This Week In WWE Vintage Collection History: Wrestlemania Revenge Ends With Vengeance
By Aaron Wood Apr 15, 2012 - 4:24 PM
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COLLECTION #202 Fresh
off his win on Smackdown this past week, Mean Gene hosted the show,
as we started with the late, great Macho Man randy Savage and George
"The Animal" Steele. After Savage retained the IC Title at
Wrestlemania 2 with the use of the ropes, only for Steele to help
Ricky Steamboat a year later. But around 6 months after Wrestlemania
2, Steele would get another go at Savage at a TV taping in the Maple
Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada on September 28th 1986, with the
match airing on Prime Time Wrestling on the 14th of October, with
Gorilla Monsoon & Billy Red Lyons on commentary.
We
joined things ar the start with Savage using Elizabeth to distract
Steele, allowing him to get a high knee in on The Animal. He looked
for a piledriver, but Steele countered with the Khali Bomb
(essentially) before tossing Savage out (which allowed him to get his
robe off). Savage was sent into various bits of the ringside,
including the raised ramp. However, as they headed back in the ring,
Savage got the drop on him. Steele bit the bicep, but Savage used
some sort of object to drop Steele with a punch.
Savage
came off the top with the double axe-handle, but Steele kicked out
quickly at 2. Savage grabbed a chair, but Steele blocked the shot.
However, Savage once again went to the object in his tights that was
neither his penis or nutsack to down Steele with a straight punch
once again. He hit a couple more shots making sure the ref didn't
see it. However, on another shot, George once again blocked the
punch with an arm bite. Steele grabbed the object and decked Savage
with it, and his time the referee had conclusive proof of it's
existence, so called for the DQ on Steele. After the match, Savage
tried to run away, but Steel gave chase and brought him back,
slamming him on the ramp before tossing him in the ring. Savage was
once again able to run away, for good this time.
Back
from break, we went back to Wrestlemania 5 and the Ultimate Warrior
vs. Rick Rude match for the IC Title, where thanks to Hennan tripping
Warrior up and holding the legs while Rude pinned him, Rude would win
the match, before leaving Hennan to get the world's worst Gorilla
press drop from Warrior. We then immediately jumped to the following
month on May 1st at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Canada (although
it was called the Maple Leaf Gardens by Gene before the break) where
Warrior would get a hot at, well, revenge.
After
the break, we had a recap video of the classic Wrestlemania 21 match
between Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle, a match won by Angle when he
locked on the ankle lock. Back in the studio, he said 1996 was an
important year for the people in our main event. For Kurt Angle, he
won Olympic Gold while Shawn Michaels won the WWE Title at
Wrestlemania, kickstarting a career that would see him called Mr.
Wrestlemania. Little did either man know this would set in motion a
debate some 9 years later about who was the best performer ever in
the WWE. And in their very first meeting at Wrestlemania 21, Angle
would win the match. While people didn't expect them to fight again,
the 2005 Draft Lottery would see Angle sent to RAW and give Michaels
a chance at Wrestlemania Revenge and reclaim his spot as the WWE's
greatest, a match that would happen at the appropriately named
Vengeance PPV.
gene
said when we thought the writing was on the wall, Shawn did what he
does, overcoming the odds and getting his revenge. With their next
meeting ending up as a draw (a 30-minute Ironman match on RAW) and
Shawn's retirement some years later (literally not to mention Angle's
defection to TNA not all that long after this feud), it doesn't look
like we'll ever settle the question of who was the best ever between
the pair. Gene said that while this was the end of the Wrestlemania
Revenge for another year, next week would see us take a look at WCW's
spring-time tradition, Spring Stampede.
Epilogue After
Savage dealt with Steele, Randy moved onto his feud with Ricky
Steamboat, where he crushed Steamboat's throat with a ring bell,
taking him out for a few weeks, before Steamboat came back and shit
got real. As has been covered recently, and as noted in the show
itself, Steele would end up helping Steamboat to defeat Savage at
Wrestlemania 3, reigniting that feud again for a short time before
Savage would end up winning the 1987 King Of The Ring tournament.
Warrior
would end up getting his revenge on Rick Rude properly at Summerslam,
when he won the IC Title back from him, and kickstarted the push that
would see him taking on Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania 6, including being
the sole survivor in a Survivor Series match as well as defeating
Andre on SNME before setting up a face to face with Hogan at the
Royal Rumble, which directly set up Wrestlemania. After losing the
IC Title back to Warrior, Rude started feuding with Roddy Piper, who
was involved in the Summerslam match.
As
noted on the show, after Wrestlemania, Angle was drafted from
Smackdown to RAW, which is what allowed him to continue to feud with
Michaels, producing the match at Vengeance. Despite losing at
Vengeance, Angle would go on to challenge John Cena for the WWE
Title, facing him at Unforgiven, winning the match, albeit by DQ.
And then at Taboo Tuesday, Angle, HBK & Cena faced each other in
a 3-way for the title, again not winning the title when Cena pinned
HBK to retain. When the World Title was vacated by Batista on
Smackdown at the turn of the year, Angle was sent back to the blue
show, where he won the title in a Battle Royal.
After
getting his Wrestlemania Revenge on Angle, Michaels' next feud was
with Hulk Hogan, when after winning a tag team match, Michaels
superkicked Hogan, and then challenged Hogan to a Summerslam match on
Piper's Pit. Hogan won the match, and HBK shook his hand afterwards.
After the match with Angle & Cena at Taboo Tuesday, Michaels's
next move would be to feud with Vince McMahon, leading to their
Wrestlemania 22 rematch.
