Wrestlemania 2000 - Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim California, April 2nd, 2000

The 16th edition of Vince McMahon’s baby - Wrestlemania. My second favourite of his babies (I’m a huge Shane McMahon fan.) This show is the biggest of the year, taking place slap bang in the middle of the company’s hottest ever period so you might be confused as to why it’s taking place in an arena that only holds about 17,000 people (the official attendance is 19,700). That’s a symptom of the WWF pre-booking arenas in batches. Wrestlemania 14, 15 and 16 were all locked in years in advance with no idea how hot the product would be at the time. 

It’s McMahon-amania! The focus of the main event has been all about the McMahon family and their drama, and the opening video touches on that, but does put the focus back on the WWF Championship which is where it needs to be! It’s also narrated by Keith David, which is very cool. Love that guy.

Lillian Garcia sang America the Beautiful to open up the show. It feels odd that there was no big celebrity but Lillian is a great singer (and a terrible ring announcer) and they make up for that right away by having Ice T perform The Godfather and D’Lo Brown’s entrance music! It’s from the WWF Aggression CD where lots of mainstream artists did songs inspired by the WWF’s biggest stars. A couple made it to TV as official theme songs - most notably D-Generation X - and the CD was all over WWF TV for a couple of months in this era. I think it did sell pretty well! 

The Godfather and D’Lo Brown vs. The Big Bossman and Bull Buchanan

The Ice T performance of the theme song is cut from the WWE Network version of this event and so there’s a hard cut from the opening pyro and Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler’s welcome message to The Godfather and D’Lo in the ring. They have an army of hoes and are dressed all in white. The Godfather looks especially awesome in his long white fur coat and sparkly silver shirt.

The fans are absolutely red hot.

Bull Buchanan debuted a couple of weeks ago and other than “Bossman’s pal” we’ve been given no context. He’s physically very impressive but other than Jim Ross feeling the need to tell us that his real name is Barry every five minutes in all of his matches, we know nothing about him. This is actually his second Wrestlemania appearance as he was one of the members of the Truth Commission and was in the tag team battle royal at Wrestlemania 14. That isn’t mentioned.

I do really like that the good guys are in white and the bad guys are in black. They tag in and out but it is the big man Bull who gets the first reaction of the match by hopping to the top rope and coming back with a flying clothesline. It was nice but he did that in every match. D’Lo is double teamed and wiped out by a scissors kick by Bull. That became his finisher but it isn’t yet so Brown kicks out. 

The match picks up when Godfather gets the hot tag and the fans explode for his offence but it’s not enough and the big men overwhelm the pimp and pimp in training and Bossman and Bull pick up the win. 

After the match, they chase the hoes up the ramp. An odd way to open Wrestlemania.

Backstage, Triple H and the new WWF Women’s Champion discuss both being WWF Champions. JR and King speculate that they both seem very calm considering the stakes of tonight's main event. King laughs and says they must have a plan.

13-man Hardcore Battle Royal for the WWF Hardcore Championship

Crash Holly © vs. Hardcore Holly vs. Bradshaw vs. Faarooq vs. Mosh vs. Thrasher vs. Taka Michinoku vs. Sho Funaki vs. Joey Abs vs. Rodney vs. Pete Gas vs. Viscera vs. Tazz

The rules for this match are explained in a short backstage segment with the referees addressing the field. This match will have a fifteen minute time limit and anyone can pin the champion at any time. There could be as many title changes within that 15 minutes as possible but whoever the last man standing is with the title at the end of 15 minutes is the champion and will have a reprieve from the 24/7 rule.

It was kind of sold to us that this match marks the end of the 24/7 era of the Hardcore title but that doesn’t end up being the case.

This will be a nightmare to recap so I’ll just do the big spots and title changes. 

Everyone fights to the outside and Tazz quickly suplexes and pins Crash Holly to win the Hardcore title. On the outside, Viscera runs Tazz into a ringpost and slams him on the floor and Viscera is now the Hardcore champion. 

As the thirteen men walked around the ringside hitting each other with trashans and 2x4s and stop signs, Crash Holly got busted open somewhere in the melee.

