What the World Was Watching: WrestleMania IX

Jim Ross, Bobby Heenan, and Randy Savage are commentating, live from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is Ross’ debut and he is introduced by Gorilla Monsoon, who is a master of ceremonies. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, 15,045 fans attended the event, with 14,000 paying for tickets. The show had a buyrate of 2.0 (430,000 buys). The buyrate was lower than the previous year’s 2.8 but 30,000 more households bought this pay-per-view than WrestleMania VIII.

All the announcers, save Savage, wear togas. Ring announcer Howard Finkel is referred to as “Finkus Maximus.” The venue set a creative design, with black and gold ring ropes. This is also the first outdoor venue for WrestleMania. There is an opening procession where Julius Caesar and Cleopatra come in on an elephant. Heenan does his usual bumbling fool routine of coming out backward on a camel. When he gets off he is so dazed it is hard for him to stand up, leading to Savage pulling up Heenan’s toga to reveal blue underwear and do a thumbs up. Heenan is angry that Savage is carried out on a sedan by “vestal virgins” because he said that is how he was supposed to ride into the show.

Opening Contest for the Intercontinental Championship: Tatanka (w/Sensational Sherri) (11-0) beats Shawn Michaels (Champion w/Luna Vachon) (9-1) via a count out at 18:16:

Vachon comes out with Michaels. She was part of the French-Canadian Vachon family and was trained by her adopted father Paul Vachon, her aunt Vivian Vachon, and the Fabulous Moolah. She began her career for Moolah in 1985 and moved on to Florida, adopting her look of a half shaved head in an angle where Kevin Sullivan drove her crazy. Vachon was signed by the WWF after spending the 1990s working for Stampede Wrestling, Joel Goodhart’s Tri-State Wrestling promotion in Philadelphia, Herb Abrams’ UWF, All Japan, and WWC. The WWF signed her after she tried to get her husband David Heath signed. The story is that they needed a private investigator to find her in Florida and offer her a contract.

Sherri, who has not been seen on WWF television for more than a month, comes to ringside behind Tatanka. She is announced as appearing to see Michaels lose and has no official affiliation with the challenger. Her attire has some vibrant colors, though, that mesh well with Tatanka’s look. For the second straight pay-per-view a Michaels title defense focuses on the shoulder as Tatanka focuses on Michaels left shoulder because of the injury shown sustained in the six-man tag team match on Monday Night RAW six weeks ago. That is a sound idea but fans have not been told about it in the lead up to the show so the crowd thinks Tatanka is killing time. Also, Tatanka is not a submission wrestler and working the shoulder does not work well in his moveset. Vachon and Sherri tease confrontations several times on the floor, with each coming to the aid of their man. The crowd finds that more interesting than the match, working up a chant for Sherri but not anything at the wrestlers. Reading the room, Michaels tries to get heat by teasing a fight with her. After Tatanka makes his comeback the match finally finds another gear as there are some hot near falls when Tatanka does a flying body press, whips Michaels into the ring post, and counters a Micheals flying body press with a powerslam. The end comes when Michaels tries a running dive off the apron but Tatanka moves and Michaels goes into the ring steps. Michaels trips referee Joey Marella from the floor and gets back into the ring. He eats the Papoose to Go but the bell rings and it is announced that Michaels was counted out. I guess Michaels tripped Marella to stop the count? The commentators do not bother to explain. That is a terrible finish that destroys whatever replay value this match had. Rating: **¾

After the bell, Michaels goes back to the locker room. Sherri admires Tatanka celebrating and gets on the apron to join him. Vachon gets herself over by pulling Sherri off the apron, clotheslining her, and slamming her on the arena floor. Tatanka finally stops the assault and helps Sherri to the locker room.

Gene Okerlund interviews the Steiner Brothers. They promise to make Julius Caesar proud in their first WrestleMania.

The Steiner Brothers (12-0) defeat the Headshrinkers (w/Afa) (9-0-1) when Scott pins Samu after the Frankensteiner at 14:22:

Ross is in his element calling this match as these are two teams that used to wrestle in WCW. It features the first mention of the term “Slobberknocker” on a WWF broadcast. In the early minutes of the match, Ross announces that Luna Vachon attacked Sensational Sherri at the first aid center. The hype promised a hard-hitting match and both teams deliver. There is a dangerous spot five minutes in where Samu lifts Scott for a stun gun and dumps Scott on the floor after Fatu pulls the top rope down. Afa follows that up by cracking a kendo stick across Scott’s head. Scott is in peril after that, which is a point of the match that drags although there are some spots where he is nearly finished by a Samu flying headbutt off the second rope and the Headshrinker version of Demolition Decapitation that has Fatu fly off the top rope. Rick gets the hot tag after Samu missed a flying headbutt but appears for naught when a double noggin knocker leads to Rick taking a double headbutt and double forward Russian leg sweep. But that leads to an insane Steiner specialty spot where the Headshrinkers go for a doomsday flying body press only to have Rick reverse it on Samu and gives him a powerslam off Fatu’s shoulders. That should have been the finish as Scott manages to fight off each Headshrinker enough to catch Samu with a Frankensteiner for the win. Rating: ***

