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As always wrestling gives us both great memories and memories we try and forget, but with the amount of moments worth remembering that have happened we are bound to forget some. The same could be said about some talent that were very much underrated during their career or never at the top of a company during a run this unfortunately makes it easier for fans to forget certain talent. These two are very different talent and had two very different careers while they worked in this great business. Sometimes we encounter those that deserve to be remembered and acknowledged. I would like to wish a very big Happy Birthday to all who are celebrating their special day today and especially to the one featured below. Nerd Note: Even though both Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan jumped to WCW prior to the advent of Nitro it was Lex Luger jumping ship that helped set the bar for the Monday Night Wars. Luger had on WWE programming in a very important role and this jump was something nobody saw coming which was the point of it.
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As always wrestling gives us both great memories and memories we try and forget, but with the amount of moments worth remembering that have happened we are bound to forget some. The same could be said about some talent that were very much underrated during their career or never at the top of a company during a run this unfortunately makes it easier for fans to forget certain talent. These two are very different talent and had two very different careers while they worked in this great business. Sometimes we encounter those that deserve to be remembered and acknowledged. I would like to wish a very big Happy Birthday to all who are celebrating their special day today and especially to the one featured below. Nerd Note: Steve Cutler was trained in the Monster Factory in Paulboro, NJ the same training center that Bam Bam Bigelow, Chris Candido, Ballas Mahoney, and a variety other legendary wrestlers got their start at the Monster Factory under Larry Sharpe.
As always wrestling gives us both great memories and memories we try and forget, but with the amount of moments worth remembering that have happened we are bound to forget some. The same could be said about some talent that were very much underrated during their career or never at the top of a company during a run this unfortunately makes it easier for fans to forget certain talent. These two are very different talent and had two very different careers while they worked in this great business. Sometimes we encounter those that deserve to be remembered and acknowledged. I would like to wish a very big Happy Birthday to all who are celebrating their special day today and especially to the one featured below. Nerd Note: Jimmy Yang would work for NWA-TNA before his run as a member of Kyo Dai in WWE. Scarlett Bordeaux had signed with WWE a while back and her debut was held off to allow her to work with her husband the newly debuted Karrion Kross formerly Killer Kross.
As always wrestling gives us both great memories and memories we try and forget, but with the amount of moments worth remembering that have happened we are bound to forget some. The same could be said about some talent that were very much underrated during their career or never at the top of a company during a run this unfortunately makes it easier for fans to forget certain talent. These two are very different talent and had two very different careers while they worked in this great business. Sometimes we encounter those that deserve to be remembered and acknowledged. In wrestling we have lost a number of our favorite stars far to soon and we still keep their memory alive. I would like to wish a very big Happy Birthday to all who are celebrating their special day today and especially to the one featured below. Nerd Note: Before his time in WWE, Drew spent time in Combat Zone Wrestling where he first began a campaign for a safer Combat Zone. It's great seeing Drew get a shot with Daniel, because he's one of the many that have been overlooked from the 205 Live brand.
As always wrestling gives us both great memories and memories we try and forget, but with the amount of moments worth remembering that have happened we are bound to forget some. The same could be said about some talent that were very much underrated during their career or never at the top of a company during a run this unfortunately makes it easier for fans to forget certain talent. These two are very different talent and had two very different careers while they worked in this great business. Sometimes we encounter those that deserve to be remembered and acknowledged. In wrestling we have lost a number of our favorite stars far to soon and we still keep their memory alive. I would like to wish a very big Happy Birthday to all who are celebrating their special day today and especially to the one featured below. Nerd Note: Johnny Stamboli floated around a lot after his contract expired with WWE spending time in All Japan, NWE, and Mexico before heading to TNA to repackaged as Rellik. At the time of her TNA debut Chyna hadn't been in the ring since a tag match in 2002 working for New Japan.
As always wrestling gives us both great memories and memories we try and forget, but with the amount of moments worth remembering that have happened we are bound to forget some. The same could be said about some talent that were very much underrated during their career or never at the top of a company during a run this unfortunately makes it easier for fans to forget certain talent. These two are very different talent and had two very different careers while they worked in this great business. Sometimes we encounter those that deserve to be remembered and acknowledged. I would like to wish a very big Happy Birthday to all who are celebrating their special day today and especially to the one featured below. Nerd Note: Though Harley Race is remembered for a variety of accomplishments over the year one thing not many people remember him for is inventing the swan dive headbutt. One of the reasons for this is Harley on more than one occasion admitting he regretted inventing the move in the first place.