Bradshaw has my favourite spot of the match as he walks around the ring hitting person after person after person with a huge silver baking tray to increasingly large pops. Hardcore Holly and Mosh both try to pin Viscera but he kicks out.

Poor Pete Gas ends up bleeding badly as well. 

Viscera tries to climb the top rope and in the ring, as Bradshaw and Faarooq spike botk Taka Michinoku and Funaki with a pair of powerbombs, they slam Viscera from the top rope and then break a 2x4 over his back before throwing Funaki into a cover. He celebrates and then his buddy Taka punches him in the face. Funaki takes off running and springs to the back, being chased by everyone else! 

They fight through the curtain and end up backstage. Rodney runs Funaki into the steel and wins the Hardcore title, then Joey Abs gives him a gutwrench suplex on the concrete to win the title! 

Headbanger Thrasher slams him into the wall and covers and now he’s the Hardcore champion! 

Pete Gas uses a fire extinguisher to take out Thrasher and wins the title now. He’s dragged back to the ring by Tazz, bleeding really badly and suplexed on the floor. Tazz becomes a two time Hardcore champion. 

Tazz kicks out of multiple pin attempts but ends up in the ring with both Crash and Hardcore Holly and they double team…but quickly turn on each other too. Tazz fights them off with a trash can lid. With only 45 seconds to go, Crash knocks out Tazz with a baking tray and regains his Hardcore title. Tazz locks him in the Tazzmission with only seconds to spare as Crash tries to hold on! The finish ends up being one of the more famous botches of the era as Hardcore Holly smashes a glass candy jar over Crash’s head and covers him. The plan was for the time limit to expire before the referee counted the three meaning that Crash kept the title BUT, it was mistimed and there was clearly plenty of time for the referee to count to three which means that Hardcore Holly did get the final pin and he is announced as the winner and the new Hardcore Champion. He wins the title by accident, on the biggest show of the year. It's been removed from the WWE Network version but on the Live version of this show, Hardcore was interviewed backstage later where he called someone a "silly bastard" without thinking and then very clearly realises what he's said and curses himself for swearing on Live TV. Funny stuff.

This match was a lot of fun, and is the reason that Funaki, Thrasher and yes, all three members of the Mean Street Posse, can claim to have won a championship at Wrestlemania. 

There’s a video showing off the WWF Axxess fan signing event which looks like a lot of fun. Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker were even there too. Wild seeing them all make a televised appearance during their long absences with no hype. 

T&A (Test and Albert, w/Trish Stratus) vs. Head Cheese (Al Snow and Steve Blackman)

Much like on Raw and Smackdown, Al Snow and Steve Blackman have a little skit backstage about whatever silly gimmick Snow has planned for them tonight.

This match weirdly does have a little build as T&A debuted along with their new manager Trish Stratus a couple of weeks ago and used “Head Cheese” to make an impact. Trish became one of the most respected and beloved female performers in history but at this point she is just a big pair of boobs for Jerry Lawler to lose his voice screaming about. Before the match, Snow brings out his surprise for Blackman - it’s a pygmy dressed as a big block of cheese in a foam costume, with the butt cheeks exposed. He plays “let’s go Head Cheese” on his asschecks, just as suggested sarcastically by Blackman on Raw. Dumb but the fans were into it.

Trish looks incredible - there, I said it. We can move on now. 

JR’s headset breaks very early in the match, and King absolutely flails without JR there to call the action for him, and just talks about how JR isn’t there. Thankfully he does get sorted quickly. 

The fans aren’t particularly into this match and both teams trade double teams and end up with all four of them in the ring awkwardly exchanging looks and punches more than once. JR says that their styles are conflicting and says the match is “bowling shoe ugly” which is code for “this match isn’t good”. Albert drills Snow with a sitdown powerbomb and then gorilla presses his own partner onto Blackman for a near fall. “This match might be going all night unfortunately” says JR. He’s being quite mean. A gorilla press on Blackman followed by a Test elbow drop thankfully ends this with a victory for T&A. Trish leads her triumphant charges away from the ring. She is a lifelong wrestling fan so her drive to improve and earn her keep is her best attribute at this point.

