31 Manias in 31 Days: Rewriting Wrestlemania XVII
Today's installment of my "Rewriting WrestleMania" series brings us back to better times for the WWF, as it returned to a stadium for the first time since WrestleMania VIII, and hosted almost 68,000 fans. The main event was a can't miss: Rock/Austin II. Another sequel was the TLC II match for the tag team championships. WM17 was the easily the best even in the WWF's past 3 years, if not longer. But it still could have been much better in my opinion. I'll do my best to fix the card as usual. Here's the results.
April 1, 2001
Reliant AstroDome (Houston, TX)
Intercontinental Championship:
Chris Jericho def. William Regal to retain
Bradshaw, Faarooq & Tazz def. Right To Censor
Hardcore Championship Triple Threat Match:
Kane def. Big Show and Raven to become new champion
European Championship:
Eddie Guerrero def. Test to become new champion
Women's Championship:
Chyna def. Ivory to become new champion
Street Fight:
Shane McMahon def. Mr. McMahon (Mick Foley was special guest referee)
Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match for World Tag Team Championship:
Edge & Christian def. the Dudleys and Hardy Boyz to become new champions
Gimmick Battle Royal:
The Iron Sheik def. Brother Love, Bushwhackers, Jim Cornette, Doink, Duke "The Dumpster" Droese, Earthquake, Gobbledy Gooker, Goon, Michael Hayes, Hillbilly Jim, Kamala, Kim Chee, One Man Gang, Repo Man, Sergeant Slaughter, Tugboat and Nikolai Volkoff
Undertaker def. Triple H
WWE Championship Main Event:
Stone Cold def. The Rock to become new champion
*Rewriting WrestleMania XVIII*
1. Intercontinental Championship: Eddie Guerrero w/ The Radicalz def. Chris Jericho (c)
I think this could have been one of the greatest IC Title matches and opening WM matches of all-time. Guerrero was completely misused against Test for the European Title in my opinion, and so was Jericho with him going up against Regal. This would have been a classic, no doubt about it.
2. Hardcore Championship Invitational: Rhyno def. Raven (c), Tazz, Perry Saturn, Kane, and Big Show
I'm not too down on the triple threat that they had, I just thought if they were going to put Raven against 2 monsters, it would be completely unrealistic to believe he had a chance in hell of winning. So even the odds and put 3 other smaller guys in there to even the odds up. Rhyno wins with a gore off the stage to any of the 5 you want to pick.
3. Kurt Angle def. Chris Benoit
Keep this match just as it was.
4. Gimmick Battle Royal: Doink wins
Keep this nice and quick just like they did, only have Doink wins since the crowd actually gave him a pretty great reaction.
5. Tag Team Championship TLC Match: The Hardy Boyz def. The Dudleys (c) and Edge & Christian
I'd do everything the same except give The Hardys the win since E & C got the win at SummerSlam.
6. Shane McMahon def. Vince McMahon (with Mick Foley as referee)
This was a surprisingly entertaining match, with a great finish. Keep it as is.
7. Eurpean Championship: William Regal (c) def. Dean Malenko
I'd have Regal go into WM17 as the European Champ and defend against a guy who deserved a match in Malenko. Him being left off the card kind of bugged me honestly.
8. Undertaker def. Triple H
This is another match I really liked, and honestly thought Triple H was going to win when he hit Taker w/ the sledgehammer while being lifted up for the Last Ride. Perfect match.
9. WWF Women's Championship: Trish Stratus (c) def. Chyna
I thought Trish should have gone into Mania the Women's Champ instead of Ivory, who nobody cared about. I'd have her retain with dirty tactics here.
10. WWF Championship: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin def. The Rock
I'd have Austin win here, but not in the same way at all. The ending was defininitely a "WTF?" moment in WWF/E history. It made zero sense, and in no time at all, Austin and Vince were enemies again as Austin aligned himself with Shane and Stephanie and The Alliance. Austin turning heel at the height of his popularity was the wrong call.
Feel free to comment and/or post your rewritten WrestleMania XVIII.
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