1 week Ago By RobertLeightyJr
-It’s amazing as we finally have a new documentary from the WWE on Peacock. I just assumed anything new has going to Netflix as they waited for the Peacock deal to end next year or at least until they started negotiating again. This is a welcome addition and I am excited to see what they have to offer.
The WWE is always great at tooting their own horn and their documentary team usually kills it every time. Let’s get to it! -Release Date: 4.11.
25 -Run Time: 1:49:05 -We start at WWE HQ in Stamford Connecticut and the camera pans to Media Storage. For those wondering it is room 5P-341. We are shown that ‘The WWE Archive Contains Over 575,000 Hours of Footage.
” Can you imagine being let loose in that place to watch whatever you want for as long as you want? One can dream! -“For More Than Three Decades, Thirty Tapes Have Remained Inside The Vault. Until Now.” -“In 1993, For the First Time, WWE Cameras Filmed Behind The Scenes at WrestleMania.
” -We meet George Germanakos, WWE Video Archivist. So George is the man we need to butter up and just release everything to us. He says for years people have asked him when they would release all the footage from WrestleMania IX.
I’m sure he gets asked for a lot more than that. -Bruce Prichard says it was an undertaking that they wanted to document it internally. Nelson Swegler, former operations manager, wonders what happened to the footage.
We see Hulk Hogan, Lex Luger, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker all being shown the footage and they are blown away. I am going to love this so much! Taker is protecting the gimmick and wondering why he is being filmed. They got Colin Cowherd for this thing? Basil DeVito brings up Hogan’s injury.
Taker: “brother should have bobbed instead of weaved.” Hogan mentions he got a ton of heat from everybody, but “whatever.” This is all just the opening summary and it’s already everything I want.
-Show opening! -Well, we have to start with the WrestleMania in 1985 at MSG. Basil DeVito, former WWE executive, says they needed to create an event where all fans could share one single experience. It seems simple now, but wasn’t at that time.
He notes it also created an on ramp for fans to jump on and see what happens next. -Bruce again, as he talks about the excitement of everyone coming together for WrestleMania over clips from Mania III. They make sure to reiterate and flash on the screen the 93713 attendance number.
Again, my stance has always been I tend to believe that number more than the 78,000 number also passed around, but I like to believe in something from my childhood. -PPV was king in the late 80s and they had done a million buys for Mania. Their next goal was to branch out to boxing PPV.
Vince was always interested and they mention Caesar’s had always done boxing. Caesar’s brought in Vince to help promote a Sugar Ray Leonard fight. We meet Rich Rose, former President of Caesar’s World Sports, and see the press conference with Vince sitting right next to him.
This is why Sugar Ray was at SummerSlam and all over Prime Time Wrestling. -Nov 7, 1998: Leonard vs. Laldone: They brought a WWE style to boxing.
Roy Firestone was on the roof of Caesar’s Palace for the opening. They all agree at the end of the day it was all about entertaining the customer. Kerwin Silfies, former WWE director, notes he directed the Leonard fight and it was the only boxing bout he ever did.
He says it worked out well actually. Colin Cowherd was there and thought Sugar Ray was in trouble as the fight ended up being better than expected. In the end boxing did not fit with the brand WWE was continuing to do every day.
I am sure there is some spin there. -That fight started their relationship with Caesar’s Palace and next they ran an episode of Prime Time Wrestling from 1991 at Caesar’s. The biggest star of the time was Hulk Hogan.
Here is the man himself and he says the character got over so huge with the fans that all you needed to do was promote that Hulk Hogan was going to be there and the opponent didn’t matter. There is some truth to that, but he certainly seemed to draw crazy numbers with big, fat heels of the month (Kamala, Quake, Andre, etc). Jimmy Hart says Hogan as bigger than life and was the main driving force.
Hogan says the run lasted for 8-9 years and then we get to Mania VI where he puts Warrior over. My review is here! Then Hogan mentions it continued a few more years as Mania VIII came there was tension between him and Vince. We see the famous Vince/Hogan sit down from the build to Mania VIII.
It made me sad as a 10 year old Hulk-a-maniac. This was before I knew not to put much stock in wrestling retirements. Hogan notes he took a step back as his boss no longer believed in him as an attraction.