Snow gets on the mic after the match and apologises to Blackman for letting him down. He gets “Chester McCheeserton” into the ring and says its “time to cut the cheese” which is a LOT of work for a fart joke. He hits the guy in the foam cheese suit with the microphone and the fans boo as they lay him out with their double team leg drop/backbreaker finisher. 

This was all pretty pointless, and not very good.

Backstage, Mae Young helps The Kat get ready for his catfight match with Terri. Kat is nude and they do the Austin Power’s gimmick where every time she turns around her nudity is being blocked by Mae’s arm, or a t-shirt, or some bottles of water. It's funny but ruined - as most women's segments from this era are - by Jerry Lawler's squealing. 

Michael Cole interviews the current WWF Tag Team Champions Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley. D-Von shares that he is a little scared of heights - that’s true, he really was. Or is. Bubba promises that tonight they will take Wrestlemania to a whole new level, and take the ladder match to a whole new level of violence. Honestly? He was right about both. 

Triangle Ladder match for the WWF Tag Team Championships

The Dudley Boyz © (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley) vs. Edge and Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy)

So this is one of the all time great Wrestlemania matches, and the birth of the TLC matches which would continue to escalate for the next twenty years both in WWE and beyond giving us an entire generation of wrestlers who take increasingly insane risks and do increasingly insane things with ladders and tables. To call this match generational and industry changing is doing it a disservice. 

Which is all to say that I can’t really do it justice. I’ll cover the big spots as best as I can but this one is going to be…chaotic. 

Edge and Christian enter first, followed by The Hardyz who show no fear and actually duck under ladders on the run to the ring - neither of them is suspicious I guess. The Dudleyz look awesome posing on the ladder in the walkway, and Edge and Christian jump Matt and Jeff to officially start the match. All six men are making their Wrestlemania in-ring debuts.

The fans are already ooing and ahing at the action between Bubba and Jeff, and it’s Christian who brings the first ladder into the ring and sets it up in the centre as they all pair off and exchange punches. It doesn’t take long for the ladders to get involved and they hit each other so rapid fire its hard to keep track. Aside from throwing ladders into each others faces, the first significant ladder spot is Jeff Hardy laying Bubba across one on the mat and attempting a 450 splash, which Dudley avoids and Jeff crashes violently into the ladder which makes an almighty cracking noise and gets the first (of many) “holy shit” chants. Bubba lays a ladder across Jeff and then jumps off the middle rope onto it with a back senton which gets another “holy shit” chant (told you) and then Edge stands on the top rope and “rides” a ladder down onto Matt Hardy. That looked like it really hurt. They’re getting so creative with the ladders and we’re only five minutes in.

As everyone rests, Bubba puts the ladder on his head and spins it into each man in turn - the old Terry Funk spot - which gets a big cheer. He pays for his celebration with a double dropkick by Edge and Christian sending the ladder back into his face. 

The first ddeath defying dive of the match belongs to Christian as he jumps from the ladder down onto Bubba and Matt on the outside of the ring and then moments later, Edge dives from the top rope and Spear’s Jeff off of the ladder. Each and every move is getting a loud “whoa” from the crowd and an applause, including Matt Hardy’s very nice crucifix powerbomb on Edge off the low rungs of a ladder. 

With three ladders set up in the ring side by side by side, Bubba gives Christian a cutter (an RKO) from a height and down to the mat. He pays for it as Matt and Jeff set up dualing ladders across from each other and hit him with a tandom splash and leg drop. 

The fans even start to cheer as soon as they can see a move being set up and they do again for Edge and Christian’s double suplex on D-Von Dudley from the top of a ladder. The fans, again, chant “holy shit”. 

With both challenger teams pairing off, and all four men fighting atop a pair of ladders it’s Christian with a reverse DDT on Jeff and Matt with a side-Russian leg sweep on Edge - both from the top of the ladder to the mat. 

JR and King appear particularly enamoured with the overhead camera view, which was never my favourite but it is fun to see the guys get smaller as they speed away from the camera and down to the mat. 

