WrestleMania 2000

This article is about the professional wrestling pay-per-view event. For the video game named after this event for the Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color, see WWF WrestleMania 2000.
WrestleMania 2000

Promotional poster featuring Triple H and The Rock
Tagline(s) "A McMahon in Every Corner"[1]
Theme
song(s)		 "California" by Jim Johnston
Information
Promotion World Wrestling Federation
Sponsor Snickers
Date April 2, 2000
Attendance 19,776[2]
Venue Arrowhead Pond
City Anaheim, California
Pay-per-view chronology

No Way Out (2000) WrestleMania 2000 Backlash (2000)
WrestleMania chronology

WrestleMania XV WrestleMania 2000 WrestleMania X-Seven

WrestleMania 2000 (sequentially known as WrestleMania 16) was the sixteenth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It was presented by Snickers and took place on April 2, 2000, at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California.[3]

The main event was a four-way elimination match for the WWF Championship involving reigning champion Triple H, The Rock, Mick Foley, and The Big Show, which Triple H won after last eliminating The Rock.[4] Main matches on the undercard included a triangle ladder match for the WWF Tag Team Championship involving Edge and Christian, The Hardy Boyz, and The Dudley Boyz, and a two-fall triple threat match for the WWF Intercontinental and European Championships involving Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, and Chris Benoit.[5][6]

Background

The main feud heading into WrestleMania was between Triple H, The Rock, Mick Foley, and The Big Show, with the four feuding over the WWF Championship. At the Royal Rumble two months prior, The Rock won the Royal Rumble match to become the number one contender to the WWF Championship at WrestleMania by last eliminating The Big Show,[7][8] and Triple H defeated Cactus Jack (Mick Foley) in a Street fight to retain the WWF Championship.[9][10] The proceeding month at No Way Out, The Big Show defeated The Rock to gain entry into the WWF Championship match at WrestleMania.[11][12] Also at the event, Triple H defeated Foley in a Hell in a Cell match to retain the WWF Championship.[13][14] Per the pre-match stipulation, Foley had to retire from professional wrestling.[13][14] On the edition of March 13 of Raw is War, The Rock managed to win back his title shot by defeating The Big Show with help from a returning Vince McMahon, thus making the WWF Championship match a Triple Threat match. Then, the following week, after Triple H retained his title against both The Rock and The Big Show, Linda McMahon came out announced that Triple H would be defending his belt in a Fatal Four-Way match against not only The Rock and The Big Show, but also Mick Foley.

The second main feud heading into the event was between Edge and Christian versus The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy) versus The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) for the WWF Tag Team Championship in a Triangle Ladder match. On the edition of January 17 of Raw Is War, Jeff Hardy was scheduled to face Bubba Ray Dudley in a match. The match saw Jeff pinning Bubba Ray after delivering a Swanton Bomb.[15] After the match, the Dudleys attacked the Hardy Boyz, in which they powerbombed Matt on top of a table.[15] On the edition of January 20 of SmackDown!, Matt was placed in a match again D-Von Dudley. The win was given to Matt, after a disqualification took place.[16] Jeff and Bubba Ray made their way to the ring, in which both teams began brawling against one another.[16] Bubba Ray prepared to powerbomb Matt into a table, that was set up by the Dudleys. Bubba Ray, however, was hit by Jeff with a chair, causing him to fall onto the tables. The Hardys then set up a table of their own and put D-Von on it, and Matt proceeded to perform a legdrop on D-Von through the table.[16] At the Royal Rumble, the Hardys defeated the Dudleys in a tag team tables match.[17] The following night after the Royal Rumble, the Dudleys showed respect towards the Hardys in which they would help them defeat the New Age Outlaws for the World Tag Team Championship. In return, the Hardys would have to grant the Dudleys a title shot at the Tag Team Championship.[18] During the tag title match, the Dudleys stopped the three count, after the Hardys had the match in their favor and allowing the Outlaws to retain the titles. After the match, the Dudleys then went onto perform the 3-D on them.

