will probably stay the same though.

(I did a podcast after attending Wrestlemania XXV live in Houston. You can check it out at FightGameBlog.com.)

WrestleMania XXIV: I'm Sorry, I Love You

Garrett Gonzales — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 11:35:19 -0400

Other than their regular championship matches, Wrestlemania XXIV had two hooks.

At No Way Out, The Big Show reintroduced himself after being away for over a year. He pulled off his coat to show off his new, svelte (for Show) figure.

After threatening to beat up Rey Mysterio, boxer Floyd Mayweather, who was ringside, jumped in the ring and threw some legit punches that broke Big Show’s nose. This would lead to a match between the two at the big show.

Not many people knew that what WWE wanted was Floyd Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya in an opposing tag match at Mania XXIV, but De La Hoya wasn’t interested.

The second hook was a storyline involving Ric Flair’s retirement. Vince McMahon came out and said that the next time Ric Flair lost a singles match, he’d have to retire.

Flair faced Mr. Kennedy, MVP, and others leading up to Mania, and at Mania, his opponent would be Shawn Michaels. The storyline was originally pitched by Stone Cold Steve Austin, and in his version (as I’ve heard), Flair was to keep winning matches and challenge for a title at Wrestlemania.

It didn’t get that far, but Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair at Wrestlemania was definitely a strong match and by the end of the run, they had built enough interest after it being sort of lukewarm early on.

At the Royal Rumble, John Cena returned to WWE and what a surprise it was. All of the information had said that he wasn’t going to return until after Wrestlemania from his neck injury. But he must be a quick healer.

Cena showed up at the Rumble and won the match, winning a Mania title shot in the process. Cena came back on Monday to say why he came back so quickly. He couldn’t pass up the opportunity to wrestle for the championship at Wrestlemania.

And then for some reason, he challenged champion Randy Orton for the championship at No Way Out, pretty much making his reason for coming back so early nonsense.

Triple H won the Elimination Chamber match at No Way Out to become the number one contender. Cena got added to the match after the fact and it was now a triple threat match for Mania in one of the main events involving Randy Orton, Triple H, and Cena.

Undertaker would win the second Elimination Chamber match at No Way Out and would become the No. 1 contender to Edge’s title and they would do battle at Wrestlemania. It would even be the match that closed the show.

There was also a really good Money In The Bank match on the show, and the early predictions had Jeff Hardy winning the match and then challenging for the championship at SummerSlam.

But Mr. Hardy failed a medicine test and was taken out of the match and suspended. The 8-man match was changed to a 7-man match, and was actually a really terrific stunt fest.

John Morrison in particular stood out because of his great athleticism and Shelton Benjamin also took some crazy bumps. Matt Hardy interfered and took out MVP and CM Punk went on to win the match, earning him a future title shot at whichever champion he wanted.

JBL vs. Fit Finlay opened the show and it wasn’t much of a match. There was really no fit for the match, unless they wanted to put it on after one of the hotter matches. JBL isn’t a good worker and just being in the match was going to bring it down a level. Finlay couldn’t do much with him and JBL would get the victory.

Batista beat Umaga in the main interpromotional battle, but the match was also disappointing.

Just one year prior, Batista had the match of his life with the Undertaker, while Umaga was in one of the biggest money matches in history with Bobby Lashley (though the main reason was because of Donald Trump).

You could tell that both guys weren’t too happy being relegated to a non-main event match, and their effort showed. Batista walked away with the victory.

The triple threat match for Randy Orton’s title was a really solid match that was paced well. It lacked super heat and also didn’t get a whole lot of time, which hurt it. All three guys worked really hard to put on a good match and though they didn’t steal the show,

I originally liked the match the best when I first saw the show. I probably liked the Undertaker vs. Edge best later on second viewing, but it’s still close. Orton would pin Cena after stealing Triple H’s pin to win the match.

Floyd “Money” Mayweather and the Big Show showed that you don’t have to work a great style to tell a great story. Their match didn’t have any real wrestling, but the psychology was really strong.

Floyd was the little man, using his quickness to stick and move. Show used his power to throw Mayweather around like a rag doll. Surprisingly, Mayweather was solid and his athleticism showed throughout. He would beat Show after knocking him out with brass knuckles, and Show couldn’t answer the 10-count.

The Undertaker and Edge closed the show with a really dramatic match. Part of the problem when I watched it the first time is that I was fatigued from watching the first three hours and change of the show.

Knowing this was the last match, I was a little bored from the psychology and wanted them to get to the great spots that I knew were coming. The last few minutes of this match were spectacular.

They reversed each other’s moves and when Edge was about to hit a last spear to win the match, Undertaker caught him in his gogoplata to win the match.

Before I talk about Flair vs. Michaels, I want to make mention that to me, the match was a bit of a disappointment. I knew that they would both try their hardest to give everyone the perfect match they were hoping, but at this point in his career, Ric Flair couldn’t do that match.

The work was solid, though. You could see that Flair was a bit frustrated because he wasn’t able to stay with Michaels at times, but still, he put on a good Ric Flair performance. Because it was for his career, the story was that Flair was giving his most valiant effort, and if his best wasn’t good enough, it just wasn’t good enough anymore.

Late in the match, Michaels hit his patented sweet chin music and Flair struggled to his feet. Michaels was saddened that he had to beat one of his idols and mouthed the words, “I’m sorry, I love you,” before nailing Flair with another superkick to win the match.

It was the perfect ending to a good, though not great match. And even though it wasn’t the best match on the card, it is the one memory from the night that holds strong.

I have to mention the previous night’s Hall of Fame ceremony because it also involved Flair and helped with the romanticism of his entire storyline.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame, even though he was still technically an active wrestler, at least for one night. He told some great stories and it was really his final stage.

The Rock was also there in what could be one of his final wrestling performances, inducting both his father Rocky Johnson and his grandfather Peter Maiva.

On the night following Wrestlemania, they sent off Ric Flair in style with wrestlers coming out telling him how great he was. It was one of the few moments in wrestling history that seemed absolutely perfect.

Results

Triple Threat Match: Randy Orton def. John Cena and Triple H (Orton retains WWE Title)
The Undertaker def. World Heavyweight Champion Edge (New Champion)
Floyd “Money” Mayweather def. Big Show (Knockout)
Shawn Michaels def. Ric Flair (Flair's career ends)
Kane wins 24-Man Battle Royal to face ECW Champion
JBL def. Finlay in a Belfast Brawl
CM Punk wins the Money in the Bank Ladder Match
SmackDown vs. Raw: Batista def. Umaga
Kane def. ECW Champion Chavo Guerrero (New Champion)
Beth Phoenix & Melina def. Ashley & Maria in the BunnyMania Lumberjack Match

Photo of Edge by David Seto and shared via creative commons

Wrestlemania's 25 Greatest Matches: (5-1)

Garrett Gonzales — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 01:54:40 -0400

We’re down to the top five in our greatest matches countdown.

5. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock - Wrestlemania X-Seven

Big D says:

In my personal opinion, this is the all-time greatest match in the history of Wrestlemania. I could write about this match for days and days and all of the little nuances in the spots, transitions, the build-up, as well as the aftermath because it all meant so much.

This match, like Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant in 1987, was the defining moment of the Attitude Era wrestling boom. The two biggest stars in the business went at it. Both were babyfaces for the past year (Austin even helped Rock win the title a year prior), but in Texas, nobody was going to be worshipped like Austin regardless of the little heelish things he did during the match.

Austin wanted to win, and how did he do it? It was with the help of his arch enemy for four years: WWF Chairman Vince McMahon. The crowd reaction in this match was louder than perhaps anything in all of Mania history. The work, heat, and fantastic moments make this truly fitting of the words “Wrestle” and “Mania.”

It’s a shame that they wouldn’t be able to follow this up ever again.

Winner: Stone Cold Steve Austin

4. Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart - Wrestlemania X

Duan says:

WWE couldn’t have wished for a better match to kick off the 10th anniversary of Wrestlemania. The Hart brothers delivered an absolute technical masterpiece. It featured just tremendous back and forth action.

There were some really great displays of counter wrestling throughout this match. I thought the victory roll reversal made for the perfect finish.

The benefits of this match were two fold. Firstly, Owen got a big win over a main event level guy. It established him as a star and set up a rematch for down the line. And secondly, it meant that the crowd was going to be particularly hot for Bret vs. Yoko in the main event.

The story of Bret losing in the opener only to come back later and win the title played out perfectly. It was what made that show special.

Winner: Owen Hart

3. Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels - Wrestlemania 21

Alan says:

It was a dream match in every sense of the word. The first meeting of Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle was a bout that could have only taken place on the Grandest Stage Of Them All.

In my opinion, this was the last classic Kurt Angle match. He’s had some good ones since and even a great one (vs. Yuji Nagata in 2008) but this match with HBK may have been his swan-song as far as matches of this caliber.

Both wrestlers performed to the peak of their powers, wowing the crowd from bell to bell. The match culminated with some of the most dramatic near falls in Mania history and some absorbing submission teases. The spot where Shawn, with his tank past empty, mustered up one last superkick was incredible.

It wasn’t enough though, as the ankle lock got synced back in and in a rarity, the babyface Shawn tapped clean.

Winner: Kurt Angle

2. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H - Wrestlemania XX

GG says:

This match is going to be either overlooked because of how WWE has tried to erase it from history because of trying to erase Chris Benoit from history. Or, it’s going to be remembered even more fondly for the same reason.

At any point, it was the perfect match with the perfect ending. I remember screaming at Triple H, pleading with him to tap so that Chris Benoit could finally win the strap. And when he did, I think I gained more respect for Triple H than I’d ever had.

To me, at that point in wrestling, Benoit was everything that was right, and Triple H wasn’t. I’d be a fool for thinking that afterward, but not at that moment.

And who can forget the final scene in the middle of the ring with Chris Benoit’s family and one of his best friends in Eddie Guerrero standing next to him, congratulating him on winning something he’d earned because of hard work.

WWE may try to erase that memory from history, but I’ll never forget it, no matter who Chris Benoit turned out to be.

Winner: Chris Benoit

1. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart - Wrestlemania 13

GG says:

I thought that this match had a great chance to be our choice for number one, but any of the top three matches could’ve won in my book. I think the reason that this match won is because not only did Austin and Hart work so well together, but it also signified one of the greatest double turns in the history of wrestling.

The best part of the match is actually the end. Bret Hart had Austin in the sharpshooter while Austin was bleeding profusely. Austin never tapped, but he passed out, and the rest was history really for both of their careers.

Winner: Bret Hart

Thanks for reading through our lists of favorite Wrestlemania matches. I want to thank Alan, Duan, and Big D for putting a lot of this work together. They’ve been great in getting me all of the information necessary to put this thing together.

Wrestlemania 23: Who Wouldn't Want to Cut Donald Trump's Hair?

Garrett Gonzales — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 03:02:36 -0400

When it’s all said and done, what Wrestlemania 23 will be remembered for is a haircut match. This isn’t any random old haircut match. This was a billionaire’s haircut match. Well, at least one of them was a billionaire.

Donald Trump has been affiliated with wrestling in the past. He hosted Wrestlemania IV and V at his Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, N.J. They were two of the worst Wrestlemania’s ever, but that didn’t stop Vince McMahon from calling Trump’s name some 18 years later. And McMahon needed it.

Wrestlemania is what Vince McMahon and company build to every year. It’s their Super Bowl. It’s always the biggest PPV of the year, and the one in which they pull out all the stops.

This year, the stops was Donald Trump. You might wonder why putting Donald Trump on a wrestling show, and one that he won’t even wrestle on, is important.

The reason it’s important is because people wanted to pay to see who would get their hair cut between Vince and the Donald.

Can you imagine a bald Donald Trump? Everyone wants to see that right? Even though anyone in their right mind would know that Trump would’ve never signed on to a match in which he’d lose his hair, it was built up so well, and it went on to be the main event in the biggest money making event in company history.

Donald Trump is still a big name. Even though his television show, The Apprentice was struggling mightily, he’s a well-known public figure. And to get a well known public figure who isn’t a one-hit wonder (like Kevin Federline) was a major coup for the WWE.

It allowed them to enter the main stream media for a short while. The media picked up on Donald Trump being involved with wrestling and it sparked a little bit of a buzz. The wrestling fans are going to buy Wrestlemania. The goal is to get everyone else to do so.

Donald was put with Bobby Lashley. Vince aligned himself with the Samoan Bulldozer, Umaga. Lashley and Umaga would wrestle and if Lashley lost, Donald would get his head shaved. Of course, if Umaga lost, Vince would.

When I heard about this, I smiled with glee thinking about how fun it would be for Vince McMahon to go crazy while getting his head shaved.

But then it got even better. Who was going to referee this match? None other than that Texas Rattlesnake, Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin’s new motto is, “Arrive, raise hell, leave” and I couldn’t wait to see him do so.

Even though that was the biggest money match on the card, the two championship matches were ones that made fans legitimately happy.

The first one had been building up for a couple months. Dave Batista as WWE champion wasn’t working out. His matches were horrendous and people were losing faith in him. There was one grudge match that people wanted to see Batista in, and that was with the Undertaker.

The Undertaker had taken sips from the fountain of youth. I’ve never been a big fan of the Undertaker, but he’d been nothing short of spectacular in early 2007.

His Royal Rumble match with Shawn Michaels was great and I expected his match with Batista to be pretty good. How can Batista not be inspired to have a great match with someone who was busting his rear end to make the match special?

John Cena and Shawn Michaels had been on a crash course since January, at least in many of the fans’ eyes. When Triple H went down in January with another quadriceps tear, Shawn Michaels became the de facto guy to work with John Cena.

We’d already seen Edge and John Cena, and while that was a wonderful feud, it had run it’s course. And Randy Orton was out giving someone a reverse chin lock somewhere. Michaels was the fans pick and thankfully, WWE relented.

I don’t think they had him pegged originally because I heard his name being thrown out there for the match between Trump and McMahon. They gave us what we wanted.

There was also the Money In The Bank Ladder Match that has become a staple at Wrestlemania. In 2007, they expanded it to an 8-man match which I thought was a detriment to the actual match because it would probably be too busy inside the ring. Having six men in the ring was quite enough, adding two made it like a mini battle royal.

It did give two other guys a chance to be on the big show which means a payoff and a little limelight. The match was the worst of them (this was the third year in a row for the match) all, but it was still pretty good. It didn’t have the amazing chemistry of the first, or even the stellar booking of the second.

But it did have a few crazy stunts including Jeff Hardy hitting a leg drop off of a high ladder onto Edge, forcing both men through a table. Ken Kennedy eventually would win the match, which was the opener. Being the opener probably hurt the match because it wasn’t given the time it needed to be spectacular.

The Great Khali and Kane were thrown into a last minute match together in which Khali won. What’s interesting about this feud wasn’t the match itself because that was horrible.

But only five months later, these two guys would be top contenders for the Smackdown title after injuries would force the next two champions away from the brand. If you only knew at this time, maybe this match would’ve been more than just an afterthought. Here, it was an afterthought.

The late Chris Benoit surprisingly beat MVP with the head butt off the top rope in the third match on the card. In another afterthought, the ECW Originals defeated the New Breed after the soon to be leaving RVD won the match with a frog splash.

And in a match I almost forgot about before checking the back of the DVD, Melina beat Ashley in a lumberjills match. It was a travesty that Mickie James’ Jeans wasn’t on the card in an actual match.

The Undertaker and Batista might’ve put on the best possible match that they could’ve put on. If you had to visualize what the perfect match between the Taker and Batista would look like, this would be it.

It was the best match on the show in my opinion and both men put in the best effort of the night. The story that came out after the show was that both men were upset that they didn’t get to main event the show and wanted to make a statement that they should’ve been in the main event.

The highlight of the match was the Undertaker taking a dive over the top rope like he was 20 years younger. The Taker took the belt with a tombstone piledriver to win the match.

Bobby Lashley and Umaga were completely overshadowed by having Donald Trump and Vince McMahon in their respective corners. They pulled out the shenanigans for this one.

First, it had Stone Cold Steve Austin as a guest ref, which meant that Umaga was going to get hit with the stunner. And since Vince McMahon at the time saw Bobby Lashley as a superstar, he wanted his best bumping big man out there and that is definitely Umaga.

In no way did it ever seem like Lashley was going to lose. Donald Trump didn’t even seem to be worried that if Lashley lost, he’d have to get a haircut. But Vince was awesome.

He has some of the greatest facial expressions in the history of facial expressions. And after Lashley pinned Umaga, it got even better. He tried to leave without getting his haircut until Lashley caught up to him. Then Lashley, Austin, and Trump all gave him the haircut of a lifetime. It was great entertainment.

And then the main event occurred. It was John Cena against Shawn Michaels in a match that was originally supposed to be John Cena vs. HHH until HHH got hurt. Cena received an interesting crowd reaction. During his entrance they booed him. During the match, it was half and half. And by the end of the match, I definitely heard some cheers.

They had a main event style match with nearly 30 minutes to work with and lots of drama. Cena would finally win with the STFU submission hold and HBK would give his best babyface-in-peril look. I would rate the match at least four stars, but I thought the Undertaker vs. Batista match delivered more and in less time, but you can’t argue with the main event.

It was a really good match and they’d meet again in an even better match on Raw some weeks down the line.

I added some of the highlights of the Hall Of Fame ceremony that was held the night before.

- Bobby Heenan introduced Nick Bockwinkel and when you have Heenan, you have entertainment.

- Bockwinkel was a bit stiff, but that’s his gimmick.

- The Wild Samoans were far better than you’d expect.

- RVD introduced the Original Sheik and he displayed far more charisma than he has in his entire WWE career.

- Don Muraco introduced Mr. Fuji and Fuji told stories of all the jokes he played on the other wrestlers. They also showed clips of Fuji Vice.

- Stone Cold Steve Austin told a story of how when he made his biggest career mistake, it was Jim Ross who helped him get back in touch with Vince McMahon.

- Ross was great and he genuinely seemed happy to be there.

- For some reason, William Shatner introduced Jerry Lawler off of one angle from many years ago rather than someone like Jimmy Hart or Lance Russell.

- Lawler tried to do stand up comedy and it fell flat for the most part.

- Wade Boggs told a story about how Curt Hennig saved his life in a hunting accident and how they were legit friends.

- Curt’s wife said that he was exactly what he said he was, which was “absolutely perfect.”

- But the best of all was the American Dream Dusty Rhodes who delivered the best speech that I’ve heard in one of these ceremonies.

- Dustin was back and even did some Goldust.

- Cody Rhodes is going to be great one day. Ya, I said it.

- Dusty called out every guy you could think and allowed them to receive a standing ovation. HHH really seemed touched and I might’ve even seen a few tears underneath all that hair.

- Dusty asked Arn Anderson, Flair, and Harley Race to hold up four fingers and asked Flair if they could all be members of the Four Horsemen for a night.

- Krystal danced the sexiest dance imaginable with the Dream and he said that if his wife wasn’t there (who he called his reason for living), he would try and get some brown sugar.

The event was really good. Probably not as good as the previous three Wrestlemanias. But pretty close.

Photo by Caleb Jones and shared via Wikipedia.

Wrestlemania's 25 Greatest Matches: 10-6

Garrett Gonzales — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 01:20:50 -0400

We’re down to the top ten.

10. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit - Wrestlemania X-Seven

Alan says:

The first 5 minutes of this match were surreal. You had two “smaller” wrestlers on Wrestlemania in front of 50,000-plus (really over 67,000) WWF fans, doing nothing but amateur wrestling. It was hold and counter hold… AND IT GOT OVER. It got over huge.

I don’t think anything like that would have been envisioned in 1987. Heck, it wouldn’t have been envisioned in 1997. But Angle and Benoit were just that good, and while they would go on to have better matches, this remains a technical classic.

It was the first time we witnessed their display of countering each other’s finishers which became a staple of their matches, and at the time that was really really cool. The finish was perhaps not what you’d ideally want from these two, but it’s non-conclusiveness left things open for rematches.

Winner: Kurt Angle

9. Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle - Wrestlemania XIX

GG says:

At one point in this match, I thought to myself that I was watching one of the greatest matches I’d ever seen in my life. In fact, as the match was going on, I thought this could possibly be the greatest match in Wrestlemania history.

Kurt Angle was injured going into the match and there was worry that he wouldn’t be able to work. But this is Kurt Angle. You knew he’d be there. And he went on to have a fabulous performance.

Brock Lesnar held his own and it was a match mixed with fast and hard hitting action. It fell off near the end as Brock tried a shooting star press and nearly broke his neck.

There was a bit of a breakdown as Lesnar was in a fog, but Angle led him through to the finish. While the ending didn’t allow it to achieve its full greatness, it’s still one of the greatest Mania matches of all time.

