Old School Review: WWF WrestleMania 12 PPV

WWF wrestlemania 12 was all about the boyhood dream of Shawn Michaels finally coming true after 8 and a half year journey to ascend to the top of the WWF for the heartbreak kid. So let's start from the beginning, shawn debuted in the WWF in 87 along with then tag team partner Marty jannetty in the team the rockers (the two were quickly fired over an incident backstage which resulted in the rockers maybe partying a bit to hard is how the story goes but returned less than a year later to the fed). The rockers were an established mid card team who normally had great matches with any of WWF then thriving tag team division with the likes of the the hart foundation, the powers of pain, the rougeaus, Akeem&bossman and the brain busters team of Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. The rockers were never WWF tag team champions, well they sort of where when they won the tag titles from the hart foundation on a SNME tapping in 1990 but during the match which was best 2 out of 3 falls the top rope snapped and vince deemed the match unairable and the title win was never acknowledge by the WWF. Come 1991 vince decided to break the rockers up and booked a historic angle were Shawn turned on his longterm partner by super kicking Marty through the window of the barber shop set. Shawn then went onto hook up with sensational Sherri in an awesome on screen partnership between the two. Shawn lifted the IC title by beating the British bulldog Davey boy smith a year later after mediocre feuds with Tito Santana and Rick the model Martel  and was given a makeshift feud with then WWF champion Bret Hitman hart which resulted in damn fine match between the two at the 92 version of WWF survivor series ppv and may have unofficially launched the WWF new generation. Thoughout 93 Shawn was normally IC champion he did the job for former partner Marty on raw in May of that year but regained the strap a few weeks later while Marty was fired. Shawn vacated the strap in September of that year when then on screen president Jack Tunney deemed HBK had violated the 30 days no defence ruling when in actual fact word was Shawn had been offered a deal to jump ship and join wcw. Others reported Shawn was given 3 months because of burn out or was it because he lost his smile you decide. Razor roman went on to win the vacant title and then HBK returned claiming he never lost the belt so was the real champion which set up the mania 10 ladder match between the two. In msg Shawn and razor entered into a tour de force performance while I fill Bret stole the show with his match against his brother Owen and then going on later that night to beat Yokozuna for the WWF title. Shawn went on to lose that match against razor and over the next few months while battling a number of real life injuries he would take a back seat to his on screen bodyguard diesel. HBK Also launched his own talk show segment the heartbreak hotel during this period. Shawn and diesel would go onto win the WWF tag team titles that summer beating the headshrinkers. Days later Shawn accidently cost diesel the IC title in match against roman when Shawn gave diesel a super kick. Over the next 3 months tensions rose between the tag team champions and it all came to ahead at WWF survivor series 94 when Shawn again accidently super kicked diesel and Shawn left his partner walking out on the match and dumping the once meaningful title in the trash. At the royal rumble 95 Shawn entered in as number 1 (this rumble was different to previous rumbles as enterance entered every 60 seconds rather than every 2 minutes) and went on to win the rumble and receive a WWF title shot against diesel at wrestle mania 11. At mania 11 Shawn and diesel seemed a bit off there usual game and had a average match at best but this was during the kliq times and maybe they had a average match because they weren't on last as the main event spot for that show went to bam bam Bigelow vs Lawrence Taylor. Shawn was turned face following mania when diesel saved HBK from an attack by sycho sid (at the time sid was HBK bodyguard) who had just turned on Shawn himself. Shawn was entered into the KOTR 95 tournament but never advanced past the quarter finals as he fought Kama to a 15 minute draw in the worst KOTR tournament the WWF ever promoted. Shawn was given yet another run with the IC gold in July of 95 beating Jeff Jarrett for the belt in a tremendous match. WWF booked a second ladder match between the kliq members razor and Shawn this time Shawn won to retain the IC title. The next month the now cool dudes with attitude team diesel and Michaels beat WWF tag team champions Owen hart and Yokozuna but were stripped of the titles the following night on raw