Chris Jericho vs. William Regal

[5.0] "A solid match that got under ten minutes, yet still had a good amount of psychology and drama. The finish came out of nowhere a little bit. It was rare that Jericho won matches with the Lionsault, but at this show and the previous WrestleMania that's what happened."

[7.0] "Finally, a good wrestlemania opener. Been a while since the last one. This was just really well worked."

[7.0] "Solid opening match in front of the Houston Astrodome crowd. I think it could have gone on a few more minutes, but what was there was good. Regal's chest looked sick after those chops. But Regal finally got an opponent he could work with after a string of bad matches on PPV and he delivered."

[7.0] "A very good opening match for the Intercontinental Championship, the "Workhorse" championship of the WWF, involving two workhorses in Jericho & Regal."

[6.0] "Pretty good opening match that I just wish went longer. I was honestly really enjoying this. A fun opener with some great in ring work between these two guys. The start of what is arguably the best WrestleMania oat."

[5.0] "[2.25*] Decent opening for this version of Wrestlemania. The match itself was disappointing for what you'd expect from these two solid workers. It felt rushed indeed. I don't know but it wasn't that much but wasn't bad too for what it brought to the table.'"

[7.0] "Not the best match you will see in your life, but these two are great workers and there are worse ways you can open a PPV then by putting these two up against each other."

[6.0] "A solid opener where both worked the shoulder well and Jericho needing to dig deep to retain. Jericho is super over here and might be the most in the company after Austin & Rock. The Suplex from the top rope was the spot of the match in my opinion and the Lionsault finish looked great. 3 stars."

[7.0] "Pretty good match. It was amazing. They did pretty good moves. The double arm suplex from the top rope was good. Chris Jericho sold his Left arm injury really well. William regal did a really good job of exploiting the injury."

[6.0] "It's not a standout match on a stacked card like this, but it's a solid match where Jericho had to dig deep to win as there was no chance whatsoever of him locking in the Walls because of how effective Regal's targeting was all match as he weakens Jericho's arm exploiting an injury he caused on SmackDown."

[7.0] "A really solid opener that I wish was longer. Jericho and Regal work well together. Regal hit a nice double underhook suplex off the top rope."

[5.0] "Could've been better. On paper, should have been a show stealer but this was WWF. For what it was, a back and forth by both men. Still waiting for Regal's HOF while Y2J's gonna be a long wait."

[7.0] "Pretty solid opening. Their feud back then was really fun and this match delivered on a very similar level."

"Average match. Good initial technical work form Regal, but Jericho overcame and beat him too quick and easily."

[7.0] "The card is undeniably stacked, but it's still a shame this wasn't given longer, especially as an opener. The ending felt rushed, which negated the strong build that the two men did a great job with up until the final moments."

[6.0] "A proper opener with a good story they are telling. Regal trying to cheat this way backfiring makes it for an hilarious watch."

[7.0] "one of the more interesting 7 minute matches that there is out there that i've seen. Regal is one of the best wrestlers to ever work and at this time jericho was nearly untouchable. Absolutely an underrated banger match. 3 stars"

[8.0] "as an opening it is slow, rightly so, to emphasize the hatred. there is a lot of resentment and desire to excel that made it an excellent opening match, raw and heartfelt"

[6.0] "Really enjoyable stuff. Regals work on Jerichos shoulder was good and felt vicious and Jericho sold it well. I liked that Jericho used the lionsault to finish the match because his shoulder was too hurt to put on the walls of Jericho. ***"

[5.0] "A match that should be way better. It has nice exchanges and two top performers, but it is super rushed. For a opener at Wrestlemania, a surprisingly short match, and it did not really do justice to neither Jericho or William Regal"

