Wrestlemania XI - Hartford Civic Centre, Hartford Connecticut, April 2nd 1995

The show kicks off with a video recap of the previous 10 Wrestlemanias, but not the parts you’d expect or want to see - CELEBRITIES! At least you get a look at all of this year’s celebs without me having to recap and list them all. Not off to a good start.

Tonight singing America the Beautiful is an unusual looking lady with an unflattering haircut BUT I won’t be mean because she’s a special Olympian, here as part of the WWF’s sponsorship and partnership with the special Olympics. That’s a nice thing.

The commentary duo of Vince McMahon and Jerry “The King” Lawler welcome us to the show. What IS Wrestlemania? “It’s the standard of excellence in Sports Entertainment” apparently. Thank you, Vince.

The Allied Powers (Lex Lugar and The British Bulldog) vs. The Blu Brothers (Jacob and Eli Blu, w/Uncle Zebekiah)

What’s the build to this match I hear you ask? None. The company decided that Lex and Bulldog would make a good team and so here they debut a joint theme song and we’re off to the races. This is the first time they’ve teamed up on TV and they do make an awesome looking team with their respective flags and matching red, white and blue gear. They aren’t announced as The Allied Powers here but Vince does call them that on commentary. I’ve talked about my distaste and dislike for the Blu Brothers during the Wrestlemania Preview so I won’t go over that again (Nazis) but they are physically imposing and the twin-magic, swapping places gimmick is always good stuff. 

Bulldog and Lex start off strong and whip the big men to opposing corners and then catch them coming back in with stereo powerslams and stereo clotheslines. 

Lex was THE main eventer in the company about 18 months ago, and Bulldog is popular and established enough that he could be a main eventer too. Why are they being shifted to the tag team division? I honestly don’t know, especially during this era when the company so badly needed big stars and main event talents. Lex Lugar finished his feud with Tatanka, defeating him in a steel cage match, the previous week on the final Sunday Night Slam but it’s hard to understand why that match wasn’t on Wrestlemania. You have to imagine that was the original plan and Vince changed his mind? It was an odd period in wrestling history and it’s hard to understand a lot of the creative decisions of this era in hindsight.

Anyway, back to Wrestlemania XI. Bulldog and Lex are confidently in control but a cheap shot to Bully from the illegal man gives the Blu’s the advantage and then they swap places, undetected by the referee in order to keep the fresh man in the ring. 

The finish comes out of nowhere as after a tag on both sides and after a forearm to the head from Lex, Bulldog takes down one of the Blu’s with a sunset flip for the victory. This only went about 6 minutes and wasn’t good or bad really.

There’s been quite a few technical issues already tonight - at the top of the show, we could see Vince welcoming us to the event but couldn’t hear him and now between these matches, Nicolas Turturro from NYPD Blue was supposed to interview a bunch of NFL players and Jenny McCarthy but his mic wasn’t working.

WWF Intercontinental Championship

Jeff Jarrett © (w/The Roadie) vs. Razor Ramon (w/The 1-2-3 Kid)

The calamity of tech issues continues as the audio isn’t working AGAIN when Vince tries to interview Razor Ramon and the 1-2-3 Kid before the match. The Kid is there to stop the Roadie from interfering tonight and he’s got some nice new clothes for the big occasion - his first Wrestlemania.

Razor is extremely focused on regaining his title and attacks Jeff, throwing him out of the ring and THEN posing for his entrance pyro after his theme music had already stopped. He keeps the champion on the run who goes to the outside to be consoled by the Roadie, who checks him for a busted lip and offers him a bottle of water.

After a bit more back and forth, the 1-2-3 Kid pays off as Jeff tries to just leave and retain his title via count out but he stops him and forces him back to the ring.

Any time Jeff gets a little bit of offense, Razor quickly shrugs it off and throws Jarrett out of the ring until finally, with a little distraction from the Roadie, Double J manages to build some proper momentum and clamps Razor down with a big sleeper in the middle of the ring until Ramon comes out of it with a big back suplex, and then both men throw wild punches and knock each other down, Rocky style.

