The Honky Tonk Man defends the Intercontinental championship. Rick Rude upsets The Ultimate Warrior for his Intercontinental championship.
119. Rey Mysterio defeated John “Bradshaw” Layfield to win the Intercontinental Championship(:21)(Wrestlemania 25)
Match Quality: 0/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 7/10
Total: 9/25
Analysis: A match that goes just 21 seconds can’t be called anything special. What I enjoyed were the pre and post-match promos involving JBL. He came out as the most pompous asshat ever and talked about making Wrestlemania history. He proceeds to lose in expedient fashion and then immediately retires. The historical significance comes from this being JBL’s last match (most likely) and a start of a great run for Mysterio as the Intercontinental champion. While not a long segment, it actually turned out to be one of the highlights of the show.
118. L.O.D. 2000 (Hawk and Animal) (w/Sunny) won a 15 team Battle Royal. Also in the match were two teams representing Los Boricuas (Savio Vega and Miguel Pérez, Jr., and Jose Estrada, Jr. and Jesus Castillo), The Truth Commission (Recon and Sniper), Bradshaw and Chainz, two teams from the Nation of Domination (Mark Henry and D’Lo Brown, and Faarooq and Kama Mustafa), The Quebecers (Jacques Rougeau and Pierre Ouellet), The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson), The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher), Too Much (Scott Taylor and Brian Christopher), Disciples of Apocalypse (8-Ball and Skull), Steve Blackman and Flash Funk, The Godwinns (Phineas and Henry) and The New Midnight Express (Bombastic Bob and Bodacious Bart) (8:19)
(Wrestlemania 14)
Match Quality: 3/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 9/25
Analysis: Boy, it seems like it’s been forever since Wrestlemania featured a Battle Royal. By my calculations it’s been a clean decade. Anyway, this was a bit of a shocker since L.O.D. came back to generate the first big crowd from a Boston crowd. There was something special right off the bat for what was one of the biggest Wrestlemanias of all time. Weeks earlier, the legendary Legion of Doom fought in the locker room and appeared ready to split. Now they were back together to participate in the 15 team Battle Royale, which would earn the winners a shot at the tag team titles at Unforgiven a month later. They were now L.O.D 2000 with different haircuts, clothing, theme music, Sunny as their manager and a new lease on life. Hawk and Animal dominated their way to a quick victory over their old nemesis team, The Midnight Express. Although this was a Wrestlemania that tried to buck tradition in every way, tradition always found a way to creep itself back into the picture. It’s pretty historic since this was pretty much the last hurrah for L.O.D and even though the match went far too quickly to really mean anything, it was a nice way to open.
117. The Islanders (Haku and Tama) and Bobby Heenan defeated The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and The Dynamite Kid) and Koko B. Ware (7:30)(Wrestlemania 4)
Match Quality: 4/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 4/10
Total: 9/25
Analysis: This is pretty famous angle as Matilda was kidnapped and apparently it caused quite the stir with certain young fans. This felt a little too similar to the six man tag from the year before with Davis and The Hart Foundation against The Bulldogs and Tito Santana. We even get a similar ending as Koko B. Ware gets pinned by Bobby Heenan. Heenan’s outfit was pretty hilarious too with the buckles and his inability to actually use his hands. Looking at Matilda, I’m not sure I wouldn’t do the same thing. This is the last Wrestlemania appearance for Dynamite Kid. This match was a carbon copy of last year’s match except Haku and Tama are not exactly Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart.
116. The Undertaker defeated Sycho Sid in a No Disqualification match to win the WWF Championship (21:19) (Wrestllemania 13)
Match Quality: 3/10
Historical Significance: 3/5
Entertainment Value: 3/10
Total: 9/25
Analysis: After years of putting up with garbage opponents while still managing to say so very over, The Undertaker finally wins the WWF title and gets to hold it for an extended period of time. Bret Hart also plays an interesting role in this match since he interferes at various points. Normally, I’d criticize the main event of a Wrestlemania for having any sort of interference, but with the quality of this match the way it was, his presence was appreciated. Hey, when you have one of the greatest matches in the history of the biggest annual show, why not to try to carry a match you’re not involved in? Shawn Michaels, on the other hand, had a “knee injury” and “lost his smile” so he’s out of action. He’s still in the main even since he sits with Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, and Vince McMahon at the announcing table. They created a clusterfuck that further distracted from this match. It’s been made pretty obvious since then that he was faking it so he wouldn’t have to job to Bret Hart.
Onto the match itself. Knowing that Sid officially wrestled in two Wrestlemanias and both of them were the main event kinda makes me a little ill. The Undertaker took down a trip down memory lane by wearing the outfit he wore when he came to the WWF back in 1990. The match itself is what you’d expect as I said before. Without these two having a real issue and just the way this main event came together meant a lot of the heat was taken away. Everyone pretty much admitted without saying Steve Austin against Bret Hart was the main event since they could actually go out and have a great match, not to mention having a real issue to fight over. I’m glad Taker won the championship even while having to sit through this mediocre match and deal with four announcers trying to talk over each other.
115. TAKA Michinoku defeated Aguila to retain the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship (5:57) (Wrestlemania 14)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 0/5
Entertainment Value: 4.5/10
Total: 9.5/25
Analysis: This was a rare chance for the light heavyweight title to even be defended. The WWF/E has never been willing to give the cruiserweights a fair chance. Even with these two talented high flyers, the Boston crowd was either recovering from the big surprise earlier or saving itself for what was expected to be a huge celebration. This match was actually pretty crowd, but there really isn’t much more to it than that.
114. Razor Ramon (w/The 1-2-3 Kid) defeated WWF Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett (w/The Roadie) by disqualification (13:32) (Wrestllemania 11)
Match Quality: 4.5/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 4/10
Total: 9.5/25
Analysis: John Turturro was talking and we couldn’t hear him. There were audio problems all over this Wrestlemania, and the WWF looked pretty bush league on this night. The audio problems continued with 1-2-3 Kid trying to cut an interview and his microphone not working. This was actually a rematch from the Royal Rumble and it was about as good. Despite these two working a whole lot in the winter of 94-95, I can’t think of them ever hitting three stars. Roadie makes his debut here. Three years later and he’s part of the most over tag team in WWF history. Don’t ever underestimate some of these wrestlers because you never know. One day, they might find a catchphrase or have a match that turns them into a star. That applies to everyone except Jeff Jarrett. In his case, all he has to do is start his own company and crown himself world champion multiple times. The fact that we don’t even get a clean finish for what should have been a blowoff match doesn’t help. Wrestlemania 11 was not exactly one of the WWF’s better efforts, and this match is proof why.