Winner: Brock Lesnar

8. Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair - Wrestlemania VIII

Duan says:

There are only a handful of matches from the earlier Mania shows that have really stood the test of time. This is definitely one of them. 17 years later, it still holds up as well as it ever did. They wrestled with a level of intensity you rarely see. It was an intensity that was befitting of the storyline.

Flair was magnificent as usual, but most of the credit for this match has to go to Savage. He played his role to perfection, and brought a believability to it. The involvement of Liz and Perfect was also excellently booked and only added to the tension.

I would also be remiss if I did not mention Bobby Heenan’s work on commentary. In my opinion this was his greatest performance.

Winner: Randy Savage

7. Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage - Wrestlemania III

Big D says:

What more can I say that hasn’t been said? A lot of people consider this to be the greatest match in Wrestlemania history, and without a doubt, it is the best in the first nine years of Mania.

Randy Savage defeated Tito Santana for the Intercontinental Championship in 1986 and held the title for a year. He wrestled Steamboat initially on Saturday Night’s Main Event and dumped Steamboat’s throat over the guard rail as Vince McMahon screamed at the top of his lungs that Steamboat swallowed his tongue (on a later Superstars of Wrestling).

Steamboat was probably the No. 3 or 4 babyface in the company at the time, but this shot him up a few levels.

If I could use one word to describe this match, it would have to be "smooth". There were tons of near-falls and reversals and hordes of psychology. There are at least three or four times in the match where you thought it was over and it wasn’t. Everything was crisp and tight.

In the end, the Dragon vanquished the Savage with his buddy Animal Steele at his side.

Winner: Ricky Steamboat

6. TLC II - Wrestlemania X-Seven

GG says:

This is the highest ranked match of all the gimmick matches on our list. There was just something a little more special about this one. Part of that reason is because this match was on the greatest Wrestlemania card in history, which was nearing the end of their popularity explosion.

Also, the setting helped. When you saw these guys on top of ladders surrounded by near 70,000 fans watching with baited breath, it just added to the excitement. All three teams were brilliant, and though Edge and Christian won, Jeff and Matt Hardy, and Bubba Ray and Devon were all spectacular in their own right. Tables, ladders, and chairs, oh my!

Winner: Edge and Christian

We are down to the top five. Which match is the greatest match in Wrestlemania history according to us? You will soon find out.

Photo shared by Mshake3

Wrestlemania And John Cena Go Big Time After Wrestlemania 22

Garrett Gonzales — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 01:07:37 -0400

Wrestlemania weekend isn’t just Wrestlemania weekend anymore. It’s the actual close of WWE’s fiscal year. It’s what they gear all of their marketing towards.

And because of all the time and money spent towards the event, it usually succeeds and is the one time of the year where most WWE fans buy a wrestling PPV and sit with their friends and watch.

It’s pretty much how it was designed originally by Vince McMahon. It is now the Super Bowl of wrestling.

But where as the final game in football is the only thing important going on (unless you count all the parties), Wrestlemania weekend now includes something that is almost more interesting than the wrestling show itself.

For the the last three years, WWE has added a Hall of Fame ceremony as an extra event. They televise an hour of it on television and stream it on the internet, but add the entire ceremony on the DVD as an added incentive to buy the release.

Wrestlemania 22 was the first time in Wrestlemania history that the Hall of Fame ceremony (or any extracurricular activity) actually overshadowed the wrestling card. There were two reasons for that.

First, the booking, build-up and match making for the card was pretty atrocious. Thankfully the guys put on awesome performances and the card ending up being pretty good. But the other reason is because of Bret Hart and the late Eddie Guerrero.

Vince McMahon did his damnedest to make Bret Hart a part of the Hall of Fame ceremony, much to the chagrin of wrestling fans alike. Bret Hart was never supposed to be apart of any WWE event after Vince screwed him in Montreal, and also after his brother Owen died in the ring after an irresponsible mishap.

But after the recent completion of his DVD set, you figured Bret would come around. He also made it quite clear that he was only going to be a part of the Hall of Fame ceremony and would have nothing to do with the Wrestlemania wrestling card itself. And he was true to his claim.

The late Eddie Guerrero’s death was still surreal some eight months after it happened. Chavo Guerrero said it best during his speech in inducting his Uncle Eddie when he said that never in a million years would he have thought he’d be inducting Eddie into the Hall in 2006.

He knew it would happen eventually, but not so soon, and not because of something like Eddie’s death.

Because Bret made it quite clear that he wasn’t going to be a part of the wrestling shenanigans, and also because obviously Eddie physically (though they sure as heck made sure his name was brought up on the show) wouldn’t be able to be there, the Hall of Fame ceremony was actually more so the must see event than the actual wrestling event the next day.

It was really a fantastic Hall of Fame ceremony. I know people will ask how you can have a Hall of Fame for a predetermined sport. It’s kind of like how you can have an awards show and party for people who act.

The Hall Of Fame event itself was hosted by Jerry “The King” Lawler. He introduced all the inductors and did a fairly seamless job. Nearly every induction was memorable.

The Blackjacks were inducted by Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and thankfully, the worst was first. Blackjack Mulligan seemed to be in better spirits as the word was that he wasn’t doing well.

But Blackjack Lanza was peeved at someone as he was cracking jokes on Bobby Heenan and just telling jokes in general that were not getting over with a crowd that wanted to applaud everything. Heenan was great as always.

John Cena inducted William “Refrigerator” Perry into the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame. The Fridge was in a battle royal at Wrestlemania 2 won by Andre The Giant in the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago.

And Chicago was the host city for this Wrestlemania as well. Chicago hated John Cena. But he was great with his introduction of Perry as he did the old NFL films deal with the dramatic announcing and colorful wording of Perry’s career. Perry didn’t take up much time and left it for the wrestlers.

Greg Gagne was great (and who knew he had such charisma as you couldn’t tell by necessarily watching him wrestle) and he introduced his dad, the legendary Verne Gagne. The younger Gagne even said that he never lost to Ric Flair and did Flair’s strut. Verne was in a joking mood as well, cracking the crowd up by making jokes about Vince McMahon.

SD “Special Delivery” Jones introduced Tony Atlas and he probably took his job most seriously. He talked about taking Atlas all over the world and finding all the power lifting gyms in the different countries and having Atlas lift with them showing “Olympic” caliber athletes that wrestlers were top notch athletes as well.

Atlas himself gave a very inspirational speech about how he grew up poor and never forgot where he came from and that helped him get back on his feet after squandering all his money.

Sherri Martel was the most happy to be there. She ran through story after story, nearly getting Ric Flair in trouble with his fiance (who then became his wife though they are now divorced) who was sitting with him up front.

She also had a few things to say about Eric Bischoff without knowing he was in the building. But she did a great job winging it after that. She definitely seemed to appreciate the honor most.

Hulk Hogan introduced Mean Gene Okerlund and rubbed his fingers together to insinuate that it would take a lot of money to get him back into the ring with Stone Cold Steve Austin. Okerlund had a funny line at the end of his speech that had to do with him being buried backside up when he passed. I think you could tell where he was going with that one. It was for his critics and where they can kiss.

Finally, the two people who were the biggest names to get inducted into the Hall of Fame were next. Chris Benoit, Chavo Guerrero, and Rey Mysterio Jr. told stories about the late Eddie Guerrero. Chavo said that Eddie taught him the most about the business, even more than his own father, Chavo Sr. (who he called Classic) taught him.

He told the audience how Eddie taught him that it was ok for a man to let out his feelings and be emotional. And he thanked everyone for cheering for Eddie. Benoit and Mysterio both talked about how great of a friend Eddie was to them and Benoit even went as far to call him his road wife since he and Guerrero spent so much time on the road together.

They introduced Vickie Guerrero who came out with her two daughters to accept Eddie’s Hall of Fame plaque. In this instance, wrestling was all of a sudden very real.

The last induction was for that of Bret “The Hitman” Hart. Stone Cold Steve Austin was there to induct Bret. Austin came out and said that he was looking for something in his bag in the back when he found a can of whoop a** with Hulk Hogan’s name on it. That had the crowd roaring.

Austin talked about Bret and how he never missed a date (though he was always late) and that he and Bret had the single greatest match of Austin’s career (Wrestlemania 13). Bret came out and the fans were in awe.

They hadn’t seen him in a very long time and he actually looked his age. Bret is a stroke survivor from years of concussions, and he very much looked human on this day. But he also had his keen wit, stoic demeanor, and seemed like he hadn’t lost a step. He weaved in stories about Owen Hart, his father Stu, and one about his tag team partner Jim “The Anvil” Neidhardt.

That story had to do with the time he clotheslined Vince McMahon out of his boots. But you have to listen to that one. I can’t spoil it here. Overall, the fans seemed to come to see Bret one last time. He was definitely the best there is, was, and ever will be again on this night.

The show itself was better than advertised. The booking for the show was severely lacking and this was maybe the worst build for Wrestlemania since Wrestlemania 2000, but at least in 2000 they were in a world where they simply couldn’t do any wrong.

This year, most figured we were in for a long night, but thanks to the performers, it was actually an above average Wrestlemania. If Wrestlemania X-7 and XIX were simply great, this was pretty good.

There were two must see matches in my opinion. The first was Mick Foley vs. Edge in a Hardcore Match. It would be Foley’s first Wrestlemania match in two years and a match that would allow him to shine.

The second was the Triple Threat Match in which Rey Mysterio would face Kurt Angle and Randy Orton for Kurt’s World Title. The other two matches that had big pushes behind them were John Cena’s WWE Title defense against Triple H and Vince McMahon’s brawl with Shawn Michaels.

Notice that three of the four big matches were from the Raw brand. And that would be the story on this night. The Raw matches were seen as very important compared to those on the Smackdown brand.

A few things became clear after the night was over. First and foremost, John Cena is the biggest star in WWE. You might argue Triple H, and on any given night, he may get a better overall reaction than Cena, but in no way does he sell more tickets, sell more PPV buys, or sell more merchandise than Cena does.

And throughout the build up to this match, it was pretty much figured that Triple H would win the match and get the WWE Title. Right up until John Cena made HHH tap in his horrible STFU, I still thought HHH was taking the strap back.

But give WWE credit (and HHH and Vince who probably had the most decision making power in this instance) for keeping Cena on top because he was the fresher superstar. Love him or hate him, John Cena was the right person to win the match on that night.

Rey Mysterio won the Royal Rumble that January. He was the second man in the ring and lasted the entire match, winning it after tossing out Triple H and Randy Orton. This meant that he’d get his shot at the World Title. However, they never meant to put Rey in the spot.

After Eddie Guerrero died, Rey was pushed as Eddie. Because he was popular with the Hispanic crowd and because everyone knew he was Eddie’s friend, he was pushed as Eddie Guerrero. He just wasn’t supposed to be pushed all the way to the top. But the crowd wanted it.

At No Way Out, Randy Orton beat Mysterio to take his spot in the main event against Kurt Angle, thus leaving Mysterio out of the title match he had earned. But it was ultimately decided that Mysterio should be in the match and it was changed to a Triple Threat match for Wrestlemania.

But remember, Rey was never supposed be pushed to the top.

Rey continued to lose on television all the way until Wrestlemania and it looked like there was no way he was going to win the championship. Low and behold, in a match that was given less than 10 minutes, Rey won the belt.

The match was good, but not the classic it was supposed to be because of the lack of time it was given, and even with Vickie Guerrero’s presence at the show, Rey’s victory almost seemed anticlimactic. He was pushed on television so weakly that you never expected him to win and when he did, it was flat.

Shawn Michaels had his work cut out for him when his program with Vince McMahon was created in late 2005. Written around Bret Hart and Montreal (what else is new?), Shawn was basically telling Vince to get over the most famous screw job in history.

Vince doesn’t get over things like this and the war was on. After working with Hulk Hogan in the summer and doing the work of 10 men, Shawn Michaels was given another huge task. How does one make Vince McMahon, a huge man with little athletic ability and more muscle than anything else, look good?

Well, there are a few men who can do it in the world. And Shawn Michaels is definitely one of them. HBK was the aggressor for nearly the entire match and hit a splash off the top rope onto McMahon who was inside of a garbage can. HBK got the win, and actually made it a fairly entertaining match.

There was one more match that was outside of those top 4 matches that was entertaining and that was the “Money In The Bank” Ladder match where 3 men from Smackdown and 3 men from Raw faced off. The premise was that there was a briefcase hanging from a cable and in order to get the briefcase, you had to scale a ladder to reach it.

Of the six men, only Rob Van Dam, Ric Flair, and Bobby Lashley really had a chance to win the match. The winner would go on to receive a title match and those three men were really the only ones who could be programmed in the title mix.

Fit Finlay, Matt Hardy, and Shelton Benjamin were there to make the match exciting, and though it wasn’t as hot as the previous year, it was still a really good match. It was a spot fest and Shelton Benjamin showed off his athletic ability once again. It was also fun watching Fit Finlay and the Nature Boy go toe to toe for a bit. In the end, RVD won the match and would soon receive his title shot.

The rest of the card was solid fun, except for the Boogey Man beating Booker T which was nauseating, but that was expected. Also, Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle in their Playboy Pillow Fight should’ve been taken off the card. It wasn’t necessary and the WWE Triple Threat match for the title should’ve been given the time instead.

The Undertaker beat Mark Henry predictably to continue his undefeated Wrestlemania streak. The match was just there, but the Undertaker is a good draw and he gave the fans what they wanted.

JBL beat Chris Benoit for the US Title in a match that was good, but could’ve been better had it also have been given more time.

The tag title match that opened the show saw Kane and Big Show beat an uninspired Chris Masters and Carlito. It was a bad way to open the show, but this match had to go somewhere.

And maybe the most surprising match as far as quality (until the messed up finish) was Trish Stratus vs. Mickie James. Interestingly enough, the fans were very much into the heel James and the back and forth had great psychology.

But James screwed up the finish on the live broadcast and it took away from how hard they worked. However, on the DVD, they edited out the screwed up finish, which probably didn’t need to be done. But they still worked very hard.

Results

Rey Mysterio def. Kurt Angle and Randy Orton (new World Heavyweight Champion)
WWE Champion John Cena def. Triple H
Shawn Michaels def. Mr. McMahon (No Holds Barred Match)
Edge def. Mick Foley (Hardcore Match)
RVD wins Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Undertaker def. Mark Henry (Casket Match)
JBL def. Chris Benoit (new United States Champion)
World Tag Team Champions Kane & Big Show def. Chris Masters & Carlito
Mickie James def. Trish Stratus (new Women’s Champion)
Boogeyman def. Booker T and Sharmell
Torrie Wilson def. Candice Michelle (Playboy Pillow Fight)

WrestleMania 21: WrestleMania Blows Through Hollywood

Garrett Gonzales — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:55:03 -0400

In 2004, Vince McMahon gave die-hard wrestling fans their wish. Undervalued wrestlers Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit were at the top of the mountain and fans were happy.

But soon there after, both men became beltless.

Guerrero lost the WWE Championship to JBL, who was a good character, but not a wrestler of Guerrero’s caliber. Benoit eventually lost his World Heavyweight Championship to Randy Orton in August of 2004.

According to Guerrero, he wasn’t ready to handle the responsibility of being in the main event every week and being the most important wrestler on the Smackdown brand.

Benoit’s reason for losing was a little different. McMahon wanted to capitalize on a hot Orton, even though it killed Orton in the process.

As WrestleMania 21 neared, Triple H from the Raw brand and JBL from the Smackdown brand held the titles, McMahon was ready to turn younger wrestlers into headlining superstars.

Enter Dave Batista and John Cena.

These men weren’t undervalued ring generals like Guerrero and Benoit. You could actually make a case that they were overvalued and overrated.

But one thing was certain: Both were over with the fans.

Batista wasn’t supposed to be the guy in the role of future champion. That was supposed to be Orton. But when Orton beat Benoit for the belt at SummerSlam, he was subsequently turned face.

Triple H immediately came in, killed him dead, and took the championship back in the process.

When Orton was floundering after his pointless face turn, Batista became the cool member of Evolution.

He started getting booked in Orton’s spot as the cool heel and his angle with Triple H becaming a huge box office draw.

Batista was on his way. But was he ready to take the strap at WrestleMania?

Cena had been a very good character for WWE. While not always in the main event picture, he’d done well for himself with his rapping gimmick.

Near the tail end of 2004, his first finished up his first movie before dropping his rap album in '05

It was obvious at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view in Fresno that WWE considered Batista and Cena to be its next superstars when they were the last two men left in the ring during the Rumble.

McMahon saw big things in both men and put them in contention to win the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships.

What else did Vince McMahon have up his sleeve at WrestleMania? Well, what he didn’t have up his sleeve was almost as important as what he did.

Since Wrestlemania 21 was in Hollywood, one would think that The Rock would be involved somehow. But he wasn’t.

And who didn’t want to see Mick Foley involved someway? He wasn’t there either.

So McMahon went back to the well with three guys he always falls back on: Stone Cold Steve Austin, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and Hulk Hogan.

Austin and Piper were involved in a Piper’s Pit segment, and Piper and Hogan were apart of the Hall Of Fame ceremony the previous night. Hogan later got involved with Muhammed Hassan and Kosrow Daivari when they attacked Eugene.

During the Piper's Pit segment, Austin went toe-to-toe verbally with Piper, who was the first guy I've ever seen to quiet the “What!” crowd chants.

Carlito soon came out and Austin gave him a stunner right before giving Piper one.

The two hours of this show might’ve been the greatest in Wrestlemania history.

The show opened with Rey Mysterio wrestling Eddie Guerrero in a match that saw the Smackdown Tag Team Champions battling each other. It was the old “who is better” match, and while it was slightly unfulfilling, it was still a good wrestling match.

Mysterio won a back-and-forth match that led to their summer-long, soap opera-type feud.

Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Christian, Edge, Shelton Benjamin, and Kane originally had nothing to do for this show. So someone (Jericho) said, let’s throw these guys in a match together and put a ladder in.

The winner would get a future shot at a championship by climbing the ladder and grabbing a briefcase containing a match contract suspended high above the ring.

The match was full of great high spots. Benoit schooled the rest of the group, but Edge won the match.

This really got the show going.

Whenever someone wrestles the Undertaker at WrestleMania, you pencil them in for a loss.

The Undertaker just never loses at Wrestlemania, and that year, Orton was the one left staring at the lights by the time the match was over.

However, it was a strong match. Old school fans were happy to see Cowboy Bob Orton come in and interfere, cast and all.

Cowboy Bob was inducted into the Hall of Fame the night before alongside Hogan, Piper, Paul Orndorff, the Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, and Jimmy Hart.

While The Undertaker won the match, he made Orton look good and didn’t maim him like everyone initially thought he would.

Three matches in and all were good.

Of course, with Trish Stratus vs. Christy Hemme coming up next, you figured the entertaining matches were going to end. But if you were male watching this, you were entertained in a different way.

Stratus is an amazingly talented woman and she made the match not only interesting, but also entertaining in its own right. While it wasn’t a good match—Hemme can't wrestle to save her life—Stratus is just so damn good in her character that I couldn’t hate it.

She also looked spectacular, as she always does. Stratus could be dressed as a lumberjack and still look fine.

Most die-hard wrestling fans were looking forward to WrestleMania for one reason: HBK Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle.

It was a dream match that hadn’t yet happened and was one for the ages. Both guys were on their game and they put on a show.

The match was fantastic, with back-and-forth action and what might be the greatest submission spot this side of Stone Cold Steve Austin bleeding profusely in Bret Hart's sharpshooter.

Angle put his signature ankle lock on HBK, who fought for what seemed like minutes until he finally tapped out. It was a great overall match and one that you need to go out of your way to see, if you haven’t already.

While there was a “match” with Big Show and sumo wrestler Akebono, it was just there to give the crowd something to be quiet about.

Unless your one goal in life was to see Big Show’s butt cheeks, you have to go out of your way to avoid this.

The two title matches were similar in how each was booked. Heels beat on the faces until the big comeback when the faces won the match.

But the way in which the matches ended were pretty anticlimactic.

Cena was taking a beating from JBL for the entire match, and then made his one big comeback, hit the FU, and the match was over.

The end came much too quickly for a former champion, whose claim to fame was that he hadn’t been beaten in almost a year.

JBL’s gimmick was that he seemed like he was going to lose, and then pull out the match and keep his belt by the skin of his teeth. Here, Cena hit his one big move, and the match was over.

While Cena tried his best, this match didn’t seem all that important for the co-main event.

But Batista’s did.

Interestingly enough, Triple H decided to work a decent wrestling match, though he might’ve beat up on Batista longer than the crowd had wanted him to.

Batista is an interesting character in that he has this cool persona with his huge ripped up physique. Wrestling long matches, however, is definitely not his forte.

But since it was the main event at WrestleMania, Triple H made sure we saw an actual wrestling match, rather than Batista running over him like much of the crowd probably wanted.

