WrestleMania Restrospective – WrestleMania X-Seven (2001)

Here’s Part 17 of our WrestleMania Retrospective series, looking back at past WrestleMania events as we march towards WrestleMania 29 on April 7th

WrestleMania X-Seven (2001)
Tagline: Houston, We Have A Problem.
Sponsor: Snickers
Date: April 1, 2001
Venue: Reliant Astrodome, Houston, Texas
Attendance: 67,925
The Undertaker’s Streak: 9-0 (Def. Triple H)

WrestleMania X-Seven was the seventeenth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and presented by Snickers Cruncher. It took place on April 1, 2001 at the Reliant Astrodome in Houston, Texas. The event was the first WrestleMania held in the state of Texas.

The main event was a No Disqualification match between Steve Austin and The Rock for the WWF Championship. The main matches on the undercard featured Triple H versus The Undertaker, the second Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match for the WWF Tag Team Championship, and Vince McMahon versus Shane McMahon in a Street Fight. With WWE’s acquisition of long-time competitor WCW mere days prior and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin joining forces with storied rival Mr. McMahon.

A major feud that was built up in the lead to WrestleMania was the one involving Vince McMahon and his son Shane McMahon. The feud started with Vince’s disapproval of Mick Foley’s job as then-WWF commissioner as well as Foley’s decision of holding a six-man Hell in a Cell match at Armageddon 2000, taking into consideration about the well-being of the wrestlers involved in the match. Despite his attempts Foley was given full support by Linda McMahon, Vince’s wife and the WWF’s CEO. Not pleased with this result, Vince immediately demanded a divorce from Linda. Shortly after Armageddon, secretly to Vince’s delight, it was revealed Linda was rushed to hospital suffering with a nervous breakdown. With Linda hospitalized, the Board of Directors appointed Vince as the new CEO of the WWF, allowing him to fire Foley as commissioner. With Linda in a comatose-like state, Vince started to have a public affair with Trish Stratus. Vince’s daughter, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, was at first far from pleased about the turn of events. At No Way Out, Stephanie and Trish squared off, with Stephanie scoring the victory after a run-in by William Regal. On the February 26th episode of Raw is War, however, during a match that placed Vince and Trish against Stephanie and William Regal, Stratus was turned on by the other participants in the match and had sewage dumped over her. In the following shows, Vince continued to demean Trish by having her do such actions as bark like a dog around the ring and stripping down to her lingerie.

Despite this, Trish remained loyal to Vince and begged for his forgiveness.On the March 12 episode of Raw is War, Shane McMahon made his return to the WWF. Angry with his father’s actions, Shane started to throw punches at Vince only to be stopped by William Regal.Shane explained his actions on the following episode of SmackDown! as a result of frustrations over the manipulation of his sister, his mother’s state and Vince’s treatment of Trish. On March 23, World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. purchased their longtime rival promotion, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. With it, the purchase brought in an extra twist to the storyline. On the March 26 episode of Raw is War, Vince McMahon made a live speech that was also simulcast on the series finale of WCW Monday Nitro. In the speech, Vince announced that the signing was not final and that he wanted Ted Turner to come to WrestleMania to hand-deliver the contract for signing. He then promised that with the purchase he was going to bury his rival forever. However, Shane, who was at the venue for Nitro, interrupted the speech and made an announcement:

The Street Fight between Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon was next. Shane dominated his father during the start of the match with attacks involving a Kendo stick and monitors from the Spanish announcers’ table. Lying Vince on the table, Shane climbed back into the ring and attempted to perform a diving elbow drop off the top rope. His sister Stephanie moved Vince off the table, however, leaving Shane to crash into it. Trish Stratus came towards the ring, pushing Linda McMahon out on a wheelchair. Vince tried to embrace Trish, but she slapped him. In retaliation, Stephanie got into a fight with Trish that led them out of the stadium. With Linda alone, Vince approached her to the detestment of guest referee Mick Foley but the owner replied with a few chair shots. Dragging Linda into the ring and placing her on a chair, Vince forced her to watch him beat his son down a couple of times with a trash can. As he went for a third shot with the can, however, Linda stood up and kicked Vince in the testicles. With Vince in the corner, Shane placed a garbage can in front of Vince’s face and hit a Coast-to-Coast dropkick through it, before pinning his father to win the match.

