That Was Then, Is This Too? 03.23.10: The Greatest ‘Mania Of All Time

Welcome to yet another installment of That Was Then, Is This Too?, the column that looks for parallel lines in all the right places. As usual, we have comments:

u forgot to mention kong

Posted By: allmaninseattle (Guest) on March 16, 2010 at 05:00 PM

I did mention Kong, specifically her participation in a tag team tournament in TNA. I suppose I could’ve mentioned her run as HUSTLE tag team champion alongside of Aja Kong.

I guess that’s what made Chyna…well, Chyna. Don’t think that could ever be emulated. Sure it’d get a nice pop (like Beth at the Rumble) but they need to focus on stepping up competition among women wrestlers themselves. You know, make the matches look like actual fights where the two women wanna rip each other apart and not some soft punch, choreographed affair.

Posted By: Guest#1989 (Guest) on March 16, 2010 at 05:14 PM

WWE simply doesn’t care about using the women’s division as anything more than filler. They haven’t really made a serious investment in the division in years, and the TNA Knockouts division, while having started out hot, certainly hasn’t been the great alternative it once was in the past few months.

Women’s wrestling sucks! Even when Trish was wrestling, only time people cared was when they saw her in her thong

Posted By: Guest#2803 (Guest) on March 17, 2010 at 10:05 PM

This may have been true at one point, but by the end of her wrestling career Trish Stratus had established an unbelievably strong emotional bond with her fan base, as evidenced by the great sendoff she got in her final match.

I love Sara del Rey, and think she can “make a good Chyna” on Chikara no problem. As you say, though, it would be harder in the WWE, where the men are so much larger–if she had a quicker style, she could probably pull it off, but her heavyweight style wouldn’t work at all, even if she bulked up (she’s got about the same frame as Chyna, actually). It would be great though to see her over there nonetheless, if only to beat the crap out of the models. But I won’t hold my breath!

And to “Women’s wrestling sucks!” dude, what’s your deal? This column was just about women’s wrestling, so why are you here. Regardless I’ll make the case: I like watching wrestling, and I like women. Ergo… Yes, it’s not too enjoyable when the women can’t wrestle for shit (Raw), but these two know what they’re doing.

Posted By: Joe Schmoe (Registered) on March 17, 2010 at 11:02 PM

I don’t think we’d see Sara Del Rey as another Chyna simply because WWE doesn’t want another Chyna. As for using a quicker style, I think that if a woman is going to dominate a man in WWE, it won’t be through technical skill

That leads us to Banner 2.0!

In just five days’ time, the closest thing professional wrestling has to a season finale will be taking place, as the road to WrestleMania finally arrives at its destination in the University of Phoenix stadium in Glendale, Arizona, a venue that can be expanded to seat over 70.000 people. It will be the culmination of months of build and, as always, WWE’s biggest event of the season. The build to this year’s WrestleMania has probably been the best we’ve seen in years. We have nine matches announced, and each and every one of them has the potential to be, at the very least, pretty good.

The match that has recieved the least amount of build is the unified tag team championship match in which the team of The Miz and Big Show defend their titles against the makeshift team of John Morrison and R-Truth. Still, the sheer athleticism of the challengers should make the match entertaining at the very least. Of course I’d rather have seen the Hart Dynasty or Cryme Tyme as the challengers simply because they’re proper tag teams, but as far as makeshift teams go John Morrison and R-Truth are probably one of the better ones they could have put together. Another match that has recieved only a very short build is the matchup between CM Punk and Rey Mysterio. However, it is still one of the most intense matchup on the cards by virtue of CM Punk’s excellent mic work, as he ruined the birthday party Rey had planned for his daughter in what was probably his best promo since the one he cut on Raven at ROH Wrestlerave in 2003. These two have wrestled before, both inside and outside of WWE. They had their first match on PPV at the 2008 Armageddon show, where Punk became the #1 contender for the Intercontinental championship. This time the stakes are much higher however, as Mysterio will be forced to join Punk’s straight-edge society if he loses.

The triple threat match between Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase is interesting simply because Rhodes and DiBiase have been teaming for nearly two years now, something that’s unheard of in this day and age. Orton’s slow face turn will be interesting to watch too, as he’s been working as a heel for over five years. Then there’s the match between Triple H and Sheamus. As Triple H himself has pointed out, the match has a lot of parallels with the match he had against Ultimate Warrior in his WrestleMania debut. Sheamus hasn’t exactly set the ring on fire so far, but I think that this match will be surprisingly good, especially since Sheamus is supposed to be Triple H’s “pet project”.