113. Matt Hardy (w/Shannon Moore) defeated Rey Mysterio to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship (5:39) (Wrestlemania 19)
Match Quality: 4/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 10/25
Analysis: After 19 years, the cruiserweight championship comes to the WWE. I realize the lightheavyweight championship had been defended back 1998, bu this is the cruiserweight championship title, a title made famous by Rey Mysterio Jr., Dean Malenko, and Madusa… so maybe it’s not that presitigious. This is an okay way to begin Wrestlemania 19, but you’d expect more from these two guys. That outfit Rey Mysterio wore was just plain bad if you ask me. I think a lot of people expected Mysterio to win the championship here. Instead, he got to eventually win the belt from Mysterio in his hometown as the main event of a Smackdown taping.
112. Virgil (w/Roddy Piper) defeated Ted DiBiase (7:41) (Wrestlemania 7)
Match Quality: 3/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 10/25
Analysis: These two went onto have an epic match that got majors pops from the crowd at Madison Square Garden. Here was Virgil’s first major match in quite some time after years being Ted Dibiase’s bodyguard. Virgil had not wrestled very much over these four years, and this was just a chance for him to get out there with Dibiase and for Sensational Sherri to run out. Sherri had been with Randy Savage for the last couple years, but with Savage gone (and I’ll talk a lot more on that much much later on) Sherri would now manage The Million Dollar Man for the next few months. It was also very cool for Roddy Piper to be out there leading the charge for Virgil. Lord knows I’ve taken a few shots at Piper for being an idiot during some of these Wrestlemania, but he was perfect here. Virgil couldn’t cut a promo to save his life and really needed Piper to give him the impetus for breaking away from Ted Dibiase. This was decent, but their match at Summerslam was way better and provided a real mark-out moment. Here we had to settle for a count-out victory and Virgil returning the favor for Piper by inspiring him to get up even though he was on crutches.
111. Edge defeated Booker T (6:32) (Wrestlemania 18)
Match Quality: 4/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 4/10
Total: 10/25
Analysis: Wanna know about spinning your wheels booking? Here you’ve got the former WCW world champion going against another man from Toronto. It’s not these two wrestling that’s the offensive part. It’s the fact that they were feuding because Edge got a commercial in Japan for shampoo. That’s just horrible. Also, because Booker T did really bad on The Weakest Link (Remember that show?) everyone including Michael Cole of all people, were insulting his intelligence. That’s real nice. I’m amazed how Booker T remained in the WWF/E for so long considering how they treated him over the years. You can look at almost every Wrestlemania and there he is in yet another dumb ass angle or being treated like crap. Weird to see Edge acting like a babyface after spending so much time as a heel. I never thought the money would be made on Edge with him as a heel, but I guess you never really know about how things will shake down in professional wrestling.
110. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. defeated The Big Show in a No Disqualification match (11:36) (Wrestlemania 24)
Match Quality: 3/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 10/25
Analysis: This certainly was better than it had any right to be, but no one can convince me putting Mayweather over Show was a good idea no matter in what context it was done. This whole rivalry really showed me what an ass Mayweather is, and it pretty much turned me into the biggest Oscar De La Hoya fan ever. Mayweather was that much of a jagoff. I hate boxing, but I’d be close to buying one of his fights to see someone beat him down. Too bad he had to go and retire. But the idea of giving him my money also revolts me, so I’ll just watch it at a bar or read the internet instead.
Big Show was a champ in this match to sell for Mayweather. This was also a smartly worked match too. I’ve been told Triple H really booked this match out of the abyss, so I guess props go out to him for making this spectacle far more watchable then I thought it would be. Props to the guys who took the actual bumps from Show. They may not have been actual bodyguards, but taking at bumps at the biggest show gets props from me.
109. The Twin Towers (Akeem and The Big Boss Man) (w/Slick) defeated The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) (8:02) (Wrestlemania 5)
Match Quality: 4.5/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 10/25
Analysis: Akeem used to be the One Man Gang before he discovered his African roots. Slick then acquired the services of Ray Traylor and he became the Big Bossman. So these two guys form a team called themselves The Twin Towers. Twin Towers? Akeem? Someone in the WWF must have been a Houston Rockets fan. For those who don’t know, Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson were the real twin towers playing for the NBA’s Houston Rockets.
The real history comes in the fact that this is the first appearance of one Shawn Michaels at a Wrestlemania. This means that next year is the 20th anniversary of Shawn Michaels’ first appearance at Wrestlemania. The WWE should mention this fact and find some way to commemorate it. It’s pretty rare for a guy to wrestle at 16 Wrestlemanias, and to be a part of Wrestlemania for 20 years is also amazing. This match was pretty good for what it was. The Rockers certainly did their best to carry those lumps known as the towers. Their selling here was top notch. This was also the first of five tag team matches at this particular Wrestlemania. 10 tag teams? You’re lucky if you have five regular teams between three brands these days. Okay match here, but sadly the best of the five tag matches.
108. Ted DiBiase (w/Virgil) defeated Jake Roberts by count out to regain the Million Dollar Championship(11:50)(Wrestlemania 6)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 4/10
Total: 10/25
Analysis: This feud had been building up since the previous year’s Wrestlemania when Dibiase stole Jake Roberts’ snake. Thanks to a drug suspension on Roberts, the feud was postponed and their big grudge match doesn’t come until now. And for the first time ever, Dibiase put his million dollar gold belt on the line, and he managed to retain it by nefarious means. Both men were on the outside of the ring, and thanks to Virgil’s helpful shove, The Million Dollar Man picked up the count-out victory. The match itself was perfectly acceptable wrestling with yet another crappy finish, but the idiot Canadians provided a huge distraction. I use idiot with all due respect since I’ve been to Canada and prefer many things (healthcare funded through taxes anyone?) over the United States. But there is no excuse for starting “The Wave” during a wrestling match, especially during one of this magnitude. I could provide you with a very long list of matches I would have much preferred “The Wave” in. Hell, just look at the matches that came before this one. I really don’t like “The Wave” since it has nothing to do with the sporting event you’re watching and is a major distraction. Now that I got that rant out of the way we can move onto the next match.
