411’s Countdown to WrestleMania 23: The WrestleMania XIII Roundtable Review
Posted by Larry Csonka on 03.23.2007
The dark days are upon us…but like the Phoenix, a classic rises from the ashes.
Introduction~!
WrestleMania XII ended with the Iron Man Match and Shawn Michaels' Boyhood Dream coming true and he would become the WWF Champion. WrestleMania XIII originally to be a rematch of HBK and Bret Hart, but then Shawn lost his smile and gave the title up. Psycho Sid Vicious would win the title and walk into WrestleMania to do battle with the Undertaker. Back to Bret Hart. He was brought out of his self-imposed retirement by Stone Cold Steve Austin and the two would do battle before WrestleMania numerous times, but the score had to be settled once and for all. They would meet in a Submission Match with UFC Hall of Famer (and later WWF Star) Ken Shamrock as the special referee. Also, the debut of the most electrifying man in sports and entertainment would make his WrestleMania debut, although no one thought that Rocky Maivia would be that guy. The stage was set, let's meet our analysts and break down the card!
Our analysts today are…
Formerly known as the Sultan, Stuart Carapola!
ECW Reporter and closet Snitsky fan, Mike Bauer!
Triple Threat member Sean Garmer!
Crocodile Dundee's 3rd cousin, Scott Rutherford!
WrestleMania XIII~!:
The Headbangers defeated The New Blackjacks, The Godwins and Furnas and Lafon @ 10:29 via pin
Stuart Carapola: The winner of this was going to get a shot at the WWF Tag Team Title the following evening on Monday Night Raw, and seeing an elimination match on any other WWF show than the Survivor Series was very unique at the time. However, the stipulation was rendered almost entirely meaningless when the New Blackjacks and Furnas & Lafon were both counted out, leaving it essentially as a regular tag match between the Headbangers and the Godwinns. The Headbangers won the match, and then didn't win the title the next night. This was the first of an entire evening of mostly crappy, meaningless matches.
Mike Bauer So this was for opener for WrestleMania XIII and it was possible the worst opener ever for a WrestleMania. The Headbangers were cool for all of a minute in the WWF, especially after they teamed up with the ICP later on down the road. The New Blackjacks did feature a future WWE Champion in JBL, but sucked hard here. The Godwins were two redneck farmers and Furnas and Lafon I couldn't remember if my life depended on it. This match was here just to get people on the show.
Sean Garmer This was apparently a #1 contender match for the tag titles and any team could tag anyone. We have a lot of future WWE mainstays of the attitude era here. Henry Godwin would later become Mideon and join Viscera in the corporate ministry. The Headbangers would become a popular tag team and got their big stage start here. I like that Thrasher is supporting a favorite band of mine on his shirt in White Zombie. Then there is Bradshaw who would go on to become World champion and an awesome commentator. The match started out all right with the Blackjacks and Lafon & Furnas having nice wrestling and high impact exchanges until they get themselves DQ'ed pretty early in the match. This left us with the Headbangers and Godwinns. It kind of went downhill from there. We got to see some nice tag team moves from Mosh and Thrasher but that about sums it up. At least the young Goth Punk team won.
Scott Rutherford: The Bangers were a hot Indy team and this match was their first on such a big stage. Granted the rest of the teams suck and the match itself was pretty lame but you would watch them and think they had the "it" factor you need to get around the WWF. While they never really caught on to that extent this was a fine coming out party for them but a horrible way to start a WM.
WWF IC Title Match: Rocky Maivia defeated The Sultan w/Iron Sheik and Backlund @ 9:47 via pin
Stuart Carapola: As big of a star as Rocky Maivia (aka The Rock) would become in later years, he didn't get off to a good start at all, as this is often remembered as one of the worst IC Title matches in WrestleMania history. Just about anyone watching could tell how green Rock was at this point, and they didn't do him any favors by giving someone with as little to work with as The Sultan for his WrestleMania debut. The Sultan isn't the worst worker in the world, and was of former fame as Headshrinker Fatu and would go on to further fame as Rikishi, but had really hit a rough spot in his career after the Headshrinkers broke up. This match was mostly a formality because nobody seriously expected The Sultan to win the title, and then after Rock got the anticlimactic victory, they made him look weak by having his father Rocky Johnson run in to save him from an attack by Bob Backlund and the Iron Sheik. It's really amazing when I look back at stuff from this era and then think about how big Rock became later on.
