History of WrestleMania with KB

I've never agreed with Shocky's opinion on Mania 22. I think it's a solid card from top to bottom. The tag match is worthless, there's no denying that, as is the Booker/Sharmell/Boogeyman match. But at least they were both short and didn't take up too much time. People would have bitched more if Big Show, Kane & Booker had been left off the card.

HBK vs. Vince isn't the great match WWE claim it to be. But it's still hugely enjoyable, if a little long. Edge vs. Foley is awesome, the MITB match is good, Benoit vs. JBL is solid and Mickie vs. Trish is good for a WWE Women's match.

Cena vs. HHH went on far too long for my liking, just like every HHH Mania match. And given an extra 5 minutes the WHC could have been something special.

Undertaker vs. Henry wasn't great. But the streak has never been about the match quality. It's about having impressive looking victories on a list. In that respect I think Mark Henry was a success.

Overall it's a good show, not great by any means. But this is WrestleMania, only in the past 8 years have the shows been any good. People forget how much shit other than the main events there was at the first 15 or so.
 
How can KB not rate the 'Taker vs Batista match at least an A? Its the best match that Batista has certainly had and it was alll action packed and fast-paced. Was definately the match of the night.
 
To me, the ending hurt it. It just kind of happened. The rest of the match was great but the last little bit messed a lot up for me. Taker just scooped Batista up, dropped him on his head and pinned him. Tehre was nothing special at all about that. Just could have been done better.
 
Wrestlemania 23, another card that was just a victim of terrible booking, and terrible match order.

First of all, the Money In the Bank jumps the shark in this match. Besides the fact that Kennedy won, what the hell were both Hardys, Booker T, and Edge and Orton invovled in this match. Edge vs. Randy Orton should have been on this card, but instead both guys get the screwjob y getting put into this cluster fuck of a match. More on King Bookah Later.

Khali vs. Kane was just god awful, all around. There really is nothing good about this match in the slightest.

The card picks up with Benoit and MVP, and it was a damn good match for the US championship. This match for me signified that without a doubt, the US title had passed the IC title in terms of importance within the company. This match is a clinic, and I was shocked to see MVP lose it.

Then we get to the match that should have ended the damn night, Undertaker and Batista. Watch this match, and watch it closely, because you'll never see a good match out of Batista again (even though Summerslam last year was pretty damn good). Good Batista matches are few and far between, and this is one of them.

Then the ECW Originals vs. the New Breed, in a regular match? What, they gave thi smatch away for free two nights later on ECW, in an extreme rules match. It's freaking ECW, let that show be what it was supposed to be. Again, just an ackward match. It's a feel good moment for guys like Dreamer, Sandman and Sabu to be in front of 80,000 plus, considering where they came from.

Ashley vs. Melina, was just god awful, but that's usually the theme for womens' matches at Mania. Ashley is just god awful in every way, shape and form.

Then we get to Lashley vs. umaga, ECW Champ vs. IC Champ, McMahon, Trump and Austin are all added to this match to keep it from being a complete disaster, and they failed miserably. This match is atrocious, and had 45 minutes of air time at Mania fucking dedicated to it. Just awful.

Michaels vs. Cena was a good match, but not the greatest thing Eva as some people would say. John Cena is still green at this point, and him no selling the work that Shawn Michaels did on his knee was flat out just wrong. It really took away from this match. John Cena's entrance at Wrestlemania are just freaking lame.

All in all, another forgettable card. If you take the first four matches, and put them beind the last four matches, then you might have a good card.

This is another card about, what could have been, and it all falls on Triple H busting his quad, again.

Call it Karma, and we know that Karma is a bitch. Triple H was supposed to put himself into the main event again against John Cena, but this Time he would be Uber-Cool DX Triple H, and like, totally awesome. The thing though, Triple H would have been making his twelve consecutive appearance at Wrestlemania, tying Bret Hart for the all time record. Oh No, Quad Snap, looks like the Game can't have that record, boo hoo. Kharma's a bitch ain't it.

So the domino's fall from there. What was supposed to be the Game vs. Cena....again, we get Michaels and Cena. This hurt the Hair vs. Hair match, why? Shawn Michaels was supposed to represent Mr. Trump, and Booker T. was supposed to represent Mr. McMahon. Instead, we get stuck with two green midcarders that were completely over shadowed by everyone else involved in that match. The prospect of Booker T vs. Shawn Michaels not happening pisses me off to this day. Instead, King Bookah gets thrown into MITB, along with edge and Orton who were feuding at the time and had no business bein gin that match either.

The all grown up theme was possibly the dumbest them ever at Mania. I don't need a damn hour of programming dedicated to dumb little kids pretending to be a wrestler and terrible monologues on when I was a kid crap. This is Wrestlemania, it's four hours, with only 8 matches. Freaking awful, and I'm pissed again taht I wasted money on it.
 
I just started reading this thread and I have to say what a great job you've done KB. I'm not all too familiar with some of the Wrestlemania's, so this thread was awesome for someone like me. After reading this, I'm even more excited for this year's Wrestlemania.
 
Wrestlemania 24
Date: March 30, 2008
Location: Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 74,365
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, Jonathan Coachman, Joey Styles, Taz
America The Beautiful: John Legend

Since this Mania is just over a year old, I’m going to assume that most of you already know the main ideas behind it. Your truly big match here was Ric Flair in what was known would be his last match vs. Shawn Michaels. Without a doubt to me, this should have closed the show. World Titles aside, neither match is going to be as emotional as this. Flair was offered the chance to close the show and said absolutely not which I can admire.

