Rebook Wrestlemania 11

[Wolf Pac]

OK when I look at past Wrestlemanias, I think this is the one Wrestlemania that I would most definitely rebook. Not only was it atrocious looking on paper with the exception of Diesel vs. Shawn Michaels & Razor vs. Jeff Jarrett but it was terrible on PPV too. So what matches would you have booked on the PPV?​

My card...No order BTW

Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
Despite it being really bad both on card & PPV, I wouldn't have changed it really. It was one of Bam Bam's biggest moments as he was in the main event, so I wouldn't take that away for him and bringing LT in was good for publicity.

Bret Hart (c) vs. Owen Hart in a Submission Match for the WWF Championship
Both Hart brothers were in completely worthless matches at WM and pretty much anything else than what they got at WM would've been better, so I booked this Wrestlemania rematch which I'm sure nobody would've minded seeing again anyway. I would've had Bret win the WWF Title back in a rematch with Backlund at Royal Rumble and have Owen Hart win the Royal Rumble match (a RR win for Owen sounds good when I think about it) and then have Owen go on to win his first WWF Championship from his bro with help from Yokozuna as revenge for last years WM and to start up the Yoko-Owen-Cornette alliance. Then on one of the future In Your Houses, probably IYH #3 since it was Diesel & Shawn vs. Yoko & Owen, Diesel would win the title from Owen.

Diesel vs. Shawn Michaels
I wouldn't change this aswell and it didn't really need to be for the WWF Title since it was more about them breaking up their friendship.

Yokozuna vs. King Kong Bundy
Only reason why I paired them up is because they're fat lards and I had nothing else for them.

The Undertaker vs. Jerry Lawler
Anybody would've been better than King Kong Bundy and a Jerry Lawler vs. Taker match back then at WM wouldn't have been that bad actually. The build up could've been good with both guys playing mind-games on each other. Lawler by making fun of Taker, Paul Bearer & his gimmick like he's done so many of his other opponents and with Lawler being the cowardly heel, Taker easily scaring him off with his supernatural powers.

Lex Luger vs. British Bulldog
Wouldn't have been a 5 star masterpiece but on card it would've looked interesting as they are both powerhouses and it would be a UK vs. US match. Maybe they could've had Luger eliminate Bulldog in the Royal Rumble match and Bulldog is pissed leading to the Allied Powers having differences for the next couple of weeks until Bulldog finally turns heel on Luger to set this one up.

Razor Ramon vs. Jeff Jarrett (c) for the WWF IC Championship
Wouldn't have changed this aswell. According to Powerslam Magazine, they had the best feud of 1995.

The Smoking Gunns (c) vs. The Blu Brothers for the WWF Tag Team Championship
Had nothing else for them but at least it's a legit tag team vs. legit tag team. This would be the opening match.

 

[MMK]

I just created this thread like a few days ago. In fact, it's even called "Rebooking Wrestlemania" the golden years".

Putting that aside, it's hard to imagine but I think you've managed to make the worst Wrestlemania of all time even worse. The Blus Brothers competing for the tag team championship? Why?

The main event should have been The Undertaker vs Bret Hart for the WWF Title. Diesel vs HBK was a good feud, but it was a midcard feud and should have been for the IC title, NOT the wwf title. That was the problem with this mania. There was no true bonifide main event. So a midcard feud ended up getting promoted to a main event level status which it didn't deserve.

Diesel was rushed into main event status in 95 in part due to Lex Lugers failure to get over but also because of the influence of the Kliq backstage. The match with HBK should have been kept to midcard IC title status. Bret and Undertaker were by far the most over wrestlers at the time. The poster for Wrestlemania 11, which featured ominous purple and black smoke, was clearly designed specifically for the Undertaker which makes me believe original plans called for Taker to compete in the main event but plans changed somewhere along the way. More than likely it had something to do with the Kliq hogging the proverbial main event ball.

 

[mr. jomo risin]

Putting that aside, it's hard to imagine but I think you've managed to make the worst Wrestlemania of all time even worse. The Blus Brothers competing for the tag team championship? Why?

