WWF WrestleMania XI: The True Story!

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The True Story of WrestleMania XI

WrestleMania XI was a 7-match card in front of 16,035 fans at the Hartford Civic Center.  The card was headlined by NFL Legend Lawrence Taylor going over on Bam Bam Bigelow.  The angle with LT and Bam Bam started back at the 1995 Royal Rumble.  A lot of people consider 1995 to be a very down year for the WWF and this edition of WrestleMania, a lousy one.  I’d have to disagree with that thinking and here is why.

Albeit the card was on the shorter side, it had one of the all-time best title matches on it as Champion Diesel defended against Shawn Michaels.  That match alone had serious star power invovled as well with guest valets Pamela Anderson and Jenny McCarthy.

Anderson and McCarthy in 1995, were seen as two of the sexist women on the planet and them walking Diesel and Michaels to the ring, added a certain element that was cannot miss.  Neither did anything in ring during the match, but it was still a nice touch.

The same could be said for guest timekeeper Jonathan Taylor Thomas of Home Improvement and guest ringer announcer Nicholas Turturro of NYPD Blue. At the time, these were two of the hottest shows on television.  This all played in with the celebrity loaded night that also featured Salt N Pepper singing Lawrence Taylor to the ring. The goal of the WWF was to load the card with surprises and celebs, in the hopes fans could past the fact a non-wrestler was the headliner.

Speaking of surprised, the two biggest were the mystery partner of Owen Hart, that turned out to be Yokozuna.  Hart used the girth of Yokozuna and the surprise element to win his first championship gold with the company as they took down The Smoking Gunns for the Tag Championships.

The other surprise invovled another Hart, as surprise referee Rowdy Roddy Piper officiated the “I Quit” Match between Bret Hart and Bob Backlund.  The two had been feuding since that fall, and Backlund had actually cost Hart his World Title back at Survivor Series 94.  Hart got his revenge that night but would later go on record saying that he didn’t like how the match played out.

As for debuts, the WWF paired up perennial world champion contenders Lex Luger and The British Bulldog. The new team seemed like a cannot miss with the fans, and had a cool crossover of The United Kingdom with the United States appeal.  They won that night over The Grimm Twins, but The Blu Brothers Jacob and Eli, or Ron and Don Harris, whatever you chose to call them. Sadly, for the team of Luger and Bulldog, they went on to do very little afterwards.

Razor Ramon attempted to win back his Intercontinental Title that he lost to Double Jeff Jarrett back at the Royal Rumble.  He couldn’t, as interference caused JJ to be DQ’d.  It was a 13-minute match that saw both The Road Dogg and the 123 Kid get heavily involved.

The Undertaker defeated King Kong Bundy in a battle of the giants as The Undertakers record improved to 3-0 at WrestleMania in an early sign of what his dominance would become.  The Undertaker was starting to show the kind of dominance he brought with him to WrestleMania Sunday.

Again, the show really centered around the final two matches of the night.  The first being Shawn Michaels coming up short in his challenge of former best friend Diesel for the WWF World Championship. The match was outstanding as Michaels actually had Diesel beat cleanly, but the ref was knocked outside.  It was a rare moment where the “Heel” got ripped off and should have won.  This was the start of the HBK face turn that would go down as one of the greatest runs of all time.  Diesel may have gone on to win the match, but Michaels won the night.

The main event saw a shockingly good match between the extremely durable and agile Bam Bam Bigelow, and the athletically talented LT.  It wasn’t an instant classic, but it was the first-time pro wrestling fans got to see and understand that pro athletes form any walk of life, can step into a wrestling ring and perform because they have that natural talent.  This would open the door for guys like Dennis Rodman, Steve Mongo McMichael and Karl Malone just to name a few as the years went on.

This was NOT a bad show!