Well, we’re here. The end. The finish line. Yes, it’s part 4 of 4 of the Wrestlemania: Then and Now series. It’s kind of sad having this end, it’s been a lot of fun re-watching all these shows. But, enough of the chat, let’s get to the next show!
Wrestlemania 2000
A very interesting Wrestlemania I think, from the perspective of how it was booked and from how it’s viewed by fans, as I’ll get to.
THEN: At the time I didn’t even notice there wasn’t a single traditional one on one match on the entire card. Well, cat fight was one on one I guess. But it’s not really a match. And it was pretty dumb. At the time though I actually loved this show and it really felt like a huge Wrestlemania. The only thing I didn’t like though was the main event. Not the match itself, it was pretty good. But the fact that it wasn’t Rock vs. HHH one on one. I thought that matchup would be the next Austin/Rock series potentially. Started off as a great IC feud, and evolve into a huge heavyweight belt feud. And even though we did get some Rock/Hunter matches in the main event scene around the time, I still think they could have offered so much more. Obviously Rock leaving for Hollywood didn’t help things though. Anyways, way off topic. Triangle ladder match was simply amazing, and I remember thinking that was probably the biggest spot fest we would ever see. Boy, did I end up being wrong on that one! Kurt Angle had really become an awesome heel by this time and was easily one of my favorites in the company by now. And the way he lost both belts without being pinned I thought was great, just gave him more ammo for the awesome character. But a very fun show I thought.
NOW: From what I’ve seen online, this is panned as one of the weaker Wrestlemanias. But looking at it now, from top to bottom I think the card was fairly strong. Plus it just shows how deep the roster was by this point with the fact that there was no one on one matches to be found, just way too many guys to get on the show. But the main event scene still bugs me, it was nice to see Foley wrestle in a main event, but I hated that it was so short after a retirement, and as Mick Foley and not as Cactus Jack or Mankind even. It just seemed like there was no way he was coming close to winning that match anyway. Other than that though, I still love the show. Not the best ever obviously, but not as weak as I think many people make it out to be.
Wrestlemana X-Seven
Here we go, the cream of the crop. Perhaps universally called the best Wrestlemania ever. Been looking forward to this one for damn sure.
THEN: This was all about two matches for me, the main event and the gimmick battle royal. Both of which were enormous markout moments for myself. As I said about Mania XV, Austin and Rock just seemed like the biggest main event of all main events, and honestly if the two of them stayed in the company full time in their primes (save Austin from his injury and keep Rock out of Hollywood) I could almost see them headlining every Wrestlemania every year. Although I guess I should have expected an Austin heel turn at some point, it still shocked the hell out of me. I didn’t see it live, but when I went to wwe.com that night and saw the image of McMahon and Austin shaking hands, man, I almost fell out of my chair. Literally. What an amazing twist to end the show and just jump star so much more. Gimmick battle royal was as much as I could hope for and more, especially seeing The Goon out there. He rules. And the last part I was just dying to see was how WCW would play a role in the show. I guess a part of me was hoping to see some sort of invasion start out on the show, and that was probably the only let down. Seeing a bunch of midcarders up in a box isn’t exactly super exciting.
NOW: Well, this show I still think is easily the best Wrestlemania ever. Although having this box set does have it’s disadvantages. Easily one of the best parts building to the main event was the “My Way”video package, which it still has, just with generic music instead of Limp Bizkit. I mean, Bizkit has done exactly one worthwhile thing in their lives, and now it’s gone. This really disappointed me. But otherwise the whole show still holds up. Just top to bottom, what an amazing card. You get a wrestling classic with Angle/Benoit, a spotfest and a half with TLC II, an amazing brawl with HHH/Taker, and THEN one of the greatest matches in history with Austin/Rock. How anyone can say this isn’t the best Wrestlemania ever is beyond me.
Wrestlemania X8
Really, this one was a one match show for me. One of the most emotional matches there’s ever been too.
THEN: When I used to watch WCW, one thing I always insisted was having the nWo with WWE wrestlers and writers would be the greatest thing in the history of wrestling. Well, maybe not for some people, but for me it would be! And boy, was I wrong. Some things beyond Vince’s control and some due to injuries, and it just so happens the crowd for this show. Hogan being back in the WWE was just an amazing sight I thought, and Hogan/Rock was a brilliant matchup, even if I would have preferred Austin/Hogan. The match itself wasn’t great, but just the emotion and the crowd more than made up for it. Just such an awesome shift as they went from somewhat split to begin, to cheering every single eye gouge or anything else Hogan did, while booing the living heck out of Rocky. At the time the rest of the card seemed pretty good, and I was hoping Jericho main eventing Mania would put him on top of the card for the rest of his career.
NOW: Yeah, that Jericho thing didn’t really work out. It was kind of sad actually that before I watched this show it took me a bit of time to remember what the title match even was on this show. I remembered Hogan/Rock easily, but not much else. And really, other than that match, there’s not much else to write home about. Rewatching Hogan/Rock just really made me appreciate how good Rock was at adapting to turning into a heel for the match. Awesome stuff. Also, I did forget about Flair/Taker and how awesome the build for that match was. It just reminded me of how awesome heel Taker was at the time, and how much I miss having that around now. The rest though, nothing too good. And the sooner we forget about Edge and Booker T feuding over shampoo and Booker being dumb, the better I think.
