WrestleMania 31 is drawing near and soon more history will be added to the most epic wrestling franchise ever created. The event has given the WWE Universe three decades of unforgettable moments, classic matches and memories that will last a lifetime.
Countdown to WrestleMania 31: 3 Best Moments from WrestleMania X (10)
Over the next month, Sports World News will delve into each of the first 30 WrestleMania events as part of a special countdown to WrestleMania 31 on March 29 at Levi's Stadium in California.
After a rough 1995 came and went, things were still pretty up-and-down in the WWE, but the company managed to churn out a solid event in WrestleMania XII by putting its two best workers -- Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels -- together in a classic match. Through the mid-1990s, the WWE alternated good and bad editions of WrestleMania, and luckily this installment was mostly good.
Countdown to WrestleMania 31: 3 Best Moments from WrestleMania XI (11)
WrestleMania XII took place live from the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, Calif. on March 31, 1996 in front of a crowd of 18,853 fans.
Here are our three best moments from WWE WrestleMania XII:
3) An Ultimate Return: After nearly four years out of the company, The Ultimate Warrior made a comeback in the WWE for his third and final stint, starting at WrestleMania XII.
After his second falling out with the WWE in late 1992, The Warrior was away from the company until he was once again brought back by Vince McMahon.
Warrior took on Triple H, who was doing his infamous blueblood gimmick at that point, in a match that was highly anticipated by long-time fans due to The Warrior's popularity from the 1980s and 1990s.
It ended up being a squash match, as The Warrior raced to the ring and no-sold Triple H's Pedigree before finishing him off in just over a minute.
2) Diesel and the Deadman: The Undertaker had a string of terrible WrestleMania matches against the likes of Giant Gonzalez and King Kong Bundy, but he was finally given a big man that could go at WrestleMania XII as he went head-to-head with Diesel.
The two titans clashed in what proved to be a pretty fantastic match as they pulled out all the stops and used their surprising agility to tell a great story.
In the end, The Undertaker stood tall by pinning Diesel to end an over 16-minute long match and Diesel would leave for WCW to form the nWo shortly thereafter. The Undertaker was now 5-0 at WrestleMania.
1) Iron Men: With Vince McMahon realizing he didn't have a huge array of talent to fill out the biggest card of the year, he turned to the technically-sound Bret "Hitman" Hart and the athletically gifted Shawn Michaels to wrestle in the first ever Iron Man Match.
The rules of the bout were that the two men would go head-to-head for an hour and whoever had the most victories by pinfall, submission, DQ or countout would lay claim to the WWE Championship.
The two men went back-and-forth for 60 minutes in what many regard as the best WrestleMania match of all-time as the two put on a clinic at the biggest show of the year.
The contest had something for everyone as wrestling purists would love the story being told by the two in the squared circle while fans of the entertainment side of things certainly got their money's worth.
There was no love lost between these two in real life either as tensions began to boil over, but the match went over without a hitch, though there are reports that Michaels told the referee to get that piece of s-t out of the ring after he defeated Hart.
In the end, it went to overtime with no falls and Michaels ended up hitting Hart with the Sweet Chin Music and won his first ever WWE Championship as "The Boyhood Dream" came true for HBK.
Looking Ahead: While Michaels and Hart stole the show together, their personal problems with each other would cause the WWE to re-book WrestleMania 13 at the last minute in 1997 leading to one of the most disjointed cards in the history of this spectacle. Still, it wasn't all bad as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Hart were about to change the course of wrestling history.
Rank-O-Mania: As we go through each year, we will rank each WrestleMania as it comes along. WrestleMania XII has divided many fans as it relied heavily on the main event, though some people don't want to watch a match that spans over an hour. Still, the main event is what's important and it more than delivered while there were a few solid undercard matches. This is a middle of the pack edition of the WWE's cornerstone event, finding its way in between WrestleManias IV and V.
1) WrestleMania X
2) WrestleMania VI
3) WrestleMania III
4) WrestleMania VIII
5) WrestleMania VII
6) WrestleMania V
7) WrestleMania XII
8) WrestleMania IV
9) WrestleMania I
10) WrestleMania XI
11) WrestleMania IX
12) WrestleMania 2
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