In months leading to the event, Hardcore Champion Crash Holly had been involved in several matches which took place at increasingly unusual places, a situation that the champion had brought on himself. On the edition of February 24 of SmackDown, Crash defeated Test for the Hardcore Championship with help from his cousin Hardcore Holly and was so excited to be champion that he declared that as long as a referee was present, he would defend the title anytime at any place — a rule that was referred to as the "24/7" rule. Crash's decision backfired on him in a big way, as his title defenses often took place in odd places like a laundromat, an amusement park, and Newark Liberty International Airport to name a few as wrestlers were quick to strike to take the gold. Crash decided that he was tired of being on guard all the time and offered a shot to any wrestler for WrestleMania, provided that the 24/7 rule would be suspended until afterward. Several wrestlers took Crash up on his offer and the match became a battle royal.

Event

Other on-screen talent
Role: Name:
Commentator Jerry Lawler
Jim Ross
Carlos Cabrera (Spanish)
Hugo Savinovich (Spanish)
Interviewer Michael Cole
Kevin Kelly
Ring announcer Howard Finkel
Referee Jack Doan
Earl Hebner
Jim Korderas
Theodore Long
Chad Patton
Mike Sparks
Tim White

Before the opening video, Lilian Garcia sang "America the Beautiful".[19] The first match that aired was a tag team match between the team of The Godfather and D'Lo Brown (who were accompanied to the ring by rapper Ice-T, who also sang their entrance music) against the team of The Big Boss Man and Bull Buchanan.[5][20] The Godfather and Brown gained the early advantage over Buchanan and Bossman, as they were able to execute a leg drop and a splash combination.[19][21] Buchanan and Bossman, yet, retaliated after Bossman delivered a Sidewalk slam and Buchanan delivered a Leg drop from the top turnbuckle into a pinfall and winning the match.[22][23]

The second match was a hardcore battle royal for the WWF Hardcore Championship involving defending champion Crash Holly.[5][20] The rules of the match were as follows: the match would go on for fifteen minutes, the championship could exchange hands an unlimited amount of times during the time limit, and the final wrestler with the Hardcore Championship would win the match and remain the Hardcore Champion.[3][6] The first championship exchange occurred after Tazz pinned Crash, which proceeded with Viscera pinning Tazz.[19][23] The third championship exchange occurred after Funaki pinned Viscera, however, Funaki was then pinned by Rodney.[3][23] The fifth championship exchange occurred after Joey Abs pinned Rodney, which proceeded with Abs being pinned by Thrasher.[21][22] The seventh title exchange occurred after Pete Gas pinned Thrasher, though, Gas was then pinned by Tazz.[3][6] The ninth title exchange occurred after Crash pinned Tazz, which proceeded with the final championship exchange, as Hardcore Holly pinned Crash, thus, Hardcore Holly won the Hardcore Championship.[5][24]

Edge and Christian vs. The Dudley Boyz vs. The Hardy Boyz for the Tag Team Championship

The next match was a tag team match between the team of Al Snow and Steve Blackman against the team of T & A (Test and Albert).[5][20] Back and forth action between the two teams towards the end of the match, where Albert delivered a Baldo Bomb on Snow, while Test delivered an Elbow drop from the top rope onto Blackman into a pinfall for the win.[6][19]

The fourth match was a WWF Tag Team Championship triangle ladder match involving The Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian, and champions The Dudley Boyz .[5][20] Edge and Christian first gained the advantage after Edge climbed the top rope and speared Jeff, who was climbing a ladder.[6][19] Edge and Christian were then given consecutive 3-D's by The Dudley Boyz.[19][23] The Dudley Boyz then brought tables into the ring and onto ringside, where D-Von splashed Jeff through a table in the ring, while Bubba powerbombed Matt through another at ringside.[3][23] The Hardy Boyz would then retaliate after Jeff delivered a Swanton bomb off a ladder onto Bubba, through a table.[3][6] As Jeff did so, Matt climbed a ladder, along with Edge and Christian, who pushed Matt off the ladder through a table.[19][23] The situation allowed Edge and Christian to reach and grab the championship belts that were hung from the rafters, thus gaining their first Tag Team Championship.[22][24]

The fifth match was a Catfight between The Kat and Terri with special guest referee, Val Venis; the winner of the match was determined by the diva who threw their opponent out onto ringside.[5][20] The Kat threw Terri out onto ringside; Venis was however distracted by Mae Young, who was at ringside managing The Kat, and was unable to see the action.[19][23] Terri was again thrown onto ringside by The Kat, though, the action was not seen by Venis as he was yet again distracted by Young.[19][23] In retaliation, The Fabulous Moolah, who was at ringside managing Terri, pulled The Kat out of the ring, which was seen by Venis, thus Terri won the match.[6][22] Whilst celebrating, Mae Young attacked Terri and The Fabulous Moolah before giving Moolah the bronco buster whilst Kat stripped Terri of her clothing.