Okerlund talks with Doink the Clown, who has made the bust of Julius Caesar in the interview area look like a clown. He laughs at a replay of his old attack on Crush and says that Crush might see double vision in the next match. Doink squirts Okerlund in the eye with water from a flower on his coat before he leaves.

Doink the Clown (10-2) beats Crush (11-0) after a second Doink interferes at 8:27:

Doink squirts Crush with an umbrella during his entrance so Crush catches him and starts a long beating. That appears to take Doink out of his element as he does not try to use his amateur wrestling on the Hawaiian. The match suffers from a lack of exciting action and a crowd that never gets behind it until Crush calls for the finish. Crush traps Doink in the head vice but Doink gets to the ropes and then hits referee Joey Marella, who is not having a good night, during his escape. After preventing Doink from going under the ring, Crush reapplies the head vice in the ring but a second Doink, who is played by Steve Keirn, appears and hits Crush several times with a prosthetic arm. Heenan insists that it is a magic trick as the two Doinks mirror each other’s movements. In a bad sign for Crush, a vocal contingent of the crowd pops for the pin. Referee Bill Alfonso runs out, teasing that the outcome could be overturned, but they do not find the second Doink under the ring and the result stands. Crush’s 37-match undefeated streak since returning as a babyface the previous year is over. Rating: *½

Todd Pettengill is in the crowd and asks Japanese photographers if they saw two Doinks. They are not sure what he is asking but they say that Las Vegas and Yokozuna are number one.

Razor Ramon (9-1) pins Bob Backlund (9-0) with a small package at 3:45:

In kayfabe, Backlund wrestles too much for his own good as he already battled Doink and an enhancement talent earlier in the day. The Vegas crowd wants nothing to do with Backlund, working up a loud chant for Ramon. Unfortunately, Ramon is working on an injured knee and does none of his cool power moves. In that case, one wishes this had been jettisoned from the card. The biggest move is Backlund’s 1970s finisher – an atomic drop – and Ramon does not stick the landing well. He is thrown back into the ring but counters Backlund’s slam with a small package and wins out of nowhere. Backlund is not a good loser in defeat, wishing to go after Ramon after the bell but the Bad Guy slips out and limps to the locker room. The best that can be said about this is the right man won. Rating: *

Okerlund interviews WWF Tag Team Champions Money Incorporated. Ted DiBiase argues that they have unlimited assets. Irwin R. Schyster jokes about Hulk Hogan having an “accident” with his face. This was cover for a black eye that Hogan suffered from either a jet ski accident or a fight with Randy Savage, whichever one would wish to believe.

WWF Tag Team Championship Match: Money Incorporated (Champions) (5-1) beat the Mega-Maniacs (w/Jimmy Hart) via disqualification when Hulk Hogan uses Brutus Beefcake’s mask as a weapon at 18:50:

This was Hulk Hogan’s first televised match since the previous WrestleMania, when he beat Sid Justice via count out. A four-time WWF champion, Hogan was responsible for the WWF’s boom period in the 1980s, which came to an end at WrestleMania VI. He started to incur a backlash from fans at the end of 1991 when the Undertaker defeated him for the WWF Championship at Survivor Series and Hogan did himself no favors when he helped eliminate Sid from the Royal Rumble months later. Although WrestleMania VIII was originally billed as Hogan against then-WWF Champion Ric Flair, the company shifted plans because of Hogan’s desire to take time off, partly because of his aim to become a star in Hollywood and partly because of growing public attention to his past use of steroids and narcotics. While he was resting at home and filming Mr. Nanny the WWF overhauled its roster to the point that when he returned and did not change any of his old Hulkamania act that he seemed like a fish out of water.

