The forgotten wrestlemania classics and moments.

[Poop Master Flex]

Since the inception of Wrestlemania there have been a lot of classic matches and moments that any wrestling fan will never forget. Matches like Savage vs. Steamboat and Hogan bodyslamming Andre at WM III are 2 perfect examples of this. As a matter of fact you will not find a moment more iconic in wrestling than Hogan bodyslamming Andre.

With these unforgettable moments and matches Wrestlemania has also given us some great moments that over the years have faded into obscurity or forgotten completely. This thread is dedicated to those great matches and moments that for whatever reason seem to have been forgotten over time.

One match I would like to talk about is from Wrestlemania V.

Twin Towers vs. The Rockers

[YOUTUBE]X0ZyCXl8z1c[/YOUTUBE]

In the 1st wrestlemania appearance of Shawn Michaels, Marty Janetty and The Big Bossman I always felt that this match was very good start to finish. The match I feel showcases the abilities of all 4 men and is also a good reminder of how good tag team wrestling once was in the WWE.

I think their contrast in styles made for great chemistry and it was exciting to watch Marty and Shawn try to use quick tags, acrobatics, quickness, and athleticism to try and defeat the overpowering gargantuan team of the Twin Towers. There were moments in this match where you felt they may be able to overcome the giant duo.

The ending in particular I felt was done well with Shawn trying a high risk move only for Bossman to counter it into a powerbomb which setup up the big splash and count by Akeem perfectly.

All in all I thought it was a great match for what it was and gave us a glimpse of the future Mr. Wrestlemania in his first appearance at the big event. It also showed The Rockers had a bright future in the tag team scene being able to hang with a team of that size and also showed the skill of the Big Bossman. Overall I feel it complemented all 4 guys well (maybe not Akeem) but was a good match from start to finish and a great filler.


The forgotten moment I would like to pay tribute to is:

The Hollywood Backlot brawl from WM12

[YOUTUBE]HNRKdDWKTz0[/YOUTUBE]

This match was actually quite violent from the beginning and started with a bang with Piper screaming and swinging a bat at Goldusts car shattering the side window (hilarious moment). It also provided a few more great moments such as Piper getting hit by the car, the OJ Simpson esque car chase to the Arrowhead Pond and personally I couldn't help but laugh my ass off when Piper strips down Goldust only to find him wearing women's lingerie. The match was a fun way to pass the time between matches and I thought how they kept panning to the OJ Simpson car chase was funny and relevant considering that case was pretty much the only thing on TV at the time.

These are just 2 examples of matches and moments that have been forgotten over the years at the biggest wrestling event of every year. What are some of the fond memories you remember from the Super Bowl of wrestling that have been forgotten?

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The Goldust match was not really a classic as it was an exact copy of the fight scene Piper did in They Live with Keith David, mixed with OJ news footage. If you watch They Live you will see most of the same moves in the same order, for a fan of the film it was fun to watch at the time but I can't agree it's a classic moment.

If it's forgotten moments, I'd go with Wrestlemania 8 and Shawn Michaels match with Tito Santana. It was a great match and Tito really put Shawn over well.. The icing on the cake was Heenan who's "Shawn Michaels Has Left The Building" line played a big part in getting him over in the early days.

Another forgotten moment is The Bulldogs beating The Dream Team at Wrestlemania 2 with Ozzy Osbourne in their corner... Again an excellent match, with a celebrity who genuinely appeared thrilled to be there for it.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

The Goldust match was not really a classic as it was an exact copy of the fight scene Piper did in They Live with Keith David, mixed with OJ news footage. If you watch They Live you will see most of the same moves in the same order, for a fan of the film it was fun to watch at the time but I can't agree it's a classic moment.

Personally I think the fact that it was similar to the fight scene in They Live is irrelevant. Also, I wasn't putting it so much because of the match itself just because of the moments that were in the match such as Piper getting hit by the car (before that how many people in wrestling got hit by a car?).

