Austin101

Austin101's "Wrestlemania 9"- "An Event of Epic Proportions" Review:


Live on PPV, from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada

-WrestleMania IX was built around two main storylines: the unstoppable Yokozuna challenging Bret Hart for the WWF Championship; a right he earned by winning the 1993 Royal Rumble, the first man to win a WrestleMania title shot at the Royal Rumble (although, Hulk Hogan had won the 1991 Royal Rumble and went onto face Sgt. Slaughter at WrestleMania VII, his title shot was not granted because of that victory); and the return of Hulk Hogan, who had departed the WWF following WrestleMania VIII, teaming up with Brutus Beefcake, to take on the WWF Tag Team Champions, Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster).

-WrestleMania IX also took a pretty novel approach by placing it outside in the open air at the risk of possible rain and other weather related incidents. It's a good thing that didn't happen although the wind was kind of disctacting at times (especially during the opener.) I think they may have an out door Mania this year for WM 24? Either way this was the first WrestleMania held entirely outdoors.

-This was the first WrestleMania not to use the traditional red, white, and blue ring ropes. Instead, black and gold ropes were used to coincide with the Ancient Roman theme. The next mania (WM 10 from the Garden) would have these colors as well but these were the only two.

-A scheduled match between Bam Bam Bigelow and Kamala did not take place. Second straight year a match would be waived off (and it would happen next year as well, more on that next review.)

-Good Ol JR made his WWF debut at this event!




Onto the matches.....




1) HBK Shawn Michaels (w/Luna Vachon) vs Tatanka (w/Sensational Sherri) for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

For the third year IN A ROW, Shawn Michaels opens Wrestlemania. At Wrestlemania 7 he did with The Rockers, last year with Santana and this year (WM 9) with Tatanka once again for the IC Title.

This time he's with Luna and not Sherri...as Sherri comes out with Tatanka.

Good psychology in this match and you wanted to know what would happen next at every move.

Michaels was counted-out, and thus retained the title at 18:13. Very long but pretty good!

Some slow spots here and there but overall it was a very good opener and pretty underrated.

The match had a good storyline going in and the story delivered in the ring.


** 3/4






2) The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) vs The Headshrinkers (Fatu and Samu) (w/Afa)

This should be some good tag team wrestling and it was.

The pace never slows down and I was right into it.

Once again the Steiner's entrance theme is extremely catchy (Stays in my head for quite awhile anyway.....)

Scott pinned Samu following a Frankensteiner at 14:22 for the win. The fans pop, the catchy theme hits and we just witnessed one hell of a tag team match. This is a very good watch, pretty underrated when it comes to Wrestlemania matches.

Match of the night.




***





3) Doink The Clown vs Crush


Doink was played by Matt Bourne here. Ya know, Matt Bourne? The guy that jobbed to Steamboat in the original Wrestlemania....No?...Well the old school fans know who he is anyway.

Doink was way cooler as "Evil Doink" even the entrance music was better.....however when he was with Dink he had his moments....I mean....


Doink pinned Crush after a second Doink distracted Crush and allowed Doink to hit Crush from behind with a prosthetic arm at 8:28 for the win.

Neat ending, pretty good match...well better then it looks on paper anyway.



* 3/4





4) "The Bad Guy" Razor Ramon vs Bob Backlund


This was a bizarre clash in styles in a squash where the guy didn't EVEN get squashed.

Ramon pinned Backlund with a roll-up at 3:45.

These two guys really should have tried a lot harder but I guess they weren't given a lot of time.

That or there styles didn't mesh well and they both probably had an off night. One of the bad matches at this event but luckily it was kept short.


3/4*






5) Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster) vs The Mega-Maniacs (Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake) (w/Jimmy Hart) for the WWF Tag Team Championship

Finally!

It's over!

After suffering through a lot of early Rumble PPV's with him, and 9 Wrestlemania's with him (in some form) BRUTI, Brutus the mother fucker beefcake is done! No more! Thank christ!

Alright, maybe that's a little bit overboard but I just really can't stand Beefcake, I find him to be the most annoying wrestler of all time. (As you may or may not know by now.)