Mike Bauer Wow, Iron Shiek and Bob Backland together. There is an argument that could go on for three hours without anyone catching a breath or winning. As for he match, it really was THE turning point in Dwayne Johnson's career, no question about it. He was that cute baby face the ladies should love, but nobody bought it, even after his amazing Survivor Series win. So the crowd turned on him here and it led to one of the greatest careers of this generation.
Sean Garmer We have the Rock when he was trying so hard to be the typical baby face here against the man that would later become Rikishi in the Sultan. No matter how hard Rock tried the crowd still turned on him in this match. I still don't understand why Honky Tonk Man was out there on commentary but that's neither here nor there. You can that Rock oversells even in his younger years. The crowd was dead through most of this but at least that allowed WWE to notice that Rock would make a much better heel. The match itself pretty much sucked. For no reason we have a DQ just to have Rock's dad, Rocky Johnson come in and save him, only to get beat down, and have Rock save him. It shows just how hard WWE tried to get him over as a face.
Scott Rutherford: You know, just because a match suck doesn't mean it's not entertaining. Go and watch this match now and see what I mean. First you have the cooler than fuck Rock acting like a pretty boy baby face with move set that was almost highflying then you have the crowd who really didn't like him at all and slowly turned on him during the match. This would be history happening before your eyes because by SummerSlam he was your new mega-hot heel and the rest is er…history! It all starts here my friends and should be on your watching list for that fact alone.
Stuart Carapola: One year removed from his squash loss to the Ultimate Warrior, Hunter Hearst Helmsley (today known as Triple H) was a former IC Champion and once again back in the good graces of Vince McMahon following his months-long burial following the MSG Incident. Goldust, in the meantime, had dropped off big time in the last year. He went from IC Champion and one of the most heavily pushed men in the company to being turned face in an ill-advised move that killed most of his heat, and then he got to put Helmsley over again and again and again. This was the latest such meeting, and the only remarkable thing about this match was Marlena (aka Terri Runnels) bumping off the apron and into the arms of Chyna, who brutally shook her around like a rag doll. If you can believe it, Chyna was even more beastly looking here than in her later, "diva" days. I wonder what people in 1997 would think if I went back in time and told them that she would do a porno movie with the 123 Kid years later.
Mike Bauer The beginning of the attitude era, for most, began later on in the night, as it was the symbol of the new breed. But seeing Chyna throw around Marlena like one of those old stuffed wrestling dummies you had when you were a kid… now that my friends was a sign of things to come. Chyna really made HHH's bad ass side show, but it would take until later on in the year for us to really get the idea. The match itself was ok and considering what happened in May last year, he's lucky he even had this match.
Sean Garmer I think this is one of the matches that helped WWE see that he should be propelled into stardom. You can say what you want about Goldust's character but he was always a good wrestler that made something bizarre work. I didn't know Triple H developed half of the move set he uses now back in 1997. We can't forget either that Goldust used Snap Powerslams before Samoa Joe made them famous. This match was actually good and shows why Goldust and Triple H are both good at what they do. I don't think I've ever seen someone block a flying move with a jumping butt thump but it happened in this match. Chyna also established herself as a good bodyguard for Triple H by throwing Marlena (Terri Runnels) like a rag doll. Making her look like she could beat up anybody.
Scott Rutherford: Hunter had been marching along for a little while after costing himself a push thanks to the MSG Incident and was really treading water. Somewhere along the way they decided to pair him up with the muscle bound Amazonian she-man Chyna as his bodyguard and the result was something that made his heel character click with the fans. The icing of the Chyna character happened here at the end of the match when she grabbed Marlena and threw her around like a rag doll thus announcing she was one mean bitch, the likes we had never seen before. Amazing what moments start the new wave.
WWF Tag Title Match: Owen Hart & the British Bulldog vs. Vader & Mankind w/Paul Bearer went to a double count out @ 16:10
Stuart Carapola: Though my first reaction to this was thinking that this was thrown together to get all four men on the card and that there was no chance Vader and Mankind were winning the title, I later heard that this was indeed the plan and that Owen and Bulldog would split and feud afterward, and it was only Bret Hart's insistence on keeping Owen & Bulldog together to do the Hart Foundation angle that saved them at this show. The match itself was nothing at all to write home about, and ended in a double DQ. I guess they ended up just killing time for Owen and Bulldog after all.
