The Road Less Travelled: Let's Play Wrestlemania 2000!

I've been spending a lot of time playing Wrestlemania 2000 for the N64, which is weird because I never actually owned it, instead playing No Mercy to death. Most of my time with it has been spent playing the Road to Wrestlemania mode, where you take a wrestler and a tag partner of your choosing through a year long career mode, ending (Hopefully) with a shot for the title in the main event at Wrestlemania. With this LP, I intend to do that from beginning to end. Before I start, though, I'm going to let you guys pick the two wrestlers I'm going to use, then get this bad boy started. For those unaware, here's the roster:

The Rock
Triple H
Steve Austin
Undertaker
Kane
Mankind
Big Show
X-Pac
Road Dogg
Mr. Ass
Chris Jericho
Ken Shamrock
Mr. McMahon
Shane McMahon
Test
Big Bossman
Faarooq
Bradshaw
Val Venis
Godfather
Jeff Jarrett
D'lo Brown
Mark Henry
Edge
Christian
Gangrel
Jeff Hardy
Matt Hardy
Al Snow
Hardcore Holly
Droz
Prince Albert
Steve Blackman
Thrasher
Chaz
Mideon
Viscera
The Blue Meanie
Meat
Brian Christopher
Scott Taylor
Pat Patterson
Gerald Brisco
Michael Hayes

Hopefully I can get this off to a good start.

Suggestions:
Val Venis & Blue Meanie
Jeff Jarrett & Chris Jericho
Test & Meat
Steve Austin & ?
Al Snow & Viscera

I don't know shit about wrestling but there are people on TT who do so I put out the bat signal to let them know this was there. You also might want to mention it in one of the wrestling threads on here?

I love this game.

Val Venis and the Blue Meanie.

Together, they make Dr. Manhattan, at least the movie version.

I have to admit that most of my wrestling knowledge these days comes from OSWReview and other media (like biographies and things like that), less from an extensive knowledge of wrestling itself, so I can only speculate about who would've made a good tag team back in the day.

Nevertheless, I am going to suggest the Tag Team of "The Rockin' Country Connection" - Jeff Jarrett & Chris Jericho, aka "Country & Rock" aka "C-Rock" aka "crock". And their theme could be by Toby Keith.

(And yes, I know, Jericho's band is a metal band. But I doubt the WWE would make that distinction... Still, as an alternative, the Tag Team could be called "Y2J-Double-J" or "Y5J" or something.)

The last time I knew anything about wrestling, Andre was still alive.

That said, you can't go wrong with Team Test Meat.

I'll leave team suggestions open until Friday.

Steve Austin and the Gobbledy Gooker if you can get him. If not, pick anyone else you want.

Al Snow and Viscera - ViscerAl!

Ok, I'll keep team suggestions open until midnight, then put them through a random generator, and the first name to show up on the ensuing list is the team I will use.

Also, here's an earlier attempt at this I did on another forum, to give you guys an idea on what it'll be like:

http://officialfan.proboards.com/thr...d-update-topic
(Don't worry, I'll only use one picture, for my guy's match, and it'll be much smaller.)

Alright, that's it for team suggestions. By random selection, the duo we will be taking into the mode are......


Test & Meat!

An unlikely team, to be sure. Tomorrow I'll get started with the first week.

Yessss

Apr. Week 1
Match 1:
The Blue Meanie Vs. Chaz
A pretty back and forth match, which tends to happen with the lower card guys. Both guys did a bad job of blocking, clotheslines and dropkicks flying like crazy. Not a lot of big spots, beyond Chaz missing with a Suicide Dive. Meanie won after a running shoulder block at 8:07.

Match 2:
Test & Meat Vs. Droz & Prince Albert

As I suspected, a total squash. Test did most of the work on Droz while Meat worked on Albert. I threw him around a bit until finishing him with the Pump Handle Buster at 3:01.

