A Look at the Positives of Wrestlemania IX

A Look at the Positives of Wrestlemania IX
April 21, 2023
By Ryan Porzl

On April 4, 1993, the WWF held their ninth Wrestlemania called "Wrestlemania IX" at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event would be one of the most polarizing events in wrestling history and an event often considered one of the worst Wrestlemanias of all time. However, I'm one of those who enjoy the event and think it's underrated. While it'll never be considered the best, I do think Wrestlemania IX gets a bad rep and is an underrated event. In this article, I'll look at the history making moments and other positives that Wrestlemania IX has.

Note: I don't own the pictures, I got them on google.

Jim Ross made his debut at Wrestlemania IX- We'll start with the obvious. As if almost universally known, Wrestlemania IX marked the debut of Good Ol' JR, himself. Ross originally entered the wrestling business in 1974 for Leroy McGuirk's NWA Tri-State as a referee before transitioning to an announcer which would be a role he continued after Bill Watts bought the territory. Ross eventually gained fame and respect for his announcing for Watts' Mid-South Wrestling/Universal Wrestling Federation promotion and later for the NWA/WCW while also working in behind the scene roles. In 1993, he parted ways with WCW due to issues with new Executive Producer Eric Bischoff. By the time Ross debuted for the WWF, he was arguably the best play-by-play announcer in the business. Ross would ultimately sign with the WWF in 1993 and debuted at Wrestlemania IX where he served as the main play-by-play announcer alongside "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Bobby "the Brain" Heenan. However, this historical moment almost didn't happen as it was originally supposed to be Gorilla Monsoon as the announcer. Up to this point, Monsoon was pretty much the voice of Wrestlemania since the inaugural one back in 1985. However, on the day of the show, Monsoon would go down with the flu and the decision was made to have JR do the announcing while Monsoon had a small role as "the host" or master of ceremonies for the event. While JR would have a rocky first two years with the WWF, Wrestlemania IX marked the beginning of his legendary run that lasted twenty years. During his WWF/WWE run, JR would mostly become known for his time as the promotion's lead play-by-play announcer from 1997-2008 where he formed a legendary announce team with fellow legend Jerry "the King" Lawler. Behind the scenes, Ross would also work as WWF/WWE's head of talent relations from 1996-2004 where he also enjoyed critical acclaim at. From 1993-2013, JR played an important roles in the promotion and the WWF/WWE would not be the same without him and his Hall of Fame run would begin at Wrestlemania IX. He would also become a WWE Hall of Famer being inducted in 2007.

Luna Vachon made her debut at Wrestlemania IX- Jim Ross was not the only legend to debut for the WWF at Wrestlemania IX as another future WWE Hall of Famer debuted as well in Luna Vachon. Luna was a member of the legendary Vachon wrestling family as her stepfather was Paul "Butcher" Vachon while her uncle was Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon and her aunt was Vivian Vachon. The Vachons were mostly successful during the 1960 to 1980s with Vivian holding the AWA Women's Championship while Mad Dog and Butcher formed a legendary tag team and captured many tag team championship in various NWA territories and the AWA while Mad Dog also had three runs as AWA World Champion in the 1960s. Luna debuted in 1985 and became a journeywoman working in Championship Wrestling from Florida, Puerto Rico, and Japan. After trying to get her future husband David Heath (the future Gangrel) a job with WWF, the WWF expressed interest in her and eventually signed her. She made her debut at Wrestlemania IX seconding Shawn Michaels for his Intercontinental Championship defense against Tatanka who had Michaels' former manager Sensational Sherri in his corner. While Luna didn't do too much during the match, she made her mark following Tatanka's count out win by attacking and laying out Sherri thus starting a feud with her that lasted until the summer when Sherri was released. All in all, Luna would work for the WWF on and off for seven years between 1993 to 2000 during which time she made her mark having a memorable feud with Sable, being Bam Bam Bigelow's "main squeeze", and being a valet for husband Gangrel, the Oddities, and Goldust. She also was a challenger for the WWF Women's Championship against Sable and Alundra Blayze. She eventually was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019 (she passed away in 2010).

