WWF WrestleMania XI (Version II)

Original Airdate: April 2, 1995

From Hartford, Connecticut; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler

Opening Match: The Allied Powers v The Blu Brothers: The Brothers try jumping them at the bell, but the Powers whip them into one another, and hit stereo powerslams. The dust settles on Davey Boy Smith with Jacob Blu, and Smith is quick to hit a hanging vertical suplex for two. Chinlock, but Jacob quickly escapes, and passes to Eli Blu. Bulldog fights off a double team, and grabs Eli in a standing side-headlock, but runs into a cheap shot from Jacob as they criss cross. The Brothers cut the ring in half on Davey, but end up missing a 2^nd rope elbowdrop, and Luger gets the tag. He comes in hot with a running kneelift and a clothesline, followed by a powerslam. The running forearm smash looks to finish, but the second Blu twin breaks it up, and they made an illegal switch. He tries a piledriver, but Bulldog decides to come off the top (blatantly without a tag) with a flying sunset flip for the pin at 6:36. I don't mind when the illegal man gets the pin during the usual wild brawls at the end of tag matches (since it's hard to remember who was legal anyway), but here Smith was clearly illegal. Not the greatest of openers, but I guess from the matches booked, this made the most sense in the slot. Really basic stuff. ¾* (Original rating: ¼*)

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Jeff Jarrett v Razor Ramon: Razor blitzes him with right hands to start, and a clothesline sends Double J over the top. Jarrett stalls out there, and tries a 2^nd rope flying sunset flip on the way back in, but Ramon counters with a punch for two. That cues Roadie to interfere, but it backfires on him, and Razor schoolboys Jeff for two. Razor's Edge early on, but Roadie manages to hook Jeff's legs from the outside, and he pulls the champion out of the ring. Jarrett decides to bail, but 1-2-3 Kid is in Ramon's corner, and blocks his path. Jeff is forced back in, where Razor is waiting with another schoolboy for two, but a cross corner whip gets reversed. That allows Roadie another cheap shot, but Jarrett misses a straddling ropechoke anyway, and the Bad Guy dumps Double J over the top! In, Razor tries a backdrop, but runs into a swinging neckbreaker, and Jarrett hits a pair of dropkicks to set up a successful straddling ropechoke. Good for him, he wanted it. Jeff with a pair of corner whips, and a backelbow gets two. Chinlock, but Razor escapes with a backslide for two, so Jarrett barrels into him with a clothesline for two. Sleeper, but Razor escapes quickly, so Jeff delivers a matslam for two. Back to the chinlock, but Razor escapes with a side suplex, and a criss cross results in a double knockout spot. Razor recovers first, and crawls over with a single arm cover for two. Both guys stagger up for a slugfest, and Jarrett tries a bodypress, but gets caught in a fallaway slam for two. Kid tries to get in a cheap shot, but Jarrett fights him off, so Ramon comes off the middle rope with a flying bulldog, but Double J dodges! Jarrett with a kneebreaker to set up the Figure Four (complete with leverage from Roadie), but Razor reverses, and the champ is forced to let off. Ramon with a side superplex to set up the Edge, so this time Roadie rushes in to clip the leg, and that's a DQ at 13:32. Actually better than I remember it being. Still really basic, house show level action, and still a lame finish, but not as boring as I recall. ** (Original rating: *)

Undertaker v King Kong Bundy: Baseball umpire Larry Young acts as the special guest referee for this one, in one of the stranger celebrity cameos in wrestling history. Bundy tries a charge from behind, but misses, and Undertaker hits the ropewalk forearm early. He knocks King Kong over with a shoulderblock, so Bundy tries clotheslining him over the top, but Undertaker lands on his feet. That allows him to steal the urn back from Ted DiBiase, and the match stops in its tracks as 'Taker makes a formal presentation of it to Paul Bearer. That results in DiBiase summoning Kama out to steal the urn back, with Bundy keeping Undertaker from interfering. Bundy with a bodyslam and a pair of clotheslines to send 'Taker over the top again, but he beats the count back in. Bundy with another bodyslam to set up a kneedrop for two, and he decides to slow this blistering pace down by working a chinlock. Thank goodness, I thought I felt the carpal tunnel coming on. Avalanche looks to finish, but 'Taker shrugs it off, so Bundy tries a second - Undertaker lifting a boot to block this time. Bodyslam hits, and the jumping clothesline follows to finish at 6:40 - with Bundy barely staying down for the count. But can you blame him? Who jobs to a clothesline? Luckily they kept this short, because it was rough going. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

