WrestleMania X8

This Wrestlemania would rank very low on my list of Wrestlemanias. The Rock vs Hulk Hogan was not very good at all, Stone Cold vs Scott Hall was slow, RVD vs William Regal was probably the best wrestled match of the night, DDP vs Christian was not worth watching, Jazz vs Lita vs Trish Stratus ended WAY TOO FAST, Triple H vs Chris Jericho was decent (although not for a main event at Wrestlemania), The Hardcore title changing hands several times sucked (except when The Hurricane was peeping at The Godfather's Hoes), The Billy/Chuck, Dudley Boyz, Hardyz, APA match should not have ended the way it did, Kurt Angle vs Kane was ok, Edge vs Booker T was fine, Undertaker vs Ric Flair was not too shabby, but overall i give this a 7/10

This is a very difficult WM to write about, partly because it's in the between an excellent PPV and a crap PPV category. Some matches were ace, some weren't.

Results from Wrestlemania X-8 are as follows: - Rob Van Dam defeated William Regal to win the Intercontinental Championship in a solid opener.

• Diamond Dallas Page defeated Christian in a useless match.

• Spike Dudley defeated Goldust to win the Hardcore title (this match was Maven and Goldust, but Dudley ran down and pinned Goldust) - Edge pinned Booker T in a worthless match.

• 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin pinned Scott hall in a rotten match (this showed when Austin walked out of the Federation for real shortly afterwards)

• Kurt Angle defeated Kane in a good match.

• The Hurricane defeated Spike Dudley to win the Hardcore title (backstage)

• The Undertaker pinned Ric Flair in a fair match.

• Mighty Molly pinned The Hurricane to win the Hardcore title (backstage) - The Rock defeated Hollywood Hogan in a very good match. The fans in this match were simply mad! They cheered Hogan instead of The Rock.

• Christian pinned Mighty Molly to win the Hardcore title (backstage when Christian slammed a door in Molly's face)

• Billy and Chuck defeated The APA, The Hardy Boyz and The Dudley Boyz in a four corners match to retain the WWE tag team belts.

• Maven pinned Christian to win back the Hardcore title (in the car parking lot when Christian was day dreaming, Maven snuck up behind him and pinned him)

• Jazz defeated Lita and Trish Stratus to retain the WWE Women's Championship.

• The Rock pinned Hulk Hogan. The fans were really into this match. However fans booed Rock and cheered Hogan.

• Triple H defeated Chris Jericho to win the Undisputed Championship. However fans were not that interested in this match and when Tripper won no one cared.

Overall Grade - B

Those of you that stated the event was average, yes in context, for the companies showcase event, it was. The LAW(Toronto wrestling radio show, EXCELLENT!) slagged it off too, but to actually be there was awesome!

I defy anyone watching on TV to get into context the message JR and The King Jerry Lawler were trying to convey. The crowd hated The Rock that night, because the HULKSTER was back!

His first PPV match in 9odd years (forget the previous months cameo appearance), and the noise was deafening. Jr tried to cover the Rocky booes saying it was a bypartisan crowd, but JR had to tell him to realise that this was history right there. And it was. On a usual day I'm a Rock fan, but EVERYONE hated him night, and he won in spirit if not in actuality.

Those of you who didn't attend or watch live will never hear those boo's again as the WWF(now E) doctored the footage on the released video and DVD releases of WMX8 to tone down the boos and 'Rocky sucks' chants.

The rest of the PPV was average, but an average Wrestlemania still blows any other federations product right out of the water.

And now, in August 2002, theres been a heluva lot more crap fly out of the WWE creative machine since WMX8 so lets not slag this off too much, hey.

The first half of the Wrestlemania 18 card is pretty average (at best). There was William Regal in a championship match (yikes), guys like DDP & Goldust trying to recapture old glories, and a few confrontations--Angle/Kane, American BA Undertaker/Flair, Edge/Booker T--that are fine (though little more).

But then, the good stuff kicks into high gear...

-Stone Cold vs. Scott Hall (w/Kevin Nash) is actually a great match, albeit a rather short one due to Austin's physical limitations at that time. But for what is there, it is extremely entertaining and Mania-worthy.

-NWO Hollywood Hogan vs. The Rock is one of the top matches in WWE history. Again, a bit on the short side due to Hogan's age, assuredly, but the energy is almost unmatched even by Mania standards. Only Hulk/Andre & Hulk/Warrior eclipse it. This should have been the finale of the PPV, even without a strap on the line. It alone raises this card a full star (if not two).

-Despite a bit of a come-down from Rock/Hogan, the HHH/Jericho finale is pretty good. I've never been a huge Triple-H guy and I can't quite understand Y2J's appeal, but for those who enjoy both those guys it is a solid match.

From stem to stern, I'll give this uneven card a 7/10 ranking. But in reality, that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. All anyone will remember WM18 for is the Rock/Hogan match for the ages.

It wasn't that bad, nice to see old people back in the WWE-then WWF. Even though Kevin Nash keeps getting injured. Scott Hall is gone already in May 2002. Hulk is out right now. Over all the Rock-Hogan match was good. I would give the ppv 8/10