Your other big feuds coming into this were Orton vs. HHH vs. Cena and Edge vs. Undertaker. There was also a match between boxer Floyd “Money” Mayweather and Big Show which still boggles my mind to this day. I’ve heard some great and some bad reviews for this, so I guess we’ll have to see how well it holds up a year later.

We get a recap kind of telling us how the entire year has gone which is kind of a cool thing that would help a lot if it was a permanent thing. The open stadium concept is truly awesome and looks great. They have kind of a dome over the ring to keep the rain out which is also smart of them. After America The Beautiful, it’s time for our first match.

JBL vs. Finlay

This is a Belfast Brawl, meaning no DQ I suppose. This match/feud stems from the most absurd storyline I can ever recall as Vince had his illegitimate son Hornswoggle face him in a cage match. Vince beat him up with a belt as Finlay came in for the save. JBL then cuffed Finlay to the cage and beat up Horny.

I remember this buildup being quite good but looking back at it now, I can’t believe I actually thought this was good. Seriously, they’re fighting over a damn midget. Then we get the DRAMATIC reveal that Horny was Finlay’s song all along. REALLY??? The tiny leprechaun that hangs out with the Irishman who is the only person on the planet that gives a damn about him is his father? I’m stunned.

They start on the floor and the bell hasn’t actually rung yet. Ok so it’s one of those kind of fights. JBL gets a big shot with a trashcan and Finlay is in trouble early on. JBL had lost a ton of weight and actually looked fairly lean by this point. After he takes forever to get some stairs into the ring his Piledriver on them fails though and here comes the older dude.

Nothing all that special here as it’s back and forth but intense for the most part. Well as intense as this match could be that is. Both guys control for awhile and then get hit by something to break the momentum. Is it bad that seeing Horny all scared and nervous makes me laugh and smile?

Finlay busts out a table as JR tries to make this seem all serious and such. It’s set up in the corner as I’m getting into this far more than I should. DOWN GOES THE MIDGET! Finlay goes the hell off on him with trashcan lids and JBL is more or less done on the floor. A suicide dive eats lid though and Finlay is in trouble all over again.

More going off follows as the crowd is into this. I’m not sure why but this is actually working pretty freaking well. It’s not a great match or anything but it’s very fun. JBL finally goes through the table for a LONG two. Finlay comes at him with stairs but JBL gets a kendo stick shot into the knee. The Clothesline From Hell ends it though. Fun match.

Rating: C+. If there has ever been a match where the term “fine for what it was” is appropriate, this is it. This match was designed to get the crowd going a bit and not be anything serious and that’s exactly what they went out and did. Nothing bad here at all but nothing to go out of your way to see. Run of the mill hardcore match but rather fun, and that’s all fine and good.

Kennedy says he’s going to repeat as MITB. Kim Kardashian did the interviews at this show so at least we have something nice to look at.

Money in the Bank: Shelton Benjamin vs. Carlito vs. Chris Jericho vs. John Morrison vs. CM Punk vs. MVP vs. Mr. Kennedy

You know the drill by now I’m sure. It’s weird to see Morrison as a heel. Morrison is a tag champion, MVP is US Champion and Jericho is IC Champion here. Nice to see the titles being treated so well here. I wouldn’t expect to see much in the area of play by play here as it’s way too much to call move for move.

Everyone not named MVP runs out to grab a ladder so he steals Kennedy’s when it comes into the ring. He and Jericho have a joust with them with the Canadian winning. Morrison grabs a ladder and puts it perpendicular to himself. He then climbs to the top and moonsaults while still holding the ladder to take out just about everyone! Sweet looking stuff!

Kennedy and Jericho are left in the ring with Jericho launching Kennedy into a ladder. Kennedy is like screw that and holds on before scurrying up. Morrison rides a ladder from the corner onto the middle ladder to stop Kennedy in an awesome spot. Kennedy sets for a suplex but Shelton jumps over Kennedy in a sunset powerbomb which pulls Morrison over too in a Tower of Doom spot. This is all in less than four minutes mind you.

With everyone more or less dead Punk goes up but just kind of stops so Shelton can make the save. GTS to Shelton and Punk goes up again. Carlito makes the save as I forgot he was even in this at all. There’s a ladder between the ring and the railing which makes me think nothing is going to go well for the ladder.

And I’m right as Shelton almost makes it up there but gets the whole ladder shoved over and flips onto the bridged ladder, breaking it in the middle. Morrison almost makes it but gets caught in the Walls by Jericho in a spot he and Benoit did at the 01 Rumble. Now Kennedy comes up so Punk has to springboard up. Carlito enacts Puerto Rican Affirmative Action and gets up as well, giving us five guys on two ladders.

Naturally they all fall down and leave Jericho there but Carlito saves it. Total spotfest so far. Backstabber off the ladder to Jericho and everyone is dead until MVP gets his wits about him. With no one in sight, Matt Freaking Hardy runs through the crowd and gets a Twist of Fate off the top to save the match. MVP had hurt Matt a few months ago.

Morrison is under a ladder in the corner and Jericho wedges the top of another into the rungs of the one in the corner, kind of making a big V shape. Morrison shoves the original one forward which allows him to be able to climb the ladder without having to have it open due to the wedge design. This is awesome stuff. Naturally Morrison gets crotched on the top but it’s still cool looking.

