World Wrestling Federation – Wrestlemania 2000 – 2nd April 2000
This is the 16th annual Wrestlemania, and if you’re being completely honest, outside of THAT Ladder Match, not a whole lot from this one has been remembered all that fondly. Aside from the scheduled Triangle Ladder Match between the Hardyz, the Dudleyz and E&C, this show barely got a mention on the excellent ‘True Story Of Wrestlemania’ documentary release. Will that turn out to be fair, or is this actually an underrated instalment in the Mania legacy? The WWF was absolutely red hot at this stage, so it’s strange to think that this show, which should have been their biggest ppv of the year, is so much less remembered than all those around it (Royal Rumble, No Way Out and Backlash all get considerably more play). The main event is the ‘McMahon in every corner’ Fatal Fourway for the WWF Championship with HHH (accompanied by Stephanie) set to defend against Big Show (with Shane), The Rock (with Vince) and Mick Foley (with Linda) – who returns for another ‘last match’. The rest of the card is the usual Wrestlemania mash up of a few interesting matches – such as Kurt Angle defending both the European and Intercontinental Championships against Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit – and as many multi-person matches as possible to ensure the maximum amount of workers get on the show. We’re in Anaheim, CA with Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.
SIDENOTE – It’s easy to see why, a few years later, Vince decided that every Mania would be a stadium show. Holding it in a standard arena such as this means this show feels like any other pay-per-view event. Certainly not the biggest ppv of the year by any stretch.
Godfather/D-Lo Brown vs Big Bossman/Bull Buchanan
I honestly can’t remember for the life of me why Godfather and D-Lo were teaming. Their team really didn’t accomplish anything of note, that much I’m sure of. They are accompanied to the ring by the obligatory ho’s along with Ice T who raps Godfather’s entrance music. Buchanan debuted as another former prison guard, and a protégé of the Bossman. It’s his ppv debut here.
Brown and Buchanan get us started, but it isn’t long before Godfather and Bossman are piling in to get involved in the action too. Godfather laughably misses an elbow drop (seriously, was this guy ever a good wrestler?) so he is quickly tagged out. TOP ROPE REBOUND LARIAT by Buchanan. That was out of nowhere and completely out of place considering the lumbering nature of the rest of this match thus far. He nails an ace kick on D-Lo for 2. The heels start to isolate Brown, with Bull in particular really looking aggressive and crisp in his work. He heads to the top again but this time gets crotched as Godfather shakes the ropes…and D-Lo capitalises with a super rana. Hot tag to Godfather, who quickly hits the Ho Train on Bossman. Buchanan saves his partner from the Lo Down, allowing him to hit the Bossman Slam. TOP ROPE LEG DROP by Buchanan! That gives his team the win at 09:05
Rating - ** - To be fair, this wasn’t actually too bad. Godfather is pretty dreadful in the ring, but thankfully he was barely involved, meaning we got a semi-decent, if completely formulaic little opener. Buchanan looked like a real prospect at this point, showing genuine explosive athleticism and an exciting moveset to go along with his considerable size. He was the star of this match by some distance
In their locker room HHH and Stephanie compare their championship belts (Steph had recently become the Woman’s Champion in a glorious moment for that division) and bask in the glory of the McMahon-Helmsley Era putting on the ‘biggest Wrestlemania of all time’.
WWF Hardcore Title Battle Royal
This was another excuse to get as many guys on the card as possible, but I remember it being a lot of fun. This is the first ppv since they brought in the amusing 24/7 rule on the Hardcore Title. Crash Holly was champion, but was becoming increasingly deranged as he was pursued by an ever-stranger cast of characters in ever-stranger locations for his belt. He was granted temporary immunity from losing the belt, but only so we could have this match. It will be a 15-minute match, with the belt allowed to change hands as many (or as few) times as possible within that limit. Participants are Crash Holly, Tazz, Viscera, the Mean Street Posse, Hardcore Holly, Kaientai, the Headbangers and the APA.
