Madpenguin
"Two matches and surprises keep this from being pure skip material."
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A professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF)
< read all 2 reviewsTwo matches and surprises keep this from being pure skip material.
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Oct 9, 2011
- by Madpenguin
- posted in WHAT CAN I SAY?
Rating:
Wrestlemania 15 is considered one of the worst Manias ever and with very good reason. This is suppose to be Wrestlemania, the grand daddy of them all, but most of the matches didn't feel like ppv quality, much less Wrestlemania quality. Only two matches truly stood out concerning action: Austin vs Rock and X-Pac vs. Shane McMahon. Now even though it's cutting very close, I don't believe the event is completely horrible. This event deserves a bit of credit for the storylines that developed, because I doubt many saw these twist coming.
+2
1) Triple Threat Match for the Hardcore Championship
Al Snow vs. Hardcore Holly vs. Billy Gunn(C)
For those who don't know: This is an every man for himself one fall match. That can only be decided by pinfall or submission.
For some reason the crowd got into this, but I was never moved by it. There was some decent action and spots, plus the hardcore rules were used well, which delivered some weapon use and a table crash. This was a good choice to open the show, but for me, it was just a bad match. 2.5/5
2) World Tag Team Championship
Owen Hart(RIP) & Jeff Jarrett vs. D'Lo Brown & Test(RIP)
The odd couple of D'Lo & Test occured when they were the last two remaining in a Battle Royal. This automatically propelled them to the #1 contender spot. The story here is whether they can cooperate or not.
The match was pretty short, but it delivered a good deal of action. There was some high impact offense from Test, and good wrestling from the smaller guys, plus Debra provided the eye candy. The match worked well putting over the storyline, but this was not a Wrestlemania quality match. 2.75/5
3) Brawl for All Contest
Butterbean vs. Bart Gunn
Leading up to this match, a boxing tournament took place and to the best of my knowledge it wasn't pre-determined. Bart Gunn won the tournament, and went on to face the super heavyweight Butterbean. This was a slug fest that saw Butterbean clean Bart's clock very, very, early. Those were some real hard blows, and it was kind of fun to watch I guess. But if I want to see boxing, then I'll order a boxing ppv. 1/5
4) Mankind vs. The Big Show
The winner of this match would go on to referee the main event. The Big Show is a member of McMahon's Corporation, and this would spell disaster for Austin should Big Show win. This was a good bout that would later turn brutal. Mankind takes some sick and heavy punishment as always. The ending is very believable, but the highlight has to be the ending with Vince getting ko'ed. 3/5
5) 4 Corners Elimination Match for the Intercontinental Championship(IC)
Road Dogg(C) vs. Ken Shamrock vs. Goldust vs. Val Venus
This is a basic match with the standard one fall rules, only it's elimination, plus the superstars have to tag in one another. Right off the bat, I did not like the tag in stipulation. It should have stayed elimination, but followed the Fatal Four Way rules, which is all four men in the ring at one time. In any case, this type of match puts the champion at a big disadvantage, but there were some rivalries going on here that took the pressure off the champion somewhat.