Razor builds his comeback and then the Kid tries to interfere, Jarrett kicks him off and sends him crashing into the security wall. Razor goes for a bulldog off the middle rope but misses and lands hard on his knee, which is Jeff’s opening and he works on the knee and locks in the Figure Four. The Bad Guy just barely manages to escape the hold. He fights back with a fall-away slam, a discus punch and his big back suplex off the top rope. Vince starts talking about it like it’s already over and Razor is the new champion. Even on one leg he sets up for the Razor’s Edge but Roadie jumps in the ring, clipping his knee right in front of the referee and getting Jarrett disqualified. Razor wins the match but not the championship. The Kid wipes out Jeff with a spinning heel kick but is taken down himself with a shot to the knee and Jarrett and Roadie beat down both men, looking the Kid in the Figure Four for a bit two and leaving them both laid out in the ring. 

Jim Ross tries to get an interview with a bloody nosed IC Champion. All he can really get out is that he should be ashamed of himself. This wasn’t a good match, especially compared to both of their respective talents. They had and would have much better matches together so this is a big disappointment.

The audio issues have been cleared up and we now get the Nick Turturro interview we were promised earlier. The big scandal? Pam Anderson can’t be found anywhere, but Jenny McCarthy is there. Much like the Blu Brothers earlier, I have nothing nice to say about Jenny - she’s an anti-vaxer and pretty much single handedly responsible for the whole anti-vax movement in America. A conspiracy nutcase. Anyway, Shawn Michaels is there and Jenny seems to be a big fan of the Heartbreak Kid. More on that later.

The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) vs. King Kong Bundy (w/Ted Dibiase)

The build for this one? Bundy attacked Undertaker at the Royal Rumble about three months ago. That’s it, they haven’t interacted since. Ted Dibiase stole the urn, and he’s been feuding with Undertaker since last June so I guess we’ll let it slide. 

This match has a special referee: Larry Young. I’m told by Vince that he’s a baseball umpire. I have no idea who he is but big American sports fans probably do.

Undertaker attacks quickly and hits the old-school big sledge off the ropes right away but Bundy stays on his feet, as he does after multiple clotheslines until finally bumping. The fans barely react - even in 1995, no one cared about King Kong Bundy. Undertaker gets out of the ring, snatches his urn from Dibiase and just hands it to Paul Bearer. That was easy. Or was it? Dibiase calls out for help and Kama runs to the ring, kicking Bearer and stealing the urn again! He even hangs Undertaker up on the ropes for good measure to let Bundy take control of the match. As Kama’s leaving, Jim Ross tries to get an interview with him and he gleefully says that he’s going to melt the urn down and turn it into a chain! 

Back in the ring, Bundy splashes Undertaker but he kicks out, and then locks in a seated sleeper hold. Bearer calls for the crowd to cheer on his Undertaker and replace the power of the urn but the fans just aren’t very into this.

A quick comeback, Undertaker bodyslams Bundy and that’s the end of the match. Undertaker goes to 4-0 in a rubbish match. Bundy rolls out of the ring, immediately no-selling the match and shouts at Dibiase. It looks like they’re arguing as they quickly leave Undertaker and Bearer to celebrate in the ring, sans urn.

Backstage, Nick Turturro is our intrepid reporter chasing updates on Pamela Anderson. She had a falling out with Shawn Michaels and might have left the building? This was legit - Shawn’s ego and attitude annoyed her, but also her new real-life husband Tommy Lee who was pissed off at her having to be arm-candy for HBK. She refused to work with him and so they had to scramble on the night to make other arrangements. More on those later in the night.

Nick goes on the hunt and finds Mr. Bob Backlund warming up for his I Quit match by playing chess with Home Improvement’s Jonathan Taylor Thomas. The kid is winning. Backlund tries to stump him with some quick-fire questions but JTT knows all the answers. Backlund screams that “this is what’s wrong with the world today!” and storms out. This was funny. 

