31 Manias in 31 Days: Rewriting Wrestlemania XVII

[LODemolition]

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.

 

[Double S]

Maybe biased but wouldn't change a thing, the build to this and this show (as well as the fall out) remains my best memories of loving the wwf

 

[Aquaman6686]

The ending of WrestleMania 17 was brilliant and 100% the right way to go. The problem with it was that WWE chickened out and almost immediately turned Austin face again. Austin as a vicious, sadistic heel was such a welcome change of pace and made the storylines so much more interesting, for the blink of an eye that it lasted.

 

[Seosa]

I’m going to have to fantasy book here but screw it…

I’d keep the entire event (not the OP's version) the same but I’m going to change the Main Event to a double stoppage. The reason? Both Austin and Rock are destroyed by a debuting nWo, triggering the Invasion storyline in the way it should.

The match itself would remain mostly the same. Instead of Vince interfering however, it’d be Hogan, Hall & Nash, who would then destroy the already exhausted Austin & Rock leaving the officials no choice but to call a dead finish. The following night on Raw, in his absence, Rock is declared to be “on the shelf” so he can film Scorpion King as opposed to being “suspended”, with the WWF Championship being vacated. The Invasion storyline begins on the same night with Bischoff “being behind” the nWo’s attack at WrestleMania and Shane then bringing in genuine WCW talent like Booker, Sting, DDP, Goldberg, Flair, etc. as a means of “working with his Father” before the eventual heel turn with Shane’s WCW and Bischoff & the nWo uniting for a long haul, WWF vs WCW storyline that would conclude at WrestleMania 18.

All that may seem overkill but let’s be honest; the finish to WrestleMania 17 (despite the show itself being one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, of all time) set the tone for the rest of the year until Survivor Series. Obviously Vince’s hands were tied as to who he could bring in but the Austin heel turn post-Mania was botched and a variety of mitigating circumstances (Haitch & Benoit injuries, etc.) made Stephanie’s “creative” influence even worse.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

The greatest WWE card ever. Wouldn't change a thing

 

[Goldie]

This was a very good Wrestlemania... maybe even the best one ever.

I'd struggle to change the booking... except the suggestion of pairing Jericho with Eddie, and Regal with Malenko.

Iron Sheik HAD to win the gimmick battle royal however.... as he was incapable of taking a bump to the floor on elimination.

 

[MMK]

WWF Intercontinental & European Championship Scramble match
Kurt Angle/ Chris Benoit/ Chris Jericho/ Eddie Guerrero/ Dean Malenko/ William Regal
(6 of the greatest technical wrestlers of all time. Use the scramble match rules. Two men start, every 5 minutes a new wrestler enters. Once the time limit is up the man with the last pinfall wins both titles. Titles unified and Euro championship is retired.)

Too Cool & Rikishi vs RTC: Val, Bull & Godfather w.Richards & Ivory
(Stinkface for the prudes Stevie Richards and Ivory)

Kane & Big Show vs Test & Albert
(I like the pairing of Kane and Show, at least back in 2001 NOT 2015. And Im not sure why they ever broke up Test and Albert as neither had any real potential in an already crowded singles division)

[B]8 Man WWF Hardcore Championship
Raven/ Tazz/ Justin Credible/ Saturn/ Blackman/ Bradshaw/ Farooq/ X-Pac

Shane McMahon & Stephanie def. Mr. McMahon & Trish
(Mick Foley: special guest referee)
(Match is basically the same, still get the Shane spot where he files from post to post into Vince, but throw in Steph and Trish since they had a heated feud as well.)

Women's Championship:
Lita def Chyna
(Chhyna and Ivory could have concluded their feud at the Royal Rumble to make room for a new feud for Chyna with Lita in which Chyna passes the to Lita at Mania.)

Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match for World Tag Team Championship:
Edge & Christian def. the Dudleys and Hardy Boyz
(One of the most perfect matches ever. Wouldnt change a thing)

Gimmick Battle Royal:
Winner: The Iron Sheik
(Only thing I'd change is to add more great gimmicks from the past. Gotta get B.Brian Blair in their somehow)

Undertaker def. Triple H

WWF Championship Main Event:
Stone Cold def. The Rock
(Clean victory. No heel turn. Turning Austin heel in Texas was as stupid as it gets. Didnt work. Turning AUstin heel anywhere would have been stupid. Aligning Austin with the McMahons, be it Vince at this event, or Shane and Stephanie during the Invasion, was ridiculous. An answer to a question no one asked. And if youre going to turn him heel, just have him use a few chair shots on Rock. No need to involve McMahon.)

 

[Rocky84]

Wouldn't have changed very much except where the venue was held and the outcome of the main event.

I would've booked this thing Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara style and did it a year in advance with Rock winning... since he couldn't do it in Texas (Austin's backyard) I'd schedule it elsewhere.

Also would've probably taken Raven out of the hardcore match even though he did well ...I just didn't like it on paper at the time.

So yea...

-Hold the ppv in another city

-Have The Rock win vs Austin

-Take Raven out of the hardcore match

 

[Judah's Lion]

many consider this the best Mania of all time. it's hard to argue given some of the great matches we got here.

Vince vs. Shane in a Street Fight might be my winner for match of the night. just thought they told a great story and it was a multi-dimensional story that lasted for months. plus we'd never seen it before, as opposed to Rock/Austin and TLC 2.

there's honestly not much i'd change on this card... maybe some of the undercard matches. or have Sgt. Slaughter win the Gimmick Battle Royal, but that wouldn't really improve the overall card.

maybe Right to Censor vs. Too Cool instead of the odd pairing of APA/Tazz. give Steven Richards the Stink Face for a cool payoff moment.

Eddie Guerrero vs. X-Pac for the European Title would have been better than Eddie/Test in my opinion. they have some history going back to WCW that could be brought up too.

Hardcore Title: Raven vs. Saturn vs. Tazz. these guys have history from ECW and could have put on just as fun a match as the one we got. but probably with a better work-rate.

what about Big Show/Kane vs. APA vs. T&A in a battle of the big men? just let these six have a slugfest and pick your winners for this filler.

I also like the idea of Chyna winning the Women's Title at the Royal Rumble, finishing her feud with Ivory and then dropping the belt to Lita here, effectively passing the torch to who would become the face and future of the division.

hopefully it's not blasphemous, but i'd scrap Taker/Triple H for Taker/Foley. i'm sad that they never had a match at Mania and I prefer the matches Taker and Hunter had a decade later.

as for Hunter, i'd put him in a match with Billy Gunn. he had just returned from a storyline injury that was caused, or at least aggravated, by the Game. the feud is pretty easy to write, Billy Gunn was pretty hot at the time (listen to his reaction at the Rumble) and I think they would have a great match.

and just cuz I love gimmick matches at Mania, put Jericho/Regal inside a Steel Cage. they had this match on a different ppv, but move it here instead.

as it stands, Mania 17 kinda ended like Mania 16... Vince turned on the Rock, with a chair, costing him the World Title. doesn't mean as much as it could have. so i wouldn't have changed the match so much as i would have the ending. Austin wins clean in his home state as opposed to the ill-advised heel turn and alliance with McMahon.

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

Wouldn't change anything other than the finish. Stone Cold goes crazy on The Rock with the chair but without the help of Vince. Keep Austin as a babyface - but with more of a mean streak. Because let's face it, fans were never going to boo him. Have him feud with American Bad Ass Undertaker, Kane, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Triple H exactly the way he did - but without the McMahon/Triple H alliance. The Rock left right after WrestleMania, and it didn't make sense to turn Austin heel at this time. This would all lead to the rematch at SummerSlam or Unforgiven vs The Rock, where he wins the title back.