Reposts - WWF Wrestlemania 11

The Furious Flashbacks – Wrestlemania 11

This was the Wrestlemania that preceeded the ‘In Your House’ experience. It was back then that Wrestlemania was still a huge one off gig. The main event of Wrestlemania 11 was Bam Bam Bigelow against football player Lawrence Taylor. That someone overshadowed the WWF title match between champion Diesel and challenger Shawn Michaels. Also on the card an “I Quit” match between Bob Backlund and Bret “Hitman” Hart.

This PPV will be graded according to the Furious Grading Scale. FGS grades are as follows -

A One of the greatest matches anywhere, ever.
A- Damn near perfect
B+ Excellent
B Very Good
B- Good
C+ Average
C Mediocre
C- Bad
D Terrible
F Hulk Hogan
U or Ungraded = Hacksaw Jim Duggan v Ultimate Warrior v Goldberg in a submissions only Ironman match. My worst nightmare.

On commentary we have Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler.

Lex Luger/British Bulldog v Jacob/Eli Blu

The Blu Brothers (ha, ha) were also known later as DOA and the Harris Brothers. Luger and Bulldog hit an early double powerslam but Luger slams his opponent almost on top of Davey on the way down. Moron. Bulldog with a big ass vertical suplex for a 2 count. The Blu’s are undefeated thus far. Bulldog has a small package which should have wrapped it up but the other Blu breaks the fall. The blu’s hit a double big boot to a chorus of disapproval. Luger tags in and botches a clothesline. Uncle Zebekiah (manager of the Blu’s) distracts the ref while the Blu’s change over. Luger doesn’t notice and Bulldog still hits a sunset flip on the new guy for a pin at 6.35 and the Blu guy kicked out before 3 anyhow but no one cares. Match rating – F. Total waste of PPV time. Luger left before the team got anywhere because WCW promised him a title run. I wouldn’t have given him a european title run based on this performance.

Gorilla Monsoon talks to Jeff Jarrett about his IC title match with Razor Ramon. Jarrett calls the Roadie “Road Dogg”.

WWF IC title – Jeff Jarrett (c) w/Roadie v Razor Ramon w/1-2-3 Kid

Razor gets a couple of 2 counts from punches before sending Jarrett out to the floor. We have a lovely double fake off the turnbuckles from Jarrett before a sunset flip but Razor hits another one of those big right hands. Roadie helps Jarrett escape from the Razor’s Edge. Jarrett goes to bail but the Kid cuts him off. Roadie gets in a cheap shot so the Kid sees him off too. Jarrett gets dumped over the ropes and lands on the Roadie. Razor sets early for a backdrop and gets hit with a neckbreaker and a couple of dropkicks. Sweet strut from Jarrett. Jarrett misses an inziguri. Razor drops an elbow but misses so Jarrett rolls him straight up but only gets 2. Razor gets a 2 off a backslide. Jarrett goes to a sleeper which Razor squirms out of. Another sleeper and this time Razor suplexes out of it. We have a rather sloppy collision and both men go down. When they’re back up they both hit a punch and both go down again. What? Jarrett goes for a crossbody but gets hit with the fall away slam. Razor misses a top rope bulldog when Jarrett moves. Jarrett with a shinbreaker to work on the bad wheel of Ramon. Figure 4 from Jarrett. Jarrett cheats so Razor reverses it. Supersidesuplex from Razor but he’s selling the knee instead of covering. Ramon goes for the Razor’s Edge but Roadie comes in and chop blocks him for the DQ at 13.32. Match rating – B-. Would have been better with a cleaner ending and some better executed spots. After the match Jarrett puts that little bitch 1-2-3 Kid into the figure 4. He deserved it for drawing some blood from Jarrett’s nose.

