WrestleMania XX
March 14, 2004 - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
- I'm back, baby! Strap in, folks, this is going to be a long one. 12 matches on the card proper, more than at any Mania in 13 years, and hardly any two minute specials like you'd see in the Golden Era.
- They open the show with a really nice touch, the Boys Choir of Harlem singing American the Beautiful. You can already tell the crowd is electric, moreso than usual even for MSG. Opening video builds on that, blending highlights of past Manias with the wrestlers' thoughts of competing at a Mania in MSG, closing with a wonderful shot of the three generations of McMahons - Vince, Shane and Shane's son Declan.
US title: Big Show [c] vs. John Cena *1/2
Cena jerks the curtain! Thunderous Cena chant during the rap and at the opening bell, as well as several noticeable "Let's go Cena" chants without the normal response. My, how times have changed. Typical Big Show match, as he mostly controls with his big, slow offence. Cena hitting the FU on Big Show not once, but twice was really impressive, Cena is just crazy strong. Not much of a match, but the crowd stayed with it.
World teg team titles, fatal four-way: Rob Van Dam & Booker T [c] vs. Dudley Boys vs. La Resistance vs. Mark Jindrak & Garrison Cade *1/4
I did not remember that half the teams in this match were ever even teams. That includes the champions. Not much to say about this one, Booker and RVD looked good but everyone had trouble keeping track of what was going on, especially toward the end. Really just an excuse to get a bunch of guys a payday that wouldn't normally deserve to be on a WrestleMania card, just like the old days.
Chris Jericho vs. Christian ***3/4
The love triangle match! This was a really well done angle by everyone involved, despite being ripped from every cheesy romantic comedy ever. I was expecting more of a pier-six brawl considering the build, but what we got was really good as well, great athleticism, innovative offence and counter-wrestling from both. Christian is very underrated on the list of great heels, such good psychology playing of Jericho's righteous pissed-off face and getting the crowd to hate him. And, of course, Trish coming out to cost Jericho the match and turn into Evil Trish was the icing on the cake. The crowd did NOT like that one.
Handicap match: Rock & Sock Connection vs. Evolution ****
Foley's first match in four years, and Rock's last for nearly eight. Nominally, this is the payoff to the blood feud between Mick and Randy Orton, well into the Legend Killer gimmick. Really, though, it's just five guys going out and having the time of their lives entertaining the fans. Every time Rock and Flair were in together, it was fantastic. Awesome tag team wrestling out of everybody. And Orton was made to look like a million bucks; this and the Royal Rumble were really the catapult to him winning the world heavyweight title later in the year. Just a forgotten gem.
Playboy evening gown match: Sable & Torrie Wilson vs. Miss Jackie & Stacy Keibler DUD
Well, there were women in their underwear. And it was short.
Cruiserweight title, Cruiserweight Open: Chavo Guerrero [c], Shannon Moore, Ultimo Dragon, Jamie Noble, Funaki, Nunzio, Billy Kidman, Rey Mysterio, Akio, Tajiri *3/4
Any sane person would've just had Rey vs. Chavo here and let them tear the house down. But Vince, benevolent soul that he is, decided to give eight more guys a WrestleMania payday at the expense of, you know, having a good match and stuff. This was basically just a series of spots strung together with no coherent story or anything. Good spots, mind you, but give me a 10 minute singles match over this any day.
Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar -*
This is a rather famous match for all the wrong reasons. Pretty simple story on its face -- Brock cost Goldberg the Royal Rumble, Goldberg returned the favour at No Way Out costing Brock the WWE title, so, grudge match! One problem, though...both of these guys are done with the company after this match. And the crowd's gotten wind of it, and they aren't happy. Steve Austin is the special referee, and also the only guy the crowd doesn't crap all over. THUNDEROUS "You sold out" chant directed at Lesnar before they even lock up. Then "Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye". Then an Austin chant. Finally, they lockup for what seems like a minute. Then again. Crowd has no patience for it. Brock grabs a headlock as a "This match sucks" chant starts. Then a "boring" chant. Goldberg gets some power offence and the crowd seems mildly into it, but runs into the turnbuckle and into a "Goldberg sucks" chant. Maybe not. Lesnar's power restholds do not impress the fans one bit. Another "this match sucks" chant. Another Austin chant. Goldberg turns things up again and the crowd goes to a...Hogan chant?!? I think someone told these guys to go home quickly, as they go right from zero to finishers inno time flat, with Lesnar kicking out of a spear, Goldberg kicking out of the F5, then Goldberg getting a second spear and jackhammer to finish. Both guys, of course, eat stunners afterward to give the crowd the happy ending. First Mania match I can remember the crowd just completely turning on.