Poor Crash is ambushed by Tazz literally as soon as he enters the ring. CAPTURE TAZPLEX! Tazz is the new Hardcore champion in 25 seconds! And he only lasts 30 seconds as Viscera scoops him up and slams him on the floor to win it for himself! The entire Posse (using some bizarre weapons) take it to the new champion, aided by the Acolytes. Crash is bleeding, there are bodies everywhere, and nobody seems to be able to inflict any damage on reigning champion Viscera. Bradshaw takes a baking tray and lays out EVERYONE with it! Clearly he didn’t catch Tazz properly there as the Human Suplex Machine almost no sells it and absolutely waffles him with a baking tray of his own. Joey Abs of the Posse starts beating on Tazz, and the former ECW Champion looks almost annoyed that he has to sell for this guy. Faarooq and Bradshaw do their best to kill Kaientai, then break a 2x4 over Viscera’s back. The current champ goes down…and the APA toss the barely conscious Kaientai on top! It seems like they’ve paid them to help out! Funaki is declared the new Hardcore Champion at 07:20…and the first guy to punch him in the mouth is Taka! FUNAKI RUNS AWAY! With ten guys chasing him, Funaki runs all the way into the backstage area trying to preserve his belt. It doesn’t last…and Rodney from the Mean Street Posse wins it moments later. GUTWRENCH SUPLEX ON CONCRETE! Joey Abs pins Rodney at 08:24 and we have another champion! Joey is tossed into a garage door seconds later, prompting another title change – this time to Guardian Of Truth Thrasher. Pete Gas is absolutely covered in blood, and he wins the belt at 09:30 after laying out Thrasher with a fire extinguisher. T-BONE TAZPLEX ON THE FLOOR! Tazz wins the title back! Despite multiple guys coming after him, Tazz holds the belt for a couple of minutes, and is the clear crowd favourite. He doesn’t seem to have much left in the tank with two minutes left though, and bizarrely pins Crash Holly for no reason. The Holly cousins start teaming up on him, but can’t get along for long enough to actually beat him. At 14:19, an agonising 41 seconds short of going the distance, Crash finally nails Tazz with another baking sheet and wins his Hardcore Title back! TAZMISSION! There are 20 seconds to go – can Crash hold on? But with seconds left Hardcore Holly lunges in and smashes JR’s jar of sweets over Tazz’s head. He pins Crash with a second remaining, meaning Hardcore Holly is champion at 15-minutes!
Rating - *** - This is very much a match of it’s time, but personally I preferred this to the usual mash up of 8-diva tags and short fourways and triple threats you normally get at Wrestlemania’s now. Obviously it wasn’t pretty, and if you’re being honest maybe they should have gone with a ten minutes rather than fifteen – but watching this bunch of jobbers and idiots beat the snot out of each other and bleed everywhere for a quarter of an hour really entertained me. Tazz was so much more over than everyone else, so in hindsight I wonder of WWF regretted not booking him to win. The finish itself looked fairly obviously botched too, and I’m near certain Crash was supposed before a combination of Hardcore Holly and the referee mis-timed the finish. Howard Finkel’s confused announcement of him winning, with JR desperately insisting Crash kicked out and they reversed the decision – along with Crash starting to leave with the belt – certainly backs that up. Still, this was harmless fun (unless you’re Pete Gas, who looked like he got seriously messed up), and a nice way for a whole load of guys to get a Mania payday.
They run a video package for Axxess. Undertaker is there (in biker gear – a hint towards his gimmick when he returned in a couple of months), as is Steve Austin, looking very bloated and scarily immobile. I wonder if WWF feared he’d never be back after that neck surgery.
Al Snow is in the bathroom, planning a very special Wrestlemania moment for he and Steve Blackman.
