WWF WrestleMania XV

With 1998 focused on Steve Austin’s epic feud with Mr. McMahon, WrestleMania XV was focused on a blowoff between Austin and McMahon’s ‘Corporate Champion’ The Rock. Though the show was highly anticipated and commercially successful (including very much so by me – at fourteen years old, and a smartened up mark for Attitude), it has since become known as a prime example of the excesses and mistakes of Vince Russo’s erratic writing style that dominated the Attitude Era.

Still, for all its flaws, the WWF sold the show on the well built foundation of a strong main event. After Steve Austin had won the WWF Title at WrestleMania XIV, his main rival became Mr. McMahon – who spent the entire year trying to get the title off of him (with varying degrees of success), and onto a champion in line with his more conservative views. He finally managed to do so at Survivor Series, and now Austin was gunning for revenge – and the title. It was simple, well booked angles like these that helped fans relate to Attitude, and kept them tuning in – even when surrounded by nonsensical goofiness.

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Your Hosts are Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler. Boyz II Men sing America the Beautiful to kick things off.


Opening WWF Hardcore Title Triple Threat Match: Billy Gunn v Al Snow v Hardcore Holly: The New Age Outlaws were pursuing singles careers in 1999 - though this was a weird turn of events (even by the era's standards) as Gunn had been chasing the Intercontinental Title and Jesse James the Hardcore Title, only for Billy to win the Hardcore and Jesse the Intercontinental a couple of weeks before the show, and suddenly end up in completely different divisions. Snow jumps Gunn during his opening spiel, but Holly steps in, and we have a three-way slugfest. It quickly spills to the floor, and everyone trades various weapon shots, until Gunn blasts Holly with a chair, and puts Snow through a table. Fameasser on the chair for Snow, but Holly breaks up the pin with a chair shot, and pins Snow himself at 7:07 - winning the title without even having to pin the champion. Just punch-kick stuff, but Gunn took a few decent bumps here. ½*

WWF Tag Team Title Match: Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett v Test and D-lo Brown: There are thrown together matches, and then there's this - as instead of building challengers up for a title shot, a battle royal was held on Sunday Night Heat (airing live, right before the pay per view) with the last two men (in this case Brown and Test) standing forced to team up for a title shot. D-lo and Test jump the champs at the bell, and Jarrett and Brown officially kick things off. D-lo dominates, but forgets to cut the ring in half, and Jarrett tags Hart. He walks into a powerbomb from Test, and a pump-handle slam - countered into an enzuigiri by Hart. Sharpshooter, but D-lo breaks it up, and tags - dropping a leg on Hart. Criss cross allows Jarrett a cheap shot, and Owen hits a spinheel kick and a gutwrench suplex. The champs properly cut the ring in half, but Brown starts throwing dropkicks, and hits Jarrett with a sitout powerbomb for two. That triggers a four-way brawl, and Owen blasts Brown with a missile dropkick to finish things at 3:08. Too short to go anywhere - basically just a bunch of rushed spots. *

Brawl for All Match: Bart Gunn v Butterbean: Brawl for All was an interesting concept, as the WWF held a series of shoot boxing matches in the summer of 1998, with Gunn winning the tournament - famously knocking out Steve Williams along the way. As a result, legit Tough man Contest winner Butterbean challenged him to a showdown. Vinny Pazienza is the guest referee, and judges Chuck Wepner, Kevin Rooney, and Gorilla Monsoon (in his last appearance, before his death that fall) are at ringside.
ROUND ONE: Big staredown to start, and that's about it, as Butterbean blasts Gunn with a series of body shots at the bell, and closes in with a knockout at 0:47. This was the end of both Brawl for All and Bart Gunn. DUD

Winner Referee's the Main Event: Mankind v The Big Show: The idea here is that Vince McMahon wants to make sure Steve Austin gets screwed in the main event, so he has his hired gun Show (in his debut angle) go out and get the position of referee. They don't waste any time to start slugging it out, and quickly spill to the floor - Mankind taking a requisite bump into the steps. Inside, Show hammers away in the corner, but he ends up Cactus Clotheslining himself to the floor, and Mankind slaps on Mr. Socko! The Claw takes Show down to his knees, but he powers up, and (with Mankind riding on his back, applying the hold) dives backwards onto him. That allows Show to chokeslam him onto a pair of chairs, but that gets him disqualified at 6:51. Afterwards, Vince McMahon comes down to scold him - only to get beat down, and Show's already turned face less than two months into his run. Really dull, disjointed match - held together only by a few nice Mankind bumps. Big Show looked especially lost out there. –½*

