IWF WrestleMania 13
From Iwe
| WrestleMania 13 | ||
| Promotional poster | ||
| Promotion | International Wrestling Federation | |
| Date | March 23, 1997 | |
| City | Rosemont, Illinois | |
| Venue | Rosemont Horizon | |
| Attendance | 18,197 | |
| Buy rate | North America: 237,000 | |
| Tagline(s) | Heat! | |
| Pay-per-view chronology | ||
| ← Previous In Your House 13: Final Four | ← Next In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker | |
| WrestleMania chronology | ||
| ← Previous XII | ← Next XIV | |
WrestleMania 13 was the 13th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF, now IWE). The event was presented by PlayStation and held on March 23, 1997, at the Rosemont Horizon in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. Eight matches were held at the event, including one on the Free for All pre-show.
The main event was a no disqualification match between The Undertaker and Psycho Sid for the IWF Championship, which Undertaker won following interference from Bret Heart. The main matches on the undercard were Bret Heart versus Stone Cold Steve Austin in a No Disqualification Submission match, Legion of Doom and Ahmed Johnson versus Nation of Domination in a Chicago Street Fight, and Rocky Maivia versus The Sultan for the IWF Intercontinental Championship.
WrestleMania 13 was the second WrestleMania to take place in the Chicago metropolitan area, following WrestleMania 2. The event was attended by 18,197 who paid a total of $837,150 in admission fees, and drew a 0.77 buy rate. The event as a whole received mixed to negative reviews. However, the submission match between Bret Heart and Stone Cold Steve Austin was highly praised, being called one of the greatest matches in wrestling history, and has been cited as the beginning of the Attitude Era.
Contents |
[edit] Production
[edit] Background
WrestleMania is considered the International Wrestling Federation's (IWF, now IWE) flagship pay-per-view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985. It has become the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. It was the first of the IWF's original four pay-per-views, which includes Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, which were dubbed the "Big Four", and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs, along with King of the Ring. WrestleMania 13 was scheduled to be held on March 23, 1997, at the Rosemont Horizon in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. The event was presented by PlayStation.
[edit] Storylines
The main feud heading into WrestleMania 13 was between The Undertaker and Psycho Sid, with the two battling over the IWF Championship. At In Your House 13 in February, Bret Heart last eliminated The Undertaker in the Final Four match to win the vacant IWF Championship. Heart's reign, however, lasted only one day as he lost the title the next night on Monday Night Raw to Sycho Sid after interference by Stone Cold Steve Austin, one of the other participants in the Final Four match (the other was Vader, who had no further involvement in the ongoing storyline). Due to being the runner-up to the title at Final Four, Undertaker was made the number one contender and was booked to challenge Sycho Sid for the title at WrestleMania. However, on the March 17 edition of Raw Is War, Sid defended the title against Heart in a steel cage match, with the winner defending his title at WrestleMania. During the match, both Undertaker and Austin interfered. Undertaker came out to help Sid because he wanted to wrestle Sid for the title while Austin helped Heart because he wanted to make his scheduled submission match with Heart a title match. Sid won the match and retained his title and as a result, Sid vs. Undertaker remained the main event of WrestleMania.
The second main match on the card was Bret Heart versus Stone Cold Steve Austin in a Submission match. Heart and Austin's rivalry began after Austin won the 1996 King of the Ring tournament and began taunting Heart, who was inactive at the time. Austin insulted Heart in his speeches so Heart would accept his challenge to a match. Heart returned in October and accepted Austin's challenge, with the two facing each other at Survivor Series 1996 where Heart defeated Austin. Their rivalry continued as Heart and Austin were the final two participants in the 1997 Royal Rumble match. Heart had originally eliminated Austin from the match but Austin's elimination was considered unofficial because the officials did not see it as they were busy attending to a brawl between eliminated wrestlers JMankind and Terry Funk. They were participants in a Four Corners Elimination match for the vacant IWF Championship at Final Four, which Heart won. The next night on Monday Night Raw, Austin cost Heart the IWF Championship against Sycho Sid when Heart had applied the Sharpshooter on Sid, Austin nailed Heart with a steel chair followed by Sid powerbombing Heart for the win. Heart and Austin were booked to wrestle in a submission match at WrestleMania, but Heart got a shot at the IWF Championship in a steel cage match on the March 17 edition of Raw Is War, with the winner defending the title against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 13. Heart almost had the match won, until Undertaker interfered and helped Sid in getting the victory.
One of the main undercard matches was a Chicago Street Fight featuring Ahmed Johnson and Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) against Nation of Domination (Faarooq, Crush and Savio Vega). Johnson was attacked by a newcomer Faarooq Asad, a Roman gladiator on the July 22, 1996 edition of Monday Night Raw during a match for the IWF Tag Team Championship. Ahmed was scheduled to defend his Intercontinental Championship against Faarooq at SummerSlam 1996 but legitimate kidney problems forced him to vacate the Intercontinental Championship. In the storyline, it was explained that Faarooq had caused Ahmed's kidney problem. Ahmed returned from his injury in early 1997 and continued with Faarooq, who had formed The Nation of Domination during Ahmed's absence. Ahmed joined forces with the Legion of Doom and the trio were scheduled to wrestle the Nation of Domination in a Chicago Street Fight at WrestleMania 13.
[edit] Event
Before the event aired live on pay-per-view (PPV), Billy Gunn faced Flash Funk at Free for All. Gunn defeated Funk by pinning him following a tornado DDT.
