Could This Have Worked At Mania - Part 2 - WM11

[The Brain]

Next in my series of potential mania matches we're going to go back to the middle of the New Generation in 1995 and WrestleMania XI. The proposed match is Bret Hart vs. Hakushi.

1995 was a rough time for the WWF. Hulk Hogan had been gone for a couple years and a lot of the audience went with him. It was becoming difficult to make mania the blockbuster event it had been in years past. This year the WWF went back to what WrestleMania a success in the first place. They brought in a celebrity for the main event hoping to spike a buy rate and potentially introduce the WWF to some new fans. With the involvement of Lawrence Taylor there were going to be a lot of people watching WWF for the first time. With that in mind maybe Bret Hart vs. Hakushi would have been a good match to go with.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying Hakushi, a low mid card wrestler that lasted one year in WWF, would have been able to draw a whole new audience. That would be the most naïve case of fan boy thinking ever. My point is thanks to LT there were going to be many first time viewers anyway. When the main event brings new eyes to the product the undercard should be as strong as possible to show those new fans what else the show has to offer. Given the marketing of the New Generation and just the general evolution of wrestling I think WWF should have showcased a fast pace combination of high flying and scientific wrestling instead of the boring submission match with Bob Backlund. To be fair Bret vs. Backlund should have been a good match. They just didn't click that night so it's easy to say in hindsight that it shouldn't have happened. I remember at the time though wanting Bret vs. Hakushi. The feud had already begun and I thought it was time to move on from Backlund. Hakushi was innovative and ahead of his time (at least in the WWF). It was an opportunity to show the new audience a new style. Maybe one that would get them to stop on the USA network while channel surfing on Monday nights.

Of course the downside is who the hell was Hakushi? Putting him against Bret Hart at mania would be kind of like putting Adrian Neville against John Cena or Randy Orton this year. Sure Neville is talented in the ring but many people don't know who he is and he would seem very out of place against one of the biggest stars at mania. With WrestleMania already looking weak putting a relative unknown against one of the top stars may have been difficult to pull off. However, given that the talent roster didn't have much depth in 1995 it may have been a good opportunity to allow a new name a chance to shine. Like I mentioned, the feud between Hart and Hakushi had already begun and they would wrestle at the very next PPV. I don't think many people were overly excited to see Bob Backlund in 1995 anyway.

What do you think? Was WM11 a good opportunity to let Hakushi introduce a new style to those watching for the first time in a long time or was he simply not a big enough name to oppose Bret Hart at the biggest show of the year?

Remember this thread is only about this proposed match. It's not meant to rebook the whole show.

 

[Aquaman6686]

WrestleMania 11 is only a terrible event when you look at the "main event". The rest of the WM11 card was actually quite good. The celebrity matches at WrestleMania never adds anything to the event. Nobody cares about them, and they don't add buyrates or interest to the show. As for the OP idea, I think Hart's match with Bob Backlund was fine, except for the fact that Hart never won the match. Backlund just made some unintelligible noise, and Roddy Piper decided it was time for the match to end.

 

[mral82]

I think the Bret Hart vs Bob Backlund match great as the NEW GENERATION wasn't about JAckked Up Guys it was the Pro Wrestling World Changing due to the Whole Steroids case that the Gov't only went after McMahon for and not the NWA/WCW/ECW just Vince like usual which imo is ******ed. I hate that Vince always is the man getting sued and not other Promotions as well. Back to the Original Question While Bret and Hakushi was diff it was the WWE finishing up on the The Hart Family Feud w/ Bob Backlund included as even though Bret was introduced in the mid 1980's and by that time he was kinda old Generation but dubbed NEW due to being switched from Mid Carding to Main Eventing him and Hakushi wouldn't have worked at WM that year of 1995. As far as Hakushi you coulda put him up against Bob Holly to showcase both of them in give me at least 7 mins as the 1995 Roster was as good as due to all the People jumping from WCW to ECW to WWF and Vice Versa. So nope Hakushi and Bret Hart could not happen at WMXI but Hakushi vs Bob Holly could. As far as today your comparision for Adrian Neville to hakushi lolz but if you go by that I think Finn Balor is more Hakushi'eque and t oput him at the Grandest Stage w/ someone like Bret's equal on the WWE Roster today in a guy like Randy Orton, Dean Ambrose would be way too soon.

