Wrestlemania Moments: XV in Philadelphia

One of the few good things about going to college in Syracuse, New York is that it is an enjoyable but not too long road trip away from large cities and better times. Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Toronto, and Montreal are all reasonable drives from the Syracuse campus. A good thing about the WWF is that they started out in the Northeast (Stamford, CT specifically) and have always been reliant on the Northeast fan base.

In 1999, the WWF decided to take Wrestlemania to another of its Northeast hubs, Philadelphia. Known to most as The City of Brotherly Love, The Birthplace of the Nation, and home of Cheesesteaks, to us Philadelphia was known as the future home to Donovan McNabb, The Birthplace of the Rocky movies, and home base to another guilty pleasure of ours, ECW. More importantly it was known as “only five hours away”.

I did not procure the tickets this time, Scott did through ebay I believe. The roster of attendees had changed this time to include myself, Scott, Coach, Josh, Josh’s best friend Horse, and Dan Greco. The drive down was myself Scott and Coach in Scott's Neon (not gay, very manly, bangs lots of chicks, hot ones!). Josh was already down there to meet Horse who went to Penn State. Greco I think was rendezvousing with a girl he was dating at the time that went to Rowan College in Southern New Jersey. They missed us flirting with some ladies around our age while driving making suggestive gestures and them taking their shirts off for us. All of this, while dangerous is the only way to make a drive down Pennsylvania even remotely entertaining.

After convening Saturday we watched college basketball games at a “little” sports bar called Dave & Buster’s. It was so “little” our group must have lost each other 5 times during the stay. The girl Greco was dating (whose name escapes me at this time) met us and took us to a bar on Delaware Street (whose name also escapes me at this time). After an uneventful night at the bar, we ended up walking through South Philadelphia to find a pizza shop called Lorenzo’s. Lorenzo’s only starts opening at 12am you get three seconds to order or you forfeit your place in line and it is still to this day THE BEST PIZZA I EVER HAD!. One thing I remember from outside Lorenzo’s was the outspoken Horse telling a story to two black people whom were smoking about a commercial he saw in which cigarettes turned a human into a monkey. I thought we were all dead at that point.

We manage to make it back to the hotel and the next day killing time in Philadelphia site seeing. Horse ran the Rocky steps through a Chicano studies protest, again expressing sympathy to minority concerns. We went to see the ECW Arena which looked like a pawn shop and made everyone uneasy as Scott and I posed for pictures. At last the time had come to attend another “Showcase of the Immortals”.

I remember distinctly espn.com did a poll asking viewers what they were looking forward to most this weekend. The choices were the Final Four, the Women’s Final Four, Wrestlemania, and baseball Opening Day. Wrestlemania was the runaway winner in the poll with 55% of the vote. It was at that point that I realized professional wrestling had never before been as popular as it was in 1999.

Billy Gunn vs. Hardcore Holly vs. Al Snow (Hardcore Title Match)- Gunn was known as "Mr. Ass" at this point and was the current Hardcore Champion even though there was little "hardcore" about him. All three of these guys were at their peak relevance at this point as was most of the WWF roster. Even in the home of ECW, hardcore meant gimmick object breaking matches. Holly won the Title which meant little but the match got a good reaction from the Philadelphia crowd.

Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett vs. D-Lo Brown and Test (Tag Team Title Match)- The real star of the Hart/Jarrett Tag Team was Debra McMichael and the Tag Team known as her breasts. It was a pretty common formula, two guys have trouble getting over on their own, pair them together and put a hot chick with them. Worked every time. Brown and Test won a battle royal to earn this title shot but were a mismatched team. Jarrett rolled up Brown for the pin to retain the titles. Two months later Owen Hart would be dead from that horrific fall at Kemper Arena during the "Over the Edge" Pay-Per-View.

Butterbean vs. Bart Gunn (Brawl for All Match)- The setup is that Bart Gunn won a "Brawl For All" tournament among WWF superstars in Toughman boxing. While the tournament matches were the worst segment on Raw each week, the concept gave Gunn respect as a legitimate tough guy. It looked like the WWF had even figured out what to do with him. Until this night. You don't need to buy a book on career suicide, you just have to watch this 30 second match. Butterbean drops Gunn TWICE, the second time almost knocking him unconscious. Its a debated "real or not real" moment in wrestling because although everything in wrestling is planned or else it wouldn't be in wrestling, having a newly found star drop to a Toughman "tub of goo" in less than one round just flew in the face of all logic.

Mankind vs. Big Show (Winner is the Referee for the Main Event)- Great idea. Mankind was the ever-popular Mick Foley and Big Show was part of Vince McMahon's "Corporate Team". I almost thought a better idea would be to have them both be referees and have them fight DURING the Main Event but this worked too. Mankind won by disqualification after Show choked slammed him onto two steel chairs. McMahon and Show do the Andre/Heenan in-ring fall out from Wrestlemania 6 and Show would go on to start a new stable called "The Union".

Road Dogg vs. Ken Shamrock vs. Goldust vs. Val Venis (Intercontinental Title Match)- If you don't know Val Venis' gimmick was a wrestling Porn Star who would come on twirl a towel and cut a quick dick joke as his promo before every match. His and Goldusts' love interest at this time was Ryan Shamrock, Ken's sister who was as forgettable as Ken Shamrock was. Road Dogg was one of the five most popular superstars in the promotion. Road Dogg wins after Ryan turned on Goldust. Needless to say Ryan Shamrock would sprint back to obscurity after this.

Kane vs. Triple H- Chyna returns and hits Kane between the legs to give Kane the DQ win and DX reunion.

Sable vs. Tori- Not Torrie Wilson, this was a more manly looking Tori. Not as manly as Nicole Bass who debuted at this event giving Sable (now a heel) a win.

Shane McMahon vs. X-Pac (European Title Match)- Shane is, no joke one of the top 5 wrestlers on the roster, using his pay-per-view appearances to pull off some sick stunts which. He even got his real-life friends over as the "Mean Street Posse". Pretty much EVERYTHING was working for the WWF in 1999. Notice this card isn't even that good.

The Undertaker vs. The Big Boss Man (Hell in a Cell Match)- Scott's take on this match can't be matched. He is still incredulous over the ending of this match.

Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock (WWF Championship Match, Mankind the Special Referee)- This match was sort of a clusterfuck with the referee issue up in the air because of Mankind's injuries during his match with Big Show. The Rock was the "Corporate Champion" having won the title first at Survivor Series than in an "I Quit" Match against Mankind. The Rock oversold Austin's stunner. Then Vince got his first stunner as a payoff.

Epilogue: I distinctly remember the walk out of the arena Scott still incredulous over the Boss Man/Undertaker match. Me warning Philly fans about the pending draft pick of Donovan McNabb (his last game was the Orange Bowl against Florida, don't forget). Then us crowded in some SUV trying to find a strip club that was open on a Sunday night. We finally did. Josh claimed to have gotten "the best lap dance ever" at the club even though we were there for less than an hour. Lesson: Josh gets "the best lap dance ever" everytime he goes to a strip club. You will never hear Josh say "that lap dance sucked, and the worst part is I wasted 30 bucks on a girl I won't even kiss to dance in front of me and now she's doing the exact same thing to some 60 year old dude". I take the strip club venture as evidence that this weekend was so good, none of us wanted it to end. As Bryan Adams said "those were the best days of my life!"