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WrestleMania and Backlash 2000

7K views 24 replies 22 participants last post by  Emperor Palpatine 
#1 · (Edited)
Wrestlemania 2000 was definitely a misfire during a very hot time for the WWF with no single matches and a really weak main event. However, the next month was the terrific Backlash 2000, and the main event of that event including the ending with Stone Cold returning to lay waste to the McMahon Helmsley regime was so perfectly booked, I almost wonder if that was the original plan for WM but Austin wasn't fit to perform, hence the 4 way mess we did get with heel HHH going over. Does anyone know if this was the case or did they just want a bigger buyrate for the april PPV?

Either way, a card resembling more closely the Backlash 2000 one would have made for a sure fire top tier mania, this is a card I rebooked for another thread.

WRESTLEMANIA 2000

WWF Title: Triple H w/McMahons vs The Rock
Rock gets his big Mania title win and avenges Foley's retirement.

Kane and Rikishi vs DX

IC Title: Chris Benoit vs Chris Jericho

Kurt Angle vs Big Show
Showster coming out to real American here would be one of the funniest moments in Mania history.

Tag Team Titles Triple Threat Ladder Match: Dudley's vs Hardyz vs Edge and Christian

European Title: Eddie Guerrero vs Val Venis w/ Special Ref Chyna

These two both had similar lothario gimmicks and could have had a solid match. Chyna is made ref as both could have been making unsuccessful advances towards her leading up to this, and she could join Eddie afterwards

Women's title bra and panties match: The Kat (c) w/Mae Young vs Terri w/Fabulous Moolah

Hardcore Title Six Man Challenge: Crash Holly (c) vs Hardcore Holly vs Tazz vs Al Snow vs Steve Blackman vs Perry Saturn

Would probably be a pretty cool hardcore brawl with a lot less filler than the overstuff battle royal we did get.

Light Heavyweight title: Dean Malenko vs Essa Rios w/Lita

This match gets all the titles on the ppv and both men always had nice chemistry. Malenko taps Rios in a short match for the win.

16 man tag team battle royal: Too Cool vs The APA vs Test and Albert vs Godfather and D'lo Brown vs Big Bossman and Bull Buchanon vs Viscera and Mideon vs Kai en Tai vs Headbangers

What do you all think of these two shows?
 
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#3 ·
Re: Wrestlemania and Backlash 2000

Wrestlemania 2000 was definitely a misfire during a very hot time for the WWF with no single matches and a really weak main event. However, the next month was the terrific Backlash 2000, and the main event of that event including the ending with Stone Cold returning to lay waste to the McMahon Helmsley regime was so perfectly booked, I almost wonder if that was the original plan for WM but Austin wasn't fit to perform, hence the 4 way mess we did get with heel HHH going over. Does anyone know if this was the case or did they just want a bigger buyrate for the april PPV?
He wasn't fit at all. Rock was originally scheduled to get the strap at WM but they waited until Backlash and that main event, title change and Austin appearing to get a high buy-rate.

Austin only appeared at Backlash and then disappeared again until September 2000 when he made his proper return and they started the who ran over Austin storyline.

I haven't seen or read the reason behind Austin's temporary appearance at Backlash 2000 but I do have a theory. In January of 2000 JR did a piece for MNR interviewing Austin at his home and seeing how his recovery was going. In that interview Austin promised the fans he'd be back within 3-4 months.

I think his appearance at Backlash was likely down to a number of factors, but this promise that Austin made and wanting to keep was a large part of why he was on Backlash.

He wasn't ready to return even at that stage in April, his rehab went on for a further 5 months before making his full return.
 
#4 ·
The reason is both you stated. Austin wasn't fit + bigger buyrate for Backlash. They wanted the top babyface Rock to win the strap in a top face vs top heel one on one match instead of a four way at mania. Backlash was perfect PPV all around.
 
#5 ·
I can definitely see Austin was far from 100 percent from the way he was moving at that show, so it does make sense that they wanted to wait. It was a great moment regardless. Shame Rock missed out on a Wrestlemania title win all the same, he's had his fair share of classic moments on the stage though
 
#8 · (Edited)
It was a combination of over-protection on heel HHH(the most protected heel of all time during that time), along with two returns. Which is why Rock/HHH never had a final and true payoff. 4 Way for WM16 was fine, Rock not going over as the Top babyface was a ridiculous decision. The actual 4 way match was great in quality.
 
