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WRESTLEMANIA 2000
April 2, 2000
Location:Anaheim, California
Arena: The Anaheim Pond
Announced Attendance: 18,742
RESULTS
*Bull Buchanan and The Big Bossman defeated The Godfather & D-Lo Brown after a top rope legdrop by Bull on D-Lo. Rap star Ice-T walked the Godfather to the ring rapping a song written about him for a WWE rap CD titled "Pimping Ain't Easy."
*A 13 Man Hardcore Battle Royal for Crash Holly's Hardcore championship saw the following results: Tazz (Wrestlemania debut) pinned Crash...Viscera pinned Tazz....Funaki pinned Viscera....Rodney pinned Funaki....Joey Abs pinned Rodney....Mosh pinned Joey Abs....Pete Gas pinned Mosh....Tazz pinned Gas....Crash pinned Tazz....Hardcore Holly pinned Crash to end up Hardcore champion. 10 title changes in 15 minutes!
*Test & Prince Albert defeated Al Snow & Steve Blackman when Test pinned Blackman. Snow and Blackman were called "Head Cheese" at the time and came out with a midget dressed in a cheese costume.
*Edge & Christian (in ring Wrestlemania debut) defeated The Hardy Boyz and The Dudley Boyz (Wrestlemania debut) in a Ladder match to win the WWF Tag Team championships. An excellent match with tons of crazy bumps and innovative ideas, including a table placed atop two ladders working as a platform for the new champions to win the belts.
*Terri (With The Fabulous Moolah) defeated The Kat (with Mae Young) in a Catfight with Val Venis as the special guest referee.
*Too Cool & Chyna beat Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn, & Dean Malenko (Wrestlemania debut for all three) when when Chyna pinned Guerrero. Soon enough, Chyna would fall for Guerrero's Latino Heat. This would end up being Malenko's only in-ring Wrestlemania appearance.
*Kurt Angle lost both the WWF European and Intercontinental championship in a "two fall triangle" match with Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho. Benoit pinned Jericho to win the IC belt while Jericho pinned Benoit for the European championship. The idea here was that Angle had lost both belts without being pinned. This was the Wrestlemania debut for all involved, although the match was considered disappointing by some given the workhorses in the match.
*Kane & Rikishi defeated Road Dogg Jesse Jammes & X-Pac when Kane pinned X-Pac. Pete Rose returned again for vengeance against Kane, only to be chokeslammed by Kane and given the stinkface by Rikishi. Rose would later vow, "Wait until next year" to Michael Cole.
*In a Four Corner Elimination bout "with a McMahon in every corner", WWF Champion Triple H (with Stephanie McMahon) beat The Rock (with Vince McMahon), Mick Foley (with Linda McMahon), and The Big Show (with Shane McMahon) in an decent bout. Foley had retired weeks earlier and showed up much larger than his last appearance, to the point he missed an elbow off the apron onto a table and hurt his sternum. Vince turned on Rock to set up Helmsley's shocking win. The Rock would retaliate by giving Stephanie the Rock Bottom to close the show.
Notes: This Wrestlemania was the first where a heel went over, breaking the chain.....The hosts of the show were Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler....WWE resurrected the Fanfest concept, christening it AXXESS with autograph signings, exhibits of vehicles used in WWE angles, a Hall of Fame booth, and much more. The promotion later announced 30,000 fans visited AXXESS over the weekend sessions...The promotion did a Wrestlemania All Day PPV special hosted from AXXESS with Michael Cole and Ivory pitching to video packages on each Wrestlemania, interviewing guests and more....The feeling was by now "the wrestlers were the celebrities" so except for Rose, no celebrities were booked....WWF announced the formation of the XFL during the build to the PPV. Yeah, they probably want to forget it as well.
