WrestleMania X-8

1. Rob Van Dam defeated William Regal by pinfall to win the Intercontinental Championship

Good choice for the opener as RVD was still over huge at this point. Too bad the IC belt didn't mean anything at this point, but it was still a good opener.

Rating: 2.75 (out of 5)

2. Diamond Dallas Page defeated Christian by pinfall

It's too bad that DDP didn't last too long in the WWE. I always felt that he was one of the few WCW wrestlers that would adapt to the WWE style the quickest. This was your typical Heat main event.

Rating: 2

3. Goldust and Maven went to no contest. Spike Dudley wins the Hardcore Championship.

It's a shame that guys like Mr. Perfect didn't get on the card, but this did. Why not just have another multi-man Hardcore match?

Rating: 1

4. Kurt Angle defeated Kane by pinfall

This was probably one of the best non-gimmick matches I have ever seen Kane have. Both guys worked hard, even if the ending was botched.

Rating: 2.75

5. Undertaker defeated Ric Flair by pinfall

Much like Flair's match with McMahon at Royal Rumble, I don't feel as if they went about the match the right way. The Arn Anderson segment was great stuff, however.

Rating: 2.5

6. Edge defeated Booker T by pinfall

Now here's where I get frustrated. All summer, Booker was among your top guys. Heck, he main evented SummerSlam, your second biggest show of the year. He gets into a promising feud with one of the top young stars in Edge. Even though it's over a bottle of shampoo, this feud has a lot of promise. They face off at the biggest show of the year in a match that had potential to be a great mid-card match. Then, they give them 7 minutes to work with. 7 minutes! I know you have 11 matches on the card with numerous backstage segments, but you couldn't spare more than 7 minutes for this? There's just no logical explanation for that.

Rating: 2.5

7. Steve Austin defeated Scott Hall by pinfall

This didn't have the big match feel it would have had if it were Nash in there. However, Austin busted his butt to make this important and as a result, the match was much better than most expected.

Rating: 2.5

8. Billy + Chuck defeated The Hardy Boyz, The Dudley Boyz, and APA by pinfall

This started off slowly, but had a fun last few minutes. B+C were a terrible team, but I guess since they were pushing them, it makes sense that they went over.

Rating: 2.25

9. The Rock defeated Hulk Hogan by pinfall

***Match Of The Night***

If you've read some of my previous posts, it's no secret that I don't like the Hulkster. At all. This is my third time watching this match and I think that I finally have a better appreciation for this match. There was no denying that it was entertaining, but it never clicked until this viewing. No doubt, the best Hogan match in years.

Rating: 3.5

10. Jazz defeated Trish Stratus and Lita by pinfall

Talk about a difficult task. Divas always have a hard time keeping the crowds interest, but following the Rock/Hogan match was an even tougher challenge than usual. Not a bad little match, considering the circumstances.

Rating: 1

11. Triple H defeated Chris Jericho by pinfall to win the Undisputed Championship

This match is often an afterthought when people talk about this show. It's very similar to WrestleMania 25 where the Undertaker/Michaels match stole the show and the Orton/Triple H match kind of ended the show on a low note. The main difference to me was that Rock/Hogan was not anywhere close to Undertaker/Michaels and this was a much better match that Orton/Triple H. A lot of people hate on this match and I really don't get why. The ending was a little weak and the crowd was only into it about half of the time, but from a work rate point of view, this match was good. Jericho worked extremely hard and Triple H did what he could coming off a major surgery.

Rating: 3.25

This is the only WrestleMania since WrestleMania 14 that I did not watch live, so it probably lacks that appeal. There are too many strange matchups on this card to really justify having 11 matches on the card. I am not opposed to 10+ matches at WrestleMania, in fact I encourage it, but did we really need to see Maven/Goldust? There is nothing offensive here, none of the matches get below a 1, but it just doesn't get the job done as a "great" show. The Hogan/Rock match is definitely worth checking out and you will not be bored with the rest of the card. Just don't expect this to be as good as many of the other more recent WrestleManias.

Overall Rating: 68%