Christian and Jeff take a sick bump as they fight atop the ladder and Bubba pushes it over, sending them all the way to the concrete floor outside the ring. Edge and Matt are next but their ladder goes backwards and they land on the top rope first and bounce to the outside. 

The fans chant for “tables” as only The Dudleyz remain in the ring and they pick up a pair of ladders and sandwich Christian between them, and follow up with a 3D on Edge. The fans are shaking the building, they’re so into everything these six men do. With the clear advantage, The Dudleyz get a pair of tables! They haven’t introduced their “get the tables” chant yet, mostly because they’re still bad guys, but the fans explode as soon as they leave the ring because we all see it coming.

Bubba and D-Von set up two ladders, and then position a flat table across the top of them as a platform, and then a second table in the ring on the mat next to it. None of that gets used yet but it’ll be important later.

D-von sets up a third table in the ring and lays Jeff Hardy across it before climbing a ladder and preparing to dive onto him. Meanwhile, Bubba sets up a table at ringside and tries to powerbomb Matt Hardy off the announce table through it. Jeff moves and D-Von crashes through his own table, but Bubba does manage to violently powerbomb Matt all the way through the table to the floor. 

On the outside, Bubba and Jeff Hardy prepare the spot that would come to define Jeff Hardy’s entire career. With a table set up in the entrance ramp, and a giant, double sized ladder set up next to it. Christian hits Bubba with the ringbell and lays him on the table and Jeff Hardy - from legitimately 20 feet in the air - Swanton Bombs Bubba Dudley through the table all the way to concrete. Jeff would talk about this spot a lot later and when he hit the ground he basically badly injured his own heels and ankles from the hard landing. That pain cancelled out everything else and he wasn’t even sure if he’d even hit Bubba hard enough to break the table until he looked back to check. An insane, career shortening spot.

In the ring, Matt Hardy gives D-Von a Twist of Fate and climbs up onto the table platform beneath the title belts. He reaches, but he’s followed by Edge and Christian who shove him, sending him flipping and crashing through the table left setup in the ring. The table dramatically explodes into near splinters and that leaves Edge and Christian atop the platform on the ladders and free to grab the tag team title belts. Edge and Christian become the new WWF Tag Team Champions in an absolutely amazing match which skyrocketed all three of these teams into most fan’s top five acts in all of wrestling. Their popularity - especially The Hardyz- exploded for the rest of the year. But we’ll see that play out.

Edge and Christian are the tag team champions and it is so well deserved. An amazing team wins an amazing match.

Kevin Kelly interviews Mick Foley and Linda McMahon. Mick is, as you’d expect, very fired up and promises to end his career on a high. He is at least smart enough to say that this one “might” be his last match this time. He’s been shown up as a liar once.

Catfight

The Kat w/Mae Young vs. Terri Runnels w/The Fabulous Moolah

Special referee: Val Venis

Well that match was high so let's bring things down WAY low. The fans do cheer for this match being announced - well the men in the crowd do. 

The build for this match has been entirely via GTV as The Kat and Terri exchanged petty bickering in the locker room. Moolah and Mae Young actually have more of a heated feud coming into this. Both women seduced and slept with referee Val Venis on Smackdown to try and curry favour - gross.

Terri is in a sheet black catsuit which is see-through when she bends over, and The Kat is basically in a black bra and g-string, with a fishnet catsuit on top of that.

Both these blondes are obviously gorgeous, and the crowd definitely needed a come down to catch their breath after the previous match but this feels…pointless. The show deserved a women’s match but this ain’t the one.

Mae Young costs her own girl the match by twice distracting the referee when Kat had the match won by throwing Terri out of the ring. See, neither woman can wrestle so you win by throwing your opponent out of the ring.

Mae gets a big pop for forcing a kiss on Val, and then Moolah pulls Kat out of the ring so Terri wins, officially. The fans just chanted for puppies the whole time.

After the match, Mae gives Moolah a Bronco Buster, and then Kat pulls Terri’s clothing apart and exposes her butt.

Jesus Christ. 

