Austin101

Nah, it's unattractive that useless spam posts like this are clogging up this DVD thread and people that like coming into here have to read page by page of senseless filler like this. Seriously what is the point? I'm not just talking to you but to all of you...

The Lashley and Batista sets will not be getting anything from me. Obvioussly Steve Austin, The Rock, The Summerslam Anthology and Mr. Perfect will all be added to my collection the day they come out. As for Hell in the Cell, I own the bulk of them outside a select few so I'll have to consider it once I see the match listing. Thanks for posting that by the way I always like to know what is in store concerning WWE DVD's as I'm a huge collector.


Anyways, onto another review....



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Austin101's "WWF Wrestlemania 11" Review:


-Live on PPV from Hartford, Connecticut on April 2, 1995. The event was covered by most major U.S. media outlets due to the involvement of former NFL linebacker Lawrence Taylor. No wonder people thought wrestling was a joke if this is the event they show cased to the outside world.

-Jerry "The King" Lawler and Vince McMahon do the commentary for the second straight year.


-Special Olympian Kathy Huey sang a rendition of "America the Beautiful" before the show.

-The event was later broadcasted as a one hour special on the Fox Network in the fall of 1995. It featured the Diesel vs. Shawn Michaels match, and Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow match.

-Celebrity guests in attendance for WrestleMania XI included Ken Norton, Jr., Carl Banks, Rickey Jackson, Steve McMichael, Reggie White, Chris Spielman, Lawrence Taylor, Pamela Anderson, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Jenny McCarthy, Nicholas Turturro, Neal Anderson, Salt-N-Pepa, and Larry Young. They went all out for this one and once again it's unfortunate THIS was the event most had to see.

-Due to technical audio difficulties (a result of Jerry Lawler's accidental unplugging of some microphone cords), Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler re-recorded the English commentary for the event at a later date, which was used in the WWE Home Video versions of the event, while the Coliseum Video version retains the original commentary.



Onto the matches......(hold your breath)




1) The Allied Powers (Lex Luger and The British Bulldog) vs The Blu Brothers (Jacob and Eli) (w/Uncle Zebekiah)

The Bulldog teamed with Luger here. An insult to Davey Boy Smith, IMO. No, Luger isn't THAT bad but the Bulldog was so awesome at this point I didn't want to see him on a stupid team, or in a stupid match for that matter like this.

They would later correct this and team him with Owen which in my mind was one of the greatest tag teams in Wrestling history. And would likely make all kinds of greatest tag team lists had that team been together for a longer period of time.

Fun Fact: The Bulldog only lost one match in Wrestlemania history and it was at Mania 3 when he lost to the Hart Foundation and Danny Davis.

I can't believe the other team "Blu brothers" got air time, let alone Mania time but that further examplified the "Hurting" time the WWF was in.


Bulldog pinned Eli with a sunset flip off the top rope at 6:34 for the win.

Even though the Bulldog went out like he won before the three count, kind of a stupid way to end a rather dull tag team opener. But at least the faces won so all is right in the world, right?



*




2) Razor Ramon (w/The 1-2-3 Kid) vs Double J Jeff Jarrett (w/The Roadie) for the WWF Intercontinental Championship


X-Pac, Syxx, 1-2-3 Kid, whatever the hell you want to call him cuts a bad promo backstage before the match (part of which you can barely hear due to technical troubles.)

This match was pretty good. Back and forth like the 95 Rumble match but at the same time could have been a lot better.


Jarrett was disqualified after interference from the Roadie, Jarrett retained the title at 13:32. Ramon won the match though but did not get the belt back and his music played as Double J walked to the back and JR who interviewed guys walking to the back said he should be ashamed of himself, Vince who did the play by play agreed.

A great match with a bad ending.

This isn't as good as there bout at the 95 Rumble but it is definately entertaining (the 2nd best on the show) and for some reason I always liked watching these two go at it. I think there styles in the ring worked very well together.



***





3) The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) vs King Kong Bundy (w/ "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase) (w/Larry Young as Special Guest Referee)


After the 10 minute entrances, the match begins and it makes you wish you were watching the entrances again.

Undertaker pinned Bundy after a flying clothesline at 6:36. Thank god this slow and painful match was over.

This took the Undertaker's undefeated Wrestlemania streak to 4-0. And this being the second of his wins in a row that was a pretty dreadful match to watch. Another one of the reasons I can't comprehend why they released a 15-0 Taker DVD, but I guess most casual fans wouldn't know the difference. (And the set does include some great matches I guess.)



3/4*





4) The Smoking Gunns vs Owen Hart and his Mystery Partner Yokozuna for the WWF Tag Team Championship


Yokozuna was billed as Owen Hart's "mystery partner"; this was Yokozuna's first appearance since the 1994 Survivor Series. Owen Hart picked Yoko because he did what he always wanted to do but never could...."Defeat his brother for the WWF Title." Owen Hart pinned Billy Gunn after a Banzai Drop from Yokozuna at 9:42 to become the new WWF Tag Team Champions.

Owen's celebration was hillarious (as he was most of the time in his WWF career as a heel) especially during the match he yelled to the crowd "I'm a KING! YOU ALL LOVEEEE ME!"

A lot of Hartford liked Owen as you could tell by a ton of people actually applauding this HEEL victory.