WWE tag team titles, fatal four-way: Scotty 2 Hotty & Rikishi [c] vs. Basham Brothers vs. APA vs. World's Greatest Tag Team *
Can't believe they put BOTH tag titles up in four-way matches. I know they weanted to get everyone on the card, but couldn't they come up with a storyline for at least one? Even less of a match than the first one, this was basically just an excuse to let Scotty and Rikishi dance. Even Benjamin and Haas couldn't save this.
- Well, if he's in the building, it wouldn't be Mania without bringing Jesse Ventura out to say hello, would it? Jesse interviews Donald Trump and recruits him for Jesse's nonexistent 2008 presidential run, something I think he might think twice about these days.
Women's title vs. hair: Victoria [c] vs. Molly Holly 1/2*
Dubbing update: We get the instrumental version of "All the Things She Said" for Victoria. This was a lot slower than I would have expected from two workers as good as these, and the finish really came out of nowhere. Plus King decided to spend the entire match talking about panties, are you ****ing kidding me? The haircut was really good, though. Molly would say in later interviews that the match was her idea, as she had cancer at the time and would be losing her hair shortly anyway.
WWE title: Eddie Guerrero [c] vs. Kurt Angle ****1/2
Seriously good video package leading up to this one, the build was tremendous with Angle trying to save the WWE fans from the corrupting influence of its recovering drug addict of a champion. Angle gets some duelling "Let's go Angle/Angle sucks" chants early -- he's a heel, so I guess we'll call that bizarro Cena heat. Angle puts on a complete mat wrestling clinic here, targeting Eddie's ribs and midsection to cut off his air. Eddie more than holds up his end of the bargain with some great counter wrestling, trying to frustrate Angle into making a mistake. The story of the match is paid off beautifully at the end, with Angle's superior wrestling undone by Eddie's guile in faking the ankle injury and giving himself an easy out from the anklelock by loosening his boot to "relieve the pressure". Crowd was slow to get into this, but were fully invested by the end, buying completely into the frog splash false finish and then popping huge for Eddie retaining. Outstanding match, can't imagine anything topping that tonight...
Undertaker vs. Kane *1/2
Kane buried Bikertaker alive at Survivor Series, and so this is the return of the Deadman after four years. And Paul Bearer as well. Crowd pops huge for the gong. The entrance is really the only cool part of this match, it was a typical Taker-Kane match, none of which have been particularly good. Taker's style was exactly the same as before he left. He also looked ridiculous with his hair half grown back in. I will say that Kane did a great job conveying his disbelief and frustration that Taker was actally back.
World heavyweight title, triple threat: Triple H [c] vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels *****
Looking at it now, Benoit almost looks on the verge of tears on his way to the ring, knowing what's about to happen to him. Crowd was clearly behind him from the start, and would boo not only HHH but the babyface Michaels. There have been bigger main events, more important main events, but I defy you to find a better main event from a wrestling standpoint than this one. Benoit was arguably the best wrestler in the world, Michaels was not looking far removed from his own peak as best wrestler in the world, and HHH was good enough to easily keep up with such greats himself. This match had everything you could ever possibly want -- technical wrestling, high flying, brawling, blood, drama, emotion, so many great stories intertwining from start to finish, and HHH proving he really was able to do what was BEST FOR BUSINESS. Even today, the tap out, Benoit being presented with the belt, and the celebration with Eddie give me chills.
Overall: 8.75/10
Obvious comp is with X, so let's see how they stack up. They both had two MOTY candidates; the two from X were better, but XX's were of course more important to the card, being the two world title matches (even though one was a three-way, which I didn't agree with). XX had two other very good matches in Y2J/Christian and Rock & Sock/Evolution, which X lacked, but it also was a LOT longer -- really needlessly so -- and had a lot more pointless filler to sit through to get to the kickass matches. Both had feel-good moments at the end, but you really can't deny that XX's ending has been devalued somewhat by subsequent events. I'm going to put this ever so slightly higher than X, but I really couldn't argue with anyone who wanted to go the other way.
Ratings so far:
X-7 - 10.0
III - 9.5
XX - 8.75
X - 8.5
XIV - 8.0
VIII - 7.0
VII - 6.0
X8 - 5.5
VI - 5.25
V - 5.0
2000 - 5.0
XII - 4.75
I - 4.5
13 - 4.5
XI - 4.0
2 - 3.5
IV - 3.0
IX - 2.5
XV - 2.0
