Molson Centre – Montreal, Quebec | TV Rating: 5.3
The Good; Hulk Hogan and The Rock open proceedings. Hogan gets one of the longest ovations in WWE history, despite coming out in nWo colours having apparently gone babyface last night. Even The Rock can’t quite get one over on Hogan here either. Montreal is insane and just never stops. Sure it’s a set-up for a blockbuster main event that could quite conceivably have been saved for a PPV but it wasn’t, for reasons. Rock’s impersonation of Hall and mocking of Nash is great too.
- The in-ring promo from Vince is just Vince being Vince and the interaction with Flair is what we’ve been seeing for weeks and months, but the news that there will be a draft/brand extension was pretty HUGE at the time.
- Usually, we get the “two singles matches at a PPV combined into a tag match on TV” before that PPV. Tonight Booker T & Kurt Angle take on Edge & Kane AFTER the PPV. And whilst it only goes four minutes, it’s ridiculously entertaining.
- Al Snow against Maven for the Hardcore title isn’t here for that match. It’s here because that’s the backdrop for the debut of Brock Lesnar! He doesn’t do much other than decimating both men but that, and the presence of Paul Heyman with him, makes him look like a million dollars.
The Bad: Chris Jericho, who main evented WrestleMania last night gets one brief appearance where he beats up some dude backstage. It’s left to the real stars of the show (Stephanie and Triple H) to do an in-ring promo to set up his rematch next week… Except it’s Jericho and Stephanie against Triple H in a Triple Threat.
The Indifferent: Rob Van Dam defends his newly won IC title against Christian in a sub-three minute match that is fine for what it is but seems more interested in DDP at ringside, who stops Christian from walking out. And I know it’s WWE. But Christian losing at Mania gets him this title shot how?
- There’s not much Lita and Trish Stratus can do in 90 seconds. It’s all a set-up for those two to become friends again and for Jazz and Ivory to form some sort of heel alliance.
- Billy and Chuck against the Dudleys for the Tag Titles go a minute and a half and ends in a DQ.
- Hogan & Rock against Hall & Nash isn’t awful. It’s about what you would expect. But having seen the six-man before Mania, and then Rock Vs. Hogan at Mania this falls flat. Especially in hindsight knowing it went nowhere… Montreal was treated to some megastars at least.
Overall: Low on good “action” this nevertheless is for the most part an entertaining show that flies by. The only real bad stuff is the lack of Jericho (clearly marking that he has been deemed a failure) and the usual problem of too much Stephanie. Not much “RAW After Mania” magic either, but we get Brock Lesnar for the very first time.