411’s Countdown to WrestleMania 23: The WrestleMania XI Roundtable Review

Introduction~!
Bret Hart has regained his title at WrestleMania X and was ridding high. But it would all end he lost that title, and come time for WrestleMania XI he was nowhere near the title picture. That would be occupied by Diesel and Shawn Michaels, who just the year prior was opening the show. Lex Luger had gone the opposite direction, from possible world champion to opening tag match. The Undertaker would battle King Kong Bundy as part of his war with the Million Dollar Corporation and Jeff Jarrett would defend his IC Title against former champion Razor Ramon. But none of that would be the main draw, no, that would fall to big man Bam Bam Bigelow. He would battle NFL Hall of Fame star Lawrence Taylor! Let’s meet our analysts and break down WrestleMania XI!

Our analysts today are…
The one who “manned up” and took on all of these shows Stuart Carapola!

ECW Extremist Mike Bauer!

From the 411 Sports Zone Randy Isbelle!

And finally, that dingo loving bastard Scott Rutherford!

WrestleMania XI~!: size=36>

The Allied Powers (Luger and Bulldog) defeated The Blu Twins @ 6:39 via pin

Stuart Carapola: Wow, talk about falling hard and fast, huh? Lex Luger was challenging for the WWF Title at WrestleMania 10, and now here he is jerking the curtain just one year later. That’s got to be some kind of record for plummeting down the card. Davey Boy Smith made his return to WrestleMania here, but was unfortunately stuck with Luger for a partner. Just for comparison, Davey Boy was the runner up at the Royal Rumble after starting the match just two months before this. it’s like any association with Lex Luger results in instant burial in the WWF. Their opponents are the Blu Twins, aka the Grimm Twins, aka Skull and 8_Ball, aka the Bruise Brothers, aka Creative Control, aka Ron and Don Harris. The gimmick may change, but the wrestler remains. Davey gets the win with a sunset flip off the top rope.

Mike Bauer What, you don’t remember either of these teams? Don’t worry, you aren’t alone. The Allied Powers consisted of Lex Luger and Davey Boy Smith. Luger, fresh off a huge downfall from last year’s WrestleMania, and The British Bulldog, fresh off going from #2 in to last one out in the Rumble, formed an interesting team here. They faced the Blu Twins, who have had more gimmick changes than anyone else ever in the WWF/WWE. The match was just kinda there and really didn’t get anyone going.

Randy Isbelle An interesting choice for a show opener, the WWE hoped that Lex Luger and the British Bulldog could get the crowd into the show. They even jobbed a promising heel tag team to do it. I am sure the Eli Brothers weren’t the first twin tag team gimmick, but they were the first that I personally can remember. The idea, to me at least, was fresh at the time, and a win over the Allied Powers could have made them a legit tag team. Instead, they decide to try and get a crowd pop by getting the faces over in a throw together tag team. Luger shows why he was taken out of the main event picture, as he was a step or two behind and then basically played cheerleader in the match.

Scott Rutherford: Lex Luger THUD! From potential champ to chump in one year. I actually like the Allied Powers tag team but I would have made them heels and really pushed them hard. The Blu Twins were the future Harris Brothers but looked like a pair of Bruiser Brody’s but with the no heat or talent. Awful way to start a dour WM.

Razor Ramon defeated Jeff Jarrett © @ 13:00 via DQ

Stuart Carapola: Jarrett had beaten Razor for the IC Title at the Royal Rumble thanks to interference from the Roadie, so Razor has his little buddy Sean Waltman, aka the 123 Kid in his corner here. For some reason, the match still had a silly DQ finish when the Roadie interfered, but the Kid came in and totally messed them both up. I figured this was meant to lead to the Kid getting the title at some point, but that never happened because the Kid suffered the first of many neck injuries, and when he got back he ended up turning heel and joining Ted Dibiase’s Corporation instead.

Mike Bauer So this comes after The Road-Doggie-Dogg helps Jarrett win the IC Title at the Royal Rumble. Ramon gets some back up… in the 1-2-3 Kid aka Sean Waltman. So he chose a guy who stole $10,000 from him when he first debuted as his backup. The ending is a DQ, which made Waltman look really good, but neck injuries kept The Kid from ever making a serious run at the title.

Randy Isbelle Even though I didn’t like the choice for the opener, this match was put in the perfect spot. After a match full of power moves and not much actual wrestling, they turn to a match full of psychology and *gasp* wrestling. The match was run at a great pace that told a good story in the ring, just what two wrestlers should do. I am a big fan of this style of wrestling, and really enjoyed this match…probably the match of the show for me. The fact that they actually went back to the leg injury that occurred all the way back at the Royal Rumble makes you wonder what happened to those writers, and where are they now, continuity people. I wish it didn’t have to end in a disqualification, but it really was the best choice to keep both participants look strong in the end.