Al Snow/Steve Blackman vs T&A
This would be Trish Stratus’ Mania debut, and a ppv debut for both teams. Al Snow had been searching for a partner, before settling into an odd couple pairing with Steve Blackman, who played the ‘straight guy’ in Al’s increasingly bizarre search to find them a name and gimmick. Test and the repackaged Prince Albert were put as a team (since they weren’t going anywhere in their previous runs), and given the promising and extremely attractive Trish as their manager. Of course, that would backfire as Trish ended up way more over than they were, but that’s a discussion for another time.
Al brings out a midget dressed as a block of cheese – playing up the Head Cheese stuff. Test starts in the ring, quickly overpowering Snow. Blackman’s martial arts prowess helps even things up as he is far too quick for Albert. Head Cheese try to isolate A-Train, but in truth nobody is really watching anything other than Trish by this point. Test tagged, and they take an absolute age to set up a double powerbomb, making everyone look pretty bad. ASAI MOONSAULT to the floor by Snow, trying a desperate high spot to save what has been an awful match. Baldo Bomb on Snow, with the commentators continuing to crap all over this. Test wins with the top rope elbow at 07:05
Rating - DUD - JR was absolutely right that this one was awful, but I’m not sure it was anyone’s interest the way they continually pointed it out. At this stage both of these two were thrown together tag teams very much in their embryonic stages. Nobody was used to teaming with their partner, neither team had an established moveset and there was absolutely zero chemistry all round. Very poor…but why were they allowed to go onto a Wrestlemania show and get over 7 minutes in the ring if they hadn’t worked out all the kinks and teething problems from their routines?
Jesus, JR is STILL talking about how bad this was. Al Snow apologises to Blackman for his behaviour, and they assault the midget. ‘It’s time to cut the cheese’ – Al
Mae Young and The Kat are getting ready for action, with some tacky ‘hidden nudity’ sight gags which are every bit as cheesy as the little midget that just got decked.
Dudley Boyz vs Edge & Christian vs Hardy Boyz – WWF Tag Title Ladder Match
TLC 1 wasn’t until Summerslam, but this was unofficially the first TLC match between this legendary triple threat of WWF tag teams. The Hardyz and Edge & Christian raised the bar with their Ladder Match at No Mercy ’99, and the Dudleyz upped the violence when they were thrown into the mix with a Tables Match against the Hardyz earlier this year. Now these three hungry teams are put into one dangerous match, looking to establish legacies – and leave Anaheim as Tag Team Champions.
Edge, Christian and the Hardyz have started fighting before the Dudleyz have even complete their entrance. Jeff lands an early rebound corkscrew senton which takes Bubba off his feet…but Ray quickly pops up and hits the Bubba Bomb. POETRY IN MOTION WITH A LADDER! Edge & Christian try to do the same thing, but D-Von is smarter than his brother and tosses the ladder into Christian’s face! Jeff positions Ray on a ladder…450 SPLASH MISSES! He eats a whole lot of ladder on that one! SENTON THROUGH A LADDER BY BUBBA! On the other side of the ring Edge SURFS one ladder into Matt buried under another! Bubba drapes a ladder over his own head, thinning the herd by swinging round like a wildman to take out everyone. Christian climbs up a ladder. SUICIDE DIVE OFF A LADDER TO THE FLOOR! Jeff tries to go for the belts, only to be SPEARED OFF THE LADDER BY EDGE! And before Edge can go for the gold Matt is hauling him off the ladder too, hitting a sit-out splash mountain powerbomb. Three ladders are set up in the centre of the ring, and it means Bubba can chase Christian up to the top for a BUBBA CUTTER OFF THE LADDERS! The Hardyz climb opposing ladders for the FROG SPLASH/LEG DROP COMBO! It’s hard to express how batsh*t crazy this was when you were seeing all this live at the time. D-Von isn’t except from the punishment, eating a brutal double superplex off a ladder by E&C. All six men start climbing ladders for the belts…and you sense a car wreck waiting to happen!