Batista sold for much of the match before winning with the Demon Bomb.

A new generation of was born as Cena and Batista were crowned new champions at the end of the show, and while McMahon gave us some old legends to remember, he also gave us two new stars to look forward to.

Whether or not you’re going to remember Cena and Batista in the same light as Hogan, Austin, and Piper is the question.

Results

World Heavyweight Championship: Batista def. Triple H
WWE Championship: John Cena def. JBL
Sumo Match: Akebono def. Big Show
Kurt Angle def. Shawn Michaels
Women’s Championship: Trish def. Christy
Undertaker def. Randy Orton
Money-In-The-Bank Ladder Match: Edge def. the crowd
Rey Mysterio def. Eddie Guerrero

Photo of Batista shared by Wikipedia under fair use rules

Wrestlemania XX: Vince McMahon's Baby Turns 20

Garrett Gonzales — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 02:25:49 -0400

Wrestlemania was Vince McMahon’s baby. Technically Stephanie and Shane were his kids, but one could imagine that Vince took just as much care in his raising and handling of Wrestlemania as he did with his own children.

And shame on those of you who just said that he might’ve shown more love and care for Wrestlemania.

Wrestlemania was held at Madison Square Garden in 1985, and Wrestlemania X was also at the Garden in 1995. It didn’t take a genius to figure that Wrestlemania XX would call the Garden home.

The line-up was stacked for Mania XX and Vince started promoting the event at Mania XIX. It had an entire year of promotion and it delivered.

There were a couple big ifs about this PPV. Or maybe a couple of big woulds.

Would Vince McMahon give Chris Benoit the World Championship?

Would Vince McMahon give Eddie Guerrero more than a one month reign as WWE Champion?

Would Mick Foley be the Mick Foley of old?

And would Hulk Hogan make a triumphant return at Wrestlemania XX?

Well, the answer to the first three questions was yes, but sadly, at least from this old Hulkamaniac’s point of view, the fourth was a big fat no.

The PPV made Chris Benoit the superstar wrestling fans have always wanted him to be as well as established Eddy Guerrero as a fighting champion.

The problem with having a PPV of this magnitude is that if it is a solid event, but doesn’t quite match the hype, it almost feels like a failure. And while that wasn’t the case here, if it wasn’t for the two championship bouts, it might’ve been looked at as a failure.

The reason for that is because there were two huge matches that were advertised just as hard and maybe even harder than the two championship matches, and those failed miserably.

It was predictable that these two matches would fail to excite, but for two different reasons.

The WWE had been teasing Brock Lesnar vs. Bill Goldberg for some time. When Brock came into the WWE the day after Wrestlemania X-8, the crowd immediately chanted “Goldberg” at him.

And when Goldberg came to WWE the day after Wrestlemania XIX, the two of them eventually hooking up was inevitable. But they didn’t really interact until the Royal Rumble. Brock Lesnar helped eliminate Goldberg from the Royal Rumble match, thus ending his shot at a world title match.

At the next PPV in San Francisco, Goldberg helped Eddie Guerrero defeat Brock Lesnar to become the WWE Heavyweight Champion. The two were announced to lock horns at Wrestlemania.

The interest was there and it was also one of two interpromotional matches. Goldberg was on Raw and Lesnar was on Smackdown. At Mania XX, they would meet in the ring.

It was known that there was a good chance this would be Goldberg’s last match. He had a one year deal that was expiring at Wrestlemania and he didn’t have a very good year.

But what was unexpected was that Lesnar was actually talking about retiring after Mania. The top two wrestling websites reported that he was unhappy with the travel and all the damage it was doing to his body and that he was going to try his hand at the NFL.

And when the two of them finally got in the ring, the fans let them both have it.

This wouldn’t have been a good match anyway, but with the fans already crapping on it, the two guys in the ring weren’t going to do much. So Stone Cold Steve Austin had to steal the show.

He was the guest referee and ended up giving stunners to both guys after the match. Vince wanted the one guy who was still going to be with the company to be the one standing at the end. And in an ironic twist, Austin would be gone soon thereafter as well.

The other angle that was promoted hard was the return of the Undertaker. It was supposed to be special because he was going to return to his old “Dead Man” character. He hadn’t played this character since the late '90s.

The story goes that Vince McMahon and Kane buried the Undertaker alive, thus killing him (and the WWE likes to say they don’t do murder angles). Then there were mumblings going on about the Taker coming back and then they teased us on Raw by playing the “gong” while Kane was in the ring.

If you’ve ever seen an Undertaker vs. Kane match, they are never good. This shouldn’t have been any different. But Vince McMahon and company were pushing this match as a possible main event.

It was highly forgettable as the Undertaker didn’t really look like his old character and he won (like always), thus making it even more predictable.

While those two matches alone could’ve doomed the PPV, there was enough good to make it highly enjoyable. Chris Jericho doesn’t get enough credit in carrying angles and matches, and just being so charismatic that you look forward to him whenever he comes on the TV.

And if not for Jericho wanting to work with his friend Christian, Christian might’ve not gotten the chance to work this hot feud. And let’s not forget the lovely Trish Stratus.

It all started with a bet.

Christian and Jericho bet each other one Canadian dollar that they could bed Trish and Lita. And then Jericho fell in love. And Trish fell in love. And the bet wasn’t really a bet anymore until Trish found out that it was all a bet.

But Jericho was still in love and Trish was still in love and Christian was there to mess it all up. And at Mania, they had a really good match that pretty much put the PPV in gear and then in a nice twist, Trish sided with Christian.

Christian won the match, and got the girl. It was good to be Christian.

John Cena won the opening match and the US Title against the Big Show. It was a decent brawl with a good ending. Cena had Show up in his FU finisher (we’re talking putting 450 pounds on a 250 pound man’s shoulders) and Show kicked out.

Cena then pretended to grab a foreign object to win the match but the ref stopped him. As the ref was disposing of the foreign object, Cena used his big lock to knock out Show and win the match.

The other match I was most looking forward to after both Benoit’s and Guerrero’s matches was the return of The Rock & Sock Connection (Mick Foley and The Rock) against Evolution (Randy Orton, Batista, and The Nature Boy).

What was supposed to be Foley’s revenge on Orton turned into Flair and Rock stealing the show. Rock popped the crowd by mimicking Flair’s classic moves and Flair was taking some sick bumps for an over 50 year old man with neck problems.

And I popped when Foley did the classic elbow drop from the canvas. In the end, Orton won the match with a RKO on Foley.

The two championship matches were each very good, but one was better than the other.

Kurt Angle and Eddie Guerrero had a very nice match. It was mat and psychology based and made sense. But it wasn’t as hot as the Triple Threat Match between Chris Benoit, Shawn Michaels, and Triple H.

Angle and Guerrero worked hard, but with Angle’s neck injuries, they weren’t going to be able to duplicate the crazy momentum and near insane intense heat that the Triple Threat Match would create.

In the right finish, Guerrero outsmarted Angle to keep his WWE title, and whet the appetite for a series of matches that probably would be better than this was.

In the Triple Threat, Chris Benoit put on a great performance and had the crowd in his hand. And when he had Triple H in the Crippler’s Crossface (with me yelling, “Tap you SOB, tap!” to the television), the crowd was going crazy.

And it went even crazier when HHH finally tapped. The PPV finished with Benoit and Guerrero in the middle of the ring hugging, as two of the hardest working overlooked wrestlers alive were finally champions together.

And Vince’s baby was 20.

Results
John Cena defeated the Big Show to win the United States Championship
Booker T & RVD defeated the Dudley Boyz, La Resistance and Mark Jindrak & Garrison Cade to retain the World Tag Team Championship
Christian defeated Chris Jericho
Evolution defeated the Rock & Sock Connection
Torrie Wilson & Sable defeated Stacy Keibler & Miss Jackie
Chavo Guerrero won the Cruiserweight Open to retain the Cruiserweight Championship
Goldberg defeated Brock Lesnar
Scotty 2 Hotty & Rikishi defeated the Basham Brothers, APA, and the Self-Proclaimed World’s Greatest Tag Team to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship
Victoria defeated Molly Holly to retain the Women’s Champinship
Eddie Guerrero defeated Kurt Angle to retain the WWE Championship
Undertaker defeated Kane
Chris Benoit defeated Triple H and Shawn Michaels to win the World Heavyweight Championship

Wrestlemania XIX: Kurt's Broken Freakin' Neck

Garrett Gonzales — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 01:54:50 -0400

Let me start off this review with some amazing information. Two actual pieces of amazing information.

Amazing info piece No. 1: Kurt Angle wrestled in the main event with a broken freaking neck.

Amazing info piece No. 2: The night before the show, Stone Cold Steve Austin was in the hospital after feeling adverse affects from stress, working out, and drinking high energy ephedrine laced drinks. He thought he was having a heart attack.

Those two guys sucked it up, and for the sake of the show, for the sake of the WWE, and for the sake of their boss, Vince McMahon, they wrestled their matches.

But, Hulk Hogan vs. Vince McMahon was seen as the top match and all the advertising was based around this match which would be marketed as “20 Years In The Making”.

Most of the created hype surrounded that match which was supposed to be the answer to the question, "Who created Hulkamania?" It turned out to be a good match, but wasn’t close to the efforts that some of the other wrestlers provided.

Kurt Angle found out about a month before Wrestlemania XIX that he had a broken neck and was probably not going to be able to wrestle at Mania. He was going to need neck surgery and would likely miss over a year of ring time. He decided to tough it out and wrestle Brock Lesnar at Mania and defend his WWE Title.

There was a ton of worry that Kurt would hurt his neck and become paralyzed. However, Kurt took the advice of a doctor that said he couldn’t hurt his neck more than it was already hurt and decided to go on and compete, albeit with reservation.

The reservation was because Brock Lesnar had become the most dominant big man in the game and he wasn’t in there throwing the soft stuff. The match turned out to be a true classic, and in the end it wasn’t Kurt who everyone was worried about.

On the Raw side, HHH was defending his World Title against Booker T. During the entire build up to the match, it was made to seem that Booker was inferior and it wasn’t because he wasn’t good enough in the ring. It was a really bad angle as far as the build up to the World Title was concerned.

Even if Booker were to win, he still wasn’t seen as on HHH’s level. It was just another way for HHH to show that he needed to be on top. Booker was originally scheduled to win the title from HHH, but when you’re married to the boss’ daughter, you can probably change your mind and get your way whenever you wanted.

The show started with a spark, not a bang. It could’ve been a match that stole the show, but the two guys weren’t given enough time. Matt Hardy and Rey Mysterio were only booked for a short match and while they put their all into it, with Hardy retaining the Crusierweight championship in a small upset, it was slightly disappointing.

But it wasn’t their fault. I’m sure if they were booked for 15 minutes, they could’ve pulled it off.

The Undertaker was set for a tag team match with Nathan Jones against the Big Show and A-Train. Nathan Jones was taken out of the match for being as green as grass and also, probably because it made the Taker look better by beating two guys by himself. And that’s exactly what he did.

The Women’s Championship match wasn’t looked at as the worst match on the card in 2003. In actuality, one could give a strong argument that it was better than the Undertaker’s match. I know for sure that I liked it better.

And of course, my next wife, Trish Stratus (when she gets divorced) left Safeco Field with the belt.

The WWE Tag Team Championship match (The World Tag Titles were not on the big show) between Team Angle (Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas), Los Guerreros, and Chris Benoit and Rhyno was also a semi-disappointment considering all the guys involved in the match. Team Angle would go home with the belts.

The next match nearly stole the show. Chris Jericho idolized The Heartbreak Kid and this was his chance to prove to his idol that he was pretty damn good himself.

They put on a show with some of the best back and forth action on the card and even though HBK won when Jericho could’ve been helped more with a victory, you could only applaud both guys.

It was Michaels’ first Wrestlemania match in five years. Jericho would later say that it was his decision to put his idol over.

The World Title match between HHH and Booker wasn’t the best match on the card, but it was definitely above average. The best spot in the match was one in which Booker went to the top rope and fended off both Ric Flair and HHH and gave HHH the Harlem (Houston) Hangover which is a front flip into a leg drop from the top rope.

It looked awesome coming from such a big person. I know he’d done it before, but never done at Mania. In the end, HHH went over and it was probably because Goldberg was coming.

Goldberg would debut the next day at Raw and after wrestling the Rock and Chris Jericho over the next couple months, he was fed to HHH.

The match that all the advertising was behind was only third from the top of the card. I totally expected it to be last. But Vince probably saw that he needed Brock Lesnar to be on last.

There’s one thing about Vince. He goes into the ring, and he works his a** off. He takes some of the craziest bumps and for being the guy who runs a multi-million dollar company, doesn't seem to care about getting hurt.

Hogan looked every bit of his over 50 years old in the face, but worked hard on his biggest stage of the year and along with McMahon, put on an entertaining match.

Roddy Piper would interfere, laying Hogan out with a pipe, but Hogan would do his shake and no sell routine and pin McMahon and didn't have to retire, which was the stipulation for the match.

Stone Cold Steve Austin and Jim Ross were supposedly the only two men who knew that this would be Austin’s last match. Not only was he in the hospital the night before, but his neck was killing him.

He already had fused vertebrae in his neck and doing so again would probably mean he couldn’t do anything physical regarding his head or neck. As it was, he couldn’t do much anyway. And at Mania, he and the Rock put on a great performance, probably second to only the Wrestlemania X-Seven performance.

They kicked out of each other’s finishers several times and had the audience eating out of their hands. Austin beat Rock at Mania XV and X-Seven and Rock had never beat him on this stage. Rock would eventually go over and in Austin’s last match, the biggest wrestling star the WWE had seen since Hogan’s 80’s run, had wrestled his last match.

Austin might wrestle again as retirements are usually never final, but Austin’s situation is pretty severe and I wouldn’t be surprised if he never wrestled again.

Kurt Angle put on a heroic performance. There wasn’t a wonder if Brock Lesnar could be in a classic match. The only worry was that he’d falter under the pressure of being in the last match in front of over 50,000 people after such a hot show.

But Kurt Angle was there to help him through it. He was about to show everyone in the world that with a broken neck, he could have a classic match.

While the common wrestling fan didn’t know about Kurt’s injury, the fans who read the newsletters or read some of the better internet sites knew what was going on. And it literally scared us.

We winced every time Brock dropped Kurt, hoping and wishing that he would fall softly. But as the match went on, we just watched in amazement. And then one of the more spectacular things happened.

Brock Lesnar went to the top rope and when he went up there, I knew what he was going to do. As a young wrestler, he try to show off his athletic ability and pull off a shooting star press. But he'd never done it on WWF TV.

The shooting star press was a move that some of the small guys could do, and even when they would do it, you wondered if they would hurt themselves. You leap from the top rope, pull off a backwards 360 and hit a splash on the wrestler on the mat.

Brock was probably carrying near 300 pounds at this time. As he went up to the top, I was worried that he would mistime his jump and maybe hurt Kurt in the process. But I also noticed that Kurt was kind of far away.

Brock didn’t get enough air under his jump and went down like a lawn dart, nearly breaking his neck while coming up short on the backwards 360. It was amazing to watch, but immediately you wondered if he was ok. Kurt walked him through the rest of the match which concluded with Lesnar hitting Kurt with the F-5 to win the title.

It was an amazing Wrestlemania and one that is probably the second best of them all.

If there’s one negative of the show, it’s that Limp Bizkit had two long performances. The second was for Undertaker’s entrance so it wasn’t all that bad, but still, unless you’re a Fred Durst fan, this was just making you wait longer for the wrestling.

Results

Cruiserweight Champion Matt Hardy w/ Shannon Moore def. Rey Mysterio

The Undertaker def. Big Show & A-Train

Trish Stratus def. Victoria & Jazz for the Women’s Championship

WWE Tag Team Champions Team Angle (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin) def. Los Guerreros (Eddie & Chavo Guerrero) vs. Chris Benoit & Rhyno

Shawn Michaels def. Chris Jericho

World Heavyweight Champion Triple H def. Booker T

Hulk Hogan def. Mr. McMahon

The Rock def. Stone Cold Steve Austin

Brock Lesnar def. Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship

Photo of Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar shared via Wikipedia

Wrestlemania's 25 Greatest Matches: 15-11

Garrett Gonzales — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 01:06:39 -0400

My FightGameBlog brothers and I have put together a list of what we believe to be the greatest 25 matches in Wrestlemania history.

We started by selecting all of the matches that we remembered to be in the neighborhood of three stars (0-5 scale) or higher, and then took a close look at those matches and rated them fully.

You can read our introduction .

We continue with matches 15 through 11.

15. The Undertaker vs. Edge - Wrestlemania 24

Big D says:

I was actually there live to watch Undertaker vs. Edge at Wrestlemania XXIV. It was really a great match live as well as a great match on DVD with the exception of the absolutely horrible commentary by Cole and Coachman.

The match itself felt sort of like an All Japan main event. The Orlando crowd was watching intently and popping for the near falls and Edge’s reversals. The finish however, was predictable. Taker doesn’t lose at Wrestlemania.

The best moment for me was just seeing Edge walk down with his fireworks and music blazing. This was his first real Wrestlemania main event and he was closing the show. He got to close out the show with an awesome match.

Winner: The Undertaker

14. The Undertaker vs. Batista - Wrestlemania 23

Duan says:

This is one of the most physically intense matches you are ever likely to see. This is Undertaker’s best Wrestlemania match to date, and perhaps a career best performance for Batista.

In the build up to Wrestlemania 23, both men promised a show stealing performance, and they delivered on it. These guys brought the absolute best out of each other, and the Wrestlemania run really revitalized both characters. They went on to have the best feud of 2007 in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Winner: The Undertaker

13. Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon: Ladder Match - Wrestlemania X

GG says:

It might not have been the single most exciting Ladder Match of all time. In fact, if you re-watch it back today, you might not be as impressed as you’d expect to be. But there might not be a match that was more influential to the smaller wrestlers than this one.

It’s a basic stunt match. The ladder is used as a prop. But on this day, Shawn Michaels wrapped a wrestling match around a ladder and made Razor Ramon/Scott Hall’s career.

This is the one match that made Ramon a star and gave him his undeserved reputation as a great performer. Though Michaels would lose, true fans knew who made the match. Scott Hall should thank Michaels every chance he gets.

Winner: Razor Ramon

12. Money In The Bank IV - Wrestlemania 24

GG says:

I was quite surprised that this match did so well in our rankings. In fact, I would’ve never predicted that this match would be better ranked than the first Money In The Bank. But that’s why we rated them. We loved this match.

It was fast paced, had strong stunts, and was very logically put together. The two spots that are most memorable to me include John Morrison and Shelton Benjamin.

I remember Morrison doing a moonsault to the floor while holding a ladder. It was scary looking, but also just an awesome spectacle. I also remember Shelton Benjamin getting dropped heels over head onto a ladder outside the ring. It was just crazy stuff.

Part of the reason why this might be so high on our list is because CM Punk won the match and went on to win the championship in a short, but memorable run.

Winner: CM Punk

11. Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena - Wrestlemania 23

Alan says:

This match truly gets better on repeated viewings. I liked this when I first saw it, but it was on the re-watch that I really saw how magical it is.

The build to this was so good, and the match was worthy of all the great angles that preceded it. Cena’s best ever work was from late ‘06 to summer ‘07 and this match fell slap bang in the middle of that period.

His selling was unreal and he showed much more poise when on offense than usual. Shawn was as masterful as he always is on the big stage. The back and forth down the stretch was beautiful.

Winner: John Cena

We are down to the top ten matches. Four out of the next five feature either Kurt Angle or Randy Savage.

Monday Night Raw Thoughts: Last Train To Houston

Garrett Gonzales — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:28:33 -0400

There was a lot to like about the last Raw before Wrestlemania 25, but there was a lot that made you scratch your head too.

Before I get to that, I’d like to get one major gripe out of the way. Can we please stop calling this the 25th Anniversary of Wrestlemania? Unless they’re celebrating the anniversary of Wrestlemania Zero, they’re wrong. Next year would actually be the 25th Anniversary of the first Wrestlemania.

Ok, I got that out of my system and now I can move on.

I have to say that if I was a fan that hadn’t just watched many weeks of television, the last angle on Raw was a lot of fun. But being that I’ve been watching Raw for many weeks leading up to Wrestlemania this weekend, I just can’t pretend that the angle closed off perfectly.

For one, Triple H needed to talk. He needed to tell the fans that if Wrestlemania was his last night on earth, he would get revenge on Orton for what he did to Stephanie. But he’s such a terrible babyface, they instead made him nearly get revenge on the show before Wrestlemania.

I almost wish that last week’s angle where Orton planted that gnarly kiss on a knocked out cold Stephanie was the last thing we saw until the match. Really, Orton and HHH shouldn’t have even touched tonight.

