WrestleMania IX has been pegged by most fans and critics as one of the worst WrestleManias of all time. While I agree with that, I'd go with XI as the all time worst. I did not mind the main event of Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna, but the Hogan win after was unnecessary. At first, my 13-year-old self was happy. That died down in a few minutes when I realized how dumb this was. I honestly would have kept several matches the same but changed a few others. My rule of thumb in my own fantasy booking is creating matches that would make sense with previous or upcoming storylines.
Original Card
Dark match - Tito Santana vs. Papa Shango
Intercontinental Title - Shawn Michaels vs. Tatanka
Steiner Brothers vs. Headshrinkers
Doink vs. Crush
Razor Ramon vs. Bob Backlund
Tag Team Titles - Money Inc vs. Mega Maniacs
Lex Lugar vs. Mr. Perfect
Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez
WWF Title - Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna
Impromptu Title Match - Yokozuna vs. Hulk Hogan
Here are some matches I am keeping the same. Doink vs. Crush is staying due to the storyline at the time, and I actually enjoyed the unexpected second Doink interference. I also kept Lex Lugar vs. Mr. Perfect due to their storyline and the Perfect/Shawn Michaels story it led to. The last match I kept the same was Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez. I tossed around the idea of replacing Gonzales with Bam Bam Bigelow due to Gonzalez being terrible but ultimately kept it due to the spectacle of seeing someone towering over the Undertaker. However, I would change it to a decisive pinfall victory instead a disqualification because in my opinion, no matches at big PPV events should ever end in disqualification, count out, or draws. The chloroform part could still be worked in but I'd do it after the match.
I moved things around slightly with the Money Inc/Mega Maniacs storyline. I moved it to the night after WrestleMania as a filler for Hulk Hogan between WrestleMania and King of the Ring. Therefore, Brutus Beefcake would return the night after WrestleMania. With that being the case, I would save the Jimmy Hart face turn for the next night as well. I decided to have Money Inc drop the Tag Team Championships to the Steiner Brothers. That feud would continue again after the Mega Maniacs storyline in between. That leaves the Headshrinkers out and even though that was a good match, it had to change due to my restructure.
You may be wondering where that leaves Hulk Hogan. Well, I'd actually have Hogan challenging Bret Hart for the WWF Title in the main event. I'd have Hogan return a month earlier than he did and win the Royal Rumble. Yokozuna would be the last man eliminated. Now you have a way to enter into a Hogan/Yokozuna storyline later on. I would have Hogan putting Bret over to end WrestleMania. Don't worry about Yokozuna, though, because his days as Champion are coming soon. Backtracking to the Royal Rumble, Randy "Macho Man" Savage is eliminated second to last by Yokozuna due to interference by Mr. Fuji. An irate Savage reenters the ring and helps Hogan eliminate Yokozuna. Due to the circumstances of this being the first Royal Rumble where the winner gets a Title shot at WrestleMania, I would do Yokozuna vs. Randy Savage in a #1 Contender Match at WrestleMania, with the winner getting the shot the night after on Raw. Yokozuna would defeat Savage and take the Title from Bret the next night on Raw in the same manner we witnessed at WrestleMania
Another match I would change is Shawn Michaels vs. Tatanka. While it was a good match, the count out ending made the fans angry. Also, Tatanka had a winning streak going and had he won the IC Title, he would have had to lose it. Therefore, I put Owen Hart in the contender spot. This would work as Owen and HBK ended up on opposite teams later that year at the Survivor Series, leading to Owen's feud with brother Bret. Since Sensational Sherri was no longer Michaels' manager, I would still have her second any opponent of Michaels, specifically to start the Sherri/Luna Vachon feud.
The match that deserved a change the most was Razor Ramon vs. Bob Backlund. The chemistry just wasn't there. This was before Backlund's erratic heel turn and character change so he was just boring at this point. A throw away match with Backlund did nothing for Razor, who had only just debuted the fall of 1992. A match against Tito Santana would have worked out much better. Tito at this point in his career was putting over the new stars. Tito was the first big singles test for Shawn Michaels and look how that worked out! Razor vs. Tito would be a faster pace as well.
The last change is to take the stars that didn't make it onto the show and make the dark match into a Battle Royal. That's where you put the Headshrinkers and the rest of the roster. Since Tatanka's winning streak is something I want to keep, he ends up the winner. In my opinion, this is a much better card but everything still makes sense and storylines still progressed similarly. You will still get the Michaels/Perfect feud, Hogan putting over Yokozuna after his Money Inc storyline, reestablishing and finishing the Money Inc/Steiner Brothers program, and Bret Hart's King of the Ring win and road to championship redemption. I'm curious to know your thoughts!
If you have any further thoughts on the situation, let me know in comments. Heck, let us all know on The WAR Report podcast, every Tuesday at 7PM EST, brought to you by TagMeADate.com, the first and only dating site for wrestling fans. Go to askthewarreport@gmail.com or #askthewarreport. For TagMeADate members, our Android and Apple apps are vastly approaching so stay tuned!
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