Mike Bauer Yeah, this is definitely an odd match to have on a WrestleMania. Then again, having Vader and Mankind team up at all, considering what happened in Germany years earlier is even more bizarre. This match definitely was hurt by the fact there was no real face team here, but it was good for what it's worth.
Sean Garmer I have no idea why Mick Foley wouldn't work with Marc Mero but this match happened as a result of that. It was weird to see heel vs. heel matches at this point in time, so it probably wasn't as well received as it could have been. This involved four good guys ring wise so most would expect something passable. They actually seemed to work rather well together seeing as the match was kinda setup out of nowhere. The match was ok, and it sucks they had to do that double count out. However, since this match wasn't really supposed to happen and you didn't want to make your tag champs look like crap, I guess this was the best ending they could have had.
Scott Rutherford: This match was made because Foley refused to work with Marc Mero and said he would rather not wrestle than do something with Mero. So the match had no real hype about it and it was oddly a heel/heel match which confused the fans no end. While the match was okay and nothing horrible the lack of sympathetic faces hurt the heat segments and really hamstrung what could have been a wild match considering what Vader and Mankind could do and the selling Owen would give them.
Submission Match: Bret Hart defeated Steve Austin via submission @ 21:05
Stuart Carapola: This was the match that saved the show. WrestleMania 13 was easily one of the worst Wrestlemania's, but was saved from WM9 and WM11 territory by this match and this match alone. This has also gained fame as one of the greatest matches of the entire decade, and with good reason: this was a really, really good match. While we were mostly used to seeing Bret Hart rely on his technical wrestling and intelligence to beat opponents, this was just a dirty fight. Austin, on the other hand, had already lost to Bret, but this time was coming to win and would absolutely never, under any circumstances, submit to his hated enemy. While it was even Steven for most of the match, Bret took over toward the end and never let up. He gave Austin everything he had, but Austin wouldn't give up. Bret busted him open, Austin wouldn't quit. Bret trapped him in the Sharpshooter, Austin couldn't escape, but wouldn't quit. Finally, we get the famous finish where Austin, heavily bleeding and badly beaten, passes out in the Sharpshooter and referee Ken Shamrock stops the match. Bret won the match, but we went into uncharted territory afterward when Bret continued attacking, and after Shamrock pulled Bret off of Austin, Bret stood there staring at the crowd in shock as they almost uniformly booed him. Meanwhile, Austin was cheered by the fans as he slowly made his way back to his feet. The double turn was very well done, and it made the career of Steve Austin. Bret Hart, on the other hand, would slowly become obsolete and would be cut loose by the WWF later in the year following a minor disagreement in Montreal.
Mike Bauer Calling this the match of the night is like calling The Great Khali a waste of space, it's pretty obvious. On my list of top WrestleMania matches ever, I put this one at #3, behind the Ladder match between Michaels and Ramon and Chris Benoit's title win. But this match was just fucking brutal and totally amazing. The match is the beginning of the attitude era, the birth of Stone Cold, and the beginning of the end of Bret Hart all in one shot. The beauty of this match is that it signified what WrestleMania was all about, the ending of really long feuds, and this one had been nearly half a year into it by he time this match happened. And if you were to tell me that by the end of this match, Stone Cold would become a bigger face than Bret Hart, I would have never believed you. But the visual of Stone Cold locked in the Sharpshooter, bleeding like a stabbed bull in Spain, and passing out from the pain, and everyone was converted in a matter of seconds. Just an amazing match and a visual that will last a lifetime.
Sean Garmer Oh, how I hated whiny Bret, I was pulling for Austin in this one, especially since I was an HBK fan his arch nemesis had to go down. They picked the best special ref as it added to the realism because he could handle anything that went down in the match. I loved how even though this wasn't the main event, they made it seem like it was a big deal. With Stone Cold getting to go through the big panel of Austin 3:16 glass and Bret getting fireworks, what isn't there to say about the match. It still stands as one of the greatest matches ever and for sure top 5 in WrestleMania history. It was a brawl all the way through, they even went into the crowd to start out. Then Bret started working hard on Austin's leg, even doing a figure four on the ring post. Then Austin turned the tied with some chair shots, and he started taking control of the match-up with a variety of moves including a Boston Crab. Then things took another turn when Austin tried to apply the Sharpshooter on Bret and failed. Bret throws Austin into the railing and Austin is busted wide open. After that it becomes a blur of Bret taking out Austin at every turn and continuing to work on that leg as well. Bret tries once to put on the Sharpshooter but Austin counters it. Austin goes on one more run that includes a Superplex. He goes to choke out Bret with a cable but Bret is smarter and uses the ring bell to pop Austin in the head. This allows Bret to lock in the Sharpshooter. Austin try as he might is unable to break it, and then collapses from the blood loss. What an awesome ending, and Austin never quit. This is the match that finally turned the fans to liking Austin and the rest is history. As J.R. said early in the match "There really is no winner here" well he was right in a sense, because these are career shortening matches, but it provided a great victory for Austin in the long run.
