Wrestlemania X-Seven Review

We are back with Classic Fries! Every Saturday, we will pull something from The Museum and reprint it for those to enjoy! This gives those a chance who never got a chance to read it the first time a second chance, since the Museum itself is so large and its hard for anyone to decide where to begin.

Wrestlemania 24 is tomorrow! So, in honor of this extraordinary event, I will be digging into the "WrestleReview" archives (My failed to launch website featuring Wrestling PPV reviews). I will be posting the review of what I feel is the best Wrestlemania ever, Wrestlemania X-Seven (or Wrestlemania 17).

Enjoy! :-)

Wrestlemania X-Seven

Stats:
Date: April 1, 2001
City: Houston, TX
Arena: Astrodome drawing 67,925
PPV Buy Rate: Unreleased

Before the Review:

This is considered the to be one of the best Wrestlemanias ever. It did everything right, and it started the very successful heel turn of Austin. Everyone was "on" that night, as every match was above DUD, and there was 11 of them! If you haven't seen this yet, get it!

All match final ratings are based not only on workrate, but crowd involvement, entertainment value, and finish. They are all out of 5 stars.

Doing play-by-play is Jim Ross, and Paul Heyman is doing "colour commentary" for the night. 

Match 1. Intercontinental Title: Chris Jericho vs. William Regal

It all started when William Regal debuted on Raw. He interrupted Regal's promo, asking to "shut the hell up". He then did it again one week on Raw, besmirching Regal even more. Mind games continued, as Jericho then proceeded to "soil" Regal's tea. It all led up to this match.

This match was good, but too short. It turned out that Jericho landed on his ankle the wrong way and they had to end the match right there. It was still a good match, and if it went a couple of more minutes, it would have gotten the full 3 stars from me. The match ends when Jericho gets the Lionsault on Regal for the pin. (7:08) Great way to open up Wrestlemania.

MATCH RATING: **3/4

Match 2. Six-Man Tag: The Right To Censor vs. The Acolytes & Tazz

This was the only match on the card added at the last minute for the purpose of putting these wrestlers in a match on the biggest show of the year. Don't blink, or you might miss this one, Bradshaw gets a vicious Clothesline From Hell on The Goodfather for the victory. (3:53)

MATCH RATING: *

Match 3. Triangle Match, Hardcore Title: Raven vs. Kane vs. The Big Show

The Big Show returned to the WWF at the Royal Rumble, and was eliminated by The Undertaker. So The Big Show decided to become a thorn in the side for the The Brothers From the Darkside. The Undertaker wanted Triple H at Wrestlemania, so Kane wanted to take care of business with the Hardcore Champ, Big Show. However, one week on Smackdown, Raven regained the Hardcore title from Big Show. Commissioner Regal, decided to inject Raven into this match.

This was a fun match. They threw each other through walls, glass windows, and ran each other over with golf carts. At the end of the match, Kane shoved Big Show and Raven through the stage, and did an awesome diving elbow on Big Show for the pin to win the Hardcore Title. (9:18) Certainly no where near a match of the year candidate, but it was a fun match to watch.

MATCH RATING: ***1/4

Match 4. European Title: Test vs. Eddie Guerrero

Not much build up to this match, but maybe that was for the best, as this match turned out much better than people expected. Other than one embarrassing spot where Test accidentally gets his foot caught in the ropes, this was a solid match. It ends in CONTROVERSY when Guerrero hits Test with the belt to get the win and the European Title. (8:30) It was much better than people expected it to be.

MATCH RATING: ***

Match 5. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit

One week on Raw, Kurt Angle was protesting that the Gobbledy Gooker had a match at Wrestlemania, and he didn't. This caused Chris Benoit to come out and announce that he didn't have a match at the biggest show of the year. So they agreed to have a match against each other. But that was not all, they both proceeded to tap out to each other finishers over the period of one week, leading up to this match. 

This was a GREAT match. It started out with some amateur mat wrestling, which the audience approves of. After a few minutes of that, they then proceed to pull out any counter possible to every move they do. The German Suplexes were even countered with an Ankle Lock out of all the moves! It finally ends when Kurt Angle rolls up Chris Benoit out of nowhere for the win. (14:02) Match of the Year Candidate

MATCH RATING: *****

Match 6. Women's Title: Ivory vs. Chyna

I don't really want to get into the "Worst Feud of 2001", so I won't. It was thankfully short, as Chyna wins with 2 Press Slams on Ivory to win the Women's Title. (2:39)

MATCH RATING: 1/4*

Match 7. Street Fight, WWF vs. WCW, with Special Referee Mick Foley: Vince McMahon vs. Shane McMahon

It all started one week on Raw when Vince demanded for a DIVORCE, thus putting her in a "comatose" state. This angered Shane, sticking up for his mother, attacked Vince. Then one week, it was announced that Vince McMahon bought WCW. He announced that he would sign the contract at Wrestlemania X-Seven. However, Shane McMahon said that was the opportunity he was looking for, and announced that he bought WCW! 