Pretty good tag match here, although not on par with the Steiners-Headshrinkers match......but who's comparing right? This would be Dibiase's last in ring match at a Wrestlemania. He would still make appearances at the next three though. (And WM 22, maybe even WM 23 as well backstage?)

The Mega-Maniacs were disqualified due to Hogan hitting both members of Money Inc. with Beefcake's protective facemask at 18:52.

This was very long and probably should of been about 5-8 minutes shorter in length. All four men actually did a pretty good job here but the matches length is what cuts some of it's rating down in my opinion.


** 1/4




6) Mr. Perfect vs. "The Narcissist" Lex Luger


This is that famous shot (and probably the only one) of Luger the WWF always shows with him flexing in front of the mirrors and the pyro's going off behind him.

I could of used a few more close ups of the ladies in thongs, daaaumn.

Hennig once again doesen't dissapoint. This match is fairly entertaining and it shows he can work a good match as a heel or face as he was a face here.

Luger pinned Perfect though using a backslide at 10:56, despite Perfect having both of his feet touching the ropes.

Pretty good.


** 1/2





7) The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) vs Giant Gonzales (w/Harvey Wippleman)


Skip this suckfest. If you've seen it...you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't....don't even bother.

Gonzales was disqualified after choking Undertaker with a chloroform soaked rag at 7:33. (Then the match was over, thank god.)

After the match, Gonzalez chokeslammed the referee to the mat.

Yawwwwwwwwwwwwwn.

An embarassment to Taker and Pro-Wrestling.

Taker goes 3-0, though......


DUD





8) Main Event- Yokozuna (w/Mr. Fuji) vs Bret "The Hitman" Hart for the WWF Championship

This would not be the greatest match between Bret and Yokozuna. Let me just tell you that, if you haven't watched this in a long time (or at all)....

It consisted of the unstoppable Yoko (who had just won the rumble) applying pressure to the muscle in Bret's neck wearing him down. (Khali does this all the time in matches these days) and this title bout didn't even go nine minutes so that one move really did take up the bulk of this contest.

That means this match didn't leave an awful lot to be desired. When Bret did get offense in it was short lived but it did look like he legitamately had a chance to retain the title at times, and he sold pretty well in this match. (Like always for Bret.)

Yokozuna pinned Hart after Fuji threw salt in Hart's eyes while he had Yokozuna in the Sharpshooter at 8:55 to become the new WWF Champion. He would later have the shortest title reign in WWF history (I believe?) Don't hold me to that though...beeeecauuuusee.....



**



We're not done yet!

Mr. Fuji challenged Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship, after he came out to check on Bret Hart's condition, and Hart gave Hogan the go-ahead nod to take on Yokozuna. (kayfabe of course, or else I really don't think Bret would of gave Hogan the "OK".)

So...




9) 2nd Main Event- Hulk Hogan vs Yokozuna (w/Mr. Fuji) for the WWF Championship


Yuck.

Fuji tries to throw salt in Hogan's eyes but hits Yokozuna instead. Hogan disposes of Fuji, clotheslines Yoko and delivers the legdrop for the win and the title at 21 seconds. Good for the Hulkster, bad for just about everyone else.





DUD





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Final PPV Rating for Wrestlemania 9 = 6/10


By having two DUD's on a 9 match card should automatically make the rating below 5 right? Well no, not really. This event gets bashed on far to much because of the "down time" the WWF was going through during this period. Because the event being outside in front of a relatively small crowd was a little "different." And well most importantly because of the two duds that stand out a lot. Well what people often fail to realize is that this card actually produced a number of solid matches. The long IC title bout between Tatanka and Michaels was very solid, the steiners tag match was amazing, luger vs perfect was good, and money inc vs mega maniacs was also. Doink vs Crush was even ok for what it was as well.....Just for it being pissed on all the time I'll give it a 6. It was unique and a lot of the matches were pretty good and that's the bottom line here.




Feedback appreciated as always if you want to discuss.....





Up Next from Austin101: "WWF Wrestlemania 10!"


(stay tuned.....)



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