Coming off of last night's spectacular PPV, WWF WrestleMania X-Seven, welcome to TPWW.net for today's post-PPV edition of the news and rumors. There is a whole lot to talk about with WrestleMania in the record books and a surely much anticipated Raw coming up tonight, so without further delay, here are today's news and rumors.
Many are calling last night's PPV the best WrestleMania of all time and it deserves to be called just that. The show had a lot of hype to live up to, and it had no problem doing so. I have to admit that the first few matches on the card were rather mediocre, but achieved their goals and set the tone for the rest of the night. The Jericho/Regal match was nothing spectacular, but was rather simple and to the point, which is what the WWF was trying to accomplish. As for the Tazz/APA/RTC match, of course, I personally didn't like it, since the WWF used Tazz as a whipping boy again, but whaddya gonna do? The Hardcore match was so much more than I expected, with a lot of great spots. The whole golf cart ordeal was hilarious and the match was booked very well. The Chyna/Ivory match was also short and to the point, which was a smart move by the WWF. It was decent and it got the job done.
The Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle match was a great match, especially for fans of straight technical mat wrestling. The match made both men look good and the ending was fitting, since it came out of nowhere gave a sense that both men were equal and would probably continue their feud later on. I have a feeling we'll see a return match between Benoit and Angle at the WWF's next PPV, Backlash on April 28. And judging from all the focus on their submission moves and tapping, I think we may see an "I Quit" match.
The Vince vs. Shane match was probably the best match of the night from a storyline perspective and surprisingly even one of the best matches on the night from a wrestling perspective. We saw Linda McMahon awaken from her "sedated" state to attack her husband Vince and we finally saw Vince "get what was coming to him" with Trish turning on him. And how amazing is Shane McMahon? He hit a vicious flying elbow drop through the Spanish announce table and also hit his own version of Rob Van Dam's Van Terminator. When he got up on the ropes to try it, I didn't think he would even get close to the other corner, but he hit it. Mad props to Shane-O.
As for the TLC2 match, what can I say? The match was full of crazy spots and markout moments. The additions of Rhyno, Spike, and Lita were great and added something new to the match. Rhyno and Spike are amazing. You could just see their intensity when they came out and got involved in the match. Did anyone else notice Spike Dudley getting totally crushed by Jeff Hardy's huge Swanton bomb through the tables? Hardy landed right on Spike. I would say that this match was the show stealer, but the show was full of so many great moments.
And now... the gimmick battle royal. Ouch. That was definitely the biggest disappointment of the night. The match was really horribly booked. It seemed like the bookers just said, "Go out there and do whatever, but just have the IRON SHEIK win." The best part of the match was seeing the old school wrestlers walk down the aisles with their old entrance music. Definitely brought back memories. The match was good for nostalgia, and I guess it used up some time and gave the fans a little break from all the action. It was also great to see Mean Gene and The Brain on commentary. Bobby Heenan is king.
Gillberg was apparently originally scheduled to be a part of the match, but the WWF decided against the idea because they did not want any Goldberg chants in the arena. I don't think that's such a good sign for Goldberg's future in wrestling, but that could still change.
The Undertaker/Triple H match was another good one and was booked very well. The Triple H sledgehammer spot while the Undertaker tried giving him the Last Ride was great. It looks like the Undertaker is going to be the WWF's top face once the Rock begins filming of the upcoming movie, the Scorpion King. I guess that could be interesting.
The crowd's reaction during the entire main event was amazing, just as expected with a main event of that calibur. The show was capped off with a fitting finish for such a great show, a huge apparently heel turn by Stone Cold Steve Austin. Going into the PPV, I had a feeling that one of them would turn heel, and my gut instinct was that it would be Austin. When Vince McMahon walked down the aisle during the match, I knew that a heel turn by one of them was imminent. But by the way The Rock was receiving tons of heat from the crowd, I began to think that maybe it would be Rocky who returned back to his heel role that made him so famous. But that wasn't the case. The result was a slowly done, not very clear heel turn by Austin. When Austin picked up the pinfall victory over the Rock, he received a huge pop from the crowd, although he had turned "heel." That says a lot. The WWF is going to have to do something drastic to actually get the crowd to hate Austin, because no matter what, they're still going to cheer him. I got a few e-mails asking if it was Austin who turned heel or Vince McMahon who turned face. It was pretty unclear, but the WWF was trying to turn Austin heel, not McMahon face. I'm sure something is set for Raw tonight to put together the pieces of the puzzle.
