Wrestlemania Moments: X8 in Toronto

Fast forward three years and Wrestlemania, professional wrestling and our lives are a little different. I am in "The Pizza Parlor Years" of my life, a harsh does of real world reality after finally graduating from SU. Scott is working for Channel 5 in Syracuse waiting for his ticket out of the town we inhabited for so long. Paul, Dan, Horse, and Coach have landed first jobs, Josh is in grad school. All are wondering if they had indeed "outgrown" watching wrestling religiously on Monday nights.

The WWF has expedited this by "jumping the shark". Having acquired WCW and blown a great WWF vs. WCW angle because 1) Spike TV wouldn't give the WCW brand a separate show and 2) Vince McMahon couldn't fathom a feud where the new WCW guys would be on an even keel with his guys. The result was a contrived Invasion angle where WWF stars would jump back and forth between WWF and a WCW-ECW Alliance and keeping every WCW title belt to make about 15 titles. Interest declined precipitously but one upside to having all WCW (the ones not binded by Time-Warner contract) and WWF guys under one umbrella was that it gave a whole new set of possibilities for dream matches.

So, not only was this trip just Scott and I. No one was even upset they weren't included. In fact my expectations were low except that I was going to Toronto for the first time and watching wrestling with 66,000 other people. And that Rock-Hogan match intrigued me even if I expected it to be a bore. Well...

I drive up in my 6 month old Chrysler 300M which I still drive today. Two Syracuse educated geniuses wonder how Toronto got FARTHER away once we crossed the border and onto the QEW (Answer: Mile counts were now Kilometer counts, not our best moment).

Stayed at a gorgeous hotel in Toronto (yes its a CLEAN city). In the hotel bar, Three TVs had NCAA Tournament basketball on, one TV had a game between Alberta College and Western Ontario. You see, they have March Madness in Canada too. In fact they got a lot of things that Americans have (Exxon is Esso, Little Caesar's is Pizza, Pizza, ESPN is TSN). If you want to you can feel like you're in another country, if you don't you can find enough similarities to American cities in Toronto.

We hit all the touristy spots, Gretzky's restaurant, Hard Rock Cafe Skydome, and Piel's Pub. Piel's Pub was a disappointment. For one, one half the bar was all tables you weren't able to stand and drink. Not the optimum social place and not worth waiting in line in the freezing cold for 45 minutes.

Go BACK to Hard Rock Cafe Skydome and see the empty arena for the first time. An unforgettable site seeing how big the place was. Hour before showtime, we leave the Hard Rock and get set to enter Skydome for the show. Sounds simple enough right?

Well this is the first post-9/11 Wrestlemania. So security is overly diligent. As if Osama Bin Laden had a sheet that said "Twin Towers, Pentagon, Capitol, Wrestlemania". I think if 66,000 wrestling fans in Canada were attacked it would barely make the G Block on the evening news. We must've waited an hour and a half to move a block's distance. After the pre-show had been on for a half hour, security awakens to this and just lets us through. Move our way up to the 600 level(?) Running long and we still haven't seen Ed the Sock, so I'll go through the matches quickly.

Rob Van Dam vs. William Regal (Intercontinental Championship Match)- Van Dam drops Regal on his head, Regal answers with stiff punches. RVD wins the IC belt.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Christian (European Championship Match)- DDP is doing a Martha Stewart like gimmick. Beats Christian than leaves by giving him encouraging words.

Maven vs. Goldust (Hardcore Championship Match)- Goldust wins but since the title is defended 24/7 it changes hands several times during the event eventually going back to Maven at the end.

Kurt Angle vs. Kane- Angle wins with the Ankle Lock. These two were wrestling for no reason other than they hadn't before.

The Undertaker vs. Ric Flair- Flair did a power-struggle angle with Vince since he entered the WWF in November. Vince offers him up to The Undertaker as part of it. The Undertaker is 14-0 at Wrestlemania.

Edge vs. Booker T- This angle was over a shampoo endorsement. Like I said the WWF has jumped the shark.

Steve Austin vs. Scott Hall- Austin was supposed to lose this match to establish the nWo in the WWF but he already felt marginalized by his role in this Wrestlemania and refused to job. He would retire a year later and Hall would go back on the wagon soon after this.

Billy and Chuck vs. APA vs. Dudley Boyz vs. Hardy Boyz (Tag Team Championship Match)- If Stacy Kiebler wasn't the valet for the Dudley Boyz, I would've found my way to the bathroom during this match. Billy and Chuck were a gay tag team who won the belts in this match.

The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan- What I expected to be a slow, sloppy walk through (because since Hogan's departure, the WWF ran him down to be slow and old), Turned out to be the single most memorable sporting event I've attended live. The crowd almost in unison realizes Hogan is back at Wrestlemania after a 9 year absence and goes apeshit for him. Even booing all The Rock's offense. Both wrestlers realize this and reverse roles midway through the match. Rock wins because nothing else made sense but Hogan afterwards turns on the nWo. Scott wishes they played "Real American" during the Rock-Hogan joint posedown but he forgets he was in Canada at the time, which is easy to do.

Jazz vs. Trish Stratus vs. Lita- I think they purposely put this between the two matches to numb the crowd. Jazz (no reason to remember) beats hometown girl Trish (with a Maple Leaf on her ass) to retain the title.

Triple H vs. Chris Jericho- I'm convinced this match is the root of Triple H's now uncontrollable ego. Injured with a torn quadriceps muscle. He has made his way back to the Main Event at Wrestlemania against Unified Champion Chris Jericho. He wins and is supposed to bask in the glory of 66,000 fans cheering his title win at the end of Wrestlemania. However because of the reaction the Rock-Hogan match got, the crowd never gets behind this match or Triple H. He was already jealous of Rock for his fledgling movie success now Rock and Hogan have stolen HIS Wrestlemania. After Rock leaves to do movies full time Triple H uses his relationship with Vince's daughter to achieve "creative control" and run wrestling into the ground.

Two pleasant surprises after we got back to the hotel. 1) Wrestlemania was the top story in the Toronto news (this would never happen in America) 2) Canada's "Much Music" presents Ed the Sock, a cigar smoking, foul-mouthed sock puppet who sexually harasses topless supermodels. Scott and I spend the next five years waiting for Ed the Sock to come over the border. We're still waiting.

Having jumped the shark or not. Even in one of its lulls. Wrestlemania managed to provide us with a moment of all moments...Enough good memories to consider some day going back...Hope you enjoyed!