[7.0] "So this match is a pretty breakneck speed at the beginning, not in terms of how fast these guys are but just the work rate is pretty darn high, and they're rushing through a lot of their match. Jericho overshoots a crossbody to the outside, hits a flying elbow off the top rope. There's some good counters of wrestling before Jericho goes for the walls of Jericho like a minute and a half into the match, Regal gains the upperhand by throwing jericho shoulder first into the post a few times. Regal starts to work over the shoulder with a nice takedown, and another arm ringer takedown. good old school wrestling here with the focus on the shoulder, I like regal's psychology here, Jericho fights back hits a spinning elbow, then hits a lionsault that Regal gets his knees up for, a nice rollup cradle pin by Regal before a Jericho kick out. A nice german suplex where Jericho lands on his head, Jericho kicks out of the pin at two. Regal removes the turnbuckle, ref doesn't care, sends Jericho back into the turnbuckle, Regal hits some kicks to the shoulders before Jericho comes back with a step up enziguiri and a dropkick, levels Regal with a boring punch, hits a second rope dropkick thats very nice, Regal kicks out at two. Jericho goes for a crossbody into the corner but overjumps and hits the post with his shoulder. REgal hits a top rope double underhook suplex, really really nice, Jericho kicks out at two. Jericho goes for the walls of Jericho but can't get it with his shoulder, though he doesn't sell that well, Regal reverses it into an STF. Good struggle but Jericho gets to the ropes. Some back and forth before a bulldog from Jericho, hits a vertical suple and a lionsault, and then just gets the three. Bad ending to an otherwise really really solid match. Match didn't have nearly enough heat to get to a level worthy of a wrestlemania opener, and the ending just fell pretty flat, but the actual wrestling was pretty great and had a solid psychology, just didn't come around with a good enough ending to pop."

[6.0] "I get that the story here was that Jericho had a bad shoulder, so he had a hard time doing the Walls of Jericho, but the finish felt pretty sudden and awkward. Decent match otherwise."

[6.0] "[***1/4] A pretty decent match with shines of damn good technical prowess that, all in all, was too short with an awkward ending to be memorable at all. The first half of this match was the most exciting, with near falls, trading pins, and other cool technical moves. The ending spot with Jericho doing a moonsault looked good but was that really a good finisher against William fucking Regal?"

[6.0] "This was a fun quick very technical match between two hall of famers in Chris Jericho and William Regal."

[7.0] "This is a solid and really fun match between both men with really nice technical in ring work between them and it got the crowd hyped up for what will be the greatest wrestling show of all time."

[6.0] "Decent opener, not exactly memorable but both guys tried and it just so happens they opened the greatest WWE PPV of all time, so it'll go down in history I suppose. Nothing crazy happens, solid performance from both guys."

[6.0] "[3.0*] I think this was a great technical wrestling match, specially for the little time it had. This feud probably deserved better, but they did everything they could in those 7 minutes. The match had a lot of good sequences and exchanges and they clearly had insane chemistry. Jericho won after a beautiful Lionsault and Regal did an Avalanche Butterfly Suplex that popped me highly. Proper opener that delivered everything it could."

[7.0] "For the time it got, this was really solid. I think these two could probably have a better match with each other, but on a card this crazy, you can't really complain. Got the crowd hot and both guys played their roles extremely well."

[7.0] "This was a solid match to kick off an amazing show. They had solid back and forward technical action between the two wrestlers. Overall a fun match to start out."

[4.0] "Wish this was more developed, because these guys could have done way more. Good selling, and like JR said, these two mix together very well in ring. I really like how Regal when for Jericho's shoulder and this cost Jericho a pin because he could not pin him properly. I like that the turnbuckle that Regal came into the match later in a pretty creative way. Nothing special, but also pretty serviceable."

[7.0] "This did its job at getting the crowd hyped and the action here was fun, very back and forth and some chemistry was shown between the two."

