Well, Triple H and Chyna were re-united, Mankind and Kane had their say on McMahon's Corporation and Steve Austin defeated the Rock to cap off a six month chase and a year long rivalry in one of the weaker Wrestlemania PPVs wrestling wise, which compensated for this with a strong central storyline and a decent main event.
The night started off with a continuation in the rivalry between JOB Squad members Hardcore Holly and Al Snow involving the Harcore Championship. This event threw Billy Gunn into the mix. Gunn makes most of the running and is a little unlucky to get slugged by Holly at the end as "Sparky" stole the win and the title. The Hardcore title produced some decent entertainment to start with, but eventually became a waste of time.
Next match saw Owen hart and Jeff Jarett retain the tag team titles against D Lo Brown and Test in an uneventful match followed by Butterbean defeating Bart Gunn in a "Boxing" match in some of the worst 34 seconds I've ever sat through as a wrestling fan.
Brings us to one of our main matches for the evening, the battle between Mankind and Big Show for the right to guest referee the WWE TItle match between the Rock and Stone Cold. The match quickly broke down with Mankind delivering a mandible claw to Big Show's nether regions before Show through him out of the ring and started smashing him with a steel chair. The ref DQ'd the Big Show, who kept right on hammering into Mankind. So Mankind won the match, but surely he was too badly hurt to be able to play any part as a ref later in the show? Next match saw Road Dogg successfully defend the Intercontinental Championship in a four corners match with Goldust, Ken Shamrock and Vel Venis. Shamrock and Val Venis had been in a rivalry after Venis had cast Shamrock's attractive sister Ryan in one of his adult movies. RYan gets involved in the match, Shamrock and Venis end up getting counted out and Road Dogg pins Goldust. Match was pretty short and not memorable at all.
Next match saw Kane tombstone Pete Rose for the second consecutive year. Rose had tried to disguise himself as a chicken and then tried to surprise Kane, who once again had his number. Anyway, Kane comes to the ring with Chyna, who betrays him and sides with Triple H. So DX is back together. Kane wins by DQ, but he don't look like a winner to Jerry Lawler, after getting pedigreed on a steel chair.
Next match saw Sable retain her WWE WOmen's Championship with a win over her stalker Tori, with help from Nicole Bass who hit what I think was supposed to be a gorilla slam om Tori.
Next match saw Shane McMahon defeat X-Pac, thanks to interference from Triple H and Chyna. Looks like DX is now part of the Corporation, but the New Age Outlaws quickly run out to brawl with Triple H. Kane's music hits, ring clears. I'll join some dots in hazy memories here. Kane would soon end up in a relationship with Tori and start a tag team with X-Pac.
The next match saw Undertaker, who was leader of "The Ministry" defeat the Corporation's Big Boss Man in probably the worst of the PPV Hell in a Cell Matches. The match itself wasn't especially dreadful, but got real mean spirited at the end as "the Brood", Edge, Christian and Gangrel came into the ring and hung Boss Man by a noose from the top of the cage.
This brings us finally to the main event. McMahon comes out at the start and announces himself guest ref, but WWE COmissioner Sahwn Michaels over rules him, and despite the crowd wanting Mankind to come out, we get a normal generic referee. Rock and Austin have a pretty neat little brawl, about half way through Rock brings a steel chair in and the ref gets smashed, will Mankind come out? Nope, just another generic ref who also gets taken out. Wil Mankind come now? Nope Earl Hebner's out instead. McMahon now runs in and he and the Rock start beating the crap out of Austin. Hebner tries to stop then and gets creamed. Who will ref the match? Who will save Austin? Massive roar from the crowd as Mankind runs out in a referee's shirt and kills McMahon. Rock and Austin go at it. Finally Ausin gives Rock the double finger, hits the stunner and Mankind counts the three. Austin is the the Champion!!!! The Corporation has been defeated. Austin had the belt and Mankind had the final say on the Corportion's reign of terror.
Well, like I said the wrestling wasn't great, but the strong central theme really holds this show together. The main event is probably the weakest PPV outing between Rock and Austin (well apart from their 1997 "match" at Ground Zero), but it's still a good match, and it brings the whole storyline together. McMahon is vanquished, Rock is defeated, Austin has the belt, with Mankind avenging the humiliation the Corporation had bought him. While the reuniting of DX and their apparent defection to the Corporation gave us something to look forward to in the coming months. All that and a big buyrate, you'd have to say this was a successful show that can be watched and enjoyed again and again by any true wrestling fan.
