The downfall to this anthology is that it has the same menus & music for every Mania instead of a unique set up for each of them. That's a minor gripe, of course, because it's only the selection menu, but hey, let's move on. They air the video package hyping the event. JR & Paul Heyman are on commentary - ohhhh yeah! I picked the right event!
1) Chris Jericho (c) vs. William Regal - Intercontinental Championship Match
They showed a video package highlighting what led to this match which was a nice touch considering I had no clue of any back story. Regal was the commissioner at this time and Y2J kept screwing with him by peeing in his tea cup and such. That led to this match where both men came hot out of the gate. Regal slows things down by targeting Jericho's injured shoulder and slamming it into the ring post. I say he slowed things down, but they never really slowed down per say. Certainly not long enough to tell much of a story. This was a decent opener albeit somewhat anti climatic. I feel like these two had a much better match in them. It just felt like they tried to fit everything into the small time they were given and it came off as rushed. Y2J wins rather abruptly with a lionsault.
Match rating - **
Backstage, there's a limo pulling up. There's a WCW 1 tag on it. Oh fuck! It's Shane McMahon. To my surprise, the Monday before this was when Shane announced that he'd bought WCW. I bet the buys were through the roof for this PPV after that!
APA is backstage and Jackie is looking fine as hell. Bradshaw is rambling about a bunch of shit, I wasn't really paying much attention to him.
2) Tazz & APA (Bradshaw & Farooq) vs. Right To Censor (Val Venis, Bull Buchanan, & The Godfather) (w/ Stevie Richards)
This was what it was. A quick six man tag. APA got a nice pop. Jacqueline got involved early before the bell for her moment. Tazz gets controlled for a little bit by the RTC before Bradshaw gets the hot tag and cleans house. Farooq is in next and APA hits their signatures on RTC as Bradshaw finishes things off with a clothesline from hell.
Match rating - **1/4
All these backstage cameos are quality only because of the divas involved. Trish comes into the arena pushing Linda in the wheelchair. Stephanie wants her to get some ice for the celebration when "Vince kicks Shane's butt". Wah wah.
3) Raven vs. Kane vs. The Big Show - Hardcore Title Match
These were the days! The days when Raven was still around being awesome. The days when Kane looked as legit as ever. The days where Big Show.. well, he got a good pop so that must count for something. This was a ton of fun and honestly way better than I expected. The three brawled through the crowd immediately and headed backstage where a ton of shenanigans took place. Raven chokeslammed Kane on some wooden pallets, Raven got thrown through a window, Kane & Show threw themselves through a wall, and the trio even played with golfcars for a bit. I really enjoyed this. Kane kicks Show & Raven off the stage through some platform thing then RUNNING LEG DROP ON TOP OF ALL THE CARNAGE! BAH GAWD! Kane is the man, I've said it before, I'll say it again. He picks up the win and becomes Hardcore champ.
Match rating - ***
4) Eddie Guerrero (c) vs. Test - European Title Match
Eddie is accompanied to the ring by Radicals member Perry Saturn. That spells out that there's probably gonna be interference in this match and while there was, it was kept to a minimum for the most part. Eddie gave Test one heck of a match here and made him look great. Test flurried early then Eddie's sly ways earned him the advantage which led to a few minutes of Guerrero working over the bigger man. Test begins fighting back and as I said before, Eddie made him look TERRIFIC. The interference came into major play in the final moments of the match as Dean Malenko ran down to ringside to distract the ref allowing Eddie to pick up the win and become the European Champion.
Match rating - ***
5) Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit
Just by looking at the names involved, you probably already know this was really good and if you thought so, you would be correct. The signature intense matwork started out this encounter and resulted in several stand offs. An underlying story in this match was Kurt never officially tapping out in a match although he DID tap out when Benoit locked him in the crossface on Smackdown. Angle fears the crossface and it's clear which leads to multiple attempts from Benoit to lock it in. The crowd popped for every single attempt. This was a great teaser for when Chris eventually gets it locked in. After Benoit repeatedly got the upperhand and outwrestled Angle, Kurt turned to fighting, as Paul Heyman said, to earn himself control of the match. A fist to the head when the referee was in between them sent Benoit to the mat and Kurt pushed him to the outside and slammed him into the ring steps. Angle gets the advantage and begins taking apart The Crippler. Belly to belly suplex, multiple german suplexes, Angle is in demand then Benoit fires up and comes back. Angle ends up getting a sneaky victory out of nowhere with a roll up using the tights. This was great while it lasted.
Match rating - ***3/4
6) Ivory vs. Chyna - Women's Championship Match
Not much has changed in the women's divsion over the years it seems. This didn't last long AT ALL. Ivory jumps Chyna before the bell with the belt. She kicks at her then Chyna gets up and fires back. She clearly has her beat, but lifts her shoulders up off the mat before three. Chyna presses Ivory up over her head and drops her to the mat again before arrogantly laying on her for the three count. Chyna wins the Women's Title and gets her Mania moment.