WWF Tag Team Championships

The Smoking Gunns © (Billy and Bart Gunn) vs. Owen Hart and Yokozuna (w/Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji)

So who is Owen Hart’s mystery partner? Well you can see that in the match title above! Owen enters first and after a little bit of build up and Jerry Lawler promising a HUGE surprise, former two-time WWF Champion the almost 600lbs Yokozuna. This is Yoko’s first appearance since being locked in a casket by the Undertaker at Survivor Series. Vince asks Billy and Bart backstage how they’re feeling about the big surprise and their chances against Yokozuna. Billy seems a lot more confident than Bart does, and Vince wishes them luck but King laughs at them.

Owen starts for his team and is overpowered by the cowboys, but he uses his speed to escape and tags in Yoko. He slows things down (obviously) but misses his first big leg drop attempt which probably saved Bart’s life.

The fans are quiet for this match too but do pop for a double dropkick which knocks Yoko out of the ring. As big as he is, he’s so nimble and gifted at gracefully tumbling through the ropes to the floor. Impressive balance.

The match continues in that way - when Owen is in the ring the Gunns are in control but as soon as Yoko gets in there he turns the tide. 

Yoko squashes Billy with the Banzai drop (apparently legitimately as he gets out a big loud gasp on impact) and then tags in Owen. The Black Hart pulls him back into the ring to lock Billy in the Sharpshooter but then I think potentially because Billy was really hurt, he just pins him instead for the victory and the Tag Team Championships.

Owen Hart celebrates with both title belts, literally jumping for joy before handing a belt to his partner. This was Owen Hart’s first championship victory. This is a good position to put Yokozuna in honestly as with his weight gain and mobility issues he was struggling to perform in long singles matches and so in the tag team division he can stand on the apron and let his partner do all the work. Much like Bulldog and Lex earlier, I think the tag division is a waste of Owen as the company badly needed singles main event starts BUT, I do like this pairing.

Todd Pettengill interviews Bam Bam Bigelow about tonight’s main event - his match with NFL star Lawrence Taylor. I’ll talk more about that match later of course but it is true that this match got the company a LOT of mainstream coverage and was all over the media at the time. Todd asks Bam Bam how he feels about the fans being so strongly behind LT, and how many of his celebrity and sports friends he has here tonight cheering him on. Bam Bam isn’t worried about the fans or the guys on the outside - he’s just focused on Lawrence himself. This is his world and he won’t be famous as the man who lost to a football player at Wrestlemania (famous last words).

I Quit match

Bret Hart vs. Bob Backlund 

Special Guest Referee: Rowdy Roddy Piper

Before Bret and Bob are brought out, Howard introduces a nice surprise - special guest referee Rowdy Roddy Piper! When we last saw him he was beating Jerry Lawler at the King of the Ring and Lawler isn’t happy to see him. “If anyone knows anything about submission, it’s Roddy Piper” Vince says and I don’t know what he means? I guess his finishing move was technically a sleeper hold. 

Backlund doesn’t have a theme song and waddles to the ring with his chest puffed out, looking down his nose at the people who shout abuse at him. I’ve said before but I love this crazy old man gimmick for Backlund. 

Bret and Backlund go at it hard, throwing strikes and grappling on the mat. Roddy has a microphone and it's his job to check whether either man quits - a job he takes far too seriously. Every time either man locks in a hold he joyously squeals “whadya say?!?” and even gets laughs from the crowd based on when he decides to ask and, at more than one point, asking the man applying the hold if they quit for good measure. This isn’t supposed to be a comedy match and he’s a huge distraction. 

Backlund works on the arm with sharp pulls, trying to separate his shoulder and Bret works on Backlund’s leg using a figure four and a long leg grapevine. 

There was no such thing as tap outs in 1995 and so all the times either man slaps the mat while in a hold means nothing to anyone. They have to verbally submit, which is the case in every match during this era but the allure of this specific match is that they must say “I Quit”. Remember that in a few minutes.

