WrestleMania X-Seven, also known as WrestleMania 17, was a 2001 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the 17th annual WrestleMania and took place on April 1, 2001, at the Reliant Astrodome in Houston, Texas, marking the first WrestleMania held in the U.S. state of Texas.
Twelve matches were contested at the event, including one broadcast exclusively on the Sunday Night Heat pre-show on MTV. The main event was a No Disqualification match between The Rock and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin for the WWF Championship. The undercard included Triple H versus The Undertaker, the second Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match for the WWF Tag Team Championship, and a Street Fight between Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon with Mick Foley as special guest referee. This also saw the WrestleMania debut of Paul Heyman, which was his only time on commentary.
A record-breaking attendance for the Reliant Astrodome of 67,925 grossed US$3.5 million. Many in professional wrestling consider WrestleMania X-Seven to be the pinnacle of the company's famous Attitude Era, similar to how WrestleMania III was the pinnacle of the 1980s professional wrestling boom. The WWF bought out rival competition World Championship Wrestling (WCW) the week prior. In addition to its commercial success, the event has received acclaim from critics and fans, and is often regarded as the greatest WrestleMania of all time, and the greatest professional wrestling pay-per-view event ever produced.
Production
Background WrestleMania is considered the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) flagship professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985. It has become the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. It was the first of the WWF's original four pay-per-views, which includes Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four",Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p. 160) and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs with the addition of King of the Ring in 1993.
On April 3, 2000, the WWF announced that WrestleMania 17, stylized as WrestleMania X-Seven, was scheduled to be held on April 1, 2001, at the Reliant Astrodome in Houston, Texas, the first WrestleMania held in the U.S. state of Texas. Tickets went on sale to the general public on November 11, 2000, with 50,000 tickets sold on the first day.
Other WrestleMania Week events In addition to the event, WrestleMania Fan Axxess was held at the Reliant Hall, which expanded upon the event by adding numerous activities including areas where attendees could buy special merchandise, see a production truck, and numerous WWF vehicles were on display. WWF taped SmackDown! at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan on March 27, 2001, as the final event before WrestleMania X-Seven and then following night after WrestleMania, Raw is War, took place at the Fort Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas on April 2, 2001.
Storylines
The event included 11 matches that each resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by writers of the WWF, while storylines were produced on WWF's weekly television shows, Raw is War and SmackDown! along with its supplementary programs, Sunday Night Heat and Jakked/Metal.
Major matches
The main feud leading into WrestleMania X-Seven involved "Stone Cold" Steve Austin challenging The Rock for the WWF Championship. The Rock and Austin had fought for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania XV and Backlash in 1999. Austin earned his opportunity to compete for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania X-Seven by winning the 2001 Royal Rumble match when he last eliminated Kane, while The Rock became the first ever six-time WWF Champion when he defeated Kurt Angle at No Way Out. During their feud, Austin's wife Debra, who was trying to get back into managing, was ordered by WWF chairman, Vince McMahon, to be The Rock's manager against her wishes as well as both The Rock and Austin's. As a result, Austin stated that he would hold both The Rock and McMahon responsible if any harm came to her. On the March 12 episode of Raw is War, The Rock was placed in an excruciating Ankle Lock submission hold during his rematch with Kurt Angle. When Debra went to check on The Rock, Angle also placed her into an Ankle Lock. Austin soon ran in to save her and knocked Angle out of the ring. Keeping to his word, he immediately gave The Rock a Stone Cold Stunner as punishment. The following week on Raw is War, during a handicap tag team match involving The Rock, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, and William Regal, Austin made his way down to the ring and ended up getting a Rock Bottom from The Rock in response to the Stunner from the previous week. On the March 29 episode of SmackDown!, Debra was relieved from her managerial role by Mr. McMahon after failing to prevent a brawl between The Rock and Austin.
