WrestleMania XI

Legacy Review

WrestleMania XI

April 2, 1995 from the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, CT

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler

This is the first of a long run of WMs in smaller arenas due to the downturn in business. At only 7 matches it's also by far the smallest WM card to date, another sign of how shallow the roster's gotten.

We open again with a highlight reel of Wrestlemanias past, but this time it's 100% focused on the celebrity guest stars with no wrestling footage at all. Then the guest celebrities for this year are introduced as the stars, making it pretty obvious where Vince's headspace was at. There's audio issues at the top of the show. We also have two debuts tonight- the famous mid-'90s WWF camera blimp (sponsored by Stridex for this show), and the New Generation version of the WWF logo.

The Allied Powers def The Blu Brothers (w/Uncle Zebekiah) in 6:34- Luger and Bulldog had nothing better to do so they got thrown together as a tag team. They have one of the first instances of two singles stars' music getting mashed up for their tag run. It's....eh. Zebekiah is Dutch "Zeb Coulter" Mantel. The heels try to jump and the faces dodge. They hit stereo powerslams in almost the same spot and end up flopping on top of each other. Bulldog delayed suplex on Blu 1 (larger tattoos) and he fights off a double team. Blu 2 (smaller tattoos) hits Bulldog in the back of the head on a rope run. After some selling Bulldog gets a small package while the ref is distracted. Blu 1 ugly side suplex for 2. Double big boot. This whole thing is moving at a glacial pace. Bulldog pops up, hits a clothesline and just stops selling. He's barking at the ref the whole time so something's clearly legit annoyed him. Everyone wanders around for a few seconds not knowing what to do. Another big boot puts Bulldog down again. After some more slow beatdown he dodges an elbow off the second rope and tags. Luger rolls through some power moves and hits the loaded forearm. The pin is broken up. The ref gets distracted and the Blus do the twin magic switcheroo. While he and Luger are fighting Bulldog hits a sunset flip off the top rope (tag?) and the ref counts 3 even though the Blu kicked out. I call that a mercy killing. The Blus were bad in general, Luger was in full my contract is almost up dogging it mode (at least Vince had the sense not to put the world title on him like '91 WCW) and Bulldog didn't look too thrilled with his current situation either. 3/4*

Poor JR has been exiled to entrance aisle interviews instead of being on commentary where he belonged. They kick it to a backstage segment but there's more audio issues so Vince and Lawler kill some time.

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Razor Ramon (w/The 1-2-3 Kid) def "Double J" Jeff Jarrett (c) (w/The Roadie) by DQ in 13:32- This is a rematch from the Rumble where Jarrett beat Ramon for the title ostensibly with interference from the Roadie, but it really wasn't that much, Jarrett won it almost completely clean. Regardless, fellow Kliq member Kid is here to watch Ramon's back. Ramon and Kid are interviewed by Vince while they're in or near Gorilla. After some words from Kid Ramon says "Let's go" in a very legitimate "screw this shit" voice. Ramon drops his gold necklaces on the aisle and charges the ring. After knocking Jarrett to the floor his pyro goes off after the bell's already rung. Jarrett tries to speed around Ramon. Ramon counters with punches and a 360 clothesline. Jarrett stalls outside. He fakes a springboard crossbody and tries a sunset flip but Ramon counters it every step of the way. Roadie gets on the apron. Jarrett is whipped towards him but slams the brakes on. Ramon punches them into each other. He goes for the Razor's Edge but Roadie grabs Jarrett's feet and drags him down to the floor. Jarrett tries to walk but Kid stops him and rolls him back in. Ramon roll up for 2. Roadie takes a buckle shot and Jarrett gets thrown over and out again. Jarrett counters a backdrop with a swinging neckbreaker. Ramon catches a boot and ducks an enzuguri, but misses an elbow drop. Blocked hiptoss/backslide for 2. They're putting some nice spots in, but it feels disjointed, like all the interconnecting pieces are missing. There's been a ton of near falls but none of them seemed like they mattered. Jarrett hooks in a sleeper. Ramon gets out awful easily. Ramon back suplexes out of a chinlock. Why didn't they do that for the sleeper? Midring collision. When they get up they punch each other at the same time and go down again. Some boos from the crowd after that, and not good boos. Ramon catches a crossbody attempt and hits the fallaway slam. Kid tries to post Jarrett's crotch behind the ref's back but Jarrett pushes him off. Good, that was out and out cheating from the faces there. Jarrett dodges Ramon's bulldog off the second rope attempt. Ramon hurt his knee again coming down. Jarrett hits a kneebreaker and locks in the figure four. After some near falls Ramon fights and reverses it. Ramon back superplex. He calls for the Razor's Edge. As he's getting Jarrett up Roadie comes in and clips his knee for the cheap DQ. Kid beats down Roadie until Jarrett takes him out and hooks the figure four on him. Refs and officials run in to break it all up. That's the finish you do on Raw to build up the feud, not at WM. Even taking out the crap finish I didn't like this nearly as much as the Rumble match. **

