31 Manias in 31 Days: Rewriting Wrestlemania XV

[LODemolition]

In the last WrestleMania before the millennium, the WWF was submerged in the Attitude Era, led by their new megastar "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. He would become the 5th man to main event back to back Manias (Hogan, Savage, Hart and Yokozuna). While they got the main event right, it felt like that might have been the only thing they got right. 12 matches were just too much and there were so many interweaving storylines that it was really tough to keep up with. Here's the results.


March 28, 1999
First Union Center (Philadelphia, PA)

Triple Threat Hardcore Championship Match:

Hardcore Holly def. Billy Gunn and Al Snow to become champion

World Tag Team Championship:

Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett w/ Debra def. Test & D-Lo Brown w/ Ivory to retain

Brawl 4 All:

Butterbean def. Bart Gunn by knockout

Referee Match:

Mankind def. Big Show by DQ to become referee for main event

Fatal Four Way Intercontinental Championship Match:

Road Dogg def. Ken Shamrock, Val Venis and Goldust w/ Blue Meanie and Ryan Shamrock to retain

Kane w/ Chyna def. Triple H by DQ

Women's Championship:

Sable def. Tori

European Championship:

Shane McMahon w/ Test def. X-Pac to retain

Hell in a Cell Match:

Undertaker w/ Paul Bearer def. Big Boss Man

WWE Championship Main Event:

Stone Cold def. The Rock to become champion


*Rewriting WrestleMania XV*


1. The Brood (Gangrel & Edge) w/ Christian def. The Hardy Boyz

I really thought The Brood should have been featured in WM15. They were one of my favorite factions in WWF/E history. Their entrance alone would've been epic. This could've been a great way to kickoff the show.

2. Big Show def. Kane

This was Big Show's first Mania. I'd put him over Kane here to give him the push he deserved at the time. I didn't understand having him in a match with Foley for the rights to ref the Rock/Austin match. Why should Show care about playing referee when he could take them both out on his own?

3. Hardcore Championship Triple Threat: Al Snow def. Hardocore Holly and Mankind(c)

I never liked the Road Dogg and Billy Gunn as singles stars. I thought the Outlaws should have been kept together and put in the tag title match, then the IC and Hardcore titles could have been between more deserving competitors. I'd put 3 of the most synonymous names with the hardcore division fight for it's title for the first time at a Wrestlemania here.

4. WWF Tag Team Championship Fatal 4-Way: The Acolytes (c) def. Legion of Doom, New Age Outlaws and Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett w/ Debra

I'd have Faarooq and Bradshaw walk into Mania as tag champs, and walk out the same. I didn't mind Owen and Jarrett as champs here, but I'd have liked The Acolytes that much better. Also, shame on WWF for not putting LOD in the title picture. They were in a 21-team battle royal at the start of the show. 21 teams? Can you say overkill?

5. Intercontinental Championship: Triple H (c) w/ Chyna def. X-Pac

Road Dogg had no business being IC Champ at WrestleMania. Not this one or any other. Triple H was on the cusp of being a main eventer and was in a nice feud with X-Pac. I'm not sure why they didn't go in this direction. Chyna would have interferred on Triple H's behalf and saved the title for him.

6. Hell in a Cell: The Undertaker w/ Paul Bearer def. Ken Shamrock

Shortly after WM15, they had Shamrock involved in a storyline with Taker where his sister Ryan Shamrock had been kidnapped by The Ministry. I would've moved this up to have happened leading up to Mania and have the payoff here. Taker's feud and match with Big Boss Man was one of the worst of his career.

7. WWF Women's Championship: Chyna def. Sable (c)

I'm not sure why Chyna wasn't in the Women's title picture at Mania. Tori was a very forgettable female talent and this match would've made far more sense.

8. WWF Championship No DQ: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin def. The Rock

As I said, this might have been the only match that they got right. This felt kind of like a 1 match event where the rest was just mass confusion. Austin and The Rock were plain as day the 2 biggest names in the company. It's just too bad the other 11 matches fell way short of a solid main event.


