WrestleMania IX: Becoming a Spectacle

Every year, we get a limited-edition WWE documentary that is exclusively for Peacock. Sorry, international fans. There was Whoooooo! Becoming Ric Flair, which I happily missed. We had American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes. Then we had Bray Wyatt: Becoming Immortal.

Now we add a fourth to the collection with this look at WrestleMania IX. Wrestlemania IX is one of those Manias that gets a lot of hate and for fairly good reasons. It isn’t good, for one. There’s the big surprise ending. For me, it’s a sentimental show. It’s not good, but I’ll still give it a watch every year.

We’ve heard for years about behind the scenes video being shot, but the only bit that has seeped out was in the “True Story of WrestleMania” documentary/DVD set. Now we’re here with a lot more. Let’s see what we see and how they spin the story.

We start with a camera zoom into modern day WWE headquarters and its media storage room, where I’d like to live. An on-screen graphic tells us, “The WWE Archive contains over 575,000 hours of footage. For more than three decades, thirty tapes have remained inside the vault. Until now.” We see an archivist pull the tapes off a shelf and put them on a rolling cart. “In 1993, for the first time, WWE cameras filmed behind the scenes at WrestleMania.”

George Germanakos, WWE Video Archivist, tells us that one of his most important jobs is to keep track of the WWE video archive. He says people have been asking for the story of WrestleMania IX for years. Bruce Prichard, WWE Executive Director, says they wanted to document it internally as we see a clip of Bret Hart learning it’s a documentary and offering to do push-ups. Nelson Swegler, Former WWE Operations Manager, isn’t sure what they did with the footage. Perhaps there is a reason you’re on camera being interviewed for a documentary, Nelson. Hulk Hogan, Crappy Beer Salesman and Gift Shop Owner, watches footage of himself and Brutus Beefcake warming up on an iPad and says he misses those days. Lex Luger, Future WWE Hall of Famer, laughs at footage of Vince McMahon doing the Narcissist entrance with the women and mirrors. Shawn Michaels, WWE Hall of Famer, narrates footage of him sitting poolside, with the camera shooting from below and catching some bulge. The Undertaker, WWE Hall of Famer, watches footage and says he is already giving the cameraperson the death stare. Rich Rose, Former President, Caesars World Sports calls Mania the Super Bowl of wrestling while Charles Wright aka “Papa Shango,” WWE Hall of Famer laughs at how there were animals backstage at the event.

Basil DeVito, Former WWE Executive, recalls Vince calling him and telling him Hulk is injured. Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, WWE Hall of Famer, says Vince didn’t know how much was going on. We see Hogan’s eye as Taker says, “Brother should have bobbed instead of weaved.” We see footage of Hogan pushing his way into the Yokozuna match as Sean Mooney, Former WWE Announcer, tells us that everybody was surprised backstage. Here we go… Bret Hart, WWE Hall of Famer, says, “It went up against everything he told me that day.” Bruce calls the show a gamble, Shawn says the show showed there were no limits, and Taker calls it an evolution. Title screen!

We go back to WrestleMania 1. DeVito calls it a culmination event, a single shared experience by everybody in every time show. This flashes to Mania III and 93,173 fans which is definitely the number of fans there. The goal was to branch into boxing pay-per-views, and Caesar’s Palace was a place where a lot of that happened. A subpar boxing match happened there, and Bruce says they were looking for a promoter who knew how to make things larger than life. We see Vince on focus for the first time as, in archival footage, he tells us how big the event is and we see footage of it being promoted at SummerSlam. Kerwin Silfies, Former WWE Director, tells us it was the only time he ever directed boxing. The talking heads talk about the fight being surprisingly good and impressing Caesars. However, WWE didn’t feel it fit with the brand as there was no continuity to continue a boxing relationship.

