March 20th, 1994
Location: New York City
Venue: Madison Square Garden
Attendance: 18,065
We've reached the end of the first decade of WrestleMania, as it feels pretty good to be ten days in with another 24 to go.
Our journey brings us back to Madison Square Garden in honor of WrestleMania 1. The show opened with a video package bringing back the memories of the very beginning. Little did everybody know, WrestleMania 10 would provide even better memories of its own.
Personally, it's incredible to see the growth of the WWF in those ten years and their improvement in terms of looks and design.
For starters, they put a little door for the entrance rather than the bland and messy walkway they had at WrestleMania 1. It may seem very redundant, but I'm just pointing out that at least there's something, and it doesn't look empty.
The commentary booth looked utterly different as Vince McMahon took the play-by-play's responsibility, the first time he's done so since WrestleMania 2.
In the color spot, the man who would soon be Jim Ross' partner-in-crime was making his WrestleMania and commentary debut. The individual's name was Jerry "The King" Lawler. In true bad guy fashion, Lawler was as witty and sarcastic as Jesse "The Body" Ventura. Lawler would settle just fine on commentary.
The WWF showed memorable moments from the first nine WrestleManias throughout the night to add to the celebration.
WrestleMania 10 began on a high note as Little Richard was tasked to sing "America the Beautiful." Surrounded by a gospel choir around the ring, Richard provided an excellent performance to open the biggest show of the year.
Before I get into the three things that stood out to me at WrestleMania 10, here are some other moments that deserve an honorable mention.
Leilani Kai returned to the WWF to face Alundra Blayze for her Women's Championship. Kai was involved at WrestleMania 1, in which she failed to defend her Women's Championship against Wendi Richter with Cindi Lauper by her side. While Kai lost, it was great for the company to acknowledge her role at the inaugural WrestleMania.
Fan favorite "Macho Man" Randy Savage returned to the ring in a "Falls Count Anywhere" match against Crush. Weirdly, whoever was pinned outside had to return to the ring in 60 seconds to avoid an official loss.
Savage took Crush to the backstage area and secured the pinfall. To ensure that Crush didn't return to the ring, Savage tied his foot and hung him upside down by some scaffolding.
The "Macho Man" secured the win, but it would be bittersweet for everybody as this would be his final televised match with the WWF. If there's one man who helped grow the legacy of WrestleMania, it would be Randy Savage.
Nine matches were scheduled for the fans at Madison Square Garden. With many moments to pick out, here are my top three moments that stood out to me.
"Anything you can do, I can do better"
Siblings fight all the time. I've won many battles against my little brother. The poor kid was always one step behind. (If he says otherwise, it's a lie)
But what happens when two brothers, who grew up in wrestling, are scheduled to face each other on the grandest stage of them all? Fireworks.
In the lead up to WrestleMania 10, Owen continuously challenged his brother Bret to a wrestling match. However, Bret stated that under no circumstances would he ever wrestle his flesh and blood.
The brothers soon buried the hatchet and challenged The Quebecers at the 1994 Royal Rumble for the Tag Team Championship.
During the match, Bret injured his leg and was unable to tag Owen in. The Quebecers took advantage of the injury and successfully retained their tag team titles.
Owen, who was frustrated, began to attack Bret's injured leg, turning his back on him. After the betrayal, Bret felt like he had no choice and agreed to meet his brother at WrestleMania.
The Harts started the action at WrestleMania in one of the best technical styled wrestling matches in the industry's history.
With some slaps exchanged early and different submission holds applied to each other, Bret and Owen indeed showed they're brothers and complimented each other to the best they could. The Harts held nothing back.
As the match was nearing its conclusion, Owen wanted to show off that younger brother's jealousy and put Bret in his signature submission, the sharpshooter. Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery?
That was until Bret got out of the hold and put Owen in the sharpshooter instead. In the final moment of the match, Owen threw Bret to the corner to charge at him. As Bret kicked Owen in the face, he jumped to sit on the top rope to go on Owen's shoulders in the hopes of rolling him up.