WWF Intercontinental Title Four Corners Elimination Match: Jesse James v Ken Shamrock v Goldust v Val Venis: Basically, this came about because Goldust and Venis had been making advances on (see: fucking) Shamrock’s sister. Also making advances: Billy Gunn. You may remember him from the opener. Big brawl to start, until they settle on James and Shamrock starting. Ken unloads a few kicks in the corner, but gets dropkicked off of a backdrop attempt, and Jesse takes a breather by tagging Goldust. He catches Ken with a diving clothesline, and Venis (this wouldn't have made sense in 1999, but today, Venis' character totally comes off like a bad SNL sketch cross of Seth Rogen and Gerard Butler) tags himself in - but gets caught up stomping a mud hole in Ken on the way, and Goldust jumps him with a side suplex. Superplex, but Venis counters with a bulldog from the top for two, and a fisherman's suplex gets two. Four-way brawl breaks out again, and Venis ends up in an Anklelock from Shamrock - but makes the ropes. They spill to the outside as a result, and both get counted out at 8:24. That leaves Goldust to slug it out with the champ, but Shamrock takes out his frustrations by running back in and killing both guys with suplexes. Goldust recovers first, but gets distracted by his entourage on the floor, and James gets the easy pin at 9:48. It wasn't poorly worked, but it suffered from a real lack of flow, and the crowd was dead as a result. ¾*

Triple H v Kane: Both guys shot fireballs at each other to set this up. During the entrances, the San Diego Chicken mascot randomly jumps Kane, but he gets unmasked as Pete Rose, and Tombstoned - continuing the running gag from the year before. Triple H then one-ups the San Diego Chicken by jumping out of the crowd at Kane, and quickly backdrops him to the floor. Slugfest out there goes Kane's way - but he gets posted, and whipped into the steps. Kane comes back by crotching him on the guardrail, and ramming him into the ringpost for good measure. Inside, Kane keeps whipping him around, and dumps him to the floor again for a plancha - not even getting a token pop from the bored crowd. Flying clothesline coming back in, but HHH slams him off of the top, and a kneelift stuns the big man. High knee puts him on the mat, and that draws out Chyna - having recently turned on Triple H. The distraction leads to a double knockout, but her passing Kane the steps backfires, and HHH droptoe-holds him into them. Pedigree, but Hunter gets backdropped, and Kane chokeslams him. Chyna wants to finish him herself with a chair, but ends up turning on Kane, and HHH Pedigree's him onto the chair for the disqualification at 11:33. Afterwards, Triple H hoists Chyna up in an embrace - the Russo-era, degenerate version of Savage/Liz from '91. Match was really slow, lumbering stuff - I had to fight to stay awake during Kane's offense. -*

WWF Women's Title Match: Sable v Tori: The angle here is that Tori was a deranged fan, stalking Sable. How that qualified her for a title shot at WrestleMania I'm not sure - but this wasn't an era known for logic. Even weirder, Tori is the face. Sable kicks the shit out of her in the early going (literally throwing about two dozen kicks), but Tori comes back with a forearm smash, and mounts her with punches. Sunset flip gets two, and they botch a bridging pinfall reversal sequence into Tori backsliding her for two. Criss cross bumps the referee, and Tori tries a powerbomb in the chaos, but Nicole Bass pops out of the crowd (in her debut) and press slams her for Sable to pin at 5:04. Unlike the year before, where we were all impressed when Sable could bust out a couple of basic moves, the bloom was well off the rose at this point. In fact, any longer, and this would have fallen deep into negative stars. This was pretty much the end of Sable, too, as she got too big for her britches, and unceremoniously bounced out of the promotion a couple of months later. DUD

WWF European Title Match: Shane McMahon v X-Pac: Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco try to jump X-Pac on the way to the ring to sway the odds in Shane's favor, but he fights them off, and charges to the ring. Shane bails, of course, and the chase leads to X-Pac spinkicking him. Bronco Buster, but McMahon bails to the floor, and it's chase number two! This time, bodyguard Test manages to catch X-Pac on the outside, and posts him to give his boss the countout win - but X-Pac beats the count. Inside, McMahon tries the People's Elbow, but hits the mat, so he grabs Test's weightlifting belt for a few cheap shots. Blind charge sees him get backdropped to the floor, and X-Pac's on him with a plancha - but he runs into Shane's Mean Street Posse at ringside, and ends up on his back again. Inside, Shane with a 2^nd rope elbowdrop, but he gets crotched as he climbs to the top rope, and superplexed off for two - the count broken when Test pulls him out of the ring. X-Pac fights him off with a shot into the steps, and he steals the weightlifting belt to leave Shane slumped in the corner for the Bronco Buster. Test ruins his celebration by clobbering him with the title belt, however, and that gives Shane a dramatic two count. His own try at a Bronco Buster gets dodged, and X-Pac hits the X-Factor for the win, but fellow Degeneration-X pal Triple H runs out (to keep Test at bay) - only to Pedigree X-Pac, and allow Shane to retain at 8:43. Afterwards, the New Age Outlaws run in to protest - and get beat down by Triple H and Chyna to hammer home the heel turn. Shane was 1999's Sable: no one expected anything, and he managed to deliver. Overbooked, sure - but it worked better that way, as it would have been silly to book Shane as a legitimate threat to X-Pac. **

