The History of WWE WrestleMania: X8

The nWo invades WrestleMania, while the WWF Champion feuds with a bulldog....

Skydome - 3/17/02

Here's an example of a PPV far exceeding my expectations.  At the time I was not very excited about most of the show and figured everything other than the Triple H-Jericho Title match would be mediocre at best.  Bringing in the nWo was just baffling to me, as the WWF didn't need the extra star power or backstage headaches at that point.  But thanks in large part to the rabid Toronto crowd, this show ended up being pretty good.

The WWF Title match looked spectacular on paper, but unfortunately between the abysmal build (seriously, the WWF Champion is relegated to fetching hand cream for Stephanie McMahon and walking her dog??) and the exhausted fans, the match was only about a 3-star affair.  The Triple H-Jericho feud was a prime example of how NOT to hype a big match.  It was presented as a foregone conclusion that Hunter was walking out with the belts and that Jericho was little more than a placeholder.  The match itself was perfectly fine - overdub a hot crowd over it and it would probably gain about a half-star - but it just didn't belong in the main event slot.

In a rare case of a semi-main that should've trumped the WWF Title bout, The Rock and Hulk Hogan put on an incredibly entertaining money match.  About half the credit goes to the off-the-charts energy of the audience, but these two did everything they could to make this bout memorable.  It was just the right length and had enough action to be worthy of post-Attitude WWF.  The one negative thing I'll say about Rock vs. Hogan is that it started the WWE's trend of relying on past stars and dream matches with current headliners to sell the big PPVs.  In the intervening years this got way out of hand, but more on that later.

Well Rock, are you surprised?  He does this literally EVERY match.

The History of WWE WrestleMania: X-Seven

The Attitude Era reaches its peak with a milestone WrestleMania....

Reliant Astrodome - 4/1/01

Quite simply a masterpiece.  Not only one of the best WrestleManias of all time, but one of the greatest wrestling cards ever assembled.  'Mania 17 was the first PPV that was universally regarded as unequivocally superior to WrestleMania III, both in terms of the in-ring product and the scope of the show.  Hogan vs. Andre may still be the biggest single match ever promoted, but Rock-Austin II was a monumental event and a Match of the Year contender to boot.

This show is generally considered the climax of the Attitude era, and took place only about a week after the WWF finally conquered and absorbed WCW.  The wrestling industry would never be the same.  The two biggest stars of the late 90s boom squared off for the second time at WrestleMania.  It was Hogan-Andre and Hogan-Warrior rolled into one.

Rock vs. Austin overshadowed its 'Mania 15 counterpart in every respect, featuring better action, an epic 28-minute running time, and a major heel turn.  Both men gushed blood by the end, and Vince McMahon got involved, sliding Austin a chair, which he used to bludgeon The Rock unmercifully to get the pin after the Stunner failed.  The show ended with Austin having "sold his soul," toasting his evil boss for the first time and signaling a new direction for the Rattlesnake.  While in retrospect turning Austin heel was a pretty terrible business decision, at the time it was necessary from a creative standpoint.  The babyface Austin character had become extremely stale and it was clear from watching him that Austin the performer was growing tired of the same shtick week after week.  Watching Steve Austin during his 2001 heel run was a breath of fresh air and you could tell he was having tremendous fun.

Drinkin' beer with The Devil.

In the semi-main slot was Undertaker vs. Triple H, which was a PPV first.  This was a wild brawl that ranged all over the arena, and for the first time the Undertaker's 'Mania streak was really acknowledged AND in serious jeopardy.  Aside from a silly-looking spot where Taker chokeslammed Hunter off a platform and on to a very obviously cushy foam mat (The cameras should've avoided showing Triple H's landing), this was a very entertaining semi-main.  Taker withstood a great-looking sledgehammer shot before hitting The Last Ride to eke out a win.

On the undercard, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit turned in an excellent mat-based contest in the tradition of Savage-Steamboat, Vince and Shane McMahon put on a fine example of sports-entertaining garbage wrestling, and Kane, Raven and The Big Show had a really fun little Hardcore Title match.

The History of WWE WrestleMania: 2000

And we've arrived at a new millennium!

Arrowhead Pond - 4/2/00

The year 2000 saw the WWF freshen up its product in a major way.  The influx of WCW castoffs and new homegrown stars led to tremendous improvements in the in-ring product, and the absence of Steve Austin for most of the year forced the company to elevate several other uppercard talents.

That year's WrestleMania goes down as probably the strangest of the bunch, as the roster had gotten so large that everyone had to be crammed into multi-man matches and tag bouts.  In fact this edition of 'Mania featured nary a traditional singles match.

The main event saw entirely too much focus put on the McMahon Family squabbles, as each of the McMahons accompanied one of the participants to the ring.  Triple H vs. The Rock vs. Big Show vs. Mick Foley was a pretty good if overly long main event match, but sadly the company's owners took way too much of the spotlight.  This show holds the distinction of being the first 'Mania card to end with a heel Champion.

Say what you want about him now, but in 2000 Triple H was really something.

Three of the WWF's newest stars got their chance to steal the show as Kurt Angle defended the I-C and European Titles against Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit in a 2-Falls Triple Threat.  The match was nothing amazing, but it was a solid showing by three of the company's future main eventers.

Also on the card was a highly entertaining six-person tag match between the Radicalz (Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko & Perry Saturn), and Too Cool & Chyna. The wrong team won, but it was a fun, fast-paced bout.

The match that stole the show however was the three-way ladder match for the Tag Team Titles - The Dudley Boyz vs. Edge & Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz.  The WWF was in the midst of a tag team renaissance, and these three teams rose to the top of the division, in no small part due to their performance here.  This match took what Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon had done six years earlier and put the ladder match into overdrive.  The action was violent, explosive, and brutal, and 22 minutes later the TLC match was born.  Edge and Christian won the titles and soon after invented the comedic heel personas that took them to the next level, the Dudley Boyz became synonymous with table spots, and the Hardy Boyz established themselves as fearless daredevils for the rest of their careers.

These six men are obviously psychotic.....