Match 3:
Steve Blackman Vs. Jeff Hardy
Another back and forth contest. Blackman started by wrecking Hardy's shit and putting him in submissions, like the Guillotine Choke. Eventually Hardy started to fight back with dropkicks and spinning heel kicks. Hardy made a comeback and hit his finisher three times in the match, but could not get the pin from any of them. Eventually Blackman avoided Jeff's high flying moves and regained dominance, making Hardy submit to a single leg crab at 9:52.

Match 4:
Godfather Vs. Val Venis
This battle between tag partners consisted mostly of Val handing Godfather his ass on a platter. Right from the get go Venis was dominant, using the backbreaker and double arm suplex to gain an advantage. Venis tried using the fisherman's suplex to get the pin but kept getting rope breaks. After several Money Shots, Val pinned Godfather after a running big boot at 8:51.

Match 5:
X-Pac Vs. Ken Shamrock
Most of this match was Shamrock working on X-Pac's leg for the hopeful match ending submission, but the ropes kept preventing it. After about 10 minutes of Shamrock dropkicking and dropping top rope elbows, Vince McMahon interfered to attack him. It didn't do much, but the distraction gave X-Pac enough time to finally start taking advantage of his previous attempts to fight back. Despite spending over half the match getting pummeled, X-Pac picked up the win at 13:02 after an X-Factor.

Match 6:
Undertaker & Kane Vs. Steve Austin & The Rock
What a war this match was. Surprisingly, Austin and Rock spent the first ten minutes or so dominating, with Austin in particular targeting Taker's head. Taker fought back around the 14 minute mark, and that's where hell almost literally broke loose. It almost became a tornado tag match, all four guys tearing at each other in the ring at once. Undertaker and Kane kept trying the Tombstone but couldn't keep Austin & Rock down while Austin and Rock gained advantages but could not keep them. It was anyone's ballgame, until finally coming to an end when Kane pinned Rock after a Tombstone Piledriver at 28:38.

Match 7:
Cage Match
Triple H Vs. Mankind
This match followed the same formula most cage matches to in this game: Guy gets advantage, tries to climb the cage and fails, rinse lather and repeat with the other guy. Both guys used the cage as a weapon to weaken the other often. At the end, HHH made an attempt to escape but was stopped by Mankind. Trips held onto the cage, giving Mankind the opportunity to knock him off and escape before he could recover at 6:50.

Oh sweet christ I feel terror for you if you're watching all of the matches. Test isn't actually too bad a character in this one, although he's a lot better in No Mercy when you get the T&A double-teams. Once in a while you're going to get a terrible match that just doesn't end like that BoD / Megapowers 2 match.

It's hard for me to go back to WM2K; the roster's terrible compared to the games on either side of it, the gameplay feels "off" (probably due to the lack of ground finishers - Rock being able to do the elbow whenever he wants is annoying as fuck), and it's comparatively featureless.

Pretty much everything in the game's a squash until you hit KOTR, when there's a big difficulty spike for the opening match (usually against Shamrock). I think KOTR itself is all set to a higher difficulty that you don't approach again until SummerSlam or so.

I think I mainly just used Taker to clear the story mode in this one, since he's got the chokeslam (finisher-level damage) and that Oleg Taktarov rolling leg lock.

Still, enjoy playing the fourth-best game on the N64!

(No Mercy, VPW2, and Revenge are the first three. Fuck Link and his Ocarina.)

I appreciate the comment.

And yeah, watching all the matches is a bit of a bitch. At the same time it's kinda interesting. Usually when I'm playing leisurely I only watch matches that are for championships.

And ARGH Shamrock. Hate fighting that guy.

One more thing: Some of the title matches can get pretty wonky. I had Christian Vs. Big Show for the WWF Title once.

HAHA that's as ludicrous as if they ran Big Show vs. Big Boss Man as a world title match!

(...)

Anyway, I do wonder just how weird you can get the game to be through sheer random chance in the simulation.

Ok, going to switch up my way of doing this: No more attempts at a synopsis to the matches, but instead simply pictures of the finish. Seems easier that way. So.....

