WrestleMania X-Seven

Legacy Review

WrestleMania X-Seven

April 1, 2001 from the Astrodome in Houston, TX

 

Commentary: Jim Ross and Paul Heyman

 

Welcome to, for all intents and purposes, the grand finale of the Attitude Era. Only a week prior to this show the biggest business transaction in the history of professional wrestling took place: WWF bought WCW. The go home Raw turned into a simulcast of Raw and the final Nitro, with Vince McMahon crowing about buying his competition and saying "The fate of WCW is in MY hands", and culminated with Shane McMahon appearing on the Nitro side to do the famous reveal, "The contract to buy WCW says McMahon....SHANE McMahon!". It would be a bit before WWF settled on how to use their newly acquired property, and unfortunately when they did it was with the intention of just burying WCW more. But that's in the future. As a wise man once said, tonight is about tonight, and tonight is WWF taking a well earned victory lap on the biggest show of the year to celebrate their triumph in the Monday Night Wars.

 

It's appropriate that this is the first WM to be held in a stadium since WM 8 at the Hoosier Dome back in 1992. On top of that this is the first WM with an official four hour runtime (older large card WMs, mostly the 4-7 run, all ran in the 3:30 neighborhood). It's also the first WWF PPV for Paul Heyman, who's replacing Jerry Lawler on commentary. Lawler left the company in solidarity with his then-wife The Kat, who either quit or was fired depending on who's telling the story (see my No Way Out '01 review for the details). Heyman, fresh off WWF's purchase of ECW's assets in late January, made his full time WWF debut replacing Lawler on Raw in February. The opening video is appropriately epic, taking the old "WWF; What the world is watching" tagline and turning it real. This is one of my favorite WM stages too. I love how it manages to be both epic and understated at the same time. The atmosphere for this first WWF stadium show in nearly a decade is appropriately off the charts electric. You could probably run a small third world country off it for a year.

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Chris Jericho (c) def William Regal in 7:40- Regal is still WWF Commissioner here. He and Jericho had been butting heads over that, resulting in Regal putting Jericho in multiple handicap matches. In response, Jericho peed in Regal's tea. Really. They tease a proper lockup but go into a quick back and forth start. Jericho hits a flying forearm and does some ground and pound. After taking a leg lariat Regal ducks out to the floor. Jericho plancha! He almost overshot Regal on that. Like a QB hyped up at the start of a big game that sails all his passes too high. Back elbow off the top from Jericho coming back in for 2. They go into a nice counter for counter sequence ending with Jericho trying to put the Walls on. Regal punches free, then runs Jericho's bad shoulder he'd worked on during the build into the post. Regal starts working on the shoulder. Jericho manages to get a back elbow and tries a flash Lionsault but Regal gets his knees up. Regal cradle for 2. He hits a German suplex that Jericho does a crazy flip sell of for 2. Regal takes a top turnbuckle pad off, then runs Jericho's bad shoulder into it. Jericho counters with a pair of enzuguris. Missile dropkick off the second rope for 2. Regal dodges in the corner and Jericho flies into the post. Regal goes up and hits a double underhook superplex! Slow cover for 2. Jericho gets a double leg takedown and goes for the Walls again, but his hurt shoulder gives out. Regal counters with a drop toe hold and hooks on the Regal Stretch! Jericho crawls and just manages to get a rope break. He hits a flurry of chops with his good arm. Regal finally cuts it off with a kick to the bad shoulder. Quick reversal and Regal gets run into the exposed buckle. Bulldog from Jericho. Suplex. The Lionsault hits! Jericho gets the pin! Bit of a sudden finish there, but psychologically sound with Jericho's shoulder being hurt too much to put the Walls on. Good match, but you know they could have done even better with more time. The crowd is red hot right out of the gate too. ***1/4

 

A limo with the license place WCW 1 arrives at the arena and Shane McMahon exits it. Elsewhere, in the APA office native Texan Bradshaw gives an extensive history of sports in the Astrodome before saying "Fuck all this, we've got a match!".