After more slow back and forth where both men are rolling around on the mat, Bret goes for the Sharpshooter but Backlund quickly scrambles to the ropes. Bob sends Bret shoulder-first into the ring post and locks in the Chickenwing but can’t fall back and get his legs locked in, so Bret rolls out of it and locks in one of his own. Hart falls back, locking Backlund in his own hold and he screams but never audibly says “I quit”. Piper rings the bell anyway and says he heard it and that Backlund quit. 

Bret wins. This could have been really good but it only lasted 9 minutes and Piper was a HUGE distraction and made this match worse. After the match, JR tries to get an interview with Backlund who stares at the roof, transfixed and claims to have seen the light! What does he mean? We’ll find out soon I’m sure.

Nick Turturro gives us the last update on Pam-watch - he can’t find her anywhere, she’s left the arena. Vince speculates that Shawn Michaels must have upset her. Todd Pettengill interviews WWF Champion Diesel who tries to stay calm, cool and collected but then fluffs his lines so fires up and starts shouting about how Shawn has no chance to try and cover it. Nice try, Big Daddy Cool.

Nick Turturro is brought out to be guest ring announcer for this next match, and he introduces Jonathan Taylor Thomas to be the special guest time keeper. It’s a shock to everyone when Michaels comes out with Jenny McCarthy (as well as his new bodyguard, Sid) and Lawler giggles and says that the Heartbreak Kid must have dumped Pamela Anderson! When Diesel enters, it’s another surprise as Pam Anderson is here, and she’s with the WWF Champion! In fairness, as much as this change was made because Michaels upset her and her husband backstage, it does make way more sense to have Pam be with the babyface who they’re trying VERY hard to show off as a mainstream megastar. 

WWF Championship

Diesel © (w/Pamela Anderson) vs. Shawn Michaels (w/Jenny McCarthy and Sid)

Pamela looks incredible in her white dress, but also looks a bit embarrassed to be there. I assume having just had a big argument with her husband backstage is the main reason for that. Lawler suggests that Anderson and McCarthy will cat-fight at ringside but neither of them are that engaged and are happy to awkwardly smile and chat amongst themselves.

A little bit more backstage drama about this match - Shawn Michaels was pissed off. He and Diesel were and still are extremely close friends but he believed with all his heart that HE should be the main event attraction in the company and so he saw this as his chance to prove it. He works very fast in this match, trying his best to exhaust Big Daddy Cool so that it would be obvious to the whole world that he was the superior performer and that his friend couldn’t go. Diesel does his best to keep up and it works for the most part, and with HBK bumping hard and flying all over the ring this is decent.

Michaels clotheslines Diesel out of the ring and then dives from the top rope all the way to the floor to get his biggest advantage in the early going. 

He sends Big Daddy Cool to the ringsteps but one of the many photographers at ringside gets in his way and he takes an awkward tumble, coming up selling his ribs. Michaels splashes him off the apron and it takes a really long time for him to get back in the ring. I am sure he’s just selling. The crowd, apparently not enjoying Diesel as a babyface or this slow pace, starts chanting for Sid. To his credit he actually shouts “I’m not doing anything!” and tries to get the crowd to cheer for his man Michaels instead. Back in the ring, HBK gets a near fall with a diving bulldog off the middle rope - a move he stole from another Klique member in Razor Ramon.

Diesel mounts his comeback by enduring a lot of stomps and punches and a long sleeper, muscling Michaels up onto his back and dumping him. They fight to the outside when HBK tries to get a bit of separation and the referee hops off the apron to control things, twisting his ankle and collapsing. 

Back in the ring, Shawn scores with the superkick to the jaw but there’s no referee to count and when he finally gets into the ring, selling his ankle, Diesel kicks out at one. The crowd had already been chanting for Shawn and they boo that kick out; in Shawn’s book he talked about this very moment. Vince was keen for him to kick out at 1 to make Diesel look strong and both Michaels and Nash warned him that if they push him TOO hard, the fans will turn on him which was already starting to happen. They were right and were both very smug with him backstage that the kick out at 1 did get boos like they said it would.