Hogan left after Mania VIII and we see Mr. Nanny footage. Yo, I rock with Mr.
Nanny and Suburban Commando! -Sean Mooney is here, cool, and he says Hogan was the cog driving the machine, so it was a big time for change. Bret Hart says that people like him, Taker, and Shawn had to pull the wagon. We get brief clips of each man.
Shawn says it was the start of a new generation of performers. Undertaker says it was out with the old and in with a new era of talent. Sam Roberts says this was a time of elevation but there was also an influx of new talent of what the WWE would be in 1993.
-The Steiner Brothers debut in 1992 and here is Rick Steiner and Scott is here as well. Scott says the WWF made their presentation different. The Headshrinkers debuted as well and we hear from Rikishi.
I have been covering 89-91 WCW and I have watched a good amount of Samoan Swat Team matches. Rikishi says they dominated the tag team scene and Yokozuna dominated the main event scene. Prichard mentions the reaction from the crowd when Yoko would take his robe off.
-They discuss the ebb and flow of where WrestleMania would be placed on a yearly basis. WrestleMania VIII was in Indianapolis in the Hoosier Dome as it was the last vestige of the Golden Era with Hogan. Basil says it was a fine event, but lacked the spectacle of Manias before like Mania III.
I get that but to me it was a fantastic show and I like the Hoosier Dome as a setting. He continues there was nothing like Vegas for glitz and glamour so it made all the sense. -We talk Vegas sports and at that time it was UNLV basketball.
Those teams were great and Cowherd notes if you had a court-side seat to watch The Rebels you were a big deal. Yes, this was years before the NHL, NFL got a team in Vegas. I remember the Kings with Wayne Gretzky playing a preseason game at Caesar’s.
It’s funny that it looks like the NBA will be the last of the Big Four to get a pro team in Vegas. Many assumed they would be the first. The NCAA comes down on UNLV for violations and they are never the same again.
That took some of the spark out of Vegas sports by the time Mania rolled into town in 93. Ron Futrell, a Vegas journalist, notes Mania coming to Vegas gave the city some needed juice. -Vegas was trying to find it’s identity.
For years it was less than family friendly and in the 90s that started to change. Go watch the movie Casino! Caesar’s wanted to be at the front of that and part of that plan was bringing in WrestleMania. Cowherd says people looked down at gambling and Vegas didn’t have pro sports.
Charles Wright (Papa Shango) notes it was his home time and he desperately wanted to be on the card. Taker says as a boxing fan it was cool and compares it to MSG for wrestlers. Bret just wanted to hit it out of the park.
-Basil breaks out the floor plans. He loved scaling the houses and notes it was a fun puzzle to do and hit a number that made sense. They wanted to hit 1 million dollars with just over 16,000 seats.
He notes the top ticket price was $250. Then it went 150, 100, 50, and 25. $250 barely gets you in the nosebleed sections today.
I paid $494 for my travel package through WWE for Mania XXVI. He notes in those days they were always striving to have a ticket for $25 and that was a stated goal. Basil sent a note to Vince in Dec.
of 92 that after 8 days on sale they had sold just 2000 tickets. Not bad but sales slowed after the first weekend. He says he is getting nervous again just reading this.
I wonder if it’s because they were missing their biggest star? -Three months before Mania they survey the site and it’s a parking lot. Vince had the idea then to turn the place into a Roman Coliseum. That was how they integrate into the Caesar’s theme as it was just a parking lot.
The “World’s Largest Toga Party” became the tag line. -Royal Rumble 1993: They bring Caesar and Cleopatra to the show to invite everyone to WrestleMania IX. Mooney brings up that two new superstars debuted at the Royal Rumble.
First was Lex Luger and Vince just wanted him to be called Narcissist. Imagine, having Lex Luger and not wanting to use his name? Then again, he wanted to do the same with Vader. Back to The Rumble as Heenan introduces Luger and Prichard notes that Heenan couldn’t say Narcissist.
“Couldn’t you just give him an easier name?” Ha! -The Royal Rumble match is next and this was the first year that the winner earned a WWF Title Match at WrestleMania. Genius move as it gave the match importance and has been a staple every since. It made The Rumble the official start to The Road to WrestleMania.
