Welcome to the second, Tybo Talks 1995. We are continuing from Royal Rumble with Wrestlemania XI.
With the ease of access to pretty much all of WWE’s back catalogue on the WWE Network I thought it would be cool to change it up a bit and do some classic reviews (with a twist). As some of you may know I have already done this with WWE in 2002 and 2003, but this time I’m doing it a little different.
In the past, I have reviewed all the PPV (from the year) but watched all Raw and Smackdown episodes too. This time as it’s 1995 I’m watching all PPV, but I’m watching WWE Raw, ECW’s Hardcore TV, and WCW Nitro (when it starts in September)… Wish me luck!
The PPV starts with a look back at the last 10 years, even way back in 1995 to can see just how much the product has changed and how many iconic moments there have been. This year the promo video is more about the celebrity guests than anything else. Showcasing Pamela Anderson, Laurence Taylor, Jenny McCarthy etc.
Special Olympian Kathy Huey sings ‘America the Beautiful, although ‘Fishbone’ were meant to do the honours.
Lex Luger & British Bulldog vs. Eli & Jacob Blu (w/ Uncle Zebadiah)
Luger and Bulldog look great as a team, with their matching great but with their respective country flags, they look like a team of pure power. I really think they could have been a long-running team with great success
I have to be honest, I don’t really remember much about Eli and Jacob, I didn’t even remember that they were managed by ‘Uncle Zebadiah’ (who returned to manage Swagger and Cesaro as Zeb Coulter), they are so forgetful that Vince McMahon on commentary even admits to not knowing one from the other.
It’s a little shocking that Jacob and Eli weren’t bigger stars, they are two big guys who weren’t awful in the ring and had a great manager.
The match was pretty standard by all accounts, Lex and Bulldog looked great but it felt like they were going through the motions, nowhere near either guy’s best work.
Winners – Lex Luger & British Bulldog
Post-Match: Luger & Bulldog get a huge celebration with lights and fireworks, and I really can’t understand why? They dint win gold, or knock off the greatest tag team, so why the fan fare?
Intercontinental Championship
Jeff Jarrett (w/ Roadie) vs Razor Ramon (w/1-2-3-Kid)
Ramon wastes no time getting this one started, he is all business from the bell, this is a far faster-paced match from their Royal Rumble match. I have to give a special mention to Kid who is wearing some sweet silk samurai-style pyjamas.
There is some good involvement from Kid and Roadie but not so much that it takes away from what’s happening in the match. Jarrett and Roadie work so well together, bouncing off each other.
It’s easy to forget just how good Razor Ramone was in the ring, he has a true gift for making safe, crisp moves look like they really damage. It’s a shame he never hit his full potential in the business he could have been a great world champion countless times over.
This was another solid match from both guys, although I don’t usually like DQ finishes, I like that they keep the feud alive. There is absolute bedlam in the ring after the match is thrown out with all four guys. This one isn’t over!
Backstage: Celebrity Guest, Nicholas Turturro (of NYPD Blue fame) is in the green room interviewing Shawn Michaels and Sid, there is no sign of Pamela Anderson but Michaels is more interested in Jenny McCarthy
King Kong Bundy (w/ Million Dollar Man) vs The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer)
FunFact: King Kong Bundy holds the record (at that time) for the fastest Wrestlemania pin, in just 9 seconds.
There is mention of The Undertaker never losing a Wrestlemania match, there is no mention of it being a streak yet. This one all came about after Bundy confronted Undertaker after his Royal Rumble match after Million Dollar Man ‘repossessed’ his urn.
FunFact: According to the book ‘Titan Sinking’ Razor Ramon was supposed to turn heel and face Undertaker instead of Bundy.
There were rumours around this time that although Bundy was in the latter part of his career, Vince McMahon was seriously considering having him beat Undertaker in this match, it’s crazy to think there was a point when ‘The Streak’ may never have been.
The match feels more about the urn than anything else, in the end, it’s Kama who ends up with it, declaring he is going to melt it down and make a chain out of it.
Honestly, this isn’t anyone’s best work, Undertaker clearly carries the match as Bundy is a lot slower. It’s still hard not to be impressed with Undertaker’s presence.
Winner – The Undertaker
Backstage: Nicholas Turturro is looking for Pamela Anderson (as reports suggest she has left the building) and walks into a dark room where Johnathan Taylor Thomas (of Home Improvement fame) is beating Bob Buckland in a game of chess. Random!