Next was an Intergender tag team match between the team of Too Cool (Grand Master Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty) and Chyna against the team of The Radicalz (Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero).[5][20] Both teams fought back and forth towards the end of the match, where Chyna was tagged into the match and delivered a press slam, powerbomb, and a sleeper slam and pinned Guerrero for the win.[3][6]

The seventh match was a two-fall triple threat match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship and WWF European Championship, involving Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, and Chris Jericho.[5][20] The first fall would be for the Intercontinental Championship, while the second fall was for the European Championship.[6][19] In the beginning of the first fall, all three men exchanged pin attempts towards midway into the match where Benoit broke up a Chicken wing submission by Angle onto Jericho.[19][21] The situation allowed Benoit to climb to the top turnbuckle and delivered a Diving headbutt on Jericho into a pinfall to win the Intercontinental Championship.[3][23] During the second fall, Jericho and Benoit delivered a double powerbomb onto Angle, which proceeded into Benoit delivering three German suplexes onto Jericho.[6][21] Afterwards, Benoit attempted to deliver another diving headbutt onto Angle, however, Angle moved out of the way, resulting in Benoit hitting the ringmat. This situation allowed Jericho to deliver a Lionsault into a pinfall to win the European Championship. Therefore, Kurt Angle lost both titles without conceding to a pinfall.[6][24]

The final match on the undercard was the tag team encounter between Kane and Rikishi against D-Generation X (X-Pac and Road Dogg).[22][24] Shortly into the match Rikishi delivered a Diamond cutter onto X-Pac, which proceeded into Kane delivering a Tombstone piledriver into a pinfall for the win.[3][19] Afterward, an-ring section involving Rikishi, Too Cool, and the San Diego Chicken dancing was interrupted by Kane, who thought the chicken was Pete Rose. Rose then snuck into the ring and tried to hit Kane with a baseball bat, before being chokeslammed by Kane.

The main event was a WWF Championship four-way elimination match involving The Big Show (with Shane McMahon), Mick Foley (with Linda McMahon), The Rock (with Vince McMahon), and the defending champion, Triple H (with Stephanie McMahon).[22][24] In the beginning of the match, Show press slammed Triple H and Rock; however, all three competitors then attacked Show.[6][19] The situation allowed The Rock to eliminate Show, after delivering a Rock Bottom into a pinfall.[21][23] After the elimination, Foley delivered a double arm DDT on Triple H.[6][19] Though, Triple H retaliated, performing a Pedigree on Foley onto a steel chair; this resulted in a pinfall and Foley's elimination.[3][23] After Foley was eliminated, The Rock and Triple H brawled in and out of the ring with neither superstar gaining the advantage over one another. Although, Triple H gained the advantage when Vince hit The Rock with a steel chair two consecutive times, thus turning Vince heel.[3][23] The attack with the steel chair allowed Triple H to pin The Rock to retain the WWF Championship. After the match The Rock gave the Rock Bottom to Vince, Shane and Stephanie McMahon, before giving Stephanie a People's Elbow.[4][19]

Aftermath

After the event, The Rock continued to feud with Triple H over the WWF Championship. The feud continued on the episode of Raw is War after WrestleMania, where The Rock pinned Triple H in a non-WWF Championship match.[25][26] The following week on Raw is War, the feud intensified, where The Rock defeated The Big Boss Man and Bull Buchanan in a handicap steel cage match.[27][28] After the match Triple H, Shane and Vince McMahon attacked The Rock, however, which caused him to lose a great amount of blood.[27][28] Later that week on SmackDown!, it was announced that The Rock would face Triple H for the WWF Championship at Backlash.[29][30][31][32] At Backlash, The Rock, with help from Stone Cold Steve Austin and Linda McMahon, defeated Triple H to win the WWF Championship.[33][34]

The next night on Raw, Eddie Guerrero defeated Chris Jericho to win the European Championship with help from Chyna who turned on Jericho.[35]