107. Demolition (Ax and Smash) defeated The Colossal Connection (André the Giant and Haku) (w/Bobby Heenan) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship (9:30)(Wrestlemania 6)
Match Quality: 2/10
Historical Significance: 3/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 10/25
Analysis: For some reason, these backstage segments came off really fake and scripted. The Colossal Connection and Demolition cut about the corniest promos of all time. Bad enough I have to watch this match, but letting them cut these crappy ass interviews just made both tag teams look bad. This is pretty historic since Demolition became the first tag team to win the belts three times. This was the last WWF match for one Andre the Giant. One would assume he received the tag belts with Haku as a thank you for his years of service. Axe and Smash had been the champions for over a year before losing to Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. I would have much rather seen that return match here, but it wasn’t meant to be. Instead of givng the belts to an actual deserving team with talent, they gave it to a decaying Andre and Haku. The giant could barely walk at this point, and thankfully he would never wrestle at a Wrestlemania ever again. Demolition got to three peat by beating Haku and Andre not even tagging in legally. Andre got to exit Wrestlemania gracefully by turning face and leaving Haku with Heenan in the ring. He would make a cameo the following year to go after Heenan and his protégé Mr. Perfect when he wrestled Big Bossman. The match? With these four, it pretty much sucked. But I’ve always had a soft spot for Demolition. I know they made their last appearance at Wrestlemania 7, this was for all intents and purposes their last Wrestlemania being a relevant team.
106. Triple H (w/Ric Flair) defeated Booker T to retain the World Heavyweight Championship (18:47) (Wrestlemania 19)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 3/10
Total: 10/25
Analysis: I don’t like this match, and it’s not even because the match itself isn’t that bad. Sure, it’s nothing more than mediocre, but this angle was horrific. You had Triple H saying that Booker T wasn’t the type of person to be the world heavyweight champion. You had “The Game” making cracks about WCW being a joke when Booker T was the five time WCW champion. Not to mention the cerebral assassin making cracks about Booker T dancing. Pretty darn close to being some racist garbage if you ask me. In fact, Triple H did such a brilliant job of burying his opponent that this match is the fourth of four main events. And how ironic that this was the debut of the big gold belt at Wrestlemania. Jerry Lawler even got into this disgraceful act too with some choice comments. I think even Jim Ross was getting legit pissed at Lawler too for acting like a real idiot.
I don’t think anyone in Safeco Field honestly believed the title was changing hands. The angle was bad enough, but the WWE essentially promoted Rocky against Steve Austin ahead of this match. Just remember what the ending segment of the RAW previous to this show was, Austin and Rock having a “concert.” The WWE also focused on promoting Hulk Hogan against Vince McMahon ahead of this match. Finally, people cared a heck of a lot more about Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar since there was a great deal of potential there.
2003 wasn’t the best of years for Triple H. He started off the year with Scott Steiner and did a fine job eating up Steiner. Anyone who bitches about what Triple H does now as far as having an ego has no right to complain. From his comeback in 2002 until Wrestlemania 20, he pretty much buried everyone in his path, Booker T sadly included. This had so much potential, but the big nose wasted it.
105. John “Bradshaw” Layfield defeated Finlay (w/Hornswoggle) in a Belfast Brawl (8:35) (Wrestlemania 24)
Match Quality: 5.5/10
Historical Significance: 0/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 10.5/25
Analysis: This was a very unusual angle. Going into Wrestlemania 24, it appeared we were heading for JBL settling his feud with Chris Jericho and Finlay fighting Vinc McMahon in a match similar to this. Then out of nowhere seemingly, Vince McMahon dropped out of sight and Hornswaggle was no longer his son. Instead, Finlay was the father and JBL got thrown into the mix. All I can say is I wish JBL has stayed in the booth. This wasn’t a bad match by any means, but this is just your basic opening brawl with very little blood. The whole hackneyed storyline certainly didn’t do them any favors, but JBL’s lack of wrestling skill didn’t either. I also found it a bit odd that JBL got shifted back into the upper mid-card after this while Finlay has pretty much been shunted down to the background. Not exactly the best way to open a Wrestlemania.
104. John Cena defeated The Big Show to win the WWE United States Championship (9:14) (Wrestlemania 20)
Match Quality: 3.5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 10.5/25
Analysis: Yes, before crowd hated him, John Cena was actually pretty well-liked. Judging by the large pop he got from the Madison Square Garden faithful, I’d say he has a future in the WWE. One of the great ironies I always felt was that people loved it when he was a white boy rapper using rhymes and allegedly being controversial. Then he changed his persona more to a working class hero, only to have a lot of fans turn on him because he acts “fake.” Tell me, how can a guy have any street cred when they come from West Newbery, Massachusetts. The median income for a family living in this area is ALMOST SIX FIGURES. Oy vey. The match you ask? Look who’s involved. Cena’s green as an angry Hulk and Big Show is seemingly allergic to good matches. Cena does get his first ever title and his first ever win at his first ever Wrestlemania. Considering this was a freakin’ five hour show, I’ll forgive you if you forget he even won this opener by the end of the night. I wouldn’t forgive you if you gave this match anything higher than a 10 or 11 though. Oh, and the bitter/cynical crowd seemed pretty into Cena Ironic, isn’t it?