CHRISTIAN AND JEFF FALL ALL THE WAY TO THE F*CKING FLOOR! Somehow Christian tries to crawl back into the ring, straight into a ladder sandwich by the Dudleyz! 3-D ON EDGE! They could win it there, but instead draw a colossal pop by leaving the ring to drag out some tables. They position a table ON TOP of two ladders! Tables are also dotted elsewhere around the ring and on the floor as well as the action quietens down as the next sequence is prepped. D-Von sends himself through a table trying a diving headbutt on Jeff. BUBBA POWERBOMBS MATT OFF THE SPANISH ANNOUNCE TABLE – THROUGH ANOTHER TABLE! JEFF RUNS THE GUARDRAIL…AND GETS A LADDER THROWN IN HIS FACE! With everyone down Bubba Ray sets up a monster ladder in the aisle, with an open table underneath it. He wants to put Jeff through it, but is interrupted by Christian beating him in the head with the bell! Jeff climbs the ladder instead…for the iconic moment of this Wrestlemania. SWANTON F*CKING BOMB OFF THE SUPER-LADDER…THROUGH THE DAMN TABLE! The pop for that is as loud as anything I’ve seen in wrestling. Christian and Matt are climbing up ladders in a race for the belts! They fight on that table Bubba positioned on top of those ladders…as Edge sneaks up behind Matt! MATT THROWN THROUGH ANOTHER TABLE! EDGE & CHRISTIAN WIN! 22:27 is your time!
Rating - ****1/2 - It’s weird that people seem to view this one as a step below the TLC matches. I think I marginally preferred TLC1, but I still think this is much better than TLC2 the following year. Like I said during my play-by-play, I remember watching this live, and it’s honestly hard to put into words how utterly unbelievable this was at the time. As wrestling fans we are desensitised to this kind of match now, but at this point nobody had done anything like this. It was ECW violence, with WWF high spots and production values, and some of the wildest bumps you could ever imagine. An iconic, legendary Wrestlemania match which, if you haven’t seen, you really should check out. Undoubted MVP of this match was the Dudleyz. Their time in ECW meant they were clearly the most comfortable in this environment, and they held the match together, continually responsible for setting up new and imaginative ways for the OTHER guys to take crazy bumps. All six were set for life after this.
Kevin Kelly is in the back with Mick Foley and Linda McMahon. Mick falls himself the fairytale pick to leave as WWF Champion in the main event.
Terri Runnels vs The Kat – Cat Fight
Ordinarily you’d say this was a bit silly, but Stacy Carter was crazy hot, and this should be a good way to get the crowd down after the Ladder Match. Val Venis is special guest referee, with Fabulous Moolah in Terri’s corner and Mae Young accompanying The Kat. A winner is declared when one lady tosses the other out of the ring.
Terri gives Val a kiss in an effort to win his approval…but when Kat voices her displeasure he drops her and lays one on Kat too. Spear from Kat…and she tosses Terri out. It should be over, but Val is busy trying to stop Mae taking her shirt off. Mae sticks her tongue down Val’s throat, meaning he misses Kat throw Terri out for a second time! This time Moolah throws Terri back in, drags The Kat out…and that’s enough for Terri to win at 02:24
Rating - N/A - Obviously as a match this wasn’t much cop, but as a piece of comedic entertainment to help the wrestlers having to go on after the Ladder Match this served it’s purpose well. The live crowd certainly enjoyed it, so I’d suggest this should be considered a success.
Kat and Mae get a measure of revenge, with Mae giving Moolah a Bronco Buster as Kat quite literally tears Terri’s clothes off her.
Eddie Guerrero/Dean Malenko/Perry Saturn vs Too Cool/Chyna
Although the personnel has slightly changed, this is a continuation of the issue which saw an excellent trios tag at No Way Out last month. On that evening Too Cool (along with Rikishi) walked out victorious, and Malenko left with his chest crushed by a big Samoan. We have different line-ups this time. Eddie is back off the injured list, and is smitten with Chyna – who thus far has seemed entirely repulsed by his ‘Latino Heat’. Will it be a debut win at Wrestlemania for The Radicalz?
