WrestleMania X

WWE WrestleMania X

New York, NY - March 1994

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, Yokozuna was the WWE World Champion, the Intercontinental Champion was Razor Ramon (though, Shawn Michaels claimed to also be the champion), the WWE Tag Team Championships were held by The Quebecers, and Alundra Blayze was the WWE Women's Champion.

WrestleMania X kicks off with Little Richard singing "America The Beautiful." Not at the same level as Aretha Franklin or Ray Charles, but not bad. Check out the dude sporting a replica Shawn Michaels leather jacket!

Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart is the opening contest and is every bit as good as most people remember it. Widely regarded as among the best WrestleMania matches ever, this one holds up. Everything both guys do is extra crispy. There's great mirror work when both guys take great bumps into the turnbuckles. I love Owen's heat segment and how he works on Bret's knee. While this may not be Bret's best ever match - he has too many all-time classics to not leave that open for debate - it is undoubtedly Owen's crown achievement in the WWE and it really can't be understated how important this victory was for him as it essentially propelled him into an upper midcard role that he'd occupy for years and years despite never really winning another feud or another major match in his entire career. I love Bret's character work after the finish, which is up there with the best ever done. Owen wins cleanly but not decisively and Bret is left to nurse his wounds and move on after being bested. I love the little things in this match like the urgency Owen shows from the very beginning, bending the rules but also make meaningful pin attempts at every opportunity while Bret wants to grind it out and teach his little brother a bit of a lesson. Wonderful transitions with both guys getting in their best offense without it ever veering into "you're turn/my turn" territory because of the selling and the way the match ebbs-and-flows. My only real complaint is the commentary as I'm not a big Lawler fan and Vince's cheerleading of the Hitman also gets to be a bit much. Great nearfalls throughout, especially the multiple times Owen kicks out at 2.9. Like a classic novel or movie, this is a match where you're splitting hairs when you rate it because it's either among the top 10 WWE matches of all time, the top 20, the top 50, or the top 75. In 1994, it may have even been in the top 5, but it's been 30 years and countless excellent matches have occurred since. Still, in terms of Brother vs. Brother matches or even all-time best pay-per-view openers, this is probably still number one. It is just that good. (5/5)

Doink and Dink vs. Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon in a special Mixed Tag Team match follows because, well, you need something of a palate cleanser after a masterpiece like the match that came before it. This is a sloppy mess. Matt Borne (aka "Big Josh" aka Matt Osborne) was no longer under the make-up and that meant a lesser wrestler was working here, either Ray Licamelli or Steve "The Brooklyn Brawler" Lombardi. It doesn't really matter because the majority of the match seems layed out for Vachon and Dink to provide comic relief. Vachon looks the best out of everyone as the Bammer looks completely unmotivated here (unsurprising considering he had main evented the previous Mania and the first King of the Ring less than a year before this). There are some noticeable miscues and the finish/post-match moments are particularly botchy. Not good at all. (.5/5)

We get another not-so-great match next as Randy Savage takes on Crush in a Falls Count Anywhere match. This is an example of the WWE taking a gimmick that worked wonders in the 80s and ripping it to shreds so that it could be more family-friendly and in-line with the WWE's brand rather than just letting Savage and Crush have a standard match that couldn't have been any worse. Instead of being your typical Falls Count Anywhere, the rules here are that you have to pin your opponent and return to the ring while your opponent tries to get to the ring within 60 seconds. Crush gets the first pinfall within the first 3 minutes, dropping Savage neck-first into the guardrail. This then leads to 60 seconds of inaction as Savage sells the damage before crawling into the ring (after taking some additional punishment from Mr. Fuji on the outside). And so a Falls Count Anywhere match then becomes fought in the ring, which means that if someone were to get a cover, it'd be meaningless because their opponent is already in the ring. Whew. Savage realizes this after hitting his Elbow Drop, rolling Crush out of the ring where he sells like he's fallen into a coma. I get that the Elbow Drop should be protected but needed to be revived from it by your manager splashing water on you? The fight continues and Savage drags Crush to the back, beating him down and then tying him up so that he can't return to the ring after he gets pinned. Not good at all. I used to think that Crush should've won this match because Savage was, ultimately, on his way out and Crush needed some big victories to maintain his credibility but having seen more Brian Adams matches over the years, I'm going to go ahead and say that Vince made the right decision having him lose here. The guy was just not good. (1/5)

Alundra Blayze (aka Madusa) took on Leilani Kai in the next bout for Blayze's Women's Championship. Not much of a match here as it goes under 4 minutes and they don't seem to have much chemistry. I wasn't expecting much out of this match, but it still under-delivered. (0/5)

The WWE World Tag Team Champions, The Quebecers, defended their titles against The Men on a Mission in a surprisingly strong, better-than-you'd-expect match that went under 8 minutes but still felt action-packed and smartly worked. It's remarkable how much better Jacques Rougeau was as a tag team wrestler compared to his generally boring work in singles as The Mountie. His partner is Pierre Ouellett, aka PCO, aka Jean-Paul Lafitte. Loved their double-team work here and Ouellett's awesome somersault splash to the outside. Way ahead of its time for the WWE and still impressive 30 years later. Men on a Mission aren't great workers, but they bring the energy that's needed and are good foils for the 'becers. Because this exceeded my expectations, I'd consider it above-average. (3/5)