#10 ·
They a great roster at the time. They could've booked a great Wrestlemania. The problem was that there were too many multi-man matches. It just made the main event feel less special when every other match on the card was wrestled under multi-man rules. Personally, I'd have opted for: Triple H (WWF Champion) vs The Rock vs Mick Foley; Kurt Angle (IC Champion) vs Chris Benoit; Eddie Guerrero (European Champion) vs Chris Jericho; Kane (Hardcore Champion) vs Big Show; the Triangle Ladder Match; Dean Malenko & Perry Saturn vs DX.
 
#11 ·
The thing that strikes out most is that The Kat vs Terri was the only singles match on the entire card. Just why the hell did they do this? I'm not one for plugging the whole event with 1v1s, I like variety, but why was there so many damn tag matches? At least at Backlash T&A/Dudleys was a feud. I don't know what the fuck Boss Man & Buchanan vs D'Lo & Godfather was for.

A lot of people dislike the way the main event came about, but I prefer to moan about the shitty undercard matches.
 
#12 ·
Looking back on it now, the main event for WM 2000 should have been Triple H vs The Rock. The top face in the company vs the top heel in the company. Triple H owned the year 2000. He was heeling it up in an epic way. And The Rock was extremely over as a face. These two have never faced eachother at WM. This should have been the year. Both were at the top their game and in their prime.
 
#16 ·
The year 2000 had some of the best PPVs of the Attitude Era. In fact, 2000 might be the most entertaining year of the entire Attitude Era. Not only did it have alot of great matches, but the story-telling had hit it's stride by 2000 in a big way. And the crazy part is this is the year that Austin missed. Imagine if he was healthy that year? Anyway, 2000 was one of my favorite years in wrestling history, and this is with my favorite of all time (HBK) out of the picture, as a wrestler.
 
#17 ·
Wrestlemania 2000 sucked. Weak main event. If HHH was so great, why was he so over protected ?
 
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#18 ·
Backlash finish should have been Wrestlemania finish. The problem was Vince Mcmahon's obsession with Austin, just like his obsession with Cena right now. Rock/HHH was on fire, they were drawing huge, having the greatest matches together, Austin was NEVER needed for that. But ofcourse Vince has to insert him into the top program, undermine The Rock's starpower and make the top heel look like a chump. That was some bullshit there.

Atleast they were smart enough to have HHH get up after the chair shots and take the pin clean at backlash. The finish would have much worse if HHH got directly pinned after the chair shots.
 
#19 ·
Mania 2000 was a one-match card, with the 3-way ladder match being the match that most fans still remember to this day. Strangely, the 3-way ladder match received very little hype in terms of overall time spent on television leading up to the event, yet it was easily the match that stole the show.

Mania 2000 was my first Mania I saw live on PPV, so it's special to me, but you can't argue that the card stunk, and with the exception of the finish in the Fatal Four Way most people wouldn't even remember the main event. Had Trips vs. Rock gone on last in a one-on-one battle? Well we'd all look at Mania 2000 a lot differently.
 
#21 ·
It's quite simple, the WWE didn't feel that Rock vs HHH alone was Wrestlemania main event worthy at the time only year after the classic Rock/Austin feud, so they threw in all their eggs in one basket adding all the McMahons and Mick Foley, who was billed as retired and had one more chance to extract revenge on HHH and win the title. The outcome was fine and completely unpredictable. It marked the first time that a heel left Wrestlemania with the title which made it historic. They were probably trying to shock the world with the Mr McMahon heel turn but that came off kinda flat.
 
#23 ·
It's quite simple, the WWE didn't feel that Rock vs HHH alone was Wrestlemania main event worthy at the time
I highly doubt that, The Rock vs Triple H was the overarching storyline for six months of 2000 and was part of a rivalry that dated back into 1998 linking various elements such as DX, NOD, the Corporation and the Corporate Ministry. It was every bit a main event, especially after HHH's couple of matches against Cactus Jack shot him into uber heel levels - in which The Rock was also feuding with HHH, playing a prominent part getting Mick Foley reinstated, decking HHH with a steel chair at the Rumble, winning the Rumble to get a shot at HHH etc.

For some reason though they'd always planned it to be a fatal four way, the early posters had Jericho on them. That tells you that it wasn't a hastily thrown together idea because they weren't confident of The Rock/HHH drawing.
 
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