Guerrero seems a little disappointed that he doesn’t get to start the match with Chyna. Although he soon turns and runs away from the 9th Wonder Of The World as she tags in trying to kick his ass. She and Grand Masta dance into a double suplex on Malenko instead. Sexay wants an early Hip Hop Drop, only to be shoved off the top rope by Saturn. Eddie launches Scotty into a flapjack over the ropes, but is so infatuated by Chyna that he stops to stare at her rather than follow up with more offence. Since she seems so unimpressed he grabs her and bashes her face into a turnbuckle! Sexay suplexes Guerrero to the floor, as Scotty wipes out both the other Radicalz for a double Worm. Perry didn’t like that one bit and gets a measure of retribution by throwing Scotty into the crowd! Chyna tagged, smashing her way through Saturn and Malenko repeatedly as she pursues Guerrero. They keep her at bay for just long enough to allow Eddie to blindside her! Chyna’s pants are falling down but it doesn’t stop her PRESS SLAMMING Eddie! Sleeper Neckbreaker beats Guerrero at 09:38
Rating - ** - Nowhere near the quality of The Radicalz 6-man from No Way Out, although when you take out Benoit and add in Chyna that’s not overly surprising. The fact that the match basically became nothing more than fodder for the Guerrero/Chyna storyline, whilst entertaining, certainly didn’t help the quality of the wrestling either.
Shane McMahon hypes up the Big Show, gearing up for the Show/Shane-O-Mac era when Show wins the WWF Championship…
Kurt Angle vs Chris Jericho vs Chris Benoit – WWF Intercontinental/European Title Match
This is a two fall match, which will see Angle defend both his championships in a single evening. The first fall will be for the IC Championship, and the second for the European. We saw him cheat and use the belt to beat Jericho for the IC Title at No Way Out last month, so Y2J will be fired up for some revenge. Benoit and Jericho have a rivalry which stretches back over several promotions and multiple continents so it’s a special moment to see them collide on WWF pay-per-view for the first time.
Angle is such a contentious character that he is jumped before he can even remove all his gold. Benoit and Jericho don’t take long renewing hostilities with each other either. The Crippler knows Y2J’s moveset, and stops him hitting the springboard dropkick to Kurt on the apron. Benoit tries to beat up Angle instead…and both men eat the springboard dropkick this time! Double underhook backbreaker scores for Jericho too…so Benoit shunts him off the top rope all the way to the announce tables on the outside! Such is the skill of all three that nobody is able to establish any real advantage in the first five minutes. Y2J tries to weaken Benoit’s back with a camel clutch, but of course, a submission win in this environment is near enough impossible and he is soon sucker punched by Kurt. The champ puts Jericho in a Crossface Chickenwing…but has the same problem as Benoit puts the boots right through his face. He tosses Angle into the crowd, then hits Jericho with the Flying Wolverine! Benoit is the new IC Champion at 07:56! The match continues with an irate Angle desperately trying to salvage his one remaining championship. He tries an ill-advised moonsault but is crotched by Jericho…who in turn is crotched by Benoit. BACK SUPERPLEX by Benoit! ANGLE MOONSAULT MISSES! Walls Of Jericho on Angle! Benoit breaks it…ROLLING POWERBOMBS instead! ROLLING GERMANS ON JERICHO! Angle breaks the fall so the Crippler drops him on his neck with a dragon suplex for good measure. The referee is bumped…CRIPPLER CROSSFACE! Jericho is tapping, unseen by the unconscious ref! Walls Of Jericho…but Kurt nails Y2J with the IC belt again! Flying Wolverine set up, but misses this time. LIONSAULT! Jericho wins the European Title at 13:47
Rating - *** - This really wasn’t the show-stealer many predicted it would be. Some blame their time-allocation, but I really think in 14 minutes workers of this calibre were capable of better. It all felt a little disjointed, certainly up until the first fall. Angle was still relatively new to the sport at this point and perhaps wasn’t as comfortable working in a triple threat, as he in particular seemed off his game. That said, anything Jericho and Benoit did together was excellent – and they’d go into a feud in the coming months anyway which produced some outstanding matches. Not the most spectacular of Mania debuts for any of them, but they’d all go on to produce their own Wrestlemania moments in the future.