Scott Rutherford: These guys had a decent chemistry together and this match is proof of that. I would normally think their styles would clash but Jarrett was always willing to work hard with Scott Hall and make a good match out of any situation. Odd they didn’t have Razor go over since he was heading for a SummerSlam showdown with Shawn again but it really doesn’t matter. Thankfully Vince would lose his hard on for non finishes in titles match not long after this.

The Undertaker defeated King Kong Bundy @ 6:40 via pin

Stuart Carapola: 1995 saw the Undertaker in a holding pattern for the entire year, as King Kong Bundy stole the urn at the Royal Rumble, and then it changed hands several times before Taker got it back at the end of the year. But this was all the way at the beginning of the saga, and since this was early in the Undertaker’s WrestleMania undefeated streak, I shouldn’t even need to tell you the outcome. Okay, fine, Undertaker won. Kama came out and stole the urn, lining up Undertaker’s next opponent

Mike Bauer Another bleh match in the Undertaker’s run to 14-0; he faced off with King Kong Bundy here for win #5, I believe. So we have his whole deal that started at last year’s Royal Rumble that the urn was the key to the Dead Man’s power. Everyone wanted it, but nobody could harness it. And the Undertaker destroyed everyone who dared to try and take it. Interesting side fact: While the MLB umpires were on strike, Larry Young was the referee for this match.

Randy Isbelle This match was basically set-up at the Royal Rumble when the Million Dollar Team, namely King Kong Bundy stole Undertaker’s urn. By the way, did anybody else notice that the urn was super sized for this storyline? Anyways, the match was not that great and in the end nobody truly won because Undertaker got the pin, but the Million Dollar Team kept the urn. All the match did was move Undertaker down the line of Million Dollar Team opponents and keep his streak alive, which they weren’t even talking about at this point.

Scott Rutherford: Another Mania another big slug for UT to wrestle. Bundy was nothing like the monster he was in his earlier tenure in the WWF since the fed was now full of big guys like him. He was literally nothing more than a JTTS by this point and he would have been better served to stay out of the game. This match is about as good as you would expect from these two which actually means it’s boring and slow.

Owen Hart and Yokozuna defeated The Smoking Guns to become the NEW WWF Tag Team Champions @ 9:42 via pin

Stuart Carapola: The Smoking Gunns had already beaten every other team in the WWF, so Owen challenged them to defend against himself and a mystery partner at WrestleMania. A lot of people thought it would be Jake Roberts or some other name out of the past, but instead we got former WWF Champion Yokozuna, and as soon as he came out, you might as well have handed the belts to Owen and Yoko. The Gunns did okay whenever Owen was in there, but Yokozuna completely obliterated them. Yoko hit the Banzai Drop and tagged in Owen, letting him make the symbolic cover to win his first title in the WWF.

Mike Bauer Yes, Yokozuna and Owen Hart a tag team and a decent one to boot. They already were linked with the whole Bret Hart/WrestleMania deal from a year ago, so why not? There was nobody else for the Gunns to defeat, so the title switch was definitely needed here. But with nobody knowing who Owen would choose, it made it that much more surprising. This did mark Owen’s first WWF title reign and it was long overdue.

Randy Isbelle I loved the psychology of this match, because it just showed how crafty Owen Hart was. He was given a tag team title shot if he could find himself a partner, that’s all he had to do, find a partner for WrestleMania and he would get a title shot. So who does he choose? Not only did the man who beat his brother at WrestleMania IX, which he then the following year at WrestleMania X, but also he was easily the largest wrestler in the WWF. Yokozuna was the perfect partner to choose in this match, and Owen knew it. The match went exactly as it should, The Smoking Gunns doing everything they can, but getting tossed around by Yokozuna. In the end, Owen gets the pin and wins the titles he wanted so badly, it is storylines working like this in matches that make me enjoy watching wrestling so much.

Scott Rutherford: I did it! This was a okay match but had so much storyline about it makes it great. Owen was sick of living in Bret’s shadow and had chased him for the year previous but couldn’t beat him for the title. When Owen started losing it about having never been a champion of any kind he sets up a tag title match at WM and brings out fucking Yokozuna as his partner which almost guaranteed the Gunn’s were fucked. The post match celebration by Owen was as classic as anything he had ever done. A neat little moment in the character development of Owen Hart but nothing rally more than that.

