411 Ranks The WrestleManias: #18 – WrestleMania 16

Like at WrestleMania XIV, Stone Cold Steve Austin would reign supreme at WrestleMania XV. He was the dominant force in wrestling and made more money in one year than anyone had previous to him. But the grind of his career had caught up to him, and stemming all the way back to the piledriver incident with Owen Hart (which seemed like a lifetime away) his neck was falling apart. He would lose the title and have to leave WWF for a time as he underwent “at the time” unknown surgery for wrestlers, neck fusion. HHH would roll into WrestleMania XVI as the WWF champion, and he would do what no other man had before him, defend that title in a four-way match. The challengers were an interesting group; Mick Foley would come out of retirement and would join the main event with Linda McMahon at his side. He would face The Big Show with Shane McMahon in his corner, HHH © with Stephanie in his corner and The Rock, with Vince McMahon in his corner. As the saying goes, so many McMahon’s, so little time. Also some new faces were in the spotlight as Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle would do battle for the IC and European Titles. The tag team scene would heat us as well with Edge and Christian doing tag team ladder battle with The Hardy’s and The Dudleyz…

* Bull Buchanan and The Big Bossman defeated The Godfather and D Lo @ 9:05 via pin
* WWF Hardcore Title Match: Hardcore Holly won a 13-Man Hardcore Battle Royal to win the Hardcore Title
* T&A (Test and Albert) defeated Headcheese (Al Snow and Test) @ 7:00 via pin
* WWF Tag Team Ladder Match: Edge and Christian defeated The Dudleyz and the Hardyz to become the NEW WWF Tag Team Champions @ 22:27
* Terri defeated The Kat via pin
* Chyna and Too Cool defeated Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn @ 9:45 via pin
* WWF IC Title Match: Chris Benoit defeated Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle © @ 8:00 via pin to become the NEW IC Champion
* WWF European Title Match: Chris Jericho defeated Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle © @ 6:00 via pin to become the NEW European Champion
* Kane and Rikishi defeated X Pac and Road Dogg @ 4:20 via pin
* WWF Title Match: HHH © defeated The Rock, Mick Foley and The Big Show @ 36:30 via pin

Mike Hammerlock
The Best Thing on the Show And Why: Edge & Christian vs. the Dudley Boyz and the Hardy Boyz in a triangle ladder match for the WWF Tag Team Championship (****½) – Edge’s spear to from the corner ropes onto Jeff Hardy while he’s on a ladder. Christian and Matt Hardy going from the top of a ladder over the top rope to the outside. The Dudleys putting everyone through tables. Jeff Hardy’s Swanton off the mega ladder onto Bubba Ray through a table. It’s the birth of “ho-lee shit!” Fine, the chant existed before this match, but it always felt to me like this match defined the concept. They topped it a year later, but that shouldn’t detract one bit from what they did on this night. This is one of those matches that changed the business. It upped the bar for mayhem. Hard to believe that a year earlier we were watching the Undertaker vs. Big Bossman abomination. Obviously tag wrestling, particularly in the WWE, didn’t main this level of excellence, but this pushed WrestleMania in the direction of everyone going out with the mission to steal the show. That’s what we want. I actually think the four-way main event for the WWF Championship was a better match that it gets credit for (the double chair shot ending rightfully draws hatred), but it got blown away by the triangle ladder match. Very good wasn’t good enough. Edge, Christian, Bubba Ray, D-Von, Jeff and Matt turned the volume up to 11.

The Worst Thing on the Show And Why: Terri Runnels vs. the Kat in a catfight (Dud) – You could make the case that Angle vs. Benoit vs. Jericho was the worst match in that it was the WrestleMania debut for three of the best performers in WM history and it’s under whelming work from them. Yet it’s not a bad match. It’s average. These three were incapable of having a bad match. Head Cheese (Al Snow and Steve Blackman, with the immortal Chester McCheeserton) vs. T&A got the weakest crowd reaction, but they actually worked an interesting, non-formulaic tag match. The Hardcore Battle Royal was a mess, but I think it was kind of a glorious mess. It added some variety to the card. I hate to pick on women’s matches, because they suffer from Vince McMahon not taking female talents seriously. Yet this was a travesty of epic proportions. Neither woman could wrestle. Kat went to the ring in a fishnet bodysuit. Terri was overdressed in a full lycra bodysuit. Obviously that got torn off her by the end of the match. Getting to see women in various states of undress is always good production value for the WWE audience, but this didn’t even have the integrity of your standard bra and panties match. It was non-stop terrible, boring instead of sexy.