Feel free to comment and/or post your rewritten WrestleMania XV.

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

Regarding Triple H / X-Pac / New Age Outlaws... You may not remember the storyline building up to this.

RAW after the Royal Rumble, Triple H challenges the new champion The Rock to an I Quit Match.

During the match, Kane interferes and threatens to choke slam Chyna unless Triple H quits, which he does, to save his girlfriend.

Chyna then turns on Triple H, aligning herself with Kane and The Corporation.

That's what sets up the feud for WrestleMania between these two.

This is all Russo swerve shenanigans, and it got even worse at WMXV. Chyna turns again, but on Kane this time, aligning herself with back with Triple H and D-X.

There's some backstage promo about how D-X is all back together again.

Then during the Shane McMahon vs X-Pac match, Chyna turns AGAIN, but with Triple H this time as they both join the Corporation, screwing over X-Pac and D-X.

So Triple H and X-Pac weren't even feuding at this point. Hunter turned on X-Pac at the event... in a series of crazy Russo swerves that defined 1999.

To be honest, Kane vs Triple H was fine for where Triple H was at the time.
A few things I would have done to change this PPV though would have been to do more with Mankind and The Undertaker.

Probably I would have kept The Big Show vs Mankind, but scrapped the referee stipulation and created more of a bad blood feud inbetween these two. And I probably would have put The Undertaker, who was also feuding with Vince McMahon and The Corporation into the main event. Of course... this likely ends the streak, but at the time it was probably the right way to go. If not, some combination of The Undertaker, Mankind, The Big Show feuding together would have been better than the Hell In A Cell match and the "hanging".

 

[gmanversion1]

Shamrock went after taker when he kidnapped Steph, not Ryan

 

[sMark]

LODemolition, i like your card much better, than the real one.
WWE had ok roster at the time, yet they managed to make 2 most uninteresting Manias in a row (XV and 2000), it's hard to remember anything special happens here, The Rock vs Stone Cold is the only match on the card that deserve any attention at all, and even then it wasn't 5 star classic.

Right there WCW had their biggest chance to strike back if they could make a better PPV, and they really could.

 

[Dmbfantomas]

This is the card where we almost got Foley v Austin v Rock. That would have been a much better main event, because honestly for a few months...Foley was outdrawing and outselling both guys. He was the biggest star in the company (even if it wasn't for THAT long). That's why they kinda just inserted him into the main event as the guest ref, he was just WAY too big to leave out.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

For me this card should have featured a double main event with Rock challenging Mankind for the title and Austin and Vince having the final match in there feud. With respect to Rock and Mankind, they shouldn't have exchanged the titles as much as they did. Rock should have dropped it to Mankind then won it back at Mania. Vince and Austin was the biggest feud of 98 and should have culminated at Mania. Show should have been the reason Vince won at St. Valentine's Day Massacre to set up the rematch at Mania.

Outside of that, put Show in Bossmans spot against Taker with Vince using his new enforcer against his 2 biggest rivals at the time, keep trips v Kane and Shane v pac, and clean up the undercard to feature the proper guys in the proper matches competing for the titles they were meant to chase and I think this Mania could have been much better

 

[Double S]

Wwf tag team championship
Jarrett & hart vs new age outlaws
Exciting opener, had to play to their strengths in the biggest show rather than the outlaws singles experiment that wasn't working

Wwf hardcore championship
Al snow vs hardcore holly vs big boss man(c)
Good earky match, as its a bit trashy and a snow win would spark the crowd enough at this stage

Big show vs test
Replacing foley in the same situation as what happened, test was lost in the coorperation so fighting big show would be a nice preview of his year to come

Intercontinental championship
Godfather vs goldust(c) vs d'lo brown vs val Venis
The heel champion faces his 3 biggest fave challengers in a scramble to survive,

