Nickrj’s rant for Wrestlemania XII
This is an event I saw live on PPV and I taped it so I’ve also included the Free For All.
Todd Pettingill is in the front of the Arrowhead Pond. Behind him is an arc of monitors that show either the Iron Man Match or the Ultimate Warrior. Todd goes into the arena and he pumps up the crowd but he’s interrupted by Sunny as she comes out with the BodyDonnas.
In Feburary 1996, the tag team title was vacated by the Smoking Gunns and there was a tournament held over WWF Superstars the next six weeks to decide the next champions.
1st round
Owen Hart and The British Bulldog def. Barry Horowitz and Hakushi
The Godwinns def. The New Rockers
Razor Ramon and Savio Vega def. Tatanka and the 1-2-3 Kid
The Bodydonnas def. The Bushwhackers
2nd round
The Godwinns def. Owen Hart and The British Bulldog
The Bodydonnas def. Steve Austin (subbing for Razor) and Savio Vega
Tag Team Tourney finals: The Godwinns (with Hillbilly Jim) VS The Body Donnas (with Sunny)
The night before at the Slammy awards, Sunny won both Best Buns and Manager Of The Year. After getting thru her spiel she bends over to give the mike back and gives us a panty shot. J Henry starts it with Zip. They tie up and Henry gets a press slam on both Donnas. Henry slams Skips face and tags Phineas. He hits a right hand but is in the corner and he starts the mule kick and has to be controlled by Henry. Henry continues with Skip and Hank send Skip onto Zip on the outside. They double team Henry and hit a slingshot suplex on the ropes and Skip gets 2. Zip gets the tag and tries to slam Henry but hurts his back. Skip is tagged back in and they hit a double elbow and a spike legdrop gets 2. Skip slams Henry and tags Zip who climbs to the top and misses a top rope splash. Phineas gets the hot tag and he works over both Donnas. He tries the slop drop but Sunny jumps on the apron and shows her butt to Phineas and while Phineas likes it he is rolled up by Skip for the pin at 5:21 for the BodyDonnas to win the tag team titles. Match sucked of course 1/2*
Video of the Ultimate Warrior who is making his return to the ring tonight!
We get a look at the feud between Diesel and the Undertaker. This was a hot feud as I recall. At the Royal Rumble Diesel costs UT the WWF title and gives him the finger. One month later at IYH UT pops out from under the ring to drag Diesel underneath in a cage match costing him the title. Later Diesel destroys UT’s casket while UT shows Diesel a dummy of himself in the casket
DON”T EVEN ASK!! This was a part of those Billionaire Ted skits that they showed all winter. Ted is the referee here. Nacho Man can’t get up to the top rope while the Huckster takes 50 years to get to the ring. He is given Oxygen on the way and Ted and Scheme Gene rip the Huck’s T-Shirt off. Ted gives some cheap talk before the match. The bell rings hurts Nacho’s ears. He climbs to the 2nd rope and falls off and both men are down. An EMT comes in and wakes up Nacho and Huckster is handcuffed. Nacho grabs a shoe while Huck grabs a chair and they nail each other
Vince: They’re both down! Who’s gonna win the match?
King: Depends.
Vince: Depends on what?
King: No, Depends undergarments.
Ted calls it a draw as both of his men are dead. Gene comes in the ring to interview Ted and the FTC man jumps on the apron and Ted faints and he’s dead as well.
Ad for a Wrestlemania XII T-Shirt, hat and program. Also a denim jacket and a letterman jacket. Cool stuff!
Vince interviews Rowdy Roddy Piper who is taking on Goldust in a Hollywood backlot brawl.
We get a look at Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart in the 60 minute Iron Man matchup. We see Shawn with his trainer Jose Lathario in San Antonio. Shawn is tracking down a boyhood dream of becoming the WWF champion. Meanwhile we see Bret Hart in the Dungeon in Calgary. He says he’ll do whatever it takes to win. This was the real reason I ordered this PPV.
To end the FFA, Todd goes in the ring and pumps up the crowd for the lineup.
Now to the real show!
Live from the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California on March 31st 1996.
Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler
Six Man Tag: Yokozuna, Ahmed Johnson and Jake Roberts (with Mr. Fuji) VS Vader, Owen Hart and The British Bulldog (with Jim Cornette)
Yokozuna turned on Camp Cornette on Feburary 5th and if the faces win this match. Yoko gets 5 minutes with Jim Cornette all by himself. I’m noticing the cool ring canvas that they used. Anyways Yoko was pushing 700 pounds at this point and Fuji is carrying the American flag. Weird to see him like that. 6 man brawl to start it off. Yoko and Vader go at it and Yoko clotheslines Vader to the outside. Johnson is jumped on top of Vader but is caught by Owen and Davey. Vader and Yoko tie up and they go in the corner. Owen comes in and hits a dropkick to the knee but takes an elbow. Yoko misses an avalanche thanks to the Bulldog. They double team Yoko. Vader comes back in and makes Ahmed come in the ring while Owen gets an eyerake. Vader punches Yoko down in the corner and draws some heat. Eye poke by Vader but Yoko gets a boss man slam and tags Ahmed and he hammers both Owen and the Bulldog. Ahmed hits a powerslam on Davey but is clobbered by Vader. Ahmed gets a sunset flip and makes Vader miss and hits a Lou Thesz press like move. He’s dragged into the wrong corner however but he doesn’t sell and slams Bulldog. He tries the Pearl River Plunge but takes a missle dropkick by Owen. Owen works on Ahmed and hits an enzuguri to the back. Vader is back in and hits a splash. He bumps Ahmed down. Owen is back in and hits two eyerakes. Ahmed no sells a clothesline and hits one of his own. Jake gets the tag and he punches away on Owen. He hits the short clothesline but Owen blocks the DDT. Jake runs into a knee and Bulldog is tagged in and he pounds on Jake. Front face lock now. Jake gets the right arm but is in the wrong corner. Vader hits a clothesline and an avalanche. Owen gets the tag and hits a flying elbow for 2. Owen gets a stomp puller like submission hold. Bulldog comes in and he hits the running powerslam for 2. Vader comes in again and hits a splash for 2. Bulldog back in and misses a legdrop. Jake tags Yoko who slugs it out with Vader. He pounds on him in the corner. He hits an avalanche and takes out Owen and the Bulldog too. He hits a samoan drop on Bulldog. Jake gets the tag. Bulldog stops a DDT and it turns into a brawl. Jake hits the DDT on Owen but Owen isn’t the legal man. Jim comes in with the tennis racket and is almost DDT’d but is saved by Vader and Vader hits the Vader Bomb on Jake for the pin at 13:09. Okay opener but I would’ve put the faces over. On the other hand it builds more heat for Vader as a monster. *1/2
We look at the feud between Roddy Piper and Goldust. Piper has been the president filling in for the injured Gorilla Monsoon. Goldust starts to get enamored with Piper though. This infuriates Piper at Monday Night Raw so that he slaps Goldust.
This is a pretaped segment. Goldust comes in in a gold caddy as Piper is waiting with a baseball bat. Piper sprays the car then smashes the windows on Goldie’s car. He starts choking out Goldust with his bat and rams him into a table. He’s also rammed into a dumpster. Piper hits Goldie with a trash can. He sprays Goldie with the hose and Slams him on the car twice. He punches Goldie out. Goldie gets a low blow and he throws Piper into the dumpster. He goes back in the car and hits Piper with it and leaves. Piper gets into a White Ford Bronco and starts chasing Goldust.