-Oh yeah, that other debuting star: Giant Gonzales. Here we go! Prichard says you want to have as many different characters as you can. Taker says it is hard to hake him seriously when he has an airbrushed body suit on and patches of fur attached.
True! Prichard says the idea was that the hair would be hanging off him and be free flowing so he looked like a monster. We see the sketches and it does look a little different, but doesn’t mean it is any better. Sam Roberts says he was 9 and terrified of Giant Gonzales.
-Back to the Rumble Match and once Yokozuna made his entrance he was winning that thing unless Hulk Hogan came back as #30. Mooney discuss the Yoko vs. Bret Main Event and how they were still unproven on that level.
It’s why a lot of people think Savage winning The Rumble and facing Bret would have been better. It’s gives a giant star from the previous generation that has been there and done that. -WrestleMania IX Press Conference: Rich Rose calls WrestleMania The Super Bowl of wrestling.
Macho introduces Bret Hart at the press conference. Bret says it was his moment and his first Mania as Champion. We see Bret watching his statements from the press conference.
He notes that he can see that he was intimidated. He says there was a lot of weight on him to carry the company and the belt. He knew in that minute that he was still grasping with the idea that he was Champion.
-Ron Futrell says he remembers at the time wondering where Hulk Hogan was. Basil was told no Hogan so that’s how he was selling it to Caesar’s. The reps from Caesar had other ideas and kept telling Basil they knew Hogan was going to be there.
-Prichard says people were not buying this WrestleMania and there was only one person to call. Vince felt a responsibility to the company and knew people had wives, husbands, kids. Basil: “I personally had two kids that went to college because of Hulk Hogan.
” Preach! He continues that Hulk Hogan in the mix is always good for him. Hogan hated the process of acting and sitting around and then shooting. He wanted to get back in the ring and said it wouldn’t take much to get him back if they offered.
-Prichard shows us what he calls The Bible. He, Vince, and Pat Patterson each had an identical book that had every show and card and how they were going to book things. I would love to study that book.
The idea was to bring Hogan back to boost sales for Mania and Vince was reluctant at first because he knew it gave Hogan more stroke. -Feb. 22, 1993: Hulk Hogan returns on Monday Night RAW and I ran around my house like a maniac.
I will say Hogan on those early RAWs looks weird. That New York crowd was jacked to have him back though. -Hogan was back to team with Brutus and that lets us cover the parasailing accident that destroyed Brutus’ face.
They did a dark side of the ring on him and my review can be found here . Hogan says the pitch was from him to do the tag match as he was trying to help Brutus out after the accident. The wanted the safest guys that everyone would feel good about and it was Money Inc.
Makes sense! Ted Dibiase is here and he was pumped to have Hogan back as it meant another run for money. IRS was also excited and I am reminded of what Foley said years ago: “There are two kinds of people, those who admit working with Hogan is a big deal and those who pretend it isn’t.” Kerwin: “That’s what ended up selling out the place.
” Oh, don’t let Bret hear that. -Lex says Hogan was by far the biggest name ever in wrestling, but there were question marks. Taker talks about how the new talent was working the shows to get over and then they had to bring in something from the past.
I mean, Taker went down the same road with his once a year Mania matches so I hope the irony isn’t lost on him. Kofi says Hogan was the same character while the business was evolving. Taker does note they still had to sell tickets so whatever it took but the product had to move forward as well.
-Bret says he was told that Hogan was only there to promote a movie and had nothing to do with the World Title. Hogan knew they were building new talent, but perception is reality and Yoko and Bret were put in a position where they weren’t drawing. “I remember some of the talent me things had changed around here, and I went, I don’t think so.
” -Basil let those in Vegas know that Hogan was added late and would be there. They immediately asked how was he going to win the title back. Basil told them it wasn’t happening.
I don’t know, I would go against Vegas. We see Hogan at a meet and greet and he tells someone he will have the title back in due time. -Rich Rose takes us around the area where Caesar’s Palace outdoor arena was built and the history of the boxing matches there.
Cowherd talks about Caesar’s and hanging out at the pool being the place to be. -We get into video of them building the stadium and transforming it into the Roman Coliseum. Back to George popping in the VHS tapes and he sees himself on the video and says he was a PA at the time.
More backstage footage and Prichard says in those days they would never think of releasing footage like this. He is so happy they have the footage though and we see Prichard doing a Dusty impression even back then. They brought in a bunch of trailers for bathrooms, dressing rooms, and offices.