They retry the backstage segment that had the bum mic earlier. The Million Dollar Corporation and Jenny McCarthy are hanging out. Shawn and Sid crash the party, with Sid shouting his promo so loud McCarthy covers her ears.

 

The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) def King Kong Bundy (w/Ted DiBiase) in 6:36- DiBiase still has the urn. Like in the '80s, Bundy's weight is being massively inflated. 440 pounds?! Please. Paul Bearer is almost as big as Bundy. He's strangely barely mentioned during the match, but MLB umpire Larry Young is guest reffing this match, and he does a fine job. If you didn't look it up you wouldn't even notice he wasn't a regular ref. Bundy charges and Taker dodges. Top rope walk drop. Clotheslines get Bundy down. A Bundy elbow sends Taker 360 and out, but he lands on his feet, walks up to DiBiase, and takes the urn back. Well that was anticlimactic. He gives it back to Bearer, who takes the top off and light comes out again. Not the wrath of God face melty light thankfully. Close your eyes, Marion! DiBiase walks off and calls Kama in. Kama kicks Bearer and steals the urn back. As he's leaving JR stops him and Kama says he's going to melt the urn down and make a necklace out of it. While all this is going on Bundy's slowly pounding down Taker in the ring. Bundy avalanche. That just pisses Taker off. He slams the 1,000 pound Bundy, hits a diving clothesline, and gets the pin. Well OK then. I think part of the point of this was to slowly work Taker away from urn based storylines, which was a good move. Still, the match was every Taker vs barely mobile slug match they'd been running almost nonstop for nearly three years to this point, just with more sideshow. Mankind can't come soon enough. Taker goes to 4-0 at WM. 1/4*

Back to backstage. We get a report that Shawn and Pamela Anderson had a fight earlier and Anderson's gone into hiding. But never mind that shit....HERE COMES MONGO! Mongo and the rest of the All-Pro team cut some fairly decent promos on the Million Dollar Corporation. We swing around and find Mr. Bob Backlund playing chess with Johnathan Taylor Thomas. Backlund flips out at being interrupted and asks "Who's Pamela Anderson?". Thomas schools Backlund in chess and in trivia and Backlund flips out about young people having no respect for their elders. Funny stuff.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: "The King of Harts" Owen Hart and a mystery partner def The Smoking Gunns (c) in 9:42- Owen introduces his mystery partner as Yokozuna, replacing the fired Jim Neidhart, with Cornette and Fuji in tow. Yoko's weight issues are getting really out of hand at this point. Lawler mentions Owen was the Blue Blazer at WM 5, one of the first instances of WWF acknowledging a different past gimmick for someone. Yoko waves the Japanese flag and looks half blown up already after. Owen and Billy start. They trade shoves and slaps. Both sides do some arm work and double teaming. Yoko comes in, hits a slam and misses and elbow drop. A double dropkick sends Yoko tumbling to the floor. Owen gets flipped off the apron back in and the Gunns roll through some nice double teams. I bet Cornette is hiding a smile watching that, they're very Midnight Express like. Owen with a Bret bump. He slips out of a slam, gets a sneaky tag, drop toe holds Billy and Yoko caves his skull in with a legdrop. Billy goes to the floor and Owen posts his back. Yoko locks on the Nerve Pinch of Extreme Resting +3. Billy dodges a double team and Owen missile dropkicks Yoko. Hot tag. Bart press slams Owen and rams Yoko's head to the mat. They try a double team, but Owen pulls the top rope down on Bart and Yoko belly to belly suplexes Billy. Banzai drop! Bart breaks the pin up. Yoko tosses him out, tags, and Owen drags Billy to the middle of the ring and pins him to win the titles, Owen's first WWF title. Owen's celebration is amazing. **1/4

Recap of the LT/Bigelow feud followed by a really good Bigelow promo. He doesn't want to be known as the guy that lost to LT at Wrestlemania. This is the spot on the card that match should have been on, but Vince was desperate for eyeballs.

