From the Bowery: WrestleMania IX

Posted by Robert Leighty Jr. on 03.16.2009

Hart was okay with this, but had a problem with losing to Michaels in Montreal?

From the Bowery: WrestleMania IX
-Las Vegas, NV
-April 4, 1993

-A year removed from the previous WrestleMania saw a lot of change in the WWF. All the marquee stars either left or were given different roles in the company. Hogan “retired” at the end of WrestleMania VII, Savage was stuck at the announce table, Flair left for WCW, Sid was gone, and Warrior soon followed. This left Bret Hart and he was given his first run with the WWF Title. A new monster was created in Yokozuna and he won the 93 Rumble without breaking a sweat. This was the first Rumble to have the added stipulation of the winner getting a title shot at WrestleMania. For some reason Vince feared the show would bomb and turned to the one person he could bank on: Hulk Hogan. With his movie career not doing what he thought Hogan found himself back in the ring and back at WrestleMania. This being Hogan though a throw away match for the Tag Titles wasn’t good enough, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

-This is the first outdoor Mania as it takes place at Caesar’s Palace and it does make for quite the visual.

-Our host is Gorilla Monsoon and he introduces the latest addition to the WWF family: Jim Ross (in a toga). He is on commentary with Randy Savage and Bobby Heenan. The opening ceremonies feature Cleopatra and Caesar coming to the ring on an elephant. Savage comes out next and he is being carried to the ring and being fed grapes by some virgins. Heenan gets the raw end of the deal and is stuck coming to the ring on a camel. Ever the sport Heenan rides the thing backwards.

Intercontinental Title: Shawn Michaels © (w/ Luna Vachon) vs. Tatanka (w/ Sherri)

-Shawn had dumped Sherri during his feud with Marty, and she is looking for payback as she joins Tatanka at ringside. Shawn brings the debuting Luna Vachon with him. Tatanka was still undefeated at the time I believe, and as a kid I had high hopes for this match for some reason. Shawn goes for a single leg on two occasions, but keeps getting kicked off. The story is that Tatanka beat Shawn in a 6 Man Tag and a non-title match leading to this match. Shawn works a wristlock, but Tatanka is able to bridge, and powers out of the hold. Shawn goes to a side headlock, but Tatanka breaks with a belly to back suplex. A blind charge by Tatanka eats buckle, but Shawn gets arm dragged coming off the top rope. Shawn starts bumping like a mad man when he is tossed into the buckle, and does a complete twist to the floor to sell a punch. Tatanka keeps Shawn from getting back in the ring with his Native American offense: chopping. A sunset flip gets a 2 count for Shawn. The criss cross the ropes a few times, and it ends with Shawn getting caught with a inverted atomic drop. Tatanka works the left shoulder which Heenan points out was injured in the earlier 6 man tag. He pounds the shoulder with chops, and gets the pressure with an armbar. Shawn tries for the hair, and has a cat and mouse game with the ref over it. In a nice move Shawn tries a clothesline, but it hurts him more than Tatanka. Very nice! Only took Heenan 7 minutes into the opening contest to start making Oklahoma jokes at Ross’ expense. Shawn charges, but Tatanka moves and the shoulder hits the post flush. Now Savage takes a chance to take a shot at Oklahoma. Shawn is just getting dominated at this point, and eats a nasty shoulder breaker. A chop from the top rope connects with Shawn’s shoulder, but Tatanka gets too cute and tries it again. In a great spot he eats what is now Sweet Chin Music on his was down. Not as impressive as when Shelton spring boarded into it, but still nice. Shawn dives off the apron to the floor with a clothesline, and starts taunting Sherri. The crowd seems more intrigued by that than this match so far. A swinging neckbreaker gets a two count for Shawn, and he follows that with a nice standing dropkick. Things slow down a bit when Shawn grabs a headlock. The crowd starts to rally behind Tatanka, but it does him no good. They blow a victory roll spot, but it still gets a 2 count for Shawn. He goes back to the victory roll, but gets dropped by Tatanka with the electric chair drop. That gets a hot near fall. An elbow drop misses, and Shawn comes off the middle rope with a double axe, but it is no sold. Tatanka hulks-up, throws some chops, and gets a top rope cross body for a two count. Shawn gets catapulted into the steel post, and gets rolled up on the rebound for another two count. Shawn goes up top and gets caught coming down with a swank powerslam. They head to the floor, and Shawn eats the stairs when he misses a crossbody. Shawn has had enough and pulls the ref from the ring. Tatanka hits the fall away slam, but the ref pulls Tatanka off because Shawn was disqualified. Weak ass ending to a pretty good match there. Shawn bails with the title, and Luna takes this as her chance to beat the piss out of Sherri. Tatanka makes the save.