Tag Team Championship
The Smoking Gunns vs Owen Hart & Mystery Partner (Yokozuna)
Owen had been teasing a ‘huge’ mystery partner for weeks, and who bigger than Yokozuna? Owen said he picked ‘Zuna as his partner because he was the one to beat his brother (Bret) for the WWE Championship.
FunFact: The original plan was for Jim ‘the Anvil’ Neidhart to be Owen’s partner, but after he missed some dates, The Anvil was let go at the beginning of the year
FunFact: WWE seriously considered bringing in Chris Benoit, at the time the current ECW Tag Champion (with Dean Malenko). They would of probably used the Dungeon/Stamped connection.
It’s easy to forget just how much of a mountain of a man Yokozuna really is, the mass of the man is a sight to see, and who doesn’t love a good ‘strange bedfellows’ tag team that works well together. That being said, there is some great tag team wrestling from The Gunns in this one, Billy Gunn truly is a tag team specialist.
This was a really enjoyable match, Billy and Bart Gunn really put in the work to make the match look great. Even after a miss-cue from Yokozuna and Owen they get back on track and win the match, along with the titles. Even Yokozuna looks happy about the victory.
Winners – Yokozuna & Owen Hart (New Tag Team Champions)
Backstage: Todd Pettengill is with Bam Bam Bigelow showing the build-up and rivalry between him and Laurence ‘LT’ Taylor. The video package offers a lot of time has gone in to trying to build Taylor as a credible threat to Bigelow.
I Quit Match
(Special Guess Referee – Roddy Piper)
Bob Buckland vs Bret Hart
It’s clear that Buckland is coming to the end of his career, and on paper, this match should be magic, but right off the bat to can tell it’s going to be a tough sell.
When to have an ‘I Quit’ match and the mic is on a wire you know it’s not going to be an all-out classic. Whereas the I Quit match was known in later years for being a hardcore war, this one was going to be 100% mat-based submissions, would you expect anything less from Buckland or Hart?
This one could have been great, but I think the ‘I Quit’ match was in its infancy so this match really feels like it could be more. This isn’t helped by Roddy Piper in both their faces every five seconds shouting ‘Wadayasay?’ (What do you say?), seriously he says it about 200 times!
It’s eventually over when Buckland actually taps out to his own ‘Cross-Face Chicken Wing’. This match could have been great if it wasn’t for the stipulation.
Winner – Bret Hart
FunFact: Bret Hart wrote in his book that this was ‘without a doubt’ the worst PPV match of his career. This is hard to argue
Backstage: There is concern that Pamela Anderson has left the building, as no one can find her?
Todd Pettengill is with Diesel, where he cuts one final promo on Michaels and Sid. He seems to get flustered halfway through and overcompensates making the promo more aggressive.
WWF Championship
Diesel (C) vs Shawn Michaels (w/ Psycho Sid)
(Celebrity Time Keeper: Home Improvement’s Jonathan Taylor Thomas)
(Celebrity Ring Announcer: NYPD Blue’s Nicholas Turturro)
(Celebrity Valet: Jenny McCarthy accompanies Shawn Michaels)
(Celebrity Valet: Pamela Anderson accompanies Diesel)
It’s interesting that they decided against putting Pamela Anderson with Shawn Michaels and chose Jenny McCarthy instead. I would assume this was because they didn’t want Michaels getting the babyface reaction Anderson would (and did) obviously get.
Right from the start of this one the commentary team are hammering home that these are former friends, really building on their friendship falling apart over jealousy and wanting gold.
At the start of this match feels like they have never been in the ring together, there is a lot of feeling out, but also like neither of them wants to work the match together. Diesel seems too powerful for Michaels, but not like Michaels is the underdog, more Diesel is just unphased by Michaels’ moves.
FunFact: Vince McMahon ordered Diesel to kick out strong from Michaels’s super-kick, but Diesel and Michaels knew this was a bad idea as the crowd would turn on Diesel. The spot when ahead and they were both right, the crowd turned. Vice later agreed it was a bad call.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Michaels gets knocked out of the ring and lands in a photographer. Michaels looks legitimately pissed off. This even happens again later in the match, honestly no idea why there are so many photographers around the ring.
