WWE WrestleMania X-Seven: Retro 3 Things We Hated & 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to another edition of Wrestling Inc.'s retro reviews, where we take notable wrestling shows from the past and apply our universally celebrated loved/hated format! This is a big one — not only are we celebrating WWE WrestleMania week, but we recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of what is still today remembered as one of the best — if not the best — WrestleManias of all time. Yes, it's been a quarter of a century since TLC 2, the McMahon street fight, and the heel turn that rocked the wrestling world, and it's officially time to look back and reflect.

Of course, we can't possibly cover the entire show with our standard format — in fact, we're going to be ignoring basically the entire first two hours of the show, from William Regal vs. Chris Jericho to Kurt Angle vs. the guy we don't talk about anymore. But that still leaves us with so much to talk about, including Chyna, WCW, and of course, the Gimmick Battle Royal. Join us as we turn the clock back to the fully glory (and final days) of the Attitude Era — here are three things we hated and three things we loved about WrestleMania X-Seven!

When we did our loves and hates for the 2001 Royal Rumble pay-per-view, the injury angle that ended Ivory's match with Chyna obviously made the hated list because of course it did, it was awful. While this might not have been as bad what went down at the Rumble, primarily due to the fact that there is no "Oh my days, I've done a Handspring Back Elbow and now I'm paralyzed" angle, it's still not great.

Watching the WWE Attitude Era back through a modern set of eyes is always interesting when it comes to the women's division because nowadays, we are spoilt when it comes to high quality female athletes across every major company in the world. But back in 2001 — yes, there was a WWE Women's Championship, but that was about as prestigious in the eyes of the powers that be as a doorstop. To put it simply, the WWE Divas were there look hot and that's it. If they could wrestle, that was a bonus.

That last point makes this match even more disappointing because Chyna and Ivory (especially Ivory) could really go, and if they were given the chance, they could have had a good-to-very-good match. However, the story didn't allow that to happen; the story called for a squash match. Ivory needed to get what was coming to her and that's exactly what happened, and that's fine, but it wasn't even a good squash. It was Chyna moving around at a pace that if she went any slower she would be going backwards, beating up Ivory who was doing everything she could to make Chyna look like this unstoppable monster, and it just didn't work.

The Gorilla Press to finish the match made for a good photo opportunity, but nothing more, and even the way Ivory landed was just a mess. Chyna lay on her like she sat on her couch and that was it. The heel got what was coming to her, and yes Chyna had beaten men numerous times so having her squash the champion made sense, but it was so anticlimactic that you're sitting there going "...that's it?" 

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't walking into this one expecting fireworks (we got them in Chyna's entrance to be fair). It was not going to be a five star classic, nor was it supposed to be. With that said, they could have at least done a bit more with it because after this match, the show goes into overdrive quality-wise, making this one even more forgettable. Blink and you'll miss it, and even if you do miss it, you're not missing much.

Written by Sam Palmer

Vince McMahon fought his own son, Shane McMahon, on "The Grandest Stage of Them All" at WrestleMania X-Seven, the exact place, in storyline where the elder McMahon wanted to reveal his purchase of rival WCW. That didn't happen, however, as just days prior, Shane announced that "the name on the contract does read 'McMahon,'" but it was his name, instead. The reveal led to the McMahon vs. McMahon street fight, which also saw a drugged up Linda McMahon, Trish Stratus, and Stephanie McMahon all getting involved.

Sure, their involvement was certainly enough to make the match an overbooked mess, but strangely, there were no WCW stars in sight to back up their new boss, Shane. At the time, there was a rumor that Shane was set to introduce a host of WCW stars at WrestleMania, but as the story goes, someone leaked the debut of the WCW talent ahead of time, and they all suffered the consequence. Instead of helping Shane out in the match, which would have made a ton of sense and kicked off the coming Invasion angle in a big way, they were banished to a sky box and got a brief mention ahead of the match. When the camera cuts to the box before the McMahons start fighting, the stars can barely be seen, to the point it's laughable.