Winner: Tatanka by count-out @ 18:30
-This was a pretty strong match, and better than I remember. The ending really hurts things, but up to that point I was enjoying all of this. The hit some impressive spots, and Shawn sold the shoulder injury pretty well. ***

-Gene interviews the Steiners, and references Michigan being on a roll in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. That would be the year Chris Webber fucked up beyond repair in the title game. Fear not Michigan fans because had you won that game, it would have been taken away years later when the rules violations came to light.

The Headshrinkers (w/ Afa) vs. The Steiner Brothers

-JR introduces the WWF world to the term slobberknocker for the first time. Fatu (Rikishi) starts things with Scott. Seeing Scott Steiner here compared to what he looks like today is pretty damn jarring. Scott works the arm, but gets backed into the corner. He reverses a hip-toss into one of his own. Both men slug it out in the ring, and Fatu does the flip sell off a steinerline. Scott gets backed into the corner again, and gets double teamed with some clubbering. The Shrinkers toss both men, but both Steiners head to the same corner, and come off the top with a clothesline. We are informed that Luna attacked Sherri at the first aid station. Rick and Samu now have a go, and it’s all Samu to start. Rick fires out of the corner with another steinerline, and makes the tag to Scott. He drops Samu with a double underhook suplex. In a rather impressive spot he gets caught in an assisted stungun, and goes all the way to the floor. On the floor Scott eats a kendo stick shot from Afa. Great sound there. Fatu hits a backbreaker, and drops a headbutt from the second rope. The cover is broken up by Rick. A blind charge misses, and Scott crawls to Rick, but Fatu cuts off the tag. Scott gets booted to the floor, and Samu sends him into the post. Scott rams Fatu’s head into the mat, but he simply bounces up and hits a swank version of Sweet Chin Music. I always enjoyed the fact that Samoan wrestlers always no sold anything involving their heads being targeted. The crowd tries to get behind the Steiners, but it does no good. Things slow down a lot as Fatu works a nerve hold. A double clothesline puts both men down, and each crawl for their corner. Heenan is having a great time with JR here and his Oklahoma heritage. Samu slams Scott and heads to the top rope. The swan dive headbutt misses, and the hot tag is finally made to Rick. He goes crazy with steinerlines, and rams their heads together. That’s just really stupid there. Sure enough the Shrinkers shake that off, and hit a double stroke (as it would be called today). The set Rick up for a Doomsday Device, but in a fucking awesome spot, Rick catches Samu and hits a belly to belly while on Fatu’s shoulders. That was some crazy shit. All four men brawl in the ring, and it settles down to Scott and Samu. Scott hits the frankensteiner to get the pin @ 14:22.

Winners: The Steiner Brothers via pin @ 14:22
-A strong, tag team, power match here. Things got bogged down a little in the middle, but all four men looked good out there. **3/4

-Gene interviews Doink the Clown, and we get footage of him blasting Crush on an edition of Superstars. Doink promises Crush will be seeing double vision.

