4 Ups & 8 Downs From WWE WrestleMania X8
Northern Exposure.
As the company's self-styled season finales once upon a time, WrestleManias used to be ideal snapshots of the company landscape at large.
Most wrestlers hoped to find themselves in the biggest angle of their character's year around Royal Rumble season with an eye on the 'Show Of Shows' windfall. A spot on the 'Grandest Stage' was the biggest money match - a wrestler's raison d'être and rationalised justification for the rigours of the road the rest of the year.
WrestleMania X8 broke that rule, as much due to the chaos that followed the prior year's event. A catastrophic WCW/ECW Invasion angle had put a bullet in the boom, but WWE had the task of using the enormous Toronto supercard to present the facade that all was still well.
They lucked out with one of the greatest Sports Entertainment spectacles in company history. As for the rest of the show though...
(Want more WrestleMania Ups & Downs? We got 'em: I, 2, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, 13, XIV, XV, 2000, X-Seven)