WrestleMania 2000

This was the best ladder match in wwf history.Even tho wrestling is fake this proves it's not.Jeff Hardy did a senton bomb off of a 20-25ft ladder on to Buh Buh Ray Dudley laying on a table outside of the ring,and Buh Buh Ray Dudley powerbombed Jeff Hardy on a table off of a commentery booth on to the mat.If you are a wrestling fan you'd love this tape.

The sixteenth WrestleMania is one that seems to have a lot of hype attached to it. The combination of it being a nice round number (2000), a big four-way finale, and the fearlessness (for better or for worse) of the WWE at the time likely all contribute to this perception. While WM 2000 isn't a bad event, by any means, I would also argue it isn't one of the great Manias either.

A few of my thoughts...

-The lack of even one singles matches hurts this card. I realize that the WWE is experimenting with many different formats at this time, but sometimes the traditional 1X1 match is better than anything off-the-wall or crazy. A good example of this is the Jericho/Benoit/Angle Three-Way match. I feel like any combination of those two would have been better than the three of them mucking around.

-The best match on the card, hands down, is the Three-Way Ladder match between the Dudleys, Hardys, and Christian/Edge. This is high-flying, absolutely insane professional wrestling at its very best. Not only were all these guys fearless, but it wasn't a "sloppy fearless" either (like Mick Foley would often lapse into). No, these teams were all incredibly talented and not afraid to take risks (that they almost always pulled off successfully).

-The tag match featuring Kane/Rikishi vs. Road Dogg/X-Pac is pretty entertaining/solid, if the traditional "random talents thrown together" type of structure. This is the type of match in which the talented guys who couldn't get a storyline developed before WrestleMania are just thrown together in hopes of the talent winning out over the "heat". In this case, it works well enough.

-The Fatal Four-Way finale, featuring a McMahon in every corner, is indeed an entertaining prospect. The Rock (Vince), Big Show (Shane), Foley (Linda), and Triple-H (Stephanie) put on a decent show, but the overall effect proves to be slightly lackluster in total. Not only is it difficult to follow the action a lot of the times, but the ending is disappointing in the way it features the McMahons over the actual star talent. In other words, the weeks of build-up to this match were far superior to the end result.

Considering that Steve Austin, the company's biggest star at the time, was recuperating from various injuries during this period, it is amazing that WWE was able to pull this show off as well as it did. I'll always argue it is more "hype" than "substance", but there is certainly talent present...no one is doubting that. That sets enough of a baseline bar for entertainment even if the overall product isn't in my top WM events.

Wrestle Mania 2000 is without doubt one of the funniest things I have seen in my entire life. Wrestlers doing battle with cookie sheets, old ladies fighting, and a small Mexican guy dressed up as a piece of cheese(I am not making any of this up) are just a few of the shenanigans that went on. And let's not forget about the ladder fight. What concerns me the most are the people who take this sort of thing seriously as if the outcome of the who will win will determine whether or not the earth will still spin on its axis. So suffice to say it was enjoyable if not for the reasons of the people who put it on. Truly hilarious. If you are looking for a good laugh find someone with a copy and watch it.

I was not a fan of them dropping the Roman numerals in favour of calling this wrestlemania 2000. But I'm watching back today, you realise what's the time of new beginnings this really was for the company. With zero one on one traditional matches on the card. The first time the main event for the world title would be contested by four men each with a McMahon in there corner with the history of the family involvement in wrestling it is nice that this exists. But nothing more shows, what's a time of change was happening then the debut of so many wrestlers who will go on do you have amazing careers including Chris Jericho Kurt Angle Eddie Guerrero the Dudley boys and first in ring wrestlemania debuts four Chyna edge Christian Matt and Jeff Hardy. The number of Hall of Fame careers making their debut would be hard to match ever again. Watch again for the debuts I would recommend but of course stay to watch the Dudleys the Hardys Edge & Christian begin their iconic run with each other and the tables ladders and chairs.

Wrestlemania 2000 was quite a good PPV. It had the WM feel to it but some matches were just thrown together to pad the event out. The main event was disappointing, but it had a shock outcome.

Results from the PPV: - Big Bossman and Bull Buchanan defeated The Godfather and D'Lo Brown in a boring match.

• Hardcore Holly won the Hardcore title in a Battle Royal which also consisted of Pete Gas, Rodney, Joey Abs, Crash Holly, The APA, Viscera, Funaki, Taka Michinoku, Tazz and The Headbangers. Actually Crash was originally going to retain the title but Holly won it by mistake when the time limit ran out! - Test and Albert downed Al Snow and Steve Blackman in a poor match.

• Edge and Christian defeated The Dudley Boyz and The Hardy Boyz in a fantastic TLC match to win the WWF Tag Team titles.

• (Ref Val Venis) Terri defeated The Kat.

• Too Cool and Chyna defeated Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn.

• Chris Benoit defeated Chris Jericho to win the Intercontinental Championship. Kurt Angle lost the belt.

• Chris Jericho pinned Chris Benoit to win the European Championship. Overall this match was disappointing. Again Angle lost the belt.

• Rikishi and Kane defeated Road Dogg and X-Pac.

• Triple H defeated The Rock, Mick Foley and Big Show to retain the WWF Championship. This was a disappointing match, but Triple H was the only heel to retain the title at a WM, so the fans were shocked that Rock didn't win.

Overall Grade - B+