Wrestlemania XVII - The Greatest Show on Earth (WWF Pay Per Views)

Member Name: DaChild

Product:	WWF Pay Per Views
Date:	04/04/01 (41 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The best wrestling show on the planet. Ever.

Disadvantages: Errm..............no. None.

There, quite simply, was no other way to put it. Wrestlemania XVII (or X-Seven as it was called) lasted for 230 minutes, as opposed to the 180 the average WWF PPV runs. I watched it live, from 1am-5am. It was worth every minute.

Now, I'm not going to tell you any of the results, because it's a lot more fun to watch if you don't know. But what I will do is inform you about what a great show it was.

The show began, and immediately it struck me how big the place was. Indeed, it was later announced that it had set an all-time attendance record for that arena of 67,245 people. For those who want to know, that's about $3.5 Million in tickets.

The key to any good wrestling show is a strong undercard (matches before the big ones), and the first half of Wrestlemania delivered admirably. We had two technically superb matches, featuring Chris Jericho facing William Regal and Chris Benoit facing Kurt Angle. An interesting 6-Man Tag Match between The Right to Censor, Tazz and The Acolytes went down along with a great Hardcore Match between Raven, Kane and The Big Show. A solid match between Test and Eddie Guerrero took place. Then we shifted gears.

Many big matches had been hyped for this event, and the first saw WWF Chairman Vince McMahon face his son, and new WCW chairman, Shane McMahon. Now this was storytelling at its finest. The crowd were into it, and the match kept the story factor high throughout. It wasn't the greatest wrestling match ever, but after the technical feast between Benoit and Angle, it didn't need to be.

Then, the culmination of a three month feud ended when Chyna took on Ivory for the women's title. Not much to say here, except the outcome was the right one.

Then, it was time for one of the most eagerly anticipated matches for high-risk wrestling fans. TLC (Tables, Ladders and Chairs) Part 2, featuring 6 of the best Tag-Team Wrestlers around - The Hardy Boyz, The Dudley Boyz,
Edge and Christian. This was full of action - words won't do it justice.

Then, we took a little break, as some of the WWF's old wrestlers came to the ring for a Battle Royal. This obviously wasn't the most eagerly anticipated match on the card, but we saw about 20 great former WWF Wrestlers, along with Mean Gene Okerlund and the legendary Bobby 'The Brain' Heenan on commentary. It was fun, and a good break before the final matches began.

The penultimate match featured WWF veteran The Undertaker facing Triple H. There was very little in match story. This was a 15 minute fight, no other way to describe it. Some great moves, good atmosphere and the traditional Triple H intelligence made this match great.

But the WWF saved the best for last. This was the 2nd time in three years that Stone Cold Steve Austin challenged The Rock for the World Title at Wrestlemania. The 1999 version was a good match, which culminated in Austin winning the title. The 2001 version was better. These two men gave their all, and in Houston, Austin's backyard, the crowd was electric. I won't tell you what happens, but a great match has an even better ending.

Overall, Wrestlemania was amazing. Do anything you can to get a copy of this, it's well worth it. Great wrestling, great stories. This is wrestling at its finest.

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