Stuck in-between Hulkamania and the Monday Night Wars/Attitude Era, 1995 was a tough transition year for WWE, especially when looking at WrestleMania XI.

However, there was a beacon of light on this day 20 years ago when WWE drew a big house to Madison Square Garden in New York City and delivered a high-quality show.

This led into WrestleMania XI a few weeks later, headlined by former New York Giants star Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow, which generated mainstream attention in WWE's key market.

WWF House Show Flashback
March 19, 1995
New York City at MSG
Originally Published PWTorch Newsletter #328

Weekly Coverage of the 1995 Transition Year can be found in the 1995 Torch Newsletter Back-Issues for VIP Members. Not VIP? CLICK HERE to Go VIP - PWTorch.com/GoVIP.

In one of the bigger money-drawing house shows in U.S. wrestling over the past few years, the WWF drew an estimated 18,000 (just hundreds short of a sellout) Sunday afternoon, Mar. 19 at Madison Square Garden. The comps were no more than usual when the WWF was drawing 10-12,000 for its MSG house shows, so given MSG's price structure, the gate was in the $250,000 range.

The near sellout was an unexpected surprise for the WWF and has raised morale behind the scenes, which wasn't necessarily suffering to begin with given the increased pay-per-view schedule that should increase overall revenue and profit this year compared to last.

The success of the MSG show can be attributed partially to the Wrestlemania hype that has penetrated the New York Market due to Lawrence Taylor's involvement. MSG is where Diesel won the WWF Title and continues to be the arena where he has the strongest following. With Diesel and Michaels on top in the tag match, it's a strong sign for their current drawing power in that market.

The results are as follows:

(1) Erik Watts & Chad Fortunate debuted and defeated The Heavenly Bodies when Watts pinned Prichard in a fast-paced opener. Watts & Fortune, although totally unknown, quickly generated crowd interest and kept it up during a fast-paced, fairly one-sided opener (**1/2).

(2) Henry Godwinn pinned Barry Horowitz in a squash.

(3) The Smoking Gunns beat Tatanka & Kama when Bart pinned Tatanka to retain the WWF Tag Team Titles. The Gunns tossed Kama out of the ring before pinning Tatanka. (**)

(4) Bob Backlund defeated Adam Bomb in an "I-quit" match with the cross-faced chicken wing. Backlund came to the ring to a standing ovation of boos, but once the bell range the match wasn't strong. The fans seemed surprised that Bomb went down fairly quickly, getting trapped in the submission hold cleanly. (*)

Bam Bam Bigelow came out to be interviewed by Todd McDonald for "Sports Extra" on FOX Ch. 5 regarding his Wrestlemania match against L.T.

(5) Diesel & Razor Ramon beat Jeff Jarrett & Shawn Michaels in what was rated at four stars by Torch correspondent Mike Omansky. There were over a dozen key interferences by Roadie during the match that lasted over a half hour which featured: incredible bumps by Michaels, excellent exchanges by Ramon with both heels, and two good powerhouse comebacks by Diesel.

There were several endings to the match. After about a half-hour, Ramon put Jarrett in the Razor's Edge while Michaels distracted the referee. Roadie then jumped in, attacked Ramon's leg, and Jarrett tossed him out. The ref came back and counted Ramon out. Diesel wanted the match to continue. The ref ruled Ramon couldn't participate, but that the match would continue two-on-one.

The second ending came when the heels beat on Diesel, who finally made a comeback, tossed Michaels out of the ring, and five minutes later powerbombed Jarrett. Roadie leaped, dragged Jarrett out, and Jarrett left the arena followed by Michaels who was counted out.

The referee then ruled that, although Jarrett was counted out, the match would continue as a one-on-one match with Diesel vs. Michaels and Michaels had 10 seconds to get back to the ring. Michaels ran back in and the two began battling. Michaels dominated briefly and then Diesel took over. At this point, Sid, who had not appeared previously, interfered and the ref rang the bell for a DQ. Undertaker then ran in to make the save. Diesel won this third segment of the bout via DQ.

(6) Undertaker defeated Bam Bam Bigelow via countout. Bigelow simply "had enough" and left the ring. No heat. (DUD).

(7) Hakushi pinned 1-2-3 Kid with a diving headbutt off the top rope. Kid, who suffered a concussion in Anaheim Mar. 12 and didn't wrestle all week, was still not recovered in this match.

(8) In the main event, British Bulldog & Bret Hart beat Jerry Lawler & Owen Hart when Bulldog pinned Lawler. The referee actually wouldn't let Lawler tag to Owen and Lawler was powerslammed and pinned. Excellent, fast-action match all the way through. Hart was the most over babyface of the night, edging Diesel and Ramon. (***)

Everyone who called the Torch regarding the show said it was one of the best shows in the area in a couple of years.

WrestleMania XI Roundtable Excerpt
By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

Wrestlemania has changed over the years in some key ways, the most prominent of which is that Hulk Hogan is no longer involved. Also, the event has been cut back from nearly four hours to just under three. Wrestlemania VI had 14 matches, not unusual for the early Wrestlemanias. With this year's seven match format, every match had the chance to develop and every match had meaning. In the early years, it seemed McMahon took pleasure in booking as many wrestlers as possible into as many matches as possible and then sold the event on the mass quantity of matches. Had there been more than seven matches this year, the event would not have been as good. Although the event ended ten minutes before satellite time expired, had it gone much longer, the approaching finish of the L.T.-Bigelow match would have been predictable for those watching the clock.

Wrestlemania XI almost seemed like just another pay-per-view, albeit a good one. Had it not been for the fanfare surrounding the L.T.-Bigelow match and the success of its execution along with the quality of the celebrities, Wrestlemania XI could have fallen short of feeling like a special card. Compared to past Wrestlemanias in domed stadiums or the ritzy Trump Plaza and Ceasar's Palace or New York's Madison Square Garden, this Wrestlemania could have come off as just another in a long line of pay-per-views.

The WWF lived up to the Wrestlemania standard and built on their heavily hyped "New Generation" theme, despite a roster with supposedly fewer top names than in the past, and without Hulk Hogan.

[Torch photo credit Wade Keller (c) PWTorch.com]

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