By Ry
March 31, 1996 from the ArrowHead Pond in Anaheim, California
The Card:
– Owen Hart, Vader & the British Bulldog defeated Ahmed Johnson, Jake “The Snake” Roberts & Yokozuna via pinfall
– Roddy Piper defeated Goldust in a Backlot Brawl
– Steve Austin defeated Savio Vega
– Ultimate Warrior defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley via pinfall
– Undertaker defeated Diesel via pinfall
– Shawn Michaels defeated Bret Hart in an Iron Man Match to win the World Wrestling Federation Championship
Title Changes:
Shawn Michaels defeated “The Hitman” Bret Hart in an Iron Man Match for the WWF title
WM Stats:
– Due to time constrants of the epic Iron Man Match between Bret and HBK, Wrestlemania 12 featured the smallest amount of matches ever on a Wrestlemania, as WM XII featured only 6 matches.
– Wrestlemania XII was the Ultimate Warrior’s return to the WWF after a three year absence, and if you blinked, you probably missed the Warrior’s return to the WWF. The former IC and World Champion returned at Wrestlemania and was gone by the July IYH of that year, as Sid replaced the Warrior in the main event of that IYH.
– Steve Austin would make his Wrestlemania debut at XII, with Ted Dibiase in his corner. Austin was just recently getting over the Ringmaster gimmick and was Ted Dibiase’s Million Dollar Champ.
– With Steve Austin begining his WWF carrer, Kevin “Diesel” Nash was ending his… Diesel made his last Wrestlemania apperance at XII losing to the Undertaker, Nash would follow up doing the job to the new World Champ, Shawn Michaels at IYH: Good Friends, Better Enemies, and a month or two later, Nash would appear on WCW Nitro with Scott Hall as one half of the Outsiders.
– The Tag titles were decided on the “Free For All” before the show, as the Body Donnas (Skip and Zip) won the finals of the tag team tournament against The Godwins.
– Triple H also made his Wrestlemania debut at XII, as the Game did the JOB to the Ultimate Warrior. Interestingly enough, HHH was accompanied to the ring by Sable of all people.