The wrestling itself in the match is exactly what you'd expect from two guys who weren't trained wrestlers, though Shane does get plenty of his now-infamous strikes in on his dad. The most memorable spots include when Stratus and Stephanie go at it in a cat fight, leaving the comatose Linda unattended. Vince picks up his wife, plops her in the corner, and at one point, she arises from the chair she's sat on, no longer drugged up by her own husband, and low blows Vince. Shane also hits an impressive coast-to-coast, complete with trash can set up on Vince's lap, and the "Prodigal Son" emerges victorious.

And, if you've forgotten, Mick Foley is also involved, serving as special guest referee. The match is an overbooked chaotic mess, but involving WCW stars in the mix, and maybe doing the other angles, like the Linda reveal, in the coming weeks, would have only helped the case of the Invasion.

It may seem silly, but perhaps the McMahon family street fight was the precursor to just how badly the Invasion angle would flop. Shane had just announced his huge purchase, right under his father's nose, yet his newly-signed stars, rather than get involved in a huge angle and help him score the win, were stuck in the sky box.

Written by Daisy Ruth

The first TLC match in WWE history was wrestled at SummerSlam 2000, but the following year, the mayhem between the Dudley Boys, the Hardy Boyz, and Edge and Christian made its way to the "Grandest Stage of Them All," and it might be why we still expect a good ladder match at WrestleMania today. As compared to the McMahon Family street fight contested right before, this match was chaotic in a good way, filled with plenty of incredible spots in addition to the various appearances by allies of each team. The match is the highest rated of the entire event by Dave Melter, earning 4.75 stars.

Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley walked into the match as champions, but Edge and Christian would emerge two-time TLC winners and new WWF Tag Team Champions. It didn't take long for all the teams to introduce their weapons of choice and the spotfest to begin. The first major one came with three ladders set up in the ring, and the two on the outside fell to the ropes, sending the competitors atop flying. Edge and Bubba Ray were left on the middle ladder, and Bubba took one hell of a bump, selling a shot from Edge right down to the canvas. The Dudleys had also set up a stack of four tables, two on top of another, which would come into play later.

Jeff Hardy had a monster spot where he pulled out a huge ladder and took out Rhyno and Spike Dudley on the table below with a Swanton Bomb. He didn't stay down for long, and ended up walking across a few ladders set up in the ring, which didn't entirely work, but he landed gracefully on his feet. Jeff and Edge had the spot of the night when Jeff was hanging from the belts above the ring, and Edge speared the hell out of him, jumping from another ladder. Bubba and Matt went through the tables previously set up by the Dudleys, and it was finally Christian to retrieve the belts.

The match was the perfect form of chaotic good, with all six men, plus Spike, Lita, and Rhyno, putting their bodies on the line on the "Grandest Stage of Them All." The mayhem was only highlighted by the excellent camera work for the time, including a shot from above, where the titles hung, after the three-ladder spot, that we don't even see these days. Paul Heyman, who was excellent on commentary all night during his first and only WrestleMania appearance on the desk, also helped this extreme bout. On a WrestleMania with quite a few memorable moments, for better or worse, this match is one of the show's brightest highlights.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Those who have read my retro reviews for such illustrious events like WCW Halloween Havoc 1995 and WCW Uncensored 1996 may have noticed that I have a thing for wrestling matches that are unintentionally hilarious. And while WrestleMania X-Seven may have a reputation of being one of the best WWE shows in history, even its not immune to having one match that's so bad, it's good. And that match is none other than the Gimmick Battle Royal, a match filled with some of the most notorious gimmicks in WWE history, and also legit wrestling legends like The Iron Sheik and Sgt. Slaughter for some reason. Perhaps Bryan Clark, Erik Watts, and Chad Fortune were unavailable to reprise their roles as Adam Bomb and Techno Team 2000, and thus Slaughter and Sheik had to step in.

There are many things to love about this hilarity; Bobby Heenan and Mean Gene Okerlund, fresh off WCW folding, are an absolute delight at the booth for one, and the long entrances for every member of this match allow for several chuckles. But the best part of this match winds up being the fact that it is ridiculously and preposterously short. This is a 19-man battle royal, which you would think would mean the match would last at least ten minutes. Nope; it goes three minutes and fifty seconds, with these guys flying out of the ring like they have a dinner reservation they're going to be late for. It's so absurd that you cannot help but laugh hysterically at it ... and keep in mind that this whole endeavor was already pretty absurd. The Gimmick Battle Royal has no reason to exist beyond being a complete and total farce. But dammit if it didn't have me in stitches the whole way though!