Sid exposes one of the turnbuckles for his man to use as a weapon but that backfires when he’s catapulted into the steel. Diesel hits the Jackknife powerbomb (Kind of, Michaels over-rotates and basically lands on his feet) and that gets him the victory in a match which could have and should have been much, much better. Like Razor and Jarrett earlier, this was technically fine but I was expecting a lot more.

After the match, Big Daddy Cool celebrates with both women (and the other celebrities) as Vince screams about the New Generation. Backstage, Todd Pettengill interviews Shawn Michaels and Sid - HBK gives his superkick its name, telling us that he hit Diesel with a little Sweet Chin Music but there was no referee to count. Sid compares it to baseball and says there should have been two referees. He got screwed, and Sid promises that they are not done with Big Daddy Cool! 

Before the main event, the Million Dollar Team runs to the ring one-by-one as Vince screams their names. Just like a real sports team y’see? Out to support Bam Bam is King Kong Bundy, Tatanka, Nikolai Volkoff, Kama, IRS and finally Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase. It’s a wild assortment of wrestlers isn’t it? The whole “Volkoff is an unwilling member” story was dropped and he’s just happy to be a bad guy now. I don’t know when Kama officially joined, he was just suddenly a member one day.

The All-pro team consists of six NFL players. Vince does run down all their legit sporting accomplishments but none of it means anything to me. The crowd are into it though and these huge sports stars are the reason there’s such a massive number of photographers at ringside. There’s a confrontation between the wrestlers and football players right away with referee Pat Patterson trying to keep them all calm. Why is Pat Patterson the referee? Because he was the agent for this match and worked with Bam Bam and Taylor behind the scenes to put this match together.

Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

The fans chant for LT and get quite loud, but then things quiet down in a hurry when Bam Bam’s music hits. Why was Bigelow picked for this huge mainstream media spot opposite Taylor in the main event of Wrestlemania? Because of his look - to a non-wrestling fan, this big scary man with tattoos all over his head screaming about how he’s going to kill LT is exactly what they think wrestling villains look like.

On the live broadcast, Lawrence Taylor was sung to the ring by Salt-n-Pepa who performed “what a man!” live with some altered lyrics insulting Bigelow. The fans do go nuts for Taylor and that’s exactly why this event was held in such a small arena in Hartford Connecticut - their closest football team was the New York Giants, which is who Taylor played for. The two circle each other and with a crazy number of people at ringside with the Million Dollar Team, the NFL players and all of the photographers, this actually felt like quite a big deal. Its one of those wrestling moments that in hindsight is just “big sports star came in to get some publicity for the company” and is kind of a novelty. It’s hard to encapsulate what a big deal this was in 1995 and how much attention it actually got in the United States. Of course no one outside the States cared, but the crowd is red hot for this.

Taylor slaps Bam Bam, then takes him down with a big shoulder tackle and clotheslines him out of the ring! He takes a moment to collect himself with Tatanka and IRS as Jerry Lawler claims that Diesel has personally trained Taylor for this match and that every move we see from him is one of Big Daddy Cool’s moves.

Taylor continues his momentum with forearms and a big throw across the ring but when the inevitable stand off between the football players and wrestler happens, in the chaos Bigelow gets control of the match, stomping and kicking away at LT. 

He grinds him down for a long time, putting him in submission holds on the mat mostly to give him a chance to breathe - I’ll talk a bit about that at the end of the match but Lawrence was struggling with his cardio in a bad way. It adds to the match as he throws big punches and is too exhausted to follow up. Bigelow tries to slow him down with a headlock and he’s thrown with a decent back suplex.

Bam Bam hits a big moonsault off the top rope (kind of, it was more of a twisting splash) but he lands funny and hurts his knee. I don’t think that was legitimate and is probably just to give him an excuse for losing. With Bam Bam selling, LT gives him a Jackknife (again, kind of. He loses his balance and falls over mid-move, but Bam Bam does go up and over and take a bump so it's forgivable) for a near fall. 

LT is in control now and hits a forearm, a clothesline, a tackle and then finally a diving forearm off the middle rope which knocks out Bam Bam and gives him the victory!