Wrestlemania XVI


release year: 2000
genre: vintage wrestling pay-per-view
viewing setting: home DVD, 11/30/12

synopsis: This sixteenth annual wrestling mega-event was the 2000 edition, and featured the WM debuts of a number of former WCW stars.

where it happened: Anaheim

impressions: As always, I won't go into great detail, but just mention the highlights: first WM use of a replay camera...Ice-T accompanying D-Lo and the Godfather and the hoes...Big Boss Man and Bull Buchanan chasing the hoes after the match...a 13-man hardcore match whose victor was decided at the 15-minute mark, meaning the title changed hands over a dozen times...Trish Stratus leading out the team of "T&A"...Jerry Lawler crowing in triumph when Jim Ross' microphone has problems...Al Snow's person-dressed-up-as-a-giant-block-of-cheese mascot chasing Trish Stratus around outside the ring, and then later getting beaten up after the match...dressing-room camera tease with a naked Kat...an outstanding and very risky triple tag-team ladder match...a cat-fight match between two hot women...post-match attack of the old lady trainers...a six-person match which featured the WM debuts of Dean Malenko, Eddy Guerrero, and Perry Saturn...Jerry Lawler babbling on and on about the "Latino Heat"...an intermission showing a redneck mother winning free tickets and transportation to this event but never putting down her cigarette...the WM debuts of Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, and Kurt Angle...an unusual tag-team match between Kane/Rikishi and D-Generation X which had Rikishi using the stinkface on Road Dogg, Tori, and then Pete Rose (who showed up for the third year in a row to attack Kane and got chokeslammed for the third year in a row before also getting the stinkface)...a post-match dance with various parties...a 4-way elimination match for the heavyweight tite, with a McMahon backing each of the four wresters...the second demise of the Spanish announcers' table...the demise of the main announcers' table shortly thereafter...a last-minute betrayal by Vince McMahon...post-match, the Rock hitting the Rock Bottom on three different McMahons in a 30-second period.

fun quote #1: Jim Ross: "Hey, wait...Bossman and Buchanan are headed toward the Godfather's hoes..."
Jerry Lawler: "Come over here, girls! This way...come back!"

fun quote #2: Jerry Lawler: "Now that's the outfit you should have worn tonight, Jim Ross!"
Jim Ross: "I thought it might clash with my hat."

fun quote #3: Jerry Lawler: "He's fearless! He's so small, so short as a matter of fact, that his hands smell like feet! But he'll get right in there and tie it up with the biggest and best of them."

fun quote #4:  Jim Ross: "The Acolytes focusing on Viscera...that's not good for you folks at home who had Viscera in your office pool..."

fun quote #5: Jerry Lawler: "I'll tell you, these hardcore matches, anything can happen, this is dangerous. Look out, they may be coming over here."

fun quote #6: Jim Ross: "Look at Viscera standing tall."
Jerry Lawler: "What are those, baking sheets or something?"
Jim Ross: "Viscera's like a planet and everybody's orbiting around him."
Jerry Lawler: "Ha ha, he's the champ!"
Jim Ross: "What would he be, Uranus?"

fun quote #7: Jim Ross: "Taz must have his bell rung...he doesn't need to cover anybody. He IS the champion."
Jerry Lawler: "He never did have both oars in the water."

fun quote #8: Jerry Lawler: "Hey! It's a human block of cheese! What a gimmick! This is great!"

fun quote #9: Jim Ross: "...and the team of...well, I wouldn't want to say "Head Cheese" officially, but..."
Jerry Lawler: "Yeah, go ahead and say it."
Jim Ross: "...Al Snow would like to be known as..."
Jerry Lawler: "I don't know how you can say anything else with this big block of cheese standing right in front of us here."
Jim Ross: "Actually, it's sort of a little block of cheese."

fun quote #10: Jim Ross: "Tables and ladders and broken bodies along the way...all for the tag team titles, which are hanging twenty feet above the ring!"

fun quote #11: Jim Ross: "Oh lord...not the Spanish announcer table..."

fun quote #12: Jim Ross: "Look at Mae!"
Jerry Lawler: (not paying attention apparently) "There's that...that horny little she-devil!"
Jim Ross: "Mae?"
Jerry Lawler: "No, Terri!"

fun quote #13: Jerry Lawler: "It's time to kick it, JR!"
Jim Ross: "It is time to kick it, indeed."

fun quote #14: Jim Ross: "It doesn't quite fit for me to say 'get down, get down'..."
Jerry Lawler: "What do you mean?"

fun quote #15: Jim Ross: "Look at that ring attire Chyna's wearing...she looks hot."
Jerry Lawler: "I like it!"
Jim Ross: "I knew you'd like it. Any female that's breathing, you like."

fun quote #16: Jim Ross: "Angle has lost both the Intercontinental title and the European title!"
Jerry Lawler: "What are they gonna do next, take his Olympic medals?"
Jim Ross: "But he wasn't even pinned!"
Jerry Lawler: "Travesty! A miscarriage of justice!"

fun quote #17: Jim Ross: "The man with the world's most challenging cheeks..."
Jerry Lawler: "When he sits down, chairs beg for mercy!"

fun quote #18: Jim Ross: "With the title on the line, there are no friends in this match...only enemies."

fun quote #19: Jim Ross: "A suplex on the concrete! For the love of God, a suplex on the concrete!"

fun quote #20: Jim Ross: "There's no way he can continue! Stop the match! Stop the match! There's no way...he's only 27 years old, he'll fight again. Stop the match!"

fun quote #21: Jim Ross: "Not once, but twice, McMahon hit the Rock in the face with a steel chair...and by God, I wanna know why!"

final word: This one was good but not great, with a couple of strong matches.

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