Savio Vega VS Steve Austin (with Ted Dibiase)
These two had a feud when on Raw they turned a match into a brawl. This was before Austin 3:16 BTW. Later Steve Austin cost his partner against the Bodydonnas in the aforementioned tournament. Vega hammers on Steve to start. He hits a sidewalk slam and pounds on Steve. They go outside and Vega hammers on Steve some more. Back inside Vega is kicked in the head and Austin takes advantage. He rams Vega in the post. Austin starts stomping on Vega for 2. He locks an armbar. Vega gets out of it and hits a kick for 2. Vince gets Piper on the phone as Austin takes advantage of Vega and he throws him to the post. Snap mare by Austin followed by a clutch which is reversed by Vega. Austin drives some knees and goes back to the armbar. He goes to a hammerlock and drops Vega down. Austin hits a 2nd rope elbow for 2. Vega hits a cross body for 2. Austin with a Lou Thesz press and they trade a number of 2 couts. Austin with a rollup for 2. They show aerial footage of Piper but it’s obviously OJ Simpson footage. Vega comes back with a kick and Austin counters a 2nd rope splash with a foot. Small package by Vega for 2. Austin slams Vega and goes to the top and falls onto a foot. Vega starts hammering Austin and hits a chop. He hits a backdrop and a clothesline and another one. He hits a spinning back kick, on the ref. Dibiase grabs the Million Dollar Belt and Vega tries to wake the ref up and is nailed by the belt. He drops the belt on Vega from the apron. Austin hooks the Million Dollar Dream while Dibiase wakes up the ref with some soda. The ref counts down Vega for the submission at 10:00. An average match **1/4
The Ultimate Warrior VS Hunter Hearst Helmsley (with Sable)
Hunter had been bringing female escorts to the ring with him and this is the debut of Sable. King wants to show Sable is Congressinal Medal Of Honor, LOL. The arena comes down when the UW comes out! Hunter jumps UW from behind to take the crowd out of it. He hits the Pedigree but UW no sells it. He hits a hard right and a clothesline and a series of em. UW hits a flying tackle and he hits the Gorilla Press/Big Splash for the pin at 1:36. DUD
We see the same ad we saw in the Free For All.
Todd Pettingill interviews Marc Mero who is also making his debut. Hunter comes out and gets into a shovefest with Mero and while Hunter blames Sable for the loss Mero attacks Hunter from behind and they brawl. The next night on Raw, Sable slaps Hunter and leaves with Mero.
Ad for IYH on April 28th at Omaha Nebraska.
Diesel VS The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer)
Like I said before this was a pretty hot feud between 2 seven foot montsters. It started when at IYH December 1995 Diesel is pissed about UT getting a title shot at the Royal Rumble and he gets into UT’s face. They brawl to start. Diesel hits a clothesline but he runs into a boot. UT misses with an elbow though and is clotheslined outside but he pulls Diesel out and he pounds on Diesel. He rams Diesel into the steps. Back in UT almost hits the tombstone and hits a crossbody for 2. UT grabs the right arm and does the top rope walk/forearm. UT misses a bodypress though. Diesel takes a stungun. UT hits some right hands sending Diesel outside. UT rams Diesel backfirst to the post. He grabs a chair but hits the post with it. UT is rammed into the rail. Diesel rams UT backfirst to the post twice. He starts to go after Paul Bearer. Diesel hits a big boot inside. He continues to work on UT. He hits a sidewalk slam for 2. Diesel drops UT in the corner and hits a butt splash on the ropes. Diesel hammers on UT in the corner. UT comes back with an elbow and a boot. They both kick each other in the face. UT does the zombie sit up but Diesel gets a bear hug. UT breaks it and gets a back suplex. He drops an elbow. He goes to the top and hits a flying clothesline for 2. Diesel counters a headdown and hits a Jackknife. He looks happy that he’s put out UT and tries to wake him up and UT does the Zombie Situp which Diesel expected. He hits another Jackknife. Diesel taunts Paul Bearer outside and he covers UT but UT grabs him by the throat. Diesel pounds him but UT does it again but is punched down again. UT grabs the throat of Diesel again and gets up but Diesel hits a back suplex. UT zombie sits up again and he hammers on Diesel now and hits a flying clothesline. He hits a chokeslam and signals for the tombstone and hits it on Diesel for the pin at 16:44. About as good of a Diesel UT match as you’d expect. **
Todd Pettingill is backstage with a camera shot on the parking lot which shows the gold caddie of Goldust entering the lot as Roddy Piper follows with his white Bronco. They go back into the ring area and into the ring. Piper pounds on Goldie but Goldie kicks Piper in the legs. Goldie is now pounding on Piper and hammering him on the legs he injured earlier. He puts his hands on Pipers ass and takes him down. He chokes Piper with his own shirt and rams his legs into the post. Goldie hammers on Piper and almost kisses him. Goldie goes to the top and Piper shakes him down. Goldie hits 2 headbutts and kisses Piper and steps over the line by doing that. Piper starts getting angry he pounds Goldust and grabs his crotch. He hits a low knee and spanks him and tears off his tights revealing Goldie in a B-Day suit (or lack of a better term J) He hits one more low knee in the crotch ending this thing. This was Piper’s last hurrah in the WWF and a good way for him to go out.
