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Post by mikey1974 on Mar 22, 2014 17:58:08 GMT -5
"The Ragin' Climax"  coming into 1999, the WWF was unquestionably back on top. deep into the "Attitude Era" , and the Austin phenomenon was bigger than ever, folloed closely by the love/hate relationship the fans had with the newly Main Event-Level Rock... it should be no surprise these 2 were on a collision course in what was being hyped as the biggest Mania main event since Hogan-Andre. the WWF was firing on all cylinders, they had tons of stoylines in place,lots of new talent, all leading to the biggest mania of all time! didn't quite work out that way. I actually don't like this event. it felt "over-booked"... there was basically no matches that didn't involve some kind of surprise,some kind of turn,some kind of craziness. it truly was Vince Russo Gone Wild! there were some odd choices as well - for months Billy Gunn pursued the Intercontinental Chmpionship, while Road Dogg fought over the Hardcore title. yet when it came time for Mania, they switched Road dogg to the IC level, while Billy gunn competed for the Hardcore Title!  the matches,besides a spirited encounter between X-Pac and Shane McMahon featuring one of the biggest swerves of all time, and the Main Event itself, seemed kind of lackluster. not terrible,but just okay. as hyped as this Mania was, as great as it was supposed to be....eh. I can truly say this was the one and only PPV I ever fell asleep watching. and for a supposed "Climax", nothing was settled in any of the matches. indeed,it almost felt like this Mania was just being used to try and get people to tune into RAW the next night to see the next part of what happened in these matches. it's certainly not the WORST Mania,but it's not one of the best either. I think the main problem is, it's a decent-ish Mania, but it was so hyped,so anticipated, it's was supposed to be Wrestling Nirvana shown to us for 3 hours on our TV screen's! and it didn't live up to that pre-event hype. also, one of the worst Hell in a Cell matches ever! but at the end of the night,we got to see Austin as the flagbearer once again,which everyone wanted, and the rock begin to truly cement his legacy as one of the best ever. when it comes down to it, WrestleMania XV was all about Austin vs Vince McMahon's proxy The Rock. and on that level at least,it delivered what the people wanted to see. and it was nice to see Pete Rose continue his storyline from the tear before in a nice surprise! this Mania would also sadly be the final one for both Gorilla Monsoon and Owen Hart before their deaths. THE CARD: WWF Hardcore Champion Billy Gunn vs Al Snow vs Hardcore Holly WWF Tag Team Champions Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart, w/ Debra vs D'Lo Brown and Test, w/ Ivory Brawl for All Match - Butterbean vs Bart Gunn Mankind vs "Big Show" Paul Wight - To Determine The Referee For The Main Event WWF Intercontinental Champion Road Dogg vs Ken Shamrock vs Val Venis vs Goldust, w/ Blue Meanie and Ryan Shamrock Triple H vs Kane WWF Women's Champion Sable vs Tori WWF European Champion Shane McMahon, w/ Test vs X-Pac The Undertaker, w/ Paul Bearer vs The Big Boss Man - Hell in a Cell Match WWF Champion The Rock vs "Stone Cold" Steve Austin Celebrities : Pete Rose, Boys II Men |
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Post by cordless2016 on Mar 22, 2014 18:52:22 GMT -5
Such a let down. Like WM14 I feel this had some memorable moments but not one classic match that stood out as one we all remember. HHH's heel turn and Austin and Rock's first encounter at a WM are both memorable moments but every match was lackluster IMO. This was the height of Russo's swerving and overbooking in the WWF and this WM suffered big time from it.
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Jamal
Main Eventer
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Post by Jamal on Mar 22, 2014 19:31:42 GMT -5
My first WM, so I'll always see it through rose colored glasses.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2014 19:39:17 GMT -5
Debra's oiled up ass was the best part of this show.
Do you guys remember they aired that pre-Wrestlemania party the night before?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2014 20:46:23 GMT -5
My first WM, so I'll always see it through rose colored glasses. Same here. I hated HHH after this. Still do really, never have much of fan of his. Like Rocky, he was entertaining sometimes but never will be in my top 20. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2014 23:17:21 GMT -5
Yeah..,I liked it back in the day, but upon seeing bits of it again on YouTube, I agree with the overbooked feeling of it.
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Post by Mr. Old School™ on Mar 22, 2014 23:41:34 GMT -5
Debra's oiled up ass was the best part of this show. Do you guys remember they aired that pre-Wrestlemania party the night before? Oh yeah, I remember that alright. Shane McMahon was chillin' drinkin' with the entire Greenwich Posse and was even dancing with Debra and P.M.S. while Big Pun was on stage singing. Overall, I thought WrestleMania XV was a very good event. I know I enjoyed it. One highlight that still sticks out in my mind was the absolute VISCIOUS knockout Butterbean laid on Bart "The Hammer" Gunn. My God, I swear if he punched him any harder, he would've snapped his neck. What a KO that was. And friggin' dinkball Michael Cole on commentary tried to downplay the whole thing saying something like "and this is the punch that knocked Bart down" and Lawler immediately interrupted him and said "knocked him down?? Knocked him out, more like it" or something to that effect. Also, who else recalls this was the event where Michael Cole completely blew the result for the main event between The Rock and Stone Cold?? For those that don't know and are unaware, about mid-way through the night, they were advertising for various merchandise on The Home Shopping Network and I remember Michael Cole was hyping that up and said something like "stay tuned to The Home Shopping Network following tonight's event where we will have an interview with the NEW WWF Champion". And sure enough, Stone Cold won the belt just a short time later, lol. Nice job Cole. I'm sure the footage of him saying that has been edited out of the official DVD release, but I certainly remember it on the live version of the event. Plus, didn't J.R. come out and replace Cole at some point during that event as well?? I'm pretty sure he did. Man, I can't believe this event was 15 years ago already. Doesn't feel like it, that's for sure. |
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Post by mikey1974 on Mar 23, 2014 3:34:23 GMT -5
yeah,J.R. did come out and Cole went backstage.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2014 14:00:49 GMT -5
Im a fan of WM15 because for me it culminated(perfectly) Austins 7 month long road for his return to the top. Plus the match didn't disappoint(although IYH Backlash was better)
other great points:
HHH's heel turn was totally unexpected and garnered him unbelievable heat. DX were still over HUGE and fans had just got Chyna back in DX and all was right with the world.....then this. Man I was stunned.
Show vs Foley was bruising......
I love watching Gunn getting KOd by Butter bean
hell there was tons to enjoy here IMO.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2014 14:05:08 GMT -5
I love watching Gunn getting KOd by Butter bean  It's 15 years later and I still hate Butterbean. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2014 14:09:41 GMT -5
this wresltemana > wm 30
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Post by Next Man’s Knowing Rock on Mar 23, 2014 14:14:26 GMT -5
Was a fun show, but not a great one. I loved Road Dogg with the Intercontinental title, and the HHH turn on DX was masterful. I hated the result of the main event, I was in my embarrassing teenage "THE TOP BABYFACE IS OVERPUSHED DOWN OUR THROATS, STOP PUSHING HIM AND LET THE HEEL WIN CLEAN" phase so I hated Austin at the time.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2014 14:30:31 GMT -5
I love watching Gunn getting KOd by Butter bean It's 15 years later and I still hate Butterbean. LOL..... Sadly it was all she wrote for Bart. |
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Post by ricflair4ever on Mar 23, 2014 14:50:11 GMT -5
Yeah this one just didnt culminated in an overall awesome experience for me. I dont think it was bad . They had the talent, and there were some good bouts on here. But the OP already said the two words that best sum up Wrestlemania 15 for me. And sadly one of those goes hand in hand with the other. Those two words are "over booked" and "russo".......
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2014 14:57:10 GMT -5
My biggest beef with WM15 (aside from the hideous idea to stick Gunn with Butterbean) was Vince Russo reversed Billy and Road Dogg's roles. It's 15 years later and I still hate Butterbean. LOL..... Sadly it was all she wrote for Bart. Yeah in the WWE, at least he got a good run in Japan. I love hearing Jim Cornette's thoughts on the whole thing. It was just a bad idea all around. I did find it funny that apparently everyone backstage crowded around the monitor to see what happened, and as soon as Bart got KO'd they all casually walked off. |
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Post by The Sexy Psychotic on Mar 23, 2014 15:21:28 GMT -5
Love this one, but it was my first Mania so I'll always love it haha.
I remember the build up and not really seeing the big deal (I had only started watching at the Ruble that year), but I was a MAJOR BossMan lover, so I was super into the HIAC match. And I'll probably the only guy here to say it in this thread but I LOVE the Cell match!
The psychology to it, the fact that it was Takers match, but BossMan's environment - really cool and I still enjoy it so damn much :/ Plus the build-up to it on Raw was incredible (the Ministry going to Vinny Mac's house was freaky as hell and is still my favourite episode of Raw ever.
