WrestleMania XI Review

Sunday, April 2nd, 1995
Hartford Civic Center
Hartford, Connecticut

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Just in case you weren't sure from the months of build up, this year's WrestleMania is 100% all about the celebrities and they are proud of it. We get a botched introduction for "America The Beautiful". Special Olympian Kathy Huey is your vocalist instead of the at one time advertised Fishbone.

Allied Powers vs. Jacob & Eli Blu

This is one of the more random WrestleMania matches of the more modern era where there weren't 15 matches on a card. Both teams start brawling and the Blu's are thrown into each other before a double powerslam. Bulldog hits a double clothesline, but then runs into an illegal knee while running the ropes. Jacob and Eli hit a double boot on Bulldog to some boos. One of the twins misses with a second rope elbow drop and in comes Lex Luger. Things quickly break down with Zebekiah distracting Luger and Bulldog distracting the referee. The twins switch up and that allows him to kick out of the previous forearm. We then get a random top rope sunset flip that picks up the victory in a really strange finish. The action was actually pretty good here, but the ending made no sense to me. 

Match Rating: **

Uncle Zebekiah is interviewed after the match and he says he knew he would be hornswoggled once he got to the big city. 

We try to go back to Nicholas Turturro and Jenny McCarthy but the audio isn't working. Off to a great start here. 

Intercontinental Championship Match
Jeff Jarrett vs. Razor Ramon

While Jarrett is entering the ring, 1-2-3 Kid tells us that Razor is ready tonight. Razor comes down to the ring and clears the ring of Jarrett before getting his pyro. We get some good action to start the match, with Razor outsmarting Jarrett at every turn. Razor goes for the Razor's Edge, but Roadie grabs Jarrett's leg and pulls him out of the ring. Jarrett tries to head for the back, but 1-2-3 Kid and his dorky outfit prevent him from doing so. Jarrett finally gets his chance with a neckbreaker and a couple of dropkicks. Razor battles out of a headlock and hits a back suplex. Kid tries to interfere by crotching Jarrett on the post, but Jarrett kicks out of it. Razor goes to the second rope, but misses with a second rope bulldog. Jarrett goes after the injured knee and puts on the Figure Four. After a lengthy battle, Razor is able to roll over and counter the hold. Razor gets Jarrett up for the Razor's Edge, but in comes the Roadie and he takes out Razor's knee. Great, a disqualification at WrestleMania. 1-2-3 Kid comes in and evens the score until Jarrett drops him to the amt. He slaps on the Figure Four and Roadie attacks him while in the hold. Razor is back up and starts throwing haymakers at Jarrett. They have a nice brawl sequence that keeps the crowd happy, but the finish is not ideal for a big show. The match itself was entertaining as I continue to become a bigger and bigger Scott Hall fan.

Match Rating: ***1/4

Jim Ross interviews Jarrett on his way back to the locker room and he is bleeding from the nose. 

Nicholas Turturro is with Jenny McCarthy and the Million Dollar Team. In walks Shawn Michaels and he asks him where Pamela Anderson is. Sid then starts making loud noises. 

King Kong Bundy vs. Undertaker

Todd Pettengill and his headphones are in the crowd with Neal Anderson of the Bears. He thinks LT is going to pull it off tonight. This is the match that Larry Young, an umpire that no one knows, is the referee. Undertaker dominates and goes for not quite Old School very early on. He gets Bundy off his feet with a clothesline, so there goes that part of the story. Bundy is up and clotheslines Taker over the top rope, but he lands on his feet. Taker grabs the urn and gives it to Paul Bearer. DiBiase then brings out Kama and he kicks Paul Bearer and takes away the urn. Taker grabs him by his nose and that allows Bundy to attack from behind. JR interviews Kama in the aisle and he says that he's going to melt the urn down into a chain. Meanwhile, Bundy hits another clothesline. Bundy hits a scoop slam and a knee drop, but it's not enough. There is just no power behind anything Bundy does any more. After a lengthy rest hold, Bundy hits an avalanche. Undertaker no sells it and hits a slam. He hits a leaping clothesline and that's all. This felt like a Superstars match at best. That may be too kind.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Nicholas Turturro is trying to find Pamela Anderson. He finds Steve McMichael and he wants Kama. Reggie White is looking for King Kong Bundy. Carl Banks calls out Nikolai Volkoff and Chris Spielman wants Tatanka. Turturro finds Bob Backlund and Jonathan Taylor Thomas playing chess. JTT wins and then answers all of Backlund's trivia and Backlund storms off in a rage. 

WWF Tag Team Championship Match
Owen Hart & Yokozuna vs. Smoking Gunns

I feel like they didn't hype up the mystery partner angle enough on TV. Yokozuna was a pretty good choice though. Dorky gimmick aside, the Gunns remain a very solid option in the tag division and I'm glad they finally got their WrestleMania match here. They actually dominate most of the early portions of the match. Yoko tags in here and there, but isn't in for long. Owen takes the sternum first turnbuckle spot and Bart gets a 2 count. Owen is able to get a drop toe hold in on Billy and Yoko squashes him with a leg drop. Owen then drives him into the ring post and drops him to the floor before throwing him back in the ring. Owen goes up for a missile dropkick, but Billy moves out of the way and he hits Yokozuna. Bart gets the hot tag and is able to pull Yoko's hair and slam him to the mat. Owen pulls down the top rope and Bart falls to the floor. Yoko hits the Banzai Drop on Billy, but Bart comes in before he can pin him. Yoko disposes of him and tags in Owen. He gets the pin and gets the east coast heel pop before he starts jumping for joy. Good for Owen. The match was pretty good, but you're obviously a little bit limited with Yoko in there. 