WWF Tag Team Title Match: The Smoking Gunns v Owen Hart and Yokozuna: Yoko is a hyped mystery partner. The Gunns pinball Owen around a bit to start, but Bart Gunn runs into an eye poke, and Yokozuna tags in to blast him with a chop. Bodyslam follows, but Bart manages to dodge an elbowdrop, so Yoko passes back to Owen. Criss cross ends in Bart hitting a hiptoss, and an armdrag follows. Over to Billy Gunn for a tandem Russian legsweep, so Yoko comes in without a tag, but the Gunns clear him back out with stereo dropkicks. They go to work on Owen, and a side suplex/neckbreaker combo is worth two. Sidewalk slam/legdrop combo gets two, but Billy runs into a drop-toehold, and Yokozuna punctuates it with a legdrop. They cut the ring in half on Billy, but an attempt at a double team backfires, and Bart gets the tag in. He comes in hot with a press-slam on Owen, and a matslam on Yoko. Unfortunately for the champs, Yoko cuts off a double team by pulling down the top rope as Bart bounces off of them, and Billy runs into a belly-to-belly suplex from Yokozuna. Banzai Drop follows, but Bart is back to prevent a cover. Yoko backdrops him out of the ring, and Owen comes in to finish with the Sharpshooter, before realizing that Billy is creamed cowboy from the Banzai, and Hart simply covers him for the belts at 9:43. This team was the absolute perfect use of both guys at this point, as it allowed them to keep prestige, while also exiting the main event scene. Not to mention what a great pairing it was, since Owen can do the bulk of the work, especially with how badly out of shape Yoko was here. It's like the Colossal Connection, only with an actual master level worker instead of Haku. * ¾ (Original rating: *)

I Quit Match: Bret Hart v Bob Backlund: Roddy Piper acts as the special guest referee for this one. Bret blitzes him at the bell, but fails to apply the Sharpshooter. They seem to have some sort of miscommunication in the corner, and Bret sweeps him down for another try at the Sharpshooter, but Backlund blocks again, so Bret applies a figure four instead. Bob won't quit, and manages a reversal, but Hart won't quit either. Hart tries a leglock, as the crowd loses interest in the match. They're doing the submission stuff, but totally forgoing all the psychology that made the Survivor Series match interesting. Bob escapes the hold, and starts targeting the Hitman's shoulder, but Bret avoids the Crossface Chickenwing. Backlund with a corner whip and a fujiwara armbar, but Hart won't quit. Hammerlock is escaped with a bodyslam, and Bret manages a backbreaker to set up a 2^nd rope pointed elbowdrop. Sharpshooter, but Backlund is in the ropes before the Hitman can get it properly applied. Bret responds by unloading on Bob in the corner, but a charge misses, and Hart bashes his shoulder into the post. That perfectly sets Backlund up for the Chickenwing, but Hart manages to fight off the bodyscissors, and he reverses the hold! He gets Bob down in the bodyscissors (kinda), and Backlund quits at 9:34. This match felt like something of an afterthought, and both guys treated it like one. Their whole series was kind of a weird exercise in the law of diminishing returns, with the matches getting progressively worse each time out. I'd even go as far as to say that this is probably Bret's worst pay per view performance in the WWF, as it seemed like he was totally phoning it in. ¾* (Original rating: ½*)

