Stone Cold vs Bret Hart saved this Wrestlemania from being the worst of all time. How bad was it? More wrestling fans ordered a WCW pay per view a week later, incredible when you think this was Wrestlemania. Not even WWE’s plight and domination from WCW in 1997 can be used as an excuse. Orders for this Wrestlemania were less than half the year before and would be a year later. In fact this Wrestlemaina received the fewest orders then any Mania in the pay per view era.
Ironically the star from the previous year was the man mainly responsible for the mess a year later, how much of that was his own doing remains a debatable subject to this day.
In February 1997 Shawn Michaels announced he had ‘lost his smile’ and because of a career ending knee problem had to relinquish the WWE World title with immediate effect. The problem was this was just over a month before the big show, with matches already planned for and storylines under way. One of those planned matches was a Bret Hart vs Shawn Michael’s rematch where the Hitman had been promised a title win. Not only did WWE awkwardly rush the belt back to Sycho Sid, without Michaels being the man to beat, the powers that be decided to hold off on a Hart reign, feeling the Undertaker winning the gold for the first time in 5 years would have a better effect. Hart in reality as well as on TV had lost a lot of respect for Michaels, he made no secret of his belief that he had lost out on becoming champion because Michael was feigning an injury due to his ego being unwilling to put the Hitman over. It should be noted Michaels did return to in ring action just over two months later.
What Hart didn’t realise was it was the best thing that could have happened. Originally disheartened to be renewing his feud with Stone Cold this would turn out to be a classic in both men’s careers. While technically not as good as their underrated match at Survivor series 1996 this was all about telling a story. Both men walked to the ring with mixed reactions, both were in mid turn, it would of happened without this match but by the end there was no mixed reaction, Hart was now hated, Austin was the new hero. The two men did it without uttering a word and with the supposed heel losing. In terms of telling a story in this manner the match is unrivalled.
So at least it got a match to remember and a good feel moment, the Chicago fans, traditionally some of the most hardcore fans were happy, Undertaker got the recognition he deserved.
As poor as Wrestlemania 13 performed at the box office at least there were signs that WWE were finally getting the right idea of how the business was changing and the direction it was going in. WCW vice chairmen Eric Bischoff realised that the modern wrestling fan was growing tired of the cartoonish WWE and wanted something reality based which they could relate too. Thanks to the success of the nWo angle WCW started to match ratings with WWE before eventually Nitro started to crush Raw in the ratings.
While the likes of Bret Hart and WWE sponsors disapproved of the Stone Cold character, toilet humour, bra and panties matches and the introduction of DX it was what WWE had lacked, they needed some attitude.
Like 14 years earlier WWE took a mainstream celebrity who was relevant in 1998 who would guarantee that unlike a year previously this Wrestlemania would receive plenty of attention. By having Stone Cold and Mike Tyson clash in one of the most famous Raw segments McMahon had pulled off a master stroke, by shoving Tyson the main stream public became familiar with Stone Cold Steve Austin and WWE. It was unprecedented that a celebrity would get this involved in the build up to Wrestlemania (Mike joining DX etc), because of this Mike Tyson deserves his place in the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame.
It’s no coincidence that now dedicated to their brand new attitude era that Wrestlemania 14 had an originality that many Wrestlemania’s lacked. The provocative way women were presented was apparent like never before, the Dumpster match was innovative and the Undertaker character was given more layers with his feud with younger brother Kane. This was different to the usual Undertaker routine, he was made to look more human and was dominated more then we’ve ever seen before.
Stone Cold vs Shawn Micheals was only ever going to be average in quality due to Micheals back injury which would retire him for 5 years. But the important magic had already been done, thanks to Tyson’s involvement wrestling fans were talking about Wrestlemania 14 and Stone Cold was now their most famous wrestler out there. Most importantly WWE was cool again.
From WWE’s point of the view it was off to the races they went, which would prove to be the crucial difference between theirs and WCW’s approach to the ratings war, which would now change weekly. While the nWo gimmick had done so much for the company, WCW naively thought they could keep the same faces in the same spots, a situation which was growing tiresome to some Nitro fans and talents. Alternatively WWE were not just going to rely solely on the red hot popularity of Stone Cold Steve Austin. During the year of ‘the Austin era’ the Undertaker character was made even darker, HHH as the leader of DX was breaking out of the mid card zone, Mankind had become a huge fan favourite, Kane was red hot, the Big Show had just been hired, all new fresh main event players, something WCW pre nWo refused to do.