Show MVP And Why: Chyna and Eddie Guerrero (tie) – It was a night for debuts. All six guys in the tag title ladder match made their WM debuts, along with Angle, Jericho, Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, Too Cool, Chyna (in ring), Trish Stratus (as a manager), Tazz and Rikishi (at least as Rikishi). There’s others, but you get the idea. It was a welcome-to-the-new-century event. Edge would be a solid MVP choice, as he flashed his star quality on the industry’s biggest stage. He really did reek of awesomeness. It was the first title win for the guy who has won the most titles in WWE history. All six wrestlers in the tag title match rocked the house, but Edge is the one who had the superstar fuel to go all the way to the top. HHH deserves credit for delivering in his first WrestleMania main event. Interesting that on a night when you can see so many guys breaking out, WM2K is the night where it became clear the Big Show would not be the next Andre the Giant. Meanwhile, the two people who stole the show were Chyna and Eddie. Chyna teamed with Too Cool to take on the Radicalz. She played with the boys, kicked ass and won the match for her team. It is, without question, the greatest single performance by a woman in WrestleMania history (admittedly, low bar). It’s the night on which Chyna really was the 8th Wonder of the World. Equaling her was Eddie Guerrero. He’s damn near perfect from his before-match promo all the way to the moment when Chyna pins him. He shines throughout his match and establishes himself as some of the best entertainment value in the sports entertainment business. He’s the complete package and it makes you wonder if history would have been different if WCW understood what it had with that guy.

Your Thoughts on The Show: It’s the one WrestleMania not known by a roman numeral, because back in the day we thought there was something magical about the year 2000. Cue the Conan O’Brien “in the year 2000 …” singers. We were supposed to have flying cars and jet packs. Smellivision was supposed to replace television. The future turned out to be less than we imagined. Yet it was a magical year for the WWF, probably the best in company history. 2000 was the year where Vince McMahon killed WCW. He didn’t just win the Monday Night Wars, he annihilated his enemy. The coup de grace wouldn’t come officially until 2001, but 2000 was the year in which the WWF pummeled Ted Turner into submission. However, WM2K doesn’t get a lot of love. Historically speaking, I think it gets overlooked. The company had to put on its big event without its top star, Stone Cold Steve Austin or its icon, the Undertaker. They built the main event around the McMahon family choosing their individual champions: HHH, the Rock, Big Show and Mick Foley. The match itself was hot right up until the overbooked ending and the build for it was spectacular. Yet what really comes across if you go back and watch WM2K is how over everyone on the roster is. From the Godfather and D’Lo Brown entering with Ice-T (man, was the Godfather over) to the Acolytes busting heads in the Hardcore Battle Royal to the Dudleys going for the tables to Rikishi’s ass, the crowd popped repeatedly. What you can’t help but notice is that the fans are loving what they’re seeing. Was the wrestling spotty? Sure, but I don’t think it mattered. WM2K is like a postcard from the Land Where Fans Unconditionally Love Pro Wrestling. It’s from a point in time where goofy and serious could exist on equal footing, and it all worked. WrestleMania 2000 clicked because the WWF was hitting home runs every week. The crowd couldn’t wait to see it. They’d do the big event better in future years, but there’s a lot of hidden goodness in this one. It’s full of Attitude and they kicked the wrestling up a notch from where it had been in previous installments. You can argue that it’s the birth of the modern WrestleMania.

Kevin Pantoja
The Best Thing on the Show And Why: Triangle Ladder Match [****3/4] – There was really no other possible choice. That’s not to say anything terribly negative about the show, but this was so far above everything else that it was a clear winner. After Edge, Christian and the Hardy Boyz became Superstars with their show stealing performance at No Mercy 1999 in a tag team Ladder Match, the WWF upped the ante and added the Dudley Boyz and the Tag Team Titles. This was sheer brilliance as it sparked one of, if not the greatest rivalries for the Tag Team Titles in history. All six guys went out and put their bodies and careers on the line. The fact that these men would go through what they did for the Tag Team Titles really added to the value of those belts. There were too many high spots to count as we saw Jeff Hardy miss a 450 and crash into the ladder before he connected on a Swanton Bomb from a massive ladder. The finish was also classic as a table was laid across the top of two ladders and Edge and Christian retrieved the gold for their first reign as champions. They would go on to win every one of these three way Ladder/TLC matches as well. All six men would best this at SummerSlam and then again at the following year’s WrestleMania, but this was just as special.

The Worst Thing on the Show And Why: The Kat vs. Terri Runnels [DUD] – Honestly, there were a few options for this award. T&A faced Al Snow and Steve Blackman in a poor match and there were a few other dull tag matches on the card but nothing topped this. The only singles match on the show was a Catfight. This should tell you where the Women’s division was at the time. Instead of having two girls who could go out and have a competitive match over the title, we had the Kat vs. Terri in a terrible match. Even with the Fabulous Moolah and Mae Young in their respective corners and Val Venis as the referee, this was awful.

Show MVP And Why: Edge, Christian, The Hardy Boyz and the Dudley Boyz – I know it’s probably a copout of sorts to pick this many MVPs, but I can’t choose one of these guys over the other. All six guys went out and wanted to steal the show of shows and did just that. The fact that they put their bodies on the line for us is part of the reason why Edge and Christian were both forced into early retirement. They put it all on the line and delivered performances for the ages that will never be forgotten.

