Author: dtm666

Date: March 28, 1999
Venue: First Union Center, Philly, PE
Attendance: 20,276

(Note: The following post was written prior to the McMahon lawsuit from January 2024).

Last year, Wrestlemania kicked off a period that would be the most profitable period in the WWF’s history, the Attitude era. It also kicked off a bunch of controversy in relation to pushing the envelope, but it got the job done in promoting the promotion as a fast-paced, edgy product that WCW could never pull off. While the storylines on WWF television made little sense at time, it helped that the writing and action was a tad better and more intense than what was being offered on WCW, who were merely content showing off the same stars that made them famous and not making any conscious effort to make any new stars. Because of this, along with the incredible Austin/McMahon rivalry that dominated WWF television among other factors, the WWF was able to change its fortunes and reclaim its spot as the top wrestling promotion in North America.

A year after Wrestlemania XIV, which was an awesome in itself, we got Wrestlemania XV. And if there was any show that served as the very epitome of “Russorific”… THIS would be it.

I’ve once said that Wrestlemania XV is like the village idiot: filled with such stupid shit and yet you can’t help but laugh at its plight or pleasure. Watching recently, it’s painfully clear that this show has aged terribly over the years and the stuff that’s been floating around here is pretty wretched. Mania’s first Hell In A Cell match featured a hanging that was disturbing (whereas a hanging would be greatly welcomed at THIS year’s Cell match), a wrestler who got lucky in a boxing tournament got his lights knocked out by Butterbean, Pete Rose got tombstoned by Kane once again, and on top of all that, we had Nicole Bass… whose manly physique would give Chyna a run for her money… or something.

If there was any saving grace, it was Rock/Austin. A good main event with a satisfying finish even with all the bullshit taking place. But their Backlash encounter the following month would be a much better affair.

Where to, Stephanie? To the scrapheap!

This was during the height of the Attitude era, back when Vince on TV as a despicable asshole was pure genius and not a tiresome attempt at past glory… but that didn’t excuse the number of stupid ideas scattered here. Like I said before, this show hasn’t aged well and is pretty unbearable to watch.

Continue reading “Ramblemania Rewind 15 – WWF Wrestlemania XV: The Ragin’ Climax (1999)”

Date: March 29th, 1998
Venue: FleetCenter – Boston, MA
Attendance: 19,028

(Note: The following post was written prior to the McMahon lawsuit from January 2024).

Wrestlemania XIV was the show that sold me as a wrestling fan and began a long, fruitful investment that continues to this very day. While I didn’t catch the show live, I did get to watch a replay of it at a friend’s house and it was also one of the first WWF home video tapes that I purchased. I won’t lie and tell you that a lot of the enjoyment and pleasant memories of this show are fueled by nostalgia, but I’ve always contended that this was my favorite Wrestlemania card and one that I go back to often.

Now whether that statement holds true today is another story, as I have bore witness to every Wrestlemania since then and I can count a number of those shows that have surpassed or even exceeded my enjoyment of that one show to the point that it’s been years since I lasted Mania 14. And since I’m on this trip of revisiting these older shows, the question invariably becomes whether this show still holds up or has it aged about as poorly as most of the Attitude Era stuff has?

Some context before we begin: Survivor Series 97 and the whole screwjob in Montreal proved to be a turning point for the WWF. What was thought to be the final death knell for the company turned out to be the moment where things started to turn around. Vince McMahon, knowing people hated him for his role in that whole mess, decided to turn himself heel and position himself as an antagonist towards the company’s fast rising star, Stone Cold Steve Austin. Then the WWF brought Mike Tyson into the fold, teasing a fight with Austin, but then making him the special enforcer for the eventual Austin/Michaels WWF title match at Mania XIV. While there were other stories going on – the ongoing Undertaker/Kane feud and the Rock/Shamrock rivalry going full boil among others – that one major angle was the thing that all eyeballs were on.

Continue reading “Ramblemania Rewind 14 – WWF Wrestlemania XIV: D-X Raided (1998)”

Date: March 23, 1997
Venue: Rosemount Horizon, Chicago, IL
Attendance: 18,197

(Note: The following post was written prior to the McMahon lawsuit from January 2024).

The year is 1997. After a long period of trailing the WWF, Turner-owned promotion World Championship Wrestling had garnered the number one spot in wrestling with their red-hot nWo angle that has done nothing but kill the WWF in the ratings. It wasn’t a secret that the WWF was really hurting during this time and while some would claim that the WWF product was much better than what WCW was offering, you certainly couldn’t tell when the WWF produced shows like Wrestlemania 13, which is a show that was pretty substandard in terms of PPV standards and certainly downright abysmal by Wrestlemania standards. And while one would be hard-press to call this a worse Wrestlemania outing than Wrestlemania IX or Wrestlemania XV, the simple truth of the matter is by the thirteen iteration, the spectacle and pageantry that Wrestlemania once commanded was long gone.

