Wrestlemania XX

Wrestlemania was one of the best shows WWF/E has ever produced and no mistake. If it had had a true ‘Mania calibre main event match it would probably have been the all time classic that WWE said before hand it would be. By ‘Mania calibre I mean in terms of Hogan vs. Andre or Rock vs. Austin stature. There was nothing on this show which stood out as being a match up for the ages. There was no Hogan vs. Rock or Hogan vs.… take your pick. Warrior, Vince, Piper. What we got was a show which contained a lot of good wrestling and, more importantly, a lot of good booking. Here are a list of ten things that I really liked about this show.

1. The Hall of Fame stuff. The WWF/E Hall of Fame is a political institution rather than a meritocratic one for sure. When Greg Valentine is inducted ahead of Samartino, Backlund and Hogan you know that it’s based on who is in Vince’s good books at any one time. But saluting legends of the business is always nice and to see them get huge reactions brought a lump to my throat. Especially Superstar Billy Graham who is a very sick man despite his external appearance and has come close to dying many times over the past few years.

2. The finish of the Rock/Foley vs. Evolution match was one of the greatest finishes I’ve ever seen. It was so obvious that it was written by someone other than the current booking team. Mick Foley created a stunning ending where he was going for the sock as he’s done a zillion times before and Randy Orton hits him with an RKO out of nowhere. A clean 1-2-3, lots of good facial reactions from both Orton and Foley and you have a match which made Orton look like a star and Foley look like a legend. So different from the glass ceiling booking of the past few years.

3. The Undertaker’s return was spectacular – more perhaps for the druids torches being dangerous enough to have a guy with a fire extinguisher in shot for much of the parade. He looked like the biker ‘Taker and his new Darkside character seems – in the words of one top wrestling journalist who I can’t for the life of me remember – to be last year’s Undertaker but wearing a hat. My guess is that Mark Calloway liked being a double tough shoot fighter more than being a walking cartoon and put his foot down. And got his way, obviously, because he’s Taker.

4. The show was clean finishes from top to bottom apart from the Eddie/Angle match and that had a really creative ending which played into Eddie’s character so well that no one minded it wasn’t clean. Eddie’s “lying, cheating and stealing” character has cleverly morphed into him out smarting his opponents while at the same time remaining a tough and gutsy underdog. The boot stuff was priceless and came at the end of a match that a man with Kurt Angle’s neck should not be able to have.

5. The appearance of the youngest McMahon during the opening video. It would’ve seemed almost impossible that Vincent Kennedy McMahon could put his baby grandson on TV and it not seem cheap and exploitative. But he managed it. The message was clear – Wrestlemania may be my creation but it’s my children’s legacy and my children’s children’s legacy.

6. The crowd during the Lesnar vs. Goldberg match was the most hostile I’ve heard since the glory days of ECW. Goldberg seemed to be expecting it (or he was just happy because he was winning the match) while Lesnar seemed stunned. It wouldn’t surprise me if the match was deliberately booked to be as bad as this – it was 90% stalling and 10% which made you fondly remember the stalling. The WWE came out of this smiling because the fan reaction was a rejection of two men who had chosen to reject the WWE. In the eyes of the audience the WWE were the good guys and the wrestlers were the heels.

7. Nothing signalled the start of a new era for WWE fans than the sight of Molly getting her head shaved. Hopefully this is the first tentative step towards WWE fans believing stipulations and WWE management learning that stips should be used sparingly, relevantly and only where they intend to go through with them. Any good will that may have come from Kurt Angle’s head shaving (which was Kurt’s choice as his hair was receding) was undone when Kevin Nash went from truly ugly long hair to truly ugly shorter hair on a night when he was supposed to be shaved bald. Sidebar, is it wrong to think Molly looks cute with no hair? I thought it was. Move along now.

8. Bobby Heenan and Gene Okerland’s cupboard antics with Moolah and Mae. First Bobby comes out, then Gene follows him shortly after. The Coach asks “Were you… two…?” But no – this was not Hall of Fame homoerotica – this was another comedy gem with the 80 Somethings. Priceless.

9. Eddie, John Cena and Chris Benoit showing real emotion at title victories. It may be a made up sport but titles are meaningful if they are presented as meaningful. If guys don’t care, the fans don’t care. The idea that belts were meaningless and cool guys show no emotion (cough, Kevin Nash, cough) was an insane period for the business and did huge amounts of harm. Wrestling needs suspension of disbelief and an emotional connection between the participants and the audience. Nights like Wrestlemania do huge amounts to re-establish that connection.

10. Triple H tapped out in the middle of the ring to Chris Benoit. I don’t really need to say any more. EgoTrips tapped. HHH tapped. Hunter tapped. Helmsley tapped. Vince’s son in law tapped. That says it all really.

So I really enjoyed Wrestlemania. They promoted it “Where it all begins… again” and I think they showed that their new style is just as appealing as the high spots and career shortening bumps Attitude style was. Even with the loss of Rock, Foley, Goldberg, Lesnar, Angle and the non-wrestling Austin, the future for WWE looks bright.