Hell in a Cell Match: The Undertaker v Big Bossman: The buildup to this included Undertaker setting Vince McMahon's teddy bear on fire, so you know it's gonna be crazy. Bossman wins a slugfest to start, but quickly eats a clothesline (from hell?!) for two. ‘Taker tries a backdrop to come back, but takes a neckbreaker for two, and they brawl to the floor. Bossman grabs his handcuffs, and shackles ‘Taker to the cell - leaving him helpless for some nightstick abuse. Oh, but so it would seem! Before Bossman can adequately punish ‘Taker with his stick, Undertaker breaks free, and it's choking time! Finally back inside (though, I’m not sure how that’s really better - other than that the match can end there, I guess) and ‘Taker hits the jumping clothesline. Ropewalk forearm, but Bossman crotches him, only to lose a slugfest when ‘Taker blows him low. Tombstone finishes things at 9:48. Brutal. In the wrong ways. Interestingly, this wouldn’t even be Bossman’s worst Hell in a Cell match. -*

Main Event: No Disqualification WWF Title Match: The Rock v Steve Austin: Jim Ross returns to the commentary position for the main event - after a Bells Palsy related absence. Mr. McMahon also joins us at ringside - it seems Mankind is too battered from his bout with Big Show to referee, so, nice guy that he is, McMahon will do it himself. That draws out WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels, and he rules Vince ineligible to referee - barring him from ringside in the process. Rock gets right in Austin's face during his entrance, and a slugfest puts them on the floor within the first minute of the match. Into the crowd (Hey, it's Philly. It would be weird of they didn’t), as they take a tour of the arena/keep security busy. They end up at the entrance area, and Austin tries a piledriver on the floor - but ends up getting backdropped into the set. Another slugfest goes Austin's way, and Rocky gets whipped into a camera crane and choked with electrical cable. Suplex, but Rock reverses, and they head back to ringside. They brawl over to the Spanish announce table, but Austin's attempt at elbow dropping Rock through it fails when the table doesn't break. He tries again (with more successful results), and into the steps for good measure before finally going into the ring - essentially for the first time in the match. He walks right into a Rock Bottom, however - but manages to kick out at two. Rocky grabs a chair to finish him, but Steve gets it away from him - bumping the referee in the process. Stunner, but Rock counters into a backelbow, and starts bashing the bad knee with the chair. Lucky for him, the referee is down, or else he might have gotten disqualified in this no disqualification match. Clothesline draws another referee in to count two, and the champ works a chinlock. Shockingly though, Austin doesn't submit, and starts throwing fists of fury to come back. Thesz Press, but Rocky drops him like a Samoan for two - then gives the referee a Rock Bottom for not counting fast enough. That allows Austin the Stunner, and a third referee runs in to count two. That draws out Mr. McMahon again (so much for 'barred'), and that distraction allows Rocky to blow Austin low. McMahon takes out the third referee so that he and his champion can stomp a mud hole in Austin, but here comes Mankind to make the save! Austin with the Thesz Press, but a backdrop gets him kicked in the face, and the Rock Bottom hits. People's Elbow misses, however, so he goes for yet another Rock Bottom - this time getting countered into the Stunner, and pinned at 16:52. I liked this much more at the time (the finisher exchanges had me yelling at the TV screen), but even at fourteen years old, my middle school friends and I were already getting sick of the style (the 'brawl to the entrance area' sequences became so predictable after appearing in literally every main event match of 1998 that we generally used them as bathroom breaks), though it certainly fit the match/buildup, and came off better than had they spent the first five minutes exchanging hammerlocks. Solid effort from both, but grossly overbooked, and spent way too much time brawling around the arena. Still, a satisfying main event. **

BUExperience: While it’s not the outright worst WrestleMania (eleven and thirteen still trump it – even though they were better in many ways), it’s certainly the worst from a workrate perspective – with three matches falling into negative stars, and fourth bordering them. Still, it worked at the time – especially because, at fourteen years old, I was exactly the right age for this type of booking, and raunchy atmosphere. Which says a lot, because this show is very juvenile. When it went off the air, I was proclaiming it the greatest WrestleMania of all time, when, in reality, it’s actually a strong contender for the worst. It may be one of the biggest shows of the Attitude Era, but it just does not hold up today. DUD