WrestleMania XII

WrestleMania XII was a 1996 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the 12th annual WrestleMania and took place on March 31, 1996, at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim in Anaheim, California. Eight matches were held at the event, including two on the Free for All pre-show.

In the main event, Bret Hart lost the WWF Championship to Shawn Michaels in the first televised Iron Man match in company history, lasting over 60 minutes. In his return to the company after a four-year hiatus, The Ultimate Warrior defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Roddy Piper had his first match since 1994, taking on and defeating Goldust in a "Hollywood Backlot Brawl" match.

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.

The main attraction of this WrestleMania was the WWF Championship contested in an Iron Man match; whereby the winner would be the man to win most falls over sixty minutes. Shawn Michaels had earned the opportunity to face reigning champion Bret Hart by winning the 1996 Royal Rumble, and had also defeated Owen Hart at In Your House 6 for the right to keep his WrestleMania title shot.

The main event was built on Hart wanting to retain the WWF Championship against Michaels, who had suffered a number of setbacks over the course of the previous year, including failing to win Diesel's WWF Championship the previous year at WrestleMania XI in April 1995, being accosted at a Syracuse, New York nightclub in October 1995 (and subsequently forfeiting the WWF Intercontinental Championship to Dean Douglas at In Your House 4), and suffering a storyline concussion at the hands of Owen Hart in November 1995.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley made his debut in the WWF in May 1995, with his wrestling gimmick being in that he was a rich snob born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He went on an undefeated winning streak throughout the year until the Royal Rumble. The Ultimate Warrior, meanwhile, had left the WWF in 1992 after failing a drug test. His last match was on the November 14, 1992, edition of Saturday Night's Main Event XXXI, where he and "Macho Man" Randy Savage defeated Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster in a tag team match. WWF officials later signed a match between Ultimate Warrior, who re-signed to the WWF in an attempt to increase ratings, and Helmsley for WrestleMania XII.

Diesel began feuding with The Undertaker after interfering in a bout between The Undertaker and Bret Hart at the 1996 Royal Rumble. Undertaker responded by interfering in Diesel's WWF Championship steel cage match against champion Bret Hart at In Your House 6, which saw Undertaker pull Diesel under the ring, costing Diesel the match. In an episode of Monday Night Raw that aired on March 18, 1996, Diesel was battling Barry Horowitz when he caught a glimpse of Paul Bearer pushing a casket up the entrance ramp. Believing it to be The Undertaker's casket, Diesel armed himself with a wrench before opening the casket's lid and seeing his own "corpse" lying in repose inside (which was actually an illusion made possible by having live footage cut to a pre-recorded close-up footage of Diesel himself in the same casket, lying in a relaxed position with his eyes closed, filmed at some time before the episode, thus avoiding showing the mannequin in the casket up-close); seeing "himself" in the casket terrified him, as it foreshadowed The Undertaker's upcoming match against Diesel in WrestleMania XII.

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.