Our analysts today are… Stuart Carapola once told me that Samoa Joe doesn't sleep, he waits.
He might not be an ECW Original, but he is Mike Bauer!
SAT says that taking the high road will always make for a more rewarding and sometimes difficult journey. But you will never get lost. Well that's what he says.
Dan Wilcox had nothing to do with the Montreal Screw Job!
WrestleMania XVI~!:
Bull Buchanan and The Big Bossman defeated The Godfather and D Lo @ 9:05 via pin
Stuart Carapola: At this point, WWE was doing a fun little storyline wherein D-Lo was Godfather's little pimp-in-training. He even came out in a fake afro and his own Godfather outfit. Unfortunately, this was not enough to save the pair from the horrific onslaught of the Big Boss Man and Bull Buchanan. Boss Man, if you will recall, was hung at WrestleMania 15 and, after the Corporation broke up shortly afterward, spent most of the rest of the year feuding with Al Snow over the Hardcore Title. He began 2000 by bringing his buddy Buchanan (whose mother, Jim Ross claimed, called him Barry) up to the WWF from Cobb County, Georgia and the two formed a team for a few months before they broke up and Boss Man more or less disappeared. In reality, this match was to showcase Buchanan, who the WWF seemed to see something in at the time, although it never panned out. Boss Man and Buchanan went over, and that was that.
Mike Bauer: In the words of who ever said it: Yuck. For a show opener, this was jus plain dull and it really dragged down the crowd on what really ended up being a sub par event. Bull and Bossman as a team I never truly liked and D-LO with The Godfather was nothing more than the remains of the defunct Nation of Domination. Poor choice of and opener and an overall poor match.
SAT: This was the worst possible choice to open the show. Ice T entrance for the Godfather and D-Lo sucked. The crowd was dead for the majority of the match and only woke up for the end. There were a few impressive moves in this match, such as D-Lo's RANA and Buchanan's leg drop off the top rope, but those moves don't save the match. Avoid this match.
Dan Wilcox: Ice T accompanied Godfather and D'Lo to the ring, and does some rapping just for fun. Godfather was actually surprisingly over at this point and Boss Man and Bull were not as bad a tag team as one would imagine. Still, this match was not the best of ways to kick off a WrestleMania. They all seemed to try hard and all, but nothing really came together on this night. The Anaheim crowd started off extremely hot, but by the end of this 9-minute atrocity they were just about dead. The heels going over didn't exactly help matters either.
WWF Hardcore Title Match: Hardcore Holly won a 13-Man Hardcore Battle Royal to win the Hardcore Title
Stuart Carapola: As far as I'm concerned, this was one of the most ridiculous things to ever appear on WrestleMania. Unlike a regular over the top rope battle royal, this match would spill out of the ring and all over the arena, and each time somebody pinned the Hardcore Champion, they would become the new champion. What this led to was a situation where the title literally changed hands like six or seven times over the course of the ten or fifteen minutes this battle royal lasted. If you want to find a perfect way to completely devalue a title, this is the best example I could possibly give you. The ending was botched as well, because Hardcore Holly covered cousin Crash (who held the title at that moment) and the time was supposed to run out before hitting the three count...but it didn't. The referee had no choice but to count the fall and award the title to Hardcore. Oops. The whole thing came off really badly on the show as well, and it was really obvious that something got screwed up somewhere.
Mike Bauer: Now this was a fun match to watch. The thirteen men in this match were Hardcore Holly, Tazz, Kaientei, Mean Street Posse, The Headbangers, Viscera, The Acolytes and Crash Holly. Yes, that is a way to get a lot of tag teams involved. Crash Holly was the champ and made the 24-7 proclamation, saying he would defend the title anytime, anywhere. Well, he got tired of it and asked everyone to wait until WrestleMania. The result was a timed battle royal where the last person to get a pin was champion. It was definitely interesting, especially when Hardcore Holly got the last pin fall with two seconds left on Crash Holly, since it appeared like it wasn't supposed to happen that way. Crash won the title back the next night.
