411’s WWE Greatest Moments Report: WrestleMania in The 2000s

-Run Time: 21:21
-Source: A&E

-Welcome back to another season of Greatest Moments on A&E. As I have noted in the past, I love countdowns and nostalgia. This show provides lots of that for me and is an easy watch. WrestleMania is behind us, but it’s always fun to look back and this week it’s Mania in the 2000s. There are a few must include moments, so they better not let me down.

-Show opening!

-Michael Cole is our host!

10. Icons at War
-WrestleMania X-Seven

-It’s Rock vs. Austin in what is often voted the Greatest WrestleMania of all time. This should be higher! This was the peak for The Attitude Era and came just after WWF bought WCW. The first Stadium Mania in nine years as well. We get black and white footage because both men were bleeding. Amazing match with an ending that people still debate as Austin turns heel (in Texas) and joins Mr. McMahon. I love this match!

9. Olympic Gold vs. Latino Heat
-WrestleMania XX

-Angle vs. Eddie! Another great match, though we know what match stole the show. We can’t include that though for obvious reason. Angle notes matches he had with Eddie were five star. I am sure people will have fun with that comment online and throw that back at Dave. Finish was fantastic with Eddie using Kurt’s aggressiveness against him and suckering him in with a small package.

8. Do You Love Me Now?
-WrestleMania 22

-Trish vs. Mickie! To this point this was the best women’s match in Mania history. These two killed it and the crowd reaction to Mickie was something else. The crowd turned on Trish because they were behind Mickie’s character. Woods pops up and says that was the only reason he bought Mania that year. Mickie gets the win to the delight of the crowd. Match was great and showed what could happen if you gave the women a real chance.

7. New Heights Reached
-WrestleMania 2000

-Triangle Ladder Match: Hardyz vs. Dudleyz vs. Edge and Christian. Yes, TLC II was better, but this was basically TLC 0.5. Just crazy bumps by all six men as they were young and determined to steal the show. Edge is here as a talking head, though I assume it’s old footage. He notes this was the first instance of understanding they were all part of something that was important to the product.

6. The Deadman and The Animal
-WrestleMania 23

-Undertaker wins The Royal Rumble for the first time (and the first time for #30) and challenges Batista. They had crazy chemistry and were annoyed they weren’t The Main Event so they decided they wanted to do what Steamboat/Savage did and steal the show. They just beat the tar out of each other and delivered a classic. Batista says he felt he held his own with The Undertaker and they gave the crowd the match of the night. Taker gets the win and becomes World Heavyweight Champion.

5. The Legend Continues
-WrestleMania 21

-Orton vs. Taker and way too high for this list. Very good match though and that chokeslam into the RKO was fantastic. Taker gets the win to go to 13-0 and there isn’t much said as I think they even realized this was too high.

4. Triple Threat Triumph
-WrestleMania 22

-World Title: Angle vs. Orton vs. Rey! This paid off Rey winning The Rumble for Eddie and World Title story. What’s crazy is they gave this match less than 10 minutes so it was all action. Rey gets the emotional win. Rey says Eddie would have loved to see him as a Champion.

3. A Heartbreaking Farewell
-WrestleMania XXIV

-Shawn vs. Flair! The story is Vince told Flair the next time he loses a match, he has to retire. The night before Flair goes into the Hall of Fame. Flair says it was the biggest moment in his wrestling career. Shawn did all he could to give Flair the retirement match he deserved. HHH says Shawn was the perfect guy to do it. We get the famous “I’m sorry, I love you,” before the superkick and three count. Then we never saw Ric Flair in the ring again. It is amazing how they took that match and spun it off into so many other stories and how it tied into the next four WrestleManias.

2. Icon vs. Icon
-WrestleMania X-8

-Yeah, this should be the top moment. It’s Hogan vs Rock in what is probably the match I had more fun watching than any other. Hogan says the stare down was magic and he knew the match was going to work. He talks about thinking he was going to be booed, but the fans loved him more than ever. THE GREATEST HULK UP OF ALL TIME! Sadly, we don’t get to hear “he beat Andre the Giant with that move.” Rock says he is grateful to Hulk for what that match meant. Match is ***** all day and I stand by it.

1. The Streak Survives
-WrestleMania 25

-I was there for this match and it is the greatest match I have ever seen in person. I still think it belongs lower than Hulk/Rock, but it’s still just an amazing match and I can’t describe the experience of being there live for it. I saw people crying and hugging after the match. Just an unreal match and funny enough, the top two moments both stole the show from HHH in the Main Event.

-The big miss for me was the first Money in the Bank Match at WrestleMania 21 and I would have also included Angle/Michaels over some of these choices. I would throw a bone to Foley/Edge as well and TLC II, but they went with the Triangle Ladder Match. Overall this was a good list with some questionable placement. It gave me the nostalgia I wanted though and I think the only real error with the 10 they picked is Rock/Austin being so low. Feel free to provide your own list in the comments.

-Thanks for reading!