Jericho goes up again but Carlito spits apple at him instead. Kennedy drills him and shoves him off but Punk drills Kennedy. Jericho pops up again and hits the Codebreaker with a ladder to take out Punk. Punk more or less no sells it though and climbs up to stop Jericho as everyone else is pretty much dead. Punk knocks Jericho down into the Tree of Woe and grabs the case to win it. Total war the whole way through.

Rating: B. It was a wild brawl, but we just got done with a wild brawl. This was solid and the backflip ladder spot was sweet looking. Other than Matt returning though, there’s not much to hate. This was Jeff Hardy’s to win before he got wellnessed out of it. Another fun match and one of the best MITB matches ever as it was a total spotfest the whole way, which it’s supposed to be.

Hall of Fame Ceremony. This is Flair’s class, but he’s in the back getting ready so his kids accept it. The only ones that truly belong in to me are Flair, Solie, and the Briscos.

HHH is ready.

Snoop Dog is here. He sends Festus after Santino in a dumb segment.

Batista vs. Umaga

This is the Brand Supremacy match that was thrown together because there was nothing for either of these guys. I really wouldn’t expect this to be anything resembling good. Power match to start us off as you would of course expect. The GMs, Teddy and Regal, are here also. Umaga gets a spinwheel kick to take down Batista and take over.

A big boot sends the Animal to the floor. There’s the nerve hold as it’s all Umaga here. Middle rope headbutt misses though and here comes the Animal again. And so much for that as we hit the nerve hold again. This is rivetingly bad if that wasn’t clear. Samoan Drop mostly ends Batista so of course it only gets two.

Batista gets a quick comeback and so much for that as it’s over already. Samoan Spike is blocked though and Umaga’s head eats post. Spinebuster puts him down and the Batista Bomb ends it clean. WOW. That might be the least interesting match I have ever seen, which is saying a lot.

Rating: F+. These two had no chemistry together at all and it showed badly. This match was a waste as you had a multi-time world champion against a top mid carder. These brand supremacy things are rarely good and this was no exception. The other stupid part was Batista went to Raw a few weeks later. Totally bad match and I have no idea what they were going for here, but it didn’t work at all.

Mayweather vs. Show is anything goes and you can win by knockout.

Mayweather and company are here.

ECW Title: Kane vs. Chavo Guerrero

Kane won a battle royal before the show started to get this shot. By the time I was done typing that previous sentence the match ends. Here’s your match: bell rings, Kane chokeslams Chavo, pinfall.

Rating: N/A. There’s no match here so I can’t rate it, but this was exactly what was needed. Kane absolutely dominated here and it made him look like a monster. Well done actually.

Painfully bad Mania promo for the show that is already on.

Raven Simone does something for Make-A-Wish. Can’t stand her but it’s a cool charity.

Note: the following was written BEFORE Flair signed in TNA and before he came back to WWE in 2009.

And here it is. This is the match that defines this Wrestlemania. Many people, including myself, feel that this should have been the final match of the night. We knew that Flair was going to lose, but it’s the pure symbolism of the match that’s important. Many people have this match because it’s “an old man that should have retired 10 years ago.”

To them I have one thing to say: get the fucking hell over yourselves. Ric Flair was the man that drove the NWA and WCW through the roof in the 1980s. Without him, Sting, Luger and the Horsemen, and therefore DX, the NWO and the Monday Night Wars don’t happen.

Ric Flair means more to this business than all but a very few and if he wants to wrestle until his tits hang lower than Terri Runnels then so be it. When anyone, and I mean ANYONE, can last in the business at a high level for as long as he has, let me know. I’ll be at my wedding to Trish Stratus.

Some people like to talk about how Flair needed to hang it up. Maybe those people need to SHUT it up and let the man do what he wants. Vince didn’t let him go did he? I’m willing to go out on a short limb and say Vince has forgotten more about wrestling than any of us will ever know, so get off your high smarky horses.

As for the other participant in this match, Shawn Michaels may not have been the perfect choice here, but I don’t have a problem with it being him at all. So what if he and Flair are friends in real life? It’s Flair’s last match and if he wants to go out to Shawn, then damn it he should be able to go out to Shawn. Shawn puts on his best this time of year so why should this be any different?

Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels

The intros for both guys are of course great. You can tell the fans and the entire world knows that Flair is losing here but that’s fine here much like it can be at other times. We exchange hammerlocks to start and no one can get an extended advantage. They shove each other and Flair shouts OLD YELLER HUH?

Flair might have bitten his lip or something as it’s busted open a tiny bit. Shawn goes up but gets slammed off in a nice little touch. Flair goes up and GETS A CROSS BODY for two. That was kind of awesome. Old men flying through the air is cool for some reason. Baseball slide takes down Flair again though Shawn misses an Asai Moonsault and slams into the table, possibly legitimately injuring his ribs.

A nearly perfect suplex gets two for Flair as he’s hitting everything perfectly here. Remember if he loses he has to retire so they’re playing up the fight for survival deal here and it’s working for the most part I think. Shawn gets a neckbreaker to come back and hits a moonsault off the top to the floor to leave both guys laying. When I say hits I mean Flair sticks an arm out which slows Shawn down a bit mind you.

Forearm sets up the nipup and here comes Shawn despite not really being in trouble for the most part. There’s the elbow and Shawn sets for the superkick but can’t do it. Flair is like ok then and double scoops the legs to throw on the Figure Four. Flair has aged about ten years in this match so far. The rope is grabbed soon and we go to the backslide sequence that Flair has done a million times. That being said, Flair can’t really do it due to his age. That’s rather sad.