 

[relentless1]

yup. for sure it could have worked, Bobs stint, and newfound relevance was over, there was no need to close the chapter on his feud with Bret as it seamlessly continued into a feud with Owen. Come to think of it, Bret vs Owen 3 at WM 11 would have been "best for business". But if thats not the route that they wanted to go the Bret vs Hakushi would have been a great match.

 

[Goldie]

I think the idea is fine for a B-level PPV, was it an IYH show where they did square off. I'm not too sure about Wrestlemania though.

The match would have likely been better with Hakushi... The no quit match with Bret/Bob went on too long and the numerous submission attempts and holding moves meant that the action was much slower paced than a typical 4 or 5 star match that Bret was easily capable of putting in at the time.

However Wrestlemania is the show where Vince pulls out all the stops to maximise the PPV buy rate... Hence the involvement of celebrities every year to maximise the WWE exposure across a broader media audience.
Having Bret get his revenge over Bob, to close up their feud in a sense, was more appealing to a fan considering purchasing the show, as opposed to throwing Bret in with a relative unknown.
Generally at Wrestlemania, the big stars match up with the big stars..... Leaving the outcome less predictable than a B-level show where the bigger stars usually went over midcarders or lesser rung guys on the roster.

Bob was actually over with his 'crazy old man' gimmick... Afterall they put the world title on him at the age of 44, at a time they were berating WCW for pushing old timers!
Bob still had name value at this point

 

[sMark]

Hackushi indeed could go against Bret, especially having Mr. Fuji in his corner as a reminder of WM9/WM10 events Bret vs Fuji guys =1/1 at WM, so it could work as a story.

I believe WM11 in general could be better:
Owen should use Jim Nedhart as his partner, to increase the opener starpower and make it Hart Foundation vs Alied Powers instead of Random Team vs Alied Powers

Taker should fight Bigelow - Bam Bam was way more talented in the ring than King Kong Bundy and i don't think King Kong was more popular than Bigelow at the time

Bret should fight Hackushi (w/ Mr. Fuji)

Taylor should fight Yokozuna - both can't wrestle, but at least you can tell an emotional story this way - giant super strong foreigher vs popular american underdog, with underdog winning in the very end: Taylor try his best shots, but nothing works...referee bump, the whole team go into the ring and attack Yoko, gong strikes and Undertaker walks down the ring, grab Yoko and Tombstone him for the finish...everybody going home happy

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I'm not convinced Bret v Hakushi was right for Mania, but I am that they mishandled Hakushi SOOOO badly.

They had spend so long on Bret and Backlund by that point not paying it off would have been a mistake. Remember this was also Bob's "payoff" for doing the favour for Nash... a prominent match at Wrestlemania and he likely insisted/requested Bret. Bret being the traditionalist and respectful guy would have gone along cos he liked Bob and felt he deserved it, expecting them to pick him up after... They did of course but not how he expected.

If you're going to remove Backlund then I genuinely think you have to have Owen beat Bret for that title and lose to Diesel at the Rumble... can still be 8 seconds but that then frees Bret for the Rumble match... and it ruins Shawn's #1 win.. but I think that killed it anyway for him so I'd go as far as Bret and Davey as #1 and #2 so there is a teaser of that old rivalry for later in the year when Davey went heel, THEN Shawn at #3... and they all stay in there till the end with Hakushi being the surprise guy in the final four... He eliminates Bret at the same time Davey "eliminates" Shawn... the "skinning the cat" ending still happens but Davey is distracted by Hakushi doing the Tiger Space Drop on Bret outside the ring... he doesn't realise Shawn is still in and thinks Hakushi has just sent him to Mania... music plays exactly as it did and he gets dumped... more seeds for Davey's heel turn and a spectacular moment (albiet a self elimination) the Rumble sucked anyway so this ending wouldn't have been any worse.

Right after Owen gets his "mystery" tag opportunity against the Smokin' Gunns and Hakushi is that partner, winning the titles with Owen... This then sets up Bret and Davey v Owen and Hakushi at Mania...