After years of headlining the show, it is weird to see Hogan wrestling for the Tag Team titles in the middle of card. Even his pop for tagging in is subdued compared to what it would have been three years prior. Money Incorporated try to walk out, a finish they had done a lot on house shows, but referee Earl Hebner orders them back lest they forfeit the belts. The match is littered with puzzling decisions as the babyfaces cheat with reckless abandon. For example, Hogan rakes his opponent’s eyes and Brutus Beefcake comes in behind the referee’s back to break up Ted DiBiase’s Million Dollar Dream on Hogan. Oh, and referee Earl Hebner is bumped when Beefcake puts IRS in a sleeper and DiBiase tries to break it up, the third time a referee has been hit through five matches. The challengers cover the champions after Hogan hits them with Beefcake’s mask but with Hebner down, no one can count the fall. Things get silly as Hart tries to revive the referee, fails, and turns his jacket inside out to reveal zebra stripes and logs the pin. Referee Danny Davis runs in while the Mega-Maniacs hold up the Tag Team title belts and disqualifies them. This is a classic case of overbooking done wrong. DiBiase finally gets a win over Hogan on a WWF pay-per-view after trying for five years. Rating: *

After the bell, the Mega-Maniacs chase the champions from the ring and Hart tosses Davis, his former charge, over the top rope for doing his job. The challengers then waste valuable pay-per-view time posing and getting into IRS’ briefcase, continuing their heelish behavior by grabbing money that is not theirs out of it. It does lead to a funny bit where Hogan gets the crowd popping over the money and drops it so he can pose, making them turn on him. So Hogan decides it is time to stop doing that and distribute some cash.

Pettengill talks with Natalie Cole, who is surprised Hogan was passing out real money. He talks with Caesars CEO Dan Reichartz, who puts over the quality of the event. Pettengill has to cut him off so the broadcast can keep moving.

Okerlund interviews Mr. Perfect, who criticizes Lex Luger for knocking out WWF Champion Bret Hart at a breakfast benefit earlier in the day. He botches the end of his promo, promising to take care of “The Lexercist.”

Lex Luger (11-0) pins Mr. Perfect (11-0) with a backslide at 10:57:

Luger has an entrance with four women in skimpy gold gear but all he cares about is looking at himself in the mirrors they are holding. According to Luger, this match was wrecked by Perfect having a British Bulldog-like moment by telling Luger he drew a blank about what they were supposed to do after they locked up. Perfect also appears out of sorts, not selling his back as good as one would expect once Luger decides to focus his attention there. Most of the bout is both men walking around and hitting each other with strikes. Perfect blows his chance to win by opting for a small package instead of the Perfectplex when Luger puts his head down too early on a whip. After that, Perfect scores a few near-falls but both men have killed the crowd to the point that no one is reacting. And the end is weak as Luger reverses a backslide and the referee misses Perfect’s feet in the ropes, counting the fall for the Narcissist. Any hope that Perfect had to be a top guy in the WWF ended here. Rating: *¼

After the match, Luger wastes no time blasting Perfect with a running forearm and knocking him out. Luger poses with one foot over Perfect’s body as Savage screams for him to be thrown in jail. When Perfect gets up he angrily marches backstage. Luger is talking with Shawn Michaels as Perfect marches up and knocks Luger into some cardboard boxes. Michaels takes exception to a fellow heel getting attacked so he fights Perfect, knocking him into the boxes and giving him a nasty blow with a big, heavy, hard plastic garbage can over the head. When Heenan laughs about this, Savage stands to fight him and that gets the biggest pop in the last hour of the show.

The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) beats Giant Gonzalez (w/Harvey Wippleman) (2-0) via disqualification when Gonzalez smothers the Undertaker with a chloroform rag at 7:32:

The Undertaker gets a cool entrance on a chariot that has a vulture beside him. Some of Gonzalez’s bodysuit has been modified, having a darker skin tone and shaded areas for hair instead of bushy hair that stuck out of it. It still looks ridiculous, though, especially because Gonzalez’s rear end has no hair over it. One wonders if Vince McMahon demanded the change to show some important muscles there. Gonzalez works a terrible chinlock, failing to take a position behind his opponent for more leverage. To distract from the bad encounter, Savage starts making ridiculous claims about Gonzalez’s size, saying he can “palm the ring.” The best part of the match is an exchange of strikes that leads to Gonzalez going down to one knee. But any joy for fans is taken away as Wippleman gets on the apron and tosses Gonzalez a chloroform rag. Gonzalez headbutts Bearer off the apron and smothers the Undertaker with the rag, getting disqualified when he refuses to break at the count of five. Yet another bad finish to a bad match. Rating: ½*

Medical personnel come to the ring for the Undertaker. Referee Bill Alfonso takes a chokeslam with his friend to get a reaction. What is funny is that there is no stretcher for him so Joey Marella drags him by the leg to the arena floor. The crowd starts chanting for Hulk Hogan until the Undertaker stumbles back to the ring, moving faster than usual. The Undertaker gets back in the ring and uses a flying clothesline to knock Gonzalez down and force the big man to flee. Heenan says that this means the feud is far from over.