The Steiner Brothers wrestled their only Wrestlemania match- When you think of all time great tag teams, it's impossible not to think of the Steiner Brothers. Consisting of brothers Rick and Scott, the Steiners were one of wrestling's greatest well oiled machines. During their original run as a team from 1989-1998, the duo worked every major promotion and captured their share of gold. They mostly became known for their times in NWA/WCW and New Japan Pro Wrestling where they not only won the tag team championships in both promotions but also had memorable feuds and matches with the likes of Doom, Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki, the Miracle Violence Connection, Harlem Heat, and the Outsiders. They even had a cup of coffee with ECW in 1995 though not long enough to win their titles. During their run, the team eventually had a short but successful run in the WWF from December 1992 to May 1994 where they captured the WWF Tag Team Championship two times and had memorable feuds with the Beverly Brothers, Money Inc., and the Quebecers. During their run, they found themselves at the showcase of the immortals. At Wrestlemania IX, the brothers took on the Headshrinkers (Samu and Rikishi) on the second match of the main show. In the end, the team won in 14:22 when Scott hits a (botched) frankensteiner on Samu. As it turns out, Wrestlemania IX would be the only time the Steiners competed in the granddaddy of them all. Rumors have circulated that they were set to appear at Wrestlemania X the following year to regain the titles and settle the score with the Quebecers but by that time, they were largely on their way out and departed less than two months later so it didn't happen. Interestingly enough, Scott Steiner returned to the promotion from 2002-2004 but still wasn't able to get on a Wrestlemania for various reasons. The Steiners wouldn't return to Wrestlemania until Wrestlemania 38 as part of the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2022.

The Roman Coliseum- Wrestlemania IX is hated and ridiculed for many reasons and one of them was the presentation. Held at Caesar's Palace, the WWF decided to make it look and feel like a Roman Coliseum while the microphones resembled torches and the broadcast team wore togas. While some would call this cheesy, it ages quite well. Like it or not, at least you can say it makes Wrestlemania IX unique. As the years go by, it gets harder for Wrestlemanias to have a different identity but they succeeded with it for Wrestlemania IX so you know the event when you see it. It's the only one to look like it does. I especially appreciate it as the years have gone by as the WWE seems to try less and less to make the events unique. They usually go to the same cities every few years and it's always the same with a Mardi Gras presentation every time in New Orleans or a city scape whenever they go to New York/New Jersey or a star whenever they go to Texas. The WWE laziness hit rock bottom with this years Wrestlemania 39 as they completely and lazily ripped off Wrestlemania 21's "Wrestlemania Goes Hollywood" tagline, the promotional material, and everything in between. While you could say Wrestlemania IX presentation was hokey, at least it was different and fresh and not something that got spat out of a xerox machine.

A lack of celebrity involvement- This is the first of two straight positives that I have to explain where I'm coming from. Now, normally Wrestlemania and celebrities can go together like peanut butter and jelly. In many ways, they've enhanced Wrestlemania tremendously from Cyndi Lauper and Mr. T at Wrestlemania I to Mike Tyson at Wrestlemania XIV. However, for every Cyndi Lauper or Mr. T or Mike Tyson, there are plenty of celebrities that were D-list and didn't help or were giving nothing to do. Going into Wrestlemania IX, the WWF hadn't had the best track record in using celebrities at recent Wrestlemanias. While there were some that fit like Robert Goulet singing O Canada at Wrestlemania VI or Willie Nelson singing America, the Beautiful at Wrestlemania VII or Reba McIntyre singing the Star Spangled Banner at Wrestlemania VIII or others like Alex Trebek and Marla Maples being used at VII for guest ring announcer and guest timekeeper spots, there were others that were weak. Wrestlemania V saw rap group Run DMC sing the Wrestlemania Rap which was just a time waster while Trash TV pioneer Morton Downey Jr was in a Piper's Pit segment with Roddy Piper and Brother Love that could best be described as a car wreck, if a car wreck was boring. Wrestlemania VI saw gossip reporter Rona Barret and legendary entertainer Steve Allen be giving pretty much nothing to do and you wonder what they were paid for. Wrestlemania VII saw an unfunny segment regarding instant replay between George Steinbrenner and Paul McGuire that again added absolutely nothing to the show but waste time. Finally at Wrestlemania VIII, we had then Family Feud host Ray Combs who was supposed to do ring announcing for the eight man tag/popcorn match but instead rattled off lackluster jokes on the heel team. I'm not exactly sure what was the story for IX but thankfully, the celebrities were kept at home or in the audience. The only celebrity on the show was singer Natalie Cole who was a fan in the audience. Overall, while I think celebrities can add to a Wrestlemania, there are examples when they backfire. In the end, I rather have no celebrities than either d-list celebrities nobody cares about or celebrities who are given nothing to do and are in painful segments that are only there to exercise your finger muscle when you press the fast forward button.