Flair goes back to the knee and now we get the REAL Figure Four. I guess the other was just a preview edition. Shawn reverses though into a cradle for two. Enziguri misses and THERE is the Figure Four. A rope is grabbed again but this time more damage is done here. However Flair does one WOO too many and gets drilled by the kick for two as Shawn couldn’t cover immediately.

Shawn sets for the kick again but Flair gets a low blow which brings a nice little smile to my face. That only gets two though as this is fairly solid stuff. Shawn gets his disfigured figure four on but like Flair is going to lose to that. He’s Shawn Michaels, not Jay Lethal. A rollup get two for Flair and they chop it out. Shawn is like screw it and kicks his head off. Flair gets up again, and although Shawn is sorry and he loves Flair, the third superkick ends Flair’s career. Well for about a year or so at least.

Rating: A. As I said, this wasn’t about the match. This was about saying goodbye to one of the greatest performers of all time. That night, the titles weren’t important, the atmosphere wasn’t important, and the show wasn’t important. This night was about Ric Flair saying goodbye to being an in ring competitor.

Should this match have gone on last? Yes I think that it should have. Nothing, and I mean nothing, was as important to the industry as the moment when his final match ended. It was a sad day, as Flair didn’t get to go out on his own terms completely, but at least he went out on the biggest stage in the world.

As for the match, it’s not nearly as bad as people make it out to be. Yes, some spots are blown. Yes, we knew what was going to happen. Some find “I’m sorry, I love you” to be corny. That’s fine that you think that way, but this match almost had me in tears all over again.

It’s so sad to see Ric Flair having reached the point where he can’t bridge up for a backslide anymore. This man was once the greatest performer in the entire world and now he can’t do a simple reversal spot. He broke out all of his old classics including the cross body block that made him famous by giving him the world title at the first ever Starrcade. This match isn’t great from a wrestling perspective but it’s more than that. This match is about the end of an era.

Flair gets a big sad moment but the real one would come tomorrow.

Edge says the Streak ends tonight.

So who gets to follow that match? I hate to say it but whoever they are, their match is going to go down a letter grade or so as it’s simply not going to be easy to touch what just happened.

Beth Phoenix/Melina vs. Maria/Ashley

Oh fuck it. I was going to try to be nice to whatever came next and I get “bunnymania”? Well fuck. This is a lumberjill match, hosted by Snoop Dog in a pitiful attempt to bring celebrity status to this show. He’s driving something that looks like a golf cart that looks stupid. Santino is here to annoy all of us again as he helps the heels cheat to win.

Well at least Maria looks good. Actually only Ashley doesn’t here. Beth has to sell for this Ashley pest which makes my head hurt quite a bit. Snoop is so stoned he can’t stop smiling. Sweet merciful crap make this end already. Total time in before my head hurts: 34 seconds. Well I lasted longer than I thought I could.

The girls on the floor waste their usual time and no one cares at all. Maria saves Ashley. You can see the issue here with her being the better worker of the team. And there go the lights. Yeah you can’t see anything at all for about a minute or so. Ah there’s a spotlight. Well that helps a little I guess.

Glam Slam is blocked and we get some heel miscommunication. The lumberjacks get involved again and Maria gets two on Beth. Here’s Santino but Lawler attacks him which led to nothing of note. Beth pins Maria after Musclebuster. Snoop attacks Santino and kisses Maria, somehow making me less interested than I was when this started. This led to Glamarella if you’re interested for some reason.

Rating: F. Another waste of time in a bad match. How long is it going to take for the WWE to realize something: someone that is willing to be naked in a magazine doesn’t mean they can wrestle. The teams should have been switched so Melina can face Beth, as both can actually work. The lights went out during this match, as God himself is showing that he doesn’t care, and neither did I. Such a waste of time.

Recap of the Raw World Title match. Orton was champion, Cena got in by winning the Rumble and challenging Orton at No Way Out but Orton got intentionally DQed, and HHH is in because he won the Elimination Chamber that same night. I have never once liked three way matches for world titles at Mania.

The idea is supposed to be one on one for the heavyweight championship of the world, not three guys with false finish after false finish. I am however glad that this isn’t the main event of the night. It wasn’t the biggest match of the night and it wasn’t billed as such.

Raw World Title: Randy Orton vs. John Cena vs. HHH

Cena gets a full marching band entrance here. That’s rather awesome. Everyone goes after each other to start and we’re on the floor already. FU attempt on Orton almost immediately but he gets nowhere with it as HHH apparently fears Cena as he’d rather save Orton than get rid of him. You can tell Cena isn’t taking this seriously: he isn’t in his black jeans.

Orton gets both guys down and covers both of them multiple times which gets him nowhere. He keeps up the advantage though by slowly, and I do mean SLOWLY stomping both guys. Wouldn’t he give them more time to recover by taking so much time like that? Couldn’t he do better by stomping their heads the whole time? Double elevated DDT and our heroes are in trouble!

Cena comes back and hits the Throwback to HHH and the Fameasser to Orton but Orton manages to send Cena into the post on the floor to buy himself some time. Back to Hunter vs. Randall now. HHH works the knee but Cena comes in to distract him. Once John goes down the RKO takes down HHH.

Cena saves of course and the STFU to Orton has him in trouble. This is going by FAST. Cena tells him to tap but Orton doesn’t listen. I guess Cena isn’t one of the voices in his head. Back with HHH now as he hooks a freaking Indian Deathlock on Orton. WOW he’s busting out the way old stuff here. HHH back to the floor thanks to Cena and there’s the STFU again.