Another major feud that was built up in the lead to WrestleMania was the one involving Vince McMahon and his son Shane McMahon. The feud started with Vince's disapproval of Mick Foley's job as then-WWF commissioner, as well as Foley's decision of holding a six-man Hell in a Cell match at Armageddon 2000, taking into consideration about the well-being of the wrestlers involved in the match. Despite McMahon's attempts to overrule Foley's authority, Foley was given full support by Linda McMahon, Vince's wife and the WWF's CEO. Not pleased with this result, Vince immediately demanded a divorce from Linda. Shortly after Armageddon, secretly to Vince's delight, it was revealed that Linda was rushed to a hospital suffering with a nervous breakdown brought on by the impending divorce. With Linda hospitalized, the Board of Directors appointed Vince as the new interim CEO of the WWF, allowing him to officially fire Foley as commissioner. With Linda in a coma-like state, Vince started to have a public affair with Trish Stratus. Vince's daughter, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, was (at first) far from pleased about the turn of events. At No Way Out, Stephanie and Trish squared off, with Stephanie scoring the victory after a run-in by William Regal. On the February 26 episode of Raw is War, however, during a match that placed Vince and Trish against Stephanie and William Regal, Stratus was turned on by the other three participants in the match and had sewage dumped over her. In the following weeks, Vince continued to demean Trish by having her do such actions as bark like a dog around the ring and stripping down to her lingerie. Despite this, Trish remained loyal to Vince and even begged for his forgiveness. On the March 12 episode of Raw is War, Shane McMahon made his return to the WWF. Angry with his father's actions, Shane started to throw punches at Vince only to be stopped by William Regal. Shane explained his actions on the following episode of SmackDown!, stating that anger was a result of frustrations over the manipulation of his sister, his mother's state and Vince's heinous treatment of Trish. On March 23, the WWF purchased the assets of their longtime rival promotion, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from AOL Time Warner. With it, the purchase brought in an extra twist to the storyline. On the March 26 episode of Raw is War (which was held at Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio), Vince McMahon made a live speech that was also simulcast on the final episode of WCW Monday Nitro (which was held in Panama City Beach, Florida). In the speech, Vince announced that the signing was not final and that he wanted Ted Turner to come to WrestleMania and hand-deliver the contract for signing. Vince then promised that with the purchase he was going to bury his rival forever, as well as any wrestler associated with WCW. However, Shane, who was at the venue for Nitro, interrupted the speech and said:
To make matters worse for Vince, Mick Foley appeared shortly afterward that same night and revealed that prior to his firing, Linda had made multiple contracts for him to sign. One of those contracts was for Foley to referee a match of his choice at WrestleMania. Foley then chose the match between Vince and Shane, which was designated a street fight.
Undercard matches The secondary feud leading into the event pitted The Brothers of Destruction (The Undertaker and Kane) against Triple H and Big Show. After defeating "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in a Three Stages of Hell match at No Way Out, Triple H felt that he deserved to be in the WrestleMania main event having defeated everyone in the WWF, including The Rock and Austin. The Undertaker took exception to that and told Triple H that he had never defeated him. Before WrestleMania X-Seven, the two had never faced each other in a one-on-one match on a pay-per-view event. During his entrance for a Hardcore Championship match against Big Show, Triple H ambushed The Undertaker. Kane ran in and saved The Undertaker from a further attack, but was met with his own ambush by Big Show. On the following episode of SmackDown!, The Undertaker tried to break into the limousine of Triple H and his wife, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, upon arrival but ended up being arrested by the police. As a result, Kane requested a match against Triple H later that night, but lost when Big Show interfered on behalf of Triple H. In retaliation, Kane interfered in Big Show's Hardcore Championship match against Raven on Raw is War, helping Raven pin Big Show to become the new Hardcore Champion. The Undertaker's arrest led to a restraining order from Stephanie. To circumvent this, the Brothers of Destruction interfered in Triple H's match against Test, with Kane ordered to chase after Stephanie. With Stephanie held hostage by Kane on a balcony in the arena, WWF commissioner William Regal gave The Undertaker and Kane matches at WrestleMania against Triple H and Big Show respectively, and The Undertaker told Kane to set Stephanie free. After being attacked during a Hardcore Championship title defense, Regal would later include Raven into Kane and Big Show's match, making it a Triple Threat Hardcore match for the Hardcore Championship.
At the Royal Rumble, Chyna (kayfabe) injured her neck during a match with Ivory, causing her to lose the match and fail to capture the Women's Championship. In order for Chyna to again challenge for the title, Ivory required the match contract to include a "hold harmless" clause, meaning that if Ivory injured Chyna's neck again, there could be no legal recourse against Ivory. In doing so, the contract also included a provision to ban Ivory's Right To Censor (RTC) stablemates from ringside.
Event +Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:English commentatorsJim RossPaul HeymanBobby HeenanGene OkerlundSpanish commentatorsCarlos CabreraHugo SavinovichBackstage InterviewersJonathan CoachmanMichael ColeKevin KellyRing announcerHoward FinkelRefereesMike ChiodaJack DoanEarl HebnerJim KorderasTheodore LongChad PattonMike SparksTim White Pre-show match Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, a pre-show match was aired with Steve Blackman and Grand Master Sexay squaring off against X-Factor members X-Pac and Justin Credible on a live episode of Sunday Night Heat. Near the end of the match, fellow X-Factor member Albert interfered by pulling Sexay out of the ring, allowing X-Pac and Credible to hit their X Marks the Spot finisher on Blackman for the win.
Preliminary matches