This is definitely one of the better matches here. There's some good ring psychology and action, and all three athletes were on point. The biggest flaw was the event leading to the end. For a ppv event of this magnitude, I think it was a jip and it didn't give people their cash worth at all. 3.5/5
6) Kane vs. Triple H
You just knew this match was going to be special when Kane gave Pete Rose a beating for the second straight year. Well it was kind of special, but not really concerning the action. There was some good brawling and nice spots. The ending was kind of a jip and it was meant to put over another storyline, which was Triple H and Chyna getting back together to form DX at full strength once again. This outcome would later play into the bigger picture, plus it was the perfect egg in the face to the fans. Even though this could have been played on Monday Night Raw, I doubt it would have had the same effectiveness as it did here. 3.5/5
7) Women's Championship
Sable(C) vs. Tori
The perfect crowd killer here. This match is just pure garbage. Incredibly slow and badly paced even for a women's match at that time. I'm so happy women's wrestling has come such a long way since then. 0/5
8)European Championship
X-Pac vs. Shane McMahon(C)
This match was the sleeper. I didn't believe it could have been this damn good, because I didn't think much of Shane at this time. Very little time was wasted getting to the point here. Right away X-Pac was ambushed coming down the walkway, and from there it was non stop action. I definitely liked the way this match was played. The odds were heavily stacked against X-Pac, due to Test being in Shane's corner, to include, The Mean Street Posse was in the front row. Usually these matches are very predictable but that's where the egg in the face works its charm. Very good match with a great ending. 4.25/5
9)Hell in a Cell Match
Undertaker vs. Big Boss Man(RIP)
For weeks Undertaker terrorized McMahon, attacking him and his family. Big Boss Man was sent to deal with Taker. Too bad the match didn't live up to the hype at all. Since this is the worst HINC match in history. Seriously, this match is so bad it's never mentioned, and it didn't even make the Hell in the Cell 3 Disk Set.
This match was just bad. It had its brutal moments like Boss Man beating Taker in the face bloody with his night stick. However, the overall action was incredibly slow paced and boring as hell. The crowd was beyond dead and so was I. You could hear a pin drop during this weak bout. The hanging that took place after the match could not save this train wreck. 1/5
10) WWE Championship Match
Rock(C) vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin
This match was well worth the wait and torment. Whenever these two mixed it up, it was something like Dusty and Flair back in the days... It was always magic. The match had classic written all over it. Shawn Michaels would later ban the Corporation from ringside and bring his own ref to the match. This was due to the outcome of the Big Show/Mankind match, since both of them were unable to referee this one.
The action picked up immediately and these two even took the fight into the stands. There was never a dull moment. Later on, refs were getting ko'ed, Vince interfered, there were finisher kick outs, this match had a Wrestlemania feel to it. After thinking about it, this is what Orton vs. Triple H, which would take place ten years later at Wrestlemania 25 should have looked like. This definitely lived up to the hype, and they would continue to feud. Their rematch the following ppv at Backlash surpassed this one in my view. 5/5
This was an awful event overall, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. As great as it was, not even Rock vs. Austin is worth renting this ppv. In fact, I recommend purchasing the Rock's DVD set instead, called The Rock: The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment. That release contains Austin vs. Rock plus many other classics.
Pros:
-Austin vs. Rock, X-Pac vs. Shane, watchable IC title match
Cons:
-Just about everything else
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FM_ALEX
October 10, 2011
When Shane took the time to actually be in a match he usually always when in a show stealer. Great review.
Madpenguin
October 10, 2011
He's only good when the rules are thrown out. Other than that he can't really have any good matches.
woopak_the_thrill
October 11, 2011
how come Shane left?
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More WWF: WrestleMania 15: The Ragi... reviews
Quick Tip by Insane24Se7en.
April 16, 2010
I have a soft spot for this one, because I was there. It was far from the greatest show ever but it did have Austin/Rock and Shane/Xpac
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Madpenguin
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About this movie
WrestleMania XV was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which took place on March 28, 1999 at the First Union Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the fifteenth annual WrestleMania event and starred the WWF wrestlers.
Ten professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event's card, which featured a supercard, a scheduling of more than one main event. The main event contested the WWF Championship between the challenger Steve Austin and The Rock while the penultimate match saw The Undertaker wrestle Big Boss Man inside the Hell in a Cell, a roofed cage that surrounds the ring. Lower on the card, six of the seven active championships were defended, including the first WrestleMania defense of the Hardcore Championship. Also on the undercard was a Brawl for All match, an unscripted type of shootfight between wrestler Bart Gunn and boxer/mixed martial artist Butterbean.
The ticket sales of 20,276 drew a gross of $1,437,050.[1]
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