60 minute Iron Man WWF Title Match: Bret Hart VS Shawn
Michaels
Finkel announces Gorilla Monsoon’s return as president of the WWF. Jose Lathario comes out instead of Shawn. He goes into the corner and points to the sky and we see Shawn high above the rafters in the Arrowhead Pound he then uses a pulley to bring himself down into the crowd. The best entrance I’ve ever seen! Bret comes out and doesn’t get nearly a good pop as Shawn does. Ref Earl Hebner is miked and he explains the rules to both men. The winner of the most falls within the 60 minute time frame will win the match and the title and here we go!
They tie up to start and they trade it each other in the corner. Tie up again and Shawn gets a waist lock takedown. Bret reverses the waistlock and Shawn breaks it. Tie up again and Bret gets a headlock but Shawn hip tosses him. He gets another waistlock takedown. Shawn works on the left arm of Bret. Bret reverses and Shawn rolls up Bret but Bret maintains a side headlock. Shawn tries an Irish whip but Bret holds on. Bret takes down Shawn and gets a 2 count. Shawn gets up and Bret counters a back suplex into another takedown for 2. Shawn rolls up Bret for 2 though. Shawn gets a hiptoss but Bret kicks out and Bret gets a couple of takeovers into the headlock. Shawn almost gets a pin. He gets up and takes the right arm and brings Bret down but Bret holds on to the headlock. He takes over Shawn and gets a 1 count. Shawn fights out and gets 2 armdrags and hooks an armbar a knee into the stomach followed by a legdrop and he works on the left arm. Shawn gets another arm drag. Bret gets up and is shoulderblocked but gets a drop toe hold. Shawn counters out of a facelock and goes to a hammerlock. He goes back to the armbar and Bret powers Shawn in the corner and gets a right hand but Shawn reverses and gets some rights. He does a flying head scissors sending Bret outside.
10 Minutes in: Bret gets a little breather outside. Shawn goes back to the armbar. Bret sends Shawn outside but he slingshots himself back in and goes back to the armbar. Bret gets a knee in the gut and a low headbutt. Legdrop followed by the chinlock. Shawn get a jawjacker and hits a legdrop and hooks the armbar back and pulls on it. Bret goes back on his back and nips up. Bret gets a spinebuster and almost gets the sharpshooter. He clotheslines Shawn to the outside and goes out. He hits an uppercut but is thrown into the post. Shawn tries a superkick but he nails the timekeeper! Back in Bret hits an elbow and goes to the chinlock as they bring a stretcher for the timekeeper. Shawn gets up but is brought back down. Shawn gets an armdrag and a clothesline. Bret gets a clothesline and goes back to the chinlock. Shawn gets back up and Bret blocks a roll up but Shawn gets a dropkick and armdrag into the armbar.
20 Minutes in: Shawn drives some knees in Bret and he sits on the arm and pulls it back. Bret gets up but is brought back down. He reverses a facelock and goes back to the arm. Bret gets up and gets 2 elbows. He hits some uppercuts. Shawn gets a short knee and rams Bret’s shoulder into the post. He whacks it over the post and yells the F word at the cameraman. He hits a shoulderbreaker and a 2nd rope double axhandle. He gets a hammerlock slam. He throws Bret’s shoulder into the corner twice. Bret continues to hammer on the shoulder of Shawn. Bret comes back with some rights and Shawn gets a DDT on the shoulder. Shawn goes back to the shoulder pull and hits a kneedrop. Back to the shoulder pull. Bret tries to relieve some pressure. Shawn hits him in the shoulder. Shawn hammers on Bret in the corner and continues to work on the shoulder. Bret gets up and hits a 2nd rope stungun. He slingshots Michaels to the post for 2. Bret is rammed into the turnbuckle. But he flies into another one. Bret with some kicks now and he hits an inverted atomic drop and a clothesline for 2. Bret hits a bulldog. He climbs to the top and Shawn catches him and Bret drives the knee to the back and the ref is knocked down too.
