Posted in: The Classroom The Classroom - History Of: WrestleMania Part 13
By Sean Taylor
Feb 21, 2009 - 4:38:52 AM
"Learning about axioms and postulates is like riding a roller coaster."
Well I told you it wasn’t going to take long. Here we are again back in The Classroom. Welcome. I waned to take time out here to thank everyone who voted for me and Ry_P in the CSI tournament. I also wanted to thank Skaos for all of his help. He’s probably going to think this is unnecessary but another public thank you is definitely warranted. Thanks to his help Ry and I made it through to the next round and will soon face off one-on-one. For those of you who haven’t check it out yet, there’s a link at the bottom of the column.
But let’s get on to the subject at hand. Today’s subject is WrestleMania 13. It was the second WrestleMania not to have a roman numeral (with the obvious exception of the first WrestleMania). It was the beginning of the change in the wrestling industry. It was . . . well, let’s just get to it.
WrestleMania 13: Heat!
Date: March 30, 1997
Venue: Rosemont Horizon (Chicago, Illinois)
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Attendance: 18,197
By 1997, the WWE was in really bad shape. WCW had introduced the New World Order and the fans loved it. Scott Hall (aka Razor Ramon) and Kevin Nash (aka Diesel) had defected to WCW and posed as WWE invaders looking to take over. When they added Hulk Hogan to their group, they changed the face of professional wrestling. Fans tuned out from Raw and into Nitro in large numbers and it was deserved. WCW was creating new and exciting television while, in comparison, the WWE was spinning their wheels trying to cling to their ratings as they slipped out of their hands.
The WWE losing ratings wouldn’t that big of a deal if it wasn’t for the effects that were it caused. Les viewers meant that advertisers and sponsors weren’t getting their advertisements seen by as many people. It only made sense to go with the industry leader leading to less revenue generated for the company. House show attendance was also way down as were pay-per-view buy rates. In addition to the lack of revenue, Vince signed Bret Hart to a contract reportedly worth $20 million. In order to be able to continue running his company, Vince announced pay cuts throughout the roster. Even top-level WWE executives like VP of Talent Relations Jim Ross started taking home paychecks that were a fraction of what they used to be.
But there was still hope on the horizon. After winning the 1996 King of the Ring, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was gaining in popularity. Austin 3:16 t-shirt sales were practically keeping the WWE above water financially. WWE sold more Austin 3:16 shirts in one year than they had sold Hulk Rules shirts ever. Austin was going to be a big name in the business but it just wasn’t the right time yet.
The Free For All match saw Flash Funk (aka 2 Cold Scorpio) facing Billy Gunn who had recently split from his kayfabe brother Bart. Much to the chagrin on the Funkettes at ringside, Billy Gunn walked away victorious.
Remember What We Always Say . . . Don’t Get Eliminated!
WrestleMania 13 started off with a new style of match – a four team elimination match. Any wrestler could tag any member of any team and when you were eliminated, so was your partner. The last team remaining in the match was scheduled to face the WWE Tag Team Champions the next night on Raw. All four teams – The Godwinns (Henry/Phinneas), The Headbangers (Mosh/Thrasher), The New Blackjacks (Windham/Bradshaw), and Doug Furnas & Phillip Lafon – all made their WrestleMania debut. Ten minutes into the match, the Blackjacks and Furnas & Lafon were both disqualified and therefore eliminated from the match. The Godwinns and The Headbangers continued fighting until Thrasher hit Henry with the Stage Dive and gained the pinfall.
Bet On The Blue Chipper
At the 1996 Survivor Series, a young wrestler named Rocky Miavia debuted. Miavia was touted as the WWE’s first third generation superstar being he son of Rocky Johnson and grandson of “High Chief” Peter Miavia. The combination of Samoan and African-American heritage gave Rocky Miavia tremendous natural talent but the fans rejected the always smiling, always staying positive character that the announcers dubbed the “blue chip prospect”. On Thursday Raw Thursday, Rocky defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
At WrestleMania 13, Rocky Miavia defended his belt against masked newcomer The Sultan managed by The Iron Sheik and Bob Backlund. Rocky won the match but after the match, The Sultan attacked him. Rocky Johnson came out to save his son but was quickly overrun by the Sultan and placed in the Camel Clutch. Rocky saved his father and the Johnson family then celebrated in the ring.
The Honky Tonk Man sat at ringside doing guest commentary for this match. The Honky Tonk Man was scouting talent for a protégé to hold into the next greatest Intercontinental Champion.
Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Golden
The next match was Goldust (with Marlena) against Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Weeks prior Hunter had put the moves on Marlena but she rejected him. At In Your House: Final Four, a massive female body builder reached over the guardrail and attacked Marlena choking her out. The next night on Raw, Hunter walked to the ring with the mysterious woman behind him. He introduced her as his new bodyguard, Chyna.