After footage airs of Yokozuna crushing Hacksaw Jim Duggan in February and Bret Hart a week ago at their contract signing, Okerlund talks with Hulk Hogan. That is a weird choice instead of interviewing one of the participants in the main event. Hogan warns WWF Champion Bret Hart needs to watch Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji carefully. Then he casts a cloud over Bret as champion, implying that the power of Hulkamania may not help Bret win. He issues a challenge to the winner of the main event, going as far as to call Yokozuna a “Jap.” This event has made Hogan look like the biggest jerk in the world.

Todd Pettengill talks with some fans in the audience. The funniest are a pair of guys who said they put their togas together at the local Motel 6.

WWF Championship Match: Yokozuna (w/Mr. Fuji) (13-1) pins Bret Hart (Champion) (2-0) after Fuji throws salt in Bret’s eyes to win the title at 8:56:

A blonde woman in the front row is so disappointed when Bret opts to give his shades to a kid instead of her. While the match is no classic, one feels like they are watching how a smaller man like Bret would try to legitimately fight Yokozuna. Bret uses the ropes early on to trip the big man, allowing him to throw punches from a mounted position and land a second rope elbow drop. Bret also makes liberal use of the ropes for a flying bulldog and flying clothesline. The corner turnbuckle is exposed when Bret desperately tries to hang onto it while Yokozuna pulls him away and then takes the big man to the steel. In answer to Heenan’s statement on Superstars, Bret applies the Sharpshooter. Fuji takes forever to throw salt in Bret’s eyes and after he does, Yokozuna covers Bret to win the title. If this was a test of whether Yokozuna could be a main event guy, one would say he failed as this match was all Bret. It was clear that Yokozuna was winded by the end, hence why he could not do a move after the Fuji salt spot. According to Bret, a more frantic final sequence was supposed to take place but Yokozuna called for the match to end early. At least the match paid off what Bret said earlier in the day on Wrestling Challenge where he said Yokozuna would lose after ten minutes. The match never got to that point. Rating: **½

After the bell rings, Hulk Hogan runs into the ring and complains to the referee. Fuji makes the dumbest managerial decision in recent memory by immediately challenging Hogan to a title match even though his man is sucking wind. The title match stipulation gets Hogan’s attention and Bret urges him to go for it.

WWF Championship Match: Hulk Hogan defeats Yokozuna (Champion w/Mr. Fuji) (14-1) after a leg drop to win the title in 23 seconds:

Yokozuna grabs Hogan so Fuji can throw salt at him too but heel miscommunication happens and a clothesline and leg drop give Hogan his fifth WWF title. The bell never rang to start the match but referee Earl Hebner ignores that, scores the fall as legitimate, and gives Hogan the belt.

Fans at Caesars Palace pop big for the title change, along with Hogan posing and fireworks going off. It is a much better reaction for Hogan than he received earlier in the show.

The Last Word: No one going into the show would have thought that it would have ended with Hulk Hogan as WWF champion. His victory continues a wild series of title changes that have been happening with that belt since the previous WrestleMania. Hogan’s win prevented a heel from ending on top at the second WWF pay-per-view of the year but it had the double effect of pushing former champion Bret Hart to the side and took the shine off Yokozuna getting the title. It also dropped an atomic bomb on the WWF’s “Life after Hogan” paradigm that it has worked hard to build over the past year. Acts like Mr. Perfect were pushed aside in the buildup to this show because of Hogan’s return and even the Nasty Boys had a crowbar taken to their knees to slot the Mega-Maniacs into a Tag Team title match. Overall, the show was disappointing and deserved its reputation as one of the worst WrestleManias of all time. There were only two clean finishes – unacceptable for the biggest event of the year – and poor finishes ruined every title match. Near the end of the show dark clouds began to cover Caesars Palace, an omen for the WWF’s future for the next nine months of 1993.

Backstage News*: The live gate for WrestleMania IX was projected to be $1 million to $1.2 million, which is only about $50,000 less than last year’s WrestleMania in the larger Hoosier Dome.

-The planned Kamala-Bam Bam Bigelow was nixed because of time constraints. This happened despite Vince McMahon’s emphasis on avoiding matches getting cut or eliminated on this year’s event.

-Before WrestleMania went on the air, El Matador beat Papa Shango after Shango missed a splash off the top rope.

-The tentative plans are to hold next year’s WrestleMania in Madison Square Garden.

-In talent relations news, the WWF has signed Mr. Hughes.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for April 12.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for April 5!

And if you would like to read a compiled breakdown of 1990-1992 WWF, 1993 ECW, or of various promotions in 1995, check out my Amazon author page to purchase e-books or paperback copies!