I have to disagree with that. Hood's card actually looks really good on paper compared to the slopfest WMXI actually is. I do like the Undertaker vs. Bret Hart for the WWE Title tho and agree HBK vs. Diesel has IC written all over it.

WWE T- Bret Hart v. Undertaker (but would we still have the streak)

Bam Bam v. LT

ICT T- HBK v. Diesel v. Razor Ramon (ok so the trip threat wasnt exactly prominent, i dont even know of one by this point, but hey it won't change anything, it wouldve been awesome and why not let the whole damn kliq run wild on each other)

Britsh Bulldog v. Owen Hart (the year after the bro v. bro, we go bro v. bro in law, coulda been a showstealer)

Yokozuna v. Lex Luger (a rematch for Luger from X. maybe try and relight that spark that burned out so quick)

Bob Backlund v. Jerry Lawler (eh, why not. Lawler pokes fun at him for being a nut and he blows up on him)

The rest is filler anyway so either a divas/tag team/or battle royal match with the leftocer undercard talent.

 

[DeathClutch]

Bret/Owen w/ Backlund as trainer III - SUBMISSION MATCH
HBK/Diesel/Bulldog - WWE CHAMPIONSHIP (First Triple Threat match, could of had Bulldog do the job having HBK/Diesel @ In Your House/King of the Ring before HBK's face turn)
Undertaker/Yokozuna III - LAST MAN STANDING (not the match type just the name of the match since they were tied 1-1)
Luger/Tatanka III - REMATCH from SUMMERSLAM 1994. (and their DRAW @ KOTR 93)
Razor/Jarrett II - INTERCONTINETAL CHAMPIONSHIP - CAGE MATCH (to keep Roadie out)
Smoking Gunns/1-2-3 Kid & Holly - TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS (Rather than have this match on RAW after Rumble 95 I'd of saved this for Mania as a filler)
Bam Bam/Taylor - Keeping in with this feud.

Basically keeping with feuds at the time that had either past or continued afterwards.

 

[JohhnyDamage]

Outside of Diesel/HBK and Bret/Owen (Maaaaaaaaaaaaaybe if it was a ladder match) I have zero interest in these matches. I'm sorry.

I know it was Bam Bam's big moment BUT, would you want your big moment to be known as one of the worst matches in Wrestlemania history?

Booking from Memories so I may be off...No order to these matches mostly.

Diesel (c) v. HBK: Easy Choice. HBK won the rumble. History is there. Two great wrestlers.

Jarret (c) v. Razor [Ladder Match]: This would be pretty exciting. I think both people could do some pretty good spots and really make this rivalry pop.

Bret Hart and Tatanka v. Yokozona and Owen Hart Bret v Yoko. Bret v Owen. Yoko and Owen building more tag team rep. Some nice exposure for Tatanka, because you can never have to much Tatanka.

Undertaker v. Crush [Falls Count Anywhere] Better than KKB and still a big man. Being one of the last three in the Royal Rumble could give Crush an ego and have him set his sights on taking the streak out. Sort of him overcompensating for coming so close.

Men on a Mission v. The Smoking Gunns (c) The crowd would like this tag match. Thats all that really matters.

Bam Bam Bigelow w/ Million Dollar Man v. Lex Lugar w/ LT The biggest goal here is making LT a decoration and NOT a wrestler. This way Bam Bam loses and still gets kicked out of the stable. Lugar wins and gets a push like he was getting at the time or was going to if I remember right. LT is there being LT and making people say 'Hey, LT is there!'

Card is a little light but I can't really think of much else off the top of my head.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

WWF Championship
Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels
- Simple HBK wins the rumble, Bret Hart is the Champion. So we have a heel challenger going against the fighting champion. Diesel was over, but was Diesel vs. Michaels a WM worthy main event? Anyways Bret Hart wins it.

Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
- If this match was at the middle of WMXI I would have no problems with it. A main event this match aint but I can see this in the middle of the card.

WWF Tag Team Championship
Lex Luger and The British Bulldog vs. Owen Hart and Yokozuna
- And why not? Sure they are not actual tag teams but Luger and Bulldog (as Champions) would seem to be a more interesting team for Owen and Yoko to face considering the past history of Yoko and Luger.