due to Jim cornette lawyer Clarence mason lobbying for the dudes to be stripped. The titles returned to yoko and Owen because in the match Davey had subbed for Owen who was injured according to cornette and Davey was pinned in the match, which resulted in the dudes being stripped. HBK partying lifestyle caught up to him in October of that year when he flirted with a marines girlfriend in front of the marine while a little to Intoxicated and was given a legit beating, reports vary in how many marines but Shawn suffered a legit injurys and vacated the IC title because of this. Shawn returned on raw the next month and sold a concussion so convincingly from an Owen hart enzuigiri that it worked fans and many insiders over it's legitimacy. In reality Shawn was written off tv but in 95 this conned everyone for a few weeks at least. Going into 1996 again Shawn won the rumble setting up the WWF title match with on/off rival Bret hart for wrestle mania 12. His operant Bret hart had followed a similar path to Shawn once a tag team specialist then a IC champion but Bret around this time knew his run as WWF new generation leader and world champion was coming to an end. The build showed Shawn as a young hungry wrestler who was able to run up flights of stairs at ease, do one handed chin ups and was on top of his game. Meanwhile Bret was portrayed as a fading main eventer who may be getting a bit to long in the tooth to main event the WWF by showing Bret lightly jogging, barely being able to do a lap of a pool and having stu his father tap him out. Strange I'm sure your agree just take today's main event scene and ask would WWF do the same if it was Cena and Orton, I think not. So after that let's going into the show (DAMN and I didn't even really touch on the kliq and there self serving attitude and there burial of bam bam Bigelow, Chris candido and shane Douglas) which was held in Anaheim California at the arrow head pond with a reported sell out and 237,000 ppv buys. First off I'm going to start with the pre show free 4 all as it was called back then as I watched this on coulsiuem home video VHS and it was included. The rather annoying Todd pettengill introduced us to the show. Todd hypes tonight's big matches including the 1 hour iron man match between Bret and Shawn, undertaker vs diesel, the parking lot brawl between Goldust and roddy piper and the return of the ultimate warrior. Suddenly Todd is interrupted by sunnys voice as she comes from out nowhere to be seen then she appears in the aisle with her tag team the bodydonnas and says tonight your get to see why she won the buns of steel award that the previous nights slammy awards. Up first was The Godwins Herny O Godwin (get it) and Phineas I Godwin(get it)/with Hillbilly Jim vs The Bodydonnas Skip (Chris Candido) and Zip (Dr Tom Prichard)/ with Sunny for the vacant WWF tag team titles. Obviously due to time constrains this match got dumped to the pre show but at this point the WWF tag team titles have become meaningless and wouldn't mean anything again until the new age outlaws run in 1998/1999 and then again under the Dudley's, the hardys and e&c days in 2000/2002. Early on the pig farmers took control over the fitness freaks, Phineas loses it at one point and snaps elbowing everyone even his own partner Herny, eventually he is calmed down by hillbilly and Herny. The Bodydonnas double team Herny for a bit to take advantage, zip picks up skip at one point into an atomic drop position and candido falls with a leg drop onto Herny for the near fall. Zip misses a top rope head butt and Herny gets the not so hot tag to Phineas, Phineas takes out zip and skip and then Phineas has skip in the slop drop but sunny pops up on the ring apron. Sunny then furfills her promise and flashes her bottom to distract Phineas who drops skip and walks over to sunny to get a better view. Skip then rolls up Phineas for the 1,2 and 3 and your winners and new WWF tag team champions the Bodydonnas. video review of the ultimate warriors return and the feud between diesel and the undertaker. Then it's time for WWF to Make themsevles look petty and small by wheeling out a skit to mock wcw, hulk hogan (huck hogan), the macho man (nacho man), mean gene (skeen Gene) and ted turner (billionaire ted). Seriously vince why do this at the time wcw was kicking your arse in the so called war between the two companies. why even bother to acknowledge they exist and vince your crying about what you did exactly the same thing to all those other promoters 13 years earlier in the national expansion WWF went through in the 80's . Anyway the comedy here was that ted brand promoted old timers and disloyal former WWF superstars. Nacho came to the ring and couldn't climb the ropes and huckster took