Lacking celebrities and the sense of grandeur that had been enjoyed years prior, Wrestlemania 13 was a show that was, for intents and purposes, nothing special. For a PPV that was supposed to be a showcase of the immortals, one glance at the card would one confusing this for a In Your House PPV event of lesser stature. A bunch of matches that nobody could get excited over and a WWF championship match between two giant men that should inspire awe, but instead feel uninspired.

But Wrestlemania 13 is often referred to as a one-match show… and that one match – the now infamous submission match between Bret “Hitman” Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin – is considered by many to be one of the greatest, if not THE, greatest Wrestlemania match of all time. Yes, it does get a bit graphic. Yes, it does get a bit brutal… but at the end of the day, it told a very simple story of two guys who hated each other so much they were willing to put it all on the line and it was a match of such brilliance that it was able to pull off a double turn with relative ease, making the once-beloved Hart into a hated villain while turning the once-despised Austin into the sort of anti-hero that would plant to seeds to his nearing success.

One amazing match almost makes sitting through the rest of this show almost worth it… almost.

Continue reading “Ramblemania Rewind 13 – WWF Wrestlemania 13 (1997)”

Date: March 31st, 1996
Venue: Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim, CA
Attendance: 18,853

(Note: The following post was written prior to the McMahon lawsuit from January 2024).

When someone brings up Wrestlemania 12, chances are the only thing people can recall about that show is the hour-long Iron Man match between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. And that would be totally justified because the better part of Wrestlemania 12 is pretty forgettable for the most part.

Wrestlemania 12 lacked celebrity stars of any kind. Some would argue that the WWF wanted to showcase the talent themselves rather than have any outside influence, but I would think that no celebrity wanted to be a part of Wrestlemania or be associated with the company after they witnessed a string of mostly terrible television shows. The PPVs didn’t necessarily fare all that better, especially when it came to Diesel defending his world title against guys like Sid or King Mabel, resulting in some really mediocre matches even by those days’ standards. All things considered, if Nash had been given credible opponents who could work, his reign wouldn’t have been a chore to sit through… but what would I know? I wasn’t watching at the time.

Wrestlemania 12 was about the 60-minute Iron Man match between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels… the very same match that made Shawn’s career and marked the beginning of Bret’s downward spiral. The Iron Man match, for me personally, hasn’t held up all that well. Despite some of the quality wrestling and athletics on display here, the sad truth is that nothing happens in this match worthy of merit and I often find myself fast-forwarding just to see if anything is going to happen. And while it’s still a good match, each time I watch it, I find myself getting more bored and the match loses quite a bit of its luster as a result. Besides, the only other significance of this match is that it set the stage for a year and a half’s worth of real life drama that would culminate in Survivor Series 1997… and we know what happened there.

Perhaps this is why I’ve warmed up to the undercard a bit in recent years. I hadn’t considered it all that great years ago, but watching it again, the handful of matches on display did provide some decent matches… even if they weren’t anything special. I guess if you wanted to check out Steve Austin’s first ‘Mania match or the Ultimate Warrior’s squashing of a young HHH, then this would be worth it. Even Undertaker/Diesel was surprisingly good. Go figure.

Continue reading “Ramblemania Rewind 12 – WWF Wrestlemania XII (1996)”

Date: April 2nd, 1995
Venue: Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, CT
Attendance: 16,305

(Note: The following post was written prior to the McMahon lawsuit from January 2024).

They say that peering into each Wrestlemania tells you the state of the company at the time and this would hold true to a certain extent. Barring Wrestlemania 9, which was just a horrific show by any means, each ‘Mania spotlighted the top stars, best matches of the time, and top-notch performance. Wrestlemania X was considered a good wrestling show, but 1994 would play home to other great wrestling shows from the WWF. Wrestlemania XI, on the other hand, was a good spotlight into everything that was wrong with the company, long before it would be truly damaging.

Wrestlemania XI took place during the heyday of the WWF’s New Generation era and a Kevin Nash title reign; a period of time that most “experts” and otherwise consider to be the Dark Age of McMahon’s utopia and this show clearly illustrates the road of mediocrity the promotion was headed. The fact that they had to crop this show up with any kind of celebrity presence – no matter how low-tier they may be – to try and drum up ANY kind of interest is a telling sign. When the only thing that really sticks to mind is the kid from Home Improvement beating Mr. Bob Backlund in chess during a backstage skit of a WRESTLEMANIA show, you’ve got problems.

Continue reading “Ramblemania Rewind 11 – WWF Wrestlemania XI (1995)”