Scott Rutherford: If you don't know about this match then you are a retard. The best WM match ever and one of the most famous of all time. The match signifies the birth of the Attitude Era, the decline of Bret Hart, the solidifying of Stone Cold as the future and the high water mark of what wrestling is. This is two guys made to wrestle each other going out there and just letting it all hang out but also not forgetting to tell a story in the ring. If you look at it coldly the match itself is mainly kick and punch brawling but as I always harp on about it's about WORKING a match and not the actual wrestling and the work they did was breathtaking. Everything looked good, it looked real and it looked vicious and it sucked you in and made you ride every second and when you give us that end of Austin passed out in a puddle of his own blood because he refused to quite you had every fan in the land a Stone Cold fan. Just fucking amazing.
Street Fight: Ahmed Johnson & The Legion of Doom defeated The Nation of Domination via pin @ 10:45
Stuart Carapola: Though this never got the credit I thought it deserved, I thought this was another really fun brawl. I guess people were so into ECW at the time that every other attempt at "hardcore" wrestling just paled in comparison. But whatever the reasoning, this was the latest chapter in the Faarooq-Johnson war that started when Faarooq injured Johnson's kidney and took him out of action for months. Ahmed got the Legion Of Doom to join him in his fight since they were also feuding with the Nation Of Domination, and chaos ensued. Ahmed and the LOD get the win, but I forgot how. I think this was the match where they hit the double Doomsday Device, but not 100% sure on that.
Mike Bauer Ah then, we have the wrong match to go between what just happened and the main event. Having two hard hitting slobber knockers back to back makes the later match look really bad by fan reaction. But this match was pretty good for six guys just beating the crap out of each other. The Nation wasn't even that strong in this match, just think… they eventually added the Rock.
Sean Garmer The hometown heroes LOD of course had the crowd on their side, but they were kinda burnout by the big match that just happened. They weren't kidding when they said everything goes because they even brought a kitchen sink. These hardcore brawls weren't seen much back then in the WWE world, so it was a fresh thing. The problem was that you probably shouldn't put a hardcore match on after they just had one the match before. Ahmed Johnson at this point was in a feud with Faarooq so that's why he was added to the match. Johnson showed lots of promise at one point but he got injured so many times that he cost himself his shot at the top. The match itself was a fun one. Animal could have broken Faarooq's neck early on when the table didn't break after an attempted piledriver. This was just a typical smash your opponent into crap for crowd reaction and it worked to an extent. Faarooq would eventually go through that table as Ahmed slammed him through it. Things got totally crazy at one point with Ahmed getting choked out with a rope. After Animal got in some shots with a road sign, Hawk would get choked with that rope. This was crazy wild action that you don't even see much today, which is actually quite fun to watch. The end comes after everyone gets the Doomsday Device one by one and LOD gets the win.
Scott Rutherford: I love this match. Garbage wrestling was still an oddity to the mainstream crowd so when you had 6 big tough guys beating the crap out of each other it felt really new and exciting. What doesn't help is that it comes on after that amazing Hart/Austin match so the crowd is a little on the burnt out side and thus seeming a little quite. If it had gone on after the HHH/Goldust match it would have been a crowd pleaser and probably the intensity of the men involved would have risen a few notches as well.
WWF World Title: The Undertaker defeated Sid via pin to become the NEW WWF Champion @ 21:19
Stuart Carapola: Okay, first things first. SID DID NOT CRAP HIS PANTS IN THIS MATCH. He's done some very weird things over the years, such as the Squeegee Incident and the scissor fight with Arn Anderson, but he did not crap his pants here. That's the sort of thing I think we would have noticed somehow. This was also not the planned main event, the main event was planned to be a Bret Hart-Shawn Michaels rematch, but Shawn's ill-timed knee injury (real or not) took that match off the cards, so Bret got Austin and we got this WWF Title match instead. This also marks the second time Sid wasn't planned to main event WrestleMania, but did anyway. I would have wanted to see this match a lot more in 1991, but by 1997 the thrill was gone and it just didn't come off as good as I would have hoped. The main thing they had to accomplish here was to further cement Bret Hart's heel turn, which they did by having him run out and try to distract both men. Hart's distraction led to Undertaker catching Sid in the Tombstone and spiking him for the win to begin The Undertaker Afterthought Title Reign Tour 1997. This also more or less marked the end of Sid in the WWF.
