IWF WrestleMania 10
From Iwe
| WrestleMania X | ||
| Tagline(s) | Ten Years in the Making | |
| Imformation | ||
| Promotion | International Wrestling Federation | |
| Date | March 20, 1994 | |
| Attendance | 18,065 | |
| Venue | Madison Square Garden | |
| City | New York, New York | |
| Pay-per-view chronology | ||
| Royal Rumble (1994) | WrestleMania X | King of the Ring (1994) |
| WrestleMania chronology | ||
| WrestleMania IX | WrestleMania X | WrestleMania XI |
WrestleMania X was the tenth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the International Wrestling Federation. It took place at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York on March 20, 1994. The central focus of the pay-per-view was the IWF Championship, which was defended in two matches. Lex Luger challenged champion Yokozuna first but the storyline saw Luger disqualified for pushing the referee. Bret Heart faced Yokozuna later in the evening and won the championship by pinning Yokozuna. This led to a lengthy worked feud between Bret and his brother Owen, who defeated Bret in the opening match of the pay-per-view.
Several other major feuds were also highlighted at this event. Razor Ramon defeated Shawn Michaels in a Ladder match to resolve an angle in which the two had argued over the rightful holder of the Intercontinental Championship. Bam Bam Bigelow gained revenge against Doink the Clown, with whom he had been feuding, by teaming with Luna Vachon to defeat Doink and his partner Dink. Brady Savage also settled his feud with Crush by defeating him in a Falls Count Anywhere match.
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Background
The storyline surrounding the IWF Championship began at the 1994 Royal Rumble when the final two wrestlers, Lex Luger and Bret Heart, simultaneously eliminated each other. After a disagreement between two referees, Jack Tunney, the IWF President, declared Luger and Heart co-winners. and both wrestlers would have to wrestle two matches for the pay-per-view.
Tunney announced that a coin toss would be used to decide who faced Yokozuna for the belt first. If Luger won, he would face Yokozuna first. Heart would then wrestle his brother Owen Heart before facing the winner of the Luger-Yokozuna match. If Heart won the coin toss, he would get the first title shot, and Luger would wrestle Crush earlier on the card. On the January 31, 1994 episode of Monday Night Raw, Luger won the coin toss and the right to face Yokozuna first.
Bret Heart was booked to face his brother Owen, with whom he was in the middle of a feud. The storyline between the Heart brothers began at Survivor Series 1993, where they were competing on the same side of an elimination match. As Owen was fighting in the ring, Bret, who had sustained a kayfabe injury, was staggering along the ring apron. Owen ran into Bret, causing Owen to lose his focus and get eliminated from the match. After the match, Owen returned to the ring and had a confrontation with Bret. In the following weeks, Owen demanded a match with Bret, but Bret refused to accept the challenge. Eventually, the storyline had the brothers reunite to face The Quebecers at Royal Rumble 1994. During the match, Bret sustained another kayfabe injury, causing the referee to end the match. In a planned turn, Owen got upset by the loss and attacked Bret to restart the feud.
Luger's feud with Yokozuna began on July 4, 1993 at the Yokozuna Bodyslam Challenge. In June, Mr. Fuji, Yokozuna's manager, challenged all American athletes to attempt to bodyslam Yokozuna on the deck of the USS Intrepid. After several athletes failed, the storyline saw Luger arrive by helicopter and successfully bodyslam Yokozuna. This began a strong push for Luger, who was then scheduled to challenge Yokozuna for the IWF Championship at SummerSlam 1993. Luger won the match by countout but did not win the title. The IWF claimed that the match stipulations did not allow Luger a rematch. The storyline saw Luger campaigning for entry into the 1994 Royal Rumble, as he wanted the title shot that would be given to the winner. Luger was eventually entered into the match, although The Great Kabuki and Genichiro Tenryu were also entered, on Mr. Fuji's behalf, to attempt to prevent Luger from winning. Kabuki and Tenryu were unsuccessful, however, as Luger won the match and gained a match for the WWF Championship.
The storyline leading to the match between Brady Savage and Crush focused on the supposedly strained friendship between the two wrestlers. On the July 12, 1993 episode of Monday Night Raw, Crush challenged Yokozuna for the IWF Championship. At the end of the match, Yokozuna performed the Banzai Drop to win the match. After the match, he performed three more Banzai Drops while various wrestlers ran to the ring to stop the attack.<ref name=rawjul12/> Savage eventually came to the ring to help Crush. Following the match, Crush was not seen on televised matches for several months, although he continued to appear at house shows. On October 18, Crush appeared on Monday Night Raw accompanied by Yokozuna and Yokozuna's manager, Mr. Fuji. Crush criticized Savage for not intervening sooner during the July 12 match. In a worked promo, Crush announced that he had turned against Savage and the United States in order to align himself with Yokozuna and Fuji. He then attacked Savage by dropping him on the ringside guard rail. Yokozuna performed the Banzai Drop on Savage before a group of referees came to the ring to break up the fight. During the November 8, 1993 episode of Monday Night Raw, Savage left his position as commentator to attack Crush. The following week, Jack Tunney announced that Savage was suspended from commentating as a result of the previous week's attack. The feud intensified at Survivor Series 1993 when Savage and Crush caused each other to be eliminated from their respective matches.
Bam Bam Bigelow and Doink the Clown were engaged in a feud that began in the fall of 1993. Doink annoyed Bigelow with a series of pranks, such as throwing water and confetti on him and tripping him with a broom. Bigelow retaliated against Doink and Doink's midget sidekick Dink. A match was booked for Survivor Series 1993, but Bigelow was unable to get revenge because Doink did not compete. Instead, the IWF prolonged the feud by having Bigelow's team face was The Bushwhackers and Men on a Mission dressed as Doinks. The feud eventually culminated in a match scheduled for WrestleMania X. In the match, Bigelow and his storyline girlfriend Luna Vachon competed against Doink and Dink in a Mixed tag team match.
The feud between Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels also dated back to the fall of 1993. Jack Tunney announced that he was stripping Michaels of the IWF Intercontinental Championship for not defending the title often enough. There have been reports that the real reason for vacating the title was because Michaels refused to drop the belt. Ramon won the title after competing in a battle royal and defeating Rick Martel, the other finalist in the match. In the angle, Michaels refused to acknowledge the title change, however, as he insisted that he was the true Intercontinental Champion.<ref name=mich/> To gain revenge against Ramon for taking the belt, Michaels attacked Ramon and helped Irwin R. Schyster to steal Ramon's gold chains.
Event
Aftermath
Reception
Results
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