WrestleMania 11: Kliq takes over WWE

Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of WrestleMania Rewind. Like Road Dogg and Josh Mathews, I’m forced to sit in an empty vault and watch all the previous editions of WrestleManias, as I give my analysis and reviews, until I get dizzy and puke all over. Jokes aside, it’s been great (and sometimes an absolute pain) to go through all the previous WrestleManias and reliving the moments, and last edition of WrestleMania was one of those times when it was a pleasure doing the review. A great card with great matches make it much more easier, infact a pleasure, to sit through those 3 hours and pen down my views.

Will the next edition of WrestleMania, WrestleMania 11 be the same? We’ll find out soon. The WWF card in ’95 looked very thin, as all the bigger guys were pulled by Ted Turner and WCW. Bret wasn’t the center of focus in ’95, as the title was put on Diesel (aka Kevin Nash) which would always be a pain to watch. Would I be interested in a guy like Nash being the WWF Champion? The answer is a definitive no. This was the time when the backstage politics of guys like Shawn, Nash and Razor had become over bearing, and they were known as the ‘Kliq’. Heading into the event, the main match on the card for the WWF Championship was between Shawn and Nash. The other main match of the evening saw recently retired NFL legend Lawrence Taylor, as he took on Bam Bam Bigelow. The other huge celebrity attraction of WrestleMania 11 was the one, the only, Pamela Anderson (excuse me as I stare at her some more).

Anyway, WrestleMania 11 was at a time when WWF was undergoing another transition, as all the Hogans and Flairs and Savages had left for WCW, while WWF was in the process of creating more stars while banking on the ones that already existed. It was also not a great year financially for the WWF (with Nash as the champ, is it a big surprise?). WrestleMania 11 came from Hartford Civic Center, in Hartford, Connecticut. The event saw an attendance as low as 15,000, although the venue wasn’t as big either. Without further ado, let us jump right in.

Special Olympian Kathy Huey sang America The Beautiful. Great job.

Under card:

The Allied Powers (British Bulldog & Lex Luger) defeated Jacob & Eli Blu (With Uncle Zebekiah)

You might know Uncle Zebekiah as Zeb Colter now in the WWE. Yes, it is Dutch Mantell. Anyway, the first match of the evening saw Bulldog and Luger, known as the Allied Powers, taking on Jacob and Blu, known as the Blu Brothers. A standard opening tag team match (shame it was nowhere close to the previous edition’s opening match between the Hart brothers). The end came when Bulldog tagged in and hit a sunset flip on one of the Blu brothers (the idea in the match was that we did not know who was who among the Blu Brothers. Okay) for the pin and the win. Ordinary opening bout.

The good thing about this WrestleMania is, it only had 7 matches on the card. I’m so happy right now.

Razor Ramon (with The 1–2–3 Kid) defeated Jeff Jarrett (With The Roadie) by disqualification for the WWF IC title

Next match on the card was for the prestigious WWF IC title. The match saw Jeff Jarrett walking in as the IC champion, and Ramon the challenger. A little trivia for those who didn’t know; 1 – 2 – 3 Kid was later known as X – Pac and The Roadie was later known as, you guessed it, Road Dogg. Anyway, going back to the match, it was pretty standard and got about 15 minutes. The end came when Razor went for Razor’s edge, but Roadie came in and attacked Razor’s injured knee to get Jarrett disqualified. Post match, 1 – 2 – 3 Kid came in for the save, and when he was attacked, Razor saved him. Decent second match.

The Undertaker (With Paul Bearer) defeated King Kong Bundy (With Ted DiBiase) with Larry Young as the special guest referee

After being out of the previous WrestleMania, The Undertaker returned to face King Kong Bundy. At this point, Taker was being challenged by monster heels, which was Taker’s WrestleMania specialty. Now I love the Undertaker, but when you put him up against guys who can’t work a decent match to save their lives, it makes Taker look bad. And this match downright sucked. Match went for just over 6 minutes, and the end saw Taker pinning Bundy after a leaping clothesline. After the fall, Bundy just got up and walked out. He didn’t even sell the move (Hi Cena!). It made the finish look terrible.

Mid card:

Owen Hart and Yokozuna (With Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette) defeated The Smoking Gunns (Billy and Bart) for the WWF Tag team championship

The tag team match saw Owen teaming up with Yoko, taking on the Smoking Gunns. Owen Hart looked like a million bucks in this match. This was the time when he was at his peak. The match went on for over 9 minutes, and the end saw Owen getting the pin and the victory for his team after Yoko had finished off the Gunns. Good match for the tag titles.

Bret Hart defeated Bob Backlund in an ‘I Quit’ match with Roddy Piper as the special guest referee

When you have Bret Hart in a match, you expect high quality work from him. This wasn’t it. The match was slow and terrible at times, and Bret knew it. The end came at the 10 minute mark when Bret put Bob in the Sharpshooter and Bob gave up. Bret wasn’t too thrilled about the match after it ended, and quite rightly so.

Diesel (with Pamela Anderson) defeated Shawn Michaels (with Sid and Jenny McCarthy) for the WWF Championship

So the WWF Championship match wouldn’t close the show after all. Speaks volumes about the star power of Nash. Anyway, Diesel was accompanied to the ring by Pamela Anderson (okay, I paused my screen), followed by Shawn who was accompanied by Sid. Sid was the lacky of Shawn here, way to go down from main eventing a WrestleMania Sid. The match was good, considered you had one of the worst workers in the business going up against one of the best, quite contracting styles isn’t it? Match saw Shawn nailing the SCM but with no referee in the ring. Match came to an end when Diesel Jack knifed Shawn for the pin and to retain the WWF Championship.

Main Event:

Lawrence Taylor defeated Bam Bam Bigelow (With Ted DiBiase) with Pat Patterson as the special guest referee

The match received decent in – ring time, and for a non – wrestler, Lawrence did well. The match went for about 12 minutes. Bigelow was a good monster heel, so that helped in selling the match. The end came when Taylor went on to the middle rope and came down with a leaping forearm for the pin and the win.

Analysis: * (Out of 5 stars)

One of the worst WrestleManias of all time, if not the worst. Bret and Taker were given terrible opponents to work with and the WWF Championship match was underwhelming to say the least. The only good thing from this card was Owen winning the tag titles with Yoko. It was a pain to sit through the event. Celebrities like Salt n’ Pepper brought some interest to the show, but that was it. Anyway, join us tomorrow as we continue our journey towards WrestleMania 29.

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