Crush vs. Doink the Clown

-Crush looked to be a breakout star at this time, and lots of people still think he should have been pushed to the Moon over the summer instead of Luger. The evil clown incarnation of Doink is pretty awesome, while the one who hangs out with midgets less so awesome. Crush starts things on the floor and hits a suplex. Doink gets posted, and then sent into the railing. They head into the ring, and Doink gets overpowered, naturally. Crush lifts him off the mat with a double choke, and powers him back into the corner. Doink bails to the floor, and is able to pull Crush outside. Crush no sells everything, and continues the massacre. Back to the post for Doink, and he does all he can to run away. He tries begging off and that doesn’t work to well. The onslaught continues with a reverse neckbreaker, neck snap on the top rope, and a backbreaker. Doink finally gets the advantage when he drops Crush on the top rope neck first. He starts flying off each corner with forearms, and hits a sick looking piledriver. That looked pretty bad actually. Crush now gets bounced off the post, and Doink shows some power with a slam. The whoopee cushion from the top is countered by a well timed boot from Crush. Doink tries a cross body, but gets caught in a slam. He gets clotheslined to the floor, and crawls under the ring. Crush catches him, and pulls him back into the ring. Crush hits a military press slam, and signals for the cranium crush. Doink is able to get to the ropes, and the ref gets knocked down. Doink goes back under the ring, but again gets cut off by Crush. The cranium crush is finally locked in, and that cues the second Doink. He uses the loaded arm to blast Crush in the head. The two Doinks face off and mirror each other in a memorable moment. The ref comes too, and Doink gets the pin (to a good pop from the crowd) at 8:25. A second ref (Bill Alfonzo) comes down, but he can’t find the second Doink under the ring.

Winner: Doink via pin @ 8:25
-Outside of the ending this really wasn’t all that memorable. Trying to sell the idea it was an illusion instead of there being someone dressed like Doink was pretty stupid though. *1/4

Razor Ramon vs. Bob Backlund

-This would be the WrestleMania debut for both men which is kind of weird when you think about it. This was just before the 1-2-3 Kid upset of Ramon on RAW. Backlund offers a handshake, but Ramon tosses a toothpick at him. Razor overpowers Backlund so start, so Bob decides to use his speed and technical abilities. Razor’s not down with the wrestling and just punches away. Nothing of note really happens as Razor just continues to punch and kick away. He slaps the ginger out of Backlund in the corner, but that just pisses him off. He goes old man crazy on Ramon and hits a nice double underhook suplex. He ducks a punch, and botches an atomic drop on Ramon. He goes for a slam attempt, but Ramon counters to an inside cradle and gets the pin at 3:43. Again, the heel gets a decent pop for the win.

Winner: Razor Ramon via pin @ 3:43
-This really didn’t help either man as it was too short, and the ending didn’t help Ramon at all. 1/2*

-Gene interviews Money Inc. They show the footage from RAW where they smashed the face of Beefcake with their briefcase. That brought Hogan out of retirement, and thus we have a tag match.

WWF Tag Titles: Mega Maniacs (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Money Inc.