Battle of the Giants
Psyco Sid vs. Diesel
- Let's say Diesel and HBK did have a falling out. I can totally see this match to extend the feud.

The Undertaker vs. Tatanka
- A dumb idea? But still better than King Kong Bundy plus a better option as a member of the Million Dollar Corporation

Steel Cage Match: Intercontinental Championship
Jeff Jarrett vs. Scott Hall
- I like the idea the rematch in a Cage Match. Jarrett can still win cowardly and it would have made their RR rematch more meaningful.

 

[BestForTheBusinesso9]

I encourage anyone who thinks that Diesel and HBK was a midcard feud to go back and watch some of the footage from this feud. First off, the match clearly stole the show and was by FAR the best match on the card. It was also probably the best match of Kevin Nash's career in terms of in ring work. Both were on the verge of really breaking out and I think this feud really helped to boost them to that level. It also helped elevate Sid, this feud really did a lot for all three men and they also had the girls involved. Shawn Michaels really proved here that he could hang with a bigger man here and didn't need the help of a bodyguard to compete in a match of this magnitude. Bam Bam and LT actually proved to gain some mainstream attention to the event and wasn't all that bad in the ring. Yokozuna at this point was so big and so out of shape that I really think the only option for him was tag team wrestling, a little similar to the way Big Show has been recently. With that being him being Owen's partner made sense, but probably not the route I would go. With all of that being said, here is my card

Allied Powers vs. Owen Hart and Yokozuna
-This is a match that would have more star power than the tag title match but involves two teams that would end up being viable teams but were both just starting out. The winner of this would receive a tag title shot and also help further develop them as a team. Ultimately culminating in the feud between the two that would take place later on anyway.

Tag Titles
Smoking Gunns vs. The Heavenly Bodies
This doesn't make a ton of sense but they were involved with each other leading up to the event and this would be a decent tag match and help to further reinvent the division.

IC Title
Razor Ramon vs. Jeff Jarrett
I liked the idea of this match but it didn't really live up to expectations and the feud went downhill after this. Maybe a cage match? Keep the guys from interfering and possibly closing out this rivalry with a clean finish.

Undertaker vs. Kama
The feud with Kama after Wrestlemania was decent, a lot better than this match with Bundy but no matter who you put with Taker here it probably wasn't going to be classic. More of a novelty at this point.

Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler
They feuded again later in the year and while I understand wanting Backlund in the match here it just didn't work. This is kind of a shot in the dark and I thought hard about it. Really Backlund is okay for this. Plus this saves us from Lawler-Cole years later.

Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
Served its purpose and created some buzz for this event in what was otherwise lacking in a lot of attention.

World Title
Diesel vs. Shawn Michaels
The mixed reaction here and the way it was a pretty much clean match was influential in Michaels' face turn. One interesting note, they chose to turn Sid heel shortly after but notice the Sid chants if you watch the match closely. I would put this on last, it was a good match and I know a lot of people were worried and questioned Diesel's run but this match wasn't about Diesel. Put it on last and trust these guys to have the match they ended up having.

 

[mr. jomo risin]

I encourage anyone who thinks that Diesel and HBK was a midcard feud to go back and watch some of the footage from this feud. First off, the match clearly stole the show and was by FAR the best match on the card. It was also probably the best match of Kevin Nash's career in terms of in ring work. Both were on the verge of really breaking out and I think this feud really helped to boost them to that level. It also helped elevate Sid, this feud really did a lot for all three men and they also had the girls involved. Shawn Michaels really proved here that he could hang with a bigger man here and didn't need the help of a bodyguard to compete in a match of this magnitude. Bam Bam and LT actually proved to gain some mainstream attention to the event and wasn't all that bad in the ring.


