wrestling / Video Reviews
Kevin’s RetrospectiveMania Series: WrestleMania 2000
By the time 2000 arrived, the WWF was dominating the war with WCW. They even picked up some top notch WCW talent like Chris Jericho and the Radicalz. Though “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was on the shelf, the company was red hot. The Rock and Triple H had risen to be major players, while guys like Kurt Angle and many others were hungry to breakout. The loaded roster made for arguably the most unique card in Mania history, with no standard singles matches on this show.
Big Bossman and Bull Buchanan vs. D-Lo Brown and The Godfather ~ GODFATHER’S IN THE HOUSE! GRAB YO BITCHES! Law and Order star Ice-T rapped D-Lo Brown and the Godfather to the ring. They weren’t kidding about trying to get everyone onto the card. This wasn’t exactly what you’d call a “hot opener.” It was slow and plodding with a crowd that only cared for the women at ringside. It seemed like the main idea here was showcase Bull Buchanan. Maybe they thought he had potential due to his size and athleticism. D-Lo played the face in peril but the tag to Godfather barely got a response from the Anaheim faithful. The heels still won following a Sidewalk Slam from Bossman and diving leg drop from Bull in 9:04. No need for this to be as long as it was. Boring and heatless.[*¼]
WWF Hardcore Championship Battle Royal ~ I loved this idea. The match goes for 15 minutes and whoever pins the champion wins the title, with the final man to do so leaving Mania as champion. Participants include Tazz, Viscera, the Mean Street Posse, Hardcore Holly, Kaientai, the Headbangers, the APA, and champion Crash Holly. Logically, everyone would go after the champion but it’s not as fun that way so everyone brawled. Tazz pinned Crash before Viscera beat him in the first minute. There are countless shots to the head that would make almost any fan cringe in 2019. Viscera got thrown off the top because he went up there for no reason. The action moved backstage where the wildness continued, including title reigns for some members of the Mean Street Posse. Tazz kept trying to pin people while he was champion because none of this made sense. Crash won the title back with about 35 seconds left but then got put in the Tazzmission. As Crash faded, his cousin snuck in and broke a jar over his head. Hardcore covered and got the three, though there was confusion on whether or not he got his shoulder up. This was stupid and I loved it. It’s a case where sometimes wrestling is just meant to be goofy fun. [***]
Head Cheese vs. T&A ~ The whole point of this was to get Trish Stratus on the show. She’s the biggest star involved in this match both at the time and throughout history. This was also when Al Snow brought out the dude dressed as cheese. Other than him making a pass at Trish at ringside, there was nothing about this match even worth discussing. Commentary trashed it, nobody cared about anyone but Trish and the contest was boring. A terrible match ended when Blackman got distracted by cheese and fell to a Test elbow in 7:05. Yawn. [DUD]
WWF Tag Team Championship Triangle Ladder Match: The Dudley Boyz [c] vs. Edge and Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz ~ Something to sink my teeth into! This was the next logical step after the No Mercy 1999 Ladder Match. Even before the big spots came into play, these six men were throwing each other around and bumping like crazy. Jeff Hardy seemed to make it his mission to bounce all over the place. When the ladders got brought in, they kicked it up a notch and started stealing the show. You have to appreciate how much these guys risked in these matches. There are so many moments that blew us away when they first happened. I liked how we got some spots that would play off even better in their later matches, like when Edge Speared Jeff off a ladder. I will say that some of the spots could’ve been spaced out more. It felt like they were trying to get all of their ideas out there, with some not getting time to breathe. They’d go on to perfect it but it wasn’t quite right here. It came down to Matt and Christian fighting on a table laid across the top of two ladders. Edge joined and shoved Matt through a table, allowing Christian to take down the titles at 22:39. A great match that was one of the best in Mania history to this point. There were a few slight pacing issues, but this still ruled. If these six weren’t already stars, this was the kind of performance to make it so. [****¼]