30 Minutes in: Shawn hits
a powerslam for 2. Bret counters a headdown and hits a piledriver for 2. Bret
with a kneedrop and he goes to the top rope but Shawn slams him off the top. Shawn
gets a hurricurana and hammers on Bret. Bret hooks the ropes on an elbow. Shawn
hits a backbreaker for 2. He hits an elbow and Bret avoids the superkick by
rolling outside but Shawn hits a top rope bodypress on him outside! Shawn
climbs back in but rolls back out and throws Bret back in. He goes to the top
and hits a flying bodypress which is reversed for 2. Bret blocks a hiptoss and
Shawn blocks a backslide and gets a small package for 2. Shawn gets a
fisherman’s suplex for 2. He hooks the Sleeper and is driven into the corner.
Shawn hooks it back on but Bret doesn’t submit. Shawn throws Bret in the corner
and hooks the sleeper again. Shawn hits an elbow and a mule kick. He throws
Bret in the corner but charges and is backdropped 10 feet in the air to the
outside!!! Man what a bump! Bret goes outside and rams him backfirst to the
post. He throws him back in the ring and works on the back. He throws him
backfirst to the corner. Bret hits a 2nd rope elbow to the back. He
hits a backbreaker and a legdrop.
40 Minutes in: Bret
continues to work on the lower back. He hits a butt splash using the ropes for
leverage. Shawn is flipped backfirst on the top rope and Bret hits a back
superplex for 2. Bret with a camel clutch now. Shawn gets up and hammers on
Bret and hits a sunset flip for 2. Bret works on the lower back again. Bret
sets Shawn on the top but Shawn catches him but Bret catches Shawn on the way
down. Russian leg sweep for 2. He sends Shawn flying outside onto Jose drawing
some heat. He throws Shawn into Jose again. He throws Shawn back inside and
hits a belly to belly for 2. Shawn starts to fight back but is stopped. Bret
pounds on Shawn in the corner and Shawn comes out of a suplex and rolls up Bret
for 2 but is sent to the outside. Bret hits a bodypress on Shawn on the outside
and goes back in the ring. Shawn comes out of a suplex but is German suplexed
for 2. They start slugging it out. Bret hits a headbutt and goes back to a
camel clutch.
50 minutes in: Bret
continues with the camel clutch. He goes to a chinlock now. Shawn gets up and
hits an elbow to break it. Double Clothesline occurs. Shawn gets up and hammers
on Bret now but Bret sets Shawn on the top and hits a superplex. He goes for
the sharpshooter but Shawn fights it and he kicks out of it. Bret hooks a half
Boston crab but Shawn makes the ropes. Bret hits a backbreaker followed by a 2nd
rope elbow but Shawn kicks him on the way down. Less than 5 minutes left! Shawn
hits a dropkick and a forearm and rams Bret stomach first into the corner. Shawn
hits a forearm and he nips up. He gets a kick followed by an elbow. He slams
Shawn and hits a moonsault double axhandle for 2. Shawn hits a snap suplex and
goes to the top and hits the flying elbow for 2. Shawn hits a kick followed by
a gut wrench suplex. 2 minutes left. Shawn hits a moonsault for 2 ½. Shawn
kicks Bret in the corner and hits a 2nd rope hurrcurana for 2. Shawn
slams Bret with 1 minute to go and faints. He goes to the top rope and Bret
catches him and hooks the Sharpshooter and holds on for the last 33 seconds but
Shawn does not give up! The match ends with no falls made!
But Gorilla makes the
decision that there must be a winner so we go to sudden death overtime! Bret is
not happy with this and he works on the lower back of Shawn and hits a backdrop
and a backbreaker. Shawn leaps over Bret in the corner and hits the Superkick
but is too exhausted to cover. Both men get up and Shawn hits another Superkick
for the pin at 61:53 to win the WWF title! Some people didn’t like this match
but I’m not one of them. I kinda feel this is on the same level as Flair VS
Steamboat from Clash 6 and this won match of the year for 1996! *****
Summary: Well the Iron Man match is the
reason to watch this and also no other match sucked except the Warrior and even
that match was short. A good card overall. RECOMMENDED