[7.0] "I really enjoyed this match, and the crowd was very into it as well. Them going back and forth attempting to trade their submissions was really well done in my eyes. Match was pretty short so I can't give it more than this,"

[6.0] "Regal works well in control but there's no build up for the comebacks from Jericho, so the excitement can't kick in until his come back is already over. No real chemistry between the two, it just feels like William Regal wrestling anyone then Jericho coming back against anyone."

[7.0] "Jericho was super over with the crowd, and Regal played to that very well. Solid move trading back and forth, and some good bouts of athleticism by Jericho to boot. Overall an enjoyable opener with a good angle and solid in ring action."

[6.0] "Pretty good opener to this Mania, Match was very short so didnt feel like they could the flow going."

[8.0] "A good opening match for the called best WrestleMania of all time, 2 amazing wrestlers and a good storyline from behind not too spectacular but enjoyable and the match was pretty solid and good so my rating for this match and even with the result of retain by Jericho I give this match a 8/10 [***1/2]"

[6.0] "Just a good, quite enjoyable opener. They traded some moves, had a couple of impressive counters and they were really smooth with all of the transitions. Jericho was over and there were "Regal sucks" chants, so the heel and babyface dynamic was present. Overall not the best match you'll see, but still a competent, fun bout."

[5.0] "A decent opener, did it's job. however it is criminal that they only got 7 minutes as they are both great workers and it didn't feel like it had time to build"

[5.0] "Fun match, works as an opener it worked well, the finish was a bit weird, i would liked to see a bit more of both, but it was fine."

[7.0] "Would've loved for this match to have gotten a bit more time, I really enjoyed it and left me wanting more"

[6.0] "finish felt slighty abrupt, but a decent match between two legendary wrestlers. Solid Opening Match."

[6.0] "Great opener, IMO. Sure it's short, but both guys get their moves in and it never feels that rushed. The Jericho vs Regal fued was still fresh at this point, and while it could have gone SLIGHTLY longer, it was a great opener to an amazing card."

[7.0] "A fun opener between two greats in the ring. They went at a pretty fast pace and wrestled smoothly. Wish it had gotten more time to build up but it was still an enjoyable way to start off as is"

[7.0] "Two of the best performers of the sport battled here to start the fireworks of the very best WrestleMania till date. Even though the time length was criminally short, the execution of offense was flawless with a butter smooth flow. Regals heel work as the egotistical, self-proclaimed commissioner was pretty good while Jerichos workhorse tactics were intact bell-to-bell. 3.25 out of 5 stars!"

[7.0] "Great for such a short match, but why they didn't give this more time I don't know. As it was it was a good opener, and a good showcase for both men."

[7.0] "A 15 minute match condensed into 7 minutes and does not really lose anything as a result. I reckon I would like Regal a whole lot more if he only wrestled 7 minute matches."

[5.0] "For me it was 2.5-2.75 stars. Short match, one memorable moment is that souplex from the top rope from Regal. I predicted Regal to win it but Jericho did it, okay. Not the best way to open the show."

[4.0] "Jericho starts the attack but Regal takes over soon enough. Regal send Jericho shoulder first to the post. Jericho fights back and hits Regal with a missile dropkick. Jericho goes up top but gets caught by Regal. Regal gets a double arm suplex off the top rope. Regal makes a cover but Jericho kicks out at 2. Jericho tries for the walls of Jericho but Regal fights out of it and into the regal stretch. Jericho is trying to get to the ropes, and he makes it. Jericho starts chopping Regal as the crowd woo's. Jericho gets a vertical suplex and polishes Regal off with the lionsault and the pin. This match never really did it for me, and I know they could put on a longer show."

[6.0] "The story of this match was Jericho heading into the match with a messed up shoulder/arm and Regal goes to work on it throughout the match and his work was pretty vicious and Jericho did a good job selling. The exposed turnbuckle would come back to bite Regal as he would hit it head first and end up losing. Solid 8 minute opener.***1/4"

[6.0] "A fun though criminally short opener with some great technical sequences. There was also some nice limb work from Regal."