by Content brought to you by – Sponsors – KEE On Sports Media Group
The RAW following WrestleMania’s IX & X did nothing to further any storylines or build on them in any way. Both shows actually lacked performers from the night before and it seemed as though the booking was made blind both times. The night after WrestleMania XI was our first glimpse at how Raw would be moving forward the night after WrestleMania as it was the first to create storylines based on what happened at the show of shows.
The show did have one match that made very little sense as it opened up with Hakushi squashing Bob Holly. That one was your basic squash as Hakushi had his way with the race car driver. Holly would go on to become a glorified enhancement talent for the next several years until finally finding major success in the Attitude Era.
As for Hakushi, he instantly began a major program with Bret The Hitman Hart. It looked good for awhile until he lost to Bret Hart at the inaugural In Your House PPV and would turn babyface by the end of the summer. From there he didn’t do much else and was out of the company completely less than a year later.
As the night went on, they continued to play lengthy highlights of WrestleMania XI as they encouraged fans to order the encore presentation of WrestleMania XI. This was a staple back in the mid 90’s when PPV numbers were struggling heavily.
The WWF seemed fully invested in the Lex Luger and British Bulldog as a tag team as they absolutely crushed Well Dunn in just a few minutes. It was cool, but again, just a bit odd as the night started off with two singles wrestles who weren’t good enough to be on the WrestleMania card, and then a garbage tag team as well.
Things would finally start taking shape as the trend of the future began midway through the show. Diesel came out and cut a promo saying that his friendship with HBK held him back and he almost lost the night before. He went on to say that Sid cost Shawn Michaels the match and he’d be happy to grant him a rematch.
After the promo, it was time for Alundra Blayze to challenge Bull Nakano in an attempt to get back her WWF Women’s Championship. This was during a time when Bull and Blayze were pretty much the only women on the roster for almost a year straight. Blayze won back the belt and then was instantly attacked by a debuting Bertha Faye.
The Bertha Faye debut would be a major sign of things to come. Not so much in the womens division that fizzled out completely by December 1995, but in the trend of wrestlers debuting the night after Mania. Faye did exactly that while making an impact. She would go on to win the belt from Blayze at SummerSlam 1995 before losing it back to her by late fall.
The newly heel turned team of Men on a Mission crushed a no name team of two jobbers as they began to build momentum towards Mabel. By the time we got to Summerslam, the Mabel heel turn would be to the point where he had won the King of the Ring, and actually headlined the Pay Per View versus Diesel for the World Title Belt. Like many things in 1995, it would end in disaster for Mabel as he hurt several wrestlers along the way, and the push failed miserably.
Now, one thing was clear after WrestleMania, and that was Shawn Michaels would one day make one Hell of a babyface champion. Vince McMahon was smart enough to realize that and put the wheels in motion as they closed the show.
It started with McMahon interviewing Michaels who proudly accepted the praise and the offer of a rematch with Diesel. He then went ahead and said he would give Sid the “night off” the next time he met with Diesel. This caused Sid to snap and destroy Michaels. Diesel ran in for the save, and the year long build of Michaels as the Top Babyface was set to begin.
I’ll say it again, this was the Raw that finally sent the template of what the Monday Night Raw after a WrestleMania should be. Would WrestleMania XII and the night after follow the same pattern, was the question heading into 1996.