-Kerwin talks about a member of the team they called Dollar Bill. Every time they asked him a question he would note the answer would end up costing them more money. Nelson says they wanted to make it highly theatrical and this is all great stuff for a nerd like me that enjoys seeing things come together.
Nelson was a stickler about things being the right color, and being centered and even. He ruled with an iron fist and people can still hear his voice in their heads. Prichard notes he was very grumpy and Kerwin says people liked him because he wasn’t Nelson.
He was a character in a group of characters and being a character was what it was all about. -Vince and Prichard going over notes with production. Vince asks Bruce if the water in the fountain is potable.
I found that funny for some reason. Vince spent over 100,000 dollars to dress the arena. It wasn’t going to sell one more ticket, but as we hear Vince say, “I want to do things first class, or not do it.
” -The Weather: They basically crossed their fingers and hoped it wasn’t going to rain. They were checking The Farmer’s Almanac but all you can do is hope. The other thing is the heat, but what you can’t account for is FAN MAN! Yes! Cowherd briefly goes over The Fan that crash landed with a parachute at Caesar’s during a boxing match.
-Bret says they arrived in Vegas on Friday and he was so proud to see his picture all over the place. Rikishi says their family was based in San Fran and they all came to support Yoko since he was in the Main Event. -Charlie Adorno is next and he is a WWE Superfan (Ringside Charlie) who has been to every WrestleMania.
He shows off his room key from Caesar’s and shows off some of the pictures he was able to get with wrestlers in the hotel. Taker says that was one of the first Manias he remember there being an effort to get the product out there. The goal was to take over the strip.
-Shawn watches a video of him cutting a promo from a pool chair and the angle is right up his nut sack. Shawn questions who made that call. He says while he was filing that, other camera crews were all over the place filming anything and everything.
We see footage of Gene and Bobby doing their thing all around Caesar’s. Randy Savage recorded audio and video for the the guests of the hotel. That’s cool! -Vinnie Magliulo, former race and sports director at Caesar’s, shows the board where they had odds for Mania, but it did note for entertainment purposes only.
The Fink really wanted to make a bet and it started a avalanche of inquiries as people wanted to bet on Mania. He notes there were more requests to bet on Mania than all the other sports they had on the board combined. It made them take the odds off the board so people would stop asking.
For those wondering Bret was -240 to win, so suckers if you bet on him. -We get to the togas and hear someone yell “pizza pizza” to Howard. I am old so I get it, but I guarantee some of the people I work with wouldn’t.
The boys loved the set and it is pretty awesome. Bret loved seeing Gorilla in the toga cutting jokes. -Look at that young Shane McMahon! Godfather notes the boys were more protective of the building and they kept questioning why a camera was back there.
Scott Hall flips the camera the bird while scratching his nose. Taker is giving everyone the death stare and notes, “got to protect the character.” We see Macho joking with Linda McMahon that he has her drinking already and she shows us that it’s just Pepsi.
-Over to Bret as he watches his famous footage of asking the camera where are all the girls. He laughs about it and says he remembers it was such a hot day. Shawn says it was a different atmosphere and he just loved watching the rehearsals.
Prichard says rehearsals of this magnitude started at Mania IX. Prichard loved that they had Randy in full outfit in that heat. “That’s good shit.
” Where have we heard that before? Oh yeah! It was the start of where they were today. More of Vince giving notes to people before we get to THE ANIMALS! -Bigelow with Ty The Elephant. Heenan: “I don’t like elephants.
” Godfather says it was a zoo and they were all dodging animal poop. Kerwin says since they had animals they had to do a complete rehearsal. “Get behind the elephant.
That doesn’t sound productive.” Nelson kept his fingers crossed that someone wasn’t going to get bitten. Taker notes with animals there is too much that can go wrong.
KENNEL IN A CELL anyone? -Taker’s entrance is next and he says it was a cool visual but he wasn’t thrilled with the vulture being there. He watches it back and says all he could think was “is this bird going to crap on me?” He notes he was not thrilled about it. I love this all so much! -Oh boy, next is Vince going through Luger’s entrance as he flexes with women standing behind him with mirrors.
