WM X]

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 March 28, 1994

WRESTLEMANIA X

Thumbs up 339 (74.7%)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter

PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 March 28, 1994

WRESTLEMANIA X

Thumbs up 339 (74.7%)

Thumbs down 60 (13.2%)

In the middle 55 (12.1%)

BEST MATCH POLL

Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels 353

Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart 101

WORST MATCH POLL

Lex Luger vs. Yokozuna 173

Earthquake vs. Adam Bomb 143

Doink & Dink vs. Bam Bam Bigelow & Luna Vachon 82

Quebecers vs. Men on Mission 40

Alundra Blayze vs. Leilani Kai 9

Based on phone calls and fax messages to the Observer as of Tuesday, 3/22. Margin of error: +-100%

Shawn Michaels put on one of the greatest individual performances in the history of the business at Wrestlemania X on 3/20 in New York's Madison Square Garden to highlight what the consensus is the best PPV show in WWF history. Michaels, in one of his last shows with the company before going on a what is planned to be a several month long sabbatical, put on a performance that left just about everyone in wrestling in awe in his ladder match loss to Razor Ramon. The match, probably the best match ever on a WWF PPV show, somehow overshadowed one of the greatest matches in WWF history between Bret Hart and Owen Hart that opened the show and a WWF title change with Bret's later regaining of the WWF title from Yokozuna in an average match in the evening's finale. The Hart-Hart match, with Owen scoring the surprise clean win to elevate him into the upper echelon, appeared when it was over to be a strong match-of-the-year candidate and was a tad better than the legendary Rick Steamboat-Randy Savage Wrestlemania III match which has largely been considered the greatest match in modern WWF history because of the stronger finish and every bit as good overall work.

Aside from the two excellent matches, Wrestlemania X would have been a mediocre show. However few shows in history from any promotion have ever had two matches of that quality and I was shocked at how many thumbs downs and thumbs in the middles this show received. From our poll standpoint, this show did about the same as Wrestlemania VI and worse than King of the Ring from last year. Even the first WCW Clash of the Champions on March 27, 1988 in Greensboro which had matches that finished first and second (Sting vs. Ric Flair and Midnight Express vs. Fantastics) in the match of the year balloting couldn't match the 1-2 punch in match quality and that show had nothing but two matches either. Some of the 1989 WCW PPV shows had more great matches, but none had two matches this great on the same show. The only other show that comes to mind that might have been comparable as far as the top two matches are concerned would be an August 22, 1985 All Japan women's show (double main event of Chigusa Nagayo vs. Devil Masami and Lioness Asuka vs. Jaguar Yokota) and those matches were both heavily edited when they appeared on television so comparisons can only be made based on reports from those who attended live. The December 10, 1993 All Japan women's show at Korakuen Hall which had two tag matches with the same four women back-to-back, if they are considered as two separate matches, could be comparable and Cactus Jack and Eddie Gilbert had three memorable matches on the same night in Philadelphia on a Joel Goodhart show several years ago.

Besides the work quality of two of the matches, Wrestlemania X appeared to have set a record for the largest gate for a pro wrestling show ever in the United States (the WWF's three best gates in history were for stadium shows in Toronto, London and Tokyo), although no figures were available at press time and that was a record that had been primed to be broken for several years simply by charging higher prices to a Wrestlemania even in a large indoor arena and selling out. The old U.S. record was $1,628,000 set in Atlantic City for Wrestlemania V (Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage). This show sold approximately the same number of tickets (in the 19,000 range, selling out in three days) but had higher ticket prices. Those who were there live reported that there were large blocks of empty seats, particularly at the top, but even in the lower regions, so there were a surprising number of no-shows. In typical WWF fashion, the company sent out a press release after the show claiming the show was expected to draw the largest PPV audience of all-time. I just hope they don't say things like this in the court room or they'll have even more indictments to worry about. As expected, this year's Wrestlemania appears to have actually drawn the lowest buy rate of any WM in the past, a 1.7--down about 15 percent from last year, but between live and PPV that almost surely will be by far the biggest wrestling show of the year. That figure would translate into about 390,000 buys or an estimated $5.27 million company gross. I haven't received a report as far as the adjacent Paramount Theater goes, except that tickets were still available at the door that day.