SAT: I understand trying to get everybody on the card, but this was a big mess. The match had no flow, but that can be said for every hardcore match. The one thing that this match did have was that the crowd was into it. The action in the ring and at ringside wasn't that interesting, but things did pick up when the participants went backstage. This match had some interesting moments with the tag teams fighting each other. If you're a fan of hardcore, then I recommend it.
Dan Wilcox: This was very basic Hardcore stuff but it all came together really nicely and though I'm not sure if they messed up the finish or not, it was a decent showcase of all the hardcore guys, and of course the other advantage is that got a lot of guys on the roster that would never have stood a chance of getting on otherwise. The Mean Street Posse getting a WrestleMania match? Only in the Hardcore division. I do think that Tazz should have gone over here, considering he was still new to WWF and was remarkably over, but instead, Hardcore Holly picked up the title over his cousin Crash in the closing seconds.
T&A (Test and Albert) defeated Headcheese (Al Snow and Test) @ 7:00 via pin
Stuart Carapola: Same situation as the opening match, just substitute T&A for Boss Man & Buchanan and Head Cheese for Godfather & D-Lo. There was one twist, though: Snow and Blackman brought a midget dressed like a block of cheese to the ring. This person was apparently going to become their mascot, and Snow named him Chester McCheeserton. So of course T&A win the match and afterward, Snow decides to "cut the cheese", and they beat Chester up. That wasn't cool.
Mike Bauer: And then we come the comedy act known as Headcheese. Whoever in creative decided to team these guys up should have been shot. Blackman was a serious fighter and Al Snow was nothing more than a sideshow gag at the time. Test and Albert were on the rise thanks to their manager, one Trish Stratus. T&A went over as they should of and Headcheese was pretty much killed by this angle.
SAT: This match was worst than the Godfather/Brown versus Boss Man/Buchanan match. There was no flow in this match and was very sloppy. I have no idea why Blackman and Snow are together. When I saw the stupid cheese person, I wanted to fast forward. Avoid this match as well.
Dan Wilcox: JR said in best in his commentary, this had "bowling shoe tendencies." Well maybe that's not the best way of putting it, but essentially, it was crap. T & A were still a relatively new tag team so putting them over was the right move, but there was so much shit involved in this whole including the beating received by "Chester McCheeseyton" or whatever his name was. Even sadder is the fact that the beat down on the cheese guy afterwards was better than the actual match itself, but only for its comedy value, whereas there was not a damn thing appealing about the match itself. Well, except for two things. Trish Stratus, and Trish Stratus.
WWF Tag Team Ladder Match: Edge and Christian defeated The Dudleyz and the Hardyz to become the NEW WWF Tag Team Champions @ 22:27
Stuart Carapola: Let me start by saying that I loved the ladder match at WrestleMania 10. I consider it one of the most innovative matches I've ever seen. This match, however, totally blew it away in terms of pure "OH MY GOD" value. For all intents and purposes, this was a TLC match, but wasn't called that because it was before they came up with the name. So let's just call it...TLC Zero. Good. Well anyway, TLC Zero was easily the best match on the show, and if all three teams were kinda over before WrestleMania 2000, this match put all three totally over the top. Like I said, I loved the original ladder match at WM10 and the rematch at Summerslam 95, but didn't get to see the Hardyz-E&C ladder match from the year before that stole the show, so I was really interested in seeing this one. It totally blew me away. The thing that really blew me away is that they went on to top themselves two more times in TLC 1 and 2. Edge & Christian won here, which took me a little bit by surprise, but it was also used as the catalyst for their massively entertaining heel turn that made superstars out of both men, and since they're two of the top guys in the business right now, I think I can live with that outcome.
Mike Bauer: By far, the match of the night. This was the first confrontation between the three teams on such a high scale and the match 100% delivered everything and more. This was the first match of Edge's undefeated streak at WrestleMania, which is right now at 6-0. But even more importantly, this was the start of the rise of tag team wrestling in the WWF, which lasted all the way until the brand extension and had more absolutely insane matches than I can count.
SAT: This was an awesome match. This was my first time seeing it and it lived up to all the hype that I have heard. This match was really fast paced in the beginning, slowed down in the middle and picked up the end. Awesome effort by all of the participants. If you haven't seen it, then it is a must see. Highest recommendation from me.