Mike Bauer And then we come to a match that was no doubt six minutes too long, but maybe it was The Undertaker's pull that caused the match to go as long as it did. It was The Taker's first real title reign, because I don't count that six day mess back in the early 90's. Everyone knew the Undertaker deserved this title reign, thought getting to it was pretty tough. It took a screwy ending at the rumble with Austin being eliminated but nobody seeing it, Shawn Michaels getting injured and vacating the title, and some real creative booking to get us to this moment. But what a moment it was.
Sean Garmer After skipping WrestleMania X because of an injury, and defeating King Kong Bundy at WM 11. Taker finally got his first big match-up at WrestleMania when he beat Diesel. This match probably wouldn't have happened if HBK didn't get injured earlier in the year. However, it's cool that Taker was able to get this match, even though I really wish Undertaker would have had a better opponent for his big WrestleMania title win, but beggars can't be choosers I guess. Bret comes out before the whole thing to further his whiny heel Bret character, which worked well. Onto the match itself, which wasn't really much. I don't really understand using a Bear hug on the Undertaker near the begging of the match but whatever. It kinda picks up when Taker gets thrown into the announce tables. It slowed down again after that. Taker of course always showing his athletic ability for a big man, which still amazes me to this day. Psycho Sid went up top too many times and would eventually pay for it big time, by getting a Flying Clothesline from Taker. It was cool seeing Sid counter the Tombstone into one of his own and almost getting the pin on Taker. Things would go to the outside where Bret would get involved once again, blasting Sid with a chair in the back. This let Taker nail a Choke slam but it wasn't over. Eventually, Bret gets involved again when Sid is about to hit a Powerbomb for the win, this distracts Sid, and Taker hits the Tombstone for the historic win. WrestleMania goes to the dark side in the end.
Scott Rutherford: It's a pity Sid held the title when he did because it robbed UT of having a great Mania match to win the title. But since we can't change that I wonder why this was booked to go 20 minutes when it was obvious neither man could carry the other that far. Smarter booking would have been better and maybe a special guest ref or a cage match stipulation to help hide the weaknesses of those involved. No matter what, I marked when UT won because he had deserved a title reign for a long time and getting the win at WM was thoroughly deserved.
The Conclusion:
Stuart Carapola: If you cut out the under card and the main event, then this would be a pretty good show. It would also be a show with only two matches on it. Of course I don't need to hype up Austin and Bret any more than it already has (and totally deserves), but the Street Fight is underrated. The main event was totally an afterthought to Bret-Austin, and it set the tone for Undertaker's entire title reign, often working second from the top before Bret Hart would come out for the main event. Certainly not the worst WrestleMania, but definitely bottom four material.
Mike Bauer When you have a Top 5 of all time match in the card, it automatically makes the card look a lot better than it should. The main event was too long, the opener was complete garbage, and the Tag Team Title match was a draining, confusing match that went right before the match that defined the new era of wrestling. But then, it's that one match that would get me to watch this all over again.
Sean Garmer This WrestleMania is based around two things. The great tide turning, match between Bret and Stone Cold that led to a double switch in personality. Turning Bret heel for the first time in his career and leading Stone Cold to main event stardom. Also Undertaker's streak goes to 6-0 with a WWE title win over Sid that gave the crowd a happy ending. Many people rag on this WrestleMania for having bad wrestling. Aside from the IC title match I really didn't see it. The opening tag match wasn't great but it wasn't bad either. Triple H vs. Goldust was actually quite good and the LOD brawl was tons of fun to watch. A solid WrestleMania with two grand events, which should be plenty for any wrestling fan to watch the show. If anything you have to see Bret vs. Austin because it is a classic.
Scott Rutherford: This card often gets bashed as being terribly awful but it actually has some fine moments and deserves a better look. Of course you have the best Mania match ever but it has a really fun street fight, a decent tag team title match, UT finally getting to win the title. Rocky Maivia hitting rock, ahem, bottom and an okay HHH/Goldust match that really help launch Helmsley into the upper card. There is a lot to like about this if you look in the right places.