103. WWF Tag Team Champions Owen Hart and British Bulldog fought Mankind and Vader (w/Paul Bearer) to a double count-out (16:08) (Wrestllemania 13)
Match Quality: 4/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 11/25
Analysis: Another forgettable match in a series of them as Owen Hart and the British Bulldog’s tag title reign appeared to be coming to an end. Conventional wisdom said they would be breaking up to have a singles feud while Mankind and Vader held the belts to feud with The Road Warriors. The twist came when Hart and Bulldog did retain the belts, only to seemingly break up the next night. Eight days after this show, we got a very happy reunion between Bret, his brother Owen, and his brother-in-law Davey Boy. That would take us through one of the best angles and matches in the history of the WWF/E. This represents the first Wrestlemania appearance for one Mick Foley after almost a clean year of feuding with Undertaker after Wrestlemania 12. This would also sadly be the last Wrestlemania appearance for Davey Boy Smith and Vader too. Weird to see this match not having a clean finish considering they didn’t have any plans to blow it off at any point. They probably should have had Owen sneak in for a quick roll-up victory of some sort. Not very good although it was almost certainly better than some of the matches and angles on this show.
102. The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) defeated The Headshrinkers (Fatu and Samu) (w/Afa) (14:22) (Wrestlemania 9)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 4/10
Total: 11/25
Analysis: I guess what always amazes me about Wrestlemania 9 is the times of some of these matches. They were handing out 10 minute matches like they were likely handing out steroids in the 80s. This wasn’t a bad match by any means, but The Headshrinkers were never the greatest workers ever. And really, whenever the Steiners wrestled in the WWF, I don’t believe we were getting their best. The only really good match I’ve ever seen from them is a Coliseum Video contest against the Hart brothers. Give that match a finish, and it’s a match of the year candidate for 1994. Still this is their first Wrestlemania and we get to see the Frankensteiner for the first time. You’ll notice some very low entertainment ratings. That has a lot to do with the overall event sucking and being a general chore to watch. Sadly, it would get much much worse before it got better.
101. Goldberg defeated Brock Lesnar (w/Steve Austin as special guest referee) (13:42) (Wrestlemania 20)
Match Quality: 3/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 11/25
Analysis: If this was about only the actual match, I wouldn’t be able to give this a very good score. Here you had two guys who clearly looked like they didn’t want to be there. Goldberg’s one year WWE contract was up and this was his last match. Brock Lesnar should have won this match going away and moved onto something else, a rumored feud with Undertaker where he’d be doing some jobs.
For Lesnar, this wasn’t good enough. He announced his intention to leave the WWE after Wrestlemania 20. A dream match with two huge superstars was now reduced to mid-card comedy act. The MSG crowd, perhaps one of the smarkiest but also the most hardcore of WWE fans, turned on this in record time with numerous chants directed at and against each superstar. While no one loves to trash certain WWE fans more than I do, Lesnar deserved everything he got. The WWE gave this guy every opportunity to succeed. Numerous guys like ‘Taker, Rock, and even Hogan did jobs for him. Then this guy decides to leave the wrestling business to go try out for the Minnesota Vikings. That went about as well as you would expect. Then something amazing happened. Lesnar turned his attention to MMA and became one of the most polarizing figures in UFC. He achieved success early and won the Heavweight title before battling major health problems. All I know is Lesnar is an athletic freak, and I’m sure he’s long forgotten this match.
Why should he forget it? Goldberg and Lesnar has a slow deliberate match that was crapped on the by the New York faithful. From chants to fights in the stands to Austin figuratively ending the WWE careers of both men with stunners. This is the same Steve Austin who’d also ditched out on the WWE back in 2002…twice. Somehow I doubt you’ll see this match on a lot of “Best of” DVDs anytime soon. At least the crowd and Ross having to justify what was going on was pretty damn entertaining.
100. Owen Hart and Yokozuna (w/Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette) defeated The Smokin’ Gunns (Billy and Bart) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship (9:42) (Wrestllemania 11)
Match Quality: 3/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 11/25
Analysis: Oh great. This show needed something like this. It’s the debut of Bart “Who the hell is Butterbean?” Gunn and Billy “Mr. Asshole and definitely not the one” Billy Gunn. Together they form the WWF tag team champions at the time, The Smoking Gunns. They weren’t necessarily a bad team, but I wasn’t really into them. See, Wrestlemania 11 has the distinction of being the very first Wrestlemania I ever saw and just the second Pay-Per-View I ever saw. No I can’t believe I’m still a wrestling fan either. Being my second show, this was also my first experience with a mystery partner. It was actually a good one in this case. I had no idea the other one million times I’d be disappointed with a mystery partner in professional wrestling. Yokozuna actually got to be a part of a tag team and be partnered with one of the best in the game at this point.
The match itself is just sort of there. Yokozuna thankfully only has to wrestle half a match, but he still found time to use his time vulcan nerve pinch resthold. I guess it wouldn’t be a Yokozuna match without it. But because he’s big and such a threat, everyone in Hartford knows who’s winning. Owen Hart, after a long struggle, finally earns his first ever championship and actually got a babyface pop for it too. Very odd to see that in 1995 and something I didn’t even realize until this viewing just how big that pop was. Not the best of matches, but a very cool and historic moment.
99. The Nasty Boys (Jerry Sags and Brian Knobbs) (w/Jimmy Hart) defeated The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship (12:10) (Wrestlemania 7)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 3/5
Entertainment Value: 3/10
Total: 11/25
Analysis: I’m greatly insulted by this match. Bret Hart got the singles push of his career after this loss, so I’m very happy about that. The problem is Knobbs and Sags suck as wrestlers. Seriously, I’ve seen these guys ton in both the WWF and WCW. Other than their street fights with Cactus Jack, Maxx Payne, and Kevin Sullivan, I can’t think of a single match I enjoyed them in. Them winning the tag belts was just depressing. Thanks to Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart, this became a passable match filled with a good beginning and a somewhat creative ending. Jimmy Hart’s football helmet ultimate led to the tag team straps changing hands.
This was the last hurrah for the Harts as a team. It’s amazing to me that Bret Hart has been in the WWF for seven years and is 32 years old at this point. So many of these guys wrestling for WWE these days are young pups in their 20s with barely seven years under their belt. Hart was a true survivor who literally fought his way up the card slowly but surely. I’m glad Bret got his big chance after this show as he’s easily one of my top favorite stars ever. If only, he didn’t have to lose to the freakin’ Nasty Boys.