Vince McMahon talks to Michael Cole, reiterating a promise he’d made on TV that, one way or another, he would ‘make it right’ within the McMahon family this evening. Triple H doesn’t react well to that comment, but still thinks he’ll be the one leaving with the championship at the end of the night.
X-Pac/Road Dogg vs Kane/Rikishi
Billy Gunn was on the shelf with a shoulder injury, and forcibly kicked out of D-X after Road Dogg blamed him for the New Age Outlaws losing the Tag Titles to the Dudleyz at No Way Out. X-Pac and Dogg started teaming together, which immediately means Road Dogg is caught up in Pac’s war with Kane. Waltman somehow escaped with a win over the Big Red Machine in a No Holds Barred Match at the last ppv. You wonder if he’ll be so lucky again when he is confronted with not only Kane, but also a big angry Samoan.
Tori and Paul Bearer are slapping each other and chasing each other around before the bell rings. X-Pac has to intervene to stop Kane getting his hands on poor Tori…but she retreats into the ring and nearly falls victim to the Stinkface too! D-X save her from that, but fail in their attempts to leave after Kane and Rikishi chase them up the aisle. Bronco Buster on Rikishi though, as Dogg and Pac do their best to make an even fist of this match. The Samoan lifts him into a pop-up Ace Crusher then tags Kane. Tori returns the favour from earlier and saves Waltman from the Stinkface…so Bearer shoves her into the ring! STINKFACE on Tori! TOMBSTONE ON X-PAC! Kane and Rikishi win at 04:10
Rating - ** - As a match it wasn’t anything more than a warm-up act for the third act in the Kane/Pete Rose trilogy (still to come), but considering they were given less than four minutes this really wasn’t bad at all. Rikishi put in a strong performance for the third consecutive ppv, D-X played the chickensh*t heels well – and God love Tori. She wasn’t particularly attractive, or talented, or charismatic. But she was certainly game in this feud, and got tossed around like a ragdoll by Kane again here tonight.
Too Cool return for a Wrestlemania dance, as does some guy in a chicken suit (who Kane strongly suspects is Pete Rose). Too Cool, Rikishi and the chicken dance…as Kane stands in the corner waiting for the shenanigans to end. He grabs the chicken suit guy…as Pete Rose sneaks in with a bat. He gets a chokeslam and a Stinkface and is left flat on the deck for a third consecutive Wrestlemania.
The Rock is so fired up he literally awesomes Kevin Kelly out of the shot. He is so good at these pre-match ppv promos.
Triple H vs Mick Foley vs Big Show vs The Rock – WWF Title Match
This will be under elimination rules, and of course, there is a McMahon family member in every corner. It is the culmination of the feuds that have raged all year thus far and is an immensely personal showdown with as much pride as championship gold at stake. Rock and Big Show have been at odds all year. Rocky won the Royal Rumble, but Big Show found evidence that suggested it was actually the Great One’s feet that touched the ground first. A rematch was booked for No Way Out, where Shane McMahon returned to the WWF and helped Big Show book his spot in the Wrestlemania main event instead. On the same evening HHH ended Cactus Jack’s career in a brutal Hell In A Cell match, ending Mick’s ‘dream’ of main eventing Wrestlemania. Enter the McMahon parents, with first Vince re-emerging on television to help The Rock get his spot, then Linda completing the set by giving Foley (not Mankind, not Dude Love and not Cactus Jack) one last shot at ending his career in the most glorious manner imaginable.