I get that had a hell of a match (i think it might have even won match of the year in '95) and it should have headlined the card we ended up with for XI but for the tale of tape, it doesn't look good on paper. If it weren't for this match being as good as it was this would have been by far the worst WM ever, instead a bottom 3 contender. It was the only good thing about the PPV. But nobody could have expected this classic. Diesel was too new and HBK only had one real standout WM match and it involved a ladder. This match could have been just as show stealing with an IC title. Bret Hart v. Taker is the match that should have topped the bill for the strap. Then Taker doesn't go to waste, neither does Hart. They pissed away both of their top stars! I don't get it! If you throw in a Bulldog v. Owen you had potential to have three classics. It could have been one of the best manias of its time. We had Bret/Owen. Classic. Bret/Bulldog. Classic. But i never got to see an Owen/Davey Boy on a grand stage. I get the LT/Bam Bam mainstream deal. But to bring in a more mainstream audience and show them the product with that bottomfeeding card is crap. They should have put Bob Backlund & King Kong Bundy v. Jacob & Eli Blue on the dark match before the show and ditch that rubbish. This is supposed to be the SHOWCASE OF THE IMMORTALS HERE!

 

[LODemolition]

Mabel vs. Tatanka

I don't believe Mabel had turned heel yet and was still part of Men on a Mission, so this makes him a face that would be easy to put Tatanka over after his recent heel turn. Maybe with some interference from a Corporation member like Kama or I.R.S.

Tag Team Titles: The Smoking Gunns (c) vs. King Kong Bundy & Bam Bam Bigelow

I'm not a fan of celebrities getting in the ring, especially in the main event. So I lose the whole LT/Bigelow feud and put DiBiase's Corporation guys up against the tag champs, but losing in this one.

1-2-3 Kid vs. Owen Hart

This could've been the fast paced low to mid card match that stole the show. Owen would get the win after a solid match after Cornette took a cheap shot at Waltman.

British Bulldog vs. Yokozuna

Probably the strongest wrestler of that time period taking on the biggest. Bulldog is able to lift Yokozuna up, but when he tries to go for the running power slam, he falls backward into the corner. This sets up perfect for Yoko to hit him with the Bonzai Drop and get the win.

Roddy Piper vs. Jerry Lawler

Instead of Piper doing his usual "guest referee" spot, put him in a match after Lawler disrespects him on Raw. This takes care of Lawler going all those years w/o a WrestleMania match. Gorilla Monsoon or Dok Hendrix could've co-announced during this match and the next match or 2. Piper wins with a sleeper.

IC Title: Jeff Jarrett (c) vs. Lex Luger

Am I right when I think back and don't remember Luger ever wearing any gold in the WWF? I would set up a feud between these 2 leading up to Mania where Luger fends off interference from The Roadie (thanks to the Bulldog in his corner) to become the new IC champ.

Falls Count Anywhere: Diesel & Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels & Sid

I think this match could've stolen the show. Imagine the 4 of these guys fighting it out all over the arena and backstage. Eventually it gets back down to the ring and Sid pulls out a pair of handcuffs from under the ring, cuffing Diesel to the turnbuckle where all he can do is watch as Razor Ramon is on the receiving end of a powerbomb. Sid picks him back up and Shawn hits the superkick for the win. This way Diesel doesn't have to take the pin and can stay in the championship hunt w/o any loss of momentum.

WWF Championship: Bret Hart (c) vs. The Undertaker

I would've had Bret win the belt back against Diesel at the Rumble with unwanted help from Shawn and Sid, which would've obviously set up their previous match. Taker wins the rumble to make him #1 contender. The 2 top faces in the company go at one another much like WMVI when it was Hogan and the Warrior. Bret and Taker had some good matches, but never faced at Mania. Would've been interesting if they had to see if Taker's streak would still exist. In a match for the ages that goes 35-40 minutes long, Bret has the Sharpshooter locked in, but Taker powers out. Maybe let Bret kick out of the Tombstone also to make it even. A seesaw match that ends in Taker hitting the Tombstone for the 2nd time out of nowhere for the 3 count and becoming the new Champion.

 

[bigbootydaddyV]

I don't see what was wrong with the card as is for the most part, although I think they could have had the allied powers in a better match. Perhaps had them as tag champs and then having Owen/yoko take the straps from them, and then put the gunns and blu brothers against each other to open the card.

And why are so many people opposed to Bundy against Taker? Bundy was a huge name back in the day, he did headline mania 9 years ago against Hogan and he looked the exact same. He was still a monster and those were the matches people wanted to see Taker in at the time. This was before he started putting on crazy matches against the likes of shawn and brock and mick... he was still that slow moving imposing figure (the immovable object) and so a match w/ him and bundy worked.

