Wrestlemania 15- The Best?

[ShowTyme]

I know what you're thinking, "How could that be the greatest Wrestlemania?" But after digging out my Wrestlemania Anthology set last night I popped in 'Mania 15 and I was thrilled. Some may remember Mania 15 for a few things, Rock/Austin comes to mind. Or maybe even the worst Hell in a Cell in history when Undertaker defeated Big Bossman, then with the help of The Brood hung him above the ring with a noose. That still creeps me out seeing Bossmans body like that.

Hey maybe you remember it for Butterbean knocking out Bart Gunn. That was truely great.

But I remember it for changing the perspective of the then WWF forever. Let me do a little backstory. The DX was brought back 1 year prior to that with HHH as the new leader with Chyna, Xpac, and finally the New Age Outlaws joining him. As time got closer to Mania time, Chyna did the unthinkable and turned on DX to join the corperation, or more importantly the Big Red Machine Kane. (this is when Kane was awesome.) On an episode of RAW, Chyna held HHH for Kane to shoot a fireball at him, but the ol sneaky Trips ducks it and the fireball catches Chyna. Kane shows this form of sympathy that we had never seen from him before. Mania comes and its HHH vs Kane (before Katie Vick) and the match itself wasnt to shabby. But then Chyna comes out and its about to get interesting. Just when Kane is ready to finish off Triple H, Chyna turns her back on him, aiding Triple H and coming back home to DX. The crowd is going nuts as DX is back together.

Later in the night its another DX member XPac looking to gain the European Title from the bosses baby boy, Shane O Mac, Shane McMahon. Test came ringside with Shane, giving him an advantage. But late in the match HHH and Chyna come down to even the sides. XPac takes down Shane with his finisher and pins but Chyna was distracting the ref. Triple H comes in and shocks everyone, Pedigreeing Xpac then lying Shane O Mac on top of Xpac, giving him the victory.

The unthinkable just happened. Triple H just joined the corperation! The New Age Outlaws sprint to the ring to fight off the gang but there were too many of them. That is until the lights go out and Kane hits the ring, getting rid of the corperation.

So why is this so important? In that one night alone Chyna turned babyface again with DX by turning on Kane. Then just moments later she turns heel again alongside the leader of DX in Triple H. But due to what they did to Kane, he wants revenge and becomes basically a babyface at the same time. All of that within an hour. It was unbeleivable.

Not to mention it gave HHH his first crack at becoming a big time Heel. He wasnt HBKs sidekick anymore, and he ssure as hell wasnt the blue blooded guy that jobbed to Ultimate Warrior. And HHH stands today as one of the very best in the game. Some say its because he married into the company, but looking at this, its obvious his push was coming regardless, and it was on this whacky night, Wrestlemania 15.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

I will say that Mania 15 was darn good, but not because of Triple H and Chyna. It was good because it was the culmination of the greatest feud that I have ever witnessed in the WWF...Austin's quest to regain the title. I was about 13 or so when this went down, so I was hooked and really was buying in to the fact that McMahon really hated Austin and wanted to prevent him from getting the title ever again.

Other than that, nothing really stood out to me. I'm pretty partial to Mania XII because of the Iron Man Match. I thought it was a pretty sweet match...and it was just a good idea.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Wow, compelling argument, ShowTyme. I disagree, but man you presented it well.

I always felt a Wrestlemania should end feuds, not throw the entire wrestling world into a state of flux. People watch Wrestlemania for closure. We now look at WM15 as the stage of the greatest multiple turns in history, no doubt about it. But it was also confusing. I think a great deal of people had no idea how to feel after the event - almost lost.

Some of the wrestling was great, but truth be told, I didn't see it as the greatest of all time, probably not even top 3 with Wrestlemania 8, 18, and a few others.

 

[babyboy7828]

i would have to say 15 was good but wasnt the greatest.. 6 or 14 would get my vote.. hogan and warrior in 6 and stone cold and hbk in 14...thATS MY 1,2.

 

[JerryWWE]

I think Wm X-Seven is up there as well. The gimmick battle royal was hilarious, Angle vs. Benoit, H vs. Taker, Rock vs. Stone Cold. Even the lower card matches exceeded expectations.

 

[bambam]

Wrestlemania XII.... Roddy Piper vs. Goldust in the parking lot barwl, funny good match. First time seeing Austin as "The Ring Master". Ultimate Warrior vs. HHH, when I was young, seeing Warrior comeback was great! Taker vs. Diesel. I was a HUGE Taker fan so I loved it. And then 60 Min Iron Man Match! One of the greatest matches EVER!!!!! Michaels vs. Hart....Start of one of the Greatest Fued EVER!

WM15 was good, but not as good as 12.

 

[bigcity]

If you consider the best Wrestlemania the one with the best overall card, I give the nod the Wrestlemania X-8. This was the first 'Mania that included the former WCW and ECW stars from the "Invasion." The card feature Austin/Hall, Taker/Flair, Booker/Edge, Jazz/Lita/Trish (divas who all could wrestle, in a championship match!!!!!!), Kane/Angle, DDP was there, HHH/Jericho for the Title, and the most anticipated and electric match in 'Mania history Hogan/Rock.

Sidenote: I can't believe that the Rock and HHH never fought one on one for the Championship at WM?!? Wusup wit dat???