Owen immediately capitalized, rolled him up instead, and shocked Madison Square Garden with the victory.
No longer would Owen Hart live under the shadow of his older brother as the statement of "I can beat Bret" was proven. Owen gave Bret the middle finger after the match and stormed off to begin his celebration.
As an older brother, it's never fun when your younger sibling finds a way to get the upper hand (you heard me, Sebastian). For Owen, all he needed was a win to shut the haters up, and he did just that.
A dejected Bret sat in the middle of the ring, upset with himself over the loss. Leaving the ring on only one leg, Bret needed to regroup and get ready for yet another critical match later on in the evening.
Undisputed glory
Nobody likes to lose in any situation. Losing brings out all sorts of negative emotions that range from sadness to anger.
In the WWF, on screen, you never want to lose a match because you want to keep on rising, especially when there's gold on the line.
If you want a great example of somebody who hated losing, both on-and-off camera, look no further than Shawn Michaels.
In the fall of 1993, Michaels was Intercontinental Champion. While that is a great thing, Michaels never defended the title. WWF President Jack Tunney was having none of that. Due to the lack of title defenses on TV, the President stripped Michaels of the Intercontinental Championship and put it on the line in a battle royal.
But reports soon came out that behind the scenes, Michaels refused to drop the title to anybody. He just loved being a champion. It's been said for that reason, Michaels was forced to vacate the title. Whatever it may be, the WWF presented itself with a situation on who should be the next champion.
In comes Razor Ramon.
Ramon would end up victorious a the battle royal and was the company's new Intercontinental Champion. However, Michaels, being the obsessed champion he was, stated he refused to acknowledge that he lost the belt and was still the Intercontinental Champion.
To gain Ramon's attention, Michaels stole some of his gold necklaces and set up the match at WrestleMania 10.
With the winner of the match becoming the undisputed Intercontinental champion and each having a title, it was announced that a ladder match would take place for the first time at WrestleMania. Their titles were hung high above the ring in which whoever grabbed the ladder and climbed it to retrieve the belts would be the winner.
The sky was the limit as nobody at the time imagined what could happen in a match like this.
Michaels and Ramon exceeded expectations and blew everything out of the water. Their use of the ladder had everybody at the edge of their seat and gasping in shock.
Anything that the two could have done would have been nothing short of spectacular. The way Michaels and Ramon used the ladder was never seen on television. You had both of them using the ladder like a chair, striking at them with full force. Ramon grabbed Michaels and tossed him onto the ladder. Even Michaels had it standing and used his weight to have the ladder collapse onto Ramon.
But if there's one moment that captivates the ladder's use, in which it was shown to be risk-taking and extravagant, look no further than when Michaels climbed the ladder to fly.
The jump is yet another moment that has been replayed in highlight packages of WrestleMania. With the cameras flashing everywhere and Michaels having a face looking terrified, a standard was set for ladder matches and the WWF.
Just as Shawn was ready to grab the titles, Ramon was able to push him off as in the fall, Michaels had his foot tangled up in the ropes. Ramon seized the opportunity, grabbed the titles, and became the undisputed Intercontinental Champion.
The ladder match was only the beginning of intense gimmick/hardcore matches as more would slowly trickle in as the years went by. For now, Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels both left winners as they created a moment that fans will never forget.
A ton of Hart
At the 1994 Royal Rumble, Lex Luger and Bret Hart were in the final two of the Royal Rumble match. With a trip to the championship match at WrestleMania on the line, both men couldn't afford any mistakes to avoid elimination.
However, nobody projected that both men would force themselves over the top rope and be simultaneously eliminated.
What now? The Rumble match finally means something, and there was no winner. With the referees split on who's feet landed first for elimination, WWF officials determined that both Luger and Hart would be declared co-winners of the Royal Rumble match. That meant they would both be challenging Yokozuna for his WWF Championship at WrestleMania.