-Hogan comes to the ring with a swollen eye, and some stitches. They explain it here that Dibiase paid someone off to injure Hogan. There have been various reports from Savage decking Hogan backstage to Hogan getting the injury from an accident on a SeaDoo. I’ll leave it to the comments section to debate what is fact and what is fiction. The crowd is shows a pulse for the first time as Hogan make his way to the ring. Hogan and Beefcake rid the ring of the heels to the delight of the crowd, and we get the posing before the match even starts. Beefcake is wearing a protective mask to protect his surgically repaired face. That’s an easy way to get some sympathy from the crowd. I approve! IRS starts with Beefcake, and he goes right for the face. Dibiase gets the tag and drops Beefcake with a back elbow. The champs force Hogan to come in, and when the ref tries to get him to leave, they double team Beefcake. Dibiase tries a double axe off the second rope, but the mask comes into play as Dibiase hurts himself. Beefcake gets rammed into the buckle, but with the mask he has Samoan powers, and no sells. The tag is made to Hogan, and the crowd erupts. He fires away on Dibiase in the corner, and threatens to punch Hebnar. That’s my hero right there. More punching from Hogan, and again he threatens the ref. Beefcake returns, and slams Dibiase. He makes the quick tag to Hogan, and he comes off the second rope with a double axe of his own. Dibiase gets pinballed between the Maniacs, and a clothesline sends him to the floor. IRS gets the pinball treatment, and he gets tossed to the floor. The heels have had enough of that shit, and like WrestleMania VIII they start heading to the back knowing they will keep the gold with a count-out. That finally pays off here as the Fink informs us Money Inc will lose the titles if they are counted-out. They bust ass back to the ring, and are able to beat the count. Heenan is quite pissed at the fact they can change the rules of the fly like that. Man’s got a point. Dibiase controls Hogan with a thumb to the throat, and chokes him on the bottom rope. IRS uses the tag rope to choke Hogan while Dibiase distracts the ref. Cheat to Win! The tag rope needs to be used like that a lot more in today’s wrestling scene. Always gets a great reaction from the crowd. They continue to the choke the life out of Hogan, and he crawls towards Beefcake. Dibiase cuts that off with the Million Dollar Dream. The crowd roars, but it does no good as Hogan starts to fade. A massive Hogan chant starts, but again it doesn’t do much. Hebnar finally checks the arm and as expected it only drops twice. Hogan starts to rally much to the crowd’s delight, but he starts to fade again. IRS comes in for some reason, and that gives Beefcake the chance to put Dibiase out with the sleeper. Both men are down and out as Hebnar begins the ten-count. Hogan does the zombie sit up, and makes the hot tag to Beefcake. Dibiase was able to make the tag to IRS, but Beefcake drops him with a high knee. Dibiase bounces to the floor off an atomic drop, but that gives him a chance to grab the briefcase and blast Brutus in the back. Now Beefcake becomes your barber in peril. The heels rip the mask off much to the crowd’s horror. They target the face, and it gives Heenan a chance to make as many jokes as possible. Brutus drops both heels with a double clothesline and then locks IRS in the sleeper. Dibiase hits Beefcake and all three men fall into the ref. Beefcake finally makes the tag, and Hogan hits the big boot on Dibiase. He uses the mask to blast both heels. Jimmy Hart jumps in the ring, and reverse his coat to show ref stripes and he makes the count at 18:23. Obviously, that doesn’t count even though the Maniacs celebrate with the crowd. A second ref comes down to DQ the Maniacs at around 18:46. Jimmy Hart abuses referee Danny Davis. Heenan’s line about the WWF giving Hogan $350,000 if he abused the ref was hilarious. The Maniacs celebrate to “Real American” and open up the briefcase of Money Inc. They pull out some papers, a brick, and a wad of cash that they throw out to the crowd. Even as a kid Hogan losing at WrestleMania on the under card raised some red flags, but even I didn’t expect what was to come later.

Winners and Still WWF Tag Champs: Money Inc via DQ @ 18:46
-Another pretty shitty ending, and on top of that it was just confusing as all hell. The match was your standard tag match. I think the heat segment should have been on Beefcake instead of Hogan, but the crowd was still into the match. *3/4

-Gene interviews Perfect who discusses the loaded forearm of Luger. They talk about Luger blindsiding Hart at the WrestleMania brunch earlier in the morning. I assume this was setting up Luger vs. Hart for the summer, but you know, shit happens.

