WWF - Wrestlemania 2000 (DVD)

...of great action in the WWF (or as it's now the WWE), following on from No Way Out and Royal Rumble 2000 was the show case event of the year Wrestlemania 2000. With the absence through injury of Stone Cold Steve Austin the company had started to build it's self through the heel (bad guy) faction of the McMahon-Helmsley faction lead by HHH and Stephanie McMahon. And this was the main story going into the event though of course not the only one. There ...
...shame it is that the WWF dropped the hardcore title). The match had a host of contestants fighting with hardcore falls count anywhere rules, who ever had scored the final pinfall over the previous champion when the time wss up won and kept the title at the end. Although it was over the top and rather a daft idea it was completely fun and easy to watch, there was action by the bucket load and none stop action. Despite the fact it seemed messy and ... more

The start of 2000 had seen a string of great action in the WWF (or as it's now the WWE), following on from No Way Out and Royal Rumble 2000 was the show case event of the year Wrestlemania 2000. With the absence through injury of Stone Cold Steve Austin the company had started to build it's self through the heel (bad guy) faction of the McMahon-Helmsley faction lead by HHH and Stephanie McMahon. And this was the main story going into the event though of course not the only one. There was the fall out of the Royal Rumble which had run as almost equal in the storyline stakes, whilst the 3 way tag team feud between Edge and Christian, The Hardy Boys and The Dudley Boys had escalated further. Whilst Kurt Angle had been winning the lower tier titles for fun holding both the European and the Inter Continental titles and the Chris' (Benoit and Jericho) had been trying to grapple them from him.

For those who are unaware of previous results, this is a warning that results from No Way Out and Royal Rumble, the previous 2 PPV's to this will be given away in this review where needed. If you are wanting to watch them before knowing the results to this (a 9 year old PPV) then stop reading this.

The opening match was a tag team match which saw The Big Boss Man and Bull Buchanan against The Godfather and D'Lo Brown with Ice T singing the Godfathers theme tune on the way. On the whole it must be admitted this was a rather poor start to the show and although it's perhaps harsh to criticise it really didn't do anything worth noting other than last about 5 minutes too long and achieve little.

It was followed by a 15 minute hardcore battle royale scramble, which was a brilliant idea (and watching it again shows what a shame it is that the WWF dropped the hardcore title). The match had a host of contestants fighting with hardcore falls count anywhere rules, who ever had scored the final pinfall over the previous champion when the time wss up won and kept the title at the end. Although it was over the top and rather a daft idea it was completely fun and easy to watch, there was action by the bucket load and none stop action. Despite the fact it seemed messy and an odd concept it showed the hardcore title for what it was, a title that was to be about weapons actions and highlights. It was never going to be you're catch-as-catch can classic but it was still great to watch.

The third match saw Al Snow and Steve Blackman face Test and Albert (or as they were called “T & A”). One of a few match on the night that seemed more filler than anything, thankfully this was relatively short and painless. The light entertainment of the short lived “Headcheese” idea was funny for a few minutes but thankfully didn't extent beyond the show as it was silly enough for some WWF fans to find a way to like it (see the fact they like John Cena for excuse they will eat into anything).

The three way Ladder Tag match for the Tag Team Titles between The Hardy's, The Dudleys and Edge and Christian followed. After the the table match match between the Hardy's and the Dudleys at Royal Rumble which was won by the Hardy's, the Dudleys picked up the world titles at Now Way Out (beating the New Age Outlaws), at the same event Edge and Christian beat the Hardy's. This match helped the feud become what it was and was one of the matches of the year. As much as some may feel it was a bit of a spot fest (match with lots of falls) it was as far as I'm concerned brilliant and helped the way we saw all 6 combatants as well as showing the lower card of the night wasn't going to be all filler. In fact this was arguably the highlight of the entire night.

The fight that followed it was The Kat v Terri Runnels in a pointless Catfight that lasted around 2 and a half minutes...sadly it was 2 and a half minutes too long serving no purpose and was pretty much filler.

As part of the main storyline of the WWF at the time, 4-former WCW wrestlers had joined the WWF as a faction called “The Radicalz”, Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit. These had gone in as “free agents” but quickly joined the Helmsley faction and in this match opposed the team of Scotty Too Hotty, Grand Master Sexay and Chyna. In a 6 person tag team match (Benoit was absent from this) that was quite fan and viewer friendly as much of “Too Cool's” (Sexay's and Hotty's team) matches were. The team had basically been a pair of fun good guys who had mixed dancing in to matches to give it all a light hearted feel and this melded well with the technical aspect of Malneko and Guerrero. Although not one of the shows stand out matches it was very watch able.

The 7th match was a 2 fall match with the European and Intercontinental titles (both held by Kurt Angle) both on the line in a triple threat match with Chris Jericho (the man who Angle had beaten for the Intercontinental title) and Chris Benoit. The first fall of the match decided who would hold the intercontinental title whilst the matches second fall would decide the European champion. For fans of the technical stuff and the suplexes this was the match on the card for you, with a trio of great wrestlers who could do pretty much every hold in the book. The fight had tension, the unique aspect of the 2 falls rule and it being a triple threat. One of the best matches on the card with the ladder match and the main event.

The penultimate match was a tag team match between DX (X Pac and Road Dogg) and Rikishi and Kane. Like many of the WWF wrestlers at the time these had been caught up in one of the numerous scuffles between the McMahon-Helmsley faction (The DX team) and the WWF's good guys (Kane and Rikishi). Although it, like much of the card seemed to feel a bit like giving the card depth rather than actually being a great match it was easy enough to watch.

The main event followed on from much of the work of the previous few months, with Triple H having “retired” Cactus Jack at No Way Out in their brilliant Hell In A Cell match Mick foley returned to live out a “dream”. Whilst Royal Rumble winner The Rock was given his chance his the controversy surrounding his win there about 2 months earlier had lead to the Big Show campaigning for his own chance. This lead to a 4 way match elimination match for the WWF title and too add to everything else each fighter had a McMahon in their corner.
HHH had his wife Stephanie in his corner and the world title around his waist leading into the fight, Shane had taken sides with the Big Show, WWF owner Vince was behind The Rock and Linda was with Mick Foley. Of course they were to have an effect on the fights out come as most wrestling fans would expect, but yet the match has the surprises and the action to keep us, the fans engaged.

Overall personally I feel it tails to deliver the Wrestlemania experience due to the amount of the filler on the card. When compared to the 2 previous PPV's it's just not as good. However the the ladder match and the triple threat match are a delight I can't advise anyone to buy the DVD for 2 (3 including the main event) matches. Avoid unless it's cheap. 

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