10 WrestleMania Followup Pay-Per-Views with WrestleMania Rematches

#8. The first Backlash pay-per-view looks awfully familiar

Al Snow explains to Hardcore Holly the virtues of "sticking" with it

Backlash 1999, the first of nearly a dozen April/May pay-per-view events which would follow WrestleMania for years to come, featured three matches which fit this category. Two were direct rematches from WrestleMania XV with new stipulations added, while another simplified a multi-man match to the contest WrestleMania should have featured.

On the undercard, Al Snow and Hardcore Holly fought over the Hardcore Championship, having clashed the previous month with Billy Gunn in the mix (though Gunn's partner, Road Dogg, had been deeply involved in the Hardcore Championship story, and Gunn had been working the contenders for the Intercontinental Championship, which Road Dogg was now wrestling for, because Vince Russo).

Snow and Holly got more than double the time they got at WrestleMania, and managed to incorporate the all-over-the-arena wackiness most people associate with the Hardcore Title; in the end, Snow decked Holly with Head to take the championship back from his bleach-blond antagonist.

This match is far more cleaned up than the original Boiler Room Brawl, and far more entertaining than the first Mankind-Big Show one-on-one match.

The second rematch saw Mankind continue his ongoing feud with recent WCW defector "The Big Show" Paul Wight (as he was still known at the time; Wight's real name would be dropped by year's end). The pair had wrestled to a disqualification finish at WrestleMania, giving Mankind the ability to referee that show's main event, and continued their feud despite a de facto alliance that formed when Wight was kicked out of The Corporation for attacking Vince McMahon.

Mick Foley discussed this match at length in Have A Nice Day, his first autobiography; in it, he explained that he had some time off for medical reasons in the near future, and wanted to take it easy despite the hardcore stipulations of the match. To compensate, Foley recruited Hollywood special effects artists to help create artificial weapons, steam, and even fake blood to sell the intensity of the match. Foley won before being attacked by Corporation members Test and The Big Boss Man; Mankind and The Big Show would immediately set aside their differences to retaliate, sending the segment to its finish with Test in the Mandible Claw.

The main event, however, took WrestleMania XV's main event and just slightly tweaked its cast of characters, replacing special guest referee Mankind with Shane McMahon; this being an Austin storyline in the late 1990s, the simple presence of McMahons and their monied posse is enough to explain the story leading into another Rock and Austin pay-per-view clash.

When fans remember the Attitude Era, it's moments like this that make them ask for its return (and forget all of its other faults)

A standard Vince Russo gaga match, this No Disqualification affair featured plenty of interference, weapon shots (both the WWF title and Austin's stolen Smoking Skull variation make regular contact with combatants' skulls), and easily one of the top Stone Cold Stunners of all time, as Austin hit the move on The Rock while Rock held a television broadcast camera at ringside, sending both men through the announce table.

Which Worked Better?

All three contests far surpassed their WrestleMania original in terms of crowd reaction and critical reception; Providence, RI, was right in the WWF's backyard, and the audience showed why this time period is considered the hottest in the company's history. Additionally, the moment where Austin delivered his finisher to a broadcast-hijacking Rock has to be one of the greatest moments on any non-big-four pay-per-view.