so long to get to the ring he needed oxygen to help him into the ring. The huckster and nacho proceeded to have a comedy match officiated by billionaire ted. Huckster was so tried he needed gene to help him remove his shirt, some not so funny shots were taken by vince and Lawler on commentary as the two old timers fell over. EMT's had to come in and resuscitate both nacho and huckster as the match ended in a non contest, then FTC (family television council) Man showed up and ted had a hart attack to end this awful comedy segment (ok that was funny). Then a video package is shown on Shawn Michaels and Bret hart this package was awesome and built the show quiet nicely. Then the free 4 all ended and a coulsiuem home video exclusive was shown as doc Hendrix reviewed the festivities from the wrestlemania weekend including a baseball game and the slammy awards. Then it's the wrestlemania theme and the logo flash up on the screen and we go back to the live crowd as vince hello everyone and welcome to wrestlemania. Vince and jerry plug tonight's big matches and focus a lot of time on the warriors return and the 1 hour ironman WWF title match. To officially start mania Vadar comes out to the ring and it's time for the opening match proper of wrestlemania. Six man tag Vadar, the British bulldog and Owen hart/ with  Jim Cornette Vs Yokozuna, Ahmed Johnson and Jake the snake Roberts. The build up for this one was pretty simply as Yokozuna felt Jim cornette had cost him a match and turned his back on cornette and went face for the first time during his WWF run. The added stipulation to this one was that if Vadar, Davey and Owen lost then cornette would have to spend 5 minutes in the ring with Yokozuna. Before the bell Vadar and Yokozuna square up and start to brawl with one another exchanging big blows while the crowd come unglued at the sight of these two big men battling it out. Both men brawl to the outside and slug it out, Owen blind tags Vadar and comes into the ring and gives yoko a  dropkick but it doesn't even faze the big man. Yoko then goes for a big splash on Owen who is in the corner but misses as Owen moves and he tags in the bulldog. Bulldog and Owen Double team yoko and Vadar joins in to make it a triple team. Vadar is in he hits yoko serval time in the chest and yoko shrugs it off and gives Vadar a massive belly to belly suplex and jerry remarks the building just shook. Ahmed is tagged in and he gives Vadar a big flying shoulder tackle, bulldog tags in and goes to work on Ahmed but Ahmed fights back and gives Bulldog a running powerslam. Vadar then attacks Ahmed from behind and sends Ahmed into the corner with a Irish whip. Vadar goes for a splash but misses. Ahmed climbs to the top rope and gives Vadar a shoulder block and follows it up with teasing the pearl river plunge but Owen is perched on the top rope and gives Ahmed a missile dropkick to the back of Ahmeds head. Owen gives Ahmed an enzuigiri and tags in Vadar and Vadar splashes Ahmed for the two count. Owen is back in and he rakes the eyes of Ahmed then Owen hits the ropes and goes for a cross body but it doesn't do anything to Ahmed while Owen hits the mat. Ahmed finally tags in Jake who jabs Owen in the jaw and follows it up with a short arm clothes line. Jake then teases the DDT but Owen holds on to the top rope as Jake hits the mat. Bulldog and Owen then double team Jake with stomps, bulldog puts Jake into a front face lock. Vadar is tagged back in by Davey and Vadar fires left and rights into jakes ribs to drop the veteran. Vadar drops an elbow to Jake and tags in Davey who gives the snake man a running powerslam, Davey covers Roberts for a two count. Owen is tagged in and he goes up top and drops a elbow into the chest of Roberts. Bulldog is back in and drops a leg drop but bulldog misses Jake, hot tag time as Davey tags in Vadar and Roberts tags in Yokozuna. The two behemoths run into one another and Yoko knocks down Vadar in comes bulldog and Owen who get caught by yoko and have there heads rammed together. Yoko tags in Roberts and this time Jake gives Owen a DDT and covers him for the 1,2 no as Davey breaks up the pin. Ahmed comes in and sends bulldog to the outside and dives out on top of bulldog as Vadar and yoko brawl on the outside. Back in the ring Jake goes for another DDT but Jim cornette gets into the ring to distract Roberts but Roberts grabs him and teases giving cornette the DDT. Owen tags Vadar in who blindsides Jake and attacks him from behind then gives Jake the Vadar bomb and gets the 1,2 and 3. Your winners the team of vadar, the British bulldog Davey boy smith and Owen hart. We get a video review of the feud between Goldust and rowdy roddy piper, Marlena is shown watching a monitor backstage and we