Bret Hart and Backlund was a good match and a continuation from their towel match at SS, so that was fine. I was never a big bob backlund fan, but his feud with bret was actually damn good.

Shawn and Diesel was another good match, and it made for a great story the next night on raw, one of my top 5 favorite kevin nash moments of all time.

bam bam and LT... now here was the problem. Closing out on this match was awful because this match was awful. Bam bam is great but LT was awful in the ring and even bam bam couldn't make him look great, though he did make him look decent. Anywhere else on the card, it's fine, no worse than money mayweather or akibono or any other stupid celeb stunt in mania.

So yea, aside from the tag matches and the main event i really don't see anything wrong with this card.

1 The Allied Powers (Lex Luger and The British Bulldog) defeated The Blu Brothers (Jacob and Eli) (with Uncle Zebekiah) Tag team match 06:34

2 Razor Ramon (with The 1–2–3 Kid) defeated Jeff Jarrett (c) (with The Roadie) by disqualification Singles match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship 13:32
3 The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) defeated King Kong Bundy (with Ted DiBiase) Singles match with special guest referee Larry Young 06:36
4 Owen Hart and Yokozuna (with Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette) defeated The Smoking Gunns (c) (Billy and Bart) Tag team match for the WWF Tag Team Championship 09:42
5 Bret Hart defeated Bob Backlund "I Quit" match with special guest referee Roddy Piper 09:34
6 Diesel (c) (with Pamela Anderson) defeated Shawn Michaels (with Sid and Jenny McCarthy) Singles match for the WWF Championship 20:35
7 Lawrence Taylor defeated Bam Bam Bigelow (with Ted DiBiase)

 

[BestForTheBusinesso9]

So yea, aside from the tag matches and the main event i really don't see anything wrong with this card.

The funny part about this is that I think a lot of people credit this Wrestlemania with putting a focus back on the tag team division. Granted two of the teams are main event caliber stars thrown together which is not my definition of credibility but I think they really tried to emphasis the tag belts.

 

[theHeadliner]

This is a tough one because it was one of the worst cards, but they only had so much to work with. I didn't like Bret's match or Undertaker's match. Diesel had already held the IC belt and Shawn Michaels caused him to lose the IC belt in the first place. Diesel was over, and I don't see them feuding over the IC belt unless Shawn had it and Diesel wanted revenge. If that happens, then you take away the IC match with Razor. Bret Hart should have been in a bigger role, for the World belt in some way.

In the end, I guess you have to keep the belt on Diesel going into WM11 cus he already held the IC belt and tag belts, and that was the next logical step even though some felt in was rushed. I would have liked to have seen Bret and Undertaker in more important matches, and Owen and Bulldog in more of a highlight spot as well. Bulldog had the controversial finish at the Rumble with Shawn, and they could have had Michaels and Bulldog wrestle in the beginning of the night to determine the #1 contender so they could wrestle again later like they had Bret wrestle 2x at WM10, or set it up for the next PPV.

 

[The Brain]

I just created this thread like a few days ago. In fact, it's even called "Rebooking Wrestlemania" the golden years".

I thought about merging them but I’ll let this stand on its own since it is more specific. I’ll repost my thoughts about WM11 from that thread before addressing something else.

WM11 could have benefited from a couple changes. I would not change the main event or the title match. Taker vs. Bundy was fine with me too as Bundy was a perfectly reasonable opponent for Taker at the time. My problem is with the opening match. Lex Luger & Davey Boy Smith vs. Eli & Jacob Blu does not say WrestleMania to me. I would have preferred to see Luger vs. Bulldog. I think Bulldog could have eliminated Luger from the rumble causing animosity between the two. There would be no heel turn, but they begin a friendly rivalry and settle it at mania. After a babyface match they would find mutual respect, shake hands, and begin their tag team together. To me this sounds infinitely better than what actually happened. I also think Bret Hart should have had a different opponent. I would have put Bret against Hakushi. I know Hakushi never did anything and wasn’t very memorable. He may not seem like a mania opponent for Bret Hart, but he would have been better than Backlund. Hakushi was new and already started a feud with Bret before mania. If he had been given that match at mania maybe the fans would have bought into him. It also would have been a much better match. WM11 attracted a lot of first time viewers and displaying Hakushi’s style instead of Backlund’s probably would have behooved the WWF.

