Looking Back: WrestleMania IX

[The Brain]

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done a review of an old ppv. Last time it was WrestleMania XI. I stated that a lot of people feel this is one of the worst WrestleManias of all time. Another one that is often mentioned is WrestleMania IX. I would say that WrestleMania IX ranks pretty low on the mania list. That’s not to say it’s a bad event. It just doesn’t rank very well compared to other manias.

Before everyone jumps on and criticizes this event let’s review some overlooked facts. This was the first WrestleMania after the Hogan era. I know Hogan was on the card, but it was his first match in a year and I think most would agree that the Hogan era ended at WrestleMania VIII. Anyone was going to have a tough time as the headliner after years of Hogan main eventing mania. Also the WWF lost a lot of top talent in the months leading up to mania. Here’s a list of a few names that left WWF between SummerSlam 92 and WrestleMania IX: Ric Flair, Ultimate Warrior, British Bulldog, Legion of Doom, Big Bossman, Natural Disasters. These were all big names in the fall of 92, but were gone by the time mania rolled around only a few months later. Also Randy Savage was not wrestling anymore. So at SummerSlam 92 Savage defended the title against Warrior with a lot of involvement from Ric Flair. The Bulldog main evented the show by taking the IC title off Bret Hart. Four of those five guys were gone by Mania. That’s a tough hurdle to overcome. There was some new talent coming in. The Steiners, Headshrinkers, Doink, Razor Ramon, Giant Gonzalez, Lex Luger, and Yokozuna all debuted after SummerSlam and had a role in mania. It’s hard to get so much new talent over in just a couple months heading into the biggest show of the year; especially when the past five or six manias had such a consistent group of talent. All I’m saying is keep an open mind and realize what was going on before coming down too hard on this event. With that said, the event was what it was. If you didn’t like it you didn’t like it regardless of circumstance and that’s fine. On to the show.

I was never a big fan of the toga party and Roman themes. I don’t mind the event being outdoors at Cesar’s Palace, but I felt there was too much emphasis on the toga party. It took way too long for the show to get started. I didn’t care to see elephants and camels at WrestleMania. Cesar and Cleopatra didn’t add anything to the show.

Shawn Michaels vs. Tatanka: I like this match. I normally don’t like seeing mania opponents wrestling each other so close to mania, but that was pretty much the story here. The two weren’t really feuding. One week they wrestled each other on Superstars in a non title match. Tatanka won and earned a title shot. Simple as that. A couple weeks later Tatanka pinned Michaels in a six man tag. The story was built up to see if Tatanka could win when it really counted with the title on the line. How was Shawn going to successfully defend his title against someone who pinned him twice before and was undefeated for over a year? Simple story, good match. I think Shawn should have won by count out. Tatanka won by count out, but didn’t earn anymore title shots. At least if Shawn won, even by count out, he would have a logical reason to not defend against Tatanka again. Also Tatanka could have kept his streak of never being pinned alive.

Steiners vs. Headshrinkers: This was just a mid card tag match (something I really miss in wrestling). Good match between two good teams. I always liked Steiner Brothers matches.

Crush vs. Doink: I have to admit heel Doink was pretty cool. At least intriguing. The match was nothing special, but will be remembered for the first appearance by the second Doink.

Bob Backlund vs. Razor Ramon: This seemed to be a step down for Razor. He just came off a title match against Bret at the Royal Rumble. Before that he had a little feud with Savage. No disrespect to Backlund, but no one really cared about his comeback. At least he looked strong at the Rumble lasting over an hour. Nothing special here.

Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake vs. Money Inc.: This was the big return by Hulk Hogan. Too bad it was nothing memorable. I didn’t really care for this feud or match. Maybe if Hogan or Beefcake stuck around for a while it would have been better. Or if it had been built as a special appearance like Rock n Sock vs. Evolution. Instead we were lead to believe both Hogan and Beefcake were coming back when it was really only for two or three matches. They seemed to mail this one in.

Mr. Perfect vs. Lex Luger: I like this feud, but this match didn’t really do anything for me. Just ok. Weak finish. The best part was after the match when the feud between Perfect and Michaels began.

Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez: We all like to make fun of Giant Gonzalez. We know he had zero wrestling ability. With that said, I was really looking forward to this match. Give me a break, I was only 13. I was more curious than anything else. I wanted to see what Gonzalez could do and more importantly what Taker could possibly do against him. Well we found out Gonzalez couldn’t do anything and Taker was going to punch and kick him. Great hype, bad match.

Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna: This was ok for what it was. I liked Bret as champion. I liked Yoko as challenger. I didn’t care for them together, at least not at WrestleMania. Yoko had only been around for about five months. Bret had only been in the main event for about five months. For both to be main eventing mania seemed rushed. If Hogan had been around the whole time Yoko would have been a good mania opponent. Bret vs. Yoko just didn’t have that mania feel to it. At least they delivered a pretty good match.

Hulk Hogan vs. Yokozuna: I know I just said Hogan vs. Yoko would have been better, but not this way. I hated this. Hogan coming in and taking the title so quickly made the match Bret and Yoko just had seem meaningless. If they were going to go with Bret vs. Yoko they should have stuck with it. In order for a Hogan/Yoko main event to work Hulk needed to be a regular member of the roster and be champ going in. This was just crap. I know WWF likes to have a babyface win the main event, but it is not absolutely necessary. After the match Yoko could have tried to give Bret a couple banzai drops. Hogan could have come out for the save and chased Yoko off setting up a future showdown. The show could have gone off with Bret and Hogan shaking hands and with us knowing we would get Hogan vs. Yoko soon.

