WWF WrestleMania X8

Date: 17th March, 2002
Venue: SkyDome
City: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Attendance: 68,237
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Intercontinental Championship
William Regal (c) vs Rob Van Dam
Pretty much a match that wouldn't have looked out of place on TV. Not a lot to it really. Regal was focused on using his brass knuckles but it turned out to be his downfall as RVD took advantage and hit the Five Star for the win.
Winner and NEW Intercontinental Champion: Rob Van Dam (6:19)
Via Pinfall (Five Star Frog Splash)
**1/2


European Championship
Diamond Dallas Page (c) vs Christian
Same as the opener here, two solid wrestlers competing for a midcard title, but there's a limit to what you can produce in 6 wrestlers. This was another average affair with one guy hitting his finisher for the victory.
Winner and STILL European Champion: DDP (6:10)
Via Pinfall (Diamond Cutter)
**


Hardcore Championship
Maven (c) vs Goldust
The two hit each other with various objects for a few minutes, before Goldust finds a golden shovel and takes out Maven. Spike Dudley then runs down to the ring and steals the pin and the title. I never understood why they made matches during the 24/7 period as anyone could interfere anyway. Oh well. The hardcore title changed numerous times over the course of the night in midly amusing backstage skits, but eventually Maven regained it and left the arena.
Winner and NEW Hardcore Champion: Spike Dudley (3:18)
Dudley pinned Maven (Shovel shot by Goldust)
1/2*


Kane vs Kurt Angle
This was a decent match between two guys with hugely varying styles, but Angle can pull a good match out of just about anybody. Unfortunately, everything didn't quite click into place here but it was still a good watch. They managed to screw up the ending though as Kane's shoulders kept coming off the mat during a roll-up, which looked kind of messy and made Kane look a bit weaker.
Winner: Kurt Angle (10:51)
Via Pinfall (Roll-up pin)
***


No DQ match
Ric Flair vs The Undertaker
The no disqualification rule meant that this essentially boiled down to two guys beating the hell out of each other with whatever they could find, and going by that it was quite entertaining. Giving it almost 20 minutes meant it began to drag near the end but I suppose that is justified as they would both have been worn out by all the abuse. Undertaker predictably got the win with the Tombstone.
Winner: The Undertaker (18:45)
Via Pinfall (Tombstone Piledriver)
***


Booker T vs Edge
This had the potential to be the sleeper match of the night, but due to the fact the card was so ram-packed, 6 and a half minutes was all these 2 got, and they couldn't do much with it. They made a mess of a few moments including a botched super-hurricanrana spot. Edge eventually picked up the win with the Edgecution (or Impaler DDT, whatever you want to call it). Also, Edge did a Spinarooni, which has nothing on Booker's.
Winner: Edge (6:31)
Via Pinfall (Edgecution)
**1/4


Scott Hall vs Steve Austin
This was really a whole lot of nothing. The majority of the match consisted of interference, Stunners, and Stunners on those interfering. Incidentally, Stone Cold won with the Stunner.
Winner: Steve Austin (9:51)
Via Pinfall (Stone Cold Stunner)
*3/4


World Tag Team Championships - Four Corners Elimination match
Billy & Chuck (c) vs The APA vs The Dudley Boyz vs The Hardy Boyz
A classic case of trying to fit everybody on the roster onto the show. The APA were eliminated very early on after Bradshaw got 3D'd. Jeff then eliminated the Dudleyz with a Swanton Bomb to Bubba. Billy Gunn then used a title belt to pick up the win. You can wonder how this match could have been boring, but believe me they managed it.
Winners and STILL Tag Team Champions: Billy & Chuck (13:50)
Billy pinned Jeff Hardy (Title belt shot)
**


The Rock vs Hulk Hogan
Well, this is the match everybody knows this show for. Hell, it was probably the match everybody bought this show for. I know many people have a hard time giving this match an exact rating due to a number of factors, but I award stars on how much a match has entertained/impressed me and this was high, high up on the entertainment scale. I'm not sure a match will ever be able to live up to the magnitude of this. Hogan, the heel, comes out a MASSIVE pop, while The Rock, a face, comes out to a chorus of boo's. Damn you Toronto, The Rock is better, better I say! Not a whole lot of wrestling took place here but the electricity and power of the 2 characters really carried it. Towards the end, we saw the inevitable Hulking Up, Big Boot and Leg Drop, and 99% of people thought that was the end. However, The Rock kicked out, then dodged a second leg drop and delivered 2 Rock Bottom's and a People's Elbow to win. Afterwards we get the two men embracing and celebrating together, which even if you were a fan of neither, is just spine-tingling stuff.
Winner: The Rock (16:22)
Via Pinfall (People's Elbow)
****


Women's Championship - Triple Threat match
Jazz (c) vs Lita vs Trish Stratus
After the amount of energy put into that last much, the crowd just flat out didn't care about this. This was a very messy match which didn't flow at all. Jazz eventually retained her title after catching Lita up top and delivering the Stinger.
Winner and STILL Women's Champion: Jazz (6:15)
Jazz pinned Lita (Jazz Stinger)
*


Undisputed Championship
Chris Jericho (c) vs Triple H
This was a pretty good match but not a great main event. I really think Hogan/Rock should have been last despite this being the championship match. I think almost everyone knew that Trips was going to win this one, and as he eventually hit the Pedigree at the end, there were few who really reacted. Solid, but anti-climactic and not very spectacular.
Winner and NEW Undisputed Champion: Triple H (18:41)
Via Pinfall (Pedigree)
***1/2



Overall Thoughts:
At the time, the event was seen as a success, probably down to the huge amount of hype that Hogan/Rock had generated. But looking back it can be seen that there were far too many matches, and a huge absence of real quality bouts. Aside from the big match, only HHH/Jericho, Flair/Undertaker and Kane/Angle can be seen as good matches, and none of those are particularly memorable. Really only worth watching for the big showdown match.

5.5 / 10.0

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