 

The APA and Tazz (w/Jacqueline) def Right to Censor (w/Steven Richards) in 3:56- Big brawl on the floor to start. Jacqueline DDTs Richards in the ring. Things eventually settle in with Faarooq and Buchanan. Tazz gets caught in the RTC corner and goes in peril. He badly loses his footing while getting whipped and nearly collapses into the ropes. Then he nearly does it again on a corner whip. He does not look right. Goodfather hits the No More Hos Train. Instead of covering, he tries for a Vader bomb. Tazz dodges that and tags Bradshaw. After barely getting Goodfather over for a backdrop Bradshaw starts going nuts on everyone and it's quickly DONNYBROOK time. Bradshaw back superplexes Venus. Goodfather and Buchanan give Bradshaw a double powerbomb. Bradshaw dodges another Goodfather Train attempt, hits the Clothesline from Hell, and good night. Short and inoffensive WM multi-man undercard tag match. *1/2

 

Triple Threat Match for the WWF Hardcore Championship: Kane def Raven (c) and The Big Show in 9:28- Among the unusual items in Raven's cart of hardcore goodies tonight: a plant (possibly a shrubbery), a Frankenstein's monster doll that looks like Halloween decoration, and some kind of construction in progress roadblock sign. BIG pop for Kane on his entrance. Raven attacks Kane with the construction sign when he gets in the ring, then Show makes his entrance. Kane presses Raven down onto Show! Then Kane comes off the top with a clothesline to the floor. After that they go right into the crowd brawl. All the way up the floor toward the stage, then past it into a tunnel and into the back. Kane tosses Raven into some rooms that weren't at all set up just for this match and puts a hole in the wall. Show slams Kane on a stack of pallets. Show and Raven go into an area walled off with a chain link fence and Show tries to lock the door, but Kane gets it open anyway. Said area looks like janitorial supply storage and they completely trash it. Kane tosses Raven through a window! Show then runs Kane through a door, needing two tries. Kane and Show pound each other all around a small office before crashing through a wall. Raven hops on a golf cart. Show gets on the back of it and Raven crashes before he barely started moving! Shades of bad years Ernie Irvan or Robby Gordon for my fellow old school NASCAR fans out there. Kane then gets his own golf cart, loads the ref in the back, and takes off. He almost runs Raven over and has to slam on the brakes! I don't think much of anything in that sequence went as planned so they ditch the carts. A drinks table gets trashed as JR says "There goes the Snapple". They brawl up the steps to Gorilla and come back out on the stage. Show presses Raven up. Kane kicks Show and both Show and Raven go off the stage into the base! Kane then dives onto both of them! Kane covers, gets the pin and is the new Hardcore champ! Fun stuff, the best Hardcore match they'd done in quite a while. It threatened to break down after the golf carts didn't work out but they got it back together for the end run. ***

 

Kurt Angle is in the back obsessively watching videotape of Chris Benoit putting him in the crossface. His buddies Edge and Christian come in and suggest a big victory party after the show tonight. Instead, Angle poses them a philosophical question: If a man taps the mat, but it wasn't an official match, with no official bell, and no official referee, did that man really tap out? Ponder that as we go into the next match.

 

WWF European Championship: Eddie Guerrero (w/Perry Saturn) def Test (c) in 8:32- Guerrero, Saturn and the soon to retire Dean Malenko are still keeping the Radicalz thing going minus Benoit. Saturn's raided Buff Bagwell's silly hat closet before coming out tonight. Might as well, not like Bagwell's ever going to be wearing them for WWF. Guerrero tries to jump before the bell but Test was ready for him. Test powerbomb for 2. Guerrero powders. They brawl on the floor a bit before Guerrero gets the edge in the ring. Test presses Guerrero and snake eyes him on the top turnbuckle for 2. Guerrero sets up for a top rope hurricanrana but Test grabs the ropes to block it, then hits a back elbow off the top for 2. Guerrero low bridges Test over the top rope. While going over Test's foot got caught in the ropes and he's trapped upside down! Saturn takes a couple of shots before realizing Test's REALLY trapped. The peewee spaghetti armed ref working this match can't get Test free no matter how hard he tries, so Guerrero has to break character and go over to free Test himself. Sarcastic applause from the crowd once Test finally gets free. Guerrero runs with it, starting to work on Test's ankle that got trapped. After a bit of that he hops on Test's back for a sleeper. Test fades down but won't go out completely so Guerrero lets go. Speed run and Test gets a tiltawhirl slam. Blue thunder bomb from Test for 2. He grabs a full nelson that Guerrero immediately low blows out of. Saturn comes in while Guerrero has the ref distracted and gives Test a swinging neckbreaker, or a "moss covered three handled family gredunza" according to Heyman, a nice little nod to Jericho's List of 1004 Holds. Guerrero covers for 2. Brain buster. Guerrero goes up top. He sees Test dodging the splash and rolls through, then ducks a Test big boot. Test grabs Guerrero and hits the pumphandle powerslam. Saturn distracts the ref *just* long enough for Guerrero to kick out. Saturn comes in and takes a big boot. Big boot for Guerrero. Now Malenko runs out and pulls Test out of the cover. While Test is tied up with him Guerrero gets the belt, nails Test with it, and covers for the pin and the title. Both guys did their thing and it came together fine. **3/4

