During much of 1992 WWF was promoting wrestlers who didn’t look like they were taking steroids. Wrestlers like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker, took over for such stars as The British Bulldog, The Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan. During the summer of 1992, Hogan would be filming his 2nd movie “Mr.Nanny”; which would be released a year later in the summer of 1993. A long time friend of Hogan's, Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake had been out with a face reconstructive surgery and three years later would make his return on the new popular WWF TV show Monday Night Raw. Beefcake would have a return match against “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase but ends up getting double teamed when Debiase receives help for his partner IRS. Money Inc (Dibiase and Schyster) were then WWF tag team champions with manager Jimmy Hart. Jimmy Hart was known to be a heel manager but on this night he turned baby-face. Schyster would attempt to hit Beefcake in his newly reconstructed face, but Hart would jump in the way for the save. Shortly thereafter Hulk Hogan would make his return and come to the aid of Beefcake. They would form a tag team called “The Mega-Maniacs” with Jimmy Hart managing his first baby-face team. They would challenge for the tag team titles at Wrestlemania 9, only to lose by disqualification. The end of the match saw Hogan and Beefcake grab a hold of IRS’s briefcase, open it up and reveal stacks of cash; which they would then throw out to the crowd. This was one of those feel-good matches, because of the returns of both of the men who made up “The Mega-Maniacs”; Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake. Hogan would go on to play a big role in the main event of Wrestlemania 9, but Brutus would soon leave WWF for WCW. Before I get to the main event, let's first talk about The Undertaker's biggest match to date against The Giant Gonzalez.
Harvey Wippleman was a mediocre manager during the early nineties and would be the main reason for this match. The Undertaker would continue to dig graves for his victims and his latest challenge was Kamala. Kamala was managed by Wippleman and Undertaker would destroy Kamala at the 1992 Summer Slam. Kamala would get a rematch at the 1992 Survivor Series and The Undertaker would debut a new match, which would become one of the matches he is known for; The Casket match. He would lock Kamala in a casket and Wippleman vowed revenge. The Royal Rumble was now granting it’s winner a chance at the WWF title at Wrestlemania 9 and The Undertaker wanted his shot. Harvey Wippleman would then debut The Giant Gonzales at The Royal Rumble and cause The Undertaker to be eliminated. A match was then set between the two to settle the score at Wrestlemania 9. For two years now The Undertaker was dominate at Wrestlemania; using his Tombstone finisher and pinning the helpless victim, but this wouldn’t be the case for this match. The Undertaker would use all his strength against Gonzales, but would not be able to use his finisher. Wippleman would then throw a chloroform rag to knock out The Undertaker. Just when everyone thought the streak was over before it began, Gonzales would get disqualified and The Undertaker would earn another notch on his winning streak; but at the cost of a DQ. This would be one of The Undertaker’s worst Wrestlemania matches and we would not see The Undertaker at Wrestlemania 10 due to injury but would return to face King Kong Bundy at Wrestlemania 11, but that’s a tale for another time.
After the steroid scandal of 1992, Bret “The Hitman” Hart would drop the Intercontinental championship to a new rising singles star; Shawn Michaels and would beat Randy Savage to become the new WWF champion. After seven years in the business, Bret Hart had finally won the big one, but while he was riding high a new fear was growing in the WWF and that man’s name was Yokozuna. Managed by my favorite manager of all time; Mr. Fuji, Yokozuna weighed in at 500 pounds and was an unstoppable monster. Yokozuna would compete in the 1993 Royal Rumble and win it. The win would earn him a shot at Bret Hart’s WWF title at Wrestlemania 9. Up until Wrestlemania 9, Yokozuna was undefeated and it would continue on in this match. For every submission move Hart threw at Yokozuna, he would use the power behind his weight to brake out of every attempt. Bret Hart would continue to gain some kind of offense, when Yokozuna would miss two big splashes on Hart. Bret Hart knew he had to act fast, or his title would be gone. So he untied one of the corner turnbuckles, exposing the steel and drove Yokozuna’s head straight into it. Hart would then apply his submission finisher; The Sharpshooter but Mr. Fuji would throw salt in Hart’s eyes. This would enable Yokozuna to get the pin fall and allow him not only to remain undefeated but also give himself his first WWF championship. This match would be the first nail in the coffin for Hart’s WWF career, but he would go on to the next Wrestlemania to win back the WWF title, but that will be featured in the next post.
This was not the end of the match for Yokozuna however Hulk Hogan would come down to check on Bret Hart and be called on a challenge he sent out for Yokozuna. Both Hulk Hogan and Yokozuna had both already had a match that night, but Hogan accepted to fight Yokozuna for the WWF championship immediately. Hulk Hogan said in an interview on WWF Raw that he would be the one to put a stop to Yokzuna’s rampage and this would be his shot. Mr. Fuji would attempt the same salt throw on Hogan, only this time he would miss and hit Yokozuna. Hogan would hit his finisher and beat Yokozuna in the shortest WWF Title match; 21 seconds. This would be Hogan’s 5th title reign and his last for the WWF before leaving for WCW. For now let’s ravel in the last title reign, for the WWF, for Hulk Hogan.
No comments:
Post a Comment