98. John Cena defeated John “Bradshaw” Layfield to win the WWE Championship (11:26) (Wrestllemania 21)
Match Quality: 2/10
Historical Significance: 4/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 11/25
Analysis: This is one of the worst world title matches ever conducted at Wrestlemania. I almost considered doing play-by-play for this match since a lot of sentences would start “JBL does…” because really he so thoroughly dominated the contest, that it completely took the Los Angeles crowd out of this match. If you ask me, this should have been slotted before Shawn Michaels/Kurt Angle because the crowd was so into that match, and was then further killed by the sumo match, that there was no way the crowd could muster up the energy to be jacked up for this match. And I think everyone knew who was winning here too which certainly didn’t help matters. This was also before WWE fans learned to hate John Cena too so at least I didn’t have to listen to idiot chants like “You can’t wrestle,” “Same old shit,” or “Fuck you Cena.” Still between a catatonic crowd, Michael Cole’s announcing, and JBL being one of the worst WWE champions I’ve ever had the displeasure of watching hold that title, I’m not giving this a very high number. No sir.
97. Hulk Hogan defeated Vince McMahon in a Street Fight (20:48) (Wrestlemania 19)
Match Quality: 4/10
Historical Significance: 3/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 12/25
Analysis: I’m stunned to see this match wasn’t the actual main event considering the build-up. This was clearly one of the all-time egofests I’ve ever seen from these two. And when you consider the two people involved, that says a hell of a lot. I can understand the main event and HBK/Y2J getting 20 minutes, but this? You couldn’t donate these ten minutes to the cruiserweight title match or tag team championship match? Or how bout putting the RAW titles on the actual show itself? And before I talk more about the battle of the egos, why the hell did we get subjected to Limp Bizkit performing a second time. That’s just disgusting. It’s a wrestling show, not a second-rate concert show.
The match itself was about what you’d expect from a 50-year old and a 60-year old. They clearly planned and choreographed this match very very carefully. Roddy Piper making his first appearance at a Wrestlemania since number 12 was quite the shock. Even his beer gut couldn’t spoil the shock of seeing him. I guess this wasn’t bad, but just very overdrawn. But I will never take away Vince McMahon’s willingness to take a bump off a ladder or bleed like a stuffed pig for the sake of his company. Even so, McMahon wrestling evenly with a guy who admittedly isn’t the best pure wrestler but he was a six time WWF champion was kinda distasteful to watch too. I’m really glad we got the first two main events that I didn’t like out of the way first. Later on, I’ll be discussing the last two matches of Wrestlemania 19. It was like a shot of 50 dollar tequilia after drinking two shots of bottom shelf vodka
96. Hardcore Holly won a 15-minute Hardcore Battle Royal for the WWF Hardcore Championship featuring: Crash Holly (c), Tazz, Viscera, Joey Abs, Rodney, Pete Gas, TAKA Michinoku, Funaki, Headbanger Thrasher, Headbanger Mosh, Faarooq and Bradshaw (15:00)
Tazz pinned Crash with a capture suplex. (0:26)
Viscera pinned Tazz after a Powerslam. (1:00)
Funaki pinned Viscera with a flying shoulderblock from Bradshaw. (7:51)
Rodney pinned Funaki after throwing him into a backstage wall. (8:11)
Joey Abs pinned Rodney with a gutwrench suplex. (8:24)
Thrasher pinned Joey Abs after a clothesline. (8:46)
Pete Gas pinned Thrasher after a fire extinguisher shot. (9:29)
Tazz pinned Pete Gas with a T-bone suplex. (10:17)
Crash pinned Tazz after a cookie sheet shot. (14:20)
Hardcore won by pinning Crash last after hitting him with a candy jar to win the title. (14:59)(Wrestlemania 16)
Match Quality: 1/10
Historical Significance: 3/5
Entertainment Value: 8/10
Total: 12/25
Analysis: This match has no business being considered a wrestling classic, but I thought this was one of the more entertaining matches of all time. You’ve got a collection of guys without an angle or in some of their cases, just plain suck. I remember really wanting Tazz to win, but hindsight has taught me a hard lesson With the debut of The Radicals, Tazz was a dead duck. Just knowing that all three members of the Mean Street Posse have a championship reign of any sort in the long history of the WWF makes me a little ill too. Still, it was funny to watch this match and Crash Holly had a highly entertaining title run. Gos rest his soul. The negatives are that the action was at times a little too hard to follow and Tim White screwing up the ending big-time by letting Hardcore Holly win instead of Crash. It is after watching this match that I really want my Bradshaw back. The one that drank beers, smoked cigars, and protected people, not this corporate jackass. Fun little match here.
95. Trish Stratus defeated Victoria (w/Steven Richards) (c) and Jazz in a Triple Threat match to win the WWE Women’s Championship (7:17) (Wrestlemania 19)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 12/25
Analysis: A fine way to continue the show since these three women have actual tournament. It was also nice to see this match come early in the show instead of being buried between main events. Trish Stratus got to regain her championship here in a nice moment. Victoria, the most criminally underused diva ever, was the champion ever and she brings even more awesomeness with her theme song. I really need an mp3 of that. The match itself was pretty good as I think this was the first time people really began to notice just how much Trish had improved since she first began. Being in there with such professionals likely helped too. Good entertaining stuff.
94. Triple H defeated Randy Orton to retain the WWE Heavyweight Championship (23:34)(Wrestlemania 25)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 12/25
Analysis: If this wasn’t the main event of Wrestlemania 25, I’d have hard time remembering this match took place. This was a convoluted angle that focused more on Orton’s attack of the McMahon clan as opposed to the WWE championship. Six days before the match, the McMahons came out and there was a brawl among Legacy and the McMahon clan. If there was ever an occasion where there should have been all kinds of run-ins and shocking returns (Batista), this was it. Instead, we got all full entrances and these two just had a match, and not a very good one at that. This was dreadfully boring and the crowd wasn’t enthralled with the action contained in the bout. Also, they threw in a stipulation that if Triple H was disqualified, he’d lose the championship. What should have been an intense brawl meandered for 20 boring minute. The stipulation never did come to play even though Triple H used the sledgehammer to essentially win the match. Not a great way to end the 25th anniversary of Wrestlemania.