We go to 1991 where WWF did an episode of Prime Time Wrestling at Caesars Palace. Hulk talks about the fans being so locked into Hulkamania and arenas selling out without him needing an opponent. Jimmy Hart, WWE Hall of Famer and person who hangs around Hulk Hogan 24/7, says there was just one superstar at the time and it was Hulk Hogan. Hulk says Vince didn’t believe in the character in the 90s. Hulk says he took a step back as we revisit his last match at WrestleMania VIII. Hulk does movies. Sean Mooney says it was a big time for change as we see footage of Bret Hart. Bret says guys like him, Taker, and Shawn had to pull the wagon when Hulk left. Michaels calls it the beginning of the new generation of performers, Taker calls it “out with the old.” Sam Roberts, WWE Analyst, is here to tell us it was an evolution of new main event guys with an influx of new talent (we see Doink, Razor Ramon and Tatanka). Rick Steiner, WWE Hall of Famer, says the opportunity came up and they took it. Scott Steiner, WWE Hall of Famer, says they had a different mindset and moveset. Rikishi, WWE Hall of Famer & Yokozuna’s Cousin, says they dominated the tag team scene while Yoko dominated the singles scene. Bruce says you’d hear the same crowd reaction every night when Yokozuna took his robe off.

DeVito feels like VIII felt like nothing special and they wanted something special. Vince announces WrestleMania coming to Caesars Palace. We cover the Las Vegas team losing their coach and Mania coming as a new energy that the town needed. Vegas was trying to find its identity, as we watch gambling clips of course. Vegas started to try to make things to bring in children as well, and Caesars wanted to be at the front of it. Colin Cowherd says Vegas wanted to be accepted. Taker calls it a big time as a boxing fan, like working at MSG. Bret thinks it was a good idea and wanted to hit it out of the park.

We look at the floor plan for the event, where the top ticket price was $250. They were always striving to have a $25 ticket at the time, DeVito tells us. After eight days on sale, they’ve only sold 2,000 tickets and DeVito sends a letter to McMahon.

Three months before WrestleMania. We see video footage of the site, which Bruce states is just a parking lot. Vince knew they had to transform it into something, in this case a Roman coliseum. Mean Gene Okerlund announces it as the world’s largest toga party as they bring Caesar and Cleopatra to the Royal Rumble. Mooney says they loved having over the top characters and debuted two at the Rumble. Bobby Heenan introduces The Narcissist as Lex looks at artwork of possible outfits. Lex says how funny Bobby was during the introduction. This leads us into the Rumble match. Sam Roberts says that now we take for granted that the Rumble winner goes to Mania to face the champion, but 1993 was the first time it happened.

Taker eliminates a bunch of people as a large man in an airbrushed bodysuit enters the ring. Bruce laughs and says you want as many characters as you can. Taker says it was hard to take him seriously in the bodysuit and random patches of fur. “What is this?” Bruce thinks the fur was supposed to be hanging off him and make him look like a monster. Roberts says at nine years old, he was absolutely terrified. This cuts to Yokozuna entering and eliminating Randy Savage, going to WrestleMania. This put Yoko-Hart in the main event spot, with two men new to the main event under pressure.

Mean Gene introduces the press conference for Mania IX. Randy Savage introduces Bret Hart as we see others at the table. Bret was excited for it and declares himself the people’s champion. During the conference, Bret says he hopes nobody ends the dream too quickly for him. He tells us the belt adds so much weight to you and it’s a lot of pressure. He says he didn’t believe in himself at the time. Ron Futrell, Las Vegas Broadcast Journalist, remembers scoffing and saying, “there’s no Hulk Hogan” after the conference. DeVito remembers telling Caesars there would be no Hulk.

Bruce says people still weren’t buying it as they were past Manias. DeVito knows he has two kids that went through college due to Hogan, so he always understood when they had to pull out Hogan. Hulk went to his theatrical agent and told him he was ready to go back to work. He hated the process of being in a makeup trailer and missed the guys. Hulk and Vince start talking again as Bruce looks at Pat Patterson’s calendar book. He says they were trying to figure out how to pencil Hulk into that book, and it probably gave Hulk too much stroke. That would never happen! We go to Raw and the introduction of Hulk. Hulk tells the crowd he’s back and the first person he wants in the ring with him is Brutus Beefcake. Brutus pops in to tell us about his accident, with a girl’s knees hitting him in the face going 30 mph and disintegrating everything in his face. Brutus decides he wants to wrestle again with the mask. Hulk says he came up with the idea of the tag situation. Bruce thinks the safest team to work with was Money Inc.

