WWE WrestleMania XIX

Date: 30th March, 2003
Venue: Safeco Field
City: Seattle, Washington
Attendance: 54,097
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Cruiserweight Championship
Matt Hardy (c) vs Rey Mysterio
This match was incredibly entertaining for what there was, but too short to be anything spectacular. In the short time frame the two both managed to fit in their finishers, multiple signature moves and some great action. Hardy got the win after reversing a Victory Roll and holding onto the ropes for leverage.
Winner and STILL Cruiserweight Champion: Matt Hardy (5:37)
Via Pinfall (Roll-up pin)
**1/2


Handicap match
The Undertaker vs A-Train & The Big Show
This was supposed to be a tag team match with Nathan Jones (remember him? No?) as Undertaker's partner but he got taken out before the match. Predictably this was a fairly slow and sluggish match that never really got into any kind of rhythm. At the end Jones ran down and took down Big Show with a spin kick before giving A-Train a Big Boot, neither of which drew a disqualification. Undertaker then finished Albert off with the Tombstone to take his WrestleMania streak to 86-0.
Winner: The Undertaker (9:45)
Undertaker pinned A-Train (Tombstone Piledriver)
*1/4


Women's Championship - Triple Threat match
Victoria (c) vs Jazz vs Trish Stratus
Really quite entertaining women's match, one of the best in recent history. They managed to work the triple threat rules really well, and having 3 women who can actually wrestle really made the difference. Trish hit Victoria with the Chick Kick following a Widow's Peak reversal to become the new champion.
Winner and NEW Women's Champion: Trish Stratus (7:17)
Trish pinned Victoria (Chick Kick)
**1/2


WWE Tag Team Championships - Triple Threat match
Team Angle (c) vs Los Guerreros vs Chris Benoit & Rhyno
This match suffered from the same fate as the opening cruiserweight bout, in that it was phenomenal action while it was going, but it didn't get the time it deserved. You wouldn't have expected much else from having 6 great wrestlers in one match. The end came after Rhyno gored Chavo, allowing Shelton Benjamin to sneak in and get the pinfall.
Winners and STILL WWE Tag Team Champions: Team Angle (8:47)
Shelton pinned Chavo (Gore by Rhyno)
***1/4


Chris Jericho vs Shawn Michaels
In HBK's first WM match in 5 years, he managed to put on a near-classic with Chris Jericho. These two seemed to have great chemistry and really showed it here. The match started a bit slowly, but once it got going it was fantastic with the amount of false finishes and reversals. Michaels eventually picked up the win with a roll-up, which felt like kind of a cheap victory after the action that had come before it. After the match, Jericho shakes Michaels hands before hugging him to a big crowd reaction, before booting him in the nuts. Classic.
Winner: Shawn Michaels (22:31)
Via Pinfall (Roll-up pin)
****1/4


World Heavyweight Championship
Triple H (c) vs Booker T
I remember at the time this was a hugely controversial result. Trips had been the champion since the inception of the belt, which by the way he was awarded to him rather than earned, and if I remember correctly there was a slight racism element to the feud. Anyway, it was a fairly decent match with HHH working on an injured leg of Booker for the most part. Booker then began the fightback and hit the Houston Hangover for the first time in years but hurt his leg in doing so. He then went for the Scissors Kick but couldn't stand on his leg, so HHH hit the Pedigree for the win. The match loses majority of points for the wrong man winning and it perhaps being a tad drawn out.
Winner and STILL World Heavyweight Champion: Triple H (18:47)
Via Pinfall (Pedigree)
***


Street Fight
Hulk Hogan vs Vince McMahon
Probably about as good as a match between 2 OAP's can get. Towards the end it was definitley bordering on being overbooked thanks to interference from Sylvan Grenier and multiple ref bumps. However, before that these two had beat the hell out of each other and put on a great show, which the crowd eat up. The ending came after some serious Hulking up, a big boot, and three big leg drops to get the win.
Winner: Hulk Hogan (20:48)
Via Pinfall (3 Leg Drops)
***1/4


The Rock vs Steve Austin
Following Austin's wins over Rock at WM's XV and X7, The Rock was obsessed with getting a win here, and I'm not sure if they knew it at the time, but this was pretty much the last match in both of their career's, and it was a damn fine way for them to go out. It couldn't quite deliver up to the standard of their classic 2 years prior, but it was still an incredible match. At the end we saw the resilience of Austin as he kicked out of 2 rock bottoms, before The Rock finished him off emphatically with a third. After the match the two hug and Rock tells Austin he loves him. Awww. Rock celebrates and leaves to a big reaction before Austin does the same. Great stuff.
Winner: The Rock (17:54)
Via Pinfall (3 Rock Bottoms)
****


WWE Championship
Kurt Angle (c) vs Brock Lesnar
What was already a fantastic match could have gone down in history as an absolute classic if only for a number of things. The win wasn't quite as big as it would have been if they had held Brock off for a few months and not had him win the title at SummerSlam the year before. Also the infamous ending with Brock going for the Shooting Star Press and landing on his head, almost knocking him unconscious. Lesnar had already hit an F5 but decided not to pin, and as he went to the top rope everyone got to their feet as this was an unseen move by Lesnar. Just imagine if he had pulled it off perfectly it would have been one of the greatest moments in WM history. As it was he botched it and Angle had to improvise and cover him for a 2 count (although Lesnar didn't actually kick out). Brock then hits another F5 for the win although it can clearly be seen that he's not sure what just happened. Huge props go to Angle here for that ending.
Winner and NEW WWE Champion: Brock Lesnar (21:08)
Via Pinfall (F5)
****1/4



Overall Thoughts:
Definitley up there as one of the greatest WrestleMania's. The show may have began a bit slowly but as soon as it entered the second half of the card, we had Jericho/HBK, McMahon/Hogan, Rock/Austin and Lesnar/Angle, all were great matches for one reason or another. There was a limit on the filler (only really the Undertaker handicap match is worth avoiding) and like all great WM's, it just had the feeling of an epic event. Highly, highly recommended.

9.5 / 10.0

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