Main Event: WWF Title Match: Diesel v Shawn Michaels: Nicholas Turturro serves as the special guest ring announcer, Jonathan Taylor Thomas as the guest timekeeper, and Pamela Anderson and Jenny McCarthy accompany Diesel and Shawn to the ring. Shawn tries a sneak attack before the bell, but gets backdropped over the top as a result, and nearly kills a few of the thousands of camera guys littering ringside tonight. Shawn tries to criss cross with him on the way back in, but gets pinballed around, ending up on the outside following a corner whip - and taking another camera guy out. I get that they wanted to make the promotion look hot by having all the photographers out there, but damn. And speaking of 'looking hot,' we cut to a shot of Pam and Jenny on the outside, and that earns another 'damn.' Shawn rushes back in with an attack, but can't manage to keep Diesel cornered long enough for a ten-punch. Diesel tries a press-slam, but he shoulder acts up, and he can't execute it. That allows Shawn to try a vertical suplex, but the champ reverses, and Shawn takes a bump to the outside. Michaels is just bumping all over the place here. He tries to use Sid to buy him time, and that allows HBK to poke Diesel in the eyes on the way back in, but a sunset flip is blocked, and Diesel drops his challenger crotch-first across the top rope. Big boot, but Shawn ducks it, and a cactus clothesline sends both guys tumbling over the top. Shawn heads back in to the top rope to dive after him with a flying bodypress, and a baseball slide follows. Another one, but Diesel sidesteps it - only to hit the post while trying to follow-up with an elbowsmash. Shawn dives off the apron with a flying splash, and is kind of laid back about the countout here, but Diesel beats it in anyway. Michaels puts the boots to his former bodyguard, and a 2^nd rope flying bulldog is worth two. 2^nd rope flying backelbow gets two, and a flying elbowdrop to the lower back is worth two. Nice execution on that one, with a long jump. Michaels tries a front-facelock, but Diesel backdrops his way out of it. Shawn tries again, same result. Diesel tries a snake-eyes, but Shawn shoves him into the corner to block, and he grabs a sleeper. Diesel powers out and unloads with elbows in the corner, and pair of cross corner whips lead to a pair of clotheslines. Snake-eyes sets up a straddling ropechoke, and Shawn takes a flip to the outside off of another cross corner whip. Diesel is on his tail, but runs into the Superkick on the way back in - only to find that the referee is down on the outside! Shawn gets a visual pin as Sid pulls the referee back in for the official dramatic two count. Sid exposes the top turnbuckle, but Diesel hits Michaels with a side suplex before the challenger can use it. The referee is doing a great job of selling a twisted ankle here while counting both guys for the double knockout, better than anything either of the wrestlers are doing. Even though Diesel executed the suplex, Shawn actually gets a two count out of it, but another 2^nd rope flying bulldog is countered with a sidewalk slam. Nice spot there. Shawn STILL recovers first, but gets sent into the corner with a catapult - Diesel out of position, resulting in Michaels missing the exposed buckle. Oh well. Diesel does his best Hulk Hogan impression as he mounts a comeback, and the big boot sets up the Jackknife (and a sloppy one at that) at 20:37. This was the Shawn Michaels Show, with Shawn bumping and flying around, dominating Diesel without even having to resort to much cheating, and generally showboating like crazy. Which is great, except that he kinda got himself over at the expense of Diesel. Good - but not great - match. *** (Original rating: **)

Main Event: Bam Bam Bigelow v Lawrence Taylor: Salt 'n' Peppa play LT down to the ring live for this one. They do a good job of making this feel epic, with both guys having an entire stable in their corners, and lots of hype. Which is good, because at the end of the day, this is till career midcarder Bam Bam Bigelow and a retired football player headlining the biggest show of the year. Taylor stuns Bigelow with a slap during the referee's instructions, and he knocks Bam Bam over the top with a clothesline! Back in, LT hits a bulldog for two, and a hiptoss sends Bigelow back to the outside. Taylor follows with a shove, which nearly triggers a brawl between Bam Bam's corner people (the Million Dollar Corporation) and Taylor's football player buddies. Back in, Bam Bam hammers him, and a bodyslam sets up a headbutt drop, but LT rolls out of the way. He blasts Bigelow with a forearm smash, but gets pounded down again, and Bigelow slaps on a Boston crab. Taylor inches towards the ropes, so Bam Bam lets off, and uses a stepover-toehold instead. Nice to see that Ted DiBiase put on an actual tuxedo tonight, instead of that cheap looking sequined bullshit he usually wears. LT makes the ropes, so Bigelow tries a headlock, but Taylor side suplexes his way out of it. Bam Bam keeps control with a pair of headbutt drops and a legdrop, but he hurts his knee while executing the flying moonsault, and the cover is delayed - only getting two once he gets around to it. Smart way to avoid killing the spot, I suppose. Backdrop looks to follow, but LT counters with a weird hybrid powerbomb/gutwrench suplex looking move. Bigelow fights him off with an enzuigiri, and he delivers another pair of headbutt drops. Flying headbutt looks to finish, but LT kicks out at two! Bam Bam argues the count, allowing Taylor to recover, and he unloads in the corner. A pair of forearm smashes connect, and a 2^nd rope flying version is enough to finish at 11:44. Nothing special in general, but Taylor did really well for a celebrity participant, and the promotion did a good job of making the match seem like a huge deal. * ½ (Original rating: *)

BUExperience: This one felt like a throwback to the first couple of WrestleManias in format, booking, and style – complete with an abundance of celebrity involvement as a major selling point. It’s almost as if they redid WrestleMania I, only with the New Generation roster. And King Kong Bundy again. Easily one of the worst WrestleManias, and perhaps even the worst, especially in terms of memorable moments, or beloved headlining bouts.

DUD