There have been many celebrities who had major roles at a WrestleMania, but perhaps none was as important as "Iron" Mike Tyson. Tyson was still blanketed in controversy following the Evander Holyfield biting incident the year prior, and getting Mike so involved in the promotion for this event was a huge coup for Vince. Tyson debuted on screen earlier in the year at Royal Rumble, initially supporting "Stone Cold", before Austin would brawl with Tyson and his entourage. Tyson would thus switch his allegiances to D-X, and this saga was the undisputed headliner going into WrestleMania 14. It's probably no hyperbole to say that this storyline is what transformed the WWE into the absolute titan that is today. WrestleMania 13's buyrate was the lowest in history, indicative of a steady decline since the early 90s, and that number would be tripled this time around. Business was about to get hotter than ever, so let's look at the show that put the WWF back on the map.
- WrestleMania 14 comes to you from the Fleet Center(now the TD Garden) in Boston, with JR and The King on the call. Beantown was absolutely on fire for this one, an early precursor of the legendarily hot Attitude Era crowds.
- Opening the show is the much hated performances of "America the Beautiful" and "The Star-Spangled Banner" by Chris Warren and the DX Band. This has wisely been cut from the WWE Network version of the event, but can be found elsewhere if you so please.
- Our first contest of the night is a chaotic 15 team battle royal, which is mostly just a vehicle to showcase the new look for the Legion of Doom. Hawk and Animal now have Sunny in their corner, a very short-lived partnership, and last eliminate the New Midnight Express(Bart Gunn and Bob Holly), part of the strange NWA invasion storyline that was on-going at this time. Good to see LOD pick up a dominant win near the end of their run, but this was never going to be a quality match.
- Here's one that certainly has the potential to be much better, as Taka Michinoku defends the Light Heavyweight Championship against Aguila, the future Essa Rios. Even though both men are extremely talented, they've only been given 6 minutes, because who needs good wrestling on a wrestling show. They both get their sh** in, flying all over the place, with the biggest highlight being an incredible Asai moonsault by Aguila. I can admire the athleticism on display, but the lack of any real drama or story being told makes this match extremely forgettable, unfortunately. Taka retains with the Michinoku Driver, and to tell you just how much Vince cared about the belt, this is the only time it was defended at WrestleMania.
- In a match that ties all the way back to Montreal, Triple H defends the European Championship against Owen Hart. Owen turned face after the Screwjob, getting a title shot against Shawn that ended in a DQ, before back down the card to feud with Hunter, as Austin needed that main event spot. This match is solid enough, Triple H isn't yet the worker he would become a couple years later, but even an unmotivated Owen can carry anyone to a decent match. The finish is dramatic, as Owen counters a powerbomb into a Sharpshooter to a huge pop, but Chyna gets involved, pulling Hunter to the bottom rope. She's been handcuffed to Commissioner Slaughter to keep her from interfering, but gets free by tossing powder in the Sarge's face, a classic heel spot. Owen checks on Slaughter, which allows Chyna to hit him with a low blow and Triple H delivers a Pedigree to keep the gold. It's a shame that Owen wasn't allowed to go over as he was one of the most sympathetic figures in the company at this point, but I think that's just a result of the story they were telling with him, not a result of backstage politicking. After all, Owen would turn heel about a month later, so it seems like getting punked out by Shawn and Hunter was just a way to make him a more bitter character, but it still sucks.
- It's the second mixed tag match in WrestleMania history(the first was at 'Mania 6) as Marc Mero and Sable take on Goldust and Luna Vachon. Mero's role in this story is sort of confusing to me, as he seemed to have turned heel by berating Sable, only to turn back face again by protecting her from Goldust because I guess we needed to set up a tag match. Though the build might have been a bit messy, the end result was highly entertaining. The booking of this match puts Sable over perfectly, as she chases Luna around the ring and pummels both heels whenever she gets the chance, not taking a single bump. Credit needs to go as well to the other three participants, as Luna was great in her chickensh** heel role while Mero and Goldust carried the action, putting together some great sequences that actually got Marc over, despite his character actions. The Sable Bomb and a TKO are enough to get Sable the win, who was legitimately competing with Austin as the most over performer on the night. This match may not have had a ton of potential on paper, but ended up as one of the most entertaining on the card.
