Wrestlemania X-8 18

InterContinental Championship Match
Rob Van Dam vs. William Regal (c)

In the opener, Rob Van Dam cleanly defeated William Regal to win the InterContinental Title.  Regal went for the brass knucks early, but Van Dam kicked them out of his hand.  Still, even without his usual crutch, Regal went on to dominate the majority of the contest, with Van Dam taking a handful of killer "folded-up-like-an-accordian" bumps along the way.  Regal's inability to put Van Dam away led to him going back to the brass knucks (and then to an alternate pair of knucks when the ref caught him with the first one), but again, he was foiled by Van Dam, who kicked him to the mat, then followed up with a Five Star Frog Splash for the win. 

European Championship Match
Diamond Dallas Page (c) vs. Christian

The card's most-hastily-booked match saw Diamond Dallas Page retain the European Title with a pinfall win over Christian (clean win via the Diamond Cutter). 

Hardcore Championship Match
Maven (c) vs. Goldust vs. Many others

A show-spanning Hardcore Title story arc got started in the ring, as Maven defended against Goldust.  The 24/7 Rule played a big part as -- after Maven and Goldust did about 5 minutes of tepid brawling -- Spike Dudley brought his own official into the fray and pinned Maven to win the title.  Crash Holly followed suit, and the brawl went backstage; after a few video packages, we picked up the action again to see the Hurricane join the fun by pinning Spike (Al Snow also briefly appeared here) to win the title.  About half an hour later, Molly sneak-attacked the Hurricane, and won the title for herself.  Then another half-hour later, Christian took the strap after slamming a door into Molly's face.  As he tried to escape the building, Maven struck from behind.  He pinned Christian to regain the title, and then rode off in Christian's taxi.

Kurt Angle vs. Kane

Kurt Angle used the ropes for leverage, and managed to score a pinfall win over Kane.  This was a decent little affair that underscored just how good Angle is and how under-rated a big man Kane is.  Kane made the smaller Angle's offense look damned good, and Angle hit a few cool highspots (including the always-popular walk-up-the-ropes-into-a-suplex move that we've seen a few times). The finish, unfortunately, looked like it got a little screwy, as there was a lot of fumbling around after Angle tried to lock in a pinning combination after a victory roll-type move.

Undertaker vs. Ric Flair

A surprising highlight of the show was the Undertaker's win over Ric Flair.  Contrary to how you might have thought the match would get started, this one kicked off with Flair solidly in control.  But his thirst for vengeance could only carry him for a few minutes before Taker and his size/strength advantage gained momentum.  Before too long, Flair was wearing a crimson mask and on the receiving end of an extended Undertaker beat-down.  There's no denying the signs of age (for instance, two attempts were needed for Flair to hit the patented Flair Flip in the turnbuckle), but this one still had all the action and drama you could hope for.  Arn Anderson even got involved late in the match (mostly to get his ass kicked).  Taker won the match after beating off the interference and planting Flair with a Tombstone Piledriver. 

Steve Austin vs. Scott Hall

Steve Austin took out his frustration of having to work earlier on a PPV than he has at any time in recent memory by making relatively short work of Scott Hall.  Austin got out of the chute fast, even getting in a few licks on Kevin Nash (who joined Hall at ringside) during a wild match-opening brawl.  Things were more back-and-forth once they settled down in the ring, but Nash's presence meant that Hall was always able to rally, no matter how much momentum Austin gained.  Finally, after Nash squashed two refs and broke up pinning combinations by Austin, he was ejected from ringside by a phalanx of back-up officials.  Once Nash was gone, Hall immediately tasted two Stone Cold Stunners and was pinned. 

Edge vs. Booker T
Referee: Stone Cold Steve Austin

Edge defeated Booker T in the "I Can't Believe This is About Shampoo" Match.  Edge was an even heavier-than-usual fan favorite, wrestling in front of his hometown crowd, but Booker also enjoyed some cheers, especially for the Spin-a-roonie.  Edge got the clean win after his leaping DDT.

WWF Tag Team Championship Match
Elimination Match
Billy and Chuck (c) vs. The Hardy Boyz, vs. The Dudley Boyz, vs. The APA

Billy and Chuck held on to the WWF Tag Team Titles, out-lasting the Hardys, the Dudleys, and the APA.  The Dudleys came out first as Saliva performed their new entrance theme live on the stage.  And then the Duds scored the first elimination of the match, taking out the APA with a 3-D.  We then entered the best portion of the match, as the Duds squared off with the Hardys for an extended series (which also scored the only significant fan reaction of the match when Stacey Keibler figured she'd use her ass to distract Jeff Hardy from the business at hand; funny, it didn't work...).  Instead, the Hardys eventually managed to hit the Twist of Fate/Swanton Bomb combo on Bubba to eliminate the Dudleys.  The Hardys eventually looked to be zeroing in on a title victory, as Chuck was set up to receive a Swanton Bomb, but out of nowhere, Billy hit the Fame-Asser to retain the straps. 

Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock

For the second time in WrestleMania's history, Hulk Hogan walked into SkyDome with a miniscule repertoire of actual wrestling holds and somehow walked out as a participant in the night's most dramatic and entertaining affair.  And also for the second time, Hogan walked out of SkyDome as a loser, dropping the decision against the Rock.  From the get-go, there was definitely a mixed reaction to Hogan and Rock, with both men receiving cheers.  But as time went on, the fans wound up solidly behind Hogan, and the Rock was roundly booed at times (a "Rocky Sucks" chant was also heard!).  Every little thing Hogan did drew a massive pop, even if it was delivering a shitty clothesline or taking the worst DDT bump in recent memory.  But the things that would have gotten Hogan drawn and quartered by the smarks two years ago went completely ignored, as the Toronto crowd decided, en masse , that it was absolutely OK to enjoy Hulk Hogan as kitsch. Alas, the Legdrop was insufficient to keep the Rock down, and the younger star eventually scored with back-to-back Rock Bottoms (and a People's Elbow) to secure the win.  After the match, a humbled Hogan actually shook hands and made peace with the Rock; and that's when things took a turn for the surprising, as Kevin Nash and Scott Hall (who Hogan had requested stay in the back during the match) hit the ring and punked Hogan out.  The Rock made the save, and after he and Hogan cleared the ring, Rock also insisted that Hogan do an old school posedown in the ring.  Hogan complied and the fans went nuts; all that was missing was "Real American." 

Women's Championship Match
Jazz (c) vs. Trish Stratus vs. Lita

Jazz came out on top over Trish Stratus and Lita, retaining her Women's Title in the process.  Short contest that came to a close when Jazz tossed Trish from the ring and then hit a top rope fisherman's buster (admittedly a really cool finish) to score the win. 

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Chris Jericho (c) vs. Triple H

Triple H won the WWF Title from Chris Jericho in the night's main event.  HHH was played to the ring by Drowning Pool (doing a version of HHH's existing theme song).  Jericho wasted little time once the match was on, and went right after HHH's injured left leg.  Jericho used ample ring-post-assisted offense to further damage HHH's quad muscle, and the ever-helpful Stephanie McMahon was there to put her two cents worth in, too.  But the duo couldn't keep HHH down.  Eventually, Steph's interference back-fired, leaving her alone in the ring with HHH.  And sure enough, she finally got that Pedigree that they've been teasing for the past month.  Once Steph's carcass was rolled out of the ring, it wasn't much longer before Jericho got a Pedigree of his own.  A three count later, and a new champ was crowned.