The Undertaker v King Kong Bundy w/Ted DiBiase

Ted has the urn which he stole from Paul Bearer at the Rumble. The urn seems a little larger than I remember it. Taker hits the top rope walk of doom which Bundy doesn’t exactly sell. 3 more clotheslines and he’s down. Taker goes outside and reposseses the urn. The urn seems to have a lightbulb or something in it. Who booked this crap? Kama comes out and steals the urn for the Million Dollar corporation again. Bundy runs through some basic offence – the best of which is a scoop slam, before going to a long sleeper. Avalanche on Taker which Taker no sells. Scoop slam on the 440 pounder. Flying clothesline for the pin at 6.42. Match rating – F. Not good enough to qualify as “terrible”.

In the back Bob Backlund has lost a game of chess to Jonathon Taylor Thomas. Think he’ll beat Bret? Pettengill spends a good 5 minutes talking to football players in the audience as they continue to hype up the appearance of LT.

WWF tag titles – The Smoking Gunns (c) v Owen Hart and his mystery partner

Owen’s partner is Yoko Zuna. We have a shedload of photographers around ringside. Yoko waves the Japanese flag to a lot of heat. The Gunns work over Owen in the early going with an interesting top rope dive onto the shoulder joint. Yoko’s first run in the ring was all about power as he slams Bart with ease. Bart demonstrates the arm drag to Owen 3 or 4 times. The Gunns hit a double russian leg sweep on Owen and then a pair of dropkicks to Yoko. Nice double team neckbreaker from the Gunns on Owen. Owen takes a huge front turnbuckle. Sidewalk slam with a rocker dropper for a 2 count. I don’t remember the Gunns being this good. Owen hits a drop toe hold on Billy and he’s vulnerable to Yoko who drops a leg. Ouch. Owen posts Billy on the floor and throws him back to Yoko. Nerve hold from Yoko. Yawn. Owen misses a dropkick and instead hits Yoko. Bart press slams Owen and he even puts Yoko over but it was aided with a hair pull. Owen’s low bridges Bart on a double team and Billy walks right into a belly to belly slam from Yoko. Banzai drop and it should be over but Bart breaks the count. Owen tags in and feigns the sharpshooter but just pins Billy and it’s over at 9.39. Match rating – C+. Some interesting moments and decent double teams from the Gunns but Owen had to carry his team.

“I Quit” match – Bret Hart v Bob Backlund

Roddy Piper is the special guest referee. Piper is very over but not as over as the Hitman. Neither man has quit prior to this match (I find that hard to believe). Bret almost has the sharpshooter on inside 30 seconds. Vince can’t remember who Bret wrestled at WM8 (dumbass – it was Piper). Bret tries for another sharpshooter but can’t get it on so he goes for a figure 4. Backlund reverses so Bret makes the ropes. Bret works the leg over and goes for a leg lock. Backlund thinks about the chickenwing so Bret goes into the corner. Fujiwara armbar from Backlund. Piper is using a mic to ask the participants every couple of seconds. Nice looking elbow to the face from Backlund. Fujiwara armbar again and Bret says “hell no” to Piper. Bret comes back with a backbreaker and a second rope elbow. Sharpshooter but Backlund rolls through to use the ropes. Bret misses a shoulder into the corner and now he has a bad shoulder. Chickenwing but Bret has the ropes. Bret reverses the chickenwing into one of his own. Bret grapevines the legs and down goes Bob. The match is over at 9.28. Match rating – B-. They could have done so much more with this. Still it’s been the best match so far.

