Best Austin/Rock Wrestlemania Match?

[chuck415 0]

X-7 The greatest match in WM history. Dueling finishers, Austin busting the hell out of the Rock, siding with McMahon, and the fans still going apeshit for him. Pure Awesome.

[Downhome 0]

If nothing else, this thread has made me decide to take out my WM DVDs, and watch all three of these matches back to back.

[pochorenella 0]

Good idea, Downhome. Think I'll do that myself.

[Dangerous A 0]

From a match story point of view, it doesn't get much better than X7.

 

Austin is already insecure from losing the 2 out of 3 falls match to HHH after being up 1 fall to none at the previous month's ppv. That isn't what's supposed to happen. He's supposed to come into WM strong. He also needs validation to himself that he can come back from serious neck surgery and again be top guy. Who's on top at the time?

 

Rock.

 

Austin's beat Rock before. However, the loss from the previous month coupled with a great dueling promo bit a week or two out where Austin states he NEEDS to win the title. Problem for him is, Rock isn't the same Rock from 1999. He's better.

 

Which is why it isn't a surprise that Austin attacks Rock before the bell even rings. Odd behavior for a babyface. He bloodies Rock. Rock gives it all back. Things are evening up in a great brawl. You start to see Austin pulling things out from matches past and such to try to put Rock away. Stunner. Doesn't work. A second stunner, it worked in WMXV. Not this time. Austin tries to finish Rock with his own Rock Bottom. Still not good enough. Austin starts to even go back to old tricks like the Millon Dollar Dream and almost suffers defeat with it just like Survivor Series 96. Austin's facial expressions during this time of trying to finish off Rock are incredible. It's similar to Ultimate Warrior staring at his hands when he couldn't finish off Savage at WM7.

 

Austin goes to the final plan. Vince McMahon. The man he has hated for years. His greatest nemesis. Vince is the Ace up Austin's sleeve and Austin HAS to use it to put Rock away. Austin doesn't use any wrestling move or finisher to put Rock away. He uses pure barbarism with a chair to do it. Austin pretty much is gone in terms of this as a wrestling match and basically uses an assault with a weapon to get the job done. Even if he has to align himself with Vince to do it, Austin had to win this match or else him coming back would mean nothing. I didn't have as much of an issue with the chair and McMahon interference finish as others did because it fit within the story they were telling very nicely.

 

That is why it's their best match. The other 2 matches can't even begin to scratch the surface of that kind of storytelling.

[Shanghai Kid 0]

I think some are selling WM-15 short. Most people thought that was truly a classic match until WM 17 came along and topped it.

 

From a storyline perspective, I honestly can't believe people are forgetting how big the Corperation was. WM15 was basically the climax of the Austin vs Corperation feud.

 

And somebody saying the Rock wasn't on Austins level at the time, are you kidding me? Rock/Mankind was 'THE' Championship feud of the Attitude era. 4 straight PPV matches, the title had SO much credibility going into WM15 because the Rock basically had gone to war with Foley and Foley had helped get him more over than ever. And promo wise Rock was just a beast.

 

The Backlash match was great cause Rock was basically a face by than.

 

I thought the ending hurt WM17 for one big reason, the match was in Texas. I would of loved that ending anywhere else cause it seemed like the idea was for the crowd to get behind the Rock. But you can't do a heel turn with Austin in Texas. I would of loved just a clean ending and do a heel turn the next night. And it took away from it being an epic face match since it was in Austins backyard. Remember the 6 man Hell in a Cell match where Austin/Rock finally fight at the end of the match? THAT was the kind of reaction I would of loved to see at Wrestlemania.

 

WM19 was sort of like Sting/Flair from the last Nitro. Basically just a way to finish the legacy.

 

I actually never thought Rock/Austin had a match where they were both at the top of their games. We never really saw the epic face encounter that we could of. The time for it would of been WM 2000 but of course Austin was injured. If you remember the Raw from the night after the October 99 ppv, when Rock and Austin are standing in the ring, the crowd reaction was so split and that probably gave you even more goosebumps than when Rock/Hogan were in the ring that first time. That would of been even more special..

[Silence 0]

From a storyline perspective,  I honestly can't believe people are forgetting how big the Cooperation was.  WM15 was basically the climax of the Austin vs Cooperation feud.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

For a group that was supposed to be called the "Cooperation", some of them really didn't "cooperate" too well with each other. Like The Rock and The Big Show, for example.

 

Just kidding. I knew what you meant, Shanghai.

[Shanghai Kid 0]

From a storyline perspective,  I honestly can't believe people are forgetting how big the Cooperation was.  WM15 was basically the climax of the Austin vs Cooperation feud.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

For a group that was supposed to be called the "Cooperation", some of them really didn't "cooperate" too well with each other. Like The Rock and The Big Show, for example.

 

Just kidding. I knew what you meant, Shanghai.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

O damn didn't even see that, good looking.