HHH literally comes in to pull Cena’s arms off of Cena. I guess HHH wants to cuddle him. He throws a Crossface on Cena for fun. I know he wants the title but I didn’t think he wanted to kill him. The fans are all over Cena here and it’s kind of funny to see. Boo/Yay thing with the punches and here comes Cena.

He initiates the ending sequence on HHH and sets for the FU but gets taken down by a clothesline. Pedigree and STFU are reversed but a facebuster and clothesline set up the spinebuster which sets up the Pedigree. Orton Punts HHH out of nowhere and climbs on Cena for the pin to retain. Nice little ending there.

Rating: C+. It’s ok and that’s all. Like I said, there’s nothing special here whatsoever. It’s not a bad match but it’s just ok. There was nothing Mania-like here at all. It was three men in a standard formula match. Why should I get emotionally invested into this match? There was no reason for me to and simply put, I didn’t.

We recap the boxer vs. wrestler thing. Okay, this feud has been over and done with for a solid year and there’s one thing I’d still like to know: WHO IN THE HELL WAS THE FACE SUPPOSED TO BE??? This feud was ridiculous.

In case you don’t know, Big Show returned at No Way Out and got in the face of a really good boxer named Floyd “Money” Mayweather, who legitimately broke his nose with a punch. This led to a feud between the two, culminating in this match.

Over the course of the 5-6 weeks, we got terrible promos from Mayweather and Show and it was never once made clear who the face was. Should we cheer for the underdog that is an outsider or for the monster that looks like a bully? That was never answered which is a problem.

Floyd Mayweather vs. Big Show

Mayweather does the whole raining money deal. Naturally Floyd has gloves on. Mayweather dodges a lot and that gets him nowhere as we’re more or less just killing time for awhile. Floyd throws punches which don’t do much. This is going NOWHERE. Out of boredom, Show beats up one of Floyd’s posse.

Show grabs Mayweather’s hand and tries to step on it which doesn’t work. This is about 85% standing around and “jockeying for position”. Show almost gets a chokeslam but Floyd gets on his back for a choke. After nearly a minute and a half of this, Show flips him over and steps on his hands to send Floyd’s posse into a frenzy.

Big chop by Show in the corner as the posse shouts that Show can’t do various things, such as stand on his chest. I hate this match very deeply at the moment. Them shouting THIS IS FOR YOUR KIDS when Mayweather has like 50 million dollars makes me sick. He has money. I don’t want to hear about how he’s doing this for his kids. If they can’t survive off the paychecks he makes already, there’s a major problem.

Show hurts him a lot and drops an elbow. This is AWFUL. The posse pulls him out, Show goes to get him, he beats up the posse, the posse tries to give Floyd a chair, Show beats that guy up again, Mayweather pops Show with the chair and a shot with brass knuckles ends this via knockout, FINALLY.

Rating: D-. This was a mess. These things rarely work and this was following the norm of not working. Mayweather is simply too small to get this to work. He stands 5’8 and while he’s a great boxer, no one honestly believed that he could beat Show.

There’s no way to make this work: if Mayweather wins, Big Show looks weak. If Show wins, he beat a tiny man at Show’s own game on his turf. Either way there’s no way to make this work and they didn’t have one.

The other thing that’s a problem is that Mayweather has no business wrestling. He’s a puncher, but even with that there’s no way to believe that he has a chance here. They tried to make this look competitive, but the crowd was completely behind Mayweather for the simple reason of he’s average sized and Big Show is……well he’s BIG. This did not do it for me at all.

There’s a new attendance record.

Taker gets this title shot from winning the Rumble. That’s all you need to know.

Smackdown World Title: Edge vs. Undertaker

Edge brings out Vickie in the wheelchair. Taker’s entrance remains completely awesome. He came out first which is odd yet traditional. What an odd thing to see. Edge is a four time champion here, meaning he’s won a world title every six months since then. Keeping in mind that he hasn’t had one since April of 2009, that says a lot.

Very basic stuff to start as we’re not going anywhere so far. Old School is countered but Taker shifts around in mid air into an arm drag. It gets NO reaction. That’s saying a lot as no one cares after something I don’t remember seeing before. Taker gets a running knee to the head and goes over the top in a nice looking move. Taker may have hurt his arm though.

Edge takes over and almost gets a countout. He goes up and gets caught like any good heel and here comes the Deadman. VERY slow pace so far as each short sequence they’re doing is taking 2-3 minutes each. Lash Ride won’t work as Taker’s back is messed up from various attacks by the evil Canadian. Edge drops Taker’s back over the railing and the Deadman is in trouble.

In the ring again and Edge throws on a half crab as a joke I suppose. Much like everything else in this match, that goes on for two minutes. They slug it out and take a guess who wins that. They FINALLY speed things up a bit as the chokeslam is countered into the Edgecution for two. Spear is avoided and the chokeslam gets two.

Old School is blocked AGAIN for two as Edge pounds away in the corner like an IDIOT. Last Ride is countered into a neckbreaker for two. Taker calls for the Tombstone but Edge counters AGAIN into the Edge-O-Matic for two. The third Old School hits and Edge is in trouble again. And there goes the referee to a big boot. Ok where are the cronies?

Low blow takes down the Deadman as does a camera shot but there’s still no referee. Like an idiot, Edge goes for a Tombstone and is reversed but there’s no referee. Charles Robinson runs down to count two. I don’t think you can count that as Edge doing the same as Batista and Shawn kicking out of all the finishers though so we won’t do it.

