WrestleMania 2000: Обзор и результаты

World Wrestling Federation pay per view event
the professional wrestling pay per view event

WrestleMania 2000 (also known as WrestleMania 16) was the 16th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay per view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It took place on April 2, 2000, at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim in Anaheim, California. A total of nine matches were contested on the event's card. The main event was a four way elimination match for the WWF Championship involving reigning champion Triple H, The Rock, Mick Foley, and The Big Show, which Triple H won after last eliminating The Rock, in the first time a heel won the main event of WrestleMania. Main matches on the undercard included a triangle ladder match for the WWF Tag Team Championship involving Edge and Christian, The Hardy Boyz, and The Dudley Boyz, and a two fall triple threat match for the WWF Intercontinental and European Championships involving Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit.

WrestleMania is considered the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) flagship pay per view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985. It has become the longest running professional wrestling event in history and is held annually between mid March to mid April. It was the first of the WWF's original four pay per views, which includes Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, which were dubbed the "Big Four", and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs, along with King of the Ring. The 16th WrestleMania was titled WrestleMania 2000 due to it taking place in the year 2000. It was scheduled to be held on April 2, 2000, at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim in Anaheim, California.

The event included nine matches that each resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by writers of the World Wrestling Federation, while storylines were produced on WWF's weekly television shows, Raw is War and SmackDown! along with its supplementary programs, Sunday Night Heat and Jakked/Metal.

The main feud heading into WrestleMania was over the WWF Championship and involved two feuds that had become intertwined over the previous two months and eventually drew in the McMahon family. On the January 3rd, 2000 edition of Raw, Triple H regained the WWF Championship, which he had previously lost to The Big Show at Survivor Series in November 1999 due to underhanded means. He also used his position of husband to Stephanie McMahon Helmsley, to exert control over the company and his rivals. This would lead to the firing of Mick Foley, his most vocal rival. Foley, however, was later reinstated and reverted from his Mankind persona to his more violent Cactus Jack persona, challenging Triple H to a street fight at the Royal Rumble later that January, which the champion won. Meanwhile, after Big Show's loss, he began showing signs of disdain toward The Rock in interviews. Shortly thereafter, he abandoned The Rock in several tag matches featuring the two and eventually attacked him, turning heel and declaring his intent to win the Royal Rumble match and regain the WWF Championship. Big Show and Rock both entered the Rumble and were the last two men left in the ring, and Rock apparently won the match after pulling himself back into the ring before Big Show tumbled to the floor. However, Big Show protested Rock's victory, and insisted that he did not lose the match. Big Show then proceeded to produce video footage that showed The Rock had in fact touched the floor with both feet before Big Show did. Heading into No Way Out on February 27, a double main event was signed. Triple H would defend the WWF Championship against Cactus Jack in a Hell in a Cell match, with Cactus being forced to retire from wrestling, should he lose. The winner of that match would face the winner of a match earlier in the night between The Rock and Big Show, for the right to go to WrestleMania and face the champion. During the #1 contender's match, Rock had hit the Rock Bottom on Big Show and was about to deliver the People's Elbow when Shane McMahon, who had not been seen on WWF television since he left the company in December 1999, came to the ring and laid The Rock out with a steel chair shot, enabling Big Show to get the pinfall victory and earn the title shot. Later in the night, the bout between Triple H and Cactus Jack would spill outside of the cell and end up on the roof, where Cactus lit a 2x4 wrapped in barbed wire ablaze and attempted to deliver a Piledriver to Triple H onto it. Triple H reversed it by backdropping Cactus, causing him to fall through a panel in the cell's ceiling and hit the ring with enough force to break the ring mat. Once back inside, the champion hit the Pedigree on the challenger to win the match, retain his title, and send Cactus Jack into retirement. The night after No Way Out, Triple H informed the defeated Rock that he had to start all the way at the bottom of the pecking order since he was no longer the number one contender, and forced him into a match with The Brooklyn Brawler. Rock easily won the match and proceeded to call Triple H out afterward. Stephanie would then decide to give Rock a chance to be added into the WrestleMania main event, provided he could pin either Triple H or Big Show, who had formed a formidable, but uneasy alliance in the previous weeks in spite of Big Show's challenger status to Triple H, in a handicap match in that night's main event. Rock won the match, but did so after Shane interfered and broke up a pin attempt. Since this resulted in a disqualification victory for The Rock instead of a pinfall victory, he was not added into the match. Two weeks later, Rock challenged Big Show yet again and this time agreed to put his career on the line in order to get to WrestleMania. Shane would go on to appoint himself as the special guest referee, but during the course of the match, Vince McMahon returned from his own exile following Stephanie's betrayal of him at Armageddon the previous December. He knocked Shane out with a chair and counted the pin for Rock, who won his way into the WrestleMania main event, making it a Triple Threat match. The following week on Raw, Vince announced that the Triple Threat match between the three men would take place that night instead of waiting until WrestleMania. Triple H reluctantly agreed on the terms that the match not take place at WrestleMania under any circumstances. With Stephanie in his corner, Shane in Big Show's corner, and Vince in Rock's corner, Triple H would emerge victorious and retain the championship after pinning Big Show with the Pedigree. After the match, however, Linda McMahon appeared and informed Triple H that he would indeed be defending the WWF Championship at WrestleMania against not only The Rock and Big Show, but a newly reinstated Mick Foley as well in a Fatal 4 Way Elimination Match. Foley then immediately came out and attacked Triple H. Linda would then announce on the March 24th edition of SmackDown! later that week that she would be in Foley's corner for the match.

