AshC Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 20 years ago today, the World Wrestling Federation staged its tenth annual WrestleMania event. Â Â What are your memories of this show for the ages? I personally think it still stands up as one of the best ever WrestleManias. Â Â Â Â Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popcorn Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I feel lucky enough to say that I was there. I was only 9 at the time and it was my first live show I'd ever been to. Randomly, it was Savage and Crush that got me hooked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members IANdrewDiceClay Posted March 20, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted March 20, 2014 I wore the tape out as a kid. I really loved this show. I remember my brothers mate taping it for me and telling me Owen Hart beat Bret and thinking he was full of shit. I remember thinking the ladder match was the best match in wrestling history and was convinced they'd never top it. Still think to this day in terms of what was stolen from that match it was the most influential match WWF ever did. All those Hardy Boyz matches were just Shawn and Razor spots done in a stunt show manner. I loved the ending, because anytime you saw all the wrestlers lift a bloke up on their shoulders it really put it over. Roddy Piper, before he turned completely mental, coming back was class. I remember thinking Mr Perfect was in the right following the Luger match. I loved Mr Perfect and didn't get how anyone would pick Luger over him in a popularity contest. My head almost exploded when Earthquake came out. I didn't even know he was back, so seeing him murder Adam Bomb was my version of when the Rock returned in 2011. I thought Bret vs Earthquake at SummerSlam was the way to go. Savage vs Crush doesn't look much now, but I enjoyed it at the time. The feud was class, and the pay off was great. Jerry Lawler was sensational on this show. As good as Heenan ever was on this night, I felt. Just a tremendous performance on commentary. Â The shadow of Hogan and Warrior was still hanging over the WWF at that point. Even as a kid you sort of felt there was stuff missing, but this was the first show since Hogan left where you felt he wasn't needed. It was a big time show. A great advert for the New Generation era. Sure it wasn't always this good (the following year proved that), but that roster was so stacked. Undertaker wasn't on it either. Unthinkable that Hogan and Undertaker both missed the 10th Anniversary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 20, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted March 20, 2014 I love WrestleMania X. Â Bret vs Owen was a hell of an opener. Great story around it as well and I love Lawler's commentary on this match. His line at the end about Owen pulling off the upset - " He didn't step out of the shadow, he jumped out, McMahon" - made Owen's win seem all the more huge. That white shit around Owen's gob during his post-match interview always springs to mind for some reason though, fucking vile. Â Razor vs Shawn blew me away. I couldn't believe what I was seeing back then. Razor was my favourite by this point as well so I was chuffed seeing him hold the two IC belts aloft at the end. Â Savage/Crush was fun, Earthquake's short and sweet return was a nice surprise, Perfect was there (another favourite), Bret winning the title was a great ending. Â I always loved the old MSG arena set up as well. Added something to the feel of the show to me with the aisle directly opposite the hard camera. The big X sliding doors looked cool as fuck to me. Simple but effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshC Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 One odd memory I have of the show is being disappointed that the ten-man tag team match got yanked from it on the night. I don't think I'd seen one before at that point, and I reckon the Gunns, Kid, Martel, etc. would have had a good, fun outing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 20, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted March 20, 2014 Yeah, wasn't it the ladder match going long that bollocksed that match off? Still, decent as that may have been, if it meant that getting cut so we got an extra few minutes of Razor and Shawn, I'm not too arsed. Â Was Undertaker always planned to be off this show? I know he was written out when everyone murdered him at the Rumble but were there ever plans for him to work WMX, and if so, against who? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted March 20, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted March 20, 2014 I think this was the event which made me fall in love with blokes in bright colours pretending to hit each other. My Mum's mate's son had a fine collection of wrestling tapes, but we watched this for a solid two years every time my Mum and I would visit the house. Â Aesthetically, it's probably my favourite wrestling event and takes me back to fond childhood days. The gold and black ropes, MSG, ALL THOSE BRIGHT COLOURS IN THE RING, Mr. Perfect dressing like my Uncle's duvet etc. It's beautiful. Â The Owen/Bret opener and the ladder match are still incredible to watch, for different reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reznor Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I was never all that keen on Wrestlemania X. Don't think i've rewatched it more than twice since the time. I'm not even sure why, because having two of the greatest matches of the 90s on it, it should be a show everybody loves. It's probably because i was just as into the midcarders back then as I was the main eventers - and the undercard was shite. Â Everything on shows was built up so much better back in those days, so whilst skipping a filler multi-man match on a big show now is nothing, it was a big disappointment in 94 when we didn't get