Then of course there was the Rock…
No one knew at the time but in truth this was nothing compared to just how popular Dwayne Johnson would become but during his heel run the fans saw magic through him every time he picked up the mic. He was so entertaining that he became impossible not to like and soon turned babyface. The only way to get the fans to give them the desired reaction was to turn him corporate and feud with Austin.
The fans love for Austin meant that they had really become emotionally involved in him being screwed out of the championship time and time again by Vince McMahon. So when the ‘Rattlesnake’ finally got his one on one shot with the Rock they were so in to it. Looking back it was probably the worse out of the three Wrestlemania matches they would turn out to have. But WWE were so hot back then and fans so eager to see Austin get his hands on the Rock that it was clear these two were the faces of WWE for as long as they wanted.
The amount of buys for this Mania reflected how hot WWE was again and how over the Stone Cold/Rock feud was but it didn’t reflect the quality on the night.
At this point creatively WWE were at their apex. Under orders from Vince McMahon Vince Russo was charged with the task of ensuring each member of the roster had some kind of storyline, it didn’t matter if you were HHH or D-Lo Brown. Competition was bringing the best out of WWE.
WWE were producing so many new stars that they didn’t even miss the injured Stone Cold Steve Austin (something which you wouldn’t of been able to say for the previous three years) All kinds of matches were created to get talent on the card, battle royals, triple threats, four way matches, six man tags, etc. (Sounds familiar)
Perhaps the match that best summed up the WWE’s fresh talent compared to WCW was the tag team triangular ladder match.
As Edge has said numerous times, himself, Christian, the Dudley Boyz and the Hardy Boyz were six men who in reality had the same mindset, to get noticed, to steal the show, to be remembered forever. WWE gave the six men the platform, it was theirs to take.
A lot had changed since the last ladder match to be witnessed at Wrestlemania. Unlike 1994 Ladder matches were apart of the norm in wrestling. Fans knew it would steal the show but Ladder matches came with expectations, this perhaps intensified due to it being the first ever triangle ladder match in WWE history. So with all that expectation from fans and pressure they were putting on themselves the six young men raised the bar and as Edge says maybe too high. (Edge credits many of his injuries to the ladder matches the tag teams would have). 
WWE were in a celebratory mood having just brought out their competition, WCW, weeks previously.
Like Wrestlemania 6 and 12 this was what a Wrestlemania main event should be, the best vs the best, a big match atmosphere. Unlike their meeting two years previous the Rock was now a babyface and in the time Austin had been away injured had become just as if not more famous then Austin. The two were so hot, it was a must see match. Not that the crowd would be split, Wrestlemaian 17 was held in Austin’s home state of Texas.
In a surprising move,Vince turned Austin heel in the main event, aligning the two bitter foes, McMahon had created another Wrestelmania moment that no one saw coming.
While the Austin heel turn in the long term wouldn’t catch on due to his popularity with the fans it at least showed why WWE had become so huge, anything could happen in the WWE again.
Vince had a street fight earlier in the show with his son Shane, impressive for two men who were not fully trained wrestlers (although Shane McMcMahon liked to think he was).
With tables and chairs added there was even more expectation on the shoulders of Edge and Christian, the Dudleyz and Hardyz who somehow bettered their last performance.
The Undertaker beat HHH in a match overshadowed by their two most recent encounters but at the time was considered a good match.
For many, this was WWE at the height of its success.
One of the big advantages of WWE buying out WCW was that suddenly WWE found themselves with fresh talent. WWE had the opportunity to give all wrestling fans dream matches that were never thought possible. While there are examples which suggest Vince McMahon’s ego never truly allowed WCW headline talent to prosper in WWE one man he did allow to come back and have a last run was Hollywood Hulk Hogan. WWE could promote the man who had been the face of WCW at their peak against the Rock, who at this point was as big a star as Stone Cold.
For reasons already mentioned, Vince McMahon was never going to allow WCW’s most famous creation the nWo to dominate in WWE but he was smart enough to know his audience. He knew that Wrestlemania brought out a hardcore audience who even with the Hulk being a heel would relish the chance to be nostalgic in the same arena he main evented with Warrior 12 years earlier. Wrestlemania 18 will always be remembered for the atmosphere during the Rock vs Hogan match, the fans never sat down and reacted to everything, even a side head lock. Never before had an atmosphere made a match, even if they stunk the joint out, the fans made this a classic.
No match in Wrestlemania history can rival the atmosphere of Rock vs Hogan, can Daniel Bryan change all that this Sunday?