Reception

19,776 fans at the Arrowhead Pond for WrestleMania 2000

WrestleMania 2000 was met with mixed critical response. John Powell of Canadian Online Explorer's professional wrestling section called the event "a flop"; he further noted that "It was supposed to be sports entertainment's greatest event of the year. It was supposed to the best the WWF has to offer. It wasn't." He went on to claim that, "WrestleMania 2000 from The Pond in Anaheim, California, will go down as one of the worst WrestleManias the World Wrestling Federation has produced in its 15-year history of broadcasting the flagship spectacle." He further cited, "The only one-on-one match being the ludicrous Cat fight between Terri and The Kat, the other congested WrestleMania bouts suffered from constant stalling of one form or another as wrestlers lay prone for extended periods of time or engaged in low-impact brawling on the outside of the ring so that the audience could direct their attention to the other participants. This approach left many WWF superstars looking foolish for selling holds longer than they needed to." He further cited "Ironically, the first-ever All-Day-Long pre-show recapping the history of WrestleMania for eight hours prior to the premiere wrestling event was better than the card itself." He gave the overall event a score of 3 out of 10 stars, which is a considerably lower score than the previous year's event which received a rating of 5 out of 10 stars. The main event between Triple H, Mick Foley, The Big Show and The Rock for the WWF Championship was rated 4 out of 10 stars, and both the Two-fall Triple Threat match for the WWF Intercontinental and European Championships between Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit and the Triangle Ladder match for the WWF Tag Team Championship between The Dudley Boyz, The Hardy Boyz and Edge and Christian both received the highest rating of 8 out of 10 stars and The Cat Fight between Terri and The Kat received the lowest rating of 0 out of 10 stars.[3]