93. Randy Savage defeated Crush (w/Mr. Fuji) in a Falls Count Anywhere match (9:49) (Wrestlemania 10)
Match Quality: 4/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 12/25
Analysis: Sadly, this is the final appearance for a true WWF legend at a Wrestlemania. And unless there is a major shift in philosophy, I doubt we’ll ever see Randy Savage appear on WWE television again. This is an okayish match with some of the oddest rules I’ve ever seen in a match. The object was to pin your opponent on the outside of the ring and them whomever got pinned had 60 seconds to get back into the ring. Crush is pretty useless as I mentioned before when talking about his Wrestlemania 9 match. Savage proved that he still had some juices left. I think the guy easily had another three or four years left in him. I think he was an asset the WWF didn’t take advantage of throughout the mid 90s.
92. Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie defeated the New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn and Road Dogg) in a Dumpster Match to win the WWF Tag Team Championship (10:01) (Wrestlemania 14)
Match Quality: 6/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 12/25
Analysis:The Outlaws had taken a dumpster Charlie and Jack were in and thrown it over the side of the RAW set. At the time, it was pretty shocking stuff as all of a sudden RAW stopped being a show and became a “shoot.” Although many, including myself, have grown tired of Vince Russo’s schtick, there was a point when his writing contributed to major ratings, big buyrates, and powerful moments like when Foley and Funk were trapped in the dumpster. Unfortunately the styrophome peanuts kinda ruined the moment. The match itself was quite bleh as far as hardcore matches go. Foley and Funk did win the match, but they were forced to give up the belts the next night because the champs were placed in the wrong dumpster. Therefore, a lot of the entertainment value and historical significance That crazy Russo and his technicalities. The next night, the Outlaws would go on to win the belts, and essentially make this result completely useless.
91. Shane McMahon (w/Test) defeated X-Pac to retain the WWF European Championship (8:41)(Wrestlemania 15)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 3/5
Entertainment Value: 4/10
Total: 12/25
Analysis: Conventional wisdom says X-Pac fights through all the interference that Shane-O-Mac throws at him and wins back the European title. But there’s a reason I’ve given this show the nickname of Russomania. A half hour before, D-X was one big happy family. Now Triple H, who has spent the last six months feuding with The Corporation, joins them. Not only that, but he turns on the guy who he pretty much brought back to the WWF to join D-X. Look, I understand (with ten years of perspective) how much the Triple H heel turn made sense. But these first six months were brutal. Once Vince Russo left and Triple H got to breathe, he became much much better. He stopped being such a whiner and became the diabolical cerebral assassin. He also started beating guys clean, something very refreshing after not watching him win any matches clean from about April until October of 1999. Finally, that feud with one Cactus Jack did more for Triple H then any of those dumb interviews about “the curtain call” or turning on his friends ever did.
90. Kane defeated Raven (c) and The Big Show in a Triple Threat Hardcore Match to win the WWF Hardcore Championship (9:18) (Wrestlemania 17)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 12/25
Analysis: The hardcore title had pretty much run its’ course, but this was nowhere near as bad as some of the hardcore matches I’ve seen in the past. Raven brought a different dynamic to what surely could have been a horrific Big Show/Kane match. The other positive was just letting these guys walk around and throw them into random objects. Raven did almost lose his ankle at one point because Big Show can’t drive, but otherwise I enjoyed this match for the most part. It certainly wasn’t very historic or what you would consider a “good”match, but it served its’ purpose and didn’t wear out its’ welcome like a couple of other matches did on this show.
89. The Big Boss Man (w/André the Giant) defeated WWF Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect (w/Bobby Heenan) by disqualification (10:47) (Wrestlemania 7)
Match Quality: 5.5/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 12.5/25
Analysis: Bobby Heenan and Rick Rude actually got the ball rolling on this angle when they started making fun of Bossman’s mother. Rude was “suspended” (actually let go after a contract dispute with Vinnie Mac), so Bossman marched through the other Heenan family members. First came Haku. Then The Barbarian at the Royal Rumble. Now came his big chance to win his first title and wrestle the man who might be the best wrestler in the WWF at this point. Bossman was pretty svelte at this point and I consider this to his best time as a wrestler. He was having great matches and involved in a good angle too. A part of almost wishes he could have won the belt since he really put a good effort to make himself look better and cut a good promo. At least he didn’t get humiliated and got to retain his Wrestlemania undefeated streak thanks to interference from Haku and Barbarian. Andre the Giant helped Bossman out in what proved to be one of his last WWF appearances ever. I think he was supposed to be in some sort of angle with the Heenan family, but he just couldn’t physically do it anymore. Pretty decent match for what it was, but Hennig being in his prime meant this was just about the minimum he could go in that ring at this point.
88. Mr. Perfect defeated The Blue Blazer (5:38) (Wrestlemania 5)
Match Quality: 5.5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 12.5/25
Analysis: I think this match has gotten a bit of a reputation that it really doesn’t deserve. That is not to say this isn’t a good match; however, I feel that because of the tragedies that befell Owen Hart and Curt Hennig, people look at this match as something more than it actually is. It really is just an extended squash for Mr. Perfect, not that there’s anything wrong with that. And believe me, this is much preferable to watching the slugs and steroid monkeys shuffling out there. I’d rather watch this match a thousand times then watch some of the other matches from these first seven or eight Wrestlemanias. The historical points come from the fact that these two guys are making their Wrestlemania debut and by virtue of the fact that this match has acquired such a reputation.
87. Kurt Angle defeated Kane (10:45) (Wrestlemania 18)
Match Quality: 5.5/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 12.5/25
Analysis: Wrestlemania 18 was just plain not a good show. How the hell do you shaft Kurt Angle, the man who pretty much carried everyone on the roster the last year gets stuck in a match no one cares about. Kane isn’t the best of wrestlers, and he was also spinning his wheels in the WWF at this time. This is a decent match, just short of being something memorable. Between the placement and the fact that these two didn’t have a real good reason to fight, it just got lost in the shuffle. The highlights of this match for me were Angle’s bizarro black tights and his modified slam on Kane toward the end of the match. These two also appeared to botch the ending too as Kane’s shoulders did not appear on the canvas and Angle couldn’t get his feet on the ropes in time.