The eighth match, dubbed “TLC II”, was a Tag Team Championship match pitting the champions, the Dudley Boyz, against Edge and Christian and the Hardy Boyz in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match. The match contained many dangerous spots involving the weapons involved. Respective associates of each tag team, Spike Dudley on behalf of the Dudley Boyz, Rhyno on behalf of Edge and Christian and Lita on behalf of the Hardy Boyz, interfered during the match. With Spike and Rhyno both laying on two tables outside the ring, Jeff Hardy set up a huge ladder beside them and performed a Swanton Bomb onto them through the tables. Jeff tried to go for the belts but has his ladder pulled off his feet by Bubba Ray Dudley, leaving Jeff hanging onto the belts in the air. After climbing onto a bigger ladder, Edge jumped off it and spears Jeff onto the ground. Bubba Ray and Matt Hardy started to climb the same ladder but were met by Rhyno who pushed them off the ladder and through some more tables outside the ring. With a boost from Rhyno, Christian managed to unhook the belts, making him and Edge the new Tag Team Champions.

The ninth match was a gimmick battle royal, featuring nineteen WWF alumni famous for their outlandish gimmicks. To further increase the nostalgia, former announcers “Mean” Gene Okerlund and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan took over the commentary booth for the match. The match was a short one with the Iron Sheik throwing Hillbilly Jim out of the ring to win the match. In revenge for being eliminated, Sgt. Slaughter locked the cobra clutch hold on the Sheik.

The secondary feud leading into the event pitted the Brothers of Destruction (The Undertaker and Kane) against Triple H and The Big Show. After defeating Steve
Austin in a Three Stages of Hell match at No Way Out, Triple H felt that he deserved to be in the WrestleMania main event having defeated everyone in the WWF, including The Rock and Austin.11] The Undertaker took exception to that and told him that Triple H had never defeated him. Before WrestleMania X-Seven, the two had never faced each other in a one-on-one match on a pay-per-view event. During his entrance for a Hardcore Championship match against The Big Show, Triple H ambushed Undertaker. Kane ran in and saved the Undertaker from a further attack but was met with his own ambush by The Big Show. On the following episode of SmackDown!, Undertaker tried to break into the limousine of Triple H and his wife, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, on arrival but ended up being arrested by the police. As a result, Kane requested a match against Triple H later that night but lost when The Big Show interfered on behalf of Triple H. In retaliation, Kane interfered in The Big Show’s Hardcore Championship match against Raven on Raw is War, helping Raven pin Big Show to become the new Hardcore Champion. Undertaker’s arrest led to a restraining order from Stephanie. To circumvent this, the Brothers of Destruction interfered in Triple H’s match against Test, with Kane ordered to run after Stephanie. With Stephanie held at ransom on a balcony in the arena, WWF commissioner William Regal gave Undertaker and Kane matches at WrestleMania against Triple H and The Big Show respectively. After being attacked during a Hardcore Championship title defense, Regal would later include Raven into Kane and Big Show’s match, making it a Triple Threat Hardcore match for the Hardcore Championship.

The second to last match was between The Undertaker and Triple H. For his entrance, Triple H had British heavy metal band Motörhead perform his theme song, “The Game”, live. The match started with the two fighting outside of the ring with Triple H ending being put through the replacement Spanish announcers’ table. Later on, the referee Mike Chioda ended up being attacked with first by accident through Undertaker’s Catapult and later on by The Undertaker’s dissatisfaction over a two-count. With Chioda knocked out, the two brawled outside the ring without any risk of a countout and into the technical area. Over there, Triple H gave Undertaker several shots in the head with a steel chair but was eventually reversed into a Chokeslam off the scaffolding followed by an diving elbow drop. Back in the ring as Chioda regained consciousness, Triple H tried to pin The Undertaker after preventing Undertaker’s Last Ride maneuver with a sledgehammer shot in the head but only gained a two-count. Continuing the match, Triple H sent The Undertaker’s towards the corner with shots to the head but Undertaker reversed them with the Last Ride, allowing him to pin Triple H and increase his WrestleMania winning streak to 9–0.