The match wasn't to great though, pretty slow...kind of a theme for the night.


* 1/2






5) Bret "The Hitman" Hart vs Bob Backlund (w/Roddy Piper as Special Guest Referee) in an "I Quit" match

Bret gets a huge pop. (Funny spot where he is comming down the aisle and a fan pats his hand to hard and you can read the Hitman's lips he says..."Owahh...FUUUCK!"....good stuff.)

Backlund doesen't get a big pop. Come on! He was just a WWF Champion a few short months before this!

Piper gets a huge pop as well. This marked the second straight year Piper special guest reffed a Mania match. (Both involved Bret Hart where he won both times.)

This match is not nearly as good as the 1994 Survivor Series match between the two that went over a half an hour long, despite the bad ending to that match.

The best part about this boring but decent match with two great workers was the dialogue between Vince and King.

Piper was also pretty funny (in an annoying way) in which he asked both guys if they were going to quit every two seconds, and the responced by both Hart and Backlund were humerous as well. Most I quit matches are like that as Foley and The Rock both had funny responces at the 99 Rumble.

But here is what I found most funny between the King and Vince....

King: I just thought of something McMahon! You do realize who Bret Hart BEAT at Wrestlemania 8, right!?

Vince:...Just a sec, OH is Backlund gonna quit! No he doesen't.....

King: McMahooooon, I'm asking you a question! Who did Hart beat at Wrestlemania 8!

Vince: (annoyed and wanting to answer)...The British Bulldog!

King: (In his squeeky voice) WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!??!?!?

Vince: It wasn't? Sorry...

King: It was Rowdy Roddy PIPER!

Vince: As a matter of fact it was.


Just hillarious how that came off, the way the King was shocked the owner of the company didn't remember a big match from just 3 years ago, and the King's voice made it funny.

As for the match itself, way to many holds despite that being the point of the whole thing.


Backlund ended up saying something unintelligible into the microphone while in the Crossface Chickenwing. Piper interpreted this as a submission and awarded the bout to Hart at 9:34.



**





6) Diesel (w/Pamela Anderson) vs "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels (w/Psycho Sid and Jenny McCarthy) for the WWF Championship

This SHOULD have been the Main Event.


Great match by both men. Pam came out with Diesel and no one cared, they just wanted to see Pam who looked just as good as she did at the 95 Rumble. She sat with McCarthy and the two tried to look as interested as they could in the match. At least they got to see the match of the night.

Diesel dominated quite a bit at the beginning but Sid's interference on behalf of Shawn really got on my nerves because it slowed down the pace to the match.

A lot of "Sid" chants before he was gone and Vince took notes as he'd be a babyface later on.

Shawn did get a lot of offence in here and there but the big man did what not many people do at Wrestlemania when it came to an end. "Retain the title."

Diesel pinned Michaels after a Jacknife Powerbomb at 20:35 for the win.

Great match but it doesen't hold a candle to In Your House: Good Friends Better Enemies in April 1996 which was probably **** 1/2- **** 3/4.



*** 1/2






7) Main Event- Lawrence Taylor vs Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Ted DiBiase)


Ken Norton, Jr., Carl Banks, Rickey Jackson, Steve McMichael, Reggie White, and Chris Spielman accompanied Lawrence Taylor to the ring.

Members of the Million Dollar Corporation I.R.S., Kama, Nikolai Volkoff, Tatanka and King Kong Bundy were in Bigelow's corner along with DiBiase.

Salt-N-Pepa performed Lawrence Taylor's entrance music live, a modified version of "Whatta Man". (This isn't seen on the Anthology though because of song rights most likely.)

The best part of this match was probably the fact we got to hear Dibiase's theme for a 2-3 minutes as the Million Dollar team was coming down to ring side.

A lot of slow moments in this match but that was to be expected. A lot of sloppy moments as well but once again, with a non-worker that is to be expected.

However a lot of pretty impressive moments by both LT, and the way that Bam Bam can sell for a big man as well which saved the match.


LT pinned Bigelow after a flying forearm from the second rope at 11:42.


Was better then you'd expect, or how it looked on paper. Both guys actually tried very hard and it showed. It definately wasn't a great match, or a very good one at that but it got the job done. It wasn't good enough to headline Mania and it left you thinking "What the fuck am I watching?" a ton of times but for what it was, it was pretty good. So that is why it's not a dud, or worthy of a rating that is absolutely terrible.



**






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Final PPV Rating for Wrestlemania 11 = 3/10


This is far and away the very worst Wrestlemania of all time. Some can argue the first 2 Wrestlemania's, Wrestlemania 9, 12, 13, 15, 18, whatever...I've heard all of that for years. The fact is this event had 7 matches. This event had a ton of dissapointments and technical difficulties. This event happened during a terrible time in the WWF. (talent, gimmick, financial and booking wise) This event was headlined by Bam Bam and an ex NFL player. Enough said. This is such a dreadful Mania and I'm just glad I got it out of the way. I dare anyone to challenge me though, I want them to try and bring up reasons that this ISN'T the worst Mania, and I'll be more then glad to debate.




Feedback appreciated as always if you want to discuss the worst Mania ever......





Up Next From Austin101: "WWF Wrestlemania 12"




(stay tuned.....)


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