It would be a disservice to wrestling history as a whole to not give one of the greatest events in WWE history and a turning point for WWE. In my opinion, Wrestlemania X-Seven was the event that ended the Attitude Era when Steve Austin turned heel and joined Vince McMahon officially ending the legendary feud between the two stars. Comparing this year's show to Wrestlemania 2000 it is like a tale of two events. Last year a lot of the filler matches felt like they didn't belong on Wrestlemania, but this year WWE even did work to build up the less important matches for the event to make the show feel more complete. Top to bottom Wrestlemania X-Seven is one of the top five best Wrestlemania's in the history of WWE and provided some moments that we will never forget. Outside of Austin vs Rock my mind immediately goes to the Triple Threat TLC Match, because this is the show when Edge speared a hanging Jeff Hardy to mat from a ladder. Raven went crashing through a window while Kane and Big Show broke through a wall during the Hardcore title match. Undertaker choke slammed Triple H from an elevated position where they keep cameras and this was also the first of three meetings between these two at Wrestlemania. Overall even though everything would change following this event it was an incredibly high note to go out on for WWE. After Wrestlemania we would see the formation of the Two Man Power Trip and then after Triple H got injured the launch of an Invasion and from there everything changed.  Wrestlemania X-Seven
Chris Jericho (C) Def. (Pin) William Regal WWF Intercontinental Title Bradshaw & Faarooq & Tazz Def. (Pin) Bull Buchanan & The Goodfather & Val Venis 6-Person Tag Kane Def. (Pin) Raven (C), The Big Show Triple-Threat WWF Hardcore Title Eddie Guerrero Def. (Pin) Test (C) WWF European Title Kurt Angle Def. (Pin) Chris Benoit Chyna Def. (Pin) Ivory (C) WWF Women's Title Shane McMahon Def. (Pin) Mr. McMahon Referee: Mick Foley Street Fight Christian & Edge Def.Jeff Hardy & Matt Hardy, Bubba Ray Dudley (C) & D-Von Dudley (C) Triple-Threat Tag TLC WWF Tag Team Titles The Iron Sheik Def.Brother Love, Bushwhacker Butch, Bushwhacker Luke, Doink The Clown (Apollo), Duke Droese, Earthquake, Hillbilly Jim, Jim Cornette, Kamala, Kim Chee, Michael Hayes, Nikolai Volkoff, One Man Gang, Repo Man, Sergeant Slaughter, The Gobbledygooker, The Goon, Tugboat Gimmick Battle Royale The Undertaker Def. (Pin) Triple H Steve Austin Def. (Pin) The Rock (C) No Disqualification WWF World Heavyweight Title At this point Wrestlemania has it's lists for good Mania and bad Mania events. For example, Wrestlemania 10 is one of the greatest events in the history of the event and Wrestlemania 2 was not only one of the worst Wrestlemania's, but is also one of the worst in WWE history. Another event that is on the bad Wrestlemania list was Wrestlemania 27 that really just was a Mania designed to start the build for Wrestlemania 28. I made some minor changes to try and improve the event overall and shift the focus from Rock vs Cena to the actual event.