Triple h vs Kane
This was fine as it was booked, both upper Midcard and good enough story

The undertaker vs Ken shamrock
Besides Rock possibly the strongest corporation member, taker was in limbo here so in need of a nice win

Wwf European championship
Shane mcmahon(c) vs xpac
As booked, it ended dx and set up a new direction for h so ideal here. Decent calm before the storm of the double main event

Steel cage match:
Stone cold vs mr McMahon
Austin finally gets Vince without anyone able to interfere,

Wwf championship:
The rock (c) vs mankind
Up to royal rumble remains as it is, then they have no more matches until here, with the rumble ending oddly foley could wins an odds stacked against him to win the belt here

Only issue i have is that sable is such a big star she needs to be involved, but other than a multi diva match using Luna to anchor it Im a bit lost

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

I disagree with everybody saying that Austin vs McMahon should have been the main event of WrestleMania. It should not have. The entire catalyst for the Austin vs McMahon feud was the WWF World Championship. Austin wanted it, and knew he was good enough to get it. Vince wanted anyone but him to have it. Without the title, their feud doesn't exist. A lot of people seem to forget this fact.

The main event NEEDED to be Austin going for the title. And I think they could have easily made it a triple threat match as rumoured with Foley, but really - The Rock vs Foley feud had been drawn out at this point. I really don't think there was any value in stretching it to 'Mania. They had fought for the title at 3 consecutive PPV's (4 if you count the Survivor Series Finals). PLUS the Half Time Heat match PLUS another title match on RAW. That's 6 matches in a row for the title. The feud was OVER.

The Rock vs Austin in a singles match was the right call.

 

[Cub McCallister]

This could of been a decent WM 15 but it flopped with too many silly swerves and stupid bookings tbh, I'm liking some of the cards here and I would like to put my thoughts forward with what I think would be a strong card such as:

Sunday Night Heat
Public Enemy Vs The Acolytes Vs LOD 2000 Vs Too Much Vs Skull & 8-Ball Vs Prince Albert & Droz Vs Gillberg & 2 Cold Scorpio Vs The Headbangers.
Number 1 Contenders Tag Team Title 8 Team Battle Royal Match. Nice match to have on Sunday night heat with the Acolytes getting the victory and moving on to face the winners of the Tag Title match on raw.

Main Card
1) Big Bossman (C) Vs Hardcore Holly Vs Al Snow Vs Mideon
Fatal 4 Way Hardcore Title Match. Keep the title on going into Mania Bossman and add Mideon to the mix to give him something to do but have Bossman distracted and lose the title to Hardcore Holly and have our first title change of the evening.

2) Jeff Jarrett & Owen Hart (C) Vs New Age Outlaws Vs Hardy Boys Vs Edge & Christian 4 Corner Tag Team Titles Elimination Match. Add three more teams here and have the hardys eliminated fiorst and cost edge and christian the next elimination and have Jarret and Hart retain the titles.

3) Val Venis (C) Vs Goldust Vs Test Vs D'Lo Brown
Fatal 4 Way Intercontinental Title Match I would take out Shamrock & Road Doog and add Brown and Test into the match to keep it going and have Goldust pick up the victory here and win the title.

4) Mankind Vs Vince McMahon
Winner Becomes Referee in the Main Event Street Fight Match. I would like to see this instead of facing off against Big Show I'd have Mankind go over and then have Big Show make his debut and pummel Mankind after the match and put him through a table.

5) Kane Vs Triple HHH
Singles Match. Keep this as the same except have triple hhh go over cleanly.

6) Women's battle royal for the Womens Title
Women's Battle Royal Match. Keep the Womens title on the card put make it a battle royal match instead with Sable going over.