 

I Quit Match: Bret "Hitman" Hart def Mr. Bob Backlund in 9:34- For the second year in a row Roddy Piper makes a surprise appearance as a guest referee. Crazy Backlund doesn't stop moving for a second during his or Bret's intros. Huge pop for Bret, easily the biggest of the night. Bret pounds away early. Backlund fights off a Sharpshooter attempt. Bret drops elbows. Piper's already getting in at random points with the mic and asking "Whaddya say?" whether there's a hold on or not. Bret chokes Backlund on the bottom rope. "Whaddya say?" "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Backlund rolls out of an attempted Sharpshooter again. Bret hooks on a figure four instead. Backlund reverses and they get to the ropes. Bret grabs the leg again and works the knee. Knee grapevine and more no's on the mic. Piper asks Bret to be cute. Bret tries not to laugh. Highlight of the match. Backlund fights out and snaps Bret's arm around the top rope. Bret ducks a crossface chickenwing attempt a couple of times. Backlund works armbar variations and Bret gives Piper a "hell no". Very little happening while Backlund has the arm wrapped up. Finally Bret stands, scoops up Backlund and slams him. The FMOD run is cut down to just the backbreaker and second rope elbow. He goes for the Sharpshooter again. Backlund rolls to the ropes and Piper has to physically untangle them. Backlund dodges and Bret posts his shoulder. CHICKENWING! Bret grabs the top rope but Backlund pulls him off it. Bret keeps blocking it from being fully applied....then reverses it! Bret with a chickenwing! He cinches it in on the mat. Backlund: "YEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!". Well, technically he was supposed to say "I quit" but I guess that's close enough. They had a plan, that's obvious, but they never got in a good rhythm. A big reason was Piper sticking the mic in their faces way too often. Nowhere near on the level of their great Survivor Series match. Bret has been candid on the record about how disappointed he was with this match, calling it his worst PPV match. He'd make up for it the next couple of WMs. *3/4

JR is with a very dazed Backlund staring at the ceiling. "I SAW THE LIGHT! DID YOU SEE THE LIGHT?". Say what you will about his matches, crazy Backlund the character never failed to amuse. This would be the end of his push and he'd go back to being a special and nostalgia undercard attraction. We cut backstage again for the breaking news that Pamela Anderson is missing presumed vacated the building.

 

WWF Championship: Diesel (c) (w/Pamela Anderson) def "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels (w/Jenny McCarthy and Sid) in 20:35- Diesel found Anderson. His pop is better than the Rumble, but still noticeably smaller than Bret's. Diesel swings for Sid after he gets in the ring. Shawn tries to charge, but Diesel backdrops him to the floor. All while his music is still playing. He calls Anderson in and finishes his entrance with full pyro. Anderson and McCarthy park it next to each other at ringside. Good thing it's not a few years later, Lawler would just be shouting "PUPPIES!" over and over again the whole match. Shawn ducks the lockup and kicks. Extended speed sequence. Shawn slips out of a slam and tries a rollup. Diesel blocks. More running. Shawn finally takes an elbow to the forehead. Reset. Shawn tries some arm wringers. Diesel pushes him into the corner and flips him out. Mile high BAAAAAAAACK BODYDROP. Shawn flip in the corner and he falls to the floor, squashing a badly positioned photographer on the way down. Shawn grabs him and shoves him away in a very not nice way. We are most certainly in the dick Shawn years, as he himself will readily admit. Sid tries a distraction but Diesel is all over it, catching and popping Shawn. Shawn spits to piss Diesel off. He tries mounted punches. Diesel pushes him off and he keeps jumping back on until he runs into an elbow. Diesel presses Shawn but he manages to get out of it before being slammed. A knee should have sent Shawn 360 and out, but he got caught up and settles for slowly flopping to the floor between the ropes instead. Sid jaws to give Shawn time to recover. Shawn eye pokes Diesel as he's coming back in and slides under Diesel's legs. Sunset flip. Diesel grabs him by the throat, lifts him up, and crotches him on the top rope, a spot Shawn had to have every match. Shawn slides under a big boot! Shawn with a Cactus clothesline! And he hangs onto the rope and skins the cat! Shawn crossbody from the top rope to the floor! He gets back in and gives Diesel a baseball slide to the face. He tries another one but Diesel dodges it. Shawn dodges and Diesel posts his own elbow and ribs. Um, is that a Sid chant from the crowd? I think it is. Ugh, don't encourage him or Vince. Shawn big splash on Diesel from the apron! Diesel takes a long time to recover on the floor and the match grinds to a halt after a great 4-5 minutes. Sid tries to sneak around but Hebner cuts him off. Diesel finally gets back in. Shawn goes to work on the ribs. Shawn bulldog off the second rope for 2. Diesel reverses a corner whip, but Shawn springboards to the second rope and hits a fallaway reverse elbow for 2. Shawn up top. Flying elbow two thirds of the way across the ring to Diesel's back! That gets a 2 count. Shawn looks to go for a DDT but Diesel flips him over to get out. Twice. Shawn with a sleeper. Diesel goes down and Hebner does very slow arm drops. Diesel powers back up and backs Shawn into the corner. Huge corner clotheslines. Snake eyes. Another Shawn corner flip. Shawn begs off. Diesel knocks him silly. Slugfest on the floor. Hebner jumps down to stop Sid again but hurt his ankle when he hit the floor. Back in, Shawn ducks a clothesline. Superkick! Sid rolls Hebner back in. Slow count and Diesel kicks out. Sid takes a top buckle pad off. Shawn moves toward it but Diesel gives him a back suplex. Both guys are down and Hebner counts. At 9 Shawn slowly gets an arm over and Diesel kicks out. He tries to come off the second rope again. Diesel catches him and gives him a side suplex. He slingshots Shawn, and he's supposed to go into the exposed buckle, but they were too far away and Shawn has to hit the middle buckle instead. Big boot. Diesel hits a horrible jackknife that drops Shawn straight on his ass and gets the 3 count. Pretty abrupt and sloppy ending. The match had some really nice parts but also several rough stretches. On balance it's borderline good. Despite being an entrenched heel Shawn gave an amazing resilient babyface performance, which would lead to a face turn almost right after this show, while Sid took over the top heel spot. ***

