23. WRESTLEMANIA XI
By 1995 the WWF landscape was drastically different than it had been when Hulk Hogan controversially pinned Yokozuna in the impromptu main event of WrestleMania IX. The Undertaker was the last remnant of an old guard – something he still knows a little bit about 20 years later – and the curtain-jerk acts of the Golden Ara had become the main event superstars.
On paper having guys like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon running the show sounds like an improvement, but the fans just weren’t buying it. After Hogan left, WrestleMania began a downward spiral into some of the lowest numbers in its history – a trend unfortunately not exclusive to company’s springtime classic.
Take one look at the main event and you’ll see just how desperate the WWF was for ratings. Bam Bam Bigelow, who was nothing more than a tag team act in 1995 and who never won a single title during his run with the company, faced off against non-wrestler and former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor. I’ll admit Taylor worked hard in his match, but he was in his late-30’s by this point, past his prime as an NFL star by at least five years and hadn’t stepped foot on the field since 1993, diminishing whatever perceived “star power” the WWF thought they could milk out of him.
ALL THAT BEING SAID, this is the first Mania on the list that actually isn’t all that bad. Diesel retained the WWF Championship over Shawn Michaels in the first truly great match on this list. Nothing else really shined, although Razor Ramon and Jeff Jarrett’s Intercontinental title match was just OK.
