WWF Wrestlemania XII
March 31, 1996
Anaheim, CA
Reviewed on December 12, 2014
The tide was turning.
Even without WCW breathing down the WWF’s neck, the WWF was in trouble. Wrestlers were unhappy about their payoffs. Business was down. Wrestlemania XII would in fact have no celebrity involvement whatsoever, the first (I think, I forget if IX did) Mania with that issue. It’s a big dropoff in that regard from Mania IX.
Here’s the real issue the WWF is dealing with: they’ve failed to build an undercard, and their top stars weren’t super top draws. Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Diesel and Undertaker didn’t draw anything like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Randy Savage or a lot of other WCW guys. And the undercard? 1995’s undercard had already fallen apart or were on the way down. Sure The British Bulldog and Owen Hart were still there…but just the same there were either wasted opportunities like Bam Bam Bigelow, Lex Lugerand Hakushi, or absolute bad ideas like Tatanka and King Mabel. Also, some of the top guys from an earlier era were certainly on the way down. Sycho Sid was nowhere to be seen and Yokozuna wasn’t a main event guy anymore. The newer guys hadn’t completely connected yet either, although Vader and Goldust were on their way and Ahmed Johnson would at least be popular for a while. Part of the reason why Mania XII was structured with a 60 Minute Iron Man Match is because filling out the rest of the card would prove difficult.
Worse yet, some of the top guys were leaving. Diesel and Razor Ramon sent their notices in and would be leaving the WWF shortly. It’s said that the fix was in with Razor as he ended up suspended and missing Mania. Nonetheless, filling the top ranks of the WWF would prove very difficult. They had a lot of work to do.
The Card
We open with one of those black and white montages promoting Shawn vs. Bret. Those black and white montages were pretty awesome. Summerslam 97 has my favorite one.
Six Man Tag Team Match: If Camp Cornette Loses Cornette must spend five minutes with Yokozuna
Vader, The British Bulldog and Owen Hart vs. Yokozuna, Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Ahmed Johnson
Story here: Camp Cornette had a major issue when Yoko and Vader didn’t get along…and eventually Cornette chose Vader (or Yoko had enough of Cornette). Ahmed Johnson also slammed a then Camp Cornette Yoko back at Survivor Series. Jake had also recently made a return to help Yoko and Ahmed.
Yoko and Vader go at it right off the bat! While Vader is a monster, I always thought it was a great idea to pair him off with Yokozuna right away, since Vader could show ass there and still be fine.
Tope by Ahmed Johnson!
Vader’s punching combo was awesome.
Yoko with the Rock Bottom on Vader! The Rock Bottom was once known as the Samoan Slam afterall.
Nice camera shot hides the fact that Ahmed was setting up the Pearl River Plunge the wrong way…Owen takes him out with a top rope missile dropkick.
This has been ALL Camp Cornette.
Another botch where Owen drops way too early for an Ahmed clothesline.
Jake was one of those guys WWF brought back from the early 90s (along with Piper and Warrior). I assume it was to get some newer guys over.
Jake becomes the third face in peril here.
Jake survives the Bulldog Powerslam!
Jake then survivies a splash from Vader! Can he get the tag!
Yokozuna cleaning house…and we have a brawl!
Camp Cornette wins when Vader pins Roberts in 13:08. Jake drops Owen with the DDT…but the ref is distracted by the brawl. Cornette tries to break it up, but Jake stops him and sets him up for the DDT. Vader attacks him though, and the Vader Bomb wins it. Decent match. Problem was all three faces went through the face in peril situation…and they never really got any offense at all. It gets over Vader though, so that works.
Hollywood Backlot Brawl: Roddy Piper vs. Goldust
Originally was a Razor vs. Goldust rematch, but Razor was suspended.
The story here was that Goldust was…turned on by the authority of acting President Piper. Piper didn’t take it well.
It’s in an alleyway for sure. Goldust shows up in a gold Cadillac…and Piper beats the holy hell out of him.
Piper hits his perfect punch that just knocks down Goldust. You’ll know it when you see it. Goldust does turn the tables after it though with a low blow.
Goldust actually hits Piper with his car. Piper recovers though…and gets into a white bronco to chase. More on this later…
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Savio Vega
Story here: I don’t remember how their beef started…I think Dibiase wanted Vega to be his chauffer. Also, with Razor out, Vega needed a tag partner to face the Bodydonnas in the Tag Team Title tournament…and randomly drew Austin. Austin cost him the match.
Austin was the Million Dollar Champion here. He had the Stone Cold name and serious demeanor…but still wasn’t the Stone Cold we all knew quite yet.
Really hot start here.
Something that takes away from this match: Vince gets Piper on the phone while he’s chasing Goldust. They even show “footage” of the chase…which is actually OJ footage. OJ footage was dated in 1995. Takes away from the importance of this match…although there was none really anyway.
The crowd does not care about this match.
Pretty awesome spot: Austin comes off the top but Vega just gets his boot up. The spot itself is nothing special, but it’s just done really well.
Savio nails the spin kick….on referee Tim White.
Stone Cold Steve Austin wins when Vega passes out in 10:05. Dibiase distracts Vega…and Austin nails him with the Million Dollar Belt. Austin hits him again. Austin locks in some variant of the Million Dollar Dream. Dibiase revives the ref, and the ref calls it. Good match, but no one cared. Not sure if it was a good idea to have two heels win right away at Mania either.
Mr. Perfect interviews Diesel. Simple promo here. He’s taking care of Taker…then Shawn’s next.
Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. The Ultimate Warrior
Funny enough, the most historical part of this match would be Sable’s debut as HHH’s valet. HHH should have taunted Brock Lesnar about this two years ago.