I have to admit that it was fun to see the Bushwackers come out and beat up the security guards. Oh wait, that was Vince and Shane. You have to love their fighting gear too.

If I knew I was going to get in a fight, I wouldn’t wear jeans and a polo shirt or slacks and a button up shirt. Those McMahons sure are fighters. Because of the heat in the building, you can kind of forgive them for the comical brawling of the McMahons.

But, I think it would’ve been more effective to save both Vince and Shane for Wrestlemania.

Last week made me care about this match. This week only made me care about this match if they were building to a six-man match, which they're not.

I really enjoyed the Shawn Michaels angle with the Undertaker. I love Shawn as the jerk. It seems more in tune with his real personality anyways.

We’re being set up here for the Undertaker to beat him this weekend, but I’m fine with that. What Shawn did was make his match seem more important than any of the title matches. He even said that beating the Undertaker would be the biggest moment of them all.

Shawn’s mic work has just overshadowed nearly everything else on both Smackdown and Raw leading up to Wrestlemania. That’s why he’s been able to survive for so long. I would expect this match to be far and above the most memorable match on the show.

If the idea was to effectively make you yearn less to see a match week after week, they’re doing a really good job with two of the other main angles.

After watching John Cena wrestle the Big Show, I don’t want to see them wrestle ever again. What’s the point? Big Show is the largest athlete in the world. Edge is the dastardly heel trying to stir things up. John Cena is the babyface whose movie just bombed worse than anything in movies.

Ok, maybe that last part isn’t part of the storyline. Actually, what they should’ve done last night is say that the Big Show and Edge sabotaged his movie and on Sunday, Cena’s getting revenge for 12 Rounds.

Ok, maybe not. But it’d still be more interesting than what they’re doing today. I hope they have something interesting planned for that match because it looks like a dud.

The second match that they’ve just destroyed interest in is the Money In The Bank. I thought last week’s tag match was fun. But they’ve put these guys in the ring together week after week. Why?

Isn’t the point supposed to be to make us want to see them fight again, not to make us tired of seeing them fight over and over? I just don’t get it. And shouldn’t Christian be built up as this Wrestlemania ladder match king since he’s won two ladder matches at Wrestlemania? It’s such a throwaway match that it’s not even funny.

I’ve been waiting for Jerry Lawler to finally be a part of the legends angle and I’m not really sure why because last night’s match against Jericho was just a nothing match. It wasn’t even there to get Ric Flair out there to cut the last money promo for Wrestlemania, with Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat, and Jimmy Snuka by his side.

Is Mickey Rourke going to even be a part of this thing? Is he still alive?

Why did they even throw Rey Mysterio in there with JBL? Isn’t that the actual match for Sunday? Well, it seems like it was just there to give Rey Rey the win if JBL is going to win the match and then retire on Sunday.

Wrestlemania will still be a good show. All the guys will come through. And while I don’t think they’ve logically built the matches like they could’ve, it’s not my money they’re wasting.

As a bonus, Chris Koehler sent in a report of what happened after Raw went off air. Chris is also attending Wrestlemania 25.

What you didn’t see tonight on Raw!!!

I came home to check the end of the broadcast and saw that you didn’t see the end of the beat down that happened at the hands of the new McMahon/Helmsley Era…

Orton ended up fleeing into the crowd and Teddy Jr. ran up the ramp leaving the “Young Lisper” Cody in the ring with Shane, Vince and HHH. After a thorough beating and spinebuster from HHH, Trips went outside and grabbed the Sledge-O-Matic and Cody wished he were back home with Daddy Dusty.

The power trio then went up the ramp and played to the crowd for another 10 minutes. It really was cool. My buddy and I were talking about Vince and Shane showing up on Sunday, but the crowd LOST IT when each came to the ramp.

I was watching the ring intently during the HBK/Taker segment and I couldn’t see where Taker came from. My best guess…lights went off and HBK and Taker switched places. It was impressive

Best sign of the night– “I’m surrounded by marks!”

As far as the rest I haven’t taken the time to watch the entire show…

Only Dark match - Cryme Tyme def. Dolph Ziggler and William Regal with Layla

He also mentioned that the crowd was mixed when HBK hit the Sweet Chin Music.

I’ll have a live report of Wrestlemania 25 on FightGameBlog this Sunday as the show is ongoing (as long as I get cell phone reception in the stadium).

Wrestlemania X8: The Rock and Hulk Hogan Go One On One

Garrett Gonzales — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:36:26 -0400

When you think of Wrestlemania X-8 in five years, you will remember one match, and only one match.

You’ll be surprised to see that Edge had a match with Booker T which started because Edge swiped a commercial deal that Booker T thought he should’ve received.

You’ll forget that there was Diamond Dallas Page’s one and only Wrestlemania match. You might even forget that Chris Jericho and Triple H were in the main event.

The match you will remember however, is the one that pitted Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock. Hogan had just come back to the WWF with his NWO cronies Scott Hall and Kevin Nash.

McMahon brought them in to come shake up the foundation of the WWF. He wanted them to “poison” his own creation as he was afraid that Ric Flair was ruining his promotion. That was the storyline.

The real story was that McMahon, as always, wanted to bring in some surprises right before Wrestlemania, to make Mania the most talked about show of the year. However, what he should’ve known was that the NWO was so “five years ago” and that it wouldn’t work today unless it was brought back as a new idea.

Hogan was accepted back by the fans, but Nash and Hall weren’t seen as anything more than just regular guys. Hogan is a great manipulator and he positioned himself with a match against The Rock, who already had a great buzz on him as he was finishing up The Scorpion King.

The match was originally offered to Stone Cold Steve Austin but he passed because he doesn't like Hogan.

The initial build-up was excellent. Rock challenged Hogan and the audience was split on who they were cheering for. What they did afterward was hogwash and unbelievable, so let’s just forget that ever happened.

The match, while not the best match of all time, had the crowd mesmerized. It was two great showman in the ring, doing what they do best.

Hogan, knowing he had at least half of the crowd in his corner, did his best to try and take the rest of them even though he was the heel. Rock played the sympathetic babyface who felt the crowd turning and did a few things that a bad guy would do.

Who cares who won the match? It was the ability by each guy to play to the crowd and make them either cheer louder, or boo louder based on their every move that was fantastic. In the end, The Rock won the match, but Hogan gained another year of shelf life.

He turned face at the end, and thus Hulkamania was reborn, at least as far as the audience was concerned.

The main event featured Chris Jericho defending his Undisputed Championship vs. HHH. The match wasn’t a five-star classic by any means, but it was a solid match that had psychology and a meaning.

It was too bad that they wasted two months making it Stephanie McMahon Helmsley vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Chris Jericho, as champion, should’ve been angled as someone who would stoop to any and every level to keep his title.

However, they used him as Stephanie’s second fiddle and ruined what could’ve been a very good Wrestlemania main event. The finish was done well, and HHH took the gold.

The problem was that the match was so anti-climatic because the fans were spent after the Hogan vs. Rock match. In hindsight, the Hogan vs. Rock match should’ve gone on last since people didn’t care much after that match was over.

Kurt Angle put on a decent match with Kane. The story behind this match was that they held Kurt Angle back in case Scott Hall sabotaged his match against Steve Austin by doing Scott Hall like things, such as getting fired.

However, when Scott Hall abided by all the rules and was a decent citizen, they had to go with Angle in a hurried match with Kane. Kane is one of the better big guys in the ring, only because he’s fairly athletic, and Angle, being the one of the best guys going, pulled off a decent match and won.

Speaking of the Stone Cold match with Scott Hall; this was one of those “straws that broke the camel’s back” as originally Hall was supposed to go over in the match, but Austin balked and they changed the finish.

Austin wasn’t all that happy anyway and he no showed the next Raw show because of being burnt out. How you can mis-book Steve Austin is beyond me.

Another one of the “big” matches featured “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair vs. The Undertaker. The entire build up consisted of The Undertaker as the heel, beating up Flair, who was the part owner of the company.

It was sort of a reverse of when Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon were having their program in the late nineties. However, The Undertaker simply wouldn’t sell for the greatest champion of our day and he took most of the match.

The match consisted of The Undertaker beating up Flair, while Flair would once in a while get a nice comeback, and then the Taker would kill him again. It was still an entertaining match because Flair could still go decently well at his age.

The opener featured Rob Van Dam beating William Regal in a match for the Intercontinental Championship. It was a mash of styles that simply didn’t work at all. RVD hit the five-star Frog Splash to win the belt, so the fans at least started off happily.

The tag team Fatal Four Way was disappointing as the WWF was building up Chuck and Billy at the time. They were fine for a television storyline group, but they were the worst workers in the match which also included the Hardys, the Dudleys, and APA.

When you’re worse than APA, you’re worse than bad. The woman’s title match was decent, but got really sloppy at times. Jazz pinned Lita to retain her belt in a three-way match that also featured the lovely Trish Stratus.

Overall, the PPV was not one of Wrestlemania’s best. But you’ll never forget the night when The Rock and Hulk Hogan went toe to toe.

Results
RVD defeated William Regal to win the Intercontinental title
DDP defeated Christian to keep his European title
Spike Dudley defeated Maven to win the Hardcore title, even though Goldust was fighting Maven. The title eventually went back to Maven by the end of the night
Kurt Angle defeated Kane
Undertaker defeated Ric Flair
Edge defeated Booker T
Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Scott Hall
Billy and Chucky defeated The Hardys, The Dudleys, and APA to keep their Tag Team titles
The Rock defeated Hollywood Hulk Hogan
Jazz defeated Lita and Trish Stratus to keep her Women’s title
Triple H defeated Chris Jericho to win the Undisputed Championship

Wrestlemania X-Seven: The Gift and the Curse

Garrett Gonzales — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:30:15 -0400

I can start this off by stating that this is the single greatest WWE card from top to bottom that I have ever witnessed. Although there were a few rocky match-ups and it took a while for the Houston crowd to get into, this is the greatest of all the Wrestlemanias.

One thing that helped this show standout that might get overlooked is the announcing. Paul Heyman took Jerry Lawler’s place as Lawler had quit the company when his wife, Stacy Carter (The Kat) was fired. Carter soon left Lawler. Talk about being ungrateful.

Anyway, Heyman is outstanding in building up feuds and making matches seem important, and not yelling “puppies” every five minutes. And Jim Ross is at his usual high standard.

The marquee match-up pitted the People’s Champ, The Rock against Stone Cold Steve Austin. It was a babyface vs. babyface match-up, however in Austin’s home state, Rock was going to be turned heel by the crowd.

The show was held at the old Astrodome in Houston and Austin was over like nobody’s business.

The show started slowly, but one match picked it up and the heat never stopped. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit was the 2000s version of Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat. While the match didn’t get as much time as the other great matches on this card, for 14 minutes, it might’ve been the best action on the card.

It was at least the best action inside the ring. This was early in the history of their ongoing feud which in 2003 went even further with their classic title match at Royal Rumble. Angle finally got the win, even kicking out of the headbutt off the top rope.

One would think with Chris Jericho and Eddie Guerrero on the undercard that it had a chance to be outstanding. You’d be wrong. Chris Jericho opened the show against William Regal and even though Jericho won the match it wasn’t up to the standard you’d expect.

I imagine that if they were in the same role today, they’d have an outstanding match, but they just didn’t click here. Jericho won to keep his IC strap.

Eddie Guerrero received the unfortunate luck of having to try and carry Test to a decent match. Not too many people have been able to do that. Actually, the only time I’ve ever been intrigued with Test is when Triple H stole his bride and was mocking him while he was doing it.

But on this night, Eddie couldn’t perform his magic with Test, in a match that was worse than the opener. Guerrero won the European belt with help of his buddies Saturn and Dean Malenko.

A match with Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon didn’t initially seem interesting. It actually looked like the worst match on the card. The match had an odd storyline to it.

Vince was having an extramarital affair with Trish Stratus. Who could blame him? His wife became sick and comatose because of the stress he put her through. Steph sided with dad while Shane-O sided with mom, and Mick Foley was appointed as the referee.

The match was no disqualification and they didn’t really spend much time in the ring. Vince told Trish to bring his wheel chair bound wife to the ring when it looked like Vince would win so Linda could see her son get beat.

Trish brought her to the ring, Linda miraculously stood up and kicked McMahon in his bountiful grapefruits and Shane finished him off with the Van Terminator. My wife Trish turned face in the end. It was a fun match, with an awful storyline, but at least it was entertaining.

There were two “best” matches on this card. Someone like me will say that the main event was the best. But some will say that TLC 2 (tables, ladders and chairs, oh my part two) was the best on the card and you really couldn’t argue with either choice.

TLC 2 consisted of the Dudleys, the Hardys, and Edge and Christian in a match where the goal was to climb a ladder and take the tag belts which were hanging from the ceiling. But instead of being simply a ladder match, like they had at Wrestlemania 2000, tables and chairs were easily accessible and legal.

Originally it was thought that Spike Dudley, Rhyno, and Lita would be involved in the match, but they were simply used as effective run-ins. The highlight bump for me was when Jeff Hardy was hanging from the belts, very close to victory and Edge ran up a ladder and speared him down to the mat.

Just like in Wrestlemania 2000, Edge and Chrstian would win the match and the titles.

Triple H didn’t have a main event match since Austin and Rock were in the main event. He was overshadowed by his future brother and father in law. But low and behold, he was thrown into a quick program with the Undertaker and all of a sudden was second from the top.

In this match, you saw a true hatred for each other. Undertaker looked like he hated Triple H, and Triple H the same. When you can create emotion, you’re doing your job. And Triple H did the job and kept Undertaker’s undefeated Wrestlemania streak alive.

Not too many matches have been as exciting, and at the same time left you scratching your head. Austin vs. Rock II (they did part three at Mania XIX) was better than the first in just about every way.

Both men were faces, yet at the beginning of the match, Stone Cold was slowly turning. Before the bout was underway, they announced a stipulation that the match would be no disqualification. Stone Cold was using bells, chairs and doing everything to win.

They were trying to force the heel turn. But because this was in Houston, Texas the fans wouldn’t boo him. Rock was playing the total face. He was taking all the abuse and dishing out the great comebacks. But the fans would just boo his moves.

Both guys kept doing each other’s finishers, building toward their own finishers, and Rock had the match won until Vince McMahon interrupted the count. You figured McMahon was with Austin, but still, the crowd wouldn’t boo him.

And when Austin finally had Rock pinned, and it was over, and he shook Vince’s hand and drank beer with him, the crowd was cheering louder than ever.

With Rock leaving to do a movie, they were already going to be short on babyfaces, so it’s still mind boggling to this day as to why Austin was turned heel. Was he a stale babyface? He might’ve been a bit stale from his 1998 run, but who wouldn’t have been?

He was the biggest star in the game. But they were bull headed to turn Austin and it just didn’t take with the fans. It would be like turning Hulk Hogan heel in 1990. The fans weren’t ready to boo him at that point either.

Even though it was the greatest show that WWE had put on, it also started a heavy decline in business. You can’t blame this turn for all of the other terrible decisions that they made including botching the WCW invasion so badly that it would turn fans away in droves, but it was the beginning of the free fall. They had at least another year or two of strong business.

Results
Chris Jericho beat William Regal to retain his Intercontinental Championship
APA and Tazz beat Right To Censor
Kane beats Raven and The Big Show to win the Hardcore Championship
Eddie Guerrero beat Test to win the European Championship
Kurt Angle beat Chris Benoit
Chyna beat Ivory to win the Women’s Championship
Shane McMahon beat Vince McMahon
Edge and Christian beat the Dudleys and the Hardys to win the Tag Team Championship
The Iron Sheik won the Gimmick Battle Royal
The Undertaker beat Triple H
Stone Cold Steve Austin beat The Rock to win the WWF Championship.

Wrestlemania 2000: A McMahon in Every Corner

Garrett Gonzales — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:21:05 -0400

It was a good time for WWE. They were winning the Monday Night Wars. The product was in the midst of its largest pop culture influence since the mid 80s. Wrestlemania 2000 was supposed to be huge.

It was going to be an event of epic proportions. They scheduled “Wrestlemania All Day Long” on PPV which was a look back at the first 15 Wrestlemanias.

And then someone made a left turn at Albuquerque.

Stone Cold Steve Austin was out with a neck injury. It was only a year before when Austin and the Rock looked like the future of the company.

It was only two years before when Austin took the torch from Shawn Michaels and looked destined to become the biggest star of all time. And now, he was hurt, missing the biggest show of the year.

Early in 2000, Mankind and Triple H were tearing up arenas and making for some intriguing TV. Late in 1999, Triple H beat the Big Show for the championship and was without a contender.

Mick Foley, fresh off his success of putting out the most successful wrestling autobiography in history, decided that he had one last run in him. Triple H started making fun of Foley’s success as an author, and played your basic a-hole heel perfectly.

When Foley, as Mankind, decided that he’d had enough, he simply changed t-shirts and transformed into Cactus Jack. Triple H sold it as if he’d seen a ghost. Cactus Jack was back. He had two great matches with Triple H and at No Way Out, retired after losing a Hell In A Cell match.

The Rock won the Royal Rumble, making him the number one contender for Wrestlemania. Rock vs. Triple H at Wrestlemania 2000 was an interesting match, but without Austin, I think Vince McMahon thought it needed more.

He added the Big Show to the match, which actually hurt it more than helped it. Finally, Foley was asked to come back out of retirement to make it a four-way. To give it even more of a wrinkle, there would be a McMahon in every corner.

Would’ve The Rock vs. Triple H have been enough to headline Wrestlemania 2000? In hindsight, yes. But this was such an event, and the McMahons were stars in their own eyes as well, that they had to make the match bigger. But in the end, it was probably a mistake.

There were two matches that made this show watchable. The first was a triangle ladder match between The Dudley Boyz, The Hardy Boyz, and Edge and Christian. The match wouldn’t be as good as their TLC match a year later, but it still did things to make it original in it’s own way.

Who can forget Jeff Hardy doing the senton bomb on Bubba from the top of a ladder and on to a table? Just like a year later, Edge and Christian won the match, and won the belts.

The other match that helped make the show was a triple threat match between Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, and Chris Jericho. It also had an interesting stipulation.

Kurt owned the European and Intercontinental championships and called himself the Eurocontinental champion. I guess it sounded better than the Interpean champion.

However, at Bob Backlund’s urging (who can even remember Backlund was involved?), Angle put up both belts in a double fall triple threat match.

The IC belt was to be wrestled for during the first fall. And the Euro belt, during the second fall. As it came to be, in a really good match, Chris Benoit pinned Chris Jericho during the first fall, and Jericho pinned Benoit during the second.

Kurt Angle lost both belts and wasn’t pinned once.

The match saw Kurt go toe to toe with two of the best ring generals in the WWE at the time in his rookie year.

Kurt didn’t miss a step with those two guys and looking back on the match today, while it wasn’t the best Kurt Angle match, it might’ve been the match that cemented him in the eyes of the fans as a star.

One of the main problems with the card is that there was only one singles match and that was The Kat vs. Terri Runnels in a Sumo Style match where whoever was thrown out of the ring and on to the floor would lose.

How that is similar to sumo wrestling is beyond me. It was awful and the only reason it was on PPV is because The Kat was wearing a thong and her cheeks were hanging out.

Having only one singles match meant that guys were thrown together in tag team matches that weren’t really logical based on feuds and storylines that were going on at the time, and it hurt the card.

There were memorable things about some of the matches, but not necessarily because of things that were going on inside the ring.

D-Lo and The Godfather vs. The Big Bossman and Bull Buchanan opened up the show. It was a bad match that was only memorable because Ice-T performed.

Too Cool and Chyna faced off against The Radicalz (Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn). It was a bad match even with the Dean and Eddie in the ring. It might be most memorable because Chyna’s pants broke and she had to hold them up the rest of the match while showing peaks of the smallest thong ever known.

Kane and Rikishi wrestled X-Pac and Road Dogg. It was another bad match that was memorable because Pete Rose was tombstoned again by Kane and then was given the stinkface by Rikishi.

T&A (Test and Albert) had a match against Al Snow and Steve Blackman. It was an average match, only watchable because Trish Stratus was at ringside, and only slightly memorable because Snow and Blackman were once called Head Cheese.

There was also a weird Hardcore Battle Royal where it resembled a battle royal, but there was no elimination factor. Basically the rules were anything goes and whoever held the belt last won. You simply had to pin the champion at the time and then try not to get pinned for 15 minutes.

The finish ended with a screw up as it seemed like Crash Holly either forgot to kick out of the last pin attempt or Tim White, the referee forgot the finish. Bob Holly walked out of the match the champ.

The belts changed hands seven times in 15 minutes. Did anyone care? Not really.

The main event was a mixed bag. Part of what hurt the match is that you knew the end would come only when a McMahon was involved. So instead of truly paying attention to the match, you were waiting for the interference.