Ah I was right. Here are Curt Hawkins and Zach Ryder (shut up about him being in the Mania main event) and never mind as a double chokeslam gets rid of them. Spear from nowhere gets two and the fans are into it now. Edge sets for another spear but runs into the whatever that thing is called for the chokeout and submission.

Rating: A-. There’s just something missing from this match and I just can’t place it. All the elements are there as Edge and Taker are both well established main event players, the Streak is on the line and Taker gets a world title at Mania like he should, but there’s just something missing from it. Maybe it’s that these matches were done better later in the year. Either way, it’s certainly good, but not a masterpiece.

Overall Rating: C-. There’s a lot of good stuff here, but there’s only one truly good match. Yet again the tradition of messing things up with the Brand Split comes into play as the best match doesn’t go on last. This show should have been about Ric Flair, not a world title. Not many people can get that honor but it should have happened here.

At the end of the day, no one cared about what happened in the two title matches, or any other match for that matter. Flair going on in the middle of the show hurts it a lot. Other than him, there’s nothing noteworthy here to me at all. The show isn’t bad, but it’s hardly memorable. Mild recommendation but don’t go out of your way for it.

As a bonus, here is the only scene in wrestling that’s ever made me cry. This is from the next night on Raw, in what should have happened at Mania.


That was the conclusion of Raw. This was after the show went off the air and wasn’t released until Ric Flair’s latest DVD as an exclusive.

 
KB I have to disagree the HBK vs Flair match was where it was supposed to be and the match really was shit it didn't deserve an A maybe a C what happened the next night was an A. Big Show in a real fight vs Floyd wouldn't land a clean punch the beginning of the match when Show punching and missing is what it would look like in real life I'm a boxing fanatic I say the match deserved a B I was entertained. Undertaker vs Edge was by far the best match like you it was times I thought Edge was going to win it was pretty close to being a classic.
 
KB Just wanted to say thank you for doing this thread. Its always the first one I check out when I sign on. Its brought back some great memories and some douche chilling moments. And although you I disagreed with some of your match ratings from time to time you did an awesome and detailed job. I look forward to hearing your review of WM25
 
I agree that Flair v HBK probably should have been last. I read that Flair didn't want to go on last because he thinks that World Title matches should always go on last.
 
Wrestlemania 25
Date: April, 5 2009
Location: Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas
Attendance: 72,744
Commentators: Jim Ross, Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler
America The Beautiful: Some Pussycat Doll

Since this show literally is happening tonight, I won’t bother with any kind of a recap. We start with your standard history package that somehow never gets old to me at all.

Money In The Bank: CM Punk vs. MVP vs. Kane vs. Christian vs. Finlay vs. Mark Henry vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Shelton Benjamin

Finlay is breaking out the old school Fit Finlay shoulder pads. I’m digging it. After ten minutes of entrances, we’re underway. As usual I’m not even going to bother trying to keep track of everything that’s going on in this as it’s going to be all over the place like it always is.

Henry and Kane clear the ring almost immediately and the fans chant for Christian. Christian and Shelton take care of them as it’s back and forth already. Kofi may have hurt his knee on a big jump over the ladder and a dropkick. Henry and Kane go up but can’t get anywhere as we’re three minutes in. An army of midcarers takes care of Henry.

Four guys go up the ladder and the big guys take them down again. Finlay clears the ring and dives out on Kane. Christian takes out Kane and Finlay as this is kind of all of the place. What a shock indeed. Henry takes out all three of them to continue the tradition. Punk and Kofi hit stereo suicide dives. Shelton dives off the ladder and more or less lands on his head.

Shelton may have killed himself with that damn flip. That scared the hell out of me. Also for those interested, I just found out that the tag titles was the preshow match with the Colons winning. It’s your general spotfest so far and that’s what it’s supposed to be. Crowd is fairly hot too.

Horny busts out a stepladder which gets him nowhere at all. Naturally a jumping midget can take out six guys. Finlay brings out the big ladder which is required viewing anymore. Kofi takes a good shot and is down already. He’s taking a big beating and it’s working pretty well.

Kofi is bumping like a bitch in this match. I’m loving him so far as he’s the highlight of the show. Kane and Henry were dominant early on but here come the smaller people. Henry is back and is setting up a ladder. While he holds it up, Kofi runs up the side of it but falls and is caught in the World’s Strongest Slam in a sweet spot.

MVP comes in to pound of Henry which gets him nowhere again. MVP stops Shelton, Punk stops MVP, Christian stops Punk. Punk and Christian do a cool spot on a ladder that’s balanced from one ladder to the top rope and even though the Unprettier was botched as hell, that’s hard to blame them for.

MVP almost makes it again but Shelton makes an incredible save. He runs up a ladder leaning against the ring then across a ladder between the rope and a ladder in the ring and then up the other ladder that MVP is on to make the last second save. That was incredible and as usual Shelton gets the spot of the match.

The botches in this match are killing it. These matches are really hard to call. Kane, Christian and Punk are fighting on the ladders and all but Punk fall, making him the first two time MITB winner!

Rating: C+. The problem here is the botches. There were a ton this year and the winner was kind of a letdown, and remember Punk is my favorite wrestler. It was a great opener, but not a great match if that makes sense. Too many people and really just a lot of one on ones for about twenty minutes. Not bad.

Axxess recap. Would be funner to be there to watch it.

Kid Rock performs. We don’t care as this is a food break for me. He’s on his third song and the reaction is priceless. There is absolute silence here as the fans simply could not care less. He does two old songs and his new one. My lord this is a waste of time. We don’t get the tag title match but we get this? Waste of time.

