1. WrestleMania 9: The World's Largest Toga Party... And Nothing Else
WrestleMania 9 was to be the first WrestleMania without Hulk Hogan in the Main Event. Bret "The Hitman" Hart, the fighting champion since defeating Ric Flair in November of the previous year, was set to defend against the mighty Yokozuna, the first Royal Rumble winner guaranteed a WrestleMania title shot ever. Hogan would return to Wrestlemania, but as part of the Mega Maniacs (with partner Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, himself recently returning from a terrible parasailing accident) in a Tag Team Title match against Money Inc. Elsewhere, Shawn Michaels was defending his Intercontinental Championship against the undefeated Native American Tatanka while and Mr. Perfect and "The Narcissist" Lex Luger wrapping up their personal feud. It was not a terrible card on paper. Unfortunately, that paper blew away in the hot, dry Las Vegas desert air. Shawn Michaels was disqualified and/or counted out against Tatanka in a match that was more focused on the ringside antics of Luna Vachon and Sensational Sherri. The Steiners defeated The Headshrinkers in an okay tag match. Crush, who had been sidelined after a sneak-attack with a fake arm by Doink the Clown, failed to gain any revenge and was defeated by multiplying Doinks (although the second one may have been an illusion according to Bobby Heenan.) Razor Ramon defeated Bob Backlund in a match that could not have headlined a WWF Superstars taping. In their big return to WrestleMania, Hogan and Beefcake lost by disqualification. Luger beat Mr. Perfect via backslide (becoming only the second man ever to pin an opponent via backslide on a WWF Pay-Per-View) in sadly the best match of the night. Undertaker added to his streak by beating Giant Gonzales by DQ when the referee disqualified Gonzales' eight-foot-tall air-brushed butt (literally) for using chloroform. And finally, Yokozuna pinned Bret Hart to win the WWF Championship in under 10 minutes with the help of Mr. Fuji and some salt. Having a heel walk out of the final match of WrestleMania with the WWF Championship would have been bad enough (this has only been done twice in 29 WMs) but what transpired next was worst: Hogan came down to comfort the blinded Hart, but instead was challenged by Mr. Fuji to a title match right there. Hogan, cheered on by Hart (who promptly left the ringside area) entered the ring, ducked another salt throw, and pinned Yoko in less than two minutes for his fifth WWF World Title in a match that wasn't booked, wasn't hinted at, and wasn't supposed to happen. Someone was afraid of either Yoko or Bret leaving Vegas with the title, and wanted a cheap pop for a quick Hogan win. The victory was successful for about 24 hours, before fans, writers, and other wrestlers turned on it. Hogan would not defend the title 70 days after WrestleMania, losing back to Yokozuna at the 1993 King of the Ring. Hitman would not get the title back until WrestleMania X, an event where WWF proved that they can still do WrestleMania right. Can they do it right this year? Was there other moments worse than these?
The 'House is a father of two and husband of one in Minnesota. He is an improv comedian, and in his spare time follows WWE, MLB, The Simpsons, and Bob's Burgers. Growing up he was a huge fan of He-Man, and refuses to believe that it was in fact terrible.