 

Kurt Angle def Chris Benoit in 14:10- Both guys made the other tap out to their submission hold leading up to this match (no matter how much Angle denies it), leading many to expect that's how both are going to try to finish it tonight. Staredown, circle, lockup and we go right into a crazy mat wrestling sequence. Stalemate, reset, Angle gets a leg takedown and another round on the mat that Angle seems to have the edge on. Straight lockup and we get a clean but forceful corner break. Angle picks Benoit up by the legs, carries him, and drops him down into more amateur mat grappling. He almost gets Benoit in a pinning position before they both roll into the ropes. Angle gets a single leg takedown. Benoit counters into a crossface attempt! Angle quickly gets to the ropes. Another Angle leg takedown into another Benoit crossface try. Angle backs up this time, past the ropes and all the way to the floor to have a think about this. When he gets back in Benoit almost gets him in the crossface again and Angle has to take another rope break. Angle punches Benoit over the ref! Think the amateur wrestling portion of the match is over. He tosses Benoit out to the floor and knocks him around a bit out there. Suplex from Angle back in for 2. Back suplex for 2. Benoit chops back. Angle belly to belly suplex! Ripcord into another Angle belly to belly. He tries another ripcord but Benoit turns it into a short clothesline. Long chop exchange in the corner. Benoit gets a short knee to the gut. Back elbow for 2. Snap suplex from Benoit for 2. He puts Angle up and hits a superplex! Slow cover for 2. Angle Bret bumps off a corner whip and it's ROLLLLLLLLLLLLLING GERMANS time. Benoit only gets up to 2. While trying to wear Angle down for 3 Angle counters with a drop toe hold into the ankle lock! Benoit counters into his own ankle lock! Angle hits some stiff kicks right on Benoit's ear to get free. Benoit gets the crossface on! Almost. Angle blocks it, then counters into his own crossface! Benoit gets a foot on the rope. Angle goes for another ankle lock. Benoit kicks free, sending Angle back into ref Jack Doan, who goes down in a heap. Crossface! Angle's tapping! But there's no ref. Benoit goes over to wake Doan up. Angle Slam! Benoit kicks out! Setup slam from Angle. Moonsault! Benoit gets his knees up! He says that's it. The top rope headbutt hits! I like how Angle was still laying on his side when that hit instead of being on his back like usual. The little things. Angle kicks out! Benoit grabs a waistlock. Angle quickly low blows him to get free. They go into one more counter exchange on the mat. Angle gets Benoit cradled, grabs a handful of tights, and gets the pin! Fantastic stuff. The only goal here was for two great wrestlers to go out on the WM midcard and put on a kickass wrestling match. They succeeded. We're also continuing to slowly see the pieces of what would become an Angle style match come together. ****1/4

 

Commissioner Regal comes across Kamala denigrating his office and orders Kim Chee to get him the bloody hell away. At least he's not pissing in Regal's tea. Might have pooped in his chair though. After that we get a long video package of some wrestlers visiting Fort Hood for a "Wrestlemania kickoff" celebration. We then cut to Angle with Kevin Kelley. Angle says he won the match, he doesn't have to respect anybody. Benoit attacks and puts him in the crossface again! Angle taps again! This isn't over.