Now to address something that bugs me.

And why are so many people opposed to Bundy against Taker? Bundy was a huge name back in the day, he did headline mania 9 years ago against Hogan and he looked the exact same. He was still a monster and those were the matches people wanted to see Taker in at the time. This was before he started putting on crazy matches against the likes of shawn and brock and mick... he was still that slow moving imposing figure (the immovable object) and so a match w/ him and bundy worked.

This is exactly right. I really don’t want to disrespect you guys, but those of you who say King Kong Bundy was a terrible opponent for Undertaker really don’t know what you’re talking about. As stated above Bundy was a perfectly reasonable opponent for Taker. He was a monster during his initial run in the WWF and gave Hulk Hogan a run for his money. With his size and reputation not only was Bundy a reasonable opponent for Taker, he was an obvious opponent. Taker wasn’t having crazy brawls with Mankind yet. He wasn’t flying over the ropes onto HBK yet. He was working with behemoths like Yokozuna, Kamala, and Giant Gonzalez. Bundy made sense and to me logical booking is just as important, if not more so, than the action between the bells. It’s easy to look at an event after the fact and make changes, but that’s not exactly fair. If you’re going to play fantasy booker you should put yourself in the booker’s shoes before the event. Also I see some people think Taker should have wrestled Bret for the title in the main event. I’m sure that could have worked, but you’d have to rebook a lot more than WM11 for that to happen. 1995 was all about Diesel so if you’re going to change the mania title match you’d have to change the entire year from Survivor Series 94 through Survivor Series 95. Notice how my changes are simple and reasonable with what actually was going on at the time. Its rebook WM11 not rebook all of 1995.

 

[BestForTheBusinesso9]

This is exactly right. I really don’t want to disrespect you guys, but those of you who say King Kong Bundy was a terrible opponent for Undertaker really don’t know what you’re talking about. As stated above Bundy was a perfectly reasonable opponent for Taker. He was a monster during his initial run in the WWF and gave Hulk Hogan a run for his money. With his size and reputation not only was Bundy a reasonable opponent for Taker, he was an obvious opponent. Taker wasn’t having crazy brawls with Mankind yet. He wasn’t flying over the ropes onto HBK yet. He was working with behemoths like Yokozuna, Kamala, and Giant Gonzalez. Bundy made sense and to me logical booking is just as important, if not more so, than the action between the bells. It’s easy to look at an event after the fact and make changes, but that’s not exactly fair. If you’re going to play fantasy booker you should put yourself in the booker’s shoes before the event. Also I see some people think Taker should have wrestled Bret for the title in the main event. I’m sure that could have worked, but you’d have to rebook a lot more than WM11 for that to happen. 1995 was all about Diesel so if you’re going to change the mania title match you’d have to change the entire year from Survivor Series 94 through Survivor Series 95. Notice how my changes are simple and reasonable with what actually was going on at the time. Its rebook WM11 not rebook all of 1995.

I think you make some very good points here, and I really don't think Bundy was a bad opponent as I mentioned earlier. One problem at the time I'm not sure how much of a name Bundy still was, if I remember correctly he had taken a lot of time off and basically had just recently came back. With that being said though Undertake was an upper midcard guy at this point. Sure he made some jumps up to the main event scene but he wasn't firmly entrenched there and I think he was really scene as a novelty to throw monster heels at. Bundy made some sense at the time, I just still liked the feud he had with Kama after a little better. I know that is hindsight and really neither feud was anything too special. Completely agree about '95 being Diesel's year. I definitely think a lot of the credit for HBK's early success can be credited to Diesel's success and ability to get him over first as a main event heel and then as a main event caliber face. Not to say that HBK wouldn't have eventually gotten there anyway, of course he would but I definitely think Nash was doing his best work in the right at this point. He was still learning a little bit on the mic though.