Triple H on Main Eventing Wrestlemania: "It's hard to explain the feeling you get of the fulfillment of a dream. There's accolades in our business, and they may sound hokey, but when you become the WWF Champion, they have the faith you can carry the highest award. To carry the belt to the industry and know what the weight of Wrestlemania depends on you and your opponent is a lot of pressure. But it's the greatest feeling in the world. It's a great feeling of success. It's like playing in the Superbowl, and not only winning, but making a 90 yard touchdown run in the last 30 seconds in a tie game." (USA Today chat, March 2001
Kevin Kelly on Wrestlemania 2000: The largest rookie class to compete in a WrestleMania since the first one. Again, unspectacular other than being in Anaheim for nearly a week. A McMahon in every corner and a midget in a cheese suit.
Edge on Wrestlemania 2000: "It was definitely a dream come true....Jay (Christian) and I would wrestle in his backyard, and would always be WWF tag team champs. That's honestly what we dreamed about, talked about and aspired for. So to do it at the bigger show of the year, possibly also one of the biggest shows of all time, in one of the billed matches, and one of the semi-main events -- and for the match to go perfect, the way we wanted it to. It just all unfolded amazingly. It literally was a dream come true....It was really cool. When we grabbed the belts, it was like a dream sequence out of a movie where it's fuzzy at the edges. That's what it felt like, but maybe that was just because I was about to become unconcious, I don't know." (Slam! Wrestling, April 2000 interview)
Matt Hardy on Wrestlemania 2000: "It felt good to be in such a high position on such a pay-per-view," confessed Matt Hardy. "I think we went out there and definitely delivered. We did the first ever three-way ladder match on a WWF show and it was a memorable moment for us and a dream come true." Slam! Wrestling article, March 2001)
Mike Johnson: This was a really interesting show from a historical standpoint. A heel went over in the main event. A lot of great talent debuted for the company's flagship show. The promotion was on fire. There was just a great pool of talent and the storylines were sharp. This promotion was making money and doing great guns. The ladder match and the 4 way main event (which went about 37 minutes) were great and top to bottom, this was a fun show.
Buck Woodward: I thought it was weird that they would have Ice-T doing a rap for Godfather & D'Lo Brown, and not hype his appearance in advance at all. ... This was the pinnacle of the ridiculous Hardcore Title changes. ... Anyone else amazed that matches like Test & Albert vs. Snow & Blackman and Terri vs. The Kat were on Wrestlemania? I was then too. ... The three way ladder match was the precursor to the TLC matches, and in my opinion, this bout was the best of the bunch between these three teams. For a short time, Edge & Christian, The Dudleys and The Hardys were saving tag team wrestling in WWF. ... Look how far Eddie Guerrero has come since his first Wrestlemania appearance. ... I like the stipulation in the Angle-Benoit-Jericho match that Angle had one of this titles on the line in the first fall, and the other on the line in the second fall. The booking of having Jericho and Benoit win the belts by pinning each other, and not Angle, set up rematches. ... I'm sure Pete Rose enjoyed not only getting chokeslammed this year, but also stinkfaced. That's a Hall Of Famer, folks. ... I know Mick Foley came back for the money, and I don't begrudge him that at all, but it was painfully obvious that Foley had no business being in the ring at this point. ... Triple H became the first heel to end Wrestlemania triumphant. What a shock.
Dave Scherer: During this time period it was a great time to be a WWE fan. They were doing everything right at this point. The storylines were great. The work was great. It was without a doubt the company's high period and this show put an exclamation point on that!
Jess McGrath: While WWF business was super hot at this point in time, I didn't really think this was all that great a show. I remember being disappointed with the main event four way. The booking of the finish was a gutsy decision that paid off. They were able to save the inevitable title change for the next month, when they brought back Austin as a guest ref (then did two more title changes at the following two PPV's). The highlight no doubt was the three way ladder match ... just an awesome, awesome spectacle, which helped to make all those guys stars. Isn't it weird that the only singles match on the entire show was Terri vs. The Kat?
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