Backstory: HHH had been the WWF Champion for most of the last year. The Rock won Royal Rumble 2000, earning him a title shot against HHH at Wrestlemania 2000.
But...
Footage was found showing that the Big Show should've actually been the winner of the Royal Rumble, since Rock's feet actually hit the ground first.
And...
Mick Foley had two phenomenal matches with HHH at the Royal Rumble and No Way Out—losing them both, and being forced to retire after No Way Out as per the stipulations of the match. Linda McMahon decided, however, that Foley should be allowed to come back for one night only to fulfill his dream of wrestling in the main event of a Wrestlemania.
So...
a four-way match was set up with the WWF Championship on the line: HHH vs. The Rock vs. Big Show vs. Mick Foley.
And we're LIVE from Anaheim, California on April 2, 2000. The hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.
Match 1: The Godfather & D'Lo Brown v. Big Bossman & Bull Buchanan. Pimpin' ain't, pimpin' ain't, pimpin' ain't easy, yo. Ice-t leads Godfather and Brown down to the ring, rapping
the same one line the whole way. This was right after Buchanan's debut, while he was still in his "Bossman's friend" role before the Right to Censor would launch him into superstardom. HAHAHAHAHA!
Bull hits a top-rope legdrop on D'Lo for the finish.
Match 2: Tazz, Kaientai, Hardcore Holly, Mean Street Posse, the Headbangers, Viscera & The Acolytes v. Crash Holly in a Hardcore Battle Royale for the WWF Hardcore Championship. Each time someone pins the current champion (Crash at the start), they're the champion until they get pinned. The person with the belt at the end of 15 minutes remeains the champion. The title changes hands about a billion times here, but it's a pretty damn good hardcore match. In the end, Hardcore Holly pins Crash (who had regained the championship moments earlier) to win the strap as time expired. It should be noted that time was supposed to expire BEFORE referee Tim White finished his count, as Crash was supposed to retain his title. They do a pretty good job of covering it, though, as Hardcore's music fires right up and he walks around celebrating with a goofy grin on his face. He'd job the title back to Crash the next night on RAW.
Match 3: Head Cheese (Al Snow and Steve Blackman) v. Test & Albert. Suffice it to say there's someone named Chester McCheeserton in this match. Move RIGHT along.
Match 4: The Dudley Boyz v. Edge & Christian v. The Hardy Boyz in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match for the WWF Tag Team Champoinship. I can't even begin to describe some of the insane bumps these guys take. ***** match, easily. Edge and Christian win the titles here after
pushing Matt Hardy off a scaffold about 15 feet in the air.
Match 5: The Kat v. Terri. Only reason this might be worthwhile is if Kat got naked again like at Armageddon, but she doesn't, so it's a complete waste of time.
Match 6: The Radicalz v. Too Cool & Chyna. Eddie Guerrero is just starting out his "Latino Heat" character. He's still just a Radical at this point. Not a bad match, but not a particularly good one either. Chyna pins Dean Malenko after a drop sleeper.
Match 7: Kurt Angle v. Chris Jericho v. Chris Benoit for the WWF Intercontinental Championship and the WWF European Championship. The winner of the first fall gets the IC title, the winner of the second gets the Euro strap. Benoit wins the Intercontinental Championship after hitting the flying headbutt on Jericho; and Jericho wins the Euro title by hitting the Lionsault on Benoit. Thus, Angle loses both his titles without ever being pinned. Terrific match!
Match 8: Kane & Rikishi v. X-Pac and Road Dogg. The match is just the precursor to what the fans REALLY came to see—Pete Rose's 3rd straight Wrestlemania appearance!! Note the dripping sarcasm. And, for the third year in a row, Kane tombstones Rose. Just for freshness, Rikishi gives him the Stinkface as well.
Match 9: HHH v. The Big Show v. The Rock v. Mick Foley for the WWF Championship. Foley is clearly the sentimental favorite here; the crowd is way behind him. Big Show gets eliminated after about five minutes with a Rock Bottom. Everyone and their grandmother knew he'd be the first to go. Some time later, Foley gets eliminated by HHH after a Pedigree on a steel chair. Crowd is pissed, but not too much show because they know that The Rock is surely going to win now.
But he doesn't.
HHH becomes the first heel ever*—dating all the way back to the inception of the event in 1985—to win the main event of Wrestlemania. He pins The Rock after two chairshots and copious interference from the McMahons. The crowd is in absolute shock. The Rock hits The People's Elbow on Stephanie McMahon after the match to try to send the crowd home somewhat happy, but they're having none of it.
It was a good match, but it was such a complete bummer for a heel to win that it understandably soured a lot of people to the whole event.
An awesome show overall, but HHH retaining the belt was a really awful decision. He'd meet The Rock in a rematch at Backlash, and Rocky would finally win the title there—a month too late.
* Ted DiBiase was supposed to win the WWF Championship at Wrestlemania IV, which would've made him the first heel to do so. But, a few months earlier, the Honky Tonk Man pulled a power play backstage to avoid dropping the WWF Intercontinental Championship. As a result, the guy who was supposed to win the IC belt there, Randy Savage, got the win at Wrestlemania to make it up to him.