Wrestlemania XIX
Probably the hardest to watch Wrestlemania in history, just from the fear of the main event and the possibility we could see a man crippled in the ring.
THEN: I’m pretty sure this was the first Wrestlemania I was fully involved with the internet wrestling crowd, and the talk of everyone was Kurt Angle and whether or not he should be wrestling at all. Although the big dream match at the time was Angle vs. Lesnar, I think everyone would have rather seen Kurt leave to heal like he needed to from his neck problems. But he didn’t, and instead we got a very interesting build to the match. The one thing I’ll always remember is the Smackdown swerve, where Angle vs. Lesnar was advertised only to have Eric Angle help screw Brock. One of the most ingenious things I’ve seen to fool everyone that was expecting Kurt to be taken off the show. The rest of this show was actually pretty strong I thought, but the watching the entire show just didn’t seem as fun as other times, as a lot of people were just waiting for the main event to be over with knowing Kurt made it thorough ok. It was weird, a rare time that a wrestling show became “real” in a sense.
NOW: Watching that main event as a wrestling match, it’s still a great match, but I really wish they had another chance to do it all over again with Angle healthy. It would have been much more fun to see live without nearly as much worry. And I don’t know what it is, but I really don’t like this Wrestlemania as much as I think I should. I mean, there’s some fantastic matches, with Austin vs. Rock one last time, Hogan vs. Vince, and Jericho vs. Michaels. But just for some reason, I don’t dig this show as much as I probably should all things considered. One thing I do with I could go back and watch is maybe the best couple months of wrestling building up to his, with heel Rock. Good God was he fantastic. The build for the Austin/Rock match itself wasn’t phenomenal, but really, it didn’t even need to be. Just those two names is big enough to make it worth seeing. But Rock’s stuff (especially with the Hurricane) is some of the best heel stuff ever done.
Wrestlemania XX
Maybe not the best Wrestlemania, but it’s certainly my personal favorite.
THEN: First Wrestlemania I went to see live since Wrestlemania IX. It was all about Chris Benoit too. And I’ll tell you, watching this show in a movie theatre here in Edmonton was just an amazing experience. One thing that I didn’t like about the show was both tag titles just thrown into matches with every tag team possible, and the stupidly short cruiserweight open match. Although Ultimo Dragon falling…twice…was quite funny (sadly not on the DVD though.) Otherwise, what a show. The Trish turn caught me totally off guard, and I loved it. The return of Taker was just such a huge event that people were dying to see for a long long time, and even though I missed the heel Taker stuff, seeing the old Deadman act was a big moment. Although the ring gear was pretty lame as it just turned out to be the same old Taker with a new hat, it was still a huge moment nonetheless. And Brock/Goldberg? Unforgettable. I mean at almost any other time, this would be a dream match of huge proportions. But with both guys leaving the company and the crowd verbally shitting all over Brock, it was a brutal match but the crowd made it extremely entertaining. Watching Austin was a lot of fun too, he just looked like he was dying to get out of that, maybe even laughing inside a bit since he was the only guy in there the crowd wasn’t all over.
But the capper for this show was the main event obviously, and Chris Benoit finally winning the big championship. Although him being introduced from Atlanta left everyone in the theatre saying “what the fuck?” by the end it was an amazing celebration. I spent most the show kind of laughing at the people yelling stuff at the screen like anyone could hear it, but when HHH was in the crossface I was on my feet screaming for him to tap along with everyone else. The end scene of Benoit and Eddy hugging and crying had me in tears of joy, and it reminded me of exactly why I’m a wrestling fan in the first place.
NOW: Doesn’t matter how many times I watch that end of the show, it still brings tears to my eyes. Especially now with Eddy being gone, but even before it’s impossible not to watch that and not get emotional. There’s been a couple times I’ve been kind of mad at something or hating wrestling temporarily, but I just watch that and a feel good moment like that just shows everything that is good with the business. I still love this show more than the rest personally, but the undercard wasn’t overly strong. It was a show that basically built everything up to Benoit winning, but I’ll never complain about that ever.
Well, there we have it. Four parts all down, 20 Wrestlemania’s watched. It’s been a fun time re-watching all this and see the WWF/WWE evolve over the years. So many great moments and matches, so many ups and downs. I hope everyone has had fun reading this, and I appreciate the emails and such I’ve been getting from these. Anyways, I think the best way to end this is maybe rank the 21 Wrestlemanias from bottom to top. These are my personal rankings for the best shows after watching them all over the past couple months.
21. Wrestlemania XI
20. Wrestlemania IX
19. Wrestlemania XIII
18. Wrestlemania 2
17. Wrestlemania XII
16. Wrestlemania VII
15. Wrestlemania
14. Wrestlemania VIII
13. Wrestlemania IV
12. Wrestlemania 2000
11. Wrestlemania X
10. Wrestlemania X8
9. Wrestlemania VI
8. Wrestlemania XV
7. Wrestlemania V
6. Wrestlemania XIV
5. Wrestlemania III
4. Wrestlemania XIX
3. Wrestlemania 21
2. Wrestlemania XX
1. Wrestlemania X-Seven
Well, there she is, all done at last. Hope you enjoyed the series. mikesawaryn@hotmail.com for any feedback or question!