That’s a normal workday morning for Vince back in the day I hear. They then realized the wind could cause issues as well. -They had the idea to carry Yokozuna in a Sudan and yeah, that had no chance.
They try to do it with Vince and that was a fail. They soon realized through rehearsals there was no Hulk Hogan. Two days before the show Vince lets those at Caesar’s know that Hulk was injured and they didn’t know if he would wrestle.
-WrestleMania Sunday: Nobody knows where Hogan is, but they have footage of him finally walking into the facility. He has wrap around sunglasses and has stitches around his eye. Taker: “brother should have bobbed and weaved.
” He notes it was a pretty nasty looking black eye. Bret says it was funny as Hogan got a really good shot in the eye. Rotunda says he didn’t give it to him and Taker says it didn’t take long for the rumors to fly that it was Savage.
Scott Steiner says he wasn’t there so he doesn’t know, but he rode around with Macho and he told him what happened. He notes Savage wasn’t happy about it, but “shit happens.” They actually show this to Hogan and he says “interesting.
” He says he didn’t have a fight with Randy, but can believe what they want. Prichard says the only story he knows is the one Vince and Hogan told him. -Hogan’s story is he was still in Florida and was riding a jet-ski.
He hit the wrong button and got thrown over the top of the ski. His life jacket pulled him back up and the ski hit him in the eye orbit. He was out of it and just floating in the water.
Hogan told Jimmy that he wasn’t missing WrestleMania as Hogan was from the old school and you made your show. -Hogan says Vince saw him and was not happy at all. They risked a big show by riding jet-skis two days before the event.
Vince told Hogan he can’t wrestle as he won’t pass the physical. Hogan tells him he will be cleared. This was Vegas so there was an athletic commission.
They came up with the idea that it was all make up and stitches and Hogan says they put out the idea that Savage punched him to start a new story line. The doctor just rolled with and signed the physical. Ted and Mike told Hogan they would stay away from his head and if they had to go to the head, would be the opposite side.
-Vince in the back telling Shawn about the differences of working outdoors and in the sun. How it may feel different and it’s because it is different. The sound will go up and the sun can cause issues.
Shawn says that was one of the first instances he had talks like that with Vince. -Caesar’s learned quickly that wresting is different than boxing. With boxing the crowd show up throughout the night as most only come for the Main Event.
Wrestling is different as you as there for the entire show and they only had two lines. It got so bad that Linda and Basil had to stand out there and take tickets. -Dark Matches: The first was Papa Shango vs.
Tito Santana. Godfather says that was his Super Bowl. He was so happy to be there as his friends than knew him as Bear The Biker were there to see him.
He notes he and Tito had one job and had a really good match. Tito gets the win and Godfather says he didn’t care it was the dark match. The people he wanted there to see it, did so.
Good for him! -Kerwin talks about the few seconds before the show when everything is peaceful and then all hell is about to break loose. Bruce says this was a chance to be larger than life. The aerial shot of the stadium is wild as it legit is a small outdoor stadium built in the middle of a parking lot with a highway system close by and not much else.
-The show starts proper and our first surprise is Jim Ross is now part of the WWF. Man, I wish they had him here for this. Bruce says it was not a rib to have Ross make his debut in a toga.
Oh wait, Jim is here though I assume it is old footage. He says this was his dream job and he was wearing a toga with the sun making it hard to watch his monitor. “Good luck.
” -Sam Roberts puts over Mania IX being the first one to have a themed look. You could argue Mania VII due to the patriotic theme, but I know what he is saying. He is correct when he says if you see 1 second of Mania IX you know it is Mania IX.
The setting is why the show has a special place in the hearts of some people. -Bruce says they were having fun picking who was going to ride what and it made sense to put Brain on a camel. Luger is laughing his ass off and says whoever came up with that idea was a genius.
It seems it was Bobby’s idea to ride it backwards. Of course he did because he is BOBBY THE BRAIN HEENAN! -Basil says once they event started he was in crowd control. There was a VIP from Germany who was throwing a fit that all of his people weren’t in the arena yet and wanted everything to start over.
Wow! Basil tells him he will work on it and just his people in and just disappears. -Shawn is out first and says his gear made his look like the coolest person in the world at the time. He puts over working with Tatanka and they were in a great spot to set the tone.