He is on his fourth song now. At least All Summer Long is a decent song, but do we need to hear this now? My goodness, he’s doing another one. The divas come out to dance with him. My headache is now at the grab a hatchet level, as this is at ten minutes now. After a big pyro display, it’s time for the battle royal. Holy fuck I’m bored.

25 Diva Battle Royal

Not even going to try to call this as we don’t even get the intros here. This is a freaking joke, thank you Kid fucking Rock. No Trish or Lita means this isn’t a legit battle royal. We don’t even have a list or a face shot of all the divas. It’s a standard battle royal and I literally couldn’t be more bored. The commentators are licking Kid Rock’s ass and I’m about to mute this. Literally people are being eliminated and it’s the first we hear of them. This is pathetic.

Santino is in drag as this is somehow even dumber every second. Never in my life have I seen a worse Mania match, period. Final there are Melina, Beth and Santino. I knew it. Fucking Santino wins. The commentators apparently don’t realize the massive tattoo on his chest. Has wrestling really fallen this far? The SFAC is going to be proud of this, and that is completely sickening to me.

Rating: N/A. This is the worst Mania match of all time. It was designed to get a stupid comedy guy on the show, we don’t know who was in it, they got no face time, and Kid Rock is the fucking cause of it. I am officially angry about this fucking show. Such a waste of time. I’m not rating it because there isn’t a rating low enough for it.

Chris Jericho vs. Ricky Steamboat/Roddy Piper/Jimmy Snuka

Jericho has to beat all three to win. Massive recap as we’re somehow led to believe that Rourke won’t be at the show. Yeah right. Rourke actually is here. I’m surprised. They kind of get their own intros as their musics play but they stand on the ramp instead of going to the ring. Piper gets a decent pop. He looks decent too. Considering he had cancer less than two years ago, this is amazing. Flair accompanies them.

Piper is wearing a shirt which is likely a good thing. PIPER THROWS A DROPKICK!!! Off to Snuka who does his usual offense that gets him nowhere at all. And there’s the Liontamer to end him. He looked awful out there. Piper is mind blowing here. He looks as good as he did in WCW. Now is that a compliment or not?

As I type that, he’s eliminated via Codebreaker. This is literally 5 minutes in and it’s 1 on 1. I know this didn’t seem like it was five minutes but that’s how slowly these guys are moving. The old guys are getting to throw out some basic offense but it’s just leading to them being eliminated. Steamboat skins the cat in his 50s and of course we don’t see it. HE JUMPS OVER THE TOP ROPE! This is making up for everything.

Ross talks about how Jericho is staying with the Legends like it’s surprising. Steamboat is tearing this up and I’m wanting to stop the review to look at him go. This is incredible stuff considering no one expected a single thing out of him. He gets the cross body for two as Jericho is reeling. And then he walks into the Codebreaker to end it. That was amazing while it lasted.

Steamboat had me freaking out. Flair runs in and gets beaten up too. Of course Rourke gets in the ring and they have an impromptu boxing match. Rourke knocks him down as this is somehow dumber than it was before.

Rating: C+. Considering their ages and level of rust, this was mind blowing. Jericho had to win though. Steamboat had me on the edge of my chair. How he’s not called one of the best ever is beyond me. We’re three matches in and Steamboat has carried this. That’s a very bad sign. Let me make sure I have this straight: four hall of famers can’t beat up Jericho, but a 56 year old guy that boxed almost 15 years ago can beat him up?

In something funny, when they said go into the storm, it thundered at my house.

We get the recap talking about how Matt more or less tried to kill Jeff about three times. Of course he doesn’t prosecute him. He wrestles him. You have to love WWE.

Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy

I miss Matt’s old heel attire. He looked like a legit monster. Naturally they got rid of them and made him an overrated face again. This has happened before but they made it big this time. I don’t think people are interested in this but whatever. Matt takes a shot with a WWE poster. How EXTREME! Matt takes Jeff down but Jeff gets up first. Well of course he does.

Crowd is waking up a tad here which might be exactly what this show needs. Matt has a bit of a gut which surprises me. Poetry in Motion with the assistance of a chair misses and here comes Matt. He takes out Jeff’s knee and just cracks him with the chair for two. Matt grabs a dry-vac from under the ring. Why a dry vac is under there is beyond me but it’s WWE so I’ll just kind of go with it.

Side effect on a chair gets two. Matt is dominating here as he bends Jeff’s back around the post. It’s table time but there’s no D-Von around to get it. What are we going to do??? They slug it out and neither guy goes through it. This is intense but kind of dull at the same time if that makes sense.

Jeff gets a kendo stick to crack away at him and here come the required trashcans. Slingshot dropkick into the can into Matt has him in big trouble. Swanton misses and Jeff is in trouble. Twist of Fate connect and only gets two. Almost zero heat on the kickout either. Matt goes for a Swanton which is blocked. The people of Houston just avoided a huge earthquake.

Matt gets CRACKED over the head with a chair in a sick looking and sounding shot. Jeff sets Matt on a table and then another table on top of that and splashes it and damn if he didn’t almost hit him! Back in the ring it only gets two. This needs to end like now.

The more successful one goes to the floor and pulls out some ladders. Well of course he does. Jeff misses a huge bump by setting up a huge ladder and then climbing up a regular one and jumping over the big one. He crashes down in pain and I’m slightly entertained. Matt does a sick looking Twist of Fate on a chair to close this out.

Rating: C. This wasn’t terrible and the ending was perfect. Matt’s finisher, not Jeff’s mistake ended it. There was no way Jeff could win this and he didn’t. It wasn’t great, but it could have been far worse. Not terrible. I just don’t think they had the intensity they wanted with this and it kind of showed through.