Ted DiBiase, WWE Hall of Famer, says he was excited to have another run for the money. Mike Rotunda aka “IRS,” WWE Hall of Famer, was excited because Hogan was a big star and it was at Mania. It sells out the place and Mean Gene calls it the greatest WrestleMania ever. Luger says Hogan being there opened question marks. Taker says all these young guys were working house shows to build new talent but there’s Hogan. Kofi Kingston, WWE Superstar and Man Who Needs To Find His Moustache, feels WWE had taken steps forward and evolved and it was strange seeing Hulk in a new setting. Taker says it’s good to get butts in seats but you still have to move the product forward. Bret was told he was only there to promote a movie and to not worry about him. Hulk thinks Bret & Yoko didn’t have “that hot sauce.”

Roberts mentions how the promotional material changed from “all the new talent” to “Hogan’s back.” DeVito has a call to Caesars, saying Hogan will be on the card but not winning the title, as the Caesars rep asks how Hogan is going to have the title. We see a clip from a Hulk Hogan walkathon with Hogan saying, “I’ll have the title back… in due time.”

We go to Caesars Palace, where a convention center now stands where the outdoor stadium once sat. Colin Cowherd calls Caesars the place to be. We watch as they build the set for Mania. Bruce calls the event a gamble. Bruce tells us they wanted to document the whole process internally as we cut back to the Mania IX tapes and George in the archives. And this is where I learn George is George of “George & Adam, WWF Superfans” that they’d show in clips. Various crew members talk to the doc cameras as Bruce thinks they’d never think of releasing this footage back in the days. He laughs at himself doing the Dusty impression at WM IX. Silfies calls it an enormous challenge, both as an outside venue and being built from scratch.

Nelson Swegler wanted to make it theatrical, but they’ve never done something like that before. We go into details like paint colors and sign measurements. Nelson tells us that you had to prepare for what could go wrong. Bruce calls him grumpy, and Kerwin remembers people liking him because he wasn’t Nelson. Bruce tells us how it was a family and everyone was helping each other. We see footage of Vince and Linda directing people around. “I want to do it first class or not do it,” says Vince, known for only doing things first class. Bruce hopes for good weather, as it’s a roll of the dice when you’re outside. They flash back to the “Fan Man” incident at a boxing match, with Colin Cowherd knowing there could be unpredictability.

Bret recalls being surprised at the airport by seeing his face all over advertising there. Rikishi remembers his family coming in to support. Rotunda went gambling. Luger made friends with security guys and got special access to the gym. Charlie Adorno, WWE Superfan, joins us, having attended every WrestleMania. He shows us his room key and remembers the wrestlers being everywhere as he stayed at Caesars. Rick Steiner says there was nothing like being at Caesars and it made him feel good inside. Taker feels like it was the first WrestleMania to try to get the talent outside the arena to take over the city. Michaels tells us what a big deal that is as there are a zillion things happening in Vegas. We see the footage from underneath again as he says, “right into the nutsack.”

Michaels describes WrestleMania “the brand” growing as we see Bobby and Gene hosting All-American Wrestling from all over the property. Natalya, WWE Superstar, says WWE matching the Las Vegas energy was cool. The coolest part of the whole doc is next, with video of Randy Savage recording a message for the hotel phone operators. “Are you sure that that’s your luggage? It looks a lot like the piece I’m missing, YEAH!”

