Wrestlemania 9 could it of been saved?

[Dalinkwent]

The main event finish is the main reason I hated WM9. I wasn't a big Hogan fan even as a kid and was a HUGE Bret mark, yet Bret lost the title and fucking Hogan somehow walked out with the strap. I remember getting in trouble with my mom for saying "WHAT THE FUCK?" after Hogan got the three, but then again I should have known Hogan would win, that's the main reason I didn't really like him. As for the rest of the PPV, it was OK but MUCH worst WM's have made it look like WM3 in comparsion.

 

[Krossbreed]

The main event finish is the main reason I hated WM9. I wasn't a big Hogan fan even as a kid and was a HUGE Bret mark, yet Bret lost the title and fucking Hogan somehow walked out with the strap. I remember getting in trouble with my mom for saying "WHAT THE FUCK?" after Hogan got the three, but then again I should have known Hogan would win, that's the main reason I didn't really like him. As for the rest of the PPV, it was OK but MUCH worst WM's have made it look like WM3 in comparsion.

Yep thats the same thing i said earlier...that was the first time wwe or professional wrestling insulted the fans intelligence. I was a kid then and i remember being kinda unhappy about bret not winning and confused as to what hogan was doing out there...and why would bret want to agree to have hogan get a title match with yokozuna...

it made bret look really weak but him loosing to yokozuna is very realistic...the pop hogan got from the crowd was great though...thats probably the moment that sticks out...people really disliked the over size yokozuna deal and felt like bret was put in an unfair situation.

Bret couldnt draw money like hulk though and i agree wwe was looking for there next star that's how lex luger got a big push to main event status so quickly after that.

In my opinion the guy who shouldve been pushed to main event at that point shouldve been tatanka...he shouldve won the ic title clean then beat yokozuna...but tatanka couldnt win over the bookers apparently and i also believe he wanted to be released from wwe shortly after for personal rreasons.

 

[Peoples_Champ]

WM 9 gets shit on for no reason. I remember watching this on PPV when I was a kid and watching the tape of it that I recorded over and over again. What do people expect, Rock v. Cena? If this WM had more pyro, the IWC would never shit on it.

I think the problem was that the open-air arena made the crowd seem dead. Bret v. Yoko had tremendous heat going into the match, I remember Bret's post Royal Rumble segment with Yoko where he was taunting Yoko with the belt in front of Japanese photographers. And lets be honest, seeing Mr Fuji taunt Hogan got all of us excited to see what was going to happen next. It was a great WrestleMania moment.

 

[Dagger Dias]

ok as everyone knows Wrestlemania 9 has been called the shittest Wrestlemania in history

No it isn't. Wrestlemania 11 was. Although 9 is probably the second or third worst. It is bottom tier though for sure.

if the Main Event was Hulk Hogan vs Bret Hart like it was Planned before Hogan played his creative control card could this match of saved the PPV from being known as a lackluster PPV?

To say that Bret VS Hogan would have been better than Bret VS Yokozuna is an understatement. That woud have been a perfect opportunity to pass the torch. Yokozuna earned his title match and should still have gotten it. Bret could have retained and gotten a random challenge from Hogan right afterwards. That would have made the Hogan title switch seem less pointless. Hogan VS Bret would have certainly been a better route. What about Yokozuna though? I guess he could have faced Taker, it would have been better than the Giant Gonzalez match which is arguab the worst Undertaker Wrestlemania match. These two changes alone would have pushed this show out of the bottom tier.

 

[The Brain]

I think that's passing the buck a little too easily. I mean, you make a fair point, but at the same time, the fan favorites pretty much all lost. At the end of the day this is about giving the fans something they'll enjoy, and if you have half of your card filled with people know one knows or cares about you certainly don't have to put over all those guys that no one cares about.

I don't see what was wrong with putting over the guys who went over. You say nobody cared about them. My original point was they were all too new for people to really care about. How do you make people care? Put them over on the biggest stage. WM9 was basically the beginning of the New Generation. It was time to move on to a new era. One of the biggest complaints people post about is the inability to create new stars. That's what WWF was trying to do at WM9. You can't really fault them for wanting to get the new roster over.

All these new guys (or old guys in the case of Backlund) come in and start feuds with existing stars, and WM9 was filled almost all with exactly this kind of feud, but they didn't need to be put over the way they were. Almost all of them were heels, that's the other problem. Making all the faces lose was a very bad idea. At the time I was devastated by the Undertaker match. He was my John Cena back then, and seeing him crushed by Giant Gonzales sucked. Big deal Taker technically won, that was not the lasting impression left on me as an immature 14 year old.

