WrestleMania XII

The 12th Wrestlemania was also one of the most interesting. For the first time ever the main event of Wrestlemania was guaranteed to last one hour. This would have been laughable in the days of Hogan, Andre and even Nash but the task has been given to two more capable athletes.

The main event is by far the biggest match in Michaels career yet he still takes all the risks he became famous for and combined them with a solid, cerebral ground based attack. Bret on the other hand enters a hesitant performance and seems reluctant to give Michaels anything. The drama in the closing moments is excellent however and Michaels title win was long over due. Unfortunately, instead of staying in the ring after the decision and congratulating the new champ Bret storms out of the building like a spoilt child who had to share his favourite toy. Aside from this complaint the match is awesome.

The undercard is a mixed bag, some good some bad. Overall the good outweighs the bad and makes WMXII a recommended event.

This Wrestlemania was amazing. The Iron Man match was great, without question the best match ever. The Diesel vs. Taker match was an awesome clash between two 7 ft. giants. The Backlot Brawl was interesting (for the most part) with a very enjoyable ending. The six man tag match was a great opening match. The return of Ultimate Warrior was amazing, it was the best 30-second long match I have seen (and probably the only 30-second match I will see). The match between Savio Vega and Steve Austin was entertaining and it was good to see Steve Austin win his very first 'mania match. All in all, it was the best Wrestlemania ever and the only one that comes close is Wrestlemania XIV.

A passable Wrestlemania.

Firstly lets get the bad out of the way. Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart fought for the WWF Heavyweight Championship in a 60 minute iron man match. However the match was mediocre and bored fans senseless with their methodical rest holds and boring moves. The match was restarted at the 60 minute interval and Michaels pinned Hart to capture the belt, but no one cared. At least 5,000 fans walked out on the match near the end because they were bored.

'The Ringmaster' Steve Austin downed Savio Vega in another boring match. Austin did not like this gimmick at all and was made worse by the fact that he was managed by Ted DiBiase who still thought at the time it was the year 1988 and not 1996. Austin was relived when DiBiase left the WWF for WCW at the time which was understandable.

The Ultimate Warrior squashed Hunter Hearst Hemsley in 30 seconds. Warrior refused to put Hemsley over in any way and even demanded he kick out of the pedigree, not believable at all. Triple H has stated many times that he found Jim Hellwig "The most unprofessional person, he's ever stepped into the ring with". Considering Triple H's record of winning nearly all his matches and screwing over people (Booker T at Wrestlemania 19 and Rob Van Dam at Unforgiven 2002 and many more) he's got a bit of a cheek.

The PPV does have it's highlights though, such as the Hollywood Backlot Brawl featuring 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper and Goldust (the sight of two wrestlers chasing each other down the highway at the time was unbelievable, even though some of it was footage of OJ Simpson) and the match between The Undertaker and Diesel was fairly decent.

Results from the show which was held in Anaheim, California: Owen Hart, The British Bulldog and Vader defeated Jake 'the snake' Roberts, Ahmed Johnson and Yokozuna in a fair 6 man tag match.... 'The Ringmaster' Steve Austin downed Savio Vega in a mediocre match.... The Ultimate Warrior pinned Hunter Hearst Hemsley in a 30 second squash.... The Undertaker downed Diesel in a fair match.... 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper went to a non finish with Goldust in an entertaining Hollywood Backlot Brawl.... Shawn Michaels defeated Bret Hart to capture the WWF title in a poor match.

Overall Grade - C

There were great WrestleMania's way before XII and would be great WrestleMania's after it. But for its time, WM XII represents an enormous and long-await step forward in quality for the WWE.

This is the first time in nearly 2-3 years of WWE PPVs that I can say I legitimately was entertained almost all the way through. After the opening-card tag matches (which admittedly are kind of "blah"), here are some of the highlights...

-Piper and Goldust's "Backlot Brawl", which was just dumb/silly enough to work I think. -A perfectly pedestrian match between Steve Austin & Savio Vega, yet important in establishing Austin's WWE presence. -Ultimate Warrior vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley was a fun little moment, albeit one that (via hindsight) would never take root. -Undertaker vs. Diesel being a legitimately fun "big men" match. Those two knew how to put on a good show and it bears out here.

Then, of course, there is the Michaels/Hart "Iron Man Match" finale for which this event will always be remembered. Surprisingly, upon a recent re-watch, the first half of the match teeters on being boring, but the latter half more than makes up for it. This is truly one of the best "WM finale" moments in the history of the event, with two of the WWE's Hall of Famers giving it all they had.

It really feels like the WWE turned a bit of a corner with WM XII. They managed to create a fun card almost from top to bottom, and each match added at least some sort of entertainment to the mix. I'd say the last time a WM did that previous to this was WM VIII four years previous. I can't remember if WWE was able to sustain this momentum going forward, but for just this event it was a refreshing step up in quality.

Experimental -mania new ideas 60 minutes match street fights and an improving locker room. Looking back at 12 you could see the beginnings of better days ahead for the federation.