They mention that you could bet on the matches at Vegas, with more attempts to bet on Mania than all other sports combined at Caesars. They took it down and didn’t let it happen. Bruce says the craziness was coming together as we see crew members being fitted for togas backstage. Silfies thinks it was a funny idea as a producer yells “pizza pizza” at Howard Finkel standing in the ring in his toga. Bret thought it was fun, Lex says it was epic. Rotunda felt like it was a movie set. Gorilla Monsoon, backstage: “May the fleas of a thousand camels harass your balls!” Bret calls Gorilla joking around in a toga was priceless, especially knowing what kind of a legend Gorilla was. Paul Bearer sticks his tongue out at a camera as wrestlers question why they are filming backstage, peeling back the curtain in a time that didn’t usually happen. Randy Savage jokes with Linda, saying there is something in the cup with her Pepsi.

Bret looks at footage of him in the ring, saying how hot it was. We watch rehearsals as Savage rides out. Bruce tells us this was the first time they had rehearsals like this. Bam Bam Bigelow plays around with an elephant while Bobby Heenan says he doesn’t like anything bigger or faster than him. Lex says it reminds him of the book of Solomon, with animals and food everywhere. Nelson hopes that nobody would be bitten by any of the animals. Taker says that if this doesn’t work, you’re remembered forever for the wrong reasons. The rehearsal footage shows Taker’s vulture flying everywhere, with Taker thinking it is a horrible idea.

Luger was excited about the pyro, mirrors and showgirls and laughs at Vince taking his spot in the test. The pyro was flying everywhere due to the wind, so they had to make adjustments before the show. Bruce says the plan was to carry Yokozuna to the ring in a sedan, but argued that Yoko was too big for it to work. Yoko didn’t want to do it either and was scared. Through all these rehearsals though, there was one name missing: Hulk Hogan.

Vince calls DeVito in and says Hulk is injured. George takes us to the archival footage of Hulk walking in, sunglasses on with visible stitches. Bret laughs and says Hulk got a good shot in the eye. Taker addresses the rumors of Hogan and Savage not getting along. Randy tells Scott Steiner that it happened so Scott believes him. Hogan watches the video of Scott, saying it was “interesting” that he believed Randy. Bruce says the only story he ever heard was that Hogan was popped in the eye on a jet ski. Hogan tells us it took off, he hit a big wave and it threw him over and the ski hit him in the face, knocking him out. Beefcake backs up the story, of course. Hulk called Jimmy Hart, who went nuts. Hulk tells Jimmy they’re going to WrestleMania either way.

Hogan tells us Vince wasn’t happy at all, risking his big show. Hogan says Vince told him he wasn’t wrestling, and Hulk says he can pass a physical. Bruce tells us the Nevada State Commission wouldn’t let Hogan compete in his condition, so they downplayed it as part of the show to get them to let it happen. Shady! Hogan tells the doctor that they’re doing a storyline where Macho Man beat him up and gave him the black eye, so the doctor signs his form. DiBiase promises to not hit Hogan in the head.

An hour before showtime, we see Vince telling Shawn that he sets the pace for the show. Vince warns him about how bright it will be and how the crowd will sound differently due to the outdoor setting. DeVito mentions that you wanted the whole crowd there for the whole show, and Caesars was used to boxing shows where people just filter in. It overwhelmed the ticket takers, and they couldn’t get people in fast enough. Linda McMahon and Basil joined in to take tickets to get people in. Superfan Chris rushed to his seat to see the dark match, which was El Matador vs Papa Shango. I’d be shocked if this doesn’t appear on WWE Vault any time now (it was on WWE Network). Wright talks about having a good match with Santana and he loved it, it meant he made it.

Things went silent the last few minutes before the event as Fink announces to the fans that they’re going live in one minute. We cut back to George and the video tapes, who says he can feel the heat to this day. Gorilla welcomes us to Caesar’s Palace and WrestleMania IX, introducing Jim Ross. Bruce laughs about JR’s first day being in toga. “And no, it wasn’t a rib.” Jim Ross, WWE Hall of Famer joins us to say he had never broadcasted an event outdoors before, and his first assignment was outside at an event named WrestleMania in a toga. Roberts remembers IX being the first Mania to have a specific look as we watch Caesar and Cleopatra ride out on their elephant. He correctly notes that you need one second of footage to be able to tell exactly what show it was.