Backstage, Dean Malenko hypes up Perry Saturn and Eddie Guerrero ahead of their six person match. Eddie is more focused on the twinkle in Chyna’s eye and how she cannot resist his Latino Heat. Elsewhere backstage, Chyna and Too Cool look on and she tells us how disgusted she is. Get back to us in 24 hours, Chyna. 

Chyna and Too Cool (Grandmaster Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty) vs. The Radicalz (Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn and WWF Light Heavyweight Champion Dean Malenko)

Before the bell, Eddie lays across the top rope and winks and blows kisses at Chyna. He’s got so much charisma. Chyna actually looks like she’s trying not to laugh, while looking mean and angry.

The action here is good but there’s not a lot to say about it. The Radicals tag in and out and isolate both members of Too Cool until a hot tag to Chyna. 

Chyna looks so good here that even JR comments on it. The biggest pop of the match came from Scotty 2 Hotty’s double Worm on both Saturn and Malenko. 

The match breaks down but the referee stops Chyna getting her hands on Eddie - she’s not legal in the match. 

The Radicals then continue to work over Scotty. The fans are really into this and booing The Radicals and cheering loudly for Scotty to make the tag.

Chyna finally gets the hot tag and beats up all three villains including a low blow on Saturn and Malenko and the fans are wild but Eddie takes control with a cheap shot. She counters a powerbomb attempt - tearing her pants in the process exposing her underwear - and then powerbombs Eddie in return! She grabs him by the junk and then Gorilla presses him. Eddie bumps circles around the 9th Wonder of the World and makes her look like the world’s greatest wrestler and with a sleeper hold into a reverse DDT, she pins Latino Heat and wins the match for her team.

This was good fun, but unmemorable. Eddie lost, but gained the most as far as character and personality.

I’ve not really even hinted at this but this feels like a good point to bring it up and address it - Chyna and Triple H. They were an on screen pairing from her debut in 1997 right up until No Mercy 1999. He stayed heel and went off with DX and Stephanie McMahon, and she turned face and went off with Chris Jericho. This was initially just the case on screen and they remained very much an item off camera. They’d been dating for years. The timeline of events is fuzzy but somewhere in late 1999/early 2000, Triple H left Chyna for Stephanie McMahon. By this point, I believe that Triple H and Stephanie were a real life item. It’s pretty much universally agreed upon that there was some crossover, and that Triple H and Stephanie did Chyna dirty. Bless that poor woman for having to stick around the company with a smile on her face - I’m sure it was very hard for her. 

Chyna by this point was gorgeous and at the peak of her popularity, and her 2000 would become, in my opinion, the best year of her career so there’s lots to look forward to for the 9th Wonder of the World. She deserves it. 

There's a recap of two contest winners who won their tickets earlier today (the woman screams too much) and were flown to LA for the show. I don't want to be mean but...trailer trash. I'm happy for them though. And jealous. 

Shane McMahon and The Big Show cut a promo backstage. Shane addresses the other McMahons (he’s oddly respectful of his dad and his mother) and then Show basically reverses his three opponents catchphrases. This was…nothing. No wonder Show has had the least attention in the build here. There’s a better chance of Linda McMahon leaving tonight as WWF Champion than him.

In the build up to this next match, Kurt Angle had formed a budding relationship with former WWF Champion and future hall of famer Bob Backlund. I think that if Bob had been a bit more with it and hadn’t botched so many times on TV lately (see the Preview article for details!) They'd have kept this going longer but as it turns out this pairing ended earlier tonight on Sunday Night Heat - it was Bob’s idea that Kurt defend both his titles tonight in this manner, to prove that he’s the best and test himself. Kurt puts Bob in his own submission hold - the Crossface Chicken Wing - as punishment for it. 

Two-fall Triple Threat match for the WWF Intercontinental and WWF European Championships

Kurt Angle © © vs. Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit

The winner of the first fall wins the Intercontinental Championship

The winner of the second fall wins the European Championship

Chris Jericho enters first and doesn’t promise to win both titles, or even one title, but he does promise to give both Benoit and Angle a “Y2J beating” whatever that means. He’s very popular.

Kurt gets a good reaction when he comes out, but the audio on the WWE Network is off - his entrance has definitely been redubbed, and Howard Finkle is still talking when on camera we can see him getting out of the ring. I wonder why?