The night started off with a continuation in the rivalry between JOB Squad members Hardcore Holly and Al Snow involving the Harcore Championship. This event threw Billy Gunn into the mix. Gunn makes most of the running and is a little unlucky to get slugged by Holly at the end as "Sparky" stole the win and the title. The Hardcore title produced some decent entertainment to start with, but eventually became a waste of time.
Next match saw Owen hart and Jeff Jarett retain the tag team titles against D Lo Brown and Test in an uneventful match followed by Butterbean defeating Bart Gunn in a "Boxing" match in some of the worst 34 seconds I've ever sat through as a wrestling fan.
Brings us to one of our main matches for the evening, the battle between Mankind and Big Show for the right to guest referee the WWE TItle match between the Rock and Stone Cold. The match quickly broke down with Mankind delivering a mandible claw to Big Show's nether regions before Show through him out of the ring and started smashing him with a steel chair. The ref DQ'd the Big Show, who kept right on hammering into Mankind. So Mankind won the match, but surely he was too badly hurt to be able to play any part as a ref later in the show? Next match saw Road Dogg successfully defend the Intercontinental Championship in a four corners match with Goldust, Ken Shamrock and Vel Venis. Shamrock and Val Venis had been in a rivalry after Venis had cast Shamrock's attractive sister Ryan in one of his adult movies. RYan gets involved in the match, Shamrock and Venis end up getting counted out and Road Dogg pins Goldust. Match was pretty short and not memorable at all.
Next match saw Kane tombstone Pete Rose for the second consecutive year. Rose had tried to disguise himself as a chicken and then tried to surprise Kane, who once again had his number. Anyway, Kane comes to the ring with Chyna, who betrays him and sides with Triple H. So DX is back together. Kane wins by DQ, but he don't look like a winner to Jerry Lawler, after getting pedigreed on a steel chair.
Next match saw Sable retain her WWE WOmen's Championship with a win over her stalker Tori, with help from Nicole Bass who hit what I think was supposed to be a gorilla slam om Tori.
Next match saw Shane McMahon defeat X-Pac, thanks to interference from Triple H and Chyna. Looks like DX is now part of the Corporation, but the New Age Outlaws quickly run out to brawl with Triple H. Kane's music hits, ring clears. I'll join some dots in hazy memories here. Kane would soon end up in a relationship with Tori and start a tag team with X-Pac.
The next match saw Undertaker, who was leader of "The Ministry" defeat the Corporation's Big Boss Man in probably the worst of the PPV Hell in a Cell Matches. The match itself wasn't especially dreadful, but got real mean spirited at the end as "the Brood", Edge, Christian and Gangrel came into the ring and hung Boss Man by a noose from the top of the cage.
This brings us finally to the main event. McMahon comes out at the start and announces himself guest ref, but WWE COmissioner Sahwn Michaels over rules him, and despite the crowd wanting Mankind to come out, we get a normal generic referee. Rock and Austin have a pretty neat little brawl, about half way through Rock brings a steel chair in and the ref gets smashed, will Mankind come out? Nope, just another generic ref who also gets taken out. Wil Mankind come now? Nope Earl Hebner's out instead. McMahon now runs in and he and the Rock start beating the crap out of Austin. Hebner tries to stop then and gets creamed. Who will ref the match? Who will save Austin? Massive roar from the crowd as Mankind runs out in a referee's shirt and kills McMahon. Rock and Austin go at it. Finally Ausin gives Rock the double finger, hits the stunner and Mankind counts the three. Austin is the the Champion!!!! The Corporation has been defeated. Austin had the belt and Mankind had the final say on the Corportion's reign of terror.
Well, like I said the wrestling wasn't great, but the strong central theme really holds this show together. The main event is probably the weakest PPV outing between Rock and Austin (well apart from their 1997 "match" at Ground Zero), but it's still a good match, and it brings the whole storyline together. McMahon is vanquished, Rock is defeated, Austin has the belt, with Mankind avenging the humiliation the Corporation had bought him. While the reuniting of DX and their apparent defection to the Corporation gave us something to look forward to in the coming months. All that and a big buyrate, you'd have to say this was a successful show that can be watched and enjoyed again and again by any true wrestling fan.