shoot to the parking lot where piper is waiting for Goldust with a baseball bat. The Parking Lot Brawl Goldust vs Rowdy Roddy Piper. Goldust then shows up in a gold Cadillac and revs up his car he then shoots forward and piper doesn't even blink. Piper then moves to the side of the vehicle and smashes the driver side window and pulls Goldust out through the window and begins to pummel Goldust with some very stiff punches indeed. Piper throws Goldust into the side of a dumpster and turns on a water hose and sprays down Goldust who sells the water perfectly. Piper then hits Goldust with a trash can and throws goldust onto a food table and proceeds to throw food at goldy. Rowdy slams goldy onto the hood of his car and hits Goldust in the face with more stiff punches, piper pulls goldy off the hood of his car and clocks Goldust with a shot to the nose which seriously looked like it broke Goldusts nose. Goldy then gives piper a low blow and crawls to his Cadillac and teases running over piper then he mows into piper and crashes into pipers white bronco as roddy rolls of the hood of the car. Goldust speeds off into the night as roddy gets into his white bronco and chases after Goldust (get it). Then it's back to the live crowd who are flat at this point because of the lack of match conclusion, as they say to be continued. Up next is the million dollar title match as champion stone cold steve austin/ with ted dibease takes on savio vega. Vega is in the back as doc Hendrix reviews how these two have ended up on the card of this show, savio says steve austin cost him the tag team title so tonight he'd be taking away steves belt. Savio storms to the ring and attacks austin who is already in mid ring the two brawl to the outside where austin whips savio into the guardrail and puts savio back into the ring. Savio comes back at austin with a kick and then a double axe handle to the back. Savio covers steve for a two count and applies a hammer lock to steve who counters it into his own. Then roddy piper is on the phone and says too vince he came here to fight as sirens went off in the background of the phone call then the call went dead. Back in the ring stone cold has savio in camel clutch and then austin goes back to the hammerlock. Roddys back on the phone and this time he says he wants to finish this here at wrestlemania and to make a man out of this fruitcake. Back to the action and steve gives savio a Lou Thesz press but savio gets up and hits austin with a cross body for the two count. Then there is a number of near falls between the two. Now it's to aireal footage of pipers so called pursuit of Goldust which all rather strangely looks like the OJ chase footage. Back in the ring savio gives austin a small package for a two count, austin cuts savio off with a right hand and goes up top. Austin flies off but savio gets his foot up and austin eats savio's boot. Vega then goes for a spin kick but austin ducks and savio hits referee tim Whyte which KO Whyte. Dibease then see his chance and grabs his title and throws it into the ring as savio tends to a fallen Whyte. Dibease then distracts savio allowing steve time to recover and get up and hit savio in the back of the head with the million dollar title. Austin then puts savio into the million dollar dream as dibease takes his time to wake the referee up. Timmy is then revived when dibease dumps a glass of water on him then tim goes over to savio and calls for the bell. Winner and still the million dollar champion stone cold steve austin. Afterwards austin keeps the hold on savio as dibease laughs and holds the title up above his head and officials have to pull austin off of vega. Back to the aireal footage of 'piper' in his white bronco and vince says this looks familiar (are you getting the joke yet). Mr perfect is backstage and he is with diesel, he asks diesel weather the mind games taker has been playing is bothering him. Diesel tells perfect he's big daddy cool and he don't swear the big things and he ain't affaired of taker. We cut back to OJ I mean piper and he's now driving around the streets of LA. Up next is the return of the ultimate warrior and we get a video review of warrior in the WWF back in the day. Triple H/ with Sable Vs The Ultimate Warrior, warrior gets the big return treatment with lots of Pryo and is clearly still over as he gets a big pop from the crowd who were probably just happy to see him back in the WWF. Hunter looks disgusted by warriors pre match posing and attacks warrior before the bell. Hunter then gives warrior a knee lift and then pedigrees warrior as jerry claims on commentary warrior is done for but warrior just pops right back up. Warrior hulks up and military presses hunter and then gives him a flying shoulder blockh