The Money in the Bank match will be held for the sixth time this year, and with more contestants than ever. Christian, Kane, Dolph Ziggler, Shelton Benjamin, Jack Swagger, MVP, Matt Hardy, Evan Bourne, Drew McIntyre and Kofi Kingston will be competing for a guaranteed shot at the world championship of their choice. I would have preferred if they had stuck to six (or even eight) for the simple reason that it seems that the only reason to have this match is to find spots on the card for some people. Still, it should be an interesting spotfest with the mandatory Shooting Star Press off the ladder from Evan Bourne and some crazy leap from Shelton Benjamin.

The match between Bret Hart and Mr. McMahon has been over twelve years in the making. Of course it won’t be much of an actual match because of Bret Hart’s medical history, but given the history of Mr. McMahon matches at WrestleMania it should be fun to watch anyway, with Mr. McMahon eventually ending up tapping out to or, better yet, passing out in the Sharpshooter. The rematch between Undertaker and Shawn Michaels will have to be nothing short of epic to live up to the hype and the match they’ve had last year, but if anyone can deliver it will be these two men. I’ve devoted a full column to this matchup just a few weeks ago, but at this point I still can’t pick who would win.

Raw’s main event will be a WWE title match between Batista and John Cena. While it initially seemed like this match would be just a vehicle for the feud between Bret Hart and Mr. McMahon, I think WWE definitely made the right choice with the way the match has been built in the past few weeks. These two men have had very similar careers from the momet they both won their world titles at WrestleMania 21, and if their match at the 2008 SummerSlam show should be any indication, it will definitely be a good match. In the SmackDown main event, Chris Jericho will defend his world heavyweight championship against former tag team partner and Royal Rumble winner Edge. This should be an excellent match, as both me have styles that match very well and a history of great performances at the grandest stage of them all. In the end, I think both titles will be changing hands here, if only because the statistics favour title changes, babyfaces and Royal Rumble matches.

If the build towards this year’s show is any indication, we’re easily heading for one of the best WrestleMania’s of all time. They’re certainly miles ahead of where they were last year in terms of building towards their biggest show of all. Of course, with such a great WrestleMania coming up, one has to wonder whether it can live up to the greatest WrestleMania of all…

That Was Then…

Getting the Internet Wrestling Community to come to an agreement on a point is generally not unlike herding cats, but if there’s one thing the majority can agree on, it’s that WrestleMania X-Seven is the greatest WrestleMania of all time. In a jam-packed Reliant Astrodome, nearly 68.000 people witnessed the culmination of the attitude era in a WrestleMania card that’s packed from top to bottom.

The card was admittedly off to a slow start. The show opened with Chris Jericho successfully defending the intercontinental championship against William Regal. While the match itself was solid, it was nothing spectacular. They were followed by a six-man tag team match in which the APA and Tazz defeated the Right to Censor team of Bull Buchanan, Val Venis and the Goodfather, managed by Steven Richards. It lasted less than four minutes, but seeing the APA get their asses kicked was enough to get the crowd going.

The first great match on the card was the hardcore championship match between Raven, Kane and the Big Show. At this point the 24/7 rule had reduced the belt to little more than a comedy prop, but the sheer over the top car-crash-in-slow-motion style of this particular match definitely made this one of the more memorable title matches in the belt’s history. They started out in the ring but quickly disappeared back stage, pretty much tearing the area apart before making their way back to the stage, where Kane pinned Raven to win the championship after a devastating leg drop off the stage. They were followed by another title match, as the late, great Eddie Guerrero challenged Test for the European championship. Like the hardcore championship the belt didn’t mean nearly as much as it once did, but it was definitely a very good match, probably one of the best of Test’s career.

After that we had the first truly excellent match of the card as Kurt Angle clashed with Chris Benoit. The match was a matter of pride, as Benoit had managed to make Angle tap out (although there was no referee to make the decision official). They started out with a rare display of amateur wrestling, and the crowd loved every moment of it. The sequence came to a sudden end when Angle, fed up with Benoit showing him up, decided to just punch Benoit in the face. From there on they had an intense match, with both men trying to use each other’s submission moves in an attempt to not only defeat but humiliate their opponent. In the end Angle would pin Benoit, but only with the help of a handfull of tights.

