By: Matt Ederer,
@theMattEderer
http://blogs.thescore.com/wwe/
- Wrestlemania X
- March 20, 1994
- New York, NY
- Commentators: Vince McMahon, Heel Jerry Lawler
I distinctly remember watching this match as a young child. It broke me and rebuilt me from the ground up as a crazy little stuntman, like some kind of juggalo drill sergeant. I would wait until my mom wasn't home and/or looking, climb up on increasingly high platforms, and throw my patented Macho Man Elbow on invisible wrestler guys (I would bet actual human money my elbow is still much better than CM Punk's). I became a chubby seven year old Jeff Hardy pretty much the second the bell rang for this one.
Anyway that adorable anecdote is my way of saying that this was mind blowing stuff for 1994. These guys weren't regular wrestlers like you were used to seeing on Superstars. For 20 minutes, Michaels and Ramon became The Amazing Spider-Men. I know what I saw and what I saw was a way to grow up and fly for a living. Make no mistake about it, on March 20 1994, to a seven year old kid parked in front of his TV, these guys could fly.
If they gave out doctorates in professional wrestling they would teach classes about this match. It's the original show stopper from Shawn Michaels himself. It is also the original WWF slightly-hokey-spot-fest-gimmick-match, but it still tells a story and every move in the match still serves a purpose. It may look tame by today's standards (Thanks Jeff Hardy! Thanks Percocets!) but it's one of those things that you need to know about if you're gonna call yourself a true wrestling fan.
- “Take a look at Diesel, wrestler extraordinaire and bodyguard par excellence”. Oh My FUCKING God Vince McMahon rules.
- Watch it in a vacuum. In 1994 there was nothing ever like this in the history of the WWF. Even now, you can kind of see how groundbreaking it is by how the MSG crowd is not cheering as much as it is shocked and in awe. You definitely get a taste for how good a match it is.
- FOR EXAMPLE: The baseball slide into the ladder. Now you see it in legit every single ladder match. Then it was completely new, as evidenced by the fact that Scott Hall didn’t have his hands up and took it RIGHT in the ribs.
- You ever notice how Razor Ramon never ever succeeded with the Razor’s edge near the ropes? Kind of like how HHH never succeeded with the Pedigree near the ropes.
- 5* for the moment, the stage, and what it meant to the future of pro wrestling. To me this is an easy 5 stars.
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