Blu-ray Release Date: Tuesday, 3/15/2011
The second disc of The True Story of WrestleMania is mostly matches, but a few bonus videos are added at the end to round it out.
~Disc 2 Match Results and Star Ratings (Running time – 02:42:56)~
- WrestleMania XIV, 3/29/1998: Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated WWF Champion Shawn Michaels at 20:02 to win the title. ***¼
- WrestleMania 2000, 4/2/2000: Edge & Christian defeated The Hardy Boyz and WWF Tag Team Champions The Dudley Boyz in a Triangle Ladder Match to win the titles at 23:30. ****
- WrestleMania X-Seven, 4/1/2001: Shane McMahon defeated McMahon at 14:11 in a Street Fight. ****
- WrestleMania X8, 3/17/2002: The Rock defeated Hollywood Hulk Hogan at 16:24. ****
- WrestleMania XIX, 3/30/2003: Brock Lesnar defeated WWE Champion Kurt Angle to win the title at 21:07. ****¼
- WrestleMania 22, 4/2/2006: WWE Champion John Cena defeated Triple H at 22:11 to retain the title. ***¾
JZ Says
The main event of WrestleMania XIV was the biggest foregone conclusion in the history of foregone conclusions. But it still was the right guy at the right time, and it kicked off an enormous boom period for the company, so the match must be viewed as a success. For the actual match, it was pretty good considering Michaels was in such terrible shape. Their match at King of the Ring 1997 was better.
Putting three teams out there for a ladder match was a novel idea in 2000, and I remember being more hype for the Hardys/Dudleys/Edge & Christian match than any other match at this show. I’d say they delivered, a crazy spot-fest with the right team going over. They would go on to do even crazier matches in later years, but this one holds up too.
Father vs Son – Shane McMahon vs Vince McMahon, is one of the best examples of wildly entertaining trash wrestling from the Attitude Era. The match not only featured Vince and Shane, but Mick Foley as the referee, plus Linda McMahon, Trish Stratus, and Stephanie McMahon in various roles. Everybody got their revenge on Vince, Shane got the win, and everyone was happy.
It’s been reviewed to death, so there’s not much more I can say about Hogan vs Rock from WrestleMania X8. I will say that when my now-wife and I were early in our relationship, I picked three matches to show her how much fun wrestling can be, and this was one of them. I’ve seen it dozens of times and I still enjoy it.
With Hogan vs Vince and Austin vs Rock on the card, I was surprised to see Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar going on last at WrestleMania XIX. This was the best wrestling over spectacle main event match since the Iron Man match, and I really liked it. Of course, Lesnar missing the Shooting Star Press is what makes this one memorable – but imagine if he had hit it?!
John Cena was a year into his title reign (minus a few weeks in January when he dropped the title to Edge and quickly won it back) when he had his first Mania main event. Triple H had to beat Rob Van Dam and Big Show in a triple threat match to get the title shot. The crowd was heavily booing Cena, but he won anyway. Beating HHH by submission certainly helped Cena’s credibility as Champion. This will also go down as the last arena main event.
~Special Feature Match Results and Star Ratings~
- WrestleMania XXIV, 3/30/2008: CM Punk defeated Shelton Benjamin, Chris Jericho, Carlito, MVP, Kennedy, and John Morrison in a Money in the Bank Ladder Match at 13:58. ***¾
- WrestleMania XXV, 4/5/2009: The Undertaker defeated Shawn Michaels at 30:42. *****
- WrestleMania XXVI, 3/28/2010: John Cena defeated WWE Champion Batista to win the title at 13:30. ***¾
JZ Says
Money in the Bank was only three years old when WWE brought it to Orlando for WrestleMania XXIV. Seven guys went out and did crazy spots, with Shelton Benjamin doing the craziest, as usual. CM Punk ended up on top here, which is the only memorable thing about the match. It was fun while it lasted though.
I believe Shawn Michaels v Undertaker from WrestleMania 25 is the best wrestling match of all-time.
John Cena and Batista are the two biggest stars of their era, and both have gone on to some level of success in Hollywood, and in very different ways. I always thought they had great chemistry, and the kind of styles built for a big stadium match. This one isn’t an all-timer, and was certainly eclipsed by the main event, but it’s a good hoss fight.
The disc closes with a handful of additional interviews or deleted scenes. Nothing insane to see here, but some good inclusions.