The match seems to pick up a little, but not much. Both Diesel and Michaels look like there is zero chemistry between them, it looks like both are just going through the motions. Michaels does hit a beautiful top rope elbow (Savage would be proud) and we start to get some actually back and forward.
There is a strange moment where the referee looks injured, he seems to twist his ankle off-camera and it gives him some trouble the rest of the match. This doesn’t look like it’s a spot as neither guy gets the upper hand, but always wondered what happened? I would guess that it has something to do with the photographers (once again) getting in the way.
There is a great camera angle where Michaels is sling-shot into the exposed turnbuckle and just misses. After that, the match is all but over when Diesel hits the ugliest looking Jackknife Powerbomb.
FunFact: Diesel has said he thinks Michaels took his finisher wrong to make Diesel look bad because he wanted Diesel’s spot. Although there is no ill-will he knows it was the nature of the business.
Post-match Diesel celebrates with Pamela Anderson, Jenny McCarthy, Taylor Thomas and Turturro. You can see from this WWE really wanted to push Diesel strong to be the next huge babyface, the Hulk Hogan of the mid-90s
Backstage: Todd Pettengill catches up with Michaels and Sid, Michaels is pissed the referee was injured, because he would have won. Sid isn’t finished with Diesel.
I always thought this was a great touch to catch up with the wrestlers after the match, it makes everything feel a little more realistic
Bam Bam Bigalow vs Laurence ‘LT’ Taylor
(In Bigalow’s Corner: King Kong Bundy, Tatanka, Irwin R. Schyster, Kama, and Nikolai Volkoff)
(In Taylor’s Corner: Ken Norton Jr., Chris Spielman, Rickey Jackson, Carl Banks, Reggie White, and Steve McMichael)
There is a lot of talk from the commentary that LT is about to do the impossible, but he has been training with current WWF Champion Diesel.
FunFact: Bam Bam Bigalow got paid (a lot) to put over Taylor. He earned $250,000 for about 12 minutes of work. That’s about $460,000 in today’s money.
Straight away you can see that LT has been training, but he is a little too eager to get his stuff in, that being said the crowd are loving every second. It’s clear that Bigalow is helping him through the moves, but what would you expect, Taylor isn’t a ‘wrestler’ he is clearly green, this just proved how great Bigalow was in the ring.
I could be wrong, but I think LT gets really (really) gassed in the middle of the match and needs some time to get his bearings back, so Bigalow puts him in a leg lock that seems to go one a little too long, even longer when you consider the length of the match.
After this the match just feels like it needs to end, that being said LT hits Bigalow with a Jackknife! After some football friendly moves, Taylor finally gets the pin. Taylor looks done to death and completely exhausted.
Winner – Laurence ‘LT’ Taylor
FunFact: After the match, Taylor was so blown-up that he almost didn’t make it to the back before having to be propped up on a wall then sit down and catch his breath. Jim Cornett has said that he could barely breathe or say a word for some time.
Overall
This is a really tough PPV to rate as a whole. There are so many ups and downs throughout, but the main event was so weak it’s hard to feel like I watched something great.
One of the main things about classic PPVs is the duration. This Wrestlemania was less than three hours long. To put it into perspective, if you added about 50 minutes to the pre-show of this year’s Wrestlemania it would be longer than ‘Mania XI. This wasn’t an eight hour plus battle to stay awake we have now. Every match got time to tell a story and there weren’t any really pointless matches, just to get guys on the card.
I think the main event let this PPV down a lot, there is a place for celebrities at Wrestlemania, it’s just not wrestling in the main event. Diesel vs Michaels should have been the main event, I’m sure you will agree.
Match of the Night: This would have to go to the Intercontinental Championship match with Jeff Jarrett vs Razor Ramon. This was a great story being told, building on their already established feud. The addition of 123 Kid to counter Roadie was a good
Honestly, I think it would take a lot for me to watch this Wrestlemania again, as there were so many poor moments and matches. Although there were some great matches, the main event and the Bret Hart vs Bob Buckland ‘I Quit’ match being so disappointing, to the point of it being a shambles. This will be the lowest rating Wrestlemania to date.
Rating: Wrestlemania XI – 2 / 5
Tybometer ’95
(1995 PPV’s scored out of a possible five)
Royal Rumble – 4
Wrestlemania – 2
Look out for the next Tybo Talks, where I review the first-ever In Your House.
Recent Comments