Submission Match: Bret Hart defeated Bob Backlund @ 9:35 via submission

Stuart Carapola: When you think of Bret Hart, WrestleMania, and submission matches, what’s the first thing that springs to mind? Oh yeah, Steve Austin. Well, Bret had another one at WrestleMania 11 against Bob Backlund, and it was nowhere near as good. Roddy Piper was guest referee for the second year in a row, and added very little to the match other than “oh cool, it’s Roddy Piper!”. I guess there’s nothing wrong with that. Bret has referred to this as one of his worst matches ever, and I can’t really disagree. Bret catches Backlund in the cross face chicken wing for the win

Mike Bauer I remember watching this match and thinking to myself, “They have got to make this better than watching Owen screw Bret out of the title at the Survivor Series.” Because this was the rematch everyone wanted after Bret got locked in the cross face chicken wing for what had to be near 10 minutes and refused to quit. It took Owen getting his mother to throw in the towel to force the match to end. This one was a huge disappointment, but it did its purpose by getting Bret the much-needed win over Backland. It also started the trend of using your opponent’s finishers against them as Bret won using that very cross face chicken wing.

Randy Isbelle This match had deja vu written all over it. The match was a repeat of their Survivor Series match, except they had to say “I Quit” so that the outcome came down to the two competitors. On top of that, Roddy Piper was the special referee, just like he was at Bret Hart’s last WrestleMania match. Other then the Undertaker/Bundy match, this was the low point in the show, as nothing new happened and seemed to just waste time. It was disappointing to see Bret Hart put in the rotating wheel that the WWE seems to put wrestlers in when they don’t know what to do with them, especially at a WrestleMania.

Scott Rutherford: This match was a waste. A big rematch from their Survivor Series old school classic it was really derailed by the Roddy Piper special guest ref stip and the bizarre ending that had Backland declared the loser even though he only grunted into the mic. These two should have been given 15 minutes and been left to their own devices and we would have had a classic. Alas it wasn’t meant to be. Pity.

Diesel © defeated Shawn Michaels @ 20:35 via pin

Stuart Carapola: This was the only match on the entire card I was looking forward to at the time. Diesel and Shawn Michaels had broken up and Diesel won the title and got the baby face push since he was big and muscular, but the fans were a lot more supportive of Michaels, and a lot of people (myself included) were really disappointed when Michaels didn’t win the title. Still, Diesel and Michaels are buddies and Michaels went out of his way to carry Diesel to one of his best matches ever. Michaels doing the job back then was a big thing, and I think that this was the first time Michaels had been pinned on TV in nearly two years. The goofy ending where Sid accidentally cost Michaels the title was designed to transition the feud to Diesel vs. Sid, but that feud didn’t go over well at all, and even though they were drawing houses in the hundreds, they didn’t want to do any more Michaels vs. Diesel matches for some reason. As disappointed as I was that he lost at WrestleMania 11, Michaels wasn’t done in the WrestleMania title picture.

Mike Bauer So, Shawn Michaels went the distance as the first entrant into the rumble and won it all. His prize, besides the title shot, was getting escorted to the ring by one of the hottest women at the time, Pamela Anderson. Well, nobody could find Ms. Baywatch, so the main event celebs were juggled around. Jonathan Taylor Thomas was the guest timekeeper, while Nicholas Turturo was the guest ring announcer. And instead of Pamela, Shawn Michaels got brought down the aisle by Jenny McCarthy. Pamela ended up showing her face with Diesel instead and it just added some fuel to the fire of this one. The match itself had to the best match of Kevin Nash’s career, because it’s Shawn Michaels he was up against. In the end, Big Daddy Cool kept the title and Psycho Sid ended up laying out Shawn Michaels the very next week. Despite the friendship we already know, I think this match officially started the beginning of us seeing the Kliq in full effect.

Randy Isbelle I really like the set-up to the match, with Shawn Michaels and Diesel splitting up because Shawn thought he was ungrateful for everything he did for him. Diesel then goes and squashes Backlund at a house show for the title, while Shawn Michaels goes from #1 in the Royal Rumble to eventual winner. He then replaces Diesel with Psycho Sid and heads to WrestleMania looking to prove that he was the better half of that tag team. It is not everyday that you see the underdog role played by the heel in the match, but Shawn played it off perfectly. Getting tossed around by the 7 footer all match, only to get the upper hand by using those dirty tactics he knew so well. The match did its job, and really made superstars out of all 3, though many can say that Sid already had a name for himself, his turn on Michaels the next night really helped catapult him into a true contender for the title.