and then gives him a second military press and splashes hunter for the 1,2 and 3. Your winner the returning ultimate warrior, Back to the streets of LA and vince says there heading back to arena, so I guess piper is on his way back then. In the back is WWF newest addition wildman merc mero the artist formerly known as Johnny B. badd he tells Todd he's more than up to the challenge of succeeding in WWF then hunter is shown arriving with sable he says something to sable the then mrs mero and the two get into it I don't know what was said due to the audio being muted on my VHS. Up next is diesel and the undertaker and another video package airs the same old that has aired 3 times already. Diesel Vs The Undertaker/ with Paul Bearer. It takes both men seven minutes to make there respective entrances which was probably to long in my opinion. Anyway to the match, both men trade left and rights before the bell rings. Diesel gives taker an Irish whip into the corner and drives an elbow into the jaw of the undertaker. Diesel then gives taker a clothes line over the top rope, both men brawl on the outside and then taker whips diesel into the ring steps. Back in the ring taker goes for a tombstone but diesel counters and then taker goes for the old school move which connects to big daddy cools shoulder. Taker goes for the flying clothes line but diesel ducks and taker hits the mat hard. Diesel and taker exchange left and rights and diesel again falls to the outside, on the outside taker grabs a chair and takes a swing at diesel but diesel ducks and taker hits the ring post. Diesel grabs taker and rams him back first into the guardrail then diesel scoops up taker and rams him back first into the ring post. Diesel then stalks Paul bearer at ringside and gets into the ring and does a cocky pose which gets tremendous heat from the live crowd. Taker rolls into the ring at the eight count, diesel then gives taker the big boot and gloats some more as the crowd boo. Vince says on commentary no one has dominated the undertaker like this before. Back to the action and diesel gives taker the side walk slam as the crowd chant rest in peace. Snake eyes by diesel to taker and diesel taunts the crowd some more to maybe get his Smackdown meter charged. Diesel pummels taker in the corner and then diesel Irish whips taker into the other corner. Then both men go for the same move as both men do the big boot and each man hits the mat and now both men are down and not moving. Diesel then bear hugs taker as both men need a rest now. Taker comes back to life and battles out of the bear hug then diesel gives taker a side head lock but taker picks him up and drills diesel with a back body drop. Taker goes up to the top rope and hits the big flying clothes line this time and covers diesel for only a two count. Both men slug it out again exchanging left and rights, diesel then jack knife powerbombs taker but diesel doesn't go for the cover. Instead he taunts taker and the crowd some more as bearer raises up the urn and taker sits up. Diesel stomps taker and does the jack knife again and again does not pin taker and taunts the crowd but it worked they gave him mammoth heat for his cocky antics. Diesel after taunting the crowd pins taker at long last but taker kicks out at two then taker grabs diesel by the throat and chokes him. Both men get up and taker stares diesel in the eyes and diesel breaks the choke and gives taker a big back body drop. A cocky diesel turns his back to taker to taunt the crowd yet again and when he turns around taker is waiting for him and taker drills diesel with a choke slam. Taker is to exhausted and beaten to pin Nash but recover then cuts his throat and drills diesel with the tombstone to pick up the win. Winner the undertaker who goes 5-0 at wrestlemania. Todd pettengill is in the back watching the tv monitors waiting to see if he can see piper and Goldust returning to the arena he tells vince nothing yet vince then the two cars appear on the monitor and Todd screams there back vince look it's them, ok Todd calm down. Goldust is the first to arrive and piper soon follows, both men get out of their respective cars as Goldust runs to Marlenas side and piper is in hot pursuit. Piper decks Goldust as goldy runs off out into the aisle way and the match is back on. Parking Lot Brawl Part 2 Rowdy Roddy Piper Vs Goldust. The two begin to brawl in the ring and goldy takes advantage by targeting pipers knee with kicks and then drops a knee into pipers family jewels. Goldust guts piper into a position to Piledrive him but instead puts his hands all over pipers bottom as the crowd groans in horror at this. Roddy breaks free but Goldust drops to his knees and gives piper a low blow. Goldy then remove pipers