Sean Mooney calls it a spectacle. Bruce sees the camel and knows that’s perfect for Heenan, as we watch him ride out backwards and Vince laughing backstage. Lex: “Only Bobby, right?” Bruce says Bobby chose to ride backwards because he thought it would be funnier. DeVito notes that none of the Caesars VIPs had appeared yet, with someone telling him they need to start over. DeVito tells him he’ll work on it, but of course they can’t do that. We see a young lady working on Shawn’s gear at the last minute. Shawn says he loved that gear and it was perfect for the time. He talks about how great Tatanka was to work with and they were there to set the tone.

Mooney quickly walks us through Backlund vs Ramon before we move to the Headshrinkers vs Steiners. Rikishi says they were nervous, while Rick says it was their opportunity to shine on a large stage. That was a good match. We watch Doink yell at the camera backstage as Sam Roberts reminds us of how well the Doink/Crush story was told. He remembers watching with a non-wrestling fan that exclaimed the two Doinks were great, with it still being a brilliant wrestling finish today.

That leads us to the other tag match, Hulk saying his face was a mess and Brutus had the gigantic mask. Brutus has the mask and tells us the mask was rigid and hard and was not easy to wear. Hogan yells, “we’re gonna kick some ass!” about ten times in a weird accent walking to the entrance, because he would be that guy. Hogan tells us the crowd gave him his confidence back as JR notes his face on commentary. Macho questions if it was a cheap shot. Superfan Chris thinks it was Randy.

Ted talks about how they protected Brutus and Brutus carried it for his side, tagging in Hulk to do the easy stuff. Hulk says he couldn’t see out of the eye and it messed up his depth perception. “I don’t work tag matches, I was like Stevie Wonder on a surfboard.” Hogan uses the mask and Jimmy Hart declares his team the winners, though a second referee comes down and changes the decision. Hart throws out the referee because everyone associated with Hogan was garbage. Hogan and Beefcake open’s IRS’s briefcase, which contains the AEW World Championship. Or money. Yeah, it was money. They’d never keep a title in a briefcase long enough to question it, right? They give their money to the crowd, which was real money.

They get to the back and Hogan tells Hart he might be doing something else tonight too. Uh-oh.

Vince calls DeVito backstage and tells DeVito to go get money to give to the boys to go out and play at the tables. They walk back and DeVito wants to gamble, but doesn’t get a chance. The Narcissist comes out to his entrance, with Lex saying you can’t hear the crowd in an outdoor setting. His hair was blowing in the wind. Kofi tells us how incredible Luger’s entrance was. Lex talks about how great Curt Hennig was in the ring and how it felt like it could be a night off. Lex says Perfect was over-caffeinated and slipping up on words. Perfect asks Lex what they’re doing in a lockup, which Lex thought was a rib but Perfect actually blanked out. Lex says he learned to be prepared in case you had to lead the match.

Kofi talks about how groundbreaking it was that the camera followed Perfect backstage after, with Roberts saying you never saw that view. Shawn and Perfect scuffle backstage and Shawn calls it a different atmosphere.

Taker rides out with the vulture. Taker tells us he has worked hard to make people believe in how supernatural the character is but he was concerned about the vulture. “If there was ever an appropriate time to have a vulture, it was for this match.” Taker talks about how rare it was for him to have to look up at someone, and how that was the highlight of the match. Bruce says Taker still won’t speak to him some days because of the match. Taker tells us it was relatively quick but felt much longer. Bruce calls it a match made in heaven or hell, probably hell. Taker says you have to make chicken salad out of chicken crap, and I’m not sure that’s how you make chicken salad. I don’t eat chicken salad, so I could be wrong. Taker tells us it gives him chills but not for a good reason.