Mr. Perfect vs. The “Narcissist” Lex Luger

-Luger comes to the ring with a bunch of hot ass women in bikinis. JR, Heenan, and Savage all fawn over the women. Heenan and Savage are pretty damn funny here, and don’t come off as a pervert like Lawler would years later. We get some great ass shots as they make their way into the ring. That almost makes up for not showing the photos of Liz a year earlier. Almost! Perfect was fresh off sending Flair back to WCW, and Luger was supposed to be a star in Vince’s WBF, but when that flopped, he was back in the wrestling ring. Perfect gets the second biggest reaction of the night so far. They lock up to start and work off an arm bar. That goes nowhere, and we get another go. They take turns counter moves, and again, neither man can get an advantage. Luger gets caught with a right hand to the abs, and a knee lift sends him to the mat. A beautiful dropkick sends Luger to the floor. Luger gets the advantage with a shot the eyes. Perfect catches a boot, and slaps the face of Luger. He starts to work on the Luger’s knee, and applies a spinning toe hold. I figured a figure four was coming, but I guess with Flair gone that move is not an option anymore. A vicious chop pops the crowd huge. That did sound pretty sickening. Luger starts to overpower Perfect, and goes to work on his injured back. He drops Perfect with a backbreaker, and gets a two-count. The crowd is basically falling asleep with the offense of Luger. Perfect fires back, but charges into a knee from Luger. He tries to get the Flair pin in the corner, but the ref catches his feet on the ropes. He hits an impressive powerslam, but it only gets two. Perfect gets two off a sun-set flip, and locks in a sleeper. Luger breaks by ramming Perfect into the corner. The exchange punches, and an inside cradle gets two for Perfect. He sends Luger flying with a backdrop, and sends him chest first into the corner. A catapult follows, and an axe handle sends Luger to the mat. Perfect gets another two count, and Luger begs off in the corner. Perfect counters an atomic drop, and continues to beat the piss out of Luger. A neckbreaker gets another two count, and Perfect hits a swank missile dropkick from the top rope. They fight over a backslide, and Luger is able to get the hold and Perfect’s feet get caught in the ropes so that he can kick out. After the match Luger drops Perfect with the loaded forearm. Again, the heel gets a decent pop from the crowd for the win. Perfect is quite pissed and starts looking for Luger in the back. He finds him talking to Shawn Michaels (who hasn’t left the building), and Luger gets blindsided. Shawn decides to wants a piece of perfect and that sets up their match at SummerSlam.

Winner: Lex Luger via pin @ 10:55
-Whenever Luger was in charge it was pretty boring. Perfect provided the only enjoyable moments, and it seemed like he was pretty bored himself at times. This seemed to set Luger up as the heel in waiting for Hart, but again, shit happens. **

The Giant Gonzalez (w/ Harvey Wippleman) vs. The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer)

-Taker gets a huge reaction, and comes to the ring on a black chariot with a vulture. That’s actually pretty badass right there. This was the period when the WWF just threw every freak, giant, and fat ass they had at the Undertaker. Eventually they realized he could hang with the Hart’s and Michael’s of the world. Gonzalez is quite an impressive presence, but the muscle singlet makes him look like a goof. Taker no sells to start, and fires away, but gets caught in a choke. Taker gets a shot to the balls, and even death can’t no sell that. Taker regains his bearings and goes Old School (when it wasn’t Old School), but it doesn’t drop the big man. Gonzalez starts pounding away, and throws Taker across the ring. A reverse chinlock slows things way down. That is a weak ass chinlock too. This goes on way too long, and I actually think about checking on dinner at this point, but I guess I’ll suffer through this. Bearer uses the power of the urn to rally Taker, and he is able to break the hold. He charges, but Gonzalez sidesteps and Taker hits the floor. They brawl on the floor, and Taker eats the steps. Back to the ring, and Taker gets pounded on some more. He does start sitting up after each move to pop the crowd, and it confuses the Gonzalez. Taker starts the comeback, and has the big man reeling. Gonzalez finally falls to a knee, and Taker goes after Wippleman. Gonzalez drops Bearer and uses a cloth to smother Taker. The announce team let us know they smell chloroform. The ref stops the match at 7:33. The Undertaker is out, and a truck load of officials hit the ring to check on him. The crowd is pretty pissed, and I guess on that level this worked. Another non-finish though, which is the last thing this show needed. Gonzalez clears the ring of the refs, and Taker is taken out on a stretcher. The crowd starts chanting for Hogan, but he has other plans in mind. The gong goes off, and Taker makes his way back to the ring to a pretty good pop. He shows more fire here than in the match, and unleashes hell on Gonzalez, and drops him. Bearer has to restrain Taker, and the police escort Gonzalez away from the ring.

Winner: The Undertaker via DQ @ 7:33
-All these non-finishes, and cheap finishes at WrestleMania of all shows is killing this show. This was pretty dreadful, and seemed to drag a lot longer than 7:33. 1/4*

-Gene show footage from Superstars where Yokozuna squashed the Old Glory out of Hacksaw Jim Duggan. I remember this vividly as a kid and it did a lot in making Yoko a monster. The contract signing is show next, and Hart gets the Maple Leaf squashed out of him. All this talk about Hart vs. Yokozuna and we get an interview from Hulk Hogan. Yeah, that shows who the real star was at this show. Hogan tells us he is in Hart’s corner, and calls Hart a Hulk-a-maniac. Hogan challenges Hart or “that Jap” (Hogan’s words) for the Title. Hogan says that the title is staying in the U.S. when Hart wins. Uh, Hulk, you do know he is Canadian, don’t you?