They initially break-off into the rivalries we’ve seen over the last couple of months, meaning it’s Foley and HHH in one corner, with Rock and Show across the ring. Show has the obvious physical advantage and after stomping Rock into the corner he turns round and mows down Mick and Hunter just as easily. Foley hops onto Show’s back…so Show VADER FLOPS backwards crushing him underneath in a nice homage to a famous rivalry from earlier in Foley’s lengthy career. All three men decide to team up in taking pot shots at Big Show – finally getting him off his feet. Cactus Clothesline takes HHH out of the ring, and Foley grabs a chair on the outside to crack Show right between the shoulder blades. He staggers forward…straight into a Rock Bottom! Show is the first eliminated at 04:48. Triple H suddenly realises that’s not good for him, as former WWF Tag Champions Rock and Foley stand to face him. It’s a Rock’n’Sock reunion…playing punch-tennis with the Game’s face. Foley tosses Rock the bell…only for HHH to duck ensuring Rocky BLASTS Mick in the head with it! He didn’t seem to pull that shot at all! Not that it stops Mick, who fishes around under the announce tables to pull out the barbed wire 2x4! Hunter runs away in absolute terror, finally low blowing Foley and stealing it to land a barbed wire shot to the abdomen.
Rocky saves Mick…who then floors HHH with the Double Arm DDT. Mandible Claw locked in! He tosses Helmsley to The Rock who is waiting to lay him out with the title belt. People’s Elbow set up…MANDIBLE CLAW ON THE ROCK! Wow do the California fans hate that! Triple H gives them both a low blow and the fight is on once more. Double Arm DDT from Mick to The Rock gets 2. Foley turns to HHH and tells him they should team up to eliminate Rocky so they can then settle their differences man to man in the concluding fall. And that’s how the next few minutes proceed, with Foley and HHH forming an unthinkable alliance to rid themselves of a mutual enemy. Hunter sets Rock up on the Spanish Announce Table…and literally orders Foley up the turnbuckles to put him through it. CACTUS ELBOW OFF THE SECOND ROPE…BUT HE CRASHES HIP-FIRST INTO THE SIDE OF THE TABLE! Horrific botch there, which legitimately injured Foley, and the calamitous spot doesn’t end there as HHH hops up onto the table and needs about three attempts to put Rock through it! Once that is finally done, he drags Mick (clearly very injured) back into the ring for a Pedigree! HE KICKS OUT! UNPROTECTED CHAIR SHOT TO THE HEAD! PEDIGREE ON A CHAIR! HHH ends Mick’s career (again) at 19:40, and we’re down to the two men many felt should have been headlining this show by themselves anyway. For the second ppv running Foley walks out of the arena to a standing ovation…except this time he comes back! ONE LAST BARBED WIRE 2x4 SHOT TO TRIPLE H!