WRESTLEMANIA X
BEST MATCH POLL
WORST MATCH POLL
RESULTS
JAPANESE TELEVISION RUNDOWN


Thumbs down 60 (13.2%)

In the middle 55 (12.1%)

BEST MATCH POLL

Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels 353

Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart 101

WORST MATCH POLL

Lex Luger vs. Yokozuna 173

Earthquake vs. Adam Bomb 143

Doink & Dink vs. Bam Bam Bigelow & Luna Vachon 82

Quebecers vs. Men on Mission 40

Alundra Blayze vs. Leilani Kai 9

Based on phone calls and fax messages to the Observer as of Tuesday, 3/22. Margin of error: +-100%

Shawn Michaels put on one of the greatest individual performances in the history of the business at Wrestlemania X on 3/20 in New York's Madison Square Garden to highlight what the consensus is the best PPV show in WWF history. Michaels, in one of his last shows with the company before going on a what is planned to be a several month long sabbatical, put on a performance that left just about everyone in wrestling in awe in his ladder match loss to Razor Ramon. The match, probably the best match ever on a WWF PPV show, somehow overshadowed one of the greatest matches in WWF history between Bret Hart and Owen Hart that opened the show and a WWF title change with Bret's later regaining of the WWF title from Yokozuna in an average match in the evening's finale. The Hart-Hart match, with Owen scoring the surprise clean win to elevate him into the upper echelon, appeared when it was over to be a strong match-of-the-year candidate and was a tad better than the legendary Rick Steamboat-Randy Savage Wrestlemania III match which has largely been considered the greatest match in modern WWF history because of the stronger finish and every bit as good overall work.

Aside from the two excellent matches, Wrestlemania X would have been a mediocre show. However few shows in history from any promotion have ever had two matches of that quality and I was shocked at how many thumbs downs and thumbs in the middles this show received. From our poll standpoint, this show did about the same as Wrestlemania VI and worse than King of the Ring from last year. Even the first WCW Clash of the Champions on March 27, 1988 in Greensboro which had matches that finished first and second (Sting vs. Ric Flair and Midnight Express vs. Fantastics) in the match of the year balloting couldn't match the 1-2 punch in match quality and that show had nothing but two matches either. Some of the 1989 WCW PPV shows had more great matches, but none had two matches this great on the same show. The only other show that comes to mind that might have been comparable as far as the top two matches are concerned would be an August 22, 1985 All Japan women's show (double main event of Chigusa Nagayo vs. Devil Masami and Lioness Asuka vs. Jaguar Yokota) and those matches were both heavily edited when they appeared on television so comparisons can only be made based on reports from those who attended live. The December 10, 1993 All Japan women's show at Korakuen Hall which had two tag matches with the same four women back-to-back, if they are considered as two separate matches, could be comparable and Cactus Jack and Eddie Gilbert had three memorable matches on the same night in Philadelphia on a Joel Goodhart show several years ago.

Besides the work quality of two of the matches, Wrestlemania X appeared to have set a record for the largest gate for a pro wrestling show ever in the United States (the WWF's three best gates in history were for stadium shows in Toronto, London and Tokyo), although no figures were available at press time and that was a record that had been primed to be broken for several years simply by charging higher prices to a Wrestlemania even in a large indoor arena and selling out. The old U.S. record was $1,628,000 set in Atlantic City for Wrestlemania V (Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage). This show sold approximately the same number of tickets (in the 19,000 range, selling out in three days) but had higher ticket prices. Those who were there live reported that there were large blocks of empty seats, particularly at the top, but even in the lower regions, so there were a surprising number of no-shows. In typical WWF fashion, the company sent out a press release after the show claiming the show was expected to draw the largest PPV audience of all-time. I just hope they don't say things like this in the court room or they'll have even more indictments to worry about. As expected, this year's Wrestlemania appears to have actually drawn the lowest buy rate of any WM in the past, a 1.7--down about 15 percent from last year, but between live and PPV that almost surely will be by far the biggest wrestling show of the year. That figure would translate into about 390,000 buys or an estimated $5.27 million company gross. I haven't received a report as far as the adjacent Paramount Theater goes, except that tickets were still available at the door that day.