I think you missed the point of Taker vs. Gonzalez. Gonzalez towered over Taker and fans were wondering how Taker could possibly handle him. Taker getting carried out after being smothered with the chloroform soaked rag was a big deal. Taker coming back to fight Gonzalez off after the attack was bigger. Taker won the match and survived the illegal attack. I don't see how he looked weak here. Besides the feud was supposed to continue. Having Taker win the first match cleanly would have killed the feud.

This wrestlemania could have been a lot better had they shuffled things around better and done a few turns on one or more of the wrestlers. I watched the leadup closely, and debuting Lex Luger as a face, instead of the narcissist and putting him in a singles match against Hogan and then having Hogan put him over would have done wonders for Luger, and then Perfect would have been free to do what a lot of people wanted, win the royal rumble and become the #1 contender for the WWF championship.

The problem though was that WWF was convinced that the Heenan vs Perfect feud still had steam, but it really didn't.

Sorry but I don't see how this makes sense. It's easy to just say have Luger debut as a face and have Hogan put him over. Easier said than done. Remember WM9 was the first match Hogan had since WM8. What reason does he have to wrestle Luger? Also putting him against WWF's most popular wrestler ever in his comeback match is not the way to get Luger over as a face. The Narcissist was a good gimmick and Mr. Perfect was the most logical opponent for Luger. No offense but I think you're letting your feelings for Perfect cloud your judgment. I don't think people wanted to see him win the rumble and main event mania.

Owen proved clear back in WM5 (when blue blazer fought Mr. Perfect) that he was ready to compete and a high level and certainly deserved #1 contender-ship for the Intercontinental title. They weren't very far at all from turning him heel to feud with Bret. Having Owen in this match would have been a very useful in that storyline, win or lose.

I have to disagree here too. Owen wasn't at this level yet. He was way further down the card than Tatanka. I remember Owen looking weak and being completley bullied by Razor Ramon right before the rumble. Tatanka was being pushed strong for a year at this point and was a good challenger for the IC title. I think having Owen in the IC title match at WM9 would have actually hurt the storyline with Bret a year later. The beauty of that story was how far apart they were on the success spectrum. Bret was a former world champion while Owen could barely make it on a ppv. If Owen had any success in 1993 his win against Bret at WM10 wouldn't have been as shocking.

The matches were lackluster, and when you get right down to it, they didn't have to be at all. With the guys they had available, they could have made a much better card.

I'll admit the matches weren't that great. I'll even say WM9 is probably in the bottom five or six in my mania rankings. I just think the roster was pretty much matched up properly and the card looked good on paper. If you want a blockbuster main event they should have done Bret Hart vs. Randy Savage. Hart could have gone over a mania legend in what would have been a great match and gotten that big defining win that he seemed to lack at that point. Everything else on the card was fine.

 

[DanTheMan3:16]

WM9 is not the worst wm ever, that will go to WM11. And heres why

Atleast wm9 presented talented wrestlers i mean you got a damn popular tag team in the stieners, you got mr perfect properly the 2nd most popluar guy in the wwf at the time.bret hart whom is suppose to be "the guy" and you still got Hulk Hogan. So the talent was there its just that the matches werent very good,

WM11 is the worst because that mania was just about the celebrities seriously all of the people from the commentators to the wrestlers to todd petingail were only worrying about "wheres pamala" and "LT this aint your world" WHO THE FUCK CARES, you might aswell called this celebritiemania cuz thats the only the thing that mattered, hell even hbk and diesel whom was in the mainevent wwf title match was treated to two banana as they had SO MANY celebrities in just that one match alone.

atleast wm9 was about the wrestlers, sure the matches werent very good and having hogan winning was bs but atleast it was about people like bret, like hbk, like razor, like yokozuna and like hogan and not like Pamala Anderson or like LT or like Janie McCathy or even like that stupid 12 year old kid from Home Improvement.

and for those whom think that it wasnt just about the celebrities, plz go and watch it again and you tell me it wasnt just about the celebrities

 

[The Idiot]

Not sure if Marty was with the WWF at the time, but I always thought Shawn Michaels vs Marty Janetty should have happened at a Wrestlemania. These two going at it for the Intercontinental title for the opening bout would have been awesome! Also, Giant Gonzales should never have been in the WWF, let alone competing in a match at Wrestlemania. The venue, the togas, the theme...I liked it. Anyways, here's my card:

Marty Janetty (c) vs Shawn Michaels (Intercontinental Championship) Don't really need to say much, look at the names involved. Former teammates going at it for a coveted prize. Opening match at Wrestlemania. Give them 20 minutes and we get a Wrestlemania classic. Hell fucking yes. Shawn wins, new champ.

Yokozuna vs The Undertaker (not sure if I would have made this a casket match or not. Their one at the Rumble wasn't bad at all. Obviously Taker wins otherwise we wouldn't have the streak. A tombstone isn't happening so I can see him rolling into the casket and slamming the lid. Yes, this would be a casket match.

