Wrestlemania 10: A Retrospective Look

[Elchicano15]

OH wow! I'm falling behind. Damn long weekend festivities LOL

Anyways, this was a great Mania. An improvement from the year before. Some may beg to differ with me and that's cool but this was the dawn of the new Generation to me. At the end of the show when all the top faces were celebrating with Hart after his victory to me that's when it started.

As for match or once again matches of the night obviously goes to the Bret/Owen match and the ladder match between Razor/HBK. The Bret/Owen match was the best curtain jerker Mania match ever. I was pleased to see Owen get his win. That was awesome. The ladder match was so intense that I have to give both performers credit. I don't know how they were able to keep working after all the bumps they took. IT was a miracle. I noticed since that match it revolutionized a type of performance. They raised the bar. If you look at matches from the late 80s it's a huge difference one what they would be like after that ladder match (mid 90s and onward). IT was pretty cool.

Now as to what I would have changed is rather hard to say. At the risk of losing my Bret/Owen match because it was such an awesome match I would still make the championship match a Triple Threat between Bret/Luger/Yoko, and maybe scrap the Women's championship match as well, just so we can have that 10 man tag or as someone pointed out we really only needed tatanka vs I.R.S or I would have put Tatanka/Jarrett on the card. NOw that I think of it I also would have made the Quebecers go over M.O.M

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

This ends my era of WrestleMania--WMXI-WMXIII sucked--and, so I won't be reading the malarkey of The Brain and JoeJoeyJoJoJoe anymore. But, when you're done reading their fiction, be sure to read what really happened. It may prevent some of the repetitive nonsense on this forum. It might even--God forbid--inspire some original thought. Nah...

Ewww, creepy internet stalker vibe!

Anyways, not much to say on this one that hasn't already been said. Bret Vs. Owen and Michaels Vs. Razor were the matches of the night, and I personally favor the ladder match just because at that time, it was so shockingly new for me. It was nearly impossible to follow up.

Worst Match: Doink and Dink Vs. Bam Bam and Luna - Just a waste of talent against one of the worst gimmicks the WWF has ever imagined. I will admit a certain bias here -- I cannot look past the gimmick. I know that Matt Borne was a capable guy in the ring, but between this gimmick and the nearly as atrocious Men on a Mission, I was ready to tune out of most of the WWF.

Things I would've changed:

I really didn't see the need for Perfect and Piper. They added unnecessary drama when I would've rather had seen clean victories one way or another. The two title matches were fairly average, but it was the greater story that they told that made it memorable.

Savage's last match with Crush was also disappointing. The gimmick, as others have mentioned, just didn't work well. The best Falls Count Anywhere matches tend to never leave the arena area. At any point that people are watching via Titantron in the back, I feel like I'm being taken out of that suspension of disbelief state. The countout stipulation was simply dumb. This is where WWF needed to take a page from WCW, particularly Sting and Cactus Jack, who were showed the world how to do a Falls Count Anywhere match about a year and a half prior.

 

[bitesthedust]

Unlike the previous year, nearly every wrestler was against the right opponent, and every result was correct - Razor vs Michaels, Bret vs Owen / Yoko, Yoko vs Luger / Bret, Savage v Crush.

The only things I would change would be having Perfect turn heel on Luger during the first title match after a ref bump, claiming Luger ran into Perfect deliberately, intent of hurting him. Perfect would get up as Luger slams Yoko and hits the forearm. Perfect would refuse to count the pin and disqualify Luger, as per the real finish. Announcers would hype Luger's tainted win over Perfect the year before as the reason for Perfect's actions, as did happen in reality. Bret wins the title from Yokozuna in the final match, rematch from WM 9, no change there. Luger winning the belt and then dropping it later that night wouldn't have worked in my opinion, unless he turns heel after the match and even then I'm not sure where that would go.

