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Home >> Wrestlemania >> WrestleMania 17 
| Wrestlemania: | WrestleMania 17 | | Location: | Reliant Astrodome in Houston, Texas | | Date: | 04/01/2001 |
WrestleMania X-Seven was the seventeenth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event from the World Wrestling Federation. The event took place on April 1, 2001 at the Reliant Astrodome in Houston, Texas.
It is considered by many to be one of the greatest WrestleManias of all time. WrestleMania X-Seven is the highest grossing professional wrestling pay-per-view ever with an estimated 3.0 buyrate (or 1,000,000 viewers). Some fans have cited WrestleMania X-Seven as the end of the Attitude Era for the WWF and the peak of the professional wrestling boom of the late 1990s, as ratings and attendance started declining following the pay-per-view. Professional wrestlings popularity in mainstream pop culture also took a deep nose-dive following WrestleMania X-Seven, some believe due to Stone Cold Steve Austin, one of the most popular wrestlers of all time, turning heel and aligning himself with archrival Vince McMahon, the man who Austin feuded with during the late 90s wrestling boom. Also The Rocks move into movies is also a reason often given to wrestlings fall in popularity at this point, plus the decision to keep Triple H heel and align him with Steve Austin despite their history of fighting each other. Another plausable reason is that the WWF wasnt catering enough for former WCW and ECW fans, and that without any major competition the WWF began to put on less high calibre shows.
The theme song for the event was My Way by Limp Bizkit, which is notable for being played often in the weeks leading up to the event. WrestleMania X-Seven was subtitled Houston...We Have A Problem, but it was never mentioned on WWF television. However, the subtitle was shown on the pay-per-view posters and in the DVD and VHS cover art.
Match Results
For the WWF Intercontinental Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. William Regal
Jericho pinned Regal following a Lionsault to retain his championship.
Six-Man Tag Team Match: Tazz & The APA (Bradshaw & Faarooq) vs. Right to Censor (The Goodfather, Val Venis & Bull Buchanan)
Tazz and the APA defeated Right to Censor when Bradshaw pinned Goodfather after a Clothesline form Hell.
Triple Threat Hardcore Match for the WWF Hardcore Championship: Raven (c) vs. The Big Show and Kane
Kane defeated Big Show and Raven by pinning Big Show following an legdrop off the stage to become the new Hardcore Champion.
For the WWF European Championship: Test vs. Eddie Guerrero
Guerrero pinned Test after hitting him with the title belt.
Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit
Kurt Angle pinned Chris Benoit with a rollup.
For the WWF Womens Championship: Ivory (c) vs. Chyna
Chyna pinned Ivory following a Gorilla Press Drop to become the new champion.
Street Fight: Vince McMahon vs. Shane McMahon (w/Mick Foley as special guest referee)
Shane pinned Vince following a corner-to-corner missile dropkick.
Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match for the WWF Tag-Team Championship: The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley) (c) vs. Edge and Christian (Edge and Christian) vs. The Hardy Boyz (Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy)
Edge and Christian won TLC II when Christian retrieved the belts with assistance from Rhyno.
Gimmick Battle Royal
The participants were Bushwhacker Luke, Bushwhacker Butch, Duke Droese, Doink the Clown, Nikolai Volkoff, Tugboat, Sgt. Slaughter, Earthquake, Gobbledygooker, Hillbilly Jim, The Iron Sheik,Brother Love, Michael Hayes, One Man Gang, Kamala, Jim Cornette and The Goon.
The Iron Sheik won by eliminating Sgt. Slaughter last.
No Disqualification Match for the WWF Championship: The Rock (c) vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin
Stone Cold pinned The Rock after several steel chair shots to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.
Trivia
- The Intercontinental Championship was the only championship of 6 to be successfully retained. All other championship belts changed hands.
- The Light Heavyweight Championship was the only championship to not be defended at the event.
- Stone Cold Steve Austins WWF Championship victory made him only the second man to win the WWF title at WrestleMania three times. The other one is Hulk Hogan.
- This was the first and only Wrestlemania (to date) where a babyface turned heel during the main event.