Money Inc vs Steiner Brothers (Tag Team Championship) Seems like the two best tag teams at the time. Steiner Brother new champs after a great battle.

Mr. Perfect vs Lex Luger (I actually liked this build up, even though I never liked Luger. So this match remains on the card and Luger cheating his way to victory with the devasting forearm. Hennig was on his way out anways.)

Razor Ramon vs Randy Savage (I know Randy was retired, but it's Wrestlemania! I would have had Razor, still as a heel, walk out and challenge anybody to a fight. The announcers would say that he isn't scheduled tonight and should leave the ring. He would pick a fight with Savage who would be sitting at the announce table and Randy would get up and play to the crowd. He would jump in the ring and they would go at it! Razor vs Savage in a street fight!! A couple elbow drops later and Pomp n circumstance is playing while Ramon crawls his way to the back. - Filler match before main event.

MAIN EVENT - WWF CHampionship - Face vs Face

Hulk Hogan (c) vs Bret Hart

Great back and forth match, or as great as Hogan could make it. I think that night should have been the night Hogan passed the torch to the Hitman. Bret gets Hogan in the sharpshooter and Hogan HULKS OUT! Crowd going nuts hits the big boot, goes for the legdrop but misses. Can't think of a clever ending but it ends with Bret pinning Hulk (Hogan would never tap, we all know that).

WWF had a limited roster, but that's what I would have booked with the talent they had at the time. Diesel hadn't come over yet and I don't think Owen had returned from his previous Blue Blazer gimmick from a few years before, right?

 

[Nadeem Ahmad]

Maybe if wrestlers stopped cheating a lot, and if the referees would not let so many things slide, such as using closed fists and allowing more than five seconds of grappling in corners, it could have been more enjoyable. It seemed that around this time, breaking the rules in the ring was going to be tolerated more than fifty percent of the time. Sure, it happenned at previous events, but every single forward and forth-coming week, day, hour, minute and second in the nineties built towards a society fit more towards appreciating "brawling" and "fighting" in favor of traditionally viewed "technical wrestling".

I mean, looking at Razor Ramon versus Bob Backlund, it seemed that the "bad guy" was getting praises because he would "beat up" the more experienced veteran, rather than outwrestling him. The crap between Gonzalez and Undertaker was just a punching festive, dedicated to feeding the bloodthirsty crowd in Vegas, though thankfully there was no external bleeding involved. Even the opening contest, which was highly overrated on the part of Tatanka, and less appraised for the athletic performances of Shawn Michaels, featured many cheap segments of leaving the ring by none other than the soon-to-be "Heartbreak Kid" himself, which caused the referee to continously start counting to ten numbers, instead of disqualifying him.

Two people dressed as Doink was pretty moronic, the Headshrinkers could not really manuever well against the Steiner Brothers, and Brutus along with Hulk Hogan were in it for the "revenge", not so much the belts. Even the main events ended cheaply, with Fuji throwing salt in the eyes of Bret Hart, and with Hulk Hogan winning because of that same substance being thrown at him and missing. That part does not mean I did not want Hulk Hogan to come in and win the title so unexpectedly, but I just did not appreciate so many instances of unclean matches, especially at a "Wrestlemania". With those things being typed off, Wrestlemania Nine could NOT have been saved.

 

[Jackal960]

I don't think the problem with WM 9 was the card. It was more about the execution of the show. Open area, in the daylight, weird costumes. This is Wrestlemania for God's sake, the show that Hogan slammed Andre in front of 80 thousand people, not Tribute to Troops show. When WWE acts like they don't give a damn to make it look more important, why would I as a viewer?

Another problem was the bookings. Giant Gonzalez R.I.P. wasn't a good wrestler, but trying to finish a WM match by spraying Taker, then Taker waking up and coming back for the finish. It just doesn't look right, even for a weekly show, yet alone Wrestlemania... Also the final match... Big disappointment! Not because they tweaked the ending, but because of the quality of the match. There wasn't much going on until the powder is thrown to Bret. After Bret lost, the second match was for 10 more seconds. This isn't an ending of Wrestlemania. People criticize this year's wrestlemania ending because it almost looked like finished with a count out, but at least it had a wrestling match before hand. In WM 9, there wasn't even a proper wrestling match, and this was supposed to be the main event!

 

[theHeadliner]

If Vince and Flair could have worked out a deal for Flair to stay until WM9 and have his last match there with Perfect, that would have been better. I always thought Bret Hart vs Randy Savage would have been a great match for Savage to pass the torch to Bret. Michaels vs Tatanka was good, but maybe a more meaningful opponent or feud leading up to would have worked better.