WWF title – Diesel (c) v Shawn Michaels w/Sid and Jenny McCarthy

Diesel is accompanied by Pamela Anderson despite the fact she was supposed to accompany Shawn. Diesel backdrops Shawn out of the ring before the match even starts and he poses with Pammy. These 2 used to be tag partners and were tag champs. Shawn also brought Diesel into the WWF. What an ingrate. Shawn is in selling mode from the start and sells a clothesline like a gun shot wound. Diesel hits one of the largest back drops I’ve ever seen and then he whips Shawn into the corner. One Flair bump later and Shawn wipes out a photographer at ringside. Shawn spits on Diesel to provoke him and when Diesel lumbers at Shawn he follows up with some stinging right hands. Diesel keeps throwing him off but he keeps coming back. Shawn gets out of a press slam but Diesel hits a big suplex. Shawn falls through the ropes and lands on his head. Sid gets up on the apron to mouth off at Diesel. Diesel crotches Shawn and shakes the ropes. Shawn clotheslines Diesel to the floor and skins the cat back in. Shawn hits a huge plancha on Diesel. Baseball slide on Diesel and he takes it in the mush. Another photographer takes an elbow at ringside but breaks all kayfabe rules by not selling it at all. I don’t think either guy was happy with having all the photographers at ringside. Shawn hits a big splash onto Diesel off the apron. Diesel is selling bad ribs. Shawn starts working the knee (psychology?). Shawn hits a bulldog off the top rope and gets a two count. A chant of “let’s go Shawn” breaks out. Isn’t he a heel? Shawn scores an elbow from the top into the injured ribs for a 2 count. Diesel does something that looks like the start of a northern lights suplex but it just ends in a throw. Diesel sells the ribs on a slam attempt and Shawn goes to the sleeper. Diesel is nearly out but he fights it and backs Shawn into the corner. Diesel runs through some very boring offence made entertaining by Shawn’s extravagant selling. Earl Hebner jumps down to follow the wrestlers outside and twists his ankle. Back inside Shawn nails the superkick but the referee is down. He had Diesel for a 10 count but he kicks out. Sid exposes the top turnbuckle. Shawn goes to ram Diesel’s head into it but gets suplexed by Diesel (4 move wonder). Shawn gets caught coming off the ropes – sidewalk slam. Shawn gets slingshotted into the exposed turnbuckle but misses and hits the one under it. Ouch. Big boot from Diesel. There is a very mixed response from the crowd. Loud cheers and loud boos. Really shitty jack knife and it’s over at 20.29. Match rating – B. Diesel had to be carried kicking and screaming to a half decent match. I was booing.

Main event – Lawrence Taylor v Bam Bam Bigelow

Bigelow has a load of wrestlers cheering him on from the Million Dollar corporation. LT has a load of football players which includes Mongo McMichael. Salt N Pepper are, for some reason, here so Bigelow throws abuse at them on the way out. The first intercontinental champion Pat Patterson is the referee for this one. This match is seriously over with the fans which goes to prove that everyone in 1995 who was from Hartford is a moron. LT hits a crappy looking bulldog which gets a 2 count. There is a big stand off between the wrestlers and the footballers. Bigelow slaps on the Boston crab and I notice that already 5 minutes of this has passed. LT hits a suplex which looks a bit worse than Diesel’s earlier. Bigelow hits his twisting moonsault but he’s hurt himself or this was over. LT attempts a piledriver? Or was it a powerbomb? I can’t tell it was that bad. Bigelow hits the headbutt from the top rope and LT kicks out. No way – Bret jobbed to that once. At 11.40 LT hits the buckles and a fist drop wins it. Match rating – U. The single worst Wrestlemania match, ever. Hey Vince I got an idea for you – put a celebrity with no wrestling training over one of your wrestlers at the biggest card of the year and make it the main event just to insult and slap the face of every wrestler in the locker room.

Best matches –
3. Razor Ramon v Jeff Jarrett. Clean finish and this could have been the match of the night.
2. Bret Hart v Bob Backlund. It’s Bret. That’s the only reason this match was any good.
1. Shawn Michaels v Diesel. Despite wrestling Shawn Michaels it still takes a complete carry job to produce a half decent performance from the then WWF champion.

Overall PPV rating –
C-. A PPV that really struggling to get going and when it got going it didn’t go anywhere. Main event has the dubious honour of being worse than any of Hulk Hogan’s or anyone else’s for that matter.