The first of two WWE World Championship matches followed as Lex Luger challenged Yokozuna. This one started out great as Luger showed a ton of fire. Nothing super technical on display, but the back-and-forth was good and the crowd was hot. Unfortunately, things went dead once Yokozuna applied a nerve hold...and then another nerve hold...and the action grinds to a halt until Luger makes his comeback. Yokozuna having to work twice in one night was Vince booking himself into a corner as, even at his slimmest, Yoko did not have the stamina or the versatility to perform even a single 15+ minute match let alone two. When Luger makes his comeback, the crowd is with him, but he gets screwed by Mr. Perfect. As others have pointed out, Luger getting screwed by Perfect would've made more sense had it actually led to a Perfect/Luger feud (Perfect disappeared after this) or if they had really played up Perfect as being impartial in the build-up to the match (I don't believe it was even revealed that he would be the referee until he came out that night). Had those two elements been at play, I think this would've come off a bit better, but I thought the execution was good and effective because, at the end of the day, the crowd was chanting "bullshit" for the next several minutes (giving them even more of a reason to get behind Bret later on). Not the worst match on the show - there are too many other terrible matches on this card to make that a fact - but still bad stuff. (1.5/5)

Earthquake squashed Adam Bomb in near-record time. I'm not going to "rate" this match because it is way too brief. Like Savage getting the W over Crush (who, again, absolutely sucks), it seems odd that Vince wouldn't properly push the "next generation" of Superstars in these matches by giving them some spotlight wins on the biggest show of the year over guys that were winding down their careers. 

One of the most famous and influential matches of all time follows as Shawn Michaels challenges Razor Ramon for the Intercontinental Championship in what was billed as (but wasn't technically) the company's first-ever ladder match. This match has been written about countless times, but like the opener, there's a reason for it. This match is the blueprint for everything that came after it, but its not some weak, not-yet-perfected recipe. This match rules. This is also the first match that I recall - or that I've reviewed - where Shawn Michaels has clearly gone from being a very good midcard worker to clearly being a main event-worthy talent. He bumps like crazy but also delivers some hard-hitting, quality offense. I've heard people say that this match was "Shawn vs. a Ladder," but its far from it. Razor was never a guy that did a bunch of dazzling moves, but he's no slouch. His right hands are some of the best ever, he nails a sick chokeslam early, and he takes a hell of a beating in this match. The finish is one of the most memorable ever, but don't sleep on the expert timing of Shawn Michaels' struggles in the ropes. Violent, full of great spots and bumping, the crowd electric for all of it, the all-timer finish - another match that is as top-shelf as it gets, even if I'm not the world's biggest Shawn or Razor fan. (5/5)

A 10-man tag is supposed to happen next, but I'm guessing due to timing issues, it never happens. Instead, we get a video package hyping the main event - Yokozuna vs. Bret Hart for the WWE Championship. Burt Reynolds and Jennie Garth make their way down the aisle (I forgot to note that Donnie Wahlberg appeared on the broadcast earlier) to a decent applause before it is revealed that the mystery guest referee is none other than "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, who comes out to a much bigger pop. Bret comes out, limping, and Yoko goes right after him. Yoko hits a body slam, but Bret starts to fight back and connects with a dropkick before the kayfabe ex-sumo dodges another and regains control. Yoko chokes Hart on the ropes but Piper gets in his face, drawing another big reaction from the crowd. Bret goes for a headbutt but - in classic wrestling fashion - ends up taking more punishment than he's given because of Yoko is actually Samoan. Ha. Compared to the Owen match earlier, this match is being worked at a glacial pace and with much less finesse and technical wrestling, but the crowd is into it and I really think Piper is a huge asset here, his interactions with Corny and Yoko getting big reactions. The fact is, you need the bells-and-whistles to carry this match because Yoko was limited and had already worked a match earlier on the show. Yoko goes for a big splash in the corner, but Bret steps aside and then hits a huge bulldog from the top rope for a great nearfall. Bret hits the second-rope elbow for a less-than-great nearfall (its obvious Piper "pulls" the count before Yoko gets a shoulder up). Bret hits a flying clothesline and again Yoko looks to be down and out but gets the shoulder up a third time. Bret looks to land another splash but Yoko catches him for a belly-to-belly. Great spot there! I wasn't sure Yoko had the strength left in him, but he executed that very well. Yoko drags Bret to the corner for the Bonzai Drop but slips on a banana peel and takes a back bump off the ropes. Bret covers to get the pin. Not a very good finish there as it makes no sense that Yoko would lose his balance delivering his patented finishing move. For a guy known for so many all-time great match-enders, even knowing that it would've been unlikely for Bret to lock in the Sharpshooter, this match would've been much better with a more definitive finish that actually made it clear that Bret beat Yoko and Yoko didn't beat himself. (2.5/5)

A two-match show, but if there ever was a two-match show worth watching, this might be it. The opener and the Intercontinental Championship match are all-timers and arguably two of the top 10 matches the company had ever had up till this point. Though its Kwang Score of 2.31-out-of-5 might not seem super impressive, WrestleMania X is a mostly-watchable show in which the lesser matches are kept short and the great matches are given plenty of time. 

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand