Welcome to the latest edition of our WrestleMania Rewind series, written by yours truly, exclusively for everyone here at SLTD Wrestling. The aim of WrestleMania Rewind is to review every WrestleMania in roughly 2,000 words. Click here to read the series so far.
It’s WrestleMania 20 today – Kevin Nash’s worst nightmare. Marketed as the PPV where “it all begins again”, WrestleMania 20 came to us from Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 14th 2004. 18,000 fans crammed into the world’s most famous arena to see the show. Again, we had JR and Jerry Lawler covering the Raw side of things, whereas Michael Cole and Tazz handled things for SmackDown. This is a long show, so let’s get into it.
Match 1: WWE United States Championship Match – John Cena vs Big Show (c)
Show uses his power early and gets a 2-count from a slam. Show’s toying with Cena and utterly dominating. Every time Cena tries to come back, Show cuts him off. Cena powers out of a Cobra Clutch with right hands and sends Show into the turnbuckle. Cena gets a 2-count from the F-U. Cena punches Show with brass knucks behind the ref’s back and picks up the win with a second F-U.
Opinion: A babyface winning with a foreign object. Isn’t that what a heel’s supposed to do? The commentators did a great job of playing up Cena as a rising star and even though Show utterly dominated (almost from start-to-finish), Cena’s win actually meant something.
Match 2: Fatal-4-Way Match for the World Tag-Team Championships – La Resistance vs Cade & Jindrak vs The Dudleys vs Booker T & RVD (c)
A flurry of quick tags early leads to the heel teams taking it in turns to isolate Booker. He kicks out at 2 from a series of pins. Booker lands a spinebuster on Rob Conway and makes the hot tag to RVD, who wipes all the heels out with a series of kicks. Chaos ensues, resulting in a flapjack on Booker. He gets up and scissors-kicks Conway. RVD gets the win with the 5-Star Frog Splash.
Opinion: These fatal-4-way matches are confusing to keep track of. Kudos to the referees who have to try to keep this shit in order. Booker did a great job of playing the babyface in peril and the crowd popped huge for the finish. La Resistance, though limited, were over too, as were the Dudleys.
Match 3: Christian vs Chris Jericho
Jericho’s all over Christian from the get-go, flooring him with several clotheslines before sending him outside, where Jericho also lands a springboard crossbody. Christian avoids the Walls before dumping Jericho outside to get control. Christian puts Jericho in a reverse chinlock and gets a 2-count from a spinning heel kick. Both men are down after a clash of heads.
Jericho makes a comeback and rolls through a crossbody from the top rope for a 2, and counters a Texas Cloverleaf into the Walls! Christian fights out, but succumbs to a double underhook suplex from the top rope. He kicks out at 2. Trish Stratus appears. Christian gets another nearfall from an Impaler DDT, and throws Trish into the turnbuckle. Stratus elbows Jericho, thinking it’s Christian, and Christian rolls up Jericho for the win.
Opinion: I could watch these two wrestle all day. They’re both highly underrated. Trish was involved because they were feuding over her. She looked fucking stunning. Hottest Diva ever. Post-match, she turned on Jericho and sided with Christian.
Match 4: Evolution vs Rock’n’Sock Connection
The heels take turns working Rock and Foley early. Both teams make a series of early tags before Foley gets knocked on his ass by a clothesline from Batista. The heels work Foley until he lands a swinging neckbreaker on Batista and makes the hot tag to Rock. Rock cleans house til Batista wipes him out with a spinebuster.
Rock comes back with his signature moves – landing the People’s Elbow on Flair and the Rock Bottom on Orton – but Flair distracts the ref, allowing Batista to deliver a Batista Bomb which earns Orton a 2-count. Hot tag to Foley, who lands a double-arm DDT on Orton. There’s too much mucking around from Foley, who gets rattled with an RKO from Orton to give the heels “the dub”.
Opinion: A really enjoyable match with clearly defined roles from everyone. Orton and Foley worked the majority of the match, with Batista, Flair and Rock coming in as and when required. The finish made sense too.
Match 5: Playboy Evening Gown Match – Sable & Torrie Wilson vs Stacy Keibler & Miss Jackie
4 hot women strip to their underwear instead of working in the gowns. Everybody wins! What? Do you want the ACTUAL result? What’s wrong with you, you sick…freak?!?! Sigh…Fine. Torrie rolled up Jackie to get the win.
Opinion: 4 hot women getting sweaty together. What’s not to love?
Match 6: Cruiserweight Open for the Cruiserweight Championship
***There are 10 contestants. 2 wrestlers start. For every elimination, another wrestler enters. The last one standing becomes the champion***
Ultimo Dragon and Shannon Moore start. Moore gets a 2-count from a back suplex, but Dragon gets a 3 from a flip-DDT. Jamie Noble’s in and gets a 2 from a neckbreaker before making Dragon tap with a triangle choke. Funaki’s in, but Noble rolls through a top-rope crossbody to eliminate him. Nunzio’s in and gets a quick 2-count, but Noble lands a senton on him outside and Nunzio gets counted out.
Billy Kidman’s in. He elevates Noble to the apron, where Nunzio pulls him outside. Kidman lands a Shooting Star Press on both men outside. Back in the ring, Kidman enziguris Noble and eliminates him with the BK Bomb. Mysterio comes in and Kidman floors him with a dropkick for 2. Mysterio eliminates him with a flip powerbomb. Tajiri’s in now. Mysterio counters a springboard elbow with a dropkick and hits the 619. Tajiri Green Mists Akio and Mysterio rolls Tajiri up to eliminate him.
Chavo’s in and gets a 2-count from a cheap shot by Tajiri. Mysterio lands a right hand, but Chavo sits down on a Sunset Flip to retain his championship.
Opinion: Fast-paced, quick action that was “blink and you’ll miss it”. The crowd popped for pretty much everything they saw and it was a lot of fun to watch.
Match 7: Brock Lesnar vs Goldberg
Austin’s the special guest referee. After a cagey – at best – start, Goldberg drives the wind out of Lesnar with a military press into a spinebuster. Lesnar sidesteps a Spear that sends Goldberg outside. Lesnar’s got the advantage now and gets a 2-count from a suplex before using some restholds. Goldberg makes his comeback with a series of power moves and gets a 2-count from a Spear. Lesnar replies with a 2 of his own from an F5, but Goldberg gets the win with a second Spear and the Jackhammer.
Opinion: This is the infamous match where the crowd basically took over. Every smarky crowd since then have just been modelling themselves on this. It took AGES for the match to get going and pretty much stunk the place out.
Match 8: Fatal-4-Way Match for the WWE Tag-Team Championships – APA vs The Bashams vs Haas/Benjamin vs Too Cool (c)
Bradshaw’s power is too much for Benjamin at the start, and a series of tags lead to the heels isolating Scotty. He makes the hot tag to Rikishi, who cleans house and counters a Clothesline from Hell into a Samoan Drop. ‘Kish sits down on Danny Basham to retain the belts.
Opinion: Filler. Not much to get excited about. The crowd were into dancing ‘Kish. That’s about it.
Match 9: Hair vs Title Match for the WWE Women’s Championship – Molly Holly vs Victoria (c)
Molly looks to assert herself early and clotheslines Victoria outside before getting a 2 from a suplex. Molly dictates the pace of the match. Victoria gets back into it with a bridge for 2 and follows up with a powerslam for another 2. Molly replies with a nearfall of her own from a powerbomb. She tries to give Victoria the Widow’s Peak, but the champ slides out and picks up the 3 with a backslide.
Opinion: Decent, but they didn’t have a lot of time. If WWE hadn’t, in their infinite wisdom, given us TWO Fatal-4-Ways for both sets of tag-titles, this might have gone down even better.
Match 10: WWE Championship Match – Kurt Angle vs Eddie Guerrero (c)
There’s a lot of chain wrestling to start, with neither man getting the advantage. Angle avoids contact from a top-rope splash outside and rolls Guerrero in for a 2. He gets another from a backbreaker. Angle works Guerrero’s ribs and controls the match. He gets a couple of nearfalls from overhead belly-to-bellys.
