WrestleMania XII

Background in Anaheim, California. WrestleMania is considered the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) flagship professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985. It has become the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. It was the first of the WWF's original four pay-per-views, which includes Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, which were dubbed the "Big Four", and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs, along with King of the Ring. WrestleMania XII was scheduled to be held on March 31, 1996, at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim in Anaheim, California. A match that was originally planned for WrestleMania XII was a Miami Street Fight between Razor Ramon and Goldust, which would later be changed to a "Hollywood Backlot Brawl" between Goldust and interim WWF President Roddy Piper. After debuting in late 1995 and defeating both Marty Jannetty at In Your House 4 and Bam Bam Bigelow at Survivor Series, Goldust would begin an angle with then-Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon, in which the former had expressed his personal love and admiration for the latter, which had disgusted Razor. The two would wrestle at the 1996 Royal Rumble, leading to Goldust defeating Razor and winning the Intercontinental Championship after outside interference from both Goldust's debuting manager Marlena and The 1-2-3 Kid. Both Goldust and Razor were scheduled to face each other in a Miami Street Fight at WrestleMania, but Scott Hall (portraying the Razor Ramon character) had no intention of re-signing with the WWF and was planning on leaving for WCW. Because of this, the angle was soon changed with Roddy Piper taking Razor Ramon's place and the Miami Street Fight becoming the Hollywood Backlot Brawl. Before this, Piper was pencilled in to have a celebrity match against O. J. Simpson, who had been acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman 5 months before WrestleMania. Despite getting into contact with O. J.'s representatives, the WWF abandoned their plans due to fears of potential public backlash and loss of sponsorship. == Event ==

debuted in the World Wrestling Federation at WrestleMania XII. The opening bout, which aired on the free-for-all broadcast, was a tag team match for the vacant WWF Tag Team Championship between the Bodydonnas (Skip and Zip) and the Godwinns (Henry O. Godwinn and Phineas I. Godwinn). This match was the final bout of a tournament held to determine the new champions after the titles were vacated in February 1996. The match ended when Skip pinned Phineas I. Godwinn using a roll-up, making the Bodydonnas the new WWF Tag Team Champions. The fourth bout was a "Hollywood Backlot Brawl" between Goldust and Roddy Piper. The match began in a parking lot, with the men brawling and using weapons. After Goldust fled in a golden Cadillac, Piper pursued him in a white Ford Bronco. The fifth bout was a singles match between Savio Vega and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Austin won the bout by technical knockout after hitting Vega with the Million Dollar Championship then applying the Million Dollar Dream to Vega until he passed out. During and after the fifth bout, footage aired of what was purportedly Piper pursuing Goldust (the actual footage aired was from the Los Angeles Police Department's pursuit of O.J. Simpson in 1994). The sixth bout was a singles match between Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Ultimate Warrior. Early in the match, Helmsley performed his finishing move, The Pedigree, on Ultimate Warrior. However, Ultimate Warrior no-sold the move and went on to pin Helmsley following a flying shoulder tackle, gorilla press slam, and Warrior Splash. (left) fought Shawn Michaels in a 60-minute Iron Man match for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania XII. Following the sixth bout, Todd Pettengill interviewed the debuting Marc Mero backstage. The interview was interrupted by Hunter Hearst Helmsley, resulting in a brawl between Helmsley and Mero. The seventh bout was a singles match between Diesel and The Undertaker. The Undertaker won the match by pinfall following a chokeslam and Tombstone Piledriver, marking his fifth consecutive win at WrestleMania. Following the seventh bout, Goldust and Piper arrived at the Arrowhead Pond, with Piper crashing his car into Goldust's car. Piper then chased Goldust to the ring, where the match continued. The match ended when Piper tore off Goldust's bodysuit - revealing him to be wearing woman's lingerie - and gave him a low blow, after which Goldust fled from the ring, leaving Piper the winner. The main event saw WWF Champion Bret Hart defend his title against Shawn Michaels in an Iron Man match, with the stipulation that whichever wrestler won the most falls in 60 minutes would win the match. Towards the end of the match, with neither men having won any falls, Hart applied his Sharpshooter hold to Michaels, but time expired without Michaels submitting. As Hart began to leave with his title, WWF President Gorilla Monsoon instructed referee Earl Hebner to continue the match under "sudden death" rules, with ring announcer Howard Finkel announcing that "there must be a winner!" The match ended shortly thereafter when Michaels pinned Hart after giving him Sweet Chin Music twice, thus becoming the new WWF Champion. == Reception ==

WrestleMania XII received generally positive reviews from critics, who aimed praise, particularly at the main event. Rob McNew of 411Mania called the opening match "really good," and gave it 3 and 1/4 stars (out of 5 stars). However, he called the match between Helmsley and Ultimate Warrior the worst of the night, going on to call it the "funniest squash ever, considering that HHH is now arguably a bigger star than Warrior was." He gave the main event the highest score of the night, with 4 stars. However, he says the match "isn't for everyone." Continuing, he says, "It's about a three-star match for the first 40 minutes, the last 20+ are an easy five stars". He gave the entire event a score of 7 out of 10. In 2015, Ryan Dilbert of Bleacher Report called it the 16th greatest of the first 30 WrestleMania events. While the Iron Man match got positive reviews, PWInsider's Mike Johnson pointed that in the match both wrestlers "were working in spite of each other, not together". ==Results==

WWF Tag Team Championship tournament In February 1996, WWF Tag Team Champions The Smoking Gunns were forced to vacate the titles after Billy Gunn sustained a neck injury. As a result, a tournament was staged in February and March 1996 to determine the new champions. Iron Man match ==References==