The Mania of Wrestlemania (WWE - Wrestlemania XX (DVD))

Member Name: martyfarty69

Product:	WWE - Wrestlemania XX (DVD)
Date:	06/11/09 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Average event itself, elevated by some emotional moments, but the Mania Documentary is the true High

Disadvantages: Some terrible matches that are not worthy of the biggest PPV of the calender

Wrestlemania XX was the 20th annual PPV Wrestlemania and took place on March 14th 2004 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, this was a huge event for the WWE as it recognised Wrestlemania hitting its 20th anniversary.

The Event: ( Warning, Contains Spoilers )
WWE United States Championship
The Big Show ( C ) vs John Cena
Not a bad opening match considering the limitations of each man, Big Show is a monster with Limited wrestling skills and John Cena...just has limited wrestling skills, however a good story was told here with the David vs Goliath angle played out very well indeed, the match had the predicable outcome of Cena winning the strap after the impressive feat of lifting up Big Show into an FU and slamming him to the mat
5/10

WWE World Tag Team Championship
Fatal Four Way
La Resistance vs Booker T & Rob Van Dam ( C ) vs Garrison Cade & Mark Jindrak vs The Dudley Boyz
Pretty poor match with quite alot of botched moves with no-one seeming to gel in this match at all, after some predictable spots the champions retain their belts in a match that no-one will remember after the event
2/10

Christian vs Chris Jericho
This was always going to be a solid contest with either man showing their impressive skills in the ring, a good story was told during this match with the nice twist towards the end that saw Trish Stratus turning heel
7/10

The Rock and Sock Connection ( Mick Foley & The Rock ) vs Evolution ( Ric Flair, Randy Orton and Batista
To Date this remains the Rock's last match ( and hopefully won't be his last match ever..I miss the great one ) and actually is a better match than I was expecting, particularly due to the chemistry between Ric Flair and the Rock, Rock did most of the work in this match with Foley landing some Cactus Jack moves, and I was genuinely surprised to see the Rock and Foley on the losing end of this match, shows why The Rock will go down as one of the best ever !!
7/10

Playboy Evening Gown Match
Sable & Torrie Wilson vs Stacy Kiebler and Miss Jackie.
Truly awful and was a complete waste of time
0/10

WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Ultimo Dragon vs Shannon Moore vs Jamie Noble vs Nunzio vs Funaki vs Billy Kidman vs Rey Mysterio vs Tajiri vs Akio vs Chavo Guerrero ( C )
This kind of match is always going to be filled with High Spots but very little in terms of story telling, and as such besides the occasional impressive ( And insane ) cruiserweight move, this does nothing to satisfy, Chavo ends up keeping his belt with help from his father at ringside
3/10

Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar
Special Guest Referree "Stone Cold " Steve Austin
This match will go down in history as one of the biggest train wrecks in wrestling history, at least thats the perception, however I don't think it was as bad as people make out, but it was bad.
The problem was that before the match everybody pretty much knew that both men were on their way out of the WWE and onto other things ( Lesnar to try his hand at the NFL and Goldberg's 12 month contract had expired )
Both men refused to lock up for the first few minutes of the match and when they did it looked like neither one were interesting in doing much, but when they did there was some impressive "Big Man " moves, particularly from Goldberg, what will be most memorable about the match is the look on Stone Cold's face as you could tell he wanted to "Stunner" both men and save face for himself.....which is what he ended up doing at the end of the match
2/10

WWE Tag Team Championship
Fatal Four Way match
Worlds Greatest Tag Team vs Scotty too Hotty & Rikishi ( C ) vs The Bashams vs The APA.
This match looked like it was thrown together at the last minute as there didn't seem to be a clear story for the match, and the match ends with the Champions retaining their belts
2/10

WWE Womens Championship
Molly Holly vs Victoria ( C )
These two female wrestlers are actually quite good workers, however they didn't seem to gel during this match and the match came off as kind of boring with neither women doing much to capture the imagination
2/10

WWE Championship
Eddie Guerrero ( C ) vs Kurt Angle
I was expecting this match to steal the show with these two taking part, but was surprised to see a match that while being very good, was certainly not either mans best effort, it started very slow and lethargic in my opinion, but picked up pace with some good chain wrestling and storytelling from both men, I liked the ending with the Ankle Lock being used to gain an advantage by Guerrero due to some of his trademark Lying / Cheating and Stealing
7/10

Undertaker vs Kane
This match was the one I bought the DVD for, I am a huge Mark for the Undertaker ( Deadman Undertaker, not Biker Undertaker ) and loved that he was resurrecting the Deadman persona, and while I knew that the match would be anything but a technical classic, I was more into it for the story, While i was a little disappointed that he really kept his Biker attire and just bought a new hat / coat, and grew his hair out, it was worth it for the entrance, the crowd popped HUGE for the Gongs hitting and I was amongst them, but once down to it , Taker and Kane had pretty much the match I expected
7/10 ( Most of that rating is for the entrance !! )

World Heavyweight Championship
Triple Threat Match
Shawn Michaels vs Triple H ( C ) vs Chris Benoit
This match was always going to be a classic with Michaels and Benoit in the ring, I liked the buildup to the match with Benoit being the underdog and trying to fulfill his dream of being world champion, the match had some incredible displays of wrestling with some great spots too, and the ending was so well booked that I was hooked all the way until I saw Triple H's hand hit the mat for the tap out, and I along with any other true wrestling fan was emotional while watching Benoit openly weep in the middle of the ring as the realisation of a lifelong dream came true, which was further made special when his lifelong best friend Eddie Guerrero joined him in the ring to celebrate, himself a WWE Champion ( although looking back its quite surreal to see both men in the ring , and just a few short years later seeing both men dead, in very different circumstances )
8/10

Event Rating 6/10
Not the WWE's best wrestlemania by any means, but the impact of having the undertaker return as the deadman and watching Chris Benoit achieve his dream made the event worthwhile, however for me the highlight of this DVD is the DVD Extra on the third disc ' The Mania of Wrestlemania" is a 45 minute documentary voiced over by Jesse Venture, following the wrestlers around during the previous years Wrestlemania 19, in my opinion this Documentary is the best thing the WWE has produced in years and was so slickly produced with some amazing storytelling that I have probably watched it 5 or 6 times, I only wish they would make one just like it every year as seeing the behind the scenes action during an event such as Wrestlemania is just as captivating as the event itself, I strongly recommend anyone watch this documentary as its incredible

Summary: Worth purchasing for the DVD Extra's alone, essential for your collection