Dan Wilcox: Finally, something for me to give a shit about. Bottom line, this match rocked. It was more or less T.L.C. before T.L.C. existed, because they brought tables into play anyway. There were a lot of crazy spots here, including Jeff Hardy's original 20ft Swanton Bomb, taking out Bubba Ray Dudley and a table in the process. Also, Matt Hardy took some really sick bumps such as being powerbombed off the announce table, though another and landing flat on his back. He then got shoved off a table/ladder platform and totally obliterated a table below in doing so. That thing must have split into about 1001 pieces. Just an awesome match that finally brought the crowd right back into the show, which was in desperate need of happening. These guys had put on some amazing matches together in the months leading to this but this just raised the bar to totally new heights and they did their best to match those heights in two official Tables, Ladders and Chairs matches in the next year, but I honestly think that this is the better outing. This was the only time I thought that Edge and Christian should have won the match, and they did here after a truly great finish that saw both guys perched on the table platform holding the tag straps, while everyone else was totally dead after the match. Great stuff. What's really amazing is that they managed to find stuff to fill up nearly 25 minutes of stuff, even if a good part of it was setting up spots, but they had the fans eating out of the palm of their hands the whole time. Just incredible match.
Terri defeated The Kat via pin
Stuart Carapola: Well, I guess after the ladder match, they had to knock us back down a peg, huh? Just to show how bad both women were as workers, they set up the rules in such a way that simply tossing your opponent to the floor was all it took to win. Val Venis was the referee, and this seemed more like an excuse to have both women get on him than anything else. It was my piss break match. Kat tossed Terri to the floor first, but I think Moolah and Mae Young (who were at ringside) were distracting Val, and Terri got back in and tossed Kat out. Kat responded by ripping the ass of Terri's tights open. Well, I'll allow it.
Mike Bauer: And following the highflying craziness was utter and complete crap. It was a catfight and The Kat came out wearing something that belongs in porno movies or strip clubs. It's a glorified piss break if you ever watch the whole thing.
SAT: Wow, this was bad. This match was really short and it had no point on being on this card. Avoid this match at all costs.
Dan Wilcox: I hate Val. Great for him that he spends most of the match groping the divas and gets paid for it, but bad for us because we have to watch this shambles. The rules are that you have to throw your opponent, or bitch, to the floor. Not even over the top rope. This whole thing is ridiculously bad and ends up with Mae Young making out with Val Venis, and I don't think anything else can be said after that. Oh yeah, Terri won. And she's hot.
Chyna and Too Cool defeated Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn @ 9:45 via pin
Stuart Carapola: For those of you who think that Vince pushing shitty wrestlers ahead of guys who can actually work and get over is a new thing, I would like to bring this match to your attention. The Radicalz (as Guerrero, Malenko, Saturn, and also Chris Benoit were initially known) were fresh off jumping from WCW, and the first thing they did? Put over DX in three straight matches in one night. Next? Benoit gets taken out to be put in a match that matters while the rest get stuck with these three jokers. What did Eddy, Dean, and Perry do to deserve this? Didn't they come to the WWF for BETTER treatment? Anyway, as you might guess, Chyna and Too Cool went over, but in the biggest insult I can imagine, Guerrero did the job to Chyna clean. I firmly believe that from late 99 to sometime in late 2000, Chyna was used as a measuring tool by the WWF. I believe that they would bring in popular people from other companies and then have them job to Chyna to see if they'd be willing to do it. In Eddy's case, not only did he do the job, but also then spent months being made to look like an idiot as Chyna's second banana. He must have impressed somebody, because he wound up with the WWE Title years later. As for Dean and Perry, well you don't see much of them on TV these days, do you?
Mike Bauer: Chyna and Too Cool as a team? Yeah, I don't understand why either. The radicals were a team that came from WCW in 1999, but saw Chris Benoit break into bigger things at a faster pace. I still don't understand why they lost, but seeing Chyna wrestler was a real eye opener. And yes, this was Scotty 2 Hotty at WrestleMania and winning. Those were the days.
