Wrestlemania 19: 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?

I first want to say that this is my favorite WrestleMania and IMO the greatest WM of all time. The only Mania without a single bad match. This was also the end of an era, it was Austin's last match, and this marked the end of the Rock as a full time performer. This was also Hogan's last WM match. As good as this Mania was it happened during a transitional time in the company. Every match on the card had some good build up. The atmosphere with the huge walkway and stadium made the show feel epic as well.

I enjoyed every match on the card but if I had to pick a least favorite I'd say the triple threat women's match.

My favorite match was Brock Lesner vs Kurt Angle. This was the match everybody wanted to see and this was built up since Brock's arrival on Smackdown! In August 2002. The WWE should watch tapes of the build to this match so they can be reminded of how they used to build matches. They started as friendly rivals then Angle turned on Lesner and formed an alliance with Heyman who was Brock's former agent. There were rumors of Angle dropping the belt to Brock early since he had a bad neck. These two delivered a WM worthy main event match. It sucks that the SSP failed, it would've been great had he pulled it off.

As guys like Austin, Rock and Hogan were on their way out, on this night Brock was cemented as the face of the company.

The only changes I'd make would be to scrap the cat fight and have the World Tag Title match on the show. Kane/RVD and the Dudley's deserved it. Another change would be to have Taker face Big Show one on one. Taker and Show fought the previous month at No Way Out. That always annoyed me they should've saved it for Mania.

The last change is the biggest one of them all and that's Booker going over Triple H. With the tasteless storyline they ran the only logical conclusion was Booker winning the title and proving HHH wrong. Instead HHH treated Booker like shit and a joke and then went to WM and proved that Booker was everything he said he was. Booker needed that win it would've created a nice WM moment but instead the WWE pissed it away.

 

[thebarber]

after Steiner feuded with HHH, I thought he could have been placed into a mini feud with Undertaker. Have the entire fued based on respect. Steiner was buried by HHH, have him go after the other big dog in the company at Wrestlemania 19 would have worked much better than leaving Steiner off the card altogether.

 

[Cub McCallister]

It's quite hard to re-book this mania because the majority of the card was really good tbh. But I my changes would of been:

Sunday Night Heat
Rhino Vs Sean O’Haire

Main Card
1) Matt Hardy (C) Vs Rey Mysterio Vs Billy Kidman
WWE Cruiserweight Championship

2) Team Angle (C) Vs Los Guerreros Vs Chris Benoit & Edge
Triple Threat Tag Team Title Match

3) Undertaker Vs Big Show
#1 Contenders Match for the WWE Title

4) Lance Storm & Christian (C) Vs Kane & Rob Van Dam Vs Dudley Boyz
Triple Threat Tag Team Title Match

5) Victoria (C) Vs Trish Stratus
Womens Title Match

6) Shawn Michaels Vs Chris Jericho
Stays the same

7) Triple H (c) (with Ric Flair) Vs Booker T

 

[Cub McCallister]

It's quite hard to re-book this mania because the majority of the card was really good tbh. But I my changes would of been:

Sunday Night Heat
Rhino Vs Sean O’Haire

Main Card
1) Matt Hardy (C) Vs Rey Mysterio Vs Billy Kidman
WWE Cruiserweight Championship

2) Team Angle (C) Vs Los Guerreros Vs Chris Benoit & Edge
Triple Threat Tag Team Title Match

3) Undertaker Vs Big Show
#1 Contenders Match for the WWE Title

4) Lance Storm & Christian (C) Vs Kane & Rob Van Dam Vs Dudley Boyz
Triple Threat Tag Team Title Match

5) Victoria (C) Vs Trish Stratus
Womens Title Match

6) Shawn Michaels Vs Chris Jericho
Stays the same

7) Triple H (c) (with Ric Flair) Vs Booker T
World Title Match (Stays the same)

8) Hulk Hogan Vs Vince McMahon
Street Fight (Stays the same)

9) The Rock Vs Stone Cold Steve Austin
Stays the same

10) Kurt Angle (C) Vs Brock Lesner
WWE Title Match Stays the same

Not much of a change tbh but I feel the matches I did change would of been a lot better, I couldn't find a place for Steiner on the card and I put A-Train vs O'Haire on heat as I wanted to push O'Haire as a monster heel in the coming months feel free to to give your opinion's.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

Very good Wrestlemania. Easily in my top 5 (in fact my top 4).

There's actually very little I would change. Steiner wasn't on the card because his two ppv matches v Triple H were dull as dishwater. As good a wrestler Triple H was, I was bored of him main eventing at this point, he was literally just going over ex-WCW wrestlers for a period. His match at WM19 was for me the most disappointing on the card - didn't he wait about 20 seconds after hitting the Pedigree before covering Booker T? Completely burying Booker, I'm so glad the WWE Title match closed the show instead of this one.

My favourite match was Shawn Michaels v Chris Jericho - Michaels' best match since his return and he never looked back, every WM match he had since was a classic. Nice post-match as well, Jericho showing Michaels genuine respect, before reminding everyone that he's a dastardly heel!