The History of WWE WrestleMania: XV

1999: Vince Russo leaves a turd in the WrestleMania punchbowl....

First Union Center - 3/28/99

'Mania 15 holds the distinction, at least according to me, of being the most disappointing WrestleMania in history.  Never before or since has the WWF/E possessed all the tools, talent, and momentum to put on an unforgettable PPV only to completely squander it in almost every possible way.

First the good (there isn't much): The main event of The Rock defending the WWF Title against Steve Austin is a fine match.  Full of crazy brawling and guest referee shenanigans, it captured perfectly the peak of the Vince Russo era, for better or worse.  Rock and Austin would be hard-pressed to have a bad match, so this was just fine (though they would go on to top this match on PPV not once, not twice, but thrice).  It felt more like a good RAW match but given how bad the rest of this PPV is, I'll take it.

This match is the only reason to watch 'Mania 15.

The only other decent matches on this show are Shane McMahon vs. X-Pac, which far exceeded my low expectations (though it really should've been Test in Shane's spot), the Owen/Jarrett vs. Test/D-Lo Tag Title match (which was good but way too short), and the 4-way I-C Title match of the Road Dogg vs. Ken Shamrock vs. Goldust vs. Val Venis.  Now originally Billy Gunn was supposed to be the I-C Champion going in, and Road Dogg was the Hardcore Champ, but Vince Russo decided to swerve everyone and have them switch places, which made no sense and hurt the opening Hardcore Title match.

The other good thing to come out of this show was the Triple H/Chyna double heel turn angle.  During Hunter's match with Kane, heel Chyna turned on the Big Red Monster to reunite with Hunter.  Then during X-Pac's match, they both turned heel on Mr. Waltman, joining the Corporation.  It bordered on convoluted (as did pretty much every angle of the time), but it was a nice double-twist.
The rest of the show consisted of matches that were either too short (Mankind vs. Big Show), forgettable (Sable vs. Tori), or just boring (Undertaker vs. Big Bossman in the worst Hell in a Cell match of all time).

The History of WWE WrestleMania: XIV

WrestleMania raids my hometown to kick off the Austin Era....

Fleet Center - 3/29/98

It's fitting that 'Mania 14 took place on the anniversary of 'Mania 3.  The 14th edition was to the late 90s WWF as the 3rd was to the late 80s.  In both cases a major star (with serious back problems) seemingly nearing the end of his career passed the torch to the man of the hour, and a major boom period followed.

In the main event, Steve Austin defeated Shawn Michaels for the WWF Title, which kicked off possibly the most successful financial run any single wrestler has ever enjoyed.  The match itself, while not a five-star classic, was a very strong main event, and Shawn's performance is nothing short of a miracle given how badly he was hurting at the time.  This would be his final match for over four years.  On the outside of the ring was celebrity guest Mike Tyson, whose presence sparked a media frenzy which garnered a ton of mainstream hype for the event.  This, my friends, is how you utilize a celebrity guest star in wrestling.

The semi-main event slot went to the Undertaker and his onscreen brother Kane.  The buildup for this match lasted about nine months, from the original announcement that Taker had a brother.  When Kane finally debuted, the company did an excellent job of establishing him as an unstoppable monster, and held off giving away too much physical interaction between him and Taker.  By the time this match finally took place it truly felt like Taker would be facing his ultimate adversary, and the match didn't disappoint. This was arguably Taker's best 'Mania match to date and was also a career-making match for Kane.

It's like King Kong vs. Godzilla!  OH MY GAHD!!!

The History of WWE WrestleMania: 13

A "lost smile" threw a wrench into the WWF's plans for WrestleMania 13, but they managed to make some lemonade.  Mixed metaphors.....


Rosemont Horizon - 3/23/97 

1997 was the WWF's ratings nadir during the Monday Night War with WCW.  They were right in the middle of an 82-week trouncing, and their PPV buyrates reflected that - 'Mania 13 did an abysmal 237k buys, lower than both that year's Royal Rumble and Survivor Series, and just barely ahead of SummerSlam.

But early '97 was also the very beginning of the Attitude era, before the WWF even fully acknowledged that the business was radically changing.  Snow-white babyface characters were no longer cool to cheer for; instead it was a foul-mouthed, beer-swilling, redneck bully named Steve Austin who captured the fans' imagination and became their anti-hero.  The company was about to switch gears in a major way.

The WWF's original plan for WrestleMania 13's centerpiece was a rematch of Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels from the previous year.  Shawn apparently suffered a knee injury just 6 weeks before the big show (which may or may not have faked, to avoid doing the job for Bret) and announced that he'd be taking time off indefinitely, thus relinquishing the WWF Title.  This left the company scrambling for a new main event to build the show around. 

Sucky main event, but this was a nice moment

Two title changes later, and the belt was back around the waist of Sycho Sid, who it was announced would be defending against The Undertaker (marking the first time Taker would challenge for a championship at WrestleMania).  Seemingly Taker and Sid tried to emulate the Taker-Diesel match from 'Mania 12, but unfortunately it failed to live up to that match, and a subpar main event was the result.  This match went too long and, as was often the case, Sid looked lost for much of it.  Taker finally won the WWF Title however, giving the show a feel-good ending.

The other big matchup was the aforementioned Steve Austin vs. an angry, edgier Bret Hart in a no holds barred Submission match, with UFC import Ken Shamrock as the guest referee.  The ensuing battle was nothing short of legendary.  From an action standpoint there have certainly been better matches (including Bret-Austin 1 at Survivor Series '96, IMO), but I can't think of a better example of pure storytelling in a wrestling match (in WWE at least).  Bret went into this match the babyface and left a reviled, vicious heel.  Austin went into the match a nasty bully and emerged as a gallant, tough-as-nails anti-hero.  The visual of Austin being trapped in Bret's Sharpshooter as torrents of blood streamed down his face became one of pro wrestling's iconic images.  Masterful work by both guys.

Is there a more violently iconic image in the history of wrestling?

The History of WWE WrestleMania: XII

Shawn Michaels realizes his Boyhood Dream.....