Both teams of seconds in the main event get individual entrances. I think they were going for a Super Bowl style entrance here. The All-Pro Team is a legitimately great collection of defensive NFL talent of the era. Someone in the back must be ribbing Mongo because his tron uses pictures from his final year with the Packers instead of the Bears. There was also an intro rap song here that's cut out of the Peacock/Network version, likely for rights reasons. No big loss in my opinion. There's some jawing and shots fired between the teams before the main intros.

 

Lawrence Taylor (w/The All-Pro Team) def Bam Bam Bigelow (w/The Million Dollar Corporation) in 11:42- Pat Patterson's got his ref shirt on for this one. Despite locker room resistance to LT getting a big spot here (most notably from the Kliq, in no small part because it bumped Shawn and Diesel down), Bigelow agreed to do the job because it was a big payday, he was a professional company guy and he knew it was likely his only shot at a WM main event. They go chest to chest during the very long instructions. Bigelow shoves. LT slaps! He starts out hot, throwing Bigelow around. 360 clothesline, with Bigelow starting to go over before contact. Bigelow tries an avalanche. LT dodges. Bulldog for 2! LT with a hip toss and Bigelow goes out again. LT jumps over the top rope to the floor to chase him. The teams of seconds stand off as Bigelow catches LT coming back in. LT does a good job of swinging and fighting back while Bigelow pounds him down. Body slam by Bigelow. LT dodges a headbutt. Bigelow catches a leaping LT and rams him into the corner. Both guys are doing a good job selling this as a fight. Bigelow hooks on a Boston crab, then transitions to a half crab. LT almost gets to the ropes so Bigelow drags him away. He hooks on the leg portions of both an STF and a Mutalock. LT gets to the rope each time. LT comeback forearms. Back suplex from LT! Bigelow comes back with headbutts to the ribs. Legdrop. Bigelow up top....moonsault! He hurt his knee on the landing and pulls out of the cover. He crawls back over and covers for 2. LT with a power bomb! Bigelow kicks out. Bigelow enzuguri. He hits the headbutt off the top rope. LT kicks out! Bigelow is shocked. LT is up and swinging with elbows to the chin. He goes up to the second rope and hits a diving elbow. LT covers and gets the pin! During the victory celebration LT looks blowed up all to hell, but he earned it. DiBiase berates Bigelow for losing to a football player as they leave, which would lead to Bigelow being kicked out of the Corporation and turning face. I have a lot of thoughts on this one. On one had, for a celebrity match it's good. Really good. Bigelow walked LT through like a pro, and LT hit all his spots just right. It's a great performance. The problem is, this had no business being anywhere near the main event of Wrestlemania. A special attraction match, sure. Maybe the main event of a B PPV where there's not a world title match on the card. Maybe. But not the main event of the biggest show of the year. Business was cratering and Vince was desperate. It's not any more complicated than that. **3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- It's almost as bad as Wrestlemania 9. Enough said.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D