WrestleMania 10 featured Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart, Lex Luger vs. Yokozuna, Yokozuna vs. Bret Hart, and Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon.
WrestleMania 10
Can you remember your tenth birthday? Unless you’re a child of about eleven or twelve, then the answer is probably “no.” But the WWE did not want WrestleMania’s tenth birthday to be something simply tossed aside and forgotten, so they returned home to Madison Square Garden. As soon as Little Richard finished off his rendition of America the Beautiful, Vince McMahon introduced a man that would make his first WrestleMania appearance: Jerry “the King” Lawler. The main events of WrestleMania X were designed by way of the Royal Rumble and as the saying goes: “anything can happen in the WWE.” For the first time ever, two men won the Royal Rumble. Now in modern times, WWE officials would just put both men in the ring with the WWE Champion, but back in 1994 the triple threat match hadn’t been invented yet. Who would face Yokozuna at WrestleMania when both Bret Hart and Lex Luger won the Royal Rumble? First, Bret Hart would fight Owen Hart. Second Lex Luger would challenge Yokozuna for the World Title. Third, Bret Hart would challenge the winner of the Yokozuna and Lex Luger match for the World Title. Following this format, everyone would compete in two matches and everyone would have a fair shot at leaving WrestleMania with the WWE title.
Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart
The first WrestleMania match that “the King” would have the privilege of announcing featured two members of the same historic wrestling family: the Harts. Bret Hart’s storied career included championship after championship and as such he had always been the Hart boy in the spotlight. Standing in the shadow of that spotlight was the youngest Hart brother: The Rocket Owen Hart. The WrestleMania X opening contest clearly came straight from the legendary Hart dungeon in Calgary as it was one of the most technically sound wrestling matches in the history of WrestleMania. Neither man really kept the advantage very long, but when Bret went for a victory roll, Owen sat down and covered Bret for a surprising three count. Now, because of Bret’s royal rumble victory, he would also compete for the WWE Championship in the last match of the evening. Did this opening contest take too much out of the Hitman? Will he be able to rebound from such a loss? Where does this leave Owen in the title hunt?
Strange and Unusual
Wrestling fans that enjoy watching the strange and unusual would have found WrestleMania X to be a masterpiece. For instance, Bam Bam Bigelow teamed with a woman named Luna Vachon to take on a Clown named Doink and his midget clown sidekick that wrestled under the moniker of Dink. If that wasn’t enough, Howard Finkle had hair, President Clinton made a surprise appearance, and the Macho Man Randy Savage fought Crush in a special Falls Count anywhere match.
Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon in a Ladder Match
One of the most talked about and historic matches in not only WrestleMania, but also WWE history is the ladder match between Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels. The idea for the match came about as a result of some controversy concerning the Intercontinental Championship, but nobody could have predicted the success. Around this time, Shawn Michaels began feeling the need to have a bodyguard, and his first bodyguard became a future world champion: Big Daddy Cool Diesel. Although Diesel did accompany Shawn to ringside, he didn’t last very long because the referee soon ejected him. The two men found a number of different uses for the ladder, but Shawn put an exclamation point on the match when he performed a splash off the top of the ladder. Despite successfully hitting Ramon with the splash, Shawn could not retrieve the belt. Later on, Razor would tie Michaels up in the ring ropes and climb the ladder of success to win the first ever WWE ladder match.
Lex Luger vs. Yokozuna, Yokozuna vs. Bret Hart
In the first of two title matches, the WWE assigned a special guest referee that just so happened to be the same man that Lex Luger fought at WrestleMania IX: Mr. Perfect. Although Mr. Perfect called a clean match, his final decision would be controversial. When Luger pulled Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornet into the ring and shoved Mr. Perfect, the special guest referee disqualified him. This would set up the final match of the evening with Bret Hart challenging Yokozuna for the World Title, and again the WWE would assign a special guest referee. Interestingly enough, the special guest referee for this match was Bret Hart’s WrestleMania VIII opponent: Rowdy Roddy Piper. In the end, Bret would capture the WWE title via pinfall and the backstage area emptied to congratulate him. The backstage area emptied with the exception of Owen Hart, who stood in the entranceway. This would set up the biggest family feud in the history of WWE. What would the situation be by the time WrestleMania XI came around?
- Owen Hart defeats Bret Hart via pinfall
- Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon defeats Doink and Dink via pinfall
- Macho Man defeats Crush in the Falls Count Anywhere Match
- Alundra Blaze defeats Leilani Kai via pinfall
- Men on a Mission defeat the Quebecoirs via count out
- Yokozuna defeats Lex Luger via disqualification
- Earthquake defeats Adam Bomb via pinfall
- Razor Ramon defeats Shawn Michaels by retrieving the title belts
- Bret Hart defeats Yokozuna via pinfall
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Also See: Raw Review March 12, ECW Review March 13