Arrowhead Pond - 3/31/96

'Mania 12 was a quantum leap over its predecessor in terms of big-show presentation and wrestling quality.  The card featured only six matches (plus one on the pre-show), but the WWF showcased their talented if somewhat shrunken roster plus a few nostalgic stars, with no guest celebrities whatsoever, and the result was a very solid show with few bad spots.

The hot opener was a very strong six-man tag with Vader, Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith facing off with Yokozuna, Ahmed Johnson, and Jake Roberts. Yoko had just turned babyface after being scorned by manager Jim Cornette in favor of Vader.  Had Yoko's team won he'd have gotten Cornette in the ring for five minutes.  This star-studded match was fast-paced and helped build the Vader contingent as a dominant heel faction, after Vader took out Jake with a Vader Bomb.

Next up was the bizarre Backlot Brawl between Goldust and Roddy Piper - a very violent, stiff fight shot in the parking lot.  This portion of the "match" taken by itself was pretty solid and accomplished what it needed to.  Unfortunately it led to a lame recurring O.J. Simpson joke throughout the show and ended with Piper stripping Goldust down to his lingerie in the ring.  Not sure you could get away with an ending like this today.

STONE COLD!  STONE COLD!  ST-- Oh wait, that wasn't a thing yet?

In the third slot was the debut of a young lion named Stone Cold Steve Austin, who had a decent midcard bout with Savio Vega.  Nothing mindblowing, but not a bad 'Mania debut for the future Hall of Famer.  Austin won after hitting Savio with manager Ted Dibiase's Million Dollar Belt and slapping on a very bad looking Million Dollar Dream sleeper hold.

The fourth match was the only real throwaway of the night, as rising star Hunter Hearst Helmsley was killed dead by the returning Ultimate Warrior (who would be gone from the company again four months later and did basically nothing to increase ratings).  A pointless 90-second squash on the biggest PPV of the year.  Warrior infamously informed Hunter backstage, "I'm beating you in 90 seconds."  Things would get worse for HHH over the next few months in the wake of his friends Hall & Nash leaving.

The History of WWE WrestleMania: XI

This here WrestleMania is what you might call "half-assed."

Hartford Civic Center - 4/2/95

Here's one of those WrestleMania shows that felt nothing like a supercard should.  The HCC was probably the worst venue ever chosen for 'Mania, and while there was nothing out-and-out offensive on the card, it also didn't seem special in any way.

The WWF tried to create a media blitz by featuring Bam Bam Bigelow against NY Giants superstar Lawrence Taylor, much like they featured Mr. T a decade earlier.  The only problem was #1 LT wasn't a household name like Mr. T, and Bam Bam was a midcard heel with little main event credibility.  The fact that this match went on last is astounding.  It was an ok bout, and LT did the best with what little wrestling acumen he possessed.  But this is a perfect example of why non-wrestling celebrities should not be given an in-ring role, especially if they're supposed to be the babyface.  It leads to a no-win situation, as the non-wrestler basically has to win the match to keep the audience happy, but it makes the actual wrestler look incredibly weak when he loses to an untrained guest star.  If anyone with even a modicum of athletic ability can train for a month and beat an established veteran wrestler, what's so difficult about being a trained veteran wrestler?

So.  You're goin' with that as the main event?  Alright then.

The real main event of the show was also the only real bright spot on the card, as former friends Diesel and Shawn Michaels battled for the WWF Title.  Diesel's sudden main event push was the WWF's attempt to recreate the success of Hulk Hogan.  Sadly Kevin Nash had nowhere near the overwhelming fan support Hogan did, and the Hartford crowd actually ended up cheering the breathtaking athletic abilities of Shawn Michaels.  Even in losing the match, Shawn positioned himself as the next main event babyface.

The History of WWE WrestleMania: X

Well this is more like it.  Moving into the era of The New WWF Generation.....

Madison Square Garden - 3/20/94

For the tenth edition of 'Mania, the WWF returned to the hallowed Madison Square Garden.  This installment featured not one, but two WWF Title matches, as co-Rumble winners Bret Hart and Lex Luger each got a crack at Yokozuna's championship.

However it was the opening bout and a match where Shawn Michaels danced with a ladder that stole the show.

Since Luger won the coin toss to face Yokozuna first (not sure why that's winning exactly, but ok), Bret had to wrestle a secondary match prior to getting his own title shot.  Luckily for everyone, he had just begun a feud with his brother Owen, and the Hart brothers tore the house down in the opening contest.  Famously the brothers had worked out an action-packed, high-flying match but Bret realized the night before the event that a bunch of aerial moves would get Owen cheered instead of booed.  So they scrapped everything and started over.  No complaints from me - this match was twenty minutes of some of the finest wrestling I've ever seen, capped off by a career-making win for Owen. 

Still one of the best matches of all time

One of the weirder matches I've witnessed took place third on the card, as Randy Savage fought Crush in a variation of a Falls Count Anywhere match.  Now I'm not sure if someone in charge was drunk when they came up with this, or if they were just confused by the FCA rules, but in this case the object was to pin your opponent outside the ring, roll back into the ring, and hope the opponent couldn't get back in within 60 seconds.  There were three falls in this match before Crush finally failed to get back within the time limit, which meant that in a 9-minute match, nearly 3 full minutes consisted of one of the wrestlers waiting inside the ring for the other to climb back in.  Did TNA come up with these rules?

Wrestling Do-Overs: WrestleMania IX

Welcome to another edition of Wrestling Do-Overs, where I'll examine a wrestling show or angle and reshape it as I think it should've been (For other examples see my WrestleMania IV and Starrcade '89 editions).  Today I'll be going back and retroactively fixing what is the most widely reviled of all WrestleManias, the ninth edition!

Now let me preface this by saying 'Mania 9 is not my least favorite of them all.  It's certainly not a good show but it had a few decent matches and despite the worst-booked ending ever in the history of wrestling-- nay, entertainment-- nay, humankind, there have been worse installments in WrestleMania history.

But don't think I'm letting this show off the hook.  It was quite clearly a mess and could've been fixed up pretty nicely with only a few adjustments.  So let's first take a look at the lineup and see why it didn't work.