On an episode of Monday Night Raw in January, a coin toss occurred to determine who would face Yokozuna first. With Luger winning the coin toss, he was granted the right, and the winner of that would go on to meet Bret Hart later on in the evening.
The night of WrestleMania 10 arrived, and for the first match between Luger and Yokozuna, Mr. Perfect made his return to the company and was a special guest referee.
Luger was inches away from becoming champion when Perfect suddenly called for the bell and disqualified him. The DQ reasoning would be for putting his hands onto Perfect and attacking Yokozuna's managers (Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette).
With Yokozuna winning, he would have his WrestleMania 9 rematch against Bret Hart in the main event. With how horrible things ended the year before, redemption was indeed made at Madison Square Garden.
Just like the first championship match, the second also had a special guest referee. Making his return to the WWF and remembering he was in the main event of WrestleMania 1, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper was given the responsibility to overlook the match.
Hart came limping down to the ring after Owen took care of Bret a few hours prior. Yokozuna immediately began to attack Hart as the match was underway.
Like their WrestleMania 9 match, Hart was coming out strong, consistently attacking Yokozuna with strikes. This time, whenever somebody from Yokozuna's corner tried to interfere, Piper would come out and strike them down, making sure this was a fair match.
In the match's final moments, Yokozuna was ready to perform the Bonzai Drop from the turnbuckle. However, Yokozuna lost his balance on the second rope, falling to the canvas as Bret got out of the way.
Hart took advantage, Piper counted three, and "The Hitman" was crowned the new WWF World Heavyweight Champion.
The Garden erupted as many WWF superstars came out to congratulate Hart for regaining the title. Owen stood out in the entrance aisle in disgust to remind Bret what happened earlier.
The memory of WrestleMania 9 had been erased, and Yokozuna and Bret Hart were given the spotlight they rightfully deserved a year ago.
Final thoughts
It amazes me how great WrestleMania 10 was. I say this because the company was on a downward trend, with Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage leaving the company to the up and rising WCW.
It also goes to show how crazy of a year a company can have. Within an instant, you can be either at your very best or very worst.
With WrestleMania 8 being a success, WrestleMania 9 a failure, and WrestleMania 10 ending up as a success, it shows how a small thing or two along the way can impact the product.
WrestleMania 10 provided so many memories that hold up today. It's regarded as one of the best WrestleManias of all time by many critics.
Another note that was discovered after the show ended was how Michaels and Ramon both went over their time limit for the ladder match. Both men ignored the referee's cue to wrap it up and cost a ten-man tag team match that was supposed to follow.
Thankfully, it may have been a blessing in disguise as who knows what we may have missed had they ended early.
Unfortunately, this would be the final good WrestleMania for the next few years. The WWF continued on a downward spiral in terms of product, losing tons of fans along the way. Believe me when I say that I won't have fun writing the next few reviews due to its lack of excitement.
If you thought that WrestleMania 9 was the lowest point the WWF could go to, wait until you hear what happened in Connecticut.
Results:
- Owen Hart def. Bret Hart
- Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon def. Doink and Dink the Clown - Mixed tag team match
- Randy Savage def. Crush - Falls count anywhere match
- Alundra Blayze (c) def. Leilani Kai - WWF Women's Championship
- Men on a Mission (Mabel and Mo) def. The Quebecers (Jacques and Pierre) (c) via countout - WWF Tag Team Championship (The Quebecers retained)
- Yokozuna (c) def. Lex Luger via disqualification - WWF World Heavyweight Championship
- Earthquake def. Adam Bomb
- Razor Ramon (c) def. Shawn Michaels - Ladder match for WWF Intercontinental Championship
- Bret Hart def. Yokozuna (c) - WWF World Heavyweight Championship
Rating: A
Thanks for reading. Look out tomorrow when I take a look at WrestleMania 11.
25 days away until WrestleMania 35.
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