I think the main event should have been Bret Hart vs. Randy Savage (credit Slam Master for starting a thread recently that rekindled this idea with me). This would have had a better mania feel to it. Savage was a proven main eventer and was the original Mr. WrestleMania as far as I’m concerned. His talents were being wasted at the announce table, especially when so much other talent had recently left the company. Savage could have won the Rumble earning the mania title shot. The two could have had a babyface match for the title. I’m sure they would have delivered a great match. A clean win over Savage at mania would have solidified Bret’s spot as the top guy in the company. This would have slowed down Yoko’s development, but that could be worked out. Yoko could have destroyed Dugan at Mania. Hogan could run out for the save to start that feud. Yoko could have taken the title off Bret shortly after Mania the same way he did at Mania with Hogan making the save after. King of the Ring could go down exactly as it did with the only difference being Yoko would be champ going in and Hogan never getting the title in 93. This would have made King of the Ring more surprising too because everyone would expect Hogan to win the title.

Overall I would say WrestleMania IX ranks pretty low on the mania list. Probably bottom three. Again that’s not to say the event was horrible. I could watch WreslteManai IX right now and enjoy it. It’s just not good compared to other manias.

 

[shafe_41]

I appriciate your effort with that, but it is still not even enjoyable to watch. How many of the matches even had clean finishes? I don't think half of them did. I love my Manias, but this is one of the downright worst of all time. If a less than 5 minute appearance by Hogan in the main event winning the title is all this Mania is remembered for, I wouldn't be surprised.

The sad part is, when somebody mentions WM9 to me, I think of these 3 things right away...
1.) Outside
2.) Hogan wins title
3.) Bobby Heenan's entrance

There is little else even halfway noteworthy about this god-awful event. I mean when one of the first things I think of is Bobby Heenan's entrance out of a 3-hr. event that's supposed to be the biggest and best of the year, there's something seriously wrong with said event. I watched WM9 once when I got my Anthology since I was just going through all of them in order. I might... MIGHT watch it one more time before I die. It's that bad.

 

[KillBill]

For some reason, this is one of my favorite Wrestlemania's. This is one of those weird situations I think that as a kid, you loved it, as an adult you hated it it. I was a kid, I loved the theme, the animals, Hogan, everything. I liked how something crazy or different happened in every match.

 

[beefthelegend]

I'm with Kill Bill. When i think of my favorite mania's, this one ranks pretty damn high.

The Pagentry was over the top, and freakin excellent. I loved the whole roman theme...I thought everything was well pulled off.

The card was pretty good too. I hate Dusty finishes, but i think that this event pulled them off well. All of them.

My biggest gripe was Razor vs. Backlund. That was a clunker. But other than that, i think every match was awesome.

Maybe it was the out door thing. That was unique. It really ingrained it in my memory.

Plus I'm a huge Bret Hart Mark. And this was his first Mania Main event. (But his best was no doubt WM 13, arguably the best match of his career.)

I really wish that something would have come out of the Mr. Perfect/HbK feud.

but yeah...this is definitely better than WM XI, or XV. XV was a pile of steaming hot garbage.

 

[samboisdead]

First off i loved the outdoor theme. It just looke diffrent than anything else i had scene. Second we were a generation of fans that grew up on Hogan and we hadnt seen him in a year. It was pretty damn exciting to see him twice in one night especially the surprise at the end. Honestly i could argue that the finish to that WM helped inspire what would become known as the attitude era. Think about it the big swerve finish stuff like that didnt happen back then. Yokozuna was very underated. This guy was a beliveable unbeatable moster back then. Anyways in my opinion nothing after WM V has ever lived up to the hype and I would agree that if you ranked all WMs this one would be last it still was WM worthy in my opinion after all their has to be a worst one.

 

[byrnside]

Good choice for a review, Brain. This was a video I rented all the time when I was a kid, mainly because at the time my Blockbuster only had like 4 wrestling tapes. I think you said it best though Brain, it was a good and memorable card, just not as a Wrestlemania. I, like most everyone else so far, loved this as a kid. I'm sure if it was this year's Wrestlemania I would've rather licked up my own vomit than have watched it. But I loved the roman theme. I loved that it was outdoors. I loved heel Doink and the finish to his match with Crush. I loved the Hulkamaniacs/Money Inc. match [probably because I was an undiagnosed Dibiase fan at the time.] The story and build up for this match were great. I loved that Dibiase had Hogan "attacked outside the gym" the night before, or whatever. I think he really messed his face up jet skiing or something? The post match celebration was classic, when they raided IRS's briefcase. I can remember marking out big time when the Undertaker stumbled back to the ring after being chloroformed. Thank God, I didn't understand the politics of the business at the time, because I loved Hogan saving the day for America! Even though Bret was Canadian, that just didn't seem to matter when he was a face. Overall I liked this PPV, just like Brain said though, not as memorable as a Wrestemania.

 

[PiperUndertakerStoneCold]

I LOVED the arena for this PPV. And the Undertaker's entrance was special. But I agree that the card was weak for a WrestleMania. Lots of new acquisitions at the time skewed the match results a bit. But it was still by all means better than WMI and WMXI.