WrestleMania X-Seven

A crowd of 67,925 fans set a new attendance-record for the Astrodome in Houston, Texas at April 1, 2001. And those 67,925 fans got their money's worth because Wrestlemania X-Seven is one of the best Wrestlemania's ever and even one of the best PPV's ever. Of course this Wrestlemania isn't without any stinkers. The match between Eddie Guerrero and Test for the European Championship is bad in every way and is nothing more than an average "Raw-is-War"-match. Ivory vs. Chyno for the WWF's Women's Championship is one of the worst matches I've ever seen. Chyna is a talented wrestler, but you can clearly see that Ivory isn't. She's better of as a henchman than as a wrestler. The rest of the fights are good or even very good. The Acolytes and Tazz vs Right to Censor isn't bad, but it's also rarely memorable. The Triple-Threat Hardcore Championship Match between Raven, Big Show and Kane is one of the highlights of the evening. It's brutal and it features the two largest athletes in the WWF: Big Show (7"2, 500 pounds) and Kane (7", 330 pounds). Chris Jericho vs. William Regal for the Intercontinental Title is also a entertaining match. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit is a good technical wrestling match, Shane McMahon vs. Vince McMahon with Mick Foley as a special guest referee turned out to be a lot better than I thought. The Gimmick Battle Royal was a lot of fun to watch and it brought up a lot of memories with wrestlers like Hillbilly Jim, The Iron Sheik, Sgt. Slaughter, Eathquake and Nikolai Volkov but it could have been a lot better if there were a little bit more famous gimmicks like Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Ricky Steamboat or Randy Savage. The other 3 highlights of the evening are the TLC II match for the Tag-Team Championship between The Hardy Boyz, The Dudley Boyz and Edge & Christian. Just like Wrestlemania 2000 (where these 3 teams also battled each other) this is a high-risk and very entertaining match. Triple-H vs. The Undertaker is also a great match and it truly uses the talents of both superstars. The main-event is a WWF Championship match between The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. This match was a lot better than their match at Wrestlemania XV, because it's a lot less predictable. This is definitely one of the best main-events in WWF history. Wrestlemania X-Seven is great and it's almost perfect. So far the year 2001 is one of the best years in WWF-history.

The best Mania ever, but some matches were still crap.

First match didn't catch my eye and that's a shame. William Regal and Chris Jericho have all the tools to be brilliant in every match they star in, but something didn't click in this match unfortunately. Y2J wins.

Match 2 was OK. Tazz and the APA taking on Right to Censor members Val Venis, Bull Buchanan and the Goodfather. APA and Tazz win when Bradshaw clotheslines the Goodfather.

Next match was just awful! I mean I was laughing at how Kane, Big Show and Raven acted this one out. Kane threw Raven through a window backstage which was sugar glass, Big Show and Kane went through a paper wall together. Kane made the error of accidentally running over Raven's ankle in a golf buggy! and at the end of the match Kane jumped on top of Big Show and Raven for no apparent reason, and made many fans and viewers wandering what on earth he was doing! Kane won this 'match'.

Next up Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle put on an excellent match, and this is followed by the famous TLC match pitting Edge and Christian, The Hardy Boyz and The Dudley Boyz against each other. Edge and Christian won.

Next up The Undertaker battles Triple H in a solid outing, even though the match seemed to drag on for about 5 hours, but Taker gets the win after delivering the Last Ride to The Game. Next up was the gimmick Battle Royal which consisted of The Iron Sheik, Sgt Slaughter, Tugboat, Earthquake, The Goon, Repo Man, Kamala, Doink the Clown, Nikolai Volkoff, James E Cornette, Michael Hayes, The Gobbledy Gooker, The Buswackers, Brother Love, Hillbilly Jim, Kim Chee, Harvey Wippleman, One Man Gang and Duke Drosse. Nothing to say except it was nice seeing the old faces coming back. Shiek got the win.

Then 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin takes on The Rock for his WWE title. This was a no DQ match up, which saw Austin turning heel and becoming allies with Vince McMahon!

Regal vs Y2J - 5/10 Tazz/APA vs Right to Censor - 6.5/10 Vince McMahon vs Shane McMahon - 7.5/10 Kane/Raven/Big Show - 4/10 Gimmick Battle Royal - 3.5/10 Taker vs HHH - 7/10 TLC match - 8.5/10 Test vs Eddie Guerrero - 7/10 Benoit vs Angle - 9/10 Austin vs Rock -8/10

When sitting down to watch this I hoped that what I would see would be impressive and maybe even match some of the WWF's highlights over the last few years (Survivor Series 1998 springs to mind). I was not disappointed. With the exception of the Women's title match and the European title match every fight was better than average match. Particular highlights were:

Kurt Angle v Chris Benoit. An excellent and brave match considering how out of vogue purely technical matches seem to be these days.