Intercontinental Championship: Shawn Michaels vs. Tatanka - 18:13
The Steiner Brothers vs. The Headshrinkers - 14:22
Doink the Clown vs. Crush - 8:28
Razor Ramon vs. Bob Backlund - 3:45
Tag Team Championship: Money Inc. vs. The Mega-Maniacs - 18:27
Lex Luger vs. Mr. Perfect - 10:56
The Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez - 7:33
WWF Championship: Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna - 8:55
WWF Championship: Yokozuna vs. Hulk Hogan - 0:22


Yeesh, that's what passed for a WrestleMania lineup in 1993?  Okay, first let's look at what did work.

To start with, I kinda liked the Roman Colosseum theme - I know, it was corny and led to way too many cheap laughs, but overall I enjoyed the idea of dressing up Caesar's Palace as a Roman arena.  It gave the show a nice sense of pageantry and made it look different from other PPVs and even other WrestleManias.  Could they have left out some of the window dressing, like making the announcers dress up in togas?  Yes.  But overall I didn't have a problem with the theme, and holding the event outside made it feel special.  By the way, the officially announced attendance figure was 16,891.  I call bullshit on that.  Look at this pic below.  No chance in hell did they fit more than 8,000 in that little venue, and that's being generous.

17 thousand people my ass

A few of the matches were good, as I said before.

The opening Shawn Michaels-Tatanka match was solid stuff, and while certainly not one of Shawn's career highlights, was easily the best match Tatanka ever had.  This got a good amount of time (though I would've shortened it to maybe 15 minutes) and Shawn got to steal the show (by default, but still).  The countout ending was weak, but I still like this match.

The Steiners-Headshrinkers bout was another good one.  Rick and Scott had burst on the WWF scene a few months earlier and were way over, and these two teams meshed quite well actually.  I'll never forget the spot where Rick reversed a Doomsday Device-type move by catching Samu in midair and suplexing him off Fatu's shoulders.  Just a sick spot.

This was both craze-balls and amaze-balls

I found Crush vs. Doink inoffensive and mildly entertaining, so I'll leave that one alone.  Doink's psycho clown character was great, and so of course they turned him babyface six months later and he became a throwaway comedy act.  Dipshits.  Anywho, this match can stay just because it furthered a feud.

The History of WWE WrestleMania: IX

A unique presentation couldn't save this show from its abysmal ending....

Caesar's Palace - 4/4/93

What an odd little piece of wrestling lore this event was.  From the Roman-themed venue/set design to the size mismatch of the main event, this installment was nothing if not unique.  It was the first outdoor WrestleMania and the first without both Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura on commentary - Jim Ross made his WWF debut instead (helluva way to start a new job!).  It also featured a much younger overall roster than previous shows, as quite a few stars made their 'Mania debuts here.

'Mania 9 is considered by many to be the worst of the bunch.  I don't agree with that statement, but it's certainly something of a mess.  The show started out well enough, with a strong I-C match between Shawn Michaels and Tatanka that actually got more time than any other match and featured the added intrigue of Shawn's ex-manager Sherri Martel facing off with Luna Vachon.  Things continued from there with a very good Steiners-Headshrinkers tag match that included one of the crazier spots I'd ever seen - Rick Steiner countering a Doomsday Device by catching Samu midair and nailing a belly-to-belly suplex.  Even Crush vs. Doink was passable in slot three - a goofy but sort of enjoyable brawl showcasing Doink's diabolical heel antics.

The show took a downturn with the bewilderingly short Bob Backlund vs. Razor Ramon, and then became a total clusterfuck as Money Inc. took on the returning Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake for the Tag belts.  The match dragged on for 18 minutes and was painful to watch, and ended with a DQ win for Money Inc.  Sadly this would not be the last we saw of Hogan that night.

Lex Luger vs. Mr. Perfect looked spectacular on paper but failed to crack 2-star territory, and the Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzales flat-out stunk up the place.

One of the most disappointing matches ever

Which brings us to the WWF title match.  What a bizarre main event - an established smaller workhorse against a totally unproven 500-pounder.  Bret Hart managed to get a quite entertaining little match out of Yokozuna, and then everything went to hell.

The History of WWE WrestleMania: VIII

WrestleMania returns to a stadium for a show that was half-great....

HoosierDome - 4/5/92

'Mania returned to a more fitting venue in 1992, as the WWF took over the HoosierDome in Indianapolis.  This stadium actually resembles a smaller Silverdome, so it made 'Mania 8 feel like a big deal.  The influx of new headliners, fresh matchups, and the double main event certainly didn't hurt either.

Seemingly the obvious main event for the 8th edition was Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan for the WWF Title.  It was the biggest dream match in the business, and throughout the 80s fans speculated on who was the bigger star.  Unfortunately the WWF somehow blew the whole thing by presenting this gigantic matchup with little fanfare, on a series of 1991 house shows.  And the match evidently didn't blow anyone's skirt up.  Couple that with Hogan deciding to take some time off in 1992, and the big dream match was off for WrestleMania.

Instead Flair defended the Title against a much more skilled opponent in Randy Savage, and Hogan once again tried to duplicate the Hogan-Andre dynamic by wrestling Sid Justice.

The WWF Title match was excellent and became the strongest WWF Title match in WrestleMania history at that time.  Flair and Savage put on a classic seesaw match that would launch the Macho Man back to the top of the roster.  Bafflingly, this match was not put in the main event slot, which sort of robbed Savage of his glorious WrestleMania moment.  Flair-Savage was fifth on the card of nine matches, and unfortunately everything that followed it was mediocre or worse.

Great shot.  Great match too.

The History of WWE WrestleMania: VII

It's a Star-Spangled WrestleMania.....in a tiny venue....

L.A. Sports Arena - 3/24/91

The seventh installment ended up being one of the most forgettable.  What was intended to be a record-smashing supershow in front of 100,000 fans at the L.A. Coliseum was relegated to the 15,000-seat Sports Arena when ticket sales fell horribly short of expectations.  That will happen though when your main event is little more than the exploitation of a minor real-life skirmish in the Middle East.  Why the WWF thought the US vs. Iraq angle would draw big business I'm not sure, especially since the real conflict ended over a month before WrestleMania.

