WWE WrestleMania XI (1995)

Such a frustrating disappointment

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

In general, WrestleMania delivers. Its professional wrestling's biggest night where each wrestler tries to put on the best matches they can. Sometimes blunders can happen. The eleventh annual event is a good example.The opening match was the underrated team of Lex Luger and the British bulldog against the short-lived Jacob and Eli Blu. Luger and Bulldog won in an average bout. 6.5/10Next up was Razor Ramon trying to take the Intercontinental title back from Jeff Jarrett. The match was decent, although inferior to their Summerslam bout. 7/10Then there was Undertaker against King Kong Bundy. None of Taker's Mania matches were that good at this point. This was no exception. 6.5/10The final tag team match was for the tag team titles, seeing Billy and Bart Gunn defend it against Owen Hart and Yokozuna. Owen and Yokozuna win. That's it. 6/10Bret Hart and Bob Backlund have an "I Quit" rematch from Survivor Series. Hart has called this his worst match ever. Wrestlers always see things differently than the fans. From a fan's point of view, this isn't THE worst match of Bret's career. But it was still a dull one. 5.5/10The match that really should have closed the show was Diesel against Shawn Michaels for the WWF title. Pamela Anderson and Jenny McCarthy were in the guys' corners and Jonathan Taylor Thomas was the timekeeper. Diesel is the longest reigning champion of the 90s as well and the least-drawing champion and most underrated. This was easily match of the night with Big Daddy Cool retaining. 7.5/10Football legend Lawrence Taylor faces Bam Bam Bigelow in a terrible main event. LT is not a wrestler! WWE likes to have non-wrestlers compete, so this should have been the opener. LT won. Bam Bam could have been the victor and it would have sucked the same. 3/10So there's not really a whole lot to say about this Mania. The matches were either average or bad. Nothing more or less can be said.Overall 6/10

1. British Bulldog/Lex Luger Vs. Jacob/Eli Blu 5.5/10 2. Intercontinental Title Match: Champ-Jeff Jarrett Vs. Razor Ramon Decent match with DQ ending. 6/10 3. King Kong Bundy Vs. The Undertaker - Undertaker always has got super stiff wrestler like opponents. The matches suffer from that. This feud was quite boring 5/10 4. WWF Tag Title Match: Owen Hart/Yokozuna Vs. Champs-The Smoking Guns - Solid match, new champs. 7/10 5. Submission match: Bob Backlund Vs. Bret Hart - We have to look on multi idiot Backlund and Piper (as referee) simultaneously. That hurts hard. Fortunately the match wasn't too long. 5/10 6. WWF Heavyweight Title Match: Shawn Michaels Vs. Champ-Diesel -Shawn is class better athlete than this woodman Diesel, he can't even Gorilla-press him up. Oz retains. For Shawn 5/10 7. LumberJack Match: Lawrence Taylor Vs. Bam Bam Bigelow - One of the comedy matches that I don't like. For Bam Bam 4.5/10 Remember previous WM? That was event! This was pure sh*t.

LT wrestled, best friends collided and a former champion sought revenge in this under rated Wrestlemania which still wasn't all that great. This was the last Wrestlemania before the WWE bought in the monthly In Your House PPVs and in some ways represented the end of an era.We start off with a fairly meaningless match as the Allied Powers (Lex Luger and the British Bulldog) defeated the Blu Brothers (Jacob and Eli). In the space of a year Luger had gone from having a WWE title match at Wrestlemania X to curtain jerker at Wrestlemania XI. Bulldog had gone from nearly winning the rumble to the same lowly position. Jacob and Eli should have been happy to be on the card. Nothing match with no story. I don't think Luger spent much longer in the WWE.The second match was a rematch between Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett, accompanied by the Roadie (or as he'd be better known later, the Road Dogg) taking on the man he'd defeated to win the title, Razor Ramon, accompanied by the 1-2-3 Kid. These two had another nice little match, which Ramon was about to win until the Roadie interfered, drawing a DQ and allowing Jarrett to retain his title.The next match was the continuation in a rivalry between the Undertaker and the Million Dollar Corporation. Bundy had stolen Undertaker's urn at the Royal Rumble after Taker had beaten Irwin R Shyster and it was now in the possession of Ted DiBiase. Undertaker took back his urn, but is was then stolen again by another member of the MDC Kama. Despite losing his urn, the Undertaker was still able to pull out the win in a pretty ordinary match.The next match saw the Smoking Gunns (Bart and Billy) defend the WWE Tag Team Titles against Owen Hart and a mystery partner. Owen had gone to great pains to keep the identity of his partner a secret, and with good reason. It was none other than former WWE Champion Yokozuna. Zuna had disappeared after losing a casket match to the Undertaker. Despite a strong fight the Gunns were no match for Hart and Yokozuna, who won a passable match to win the tag team titles, with hart pinning Billy.The next match was an improvement on most of what we'd seen as Bret Hart faced Bob Backlund in an I Quit match with Roddy Piper as the guest referee. Hart had lost the title to Backlund in a submission match after Owen Hart had interfered and then talked his mother into giving up on Bret's behalf when Backlund had Bret in the Cross face Chickenwing. Bret got some revenge here, defeating Backlund with the chickenwing in a decent match.It was now time for the big WWE Championship match between former friends Diesel and Shawn Michaels. Now originally Shawn was supposed to be escorted to the ring by Pamela Anderson, but had to settle for Jenny McCarthy instead as Pam came out with Diesel. Shawn also had another giant bodyguard Psycho Sid come out with him to stand ringside. The story here was that Diesel had been Shawn's bodyguard for over a year and they'd even won the tag belts together. But Shawn turned his back on Diesel after Survivor Series 1994 when Diesel had blamed him for the loss. Not long after that Diesel had won the WWE Title and Shawn the Royal Rumble. These two put on the best match of the night and one of the better matches of the 90s, with Sid costing Shgawn the match, inadvertently distracting the referee as he went for a pin. Diesel was able to recover and hit the jack knife powerbomb for the win. Shawn was not very happy with Sid after this match.This brings us to the main event of the evening with Bam Bam Bigelow taking on volatile NFL legend Laurence Taylor. Bigelow had insulted Taylor at the Royal Rumble. Taylor wanted an apology. Bigelow told him to get in the ring and earn it. They had a match here. Taylor won. It was about what you'd expect and Wrestlemania XI was finished.The main questions going forward were what was next for Hart with Backlund vanquished and Owen busy? What would happen between Shawn and Sid, and who would be the next challenger for Diesel's crown?

In the main event of WrestleMania XI WWF Champion Diesel defended the belt against accomplished wrestler Shawn Michaels. Diesel was quite good as champion during 1995 and he put on a good match against Shawn Michaels.The undercard for this event was truly great. Razor Ramon and Jeff Jarrett had a good match (those two always had chemistry in the ring). The ever popular Undertaker did his usual burial, this time pinning the monstrous King Kong Bundy. And Tag Team champions The Smoking Gunns put on an entertaining match against Yokosuna and Owen Hart. Bret Hart elevated Bob Backlund to a decent match as well.Lex Luger and Davey Boy Smith made an appearance too as The Allied Powers. They beat identical twins Jacob and Eli Blu. The Allied Powers had so much potential which the WWF never exploited.There was the usual celebrities such as Salt N Peppa and the beautiful Pamela Anderson to make this a memorable event.