Wrestlemania 18: A Retrospective Look

[Mac]

What was your favorite match on this show, and why did you like it the most? What about the worst match of this show, why did you like it the least?

My favorite match was Taker/Flair, great buildup and on a side note Takers 2002 heel work was awesome. This was a dream match of sorts and they delivered and told a great story in the ring.

Least favorite match was the hardcore match, Goldust was always one of my favorites. I felt this was a waste of a match for him. They could've had this on the pre show.

The WWE had a deep roster at this point and how they managed to botch this show was ridiculous. These are the changes I would make.

WWF Championship Match- The Rock vs Triple H

I would've had the Rock win the undisputed title, HHH then returns and wins the Rumble. You can begin to build the match from there. Also this is make up for the WM 2000 debacle.

Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Hulk Hogan
The WWE botched things up by not having this match. And considering that Rock fought Hogan at NWO 2003 a year later they could've done that at WM 19. Hogan/Austin needed to happen and they dropped the ball.

Women's Championship Match- Lita vs Trish Stratus
They never had a one on one match at a Mania. This is the Rock/Austin of the women's division and they should've had a Mania match. And yeah Trish goes over here.

Grudge Match- Kurt Angle vs Chris Jericho
They were allies around this time, I would have Kurt turn on Jericho at some point and you can build the feud from there.

Undertaker vs Ric Flair
This match stays as is.

Intercontinental Championship Match- RVD(c) vs Booker T vs Kane
I was never a Regal fan so screw him. This is a better match for everybody involved Booker isn't apart of that awful shampoo feud with Edge. RVD and Kane gets a better WM match than what they were actually involved in.

European Championship Match- Edge vs Christian
They were building tension between these two but they blew it off too soon. They should've built it up some more leading to a match at this Mania and considering that this is their hometown it would've made this even that much better. Once again this would've been better than what they were actually involved in at this show.

WWF Tag Team Title Gauntlet Match- Dudley's vs Hardy's vs Billy & Chuck vs APA vs Tazz/Spike vs Lance Storm/Test vs Rikishi/Scotty 2 Hotty vs Hall and Nash
This is a way to get some deserving guys on the card and it gives Hall and Nash something to do and they go over here to win the belts and further the NWO angle.

 

[Angel1994]

Wrestlemania 18 definitely had a great line up of matches but there definitely were spots we know we didn't agree with that were on the card, So if I could've made the card for the middle up to the main event this is what it would've consisted of

Icon Vs. Icon
The Rock Vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan
nothing really you need to change about this match but definitely would've made this the main event of the night cause it really just stole the show at Wrestlemania

WWE Undisputed Championship Match
Triple H Vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin (Champion)
Now this definitely should've been a match no disrespect to jericho but this would've been a hell of a match if Austin won the title at No Way Out and would've been a great way to really end the Austin Vs HHH feud from 2001.

Brothers Of Destruction Vs. The Outsiders
I really don't think this would need an introduction it'd be two teams that dominated scenes in both wcw and wwe (separately)

I would've gone into more but I didn't want to drag it out but that's the jest of how the card should've turned out

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Regarding the Undisputed Title match I think we forgot one elephant in the room. Triple H in ring performance was pretty bad at this point. Sure it was mostly because of his injury but he would produce a string of underwhelming matches for over a year. Sure he had some great ones with Shawn Michaels but that was more to the exception than the rule. What I am thinking is that no matter who you put him with if it was Austin or Jericho, the match would probably have turned out a disappointment.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

This is a tough one because while I would re-book the event, judging by how things shaked down it might not have been possible. Most have heard about Austin not wanting the Hogan match. If that's the case than I doubt he would have wanted to put Hunter over either. Also I don't think Nash was available for this show due to injury. With those factors in mind the card we got was probably the best we could have expected. But If I could re-book the event with the talent willing to go along with it and Nash being healthy my main event scene would look like this:

WWE Title Match:

Austin (c) vs Triple H

Icon vs Icon Match:

The Rock vs Hulk Hogan

Chris Jericho vs Kurt Angle

Add The Outsiders to the tag title match

As for the event myself, my favorite match was Hogan/Rock. The fans alone made the match. The excitement throughout the match was incredible and the face turn for Hogan after the match was the right call as it gave us the last meaningful face run for Hogan.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Overall I was a fan of Wrestlemania 18 and Hogan vs. Rock is one of my top 3 favorite matches of all time. With that said there were quite a few things that could have been changed.

