WWF 1995

Happy Stinky Saturday Everyone!

We’re back with another Stinker Review, where I look at a show with a bad reputation and see if it’s deserved. This week our target is WWF WrestleMania XI, a show that is wildly regarded as one of the worst Mania events ever. It was a show that was built around Bam Bam Bigelow facing off with famous American Footballer Lawrence Taylor, which is at least a big celebrity match with freak show appeal, but the under card isn’t really close to being Mania-Worthy.

However, maybe WrestleMania XI has been unfairly maligned and it’s better than people give it credit for? Let’s give it a chance to defend itself before we decide whether it deserves to be labelled as a Stinker.

You can view the card by clicking the link below;

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=1925&page=3

Happy Saturday Everyone!

I decided to watch this one today as it not only happened 27 years ago to the day, but I was also interested to watch the Jeff Jarrett Vs Shawn Michaels match again as it’s famously very highly rated. The Main Event here is Diesel Vs Sid in a Lumberjack match, but hopefully the rest of the card is good enough to make up for that.

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

A few months back I wrote a feature where I took a look at WWF WrestleMania X-8 and tried to see what I would do differently if I had a chance to go back in time and re-book it. That seemed to go down rather well, so I thought I would take a look at a show that was historically one of the poorest received WWF events ever in the form of King of the Ring 1995 from Philly.

The WWF did have some slim excuse for the quality of the show, as both the planned babyface finalist (Razor Ramon) and the backup babyface finalist (1-2-3 Kid) were both too injured to put in three matches, so the WWF had to go with Savio Vega instead, who had only just shown up on screen with his babyface character a mere month before this event and thus wasn’t remotely over enough to justify the push he was about to get on the night.

It didn’t help that the Heel choice for finalist was to be Nelson “Mabel” Frazier, who the crowd had zero interest in treating as a top star, even with a recent push. The Main Event felt kind of weak as well, as Diesel and Bam Bam Bigelow were due to face-off with Sid and Tatanka. There had at least been a good build for a match between Jerry Lawler and Bret Hart, but that was about it.

What I’m going to try and do here is not only put together what I hope will be a better overall King of the Ring 1995 event, but I will also attempt to set up some matches and storylines for the future as well, using the events on this show as a precursor.

Let’s see how we do anyway. Please feel free to add your own thoughts and re-booking ideas in the comments section.

Happy Saturday Everyone!

I decided to review this one today seeing as its 27 years to the day that it happened and there’s a match on it that I remember being really good so I want to see if it still holds up. Plus, the show is only 100 minutes long, which will hopefully mean it’s a breezy watch.

In Your House represented the WWF moving to regular monthly pay per view in order to keep up with what WCW was doing at the time. WWF didn’t charge full price for these In Your House Events at first though and they only had a two hour run-time as opposed to the 3-4 hours you would normally expect for one of the WWF’s “Big Five” Events.

Salutations Friends!

We’re back with another Stinker Review, where I watch a show that has a reputation for being awful and try to decide whether it deserves it’s stinky rep or not. This month we’re looking at a show from the WWF in 1995 that was so bad it pretty much brought Diesel’s faltering World Title reign to a shuddering halt due to just how bad the buy rate was.

Next month’s Stinker Review will be a reader request, so if you want to put a suggestion in the hat then feel free to either list it below in the comments section or email it over to me at [email protected]

Any unsuccessful requests will remain in the hat for future draws, so it’s still worth suggesting something even if it doesn’t get picked on this occasion.

But anyway, that’s enough chatter for now, let’s wade into stinky waters with WWF In Your House IV!

–Vince McMahon and Jim Cornette are in the booth and they are live from Stockton, California

–Men on a Mission say that they are excited to fight for the tag team titles on today’s show.  The Smoking Gunns do a lot of smiling and say that they will make Men on a Mission yell “Whoop, there they go!”

–Jim Ross and Todd Pettengill are in the booth and they are broadcasting from a new taping location in North Charleston, West Virginia.  The tapings were done on February 22.

–Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are calling the action and they are now doing tapings in Augusta, Georgia.  These tapings were held on February 21.

–Before the next bout, Jim Cornette tells the crowd that Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett has informed him that he has signed a contract to defend his title against Razor Ramon at WrestleMania.  However, Cornette says that Ramon will not make it there because he is facing Mantaur in the next bout.  Although many did not know it at the time (and as revealed in James Dixon’s book Titan Sinking:  The Decline of the WWF in 1995), the booking of Jarrett and Ramon was a big blow for Ramon, who had filmed some vignettes to turn heel and face the Undertaker.  Turning Ramon heel would have done wonders for his character and strengthened the heel side of the roster.

Jim Ross and Todd Pettengill are doing commentary and they are wrapping up the tapings in Fort Myers, Florida.

–Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are doing commentary and they are wrapping up the tapings from West Palm Beach, Florida.

–Vince McMahon and Jim Cornette are in the booth and they are taped from Macon, Georgia.

–Lex Luger recaps his feud with Tatanka and says that Chief Jay Strongbow will be in his corner tonight when he looks to finish Tatanka for good.  The beginning of this promo was humorous as Luger struggled to speak and flex his pectoral muscles at the same time.

–Jim Ross and Todd Pettengill are on commentary and they are still taped from Fort Myers, Florida.

–A video package recaps the end of last week’s British Bulldog-Bob Backlund match that led to today’s tag team main event between the Bulldog and Bret Hart against Backlund and Owen Hart.

–Vince McMahon and Gorilla Monsoon are doing commentary and they are still taped from West Palm Beach, Florida.

–Vince McMahon and Jim Cornette are in the booth and they are live from Macon, Georgia.  Less than 3,000 fans bought tickets to this show, illustrating just how cold the product was at the time.

–Todd Pettengill narrates a video package hyping today’s feature match between the British Bulldog and Bob Backlund.

–Jim Ross and Pettengill are doing commentary and they are at a new taping location in Fort Myers, Florida.  These tapings were held on January 25.

–We get more developments in the Bam Bam Bigelow-Lawrence Taylor feud as Taylor’s attorney, Anthony J. Giampapa, announces that he is advising his client to take legal action against Bigelow and the World Wrestling Federation because he believes they are trying to goad Taylor into a match.  He demands that both Bigelow and the WWF “cease and desist” from further activities concerning Taylor.

–Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are doing commentary and the site of our tapings has changed to West Palm Beach, Florida.  The tapings were done on January 24.  McMahon says that in response to Mr. Giampapa, the WWF will cease promoting the idea of a future Bigelow-Taylor match.

–Todd Pettengill narrates a video package that recaps the Lex Luger-Tatanka feud that has been going on since the summer of 1994.

–Jim Ross and Todd Pettengill are in the booth and they are still taped from South Padre Island, Texas.

–Vince McMahon recaps Shawn Michaels victory in the Royal Rumble and hypes today’s match between Michaels and Adam Bomb.

–McMahon and Jerry Lawler are in the booth and they are still taped from Corpus Christi, Texas.

–Vince McMahon gives a recap of last week’s show where King Kong Bundy needed interference from the Million Dollar Corporation to beat Mabel in a “mini Royal Rumble” match.  Tonight Mabel looks to settle the score in a six man tag.

–Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels are doing commentary and they are still taped from Palmetto, Florida.

–Jim Ross and Vince McMahon are covering the action, which is still coming from South Padre Island, Texas.  McMahon is replacing Todd Pettengill because Pettengill is on vacation.