Kevin Reviews The WrestleMania Openers (16-20)

As we officially move into the new millennium the WWE was riding high after an incredibly profitable 1999. They were entering the year without Steve Austin but with new stars at the top including Triple H, the Rock, Mick Foley, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Big Show and more. The next few years would prove to be my favorite growing up and for the most part, the WrestleManias were damn good. In fact, my picks for the two best WrestleManias of all time came in this era. The opening contests during this time were mostly good if memory serves right. So far, the early 90’s have been the best period for openers for those that haven’t fully followed.

WrestleMania 2000
Big Bossman and Bull Buchanan def. D-Lo Brown and the Godfather in 9:05
“GRAB YO BITCHES!” Ice-T performed Godfather’s theme and said “Pimpin Ain’t Easy” about 100 times during the entrance. Bossman and Bull looked like the original Shield. Anyway, I’m pretty sure that WrestleMania 2000 is the strangest booked Mania ever. The WWE was very high on talent and shoehorned everyone onto the card to the point where there were no traditional singles matches. While the crowd loved the Godfather, this wasn’t exactly a WrestleMania worthy opening contest. Bossman and Bull were a good heel team and while I wouldn’t call this match bad, it certainly didn’t have too much going for it outside of Bull Buchanan showing off some impressive athleticism. If he had some charisma, maybe he’d have done more. Surprisingly, the heels picked up the win after a Bossman Slam and diving leg drop. It didn’t mean much in the long run as Bossman was gone by the end of the year, D-Lo was irrelevant and Bull and Godfather joined Right to Censor. It was mostly inoffensive but dragged on for too long. *¾

WrestleMania X-Seven
WWF Intercontinental Championship: Chris Jericho (c) def. William Regal in 7:08
Over the course of 2000, Chris Jericho had proven to be a Superstar on the rise. He was putting on consistently great matches and getting some of the biggest reactions from the crowd at a time when the roster was absolutely loaded. His dream was always to be the Intercontinental Champion and now he entered WrestleMania with the gold. Now, WrestleMania X-Seven went on to become the greatest ever in the eyes of many, so it needed a good opener. You almost couldn’t have asked for a better call here. William Regal, along with Jericho, was always among the best workers in the business. Now, I felt that the opener a year prior went on too long. Unfortunately, Regal and Jericho got less time (nine would have worked for them) but honestly, it didn’t impact it much. They made great use of the seven minutes given. They busted some very cool moves and worked a very smart match. Regal went after a body part and did so like only Regal can. Jericho overcame it and retained his title, which was the right call. The babyface gave the heel his comeuppance and while the feud would continue, Jericho had to come out on top as he was headed for major things by the end of the year. They did enough to get the crowd going while not doing too much that it hurt later matches. You can’t ask for more from an opening contest. ***½

WrestleMania X8
WWF Intercontinental Championship: Rob Van Dam def. William Regal (c) in 6:21
Hey, it’s William Regal and the Intercontinental Title again! The Invasion angle had come and gone and the WWE now had an absolutely stacked roster. They were coming up on deciding on the brand split but even with the loaded roster, one of the few guys that stood out above others was Rob Van Dam. While representing the Alliance, RVD was the only guy that consistently got cheered, even against the top faces of the WWE. Some even thought he could have won the WWE Title. That didn’t happen, but he rode his hot streak to a WrestleMania Intercontinental Title match. Regal came out with his title upside down, though it’s easy to understand considering the shape of the belt. They started quickly, nearly coming to blows before things officially got started. These two were given even less time than the previous year but again, made the most of it. Most of what they did was smooth and this was a stiffer match than I expected. RVD combated Regal’s attempts at using the brass knuckles and I was glad it came into play since they built a lot of Regal’s title run on those. Regal got a busted lip, RVD bumped like a madman and we crowned a new champion. Again, Regal played the perfect heel for the feud and helped a very over babyface take the next step. ***½

WrestleMania XIX
WWE Cruiserweight Championship: Matt Hardy (c) def. Rey Mysterio in 5:37
For the first time ever, WrestleMania would be hosted under the WWE name, as well as see the brand split. On Smackdown, the Cruiserweight Title was actually doing the best it would ever do. Jamie Noble had a really fun run with the title and at this point, Matt Hardy had turned heel and debuted a new character change. He was now Matt Hardy “Version 1.0”. Another change that we saw in late 2002 was the arrival of Rey Mysterio. Rey already had some classics under his belt with the WWE and was looking to recapture the title that he held many times with WCW. Again, they got even less time than the year before. What gives? Again though, two talented performers worked around it and crammed a lot into their time. They got in high octane moves and made sure to include plenty of shenanigans with Matt’s buddy Shannon Moore at ringside. Sometimes shenanigans can be bad, but it worked well here. I was surprised to see Matt retain. Rey was riding high but at least it took some classic heel tactics as Matt used the ropes for leverage. We don’t get enough of that anymore. Consider this a hot streak for Mania as they are three for their last three in good, fun openers. ***¼

WrestleMania XX
WWE United States Championship: John Cena def. Big Show (c) in 9:14
This was kind of the forbidden WrestleMania considering how it ended. We won’t really talk about that though. The show opened with yet another title match but for the first and only time, it was the United States Title. Big Show became the US Champion and pretty much dominated everyone. Meanwhile, a certain future megastar was on the rise and got a title shot. AND HIS NAME WAS JOHN CENA! Cena was at WrestleMania XIX, where he rapped, but this was his true Mania debut. And boy was it booked well. It was the first instance of Cena overcoming the odds, which would be a theme for the rest of his career. This might have been the most over Cena was at any WrestleMania. The crowd was molten hot but I found this to be a disappointment as a match. It was rather dull and I think it should have gone on later in the show. I’d have opened with Jericho/Christian. Still, Cena won with the FU and won the first major title of his career. While the match itself was decent at best, it was a pivotal moment and probably the most important outcome of any opener in this set. **¼

While nothing has even come close to the level of Bret Hart and Owen Hart at WrestleMania X, this was a damn good set of matches. You could see a shift in the importance of the opening contest. Gone were the openers that didn’t have any meanings and in their place were valuable matches with importance. Titles were at stake, future stars were involved and they still managed to have relatively hot crowds. Well, except for WrestleMania 2000. As we’re set to move into the back half of the 2000’s, you’ll still see future stars but it’s telling that the guys involved here had mostly moved up the card within a few years.