7) Shane McMahon (C) vs X-Pac
European Title Match. Stays the same.
keep this as the same just like at mania

8) Undertaker vs Ken shamrock
Hell in a Cell Match. I would of preferred this and Shamrock knows his way around the cell with Taker coming out the victor

9) The Rock vs Stone Cold Steve Austin
Mankind as the Special Guest Referee WWF Title Match. Keep this the same just like the ppvbut have Mankind become the Special Guest Referee half-way through the match and count the pinfall and give Austin the belt to end Mania.

That is my card which I think is stronger tbh, there are three 4 men matches which is a bit much but I think it could of been handled better.

 

[HBKperfect23]

20 man battle royal. Val Venis wins it for future IC shot.

HC title Roaddogg vs Holly vs Al Snow

Owen and Jeff vs lOD 2000

IC title Billy Gunn vs Ken shamrock. They had a decent feud and could have delivered a good IC title match.

Sable vs torrie for the women's title.

Triple H (w/ Chyna and Shane Mac) vs X-Pac. X-pac vs Shane is done at Febs SVDM and triple h costs Xpac the euro title there setting up triple h vs x-pac officially splitting DX. Triple h gets the win.

Big show vs Mankind. Referee main event Match.

Taker vs Bossman. I don't think it was AS bad as it gets credit for. Also there really isn't a viable opponent for taker without interfering with thr main event ref match.

Rock vs Austin. Exactly the same. Vince makes himself ref. HBK comes out with his own ref. I'd make the match more of a wrestling match without the hardcore stuff.

 

[MMK]

Several things wrong with this event:
Brawl for All should never have happened. Period.
New Age Outlaws should have still been teaming up.
Way too many midcard titles.


WRESTLEMANIA 15

15 Man Hardcore Championship Battle Royal
Hardcore Holly/ Mideon/ Viscera/ Steve Blackman/ Al Snow/ Faarooq/ Bradsaw/ Godfather/ Val Venis/ Goldust/ Blue Meanie/ Jeff Jarrett/ D-Lo/ Mark Henry/ Gangrel

WWF Tag Team Championship
The Brood: Edge & Christian w/Gangrel def The Hardy Boyz
(Brood should have been given a match on the card. Best entrance and theme in wwf history imo.)

8 Man Elimination Tag: D-Generation X vs The Corporation
Triple H, X-Pac, Billy Gunn & Roaddogg vs Shane O'Mac, Test, Ken Shamrock & Big Bossman
(Degeneration x vs The Corporation. Finish sees Hunter and Chyna betray DX and join the corporation)

Big Show def Kane
Big Show was booked poorly right out the gate. He looked like an idiot in his debut when he inadvertantly helped Austin def McMahon. Then he lost to Austin on a RAW no less, in his first big singles match. And finally he faced Foley in a nothing match at Mania for the right to be the referee in the main event. Vince is in charge, why would he risk Foley being the ref? Show simply should have debuted at The Royal RUmble. Eliminated a whole bunch of guys before finally being eliminated by Austin in the final 2. Then go on a nice winning streak leading up to Wrestlemania where he takes on another master of the chokeslam in Kane.

Mankind def Mr.McMahon
(Mankind wins the title on RAW in early January only to drop it back to the Rock at Rumble thanks to interference from Mr.McMahon. Foley brutalizes the man who robbed him of his dreams of main eventing Mania because he didnt fit the corporate mold of what a champion should look like.)

Undertaker def. Sting
(Sting had done everything there was to do in WCW. If I were him I would have left for WWF in 1999 along with The Giant and Chris Jericho. This would have been the perfect time. He had defeated the nWo and was being misused in WCW. Nothing left for him to accomplish there.
Have him debut in early 99 to take down The Undertaker's ministry.
Ministry Undertaker vs Crow Sting would have been epic. The buildup. The mind games. The video pacakages. The promos. Sting battling all the ministry members. Could have been everything it should have been. Taker still wins. Remains undefeated.

WWE Championship:
Stone Cold def. The Rock
Nothing to change here. Except I would have simply had Austin win the Rumble for an unprecedented 3rd time in a row. No convoluted St.Valentines Massacre match.