shirt and begins to choke hot rod with the shirt. Goldy then sits on pipers chest and fakes kissing piper and chokes him instead. Goldy then kisses piper and piper loses it unloading left and rights into goldy face. Piper then kicks Goldust in the nuts and begins to remove Goldusts full body suit and it reveals that Goldust is wearing ladies lineage. Piper drops a knee into Goldusts nuts and goldy rolls to the outside into his then wife's arms terri runnels a/k/a Marlena and goldy and Marlena retreat to the back as pipers music plays and I guess piper wins. Your Winner Rowdy Roddy Piper, afterwards piper celebrates with his son colt maybe for a bit to long as on the VHS version I watched it cut Some of pipers celebration as one minute he had no shirt on then the obvious edit as it returned and piper was wearing his leather jacket. A video review airs on the feud between Shawn Michaels and Bret hart it was the mentioned above video in where Bret was made to look weak and old while Shawn was put over as strong athletic hero. Moving on to some pre tapped promos of Bret and Shawn who both believe they can win tonight's 1 hour ironman match. WWF Championship 1 hour Ironman Title Match: Bret The Hitman Hart (Champion) Vs HBK Shawn Michaels. The fink announces that interim president gorilla monsoon was now the full time president and was here to watch this match as gorilla stood there in mid ring. Shawn's music then hits but out comes Jose lothairo as jerry ponders weather Shawn has got cold feet and bottled it but no says vince look, look up there and there is Shawn high up above the arena on a zip line and he ascends to the ring below as the crowd cheer. Bret doesn't get any big entrance but the crowd is clearly happy to see him and his pop is as big as Shawn's. Referee earl hebner relays the rules to both that the most falls over an hour wins you the match and the WWF championship. The bell rings and here we go, both men lock up and Shawn takes Bret down then there is reversal by Bret but Shawn escapes. Both men exchange holds on the mat and are testing one another out says vince. Take down by Shawn again with a headlock to Bret but Bret escapes and again both men lock up and again Shawn takes the Hitman down. Shawn moves from the head to hitmans arm and locks up Hitman in an arm bar. Both men work the hold as Shawn works over brets arm and Bret keeps going for the headlock as the crowd go silent. Bret has a side headlock locked in on Shawn and Shawn tries to counter it by back body dropping hart but Bret cranks on the pressure with the hold and Shawn can't execute the move. Shawn in fact can't break the headlock and he is in it for a good couple of minutes, Shawn finally battles out of the hold with punches to Hitmans gut. The two counter and reverse each other's wrist lock which Bret wins he then gets Shawn down and applies the front face lock onto HBK. Shawn counters the hold into his own but Bret counters that and takes Shawn back down into the headlock. Shawn breaks free both men run the ropes with a cross cross and Shawn arm drags Bret and applies a arm bar back onto the Hitman. Stu hart and classy Freddie blassy are shown watching the action at ringside. Bret counters the arm bar and escapes but then is given a drop toe hold by Shawn who goes back to arm bar and then the hammer lock. Bret gets up while still in the hold and backs Shawn into the corner and throws a very stiff elbow to break the hold then an irrate Shawn grabs Bret and the two trade potato punches (legit punches). Bret whips Shawn into the corner and follows him in but Shawn catches Bret in a head scissors and it sends hart to the outside. Bret gets back in the ring and charges at Shawn but he gives Bret a Firemans carry and goes right back to the arm bar. Bret breaks the hold and sends Shawn into the ropes and Shawn skins the cat, Bret catches HBK and a standing switch by Shawn who takes down Bret and goes right back to the arm bar. Hip toss by Bret to Shawn and Bret headbutts shawn in abdominal, Bret applies a chinlock but Shawn counters it with a jaw breaker. Shawn then drops a leg drop and Shawn goes back to the arm again this time with another arm bar. There is now some clearly restless folk in the first few rows and someone on camara clearly yawns, oh dear. 15 minutes in now and Shawn is still working the arm with an arm bar. Bret tries to reverse the arm bar but can't but eventually does and sends Shawn into the ropes but Shawn rebounds with a Lou Thesz press but Bret catches Shawn and dumps Shawn onto the mat and goes for the shape shooter but Shawn rolls through to break the attempted shape shooter. Both men go to the outside and Shawn pushes Bret onto the timekeeper and Shawn goes for the superkick but Bret moves