Lex has his rematch with Yoko at Mania and Backlund perhaps can face off with Piper or someone similar.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

Had Hakushi even debuted by this point? The first I recall of him was at the first In Your House event in May, two months after Wrestlemania (yes I know before then ppvs were limited) - funnily enough in the match of the night v Bret Hart!

From a technical standpoint, In Your House proves the match would have worked at WM; from a storyline standpoint, following on from the Royal Rumble, it was much more logical for Bret to have his rematch with Backlund. Remember, the title match at the Rumble was thrown out due to outside interference, including from Backlund and Owen Hart. Bret repaid this by assaulting both on the way to the Rumble, leading to them both (criminally) only lasting about 2 seconds. I see the Rumble as 'closure' of the main Bret v Owen story arc and continuation of the Bret v Bob arc, which finished at Wrestlemania.

Storyline-wise there just was no reason to interject Hakushi in, which would have led to ANOTHER thrown together match on a card which already had the likes of Luger & Bulldog v the Blu Brothers and Owen and mystery partner v the Smoking Gunns

 

[THTRobtaylor]

And all that led to... what at the time was considered the worst WM card of all time in terms of booking.

You want to save Lex and Davey v The HarrisbluDoAjabronis?

Dave and Bret v Owen and Hakushi would have been a far better "thrown together" match, you'd have got some great spots, a "classic" encounter and a chance to tease some stuff with Davey, who was already set to go heel by the end of the year...

 

[The Brain]

Had Hakushi even debuted by this point? The first I recall of him was at the first In Your House event in May, two months after Wrestlemania (yes I know before then ppvs were limited) - funnily enough in the match of the night v Bret Hart!

From a technical standpoint, In Your House proves the match would have worked at WM; from a storyline standpoint, following on from the Royal Rumble, it was much more logical for Bret to have his rematch with Backlund. Remember, the title match at the Rumble was thrown out due to outside interference, including from Backlund and Owen Hart. Bret repaid this by assaulting both on the way to the Rumble, leading to them both (criminally) only lasting about 2 seconds. I see the Rumble as 'closure' of the main Bret v Owen story arc and continuation of the Bret v Bob arc, which finished at Wrestlemania.

Storyline-wise there just was no reason to interject Hakushi in, which would have led to ANOTHER thrown together match on a card which already had the likes of Luger & Bulldog v the Blu Brothers and Owen and mystery partner v the Smoking Gunns

Yes, Hakushi had already debuted and as I mentioned his feud with Bret Hart began BEFORE WrestleMania. Bret Hart was to receive an award from the Japanese media. Jerry Lawler had been making baseless accusations that Hart was a racist, particularly against Asians. When Bret was presented with his award Hakushi came out and attacked him. Again, this was before WrestleMania.

This was not just a random idea of mine. WWF put the idea in my head in 1995. In my opinion Hart vs. Backlund didn't have the momentum anymore. It felt like they were just stretching that feud because Bret needed something for mania. Even though Hakushi was still kind of an unknown I think it might have been better to go with the exciting new guy instead of stretching an old feud that had run its course.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

It absolutely works. You have to change the booking around somewhat to get the finish to the Backlund angle for Bret, but Hakushi/Bret would have been a classic Wrestlemania match that would have stole the show, and probably 'made' Hakushi. That could have been done on a RAW though, and actually been used to build a Bret/Hakushi match.

The I Quit match with Backlund was horrible. Vince's idea that they only use submission moves was a major mistake. Using Piper as the ref was a bad choice because it just came off as comical when asking them "whadda ya say?"

But no one in the WWF at that time worked better with Hakushi than Bret did. When he debuted, Hakushi was such a cool character that had tonnes of potential. As it turns out, according to Bret in his book, Hakushi himself was such an easy going, giving guy that his biggest problem working in the WWF was that his opponents kept taking advantage of his giving nature. Give him that WM match with Bret though, which like I said would have 'made' Hakushi, and I don't believe that the agents would have let his later opponents take as much in their matches with him. It easily would have had the potential to reshape Hakushi's WWF career.