Goldust had control over the majority of the match until Chyna started stalking Marlena on the outside. Goldust got distracted and pulled Marlena onto the ring apron. Hunter hit Goldust in the back with a knee lift that knocked Marlena into the arms of Chyna. While Chyna swung Marlena around like a Barbie doll, Hunter caught Goldust in a Pedigree and gained the pinfall win.
Brothers-in-Law vs Brothers-in-Arms
At SummerSlam 1996, Paul Bearer turned his back the Undertaker and helped Mankind defeat the Phenom in the Boiler Room Brawl match. For the remainder of the year, the Undertaker feuded with Mankind and Bearer, who also brought in The Executioner (former Freebird Terry Gordy) and Vader. After the feud ended, Mankind and Vader continued to wrestle as singles and as a tag team.
Owen Hart and The British Bulldog won the WWE Tag Team Championships at In Your House: Mind Games in September of 1996. Prior to WrestleMania 13, Owen and Bulldog began teasing a split. Owen claimed to be the leader of the team and always making sure he was on camera more than Bulldog. On February 26, 1997, Bulldog won a tournament to become the first WWE European Champion by defeating Owen in the finals leading into jealousy from Hart and furthering the split tease.
At WrestleMania 13, both teams fought for over fifteen minutes both in and out of the ring. The match ended in a double count out allowing Owen and Bulldog to retain the titles. Vader and Mankind left the ring claiming victory while Owen and Bulldog stayed to greet Stu, Helen, and other Hart family members seated at ringside.
Blood From A Stone
After losing the WWE Title at WrestleMania XII, Bret “The Hitman” Hart left the WWE. After an unsuccessful attempt to start a television acting career, Bret decided he wanted to come back to wrestling. He announced that his return match would be at the 1996 Survivor Series against the man Bret claimed was the “greatest wrestler alive today”. That man was “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. After a grueling match, Bret defeated Austin and looked onward to other challenges. Bret didn’t know that Austin wasn’t done with The Hitman.
Austin stalked Bret and fought to ruin Bret’s legacy. At the 1997 Royal Rumble, Bret eliminated Austin but because all of the referees were dealing with a Mankind/Terry Funk confrontation, they didn’t see Austin’s feet hit the floor. Austin jumped back into the ring, eliminated Undertaker and Vader, then sneak-attacked Bret en route to winning the Rumble match. Bret complained that he was the true winner and WWE President Gorilla Monsoon decided to force Austin to defend his title shot in a new concept match. At February’s pay-per-view appropriately titled In Your House: Final Four, Austin and the three men he illegally eliminated would meet in a Fatal Four Way Match. The rules for this match have since changed. In this version of the match, wrestlers would be eliminated until one man was left thereby winning the match. An elimination could occur via pinfall, submission, or being thrown over the top rope and to the floor.
Weeks prior to In Your House: Final Four, WWE Champion Shawn Michaels forfeited his title in his infamous “Lost My Smile” promo. Rumours to this day speculate that Michaels dropped the belt because he didn’t want to lose it to Bret at WrestleMania. Whatever the reason, the fact remained that there was now a vacant WWE Championship. Monsoon declared that the winner of the Fatal Four Way match would now be the new WWE Champion. Sycho Sid (formerly Sid Justice) already had a match for the WWE title scheduled for In Your House: Final Four against Michaels. Monsoon told him that he would get his shot but it would be against the winner of the Fatal Four Way match and it would be the following night on Raw.
Bret won the Fatal Four Way match and became the new WWE Champion. During his title defense the next night, Austin interfered before the match could start. The match was started twice more during the night but each time, Austin attacked Bret. So Monsoon declared that the title match be pushed back to the next week. Thanks to interference from Austin, Sid defeated Bret and won the title. During a steel cage rematch between Bret and Sid, The Undertaker slammed the door on Bret’s head allowing Sid to win the match and retain the WWE Championship. After the match, Bret stormed around inside the ring. Vince McMahon (the lead Raw commentator at the time) entered the ring and asked if Bret was frustrated over what just happened. Bret took the mic, shoved Vince to the mat, and went on a tirade about how everyone screws him, how nobody cares that he gets screwed, and that he is the best in the business.
In order to settle the score, Bret Hart and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin were signed to face each other in a submission match at WrestleMania 13. To keep order during the match, the WWE brought in former UFC World Champion Ken Shamrock to be the special guest referee. During this time, the UFC was facing harsh government regulations that were preventing them from fighting in many states across the US. So, the UFC and the WWE agreed to co-promote. WWE would give UFC some of their worldwide exposure in exchange for talent. During the weeks prior to WrestleMania 13, the WWE touted Shamrock’s submission expertise and trumpeted his recent title of “World’s Most Dangerous Man” given to him by the ABC network.