 

WWF Women's Championship: Chyna def Ivory (c) in 2:38- This is Chyna's big return after having her neck broken at Ivory's hands at the Royal Rumble. An agreement was made before the match that the RTC would be barred from ringside, but also that Chyna would sign a waiver that she couldn't hold Ivory legally responsible if her neck gets hurt again. Ivory nails Chyna with a belt shot behind the ref before the bell. She goes right for Chyna's neck. Chyna grabs a kick and tosses Ivory away. Corner beatdown. Hiptoss and clotheslines. Backdrop. She plants Ivory with a huge powerbomb. Chyna covers, but then lifts Ivory back up. Gorilla press slam. Casual cover from Chyna and it's over. The women's title seems like a bit of a comedown for Chyna after wrestling the men and even holding the IC title for a time, but with WWF about to go more mainstream they were ditching any intergender wrestling. Not much wrestling or drama wise here, but for the story it was exactly what it needed to be. 1/2*

 

In the back, Vince checks with Trish and Steph that catatonic Linda is on double medication, and makes sure Trish knows to wheel Linda out when Shane is down and out. Michael Cole interrupts and asks Vince for a comment on Shane's shocking undercutting of him to buy WCW. Vince promises you'll see shocking tonight.

 

Street Fight: Shane McMahon def Mr. McMahon (w/Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley) in 14:11- This had already been booked before the WCW purchase as the big finale of all the McMahon family drama the past year plus, but that purchase kicked this up to an even higher level. Getting them their own match instead of messily intertwining it all with the main event like last year's WM is absolutely the right call. During the build Vince uttered the immortal line to Shane: "I will never forgive my wife for giving birth to you". Before the match Shane gives a shout out to a half full skybox of "WCW wrestlers". No names, just generic WCW wrestlers. Mick Foley, who Vince fired as Commissioner late last year, is making his return to guest ref this match. Completely impartially. Vince slaps Shane before the bell and goes into a quick punch flurry, then chokes Shane in the corner. Shane comes up with a clothesline. He tackles Vince into some ground and pound. Steph gets in the ring to try to stop Shane....then slaps him! She takes off while Shane catches a running Vince with a baseball slide. Shane beats him down in the aisle and gives him a bunch of shots with one of the "Keep off" signs from the aisleway. Cable choke. Diving clothesline off the barricade from Shane. He goes under the ring, gets a kendo stick, and goes to town with Vince on it. Foley makes sure to tell commentary it's all legal because it's a street fight. Thanks, Mick. After that Shane starts laying in the dancing punches. He sets the Spanish announce table up and hits Vince with a monitor to get him set up. Shane climbs up to the top rope. Steph gets in the way and pleads with him to stop. Shane launches. Steph pulls Vince out of the way and Shane crashes through the Spanish announce table! Trish takes that as her cue to wheel Linda out. Trish goes over and checks on Vince....then slaps him! SWERVE! She's sick of being treated like shit and used! Steph slaps Trish! CAT FIGHT! Hell of a job by Linda, her expression never changes even with all this insanity going on in front of her. They go all the way into the ring. Foley looks on amusedly for a bit, then pulls Steph off when she's on top. Steph then slaps Foley. She's got slaps for everyone tonight. Steph runs away, all the way up the aisle with Trish chasing her as fast as she can in her giant bedazzled platform boots. Back to Vince. He's staring daggers at Linda and mouths "You bitch". Foley backs Vince off and tries to get Linda away. Vince gets a chair and nails Foley with it. He rolls Linda back toward the ring, lifts her up, places her in the ring, and sits her down in a chair in the corner. He says he's going to make her watch. Vince rolls Shane back in, then gets a bunch of trash cans from under the ring. He wails away on Shane with the cans while providing running commentary for Linda between shots. Vince sets up for another shot. LINDA STANDS! She's alive! The crowd goes absolutely NUTS for that. Linda kick right in the McMahon grapefruits! Another huge pop. Foley comes in and punches Vince down in the corner. Running knee! Shane puts a trash can on Vince sitting in the corner, then climbs up the opposite corner. No way, he can't. COAST TO COAST! The first one Shane ever did and it was absolutely mind blowing. Cover and Shane gets the pin! Is it a great wrestling match? Absolutely not. Is it tremendous entertainment and a great story payoff? You bet your ass. I love traditional wrestling, but man I feel sorry for people that can't enjoy the wrestling equivalent of a popcorn flick like this (a good one, not a Michael Bay one, the story actually matters here). It hit every beat exactly right. ***3/4

 