SAT: The match was okay. It wasn't that great and it wasn't that bad. However, I was surprised with a few of things that happened in this match. First, I was surprised with the cheers that Chyna got. Second, I was surprised with the way the crowd reacted to the worm. Let's just say that we don't hear that kind of cheer for the worm anymore. And damn, Chyna looked great in the ring. She was better than most of the current wrestlers that the WWE has. I recommend watching this match to see Chyna wrestle.
Dan Wilcox: It's hard to imagine a match with Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko in it can be bad, but for Christ sake enough with the shitty tag matches! If this was on TV for FREE, then fine, but this is WrestleMania but aside from the last match, all the wrestling has been total bullshit. And I'm sick of this show. I've always found Too Cool to be entertaining, and I loved the Radicalz, so you would think that I'd enjoy this match, but it's so boring, and Chyna being in it doesn't help. Worst of all she gets the pin. Apologies for my short blurbs for this show but when stuff is bad it's hard to say anything apart from, this is bad
Stuart Carapola: I remember Rick Scaia suggesting the two fall format for both titles about a week or two before it actually happened. I still think he should get some credit for it, so there you go Rick, and you called it before anyone! Now with that out of the way, these three guys were generally considered to be the future of the WWF and to varying degrees, the predictions were correct. All three men would go on to be World Champion, but this was basically step one for all three, who all started in the WWF at around the same time. They all worked against one another time after time in singles matches, but this was their only three-way encounter as far as I know. They would also put on much better matches against each other going forward and, while good, this wasn't the blow away match I think everyone was expecting. The first fall, for the IC Title, was won by Chris Benoit when he defeated Chris Jericho.
Mike Bauer: I'm lumping the whole triple threat match together because it needs to be this way. Heading into WrestleMania, Kurt Angle (hair and all) had defeated Chris Jericho to become the IC Champion at No Way Out. But hang on a sec, he also was the European Champion, when he beat Val Venis earlier in the month. With Benoit and Jericho each challenging Angle for the separate belts, we ended up with a triple threat match for both titles and with separate falls. The first fall saw Angle lock Jericho in a Chicken wing, but Benoit hit his diving head butt and pinned Jericho to claim the IC Title. So we go into the second fall and Jericho winds up at least walking out with the European Title by pinning Benoit. So Angle lost both titles, but was never pinned, causing him to start going nuts backstage. Jericho would lose his title the next night to Eddie Guerrero.
SAT: These guys did a great job with the actual match, but I wasn't a big fan of the stipulation. I understand that you want to make WrestleMania history, but the stipulation was stupid. I expected the match to be pretty good, but it turned out to be just a standard triple threat match. This match would have been so much better if they had gotten a few extra minutes. One thing that I will say is that you don't see Kurt Angle wrestle like this anymore. I recommend watching this match to see old school Kurt Angle wrestling.
Dan Wilcox: This was a two fall match-up, first fall for the IC belt, second for the European. You would think it would make more sense to have the IC belt on the line last, but this WWF booking, therefore, no logic. I believe this match was always going to be great, and I don't think too many fans were disappointed by it, but I also don't think any of these 3 guys went all out here, either that or they weren't quite at their best level at this point. Don't get me wrong, it was still a really fun match, but it just doesn't seem as top notch to me as it should do. Benoit wins the IC title in the first fall by hitting Jericho with the diving head butt (which JR calls the Crossface) and Y2J picks up the European gold by pinning Benoit after the Lionsault (not Walls of Jericho, JR!) so Kurt Angle loses both of the titles he came in with without getting pinned, which is a little harsh but life's a bitch Kurt! There wasn't exactly a lot of psychology to this match and I think they were just going through the motions, doing moves and moving on., which was all too common back then, I think. Still, only the second good match on the card.
Stuart Carapola: Benoit tried to take this fall by going for the win right away, but it didn't work out for him. The match continued, only this time around Jericho returned the favor and defeated Benoit to win the European Title. Benoit and Jericho had each scored a fall on the other, and Angle lost both titles without ever being defeated. This was a great way to end the match and keep all three men strong. Unfortunately, Jericho would only hold the European Title for one day, and would lose it to Eddy Guerrero the following night. As for Angle, don't feel bad for him because he was WWF Champion before the year was out.
Mike Bauer: See above for comments on match.