It looks like the WWF decided to bring a few WCW wrestlers to WrestleMania afterall. It was a smart move in my opinion, and it was even smarter to just show them sitting and watching the show. With the huge angle on Raw, and the buildup to the Shane/Vince match, the WWF needed to have a few WCW guys at the show, and it was good that they did. For those wondering, the wrestlers I spotted were Sean O'Haire, Mark Jindrak, Chuck Palumbo, Shawn Stasiak (didn't the WWF fire him?), Mike Sanders, Lance Storm, Mike Awesome, Hugh Morrus, Chavo Guerrero Jr, Stacy "Miss Hancock" Keibler, and I think WCW booker Johnny Ace.
Although the above wrestlers did appear at WrestleMania last night, they are not expected to be at Raw tonight. All of the wrestlers were flown home, according to Dave Meltzer, and will not be on Raw.
Shane McMahon himself also unfortunately will not be on Raw tonight. However, he will be hosting WWF Raw live at WWF New York.
Shane McMahon got a shot right in the eye by his father Vince McMahon during their match last night, according to Dave Scherer. You could noticeably see Shane's eye swell up during the early part of the match.
A few more WrestleMania injury notes... The Undertaker was busted open once again in his match last night against Triple H and will need stitches to close the wound. This is just one day after getting sixteen staples in his head removed from an injury he suffered at the WWF Smackdown tapings last week.
Tazz suffered a mild concussion at the beginning of his match with the Acolytes against RTC last night, according to Dave Scherer. You could notice that Tazz had a tough time keeping his balance, almost stumbling each time he was whipped into the turnbuckles or ropes. Tazz reportedly had a bump on his head and was vomiting after the match. However, he sucked up his injury and did all the spots he was supposed to (basically selling RTC offense). Hopefully that'll earn him some respect with the WWF higher-ups, although I doubt it for some reason.
For those wondering, there were no injuries in the TLC2 match, which is definitely good news considering all the sick bumps they took in the match.
It was announced by Howard Finkel that WrestleMania broke a record for the largest attendance of any event at the Houston Astrodome, bringing in 67,925 fans. That is huge.
In XFL news, last night's game on UPN scored a 1.2 overnight rating, down from last week's 1.3. That should translate to around a 0.8 or so when the final numbers come out. As each day goes by, you know that Vince McMahon thinks more and more about whether or not he wants the league to continue.
In a final WrestleMania related note, Jimmy Lim sent along a great report of the show, featuring live news and notes he caught while in attendance. To check out the report, click HERE.
And if you haven't yet, be sure to check out my complete WrestleMania X-Seven report by clicking HERE.
And now, for bragging rights, the results of the TPWW staff's WrestleMania predictions.
1. Colin Rogers (Q&A;): 7 matches out of 11 - Your Winner.
2. Corey Silvia (Columnist, News): 6 matches out of 11.
2. Fred Venturini (Columnist, Raw): 6 matches out of 11.
2. Ry (News, Features): 6 matches out of 11.
5. Triple A (News, Features): 5 matches out of 11. (Damnit)
6. Rob Harvey (Columnist): 4 matches out of 11.
6. The Ref (Columnist): 4 matches out of 11.
Ry put together a great WrestleMania History section, featuring results, stats, facts, etc, on every WrestleMania in the history, including WrestleMania X-Seven last night. Be sure to check it out here: WrestleMania History.
"Mr. Monday Morning" Adam Kirk, the longest running TPWW staff member (over two years), besides myself and Ry, wrote his final column yesterday and it is definitely a must read. Be sure to give it a read by clicking HERE. It's been a great two+ years with Adam on the staff and it's definitely hard to see him go. Kirk - you are the man.
As Adam stated in his column, we will be bringing in some "new talent," so to speak, in the next few weeks. We received almost 400 columnist applications from our "Staff Opening" a few weeks ago, and we're still in the process of looking them over and making the selections. As of now, about 2-5 new columnists will be selected. Again, we have about 400 columnist applications to look over, which is why it may take a while.
It's just about time to wrap this one up. As always, thanks for reading and enjoy Raw tonight. It'll definitely be a bit strange without Nitro on the other channel, but life goes on. Until next time...
Triple A
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