TLC II for the WWF Tag Team Championship: Edge & Christian def The Dudley Boyz (c) and The Hardy Boyz in 15:50- Just as this show is essentially the grand finale of the Attitude Era, this match is the finale for everything these three teams have done, in pairs and all together, the past 18 months. After this there will never be another match between these three teams without someone else involved. There's been T, L and C laying across the entire aisle all night, and as we get to entrances the ring crew sets up a bunch of it around the ring. That'll save some time during the match. Once all three teams are in the ring they let the atmosphere soak a bit before jumping into the big brawl. The Dudleyz double flapjack Edge. The Hardyz hit Poetry in Motion on both Dudleyz. E&C come in with the first ladder and run everyone over with it. Matt gets put in the tree of woe and E&C grind down on his nuts. They drop toe hold Jeff into a chair. Edge sets the ladder up and makes the first climb. Matt pulls him down, still selling his sore nads. Edge clotheslines Matt off the ladder. Jeff Poetry in Motion dropkicks Edge off the ladder. The Hardyz baseball slide another ladder into the Dudleyz. Christian tries a climb and gets pulled down. The Hardyz bring a second ladder in. Setup slam on Christian. The Hardyz climb the ladders and give Christian a splash/legdrop combo! The Dudleyz toss the Hardyz out and Edge takes the Whazzup Drop. Table time. D'Von seems a bit confused at first, looking for a table under the ring when there's like three standing right next to him, but he figures it out. Two tables are put in the ring, one normal, one propped in the corner. Bubba Ray powerbombs Jeff onto Edge through the standing table! The Dudleyz go out and set up the double wide, double high table stack on the floor while Heyman tells a silly little story of Big Daddy Dudley being big time in the construction business. A third ladder gets in the ring. All three are set up in the middle. Everyone climbs, fights, and everyone goes down. Christian went off the ladder all the way down to the floor! As everyone slowly recovers it's time for the newly involved thirds to run in. First is Spike Dudley. Dudley Dog on Edge off the ladder! Spike Dudley Dogs Christian off the apron and through a table on the floor! Now Rhyno, who had recently come over from dead ECW and was now aligned with E&C, runs in. He takes the Dudleyz out. Gore on Matt through the corner table! Now here's Lita. She pulls Edge down off the ladder (or "jerks Edge off.....the ladder" as JR couldn't resist saying, if he only knew the future there). Rhyno grabs Lita by the hair and presses her. Spike low blow on Rhyno. Lita goes up top and hurricanranas Rhyno! Edge tries to climb again. Spike chairshots Rhyno, who falls into the ladder knocking Edge off. Dudley doomsday device on Rhyno. Lita gives Spike a chairshot. The shirt is off! Dudley 3D on Lita! E&C use chairs to clear the ring. They go outside and bring out the Jeff Hardy Suicide Ladder. Jeff grabs it from them, has to stop it from falling into the crowd, then sets it up. He climbs to the top, with Rhyno and Spike waiting on tables down below. 20 foot Swanton Bomb through the tables! It's still cool, but it's also lost its shine a bit since that's been in all of these matches. It feels mandatory now. E&C bring the big ladder into the ring and set it up in the middle, where the top of it is almost touching the tag belts. Christian and D'Von climb. Both grab the belt hook. Matt takes the ladder away and they dangle there! They try to continue fighting but slowly both drop down into the ring. Jeff stands on the top rope and tries to walk across the three smaller ladders onto the large one! The middle ladder doesn't hold and he has to reset a bit. Very tricky spot, no foul there. He gets back to plan by grabbing the belt hook himself. Bubba Ray takes the ladder out from under him. Meanwhile, Edge climbs up the big ladder that had been set up in the corner. SPEAR OFF THE LADDER TAKING JEFF OFF THE HOOK AND DOWN TO THE MAT! To this day that is still one of the most iconic WM shots ever. Now Bubba Ray and Matt fight up a regular ladder toward the belts. Rhyno pushes the ladder and they go down, DESTROYING the big table stack on the floor! Wow, that was a table explosion. Absolutely perfect. The large ladder is set up in the middle again. D'Von tries to climb one side, but Edge holds him down. On the other side, Rhyno lifts Christian on his shoulders and carries him up Mount Doom the ladder right to the belts to give E&C the win! It's E&C's 7th tag title win, already well surpassing the New Age Outlaws' old record. They are also now 3-0 in all three big gimmick matches with all three teams. I think most people cite this as their favorite match of the trilogy, and fair dos to them. Wrestling's an art, we're all going to have our own perception and opinion. For me, I still prefer TLC I to this one. Don't get me wrong, this is great, but to me TLC I was tighter and more streamlined without a second or move wasted, while this one was slightly flabby in the middle and I don't think all the extra people running in really added anything to it. ****1/2