Vince McMahon v Shane McMahon. A bit predictable at times but it shows that despite being the son of a multi-millionaire (billionaire?) Shane is a superb athlete and is willing to put his body on the line for the company (see Backlash 2001 for further proof).

T.L.C. II. I thought the original Tables, Ladders and Chairs match was impressive, this one was better, more competitors, more destruction of tables and more destruction of bodies. How the wrestlers manage to do this is beyond me.

Triple H v The Undertaker. Everything about this match was good, from Triple H's entrance to a live performance of his music by Motorhead to the ending with some excellent wrestling in between. Triple H really has proven himself to be the best in the WWF. Not the most popular or the most photogenic, but the best at selling his own moves and selling his opponents moves. He seems to be one of the few wrestlers who will make himself look bad or cowardly to make others look good.

The Rock v Stone Cold Steve Austin. What was looking to be a good match between the WWF's two most popular fighters was taken far beyond expectations with the most unexpected and shocking heel turn for a long time. When The Rock turned heel at Survivor Series 1998 it was surprising, and made that Pay-Per-View the best I had ever seen. Stone Cold's turn was more shocking and pushed this one close to Survivor Series 1998.

What totally confirmed this PPV as the WWF's best ever was the highlights shown immediately afterwards. As 'My Way' by Limp Bizkit played over action from earlier in the night the full extent of how good this event had been was shown. Hopefully somehow this will be improved upon but I have absolutely no idea how.

I finally get to comment this ppv.I remember when I watched this when I was a kid with my dad and his friend and it is fair to say it is the greatest wrestlemania of all time. Also, I have not seen a ppv better than this. It is probably the best ppv ever in sports history.

Match #1- Inertcontinental Title match William Regal vs. Jericho- This was a very good opener with Jericho's high flying manuvers really owned the match and it was funny watching Regal getting his chest beat up. It was really red. 7/10.

Match #2- 6 Men Tag match APA and Tazz vs. Right to Censor- Nothing really great but nothing really horrible it is just a fresh 6 men tag match. Decent. 5/10 Match #3- 3 way dance for the Hardcore title- Raven vs. Kane vs. Big Show- This match was just plain crazy and had extreme moments. There were men going through glass, walls, the crowd, getting ran over by a car and even falling off the stage. Freakin great! 8/10 Match #4- European Title Match- Eddie Gurerro vs. Test- This was solid wrestling and also offered interference. 5/10 Match #5- Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit- This one was the first best match of the night and it was superb technical wrestling from both these technical wrestlers. It went back and forth. Each showed how truly great they can be and got the best out of each other. 9/10 Match #6- Women's Title Match Ivory vs. Chyna- This was not a let down from the show and it was a good thing it went short. 3/10 Match #7- Shane vs. Vince Mcmahon with referee Mick Foley- this was an interesting match and it was entertaining. Watching the high flying crazy moves off the turnbuckle from Shane including him beating the crap out of his dad which as freakin hilarious! It also featured a cat fight and very good story lines. 7/10 Match # 8- TLC for the tag team titles Dudleys vs. Hardys vs. Edge and Christian- Match of the night! This is my favorite ladder to watch and it was plain chaos with tones of bodies going through tables and falling off ladders not to mention falling on the floor while hanging on the belts. AWESOME! 10/10 Match #9- Gimmick Battle Royal Match- It was very cool to see the old wrestlers again and it was quite entertaining. 4/10 Match #10- Undertaker vs. HHH- Great brawl between these two and it was more of a street fight than a regular match and it also had some crazy moments. Bloody match. 8/10 Match #11- WWE title match The Rock vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin- What a main event. It is one of the greatest main events to end the show and I believe it is the greatest feud of all time. It was their best match together and features their greatest performances ever in the ring. I also enjoyed the video package leading up to the match. Another bloody match. By the way, you would not believe the ending it had and it is the most shocking twist in wwe history! 10/10 This was an historic night and should be remembered by all wrestling fans in the past and today. I believe this wrestlemania had a huge impact on all of the wrestlemanias after it.

Overall: 10/10

This is the best Wrestlemania I have ever seen! The matches on here are all great, my favourite was TLCII (tables, ladders and chairs 2). All the other matches are very enjoyable and fun to watch, such as the gimmick battle royal. The main event Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock is a very good match and a dramatic end that changes the face of the WWF forever. All in all this WWF event is possibly the best WWF event, let alone the best Wrestlemania I have ever seen! Make sure you watch this one you cant afford to miss it!