WrestleMania XII: Shawn Screws Bret, Take One

Greetings, brethren. Welcome to the first WWE WrestleMania of the Monday Night Wars era, which took place on March 31, 1996 at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, CA.

One thing you will discover for both this and WrestleMania 2000, which was in the same venue, is that Anaheim fans have a tendency to play dead at inopportune times. I theorized that they were all robots from some animatronic Disney parade and thus were deprived of emotions like elation, euphoria, and “Holy crap, why does Steve Blackman have a job?” I think maybe I judge the Anaheimers (Anaheimlickers?) too harshly.

This was a watershed day for 12 year old Justin, as his childhood hero Shawn Michaels was either going to become WWE Champion for the first time, or fall short as he’d done in the past. I also watched the event alone, because my brother Josh had been boycotting WWF since Summerslam 1995 for having such a lousy product. He tuned in exclusively to WCW, which had the Dungeon of Doom. Lesson learned: Josh is a schmuck.

Pre-show action including the Bodydonnas winning the Tag Team Tournament finals over the Godwinns, and The “Huckster” and “Nacho Man” both dying in their geriatric match. Six years later, that same senile Hulk Hogan would become WWF Champion, because Vince McMahon had buried most of the roster into oblivion. I can’t write comedy this good.

Read more about it on CamelClutchBlog.com.

Posted on March 10, 2010 | Filed Under WWE