Not quite as good as WM17 or 24, in my opinion, but definitely one of the best.

 

[LODemolition]

Where were Edge and Christian left off this card? Injuries?

 

[Aquaman6686]

Where were Edge and Christian left off this card? Injuries?

Edge had a broken neck and missed over a year of action. Christian had no meaningful storylines at the time, he wasn't booked on 3 straight PPVs. It worked out for him in the long run, since his next big storyline saw him win the Intercontinental Championship and transition into the "new" Christian (short hair and the "C" tights).

One thing I want to address about WM19 is, I never understood and still do not understand the absolute hatred the Triple H vs. Booker T match gets. Booker T wasn't buried at all, he went 30 minutes with Triple H and lost due to outside interference. It was also one of the best matches of either men's careers in my book, and I also think it came very close to stealing the show that night. I just don't get why people hate this match so much.

 

[Zycho32]

One thing I want to address about WM19 is, I never understood and still do not understand the absolute hatred the Triple H vs. Booker T match gets. Booker T wasn't buried at all, he went 30 minutes with Triple H and lost due to outside interference. It was also one of the best matches of either men's careers in my book, and I also think it came very close to stealing the show that night. I just don't get why people hate this match so much.

Here are the reasons;

1. This match co-incided with the most reviled period of HHH's career during '03 and '04, where he effectively dominated Raw all the way up to Batista's betrayal, seemingly having a John Cena-like success ratio.
2. The promos leading up to the match make people presume racism and backstage politicks at worst with HHH, who many saw as burying Booker by taking the utter piss out of his mojo. The comments about Booker not being the 'right' kind of champion, either as a former criminal, or as being black, were one hell of a smark beacon.
3. Most disagree with your opinion of the match itself, which can be summed up like this; take a typical Super Cena matchup and stretch it out as only HHH can. Mind you, that's the smark mindset, and the fact it's the champion beating an underdog is fuel enough for their fire.
4. HHH is often disliked as it is for his relationship to the McMahons and his involvement in Creative/Business, which in turn sparks the belief that HHH was totally in control of how he booked himself and was basically the Darth Vader of backstage.

The funny thing is this match was a last-minute replacement. Rock/Stone Cold III was plan B. Plan A was Rock/Goldberg and Stone Cold/HHH. But they couldn't get a contract signed with Goldberg in time, and that's just what happened. So there wasn't much time for any real build-up, which meant cheap heat had to be applied, hence HHH's promos. And it probably meant a greater deal of improvisation than you normally want in a Championship match, hence how the match was conducted.

Another thing about Booker T is this; even with the loss, the few months he spent in the Title picture were still a push by normal standards as opposed to Smark standards. Sincerely, most people gauge Booker's ceiling based upon his time as WCW Champion, once the old guys broke down and the best young guns left and the company was dead weight for about two years. Up until that point he was a former tag teamer turned Upper/Middle Card talent. And given how fucked up WCW was, giving him the belt from time to time did nothing to boost him. And for WM 19, that made him a viable replacement in a pinch. But there was never a serious thought of putting him over HHH, or even thinking he would be more over than HHH was.

 

[MMA Mark]

8-man Interpromotional Tournament for a world title shot. Semifinals are placed on Sunday Night Heat, with the finals on the main card. RVD>Flair, Kane>Storm to make Kane vs RVD for RAW's semifinal. Taker>A-Train, Show>Benoit to make Taker vs Show for SD's semifinal. Throw in Benoit vs Storm for an alternate match to start it off, make Sunday Night Heat a 2-hour show.

RVD beats Kane, Taker beats Show and Taker beats RVD in the finals.

Team Angle(c) vs Dudley Boys(c) vs Hardy Boys vs Los Guerreros
Reunite the Hardys, they replace Benoit and Rhyno in the match. Dudley Boys are told there isn't room for them on the card by RAW GM, they invade SD and get added to make it a Fatal 4 Way. Team Angle retains.

Cruiserweight Championship Gauntlet match, Mysterio wins the title.

Every other match is fine, except Booker T wins the title.


Sunday Night Heat:

Benoit>Storm - Tournament Alternate Match

RVD>Kane - Tournament Semifinal Match

Taker>Show - Tournament Semifinal Match

Main Card:

Rey Mysterio wins Cruiserweight Championship Gauntlet Match

Team Angle>Dudley Boys, Hardy Boys, Los Guerreros to win WWE Tag Team Titles

Trish>Victoria, Jazz for Women's Title

HBK>Jericho

Taker>RVD - Tournament Finals

Booker T>HHH to win the World Heavyweight Title

Hogan>McMahon

Rock>Austin

Lesnar>Angle to win the WWE Title

 

[klunderbunker]

I liked this more than I remembered liking it but there are still some problems here. The biggest is one I've touched on several times over the years: they didn't pace it out right. They needed to throw something in there near the end to give the fans a chance to breathe. Also, having LEsnar vs. Angle go on last didn't work. It's a good match, but there were bigger matches on the card that could have closed it. Austin vs. Rock would be at the top of that list, but there were some issues that kept that from happening. Still though, it's a very well done show.