On to the PDC.
Secondly, Saliva and Drowning Pool COMPLETELY SUCKED last night. Why were they even on the show? Complete waste of time, as both bands are hardly recognized by all WWF fans. If you're going to get someone play at Wrestlemania, they should have paid some good money to Disturbed instead, or at least find a guitarist for Limp Bizkit for them to play. The Drowning Pool theme for Triple H was horrible! No words could describe how bad that was.
Our opener was Rob Van Dam versus William Regal. Decent opener, with a clash of styles occurring as usual between RVD and Regal. Regal hit a few nasty moves on RVD during the match, such as the half-nelson suplex. Rob Van Dam is the champion, and that was a great decision made by the WWF. When the knuckles were still in the ring, I was guessing we'd get a Royal Rumble 1998 finish like the Rock-Ken Shamrock match, where the decision would have been reversed. Luckily, RVD's win held up. Finally, an exciting champion.
Next match was Christian vs. Diamond Dallas Page. Couple noteworthy things... First, I enjoyed how Christian declared that his new residence was in Tampa, FL. It doesn't get any funnier than that. Secondly, props to Jim Ross for reminding fans of DDP's first Wrestlemania appearance when he was a driver for Rhythm and Blues at Wrestlemania 6. Not a bad match, although only a week of true build up hurt the match as a whole. I certainly didn't expect DDP to get the win.
Odd interview with the Rock making Johnathan Coachman say a prayer.
Goldust vs. Maven was next. Typical WWF hardcore match, with trashcans every where. Maven's dropkick was nice, and Goldust hit an interesting move with the shovel, too. Oddly enough, after the double trashcan lid hit, Spike Dudley of all people ran in and won the Hardcore Title, via 24/7 role. Huh?!? What?!? Does this make sense to anybody out there? We'd see the PDC hero Crash Holly chase Spike out of the arena. Spike would lose the title to the Hurricane, and then the Hurricane lost it to Mighty Molly, Molly lost it to Christian, who would throw a temper tantrum after Maven pinned Christian for the title. Chaotic, yes, somewhat entertaining, yes, but the original match, Goldust vs. Maven, had a bad ending by having Spike Dudley winning the title in the ring. That made no sense to me.
Next match was Kurt Angle vs. Kane. Good match, again, from these two, but not their best ever. It's probably tied with the second FULL televised match they had. The one Smackdown match will never be topped, ever. Cool new tights by Angle, as he incorporated black into the scheme. Angle is a BEAST for picking up Kane like a ragdoll. With the cheap finish, who knows if this feud will end? Not that I'm complaining...
Shame on the WWF for using the Robin Hood: Men in Tights scene, where Hurricane was behind the dressing area with a broom.
Ric Flair vs. Undertaker was next. MUCH better than I ever expected. Flair got one of the Undertaker's best efforts in his career tonight. Lots of blood, good psychology. I have to wonder, though, how the regular WWF wrestlers feel about the Undertaker no-selling their offense, while he'll gladly work with Flair. Oh well. The ending was awesome, as Flair fought the last ride, only to take the tombstone. A great blow off to a great feud.
Next, it was Bookert T vs. Edge. Felt like an extended Smackdown match. Man, why not bring in Rob Zombie to play Edge's theme?!? Man, that would have been killer. I guess Edge would win for his hometown, and I was correct. My money is now on a quick rematch, on television, in which Booker T would get a cheap win back. Kind of a filler match for me, but I've seen worse on Wrestlemania. Funny story about this match: I was talking to Mrs. Tito about this match, and once I told her that this feud started over a Japanese shampoo commercial, it had her laughing for several minutes.
Scott Hall vs. Steve Austin was a solid match, as I hoped it would be. Hall looked good against Austin, which I hope is the first of good things for Hall in the WWF. At Hall's age, for the abuse that drugs and alcohol along with a long 10 year plus wrestling career have done to him, he seems in good shape, unlike Hogan or Nash. Hall sells the Stunner like a champion, too. Austin won the match, which makes me wonder who his next feud will be against. Maybe a rematch with Jericho?
The 4 way tag match was next. What a yawner to me. The WWF needs to build solid storylines and push good teams to make the Tag Titles worthy of defending them on Wrestlemania, of all places. The match just had no spark. Once the APA were eliminated first, I just knew Billy and Chuck would win the titles. Happy Happy, Joy Joy. So maybe 10 years from now, I can reflect on how bad of a team Billy and Chuck truly were, thanks to Wrestlemania 18.
I'll tell you what, I enjoyed the Rock vs. Hogan match. For both wrestler's overall technical abilities, they put on a good match. The funny part of the match was the crowd. They were FULLY behind Hogan the whole time, and booed the Rock for nearly everything. Yikes. Nice near falls, and a good showcase of each wrestler's personalities and trademarks. I have a feeling that the match was set up this way as a final showcase to Hulk Hogan, in case he does hang it up soon. Rock got the clean win, too, which was very fitting. After the match, Hogan and Rock saluted each other, which pissed off Hall and Nash to no end. Now, we'll have Rock/Hogan vs. Hall/Nash, probably at Backlash. Hmmm... could the Rock fall prey to a Hogan swerve at Backlash?
Lita vs. Trish vs. Jazz was OK. It was sloppy at times, which is what you'll get when you ask Lita or Trish to wrestle. Especially Lita. I can understand, though, how hard it was for these ladies to follow the Hogan vs. Rock match, from a crowd standpoint. Props to Jazz, though, for the awesome finisher. She did her fisherman's brainbuster off the top rope.
The Main Event was Triple H versus Chris Jericho. Man, did Triple H fall asleep in the tanning bed or what? This match wasn't nearly the mindblowing match I expected, in fact, it wasn't even close to a good RAW or Smackdown match. Sure, it was decent, with some good psychology from the Triple H knee attacks and some of the moves done, but as predicted, Stephanie McMahon overbooked herself to get involved with the match a lot. Crowd was tired from 3+ hours or wrestling, but I'm sure some of it was the lack of good booking for a Main Event match.
LAST WORD: Overall, it was a good show. Filler matches were decent, while Hogan vs. Rock, Undertaker vs. Flair, Austin vs. Scott Hall were very good. Main Event was rather disappointing for me, though. Jericho and Triple H can do much better, although it's hard when your match has a lot of Stephanie in it. I'll give this show a
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@That's all for today. I'll have a RAW review tomorrow. Until then, just chill.....
Take Care, and Thanks for Reading.