The Rock has HHH on the rack, pulling him into the aisle for a suplex on the concrete. He tries to hit Hunter with the steps…but the Game pulls out a chair and smacks them back into his own face! PILEDRIVER ON THE STEPS! JR screams for the match to be stopped, but as HHH pulls his opponent back in the ring to finish it with a Pedigree Rocky back drops him straight over the top rope! SUPLEX THROUGH THE OTHER ANNOUNCE TABLE! Rock was the aggressor there but to be frank both of them look completely mangled by that spot. Vince punches HHH in the face…and back comes Shane to brawl with his own father. Shane leaves Vince bleeding with a chair shot, and with that rather awkward time-out over and done with HHH and Rock are allowed to stop lying on the canvas like lemons and start fighting again. Triple H levels Rocky with the barbed wire bat…then wipes out Shane McMahon as he tries to get into the ring with a chair. Rock Bottom nailed – and both men stay down! Vince steams back into the ring to kick Shane’s ass. Then he takes a chair and KNOCKS OUT THE ROCK! Rock kicks out of the pin…so Mr McMahon levels him with the chair again. This time HHH does retain at 36:24
Rating - *** - There is a lot to criticise about this main event, but it’s only right to praise it first and say that, for all it’s shortcomings, it was still a complete rollercoaster and never really felt boring at any point in it’s near-40 minute duration. Mick Foley was very critical of his own performance in one of his books, but actually I thought he was the best part of the match (even with that nasty table spot). Ultimately though, this has to go down as an overly-ambitious failure. The smart money was on Rock/HHH for the main event of Wrestlemania 2000. That’s what the fans wanted, that’s what should have happened. Nothing that went down here with all the McMahon’s couldn’t have been done (and ultimately far more plausibly) if they’d have just booked a singles match. Seriously, that Vince turn makes very little sense. Why was he punching Triple H three minutes before helping him win? In fact, it was probably the botched table spot that started the downward spiral of this one. It looked awful, was the catalyst for Mick’s elimination, and the worst portion of this match was HHH and Rock somewhat aimlessly brawling around ringside just killing time until the big swerve finish. Giving HHH the win was absolutely the right call – the buyrates and fan response to the Backlash ppv later in April certainly support the decision. It was also borderline unthinkable to have a heel champion go over at the big show and a hugely revolutionary decision for the time. And now it’s 13 years later you can appreciate this one for the wild, if overly long and hugely overbooked spectacle that it was. It doesn’t change the fact that putting dead weight in there like Big Show, needlessly dragging Foley out of retirement and letting the McMahon saga over-shadow what should have been an era-defining Wrestlemania main event was a bad creative call and a real Vince McMahon ego trip. Sometimes simple is better.
Fans pelt the ring with garbage as Vince embraces Stephanie, having made good on his promise to make it right in his family tonight (sort of, even that doesn’t make that much sense – are we just ignoring Linda and Shane?). The Rock gives Rock Bottoms to Vince and Shane, then gives Stephanie the People’s Elbow…but it still doesn’t mean he gets to be WWF Champion at the end of the show.
Tape Rating - ** - It’s a shame that in 2000, one of the hottest periods the WWF has ever had, they really tanked on Wrestlemania. This actually ended up being one of the worst pay-per-views of the entire year. Most modern Mania’s suffer with having too many guys crammed onto the card, but not having even one real ‘singles match’ on the card (I’m really not counting Terri/Kat) is just inexcusable. Of course, the two matches that everyone remembers from this card are very much worth watching, but there is a LOT of crap to sift through in this 3+ hour show to get to them. To defend the World Wrestling Federation to an extent, whilst they were in the midst of one of the hottest and biggest drawing periods, this was also a period of real transition for them. Established main event talent like Undertaker, Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels are all missing here. The mainstays of the late-90’s Attitude Era roster were starting to look very tired and talentless compared to the guys they were bringing in from elsewhere (Jericho, Angle, Benoit, Guerrero etc) and, whilst the main event scene (particularly The Rock) were doing great business, they were very much in the middle of rebuilding the midcard. There was a LOT of mud being thrown at the wall around this time – and this card is a massive example of that, with much of it failing to stick sadly. The amount of matches containing workers in their first ever Wrestlemania was also staggering. I’m not excusing some of the bad wrestling, or even the bad booking. I’m just pointing out that, whilst this was a great time to be a wrestling fan, the WWF undercard was in a real state of flux – and Mania probably came round a few months too early for them to really filter the crap out of their undercard and start promoting the ‘right guys’ so to speak. In the end the only real takeaway from this Mania was the Triangle Ladder Match anyway…
Top 3 Matches
3) Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit vs Chris Jericho (***)
2) Triple H vs The Rock vs Mick Foley vs Big Show (***)
1) Dudley Boyz vs Edge & Christian vs Hardy Boyz (****1/2)