The match was more physical than fans had expected. Like Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon had done at WrestleMania X, Bret and Austin challenged the expected idea of a Submission Match. They took the rule of “the match can only end with a submission” in a literal way. They brawled through the crowd and used anything they could find as a weapon. At the end of the match, Bret put Austin into the Sharpshooter and Austin refused to give up. Austin pushed up and caused Bret to fall over temporarily breaking the hold but Bret reapplied the leglock. Bleeding profusely from the head, Austin passed out. Shamrock couldn’t get an answer from Austin and stopped the match.
The match became one of the greatest matches in WrestleMania history and continually ranks in the top ten whenever a list is compiled. It was also one the rare occasions in wrestling where the babyface and heel roles switch. Hart was the babyface going into the match but walked out the heel. Conversely, Austin started off as the heel but due to his determination, he gained the respect of the fans. The two continued to feud after WrestleMania in a highly popular feud that would pit American and Canadian fans against each other.
Bringing The Streets To The Ring
Ahmed Johnson was a popular superstar in 1996 but on July 22, he was attacked by “The New Age Gladiator” Faarooq Asaad. Faarooq was portrayed by Ron Simmons who had gained fame by becoming the first African American to win a World Title (WCW). Johnson and Faarooq feuded until Faarooq injured Johnson’s ribs (kayfabe injury as a cover for Johnson’s kidney problems). During Johnson’s absence, Faarooq dropped his last name and formed the Nation of Domination with Savio Vega and a returning Crush – Crush’s hiatus had been explained by Crush being incarcerated. In addition to the three wrestlers of the group, the Nation of Domination also included manager Clarence Mason, a rap duo/wrestlers PG-13 (Wolfie D/J.C. Ice), and two bodyguards – one of who would become WWE superstar D-Lo Brown.
When Johnson returned to active competition, he joined forces with the Legion of Doom (Hawk/Animal) and a six-man tag team match was signed for WrestleMania 13 under Street Fight match rules. The match was a bedlam of action and violence. Both team brought weapons to the ring including the clichéd kitchen sink. The entire Nation swarmed Johnson and the Legion of Doom during the match but in the end, Animal pinned Crush to win the match.
Dawn of the Dark Era
After Sid won the WWE Championship from Bret Hart, his already scheduled WrestleMania 13 match against the Undertaker was changed to be a title match. Sid claimed that he wasn’t afraid of the dark but would continually back away from confrontations with the Undertaker. The Undertaker’s character had become more aggressive as well. Since his debut in 1990, the majority of his feuds started with someone wanting to take down the Undertaker. But now, the Undertaker was becoming the hunter instead of the hunted. He played mind games with Sid in the weeks leading up to their match and became more and more popular with his fans or “the creatures of the night”.
At WrestleMania 13, Undertaker and Sid began the match in a staredown when Bret marched back to the ring, climbed inside, and took a mic. He bad-mouthed Shawn Michaels and Undertaker before telling Sid that he, not Sid, was the rightful champion. Sid knocked down Bret and mocked him as WWE officials took Bret to the back. The Undertaker attacked Sid and the match officially began. During the match, Jim Ross, in a passing comment, noted that the Undertaker was undefeated at WrestleMania. This was the first ever mention of the now famous streak but it wouldn’t become a storyline until years later.
Bret hart eventually returned to the ring attempting to interfere but was knocked down again by Sid. Minutes later, Bret jumped to the apron and distracted Sid before hitting him in a Stone Cold Stunner-like move which brought Sid’s throat across the top rope. Sid reeled back into a Tombstone Piledriver from the Undertaker. Undertaker covered Sid for the three count and was declared the new WWE Champion.
The WWE had entered their “Dark Days” but the Attitude Era was just around the corner and WrestleMania was about to be . . .
. . . dX raided.
That about wraps up the thirteenth edition of this series. We’re about halfway through and I hope you are enjoying it as much as I am writing it. As always you can send me feedback either by emailing me here or post in the feedback thread. I’m planning on having the next column up by the end of the weekend so stay tuned.
Pop Quiz
Congratulations to Manny Calderon, Matt Snyder, Mr. Z, Styxx, Mark (gfaqs31618), MournDespana, Burt Hollobaugh, Christopher Freeman, Diego Talavera, and Matt (roll319) for knowing that Vince McMahon was the first to try Michaels’ zip line entrance and Pat Patterson came up with the idea of the Iron Man Match. 1) What were the names of the Funkettes?
2) “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s theme was loosely based on a song by what rock band?
