Welcome to the latest edition of our WrestleMania Rewind series, written by yours truly, exclusively for everyone here at SLTD Wrestling. The aim of WrestleMania Rewind is to review every WrestleMania in roughly 2,000 words. Click here to read the series so far.
Today’s WrestleMania Rewind focuses on WrestleMania 10. The tenth edition of Mania took place on March 20th, 1994 from Madison Square Garden in New York – the unofficial home of the WWF/E. Our announce team for the night’s proceedings were Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler. Yup. That means when WrestleMania 30 rolls round in a few weeks’ time, we’ll have been putting up with Lawler’s sh…tick for TWENTY YEARS. Puts things in perspective huh?
Match 1: Bret Hart vs Owen Hart
As creative as my mind is, even I couldn’t accurately describe what we saw, and felt, during this match. It’s not just the best opening match in WrestleMania history, it’s one of the best in Mania history. A phenomenal wrestling match that ended up with Bret putting his younger brother over on the Grandest Stage of Them All. Do yourselves a favour – find this match and watch it. Just awesome…
Match 2: Bam Bam Bigelow & Luna Vachon vs Doink & Dink
Bam Bam kicked off in TOTAL control until he missed a senton. Dink and Luna tag in, and Dink gets a 2-count. Luna misses a top rope splash. Doink and Bam Bam come back in. Bam Bam clotheslines Doink back out. Doink gets back in and lands a HUGE DDT, but misses a top rope legdrop and Bam Bam hits a headbutt from the top rope for the win.
Opinion: I don’t wanna say pointless, but yeah…pointless. A comedy match really, considering there was a midget involved. Shame cos under the facepaint, Doink was a great worker.
Match 3: Falls Count Anywhere Match – Randy Savage vs Crush (w/Mr Fuji)
***I should explain the rules for this one. Although “Falls Count Anywhere” sounds simple, this wasn’t. It was convoluted, at best. When a wrestler gets a 3-count, his opponent has 60 seconds to get back in the ring. If he doesn’t, then he loses the match. Confused? So was I. AND they didn’t explain all this on commentary!!!***
They brawl in the aisle. Crush press slams Savage on the guardrail to get the first pin. Savage beats the 60-second count. Savage blocks Crush’s attack and the big man gets salt in his eyes. Savage lands his top rope elbow, rolls Crush out of the ring and gets a pin of his own. Crush beats the 60-seconds, and back body drops Savage on the outside.
Savage gets the better of a ringside brawl that goes out into the fans and ends up backstage. Savage wins another fall, and ties Crush up so he can’t beat the 60-second count. Savage wins.
Opinion: An unnecessarily confusing match. As good as Randy Savage was, even he couldn’t polish this turd.
Match 4: WWF Women’s Championship Match – Leilani Kai vs Alundra Blayze (c)
Blayze gets a couple of quick 2-counts from Sunset Flips early. Kai replies with a couple of 2-counts of her own from a chokehold and a slam. Blayze gets another 2-count off a hurricanrana. Kai gets a 2-count from an impressive double underhook suplex. Blayze is pretty much in control though, getting a 2-count off a suplex before getting the win thanks to a German suplex.
Opinion: A decent little match between these two and, to be fair, Alundra Blayze was HOOOOOOTTTT!
Match 5: WWF Tag-Team Championships – Men on a Mission (w/Oscar) vs The Quebecers (w/Johnny Polo)
Quebecers take it to the Men early, but Mable lands a couple of clotheslines. Mo and Pierre start once the bell rings. Mo gets a 2-count off a crossbody. Mabel’s in now and lands a huge legdrop. Mo and Jacques come in. Pierre misses a top rope legdrop and Mabel comes back in. The Quebecers get a 2-count off a senton. A series of splashes by the Men give them control. Johnny Polo sees his team are in danger and hauls them out of the ring, giving the Men a win by count-out.
Opinion: It was a little sad to watch this, especially in light of Mabel’s recent passing. A decent little match, but would it have done either team any harm to have a clean finish? I don’t think so.