The action is fast and furious, and each man goes for covers in the early going but are all broken up. Jericho and Benoit trade stiff chops to the chest which would become their trademark. The first big spot is when Jericho jumps to the top rope, Benoit shoves him and he goes flying and lands on the announce table. 

The action is very fluid and smooth and each man reverses and takes their spots being in control. With Benoit on the outside after a nice suplex, Angle locks Y2J in the Chicken Wing and he fades as the fans chant for Y2J. Benoit breaks it up with a dropkick to the head, and then throws Angle into the front row at ringside before getting Jericho in the ring with a diving headbutt. Benoit pins Jericho and just like that, Chris Benoit is the new Intercontinental Champion.

There’s no rest period and Benoit immediately goes for a cover to pick up the European title too but Angle breaks the pin and is furious to be down one belt. He sets up Benoit for a moonsault but Jericho catches him. Benoit stops a top rope suplex attempt and drives Jericho from the top rope instead. Angle attempts his moonsault and misses both of them and all three men are down in the ring.

Jericho gets the Walls of Jericho but Benoit breaks that up. Benoit hits Jericho with the rolling German suplexes and then another on Angle which gets a near fall. Jericho goes for a diving forearm but Benoit ducks and the referee goes down. Benoit locks Jericho in the Crippler Crossface and Y2J taps but there’s no referee to ring the bell. Jericho then locks Benoit in the Walls of Jericho and gets the same result but the hold is broken by Angle hitting Jericho in the face with one of the title belts. He covers Jericho and the referee revives, but Benoit pulls Jericho out of the ring to break the pin. Benoit sends Angle to the outside and Jericho revives with a running bulldog and a Lionsault on Benoit and Chris Jericho wins the European Championship. Kurt Angle lost both his titles without being pinned for either! 

The two Canadian Chris’ leave with their gold as Kurt Angle protests in the ring. This was a great match, and could have gone another ten minutes.

That’s four title changes on this show so far. Or actually, it’s thirteen title changes if you count all the changes during the Hardcore Battle Royal.

D-Generation X (X-Pac w/Tori and Roaddogg) vs. Rikishi and Kane w/Paul Bearer

This match technically has the longest build on the entire show - X-Pac originally turned on Kane back in October. They traded wins at Survivor Series and No Way Out. This should have been a singles match between the two, but Roaddogg is partnerless with Mr. Ass’s injury, and Rikishi is way too popular to leave off this show and so here we are. Rikishi has been feuding loosely with DX for a while too, to be fair to him. Roaddogg’s pre-match promo means literally nothing to me. Maybe I’m not cool enough. He is deep into the “I love weed” phase of his pre-match promos. I doubt either he or X-Pac have been sober in months at this point.

Before the match, Paul Bearer gets in Tori’s face and she slaps him. That gets the action going and Kane chases her but X-Pac makes the save. 

Roaddogg takes a Stink Face very early in the match and as Tori escapes into the ring away from Kane, X-Pac and Roaddogg barely save her from getting a Stink face of her own to a big boo. 

DX tries to take a hike but Kane and Rikishi stop them and after all these weeks, Kane finally has his hands on X-Pac but the match does break down into a real tag team match and with some double teaming and spinning heel kicks (what else?) X-Pac gets Rikishi down for a Bronco Buster. 

The big men fight back easily enough and Kane snatches Tori by the throat and throws her into the corner! Rikishi gives Tori a Stink Face and Kane drills X-Pac with a Tombstone to win a short but fun match that was more angle than match. Tori got the Stink Face, X-Pac got Tombstoned and Kane won the match. Thats the happy ending.

Too Cool ran to the ring and got the entire arena clapping along, wanting Paul Bearer and Kane to join in with the victory dance! They are instead joined by a man in the San Diego chicken costume. JR and King immediately assume it’s Pete Rose - they’ve talked about it a few times during the night but Pete Rose is here tonight with a baseball bat, and seems hell bent on revenge on Kane for the Tombstones he took at Wrestlemania 14 and 15. Kane stands silently and watches the assumed Pete Rose while he joins in Rikishi and Too Cool’s victory dance. 