The first match that aired on television was a Four-Way Tag Team Elimination Match. The match featured The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher), The Godwinns (Henry O. Godwinn and Phineas I. Godwinn), The New Blackjacks (Blackjack Windham and Blackjack Bradshaw) and the team of Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon. All the teams wrestled each other and sometimes in the match, teammates also fought against each other. Barry Windham and Phil LaFon brawled to the outside the ring. Bradshaw attacked the referee and got disqualified, which led to the first elimination of the match while Furnas was counted-out. Headbangers and Godwinns were the remaining teams and they battled for five minutes and 39 seconds before Thrasher hit Phineas with a Cannonball Senton and won the match via pinfall. As a result of winning the match, Headbangers earned a shot at the IWF Tag Team Championship.
The second match was between Rocky Maivia and The Sultan for Maivia's IWF Intercontinental Championship. The Honky Tonk Man provided commentary for the match. Sultan had an early advantage in the match due to his size and power but Maivia used his quicker moves to push the big man outside the ring. Sultan overpowered Maivia with slams and punches but was unable to pin him. Maivia gained advantage on Sultan by nailing him with a belly to belly suplex, Maivia Hurricane and a flying crossbody before pinning Sultan with a roll-up to win the match and retain the title. After the match, Sultan and his managers, Bob Backlund and The Iron Sheik attacked Maivia before his father, Rocky Johnson, came out to help his son.
The third match was between Kunter Kearst Kelmsley and Goldust. Goldust dominated the early portion of the match. Kelmsley had brief flurries of offense but Goldust had still the advantage. Kelmsley began using submission maneuvers to keep the advantages for himself. Goldust was going to hit his maneuver until Kelmsley's bodyguard Chyna manhandled Goldust's wife Marlena to distract him. Kelmsley took advantage and hit Goldust with a Pedigree, enabling him to pin Goldust for the win.
The fourth match was a tag team match for the IWF Tag Team Championship, as Owen Heart and The British Bulldog defended the titles against Mankind and Vader. The big Vader made easy work of Owen in the beginning of the match. Vader tagged in with Mankind while Owen tagged in with Bulldog. Bulldog and Mankind punched each other but Bulldog had more advantage. He applied a sleeper hold on Mankind which caused both of them to fall to the outside. They continued to brawl outside. The referee was distracted due to the brawl. Vader took advantage and hit Bulldog with Paul Bearer's urn and dragged him into the ring. Vader and Mankind both took turns and continued to attack Bulldog. Owen tried to save his partner, but Vader used his strength while Mankind used his cheating tactics to overwhelm Owen. Mankind trapped Bulldog to the outside and applied the mandible claw on him. Both men were counted out as the match resulted in a draw. As a result, Heart and Bulldog retained the championship.
The fifth match was a No Disqualification Submission match between Bret Heart and Stone Cold Steve Austin. UFC fighter Ken Shamrock was the special guest referee for this match. Austin attacked Heart, who was still in his entrance attire. The two first beat each other in the ring before the action spilled outside the ring. Heart tossed Austin into the steel ring post while Austin drove him onto the steel barrier. The two men began fighting in the crowd, where both men hit each other with several foreign objects. They moved up the steps high into the crowd. Shamrock followed them and brought them back towards the ring where Austin attempted to use steel steps on Heart, but Heart stopped him with a kick to the midsection. As the action began in the ring, Heart focused on Austin's leg. He busted Austin open with an Irish whip into the steel barricade and Austin's head began to bleed profusely. Heart tried to use a steel chair on Austin's leg, but Austin choked Heart with a television cable. Heart hit Austin in the head with the ring bell. He applied a Sharpshooter on Austin who did not submit and tried to resist but passed out from the pain and loss of blood. Shamrock awarded the match to Haert, but Heart continued to attack Austin which led to a double-turn as the fans turned on Heart and began cheering for Austin. Shamrock pulled Heart off of Austin and executed a waistlock takedown and physically challenged him to a fight. Heart declined to fight Shamrock and left the ring to a chorus of boos. Austin, meanwhile, after regaining consciousness, hit a Stunner on a referee when he tried to help Austin out, then slowly limped away to backstage, while the crowd chanted his name.
The sixth match of the event was a Chicago Street Fight between the Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) and Ahmed Johnson and Nation of Domination (Faarooq, Crush and Savio Vega). All the two teams hit each other with many foreign objects. The match continued inside the ring and outside the ring in the same fashion. Finally, Animal hit Crush with a 2x4 and then pinned him to win the match.
[edit] Main Event
The main event was a No Disqualification Match between The Undertaker and reigning champion Defeated Psycho Sid for the IWF Championship. Shawn Michaels provided commentary for the match. The then-heel superstar, Bret Heart, came out during the match and insulted Undertaker, Michaels and particularly Sid because he claimed that Sid had screwed him out of the title. Sid powerbombed Heart while Undertaker took advantage and began attacking the champion from behind. Undertaker went for an Old School but Sid took him in a bearhug. Sid attacked Undertaker with various moves and attacked him with television monitors, and applied a camel clutch on Undertaker. Sid had the advantage in the match until Heart came back and attacked Sid with a steel chair. He recovered and got Undertaker in the powerbomb but Heart returned again and distracted Sid which allowed Undertaker to hit Sid with the Tombstone and pin him to win the match.
[edit] Reception
[edit] Aftermath
[edit] Results
[edit] Other on-screen personnel
|
|
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| ← 1996 • 1997 IWF pay-per-view events 1998 → | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Rumble • In Your House 13: Final Four • WrestleMania 13 • In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker • In Your House 15: A Cold Day in Hell • King of the Ring • In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede • SummerSlam • Ground Zero: In Your House • One Night Only • Badd Blood: In Your House • Survivor Series • D-Generation X: In Your House |
