As far as what I remember concerning the in-ring action? I clearly remember going up to Owen Hart after his match with Bret, and putting over how much I enjoyed it. That night was such a monumental one for Owen, as it represented the night that he officially came out from his older brother’s shadow. Owen was so thankful that I enjoyed the match, I can even remember him asking me a few times if I “REALLY” meant what I said. I DID.
Who will ever forget Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon putting the ladder match on the map that night. Up until that point, you had never seen spectacles quite like that in the World Wrestling Federation. Twenty-one years ago, the ladder match was new and innovative, and the performers were still trying to feel their way around the steel rungs. If that match would have bombed that night might we had never seen another? Who knows?
Then, the first time I ever saw the wrestling “media” have any kind of influence over a wrestling company. YES it was even happening 21 years ago!!! At that time the New York Daily News had a weekly wrestling column in its paper, I believe it was every Friday. The “blog” was penned by a guy who called himself “The Slammer”, who was really a writer by the name of Hank Winnikki. Now, Winnikki wasn’t “really” the wrestling insider that he made himself out to be, he had a source, that source was a very good friend of mine called Blackjack Brown. Blackjack was a lean, tall African-American fellow who stood out not only because he dressed in all black like Johnny Cash, but because he had cauliflower ears…and he wasn’t even a wrestler. That was always strange to me.
That Sunday in the Daily News, Slammer reported what the finish of that night’s WrestleMania X main event was going to be coming out of a somewhat convoluted storyline involving Bret Hart, Yokzouna and Lex Luger. I’m not going to go into the details of the construction of the angle, it would take too long, but anyway, it appeared that Slammer/Blackjack had gotten the finish RIGHT, somebody had stooged it off to them in advance. I clearly can remember Pat Patterson running around in the back with the Daily News in hand…and he wasn’t happy. To be quite honest with you 21 years later I can’t remember if the finish was change from what was written in the News, or not, but either way, it did have an impact on WWF management at the time.
Incredible isn’t it? Twenty-one years later. Roman Reigns, or Daniel Bryan, and, even though in a different way, the “insiders” are still having a voice in the outcome of WWE finishes.
Amazing.
