by WWF WrestleMania X7 is widely regarded as the greatest wrestling event of all time. It was 11 matches of greatness! It had everything you want in a WrestleMania. Major title changes, five star matches and shocking turns. Every single match delivered, and the ending sequence of Stone-Cold Steve Austin turning heel and joining Mr. McMahon was perhaps the largest shock in the history of Pro Wrestling, with all due respect to the Hulk Hogan heel turn of 1996.
From the first match, to the last match, it delivered! As of this print, it featured over 20 Hall of Famers and gave the fans zero reason to leave their seat for a snack, or even to use the bathroom. You didn’t want to leave the action for more then a minute because it was that darn good.
Let’s begin with the start of the card, and work our way to the unforgettable conclusion. Chris Jericho was red hot coming into the night and retained his Intercontinental Championship against Lord William Regal. Even though it went under 8 minutes, these men didn’t hold back and gave everyone the mat classic those two names would bill it to be.
The Right To Center group of Stevie Richards, Val Venis and The Goodfather were some of the most hated heels of all time. They stood no chances as crowd favorites the APA and Taz ran right through them in the evenings second match. Taz was enjoying a brief face run at this point, but would switch back to heel shortly after the WCW/ECW Invasion angle began.
For the first time in WrestleMania history, the Hardcore match was must watch as the two giants Kane and The Big Show did battle for Ravens title. This war saw everything as The Big Show and Kane crashed through a wall. Raven ran over Kane with a golf cart, and The Big Show tossed Raven through an office window. It was one big spot after another until finally, Kane jumped off the stage through Raven to win the match and championship. It is one of the most fun matches to go back and watch!
It was then time for future Hall of Famer Eddie Guerrero to step up and hand Test the best and only good match of his entire career. Eddie proved he can work with anyone, of any talent level as he put on a tremendous display in defeating Test for his European Championship. Eddie was starting to show the world just how good he was.
Speaking of being one of the best of all time, the next match featured two of the best as Chris Benoit faced off with Kurt Angle. This rivalry had been brewing for months as Benoit was one of the few guys, ( along with Guerrero who proved he could match in ring skills with Angle.
The two put on an instant classic as they mixed up amateur wrestling with professional until Angle eventually cheated to win. Angle got the win but then also received a beatdown from Benoit in the back later on in the night. Putting Benoit back-to-back with Guerrero was genius as the crowd started to heat up!
Every WrestleMania with the exception of this one, and XIX is good for atleast 2 or 3 dud matches that under deliver, but this one just kept bringing it. After months of Ivory getting the best of her, the now suddenly sexy and glamorous Chyna took out her nemesis with ease in a 2:38 squash match for the title. Chyna showed everyone that if she focused solely on the women’s division, she was untouchable.
When the name Vince McMahon or Shane McMahon is on the billing for WrestleMania, it may sound crazy at first, but you are pretty much guaranteed an instant classic and this night was no different. Shane was the brand-new owner of WCW and he and his father tore it up in a shockingly great match.
Shane dominated the match with diving elbows, kicks and even an RVD coast to coast move with a trash can. It wasn’t until he went to jump on his father threw a table when Stephanie moved Vince out of the way and Shane went crashing through. This was all in the midst of special guest referee Mick Foley being knocked out.
On top of all that, you had the utter drama of Linda McMahon being in a comatose state sitting in the wheelchair ringside as Shane fought for her honor. Vince had been having an affair with Trish Stratus who was ordered to keep Linda under heavy meds and out of it. Well, Vince’s plan went to Hell as Stratus turned on him and Linda came out of it to help Shane. Even Mick woke up long enough to help Shane defeat his father as Stephanie McMahon and Trish had a catfight in the midst of it all.
The wildest part of all of this is that Shane would turn out to be the Heel as the summer developed. Stephanie would buy ECW, and suddenly her and Shane would team up to try and take out the WWF by forming the Alliance. It failed miserably.
What didn’t fail miserably however was the next match that will forever go down as one of the greatest Tag Team Championship matches in WrestleMania history. The first two times The Hardy Boys, The Dudley Boys and Edge & Christian hooked up for a three-way tables, ladders and chairs match at WrestleMania 2000 and SummerSlam 2000, they stole the show. This time around, they stole the entire year of 2001!
Just when you thought they couldn’t top those two matches, they did exactly that! This time around, Rhyno was there to assist Edge & Christian, Lita was ringside for The Hardy Boys and little Spike Dudley showed up to help the Dudley Boys. Each, playing major roles towards the outcome of the match and each team took serious falls. The biggest perhaps being, Edge spearing Jeff Hardy off the ladder as he hung in the air clinging to a belt. It has stood the test of time as one of the greatest bumps ever.
As they did in the first two versions, Edge and Christian would go on to win the match. All three teams punched their tickets to the Hall of Fame with these trilogies of matches. Mix in the fact that they would combine to hold nearly 30 Tag team Championships over multiple promotions, and their legendary status will never be challenged.
The intensity for the final two matches of the night would be off the charts, thus, the WWF did the right thing and gave everyone a comical break to catch their breath as up next was the Gimmick Battle Royal. This match was simply for a blast from the past fun moment as they brought back countless legends from the past for a glorified battle royal.
The names brought back from the past included Hillbilly Jim, Earthquake, Tugboat, The Iron Sheik, Repo Man, The Goon, Brother Love, Michael PS Hayes, Sgt. Slaughter, Doink and countless other fan favorites from the 80’s and early 90’s. The match lasted less then four minutes as everyone was pretty much decades past their prime. It was The Iron Sheik walking away with the win!
Fans often talk about the matches HHH and The Undertaker had at WrestleMania’s 27 & 28, but few people bring up their classic at WrestleMania X7 and that is a shame. I personally feel it is better than their clash at 27, and nearly as good as the epic from 28. The Undertaker would win but not before the brawl spilled out into the crowd and saw HHH get choke slammed off a camera bay.
The match lasted 18:27 and was the second longest of the night. If it wasn’t for the amazing main event and the Tables, Ladders and Chairs match, it would have been the best match on the card. HHH was in the best shape of his career and looked like he was chiseled out of stone. The Undertaker was in full biker gimmick and the match featured everything from sledgehammers and Last Rides, to Chokeslams and Tombstones. It is one of the greatest hidden gems in WrestleMania history. I say hidden gem, because it remains the tag match and the main event that everyone brings up when they talk about X7.
Since the fall of 1997, Stone Cold Steve Austin spent every moment he could, terrorizing Vince McMahon. Despite Vince not being an active member of the in-ring roster, the two formed what is seen as the greatest Pro Wrestling rivalry if all time. They personified the word hatred. There was God vs Satan, Pepsi vs Coke, McDonalds vs Burger King, and McMahon vs Austin. They were different as Black and White.
That is why the conclusion of the main event of The Rock vs Austin 28-minute mat classic had the most shocking moment in pro wrestling history. No one, and I mean not a soul on planet Earth could have foreseen Mr. McMahon joining forces with Stone Cold Steve Austin to help defeat The Rock. Austin had teamed up with his mortal enemy, to defeat his greatest rival on the biggest stage.
The crowd of 67,000 plus of Austins fellow Texans couldn’t believe their eyes in the Astrodome as Austin turned heel. Neither could the millions upon millions watching from home. All of this coming after 25 plus minutes of incredible action that saw both men bloodied and beaten. Both men survived countless Rock Bottoms, Stone Cold Stunners, Sharpshooters and every other finishing move they could apply. In the end, the greatest show of all time ended with the biggest shock of all time as Austin used McMahon to take the title from The Rock.
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I do believe I have the upper hand Mr McKee