Match 6: WWF Championship Match – Yokozuna (c) (w/Fuji & Jim Cornette) vs Lex Luger
Mr Perfect is the special guest ref. Big Yoke lands a HUGE clothesline early, but misses an elbow. Lex right hands Yoke outside, before getting a 2-count off a top rope crossbody and an elbow. He tries to slam Big Yoke, but can’t. Yoke gets in control with a nervehold. Lex tries to power out, but can’t. Yoke lands a series of chops and goes back to the nervehold.
Every time Luger tries to fight back, Yoke cuts him off. He gets back up into a belly-to-belly. Lex rams Big Yoke into an exposed turnbuckle. The big man FINALLY goes down after 3 clotheslines and a slam. Luger hits a forearm before attacking Fuji and Cornette, so Perfect DQ’s him.
Opinion: Like every Big Yoke match, it was good for what it was. You forget quite how agile he was in his early WWF run. As for Luger, his run never quite worked out and the DQ finish was the right move.
Match 7: Earthquake vs Adam Bomb
‘Quake wins a squash match.
Opinion: That was about the extent of it. Seriously… There’s nothing else to say about it.
Match 8: Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship: Shawn Michaels (c) (w/Diesel) vs Razor Ramon (c)
Ramon lands an early chokeslam. Michaels replies with a neckbreaker. Diesel gets involved on the outside, clotheslining Ramon so the ref bans him from ringside. Ramon gets back in and asserts himself before being backdropped on the concrete. Michaels brings the ladder into play, dropkicks it into Ramon and goes on to use it as a weapon.
Michaels lands a splash off the ladder. Ramon pushes him off as he tries to grab the belts. Both men collide. Back to their feet, Ramon sends Michaels crashing into the ladder and outside. Ramon’s now using the ladder as a weapon. He goes to climb it, Michaels flies off the top rope and knocks him off. They both get up and try to climb the ladder, but Ramon suplexes Michaels off it.
Michaels then dropkicks Ramon off the ladder, hits Sweet Chin Music and a piledriver before crashing the ladder into him. Ramon does the same, crotching Michaels on the top rope. Michaels ends up tied in the ropes, allowing Ramon to grab the belts.
Opinion: One of the best ladder matches ever. Great psychology to it. It was so good because we’d never seen one before. You know what they say – the original’s the best. And this is a prime example why.
Match 9: WWF Championship Match – Yokozuna (c) (w/Fuji & Jim Cornette) vs Bret Hart
Roddy Piper’s the special guest ref in this one. Yoke’s on the attack from the off. The pace is slow, which suits him. Yoke misses a splash. Bret gets back into it by brawling and, surprisingly, gets Yoke down. Piper nails Cornette after he interrupts his count. Yoke’s back in control with a legdrop. He misses a splash and Bret gets a 2-count off a bulldog.
Bret gets another 2-count off an elbow from the second rope. Bret knocks Yoke down with a clothesline to get his third 2-count in quick succession. Yoke squashes Bret with a belly-to-belly and sets up for the Banzai Drop, but he falls off the second rope and Bret covers him to get the 3.
There’s a post-match celebration where all of the babyface characters come out and congratulate Bret.
Opinion: This is how you book a big guy vs small guy match, and protect BOTH guys. Hart didn’t beat Yoke, Yoke beat Yoke by falling off the rope. Bret was just clever enough to pin him after his mistake. A decent match and it felt like a big deal when Bret won.
Summary: For the tenth edition of WrestleMania, there wasn’t a lot to really get your teeth into, apart of course from the opener and the ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship. There was a lot of focus on Hart’s championship win being the beginning of a new era and they did a lot to showcase their best workers, but the show really suffered from a lack of TRUE star power.
Hopefully you enjoyed that quick look back at WrestleMania 10. Leave your comments/feedback via the usual channels, and join me again tomorrow to revisit WrestleMania 11!
SLTD Wrestling's resident Scottish Nightmare. Some of my content may not be suitable for younger readers or those who are easily offended!
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