WWE WAR ZONE - The Tombstone

Wrestlemania XII took place on March 31st, 1996. The WWF was at the very beginning of a transitional stage, where they would move from the “New Generation” to “WWF Attitude”. In fact, the night after Wrestlemania XII, Mick Foley made his WWF debut as Mankind, and as you probably know Wrestlemania XII was one of Diesel’s (Kevin Nash) last few WWF appearances before jumping to WCW. Wrestlemania XII also served to be Yokozuna, Ted Dibiase, and Jake Roberts’ last Wrestlemania. However, it was the first Wrestlemania for Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H.

The main event of the evening was a changing of the guards, as much as I hate to admit that. The classic Iron Man match between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart for the WWF title took place that night, as Michaels beat Bret Hart in overtime to become WWF Champion for the very first time. It was a classic match, and it was the last we would see of the Hitman for about six months. When he returned in October of 1996, the landscape of the WWF was quickly changing. I’ll cover that more in the Wrestlemania 13 column. In any event, the match started with the grand spectacle of Michaels entering the arena via the air on a huge cable that stretched from the rafters to the floor. As Vince McMahon on commentary yelled out “UNBELIVABLE WHAT A RIDE!” we already knew that it was probably a given who would be winning that match. Michaels had fallen to Diesel in the title match a year earlier, but was now much more popular and with two consecutive Royal Rumble wins, you knew he was being groomed for main event status. But as the match neared its end with no falls for either man, Hart had Michaels trapped in the Sharpshooter when time expired. Michaels ended up beating Bret in overtime, but the Hitman marks out there (ahem, speaking) still think Bret got screwed.

Elsewhere on the card, The Undertaker scored a decisive victory over Diesel, Rowdy Roddy Piper beat Goldust in a bizarre Hollywood Backlot Brawl, Triple H lost a very one-sided battle against the returning (albeit briefly) Ultimate Warrior, and Stone Cold Steve Austin made his first Wrestlemania appearance with Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase in his corner against Savio Vega. I believe Wrestlemania XII was one of only two Wrestlemanias to not feature an Intercontinental Title match, as Goldust was the current champion and did not put the title up for grabs against Piper. The only other time the belt has not been defended to the best of my recollection is at Wrestlemania XIX when the belt was in retirement after the “Winner Takes All” match at No Mercy 2002.

I’ll be back ASAP with Wrestlemania 13… 1