From there we had what was easily the worst match of the night. In a match whose horribly tasteless build I discussed just last week, Chyna squashed Ivory to win her only WWE women’s championship. From there on we went to a match that, in my opinion, epitomized the old ‘wrestling is a soap opera’ chestnut. The whole match between Vince and Shane McMahon had been built in a plot that had come straight out of the worst daytime soap opera, with Vince trying to divorce from his wife Linda, Linda going catatonic after a nervous breakdown, Vince starting a public affair with Trish Stratus and Shane coming for revenge. The banality of the setup didn’t mean that the match itself was bad however, quite to the contrary. This isn’t that surprising, as Shane can usually be relied upon to perform some crazy spots, just as Vince is more than willing to take a beating if it makes him money. The match itself was just crazy fun, with Mick Foley as the special guest referee and run-ins from Stephanie and Linda McMahon and Trish Stratus. In the end Shane got the pin, punishing his father for his crimes.

From there we went to the legendary TLC II match in which the teams of the Hardy Boys, the Dudleys and Edge and Christian fought it out for the world tag team championships. They had set the bar high for themselves with both the triangle ladder match at the previous WrestleMania and the first TLC match at the 2000 SummerSlam show. All six men did their best to destroy each other, and after almost sixteen minutes of non-stop carnage it was the team of Edge and Christian who came out on top. From there we went to the traditional cooldown match, but in stead of inserting random divas like usual WWE went with something different: the gimmick battle royal, which featured such old favourites as the Bushwackers, Brother Love and Hillbilly Jim. It only lasted three minutes and was won by the Iron Sheik simply because he was the one most likely to die taking a bump over the top rope. Still, to make sure the crowd didn’t riot Sergeant Slaughter got in the ring to put the Sheik in the Cobra Clutch.

After all that silliness it was time for the first main event of the night, as Triple H took on the Undertaker. They were fighting for a very simple reason, as Undertaker laid out the challenge after being fed up with Triple H bragging about beating everybody. The two men had a wild brawl, with several ref bumps and an extended brawl around the technical area. Triple H seemed to have Undertaker beat as he nailed him in the head with a sledgehammer on a Last Ride attempt, but miracilously Undertaker survived, and would go on to pin Triple H to set his WrestleMania record at 9-0.

The main event was a rematch from the main event of WrestleMania XV, as the two greatest wrestlers from the attitude era, The Rock and Steve Austion, once again faced each other in a no-disqualification match. The match had everything that could be expected from these two men, as they brawled through the crowd and bloodied each other. They traded submission moves and finishers, and in the end it seemed that The Rock had Austin beat after a People’s Elbow. However, Vince McMahon, who had been observing the match, broke up the pin and gave Austin a steel chair, handing him the WWE title in one of the most unlikeliest of alliances in the history of wrestling.

…Is This Too?

WrestleMania X-Seven had it all. From the crazy spotfests (the hardcore title match and TLC II) to the technical wrestling (Angle/Benoit) to the intense blood feuds (McMahon/McMahon) and the great main events (Triple H/Undertaker and The Rock/Steve Austion). It has both the historical significance of being the end of the attitude area and more great matches than any other WrestleMania card. To expect any WrestleMania to live up to it in this day and age would be ludicrous.

While the Money in the Bank ladder matches have been quite good, they have yet to live up to the sheer insanity of TLC II. Of course this match doesn’t have the advantage of an extended rivalry between six men who all specialize in their own weapon. Cena vs. Batista is a clash of two of the top stars of the last decade, but at the same time it’s not nearly on the same level as The Rock vs. Austin, both from an in-ring standpoint and in regards to the history between the two men. Still, it should be an intense main event all the same.

One of the matches that I have the most serious doubts about is the match between Bret Hart and Mr. McMahon. While it has been years in the making and while the build has definitely been handled very well, the fact remains that Bret Hart can’t even take the most basic bumps. Of course it doesn’t take much to send the fans home happy, as all they really want to see is Vince in the Sharpshooter. Still, the more Vince suffers along the way the better. In my opinion, this match would have been a great way to push David Hart Smith by making him Bret’s representative in the match. Not only would this have been a great rub for Smith, who definitely needs it, but it would also have been a way to have a proper match.

In the end though, I think that it would be unfair to expect WrestleMania XVI to live up to the legendary X-Seven edition. Still, even on its own the card is incredibly strong, especially compared to last year’s edition, which in no way lived up to the status of being the twenty-fifth edition. I think we’ll be seeing a great WrestleMania come Sunday, maybe even one of the greatest of all time, and if they do somehow manage to outdo WrestleMania X-Seven it will just be a bonus at this point.