Sgt. Slaughter was inexplicably brought in as a turncoat and almost immediately handed the WWF Title at the Royal Rumble, all so he could face the American Hero Hulk Hogan.  Surely a Hogan vs. Warrior rematch would've drawn the numbers they wanted, so I'm still unclear why they didn't go that route.

The match was what it was.  It certainly could've been worse, but it definitely wasn't good.  It's widely considered one of, if not THE worst all-time WrestleMania main event.  Slaughter was about as unworthy a WWF Champion as there's ever been and it was a sad day indeed when Hulk Hogan is by far the better worker in a given match.  This meandering brawl lasted over 21 minutes before Hogan mercifully put an end to the proceeding with the ol' big boot-legdrop combo.  Sadly this didn't even end the feud, as it stretched on and off until SummerSlam.  Christ almighty.....

Yep.  Can't imagine why this didn't sell 100,000 tickets.

'Mania 7 was saved however by the semi-main event of Randy Savage vs. The Ultimate Warrior, with the stipulation that the loser would have to retire.  This feud had been brewing for several months while Warrior was WWF Champion, but Savage was battling nagging injuries and was thus unable to compete for a while.  Though I don't consider this match nearly as great as most do, it was easily one of the WWF's best of 1991.  This match paved the way for the overuse of finishers in big matchups (see Austin vs. Rock).  Savage hit five flying elbow smashes in a row and failed to get the pin, and the Warrior finally won after three flying tackles.  Post-match Savage's manager Sherri Martel attacked him, having lost her meal ticket due to the retirement stip.  Who should come to Savage's rescue but Miss Elizabeth, much to the delight and tears of the crowd.  Savage would spend the next several months as a commentator before returning to action that November.

AEW Revolution 2026 Review: The Tragedy of Hangman Adam Page

Alright, finally watched AEW Revolution 2026 a day late (thanks Oscars!), and the short answer is, it was one of the best top-to-bottom PPVs AEW has ever done.  This show felt like the work of a super hot promotion, in a way AEW hasn't presented since early 2022 (taking nothing away from the quality of their 2023-2025 PPVs of course).  The Los Angeles crowd on this night was one of the loudest in a long time, and despite this show going a whopping five-and-a-half hours including Zero Hour, they never seemed to get tired.  On top of all that, the card featured a smorgasbord of excellent matches and a few big surprises.  And one booking decision that is sure to leave a lot of people scratching their heads until they look like MJF's back.

I guess we'll lead with the main event, since that was the biggest talking point.  MJF vs. Hangman Page in a Texas Death Match was 46 minutes of some of the most violent wrestling anyone's ever done on a North American show (MJF wore Terry Funk-inspired gear to mark the occasion).  Though I might classify Hangman-Swerve and maybe even Hangman-Mox II as slightly more grisly, this match was certainly one of AEW's most brutal offerings to date.  There are arguments to be made both ways; when you promise a Texas Death match you need to deliver one, but how far is too far, and what can you possibly do to top it next time?  Conventional wisdom says you risk turning off casual viewers with content this bloody, but then again, the Undertaker-Mankind Hell in a Cell match (among others) came during one of the WWF's most mainstream-accepted periods.  

For me the best way to judge a match like this is on its own terms.  What did it set out to accomplish, and did it succeed?  MJF and Hangman wanted to deliver an over-the-top display of wanton violence built on an emotional story with the highest imaginable stakes, and on that level it absolutely succeeded.  The live crowd was with them the whole time, in spite of the match's excessive length (I would say ten minutes could've been trimmed but it also didn't drag for me), and the finish hit hard emotionally.  These two used every weapon imaginable - chairs, tables, window glass, a syringe, kabob skewers, trash can lids, light tubes, a dog collar chain, and there was a spot through the electrical equipment table.  Both men gushed like crazy and likely have a few permanent scars now.  After withstanding everything they could do to each other, it looked like Hangman was finally getting the win with a Buckshot Lariat (the second one of the match), when MJF slipped on the diamond ring and punched him in the face with it before choking him out with the dog collar.  Hangman went unconscious, collapsed to the floor, and got counted down.  And now he can never challenge for the AEW Title again.

The History of WWE WrestleMania: VI

In my opinion the worst WrestleMania of all time.  Fight me.....

The Skydome - 4/1/90

'Mania returned to a stadium setting in 1990, with a gigantic face vs. face main event for both of the singles championships.  Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior was arguably an even bigger match than Hogan vs. Savage, in that it had never happened before and featured the company's top two babyfaces head to head.

The match itself was similar in style to the Hogan-Savage match from a year earlier, except it lacked a great wrestler to carry the workload.  Hogan and Warrior did what they could, but two mediocre wrestlers squaring off for 20+ minutes can only do so much.  While the aura surrounding the match was pretty epic, the match itself always left me rather bored, and I consider it one of the more overrated matches in WWF/E history.  It was notable however for being one of the few times Hulk Hogan ever jobbed cleanly.  This was a true passing of the torch (which unfortunately didn't really stick, but that's beside the point); a rare example of Hogan acting unselfishly and putting his stamp of approval on a would-be successor.

A titanic battle.....between two mediocre workers.

Movie Review: One Battle After Another (2025)

Plugging away at what's shaping up to be a busy fall movie season, it's time to review the latest from Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another!

Based on the 1990 Thomas Pynchon novel Vineland, PTA's tenth film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Teyana Taylor and newcomer Chase Infiniti.  Leo and Teyana are Pat Calhoun and Perfidia Beverly Hills, members of a far-left revolutionary group called the French 75, who run rescue operations for incarcerated undocumented immigrants, rob banks, and conduct after-hours bombings of financial and political offices.  The couple has a child together but Perfidia is arrested during a botched bank heist, and Pat and their daughter Charlene are forced to go into hiding.  Sixteen years later their past catches up with them when a military squad begins hunting down the remaining French 75 members.

