For the most part, WrestleMania 19 is a solid card. It features some interesting matchups--Undertaker handicap match, Michaels/Jericho, & HHH/Booker-T--that lead up to the final three matches that most will remember from this PPV:
-Hogan/McMahon. Kind of a "match made in heaven" for promotion purposes, and I love how it was built-up (Hogan "betraying" McMahon in federal court and what not). Of course, the match itself is a bit of a wet blanket, as Vince isn't a great wrestler--albeit pulling off one great stunt--and the Hulkster is told old to do anything big.
-Rock/Austin at a WrestleMania for a third time. The winner is clearly apparent if you know company history at all at that point, but still a decent match. The one puzzling aspect of these two's clashes is the proclivity towards just aping the other one's iconic finisher.
-The Lesnar/Angle finale is a bit of a farce from an optics angle--there's no way the latter could ever believably beat the former--but Angle is such a great athlete and performer at this time that he creates doubt as to the actual finish.
Big WWE fans of this time will probably rank this card far higher, but I felt that all three big matches--while fine in a technical sense and certainly well-advertised--were somewhat anticlimactic in terms of actual wrestling action and expertise.
-Hogan/McMahon. Kind of a "match made in heaven" for promotion purposes, and I love how it was built-up (Hogan "betraying" McMahon in federal court and what not). Of course, the match itself is a bit of a wet blanket, as Vince isn't a great wrestler--albeit pulling off one great stunt--and the Hulkster is told old to do anything big.
-Rock/Austin at a WrestleMania for a third time. The winner is clearly apparent if you know company history at all at that point, but still a decent match. The one puzzling aspect of these two's clashes is the proclivity towards just aping the other one's iconic finisher.
-The Lesnar/Angle finale is a bit of a farce from an optics angle--there's no way the latter could ever believably beat the former--but Angle is such a great athlete and performer at this time that he creates doubt as to the actual finish.
Big WWE fans of this time will probably rank this card far higher, but I felt that all three big matches--while fine in a technical sense and certainly well-advertised--were somewhat anticlimactic in terms of actual wrestling action and expertise.