WWF Wrestlemania X8 Review

Nearly 70,000 fans jammed packed the Toronto, Ontario SkyDome for one the most anticipated Wrestlemanias ever. The PPV would feature many matches such as Triple H vs. Chris Jericho for the Undisputed WWF Championship, Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Scott Hall, The Undertaker vs. Ric Flair, but none would be more important than Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock, the match that was billed ‘Icon vs. Icon’, the match that would make WWF History.

Cert: 15

Length: (VHS)219 mins (DVD) 6 hours 35 mins

The Card looked like this:

Matches

WWF IC Championship Match: Rob Van Dam vs. William Regal
WWF European Championship Match: Christian vs. Diamond Dallas Page
WWF Hardcore Championship Match: Goldust vs. Maven
Kurt Angle vs. Kane
Ric Flair vs. Undertaker
Edge vs. Booker T
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Scott Hall
WWF Tag Team Championship Match: APA vs. Hardy Boys vs. Dudley Boys vs. Billy & Chuck
Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock
WWF Women’s Championship Match: Trish vs. Lita vs. Jazz
WWF Undisputed Championship Match: Triple H vs. Chris Jericho

The 80’s and 90’s WWF Icon would meet the man that was the new WWF icon, Hulk Hogan of the New World Order had taken out the Rock in a ‘savage’, or lame attack in which Hogan drove a high speed truck into an ambulance, which The Rock was in, Rock suffered serious injuries, even though he was not in the ambulance. Hogan was claiming that he set the standard for all superstars today, and he was still on top of the ladder, The Rock disagreed and claimed he was the true Icon of the WWF, however poor the storyline seemed, the match was set, ‘The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment, would meet ‘The Immortal Hulk Hogan’ in a huge epic battle.

Wrestlemania X8 would feature a huge number of WWF superstars, mainly those who had already been around some what, Nash, Hall, Hogan, Flair, Undertaker, Goldust and many more ‘old timers ‘would all be the centre piece of the night.

Highs & Lows

The night was full of highs and lows. What do you expect when you get a bunch of money greedy ‘old timers’, and throw them in with a group of highly trained young athletes, something is bound to go wrong. This time last year if someone said to me “Ric Flair, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash & Hollywood Hulk Hogan will all appear at Wrestlemania 18” I would have laughed my head off, these old timers, Never! Never in a million years! Vince is not that stupid, or is he?

Well we all know the answer to that question, but how stupid was he? The PPV kicked off with RVD vs. William Regal for the IC title, it was a good match, much better than I though it would have been. Regal had been having a series of poor matches with Edge, I though this would be similar, I was quite wrong. The match was smooth and flowed very well. The crowd had a lot of heat for Regal, especially when he tried to get the Brass Knuckles, RVD foiled Regal’s plan, and hit the Five Star Frog Splash to become the IC Champion. It was a good match for Regal, although RVD has come down from last year, when he was fighting in PPV main events, never the less good opening contest.

Next up, DDP vs. Christian in a European title match. Not much of a storyline behind this bout, DDP was helping Christian become more positive, then Christian turned on DDP. The actual match was again good, its flowed very well as did the first match. With DDP and Christian both giving a huge effort the match was very solid and sound. The match was full of near falls and some powerful moves, this was able to draw the fans attention into what was an exciting European Championship bout.

It was Goldust and Tough Enough 1 Winner, Maven next. This match was a contrast to the previous matches of the night, it was slow and boring. Both men battled with each other until Spike Dudley came down, pinned Maven and won the title, then Crash ran down and chased Spike to the Backstage area where Al Snow & The Hurricane attempting to gain the gold, The Hurricane was successful in his quest for gold as he pinned Spike.

Olympic Gold Medallist Kurt Angle fought Kane next, again with little storyline and history between the two, the wrestling had to be good to get the fans attention. The match started off good, and it even gained momentum, Kane is a great performer as is Kurt Angle, I think I can honestly say that both men gave 100% for the majority of the PPV. Kurt used his Olympic style of wrestling and Kane used his powerful style of wrestling, to produce a decent match. The ending was a bit ‘bodged up’ as Kurt pinned Kane with his feet on the ropes, but they slipped off so it looked pretty terrible, never mind.