SAT: See above for comments on match.
Dan Wilcox: See above for comments on match.
Kane and Rikishi defeated X Pac and Road Dogg @ 4:20 via pin
Stuart Carapola: Kane and X-Pac had been feuding for months, but when we got to WrestleMania, people weren't thinking about what was going to happen between Kane and X-Pac, but whether Pete Rose was going to attack Kane again as he had done the previous two years. The match was nondescript and was won by Kane and Rikishi, and of course Pete Rose wound up in the ring after trying to distract Kane with the San Diego chicken he had dressed up as the year before. Pete had the bat, but Kane got a hold of him and chokeslammed him, then threw him in the corner where Rikishi gave him the stink face for good measure, and that was the last we saw of Pete Rose. That didn't stop people from looking for him for years afterward, though.
Mike Bauer: The remains of DX had a tough climb here as they had to face Kane and Rikishi here in another one of those matches you use to keep the biggest matches apart. It was short and sweet and did nothing for anyone involved, except for giving Pete Rose another reason that he should have avoided going to WrestleMania. This was the third time in a row he got embarrassed.
SAT: This match was very bad and this match was all about Rikishi's ass. He just kept giving stink-faces, which destroyed the match for me. The post match stuff also was very boring. Avoid this entire match and the post match stuff unless you are a baseball purist and then you should watch Rikishi giving the stink face to Pete Rose.
Dan Wilcox: I am getting so annoyed with these crappy tag matches. Kane and X-Pac had been feuding for the latter part of 1999 over the "jezebel" Tori (not Wilson, the other one) so this was kind of a lame extension of that. X-Pac and Road Dogg were teaming up because Billy Gunn, Dogg's usual partner, was out with an injury, so these guys were thrown together. I have no real idea why Rikishi was booked into this, other than perhaps Kane just didn't have a lot of friends. The match went 4 minutes when Kane picked up the win for his team with a Tombstone on X-Pac, and surprise, surprise, the match sucked. A recurring theme at this WrestleMania. Of course, we then get Pete Rose who takes his annual Tombstone and I so wish I hadn't signed up for this one. Too Cool come out to dance, and once again, the crap after the match was a) more entertaining and b) longer than the actual match, which to me speaks volumes about the majority of this show.
WWF Title Match: HHH defeated The Rock, Mick Foley and The Big Show @ 36:30 via pin
Stuart Carapola: I don't think that this match ever got the respect it really deserved. I thought it was a well-put together match, and was really impressed with how long it went. I think that this might be the longest main event in WrestleMania history other than the Iron man match. This was also the first WrestleMania in many years to go more than three hours, so I remember watching the clock and seeing that the main event was starting at like 10:45, and visions of Halloween Havoc 98 started dancing through my head. Thankfully, they had the extra satellite time lined up, and we got to see the whole match. Couple things about this match, it was basically decided that it would be the Rock and Triple H Show after Austin went down, but then Big Show and Mick Foley were added later. In fact, Foley had been retired a month or so earlier at the hands of Triple H, but was brought back for one last match by Linda McMahon. Mick was really out of shape though, and even though he was clearly a fan favorite, he had put on quite a bit of weight just in the month he'd been out, and wasn't able to make the running elbow off the apron and onto the table that he'd done so many times. It looked pretty pathetic, actually. Big Show went first, then Foley (to a big round of boos), and it was all down to Rock and HHH. Rock was in control, but Vince interfered and hit Rock with a chair, setting up the HHH win and the beginning of the McMahon-Helmsley Faction/Regime storyline, which would run through the rest of 2000. Rock ended up winning the title a month later, but the shock of a heel actually walking out of WrestleMania with the WWF Title, which had never happened before, was unbelievable at the time. People went nuts over that.
Mike Bauer: Now, I don't agree that this was the worst main event in the history of the WrestleMania. Look at most of the first 11 years and you get plenty of worse matches. I actually liked this match and it was booked perfectly, even if the action wasn't perfect. Big Show had no business in the main event, other than he should have won the Royal Rumble and was the last champ before HHH. Mick Foley had no reason to be in this match, other than he deserved to have a WrestleMania moment for his retirement, and he didn't even get it for another six years. At least he got a main event match out of it. So we were left with HHH and the Rock, the way it should have been from the start. And we end up with Vince McMahon doing what he does best screwing up a great event, by helping HHH defeat The Rock and giving us a championship retention at WrestleMania, something that almost never happened before. I still remember Stephanie being shocked when Vince helped her after what happened at the end of 1999. I was just as shocked, let me tell you.