Kane eventually has had enough and grabs the chicken but then the real Pete Rose appears behind him with the baseball bat! Rikishi grabs the bat and that gives Kane time to spin around and grab Rose by the throat! Chokeslam and for the third Wrestlemania in a row, Kane lays out the soon to be baseball Hall of Famer, but this year he drags him to the corner and Rikishi gives him a Stink Face for good measure. Kane signals his pyro and, in a spot that made me smile, Grandmaster Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty dance to Kane’s music. It’s a cool song.

There’s a run through of the various celebrities in attendance including Oscar winner Michael Clarke Duncan, Marty Short (Love him), French Stewart from 3rd Rock from the Sun (love that show) and Screech from Saved by the Bell (RIP)

The Rock rounds out the pre-match promos with us usual electrifying rhetoric. There’s been no video packages all night so have this promo to get you ready.

Fatal Four Way Elimination match for the WWF Championship

Triple H © (w/WWF Women’s Champion Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley) vs. The Rock (w/Vince McMahon) vs. The Big Show (w/Shane McMahon) vs. Mick Foley (w/Linda McMahon) 

Mick Foley enters first, with Linda by his side. He is the sentimental favourite, and it’s a nice thing that he’s not here as Dude Love, Mankind or Cactus Jack - he is Mick Foley and he deserves this. 

The Big Show enters to his classic theme song - he started using the one from the Aggression CD which I really like on Raw, but he’s gone back to the classic for Wrestlemania. He debuts his “Big Nasty Bastard” t-shirt tonight.

The Rock is third and gets, obviously, the loudest ovation of the three so far. Vince McMahon looks all business, and it's very odd seeing him walk to the ring side by side with The Rock.

Triple H enters last and the match starts fast - the crowd is quiet, probably just tired from a long show - as The Rock and Big Show pair off while Mick hammers down Triple H in the corner.

The four of them stay in the ring and brawl in the corners and around the ropes and the first significant spot is the wild sight of Triple H actually teaming up with The Rock and Foley to three on one beat up the massive Big Show.

Mick and Triple H fight to the outside and after a chair shot to Triple H’s ribs, Foley cracks Big Show in the back as he bounces off the ropes and he walks right into a Rock Bottom and just like that, The Big Show is eliminated. That didn’t take long at all, and is fair enough - there was no chance he was winning this. 

Triple H asks The Rock to double team Foley with him and get it down to one on one. The Rock smirks and agrees, but then immediately jumps Triple H and the former tag team champions play tennis with The Game as he stumbles back and forth between them rocking him with big right hands. Foley coordinates with The Rock and they double team Triple H and then throw him to the outside. 

Foley holds Triple H and encourages The Rock to hit him with the ring bell after throwing it to him, but Triple H ducks and Mick takes the bell to the face instead.

As Triple H and The Rock fight, Foley gets out the 2x4 wrapped in barbed wire and prepares to use it but Triple H fights him off and it lands outside. 

Mick digs out Mr. Socko and clamps the Mandible claw on Triple H and then at The Rock’s urging, releases him right into a title belt shot to the head! The Rock sets out to give The Game the People’s Elbow but Foley shockingly puts the Mandible Claw on The Rock! A low blow from Triple H takes them both down. 

The Rock gets back into it as Vince McMahon slips a steel chair into the ring. Foley gets a near fall on The Rock off a big clothesline and now Mick’s focus is on getting this match down to himself vs. Triple H, so he can end his career by beating him for the title. There’s a mix of “Foley'' and “Rocky” chants as Mick gets another near fall after a double arm DDT. In a moment that makes no sense, Triple H breaks up The Rock’s cover on Mick - he wants to be the one to end Foley’s career. The two come to an agreement - they’ll work together to eliminate The Rock so they can settle things properly, and the fans loudly boo as they stomp down The Rock. 

The fans come alive with “Rocky” chants as he fights for his life and keeps kicking out of near falls, and the bizarre Foley and Triple H alliance fight The Rock to the outside and beat him up by the announce table. 

