2001 World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view event
WrestleMania X-Seven (also known as WrestleMania 17) was the 17th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It took place on April 1, 2001, at the Reliant Astrodome in Houston, Texas. It was the first WrestleMania held in the state of Texas. Twelve matches were contested at the event, including one broadcast exclusively on the "Sunday Night Heat" pre-show.
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.
A record-breaking attendance for the Reliant Astrodome of 67,925 grossed US$3.5 million. Many in professional wrestling considered 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 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) first flagship 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, which were dubbed the "Big Four", and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs, along with King of the Ring. 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 state of Texas.
Storylines.
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 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 Rock and Austin's. As a result, Austin would hold 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 overlong Ankle Lock hold during his rematch with Kurt Angle. When Debra went to check on The Rock, Angle also placed her into an Ankle Lock hold. 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.
The secondary feud leading into the event pitted The Brothers of Destruction (The Undertaker and Kane) against Triple H and The 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 him that Triple H 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 The 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, on 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 run after Stephanie. With Stephanie held at ransom 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 put her down. 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.
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 his attempts 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 Linda was rushed to hospital suffering with a nervous breakdown. With Linda hospitalized, the Board of Directors appointed Vince as the new CEO of the WWF, allowing him to 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 participants in the match and had sewage dumped over her. In the following shows, 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 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!" as a result of frustrations over the manipulation of his sister, his mother's state and Vince's 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 to hand-deliver the contract for signing. He then promised that with the purchase he was going to bury his rival forever. However, Shane, who was at the venue for "Nitro", interrupted the speech and said:
 ;templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" / ;Because, dad, the deal is finalized... with WCW, and the name on the contract does say "McMahon". However, the contract reads "Shane McMahon". That's right! I now own WCW! And, dad, just like WCW did in the past, how it kicked your ass in the past and it will again, that's exactly what's going to happen to you this Sunday at WrestleMania!
 ;templatestyles src="Template:Quote_box/styles.css" / ;
Oh my god! I don't believe it! I do not believe what we heard.
Shane McMahon has bought WCW, and Mr. McMahon is in absolute shock!
-Jim Ross, play-by-play commentator for the "Raw is War" episode before the event.
To make matters worse for Vince, Mick Foley appeared shortly afterward that night and revealed that prior to his firing, Linda had made multiple contracts for him to sign, one of them 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.
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, stating that if Ivory injures 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.
Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, a "Sunday Night Heat" match was aired with Steve Blackman and Grand Master Sexay squaring off against X-Factor members X-Pac and Justin Credible. 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.
The first match of the event was the WWF Intercontinental Championship match between Chris Jericho and WWF commissioner William Regal. During the match, Regal exposed one of the top turnbuckles to throw Jericho's shoulder into it before giving him a double underhook superplex. Jericho attempted the Walls of Jericho submission hold but had it reversed into a Regal Stretch. After Jericho managed to grab a ring rope to break the hold, he retaliated with numerous chops before throwing Regal into the exposed turnbuckle and finishing him off with a Lionsault to retain the Intercontinental Championship.
Tazz and The APA (Bradshaw and Faarooq) took on Right to Censor (The Goodfather, Val Venis, and Bull Buchanan) next in a short match that ended with Bradshaw pinning the Goodfather after a Clothesline from Hell.
The third match was the triple threat hardcore match between Raven, Kane and The Big Show for the WWF Hardcore Championship. Raven came out with a shopping cart full of weapons. Kane and Raven began fighting before Big Show made his entrance. During the match, the three wrestlers fought their way out of the ring and through the crowd into the backstage area. Big Show tried to lock himself, Raven and the referee in a security cage but Kane broke the padlock and afterward threw Raven through a glass window. Big Show and Kane continued to brawl ending with the two throwing each other through a wall. Raven tried to escape by driving off in a golf cart, but Big Show stopped him and caused him to crash. The golf cart also ran over some cords that allegedly almost knocked the power out of the building. Kane shortly followed with another golf cart, accompanied by the referee, and ran into Raven. The fight headed back into the stadium with Big Show attempting to press slam Raven off the entrance stage but both were kicked off it by Kane. Kane followed this with a diving leg drop off the stage onto Big Show, pinning him to become the new Hardcore Champion.
The fourth match was the WWF European