The main feud leading into WrestleMania X-Seven consisted of Steve Austin challenging The Rock for the WWF Championship. This event marked the second time that the WrestleMania main event featured The Rock and Steve Austin for the WWF Championship, the first one being WrestleMania XV. In April 1999 at Backlash, The Rock and Steve Austin fought in a WrestleMania XV rematch with Steve Austin retaining the Championship. The Backlash event was originally the last time the two men would wrestle for the WWF Championship until this event. Steve Austin earned his opportunity to compete for the WWF Championship in the main event at WrestleMania by winning the 2001 Royal Rumble match when he last eliminated Kane, while The Rock became the first ever six-time WWF Champion when he defeated Kurt Angle at No Way Out. During their feud, Austin’s wife Debra, who was trying to get back into managing, was ordered by WWF chairman, Vince McMahon, to be The Rock’s manager against her wishes as well as both Rock and Austin’s. As a result, Austin would hold The Rock and McMahon responsible if any harm came to her. On the March 12 episode of Raw is War, The Rock was placed in an overlong Ankle Lock hold during his rematch with Kurt Angle. When Debra went to check on The Rock, Angle also placed her into an Ankle Lock hold. Austin soon ran in to save her and knocked Angle out of the ring. Keeping to his word, he immediately gave The Rock a Stone Cold Stunner as punishment. The following week on Raw is War, during a handicap tag team match involving The Rock, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, and William Regal, Austin made his way down to the ring and ended up getting a Rock Bottom from The Rock as a result of the stunner the previous week. On the March 29 episode of SmackDown!, Debra was relieved from her managerial role by Mr. McMahon after failing to prevent a brawl between Rock and Austin.

The final match of the night was the WWF Championship match between The Rock and Steve Austin. Before the ring entrances for the main event, it was announced that the match would be a No Disqualification match. During the match, the two took the fight outside of the ring and into the crowd. When the wrestlers returned to the ring, blood was shed from both Austin and The Rock after both had hit each other with the ring bell. The Rock attempted to place Austin into a Sharpshooter hold, but Austin reversed it and placed The Rock into his own Sharpshooter. After releasing the hold following the referee’s request he held The Rock by use of the Million Dollar Dream, a submission hold best known from his former gimmick, The Ringmaster. Shortly after, The Rock used Austin’s own finishing maneuver on Austin by executing a Stunner. Vince McMahon then came to ringside to observe the match. When The Rock tried to pin Austin after the People’s Elbow, McMahon pulled The Rock away. After chasing McMahon around the ring, Austin responded by using The Rock’s signature move, the Rock Bottom. Later, after The Rock improbably kicked out of the Stunner after a two count, which he received after attacking McMahon in the ring, McMahon then handed Austin a steel chair to hit The Rock with at Austin’s request, revealing that Austin had sided with McMahon, a man he once considered his arch-nemesis. With this, Austin turned heel. Austin tried to end the match with the Stone Cold Stunner again, but after The Rock kicked out a furious Austin decided he’d had enough. The challenger then pummeled the champion with sixteen consecutive chair shots, enabling Austin to pin The Rock and become the new WWF Champion. The show ended with the chairman and the new champion shaking hands and sharing beers.

WrestleMania X-Seven Results

Heat X-Factor (Justin Credible and X-Pac) (with Albert) defeated Steve Blackman and Grand Master Sexay Tag team match
• Chris Jericho (c) defeated William Regal Singles match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship
• Tazz and The APA (Bradshaw and Faarooq) (with Jacqueline) defeated Right to Censor (The Goodfather, Val Venis and Bull Buchanan) (with Steven Richards) Six-man tag team match
• Kane defeated Raven (c) and The Big Show Triple Threat Hardcore match for the WWF Hardcore Championship
• Eddie Guerrero (with Perry Saturn) defeated Test (c) Singles match for the WWF European Championship 0
• Kurt Angle defeated Chris Benoit

• Chyna defeated Ivory (c) Singles match For the WWF Women’s Championship
• Shane McMahon defeated Vince McMahon (with Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley) Street Fight with Mick Foley as the special guest referee
• Edge and Christian defeated The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) (c) and The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff)
Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match for the WWF Tag Team Championship
• The Iron Sheik won by last eliminating Hillbilly Jim1 19-man Gimmick Battle Royal
• The Undertaker defeated Triple H
• Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated The Rock (c) No Disqualification match for the WWF Championship