Match 1:
Prince Albert Vs. The Blue Meanie Vs. Chaz


Albert pinned Meanie after an overhead punch from Chaz

Match 2:
Viscera Vs. Jeff Hardy


Viscera pinned Jeff after an elbow to the back

Match 3:
Test & Meat Vs. Too Much


Test pinned Christopher after a running elbow smash

Match 4:
Hardcore Championship
Mideon Vs. Al Snow (c)


Snow pinned Mideon with a german suplex to retain the title

Match 5:
Christian Vs. Gangrel


Christian pinned Gangrel after an Impaler

Match 6:
Undertaker Vs. Mankind Vs. Big Show


Big Show pinned Mankind after an elbow to the back from Undertaker

Match 7:
D'lo Brown & Mark Henry Vs. Steve Austin & The Rock


D'lo gave up to a Sleeper Hold by Austin

(If the pics need resizing, let me know.)

A running elbow smash? Stretching the limits of workrate, you are.

Good lord, I'd forgotten just how frequently that 69 pin was seen in WM2K. I think they tweaked the angles in No Mercy to make it show up less often, since they added the new leg pinning animation anyway.

Apr. Week 3
Match 1:
Test Vs. Chaz


Test pinned Chaz after a Big Boot

Match 2:
Viscera & Mideon Vs. Droz & Prince Albert


Mideon pinned Droz after a back suplex

Match 3:
Matt Hardy Vs. Hardcore Holly Vs. Jeff Hardy


Matt pinned Jeff after a double piledriver with Hardcore

Match 4:
Gangrel Vs. Val Venis


Prince Albert interfered on Gangrel's behalf
Edge interfered on Venis' behalf
Venis pinned Gangrel after an electric chair drop from Edge

Match 5:
Ken Shamrock Vs. Kane Vs. X-Pac


Shamrock pinned X-Pac after a shin breaker from Kane

Match 6:
Triple H & Mr. Ass Vs. D'lo Brown & Mark Henry


Henry pinned Mr. Ass with a small package

Match 7:
Undertaker Vs. Steve Austin


The Rock interfered on Austin's behalf
Undertaker pinned Austin after a Tombstone Piledriver

Apr. Week 4
Match 1:
Test & Meat Vs. Droz & Prince Albert


Test pinned Droz after a pump handle buster

Match 2:
Thrasher Vs. Scott Taylor


Thrasher pinned Taylor after a Tornado DDT

Match 3:
Jeff Hardy Vs. Al Snow


Snow pinned Jeff after a Snow Plow

Match 4:
European Championship
Chris Jericho Vs. Jeff Jarrett Vs. Mideon (c)


Jarrett pinned Mideon after a jumping spin kick by Jericho to win the championship

Match 5:
Gangrel Vs. Val Venis


Gerald Brisco interfered on Gangrel's behalf
Venis pinned Gangrel with a fisherman suplex

Match 6:
Christian Vs. Edge


Edge pinned Christian after an electric chair drop

Match 7:
Mankind Vs. Steve Austin


X-Pac interfered on Austin's behalf
Jeff Jarrett interfered on Mankind's behalf
Mankind pinned Austin after a running back elbow smash

Match 8:
Undertaker & Kane Vs. The Acolytes


Kane pinned Bradshaw after a Tombstone Piledriver

]May Week 1
Match 1:
Test Vs. Thrasher


Test pinned Thrasher after a gutwrench powerbomb

Match 2:
Too Much Vs. Al Snow & Hardcore Holly


Snow pinned Christopher after a german suplex

Match 3:
Matt Hardy Vs. Viscera


Matt was counted out

Match 4:
D'lo Brown Vs. Jeff Jarrett


D'lo pinned Jarrett with Sky High

Match 5:
Vince McMahon & Shane McMahon Vs. Val Venis & Godfather


Val pinned Vince with Blue Thunder

Match 6:
Triple H & Mr. Ass Vs. Road Dogg & X-Pac


Mr. Ass pinned Road Dogg after a Fameasser

Match 7:
WWF Championship
Undertaker Vs. Steve Austin (c)


Undertaker pinned Austin after a Tombstone Piledriver to win the championship

Well, I jumped a bit too far ahead before I realized I missed the second and third week of May and deleted the pics of the finishes, so I'm gonna have to restart the file and get to where I was.