This will go down as Vince McMahon's best match ever, and one of the many great matches that Shane McMahon had. The drama of this match alone gets it up to 4 stars already. It started out with some brawling, but then Shane comes out nowhere and gets his patent spear (which is better than Goldberg's, but not quite up to Rhyno standards). A few minutes later, and Shane does the same elbowdrop he did at Summerslam 99 on Vince, and MISSES AGAIN! After a few more minutes, Trish wheels Linda out, but then slaps Vince! This causes Trish and Stephanie to brawl to the backstage area. Vince later then takes Linda, and puts her in the corner of the ring on a chair. He yells at Linda, telling her to watch him beat on his own son Shane. Then, Linda gets up to HUGE pop, Vince then realizes what happened as he turns around. Linda gives Vince the nutshot from hell. Foley then proceeds to just beat Vince down, paying back everything Vince had done to him in the past few months. Then, Shane proceeds to top himself for awhile, and does the VAN TERMINATOR on Vince for the pin. (14:12) Awesome match, and I know many people will disagree with the final rating of this match, but it was just too much fun to watch.

MATCH RATING: ****

Match 8. TLC II: The Dudley Boyz vs. Edge & Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz

This match was just put on the card to make this Wrestlemania that much more of the "Dream Wrestlemania". Rhyno, Spike Dudley, and Lita were injected into the mix to keep things fresh.

This was a great match, but not quite as good as their first outing at Summerslam 2000, but it was still a 5 star match! Do I really need to describe the match? Just watch it!

MATCH RATING: *****

Match 9. Gimmick Battle Royal Involving: Bushwhackers, Duke the Dumpster, Iron Sheik, Earthquake, The Goon, Doink the Clown, Kamala, Repo Man, Jim Cornette, Nikolai Volkoff, Michael Hayes, One Man Gang, Gobbledygooker, Tugboat, Hillbilly Jim, Brother Love and Sgt. Slaughter

This match served it's purpose as a nostalgia trip. I still mark out for the Repo Man every time I hear his music when I watch this match. (I loved that gimmick, sue me) After watching these entrances, Michael Hayes and Earthquake looked as if they just were happy to be in ANY TYPE of match. The only wrestler looked to be in better shape than he was in his prime was Hillbilly Jim. The Iron Sheik looked to be in the worst shape humanly possible. 

The wrestlers go out of the ring like popcorn pops. The Iron Sheik wins because he can barely move and might die if he goes over the top rope. (3:05) I give this one star for the nostalgia trip. 

MATCH RATING: *

Match 10. Triple H vs. The Undertaker

It all started when Triple H was whining on how he has beaten everybody and he was not in the main event of Wrestlemania. Then out comes The Undertaker, who said that he hasn't beaten him yet. This was the true definition of "can you top this?" feud. 

Triple H has the best entrance in wrestling, and this one was just totally awesome. Motorhead's live rendition of "The Game" just added to the intensity of this match. This match was better than I had expected. It was the usual brawl around the arena, but with a hot crowd popping for everything humanly possible. The ending sequence starts when The Undertaker goes for the Last Ride, but Triple H counters it with a Sledgehammer shot to the head, for the TWO COUNT. Triple H then proceeds to beat Undertaker down in the corner, but the Undertaker counters that with the Last Ride out of nowhere for the victory. (18:17) Good match.

MATCH RATING: ****

Main Event. World Title: The Rock vs. Steve Austin

It all finally leads up to the main event. The two biggest stars in wrestling at this point, collide for the second time in Wrestlemania history. Only this match was even bigger than their last encounter.

This match had everything these guys had to offer. With counters to their signature moves, to them doing their opponent's signature moves, this was a great match. We even got treated to the WM8/SuSe96 finish at one point, but Austin by now knew better than that. The finishing sequence starts when Vince McMahon comes out. Rock then gets a spinebuster, but Vince stops The Rock from getting the count. We then get the classic line from Paul Heyman, "What in the hell did he do that for?". Vince gets a chairshot on Rock for only a two count. Austin gets the stunner for a two count. Austin goes berserk on Rock with a million chair shots on Rock. He then finally gets the three count to win the World Title. (28:06) Austin and Vince shake hands to end the PPV to start the surprisingly awesome heel turn for Austin. 

MATCH RATING: ****1/2

FINAL OVERVIEW:

Average Match Rating: ***1/2
Historical Value: *****
Best Match: *****
Worst Match: 1/4*

FINAL RATING: ****

COMMENT: This is considered one of the top 5 best PPVs of all time. How can you go wrong with this? If you have the opportunity to watch this, do so!