Ron Swanson

1994 was a big transitional year. It was the first full year without Hulk Hogan(who left the company after the dropping the belt in hilarious fashion to Yokozuna) and with that meant the first year Hogan would not some how be involved with the main event of Wrestlemania. Vince was in the process of trying to find the next face of the company. His first attempt was Lex Luger. Luger got a monster push after body slamming Yokozuna on the 4th of July. He adopted a patriotic gimmick that led to a title match at Summerslam 1993. He won that match...by countout.

The other guy Vince had his eye on was Bret Hart. Bret finished up a feud with Jerry the King Lawler that lasted through the Summer at Survivor Series. At that event, the seeds were planted for the classic Owen Hart/Bret Hart feud which led to Owen fully turning on Bret at the Royal Rumble.

At that Royal Rumble, the last 2 participants were Bret and Luger. It ended in a "tie" (many think Vince did this to gauge crowd reaction to both winning) and it was decided that both would fight for the title. Luger won a coin toss and would face Yokozuna first while Bret had to face suitable competition in the form of his brother, Owen (classic match). Luger gets disqualified by guest referee Mr. Perfect in his title bout. Later that night, Bret comes off a loss to defeat Yokozuna and become the new WWF champion.

Now that I did a mini history lesson, my question is did you like the way the booking was handled? Would you have preferred to see Lex walk out the champion or even Lex win the belt only to lose it to Bret that night? Maybe even a different scenario altogether? How would you have booked the title scene at that time?

RyanPelley

I think Lex deserved a Title reign at some point in 1993 or 1994, in my opinion, but unfortunately, that's the way it happens. I'm extremely happy with how Mania X ended though, Bret as the Champion. His reign in 1994 was so damn great, best ever in my opinion, so I wouldn't change any of that for a moment.

I think it was Bret that said that Vince kind of kept him around as a backup plan. Hogan was going to leave, Bret becomes Champion. Hogan decides to come back and recaptures the Title. Backseat to Bret. Hogan leaves / Lex is supposed to be the next huge heroic character. Fails overall, insert Bret again. Diesel is the next big face, takes Title.

The booking of Wrestlemania X is very innovative though, stemming from the Royal Rumble finish. Both men get a Title shot. Would have been interesting to see Lex vs. Bret in the main event, but I guess Yoko vs. Bret makes sense. Bret got his revenge from the year previous. And boy did Lex Luger look absolutely shitty, having to hold Bret up while he held the Title high.

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Ratedr4life

It's a crime we didn't get Bret vs Savage at WM9, and even bigger travesty we didn't get it at WM10.

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Shawn Michaels
Thanks for the moments, the memories and the matches.



HERE TO SHOW THE WORLD

RyanPelley

You know, I was just watching Survivor Series 1992. Savage looked damn great. Only could translate to more greatness right? Commentary at Mania. Pathetic. Bret Hart would have been even more solidified from beating the legendary Savage at Wrestlemania IX. Everyone had their shining moment to be put over on the grand stage, except Bret Hart, who still managed to get super over and have outstanding Title reigns.

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Wrestling02370

Royal Rumble 1994 was one of my favorite of all time.

I think they handled Wrestlemania 10 very well. They tried something different to draw interest, knowing Hogan wasnt going to be there. I think the two title matches was a good idea.

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peowulf

Probably this. Would have made a more epic match.

tducey

Yeah, a Lex/Bret match at WM 10 would have been good. Never did like the Bret/Yoko matches and besides you had the story between Bret and Lex over both being co-winners of the 1994 Royal Rumble.

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The knowing Punk personally thread, while turning into a joke thread, had a lot of great stories in it, here are some of my Punk stories that didn't make the cut:

1) He's my postman
2) I'm the caretaker for his swimming pool when he's on the road
3) He lives in my basement
4) I taught him everything he knows about wrestling
5) He was in my high school math class but he got kicked out for cheating off me.

Moral of the story: Everyone needs to laugh every once in a while.