Catfight: The Kat vs. Terri Runnels ~ Technically, this is the only singles match. I didn’t count it as a straight singles match because A) it’s called a catfight and B) it’s barely a match. Terri was with Fabulous Moolah while Kat had Mae Young in her corner. Val Venis was the guest referee. To win, you have to throw your opponent outside. Kat did it but Val was distracted trying to stop Mae from flashing the crowd. I kid you not. It happened again when Mae kissed Val. Then Moolah pulled Kat outside and Val turned in time to see Terri inside, giving her the win in 2:25. Yeah, that was all kinds of terrible. I’m usually not too hard on non-serious segments, but this wasn’t even fun. [-***]
Chyna and Too Cool vs. The Radicalz ~ The Radicalz here were represented by Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn. The main storyline here was Eddie’s infatuation with Chyna, who didn’t reciprocate those feelings. What made this match work where it did was the competent ring skills of the Radicalz, the insane popularity of Too Cool, and that story between Eddie and Chyna. That drove this match. Saturn COMPLETELY whiffed on a diving elbow. They built to a hot tag for Chyna, allowing her to finally get hands on Guerrero. The finish was rough. Chyna awkwardly countered an Eddie powerbomb and then hit a poor looking one of her own. She press slammed Eddie by the balls and won with an anticlimactic sleeper slam in 9:38. I liked a few bits of this but it was kind of disjointed and had a weak ending. [**]
WWF European and Intercontinental Championships: Kurt Angle [c] vs. Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho ~ Weird rules here. There were two falls, with the first being for the Intercontinental Championship and the second for the European Championship. Lots of very good back and forth action in this one. You should expect nothing less from these three. It was clear they were trying to play these guys as somewhat even. I dug Angle busting out the Crossface Chicken Wing due to an altercation with Bob Backlund before the show began. Benoit pinned Jericho to claim the first fall and Intercontinental Title with a diving headbutt at 7:55. I could be wrong, but this might have been the debut of Angle’s gorgeous moonsault. A lot of the moves being done were pretty and well executed, but there didn’t seem to be a sense of urgency or drama behind them. If anything, it felt like an exhibition. Benoit got put over hard, getting a visual win with the referee down. Jericho did the same right after until Angle broke things up. Angle was tossed aside again and Jericho pinned Benoit with a Lionsault in 13:36 to win the European Title. This was good, but nowhere near what these dudes were capable of. The stipulation made things awkward at moments. Like I said, the action was good but it lacked that little something extra. [***¼]
Kane and Rikishi vs. Road Dogg and X-Pac ~This absolutely should have just been Kane vs. X-Pac. There was really not much to this match. It was designed so Kane could get some revenge on X-Pac and Tori. He accomplished that in quick fashion, winning with a Tombstone on X-Pac in 4:16. Tori also took a Stinkface from Rikishi. [*½]
WWF Championship: Triple H [c] vs. Big Show vs. Mick Foley vs. The Rock ~ A MCMAHON IN EVERY CORNER! For months the company built up Big Show as a credible main event threat. And though he started this match with impressive offense, he was eliminated in under five minutes. The three men jumped him and a Rock Bottom was the final blow. That left it to be a Triple Threat match between the guys who actually had a legitimate history with each other since HHH became a top guy in 1999. I loved Foley interrupting the People’s Elbow with the Mandible Claw. For a guy who marked hard for that move when he was Rock’s partner, that showed his desperation to win the title here. This section of the match was the best part because their chemistry was on point. They used tables, chairs, and Foley’s barbed wire 2×4. Foley fought hard but fell to a Pedigree, leaving it down to Rock and Triple H. You know, the match that should’ve been the main event. While this final segment had some pretty good near falls and drama, it was overbooked at times. And it was all to set up Vince turning on Rock with a chair shot. Triple H covered and retained in 36:28. I think this was a good main event. It just didn’t feel as big as you want a Mania main event to feel. It was kind of dull with Show in, picked up in the middle, and then ended in overbooked fashion. [***]
I remember not liking too much about this WrestleMania. I came away pleasantly surprised this go around. There are clear issues. Some of the tag matches were useless (opener, Kane squash, T&A match) and the Terri/Kat match is dreadful. However, the rest of the card is pretty good. The Ladder Match is fantastic, the main event is good, and the Triple Threat match is unique and interesting. I also love the sheer stupid fun of the Hardcore Title match.