The Big Show (seconded by Shane McMahon) was made to look extremely weak in this match and was the first guy eliminated. Mick Foley had Linda McMahon in his corner. She was a regular Grand Wizard.

Before being eliminated, Foley went for a flying elbow drop from the apron to the announce table and came up short and looked like he broke some ribs. He was then eliminated by Triple H, though he got to kick out of his finisher once.

The rest of the match was Rock vs. HHH and it wasn’t as good as you’d seen from them before. Vince McMahon was in Rock’s corner and Steph was in HHH’s corner. Shane McMahon came back to ringside simply to sucker punch his dad who no sold a shot to the head with the monitor.

Vince then gave three of the worst punches I’ve ever seen in my life and Shane sold it like he was hit by George Foreman. Vince came back into the ring to hit HHH with a chair, but instead hit Rock and HHH kept his belt and won the match.

Swerve! How could we ever have guessed that one? Vince and Steph embraced and Shane looked like he was cool with Vince afterward too. Rock did give Steph the Rock Bottom, but even that couldn’t save the match or the show. They were both let downs.

Results
The Big Bossman & Bull Buchannan beat the Godfather & D-LO Brown.
Hardcore Holly earned the final pin in the 13 Man Battle Royal to earn the Hardcore Title.
Test & Albert (w/ Trish Stratus) beat Al Snow & Steve Blackman.
Edge & Christian beat the Dudley Boyz and Hardy Boyz in a Triangle Ladder Match to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.
Terri Runnels beat the Kat in a Catfight.
Too Cool & Chyna beat the Radicalz.
Chris Benoit pinned Chris Jericho in a three-way match also involving Kurt Angle, winning the Intercontinental Title. Jericho then pinned Benoit, winning Angle’s European Title.
Kane & Rikishi beat X-Pac & Road Dogg.
Triple H defeated the Rock, Mick Foley and the Big Show in a Fatal Four-way Elimination Match, retaining the WWF Championship.

Wrestlemania's 25 Greatest Matches: 20-16

Garrett Gonzales — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 01:57:54 -0400

My FightGameBlog brothers and I have put together a list of what we believe to be the greatest 25 matches in Wrestlemania history.

We started by selecting all of the matches that we remembered to be in the neighborhood of three stars (0-5 scale) or higher, and then took a close look at those matches and rated them fully.

You can read our introduction .

We continue with matches 20 through 16.

20. Mick Foley vs. Edge - Wrestlemania 22

Alan says:

This match is definitely one of the best brawls in the last couple of years. The match was about two things: giving Mick his “Wrestlemania Moment” and solidifying Edge as a top star.

The twists and turns in this match were absorbing and extremely creative (i.e. Foley concealing barbwire under his flannel).

Lita of all people took the bump of the match when Foley hit Edge with the Cactus Clothesline with her on his back. It was great. Also great was the finish, which will go down as one of THE classic Wrestlemania moments.

Winner: Edge

19. Money In The Bank Ladder Match - Wrestlemania 21

GG says:

According to those in the know, this match was Chris Jericho’s idea. Put six strong workers in a ladder match with the winner receiving a future title shot. It was really a brilliant idea.

Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Edge, Christian, Shelton Benjamin, and Kane were in the inaugural match, and what an inaugural match it was.

It was a smartly booked spot fest where all of the moves had a reason and led to the finish. The most celebrated move is probably when Shelton ran up one ladder, that was diagonally hooked into another, and clotheslined Chris Jericho off the top of the ladder and to the floor. Edge would win the match and earn a future title shot.

Winner: Edge

18. Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels - Wrestlemania XIX

Alan says:

Most people consider the Steamboat/Savage match to be THE classic “pure wrestling” match in Mania history. I would disagree with that, and I would cite this match as my reason.

For over 20 minutes, Shawn and Jericho put on the clinic to end all clinics. One absorbing exchange of holds after another left me on the edge of my seat, leading to a great finishing stretch with some crazy near falls.

The post match featured Jericho hugging HBK only to hit a low blow, and it was extremely well done.

Winner: Shawn Michaels

17. The Hardys vs. The Dudleys vs. Edge and Christian: Triangle Ladder Match - Wrestlemania 2000

Big D says:

A lot of people considered 2000 to be the year of the tag teams in the WWF. There were about 7 or 8 great tag teams in the company all fighting for supremacy.

However without a shadow of a doubt, the company put the entire division on the backs of the Dudley Boys, Matt and Jeff Hardy, and Edge and Christian. The Wrestlemania 2000 ladder match was the moment that defined their careers and skyrocketed them.

In terms of innovation, they took the Mania X ladder match and went to a whole new level. There were scary spots all over, including one where Jeff Hardy did a swanton off a ladder and broke his tailbone.

This was the precursor to the famous TLC matches of the future, including the one at the next year’s Wrestlemania.

Winner: Edge and Christian

16. The Rock vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin - Wrestlemania XIX

Duan says:

Austin vs. Rock at XIX was the final chapter in one of the all-time great WWE rivalries. It also provided a fitting end to the in-ring career of Stone Cold, and gave the Rock the chance to finally get that big Mania win over The Texas Rattlesnake.

While it was almost certainly not the best match these two ever had, It was still brilliantly dramatic in its own right. And given Austin’s physical shape and Rock’s relative inactivity at the time, the match far exceeded expectations.

Winner: The Rock

Coming up: Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker dominate four out of the next five matches in our countdown.

Wrestlemania XIV: Cold Stone and Iron Mike Tyson

Garrett Gonzales — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 23:46:57 -0400

If you remember one thing about Wrestlemania XIV, it will be that it started what was known as the Stone Cold era in the WWF.

Steve Austin was arguably the most popular wrestler for his time as well as the biggest money maker in the business during his stretch of being on top.

Austin’s ascent to the top helped make Vince McMahon a billionaire and the WWF a household name.

If you remember a second thing about Wrestlemania XIV, it would be that Mike Tyson was involved. Tyson was coming off some horrendous publicity and wasn’t actually sanctioned to box.

It was a bad move for him to in the eyes of boxing people to associate himself with the WWF, but he made a ton of money and also help put the sporting public eyes, which didn’t usually follow professional wrestling, on wrestling.

You’d never see wrestling on SportsCenter. But with Mike Tyson involved, it was all possible. They don’t call Vince McMahon a promoting genius for nothing.

And if you were to have a really good memory and remember three things that happened at this Wrestlemania, you’d remember Shawn Michaels’ all-guts performance in the main event. He worked through an injury that basically ended his career while he was still in his prime.

The injury stemmed from a bump he took during his title defense at Royal Rumble against the Undertaker when he went over the top rope and while on his way down, bumped his back on a casket.

He didn’t work from then until Mania and he was in obvious pain, grimacing through nearly every step of the match.

Rumors have it that before the match actually happened, he was bothered with the finish and had to basically be told by the Undertaker that he should do the finish as planned and put over Steve Austin or else. Either that, or Taker implied it with some mean looking body language.

The night started out with a tag team battle royal and the rules stated that if one person of the team was thrown over the top rope and onto the floor, his partner would also be eliminated. The surprise team in the battle royal was the Legion of Doom, but with the new moniker of LOD 2000 with new gear and Sunny as their valet.

But, even though they had a new gimmick, they were the same old aging tag team of the 80’s. Out of the fifteen teams, the old LOD were victorious and received a shot at the tag team titles at a future PPV event.

There were two very solid matches with young stars who would main event the two next Wrestlemanias. The Rock took on Ken Shamrock in a match for Rock’s Intercontinental title.

Rock played the chicken heel who was afraid of Shamrock’s crazy demeanor. The match had a good pace, but the finish left you wanting more. Shamrock had Rock in the famed ankle lock and the Rock tapped out, thus giving Shamrock the win and the belt.

However, Shamrock wouldn’t let up on the submission and when he finally did, he started throwing referees around. The ref then changed his decision and disqualified Shamrock. The Rock kept the belt.

Triple H had an excellent match with Owen Hart. The match featured really good wrestling and showed both guys at the top of their games.

The gimmick was that Sgt. Slaughter was handcuffed to Chyna so she wouldn’t interfere in the match. Of course, she interfered and HHH kept his European belt in the second-best match of the night.

There were also a couple good angles to come out of Wrestlemania XIV. One built towards Sable becoming a superstar by featuring her in her first match. She’s a pretty athletic gal, but as far as wrestling was concerned, the roles should’ve been reversed.

Luna Vachon is a scary individual, yet Sable was the one in the butt-kicker role. Luna didn’t want to be in the ring with the prissy Sable. I didn’t really buy it and it didn’t work for long.

However, Sable did one thing really well and that was play damsel in distress turned vocally independent wife to a very overbearing husband (Mark Mero). The crowd popped at what little skin Sable was able to show. But by the next year, her career had fizzled.

Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie (Terry Funk) had a solid bout with the tag champs, the New Age Outlaws. This is the only Wrestlemania where the New Age Outlaws ever competed as a team. They competed the next year, but in singles matches.

The gimmick was that the match would end when both members of one team were dumped into a trash dumpster and the lid was closed. Cactus Jack and Funk won the bout and the straps, but the next night they would lose them back to the New Age Outlaws.

The second highest profiled match was a snoozer. It featured the long built-up match between the Undertaker and his brother Kane. This story was once very interesting but every time they told more of the story, Kane’s character became less interesting.

Part of the problem was that Kane and the Undertaker could have good matches with other folks, but never with each other. Undertaker originally said that he would never fight his flesh and blood, but he had to and the match was born. Undertaker won, but it was only after he gave Kane three tombstone piledrivers.

The main event was what helped catapult the WWF to their greatest success. Shawn Michaels was the Heartbreak Kid and the Showstopper and he walked into the match as the champ.

He was severely injured and probably shouldn’t have even been wrestling. Austin, on the other hand was the WWF’s new star, the guy they were going to give the ball to.

The match wasn’t spectacular by any means, but what it did was jump start one of the best periods in WWF/WWE history. Mike Tyson was the special enforcer referee on the outside who would get involved when needed and if anything happened to the in ring ref, would have to go in the ring.

Tyson and Michaels claimed that Iron Mike was on the side of Degeneration-X, HBK’s faction. However, when it was all said and done, Iron Mike wasn’t with HBK and counted HBK out after a Stone Cold Stunner.

In the press conference after the match, Austin and Tyson declared they were in it together all along, but then the credibility in that statement was gone when Tyson kept calling him Cold Stone. He must’ve had some ice cream before the match.

The WWF was about to change, and its popularity was ready to explode.

Results

LOD 2000 won a 15-team battle royal
Light Heavyweight Champion Taka Michinoku defeated Aguila
European Champion Triple H defeated Owen Hart via pinfall
Marc Mero & Sable defeated Goldust & Luna
Intercontinental Champion The Rock beat Ken Shamrock by DQ
Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie defeated the New Age Outlaws in a Dumpster Match to capture the Tag Team Championship
Undertaker defeated Kane via pinfall
Steve Austin pinned Shawn Michaels to become World Wrestling Entertainment Champion

Wrestlemania 13: Enter the Stone Cold Era

Garrett Gonzales — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 19:58:02 -0400

To preface this review, I will let you know that out of all Wrestlemanias, this one drew the smallest PPV buy rate. It also is considered one of the worst cards from top to bottom in Mania history.

However, there is one reason why this isn’t the worst Wrestlemania ever. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret “The Hitman” Hart is why.

The politics behind the match are laughable. After Bret Hart put over Shawn Michaels in the main event of Wrestlemania XII, they were supposed to build for a rematch at Wrestlemania 13 with Shawn then putting Bret over.

Unfortunately, whether you believe that Shawn didn’t want to put Bret over, or that he was injured, that program didn’t happen and thus, Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret “The Hitman” Hart did. Shawn didn’t even wrestle on the card.

This match had a lot of significance in branching out Stone Cold’s character. The program did two things perfectly. It established Stone Cold as someone who would never quit and it also helped turn him face, while turning Bret heel at the same time.

The most interesting non-main match on the card was a very snotty Hunter Hearst Helmsley (before he made the DX turn into Triple H), who was seconded in the ring by a very muscular and masculine looking Chyna, facing off against Goldust.

They actually had a really good match. The kicker was watching Chyna throw around Marlena (Goldust's valet and real life wife at the time) like a rag doll. That one spot helped make her into a frightening character. She’s still frightening today, but for different reasons.

There was a star driven six man tag match that was also on this card. The Legion Of Doom (or Road Warriors), who were past their prime, teamed up with Ahmed Johnson.

If you’ve never heard of Ahmed Johnson, it’s because he was only in the WWF for a couple of years. He was an immediate sensation as a huge and mobile big man, yet he was very sloppy in the ring and people didn’t like working with him because of it.

He later tried to make a comeback in WCW years later as Big T, but he was way out of shape and went away very quickly.

They took on Crush, Farooq, and Savio Vega in a Chicago Street Fight which is similar to your modern day hardcore match, except the match wasn’t “falls count anywhere”. The match served its purpose which was to have LOD, who were always billed from Chicago, get over huge with the live crowd.

And putting Ahmed in there with them helped establish him, but also, gave the aging tag team some of his rub. However, the match wasn’t anything memorable and it was sloppy at times. But at least the crowd was happy.

The Rock wrestled his first Wrestlemania against The Sultan, who was Rikishi in his slimmer days and under a mask. The match was nothing memorable, but it was still cool to see how different the Rock looked as Rocky Maivia. He wore his hair longer in the front and just looked like a geeky babyface.

After he won the bout, his pop Rocky Johnson came out to help fend off the Iron Sheik and Bob Backlund who attacked Rocky after the match. Rocky had only been around for six months before this match and he was already the Intercontinental Champion.

He was really shoved down the fans’ throats and it’s no wonder the crowd turned on him. But in the end, it was the best thing that could’ve ever happened to him.

The tag team title match was interesting in that you had two big guys in Mankind and Vader, taking on two smaller guys in the late Owen Hart and the late Davey Boy Smith.

Watching this match today is pretty sad because both Smith and Hart are no longer with us and in their primes, they were outstanding wrestlers. Ok, maybe only Owen was outstanding. Mankind and Vader were booked as favorites even though they weren’t the champs. The match went to a double countout.

There was a tag team elimination match to start the show that was awful, and only needs partial mention here. The Headbangers won and they would go on to receive a tag title shot sometime in the future. It was a match seemed to be thrown together at the last minute.

One of the worst main events in the history of Wrestlemania happened on this show. In a match that could be described as one of the most boring matches I’ve seen, the champ, Sycho Sid lost his championship to the Undertaker in what would be his second run as champion.

His first was a five day stint in which he beat Hulk Hogan at the main event of the Survivor Series, only to lose the very next week against Hogan on a PPV entitled, “This Tuesday in Texas.”

The WWF tried to see what type of audience would buy two PPV’s in a span of five days of each other. Let’s just say they’ve never done that again. Oh wait, there was Taboo Tuesday.

The match between Sid and the Taker was horrendous in every way. They tried to tell a story that no matter how much punishment Sid doled out, the Taker would keep coming back.

Bret Hart, who wrestled just a half hour earlier, came out to help Undertaker win, but was simply establishing himself as a heel. The Taker would win the belt, then lose it to Hart at that year’s SummerSlam, and then we all know what would happen at Survivor Series.

Stone Cold Steve Austin was a bad ass heel who was transformed into a bad ass babyface in the span of twenty minutes. Bret Hart played the annoying babyface who hated how wrestling was changing and thus turned heel at the same time Austin turned face.

The match was a “submission” match where it could only end when one wrestler submitted, or by a referee stoppage. Ken Shamrock of UFC fame was the special guest referee and this match would also introduce him to the WWF fans as “the baddest man on the planet.” Well, at least until next year when Mike Tyson came in.

The match was pretty much how Austin’s best matches are laid out. He would take a beating, give a beating, and then take a beating again. Because he was playing babyface, he sold a ton for Hart, who was great in his role as a cheating technical expert.

The match hit its crescendo as Hart had Austin in his Sharpshooter finisher and Austin was bleeding from his forehead, yet not giving up. He would look like he was out of it, then gain strength, but only to be out of it again.

He finally passed out and Shamrock stopped the match. Jim Ross played it up awesomely and the picture of Austin covered in blood and in pain, yet not giving up will be played on WWE TV forever.

Hart didn’t want to break the hold, but Shamrock made him. This was the precursor to Austin’s takeoff that happened shortly thereafter and made him the most successful guy in the business for the short stay that he was on top.

Results
The Headbangers defeated the Blackjacks, Furnas and Lafon, and the Godwinns in a four team elimination match
Intercontinental Champion Rocky Maivia defeated the Sultan
Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeated Goldust via pinfall
Bret Hart defeated Steve Austin in a Submission Match
Tag Team Champions Owen Hart & the British Bulldog wrestled Mankind and Vader to a double-countout
The Legion of Doom and Ahmed Johnson defeated Crush, Faarooq, and Savio Vega in a Chicago Street Fight
Undertaker defeated Sycho Sid for the World Wrestling Entertainment Championship

Wrestlemania XII: The Iron Man Match

Garrett Gonzales — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 01:16:17 -0400

Wrestlemania XII was a one-trick pony.

There are wrestling cards that only promise one great match, but the possibly is there for good matches on the undercard. Here, WWE simply said, “We are going to give you the main event, and it’s going to be an hour long, and we really don’t care what else is on this show.”

If you think about it from a time standpoint, you have one match that is going to take a full hour out of your three-hour PPV. The rest of the matches and skits will have to be cut into two hours. Basically they cared about the main event and nothing else.

I guess they did promise us the Ultimate Warrior again.

The Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart match was a good match, but over the years, it has been called the greatest match in Wrestlemania history by WWE. It’s not.

It was built up on television as “a boyhood dream” for Michaels to win the belt. As the story went, Michaels had been a wrestling fan as a kid and even though he was on the smaller side, he always wanted to win the WWF Title in a league of gargantuan monsters.

Since Vince McMahon was giving us two great wrestlers in the main event rather than two slow moving, punching and kicking heavyweights, he made sure that we were going to see pure wrestling. He made it an Iron Man match.

The rules of an Iron Man match are simple. There is a clock set with a one hour time limit. The person who scores the most falls in one hour wins.

The hardest thing to do in a match like this is to keep the fans entertained at the same time as making sure the wrestlers don’t wear themselves out.

Michaels and Hart paced themselves, but it still wasn’t intriguing enough live as many of the fans left before the match was over.

Some detractors say that although they were entertained for most of the entire hour, they didn’t like the finish. Neither man won a fall in the entire hour and Bret Hart decided that since it was a draw, he was still champion.

WWF President at the time, Gorilla Monsoon came out and said there must be a winner and ruled that the contest must continue and there would be a winner in sudden death.

Soon thereafter, Shawn Michaels broke the Hitman’s heart with the sweet chin music and won the match and the title.

Does one match make or break a card? In this case, yes.

The strength of that match makes this Wrestlemania watchable, even if it is it’s overrated. At least they told a good story.

The rest of the card was absolutely horrible. There were only six other matches on the card and of those six, the only one that was decent was Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Savio Vega.

Vega was Austin’s first feud with his new “Stone Cold” character and getting wins over him helped establish him as an up and comer, even though he was awesome in WCW years before.

The big slap in the face to this match, which Austin won, was that they cut away from the match to show so-called live coverage (but really taped) of the Goldust vs. Roddy Piper “Hollywood Back Lot Brawl” which was horrendous beyond imagination.

The entire plot to their feud consisted of Goldust coming on to Piper and Piper trying to turn Goldust into a “man.” It really wreaked of trying to be edgy but came across as way low-class.

The match started in the backlot and Goldust hit Piper with a car, which according to Piper’s book, was the real deal.

The match took on a new level with Piper following Goldust driving a “Bronco” like OJ Simpson with the cops chasing him down the freeway. It was cheesy beyond belief.

They finally went back to the arena and finished off the match, with Piper winning. It is one of the worst gimmick matches of all time.

One of the more hyped matches on the undercard was the Undertaker vs. Diesel in a match-up of two huge guys who weren’t going to give us a classic. I’ll give the Taker credit for trying to make this a match, but Big Daddy Cool Diesel didn’t make it easy on him.

Luckily, it wasn’t a long match and the Taker won. Diesel was on his way out of the company.

The second most pushed feature on the show was the return of the Ultimate Warrior. The Warrior first disappeared after SummerSlam 1991, came back for Wrestlemania VIII, left again shortly thereafter, and was making yet another comeback.

He beat up a young up-and-coming Hunter Hearst Helmsley (with Sable) in a matter of seconds. Hunter made sure this never happened to him again.

As for the Warrior? He was gone soon again and wound up in WCW where he and Hulk Hogan would have one of the greatest terrible matches of all time.

Wrestlemania XII was really about one match with two company stalwarts. WWE has romanticized the match over the years. It’s not the greatest match in Wrestlemania history, but it’s still solid work from two of the best ever.

