WrestleMania XI: 1995 жылғы кәсіби күрес шоуы

1995 World Wrestling Federation pay per view event

WrestleMania XI was the 11th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay per view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on April 2, 1995, at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut. Seven matches were contested at the event. The main event featured former NFL linebacker Lawrence Taylor against Bam Bam Bigelow, a match which came as the result of an argument that took place between the two at the 1995 Royal Rumble. Taylor won the match, which led to Bigelow being kicked out of Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation. Shawn Michaels faced WWF Champion Diesel in a title match but was unable to win the championship. Jeff Jarrett retained his WWF Intercontinental Championship against Razor Ramon. Owen Hart and his mystery partner, Yokozuna, challenged The Smoking Gunns for the WWF Tag Team Championship and won the title belts. The match between Taylor and Bigelow brought the WWF mainstream press coverage. The reactions to the match were mixed; some people thought that Taylor performed surprisingly well for a non wrestler. Others thought that the WWF pushing a football player to defeat a wrestler made professional wrestling look bad. Reviews of the event as a whole were mixed, with the event called both the worst WrestleMania of all time and the event that saved the WWF.

WrestleMania is considered the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) 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 WWF'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 XI was scheduled to be held on April 2, 1995, at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut. WrestleMania XI marked the first time that the WWF featured an interview on the Internet as Diesel and Shawn Michaels were interviewed by Bob Ryder. On September 30, 1995, a one hour special including the Diesel vs. Shawn Michaels match and the Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow match was broadcast on the FOX Network. At the WrestleMania weekend, the WWF also held its Fan Fest, a promotional event during which wrestlers interacted with fans and signed autographs. Taylor agreed and trained with WWF Champion Diesel to prepare for the match. The storyline between Bigelow and Taylor brought the WWF much mainstream exposure, as the match was discussed by several news outlets. Three days later, Diesel defeated Bob Backlund to become the new WWF Champion. At the Royal Rumble, Michaels won the titular match, which earned him a match against Diesel for the title belt at WrestleMania. The WWF Intercontinental Championship was also defended at WrestleMania. Jeff Jarrett, the champion, had been feuding with Razor Ramon, the challenger, for several months. At the Royal Rumble, Jarrett was accompanied by The Roadie, who interfered on Jarrett's behalf and helped Jarrett win the championship. To even the sides in the rematch at WrestleMania, Ramon was accompanied by his friend, the 1–2–3 Kid. In a match for the WWF Tag Team Championship, The Smoking Gunns defended their title. Their opponents were Owen Hart and a mystery partner. Hart refused to tell anyone the name of his partner, which left the Gunns uncertain who they would be facing and led to much speculation about the identity of the mystery partner. Bret Hart faced Bob Backlund in an "I Quit" match at WrestleMania. The feud began the previous summer, when Hart defended the WWF Championship against Backlund. Backlund mistakenly thought he won the match and began celebrating, but Hart pinned him to retain the title. After the match, Backlund turned heel by attacking Hart. This led to a title match at Survivor Series 1994, in which Backlund won the title from Hart. Although Backlund soon lost the belt,

Also at the Royal Rumble, The Undertaker faced Irwin R. Schyster as part of The Undertaker's feud with Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation. During the match, King Kong Bundy, another Corporation member, interfered and enabled the Corporation to steal The Undertaker's urn, which was said to be the source of his power.

The event was attended by 15,000 fans, who paid a total of $750,000 in admission fees. This was down from the previous year's attendance of 18,065, The attendance figure was also lower than the following year's figure of 18,852 fans at WrestleMania XII. The pay per view buyrate for WrestleMania XI was 1.3, which was lower than the 1.68 buyrate for WrestleMania X but higher than the 1.2 buyrate for WrestleMania XII. Writing for 411mania, columnist Dustin James rated the event as the seventeenth best of the first twenty three WrestleManias. He stated that the event did not have any truly amazing matches but that Lawrence Taylor put on a solid performance. In contrast, Pro Wrestling Illustrated columnist Dave Rosenbaum stated that WrestleMania "saved" the WWF in its feud with rival World Championship Wrestling. He argued that Taylor "looked like a pro" and contributed to an "incredible" match. He also observed that the tag team matches helped rejuvenate an area of wrestling that had been suffering in the WWF and that the match between Michaels and Diesel was a candidate for match of the year.

Shortly after WrestleMania, Diesel offered Shawn Michaels a rematch. Michaels blamed Sid for the loss and informed him that he would not be needed during the match. Sid got angry and attacked Michaels until Diesel saved him. Diesel and Michaels became allies once again, and they teamed up to win the WWF Tag Team Championship later that year. Diesel feuded with Sid and defeated him at the In Your House 1 and In Your House 2 pay per view events. The animosity lingered between Michaels and Sid, but they did not face each other to settle the feud until the September 11, 1995 episode of Monday Night Raw. Bam Bam Bigelow was embarrassed after losing to Lawrence Taylor. To redeem himself, he challenged Diesel to a match for the WWF Championship. During the match, Tatanka turned on Bigelow and caused him to get pinned. Bigelow was kicked out of the Million Dollar Corporation and attacked by DiBiase's wrestlers. Diesel saved Bigelow from the attack, which led to a friendship being formed between the two. Bigelow defeated Tatanka in a dark match at In Your House 2. Razor Ramon and the 1–2–3 Kid was scheduled to face Jeff Jarrett and The Roadie at In Your House 1 the month after WrestleMania. The Kid sustained a legit injury, however, and was unable to compete. As a result, Ramon wrestled a two on one handicap match against Jarrett and The Roadie instead. Ramon won the bout, but the feud continued. At In Your House 2, The Roadie faced the 1–2–3 Kid and defeated him. He held the belt for three days before dropping it back to Jarrett. After WrestleMania, Kama melted down The Undertaker's urn and made it into a necklace. The Undertaker defeated Kama in a dark match at In Your House 1, and again in a casket match at In Your House 2. The Undertaker's streak of 21 consecutive WrestleMania victories was first acknowledged during his entrance for his encounter with King Kong Bundy by play by play commentator Vince McMahon, who stated, "The Undertaker, on his way to the ring—a man who's never lost at WrestleMania". The Smoking Gunns were given a rematch for the WWF Tag Team Championship at In Your House 1. Hart pinned Bart Gunn to retain the championship for his team. Steve McMichael, who accompanied Lawrence Taylor, joined World Championship Wrestling later in 1995 as a color commentator then eventually as an in ring performer, joining the famous Four Horseman when he turned on and betrayed his tag team partner and former NFL star Kevin Greene at The Great American Bash '96 near the end of their tag team match against Ric Flair and Arn Anderson. Going by the name "Mongo" McMichael, he eventually went on to win the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship. The WWF released the event on VHS in North America in 1995. The VHS version was then re released on March 2, 1999. The event was also released on DVD in North America as part of the WrestleMania Complete Anthology boxed set on November 1, 2005. In the United Kingdom, the event was released on VHS on July 10, 1995. Packaged together with WrestleMania XII, it was then released on DVD in the United Kingdom as part of the WWE Tagged Classics line on August 7, 2006.