Thoughts on Wrestlemania VIII-XIV

[Guest Bruiser Chong]

Wrestlemania VIII: The first WM I ordered on PPV. I've watched the tape countless times since then. The tape looks like crap during several of the parts that I constantly watched and rewound (i.e. Shawn's entrance, since I was obsessed with them and his theme, but that's a different story). There are a lot of average matches here, but the Bret/Roddy match is a personal favorite; Savage and Flair is a nice, bloody match, which I thought would've worked even better as the blowoff for the feud, and the return of the Ultimate Warrior had me going nuts while watching this on PPV. The commentating is another bright spot for me; Heenan and Gorilla always knew when to kick it up a notch during the bad matches.

 

Wrestlemania IX: I used to think it was okay and couldn't understand why everyone hated it. It's not that it's a bad show; it's just underwhelming and mediocre for what's supposed to be the promotion's marquee show. I remember completely embarrassing myself when Hogan won the title, though. We had people over to watch it and when he got the pin, I ran around the living room screaming in joy. Ah, simpler times.

 

Wrestlemania X: The most overrated Wrestlemania. WM III is up there, too, but I can at least watch the whole thing without any real urge to FF. This just displayed what a lousy state the tag team division was in, presented several forgettable matches and featured Yokozuna wrestling twice. I remember Yoko/Luger being a 15-minute nervehold.

 

Wrestlemania XI: The first Mania I ever saw that I was sour on. I wasn't feeling wrestling as much as before at the time, and the card was so bland. Not the worst Wrestlemania, but definitely the one that I'd be most hardpressed to watch.

 

Wrestlemania XII: Completely built on the main event, which I think is the most overrated match of the '90s. The Hollywood Backlot street fight was good fun, but I don't have a single good memory of the show other than that. Watching it, we all felt like we were partaking in an Iron Man match just by sitting through the whole thing.

 

Wrestlemania 13: Probably one of the most significant Manias out there, because it really signaled the exit of an old era, and the rise of a new one. It wouldn't take full affect for nearly another year, but this show will be remembered as the night when good became bad and bad became good.

 

Wrestlemania XIV: Great card that people seem to have forgotten over time. There's not a bad match on the show, and there's plenty of intriguing stuff to keep you busy. The WWF was coming into its own in 1998 and this show is a shining example of that.

[Guest KingPK]

Wrestlemania VIII - The first Mania I ever ordered and had friends over for. Nothing really crappy on the card, and what was not very good was kept short at least. I loved the Savage/Flair angle (I think I still have the WWF mag with the pictures) and the match was fun. Warrior's return had everyone going nuts as it was a total shock (ah, for the days before the internet spoiled everything).

 

Wrestlemania IX - Hogan winning probably is what turns people completely against this show, but there really isn't much memorable at all to talk about.

 

Wrestlemania X - I'll agree with Bruiser in that the opener and ladder match are the only memorable matches on the card, but they are so revered, the whole event gets a boost in a lot of fans' eyes.

 

Wrestlemania XI - LT at least seemed competent enough to work a fairly decent "celebrity" match with Bam Bam, but the entire card is very forgettable.

 

Wrestlemania XII - The Iron Man match definitely has some "Must take finger off FF button" moments, but King and Vince "MySting" the Huckster/Nacho Man match is kind of funny, and the Austin/Vega match isn't bad.

 

Wrestlemania 13 - A one match show with Austin/Bret. Put that match on any other show, and 13 becomes the worst Mania of all time.

 

Wrestlemania XIV - It's in Boston, so there's a point in it's favor and Pete Rose gets Tombstoned by Kane, so there's another point (though it loses it's luster since they did it twice more). Owen/HHH, Sable wrestling fairly well, and Shawn wrestling with a broken back launching Austin into the stratosphere make this a pretty good show.

[Loss]

VIII - Hard to watch these days, although the company was on a roll at the time. I remember how the "double main event" was a big deal at the time, and now every show has one.

 

IX - Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad. The total antithesis of everything I stand for as a wrestling fan (Hogan stealing the spotlight, Bret being phased out, Hennig jobbing, Gonzales getting a huge push, the most credible announcer in wrestling put in a toga, Savage as an announcer).

 

X - Two ****+ matches, and one match everyone has forgotten that is fun -- RANDY SAVAGE VERSUS CRUSH. ACKNOWLEDGE IT, DAMNIT! Didn't have the WM feel until Bret's post-match celebration, unfortunately.

 

XI - Diesel/Michaels is a good match, but a walking example of how to bury a big man champ, and the rest of the card sucks. Pass.

 

XII - The Ironman is a good match, but it's in front of the wrong crowd with an unnecessary gimmick and bad announcing and a lackluster card. Austin/Vega smokes it. Piper/Goldust is easier to watch.

 

XIII - A better overall show than Wrestlemania III. Austin/Bret >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Savage/Steamboat and the LOD 6-man >> anything besides Savage/Steamboat on the WM3 card. Equally bad main events.

 

XIV - Lots of good matches. Watching this, it was obvious that WCW was about to get their ass kicked, and it started happening just two weeks later.

[Guest Bruiser Chong]

X - Two ****+ matches, and one match everyone has forgotten that is fun -- RANDY SAVAGE VERSUS CRUSH. ACKNOWLEDGE IT, DAMNIT! Didn't have the WM feel until Bret's post-match celebration, unfortunately.

A fun match, but the screwed up finish put a little damper on it. It was still a satisfying blowoff to the on-going vendetta.

[Guest Some Guy]

8 - 2 really good matches (Savage/Flair and Bret/Piper) and a mark out moment at the end made this one a pretty fun show. I don't know why they never went back to the Hoosier Dome, it was a cool looking building for a big show.