As for the other matches, meh I love the Main Event, and the rest is cool I guess - I suppose its just the overall feeling of nostalgia I get when watching it that makes me love it.
Also I've read about the Cole thing that the reason JR was sent down to take over was because Cole spoiled the ME and Vince was pissed and that was sort of punishment for him.
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jason1980s
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Post by jason1980s on Mar 23, 2014 15:41:33 GMT -5
It was annoying hearing Cole call the steel cash "mesh."
When I think of the word mesh, I think of mesh football jerseys which are anything but hellacious.
As for it being overbooked, it seemed to be pretty much the same thing as XIV with the number of wrestlers. In a sense, getting back to the earlier days where all the wrestlers were on the card but a bunch of low card guys in one on one or tag matches would be awful so they were in the battle royals. This wrestlemania saw guys like Gillberg, DOA, Public Enemy, and LOD with Paul Ellering again. The singles guys in tag tournaments just seemed like they were trying to give everyone a pay day.
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Post by ricflair4ever on Mar 23, 2014 17:02:27 GMT -5
It was annoying hearing Cole call the steel cash "mesh." When I think of the word mesh, I think of mesh football jerseys which are anything but hellacious. As for it being overbooked, it seemed to be pretty much the same thing as XIV with the number of wrestlers. In a sense, getting back to the earlier days where all the wrestlers were on the card but a bunch of low card guys in one on one or tag matches would be awful so they were in the battle royals. This wrestlemania saw guys like Gillberg, DOA, Public Enemy, and LOD with Paul Ellering again. The singles guys in tag tournaments just seemed like they were trying to give everyone a pay day. When i say overbooked ,i mean it relating to the matches themselves. Im all for getting as much talent on cards like Mania as possible. I like the earlier Manias when the roster was pretty much all there. Overbooking here means they put waaay too much in terms of other wrestlers being involved with other guys matches,interference,swerves for the sake of swerves, and as Anvil Fan pointed out switching Road Dog and Billy Gunns roles for no apparent reason. They had been booked in the opposite feud for a couple months up to that point. I agree with you that the amount of talent on the show was a good thing. It always is. But Mania is not the place for a bunch of run ins, turns and all that to go down. It should be the culmination of events leading to a decisive close and the ground work for the next booking year to begin the next night. But this one had all the added drama involving Foley/Big Show that was supposed to interplay with the main event. No need for any of that as Rock vs Austin didnt need it. Although they got a much worse example of overbooking in their WM X7 bout in my opinion. Everyone praises that one, but i actually think it was the worst of their Mania enounters. But i guess i should save all my opinions on that for the official Wrestlemania 17 discussion. |
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Mar 23, 2014 17:12:18 GMT -5
Again, an attitude era Wrestlemania and it just didn't live up to that era of excitement.
One of two things could have made this Wrestlemania better for me at least...
1: Billy Gunn in the 4 way IC Title match and wins the gold, while Roaddogg is in the triple threat match for the Hardcore Title and wins that gold.
Or 2: The New Age Outlaws tag up and beat Jarrett/Owen for the Tag Titles, instead of having Test and D'Lo Brown face the tag champions.
I would have preferred this to be the Mania card.
WWE Title Match: The Rock vs. Triple H
Winner and new WWE Champion: Triple H
WWE IC Title Match: X-Pac vs. Ken Shamrock
Winner and new IC Champion: X-Pac
WWE Tag Title Match: NAO vs. Jarrett/Owen
Winners and new Tag Champions: New Age Outlaws
Steve Austin vs. Paul Wight
Kane vs. Mankind
WWE European Title Match: Test vs. Val Venis vs. Goldust vs. D'Lo Brown
Winner and European Champion: Val Venis
The Undertaker vs. Big Boss Man in the HIAC
WWE Hardcore Title Match: Al Snow vs. Hardcore Holly
That to me would have made a great Wrestlemania XV show!
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tripleh23
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Post by tripleh23 on Mar 23, 2014 17:14:30 GMT -5
Fun event but not one of the best. It felt like it gave you more to tune into than closing out. The Triple H turn was huge, and I liked the main event. While the cell isn't that great I liked the commentary.
Cole:"The hell in a cell is so dangerous, you could get a finger stuck in there-"
King:"Get a finger stuck in there?! After what we saw happen to poor Mick Foley you're worried about someone getting a finger stuck in there?!"
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