Scott Rutherford: This was the real main event and the start of Shawn as a legit main eventer. Mind you, Shawn the prick was in full force as well since he went out of his way to scoop the heat of his best friend and make him look more than a little crappy to get himself over but hey, he’s Shawn Michaels. This match gets a fair amount of love and was strangely voted MOTY by the RSVP crew when there was easily a bunch of matches better in the WWF itself let alone the rest of the world. While it isn’t bad it has more value in watching Shawn be completely selfish and turning himself face instead of playing the heel he should have been. Interesting to look at but the match is nothing special.

Lawrence Taylor defeated Bam Bam Bigelow @ 11:45 via pin

Stuart Carapola Scott Keith once described this as the Savage-Steamboat of celebrity matches, and I couldn’t come up with a better description of it. Though he was preceded by Mr. T at the first couple of WrestleMania, looking back I can’t believe they put Lawrence Taylor out there in a singles match instead of putting him in a tag match where he could have a partner carry him. But to his credit, Taylor did a great job out there. Yes, Bigelow and Patterson were out there telling him what to do every step of the way, but Taylor looked better in this one match than Steve McMichael did for the first two years of his wrestling career. Of course Taylor went over, and I heard that Bigelow was supposed to get a run with the WWF Title in exchange for doing the job, but that never ended up happening and Bigelow’s career was ruined as a result. No matter what, Bigelow would be forevermore remembered as “the guy who lost to the football player at WrestleMania”.

Mike Bauer If I were to bet money that any celebrity would beat a professional wrestler in the main event of WrestleMania, the last match I would have bet on would have been this one. I still am in shock that Taylor won and I still can’t believe that Bam Bam was willing to do the job. But to his credit, Taylor looked every bit as good in there as he did as a member of the New York Giants. Bam Bam definitely went down hill from here. He got kicked out of the Million Dollar clan and joined up with Diesel. But think about it, if this never happened, Bigelow would have never joined ECW and we would have never seen some of the sickest spots in wrestling history. Don’t think so? Just ask Tazz.

Randy Isbelle The only reason WrestleMania 11 is even remembered is because of this match-up right here. Lawrence Taylor going out of his element to take one of the best big men in the wrestling business. The match basically turns into a lumberjack match as Bam Bam is part of the Million Dollar Team, so Lawrence creates his team of football players to counteract him. LT held his own in the ring, even pulling off a few suplexes, but Bam Bam really had to carry the match, but really did you expect anything other then that?

Scott Rutherford: The Death of Bam Bam. We, sort of. Well, yes it was. I don’t know what Vince paid him to job clean to a non-wrestler but I sure hope for his sake it was worth it. The big thing about this match is just how good it was. Bam Bam was the ultimate pro that went out and turned a shitty situation for him into the best celebrity wrestling match ever and let’s face it, a really good match period. LT was pretty much sucking wind 5 minutes in and Bigelow worked his ass off to make him look like a winner. Have a look at LT by the end and see him barely able to lift his arms in exhaustion and Bam Bam who worked 10 times as hard as him barely breathing hard. You tell me wrestlers aren’t athletes!

The Conclusion:

Stuart Carapola: The only reason to watch this show is the double main event. As usual, Shawn Michaels carries the only good match on the entire PPV, in this case with his good buddy Kevin Nash, and does a rare pin fall job to boot. On the other side, you have Lawrence Taylor’s fabled victory over Bam Bam Bigelow that got huge amounts of media coverage which the WWF was completely unable to capitalize on the way they would with Mike Tyson three years later. The entire rest of the card sucks really, really bad. This show was a real letdown after WrestleMania 10.

Mike Bauer Only a seven match card, so it didn’t feel like a WrestleMania. The whole card was a huge disappointment, but with the high expectations after WrestleMania X, it is easy to see why. The WWF picked the ball back up in a huge way the following year, but as for WrestleMania XI, it gets a moderate thumbs down.

Randy Isbelle WrestleMania 11 was actually the first WrestleMania I watched live, and loved it as a kid. Looking back at it today, they had a ton of technical problems, and it just seemed like they didn’t set up for it as well as they usually do. The card had more of a Summerslam feel, with most of the matches being rematches from previous PPVs. WrestleMania 11 may have been one of the worst produced out of the first 22, but it still has some good matches hiding in there.

Scott Rutherford: I’ve never been a big fan of this show but I was surprised at the amount of solid matches that it has. The problem is that none of them are really great or have the historical element that really compels you to check it out. Nothing really happens and everything is just sort of there. The Bigelow/LT is an historical curiosity but since LT didn’t pursue a career in wrestling it means less as the years go on. Watch it if you really want to but if you don’t you are not missing anything important.