Alright, I'm back with a different file. The champions are a bit different:

WWF Championship: Undertaker
WWF Tag Team Championship: Road Dogg & X-Pac
Intercontinental, European and Hardcore Champions are still the defaults, namely Jarrett, Mideon, and Al Snow.

With that out of the way......

May Week 2
Match 1:
Blue Meanie Vs. Thrasher


Thrasher pinned Meanie after a Tornado DDT

Match 2:
Test & Meat Vs. Droz & Prince Albert


Test pinned Droz after a piledriver

Match 3:
Chaz Vs. Brian Christopher

Chaz pinned Christopher after a Tornado DDT
(Another deleted pic.)

Match 4:
Viscera Vs. Hardcore Holly


Holly was counted out

Match 5:
Mark Henry Vs. Edge


Henry pinned Edge after an electric chair drop

Match 6:
WWF Intercontinental Championship
Faarooq Vs. Jeff Jarrett (c)


Faarooq pinned Jarrett after a Dominator to win the championship

Match 7:
Ken Shamrock Vs. X-Pac


Shamrock forced X-Pac to submit to the Ankle Lock

Match 8:
Val Venis & Godfather Vs. Undertaker & Kane


Undertaker pinned Godfather after a Tombstone Piledriver

May Week 3
Match 1:
Hardcore Championship
Chaz Vs. Al Snow (c)


Snow pinned Chaz with a german suplex to retain the championship

Match 2:
Test & Meat Vs. Hardy Boyz


Meat pinned Matt with a school boy

Match 3:
Thrasher Vs. Prince Albert


Thrasher pinned Albert after a back elbow

Match 4:
Hardcore Holly Vs. Chris Jericho


Holly pinned Jericho with a Falcon Arrow

Match 5:
Val Venis Vs. Gangrel


Venis pinned Gangrel with the Money Shot

Droz interfered in the match on Gangrel's behalf

Match 6:
Jeff Jarrett Vs. D'lo Brown


D'lo pinned Jarrett with a school boy

Match 7:
The Rock Vs. Steve Austin


Austin pinned Rock after a Stunner

Match 8:
Undertaker & Kane Vs. Big Show & Mankind


Big Show pinned Undertaker after a club to the back

May Week 4
Match 1:
Brian Christopher Vs. Chaz


Chaz pinned Christopher with a rolling crutch pin

Match 2:
Test & Meat Vs. Hardy Boyz


Meat pinned Matt after a Tornado DDT

Match 3:
European Championship
Viscera Vs. Mideon (c)


Mideon pinned Viscera after a reverse suplex to retain the championship

Match 4:
Prince Albert Vs. Scott Taylor


Albert pinned Taylor after a release german suplex

Match 5:
Al Snow Vs. Chris Jericho


Snow pinned Jericho after a Snow Plow

Match 6:
Val Venis Vs. Bradshaw


Venis pinned Bradshaw with Blue Thunder

Match 7:
Road Dogg & X-Pac Vs. Owen Hart* & Jeff Jarrett


Jarrett pinned Road Dogg after a DDT

*Owen is a CAW I pasted over Big Bossman, who's Jarrett's default tag partner for some reason.

Jun. Week 1
Match 1:
Test & Meat Vs. Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett


Test pinned Owen after a side slam

Match 2:
Scott Taylor Vs. Brian Christopher


Taylor pinned Christopher with a Tiger Driver

Match 3:
Michael Hayes Vs. Shane McMahon Vs. Viscera


Viscera pinned Shane after a drop suplex

Match 4:
D'lo Brown Vs. Chris Jericho


D'lo pinned Jericho with a german suplex

Match 5:
Vince McMahon Vs. Road Dogg


Road Dogg pinned Vince after a piledriver

Match 6:
Gangrel Vs. Ken Shamrock


Shamrock pinned Gangrel after a back suplex

Match 7:
Big Show Vs. X-Pac Vs. Steve Austin


X-Pac pinned Show after kicking him off Austin

Match 8:
Hardy Boyz Vs. Al Snow & Hardcore Holly


Snow pinned Jeff after a Snow Plow

Match 9:
WWF Championship
The Rock Vs. Undertaker (c)


