WrestleMania Retrospective – WrestleMania IX (1993)

Here’s Part 9 of our WrestleMania Retrospective series, looking back at past WrestleMania events as we march towards WrestleMania 29 on April 7th

WrestleMania IX (1993)
Tagline: “World’s Largest Toga Party”
Date: April 4, 1993
Venue: Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada
Attendance: 16,891
The Undertaker’s Streak: 3-0 (Giant Gonzalez)

WrestleMania IX was the ninth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. The event took place at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 4, 1993.

This was the first WrestleMania held entirely outdoors, a concept the company did not use again until WrestleMania XXIV in 2008.Because WrestleMania IX was held in Caesar’s Palace, the WWF promoted the event as the “World’s Largest Toga Party”.The arena was made to look like a Roman coliseum, and the event featured guards, trumpeters, and several live animals. The company built on this theme by having the commentators, including debuting announcer Jim Ross, wear togas. Ring announcer Howard Finkel was also renamed “Finkus Maximus” for the day. Randy Savage came to the broadcast booth accompanied by women throwing flower petals and feeding him grapes while he rode on a couch pulled by a horse. Bobby Heenan made his entrance wearing a toga and riding a camel backwards.

WrestleMania IX was built around two main storylines. The first was the seemingly unstoppable Yokozuna challenging Bret Hart for the WWF Championship, a right he earned by winning the 1993 Royal Rumble. The other major storyline was the return of Hulk Hogan, who had departed the WWF following WrestleMania VIII but returned to team with Brutus Beefcake against the WWF Tag Team Champions, Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster). Hogan and Beefcake lost the tag team match, but Hogan later faced Yokozuna for the title in an impromptu match after Yokozuna defeated Hart to win the championship. In addition, Shawn Michaels retained the WWF Intercontinental Championship, though he lost his match against Tatanka.

In the final scheduled match of the event, Bret Hart defended the WWF Championship against Yokozuna. Hart tried to use his technical wrestling abilities against Yokozuna, while Yokozuna relied on his size advantage in the match.

While Hart was applying his signature submission, the Sharpshooter, Mr. Fuji, Yokozuna’s manager, threw salt in Hart’s eyes, which enabled Yokozuna to pin Hart and win the WWF Championship.

After the match, Hulk Hogan came to ring to check on Hart’s condition. Hogan had stated during an interview earlier in the broadcast that he wanted to face the winner of the match, and Fuji challenged Hogan to face Yokozuna immediately. Hogan agreed and entered the ring. Fuji tried to throw salt in Hogan’s eyes, but he missed and the salt hit Yokozuna. Hogan performed a leg drop and pinned Yokozuna to win the title in 22 seconds.

WrestleMania IX Results
• Tito Santana defeated Papa Shango Singles match
• Tatanka (with Sensational Sherri) defeated Shawn Michaels (c) (with Luna Vachon) by countout Singles match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship
• The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) defeated The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu) (with Afa)
• Doink the Clown defeated Crush
• Razor Ramon defeated Bob Backlund
• Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster) (c) defeated The Mega-Maniacs (Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake) (with Jimmy Hart) by disqualification Tag match for the WWF Tag Team Championship
• Lex Luger defeated Mr. Perfect
• The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) defeated Giant Gonzalez (with Harvey Wippleman) by disqualification
• Yokozuna (with Mr. Fuji) defeated Bret Hart (c) for the WWF Championship
• Hulk Hogan defeated Yokozuna (c) (with Mr. Fuji) for the WWF Championship (View video below)