- The only WrestleMania up to date to be in Houston, TX.
- Third time in a row that The Rock was in the WrestleMania main event (WrestleMania XV, WrestleMania 2000). He lost all three matches.
- The second time that the main event for the World Wrestling Federation Championship belt featured The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin (they met each other previously at WrestleMania XV in 1999. The Rock lost then and lost here in this WrestleMania. A third match between the two would happen at WrestleMania XIX with Rock claiming the victory.
- Featured an appearance by Motörhead who would play Triple Hs theme music as he walked down the ramp to the ring. Motörhead would appear again at WrestleMania 21 to sing Triple Hs theme music yet again.
- This was the first Wrestlemania since the folding of the other two big-brand wrestling companies; WCW and ECW, with WCW closing merely a week earlier and ECW closing about three months earlier.
- Former WCW superstars were present at WrestleMania X-Seven and were in support of Shane McMahon during his match with Vince McMahon.
- The Undertaker boosted his record to 9-0 after the defeat of Triple H.
- Was Chynas last WrestleMania appearance.
- William Regal battled Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental Championship in the opening match of WrestleMania X-Seven as the challenger. William Regal would later appear in the opening match of WrestleMania X8 as the Intercontinental Champion to defend his championship against Rob Van Dam. He would lose both of these contests.
- In 2001, three matches of the top 10 matches that fans voted as the best of the year came from WrestleMania X-Seven. They were: Undertaker vs. Triple H at #9, Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock at #3 and TLC II at #2.
- With his WWF Championship victory, Stone Cold Steve Austin has a 3-0 main event record at WrestleMania.
- This event holds the record for most title changes at a single WrestleMania with 5 title changes (this excludes the multiple times the Hardcore title changed hands at WrestleMania 2000 or WrestleMania X8). The WWF World Heavyweight, Tag-Team, Womens, European and Hardcore titles all changed hands at this event.
- During the TLC II match, Rhyno helped Christian up the ladder using his head and back. At WrestleMania 21 during the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, Tyson Tomko helped Christian up the ladder in a similar manner.
- During Eddie Guerreros match with Test, Eddie attempted to throw Test over the top rope, but Tests leg accidentally got caught between the top and second ropes. Eddie had no choice but to try and help the referee free Test from the ropes, but Eddie, used to climbing through the second rope to get down from the ring, accidentally fell through and hit the ground. Eddie then tried to improvise by elbowing Test, but when both the referee and Eddie could not free Test from the ropes, it took a shake from Perry Saturn (who was ringside, cheering on Eddie) to finally free the six foot seven wrestler.
- With his victory over The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin became a 5-time WWF Champion. At that time, it tied him with Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan for the second most WWF Championship reigns (with The Rock holding the belt 6 times, as of the date of the event).
- This was the first WrestleMania logo to make use of the font Bodega Sans (used from X-Seven to 21).
- The 67,925 fans at the Reliant Astrodome established a new all-time record for that facility.
- Bobby The Brain Heenan called his first Wrestlemania Match in 8 years alongside Mean Gene Okerlund.
- This marked the second and final appearance of the Gobbly Gooker at a WWE show.
- The Iron Sheik won the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania X-Seven, marking his first WrestleMania win in nearly 15 years.
- This was the Undertakers first WrestleMania appearance since WrestleMania XV and also his first WrestleMania under his biker gimmick. This was also the third time that he won without using his Tombstone Piledriver. Its also so far, the first and only WrestleMania that he won using his Last Ride finisher.
- Spike Dudley, and Rhyno made their WrestleMania debuts while interfering on behalf of the Dudleyz and Edge and Christian in the TLC Match. Lita also appeared in the TLC match to show support for the Hardy Boyz. It was the only TLC which each team had someone interfere in the match.
- During their match, Steve Austin put The Rock in the Million Dollar Dream, a hold he hadnt used since 1996 when he wrestled aganist Bret Hart at Survivor Series.
- This was voted as one of the top WrestleManias of all time.
- This was the only WrestleMania whose title included a combination of a Roman numeral and a number being spelled out (rather than using purely Roman or Arabic numerals).
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