Also with the title with the classics wording in the title don't take it too literal . It doesn't mean that either have to be classics, but very well done and memorable in their own way. Basically great matches and moments that have fallen through the cracks of 27 Wrestlemanias.

 

[closet_fan]

It was an okay match, but the fact that the stuff outside of the ring between Piper and Goldust was taped beforehand and add in the Simpson footage, which was HILARIOUS, took away from it.

 

[Beastmode 24]

I always thought that Vince Mcmahon/HBK from 22 was a pretty good match. Wasn't HBK's best wrestlemania match (I'm more partial to jericho/HBK) but it was a damn good match. I also thought Batista/HHH was good too

 

[nikkamcdraco]

I have to say Hogan vs. McMahon at WM19....That match got pretty hardcore for those two old buggers. I'll always remember Vince leg dropping Hulk off that ladder, through the announce table.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB6cRNgcUSU&feature=related

 

[HeenanGorilla]

This is a great thread topic and I hope you get a lot more substantial responses, rather than the unnecessary nitpicking over the terminology of the Backlot Brawl choice.

I think the Blindfold Match at WMVII was great. It made sense based on the storyline (Jake blinded by Martel's Arrogance spray, Jake attacking Tito thinking it was Martel during a TV match, since he couldn't see) and I thought it went long enough to get its point across, but didn't go so long as to kill it (a la Cole/Lawler). Martel was the heel, but was hilarious. He did a heck of a job selling the fact that he "couldn't see". Missed elbow drops and the reactions to it and the outside of the ring action, for example. The crowd was hot for Jake and when his blindfold was removed after his victory, his facial expression really sold what a chore that was. Great job by both participants and plenty of entertainment for the crowd, including a face win via the DDT. And, of course, great job by Gorilla and the Brain.

 

[GameOver]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3zfe-X2THQ
WrestleMania 3 -
Hillbilly Jim, The Haiti Kid and Little Beaver vs King Kong Bundy, Little Tokyo and Lord Littlebrook

hahah all the midgets turned on Bundy after he splashed one. So shocking back in the day

 

[ShinobiMusashi]

I agree with all of these examples, Piper vs Goldust, and the Blindfold match was always a favorite of mine becuase of the psychology involved, and the way they pulled it off as mentioned above.

One that I would like to bring up is the Taker's World Title victory at Wrestlemania 13. Regarded as one of the worst matches at one of the worst Manias, but it was a great moment for his career. As a huge fan of his, I remember it was a great feeling to see him hoist the belt in the air, like seeing your favorite football team win the Superbowl. I thought that it was about damn time.

 

[pkrebel]

One that I would like to bring up is the Taker's World Title victory at Wrestlemania 13. Regarded as one of the worst matches at one of the worst Manias, but it was a great moment for his career. As a huge fan of his, I remember it was a great feeling to see him hoist the belt in the air, like seeing your favorite football team win the Superbowl. I thought that it was about damn time.

I completely agree, although i didn't like the booking of the match, seeing Undertaker bowing down and raising the wwe championship was a special moment.

 

[chainsaw steve]

some of my favorite moments are
the boxing match between roddy piper and mr. t at wrestlemania 2. piper did a good job of carrying mr t in this match. great ending with piper body slamming mr t and getting disqualified. not sure if someone else could have done this match much better then piper as piper does have a background in boxing.

i think the battle royal from wrestlemania 2 also does not get enough credit even though the football players did not look great in this match, who could forget the fridge pulling big john studd out of the ring after being eliminated. but of course andre the giant would win it in a great moment from him

the battle royal from wrestlemania 4 also stands out as the rise of the hitman as a fan favorite and start him on the road to his hall of fame legacy

 

[King of the Words]

Vince McMahon getting his head shaved at Mania 23. I don't think he's been the same since that incident.(lol)

 

[SuperSteve16]

Rey mysterio vs cm punk at Wrestlemania 26 seems to be forgotten already, most likely because it was only Six and a half minutes long. But that match was very good for the time they had and punk and mysterio had great chemistry. Good Match that got overshadowed by the rest of the card in what was a great Wrestlemania in my opinion.