Results
Owen Hart, Vader & the British Bulldog defeated Ahmed Johnson, Jake “The Snake” Roberts & Yokozuna via pinfall
Roddy Piper defeated Goldust in a Backlot Brawl
Steve Austin defeated Savio Vega
Ultimate Warrior defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley via pinfall
Undertaker defeated Diesel via pinfall
Shawn Michaels defeated Bret Hart in an Iron Man Match to win the World Wrestling Entertainment Championship

Wrestlemania's 25 Greatest Matches: No. 25-21

Garrett Gonzales — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:07:20 -0400

My FightGameBlog brothers and I have put together a list of what we believe to be the greatest 25 matches in Wrestlemania history.

We started by selecting all of the matches that we remembered to be in the neighborhood of three stars (0-5 scale) or higher, and then took a close look at those matches and rated them fully.

You can read our introduction .

We'll start with match 25 through 21.

25. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock - Wrestlemania XV

GG says:

Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock would go on to have better matches. In fact, two of them would be at two of the next four Wrestlemanias. But that doesn’t mean that this match doesn’t deserve its place on the list.

It was a pure out and out slobber knocker as JR and Jerry Lawler would go on to say. The finish was a bit overbooked as there were two ref bumps and Vince McMahon and Mankind both figured into the outcome. But if you heard the crowd pop, they didn’t care.

Austin and Rock showed some early magic and after shunning The Rock Bottom, Austin hit the stunner and the Rock looked up at the lights. Vince McMahon’s face after the match was over was priceless.

Winner: Stone Cold Steve Austin

24. Triple H vs. The Undertaker - Wrestlemania X-Seven

Big D says:

This was an interesting match because a huge portion of the super hardcore fans weren’t looking forward to it despite it being two of the best workers ever. The build-up began shortly after No Way Out and it was simple. “You never beat me, stop talkin’ trash.”

Prior to the match, a lot of wrestling journalists such as Dave Meltzer thought this would be the perfect match for Taker to lose his streak in. Triple H was hot off a big win over Austin in the three stages of Hell match and was set to feud with Stone Cold after this show and through the summer, but Taker ended up getting the duke.

I remember the match going on second to last and it being a tremendous back and forth match with the highlights being Triple H using a sledgehammer to pop Taker mid-powerbomb, Taker choke slamming Trips over a balcony, and Taker winning with the Tombstone Piledriver.

Winner: The Undertaker

23. Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock - Wrestlemania X8

Big D says:

The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan was, in many people’s eyes, the last real “Dream Match” in the business and perhaps the first truly authentic “WWF vs. WCW” match despite Hulk Hogan being synonymous with 1980s WWF.

It was the superstar of the past vs. the superstar of the present.

While the work rate isn’t quite at the level of Steamboat/Flair, they put a very good match together designed to get Hulk Hogan on almost the same level as Rock, but little did they know that the jam packed 68,000 in the Toronto Skydome would make Hulk Hogan the biggest babyface since Wayne Gretzky.

Reports came in that people LEFT the building after this match. They cared about nothing else but seeing their hero from the past attempt to slay another dragon and cup his hand to his ear.

Winner: The Rock

22. Randy “Macho Man” Savage vs. The Ultimate Warrior - Wrestlemania VII

Alan says:

Randy Savage and Rick Rude have several things in common including Memphis roots, great voices, MANLY facial hair and oodles of in ring talent. But aside from all that, they are perhaps the only men to hold the key to the lock that is The Ultimate Warrior.

Nobody in wrestling got as many great matches out of Warrior as these two, and at Wrestlemania VII, Savage got perhaps the best.

Built up as a Macho’s retirement match, this match saw him bump like a maniac for everything Warrior had in his arsenal. The crowd was worked into a frenzy and when they went into the finishing stretch I think everyone watching was on the edge of their seat.

It was one of the most memorable finishes I’ve experienced. Warrior quite simply shoulder tackled Savage repeatedly for at least 3 minutes until Macho was completely and utterly decimated and all that was needed to pin him was a single foot.

Throw in one of the all time great Mania moments with the reunion of Savage and Liz and you have a match more than deserving of it’s place on the list.

Winner: The Ultimate Warrior

21. Bret “The Hitman” Hart vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper - Wrestlemania VIII

Duan says:

Most of the time, the face vs. face dynamic just doesn’t work. At Wrestlemania VIII, Hart and Piper provided the blueprint for how it should be done.

This was just an incredibly intense match throughout. Both guys allowed their tempers to flare at just the right times, and Piper did an excellent job in teasing a heal turn. The finish was not only unique, but also suited the match’s purpose perfectly.

Piper’s best days in the ring were already behind him. He had one last great performance left in him, in which he passed the torch on to Hart. Bret was absolutely flawless on the night, and showed that he was ready to be pushed as WWE’s next big star.

Winner: Bret Hart

In the next post, you’ll see another Rock/Austin Wrestlemania classic as well as one former champion’s Wrestlemania moment.

Wrestlemania XI: Whaddya Say?

Garrett Gonzales — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 03:43:08 -0400

For only the second time in Wrestlemania history, the WWF/WWE Championship match was not the main event at Wrestlemania XI.

Former champion Bret “The Hitman” Hart and future champ Shawn Michaels were featured on the card—but not in the main event.

So just who was in the featured bout for this Wrestlemania? The first was Bam Bam Bigelow.

And the second? If you guessed former NFL star Lawrence Taylor, you'd be right.

This program was initially supposed to help Bigelow’s career. He had agreed to lose to Taylor and, in turn, become a regular main-eventer.

Overall, the show featured one of the least inspired Wrestlemania cards, as far as ring work was concerned.

Usually, there is one or two showstopper-type matches that carry the rest of the card. But that year, there was no quality wrestling to be found.

The one match that should have at least been half decent was the "I Quit" grudge match between Bret Hart Bob Backlund.

In order to win, one man had to force the other to yell "I quit" into a microphone. Roddy Piper was announced as the surprise guest referee.

But that match flopped as well.

Piper would yell, “Whaddya say?” before Hart even locked in a submission hold and a pissed off Backlund would shout back, “No!” as if he was actually angry with Piper.

It's understandable, Backlund was just trying to put on a good show before her got in his face.

It was a garbled mess and one of the few matches in Hart's career where it seemed he didn’t have control...aside from the time Vince McMahon screwed him out of the WWF title.

Hart finally got Backlund to submit, using his own chicken wing submission finisher. But the audience couldn't really tell what was going on at the end. It was just an awful match.

The other match that had a chance to be decent was the WWF Championship with Shawn Michaels as the heel challenger facing the current champ, Diesel.

The match itself wasn’t horrible, but only because Michaels is good enough to make any opponent look good.

Diesel will probably go down as the worst champ in WWE/WWF history. He couldn’t wrestle to save his life and had average charisma for a supposedly funny and entertaining guy.

Michaels lost the match and his shot at the belt because his bodyguard, Sycho Sid, pulled the ref out of the ring when Michaels had Diesel pinned

Elsewhere, Razor Ramon beat Intercontinental Champ Jeff Jarrett by disqualification in a match where the Roadie and the 1-2-3 Kid continually interfered.

The match should've been good, but both guys were off their game.

Ramon could have a good match as long as he had a good wrestler to work with. In this instance, Jarrett wasn’t good enough to carry him.

However, it did make up for a horrible opener featuring Lex Luger and the British Bulldog as the Allied Powers facing Eli & Jacob Blu.

After the IC title match came Undertaker against King Kong Bundy. Oi.

While 'Taker can work great matches with guys who can move, it's horrible to watch him face someone like Bundy who was basically immobile.

'Taker basically won with a couple of boots to the head.

I always had a soft spot in my heart for Bundy because he was the first heel that legitimately scared me when I was younger. But here, almost 10 years later, he wasn’t nearly as effective.

The late, great Owen Hart was the lone bright spot in a tag team championship match where he and his mystery partner, who happened to be Yokozuna, beat The Smoking Gunns.

The match was brilliant when Hart was in the ring and uninspired when he was not. It was the first taste of gold for Hart.

As I said earlier, Bam Bam Bigelow wrestled Lawrence Taylor in the main event.

Taylor had his NFL team with Ken Norton, Ricky Jackson and other defensive players ringside. Bigelow was a part of the Million Dollar Man's "Million Dollar Corporation" at the time and his cronies were ringside as well.

Salt and Pepa performed What a Man with new LT-inspired lyrics as Taylor entered the ring.

The bout looked more like an event than a wrestling match. Even though Taylor showed his natural athletic ability, the whole mess was a let down from a wrestling standpoint.

Taylor threw forearms and, at one point, failed at delivering a power bomb. Bigelow sold huge for the football star to try and save the match.

As a wrestling fan, you had to cringe just a little to see Bigelow fly all over the ring for Taylor like he was Hulk Hogan.

In the end, the crowd went home happy as the football player won with the great charisma he showed on the football field.

Results:
Allied Powers defeated Eli & Jacob Blu via pinfall.
Razor Ramon beat Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett via DQ.
Undertaker defeated King Kong Bundy via pinfall.
Bret Hart defeated Bob Backlund in an “I Quit” Match.
Owen Hart & Yokozuna defeated the Smoking Gunns for the Tag Team Championship.
WWF Champion Diesel defeated Shawn Michaels via pinfall.
Lawrence Taylor defeated Bam Bam Bigelow via pinfall.

Monday Night Raw Thoughts: Randy Orton Is A Great Man

Garrett Gonzales — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:00:47 -0400

Some say that it’s during the last two weeks of promotion that you’ll know how successful an event will be. That’s good for WWE because at least they have two weeks left.

The previous weeks haven’t been very successful at getting me excited for Wrestlemania 25. Unfortunately, I bought my tickets to the event several months ago, so they already have me. But I imagine that this will be the lowest bought Wrestlemania PPV since Wrestlemania XIX unless they do something drastic in these next two weeks.

Thankfully, they’ve rehabbed their main event which was starting to look like a dud.

Randy Orton and the rest of his Legacy posse beat down Triple H, hand cuffed him to the turnbuckle and then goaded his wife to come out and save him. A newly slimmed down Stephanie McMahon appeared and pleaded with these hated men to not beat up her husband with a sledge hammer even though he just used it a couple of weeks ago to beat up Orton.

The hated men surrounded her and Orton grabbed her and DDT’d her to the mat. It was effective, if only we could’ve forgotten the last three weeks of television, as well as Stephanie’s entire TV career.

Rather than hating Orton for doing what he did, you actually felt that he achieved retribution for what Triple H did to his house a couple of weeks ago, scaring his wife in the process.

But where this entire angle might’ve been saved and where all might be forgiven was in one kiss.

With Triple H distraught while still tied to the turnbuckle and Stephanie out-cold from the DDT, Orton slithered toward her and planted a rather disgusting kiss on the side of her lips. That made the entire angle.

He followed that up by taunting Triple H with his snake-like smile and at that moment, Wrestlemania’s main event was saved. Well, at least until next week.

(Click here to see the kiss until YouTube takes it down.)

The other main event was weakened though.

Why they put Edge and The Big Show in the ring for no reason is really head scratching. On top of that, they had a terrible match. Why would we ever want to see these guys have a match again?

And is it me, or has Big Show just given up on trying to be good again? He’s been molasses-like slow of late. He should just go full circle and start dragging on cigarettes in the ring like this was Nitro.

And John Cena’s hickory dickory dock rhyme did nothing for this match. While the feud started out originally fun, I think it has run completely out of steam.

Chris Jericho and Ric Flair did a great job at promoting a match that won’t happen, unless plans change. If Jericho was Terry Funk and this was 1989, this would be the hottest match on the card.

But it’s not 1989, Flair isn’t in the match, and Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka, and Ricky Steamboat actually have to wrestle.

I know they have to build heat for it somehow, and they did a great job, but they just won’t be able to deliver on what they built up unless Ric Flair is in the match. And I don’t think he’s going to be in the match.

However, I am looking forward to Jericho’s match with Jerry Lawler next week. Why was Lawler just standing there while Flair was getting killed?

I do have a few more thoughts about the show.

- I liked the 8-man tag, specifically because the finish was fun, but this Money In The Bank match has zero buzz. It’s a mid-card match.

- My friend sent me a note basically saying that they could show 100 previews to John Cena’s new movie 12 Rounds and he still wouldn’t go see it. But that’s how they book. Shove it down your throat and force it on you. Kind of how like they’ve booked Triple H since 1999.

- It’s too bad that Jeff and Matt Hardy can’t have a ladder match as it would enhance what they’d be able to do, but with the storyline they’re building, an extreme rules match makes sense.

- Santino was so awesome as a one armed wrestler. Too bad he’s terrible with both arms.

- The Shawn Michaels promo from the graveyard was very 1990s, but I think it worked very well. The build for his match with the Undertaker is simple, logical, and is working. It’s still the sole reason I’m not completely disappointed by this card. I do wish they’d mention their great Royal Rumble finish from a couple of years ago though.

We have one week to go. They really need to bring it.

Photo of Ric Flair by nwa_fan and shared through creative commons

WrestleMania X: Bret Hart Stands Tall

Garrett Gonzales — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:57:32 -0400

Just blame it on Lex Luger. Blame it on the uncharismatic star who was on the "yellow brick road" to the WWF Championship and still didn’t win it.

When Hulk Hogan left the WWF after losing the belt to Yokozuna, Vince McMahon had his replacement ready. He was tall like Hogan, he was blond like Hogan (if Hogan still had hair), and he was even more muscular than Hogan.

Vinnie Mac’s kind of guy, right? He was going to be the one to take the torch after Hulk, and he was going to run with it.

There were some problems, though. He couldn’t connect with the fans, he couldn’t wrestle an entertaining match, and after McMahon pushed him as hard as he could, he pulled the plug.

SummerSlam of 1993 was when the "Lex Express" was going to ride into town and snatch the belt from the dreaded Yokozuna. But the train was derailed.

When Lex didn’t win the championship that night, I knew McMahon didn’t think he was going to be the guy. They put all that marketing effort into a guy who WCW wouldn’t even put their money behind. It was a mistake for McMahon, but hey, he tried his best to replace Hogan.

Of course, history could have been different, though it wouldn't have been much better.

The guy who was supposed to be passed the torch (before Hogan decided he would only lose to someone bigger than him) was Bret Hart. He already had a short reign as champion when it was time to take the title off Ric Flair.

But he lost it in that horrible match on a horrible pay-per-view event (WrestleMania IX) with a horrible ending in which Yoko won the title, and then lost again to Hogan in an impromptu match. Let’s just say that Bret was the back-up plan.

It didn’t need to be like this. Had Hogan only lost the belt to Bret at SummerSlam in 1993 before he balked at doing a job to someone as small as Hart. It probably didn’t even cross his mind that Bret would’ve probably carried him to the best match of his career, thus making him look strong in losing.

The WWF was struggling to connect again with the fans. They started Monday Night Raw the year before and were drawing nice ratings, even if house shows were struggling. But this was WrestleMania, and for one night, all was forgotten.

And where better to have it than Madison Square Garden, in New York, where the original WrestleMania was held?

The lineup wasn’t all that strong, but there was a certain mystery about the night. It started when they booked the Royal Rumble to end with two winners rather than one. Bret Hart and Lex Luger both eliminated each other to end the match and were both declared winners.

Vince created a scenario at WrestleMania in which the championship would be defended twice. With a coin flip, it was decided that Luger would fight Yokozuna first, with Bret facing the winner in the Main Event.

But Bret didn’t get off easy. He was also booked in a match with his crazed brother, the late Owen Hart.

That match started off the event, and started it in grand style. It was an outstanding match, especially as an opener of the pay-per-view show. You don’t necessarily want the best match first, because the rest of the night can be a let down, but they had their ace in the hole in hand. We’ll get to that in a few paragraphs.

It was great that they held off the Owen Hart full turn until Royal Rumble, because the fans were anticipating this matchup big time. And when Owen came out on top, it was all the more important, as it established him as the guy who beat the guy who won the championship later in the show. Sort of wrestling foreshadowing, if you will.

Many people thought Lex Luger would beat Yokozuna to then face the Hit Man later in the Main Event. But there was another twist in store: Mr. Perfect was the special guest referee, and he turned heel, costing Luger the match.

There was the longest and worst rest hold in the history of wrestling, and the match itself was a pure out-and-out stinker. At least the Perfect heel turn in the end gave Luger a program to work, since his title chase was over.

While the majority of the matches on the card were awful, there was a second diamond in the rough. It was arguably greater than the Hart brothers' match.

Shawn Michaels faced Razor Ramon in a ladder match for the Undisputed Intercontinental Championship. This is the gimmick match that gimmick matches are measured by today.

The contest was so significant that it’s alluded to almost as much as any match in WWF/WWE history. It helped etch HBK’s greatness in stone and was before its time in the spots and the bumps that were taken.

And it wasn’t just madness; there was a method. HBK didn’t even win the match, but his mere participation raise his status in fans' eyes.

The match saw both Michaels’ and Ramon’s IC titles (Michaels had been out, and in the mean time, Ramon won the belt) suspended high above the ring, and the only way to win the match was to climb the ladder and grab them both.

The man who could obtain them was to be named winner and champion. The ladder was used as a weapon and also as a platform for beautifully timed spots.

If you picking the match in the last 10 years that meant the most to the company, this one would be a damn good choice.

Then, of course, there was the main event with Roddy Piper as the referee. It was Hart versus Yokozuna for the championship.

Of course, if Yokozuna won, it would’ve been anticlimactic. You knew Bret had to win so that he could get his back from WrestleMania IX.

And that’s what happened. It wasn’t a great match, but it is remembered because of how it ended in the ring. Plenty of guys came from the back to support the Hit Man’s win and make it something special.

The only other match that really captured my interest that night was the grudge match between "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Crush. It was another gimmick match: The competitors had to beat the other outside the ring badly enough that the opponent couldn't make it back in by a count of 20.

Savage won the match, though the finish was sloppy. He took Crush to the back, tied him to a pulley, and raised him in the air.

But Savage didn’t tie the rope well enough, and when he let go, Crush was dropped on his head. It wasn’t the way it was supposed to work, but when it’s live, sometimes it works that way.

Most everything else was horrific. The Quebecers defended their belts against one of the worst tag teams ever, Men On A Mission. They had zero charisma and even less wrestling skill. The Quebecers put on a decent show, but with MOM, there’s no way the match was going to be any good.

WrestleMania X showed that Vince McMahon’s vision had longevity and success. People didn’t think the original WrestleMania was going to work, but it did.

Heck, this year will be the 25th show. I think it’s been a success.

Results Summary from WrestleMania X

Owen Hart defeated Bret Hart via pinfall
Bam Bam Bigelow & Luna defeated Doink & Dink via pinfall
Randy Savage defeated Crush
Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze defeated Lelani Kai
Men on a Mission defeated Tag Team Champions the Quebecers via countout
World Wrestling Entertainment Champion Yokozuna defeated Lex Luger by DQ
Earthquake defeated Adam Bomb via pinfall
Razor Ramon defeated Shawn Michaels in a ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship
Bret Hart defeated Yokozuna for the WWE Championship

Wrestlemania's 25 Greatest Matches: The Introduction

Garrett Gonzales — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:29:19 -0400

My FightGameBlog brothers and I have put together a list of what we believe to be the greatest 25 matches in Wrestlemania history. We started by selecting all of the matches that we remembered to be in the neighborhood of three stars (0-5 scale) or higher, and then took a close look at those matches and rated them fully.

The four of us are distinctive in our tastes for what makes a good pro wrestling match. I wanted to give you an idea of who we are and what we like so you know where we are coming from.

One thing that I want to note is that we’re not giving any special treatment to matches that drew incredible business or are historic because of what they meant to business. Thus, you won’t see Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant on our list.

It was a terrible match, and even though it was historic, it wasn’t any good and won’t be on our list.

Big D

Danny says that he likes anything that’s good. He doesn’t like pointless brawling with punches and kicks ending in double countouts. He can go for good high flying matches or good scientific matches as long as they tell stories and have a beginning, middle, and end and contain something that’ll excite him.

Some of his favorite eras in wrestling include WWE from 1997-2001, ROH from 2004-2006, and ECW 1995-1999. He also includes Bret Hart, Bryan Danielson, and Ric Flair as three of his favorite wrestlers.

Alan

Alan calls himself the hybrid wrestling fan. He likes everything. It can be Jim Duggan and Buzz Sawyer brawling and cursing like sailors, or 12 Toryumon guys going 100 miles per hour. If it’s good wrestling, he enjoys it.

Some of his favorite eras include current Dragon Gate, early-mid 90s All Japan, and early '90s WWF. Three of his favorite wrestlers are Bret Hart, KENTA, and Kenta Kobashi.

Duan

Duan’s favorite style is what you’d call British style wrestling, which is legitimate looking, and a has deliberate/technical style.