Shawn says this is the show that made him want to be in The Main Event winning the World Championship. -We run through Razor Ramon getting a win over Bob Backlund. After that was The Steiners vs.
The Headshrinkers and it was a pretty damn good match. They had history in WCW so it was probably easy for them. Just four big dudes throwing each other round.
Rick hitting the powerslam off a Shrinker’s shoulders is still wild. -Up next is Crush vs. Doink: Roberts says the story had been told immaculately.
He puts over the violence of the angle where Doink beat the brakes off Crush with a fake arm. I used to take a pillow and hit my sister with hit and pretend I was doing. We get the infamous Double Doinks finish.
Sam says his dad was not a fan, but he saw the two Doinks and thought it was great. Roberts says he will go to his grave arguing it is one of the greatest finishes in wrestling history. -Main Event I: Hogan laughs as he had the eye and face issues while the story is about Brutus’ face so he is wearing a mask.
Brutus has the mask he wore and says it was hard to wear and made him feel clumsy. The cameras follow Hogan walking in the back with Vince and he just keeps yelling, “we’re going to kick some ass.” Brutus says the goal was to get through the match without dying.
Hogan says a prayer before heading to the ring and Vince sends them out. The fan thinks it was Randy Savage, but can’t prove it. The story on air was that Money Inc paid someone to do it.
Hogan says the visual of his eye was crazy if you got a good look. He knew though that they were in there with two of the best pros. They show Vince getting annoyed at the lack of the bell sounding before the match.
So, you wanted someone to RING THE FUCKING BELL. -Hogan talks about the issues with depth perception and how he also doesn’t work tag matches. “I was Stevie Wonder on a Surf Board.
” Ted says everything went to plan as he and Mike were a good tag team. We get the wonky finish with Jimmy turning his coat inside out to reveal a ref’s jacket and he counts the pin for Hogan and Beefcake. Another ref comes down and gives Money Inc the win by DQ.
The crowd boos that out of the building. To subdue the crowd, Hogan opens up the Money Inc briefcase and they start handing money out to the crowd. Dibiase says it was real money.
The fan says he got a five dollar bill, but others around him for 20 and 100. Brutus mentions he was laying in the hospital he never dreamed he would Main Event Mania. That was his last WWF match and it was a great moment.
Hogan was happy his friend got that moment. They get to the back and Jimmy notes that Hogan said the following: “I might be doing something else tonight too.” -Basil says Vince pulled him aside during the event and had him get $25,000 in 20s and 50s as he wanted to give them to the boys so they could have fun in The Casino to give Caesar’s a real benefit.
Basil wanted to stop and make a quick bet on Craps with half the money and if they’d didn’t they had another half to get even. The man with him, took the money and ran it back to Vince. Basil notes he was kidding, maybe.
-Luger vs. Perfect is up next! Lex talks about the noise escaping upward since it was outside. He talks about the wind blowing and how the pyro was blowing in the faces of the women holding the mirrors.
Lex was nervous and says Perfect was over caffeinated or something. He see Perfect butchering the Narcissist name. It seems Perfect blanked on what they were doing and Luger thought it was a rib.
Luger had to lead the match and notes they botched some things, but it’s Perfect so it still turned out okay. Luger decks Perfect after the match and the camera follows him backstage. That was crazy at the time and Roberts notes he was pausing the video to catch anything.
It all led to Shawn and Perfect fighting backstage which rarely happened. -Undertaker match next and he is still concerned about the vulture. He says it was much calmer in the live show.
“The bird did alright.” He laughs that this match was appropriate to have a vulture. He notes the highlight of the match was the stare down.
Prichard says there are days Taker still won’t speak to him because he was booked in a match with The Giant. Taker says it was relatively quick, but seemed much longer. Taker wins by DQ and Roberts says for a second it was like the streak almost never existed.
Can you imagine if they had Gonzales win that match by DQ? How it would have changed history? Taker says the match gives him chills and not for a good reason. -We see Yoko getting his hair done backstage and getting in his zone. Bret says Vince told him he would be Champion for the long term.
All he was worried about was having a match with Yokozuna. They show Bret the photo of him, Hogan, and Vince all standing together backstage. “I never felt more betrayed by Vince McMahon than I did that day.