 

[boozinjedi]

I still remember that powerbomb type move in Wrestlemania V,talk about impact!!
I can,the following year,Tito Santana vs. The Barbarian..talk about a finish!!
Barbarian comes off the top rope with an insane clothesline!!
Tito went a full 270 degrees on a single axis,not twisting off to the side like most do,Had to be the sickest looking clothesline I've seen in some time!

 

[thebarber]

I feel a forgotten Wrestlemania moment often forgotten was Demolition winning the WWE Tag Team Titles for a 3rd time at Wrestlemania 6, I believe a first for a team at that time, and Andre's face turn and assaulting of Bobby Heenan. This was the last time Andre competed on WWE programming to my knowledge, and it was a nice way to elevate Demolition to an all time great WWE tag team and allowed Andre to leave WWE as an onscreen wrestler with his dignity.

Also, this card produced Mr Perfects first TELEVISED pinfall loss under his Mr Perfect gimmick, losing to Brutus Beefcake.

 

[Ken_Shamrock]

I feel a forgotten Wrestlemania moment often forgotten was Demolition winning the WWE Tag Team Titles for a 3rd time at Wrestlemania 6, I believe a first for a team at that time, and Andre's face turn and assaulting of Bobby Heenan. This was the last time Andre competed on WWE programming to my knowledge, and it was a nice way to elevate Demolition to an all time great WWE tag team and allowed Andre to leave WWE as an onscreen wrestler with his dignity.

Also, this card produced Mr Perfects first TELEVISED pinfall loss under his Mr Perfect gimmick, losing to Brutus Beefcake.

I talked about this event in my 'bad card, good memories' thread. I absolutely loved Demolition as a kid and loved the fact they won the belts at WM6.

Was also a nice gesture of the WWF to give the tag belts to Haku and Andre as a way of thanking Andre for everything.

If I was to pick one forgotten moment from Wrestlemania history it would be the Demolition match too. Incredible to think that a year later they would lose a match before drifting into singles competition.

 

[dman1373]

i will do one that is forgettable, and another i am already starting to forget.

Wrestlemania 9 shawn michaels vs tatanka.
It was a very good match with a screwjob finish. It just gets overshadowed by all of shawn michaels other classics at mania.

Wrestlemania 27 triple h vs undertaker
Now tell me, will any of you look back out of all of takers mania matches and say that was great. No you will all think oh yeah that was a good match.

 

[boozinjedi]

I talked about this event in my 'bad card, good memories' thread. I absolutely loved Demolition as a kid and loved the fact they won the belts at WM6.

Was also a nice gesture of the WWF to give the tag belts to Haku and Andre as a way of thanking Andre for everything.

If I was to pick one forgotten moment from Wrestlemania history it would be the Demolition match too. Incredible to think that a year later they would lose a match before drifting into singles competition.

forgot about that mtach,How could I?
They turned Andre back to face after being heel for 3 years.
Deep down you felt that it might have been his swan song,I don't think he wrestled a match after that,made a couple of ringside appearances at Mania and SS the following year.

 

[thebrownmenace]

I'm going to say HBK vs Kevin Nash from Wrestlemania 11. Kevin, but especially Shawn Michaels, went out there and did their best to prove that they deserved to be in the main event, not Bam Bam and LT. This match and Bret's match against Bob Backlund were the only two matches worth watching in what was one of the least impressive cards in Wrestlemania history.

Aside from Nash's match against Taker the following Wrestlemania, and his No Holds Barred match against HBK at In Your House, this was his best match in the WWE. It really put Shawn in the position to come back to the main event for Wrestlemania 12.

 

[Diet Soda]

I'm going to go with Rock Austin III. I feel it gets overshadowed by other two WM matches they had since those were for the WWF title.