I won't divulge more plot than that, as the trailer leaves vague all but what I mentioned above; this film is better experienced without knowing much.  Suffice to say PTA has loosely adapted this Reagan-era story for the 2020s and created a powderkeg of a film, a blend of piano-wire-taut suspense, absurdist comedy, and biting political satire.  

The History of WWE WrestleMania: V

The first WrestleMania I was able to watch live as it happened, via closed-circuit television....

Trump Plaza - 4/2/89

Oh we're still in this weird convention center, are we?  The fifth installment marked the first and only time the supercard was held in the same arena two years in a row.  'Mania 5 was also a 4-hour card and featured 14 matches.  This show succeeded where IV failed however in showcasing a mammoth featured bout, as former allies Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage collided for the WWF Title.

Hogan-Savage was the first WrestleMania main event that was actually a strong wrestling match, and also the first to exceed the fifteen minute mark.  If Savage-Steamboat was the prototypical WWF workrate clinic, Hogan-Savage was the model for how to do an epic WWF main event match.  It was full of action, reversals, drama and intrique, and until the inevitably stupid "hulk-up" comeback/no-sell in the final minute, it was one of the best matches of 1989.  It was also the 18-month culmination of one of the best story arcs in wrestling history: the formation, ascension, and eventual implosion of the MegaPowers.  This was a brilliantly executed angle from start to finish.  Unfortunately Savage's stock was pretty damaged by this feud and he spent the next couple years as just another guy.

Savage looks less than thrilled about being tossed out of the main event picture.

The WrestleMania Intercontinental Title match somewhat returned to form as the Ultimate Warrior faced Rick Rude in a near show-stealer.  Their Summerslam rematch five months later would overshadow the initial clash, but this is still a fine undercard match with a great cheap ending - Warrior went to suplex Rude from the apron into the ring when Bobby Heenan tripped Warrior and held his leg down, allowing Rude to fall on top of him for the pin.

WrestleMania V was another show that simply had too much going on (a pattern that would continue for a couple more years), and a few trims to the lineup could've made this a much stronger overall card (Did we really need Heenan vs. Red Rooster, Dino Bravo vs. Ronnie Garvin, or Jim Duggan vs. Bad News Brown?).  Still there were a lot of fun little matches.  The opener, Hercules vs. King Haku was better than it had any right to be, Mr. Perfect vs. Blue Blazer was a solid showcase of unorthodox offense, the Hart Foundation vs. Honky Tonk & Valentine was a nice tag match, and the Rockers' 'Mania debut against the Twin Towers ended up as a very enjoyable size mismatch and one of the best bouts of the night.

Shawn's first WrestleMania

Wrestling Do-Overs: WWF WrestleMania IV

What up fools?  Welcome to Wrestling Do-Overs, where I'll take a famous pro wrestling card or angle and reimagine it the way I would've booked it.

Today I'll be talking about WrestleMania IV, which took place March 27, 1988 at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City.  This show is best remembered for the first-ever WWF Title tournament which saw Randy "Macho Man" Savage win four matches to become the new Champion.  Now all that is great, but the show itself from a wrestling standpoint, well.....kinda sucked.  They tried to cram sixteen matches on a four-hour PPV, only one of which lasted more than twelve minutes (that being a terribly dull fifteen-minute draw in the first round).  There was simply too much going on and not enough time for any of the individual matches to properly deliver.

So I'm going to overhaul the card and present it the way I think it should've gone down.  Before I do though, let's look at the card the way it actually transpired:

Plus:

20-Man Battle Royal
Honky Tonk Man vs. Brutus Beefcake
Ultimate Warrior vs. Hercules
British Bulldogs/Koko B. Ware vs. Islanders/Bobby Heenan
Strike Force vs. Demolition

See what I mean?  There just wasn't enough good wrestling going on, and even the tournament final/main event was an overbooked nine-minute mess when it should've been a potential Match of the Year.

So first off, let's change the 14-man tournament to an 8-man.  Now I know what you're thinking; but Justin, Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant are supposed to get a bye into the second round!  And they still do; Hogan and Andre are automatically entered into the tournament, whereas the remaining six competitors have to win qualifying matches on WWF Superstars of Wrestling in the weeks leading up to the show. 


Tournament Qualifiers

Ted Dibiase defeats Don Muraco
Jim Duggan defeats One Man Gang
Randy Savage defeats Butch Reed
Ricky Steamboat defeats Greg Valentine
Jake Roberts defeats Dino Bravo
Rick Rude defeats Bam Bam Bigelow

So your first-round bracket looks like this:

The History of WWE WrestleMania: IV

Continuing with Enuffa.com's History of WrestleMania, today I'll be covering the one edition that featured a championship tournament.  And it ended up kind of a bloated mess....

Trump Plaza - 3/27/88

'Mania IV was assembled with the intent of giving us the biggest edition to date, with the centerpiece being the first-ever WWF World Title tournament, the result of a controversial Hulk Hogan-Andre the Giant match on NBC that saw Hogan screwed out of the Championship only for Andre to turn around and sell the belt to Ted Dibiase.  WrestleMania IV featured a huge roster and was expanded to three-and-a-half hours to accommodate the sprawling 16-match card.

Unfortunately this show suffered from simply having too much going on, not to mention some absolutely terrible booking.  The tournament involved 14 men and all by itself necessitated 11 matches.  As a result almost none of the tourney matches, including the final, were given enough time to be very memorable.  The venue is also a far cry from the Silverdome, Trump Plaza being a rather cavernous arena where the crowd consisted largely of Donald Trump's business associates who showed almost no enthusiasm for the four-hour wrestling bonanza.

This was goofy fun

The undercard featured a battle royal (which was fun but of little importance except as a way to turn Bret Hart babyface after he was doublecrossed by Bad News Brown), Ultimate Warrior vs. Hercules in a clash of powerhouses (which was so short as to barely warrant a mention), a British Bulldogs/Koko vs. Islanders/Bobby Heenan six-man tag, nowhere near as good as the previous year's Bulldogs-Harts match, which ended in similar fashion with the non-wrestler pinning one of the Bulldogs.  Those poor Bulldogs....