Guerrero knocks Angle off the top rope, but misses the Frog Splash. Guerrero gets back into it by countering the Angle Slam into an armdrag and takes Angle down with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors. Angle goes for the Angle Lock a couple of times, but Guerrero avoids it. He counters the Angle Slam into a DDT and follows up with a Frog Splash for 2.
Angle finally manages to pick Guerrero’s ankle and puts him in the Angle Lock! Guerrero rolls through, which sends Angle outside. Guerrero unties his boot to “relieve the pressure”. Angle spots it and goes back on the attack with the Angle Lock. Angle ends up pulling Guerrero’s boot off and Guerrero rolls him into a small package, using the ropes, to get the win.
Opinion: I don’t know if this was wrestling perfection, but it was damn sure close to it. Absolutely phenomenal stuff from two of the best wrestlers, not just of their generation, but of all-time. This is one of the best matches I’ve ever seen and I sat watching it with a massive smile on my face. Brilliant.
Match 11: Kane vs The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer)
Taker nails Kane with a flurry of lefts and rights from the start. Kane returns the favour on the outside. Taker goes on to dominate almost the entire match, aside from a few moves by Kane. Kane misses a clothesline in the corner, allowing Taker to hit him with a big boot and a legdrop. Kane avoids Old School and lands a chokeslam. Taker sits up, lands a flying clothesline, a chokeslam and completes the affair with a Tombstone for the 3.
Opinion: This was essentially a showcase to illustrate that the Undertaker’s Deadman persona was back, and back in full effect. Kane didn’t get a whole hell of a lot of offense in, and Taker won in fairly quick fashion about 8 minutes in.
Match 12: Triple-Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Championship – Shawn Michaels vs Chris Benoit vs Triple H (c)
Each man spends some time outside at the beginning of the match, with Michaels taking most of the punishment. A baseball slide from Michaels takes both men down and he follows up with a moonsault. Michaels rolls H back in for 2. Benoit sends Michaels shoulder first into the ringpost. H hangs Benoit upside down in the corner and sends Michaels crashing into him for a 2.
H gets a succession of nearfalls on Benoit, but can’t put him away. All three exchange signature moves and finishers, but there’s always a man there to prevent the pinfall/submission. The action spills outside where Michaels and H team up to suplex Benoit through the Announce Table!
Back in the ring, H Pedigrees Michaels, but Benoit breaks it up. Benoit counters the Pedigree into a Sharpshooter, but Michaels breaks it with Sweet Chin Music to get a 2 on Benoit. Benoit ducks a second one to send Michaels outside and counters the Pedigree AGAIN, but this time, into the CrossFace and H taps.
Opinion: Despite the fact that it was a well-constructed match and I can see why people like it, it just didn’t cut it for me. The crowd were hot for it, especially the finish and that image from the end of the show is something that’ll always evoke memories – good or bad.
Summary: This show was exhausting to sit through. Four hours, 12 matches, 40 wrestlers, 7 title matches. While the calibre of the matches was extremely high – the Christian/Jericho, Angle/Guerrero and the Cruiserweight Open in particular – a lot of this stuff didn’t need to happen.
For example, there was no need to have both sets of tag titles defended in fatal-4-way matches. It was utterly pointless and they followed the same formula. One of the tag champs gets isolated, makes the hot tag to his partner, and his partner picks up the win. I didn’t care for it.
This PPV is where Kevin Nash claims that the wrestling business died because two “vanilla midgets” ended the show as the main champions. I’ve got news for you, Mr Nash…the Vanilla World Order took over that PPV and as a result, the quality was better than when you were EVER involved at a Mania. Sit back down and shut up before you tear a quad. vWo for life!
Hopefully, you enjoyed that quick look back at WrestleMania 20. Leave your comments/feedback via the usual channels, and join me again tomorrow to revisit WrestleMania 21!
SLTD Wrestling's resident Scottish Nightmare. Some of my content may not be suitable for younger readers or those who are easily offended!
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