[Jericholic82 0]

WM 19 was a good spectacle and Rock played a great heel, but Austin was so beat up it was never going to be a clasic match

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

IIRC, wasn't it a little before WM 19 when Austin had to be taken to the hospital after collapsing from dehydration or something? I saw something about that a year or two ago on TV on a WWE special (could have been on UPN), which could have explained why Austin/Rock at WM 19 wasn't too great.

 

I also think it was Austin's last year of being an active wrestler for a while, too, since his neck injury had taken its toll on him that year.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That was "the mania of wrestlemania" special that aired on upn the friday before wm20, its also on the 3rd disc of the wm 20 dvd.

 

Austin was in his room and his heart was racing (he had been drinking too much coffee and energy drinks, plus was having major anxiety) and went to the hospital with jr. he didnt check out till the morning of wm but he went to the arena, said nothing and wrestled the match. Plus he still was in a lot of pain from his many injuries. That showed a lot of guts IMO

 

 

BTW I voted for 17 simply cuz it is the best match. But 15 was a lot of fun and had a good finish. 17s finish I no longer think of as bad cuz of the story it was telling. the 19 match was better then it gets credit for,but it lacked the heat and good story telling (as Austin never said it was his last match goign in, so it had no real hook other than the rock trying to finally beat austin one on one at wm)

[Guest fanofcoils]

Rock was much more entertaining when he was heel from Survivor Series 98 to Backlash 99 then he lost a lot of his edge when he turned face the Raw after Backlash. Rock was getting really stale around late 2000 and the build for Wrestlemania 17 was much worse compared to the build for Wrestlemania 15, which had a long lengthy build and was the peak of the epic Vince-Austin feud. Wrestlemania 15 does have a higher buyrate than Wrestlemania 17 and the fans did view the Rock on or near Austin's level around Wrestlemania 15.

 

The rematch had a lower buyrate because fans already saw Rock vs Austin at Wrestlemania 15 and Rock and Austin were both worse than before (except in workrate). Austin was still going strong into Wrestlemania 17, the him "can't beating the Rock" angle in the match didn't make sense because he was on par with the Rock around the time of Wrestlemania 17. Rock could have won this match without this angle.

[Guest news_gimmick]

....

[Guest The REAL W.C.W.]

Although I've yet to vote, the Wrestlemania 19 match-up between the 2 is my favorite due to the finality of it. the roles were played perfectly, and the match came off very well, especially live..(I was there for my 6th straight Wrestlemania) on TV though, it comes off well too... I enjoyed it very much.

 

:- William C. Wells

[Guest *KNK*]

Rock was much more entertaining when he was heel from Survivor Series 98 to Backlash 99 then he lost a lot of his edge when he turned face the Raw after Backlash.  Rock was getting really stale around late 2000 and the build for Wrestlemania 17 was much worse compared to the build for Wrestlemania 15, which had a long lengthy build and was the peak of the epic Vince-Austin feud.  Wrestlemania 15 does have a higher buyrate than Wrestlemania 17 and the fans did view the Rock on or near Austin's level around Wrestlemania 15.

 

The rematch had a lower buyrate because fans already saw Rock vs Austin at Wrestlemania 15 and Rock and Austin were both worse than before (except in workrate).  Austin was still going strong into Wrestlemania 17, the him "can't beating the Rock" angle in the match didn't make sense because he was on par with the Rock around the time of Wrestlemania 17.  Rock could have won this match without this angle.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Jesus christ, please post when you have a clue. I'm gonna no sell this post on sheer stupidity alone.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Not only that but WMX7 outdrew WMXV in Buyrates and Live Gate.

[Guest news_gimmick]

...

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Buy rate-wise, he's correct. WM X7 did have more buys, but the buy rate was higher for XV because of the nature of the PPV universe at the time.

 

For those curious, XV got a 2.32, while X7 got a 2.18.

[Sass 0]

I actually liked WM 15 the best. The ending didn't leave a bitter taste in my mouth like their future matches would. I didn't care for Austin winning X-7 the way he did and I thought the Rock's X-9 win was anti-climatic to say the least. The ending to the last two matches really just made me sad. They were just totally unsatisfying.

 

The one thing that I thought was really cool about the WM 15 match, which made it unique to me, was when the Rock kicked out of the stunner after being in the match for only a couple minutes.

 

It was the first time since Bret Hart, that someone, kicked out of the Stunner. But, the way it happened, which was early in the match, didn't cheapen the finisher to me like future Heyman style booked matches between the two would go. The Rock was still fresh and didn't go down to the Stunner when Austin hit it clean in the early minutes of the match. The Rock did everything he could from that point on to win the match but also avoid eating another Stunner like he did earlier. That was a nice touch.

 

So yeah, I voted for the Wrestlemania 15 match.

