Why WWE WrestleMania X-Seven Is FINALLY Set To Be Topped
AEW is going BIG this year. Does Houston in fact have a problem?
WrestleMania X-Seven is enshrined into legend as the greatest pro wrestling pay-per-view of all-time. The conversation is always what the next best WrestleMania is (it's 39) because the take is as objective as this subjective art form gets.
The show is sacred. This is an old take, but the correct one: WrestleMania X-Seven is considered the best show ever because it's the one you'd watch if you could only watch one more. The range is amazing. The main event, a crazed, blood-soaked white-hot brawl between the Rock and Steve Austin, was incredible. Never before or since has WWE intersected great action with the money-drawing big fight feel. It was as monumental as Hulk Hogan Vs. André the Giant and as good as any WrestleMania match ever. TLC 2 was an incredible stunt show, as well put-together and as batsh*t insane as any modern ladder match, if not more so. Every huge moment mattered and was built towards perfectly. The visuals from that match are unforgettable. Instantly recall a spot from, say, the men's 2016 Money In The Bank ladder match. You can't. TLC 2 is indelible. Iconic.
It's impossible to watch back now, but at the time, Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle widened the scope of the show with a super-intense, technically impeccable battle. Triple H and the Undertaker worked an inferior walk-and-brawl than Austin and the Rock, but it got over huge in the building. Raven Vs. Big Show Vs. Kane is also fondly remembered as a fun exploration of the chaotic backstage environment that fans adored back in "the day". Vince McMahon Vs. Shane McMahon perfected WWE's only-in-America soap opera insanity (again, not quite as fun to watch these days). Wrestling is reviled as an art form by the general public, and while that match would be the last to change their mind, f*ck 'em: any piece of work that encourages the crowd to pop huge for the chilling robot that is Linda McMahon must be considered a work of genius.
For the first time, WWE embraced and sent up its own daft history via the Gimmick Battle Royale. Endearingly terrible, it is best remembered for Bobby Heenan's immortal line: "By the time the Iron Sheik gets to the ring, it'll be WrestleMania 38". This wasn't just a piss-funny line; listening to Heenan on vintage form in 2001 was a pure form of joy. Watching X-Seven as a 16 year-old raised on Coliseum Video was like listening to a new studio album with a track list that happened to be a Greatest Hits set.
Almost.
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