Ken Shamrock interfered in the match on The Rock's behalf
Undertaker pinned Rock after a flying lariat to retain the championship

Jun. Week 2
Match 1:
Test & Meat Vs. Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett


Meat pinned Jarrett after a jawbreaker

Match 2:
The Blue Meanie Vs. Scott Taylor


Meanie pinned Taylor after a DDT

Match 3:
Al Snow Vs. Matt Hardy


Snow pinned Matt after a Snow Plow

Match 4:
European Championship
D'lo Brown Vs. Ken Shamrock Vs. Mideon (c)


Shamrock pinned Mideon after a back suplex to win the championship

Match 5:
Bradshaw Vs. Edge


Edge pinned Bradshaw after a Downward Spiral

Match 6:
Godfather Vs. Hardcore Holly


Val Venis interfered in the match on Hardcore's behalf
Hardcore pinned Godfather after a leg push counter

Match 7:
Faarooq Vs. Triple H


Faarooq pinned HHH after a Dominator

Match 8:
Road Dogg & X-Pac Vs. Big Show & Mankind


Show pinned X-Pac after a drop suplex

Jun. Week 3
Match 1:
Brian Christopher Vs. Scott Taylor


Christopher pinned Taylor after a Cradle DDT

Match 2:
Droz & Prince Albert Vs. Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett


Jarrett forced Droz to submit to the Figure Four

Match 3:
Test Vs. Al Snow


Test pinned Snow with a school boy

Match 4:
Ken Shamrock Vs. Edge


Shamrock forced Edge to submit to the Ankle Lock

Match 5:
Faarooq Vs. Triple H


HHH pinned Faarooq with a powerbomb

Match 6:
Undertaker & Kane Vs. Road Dogg & X-Pac


Undertaker pinned Road Dogg after a DDT

Match 7:
Mr. Ass Vs. Steve Austin


Mr. Ass passed out in a sleeper hold applied by Austin

Jun. Week 4
Match 1:
Test & Meat Vs. Val Venis & Godfather


Test pinned Val after a pump handle buster

Match 2:
Brian Christopher Vs. Jeff Hardy Vs. Prince Albert


Jeff pinned Albert after a neckbreaker

Match 3:
D'lo Brown Vs. Chris Jericho


Jericho pinned D'lo with a triple powerbomb

Match 4:
Mark Henry Vs. Mideon


Henry pinned Mideon after an elbow to the back

Match 5:
Triple H Vs. X-Pac Vs. Mr. Ass


Mr. Ass pinned X-Pac with an abdominal stretch pin

Match 6:
Big Show & Mankind Vs. Al Snow & Hardcore Holly


Mankind pinned Snow after a face crusher

I remember being quite sad that they were not Too Cool yet in WM2000 since they had been on tv for a little while by that point. Was suchhhh a mark for that dumb as hell team

Jun. Week 4
Match 1:
Thrasher & Brian Christopher Vs. Droz & Prince Albert


Albert pinned Christopher after a back elbow

Match 2:
Vince McMahon Vs. Chaz


Christian interfered in the match on the behalf of Vince McMahon
Vince pinned Chaz after a Mac Stunner

Match 3:
European Championship
Mark Henry Vs. Ken Shamrock (c)


Shamrock pinned Henry after a Russian leg sweep to retain the championship

Match 4:
Test Vs. Christian


Test pinned Christian with a school boy

Match 5:
Cage Match
Michael Hayes Vs. Gangrel


Gangrel escaped the cage

Match 6:
King of the Ring Tournament

Triple H defeated Val Venis, Ken Shamrock, and Undertaker to win the tournament

Match 7:
Kane Vs. Faarooq


Mankind interfered in the match on Kane's behalf
Kane pinned Faarooq after a Tombstone Piledriver

Match 8:
WWF Tag Team Championships
Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett Vs. Road Dogg & X-Pac (c)


Owen pinned Road Dogg after a reverse suplex to win the championships