Written by Eric Mutter

I mentioned it when I covered this match for The Rock's greatest matches, I mentioned it when we put this match under the spotlight a few weeks ago, but I'm going to triple down on this claim. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock from WWE WrestleMania X-Seven is the greatest WrestleMania main event of all time.

So much has been said about this match and this show in the 25 years since it took place but all of it is warranted. The two biggest stars of the most popular era in WWE history headlining the biggest show of the time. Yes, there have been some great matches at WrestleMania before and since this took place, and there have been venues that have held more people than the Reliant Astrodome, but in terms of a big match feeling, this is peak WWE.

It goes beyond the historical significance as well because this match still rules all these years later. Austin in 2001 is up there as one of the best versions of himself, The Rock had truly come into his own not just as a character but as an in-ring worker as well, and it also helps that they have impeccable chemistry. Austin is in desperation mode as he is willing to do literally anything to win the title, and he wastes no time in getting things going. This match runs as fast as it possibly can which gives no one in the building any time to rest, giving the bout a sense of urgency that also makes it look reckless and sloppy, but that's what makes it even better. It looks and feels like a fight to be the best, and both guys are so evenly matched.

Austin using the no disqualification stipulation to his advantage by giving The Rock some color with the ring bell, locking in the Million Dollar Dream of all things when in desperate need of a victory (couldn't even tell you the last time he locked in that one before this match), working at a pace where he just wants to get the belt and leave as quickly as possible — truly one of the best performances of Austin's career. The same goes for The Rock, who through being a generational babyface manages to turn the Texas crowd and bring them onto his side by the time Vince McMahon gets involved in the closing stages.

Did the heel turn work? Not really, although as mentioned earlier, Austin was on fire in 2001 from an in-ring standpoint. However, the match leading up to it is an all-time classic. It's essential viewing for WWE fans, wrestling fans, just fans of pure entertainment. Beautiful stuff.

Written by Sam Palmer

So, I'm aware this is going to read like an attack, an affront, to the Teflon era of Rock-Austin-McMahon storylines. Some may also point out that retrospective bias plays into things. Well yes, quite frankly knowing one was playing a character of the megalomaniacal perverse billionaire while also very likely being that puts things into a different perspective. It just does. 

Is The Rock something of a point of fatigue in the wrestling discourse, at the very least personally? Yes. But one could never sit there with a straight face unadorned with clown makeup and say the WrestleMania X-Seven main event was terrible. It was actually really, really quite cinematically good. 

But then Vince McMahon came down to the ring, having also been in his own match against Shane McMahon, getting kicked below the belt by a, until that point, catatonic, Linda McMahon. And Stephanie McMahon was also there because of the whole storyline where Vince was cheating on Linda with Trish Stratus. Great stuff. Up until the very good main event, there were definitely some great moments that just wound up being overshadowed by the McMahons. 

Just pure McMahon saturation, undiluted, the stuff that burns the chest and not in a good way. And then Austin turned heel and aligned with McMahon, and as someone who detests the 'What?' chant and could live without Two-Man Power Trip being a thing that happened in wrestling – plus Austin then also joined The Alliance because what the actual f*** – that just still didn't make any sense. 

There was no need for it. Austin very easily could have and should have won clean, or in a ruse that had fooled McMahon into thinking he had the upper hand, and gone on to remain as the company's babyface while Rock went off to start this little thing called Dwayne Johnson's acting career. McMahon was undoubtedly, annoyingly, begrudgingly – alright I am getting to it; he was quintessential to the rise of Austin in the first place. But by this point he really didn't need to be an active part of the storyline and he certainly didn't need to be on the show as much as he was. 

This was the One-Man Power Trip, and he roped all of the family into it as his side characters. Shane McMahon won their match, and it was really fun as a match – though maybe let's not unravel why Vince was so keen to book himself against his children, because he would also go on to wrestle an 'I Quit' match with his daughter Stephanie. His presence here feels more like a "Dark Side of the Ring" highlight than anything digestible as good for the story.

Written by Max Everett