Match rating - *3/4
7) Vince McMahon vs. Shane McMahon
This was more of an angle than a match, in my opinion. You had a bunch of different facets to this story settled all in one match. The infamous Trish slapping Vince moment plus the brawl with Stephanie, Linda lowblowing Vince, Shane crashing & burning on a dive onto the announce table, all that good stuff. This was eventful to say the least.
8) Edge & Christian vs. The Dudleys vs. The Hardys - TLC II for the WWE Tag Team Championships
I'm almost ashamed to say that I forgot to write about this match until I was writing the "overall thoughts" paragraph at the end of this review and realized I'd forgotten about it. None the less, this is quality stuff. I can't really say anything that you haven't already heard or seen because everyone knows these three teams had a classic series of matches so any of them are worth your time. I've personally watched this match a ton of times, especially when I was in my early teens. I probably watched the first Ladder Match compilation DVD 10 times through and this was on it so that tells you how familiar I am with this particular bout. The cool thing though is that despite knowing what was coming, this was still a thrill to watch. This may not be one of the best TLC/Ladder Matches of the E&C/Hardys/Dudleys series, but that's saying alot about the others because this was still awesome. You had a ton of spots of course and you also had Rhino & Lita interfering to continue some storyline work which was pretty crazy to look back on. This was really fun to watch again, I have to say.
Match rating - ****1/4
8) Gimmick Battle Royal
I pretty much dozed off during this. I didn't wanna skip it just in case something notable happened so I just kinda kept it on in the background. Bobby Heenan and Mean Gene come down to do guest commentary. It was here that I realized we were inches away from Heenan & Heyman doing commentary together.. AHHHH!! If only! To top it all off when it comes to managers & talkers, Jim Cornette was involved in this. What a fucking mix! There were a ton of people involved in this. From The Iron Shiek (who won) to Sgt Slaughter to Michael Hayes, it was just what it was billed as. A gimmick showcase and basically a time for some of these older guys to get in one last (or in some cases first) moment at Mania.
9) The Undertaker vs. Triple H - No Holds Barred
Motorhead played Triple H to the ring which was completely badass. HHH was jacked here and looked intense as hell. I've never been a huge HHH fan, but he owns his character, you can't deny that. Lemmy killed the performance, by the way. None the less, Taker comes out and the fight gets going before his music even cuts off. Triple H goes through a table only seconds in albeit intentional or unintentional, he kinda just fell/leaned on it and it broke. Anyway, the action is back in the ring for a bit then they brawl into the crowd into the sound control center where the mixing boards and stuff are. H nails Taker with a ton of chairshots up there however it all ends with Taker chokeslamming H off one of the platforms. They find their way back up to the ring and the sledgehammer comes into play. Taker gets busted open yet somehow finds a way to still pick up the win. This was a pretty fun brawl. It's nothing compared to the classics these two would have in the future at WM27 & 28, though.
Match rating - ***1/4
10) The Rock (c) vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin - WWE Championship Match
I've watched this match several times like most people. Howevr, I do differ from most in that I watched it when I was like 10-12 years old. It was before I began pretty much studying pro wrestling and writing reviews like I've done the past few years (I'm 19 now), but that doesn't mean I don't remember enjoying the hell out of this one and raving about how awesome it was. I mean after all, Stone Cold was who I grew up on. I'm not going to do play by play on this or even talk a ton about it because most people have seen this. I'll just give a few thoughts and leave it at that because you all likely already know how much this ruled. The big time feel was off the charts. It starts off HOT with an exchange called by JR that I have engrained in my mind from my time as a youngster watching this "STONE COLD GOES FOR THE STUNNER! ROCK GOES FOR THE ROCK BOTTOM! ALL THIS IN THE EARLY GOING!" This is said just as Rock gets thrown over the top rope and takes possibly the best over the rope bump I've ever seen. The line isn't infamous, but it is for me simply because I haven't watched this in probably four or five years yet I still remember it for some reason. Anyway, you know the deal here. Rock & Stone Cold ripped this thing to shreds. The crowd hung on every move, the intensity felt REAL as both men bled, JR on commentary was at his best, and THEN, the swerve of the decade. Vince helps Stone Cold win. It's still shocking to see to this day, I can only imagine watching this live when it happened. I'm sure it's something that alot of people will never forget much like this match as a whole. Not much else can be said, this is a classic. It's a rollercoaster ride of drama and action from beginning to end.
Match rating - ****1/2
Overall thoughts: Many people call this one of the greatest Mania's ever and it's easy to see why. There's alot of great matches here. Two of them are must see in the form of TLC II and Austin/Rock with Angle/Benoit & HHH/Taker also being worth a viewing. The rest of the card is filler, to be honest. Matches like the Divas bout and the opening two matches are pretty worthless. The hardcore match was fun and Eddie/Test was solid. WWE isn't known for blow you away WRESTLING filled cards although this card does has it's share of that. I did enjoy watching this event even though I did get bored at times, but that's only expected considering I've seen the best matches on the card, TLC II and Austin/Rock, multiple times. With that being said, if you've seen this event or these matches, there's probably no reason for you to go rewatch after reading this because you've likely seen the matches multiple times as well due to how well known they are. HOWEVER, If you've never seen this event or any of the matches on it, I'd HIGHLY recommend it.
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