His favorite eras include old WWF/WWE and when WCW was at its peak. Some of his favorites of all time include Bret Hart, Eddie Guerrero, Curt Hennig, and the Dynamite Kid.

GG is more of a fan of stars than of the actual wrestling itself. He doesn’t enjoy what most would deem a good match if he wasn’t interested in who was wrestling. If there’s a story that gauges his interest though, he can watch anything.

His favorite wrestling includes mid to late '80s WWF/WWE, late '80s NWA, and late '90s WWE. His favorite wrestlers include Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and Eddie Guerrero.

Now that you know what kind of fans we are, I want to let you know which matches were left off our list. One thing you’ll notice about our list is that it’s heavy with matches from the last several years of Wrestlemania.

WWE has definitely gone the extra mile to give viewers great matches over the last several years. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that there are more matches on our list from say the last five years than the first ten.

Here are some of the more eye opening matches that were left off the list and why:

The Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan from Wrestlemania VI - This fell outside the top 40 in our rankings. We like the match for what it was and Big D even gave it four stars, but the rest of us didn’t have it any higher than 3.25 stars.

Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage from Wrestlemania V - This was right above the more well known Warrior/Hogan match and that probably has to do with the fact that Savage was a pretty damn good worker and for some reason, Hogan sold just as much for him as he sold for the monsters he was wrestling at the time.

Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels from Wrestlemania XIV - This match was ranked 37th by us and I think that’s about right. It was historic in that it helped kick off the most recently great era for WWE. Duan and Alan liked the match slightly more than Big D and me, but we all graded it similarly.

Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels from Wrestlemania XII - People will think that this is our most glaring omission. Duan and Alan really liked the match to where they would’ve had it right around the top 10.

I give it credit for trying to do something special, but I don’t think they really held the fans’ attention for the entire hour. I would've had it right around the top 25. But Big D simply hated it. That drove the ranking down.

Kurt Angle vs. Eddie Guerrero from Wrestlemania XX - I think our rating shows that even though we all liked the match, it should’ve been even better than it was. Wrestlemania XX should’ve been remembered for this match along with the more famous triple threat, but this one was a bit of a let down.

Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair from Wrestlemania 24 - Even though Shawn Michaels was sorry and loving, it still wasn’t enough. Danny and Duan really liked the match, both giving it 4.25 stars, but Alan and I were more lukewarm on it. I was a bit disappointed with it myself. It was good, but not great.

Triple H vs. John Cena from Wrestlemania 22 - The main event from Wrestlemania 22 had big match atmosphere, but it fell just short of our top 25. It also scored the exactly same rating as the match above.

Other matches that were considered but left off the list include:

The British Bulldogs vs. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine and Brutus Beefcake from Wrestlemania 2
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. The Big Show from Wrestlemania 24
Booker T vs. Triple H from Wrestlemania XIX
The Headshrinkers vs. The Steiner Brothers from Wrestlemania IX
Christian vs. Chris Jericho from Wrestlemania XX
The Rock N Sock Connection vs. Evolution from Wrestlemania XX
Randy Orton vs. The Undertaker from Wrestlemania 21
Money in the Bank II from Wrestlemania 22
Shawn Michaels vs. Vince McMahon from Wrestlemania 22
The Undertaker vs. Ric Flair from Wrestlemania X8
Money in the Bank III from Wrestlemania 23

We will start with matches we ranked from 25 through 21 and get that post ready in the next couple of days.

Wrestlemania IX: Quite Possibly the Worst Wrestlemania Ever

Garrett Gonzales — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 02:11:54 -0400

One of my co-writers, Alan, at fightgameblog.com actually enjoyed this show. I consider it the worst Wrestlemania of all time. I've sprinkled his thoughts inside of my review of the show.

The Hulk Hogan era was supposed to be over. The WWF was slowly changing the guard. They were trying to change what they had ingrained into fans on what wrestling was supposed to be. It was bigger than life characters.

It was huge muscle-bound guys who were always better than smaller, faster guys. And Hulk Hogan was the best of them all.

However, there was going to be a time when Hogan wasn’t going to be around. And during 1993, they were trying to change what they had been teaching fans for 10 years.

Bret Hart beat Ric Flair for the championship to get his first WWF title reign in late 1992. I remember the day when I heard Hart won the championship. My friend told me to guess who had just beat Flair for the belt, and because I never expected the WWF to get behind Hart, I must’ve went through five guys before I guessed Hart.

And I expected him to be nothing more than a transitional champion.

However, it showed that the WWF was trying to find someone new to carry the torch. Then Hogan decided to come back into the picture.

Wrestlemania IX was supposed to be the first Wrestlemania without Hogan. Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s Wrestlemania preview didn’t even list Hogan as being on the card.

Hogan came back into the picture quickly as Vince was probably nervous to run Wrestlemania without him. Hogan held all the cards back then, which is a far cry from where he is today.

Of course, Hogan reportedly wanted to win the belt immediately, but if Bret Hart was ever going to be anything, losing it to Hogan in a squash would’ve killed any steam he had.

Hogan was then put into a quick feud with Money Inc. where he saved his good friend Ed Leslie, better known as Brutus Beefcake, from a beat down and they played up on the true story of Beefcake having to get reconstructive surgery on his face in a para sailing accident.

Hogan and Beefcake were to challenge Ted DiBiase and IRS (Mike Rotunda), who were also known as Money Inc., for the tag team championship. Hogan, Beefcake, and Jimmy Hart were terribly called The Mega-Maniacs.

I seem to remember them announcing this terrible name on RAW. They were trying to come up with a name and all of a sudden, Hogan said the name The Mega-Maniacs. However, I believe Jimmy Hart’s jacket already had the name on the back before he decided on the name.

It was a very boring match, but the crowd popped like crazy for it. Hogan was up to his usual antics playing up to the crowd. With DiBiase and IRS in the ring, it made the match at least watchable, but the fans very much so wanted a title change.

The finish was extremely silly, with Jimmy Hart counting a double pin fall that was later overturned by the referee. When Hogan and Beefcake didn’t get the belts, that should have told the viewers something, considering Hogan had never been in anything short of the main event at Wrestlemania.

The setting for Wrestlemania IX itself was odd. It was held outdoors at Caesar’s Palace and included a toga theme. Also interesting was the appearance of Jim Ross, who didn’t seem to be the WWF’s style of announcer.

He was more of a wrestling fan’s announcer, not the sports entertainment that the WWF provided.

Paired with Ross were Bobby Heenan and Randy Savage. It was interesting to me why Savage was behind the microphone and not in the ring. It seemed Vince McMahon thought Savage’s best days were behind him.

It was only three months before when I thought Savage was going to win the Royal Rumble and go on to face Hart for the championship here. But Yokozuna eliminated him and became the No. 1 contender.

The weather didn’t entirely cooperate as it wasn’t all that bright, and the show was very dark. It was an ominous setting which didn’t bode well for the show.

Alan’s thoughts

I must note first of all, that I am a HUGE mark for outdoor wrestling. This show could have been far worse than it was and I still would have enjoyed it. Outdoor wrasslin’ man, I just love it, no matter what.

The night started with a decent Intercontinental title match that had a bad finish in a night of bad finishes. Shawn Michaels took on an undefeated Tatanka. I remember when Chris Chavis (Tatanka) first debuted.

I read about him in one of the old Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazines and watched him on Prime Time Wrestling as Chris Chavis. Next thing you know, he’s wearing a head piece and coming out doing rain dances as the Native American Tatanka.

He did fit the bill as he was of Native American blood at least. He received a huge push when he initially came into the WWF, but he fizzled almost as quickly right into the mid-card.

In this match, he and Shawn Michaels put on a decent match, and it was probably the best match on the card, but for an opener and especially the Intercontinental Title match, it wasn’t all that it needed to be to set up the night. As I said, the finish was horrid, as Tatanka won by countout.

The second best match might’ve been one with Lex Luger involved. Yes, it’s true that Luger had a good match with someone else other than Ric Flair. This time, it was with Mr. Perfect, the late Curt Hennig.

Mr. Perfect made Lex actually look good in a match where they tried to sell that Lex, as the heel, outsmarted Mr. Perfect and won the match with a backslide, though Mr. Perfect’s legs were on the ropes.

This set up a cool short feud between Mr. Perfect and HBK, as after the match, Perfect went after Luger and a shirtless HBK joined the fray and jumped Hennig.

In the late '80s and the early '90s, there was one thing in tag team wrestling that you could take to the bank. The Steiner Brothers would be in an entertaining match. Scott Steiner especially, was a good wrestler with a Frankensteiner maneuver that was the one move in wrestling that you had to see.

He was a big guy and to see him give someone a standing hurracanranna was a sight to behold.

However on this night, the Headshrinkers were bad enough to make the Steiner Brothers rather boring. Scott did win with his finishing maneuver, but it was after a long and boring affair that could’ve been cut five minutes and would have been better.

Alan disagrees.

Alan’s thoughts

One of my favorite tag matches at the time is The Steiners vs. Headshrinkers. I re-watched this match last year and it totally holds up.

This specific Wrestlemania seemed to be rushed as far as most of the matches were concerned. Razor Ramon vs. Bob Backlund? Who wanted to see that match?

Razor was still early in his WWF career and he wasn’t the “bad guy” yet, who eventually became a semi-main eventer. Backlund was an ex-champion who seemed to be brought back as a joke. It was just an odd match and Razor beat him with a cradle.

Did we also need Crush vs. Doink “The Clown”? They made Crush look dumber than he was supposed to look by losing because another Doink came out to attack him with a fake arm. This was the WWF at it’s worst.

Wait, I spoke too soon. In what could be the worst Wrestlemania match of all time, the Undertaker beat Giant Gonzalez, who was El Gigante in WCW just a few months before, by disqualification when Gonzalez used a foreign substance poured onto a rag and “suffocated” the Undertaker with it.

I’ve used the word horrendous a few times already, but I can’t think of another way to describe this.

Alan’s thoughts

The Undertaker with his raven was epic. It was almost as epic as the match that followed, pitting 'Taker against the legendary Giant Gonzalez! This true clash of the titans blew my mind as a kid.

There may have been just a hint of sarcasm in that last statement.

Remember when I said that when Hogan and Beefcake didn’t win the belts, we were probably going to see Hogan again? While I was waiting for Hogan to come out for the main event, I couldn’t believe what actually happened.

Before I get to that, let’s talk about the actual main event. It was the new leader of the WWF versus a former sumo wrestler doing a Japanese gimmick, even though he wasn’t Japanese.

Yokozuna would go on and win the match against Hart, which I hated at the time, but what happened after that was just disgusting if you were a Bret Hart fan.

After Hart lost, Hogan came down to dispute the fact that Mr. Fuji threw salt in Hart’s eyes and should’ve been disqualified. Fuji then challenged Hogan to an impromptu match for the title against Yokozuna.

Hogan was tending to Hart who told him to go for it. Then Hogan won the belt. It took all of 15 seconds. Remember when I said Hogan held all the cards? Well he just put himself back into the picture and left the Hitman laying in waste.

The storyline after Wrestlemania was that Hogan and Yokozuna would face off at the newly created King of the Ring PPV and Yokozuna would win and we’d never hear of Hogan in the WWF again until 2002.

The supposed program was going to be Hogan dropping the belt to Bret Hart at Summerslam of that year, but allegedly Hogan balked, and instead lost to Yokozuna at King of the Ring. Hart finally got his belt back the next year.

Alan’s thoughts

I cannot however defend the finish of the show. As a child of the pink and black and NOT the red ‘n yellah, I was disgusted to see that jerk Hogan (who I haaaaated) come out and steal the spotlight. That sucked majorly. However the match prior with Bret and Yoko ruled and did a great job getting Yoko over until you know who showed up.

I can say this was the worst Wrestlemania of all time. There were other bad ones like Wrestlemania IV, XI, and 13, but at least there were memorable moments on those shows. This was simply forgettable. I think Alan disagrees.

Results

Tatanka defeated Shawn Michaels by disqualification
The Steiner Brothers beat the Headshrinkers
Doink The Clown defeated Crush by pinfall
Razor Ramon beat Bob Backlund
Money Inc. defeated Hulk Hogan and Brutus “The Barber” Beefecake by disqualification
Lex Luger defeated Mr. Perfect by pinfall
The Undertaker beat Giant Gonzalez by disqualification
Yokozuna defeated Bret “The Hitman” Hart to win the WWF Chamnpionship
(Hulk Hogan defeated Yokozuna for the WWF Championship if you consider it legitimate)

Wrestlemania VIII: Vince McMahon Flinches on the Dream Wrestlemania Match

Garrett Gonzales — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 01:19:56 -0400

Vince McMahon had it right on his plate. The biggest dream match in the history of professional wrestling. And he flinched.

In the summer of 1991, Ric Flair was unhappy with what was going to be a pay cut with WCW. He was scheduled to lose to Lex Luger at the Great American Bash, but was then subsequently fired because he didn’t want to drop the title without a new contract.

Instead, Luger faced Barry Windham in a cage match with very little buildup and started a very forgettable championship reign. Across WCW arenas around the world, the loudest chants weren’t for Sting, or the newly crowned champ. The loudest chants were for Ric Flair.

I went to a WCW event in the fall of 1991 and throughout most of the show was a chant of, “We want Flair.” But Flair was gone.

He showed up on WWF television in the fall and had the old ten pounds of gold with him. Immediately, fans expected that he and then WWF Champion Hulk Hogan would battle. It was a dream match that everyone had been wanting to see for at least eight years.

He started to become a thorn in Hogan’s side immediately. When Hogan lost the belt to the Undertaker at the Survivor Series, Flair was in the middle of it. And then on This Tuesday In Texas, which was just five days later on PPV, Hogan supposedly won the title back, but it was the held up.

The title would be decided at the Royal Rumble. Ric Flair won that match by wrestling for close to one hour and outlasting everyone. It would seem that the logical challenger would be Hulk Hogan.

Vince McMahon could then show the world that his champion was better than the old NWA champion. And it could be decided on the biggest stage in wrestling. Wrestlemania VIII was held at the Indiana Hoosier Dome. It could have been perfect. But McMahon flinched.

There were a couple of reasons why Vince would’ve flinched. For one, they went to Hogan vs. Flair very soon around the house show circuit and after a few runs, it wasn’t special anymore.

Secondly, Vince has always been about pushing bigger guys. He saw a star in Sid Justice, formerly Sid Vicious.

Sid was a huge guy with a jacked up physique who was supposed to be someone WCW was going to try and utilize as a top heel. He had one title match against Sting, but didn’t win it in an odd finish that saw Barry Windham dressed up as Sting and taking the pin.

But the real Sting came out and then pinned Vicious. Yes, it was hoaky.

But Vince came calling and Sid left WCW for New York. Initially, Vince put Sid with Hogan after SummerSlam 1991. Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior beat the team of the Iron Sheik, who was at the time Colonel Mustafa, Sgt. Slaughter and their manager, General Adnan. Sid Justice was the referee.

When Hogan and Warrior won, it was Hogan and Justice celebrating in the ring with Warrior no where to be found. If McMahon was going to flinch on the Flair vs. Hogan deal, this would be his backup. But who would Flair then wrestle?

One other reason thrown around is that Hogan was leaving to do a movie and with him being gone, he couldn't have won the match and defend the belt.

In a hokey, but still effective storyline, Ric Flair promised the fans that he “had” Elizabeth before Randy Savage married her. The line was, “She was mine, before she was yours,” as if Elizabeth was some sort of property.

Flair then showed pictures of himself with Elizabeth to further “prove” he was with Elizabeth before Savage was. Mean Gene Okerlund showed some investigative journalism later to prove that the pictures of Flair and Elizabeth were in fact doctored. Talk about going a long way for a storyline.

Curt Hennig and Bobby Heenan promised to show some risque pictures of the lovely Elizabeth at Wrestlemania where Flair would defend his belt and against Savage. Talk about bait and switch. There were no pictures of Elizabeth.

Instead of giving the WWF fans their dream match, Vince decided that Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice was a better fit.

There was one more marquee match and that was Roddy Piper defending his newly won Intercontinental Title against Bret Hart. It was an odd face vs. face match and was pretty much a passing of the torch. It was also one of the best matches Piper had wrestled in a long time.

In the interview beforehand, Piper and Hart went back and forth picking at each other and it was the first time I’d heard Piper call Hart his family. Piper has been calling Hart his cousin for a while now, and while they aren’t related, I guess they are or at least were very close.

The match was a back and forth contest where Bret Hart played opossum several times and had a weird heelish feel to him. I always thought it was weird when Bret as the face, would do heelish things, but it was more so the “I’m smarter than you” gimmick.

Piper teased going back to the Piper of old as he grabbed the ring bell, but thought better of it and went to his famed sleeper hold where Hart then walked the rope, put his weight on Piper, and Piper fell backward with Hart getting the pin.

It was an excellent match and also showcased Hart as being a ring general. Just excellent heat and psychology.

The show started with Tito Santana as El Matador vs. Shawn Michaels. It was near the end of Santana’s WWF career. In a cool trivia note, he also jerked the curtain at the first Wrestlemania.

HBK promised that he would challenge the winner of the Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper match for the IC belt. HBK won the stall fest as Tito decided that a side headlock was the way to go here.

Right after the match, there was a long interview with the Legion of Doom and the return of Paul Ellering. It was odd as the LOD got a huge pop, but the long interview sort of stopped the momentum.

They did this again after the IC title match as Bobby Heenan, who was on fire on this night, talked to Lex Luger, who was going to be involved in Vince McMahon’s WBF. It's funny that just one year before, Luger and Flair were both feuding in WCW, and now, they were in the WWF.

The Undertaker beat an aging Jake “The Snake” Roberts in a forgettable match. The Taker didn’t sell two DDT’s and Roberts jobbed hard.

There was a horrible eight-man tag match before Savage vs. Flair. Then we got the best match of the night. For purists, this was the closest you’d get in the WWF at the time to a classic wrestling match. Reminding me slightly of Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage from Wrestlemania III, there were a ton of near falls and a lot of interference from Curt Hennig.

Savage played the sympathetic babyface to a T as he was always coming up short. After Flair used the brass knucks and then finally put on the figure four, it was supposed to be the end.

But surprisingly, at least to me at the time, Savage pulled through, rolling up Flair while holding the tights. It was a great match and because I figured Flair vs. Hogan was eventually being set up for SummerSlam, I had no idea Savage was going to win.

On the PPV feed for the show, there was a five minute intermission. Can you imagine Vince McMahon wasting five minutes rather than running some sort of package promoting his brand today?

And then there were three meaningless matches before the main event, which goes to show you what McMahon thought of the title at the time when it wasn’t on Hogan. The WWF Heavyweight Championship match should be the main event right? I guess not if it’s not on Hogan.

Rick Martel vs. Tatanka was meaningless save for a few Heenan barbs. Tatanka won a quick match with a running high cross body.

Money Inc. then defended their tag team championship against the Natural Disasters in another forgettable match. It was your simple huge babyfaces destroy heels and the heels save their titles by being counted out kind of match.

And the last match before the main was Owen Hart vs. Skinner (Steve Keirn). It was another short one as Owen kicked out of Skinner’s reverse DDT and then rolled him up.

Finally it was time for the main event, which wasn’t much for the eyes, but did it’s job in maintaining Hogan as the man and letting Sid save face by kicking out of the dreaded leg drop.

Sid controlled much of the match as it was your standard Hogan match. Hogan was being beaten from pillar to post and finally, he hulked up and went into his routine. After Sid kicked out of the leg drop, his manager Harvey Whippleman got in the ref’s face for what was the disqualification.

After the match, Papa Shango came out to double team Hogan which basically meant someone had to save Hogan, and that one man was the Ultimate Warrior, albeit a smaller version of the Ultimate Warrior. It was a total mark out moment though.

I remember watching this at my neighbor’s house with my sister and buddy and when we heard Warrior’s music, we all screamed, “Ultimate Warrior!” In the end, it was a fun night of wrestling because of the two great matches and the return of the smaller Ultimate Warrior.

I want to end this by saying I believe this was the last Wrestlemania where Bobby and Gorilla were the broadcast team. They were on fire on this night.

While Gorilla was never Jim Ross because of his delivery and his awful lines like, “The fans are literally hanging from the rafters,” he had his own certain charisma and he always made the faces look good.

But if I were to listen to someone do color, I’d listen to Bobby Heenan any day of the week. Jerry Lawler was good during the WWF’s stretch run in the late 90’s and early 2000, and Jesse Ventura tried to make main events seem like true sporting events, but Heenan was classic and had a certain wit to him.

I hope he continues his road back to recovery from his jaw surgery.