 

The work in X-7 is really, really good though. The 19 match is a depressing train wreck to watch.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I re-watched the X7 and X9 matches recently, and I thought X7 had more storytelling in it but that X9 was the better actual match. X7, for all the story it had, was filled with too many shortcuts to really take seriously as match, and in many ways it was really a 30:00 angle. Their X9 match was pretty solid I thought, and I preferred it because it had less ga-ga and was more centered around both Austin and Rock and it had no outside forces taking attention away. I haven’t seen their XV match since it happened, but I do remember not thinking much of it.

[Sass 0]

Go back and watch it. There's less goofy crap at the end compared to the other matches.

[CanadianChick 0]

I didn't like WM 19 very much at all. It just felt like a finisher trading match with the normal Austin/Rock match thrown in there as filler in the middle. Really, it was like a nonstalgic match that was there for people to have fond memories of their feud.

 

I think I'm going to watch WM 17 and 15 again tomorrow, just to make a fair judgement. I really don't like Austin in the ring post neck injury to be honest though.

[Sass 0]

That's one of the reasons why I found it hard to watch X-9. Austin was Muhammed Ali and the Rock was Larry Holmes. In both matches, it was tough watching the broken down star in his final match against the younger guy who never got a fair chance to shine in the spotlight.

 

Seriously, X-9, for me, is just a terribly depressing match to watch that I could do without ever watching again. Seeing Austin getting beatdown in that match was hard to watch.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I actually liked WM 15 the best.  The ending didn't leave a bitter taste in my mouth

The one thing that I thought was really cool about the WM 15 match, which made it unique to me, was when the Rock kicked out of the stunner after being in the match for only a couple minutes.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I just re-watched the match, and Austin doesn't hit the stunner until a fair way into the match. Austin hits the Stunner after Rock hits Tim White with the Rock Bottom, and Rock only kicks out after Earl Hebner has to hit the ring to make the count.

 

The match is a lot better than I remember it, and for me it's as good as their X9 match. What I didn't like was the first ten minutes consisting of the walk-and-brawl style that that the WWF main events were infamous for back then. When they got in the ring, it was pretty good stuff, and I would have liked to have seen them wrestle in a match that was kept in the ring, with minimal ringside activity.

[Sass 0]

The bit with Tim White and Earl Hebner was one of the best booking moves made in that match. The Stunner was, once anyways, one of the best God killer moves in the WWF since Austin, at that point, had only needed to hit one on someone to win a match. I didn't think that spot cheapened the move in any way unlike the WM matches they'd have later on where the finishing moves no longer looked as impressive as they had before. At least Russo didn't go with the over-kill finishes route that bookers like Heyman and Baba did, which is one of the few compliments I can give Russo as a booker.

 

The Backlash '99 match whomps the shit out of the future WM matches between the two.

 

They had a grudge match on the RAW before WM 14, which I thought was entertaining at least. The match was a total clusterfuck at the end though.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

At least Russo didn't go with the over-kill finishes route that bookers like Heyman and Baba did, which is one of the few compliments I can give Russo as a booker. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's because Russo never gave enough matches a finish to overkill finishers.

[Sass 0]

This is very true.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

15 always struck me as the only Hogan-esque ridiculous title match of Austin's time on top. You knew who was winning. And if you didn't...Michael Cole told you before the match started...literally.

 

19 was a crappy match that everyone thinks is good. Kind of like Taker/HHH at Mania 17. punch punch punch. no sell no sell no sell. finisher finisher finisher. It's like...HHH/Rock Iron man match overrated. I know Austin was hurting...but that's not adding to the match for me.

 

17 was the best match Rock has ever been near. The storyline, if we'll all recall...was that Austin stated that he would do ANYTHING to win that title back...as it was his drug. The pre match set up laid the ground work for what was the most shocking moment of the Attitude era. Austin...and Vince? Perfect.

[King Cucaracha 0]

The 'storyline' and the build-up to X-7 sucked. It consisted of, IIRC, The Rock feuding with The Big Show and Austin feuding with HHH for a month. Then, Debra became The Rock's manager. Which lasted all of two weeks, before it got dropped unceremoniously. And even worse, it was dropped ON TV, with a weak explanation. A couple of sit-down interviews, a good Mania main-event feud does not make. That's the one thing that bothers me about X7...aside from the finish.

 

HTQ summed up my feeling on XV. The brawl through the crowd was cool at the time but it harms the match when you re-watch it, because you're begging them to get into the ring. I give them credit for not going the usual ref bump route and actual have the referees deliberatly beaten down and they managed to get Vince involved without TOO much run-in idiocy. But like I said earlier, for what they were trying to accomplish (chaotic brawl) for most of XV, Backlash was more entertaining the very next month.

 

And XIX was too much of a finisher fest. Understandably, Rock stalled a LOT during the match. We're talking RVD ECW levels of stalling when he gets the jacket.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Why is everybody talking about the feuds? What does that have to do with the quality of the match?