Crowd popped when they heard HHH’s theme. Because they were excited for the Warrior. Warrior had been gone for about 3 and a half years now.
It doesn’t go well for HHH. Warrior even no sells a Pedigree by standing straight up.
The Ultimate Warrior pins HHH in 1:38. After Warrior no sells everything, he clotheslines HHH a bunch of times and finishes him off with the Gorilla Press. Give HHH credit: this didn’t bury him. It’s 1:38 and the crowd was into it, so I mean, good for what it was I guess.
Marc Mero debuts in an interview, and HHH runs into him fighting over Sable. Of those three, it would be Mero who wouldn’t get over.
Diesel vs. The Undertaker
This started when Taker declared after beating Mabel that he was the #1 contender. Diesel said no, he deserved a rematch. Taker got the title match at the Rumble and Diesel cost him the belt. Taker did likewise at In Your House.
Diesel was still an odd tweener at that point…until he whacked HBK with a chair at the Garden.
Nice back and forth early on, a clear clash of the titans here. Taker also hits a cross bodyblock!
Match does slow down with Taker trying to get in the ring but Diesel knocking him out over and over.
Double big boot spot!
This match was part of the transition to “humanize” Undertaker, although a very early part of the transition.
Taker begins to make a comeback, and even hits a top rope clothesline!
Diesel stops the comeback with a Jackknife Powerbomb! He taunts Taker to rise and he does. Second Jackknife….but Taker rises ones again!
The Undertaker pins Diesel in 16:46. After rising from two Jackknife Bombs, Taker finishes Diesel with a Tombstone for the win. Slow at parts, but pretty good. I love the finish even though that transition I wrote earlier was lost in it. That transition would go through Taker’s next feud against Mankind. Taker was becoming more of a guy who just could deal with pain as opposed to the cartoonish Grim Reaper who rose from everything.
Goldust vs. Roddy Piper continued…
They’re here!
This time it’s all Goldust, until he kisses Piper and Piper goes nuts. Piper strips Goldust down, kisses him and hits a low blow. He wins as a result I guess. Crowd was hot for it and, like Benoit vs. Sullivan at GAB ’96, it did set the stage for future hardcore matches. And Bra and Panties matches I guess too. I don’t think much of this though.
WWF Championship: 60 Minute Iron Man Match
Bret Hart© vs. Shawn Michaels
Shawn comes from the ceiling, which is pretty cool. The big fight atmosphere is absolutely there.
Match starts off REALLY SLOW, with Shawn trapped in a headlock for six minutes. HBK responds with three minutes of armbars.
HBK gets a flying headscissors, the first highspot of the match.
We get our HBK skinning the cat moment…just to go back to an armbar.
Sharpshooter attempt! HBK survives. Bret sends HBK over the top though next.
Best spot of the first half here: HBK slams Bret off the post and Bret lands on the timekeeper. HBK goes for the superkick…but nails the time keeper! Back to the Bret headlock now.
HBK rams Bret into the post and hits a shoulderbreaker at the 24 minute mark.
I’ll say it, I think the first half hour of this is pretty boring. They went with the “Shawn is surprising Bret” by wrestling a technical wrestling match. It’s just Bret trapping Shawn in a headlock with Shawn reversing it and getting am armbar for 30 minutes. There are some good moments inbetween, but this psychology being set up plays very little into the finish, and feels like just a way to fill time.
The pace picks up. Bulldog to HBK! Bret then with a weird facebuster off the top which hits the ref. Feels like a potential botch there. Not sure really.
Piledriver! HBK kicks out at two, which was the first false-finish fans reacted to. HBK got a lot of boos there too.
Frankensteiner from Shawn. All that headlock and armbar stuff seems like a thing of the past.
HBK takes out Bret by coming off the top to the outside!
Bret survives a Perfect-Plex.
HBK takes a crazy bump over the top rope onto the floor. He goes flying over the corner no less. Michaels survives the 10 count though, since Bret goes to get him.
With HBK’s back screwed, Bret goes on the attack. This basically becomes a Bret Hart match now.
Tremendous back suplex from the 2nd rope.
Shawn takes a crazy bump over the top rope…and he takes out Jose Lothario with him! Slam on the steps next!
Suicide dive from Bret!
It’s still all Bret. Big superplex with 6 to go!
HBK makes his comeback with 5 to go…and even hits a moonsault. Still not enough!
Bret traps HBK in the sharpshooter with 30 seconds to go! The time expires.
Shawn Michaels wins the Iron Man Match 1-0 in 61:52. Bret leaves with the title, as a draw means the champ retains the title. Returning President Gorilla Monsoon decides there must be winner, so this goes to OT. HBK gets two superkicks and wins it. Match is good, but not the all time classic people say it is. It didn’t age well. It feels like a great 30 minute match stretched out to an hour. The psychology in the first half just disappears. Still, the 2nd half is pretty good.
Mania 12 was an odd one. On one hand, HBK vs. Bret and Taker vs. Diesel were Mania worthy. But at this point we didn’t care about Austin and Vega. Warrior squashing HHH was just unnecessary. Piper vs. Goldust was what it was. The opener was decent but dragged.
Historically, some seeds were planted, but they wouldn’t bloom until after Mania. The Austin-Vega feud was the end of Dibiase ultimately, but that didn’t start here. HHH wasn’t anything here. Taker vs. Diesel represented nearly the last of the cartoon Undertaker, although shades of him would pop up in the feud with Mankind. HBK’s title win was fun, but it would lead to an uninspiring face run. I mean the only guy who really got elevated here was Vader and I guess Shawn, although Shawn felt like the top guy already at this point anyway.
Nothing terrible here though. A lot of decent to good and an odd time for the WWF. A hell of a lot better than last year’s Mania at least.
Final Grade: B-