The terms 'eagerly anticipated' and 'champion' are used very loosely in sport but in the case of the last Ashes series they fitted hand in glove.
From the moment Australia lost the urn for the first time in 16 years in the memorable 2005 series in England, cricket fans were drooling at the return bout.
But, as in Hollywood, sequels rarely supersede the original and this was to be no different.
Not only did Australia regain the Ashes, it did so in a clean sweep, becoming the first team since the Warwick Armstrong-led Australians in 1920-21 to complete a series whitewash.
It would have been a promoter's dream had the series still been alive heading into the Melbourne and Sydney Tests, but the news that Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer would hang up their baggy greens after the SCG Test was sufficient consolation.
If there was one moment which defined England's Ashes it was the very first ball of the series.
Just as dark clouds are a sign of impending storms, Steve Harmison's loosener, which swerved its way to captain Andrew Flintoff at second slip, was a portent of English doom.
By day's end, Australia, thanks to an unbeaten ton from Ricky Ponting, had reached a princely 3-346. That ballooned out to 602 midway through the final session on day two. The batting woes from the year before were an eon away.
Predictably, England folded in its first innings, rolled for a paltry 157. Surprisingly, Warne did not take a wicket but his partner in crime Glenn McGrath bagged six.
Langer then thrashed a quickfire century and England set a near impossible 648 for victory.
Thanks to Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen, who made 96 and 92 respectively, England made a respectable 370 to push the Test into a fifth day but it was still a heavy defeat.
The same pair, emboldened by their resilient digs in Brisbane, stroked majestic tons in the second Test in Adelaide.
Collingwood hit a career-best 206, Pietersen made 158 and together the pair added 310 before England declared at a seemingly unbeatable 6-556.
Their spirits soared when Australia stumbled to 3-65 but centuries to Ponting and Michael Clarke and valuable contributions from Adam Gilchrist and Warne enabled Australia to reach 513 in the final session on day four.
What happened next was oh so England. It was as if 2005 never happened.
Resuming on 1-59 on the last day and with a draw at unbackable odds, England - for the umpteenth time - was mesmerised by Warne.
In 32 overs, Warne claimed 4-49, made Hampshire team-mate Pietersen look like a fool and put his team in the box seat for a famous win.
Although there were some nervous moments - not least Damien Martyn's limp dismissal in his final international innings - an unbeaten half-century from Michael Hussey saw Australia home with six wickets in hand.
With the series on the line in Perth, England unveiled its secret weapon - a Sikh spinner by the name of Monty Panesar.
Like India's off-spinning agitator Harbhajan Singh, the mild-mannered Panesar wore a turban, had a beard and was a menace to Australia's batsmen.
In his Ashes debut, Panesar snared five wickets as Australia was dismissed for 244.
In a position of dominance at stumps on day one, England was back in a familiar role a day later after replying with a meek 215.
Clarke, Hussey and Gilchrist then hit centuries, the latter's coming off just 57 balls and featuring 12 fours and four sixes, to place England in no-man's land.
To keep the series alive, it needed to either score 557 in the fourth innings or bat for more than two days against Warne and McGrath. Neither was achieved.
Although now a 'dead' Test, the cricket gods smiled on the Melbourne Cricket Club. For Warne, the planets aligned.
Only Warne could have it so that his 700th Test wicket - a loopy leg-break which breached Andrew Strauss' defences - was watched by nearly 90,000 fans at his home ground on one of Australia's most important sporting days on the calendar.
It was also the venue's 100th Test, Warne's 50th at the ground and the first pin in what would be his last five-for.
He finished the match with seven wickets as Australia, thanks to Andrew Symonds' maiden Test century and 153 from Matthew Hayden, won by an innings inside three days.
If Boxing Day was about Warne, then the Sydney Test was, in theory, for McGrath and Langer.
Never one to shy away from the limelight, Warne threatened to fulfil the last of his boyhood cricket dreams - hitting a Test century.
He fell 29 runs short but it was enough to give Australia a 102-run first-innings advantage.
Australia rarely lost from such positions and this was not to be the exception.
Fittingly, McGrath was given the honour of taking the last English wicket and Langer was in the middle when his great mate Hayden hit the winning runs.
Warne and McGrath finished the series saluting the crowd on laps of honour. Whether we'll see another pair like them is in the lap of the gods.