I think Austin vs. HHH for the Title should have been the main event. I heard the reason they didn't go with that is they were committed to making Jericho a main eventer which is cool and all but it didn't feel like the right match for either guy. Back when HHH tore his quad they were flirting with him and Austin starting up their feud with Austin calling HHH the weak link of their alliance (although Austin was face again) but even so it would have made all the sense in the world for them to face off at Wrestlemania 18, the feud and their past writes the feud for them. If they were that committed to Jericho that's fine, keep him in the title match but don't put it on last, the WWE should have been smart enough to figure out Rock vs. Hogan was the real main event and should have closed the show, I remember watching this live vividly and I was exhausted after Rock/Hogan, I didn't even care that much for the rest of the matches to be perfectly honest. In a perfect world however the Invasion storyline would have been written much better and Wrestlemania 18 would have been WAY different based on that but I'm unwilling to rebook a year of WWE TV to make a Wrestlemania card that made sense.

Match I would have kept would have been Flair vs. Taker and RVD taking the IC title, the rest of the card would have gotten a complete overhaul. Things I would have done is:

- Kane vs. Scott Hall w/ Scott Hall winning. Hall getting owned by Austin a month into the nWo invasion didn't help anything and anyone, regardless of the whole thing being dropped quickly the invasion never had much a chance to be interesting. We got Rock vs. Hogan out of it but it could have been so much better. Hall getting a victory over someone like Kane keeps the nWo strong without having top stars losing on your big show.

- Kurt Angle vs. Chris Jericho - since Jericho wouldn't be in the title match give him 20 minutes with Kurt and give him the match of the night and have him win. That would have raised his stock while still giving the fans Austin vs. HHH.

- Edge vs. Christian - why not? Both from Toronto (Christian still comes out saying from Tampa, Florida) they still had a feud of sorts going on and would have worked well.

- Booker T vs. Goldust - for the sole reason of segwaying the 2 into a tag team together.

- <insert 4-5 lower to midcard matches here>.

Last thing I would do is during the Hardcore title segment throughout the show I would have had Lesnar debut and win the title within the 1st 5 minutes of the show, throughout the show numerous people come and try to take it from him and one by one Brock destroys them all. Since the Hardcore title was gone within a few months anyways it would have been a good way to get Lesnar over as a monster and during every match he never uses a weapon, his opponent does but it never matters as Lesnar kills them anyways. They did good by Lesnar anyways but its another way to go. I would also give Booker a solid match although I don't know who at this point.

That's what I would have done at least.

 

[jsnsince89]

What was your favorite match on this show, and why did you like it the most? What about the worst match of this show, why did you like it the least?

If you could change a few things about Wrestlemania 18, what would it be and why?

A) Like the majority vote says... The Rock v 'Hollywood' Hulk Hogan was a special match and and my most enjoyable of 18. I liked the rare fan power back then in how they helped turn Hogan face. (I'm assuming that wasn't the reaction they expected and didn't plan to turn Hogan 'Red & Yellow' so soon afterwards?!)

If someone pop quizzed me on the WM18 Matchcard, I would have forgotten Maven v Goldust for the Hardcore Championship.

B) In regards to changing anything, I actually didn't like much of the booking decisions around the early part of 02' so probably best discussed for a separate thread.
As for the PPV, I don't want to contradict myself too much considering I just said it was my favourite of the night, but actually I would have had Austin v Hogan as my 'Icon v Icon' match. I know in various interviews; particularly Jim Ross's very first Podcast, Austin has said he didn't like the idea of doing a programme with Hogan as they were very "stiff, solid" wrestlers which he feels, wouldn't have worked in the ring. I think in terms of match quality, Rock v Hogan worked very well as Rock, at the time, was a very good carrier of matches. It's fair to say he has always been a more agile in ring performer than Austin but just from the fact that both Austin & Hogan were two of the companies greatest ever superstars & also standouts of the Monday Night Wars, this match would have been just as epic as Rock v Hogan.

 

[FlairFan2003]

These Wrestlemanias are starting to get a lot more vivid.

The biggest thing I remember about this Wrestlemania was how under-hyped the rest of the card was due to Rock vs Hogan being part of the show. The Undertaker beat up David Flair, so Ric succumbed and decided to fight Undertaker against his better judgement. HHH was at his peak in my opinion, so they really didn't have to hype his title match. It still would have been nice to see some memorable heel shenanigans from Chris Jericho so he wouldn't be completely buried by the loss.