Your Thoughts on The Show: This was a strange WrestleMania. 2000 is one of my favorite years in wrestling but this WrestleMania felt kind of flat. First, it was incredibly strange to not have one basic one on one match on the show. Even the girls match was billed as a Catfight. There were too many filler tag matches like Godfather & D-Lo vs. Bossman and Bull or T&A vs. HeadCheese. But, the show wasn’t what I would consider bad. The Hardcore Battle Royal is 15 minutes of fun, and the European Title/Intercontinental Title Two Fall Triple Threat match was damn good because Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho can all go. The booking was incredibly odd as they just tried to fit as many people so they threw together a bunch of multi-man matches for the hell of it. The main event was a big long, but was also a relatively good match. I feel that the Rock should have gone over, but I digress. Overall, this was a solid, but weird show.

Sean Garmer
The Best Thing on the Show And Why: Triangle Ladder Match or TLC 0 Edge & Christian vs. Hardy Boyz, Dudley Boyz [****] The main event was good but not great, and I really liked the Triple Threat double titles match as well, but this match not only stole the show, it was AWESOME! We really had never seen anything like this up to this point in wrestling. These six guys put their bodies on the line and yeah, it was a spotfest, but it was a damn great one. I think TLC 2 eclipsed this match, but this had some great spots too. Every time I thought the match had to be over, something else happened that surpassed the awesome spot from the previous five minutes. This was also EDGE and Christian’s first shining moment as a tag team. The Dudley’s and Hardyz’s had been feuding since like September, EDGE and Christian were not as heavily involved and they surprisingly picked up the victory. They picked their spots well and did the smart thing in letting the Hardyz and Dudleys kill each other. I think the story of the match played out extremely well, but I think the fan reaction in the arena and the lasting impressions of the match are even bigger.

The Worst Thing on the Show And Why: The Catfight: Terri Runnels vs. The Kat [*] As a teenager I thought this was stupid, and it is still stupid. WWE continued the running gag of Mae Young ever since they misused the censor and warped the minds of many a young teenager at the 2000 Royal Rumble. I think this started the “lets have the Divas in some silly match to add sex to the show” part of WrestleMania. Not to mention, they had way too many silly false finishes where Val Venis didn’t see the ending, it made this even more idiotic.

Show MVP And Why: I think this should go out to all six men who competed in the triangle ladder match. They put on one hell of a show for the fans. Sure, they went on to make this seem like nothing with some later matches, but it was still the first, and there is something to be said about that.

Your Thoughts on The Show: This WrestleMania was a highlight for me because this was the first WrestleMania I ever saw live on PPV. From this point on, I started a tradition that no matter what, if I didn’t order any other PPV that whole year, I had to get WrestleMania. I also ordered the All Day Long thing and even though I had seen most of the WrestleMania’s on some form of video, the whole concept was still a pretty cool. It allowed fans the opportunity to get a huge marathon of wrestling with live interviews and promotion for WrestleMania 2000 all built-in ready to go. Other than the catfight and maybe the opening match, there really wasn’t anything that screams atrocity on this show. The two standout matches are in the undercard and the main event didn’t deliver. As a teenager, I was mad because two of my favorites, The Rock and Mick Foley, didn’t win. As a critic, I think the only thing they did right in the match was have everybody gang up on Big Show. Even though, we had seen Triple H rip apart Mick Foley on the two previous PPV’s prior to WrestleMania, I still think he deserved one final shining moment. Sure, The Rock was a huge contender at this point and they mostly had him be eliminated last so they could do the silly Vince McMahon swerve. However, this match was still too much about the McMahon Family dysfunction and not enough about the actual performers. This was Foley’s last match for a while in WWE and last one at WrestleMania until WM 20. At that point, Foley really felt like this would be his swan song and I don’t get why they couldn’t let him have one final bout with his nemesis. They still could have had The Rock get whacked by Vince, but just let Foley be the last opponent for Triple H. Stephanie could have caused some distraction and still let the match end by some shenanigans. The main event of WM 15 was overbooked but that was part of the story, the overbooking and not giving Foley one final moment ruin this match for me. If the main event had delivered and given me some kind of possibility that Foley might get to win the title on a night where he finally got to accomplish a dream, I would have given this the same rating or maybe even slightly better than WM 14.

What will #17 be? Come on back tomorrow to find out…

The List So Far…
30. WrestleMania 9
29. WrestleMania 2
28. WrestleMania 11
27. WrestleMania IV
26. WrestleMania 15
25. WrestleMania 27
24. WrestleMania 29
23. WrestleMania 25
22. WrestleMania 5
21. WrestleMania 13
20. WrestleMania
19. WrestleMania 6
18. WrestleMania 16

REMINDER, each 411 writer had the opportunity to rank the WrestleMania events (based on overall quality, historical significance and personal preference), those rankings went into creating the final list.