WWF Title: Bret Hart © vs. Yokozuna (w/ Mr. Fuji)

-No promo time for either the champion or challenger, but they make sure Hogan gets the last word. This seems so obvious now, but as a kid I didn’t really pick up on any of this. Hart gets a pretty impressive reaction from the crowd, but it wasn’t the pop Hogan got. Savage does all he can to put Hart over, and I wonder what he thought of the events that were about to unfold. Someone needs to get a shoot interview from that man. Hart starts things off with a bang and charges at Yoko with a running dropkick. He pounds away at the head of Yoko, but gets pushed off. He tries to go behind, but Yoko is too damn fat. Hart hits the floor, and ties Yoko’s legs in the ropes. He catapults over the ropes and fires away on the beached whale lying in the ring. All joking aside, Yoko looked to be in a lot better shape here than in his later runs with the WWF. One shot from Yoko turns the tide and he drops a massive leg. The crowd reaction to that was insane. The crowd starts a USA chant, and apparently they suffer from the same disease as Hogan. Heenan puts over that Hart has defended the title more than any other champ, and that eventually it has to catch up with him. Hart blocks a charge with some boots, and is able to bulldog Yoko. A martial arts kick stops Bret is his tracks, and again, the crowd reaction is great. The simplest move looks so damn impressive from Yoko, and the crowd believes every move could kill Hart. Yoko works a nerve hold, and again, the USA chant starts. Heenan now points out that neither man is from the USA. Hart moves out of the way from a splash, and hits another bulldog. He drops the second rope elbow, and follows with a second rope clothesline. He sends Yoko to the mat with the running clothesline. Hart gets caught, but grabs the padding off the buckle, and rips it off. Yoko eats the exposed steel, and Hart locks in the sharpshooter. Fuji grabs a hand full of salt, and fires it at Hart. The pin is academic at 8:56.

Winner and New WWF Champion: Yoko via pin @ 8:56
-I give a lot of props to Hart here. He had to be pissed knowing what was going to happen, but he went out and did the best he could to put over Yoko. Probably should have done the same thing four and a half years later in Montreal. **


-Hogan immediately hits the ring and starts arguing with the ref about the decision. Fuji challenges Hogan right here and now for the title. Bret Hart tells Hogan to get in the ring.

WWF Title: Yokozuna © (w/ Mr. Fuji) vs. Hulk Hogan

-The crowd erupts and Hogan charges into the ring. Fuji grabs more salt, but hits Yoko. A clothesline and the leg drop finish things at 0:23. I should mention there was no opening or closing bell, but the crowd doesn’t care.

Winner and New WWF Champion: Hulk Hogan via pin @ 0:23
-Bret really looked like a pussy here as he couldn’t do in 9 minutes what it took Hogan 23 seconds to do. As a Hogan fan, I could care less back in the day, but now it does make Bret look bad. I think things would have been ok had Hogan done the job to Hart at SummerSlam as had been planned, but he didn’t. SQUASH

Top 5 WrestleMania Matches (at this point)

1) IC Title: Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat *****
2) Career vs Career: Randy Savage vs. The Ultimate Warrior *****
3) WWF Title: Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage ****3/4
3) WWF Title: Randy Savage vs. Hulk Hogan ****1/2
4) WWF Title vs IC Title: Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior ****1/4
5) IC Title: Roddy Piper vs. Bret Hart ****

The 411: Most feel this the worst WrestleMania of all time. While this is certainly a bad WrestleMania, I don't think it is the worst ever. I would put WM IV below this one, and WM VI is about on par with this one also. Most just hate the way this show ended, and while there were no blow away matches, some of the younger guys did all they could to get themselves and their match over.

Final Score:  5.6   [ Not So Good ]