Best match for me was HHH vs Jericho. You had Jericho at his finest giving the fans the story book saga of HHH's comeback, and you had a babyface win the belt at Wrestlemania. It had all the makings of what the fans came to see and it didn't seem dissappoint anyone, I remember enjoying it.

Worst match for me was an obvious choice, Maven vs Goldust in a hardcore match that ended in a no contest. I won't elaborate further, because I shouldn't have too. Anyone with half a brain that can read and comprehend at a third grade level shouldn't have any question as to why that match was probably garbage. The main point I'm trying to make is, they shouldn't have filler for a Wrestlemania. Every match should have a story behind it, they didn't even try to hype DDP vs Christian or the tag team turmoil match with anything dramatic. The lack of proper hype for most of these matches almost made picking the Maven match as the worst a difficult choice.

It's extremely easy to re-book this event knowing what we know today.

First off, I would have had Hogan go over Rock. I know that back then there was criticism regarding someone like Hogan coming through and beating top names, but I think a win over Rock should have been his shining moment. Hogan would have beaten Rock with his classic antics, Rock admits that he took him lightly and needs to find himself. I really don't know what the political situation was back then, so I don't know if Undertaker absolutely HAD to get the belt at a certain point. I would have had HHH carry the belt(s) for a longer period of time and lose it/them to Hogan only to have Rock defeat Hogan for the belt at WM19. I plan this out long term because, from my perspective, they were playing hot potato with that/those belt(s) and I prefer to give an over champion an extended reign.

Undertaker vs Flair. I would have left this on the card, but I honestly HATE the American Badass gimmick. It never clicked with me, it looked like a jingoistic biker shill parade. Undertaker started talking in ebonics to impress his BSK buddies, and he was used for the most cheesy story lines. The Un-Americans are going to burn the US Flag?! Not on The Undertaker AKA The American Badass' watch! There was also that song by Limp Bizkit that I honestly fucking hated, if you want to be taken seriously as a badass don't make anything by Limp Bizkit your theme music. Undertaker was barely over as a heel, so of course he utilized heel tactics of just being a depraved loser to coerce Flair into fighting him. The match was a back and forth set of predictable spots that could have happened at any house show, not that I have anything against house shows. I would have pushed Flair as a heel as well. Flair, for some fucked up reason, was playing the role of a noble athlete who wouldn't sully his good name with a match against an arrogant brute like The Undertaker. I would have had Flair cost Undertaker a match with a low blow or have Flair crush Undertaker's bike into a cube. It would have been Flair showing Undertaker that nobody is a more dirty player than the dirtiest player in the game. I think fans would have loved to see Flair resorting to heel tactics and Undertaker being outsmarted by him. When the two meet, it's a clash of the biggest heels on the roster and is hyped as such.
.

First, Hogan was the key to the NWO return, the leader of the faction that was portrayed as having destroyed WCW. Hogan winning that match with Rock would be like Vince McMahon saying WCW was better than WWE, having the top guy from the biggest storyline in WCW beat WWE's top star, biggest attraction, the symbol of The WWE's rise back to #1. Unless you take Hogan out of the NWO equation having the heel symbol of WCW's success cleanly beating The Rock at WrestleMania would have been like having "The Real World's Champion" Ric Flair cleanly pin "The Real American" Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 8. Seems like an interesting scenario but not one Vince McMahon would go with, not when it makes his greatest success look weak against his opposition's greatest success.

As for making Flair heel vs Taker, what would the motivation be for a retired GM to attack a keep to his self loner like Taker ? The original set up with Flair as the "underdog face" made more sense given how their characters had been presented leading into WM. Remember Taker was feuding with a fan fav Rock & Flair was the main opposition for the evil Mr McMahon character. As for Flair "acting like a heel" he did cost Taker a match (vs Rock, the whole catalyst for the feud) & he did sneak attack Taker on SmackDown, busting up his motorcycle and beating him up with an exhaust pipe.

 

[TheT]

I can't get over the fact that Triple H booked himself in the mainevent.

That was insane.

People was exhausted after Hogan vs Rock, they screamed and jumped and it was incredbile. It should have been the mainevent.

It was so silent and dead when Triple H met Jericho.

 

[klunderbunker]

Does anyone remember anything here other than Hogan vs. Rock? The show just isn't that memorable otherwise and it's a sharp drop after the amazing event the previous year. HHH winning the title is perfectly fine here and there really wasn't any other option. Hogan Hulk Up is still a great spot though and the fans completely forgive him for everything he did, which is one of those moments you can't create no matter how hard you try.