One minor change I made was cutting the time for Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler, because the match was suppose to be an attraction and not the focus. Cole and Lawler was designed to give Jerry his Wrestlemania moment and cutting the time would help do that in my book. Another minor change I made was cutting the two multi person matches and switching them to United States and Intercontinental Championship matches instead. The one thing I was unsure how to work in was a Women's Championship match and I think maybe a pre-show battle royal could work with a segment during the show to give some women there moment on the big stage with Snooki. Speaking of Snooki the biggest change I would make is eliminating The Rock's presence from the show and push him back to the next night on Raw. The main reason is because Wrestlemania is the biggest show of the year and not something that should be used to promote the next year especially if it takes focus off the current year. In my opinion, Snooki could've been the special guest star for the show instead of The Rock and the focus could've been left of the shoulders of The Miz and John Cena to make the show sell. Then on the following episode of Raw the focus could then shift to Cena vs Rock with Wrestlemania 27 in the rear view and 28 in the windshield. It might be some small details and some might say Rock was the only thing good about Wrestlemania 27 well that's a problem cause WWE used him as a cop out then to avoid trying to put together a good show and promote it, they wanted Rock to sell it for them. As always wrestling gives us both great memories and memories we try and forget, but with the amount of moments worth remembering that have happened we are bound to forget some. The same could be said about some talent that were very much underrated during their career or never at the top of a company during a run this unfortunately makes it easier for fans to forget certain talent. These two are very different talent and had two very different careers while they worked in this great business. Sometimes we encounter those that deserve to be remembered and acknowledged. I would like to wish a very big Happy Birthday to all who are celebrating their special day today and especially to the one featured below. Nerd Note: It is rare to find someone who started wrestling at 15 years old off the top of my head I know three people. One is Terry Gordy who started at 14 years old, Steven Regal is another, and Ken Doane is another. The former Kenny from the Spirit Squad started wrestling at age 15 in 2001 after being trained by WWE Hall of Famer Killer Kowalski
Looking back at the Wrestlemania's of the past its time to revisit another Wrestlemania to redo an event that could done better. This show puts on display the lacking booking style that WWE had even back during this time with WWE having started the new superstar initiative around a year before this event. A year ago we saw the debut of NXT the talent show with the future Nexus as the starring class for the show. The one sticking point of the event is Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler got more time then half the matches on the event including two multi person matches that went a grand total of 4 minutes. The fact that Wade Barrett held the Intercontinental Championship and not only lost but had an insignificant filler match. The six man tag team match later in the show was unneeded and a waste of valuable Wrestlemania time. Starting small I would move the United States Championship Match to the main show and would add both Dolph Ziggler and John Morrison making the match a fatal four way. I would keep the pre-show battle royal but take Sheamus, Daniel Bryan, and any one else who is already booked out of the match and have anyone who didn't have something going on heading this event be apart of the match. I would also move The Corre (Justin Gabriel, Ezekial Jackson, and Heath Slater) to the pre-show against Santino Marella, Kane, and Yoshi Tatsu instead of the eight man tag we got. In my opinion, Snooki would've done more as the host of Wrestlemania then The Rock only, because Rock getting involved in the main event took the spotlight away from the WWE Champion. I would instead have Rock appear on the next edition of Raw following Mania to set the stage for the next year of build for Wrestlemania 28. I would cut Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler down from 13 minutes 45 seconds to around 5-6 minutes, because it's suppose to be an attraction match and not a focus of the show. At the time fans just wanted to see Cole get his but kicked and not have anywhere close to a competitive match. This match was suppose to be designed to give Lawler his Wrestlemania moment and didn't need the match they gave him. The last note for this part is that Wade Barrett would be defending his Intercontinental Championship against Big Show and Kofi Kingston to stake the odds against the current champion to build him up. My main grip with this Wrestlemania is the fact that neither of the secondary championships are featured on the show in a match of any meaning. This is the reason why both titles fell so far and mean absolutely nothing at this point, because WWE didn't show they cared about the champions. Clearly my other grip was Snooki competing in a match and not instead being a manager or the host in place of The Rock. Dark Match: Shemus (c) vs Daniel Bryan for the United States Championship Dark Match: The Great Khali won by last eliminating Sheamus WWE World Heavyweight Championship: (c) Edge w/ Christian vs Alberto Del Rio w/ Ricardo Rodriguez & Brodus Clay Cody Rhodes vs Rey Mysterio Big Show, Kane, Santino Marella, Kofi Kingston vs The Corre (Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel, Ezekial Jackson, and Heath Slater) Randy Orton vs CM Punk Special Guest Referee: Steve Austin Michael Cole w/ Jack Swagger vs Jerry Lawler No Holds Barred The Undertaker vs Triple H John Morrison, Snooki, and Trish Stratus vs Dolph Ziggler, and LayCool w/ Vickie Guerrero WWE Championship Match: (c) The Miz w/ Alex Riley vs John Cena
Note: As always stay tuned for Part 2 coming next week when I explain my changes and show off the card I would've booked for Wrestlemania at the time. Might be working on something special!!
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