and Shawn hits the timekeeper (it wasn't regular timekeeper mark yeaton). Back in the ring Shawn has another arm bar locked in and it's clear some people in the crowd ain't enjoying this while others are getting up and leaving for popcorn or just leaving. Bret reverses the arm bar and applies a chinlock on Shawn, meanwhile the timekeeper is stretchered away. Shawn breaks free with an arm drag to Bret but Bret counters the arm bar attempt by Shawn and goes back the chin locking Shawn. Shawn breaks free and gives Hitman a drop kick then Shawn applies a chinlock of his own as on screen you can see vince looking out on the crowd who are moving around while some seats are now empty. Another arm drag by Shawn then he drives his knee into brets arm, Shawn is still working over the arm. Bret again backs Shawn into the corner clearly elbows Shawn hard again in the jaw. The two then exchange some more potato punches then Shawn Irish whips Bret into the ring post and Hitman falls to the outside. HBK is heard saying get the fuck out of my way to a cameraman, back in the ring Shawn goes back to the hammerlock. Shawn follows it up with a hammer lock slam and then rams Bret shoulder first into the top turnbuckle. HBK stomps Bret and gives Bret a number of double axe handle smashes to brets shoulder. Bret battles back but Shawn drops Hitman with a double arm DDT then Michaels goes right back to the arm. Bret rolls onto his stomach to relieve some of the pressure of the arm bar and eventually breaks free. Bret then begins to stomp HBK, Bret whips Shawn into the corner but Shawn follows it up with another potato punch to brets face and Shawn goes right back to the arm bar. Were 30 minutes in now and there is obvious gaps within the cheap seats, Bret then gives Shawn a slingshot and Shawn goes head first into the ring post on top of the turnbuckle. Bret covers shawn but only gets a two count, Shawn then rams Bret head first into the top turnbuckle. Bret then gives HBK an inverted atomic drop and then Bret clotheslines Shawn. Bret gives Shawn a bulldog, Bret goes up top and Shawn tries to cut Bret off but Bret fights HBK off and grabs Shawn by the hair and drives his knee into the back of Shawn's neck while falling from the top rope (that looked amazing).  Bret covers HBK for only a two, Bret hits the ropes but Shawn does a leapfrog and follows it up with a powerslam and Shawn covers Bret for another two count. Bret then piledrives Shawn and covers him again only a two count as some of the crowd booed the false finish. Leg drop by Bret to Shawn then Bret goes up top but Shawn catches him and throws Bret off the top rope. Shawn mounts Bret and unloads with left and rights into the hitmans face, Shawn teases sweet chin music but Bret rolls to the outside and Shawn goes up top and dives out onto Bret who's on the outside. Shawn returns to the ring as the referee begins to count but Shawn breaks it up and rolls Bret back into the ring. Shawn goes up top and gives Bret a cross body and covers the Hitman for another two count. Both men try to go for a backslide but neither man wins the battle so they break free and as Shawn turns around Bret gives him a small package for a two count. HBK then gives Bret a perfect plex for another near fall as jerry remarks Shawn obviously isn't perfect. Shawn slaps on a sleeper and Bret goes and backs up Shawn into the corner but Shawn refuses to Break the hold. Bret goes for a back drop to release the hold but Shawn lands on his feet and Shawn Irish whips Bret into the corner then Shawn charges Bret but Bret sends shawn up and over to the outside. Earl begins to count out Shawn but Bret breaks up the count and drives Shawn into the ring post then rolls Shawn back into the ring. More gaps begin to appear in the cheap seats, Bret headbutts and clubs Shawn in the back as vince remarks Bret is softening him up for the shape shooter. Bret then drives his knee hard into Shawn's back serveal time and follows it up by putting Shawn on the top rope. Back body drop by Bret to Shawn from the second rope then Bret covers Shawn for another near fall. Bret then puts Shawn into the camel clutch and I think these two deserve a rest at this point but some smart arses chant boring. Shawn breaks free and gives Bret a roll up for a two count, Bret pummels HBK some more and whips him hard into the corner. Bret goes up top with Shawn and the two battle it out on top but both men fall off the top rope. Bret goes and takes down Shawn again and then drives his knee some more into Michaels back. A big Irish whip by Bret to Shawn which sends Shawn hard into the buckle and shawn goes up and over to the outside. On the outside now and Bret whips Shawn into the ring steps as he approach the 15 minute mark. Back