Match of the Day - X-Punk whips Shane-O-Mac and HHH & Chyna join the dark side at WM15

X-Pac vs. Shane McMahon - European title match - WrestleMania XV (1999)

As a much younger, full time mark, I had a special best of WrestleMania DVD (one of the first DVDs I ever owned) that chronicled some of the best matches and events at the grandest stage of them all from WMI to WMXV. Whether it was the fact that my attention spend gave out right before the end of the video and I was getting antsy or that this particular WrestleMania was just the most exciting to my young brain, I remember always getting really amped up when this match was being recapped! 

And then there's the swerve: As X-Pac laid out Shane McMahon via the X-Factor and was about to cover him for the won, Triple H and Chyna come down to ringside and pulled Test out of the ring. Then Chyna distracted the ref while Triple H climbed into the ring and does the unthinkable. Triple H pedigrees X-Pac and drapes Shane-O-Mac over his unconscious friend, signifying that Triple H and Chyna had turned on their own team/stable and gone to the dark side: The Corporation.

Just one year before this, Triple H introduced the returning X-Pac as the new member of D-Generation X on Raw the night after WMXIV!

Theme results:

WrestleMania: WMXV

Match of the Day - Shane McMahon: which way did he go? Answer: Down part 1

Shane McMahon vs. Steve Blackman - Hardcore Championship match WWF Summerslam (2000)

This Hardcore Wednesday match has the claim to fame as that match were Shane McMahon, being the spot junky that he is, gets caned off the titantron via "The Lethal Weapon" Steve Blackman and his lethal kendo stick (it's really a singapore cane but whatever). A year later we saw the same drop at Backlash (McMahon vs. Big Show) but this time it was Shane-O-Mac jumping off the titantron rather than falling. The latter gets remembered a bit more while this match is really only remembered as that one match were Shane McMahon had the Hardcore title and the 24/7 rule was suspended so these two "marvelous athletes" could actually have a real (hardcore) match.

The contrast or Steve Blackman's use of weapons with his martial arts background and Shane McMahon's never-stay-down underdog attitude is also very fun to watch.