WrestleMania XII

HBK vs. Bret Hart in the 60 minute Iron Man match in my opinion was the best match ever put together. Vince McMahon is a genius, thinking of this is what makes McMahon the man he is today. I just wish he didn't become such an a-hole in the show.

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.

First off yes, going 60 minutes running and jumping around must have been tough and very tiring for Bret and Shawn and I commend them for that, but that alone does not make an incredible match. I saw the Iron Match between the Rock and HHH before seeing WM XII and so I was worried about this Iron match before it started. The Rock, HHH match started very slowly with punches and holds due to obvious reasons they didn't wanna get tired out, I understand that. They can't go at it guns blazing for 60 minutes, they'd die. But punches and holds, especially holds are the worst and most boring thing about wrestling. If you total up the decent moves and quality action in the Shawn vs. Bret match you might get, if you're lucky, 20 solid minutes. That leaves the other 40 though, right? And they certainly should have made it more interesting with a few pins or submissions rather than leaving it 0 - 0 right until the end. Good match, but not the best ever.

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.