- The Intercontinental Championship is on the line up next, as The Rock defends against Ken Shamrock in a Royal Rumble rematch. The two do very little in the shortest match on the card, running just 5 minutes. Rock delivered an infamous sickening chair shot on Shamrock on Raw a few weeks prior, and hits another here for a near fall. The challenger hits back with a belly to belly, before applying the ankle lock, and Rock taps out, just like that. We've got a new champion, but Shamrock has little time to celebrate, fighting off Nation members left and right. He enters the zone and goes after the ankle again, leading to Faarooq running in but refusing to save Rock as revenge for an errant chair shot on the go-home show. Shamrock starts attacking officials, before word comes in that the referee has reversed his decision, awarding the title back to The Rock by disqualification. I didn't really see the point of any of this, to be honest. The match was a complete nothing, and while the post-match brawl got Shamrock cheered, it also made him look like a dumba**. This really doesn't strike me as something worthy of WrestleMania, and was the first big low point of the night.
- In the first and likely last Dumpster Match in WrestleMania history, the New Age Outlaws defend their tag titles against Mick Foley and Terry Funk, who are under alter-egos as Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie. The match opens with a lot of brawling and weapon attacks, most of which doesn't get much of a reaction from the crowd. The fans do wake up for an insane spot, as Jack and Gunn fly off a ladder to crash into the dumpster, that was bonkers. Billy, Road Dogg and Cactus brawl backstage, which gets some cheers. Jack lays out Gunn with his double arm DDT onto a wooden crate, dragging Dogg onto it as well. Charlie gets a forklift and lifts the crate with both champions, dropping into another dumpster that was helpfully backstage, for some reason. That counts as a win, as we have new tag team champions. This wasn't too bad of a trash brawl, an entertaining 10 minutes that served as a nice precursor for the two big matches to come.
- The Undertaker and Kane have told a riveting storyline since "The Big Red Monster" debuted at Badd Blood the previous year, and now have their much hyped match in the co-main event slot. Beforehand, Kane famously Tombstones Pete Rose, which would start a trilogy of WrestleMania appearances for baseball's hit king, and also got a mammoth pop from the Boston crowd. Then Undertaker and Kane start wrestling, and everyone calms right back down. For as entertaining as these two characters can be, they've never had much chemistry in the ring, and this is a slow, plodding affair. I'm not even sure why these two supernatural demons are fighting in a normal match, what about this story makes you think, yeah, I want to see these two men in a headlock? This probably should've been a casket match and Undertaker and Shawn's match at the Rumble be the straight wrestling match, which would've also prevented HBK's back injury. Unfortunately, we can't do much to fix the past, but at least the finishing stretch kept Kane strong despite a clean defeat, as it took three Tombstones to put him down. Still, this was a massive disappointment given the incredible story that had been told, and killed any hype that I would've had for a rematch between the two.
- Main event time, as Shawn Michaels defends the WWF Championship against "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, with Mike Tyson serving as outside enforcer. Triple H and Chyna get ejected pretty quickly, and Michaels and Austin spend some time brawling, which was pretty fun. Then they get back in the ring, and everything slows to a halt. Yeah, in hindsight, putting two men still suffering the effects of massive injuries in the ring together wasn't a great idea, as neither looks anything close to their best. Michaels is definitely the worse off, clearly in tremendous back pain and unable to deliver much of his signature thrilling offense. At least the crowd is still into it, popping whenever Austin goes on the attack, but this match had no right to go over 20 minutes. Referee Mike Chioda goes down, leading to the best sequence of the match, as both men attempt their finishers. Austin connects with the Stunner, Tyson makes the count, and that's that for a very disappointing 'Mania main event. Afterward, we get the famous moment as Tyson punches out Shawn, which was significantly more entertaining than anything in the actual match. Look, I get it, these were the two biggest stars in the company, and putting them together in the same ring made perfect sense when the booking plans were made. But other than the appeal of seeing a rare singles match between two legendary workers, I got almost nothing out of this. There are certainly worse matches that have gone on last at a WrestleMania, but considering the talent involved, it could've been so much better.
7/10
So much of WrestleMania 14 feels like a party, a celebration of a company that had finally found it's groove and more than ready to finally go to war. Though the final hour didn't quite live up to the astronomical hype that preceded it, you can still enjoy seeing so many stars collide in front of a very appreciative crowd. If the final 2 matches had been better, this could easily be a top 5 'Mania, it's that good. Still, I'd recommend that you check this one out if you haven't already, it's a good one.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: King of the Ring 1998. See you soon.
- Henry
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