The Undertaker and Ric Flair had the best storyline going into this contest, Undertaker had attacked Flair’ best friend Arn Anderson & Flair’s oldest son David to be granted this match. It was filled with a lot of emotion on the behalf of Ric Flair, it just wasn’t filled with much wrestling. The match was a brawl, that was it, a few chops, a few punches, and few “Whooooooooooooooooooooooos” and the match was almost over. Arn Anderson can down to help the crimson haired Flair, and delivered a thunderous spine buster to the Deadman, however the Undertaker came back and delivered a special Wrestlemania tombstone pile-driver to Flair and he got the victory. Not a bad match, just what I was expecting from the two veterans.

This was the match I was looking forward two, Booker T vs. Edge, It should have been a excellent match, both men are tremendous athletes and are great wrestlers, just this bout was too short. The match didn’t last for long at all, it was just filling up gaps in the PPV, the match that did occur was ok, it didn’t really have time to go anywhere, so it could have been a lot better, no too bad though.

Worst match of the night now, Scott Hall of the New World Order faced off with Stone Cold Steve Austin. I hear you people shout “Why has Stone Cold been pushed down to fighting with Scott Hall, he has been in the main event of Wrestlemania, 3 times out of 4 years” I don’t really know why poor Austin was stuck in this match, he is a much better athlete than Hall and he deserved to be in the main event, however he wasn’t. But the match he was in absolutely sucked, it was the worse Steve Austin match I have seen in a long time, maybe it was because Austin was furious that he was not in the main event, but I think more likely it was because Scott Hall didn’t wrestle very well. Please don’t do it again, please Vince!

Next up, Tag Team Title match. Billy & Chuck defended the titles against the APA, Hardy Boys & Dudley Boys in a pretty boring match. It was a simple 4-team elimination match, nothing special. The feud was between APA and Billy and Chuck, but the Hardy Boys & Dudley Boys were thrown in to make it a bit special. Nothing on the Tag Team title matches from Wrestlemania 16 & 17.

The big match, the biggest match of the night, Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock. The match was awesome, not because of the wrestling, no, because it was one of the memorable moments in WWF history, Hogan entered the arena and soon as he stepped down the ramp he suddenly transformed from this evil heel to this legendary face, the crown turned their back on The Rock within seconds and they started to boo him. The usual “Rocky , Rocky” Chants were replaced with chants for the ‘Immortal one’ himself. The actual match was bearable to watch. Rock laid it on Hogan for a bit, Hogan laid it on Rock for a bit. All things considered it wasn’t the best match The Rock had, had, but that’s ok considering his opponent was Hulk (can’t sell moves) Hogan. However for Hulk Hogan the match could not have went any better, it was his best match for some time, and even more importantly Hulkamania was reborn.

The Women’s title match followed next , they had a tall order following the previous match, they couldn’t do it, as much as they tried they just could not follow Rock and Hogan, to be honest with you, I don’t think anyone would be able to. The match was ok, just the usual women’s title match, Jazz, Trish and Lita all give it their best shot.

The main event, Triple H vs. Chris Jericho for the Undisputed Championship. With Steph in the corner of Jericho, people were unsure what would happen. Jericho and Triple H fought in a good match, it was not the best WWF Wrestlemania main event ever, that might be down to the fact that Jericho is not a accomplished main event star, or the fact that Triple H is not as good as he used to be, before he suffered the serious injury in May 2001. Regardless the match was pretty good, with some good basic wrestling, the outcome was predictable for most people. Overall a pretty decent main event, maybe not as good as Wrestlemania 17 but still good.

Overall

This PPV was one of the events when no matter how bad most of the matches were, one match makes the PPV special. Obviously this match was Hogan vs. Rock, it is a true piece of WWF History, although it is not a master piece of wrestling, it is an experience that is worth watching. The other matches on the PPV were also pretty good, I liked DDP vs. Christian and surprisingly enjoyed Flair vs., Undertaker. Overall this PPV is worth the money, and should be owned by any fan of the WWF. Great selection of DVD Extras.

DVD Extras

Byte This with Vince McMahon
Favourite Wrestemania Moments of: Sgt. Slaughter, Edge, Triple H, Chris Jericho & Kurt Angle
Top 5 Wrestlemania Finishes
Top 3 Wrestlemania Attendances
The Making of the Cast
Press Conference – Wrestlemania VI: Hulk Hogan v Ultimate Warrior
The Rock Challenged Hollywood Hulk Hogan
The Rock Tells Hulk a Story
The Next Night On Raw
Cat Fight
Post Match Comments From: RVD, DDP, Kurt Angle, Trish Stratus & Maven