 

Next up is a video package of Axxess highlights. I hope the new WWE World is just as good, because I remember well going to Axxess at WM 32 and man it was incredible. After that Fink gets the honor of announcing tonight's official WWF count attendance (I'm not getting into a ticket count debate) of 67,925. It was an Astrodome record, but would only last about a year before being broken by a George Strait concert.

 

Gimmick Battle Royale- And now for something completely different. To kick this off, Mean Gene Okerlund and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, both making their WWF return after their years of WCW exile, come in to do commentary for this match. I think this was Heenan's last major commentary job before the throat cancer started to take hold so that makes it extra special. The entrances are most of the fun here so I'll go through them all: the Bushwackers (in their Men from Down Under gear from Heroes of Wrestling), Duke "The Dumpster" Drose (looking in better shape than when he was a regular), The Iron Sheik (moves so slow Heenan says "By the time he gets to the ring it'll be Wrestlemania 38!"), Earthquake (who'd recently worked for WWF as Golga of the Oddities), The Goon, Doink the Clown (sadly face Doink), Kamala and Kim Chee (plus Harvey Wippleman as manager), Repo Man, Jim Cornette, Nikolai Volkoff, Michael PS Hayes (BADSTREET USA, still one of the greatest entrance songs ever), One Man Gang, the Gobbeldy Gooker (Heenan to Okerlund, "Didn't you use to date her?", and we get footage of Gooker's hatching at Survivor Series '90), Tugboat (putting both Natural Disasters in the match), Hillbilly Jim (somehow still looking the same age as he did in the '80s), Brother Love ("I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE YOU!"), and Sgt. Slaughter. Slaughter barely gets his hat off before it kicks off. Considering the ages in there they do a nice, pacey battle royale brawl. Guys get tossed out quick and the whole thing only lasts a few minutes. The final four are Slaughter, Love, Sheik and Jim. Slaughter tosses Love, Jim tosses Slaughter, and Sheik tosses Jim to win it! Sheik won because he physically could not go over the top rope. No joke. Slaughter comes back in and puts him in the Cobra Clutch to get a bit of revenge and give us some more memberberries. Pure, harmless nostalgia joy. Anyone who hates this has no heart. Heenan on commentary gives it a bit more of a bump too, overall call it **1/2.

 