 

[DMan23]

I do not understand why the Hogan-Savage match at Wrestlemania V is so overlooked. It was a great main event with a great storyline. The match itself was intense and exciting. The undercard wasn't real memorable but you saw the debuts of Mr. Perfect, Owen Hart (Blue blazer), and Shawn Michaels. The wrestling style was different back then but it set the stage for everything and everyone that followed.

 

[knights11281984]

I honestly can not pick out one wrestlemania that i liked best. i liked parts of all the different wrestlemanias i mean i look at wrestlemania 6 and you have the two main stars of the early 90s in warrior and hogan battle it out. wrestlemania 12 you have the iron man match that set the stage for the greatest feud and hatred of all time in michaels and hart. wrestlemania 14 you have HBK's suppossed final match and yes he did come back but you can see the effort and heart shawn michaels has for the buisness he could have retired and handed the belt over to austin but he fought out the match. wrestlemania 15 of course austin rock that is a pinnacle of wrestlemanias the two stars of the late 90s that got us to where we are today. wrestlemania 19 we have austin's final match against the rock of course was awesome. wrestlemania 18 just rock hogan quite possibly the wo biggest wrestling stars of all time in a match of course the rock had to win but that was just amazing it didnt matter who won it was just amazing to see those two in a match. i wonder what would have happened if hogan was in his prime and could do more in the ring. wrestlemania 20 the benoit vs HHH vs HBK match was good thats all that needs to be said i mean just great to actually see benoit get the title, i wont talk about 22 or 23 but wrestlemania 21 probably my favorite mania match of all time HBK and Angle that was a great match and that really was the best ever match at a mania right up there with the iron man match and several others. but angle HBK was a great wrestling match with two great stars and that could have easily been and should have been a title match between the two of them at some point.

its just to hard to pick out one mania as the best but wrestlemania 15 was a great mania

 

[locky]

wm 8 always seems to get overlooked. piper vs hart was a fantastic match i think.all wm ovi stand out as better than the average show but id probably pinpoint 12 as the most entertaining and anticipted event at the time. interesting to know what ppl think is the worst mania of all time? id prob go with 11 or 16

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Intresting perspective. But I thought the show was pretty bad. It would have made an excellent Raw. Storylone wise it was great. But Wrestle Mania shouldn't be about storylines. It should be about the matches.

That perspective also depends on how you feel about D-X. D-X 1997 were good. But D-X 1999 were almost as bad as D-X 2006. In 1999 they were just a stable. They didn't do anything degenerates would do. And in 1999 my daughter would have stolen X-Pacs lunch money. He was portrayed as being very week.

The only match I felt was any good was Austin/Rock. And I wouldn't consider that a classic.

But that show gets an extra star for the Butterbean/Gunn match. Brilliant. Bring back the Brawl For All.

 

[Shocky]

WM 15 sucked in my opinion. I'm all for actually watching some wrestling at the biggest wrestling pay per view of the year, not watching McMahon and Foley cutting promos every 3 segments or so.

I remember watching that pay per view and feeling incredibly jibbed by it. The WWE hit a pretty bad string of pay per views in early 1999, and this was one of them. I've always felt WM 14 was very under looked as a great pay per view. Every one of the matches had at least 8 weeks of build up to it. Sure, they might not have been matches people wanted to watch on name value, but the WWE did a helluva job building up that entire pay per view.

 

[MattMoses]

Wrestlemania 15 was actually my first WWF experience, because at the time I was heavily into WCW, and didn't have the cable channel which WWF was shown on.

Personally, I wouldn't say it's the greatest Wrestlemania of all time, but it would probably be in my top 3, mainly because of the main event (Definately my favourite Rock/Austin match) and that it was my first exposure to the company, and I wore out my tape watching that PPV over, because when I was 11 years old, I found it all entertaining.

Looking back on it now, it isn't so good, but I still enjoy it largely due to the memories I have of it.

 

[viking407rob]

Wrestlemania 15...was that the "X-Raided" thing? I really don't remebmer that show as being really great or really horrible. My favorite of Classic WM is the venerable WM III featuring Hogan vs. Andre and Steamboat vs. Savage. I was very young them but can still remember the excitement of that event. My favorite modern WM (1995 to present) would have to be WM XX with the Benoit vs. HHH vs. Micheals main event. For my money, thats the best triple threat match of all time.

 

[MaLaKaS]

Wrestlemania XV was good, but not the best. I think some underrated WMs are V & VIII. Besides the Mega Powers exploding, the card featured the WM debuts of HBK, Blue Blazer (Owen Hart), and Mr. Perfect. You also had Jake the Snake vs. Andre, the Brainbusters, Demolition, etc. An amazing WM that often gets overlooked in my opinion.

By the way, did the WWE edit out the Benoit matches on the Wrestlemania Anthology set? I want to buy it...but not if they edited him out.

 

[BullVila]

I disagree that WM 15 was the best, WM 17 was hands down the best Wrestlemania of all time and arguable the best PPV of all time. It destroys WM 15 on several levels: talent, match quality, and overall storyline progression. Every match had a story and every story climaxed that night. It ended the greatest era in the history of wrestling with the most shocking ending ever, Austin joins McMahon.

 

[SpiralHands]

Certainly not the best Mania ever, however probaly in Top 10 maybe. Simply for the Austin and Rock that match was awesome and the whole McMahanon trying to stop Austin winning title, the HBK turn up and the bear bash at the end over Vince was just awesome. But my candidate for best Mania is 17.