Less than ten matches- Again, another bit that might have people wondering "why is this a plus?" but hear me out. After the first Wrestlemania, which had a reasonable number of matches, the WWF began a trend that, in a way, hurt Wrestlemania from 2 to VIII and that would be a huge amount of matches. Whereas Wrestlemania I only had nine matches, Wrestlemanias 2 through VIII were known for having around eleven to sixteen matches and while wrestling is a great thing, too much can still be bad. In this case, Wrestlemanias are usually three hours long so that meant with so many matches, you have matches crammed on the show and other matches that were given almost no time to sink or swim. In some cases, some matches would last less than five minutes which made you wonder what was the point aside from the wrestlers involved getting a payday? When Wrestlemania IX took place, there were only nine televised matches and one dark match. As a result, most of the matches were given time to breath and except the Razor Ramon/Bob Backlund and Yokozuna/Hulk Hogan matches, every match had at least seven minutes to work. While it is true Wrestlemania IX didn't produce any match of the year candidates, at least the matches were given time as opposed to being shoehorned into the show and ending before they got started.

It's one of the most historical Wrestlemanias of all time- When you think of historic Wrestlemanias, you usually think of famous and praised Wrestlemanias like III in 1987 or X-7 in 2001 and while you wouldn't think of it, Wrestlemania IX is actually up there as one of the most historical Wrestlemanias of all time. In fact, it can go head to head with almost any Wrestlemania in the historical department. We already touched on some of the historical stuff like the debuts of Jim Ross and Luna Vachon to the Steiner Brothers wrestling their only Wrestlemania but there's so much more. 

To start, both competitors in the main event: Yokozuna and Hulk Hogan both made history at this event in more ways then one. For Yokozuna, he made history twice as he was the first of Samoan descent to have held the WWF Championship. It some ways, he paved the way for others in his family such as The Rock and Roman Reigns who later enjoyed runs with the title while elevating his royal family as the Anoa'i Family mostly consisted of tag team wrestlers. He was also the youngest WWF Champion in history as he won the championship at only 26 years of age, a record he would hold for nine years until Brock Lesnar broke it at Summerslam 2002 when he defeated The Rock for the title at 25 years old. Meanwhile, by winning the WWF Championship, Hogan made history as he became the first five time WWF Champion which while not as impressive these days was amazing back then as no WWF champion outside the Hulkster held the championship more than two times. Hogan would hold this record for over eight years, eventually tying with Bret Hart and The Rock, before Rock broke the record with his sixth championship at No Way Out 2001. Hogan also became the first wrestler to win the WWF Championship at three different Wrestlemania having previously won the championship at Wrestlemania V in 1989 and Wrestlemania VII in 1991. Thirty years later, Hogan still holds this record but has since shared it with some appropriate and obvious names in "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and John Cena. 

Wrestlemania IX would also mark the end of a big era in the event's history. After appearing at every Wrestlemania up till that point, Wrestlemania IX marked the last Wrestlemania for Hogan, Tito Santana (who wrestled in a dark match), "Mean" Gene Okerlund, Jimmy Hart, and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan who all departed the WWF throughout 1993. While all five would appear in future Wrestlemanias, this was the final one for all five for a long time after having appeared in every edition up to this point. Wrestlemania IX would also mark the final in-ring appearances of legends such as "Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase, Mike "Irwin R. Shyster" Rotunda, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, Mr. Perfect (yes, I know he wrestled on the Sunday Night Heat before Wrestlemania X-8 but that doesn't count) and Santana. All five made their marks at the Showcase of the Immortals and again, while all would appear in future Wrestlemanias, none of them competed in one ever again. Wrestlemania IX would also mark the first Wrestlemania not announced by Gorilla Monsoon as the long time voice of the event was scheduled to do so but a bout with the flu saw him step aside and become the show's host. This marked the end of another era because with the exception of calling Wrestlemania X via Radio WWF, Monsoon would never call another one again with Wrestlemania IX being the first Wrestlemania where fans did not hear Monsoon's familiar voice call the action. Speaking of announcing, Wrestlemania IX marked the only Wrestlemania that saw "Macho Man" Randy Savage as one of the announcers for the show. Savage was a major part of the event during it's early years as he appeared at Wrestlemania's 2 though X but Wrestlemania IX marked the only Wrestlemania the Macho Man appeared at but donned a headset instead of competing in the ring. There's other stuff too such as the Shawn Michaels/Tatanka Intercontinental Title match being the first time a title match opened a Wrestlemania to this being the Wrestlemania debuts of Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall, Rikishi, and Bob Backlund while Lex Luger made his Wrestlemania in-ring debut.

Ultimately, Wrestlemania IX will go on as one of the least popular and polarizing Wrestlemanias in history but hopefully this article shows that despite the event's shortcomings, it does have it's positives and things to appreciate.