9 - Crap.

10 - 2 great matches, 1 good match (Savage/Crush, are you happy now, Loss?) and a markout moment at the end. The rest is garbage.

11 - I like Shawn/Nash and the rest blows for the most part.

12 - Overrated ME, decent big man match with Taker and Nash, goofy brawl with Piper and Runnels and Warrior squashing HHH. I liked the show, mostly because I was and am a huge HBK mark.

13 - The defintion of a one match show. I can barely remember the rest of the card and I just watched the whole show a few weeks ago.

14 - Pretty much a great show top to bottom. Everything was at least decent and some was pretty damn good (Shawn/Austin, Taker/Kane, and Owen/HHH). This was WWF's big comeback show and really kicked off the Attitude era. I loved the show and it was a huge deal here in Boston. They set up a ring in Government Center to run a few angles and matches before the big show that drew a ton of people and pissed off my father who had to walk around it on his way to work.

[goodhelmet]

VIII - I guess this is the time where I really start feeling differently abvout the Manias then you guys. I stopped watching/ordering Mania after V (I don't recall seeing 6) and all of the Manias I saw after, were either rented or seen when I bought the Mania boxset. With that said, I liked Piper-Hart but was underwhelmed by it. I liked Savage-Flair mainly for Flair's performance. The rest was crap as far as I can remember. I didn't mark out for Warrior coming out because I already knew the results from the net. NO magic here for me.

 

IX - I don't think I have seen the entire show all the way through. I watched it in the WM boxset and pushed fastforward through nearly everything.

 

X - My thoughts on this show are in another thread while i was arguing with Some Guy. When I first saw Bret-Owen I thought it was the best WWF match I had ever seen. Then I have seen others that I like more (Austin-Bret SS96, Steiners vs Harts) but I still called it ****+. After being exposed to so many matches, I don't think I like it that much anymore. Wine really doesn't improve with age. I am going to review the aldder match so people will stop calling it a **** match or so I will give it the creidt it is due. I think it will wind up being the former.

 

XI - call me silly but I really enjoyed this show... even the trash. I remember channel surfing one night and seeing LT on WWF tv and I hadn't watched wrestling in forever. Then I get on the net half a decade later and people were raving about this match. I liked the Shawn-Diesel match when I saw it a few years back but haven't seen it since.

 

XII - It took me about three days to get through the Ironman. I kept falling asleep on the damn thing. The Piper-Goldust stuff was entertaining to me. Sue me.

 

XIII - I liked Austin-Hart but not nearly as much as their Survivor Series 96 match. I don't know if I would call this show better than WM3. Then again, maybe you(Loss) have the same personal connection with this show that I have with 3. I saw this 4 years after it happened. I experienced 3 live. actually thought the tag match was fun but maybe because Owen was already dead and I was just happy to see him. Who knows? as for the Street Fight, I thought it was a garbage match then and still don't see any need to rewatch it. And the Adonis-Piper angle so rules over everything on this show that isn't Hart-Austin.

 

XIV - I loved it when I watched it live. On reviewing, I didn't like it as much but I still love Rock's interview with Gennifer Flowers. That made the Rock in my eyes. Before hat, I had no use for him. After that, I was a fan of a heel... something I had never done up to that point.

[Guest Sass]

Wrestlemania VIII - best Wrestlemania up to this point. Two top notch matches (Heavyweight & IC) worth watching. The choads are given limited match times.

 

Wrestlemania IX - top 3 for all-time worst. No matches worth watching.

 

Wrestlemania X - better than 8. One of the top 3 best. Three matches (Hart/Hart, Savage/Crush, & HBK/Hall) worth watching.

 

Wrestlemania XI - very lame show. ME has train wreck appeal.

 

Wrestlemania XII - lame show. ME is a practice with patience. Has not aged well.

 

Wrestlemania 13 - really lame show. One match (Hart/Austin) is worth watching. Maybe one of the best matches ever on a Mania card.

 

Wrestlemania XIV - not a good show. No worthy redeemable matches. Dumpster match and ME are worth checking out for Attitude style era booked matches.

[Marty]

WrestleMania VIII - Got back into the WWF well into this time (actually, probably around the Bret Hart IC win the year before). Really liked this show, especially the rise of Hart on the card, and Savage-Flair.

 

WrestleMania IX - Hated this show, since I loved the Bret push. I have nothing else to add, though the outdoor setting was a nice visual; everything else was a bad visual. I will say, though, that the foolish theorist mark in me thought they pushed Bret as an answer to the Blue Jays' success in baseball. I thought weird things back in the day.

 

WrestleMania X - Still love this show, since my favourite wrestler came out on top, and built up a credible challenger on the same show. Still like HBK-Ramon, but not as much. And I still remember Savage-Crush, since I really liked the storyline. Savage hog-tying Crush is still a visual that's stuck in my head.

 

WrestleMania XI - I never cared for the Diesel push and this was an era where I kinda missed a lot in wrestling. Needless to say, never saw the show.

 

WrestleMania XII - Was back into wrestling again. Sass is right; the ME is a practice with patience. It's not the type of match to be watching while lying on the couch. You'll fall asleep. Easily. You might wind up doing it sitting on the couch. I really liked Austin-Vega. I think I got back into things around this time mainly because of Steve Austin. Not for the Stone Cold appeal, but more for the "So that's where that guy I watched in WCW is now..." That happens when you go on and off of wrestling like I had in the 1990s.

 

WrestleMania 13 - Austin. Bret. Awesome. Everything else? Pass.

 

WrestleMania XIV - Haven't seen this show since 1998 and back then, I don't remember many matches being memorable. ME and Dumpster match were fun, and I remember liking Hunter-Owen until the finish. Rock's promo was fun too.