” Umm! -Main Event II: Bret’s goal was to give Yoko the best match of his career. Rich Rose was just off ring side for the match and says the talent they had could be put up against any in the world. Bret mentions you can tire Yoko out pretty quick and the hit the ending sooner than Bret wanted.
Fuji wasn’t ready with the salt, so Bret said it felt like he was holding him there forever. Yokozuna is the New WWF Champion! -Here comes Hulk Hogan to cash in his Money in The Bank contract. Think about it! He did steal a briefcase earlier in the night! Fuji throws out the challenge and Bret tells Hogan to get in there.
Yoko jumps Hogan, but the salt hits Yoko and we get a clothesline, big boot, leg drop and new WWF Champion. Look at that crowd reaction! Rose says he predicted it. Hogan: “I got a lot of hit from everyone.
” He notes Savage was pissed and “why don’t you give him the tag belts and the whole show.” -Luger says there were some eyebrows raised in the back. Shawn says they felt they were moving to a new generation and Bret was upset that day.
He let them all know he was pissed and they were in agreement with him. Godfather: “business is business.” Taker says he sees both sides as he sees the drawing power of Hogan but also sees the side of the guys who are working to be the next Hulk Hogan.
-It seems everyone found out the ending on Friday night. Bret says it went up against everything Vince told him up to that day. Vince said it was just a change of direction.
Hogan pitched the idea to Vince but notes Vince wanted him to pass the torch to Yokozuna. The idea from Vince, according to Hogan, was to win here and drop it back to Yoko at the next PPV. -Bret watches Hogan get the win and says nobody saw it coming.
I have the WWF Magazine from that show and it’s one of my favorites. Bret does note there is something to be said for endings you would never expect. Bruce says today it would be called a Holy Shit moment and says a lot of people were happy Hogan won the Championship back.
Hogan says it gave a good vibe to the show and we see Vlad being interviewed and celebrating Hogan getting the win. -Oh wow, they have footage of Nick Khan working as an usher at the event. That’s wild! Hogan laughs as Nick Khan was a Hulk-a-maniac.
Colin says Nick was built to do big events. That is pretty amazing and just one of those crazy moments that happen in wrestling. -Basil says Mania IX was the peak of his personal responsibility for WrestleMania.
He didn’t want it to end. If it was an AEW show he would get his wish. I kid! Bret says Vegas wasn’t the celebration he expected, but it was a fun event and he wishes he could have been a fan going to the event.
Roberts says it is great to have this footage of the WWF when they were trying to figure out who they were. WrestleMania showed they can takes chances and they don’t get to Mania 41 without the things they did at IX. -“WrestleMania IX had an attendance of 16,891.
The event grossed over one million dollars.” -“In 2025, WrestleMania 41 will return to Las Vegas. The Two-Night Event will host over 100,000 fans.
It is projected to be the highest grossing WrestleMania of all time.” -The credits roll and show highlights from the press conference after the show and the guys today watching. This is all great stuff! -This was amazing and everything I wanted.
Sure there wasn’t anything really new but I don’t care. I am sucker for documentaries and even more when it is about pro-wrestling. The bit stories from this event will be Hogan’s eye and the ending.
Since both involve Hogan I am sure it won’t make any headlines. You have two sides to both stories and up to everyone to decide who they believe. We don’t have Savage around anymore to tell his side of the eye punch and Vince isn’t here to set the record straight about the finish and if it went as planned with Hogan dropping it to Yoko or if he was supposed to lose to Bret at SummerSlam.
That was never mentioned here though. Outside of those two issues the rest was just a fun watch and as mentioned, a time capsule to a very confused WWF. The talking heads selection was great and I love how they are letting the wrestlers see the video and showing them what others are saying.
They took that last part straight from the ESPN series on The Chicago Bulls: The Last Dance. Sadly, some weren’t here to be interviewed as they have since passed and seeing some of those faces were a joy. You could see the joy in the faces of Luger, Hogan, Shawn, Taker, and Bret as they watched the footage and saw old friends or just remembered this time.
That is what I will take from this show. WrestleMania IX gets a rap as a bad show, but I enjoy it for what it was and the spectacle is off the charts thanks to the setting and look. This show has me wanting to go back and review that show and I think I will carve out some time to get it done before WrestleMania 41.
Thanks for reading!.