Results
Shawn Michaels defeated El Matador by pinfall
The Undertaker defeated Jake “The Snake” Roberts by pinfall
Bret “Hitman” Hart pinned “Rowdy” Roddy Piper to win the Intercontinental Championship
Big Bossman, Virgil, Sgt. Slaughter, and Jim Duggan defeat The Mountie, Repo Man, and the Nasty Boys
“Macho Man” Randy Savage defeated “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair by pinfall to win the WWF Heavyweight Championship
The Natural Disasters defeated Money Inc. by countout
Tatanka pinned “The Model” Rick Martel
“The Rocket” Owen Hart defeated Skinner by pinfall
Hulk Hogan defeated Sid Justice by disqualification

Monday Night Raw Thoughts: I'm Shaking My Head As I Write This

Garrett Gonzales — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:54:52 -0400

For WWE, Raw serves a few purposes.

Two of these purposes that are very important to their everyday business. They are also related to each other. One of those is to entertain the viewer and give them a reason to come back, maybe even tell a friend or two.

Another purpose is to use the show as a two-hour advertisement for the upcoming PPV. By increasing the amount of people who will want to buy your PPV with your TV show, you are earning money for the company.

With last night’s show, they failed tremendously in both purposes.

The show started off fine by the further building of Shawn Michaels versus the Undertaker, which at this point might be their only money match. Michaels' super-kicked Taker after stealing his upcoming pinfall in a tag match and it was a fun way to open the show and build for Wrestlemania. And then the show fell completely off the cliff.

Triple H was in jail, posted bail, and was back on Raw like nothing happened after breaking into the Orton household last week. Randy Orton decided against pressing charges and wanted HHH in the ring.

Why?

The man broke into your house with a sledge hammer, scared your wife to tears, and did it so carelessly and without remorse. He did not apologize.

And yet, Orton decides not to press charges.

Triple H then kills Cody Rhodes in a match that probably sets Rhodes' career back about five years, all while a cage comes down from the heavens to keep Randy and Ted DiBiase Jr. out of the ring. And how does this make me want to see Orton versus Triple H?

To see Orton get his revenge? Wait, isn’t he supposed to be the heel?

But that was not even the worst part of the show. The best storyline the company had going for it was Chris Jericho versus the legends.

Well, not anymore.

Ric Flair came out and said that he is not going to wrestle Jericho at WrestleMania, which I am fine with. But what I am not fine with is that Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Snuka, and Roddy Piper supposedly are.

Has the booking and writing crew seen Piper and Snuka move of late?

Is Ricky Steamboat coming back for his first Wrestlemania match in 21 years for this? And if Jericho is the heel, why is he the one against all odds?

Jerry Lawler versus Chris Jericho would have been much better than this. I cannot believe this is going to be the payoff.

They also just threw Rey Mysterio into a match with JBL for the IC strap. There was no build for it at all, and JBL was pinned by Shawn Michaels in the tag opener.

Rey was the MVP of both Elimination Chamber matches, and he is just thrown in a match. It is mind boggling how uncreative the creative team is.

He could have been in the "money in the bank" ladder match. He could have teamed with Evan Bourne against Miz and Morrison.

But no.

I am now fine with the Big Show, Edge, and Vickie love triangle because at least it is something different and halfway decently built.

While it is still a worse match with Show involved, it is no longer one of the dumber angles on the show. But it is not a match that I necessarily want to see, which I think kills the payoff of the angle.

Not only did the show fail to make me more excited for WrestleMania XXV, but it was also mind boggling from a logic standpoint. I cannot imagine it stirred interest for fair weather fans to watch next week.

Usually, in the month or two before Wrestlemania, Raw puts on great shows. That is not the case this year. It was a terrible edition.

And out of all the years to go to WrestleMania live, this is the year I chose.

Yikes.

Photo by mark.benton and shared via creative commons

Tim Hardaway: The Golden Years

Garrett Gonzales — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:58:14 -0400

In 1986-1987, the Golden State Warriors made the playoffs and upset the Utah Jazz in the first round thanks to players like Sleepy Floyd, Purvis Short, and Joe Barry Caroll.

But a year later, Don Nelson would replace George Karl as coach, and Floyd and Carroll would be traded for Ralph Sampson. They'd go from being a playoff team one year to only winning 20 games the next.

After drafting Mitch Richmond in 1988, the Warriors now had two-thirds of what would become Run TMC. Richmond joined sharp shooter Chris Mullin, making one of the more dependable offensive twosomes in all of the NBA.

Richmond was the rock. Michael Jordan once called him one of the toughest match-ups of his career. Mullin was the veteran and someone who led by example, showing dedication and effort after nearly squandering the early part of his career with personal issues.

In 1989, Nelson drafted someone who would fill out the remaining piece Run TMC. Tim Hardaway brought the free spirit and toughness of someone who spent his early days playing in the playgrounds in Chicago.

And he also brought a wicked crossover.

When the Warriors drafted Hardaway out of the University of Texas at El Paso in 1989, one of his main roles was to stop Kevin Johnson. Actually, if I remember correctly, one of the first questions that Hardaway was asked after he was drafted was if he could stop KJ.

I think his response was a simple, "Yeah." Johnson had destroyed the Warriors in the playoffs in the 1989-1990 season. Johnson was one of the quickest players in the league and was pretty much unstoppable facing the likes of Winston Garland.

But it wasn't really Garland's fault. No one was stopping KJ in those days. It made sense for Don Nelson to draft Hardaway, who may have never stopped KJ, but sure made it hard for KJ to stop him.

Hardaway was easy to like. He played the game with a smile on his face, but with a chip on his shoulder. He was measured at 5'10, but would always claim to be six feet tall.

If you tried to call him Timmy, he would remind you that his name was Tim. But you could call him by his nickname Tim-Bug, or just Bug, and he'd be fine with that. He was one of the most competitive players in the league, but he allowed you to see the joy on his face when he was playing the game he loved.

Hardaway averaged nearly 15 points a game and dealt out nearly nine assists a game in his rookie year. The only reason he didn't win the Rookie Of The Year award is because a man by the name of David Robinson was a rookie that year as well.

Even though Hardaway energized the team, helping them lead the entire league in scoring, they didn't make the playoffs and finished with an under .500 record. You could argue that Hardaway's sophomore effort might've been the best of his career.

He averaged nearly 23 points per game to go along with 9.7 assists per game and the Run TMC triumvirate together averaged nearly 73 points combined per game. The Warriors upset the San Antonio Spurs and David Robinson in the first round of the playoffs, but lost to the LA Lakers in five games in the second round.

Hardaway was quickly becoming one of the best and most exciting young players in the game. He was known for his great first step and also for his crossover dribble. It was originally called the "killer crossover" and somewhere along the lines, it was then dubbed the "UTEP two-step," which I always thought was lame.

The crossover was sick and he was getting to the hole at will. He had an awkward jump shot which came out of his hands like a knuckle ball, but he didn't need it very often early in his career. He was taking guys to the hole.

Before Hardaway's third campaign, Don Nelson broke up Run TMC. He traded Mitch Richmond to the Sacramento Kings for rookie Billy Owens right before the new season was about to start.

With Owens, Nelson saw a versatile guy who could get up and down the court who had some size and could pull rebounds and then run the break himself. Even though the trade wasn't all that popular with the fans, you couldn't argue with the results.

The Warriors won 55 games in 1991-1992 and Hardaway's third year was comparable to his second. He increased his scoring and assists, but he started to take more outside shots, hurting his shooting percentage along the way. But his his body was already starting to slowly break down.

Even though the Warriors were one of the NBA's dandies, they would be upset by a hungry Seattle Supersonics team in the first round of the playoffs.

The following year was a bad one for the club as the injury bug bit them hard. Owens, Mullin, Hardaway, and Sarunas Marciulionis would all miss significant time with injuries. There was a bright spot to that 1992-1993 team.

His name was Latrell Sprewell. With Sprewell, they finally had someone who matched Richmond's defensive intensity and he was athletic enough to be good on offense, even though he didn't have very many offensive moves. He just flew past and jumped over guys. Hardaway and Sprewell were going to be one of the best backcourts in the league.

The following year, the Warriors traded for the draft rights of Chris Webber. Webber would bring a certain dynamic that the Warriors hadn't had since the days of Nate Thurmond.

He was going to be a dependable post scorer, a tough rebounder, and someone who put fear in the other team. As a power forward, he had the talents to be one of the all time best. But Nelson had him playing center because he was athletic enough to, but also because he didn't have anyone else.

With Webber at center, Owens at power forward, Mullin at small forward, Sprewell at shooting guard, and Hardaway bringing up the rock, the team was going to run and not too many other teams would be able to stay with them.

But just as the basketball gods giveth, they also taketh away. Hardaway would miss the entire season after tearing his ACL in training camp. The Warriors would never get to see their dream five-some on the court at the same time.

With Avery Johnson as the point guard, the Warriors won 50 games and Sprewell came into his own. Webber didn't have dominating statistics but he was a game changer. It didn't matter in the playoffs though as they were swept by Charles Barkley and the Phoenix Suns.

Webber and Nelson weren't getting along and Webber didn't want to play center. He also didn't want be on the West Coast. Nellie was able to trade for Rony Seikley so that Webber didn't have to play center, but that only made it worse because he traded one of Webber's best buddies in Owens to do so.

Owner Chris Cohan backed Nelson and gave him the ok to trade Webber to the Washington Bullets for Tom Gugliotta and some draft picks. It would go down as the darkest day in franchise history.

Hardaway returned from injury the following season and he his stats were ok, but he wasn't himself. He wasn't driving to the basket as much and heaved up over seven three-pointers a game, which was eye opening because his game was all about quickness and getting to the basket.

By shooting so many three-pointers, it showed a small dent in the armor of one of the most confident players in the league.

He couldn't get to the basket as easily anymore. Even though Webber and Owens were gone, a lineup of Hardaway, Sprewell, Mullin, and Rony Seikley should've been good enough to compete for a playoff spot.

But Hardaway wasn't 100 percent, Mullin only played one-fourth of the season, and Seikley was a disappointment. Nelson quit, leaving Warriors fans with neither Nelson or Webber, which was terribly frustrating since it was both of their egos that caused the problems in the first place.

There was also some discontent between Hardaway and Sprewell. While Hardaway was away, Sprewell became the go-to guy. There was a bit of an alpha dog struggle in the backcourt when Hardaway came back from injury.

I remember reading Slam magazine and Hardaway and Sprewell were the focus of the cover story. They acted like they were the unstoppable backcourt that they were expected to be. Hardaway even said that Sprewell was like Mike (Jordan) except he just had smaller hands.

But they didn't get along or play all that well together and the Warriors only won 26 games. Hardaway was traded the following year to the Miami Heat.

Hardaway only played five-and-a-half seasons with the Warriors (he sat out one full year) and played six years with the Heat. And even though he was in the playoffs with the Heat consistently and even helped them get all way to the Eastern Conference finals in 1996-1997, he's far more famous for being one of Run TMC.

It was because he helped ignite a suffering franchise and was a part of one of the most entertaining teams in the NBA in the 90s.

While his reputation suffered late in his Warriors career because he was the old dog and Sprewell was the new dog, I never felt that it was deserved.

You only need to look at the 1992-1993 season when Hardaway stepped aside to allow Magic Johnson to start in his place in the All-Star game.

Johnson was out of the league after contracting the HIV virus, but had won the popular vote. Hardaway was probably the best point guard in the league. It was Hardaway's year to shine, but he knew Johnson's accomplishment was bigger than the game. And when Magic thanked him, he looked like a kid in a candy store.

That's how I remember his style, too. He played basketball like he was a kid in a candy store.

Thanks to sportsecyclopedia for the timeline.

http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nba/goldst/gswarriors.html

Wrestlemania VII: Tears Drop At Wrestlemania

Garrett Gonzales — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 12:53:57 -0400

After the huge main event at Wrestlemania VI where The Ultimate Warrior beat Hulk Hogan for the World Heavyweight Championship, it was pretty much etched in stone that they would have a rematch at Wrestlemania VII. And after selling a ton of tickets at the Skydome in Toronto for Wrestlemania VI, Vince was going to try to do it one better.

Actually he was going to try and do better than Wrestlemania III at the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit where they claim to have put 93,000 butts in the seats. Wrestlemania VII, with the Hogan vs. Warrior rematch was going to take place at the LA Coliseum, which is a stadium that can hold over 100,000 people.

If you’ve ever seen Wrestlemania VII, you’ll know that Hogan vs. Warrior part two never happened, and it also wasn’t held in the outdoor stadium in Los Angeles. Wrestlemania VII was held in the LA Sports Arena which barely holds 15 percent of what the LA Coliseum did, and it was main evented by Sgt. Slaughter as the champ and Hulk Hogan as the All American belt chaser.

How did we get there? Well, after Hogan was beaten by Warrior, the WWF struggled without Hogan. House show business was down and people weren’t really paying to see Warrior like they were Hogan. Let’s face it. Warrior was fun to watch jump up and down while shaking the ropes, but he wasn’t going to be the man.

He was horrendous on interviews, couldn’t wrestle for long periods of time despite his awesome physique, which tells you a little bit of how he got that physique, and simply didn’t draw as well as Hogan did as a champion.

Also, the Persian Gulf War was going on at the time, and Vince McMahon decided it would be topical if the main WWF storyline carried the same timeliness. Enter Sgt. Slaughter. But not as you’d think. This time the Sarge was as an Iraqi supporter with General Adnan and later, Col. Mustaffa, who is most well known as the Iron Sheik, in his corner.

It’s a horrible storyline if you think about it. It was a fake sentiment created by a storyline that took advantage of a war situation. Typical classy wrestling.

Since there was no way the WWF was going to sell anywhere near the number of tickets needed for the LA Coliseum, they opted for the smaller LA Arena, but used the excuse that because the Iraqi supporting Slaughter was so hated, they were worried things could get out of control in an outdoor stadium and thus had to move indoors.

But they never answered the question as to how they would fit all those fans who bought tickets into the smaller arena. It’s because they never sold enough tickets.

In order to get Hogan back into the title chase as the All American savior against the Iraqi supporters, they had to get the belt off Warrior. To do that, they had the Sarge beat him at the Royal Rumble with help of the “Macho King” Randy Savage.

This then set up the “Macho King” vs. the Ultimate Warrior in a match as the secondary main event with retirement stipulations. The loser had to retire from the WWF. I know, they never stay retired. But still, it was good stuff. And it got Hogan back where he was best, in the main event of Wrestlemania.

The retirement match between the Warrior and Savage was classic for it’s fake turned real emotion. Very rarely do you watch wrestling today and feel for the characters. Though you can make a case that the performers are much better athletically in present day wrestling, you don't lose yourself in the stories as much anymore.

But in this match, Randy Savage was in a zone. Warrior was decent in that he didn’t take away from the match, but other than his hokey pointing of his fingers towards the gods, there wasn’t much to him. But for Savage, it was the performance of a lifetime.

He’s wrestled better matches, (vs. Ricky Steamboat), he’s had matches that meant more (vs. Ric Flair), but he was never better than here when it came to building the moment, making you believe that this was an actual contest rather than a predetermined match. There were two big Savage moments here.

The first was when he had the Warrior down and decided to deliver five of his patented elbows off the top rope. Savage used it as his finisher, but he’d never done it five times in a row. And when the Warrior kicked out of the pin attempt, there was a look on Savage’s face that said disappointment, exhaustion, and “I can’t believe it” all in one. It was one of the all time faces ever in wrestling.

And the second part was when Elizabeth saved him from Sherri after Warrior actually won the match, which became secondary even though Savage was now supposed to retire.

When Miss Elizabeth came into the ring and Savage saw her for the first time, he gave another classic bewildered look. Then he put her on his shoulder and all was good in Macho land again. Just classic stuff. It was one of those few moments where the loser of the actual match was over more so because of it.

Warrior won, but was in a couple pointless feuds and then disappeared, only to reappear at the next Mania, and then go away again. In losing the match, Savage actually made his career hot again, going on to win the belt from Flair at the next Mania.

They tried to do the emotional angle again later that night as Virgil took on the Million Dollar Man, Ted DiBiase. Virgil was DiBiase’s man servant (think Farnsworth Bentley) and while he opened doors for DiBiase, they rarely made it seem as if he was slave-like (Virgil is African American). That is, until Wrestlemania VII.

They turned DiBiase’s character up a notch, and all of a sudden, Virgil was massaging feet and having to eat his own pride on several occasions. Enter Roddy Piper. Piper was an announcer at the time, but became a coach to Virgil, getting him to stick up for himself and finally, the stage was set for Virgil to get his pride back against DiBiase.

Piper was in an accident either the day before the show or a few days before and came down the aisle with a crutch, and the injury wasn’t explained. The match was horrible, with DiBiase having to sell for horrendous offense, but controlling much of the match until Piper got DiBiase counted out.

Piper looked legitimately hurt as DiBiase put the boots to him after the match, but in a scene that was supposed to inspire, Virgil yelled at him to “get up” like Piper had told him beforehand.

Another match that had some sort of emotional significance was Mr. Perfect defending the Intercontinental Title against the Big Bossman. I’ve never been a fan of the Bossman, and watching him in the ring with a great like Perfect was tough, but for a big man, Bossman wasn’t bad. Perfect sold for him like a champ.

It was really a silly feud that climaxed because Perfect and Bobby Heenan, who took a break from announcing to be ringside with Perfect, had made fun of Bossman’s mama. Bossman won by DQ, which made the fans happy, but thankfully the belt stayed on Perfect.

This was the first of only two Wrestlemania’s that Gorilla and the Brain did together. While they weren’t as smooth as Jesse “The Body” Ventura and Gorilla were, they were much funnier. The Brain wasn’t as on fire as he was just one year later, but he was still great. Gorilla was a great set up man as well.

The Nasty Boys defeated the Hart Foundation to win the tag team belts. It was the last Wrestlemania Bret Hart would wrestle as a part of the team, and it was a pretty good match, probably second to only Savage and Warrior as far as excitement. The Nasty Boys won by cheating of course, but it was good stuff as Bret took a lot of abuse and set up the hot tag for what seemed like 10 minutes.

The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannety) got a big win over the Barbarian and Haku and it meant something because of the size difference between the two teams. It was a surprise to me at the time, even though I knew Haku and Barbarian were pretty much done as a team.

In the silliest Wrestlemania match of all time, Jake “The Snake” Roberts beat Rick “The Model” Martel in a blindfold match that was brought upon us because of an angle in which Martel sprayed his “Arrogance” fragrance in Snake’s eyes.

Snake was supposedly blinded and this type of match was supposed to make things fair. It was one of the worst matches I’ve ever seen. It was simply a match where Snake would point in the vicinity of Martel and he would let the crowd lead him to Martel based on their cheers. It finally ended with a DDT.

LOD defeated Power and Glory in a match I was very interested in, but turned into a quick job for Power and Glory as the show was probably going long and they needed to go home early. LOD was put over huge here and I always thought that had Power and Glory ever been pushed correctly, they could’ve been a very good team.

This Wrestlemania was also the first one for the Undertaker as they gave him Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka to demolish. This is significant because it was the start of an undefeated Wrestlemania streak for the Taker that he still holds today.

The main event was Hogan and Slaughter. They both did very good promos before the match started to build what was a simmering interest. Anyone with half a brain knew Hogan was going over.

But, Vince and company did a very nice job at making it seem at least semi-important. It was very odd that Hogan gave the Sarge so much offense in this match. He almost sold as much here for the Sarge as he did for Andre at Wrestlemania III. Sarge tried draping the Iraqi Flag over Hogan and this sent Hogan into his usual conniption fit.

Hogan played up his comeback huge and the crowd went crazy for his victory after the leg drop. Sarge even almost kicked out of the leg drop. I’m telling you, someone in WWF at the time loved the Sarge because he came off like someone Hogan luckily beat, rather than someone Hogan could easily take care of.

Wrestlemania VII had a ton of matches, and I didn’t even get to all of them because there were so many. All of the ones I didn’t mention were simply filler anyway. If you see this, watch it for one reason. Macho Man Randy Savage . He’s so good, it’s Oscar worthy. On this day, he was better than Mickey Rourke.

Results
The Rockers defeated the Barbarian & Haku via pinfall
Texas Tornado defeated Dino Bravo via pinfall
The British Bulldog defeated the Warlord via pinfall
The Nasty Boys defeated The Hart Foundation for the Tag Team Championship
Jake Roberts defeated The Model in a Blindfold Match
Undertaker defeated Jimmy Snuka via pinfall
Ultimate Warrior defeated Randy Savage in a Retirement Match
Genichiro & Koji Kiao defeated Demolition via pinfall
Big Boss Man beat Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect via DQ
Earthquake defeated Greg Valentine via pinfall
Legion of Doom defeated Power & Glory via pinfall
Virgil defeated Ted DiBiase via countout
The Mountie defeated Tito Santana via pinfall
Hulk Hogan defeated Sgt. Slaughter to capture the WWF Championship