The first year of the new millennia set the tone for the remainder of the WWE vs. WCW rivalry that had been at the forefront of the wrestling world for the past few years. Vince McMahon had set the industry on fire with the introduction of the Attitude Era. His rival promotion, WCW, stumbled behind, well on its way to corporate suicide.
After flunking on some ambitious ideas, the rumors of purchase began to swirl around by October of the same year. WWE had bounced back from disaster, but Ted Turner’s promotion was fated to collapse.
The presence of Rock, Austin, Triple H, and Undertaker was simply too much to contend with. Storylines such as Austin defying his boss, and Kane being Undertaker's brother, were instrumental in the shifting of the tide, and WWE could do no wrong in the eyes of the fans, as the roster was stacked and creatively, the corporation was never better.
The Leadup To WrestleMania 2000 Was Botched
However, WWE was far from perfect even during the infamous Attitude Era. There is no denying that the aforementioned era featured some of the most entertaining and memorable moments in the history of the company and if not for the XFL debacle, the year 2000 would be the most profitable year for the company.
The biggest star at that time, Steve Austin, was written off television due to a neck injury, but The Rock was right there and the company did not skip in pushing the third-generation megastar. The Rock would attain popularity that rivaled, if not exceeded Austin and on the other hand, Triple H, once known as Hunter Hearst Helmsley, was shaping up to be one of the biggest heels in recent memory.
The recipe for monumental success was right there, practically screaming at the company. The fans wanted The Rock facing off against Triple H, at the main event of WrestleMania 2000. The setup was simple as well. The Rock won the Royal Rumble, and Triple H was kept busy with an entertaining feud with Mick Foley and his other alter-egos.
The heel champion was hated by almost everyone, and the Rock was the 'People’s Champion' who would be the one to dethrone Triple H. The first few months of 2000 suggested that the company was headed in the direction of a blockbuster feud, but then the McMahons got involved.
Triple H was managed by Stephanie McMahon and the power couple angle did quite a bit to facilitate the establishment of Triple H as a despised heel. Triple H and Stephanie worked well with each other and to some extent, Shane’s dynamic with his enforcer, Big Show, was decent as well.
However, someone in the company then devised the brilliant idea of turning the one-on-one match between Triple H and Rock into a Fatal-Four-Way. Even better, each contestant would have a McMahon in their corner. That would surely be a slobber knocker for the ages!
This is where the company botched and went against the wishes and demands of the fans. The Rock was put through hell each and every week, suffering beat-downs and maulings at the hands of Stephanie and Shane's cronies. This culminated in Rock putting his career on the line against the Big Show on an episode of Raw.
Towards the end, Vince McMahon, who had been off television for a while, returned and struck down his son, Shane McMahon to help Rock win the match. The Rock was slated to headline WrestleMania against Triple H for the world title after his victory, but Shane was not done. He altered the main event by adding in the Big Show, making it a Triple-Threat. Vince McMahon then announced that he would be managing The Rock at WrestleMania.
Then, Linda McMahon came into the fold. The wife of Vince McMahon brought back Mick Foley, and the three-way match was made into a Fatal-Four-Way. And as the final cherry on top, Linda was in the corner of Mick Foley.
The McMahon Drama Took Away From The Match
The McMahon family drama overshadowed the entire main event. The Rock and Triple H detested each other to the point of insanity and yet, the angle was more focused on Shane attacking Vince, or Stephanie slapping Linda. The commentators pushed the angle and presented the McMahon family as the most dysfunctional one in television history. Triple H and the Rock were able to sustain relevancy due to their popularity, but the Big Show and Mick Foley were sidelined and seen as nothing more as wrestlers to be fed to the more popular stars in the Fatal-Four-Way.
What was supposed to be a legendary encounter between a loathsome heel and a massively popular babyface festered into a soap opera fiasco where the McMahon family yelled at each other in the lead up to what should have been one of the greatest WrestleManias of all time. And surprise, the last swerve occurred in the main event of the show itself, as Vince backstabbed the Rock and Triple H walked out of the show as champion.
This was the first time that a heel had retained the title in the main event, and the crowd did not go home happy. The McMahon drama took precedence over the superstars, and the push to incorporate the family feud into the main event was the biggest blunder in an otherwise successful and entertaining year in the company.
On the bright side, at least they can say that each McMahon has headlined WrestleMania.