SAT: Welcome to the worst main event in WrestleMania. This match was bad on so many levels. This match seemed like it was in slow motion. There were so many blown spots in this match, which didn't help the match either. There seemed to be too much stuff going on outside of the ring (The McMahon's) than in the ring. I understand that you need false finishes to get the fans excited for the ending, but I was begging for this match to be over. A few things were done correctly. First, it was a good idea to eliminate the Big Show first because he wasn't the best wrestler in the match. Second, it was a good idea to end the match with Rock and Triple H. Those are the two stars and they should have ended the match. Still, the negatives outweigh the positives, so avoid this match.
Dan Wilcox: There's a McMahon in every corner here. Shane back Show, Vince was with Rock, Linda was of course was with Mick Foley (who she brought out of retirement) and Steph was Trips' hubby so that was obvious. The Royal Rumble ended in controversy when Rocky eliminated Show, but Rock had supposedly been eliminated (video later proved this to be true). Show beat The Rock at No Way Out to earn the Mania spot thanks to a surprising turn from Shane O Mac. Somewhere along the line The Rock was added to the match. Triple H, meanwhile, had been Mick Foley on not one, but two occasions in equally hellacious matches, the latter of which forced Foley to retire, but Linda McMahon was having none of it, and reinstated Foley and that's how it came together. Complicated stuff, huh? The match itself was elimination rules and was actually quite excellent. Big Show was eliminated by The Rock and a Rock Bottom after just 5 minutes, but that's when things really started to get good. With just 3 guys left, they really started to play off the history between Rock ‘N' Sock, which was awesome, but it would eventually break down to an all-out brawl. Foley took tons of punishment before he was finally eliminated after taking two Pedigrees and would be retired yet again. So this left Rock and Triple H. They brawled around the arena for a while and did some really good spots with the announce table, steel steps, chairs the lot, until Shane ran back out to attack Vince and they then started brawling. Vince would eventually turn on The Rock and The McMahon-Helmsley era would begin. Deep joy. The fans totally shitted on the ending as they were disappointed The Rock didn't win, and you can't blame them. The match was awesome until Vinny Mac decided to shit all over it. You still can't take away from the effort at least 3 of the guys put in beforehand. Great match, despite the bull ending.
The Conclusion:
Stuart Carapola: I thought WrestleMania 2000 was a great show, and still do. There was a lot of crap on the under card, but the main event and two fall Triple Threat match were both good, and the ladder match was off the charts. Plus, there was just this atmosphere of awesome surrounding the show that made it feel even better. I would certainly put this among the best WrestleMania ever.
Mike Bauer: This was overall a good, but yet sub par WrestleMania, with the beginning of something special due to the ladder match. Yes, the triple threat double title match and the main event were pretty good as well, but the beginning of the card dragged it all down. The only thing that makes this WrestleMania so much more interesting are the facts behind it. The fact that HHH winning was the first and only time a non-fan favorite won in the main event. The fact that the Intercontinental Title had never changed hands at WrestleMania between 1992 and 2000. The fact that every person involved in the IC, Tag Team, and European Title matches were making their WrestleMania debuts. All of that adds something to the card, but it still came up short overall.
SAT: This was probably a good WrestleMania at the time, but it hasn't aged that well. Most of these matches should be avoided, but there are two matches that delivered. I would avoid this entire card, except for the Dudleys/Hardys/Edge & Christian match and the triple threat match.
Dan Wilcox: There were 3 matches that were good. 2 were great, one was a let down despite being good. The rest was bullshit and didn't deserve or need to be on the card. They foolishly grouped all of the good workers into 3 matches here, which meant you were only ever going to get those 3 good matches and the rest really did suck ass. The Ladder match is the only one you should really go out of your way to see. Avoid the under card at all costs.