There were also two title matches - I-C Champion The Honky Tonk Man faced the wildly popular Brutus Beefcake in a brief and forgettable DQ loss, while Strike Force and Demolition was one of the few strong matches on the card, ending with Ax murdering Rick Martel with Mr. Fuji's cane in a finish very similar to the WrestleMania I Tag Title match.  Thus began Demolition's record-breaking title run.

The WWF Title tournament itself was fine in theory but very poor in execution.  Only four of the 14 participants really had a chance of leaving 'Mania as the Champion, and two of them were eliminated in their first match.  The Hogan vs. Andre quarterfinal bout marked the first time a WrestleMania featured a rematch from the previous year.  Sadly where their 1987 encounter was extremely memorable and has achieved legendary status, its 1988 threequel was little more than a throwaway designed to get both men out of the tournament (via a clumsy-as-shit double disqualification after Hogan hit Andre with a chair, then Andre hit Hogan with the same chair).  Really the only standout match in this entire tourney was the first-round match between Ricky Steamboat and Greg Valentine.  Everything else was either too short (Bam Bam Bigelow vs. One Man Gang for example, which ended when OMG refused to let Bam Bam back into the ring and the referee inexplicably counted Bigelow out), inoffensive but instantly forgettable (Dibiase vs. Don Muraco), or yawn-inducing (Jake Roberts vs. Rick Rude, which took place after their feud-inciting angle involving Jake's wife was taped, but before it aired).

AEW Revolution 2026 Preview & Predictions

It's March and you know what that means!  It's time for AEW's first PPV of 2026, Revolution.  This here is a stacked AF lineup....

Revolution is almost always one of the best PPVs of the year, no doubt partly because there's a two-plus month gap in AEW's PPV schedule beforehand.  Thus there's plenty of time to build a strong show full of meaningful matches.  As much as I tend to love AEW's PPV events, I wouldn't necessarily be sad if they cut the schedule from nine a year to eight, just to spread the April-December schedule out a bit more.  

Anyway, Revolution has ten main card matches scheduled, plus apparently a Big Boom AJ appearance (Wikipedia lists it as a match with opponent TBA, but WON's website says "appearance"), though I can't remember it ever being mentioned on Dynamite.  There are also two big pre-show matches, both for championships.  This roster is massive, isn't it?

AEW's signed another slew of excellent talent over the last few months.  Andrade (who's doing the best work of his career thus far), Gabe Kidd, Clark Connors, Lena Kross, Tommaso Ciampa, and now David Finlay (who everyone expected to go to WWE, but WWE were gonna stick him in developmental, or as it's now known, Hard Cam Academy).  It's an embarrassment of riches to be sure, and it's always dangerous to sign more wrestlers than you have room for, but man is there a fuckton of great talent in AEW right now... 

I've got a bone to pick with Tony though.  Why THE FUCK did you have to put this show head-to-head with the Oscars??  Couldn't it have been the night before?  Or during the afternoon?  I get that it's in L.A. and would have to start at like noon, but goddammit.  Looks like I'll have to wait till Monday evening to watch this, which means a 24-hour media blackout a la Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother.

Anyway let's get to the predictions...

Zero Hour AEW National Championship Blackjack Battle Royal

So is this the same as a Casino Battle Royal?  Did they change the name?  I assume it's the same rules since it's 21 guys.  Thus far the only names announced are the champion Ricochet and Tommaso Ciampa, but Mark Briscoe's gotta be a lock for it since he and Ciampa are feuding.  And Jack Perry is still chasing Ricochet so he'll be in it too.  A title change in this type of match seems weird but I could see Jack finally getting it.

Pick: Jack Perry, if he's in the match.  If not, Ric retains.

Oscar Film Journal: Lion (2016)

Welcome to another entry in the vaunted Oscar Film Journal, here at Enuffa.com!  When I started this project five years ago I'd seen 214 Best Pic nominees, and since that time I've viewed an additional 150.  Pretty cool, huh?

We're headed back to the mid-teens for one of the less-talked about Best Picture nominees of 2016, one that I kept putting off for whatever reason, the Garth Davis-helmed biographical drama Lion, starring Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman.  Based on actual events, Lion is the tale of a boy named Saroo from a tiny village in India, who in 1986 got separated from his family when he fell asleep on an empty train one night, waking up hundreds of miles away in a different region of the country with an entirely different language.  After months of living on the streets he was brought to the police by a concerned citizen and placed in an overcrowded orphanage, and ultimately adopted by an Australian couple.  Twenty years later as an adult, Saroo is on his way to a promising career in the hotel business, but finds himself suddenly obsessed with reconnecting with the life he'd left behind.  The problem is he never learned his mother's full name, nor the correct name of his village, and the train stop he remembers is one of hundreds in the region.

98th Academy Awards Preview & Predictions

Well it's that time again.  Man, seems like we just did this, hard to believe the Oscars are already upon us again.  This is the eleventh time Mr. Drinan and I go head-to-head in predicting the ceremony.  Let's get to it!

Glad to see Conan O'Brien is back to host again, he did a great job last year, particularly in his opening musical number "I Won't Waste Time."  Cracked me up.  Conan is one of the kings of stupid humor and I'm totally here for it.  

There are some fine films on the docket to win some gold, a few of them pretty important ones given the current state of affairs in this dump.  The world, particularly America, needs movies that make a statement perhaps more than it ever has.  So it's good to see some of these films get the recognition they deserve.  Oh, and to everyone whining about the winners making political statements in their acceptance speech?  Waaaaah.  The only reason you're crying about this is because they aren't making statements you agree with, and you know it.  Art is quite often political and it has the power to change the world.  Either come along for the ride or don't, but don't bitch about it.

Sinners has made Oscar history with a staggering SIXTEEN nominations, breaking All About Eve, Titanic, and La La Land's shared record of fourteen.  Quite an historic feat, particularly for a horror film.  The last supernatural horror movie the Academy took such notice of was The Exorcist.

I cannot thank the Academy enough for passing over Avatar: Fire and Ash so I don't have to watch it.  Jeezus H. Christ, those movies are fucking boring.