You know when they play those videos filled with WrestleMania highlights? There really isn’t much shown from this WrestleMania. That’s because a lot of it is forgettable. That’s not to say it’s bad, it just doesn’t stand out. The most memorable moment was probably Jeff Hardy’s Swanton Bomb on the aisle. However, even that was bested in later years so it gets overshadowed. The “McMahon in every corner” gimmick would be the other thing I consider kind of notable. Not a good score here.
The rare time when the historical significance score is much different from memorability. There are several bits that are historic and meaningful. For one, you get the final Mick Foley match for several years. There’s the fact that this marked Triple H’s first Mania main event of many and he joined Hulk Hogan and Diesel as the only men to enter WrestleMania as WWF Champion and leave with it. I also have to throw points at this for marking the Mania debuts of so many future Hall of Famers. Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Chyna, Eddie Guerrero, Edge and Christian, Trish Stratus, the Hardy Boyz, and the Dudley Boyz are among them, as well as Chris Benoit. That’s all pretty damn cool.
What an odd WrestleMania. Not booking a single straight singles match is one of the weirdest things the company has ever done. That in itself is a decision I don’t think was good. The main event was overly complex and should have just been Rock vs. Triple H. Having HHH retain was a strange decision that I originally disagreed with, but given how Rock beat him in a singles match the following month made it okay. Every other match mostly had either the right winner (Kane’s team, Chyna’s team, Angle losing but not getting pinned, E&C) or a winner who was inoffensive (Hardcore Holly). They also didn’t overdo any dirty finishes, so kudos there.
The opening video package on this show was pretty solid. But by 2000, the company was already producing some great content in that category, yet there weren’t any hype videos to preview the matches. That’s something I really enjoy and not having it hurt things. It was nice to go back to Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler in the booth after an inexperienced Michael Cole struggled there last time out. The Arrowhead Pond was a solid choice for a venue. It isn’t spectacular like a stadium, but is a step above some of the places they visited in other years. I’ll call this one down the middle or so.
We’re back to WrestleManias that surpass the three hour mark. This one clocked in at about three and a half hours. It was mostly paced out well. The only matches to last double digits were the fun or important ones. There wasn’t much in the way of fluff or nonsense to extend the show past the time it needed to be around. That being said, they certainly could have cut out a match or two and made this flow much smoother. The length isn’t bad, but when there’s a few matches that weren’t needed, it can become a problem.
While there wasn’t a lot of non-wrestling stuff on the show, they integrated a lot of the antics. Ice-T performed the entrance for Godfather and D-Lo Brown and the Pete Rose/Kane segment was great for the third straight year. I didn’t care for the Al Snow/Steve Blackman/Cheese stuff. It wasn’t funny and added nothing to the show. I appreciated the Austin Powers inspired segment with the Kat and Mae Young just because I’m a sucker for those movies. There were a handful of backstage segments, from Angle talking to security to Triple H and Stephanie bragging, that really didn’t click for me.
Another show that did better than I expected. I understand why this WrestleMania isn’t fondly looked upon. The odd card, a few terrible matches, and lack of memorable moments are there. But there’s a handful of good matches, it doesn’t overstay its welcome, has some historic bits, and is mostly enjoyable. It won’t rank near the top of Mania history, but has a solid position somewhere in the middle.
9. WrestleMania 2000 – 39.5/70
10. WrestleMania V – 39/70
