Why WWE WrestleMania No Longer Has The Best Matches Of The Year

The Attitude Era, or when every flaw was forgiven.

Even though Steve Austin put on two very worthy main events and WrestleMania 2000 gave us the first Triangle Ladder Match, the Attitude Era of WrestleMania, given its potential, cannot be considered anything other than a disappointment, at least from an in-ring perspective. WWF was obviously still capable of greatness, and proved it the rest of the year (more on that in a minute), but never quite got it right on the biggest of stages. They were possibly trying too hard, and that 'less is more' was forgotten as far-fetched angles, needless celebrity involvement and generic multi-man matches were aplenty (WrestleMania 2000 featured one singles match).

The Undertaker vs Kane showdown at 'Mania XIV was unimpressive to say the least. The following year, 'Taker and Big Boss Man would accomplish the seemingly impossible and fight a boring Hell In A Cell Match, one that notoriously ended with a live public hanging. That Bart Gunn vs Butterbean calamity was peak Vince Russo and an embarrassment for all those involved. And one would think a Chris Jericho vs Chris Benoit vs Kurt Angle Triple Threat would be automatically brilliant, but no, it was underwhelming, suffering from its messy two-fall stipulation at 'Mania 2000.