For this piece, I’m going to go back and do a little reflecting on a nearly flawless WrestleMania. I’m not talking about the one that will be happening on Sunday obviously, but instead, I’ll be talking about WrestleMania X-Seven, my all time favorite Pay-Per-View. If there is a such thing as a nearly flawless WrestleMania, it’s this one.
This event pretty much had it all, 11 matches, all of which were well built and not thrown together. Well, the gimmick battle royal was, but at the same time, it was short and filled it’s purpose as a cool down break, and was fun for nostalgia. There was six titles matches on the show, five of which resulted in new champions. From the opening match to the end of the show, the crowd was on their feet and loud, something that’s unheard of these days. What was the best part, well, that’s hard to say, it was so good. Here’s what stood out the most.
The triple threat match for the hardcore championship was much better than it had any right to be. It was between Kane, The Big Show, and Raven. It was a fun brawl that went all over the stadium, with Kane winning after knocking his two opponents off the stage. In all of his appearances, that was Kane’s biggest win. Another match that was much better than it had any right to be was the street fight between Vince and Shane McMahon. It was one of the best examples of storytelling ever shown at WrestleMania, with the evil Vince getting what he deserved after months of tormenting his family and various others.
Even the filler served it’s purpose. The six-man match, the European championship and the Women’s championship matches, weren’t five star classics, but they were short, didn’t drag on any longer than they had to be, gave the hot crowd a few minutes to cool down. The crowd started hot with the Intercontinental Championship match between a super-over Chris Jericho and heel Commissioner William Regal. That match was a top five as far as openers go.
Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit was a great technical wrestling match and could have been a main event of a non-big four Pay-Per-View. That’s not a knock on either guy, they had good matches every time they wrestled, and this one was no different. TLC two was great and showcase the talents of tag teams back when there was actually a tag team division. Edge’s spear off the ladder to Jeff Hardy will be replayed forever, this was a classic example of stealing the show and is a must see match.
The co-main event of Triple H vs. The Undertaker was perhaps Undertaker’s best match of the streak to date, and even though it wasn’t touched upon much at that time, it was the most danger the streak was in up into the point because Triple H was still white hot as a heel and a win could have cemented him as a top heel for a long time to come, even losing didn’t harm him. The ref took a bump in this match and stayed down for far too long, but other than that it’s 4 to 4 and a half stars easily.
Now, the main event, Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock, there was nothing else that could have main-evented this show. It was the top biggest stars in the WWE going one-on-one for the WWE Championship, just what a WrestleMania main event should be. Austin and Rock tore the house down for nearly 30 minutes and the crowd loved every second, a five star match for sure. Austin’s heel turn at the end, while it seemed like a good idea at the time, because Austin felt his character needed a change, was a bad idea, even Austin admits this. The fans still cheered him and his turned ended up being a flop, but it didn’t taint the match or event at all.
I wish there were more WrestleMania’s like this one. Most are good, while there are a few that drag, but overall there all fun. There’s no such thing as a perfect WrestleMania, but WrestleMania X-Seven is darn close and a must watch for any real wrestling fan.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj3kqG8ggxw[/youtube]
Until next time, go enjoy this event on the WWE Network for just $9.99, you won’t regret it,
-Nick