I'd put Bam Bam against a more credible opponent than Doink in a mixed tag, but this would necessitate a mega push for him starting in 1993. The Quebecers were a great team in my view, and would defend against probably Jannetty and The 123 Kid, rather than Men On A Mission.

Best match was probably the ladder match, although Bret vs Owen ran it close.

 

[Judah's Lion]

Mania X is trickier to rebook, but only cuz so much on the card was good or great. but thanks to Dagger, i get the chance to rewrite history a little bit and try to think of some original ideas to better the overall show. with that in mind, a quick recap on my Mania 9 which will help explain how i would book Mania X...

at Mania 9, i had Yokozuna destroy Hacksaw in a flag match, kicking off his career as the obviously anti-American monster heel. i also had Bret win the World Title from Hulk Hogan in the main event.

in my Hogan-less year, i'd have Bret drop the World Title to Yoko at King of the Ring. and i'd still have Yoko destroying people left and right and do the whole 4th of July USS Intrepid Body Slam Challenge, only this is where i'd have Lex Luger debut. he'd come out in his blue jeans and cowboy boots and be the first person to ever slam the monster.

meanwhile, Bret wins the IC Title, has his match with Bulldog at SummerSlam in London in which he loses said IC Title, does his elimination tag match with his brothers at the Survivor Series and goes as it did, and then he has his Tag Team Titles Match with Owen at the Rumble as it actually happened. after the match, Owen turns on Bret and sets up their feud.

also at the Rumble, Yokozuna has his Casket Match with Taker and wins as he did and Luger wins the Rumble Match itself. no co-winners this time. just Luger.

now back to Mania X...

HBK vs. Razor for the IC Title in a Ladder Match is epic and amazing. leave this -- the whole story and match -- exactly as is. it was told and delivered to absolute perfection.

Bret vs. Owen should also happen exactly as is. no titles on the line. just a brother's rivalry that ends in one of the best matches of all time. and yes, Owen wins here just as he did at Mania X.

Yokozuna vs. Lex Luger for the World Title. Yoko at this point has been built from the very beginning as the anti-American monster heel. he's destroyed everyone and Lex is the very first person to slam the monster champion. the Lex Express goes from the Rumble and makes its final stop at Mania, where Lex enters the main event and leaves as the new World Champion. don't worry... you can still have Lex drop the belt to Bret, maybe at King of the Ring, one year after he lost it to Yoko, and then let Bret and Owen have their Steel Cage rematch at SummerSlam and go thru the rest of the year as it actually happened.

personally, i just really disliked the double World Title defense at Mania X. Bret/Owen was a good enough stand alone story and match. and Yoko/Lex was, or at least could have been, a good enough story for the World Title.

the Tag Team Titles match at Mania could have been better. either put in a less gimmick-y team than Men on a Mission, make it a multiple team match or something. but most importantly, just give it a clean finish. this might just be me, but Title Matches, especially Title Matches that take place at Mania, should NOT end in DQ or Count Out. they should be by decision. go figure.

believe it or not, i'm okay with Bam Bam and Doink. it wasn't a five star classic or clinical masterpiece. but i didn't expect that. this match delivered what i expected. and that works for me.

Savage/Crush was such an amazing story that was told over the course of several months. the match stipulation was unprecedented and so very fitting for this feud. as many have recognized, the execution did not live up to the hype. if it was just a no dq brawl or falls count anywhere match that did not involve the 60 second count down, it would have been much better. that's what should have happened here.

Bret Hart deserved and deserves every good thing that happens to him in wrestling, including the Mania Moment we fans actually got to witness at Mania X. i'd still have that moment, just not this year. i'd save it for Mania 11, which desperately needed/needs some feel good moments.

 

[klunderbunker]

This is a show that just works. No not everything is perfect, but the story they're telling with the title is great and the ladder match changed a lot in wrestling. There isn't much else I can say about this show other than it's one of the finer editions and just works without being great most of the time if that makes sense.