WWE: 5 Forgotten WrestleMania Classics Worth Watching

#4 – Diesel (c) vs Shawn Michaels (WWE Championship Match) – WrestleMania XI

Why It’s Underrated: The WWE hype machine was focused on NFL star Lawrence Taylor vs Bam Bam Bigelow. LT vs Bam Bam was even given the WrestleMania XI main event spot.

Why it Shouldn’t Be: It’s Mr. Wrestlemania, battling his best friend, for the top title, at WrestleMania. Of course it’s going to be good.

In 1995, one year before achieving the “boyhood dream”, Shawn Michaels faced fellow Kliq Member, Diesel, in his first WrestleMania world title match.  It was a big move up the card for the Heartbreak Kid; in the two preceding WrestleManias he worked the opener. Diesel’s rise was even faster. In fact, despite being champion, this was his very first WrestleMania match.

The match was fast paced, and, unsurprisingly, featured HBK taking a number of breathtaking bumps, one of which was into a cameraman. Shawn immediately made his dipleasure known, yelling at the cameraman, and  “transferring” him to a better location. The legendary war between Michaels and WWE photographers was born.

Towards the end of the match, Shawn hit Sweet Chin Music, but Diesel powered out. This drew some boos from the crowd, who had started to get behind the underdog Michaels a la Rocky IV. This genuine crowd investment showed that not only did the fans buy Michaels as a top guy, they wanted to cheer for him. Vince and company took the cue from the Hartford fans. At the next WrestleMania, HBK would again be in the WWE title match, and would come out on top.

Don’t be discouraged because this match isn’t on par with some of HBK’s other Mania offerings. It’s still a tremendous bout that showed exactly why Michaels would become known as the “Mr. WrestleMania”.