86. Too Cool (Grand Master Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty) and Chyna defeated The Radicalz (Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko) (9:38)(Wrestlemania 16)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 13/25
Analysis: We’ve got even more debuts in a series of them at this show. Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, and Eddie Guerrero made their first ever appearances at the grandaddy of them all. Chyna made her wrestling debut. Scotty 2 Hotty and Grandmaster Sexay had competed in a battle royal before, but this was their first time actually participating in a real match. Back in 2000, I kind of dug Chyna, but the years have not been kind to her or my enjoyment of this match. Watching this yet again only served to insult my intelligence. Chyna has no business being in that ring with three professionals like Malenko, Saturn, and Guerrero. And the conceit of having her pin Eddie Guerrero makes things even worse. The Radicalz carried Too Cool and Chyna to a passable match here, but nothing to write home about. If you had told me seven years what would become of the Radicalz, I wouldn’t have believed you. To think that Dean Malenko would be the only one still employed by WWE… wow. Just a sad situation.
85. Matt Hardy defeated Jeff Hardy in an Extreme Rules Match (13:13)(Wrestlemania 25)
Match Quality: 6/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 13/25
Analysis: I don’t know what it is about these two, but they don’t have any chemistry whatsoever. This was at least better than their one-on-one match in 2001, but that doesn’t say a whole lot. Here they had the chance to use gimmicks and weapons but still didn’t have all that great a match. It’s also tough for WWE to feature great Extreme Rules matches with a PG rating and no blood rule. What also hurt the match was the general lameness of the feud because it was originally supposed to be Christian coming back to cause Hardy the WWE title at the Rumble. Then it what became a trend that helped kill the effectiveness of the show, creative changed their minds and we were left with this jumbled feud that barely made any sense. These two things combined to take a lot of the intensity out of the match. Wrestlemania 25 had a series of okay to good matches, but with the exception of one match, nothing came off as memorable. This was just another match unfortunately.
84. Chris Jericho defeated William Regal to retain the WWF Intercontinental Championship (7:08) (Wrestlemania 17)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 13/25
Analysis: This is incredibly the wrestling debut of one William Regal at a Wrestlemania. This was also the opener to what in my mind is the greatest overall Wrestlemania of all time. Wrestlemania 17 is in my mind one of the best shows for so many reasons. This match certainly isn’t one of them. Putting these two together was like oil and water. The match wasn’t bad but did not get nearly enough time to tell a great story. These are two guys who never seemed to have good chemistry together. Combine that with some dumb booking along the way (peeing in Regals tea?), and you’ve got a mediocre championship match.
83. Camp Cornette (Vader, Owen Hart and British Bulldog) (w/Jim Cornette) defeated Yokozuna, Jake Roberts and Ahmed Johnson (w/Mr. Fuji) (12:51) (Wrestllemania 12)
Match Quality: 6/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 13/25
Analysis: I’m sort of saddened by this match because of the great stipulation attached to it that we never got. If Yokozuna and his team had won, Yoko would have gotten five minutes with Jim Cornette. This is the Wrestlemania debut of one Vader and the last appearance of Jake Roberts. Ahmed Johnson, who at this point was the next big thing in the WWF, didn’t get very ring time. I was sort of stunned by this since at the time since he was becoming very popular. Yokozuna was also getting larger and larger at this point. He’d be out of the WWF by the late fall because of his weight and this would be the last time he’d wrestle at a Wrestlemania. Sadly, his life would come to a tragic end in 1999. Considering the fate of three of these wrestlers and just thinking about all the problems of Roberts, it’s a pretty sad contest to watch. It’s very good even with some of the obvious limitations of the performers, but this was a nice way to open the show. If Yoko had gotten those five minutes, I’d rate this match a whole lot higher. As it is, it gets a good rating and that’s it.
82. The Undertaker defeated Kane (w/Paul Bearer) (16:58) (Wrestlemania 14)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 13/25
Analysis: Pete Rose came out next and instead of being the usual unenthusiastic ring announcer all these celebrities tend to be, Rose trashed the city of Boston, in particular the Red Sox. He delivered a couple of a mediocre lines but when he mentioned Bill Buckner not being able to bend over to get his tickets. Good stuff. Boy, how things have changed in ten years. Since this speech, the Sawx have won not only one but two world championships. Kane, despite being the heel, tombstoned Rose to a big pop. Shades of grey! Shades of grey! Another trademark of the WWF Attitude Era. Everyone bow down to the great Vince Russo. Kane’s party wouldn’t last too long as The Undertaker made another grandiose Wrestlemania entrance with druids and fire. Although these two have fought way more times than I care to count, this match wasn’t as bad as some of the subsequent ones. The problem was mostly Kane slowing the match down and some overall plodding, especially in the middle portions. This match was notable since unlike Giant Gonzalez and Kamala, Kane would really never go away and has become one of the longest tenured WWF/E employees ever. It’s also pretty historic since this is the first (but sadly not the last) match between these two. These two would go on to have a big rematch the next month in the disappointing inferno match.
81. Shawn Michaels defeated Vince McMahon in a No Holds Barred match (18:28)(Wrestlemania 22)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Totals 13/25
Analysis: Hey Vince, you look a little baked. Press the stop button on the tanning bed next time for the love of God. The McMahon prayer thing that came shortly before this was either really offensive or really funny. You know, it was both.
Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania 19. Triple H and Chris Benoit at Wrestlemania 20. Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania. Shawn Michaels was on quite the roll at this point as far as having the best matches at Wrestlemania. I am a firm believer that these three matches are why Michaels earned the right to be called Mr. Wrestlemania. Hogan, Austin, and Rock may have sold more tickets. Taker may have the streak, but Michaels has had the best match at so many of these events. Not to mention he’s got the most appearances of any active wrestler with 17.