Match Rating: **

Vince and Lawler figure out what a blimp is and then we go to Todd with Bam Bam Bigelow. 

I Quit Match
Bob Backlund vs. Bret Hart

Roddy Piper is the special guest referee, making this quite a trio of personalities. Bret's not messing around here and thankfully they're not giving us another 30 minute match like we got at Survivor Series. This is the infamous "Whattaya say?" match and if you like grunting Backlund, this one is for you. Bret runs shoulder first into the ring post and this allows Backlund to put on the Cross-Face Chickenwing. Bret is able to reverse it and put Backlund's hold on him and Backlund eventually quits. This wasn't as bad as I remember, but it certainly wasn't near the level of match we had come to expect from Bret at this time. There's a reason it's one of his personal least favorite matches.

Match Rating: **

JR attempts to interview Backlund after the match, but gets mixed results.

Nicholas Turturro says that Pamela Anderson is gone. 

Todd is now with Diesel and he says he's going to show everyone why he's the WWF Champion. 

WWF Championship Match
Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel

Shawn enters with Jenny McCarthy and Diesel has the "missing" Pamela Anderson. Jenny looked to be having a lot more fun. After all of the celebrity shenanigans, we finally have ourselves a match and Shawn goes a million miles an hour to start. Shawn makes Diesel look like a million bucks, bouncing around like a pinball. Sid really was perfect for the bodyguard role, it's just too bad that it was not the best run for him. Shawn is able to duck a big boot, leaving Diesel's leg on the top rope. He hits him with a clothesline over the top and then a top rope crossbody. He comes back with a baseball slide dropkick and Diesel is in trouble for the first time in the match. Michaels slaps on the sleeper hold after a long heat segment. Diesel's arm drops twice, but he's back before the third and now is back in control. Michaels rolls out of the ring after a series of forearms. The referee jumps out of the ring to prevent Sid from coming and he hurts his knee. Back in the ring, Michaels hits Sweet Chin Music, but the referee is hurt. Sid throws him in the ring and he finally counts, but Diesel kicks out at 2. That was kind of a weak kickout for Diesel in terms of timing. Sid rips off the top turnbuckle, but Diesel hits a back suplex. Diesel catches Michaels off the second rope and hits a side suplex. Diesel hits a catapult, but Shawn isn't able to reach the exposed top rope and has to hit the second turnbuckle instead. Diesel hits a big boot and then the Jackknife to pick up the victory here. This is a very underrated match and one that would have been very worthy of going on last here. After the match, Sid says that Shawn isn't finished with Diesel. Sid really didn't do anything in this match, which didn't make much sense. Other than that, I thought it was extremely entertaining. After the match, both ladies, Nicholas and JTT join Diesel in the ring for some pyro. 

Match Rating: ****

Shawn and Sid aren't happy in the locker room with Todd. 

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Lawrence Taylor

All of the individual Million Dollar Team and NFL All Pro Team get an introduction before getting into a little bit of pre-match shenanigans. I should add again that the WWF actually did a really good job of getting big name NFL players here. Pat Patterson is the referee, as he is basically the most trusted man in WWF history. LT gets in a huge slap and we are underway. LT clotheslines Bam Bam over the top rope and the crowd is very much into this. Bam Bam comes in and LT hits him with a bulldog for a 2 count. We almost get a big brawl on the outside and when they get back in, Bam Bam gains control. Bam Bam hits a body slam, but misses with the headbutt. After some back and forth, Bam Bam is able to put on the Boston Crab. LT is able to crawl to the bottom rope, but is selling the back. Bam Bam pulls him back into the middle of the ring and works on the legs. LT once again gets to the ropes and then fires with a right forearm. Bam Bam basically no sells it and then gets hit with a back suplex. Bam Bam is able to go on the offensive again and hits a spinning splash off the top rope. He tries to pin him, but his knee is hurting him. He sells it for a few moments and then tries to pin again, but LT gets up at it. That was a flat false finish for some reason. LT hits a variation of a Jackknife, but Bam Bam is able to kick out. For some reason the crowd is a little out of it now. Bam Bam comes with a spin kick and wants to go up top, but LT's crew slow him down a little. It doesn't matter, as he still hits a top rope headbutt for a 2 count. LT fires back with a second wind and hits a huge forearm. He follows up with another one and then goes up to the second rope to hit another forearm. That's enough for the victory and gets a good reaction. His All Pro Team raises him up on his shoulder and then they go to Ted DiBiase yelling at Bam Bam on the way to the back. There was a little bit of a lack of psychology, but the action was good enough and LT brought it. 

Match Rating: ***

WrestleMania XI is considered to be one of, if not, the worst WrestleMania's of all time. It certainly is one of the worst locations and just lacks that special WrestleMania feel. Even WrestleMania IX is helped out by the odd venue, but I kid you not, I'd rather watch this than WrestleMania V. You may laugh or even just think I'm an idiot, but that show is so long and so full of meaningless matches, that by the time I get to the giant main event, I've lost interest. This one is quickly paced and compact. The bad matches are over fairly quickly and there are a few underrated matches and moments. I'm not saying this isn't a bottom tier show, I'm just saying it's not nearly as bad as its reputation. Diesel/Shawn Michaels is very underrated for the era and is at the very least worth a watch if you haven't seen it. 

Overall Rating: 52%