Another major feud that had been developing going into the show featured Chris Jericho. At No Way Out in February, Jericho lost his Intercontinental Championship to then European Champion Kurt Angle after Angle hit him with the title belt behind the referee's back, causing Angle to become a double champion. Over the following weeks, Jericho would make several attempts to regain the championship, with all attempts being unsuccessful, largely due to Angle's sudden partnership with WWF legend Bob Backlund, who had briefly returned to the company. While feuding with Angle, Jericho also started a rivalry with The Radicalz, as Chris Benoit was also trying to win the Intercontinental Championship, while Eddie Guerrero was subsequently trying to woo Jericho's valet Chyna. Eventually, a two fall match between Angle, Benoit, and Jericho was signed for WrestleMania. The first fall would be contested for the Intercontinental Championship, and the second fall would be contested for the European Championship. Another major feud heading into the event was between Edge and Christian, The Hardy Boyz (Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy), and The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D Von Dudley) for the WWF Tag Team Championship. On the January 17th edition of Raw, Jeff Hardy was scheduled to face Bubba Ray Dudley in a singles match. The match saw Jeff pinning Bubba Ray after delivering a Swanton Bomb. After the match, the Dudleys attacked the Hardys, in which they powerbombed Matt on top of a table. after Jeff and Bubba Ray made their way to the ring, causing both teams to begin brawling with one another. The following night on Raw, the Dudleys showed respect towards the Hardys, and stated they would help them defeat the New Age Outlaws later that night for the WWF Tag Team Championships. In return, the Hardys would have to grant the Dudleys a title shot at the titles. However, during the match, the Dudleys stopped the three count, after the Hardys had the match in their favor, which allowed the Outlaws to retain the titles. After the match, the Dudleys then proceeded to perform the 3 D on each of the Hardys. The Dudleys would go on to successfully defeat the Outlaws at No Way Out to win the Tag Team Championships. Later that night, Edge & Christian defeated the Hardy Boyz in a #1 Contender's match after Terri Runnels, who had been managing the Hardys, turned heel and cost them the match. Over the following weeks, the two teams would begin a feud in which they trash talked each other in interviews, and cost each other matches. It was later announced that all three teams would face each other for the WWF Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania in a Triangle Ladder match. Another unique storyline that was developing around this time revolved around the WWF Hardcore Championship. On the February 24th edition of SmackDown!, Crash Holly defeated Test for the Hardcore Championship with help from his cousin Hardcore Holly. After the match, a jubilant Crash declared that he would defend the title any time, at any place, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so long as there was a referee present. This magnificently backfired on Crash, as he would be ambushed and challenged in impromptu matches for the title in various places such as a laundromat, a hotel room, an amusement park, and even the baggage claim at Newark Liberty International Airport. Although Crash was able to retain his title or regain it after briefly losing it each time he was confronted, the constant looking over his shoulder drove Crash crazy, and a battle royal featuring most of the wrestlers who had been ambushing Crash was signed for WrestleMania.

Before the opening video, Lilian Garcia sang "The Star Spangled Banner". The first match that aired was a tag team match between the team of The Godfather and D'Lo Brown (who were accompanied to the ring by the Godfather's Ho Train and rapper Ice T, who also sang their entrance music) against the team of The Big Boss Man and Bull Buchanan. The Godfather and Brown gained the early advantage over Buchanan and Bossman, as they were able to execute a leg drop and a splash combination. Buchanan and Bossman, yet, retaliated after Bossman delivered a Sidewalk slam and Buchanan delivered a Leg drop from the top turnbuckle into a pinfall and winning the match. The second match was a hardcore battle royal for the WWF Hardcore Championship featuring champion Crash Holly defending against The Mean Street Posse, The APA, Kaientai, The Headbangers, Tazz, Viscera, and Hardcore Holly The first championship exchange occurred after Tazz pinned Crash, which proceeded with Viscera pinning Tazz. The next match was a tag team match between the team of Al Snow and Steve Blackman against the team of T & A (Test and Albert).

After the event, The Rock continued to feud with Triple H over the WWF Championship. The feud continued on the first Raw after WrestleMania, where The Rock pinned Triple H in a non title match. The following week on Raw, the feud intensified, where The Rock defeated The Big Boss Man and Bull Buchanan in a handicap steel cage match. After the match Triple H, Shane and Vince McMahon attacked The Rock, however, which caused him to lose a great amount of blood. At Backlash, The Rock, with help from Stone Cold Steve Austin and Linda McMahon, defeated Triple H to win the WWF Championship. Also the next night on Raw, Eddie Guerrero defeated Chris Jericho to win the European Championship with help from Chyna who turned on Jericho, and aligned herself with Guerrero. Crash Holly won the Hardcore Championship from cousin Hardcore Holly the next night on Raw.

The Irish Film Classification Office (IFCO) banned the video release of the event, owing to its use of realistic weapons, including metal chairs, timber wrapped with barbed wire, shinai and sledgehammers. Deputy censor Audrey Conlon also cited the "gladiatorial bloodlust" of the crowd baying for increasingly extreme violence. Clear Vision Ltd., which released material from the WWF under its Silver Vision imprint, lodged an appeal (the result of which is unknown) and claimed that "our fans love the wild soap opera element", but the IFCO countered this by stating, "This is one of the most dangerous and pernicious aspects of the entire business. The universal distinguishing feature of all soap opera is that the storylines are regularly made more explicit and, in many instances, more violent, simply to keep audience share."