Providing the Grade: Wrestlemania X-7
WWE (or WWF back in the day) have had monthly events on closed circuit television which evolved into pay-per-view. Wrestlemania was the first annual attraction the company offered back in 1985. The one thing that WWE has always aimed to do is make Wrestlemania feel like it is more than an average PPV and more like Professional Wrestling’s Super Bowl. They often hold the event at special arenas such as: Trump Palace (4 & 5), The Pontiac Silver Dome (3), or The Toronto Sky Dome (6 & 18). They have featured guest stars from the world of music, tv, and movies to participate. However, I find that despite all of Vince McMahon’s best efforts, Wrestlemania is often times not special. Don’t get me wrong I can probably write down at least two good matches from manias in the past but I can only think of one Wrestlemania that I thought was worth it:
I always chuckle when I look back at this Wrestlemania, because of the fact that Classie Freddie Blassie is doing the voice over and one of the quotes he states: “Wrestlemania, is a celebration of life…” God rest his soul but I don’t think he was quite right on that one.
Anyway if you own the original version of this DVD and not the one included in the Complete Wrestlemania Anthology you will have Limp Bizkit singing their hit song, My Way. If you are like me watching this again from the anthology, you will be hearing Adrenaline Rush which sad to say doesn’t match well with this PPV.
First up we have an Intercontinental Championship match between Chris Jericho and William Regal which occurred after Jericho peed in Regal’s tea or something. These two of course delivered a very good match that got the crowd going early on. Jericho pinned Regal after hitting him with the Lionsault.
Our next match is a Six Man Tag Team affair as the Acolytes and Tazz take on the Right to Censor (RTC). I originally forgot about this match and when I re-watched it I enjoyed it. The RTC were actually a pretty good team and they generally could get the crowd against them. The APA/Tazz won after Bradshaw hits the GoodFather with the Clothesline from Hell.
Next up was a Hardcore Championship Triple Threat Match between; Raven the Champion, Kane, and the Big Show. This match may be the only low light of the night as most Hardcore Championships are. This contest went from the ring, to the backstage area, and ended on the entrance ramp. While they were backstage the contestants basically resorted to; taking turns hitting each other with foreign objects, ramming each other into walls, and trying to run each other over with golf carts. Kane hits a flying elbow onto the Big Show to win the Hardcore championship.
Eddy Guerrero accompanied to the ring by Scott Steiner—wait-a-minute that’s Perry Saturn—my bad. Anyway Latino Heat challenged Test for the European Championship. This is the first match of the night featuring dead wrestlers. Far from a great match, these two talents delivered on the big stage. Eddy won the match after he clocked Test upside the head with the European Championship Belt.
Kurt Angle beat Chris Benoit in a classic bout of chain wrestling. You could almost say these two men were in their prime but Benoit having wrestled for many years still had great matches ahead of him for the next few years, while Angle had only been wrestling on the main roster for a little over a year. These two exchanged so many near falls it’s a shame the feud between these two couldn’t have lasted a lot longer.
Chyna defeated the Right To Censor’s Ivory for the Women’s Championship. This match was really nothing to write home about as it was pretty much a squash. Chyna demonstrated her strength as she just threw Ivory around the ring. There was nothing great about this match.
Now it’s McMahon vs McMahon as Shane takes on his father Vince with Mick Foley as the guest referee. The match would be contested under no DQ rules. The storyline was that Linda McMahon was in some sort of catatonic state and had to watch the match at ringside in a wheelchair. She was wheeled down to ringside by Vince’s mistress (my first true wrestling crush) Trish Stratus. Anyway, Trish turned on Vince and started brawling with Vince. Shane beat Vince by using the Van Terminator. The match was no technical wonder but it was entertaining.
Now the match that stole the show: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs (TLC) 2. The Dudley Boyz defended their tag team championships versus Edge & Christian and the Hardy Boyz. These three teams are what everyone thinks of as far as tag team wrestling in the Attitude Era. This match contained so many sequences that got a hold of the crowd and didn’t let go. The 3 teams were also aided in this match by Spike Dudley, Rhino, and Lita. This is a match that I would’ve killed to see live. Thanks to the help of the man beast Rhino, Edge & Christian retrieved the dangling tag team championships and scored the victory.
Now after a match like that you need a buffer match to get the crowd calmed down. Something Wrestlemania 29 needed after the Undertaker match. The buffer at Wrestlemania X-7 was the Gimmick Battle Royal commentated by Mene Gene Okerlund and Bobby the Brain Heenan. We saw the return of some old school favorites (?) such as: the Bushwackers, the Iron Sheik, Duke the Dumpster, Tugboat, Earthquake, the Goon, Doink, Kamala, Repo Man, Jim Cornette, Nikolai Volkoff, Michael PS Hayes, the One Man Gang (sorry no Hakeem the African Dream), Hillbilly Jim, Sgt Slaughter, Brother Love, and a few others. For real, it took longer for the entrances of the participants than the match actually lasted. The Iron Sheik managed to win despite the fact that he could barely move.
Next up the first part of the Triple H vs Undertaker at Wrestlemania trilogy and guess what– my favorite of the three. Anyway this is American Bad-Ass Undertaker taking on The Game in his prime. The only downside is that the referee got knocked out in this match (for at least 7-10 minutes) and no other referee came out to replace him. This allowed the two to fight into the crowd and using illegal objects. The end came when Undertaker hit the Last Ride Powerbomb for the win. This was a very good back and forth match that told a good story.
Paul Heyman: “…This, J.R. is the Main Event.”
It’s rare that a Wrestlemania main event is actually good (Main Event being the last match on the card). Most fans will state that Hogan and Andre was probably the biggest match in mania history but it was a terrible match. Shawn vs Bret in the 60 minute iron man match at Wrestlemania 12 is one of the most over rated matches in history. The closest would probably be Shawn-Taker II but I digress. Stone Cold Steve Austin versus the Rock for the WWF championship, while not being the best match of the night was actually pretty good. The match went from being a regular match to being a no-disqualification match. The promos before this match told the story and foreshadowed the ending. Austin flat out told the Rock he had to be champion more than anything. That meant that Austin would even stoop to siding with his main adversary–namely Mr. McMahon in order to guarantee victory. Vince provided a steel chair to Austin so he could use it to attack the Rock over and over again. Austin won his 3rd match at Wrestlemania for the WWF championship. Once again this is not the best match on the card but for one of the main events of Wrestlemania it makes it into my top 5.
X-7 was a very good Wrestlemania from top to bottom. Seventeen also marked the end of an era. The Monday Night Wars were over as WCW had folded and ECW was gone at this point too. Plus this marked the end of the Attitude Era as Austin sided with his main foil during the Attitude Era, Vince McMahon. Their rivalry carried the company since 1997 so this marked a perfect bookend to this chapter. With WCW gone WWF would eventually lose the “F” in their name and just seemed to lose their overall edge now that they eliminated their competition.
Overall Grade: A
