Day 25 2020

 

Day 25 

WrestleMania 12

Yep the whole show. 

Our opening contest is a Six Man Tag Team Match. It’s Camp Cornette (Vader, Owen Hart, and Davey Boy Smith) vs. Yokozuna, Ahmed Johnson and Jake Roberts...truly an all star team if I’ve ever seen one. The face team is announced as being over a thousand pound combined which I hope is kayfabe because most of that was probably Yokozuna and I feel bad for the big man. That said him and Vader are actually mu highlights of this match. Any time their in the ring with each other they just throw bombs at each other. The other four handle most of the match which isn’t bad but it’s also nothing great. The match begins and ends with a wild brawl but in between it’s just an ok In Your House match at best. It’s WM boys you should’ve done better. 

Oh boy here we go! The next match is the start of the Hollywood Backlot Brawl! It’s a few minutes of Hot Rod beating the piss out of Goldust. Goldust takes everything, baseball shots, trash cans, being thrown into a catering table and a dumpster, hell Piper even chucks a soda can at him for good measure. Goldust eventually sneaks in a low blow and runs over Piper with his gold car. Personally that’s where I would’ve ended thing but Vince can’t help himself so Piper gives chase and we’ll check back on those two later. 

Back to the Pond for our next match, Steve Austin vs. Savio Vega. I expected this to be our first “traditional” wrestling match but nope. Tensions are high and the two slug it out. Eventually Austin gains control and slows the pace and works over Vegas arm. They keep up a the pace and aggression but the match peaked with the opening brawl. Not that it’s a terrible match, I actually enjoyed it more then I expected. If you can’t tell this match gave me like nothing to work with. Another ok match. 

Things are getting worse before they get better. Our next match is the infamous match between Hunter Hearst Helmsley and The Ultimate Warrior. Between Warriors contract and his pyro I’m surprised anyone else on this show got paid. Maybe they had a collection plate going around Gorilla. Anyway this is basically a squash match. HHH gets some offense and even hits his finisher, but the Warrior doesn’t sell it, gets his shit in, and fucks off. You can tell 1996 was a transitional period because Warrior looks really out of place which is strange considering Goldust is running around. 

Fun fact the last match was also the debut of Sable. Right after we get another debut as Todd Pentigall introduces the newest superstar Marc Mero (or Marc Mauro as Todd calls him). Man Austin had a wild three years following this show but at least he went upwards. Poor Mero peaked in ‘96 and everything else was downhill as Sable became more famous. Now he’s a motivational speaker and she’s living on a farm in Buttfuck, Canada...life is strange. 

Anyway back to wrestling, it’s time for Diesel vs. Undertaker! Though he may have been the fifth victim of the Streak, Diesel was arguably its first real star and first great match. The beat on each other and bump like hell for each other. The match does slow down after a double Big Boot spot but the quality doesn’t drop at all. The crowd is firmly anti-Diesel and these get every bit of that emotion out of them with Taker taking and withstanding two Jackknife Powerbomb. Great moment and great match. Easily the match of the night so far. 

In the back we get the continuation of the Backlot Brawl as Goldie and Piper drift into the arena. The two chase each other to the ring where the brawl continues. Go,dust takes advantage and commits a couple acts o sexual harassment before a kiss pushes Piper too far. Piper gives Goldie the Grapefruit Claw, drops a knee into his balks, and then rips off his outfit revealing the infamous lingerie. Another knee to the balls ends things as Goldie basically forfeits. I could do without the sexual harassment spots but other then that really fun match overall.

We’ve reach our main event, my original plan for Day 25. The Iron Man Match for the WWF Championship, Bret Hart defending the title against Shawn Michaels. I’ve seen both sides of the argument with this match. Either it’s a classic or it’s boring and overrated. I fall somewhere in the middle. 

The match is paced really well. The two wrestle in the mat for a majority of the match with HBK being the dominant one while the Hitman grows frustrated and injured. These moments are broken up by the faster paced stuff that I prefer and sees everyone from the two competitors to poor Mark Yeaton getting bumped around. The two are masters of the sport and know their assigned roles. Bret kills it as the frustrated champ and HBK is a natural resultant babyface. They bump their asses off for each other when necessary and both men come out looking like winners. I shouldn’t mention this because of the stories against Lawler, but his commentary was really good too (I can’t stand Vinces announcer voice sometimes). For sixty minutes, two greats did exactly what their known to do and delivered a hell of a match. Like I said, I personally wouldn’t call this a classic but I wasn’t as bored as I expected be and really enjoyed some parts of this match 

Overall in the pantheon of WrestleManias, 12 is ok. Nothings out right terrible and the shows an easy watch. Even the Iron Man match flies by at certain points. The card is indicative of the changing company as New Gen PPV mainstays like Razor Ramon, Tatanka, and 123 Kid are no where to be seen. And if nothing else, this was a big improvement on WM 11.