After a shot to the head with the ring steps, Triple H lays The Rock on the announce desk and encourages Foley to drop an elbow on The Rock.

In a very famous botch, he undershoots it - the table was about 5 feet too far away from the ring - and he crashes violently into the edge of the table. He might have cracked his chest. 

Triple H improvises and uses an elbow drop off the security rail onto The Rock to break the table as planned, and then drags a badly hurt Foley into the ring and plants him with a Pedigree. He covers and…Foley kicks out! He’s not ready to go down yet. Triple H hits him square in the head with a steel chair, and then gives him a second Pedigree onto the chair and THAT is enough to keep him down. Mick Foley is eliminated. The fans boo as reality sets in - this is, once again, the end of Mick Foley. He got to the main event Wrestlemania, and waved to the fans who loudly chanted “Foley” for him. The Rock is still out on the outside as Triple H waits in the ring for the match to continue but Foley isn’t going out like that and heads back to the ring and hits Triple H in the head with the barbed wire 2x4 one last time, busting him wide open! Foley leaves a hero, as it should be.

The Rock makes a cover but Triple H kicks out just barely. We’re down to the one on one match that this should arguably have always been. 

The two fight up the ramp and The Rock suplexes Triple H on the concrete arena floor. That looked really painful. The Rock does the “brawl around the arena” as well as Austin does, and runs The Game into the Wrestlemania staging and clotheslines him on the concrete before walking-and-brawling through the crowd and back towards the ring and backdrops him up and over the barrier to the mats at ringside. 

Triple H gets back in this by using The Rock’s old tactic - hits the ring steps back into The Rock’s face with a steel chair and then hammering the ring steps with a chair while The Rock lays under them. He then piledrives The Rock onto the base of the ringsteps and The Rock sells it like he’s dead while JR begs for the match to be stopped for The Rock’s own wellbeing. The Rock kicks out back in the ring. 

The two trade the advantage back and forth in the ring and The Rock gets back into it and in a great looking spot, suplexes Triple H through the other announce table!

The Rock heads back inside and The McMahon presence finally comes into play as Vince punches Triple H and runs him into the ringpost and then into the ring. That brings Shane sneaking back to ringside as he jumps his dad, and then hits him in the face with one of the monitors off the announce desk. Vince basically no-sells it and starts beating up Shane, while a trickle of blood runs down his forehead. The fans actually chanted “Austin” a little, and Shane hit Vince in the head with a stiff chairshot! JR calls them a dysfunctional family about 12 times during all of this - they’re working hard to get that over. Vince is helped to the back by Patterson and Brisco and Shane stays at ringside, with the chair. 

In the ring, Triple H and The Rock have another fast stretch of moves and counters that ends when Triple H hits The Rock right in the head with the barbed wire 2x4. Shane gets in the ring just as The Rock reverses a Pedigree attempt and slingshots Triple H right into Shane. He stumbles into a Rock Bottom but The Rock is too hurt to cover. Shane grabs his chair and prepares to hit someone, just as Vince sprints back to the ring. He low blows Shane, grabs the chair himself and…hits The Rock!

He hits his own man. The fans actually started to boo before he did it - we all saw that coming. Triple H covers but The Rock kicks out! Vince grabs the chair and, after arl Hebner gets in his way and steals a ton of focus as usual, hits The Rock again. That’s enough to put him down and Triple H covers. The Rock is eliminated and Triple H retains the WWF Championship. In a nice touch, now that he’s a heel again JR goes from calling him “Vince” back to “Mr. McMahon”. The fans rain trash down on the ring as Vince hugs his daughter, and even makes up with Shane despite their trying to kill each other a few moments ago. Vince promised to “make it right” and this seems to be what he meant - he has gotten his family all back on the same page.

The Rock sees them all embracing in the ring and has had enough - he sprints back and drills Shane with a Rock Bottom, and then Vince! Stephanie gets in his face and after slapping the People’s Champion, he drops her with a Rock Bottom and then a People’s Elbow for good measure! The WWF Women’s Champion gets what she deserves and Wrestlemania ends with man on women violence, which feels oddly fitting considering the era.