The Undertaker def Triple H in 18:27- This is the first ever one on one PPV meeting between these two. It won't be the last. In lots of ways this has become the forgotten Trips/Taker match given the historic weight of their other WM matches a decade later. Good news: Trips gets his first live Motorhead play in. Bad news: Lemmy forgot the song. Not just the lyrics, his rhythms, his notes, almost everything is wrong. It's the grumpy old Luke Skywalker "Every word you said was wrong" meme come to life. Taker takes a quick second to pose in the ring before the brawl starts on the floor. HHH tries to bump on the replacement Spanish announce table and breaks it again! JR mentions Taker is 8-0 at WM. It's starting to become a small but noticeable thing. Back in HHH hits the Harley Race high knee. Taker pops right back up, tosses HHH in the corner and lays in the punches. Backdrop. Corner clothesline and elbows. Taker is really laying into everything hard. HHH does his wobble selling. Taker scoops and powerslams him. HHH dodges an elbow drop. Taker hits the flying clothesline. He calls for old school, but takes too long and HHH pulls him down off the ropes. Clothesline duck and neckbreaker from HHH. He hits some elbows on the apron. Swinging neckbreaker. HHH covers for 2 several times and shoves ref Mike Chioda after. Taker comes back with rapid fire body blows and an uppercut. HHH hits the facebuster. He goes out, tosses Mark Yeaton aside, and gets Mr. Sledgehammer. He loads up to take a swing at Taker but Chioda grabs it away. Taker tries to jump but HHH ducks the punch. Kick wham Pedigree hookup, Taker counters into a slingshot that sends HHH right into Chioda. Chokeslam! Chioda's there to count. HHH kicks out! Taker punches Chioda out! Trips flip in the corner. Taker backdrops HHH over the barricade. Crowd brawl time. They work up to an area we almost never see, the main tech/audio area and hard camera tower. They slowly climb up the structure with Taker still in full control. HHH manages to grab a chair, nails Taker with it, and unloads with a ton more chairshots. Taker responds with a goozle. He lifts HHH, pauses, then drops him down off the hard cam tower! We don't see HHH land, he just disappears, which makes it look even better. Taker poses while medics run in to check on HHH. Taker climbs the rail and comes down with an elbow on HHH! He pushes all the medics away to lay in more punishment. They start working back toward the ring. Chioda's still dead by the way. Hasn't moved a muscle that entire time. As they get back in the ring Taker sees the sledge. He takes it. HHH begs off. Taker loads up. HHH low blow! He goes for a sledge shot but Taker cuts it off with a big boot. They start slugging it out in the middle of the ring, first slowly but then faster. HHH ducks a punch and scoops. Taker reverses it. Tombstone! But Chioda's still dead. Taker goes over and pokes him and he finally starts to stir. Taker sets up for the Last Ride. But as he lifts HHH up HHH picks the sledge up. Right before Taker can drop him HHH nails him in the head with the sledge! Cover and Chioda's alive. Taker kicks out! Hell of a near fall, that could have easily been it. Taker's bleeding. HHH goes right for it with punches. He climbs up for mounted punches. Taker uses that to get him in Last Ride position! Taker hits it and gets the pin! Great finish. Taker goes to 9-0 at WM. Out of all the matches Taker had before the Streak became a really big deal, this is probably the one he was most likely to lose, especially with the run HHH had been on since the start of 2000. It was a great long term call to have Taker get an almost surprise win here. ****

 

For the first time, WWF has a WM main event that can rival or maybe even surpass Hogan/Andre at WM 3. Austin won his record third Royal Rumble to get this shot just a few months after returning from near career ending neck surgery that put him on the shelf an entire year. Rock ended the improbable first title reign of Kurt Angle at No Way Out in February to make this highly anticipated rematch of the WM 15 main event official. WWF immediately started printing money. The entire build for this epic main event can be summed up in one simple line from Austin: "I need to beat you, Rock. I need it more than anything you could ever imagine."

 