Results

No. Results Stipulations Times[3]
1 Big Boss Man and Bull Buchanan defeated The Godfather and D'Lo Brown (with Ice-T) Tag team match 09:02
2 Hardcore Holly won by last defeating Crash Holly (c)[Note 1] Hardcore battle royal for the WWF Hardcore Championship 15:00
3 T & A (Test and Albert) (with Trish Stratus) defeated Head Cheese (Al Snow and Steve Blackman) (with Chester McCheeserton) Tag team match 07:03
4 Edge and Christian defeated The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley) (c) and The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy) Triangle ladder match for the WWF Tag Team Championship 22:30
5 Terri Runnels (with The Fabulous Moolah) defeated The Kat (with Mae Young) Catfight with Val Venis as the special guest referee 02:26
6 Too Cool (Grand Master Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty) and Chyna defeated The Radicalz (Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn, and Dean Malenko) Six-person intergender tag team match 09:37
7 Chris Benoit defeated Kurt Angle (c) and Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho defeated Kurt Angle (c) and Chris Benoit		 Two-fall Triple threat match for the WWF Intercontinental (first fall) and European Championships (second fall) 13:36
8 Rikishi and Kane (with Paul Bearer) defeated D-Generation X (X-Pac and Road Dogg) (with Tori) Tag team match 04:14
9 Triple H (c) (with Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley) defeated The Rock (with Mr. McMahon), Mick Foley (with Linda McMahon) and Big Show (with Shane McMahon) Four-way elimination match for the WWF Championship 36:31
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
Hardcore Championship battle royal title changes[36]
Number New Champion Method Time
1 Tazz Pinned Crash Holly after a Capture Suplex 00:26
2 Viscera Pinned Tazz after a Powerslam 01:00
3 Funaki Pinned Viscera after a flying shoulderblock by Bradshaw 07:51
4 Rodney Pinned Funaki after throwing him into a backstage wall 08:11
5 Joey Abs Pinned Rodney after a Gutwrench Suplex 08:24
6 Thrasher Pinned Joey Abs after a Clothesline 08:46
7 Pete Gas Pinned Thrasher after hitting him with a fire extinguisher 09:29
8 Tazz Pinned Pete Gas after a T-Bone Suplex 10:17
9 Crash Holly Pinned Tazz after hitting him with a cookie sheet 14:20
10 Hardcore Holly Pinned Crash Holly after hitting him with a candy jar 14:59
Four-way match eliminations[37]
Elimination no. Wrestler Eliminated by Elimination move Time
1 Big Show Rock Pinned after a Rock Bottom 04:50
2 Foley Triple H Pinned after a Pedigree onto a steel chair 19:40
3 Rock Triple H Pinned after two Chair shots to the head by Vince McMahon 36:30
  1. ↑ The other participants were: Tazz, Viscera, Joey Abs, Rodney, Pete Gas, Taka Michinoku, Funaki, Thrasher, Mosh, Faarooq, and Bradshaw.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.wwe.com/shows/wrestlemania/wrestlemania-posters-photos. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ↑ http://www.profightdb.com/cards/wwf/wrestlemania-2000-104.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 3.11 3.12 Powell, John (April 2, 2000). "WrestleMania 2000 a flop". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Triple H vs. Mick Foley vs. Big Show vs. The Rock for the WWE Championship". WWE. April 2, 2000. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 "WrestleMania 2000 results". World Wrestling Entertainment. April 2, 2000. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 6.10 6.11 6.12 Keith, Scott (July 19, 2002). "The SmarK Retro Repost – WrestleMania 2000". 411mania.com. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
  7. ↑ "2000 Royal Rumble match". World Wrestling Entertainment. January 23, 2000. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
  8. ↑ Keith, Scott (July 19, 2002). "Royal Rumble 2000 results". 411mania.com. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
  9. ↑ "Royal Rumble 2000 results". World Wrestling Entertainment. January 23, 2000. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
  10. ↑ "Royal Rumble 2000". Online World of Wrestling. January 23, 2000. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
  11. ↑ Powell, John (February 27, 2000). "No Way Out for Cactus Jack?; Triple H ends Foley's career?". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved March 19, 2008.
  12. ↑ "No Way Out 2000 results". World Wrestling Entertainment. February 27, 2000. Retrieved March 19, 2008.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Triple H vs. Cactus Jack – Hell in a Cell Match for the WWE Championship". World Wrestling Entertainment. February 27, 2000. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "No Way Out 2000 results". Online World of Wrestling. February 27, 2000. Retrieved March 19, 2008.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Raw is War results – January 17, 2000". PWWEW.net. January 17, 2000. Retrieved March 30, 2008.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 "WWE SmackDown! results – January 20, 2000". PWWEW.net. January 20, 2000. Retrieved March 30, 2008.
  17. ↑ "Royal Rumble 2000 Results". PWWEW.net. Retrieved March 30, 2008.
  18. ↑ "RAW results – January 24, 2000". PWWEW.net. January 24, 2000. Retrieved March 30, 2008.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 19.6 19.7 19.8 19.9 19.10 19.11 19.12 19.13 19.14 "WWE WrestleMania 2000 Results". Gerweck.net. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 "WWE WrestleMania 2000 Results". Hoff Co. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 Ultimo. "WWF WrestleMania 2000 Results". The Other Arena. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 "WrestleMania 16 (2000) Results". Warned.net. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 23.5 23.6 23.7 23.8 23.9 23.10 23.11 "WWE WrestleMania 2000 Results". PWWEW.net. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 "WWE WrestleMania 2000 Results". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved March 22, 2008.
  25. ↑ Zimmerman, Christopher. "WWF RAW is WAR (April 3, 2000) Results". The Other Arena. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
  26. ↑ "WWF RAW is WAR (April 3, 2000) Results". PWWEW.net. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Zimmerman, Christopher. "WWF RAW is WAR (April 10, 2000) Results". The Other Arena. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 "WWF RAW is WAR (April 10, 2000) Results". PWWEW.net.
  29. ↑ "WWF SmackDown! (April 13, 2000) Results". The Other Arena. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
  30. ↑ "WWF SmackDown! (April 13, 2000) Results". PWWEW.net.
  31. ↑ Zimmerman, Christopher. "WWF SmackDown! (April 20, 2000) Results". The Other Arena. Retrieved March 24, 2008.
  32. ↑ "WWF SmackDown! (April 20, 2000) Results". PWWEW.net.
  33. ↑ "WWE Backlash (2000) Results". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved February 8, 2011.
  34. ↑ Ultimo. "WWF Backlash (2000) Results". The Other Arena. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
  35. ↑ "WWE European Championship history".
  36. ↑ "WrestleMania 2000". Pro Wrestling History.
  37. ↑ "No Way Out 2000 Results". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved October 9, 2008.

External links