Perhaps it's the benefit of hindsight that glorifies this match, as you look back at it now as Austin's last one-on-one bout, and (correct me if I'm wrong) but it wasn't known then if it was his retirement match.

A really special moment happens right at the end. The Rock pins Austin after 3 consecutive Rock Bottoms, then remains seated in the ring next to Austin's prone body for the next minute before celebrating his victory. It is unclear what Rocky is saying to Austin, but I can imagine it would be something along lines of "thank you, I love you". Earl Hebner then crawls over to check on Austin, who is panting on his back in the middle of the mat, only for The Rock to shove Hebner away, as if he interrupted something really special between two intensely close friends; a goodbye perhaps?

 

[Big Sexy]

I'm going to go with the Steiner Brothers vs the Headshrinkers at Wrestlemania 9. This was an extremely underrated tag match that I never see get talked about. There was one spot I will always remember where the Headshrinkers had Rick Steiner ready for their finisher. He was on the shoulders of Fatu and when Samu came off the top rope, Rick Steiner caught him out of mid air and power slammed him from Fatu's shoulders. It was a great all around match with tremendous tag team work throughout the entirety of the bout.

 

[GrandSword]

I liked the Jericho vs. Beniot vs. Angle match at WM 2000. It was I think all three men's first WM... and it was a different stip, with Angle holding the Euro and IC titles. He lost both belts but was never pinned or submitted in a 2 fall match. Like I said it was diffreent, it worked on all three different personas and it had some great spots.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Triple H VS Undertaker from Wrestlemania 17.

The build for this feud was excellent, and the match at Mania 17 was just great. Both men despised each other, and you could really feel the hatred here, as Taker and HHH beat the hell out of each other. HHH's quick sldeghammer shot really did make him look like the sneaky heel, who do anything to win, and his temper tantrum after Taker's kickout was just priceless. This will always be one of my favorite matches, and everything flowed so well here. This was a hard hitting physical match, and Taker's Last Ride towards the very end did feel very surprising, because it came out of nowhere.

[YOUTUBE]r_5BbIxP_Ik[/YOUTUBE]


This was a great match, but WWE has gone out of their way to ignore it recently. HHH briefly alluded to it during his promo on Raw the night after Wrestlemania 27, but WWE hasn't tried to recognize this match in years. It's like they want everyone to forget about this match, because they want to shift all of the focus to Taker VS HHH part II at Mania 27, and they're really trying to push the "Taker barley survived storyline."

This was a superb match, and Taker VS HHH from Mania 17 shouldn't be forgotten.

 

[SD619]

One of the forgotten segments from Wrestlemania 21 was this:

[YOUTUBE]tR4oqVcnhFE[/YOUTUBE]

Whenever one talks about WM21, they mention Cena/Batista winning their first titles, the MITB match, HBK/Angle, Eddie/Rey or 'Taker/Orton. This was my favorite part of that Wrestlemania. The 'Real American' Hulk Hogan confronting Muhammad Hassan. The crowd reaction was EPIC.

 

[King Patrick Star]

WM IX, the Mania where Hogan had two Title shots and went one for two. The one where Yokozuna had to cheat to defeat Bret The Hitman Hart, only for the Immortal Hulk Hogan to show up and gave Yokozuna the record (at the time) for shortest reign in history. This is what I remember...

I will never forget this moment, but I’m sure some of you have and most of you have never seen it before. This had much potential. We could have seen more Doinks show up and form a 4 or 5 Clown Stable. Imagine the using the Eddie Guerrero / Alberto Del Rio car entrance, only this time, it’s a Clown Car with 4 or 5 Clowns coming out of it. We could have seen WWE Tag Team Champions, Doink and Doink, WWE Intercontinental Champion, Doink, and WWE World Champion, Doink, even if for only 1 month. We should have had the Doinks challenge Hogan to a Triple Threat match for the Title before he left. “What’s a matter Hogan, is the Immortal One afraid of 2 Clowns?? HAHAHAHA!!”