We also have a brand new category this year in Best Casting.  Good to see those folks finally acknowledged.  Years ago I had friends tell me I should've been a casting director when I predicted Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne and Edward Norton as Bruce Banner.  Apparently I have a gift for casting characters named Bruce.

Anyway, let's get to the picks..... 

Best Picture

Bugonia

F1

Frankenstein

Hamnet

Marty Supreme

One Battle After Another

The Secret Agent

Sentimental Value

Sinners

Train Dreams

Justin: I'm in pretty good shape going into this, having seen seven of the ten.  Hamnet is now on Peacock so I'm hoping to catch that before Sunday.  Marty Supreme will be on HBO Max but not until May it looks like, and I have no idea when The Secret Agent will be free to stream.  Anyway this looks to be another case of the Academy actually agreeing with me on what the best film of the year is, as all signs point to Paul Thomas Anderson's fourth (by my count) masterwork, One Battle After Another taking home the big one.  This film is fantastic and a much needed kick in the ass to our current status quo.  It's on HBO Max so go watch it if you haven't.

Pick: One Battle After Another

Mike: THE DRAMA STARTS EARLY FOLKS! One Battle After Another has certainly been the popular pick for this award ever since it was released, and for good reason. It’s a great film; dramatic yet hilarious, tense and ridiculous, emotional yet politically sharp. The movie has steamrolled all the pre-cursor award shows and is set up with one of the most historically impressive award winning resumes going into the Academy Awards. HOWEVER! Sinners possesses a small data point that makes this award intriguing. It won the SAG Ensemble award, ACE Award, and is probably going to win the WGA Original Screenplay. No film has had those three awards and lost the Best Picture category, with the lone exception being CODA. I loved both movies, but I felt as if I had seen films like One Battle After Another before. Sinners? I felt as if I had never seen that kind of movie before. It’s splitting hairs at this point but I have to follow my heart on this one.

Pick: Sinners

Oscar Film Journal: The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

And we're back with another Oscar Film Journal entry, here at Enuffa.com!

Strap in for a trip to the 1940s, specifically the first year of that decade, for a look at John Ford's acclaimed adaptation of John Steinbeck's Pulitzer-winning novel, The Grapes of Wrath.  Starring Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell and John Carradine, TGOW is the story of a family of Oklahoma sharecroppers who lose their farm to mechanization and are forced to relocate to California to find work.  Like the novel, this film is rife with sociopolitical commentary and takes a staunch pro-worker stance, depicting as its antagonists uncaring landowners, brutal deputized police, and a system that chews up and spits out the little guy.  Some classics never age.

We begin the story with Tom Joad (Fonda), one of the family's adult sons, who's just been released from prison on parole after accidentally killing a man in a bar fight.  He hitchhikes home to find his farmhouse deserted, and a neighbor informs him the wealthy landowners have run everyone off their farms to make way for new, more efficient machinery.  Tom finds the rest of his family nearby at his uncle's house, but that house is also set to be bulldozed the next day.  The family loads up their dilapidated jalopy and heads west to California, having received a handbill advertising hundreds of available farming jobs.  Of course they soon learn that thousands of those handbills were distributed, and jobs in California are now just as scarce as in Oklahoma.  

The History of WWE WrestleMania: III

The one edition that's totally critic-proof....

Pontiac Silverdome - 3/29/87

Now we're talkin'.  WrestleMania III was, and possibly still is, the biggest wrestling supercard of all time.  Arguably no single wrestling match has carried the sheer magnitude or mainstream appeal of Hogan vs. Andre.  There's a consensus among wrestling fans who grew up with this show: When it comes to WrestleMania III, star ratings need not apply.

Let's be honest, Hogan vs. Andre is a terrible, terrible match from an in-ring standpoint.  Had that been Dan Spivey vs. Big John Studd performing the exact same match, it would've been booed like X-Pac and ranked high on the all-time DUD list.  But somehow the mediocre Hogan and the damn near immobile Andre captured the imagination of everyone on that night, and delivered the best and most memorable awful match in history which climaxed with The Bodyslam Heard 'Round the World.

On the other end of the workrate spectrum lay the #2 draw of the night, Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat.  What can I say that hasn't been said already?  It's an all-time classic; a near-perfect match that has stood the test of time and then some. 'Mania 3 is remembered just as much for this match as for Hogan-Andre, and it became the prototype for the WWF-style five-star match.  Sadly Steamboat's planned long-term Intercontinental Title run was derailed when he asked for a reduced schedule to focus on his newborn son, and this would be his last great WWF match.

Goddamn this match is 17 kinds of awesome.

The History of WWE WrestleMania: 2

For the first and only time, WrestleMania emanates from multiple venues....

Nassau Coliseum/Rosemont Horizon/L.A. Sports Arena - 4/7/86

'Mania 2 was possibly the strangest of them all.  It took place from three different locations on a Monday(!) night.  The multi-venue format was clearly in response to Jim Crockett's Starrcade '85 being broadcast from two venues a few months earlier.  Three is bigger than two I guess, so Vince opted for a live one-hour card from three different time zones.  Unfortunately this made for a rather uneven show, and worse, the commentary suffered as the A-crew was split up and paired with B-level commentators and/or celebrities who knew nothing about the product.

Each hour of the show featured a main event match, preceded by three undercard matches (some of which were oddly truncated to the point that their inclusion at all is rather baffling).

The Nassau portion of the show was easily the weakest, headlined by a worked boxing match between Piper and Mr. T.  There is little in the sports-entertainment business that is less exciting to me than pretend boxing.  It simply doesn't work, especially when neither participant is particularly good at it.  Neither of them looked like legitimate fighters and the match was little more than a barrage of pulled punches.  An actual wrestling match could have been much more entertaining.

Wow, this stunk...

The first third of the show was notable for the WrestleMania debuts of Randy Savage and Jake Roberts, neither of whom really got to show what they were capable of.  The opening match on this show was probably the most disappointing, as on paper Don Muraco vs. Paul Orndorff looks pretty good.  Sadly they were only given about 4 minutes and they went to a rushed double countout.  Savage's match was by default the best of the Nassau portion, but it was little more than a comedic spectacle as his opponent George "The Animal" Steele was so uncontrollable.