in the ring now and Bret goes for what looked like a belly to belly suplex and then Bret drives his knee repeatable into Shawn's back. Shawn gets back up and rolls up Bret for the 1,2 no and brets kick out sends Shawn through the middle rope to the outside. Bret then dives out through the middle rope onto Shawn who's on the outside stil. Bret gets in the ring and looks out at the crowd who are booing him by now but there is still some cheers for the Hitman. Now Bret is happy for earl to count but Shawn just rolls back into the ring at eight. Bret goes for a suplex but Shawn counters it to land on his feet Bret does and standing switch and is now behind Michaels and executes a perfect misawa like German suplex. Bret covers Shawn but only gets a two, both men exchange some left and rights a few potato and a few worked punches are thrown by both. Bret and Shawn both fall down exhausted but Bret goes and gets on top of Shawn to give him another camel clutch. Again a much deserved rest for the two after a minute or two Shawn breaks free and both men hit the ropes and meet in the middle of ring clothes lining each other and now both men are down as earl puts a count on them. Both men get up at seven and trade worked punches back and fourth, Bret then crotches Shawn on the top rope and bre goes up and joins him and from the top rope Bret suplexes Shawn down onto the mat. Bret can't capitalise on a pin as he is exhausted so when he does get up he teases another sharpshooter but can't hook it so tease a figure four but Shawn blocks that. so Bret turns Shawn over into a Boston crab and Shawn is clearly in pain but reaches the ropes eventually to force Bret to break the hold. Back breaker to Bret by Shawn and we get a 5 minute warning from the king. Bret goes to the second rope to drop his elbow drop but Shawn gets a foot up and now both men are down. Shawn fires off some forearm smashes into harts face which backs Bret up into the corner and Shawn Irish whips Bret chest first into the top turnbuckle. Shawn falls down exhausted to and can't capitalise, Bret pulls himself up with the aide of the ropes while shawn does his nip up to some cheers and boos from the crowd. Shawn hits a flying spinning elbow to Bret then Shawn jumps up top and drops a double axe handle onto the head of the Hitman. Shawn gives bet a snap suplex then goes back up top and drops an elbow onto Bret then Shawn crawls over to Bret and covers him 1,2 no Bret just kicks out with two minutes to go. Shawn is back up top and moonsualts off into the awaiting hitmans arms and covers Bret again for another two count. Shawn running on fumes nips up again and gives Bret a scoop slam he then crawls to the corner and gets up and stomps the mat signalling the impending arrival of sweet chin music. Shawn then dealts himself stops tuning up the band and jumps up top and flies off into the awaiting hitmans arms and Bret dumps Shawn on his head. Steps over and rolls Shawn over into the sharpshooter as the clock ticks down from 38 seconds to zero which the crowd counts down as well. The bell rings and Shawn hadn't tapped out but Bret goes out grabs his title and begin to leave as gorilla monsoon says something to the fink. The fink then announced this match will be going into sudden death over time to brets dismay. Bret screams something at gorilla while some audience members cheered and booed. Then goes right back on the attack of Shawn by driving 3 knees into Shawn's back then gives Shawn a back body drop and another back breaker. Bret Irish whips Shawn into the corner and charges HBK but HBK leapfrogs Bret who ends up running into the turnbuckle. As Bret turns around boom he gets blasted with a superkick and is out cold but Shawn can't pin Bret due to his hurt back and exhaustion. Both men get up and Shawn hits another  superkick and pins Bret for the 1,2 and 3. Your winner and New WWF champion the heartbreak kid Shawn Michaels. I a rather classless moves Shawn mouths to Bret get the fuck out my ring as Bret hands over the title to the new champion. Pryo goes off as Shawn celebrates to end the 12th addition of wrestlemania. So I'm not knocking the main event it was a tremendous match but in front of this crowd it didn't seem to work some obviously genuinely enjoyed it why others clearly disliked it and walked out on the Match altogether or entertained themsevles by booing or chanting boring. Overall I really enjoyed this show even if it was only a 1 match show a lot of the other matches ranged from good to just plain average and didn't have the wrestlemania fill to them at all. so I'd give this show an 8 out 10 because the main event was what carried this show and if you haven't seen it then I'd highly recommend you go out of your way to see it.