big collisions like that as often. Everything was hyped and promoted, so the throwaway stuff didn't feel like throwaway stuff at all, and that match was something that captured my imagination, and I was looking forward to. Â Also, Savage-Crush was absolute muck, i'll maintain that, in spite of any popularity it may have. Just a lame, plodding turd of a match due to the rotten stip, and a shame because the build all the way back to 93 was excellent. Â A Quebecers match was always a highlight - they'd make anything fun, but MoM were rotten and I expected to see the Steiners as that's what they were hinting at up until they disappeared for a month or so. In their absence, even the Gunns would've been far better. The Quebecers still made the match fun and the best thing on the show outside of the obvious. Because I was so into them, I also totally loved the walking away finish, but I was pissed after tuning in to the WM report and hearing the match announced. Assuming it wasn't an injury, I would've pulled the Steiners back and done a 3 on 2 handicap match for the titles (with the Quebecers still weaseling away with the belts obviously) Â I hated Earthquake as a good guy too, so that quick squash done nothing for me either. Â I wasn't bothered at the time, because I was happy that Bret won the title again, but in hindsight I didn't like that finish either, as it came off as too much of a fluke imo. Â I guess i just prefer shows to be more balanced than WM10 which was all peaks and troughs. I look at WM14 for example; there's not much in-ring that's particularly ground breaking or memorable - no 'MOTYC' candidates i would imagine. But as a show, the whole was greater than the sum of it's parts. It was consistently decent, with loads of fun stuff, has a good flow to it, and the 3 hours just fly by with very little FF when i sit down to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingOfMetal Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Yeah, wasn't it the ladder match going long that bollocksed that match off? Still, decent as that may have been, if it meant that getting cut so we got an extra few minutes of Razor and Shawn, I'm not too arsed. Â Bob Holly made reference to the match getting cut in his book. I can't remember what he said verbatim, but essentially Shawn & Razor decided before they went out they were getting their stuff in and fuck anybody else, such was the Kliq's way of operating at the time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator Onyx2 Posted March 20, 2014 Awards Moderator Share Posted March 20, 2014 The shadow of Hogan and Warrior was still hanging over the WWF at that point. Even as a kid you sort of felt there was stuff missing... Â This. I was hooked by the years preceding this, so to me there felt like a lack of big-gun star power on the show. In hindsight I still only care about the Shawn / Razor match, which isn't just a great stunt show but has a proper story flowing through it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshC Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 Would we say this show had the most high-profile 'man gets his arse out for a laugh' spot in wrestling history - much to the chagrin of a certain Mr. R. Flair? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 The shadow of Hogan and Warrior was still hanging over the WWF at that point. Even as a kid you sort of felt there was stuff missing... Â This. I was hooked by the years preceding this, so to me there felt like a lack of big-gun star power on the show. I was in this kind of position at the time, too. Just was less into the card than I had been any WWF big event prior to that. I didn't like Bret Hart, and I was still half on the Lex Express so I didn't like Mr Perfect (who'd been my favourite in 1993) messing it up for him. And I think a big thing for me not being too fussed was this WrestleMania fell right around the time that I was getting into football in a big way. I'd have pushed Razor off the ladder myself if there was a packet of Merlin Premier League stickers underneath it. There's Yokozuna putting Undertaker in the casket and there's Shawn Michaels skinning the cat to win the Rumble, and in between there's a whole stretch of wrestling where nothing really grabbed me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members IANdrewDiceClay Posted March 20, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted March 20, 2014 Would we say this show had the most high-profile 'man gets his arse out for a laugh' spot in wrestling history - much to the chagrin of a certain Mr. R. Flair? Possibly. It was great as far as 'getting your arse out spots' go. My favourite was the Ric Flair/Tito Santana match at the Albert Hall. Those UK Rampages had such whacky shite on them, I'm certain half of the roster didn't know they were filming it. They all had their house show heads on. Flair pulled on Tito's trunks so much he might as well have wanked him off as well. It must have been a prank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members bAzTNM#1 Posted March 20, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted March 20, 2014 Earthquake was supposed to go longer in his match with Adam Bomb too. Up until a few weeks before, he was supposed to be grappling with Ludvig Borga. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Butternut Squash Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I didn't watch Mania X until years after the event but my favourite part of the Summerslam tape was the countdown thing at the beginning where they recapped the awesome Bret V Owen feud. Owen was my guy and the clip of him beating Bret clean at WM would get me cheering and attempting his kip-ups in the front room. Owen's face covered in gob and bewilderment is my favourite image from that era. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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