Yoko gets his hair prepped backstage. Rikishi tells us Yoko welcomed the opportunity to have all eyes on him and wanted to prove he could go with the best of them. Bret tells us Vince said he’d be a long-term champion and he just thought about how he would wrestle Yokozuna. Bret looks at a picture backstage of himself, Vince and Hulk, and says he feels like he just got stabbed in the back and he was trying to be a good soldier that day. “Never felt more betrayed by Vince McMahon than I did that day.”

Bret says he was going to give Yoko the best match of his young career. It was a pretty good match, especially for Yoko being new at this. Bret says Yoko ran out of gas and went in for the ending prematurely. Fuji wasn’t ready, so Bret holds the Sharpshooter longer as Fuji gets the salt ready and tosses it. Yoko hooks the leg and wins the belt. Rikishi was so proud. And then Hulk appears.

Brutus was backstage and saw Hogan run to the ring. Fuji challenges Hogan on the mic. Everyone questions why the champion would want to challenge Hulk. Hulk rolls in, avoids salt and we have a new champ. “I got a ton of heat from everybody. Macho Man was very upset,” and Hulk does an impression of Macho saying to go ahead and give him the tag belts and “the whole show” while they’re at it. Scott Steiner calls it a slap in the face. Wright says there was heat between a lot of people, but business was business. Taker says he sees the drawing power of Hogan, but says “politics” and laughs. Well, at least Taker would never, ever use politics.

Bret remembers going to Vince’s hotel room and learning Hogan was coming out, which felt like a sledgehammer. Bret asked if it was because he wasn’t good enough, and McMahon said it was a change of direction. Hulk told Vince if he was coming back, we should do something different. Bret felt misled, which wouldn’t be the last time. Bret watches and says nobody saw it coming and there is something to be said for endings that you don’t expect. Bruce thinks today’s audience would call it a “holy shit” moment. Well, we’d say half of that. The live fans being interviewed talk about Hulkamania running wild and it being the best moment of the show.

George catches a clip of Howard Finkel interacting with the crowd, pausing it to point at Nick Khan behind Fink. Khan worked the event as an usher. Taker talks about how he’s running the whole show now, and Hogan calls it the American dream. We watch a clip of modern day Nick and Triple H running a town hall at WWE HQ. Bruce feels like being a fixture in the company is a big deal. George talks about how fortunate he is to be there thirty years later and to get to watch this stuff.

DeVito didn’t want it to end. Bruce walked away proud, knowing they “did it.” Bret says it wasn’t the celebration he wanted, but it was fun. We run through some random backstage clips – Jerry Saggs doing a Paul Bearer impression is fun – as Roberts notes this is when a lot of wrestlers were trying to figure out who they were. We ride through some more modern clips, with Kofi saying this was the first step towards sensationalizing WWE. Taker says it was the building blocks to get to something like WrestleMania XL.

“WrestleMania IX had an attendance of 16,891. The event grossed over one million dollars. In 2025, WrestleMania 41 will return to Las Vegas. The two-night event will host over 100,000 fans. It is projected to be the highest grossing WrestleMania of all time.” End scene.

We get some outtakes in the credits, with Taker laughing about Yokozuna eating all the sushi and ending with Gene Okerlund.

Alright, this was pretty good. There were a few moments which were noticeable to me, a nerd, where they used the same clip twice in the documentary (Lex Luger thanking the crew for showing him footage he’s never seen, an Elvis impersonator). The footage we haven’t seen was neat and I’d love some more random footage without context, like Tatanka and Paul Bearer backstage. Hopefully that’ll be a Vault thing now that we know there are stacks of video of just from this event.

I think it ran a little long, but the parts I had the least interest in were the talking heads who worked in Vegas for Caesars. They could’ve clipped a good ten minutes out of this, but I know they were trying to get closer to two hours.

As a story, it’s fine. We knew a lot of the story beats already, but it was interesting to hear things like Taker dumping on his match. The Hogan eye stuff we’ll probably never have a real answer on, but I’ll accept Savage doing it because I like that concept the best. You feel for Bret a bit during all of it, but he’d turn out reasonably okay. If you’re into this era, I’d recommend watching it. You’ll have fun seeing the random stuff.