It’s April 1995 and we’re in time for WWE WrestleMania XI! Let’s take a gander at the card and see what we’re working with before diving in.
The Allied Powers vs. The Blu Brothers
WWE Intercontinental Title: Razor Ramon [c] vs. Jeff Jarrett
The Undertaker vs. King Kong Bundy
WWE World Tag Team Title: The Smoking Gunns [c] vs. Owen Hart & Yokozuna
I Quit Match: Bret Hart vs. Bob Backlund
WWE World Heavyweight Title: Diesel [c] vs. Shawn Michaels
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Lawrence Taylor
It’s not the worst looking card. Actually, it’s solid—5/10. Does WWE WrestleMania XI beat the card rating? Let’s sift through the matches and find out!
Low-Tier
The Allied Powers are the team of British Bulldog and Lex Luger. A solid team on paper, you’ve got Flexxy Lexxy over there and Davey Boy over there, it’s an impressive looking team. It seems like one that would dominate the tag titles. Over here there are The Blu Brothers—or the Harris Twins, 8 Ball and Skull, Creative Control, etc.
This should’ve been a little better because all four were still capable of going. It probably wasn’t meant for the Blu Brothers to just go toe-to-toe with the Total Package and the Bulldog. If that was the case, this match should’ve been put towards the middle of the card.
Actually, looking at the card a second time; the matches work on paper but the placement is just…oof. Well, while we’re here in the low-tier area, Taker vs. King Kong Bundy wasn’t good. This shouldn’t have been on WrestleMania. Or rather, it shouldn’t have been on WrestleMania XI. The steam in Bundy’s sails had been exhausted after getting dumped by Mabel in the Royal Rumble that year.
Our main event was a wrestler vs. football player match as Bam Bam Bigelow took on Lawrence Taylor. If you’re into celebrity matches, you might enjoy this one. I wasn’t big on it but I know it’s a match that inspired a few current wrestlers. This match does get points for LT having Salt-n-Pepa do his theme.
Everyone has different tastes.
Mid-Tier
The WWE Tag Team title bout between the Smoking Gunns and Owen & Yokozuna was rock solid. Far from bad, close to good. The Gunns made for a good team. They weren’t the flashiest, best on the mat, or even in the ring. However, they made a good team together. Something was off about this match. It wasn’t the length or even the action but I wanted a little more out of the teams.
Bret Hart taking on Bob Backlund in an I Quit Match wasn’t bad at all. The problem was with how short it was for Bret to get his win—after going 35-minutes against Backlund at Survivor Series ‘94. This is April 1995, which was November 1994. Did Backlund get nerfed in that time? Did Bret get even stronger?
Find out next time!
Diesel defending his World title against Shawn Michaels was a solid bout. It had some razzle-dazzle from HBK as well as Diesel coming out with Pamela Anderson and HBK coming out with Jenny McCarthy. It was 1995 so why not? The match itself—it was a Diesel-HBK. You watch them, they’re not bad, these guys are at the top of the promotion and you’re expecting more out of them.
However, you often never get it. Or sometimes you get extra and you’re like “That was the extra? Huh.”
Exotic-Tier
Jeff Jarret getting his shot at Razor Ramon’s IC title was pretty damn enjoyable. Razor was usually good in WWE while Jarrett’s always been pretty good in the ring. Somewhat basic compared to a few others but he had this style that could fit with anyone. I believe people’s issues came with his last run in WCW where he was at the top and his early run as the top heel in TNA.
Outside of that, Jarrett is solid at best, good at PPVs, and great when paired with the right person. Like Razor up to a point, Jarrett always came to work. But sometimes the match just doesn’t come together. Fortunately, the IC title bout did.
WWE WrestleMania XI Verdict: 5.5/10
This wasn’t a throwaway WrestleMania but it wasn’t the best of the decade. This could’ve definitely been a 6 or 6.5 if the matches were rearranged. You can’t change the content of the matches but you rearrange them then watch the show, you might end up with a better—or worse—PPV. In the case of WWE WrestleMania XI, match placing was everything.
WWE Royal Rumble 1995 Score: 5/10
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