No DQ Match for the WWF Championship: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin def The Rock (c) in 28:08- Fink announces this as no DQ, which is a last second addition that surprises commentary. Austin gets a Texas sized Austin pop. Rock's is still decent, but it won't be long into the match that he'll start getting booed by the partisan Texas crowd. While Rock's posing in the corner Austin pulls him down and here we go! Rock ducks a belt shot. Austin Thesz Press! He drops the elbows after. Rock gets a swinging neckbreaker. Both guys fight off finisher attempts. Austin momentum tosses Rock over the top to the floor. The replacement Spanish announce table is still destroyed. Good call to not even bother setting up another replacement. They go over the rail and do a bit of a crowd brawl in a section that hasn't gotten one tonight. By the announce tables Austin gets a short clothesline, and stays in control back in the ring. He sets Rock up top and hits a superplex! Not a usual move from Austin even before the last neck surgery. Cover for 2. Austin takes a top turnbuckle pad off. Speed run and Rock gets a flying clothesline. Japanese style armdrag from Rock for 2. He 360 clotheslines Austin to the floor. After some ringside knockaround Austin gets run into the bell. Hebner trips backwards over the stairs. Rock stops to check on him. When he gets back up Austin waffles him with the bell! Rock's busted open. Now Austin knocks him around ringside. Rock lays on the English announce table and it collapses! Premature breakage. Happens to all tables at a certain age. Guess they have to scrap whatever was going to happen there. Austin slugs Rock down in the ring, lays in some straight ground and pound and even chokes Rock. Rock blocks an exposed buckle shot and tries to come back. Austin gets a swinging neckbreaker for 2. More ground and pound. Corner stomps. Rock pops out with a clothesline! That gets some loud boos. He lays in some smackdown punches and runs Austin into the exposed buckle. Then Rock goes out, gets the bell, and gives Austin a receipt shot with it. Now Austin's busted open. Cover for 2. Rock bounces Austin off the ropes on all sides with punches but Austin refuses to stay down. Rock elbows Austin off the apron and gives him some floor shots again. Austin drops Rock on the barricade, then slingshots him into the post. Monitor shot for Rock. Austin rolls him back in and covers for 2. Double bird in Rock's face, kick wh...no, Rock blocks it. Leg takedown into the World's Shittiest Sharpshooter! Shades of WM 13 here, right down to Austin's face being covered in blood. In fact both guys are bleeding very nicely. Austin nearly gets to the ropes but Rock drags him back to the center. Another effort from Austin and this time he gets to the ropes. Rock puts a middle finger right in Austin's face and goes for the Sharpshooter again. Austin eye rakes free. Leg takedown and Austin puts on a Sharpshooter! Rock manages to power free. Austin smashes Rock's leg, gives him a gut stomp and gets the Sharpshooter back on. Rock gets to the ropes. When Rock gets up Austin hooks in the Million Dollar Dream! Going all the way back to his hated Ringmaster days. He wants this bad. Next thing he'll be trying a Stun Gun. Rock fades down and we get the arm drops. Rock powers back up, climbs the ropes, and flips Austin over into a pin! Austin *just* gets free before 3! Another callback, to how Bret Hart beat Austin in their first match at Survivor Series '96. Rock reverses a whip and hits a Stunner! Slow cover for 2. Vince makes his way out to the ring. Slugfest and Austin hits a spinebuster for 2. Rock spinebuster! Pad off. People's Elbow! Vince pulls Rock out of the cover! What? Rock is shocked, then chases Vince. Austin gives Rock a Rock Bottom! Rock kicks out! Rock blocks a Stunner and knocks Hebner out of the ring. Low blow from Austin. He tells Vince to get a chair. What? Austin hold Rock for Vince and Vince gives Rock a chairshot! The hell is going on? Cover. Vince gets Hebner back in the ring. Hebner slow count. Rock kicks out! Austin's furious. Middle finger, Austin loads up another chairshot. Rock Bottom! Vince distracts Hebner! Rock flips Vince in the ring and gives him the smackdown punches. He turns around....STUNNER! ROCK KICKS OUT! Amazing near fall. Nuclear doesn't even come close to what the crowd is right now. Vince hands Austin the chair and Austin waffles Rock in the head with it. Another cover. Another kick out! What the hell will it take? Strange thing is, Austin's getting so frustrated he's going into an almost zen like trance now. Austin takes the chair and proceeds to absolutely pulverize Rock with it. Shot after shot after shot after shot after shot. If Rock was a horse he'd be glue right now. Austin covers again, and finally Rock stays down for a 3 count! Austin gets the title back! It's his 5th WWF Title win, tying him with Bret and Hogan one behind Rock's recently acquired 6. The win does get a pop. At first. Austin and Vince stare down.....and shake hands! JR: "AUSTIN IS SHAKING HANDS WITH SATAN HIMSELF!". Austin and Vince have a beer celebration over Rock's carcass as the crowd finally starts to clue in on what's really happening here. When Rock finally gets up Austin gives him one last belt shot for the road, then leaves side by side with his mortal enemy. End show. That wasn't the prettiest wrestling match. In fact it was downright ugly at times. It was a fight, and a pretty masterful one at that, one of the best brawl style matches ever. On top of that, the storytelling was sublime. As Austin said himself, he needed this win more than life itself, and he proceeded to use every single weapon he had available to him, right up to, as JR put it, selling his soul to Satan himself, while Rock refused and refused to go down and in the end had to be virtually murdered to finish it. Now, history will show in the long run the Austin heel turn was a mistake, both creatively and for business. But on the night, it was the biggest shock anyone could imagine. ****3/4

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- If you ask 50 random but knowledgeable longtime wrestling fans, likely at least 40-45 of them will say this is the greatest WM, possibly the greatest PPV, of all time. I'm not going to go quite that far. I will say this is the first of a run that has my top three favorite WMs, in no particular order, happening within a four year span (19 and 20 being the others). But that's not to undersell the greatness of this show. WWF was at its absolute zenith. The entire wrestling world was theirs, and this show is a worthy encapsulation of that and as a culmination of the entire Attitude Era. The rest of the year will be one of transition, mostly headlined by the ill-fated Invasion angle, before 2002 kicks off the next big era of WWF/E history: Ruthless Aggression.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A