 

[Dagger Dias]

My biggest issue with this show was the order of the matches. I still agree with the outcomes, compared to how it actually happened. I would switch up the order of the matches a bit. The Allied Powers still defeat The Blu Brothers in the opening match. Second is still Razor Ramon VS Jeff Jarrett. Third would be Owen Hart and Yokozuna winning the WWF Tag Team Championship from The Smoking Gunns. Fourth would be Undertaker defeating King Kong Bundy. Fifth would be Bret Hart VS Bob Backlund. The sixth match would then be Lawrence Taylor VS Bam Bam Bigelow. It did NOT deserve to main event. That leaves us with the REAL main event, Diesel defeating Shawn Michaels to retain the WWF Championship as the closing match, because the world title should always go last unless a huge dream match happens to be on the card and Taylor/Bigelow was hardly a dream match.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

I just created this thread like a few days ago. In fact, it's even called "Rebooking Wrestlemania" the golden years".

Putting that aside, it's hard to imagine but I think you've managed to make the worst Wrestlemania of all time even worse. The Blus Brothers competing for the tag team championship? Why?

The main event should have been The Undertaker vs Bret Hart for the WWF Title. Diesel vs HBK was a good feud, but it was a midcard feud and should have been for the IC title, NOT the wwf title. That was the problem with this mania. There was no true bonifide main event. So a midcard feud ended up getting promoted to a main event level status which it didn't deserve.

Diesel was rushed into main event status in 95 in part due to Lex Lugers failure to get over but also because of the influence of the Kliq backstage. The match with HBK should have been kept to midcard IC title status. Bret and Undertaker were by far the most over wrestlers at the time. The poster for Wrestlemania 11, which featured ominous purple and black smoke, was clearly designed specifically for the Undertaker which makes me believe original plans called for Taker to compete in the main event but plans changed somewhere along the way. More than likely it had something to do with the Kliq hogging the proverbial main event ball.

I posted on your original thread how much I enjoyed your revisions (especially WM VII and XI). So borrowing from your model and with my own touches, here's how my WM XI would have looked:

1) 1-2-3 Kid vs Jarrett: History was there, Jarrett never wins the title at the Rumble, beats Kid here and moves back to the IC title picture.

2) Luger v Bulldog: As MMK had it they start a friendly rivalry and one gets the clean win here. Then on a RAW I would have the other get a clean win. They decide that there equal and form a tag team.

3) Tag Title Match: Same as original show with same result. This would set up a Owen/Yoko vs Luger/Bulldog at either SS as most of these guys would be needed for KOTR.

4) Sid vs Bundy: Sid would run through Bundy, leading to Bundy's departure and DiBiasi buying Sid to be his top heel and World Title contender.

5) IC Title Match: Razor (c) vs Shawn vs Diesel: Razor never losses the title at the Rumble. Holds title till Mania and losses it here to Diesel. I'm confident that with the kliq having Vince's ear they could have put this triple threat match together back when this match didin't exist. A match like this could have been to this Wrestlemania what the ladder match was to WM X.

After this match Razor turns heel and regains the title from Diesel who would then move on to the world title. This also sets up Shawn v Razor ladder match 2 at SS. It owuld play out the same and allow Shawn to continue to build towards his title match at WM XII.

6) Bigalow vs LT: Happens as it did, just does not go on last.

7) World Title Match: Bret Hart (c) vs The Undertaker: Taker wins the Rumble and gets this shot. Bret never losses to Backlund at Survivor Series and holds going into Mania. Heading into this match Bret's character would add some edge and be shown as a guy willing to do what it takes while still remaining a face. Also Takers mind games which have worked wonders up to this point would have to be shown useless against Bret to put these men on equal billing (like it was done with Diesel and Sid later on).

For the match itself I have no doubt it would have been a classic. Back and fourth, Taker hits power moves on Bret, and Bret grounds Taker while working on his legs and back. I would end it with Taker passing out in the Sharp Shooter. This keeps the title on Bret and lets him move on to Diesel, while keeping Taker strong and not having him give up. Now this means there is no streak, but I'm not a fan of the streak so it doesn't affect me.

I'm sure I'll get heat for having Taker lose at Mania, but the only way to have this card is for Taker to beat Bret then I would be on board with that too. Either way, I believe this card would have been much better then what we got.