Certainly an interesting angle to set this whole deal up with McMahon trying to pull a Survivor Series and screw around with Shawn. The problem is this: Vince McMahon is not a wrestler, and therefore has no business trying to go 18 minutes with anyone. The positive is this is the closest to a Vince McMahon beatdown you’ll ever see. While this breaks the streaks of classics, no one can ever criticize either man of tanking it. How many promoters, hell how many millionaires do you know that would put their bodies on the line like this? So there’s certainly something interesting and entertaining about that. As far as the match itself, it is too long but it really isn’t bad either.
Jim Ross’ commentary was also very emotional as well and I feel that added something to this match-up. Finally, you gotta love the first half of the foreshadowing of the D-X return. We’ll talk about the other half when I cover the main event of Wrestlemania 22.
80. Rob Van Dam defeated William Regal to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship (6:19) (Wrestlemania 18)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 13/25
Analysis: This match is almost a carbon copy of the previous year’s match between William Regal and Chris Jericho. I’m not a big fan of most of William Regal’s work in WWE. I’m not sure what it is, but when I look back at these matches as well as his return to wrestling during the spring of ’08, I’m just not a fan. The only difference between this match and the previous year is this is RVD’s first Intercontinental championship and a sign that he wasn’t just another ECW reject but a real player for this company.
79. Triple H defeated Chris Jericho (w/Stephanie McMahon) to win the Undisputed WWF Championship (18:41) (Wrestlemania 18)
Match Quality: 6/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 13/25
Analysis: There’s a lot wrong with this match. First of all, there was no crowd heat because the crowd saw what they really wanted to see two matches earlier with Hogan making his comeback. Secondly, Chris Jericho had no business being the first undisputed champion ever because no one ever believed in him being the champion. No matter how many times he beat The Rock and Steve Austin, no one was buying him as champion. Of course, it didn’t help that the nWo debuting and Triple H’s comeback took away a lot of the attention off of Jericho. To make matters worse, Stephanie McMahon got slotted in as Jericho’s match, hence emasculating a champion who already has credibility problems. Finally Jim Ross, an announcer I love, just takes this whole leg injury thing way too far. He exaggerated Triple H’s leg problems so bad here, it was really damn annoying by the end of this match.
The whole idea of Triple H coming back and immediately winning back the belt was a pretty dumb idea. It even showed when Hunter got hurt again a couple months later and missed most of the summer. The fact that he also looked to have gained so much bulk hurt his mobility and he wasn’t the same wrestler he was back in 2000 and 2001. After losing some of that bulk during the summer, he would regain some of his form but he’s never been consistently great since that heel run at the beginning of the decade. And did I mention how annoying Stephanie McMahon was at this point? Jesus, the main event might as well have between those two. I think if this match had been earlier and the card and Stephanie hadn’t been at ringside, this entire match would have been more successful.
78. André the Giant won a twenty man battle royal that included both wrestlers and NFL stars (9:13) The participants were introduced in this order: Jimbo Covert (NFL Star – Chicago Bears), Pedro Morales, Tony Atlas, Ted Arcidi, Harvey Martin (Former NFL Star – Dallas Cowboys), Danny Spivey, Hillbilly Jim, King Tonga, The Iron Sheik, Ernie Holmes (Former NFL Star – Pittsburgh Steelers), B. Brian Blair, Jim Brunzell, Big John Studd, Bill Fralic (NFL Star – Atlanta Falcons), Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart, Russ Francis (NFL Star – San Francisco 49ers), Bruno Sammartino, and William “Refrigerator” Perry (NFL Star – Chicago Bears)(Wrestlemania 2)
Match Quality: 4/10
Historical Significance: 3/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 13/25
Analysis: Since this is Chicago, Dick Butkus gets a huge ovation while Harvey Marin and Ed “Too Tall” Jones (both former Cowboys) get booed out of the building. Battle royals are very hard to rate, but the list alone of the people involved make this a pretty big deal. The Chicago crowd was also really up for this match as almost everyone got a reaction. Of all the football players involved in this match, Bill Fralic looked the most like an actual wrestler.
From a history standpoint, this is a huge deal since both WWF and NFL guys are interacting in the match. Also, there is no way the NFL would ever allow active players to participate in something like this today. With Bruno, Pedro, Bret, and Andre, that’s two former world champions and two future world champions. That combined with the magnitude of the battle royal makes this a pretty big deal as far as history goes. William “The Refridgerator” Perry also got a huge ovation since this was mere months after the Chicago Bears beat the New England Patriots soundly in Super Bowl XX. Of course, everyone and their mother knew Andre was winning this match simply because he always wins battle royals. It was interesting to see the execution of this match with guys who had never been in the ring before. This was also smartly booked to make the WWF guys look far superior to the NFL guys. Hey, it only makes sense.
77. Demolition (Ax and Smash) (w/Mr. Fuji) defeated Strike Force (Rick Martel and Tito Santana) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship (12:33)(Wrestlemania 4)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 13/25
Analysis: I’ve always felt that Wrestlemania 4 could be summarized in the last half hour. Everything you as a wrestling fan needed to know, could be found in this match and the next one. Demolition walks to the ring. They received a noticeable babyface reaction throughout this match because they’re badasses and beat people up. Same principle applied to Steve Austin. Axe and Smash are craptacular as wrestlers, but it really doesn’t matter. These two were wicked over for the next three years to the point where they would have to be turned babyface by the end of the year.
The only disturbing part of this match was actually Monsoon and Ventura. They gave them very little chance to win this contest because they were too small. This isn’t exactly The Rockers against the Twin Towers here. Santana and Martel are 245 pounds each, and they’re wrestling two guys who are roughly 290. That’s only a 45 pound difference. Plus, Martel dealt with two opponents who were roughly the same size if not bigger just a year earlier with Orton and Muraco. And Santana is a former I-C champion who wrestled a wide variety of opponents. Very odd burial of Strike Force. Sure, they were transitional champions, but they weren’t that bad.
76. Rick Rude defeated The Ultimate Warrior for the Intercontinental Championship (9:36)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 13/25
Analysis: This was one of Rick Rude’s finest hours as he carried The Ultimate Warrior to a very watchable match. Jesse Ventura’s commentary was classic
Next week, we enter the top 25. Expect to see a whole lot of Shawn Michaels. Ric Flair’s last match is also covered. Wish we could have left the memories alone.