Legends of Mania commercial.

Orton is getting ready.

IC Title: JBL vs. Rey Mysterio

I miss the intros as I heat up my tacos. Mysterio looks like Doink the fucking Clown. How does he manage to come up with a dumber outfit every Mania? Rey looks fucking ridiculous as apparently he’s the Joker. He’s also wearing bright green suspenders. Holy fuck it’s a 10 second match! WHAT ARE THEY DOING??? Rey hits the 619 and a splash and wins it?

Rating: N/A. This is officially the dumbest Mania of all time. There has to be like 40 minutes each for the last three matches.

JBL’s big announcement is that he quits, getting the pop of the night.

Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels

If this match isn’t a 5 star classic, this is officially the worst Mania of all time, end of argument. Massive recap to start of course. The entrances are of course mind blowingly sweet with Taker coming up out of darkness and Shawn coming down from the ceiling in a white chariot like an angel. Ok that was awesome.

This just feels epic on all levels which is how it’s supposed to feel. And here we go. The fans pop for the bell. Think they’re excited? Sign a few rows back: It’s still real to me damn it! OH YES! Shawn scores a few points with some chops and then runs. Taker blocks a punch and throws Shawn over the top but Shawn catches himself.

HBK fakes a knee injury. Now that’s just brilliant. You know he’s never done that for Wrestlemania before! Basically an extended feeling out process here as neither guy can get an advantage going here. Big back drop by Taker and Shawn is in some trouble. Elbow gets one only. Old School gets a big ovation and Shawn is in trouble.

And so much for that as Taker misses a kick in the corner and Shawn goes for the knee. There go the dueling chants. Sharpshooter is blocked so Shawn uses a reverse figure four and Taker is in little trouble because he’s not going to tap. Taker’s solution to get out of this? Punch Shawn in the face. You can’t beat simplicity at times.

Taker unloads on him in the corner and gets the Snake Eyes and big boot combination. Shawn gets a bad crossface out of nowhere which sees Taker laying on his side. Taker stands up and gets a side slam to break up the hold. Nicely done. Shawn kicks him in the face and Taker glares at him. Forearm puts Taker down and we get a nip up at the same time Taker sits up.

Shawn sets for the elbow from the top but Taker sits up and Shawn is in trouble again. He counters that but walks into Hell’s Gate as he goes for the Figure Four again. A rope is grabbed and we head the to floor. Apron legdrop misses and Shawn avoids trouble. Baseball slide puts Taker down again. Moonsault to the floor misses though and Shawn is in big trouble again.

The momentum is changing every few seconds here and it’s great stuff. Taker hits the ropes and OH MY FREAKING GOODNESS! Taker dove over the ropes but overrotated and slammed his freaking head into the floor! He more or less killed a cameraman and there was a loud cracking sound. Luckily the replay shows that it was just the camera hitting the ground which is a nice break I guess.

Wow that was insane looking though. I was legitimately thinking they were going to have to stop it there. That was as scary as any bump I’ve ever seen. SOMEHOW, and I mean that literally, Taker isn’t dead. Shawn does a semi-heel turn and tries to get the count out win. To be fair though that might be better for Taker’s health at this point.

Taker BARELY makes it back in at nine and a half. I was actually thinking it was over there. There are those dueling chants again. Superkick is caught by a BIG old chokeslam for two as the crowd explodes. Tombstone, superkick, chokeslam. All of those were countered in a row but Shawn gets a BIG superkick for two. Sweet damn I’d have bet on that one.

Shawn’s ticked off face is great. Taker grabs him by the throat and goes for the Last Ride but Shawn gets a sunset flip. Taker grabs him again and is like boy you’re getting drilled and hits a HUGE Last Ride for TWO. Wow these kickouts are incredible. Taker goes up and misses an elbow as both guys are down again.

Shawn is sent over the top but Skins the Cat. Taker catches him AGAIN in the Tombstone and Shawn is DEAD. Apparently DEAD doesn’t mean three though as Shawn kicks out AGAIN. This is incredible. Taker’s face is like NO FREAKING WAY. Shawn counters another Tombstone attempt with a spinning DDT of all things.

Michaels somehow gets up to the top rope and hits the big elbow but both guys are down again. Sweet Chin Music out of NOWHERE gets two. Well of course it did. With nothing else left from either guy they slug it out from their knees. Shawn chops away but Taker kicks him in the face to put him down.

Tombstone is countered AGAIN and Shawn gets a boot into the jaw of Taker in the corner to buy himself some time. Shawn goes up for a moonsault press but Taker somehow catches him and Tombstones him to death to FINALLY end this. In-freaking-credible. Absolutely amazing stuff and it WINS.

Rating: A+. Wrestlemania has been saved. Future edit: no it hasn't. Go watch this match right now as it’s the best match I have ever seen.

Draft is coming in 8 days. I’m shaking after watching that. Never before have I been on the edge of my seat for a match.

World Heavyweight Championship: Edge vs. John Cena vs. Big Show

Standard recap leading to Edge and Show coming out first. Cena’s old rap song comes on and an army of John Cenas come out. There must be 80 or so of them. They all do You Can’t See Me and then Cena’s music hits. Pretty cool visual. We get the big match indroduction which I always love. Cena gets a decent pop with boos mixed in.

Edge is champion coming in here. We head into the triple threat formula almost immediately with various people being knocked out for awhile each. That’s fine but it gets rather repetitive. About five minutes pass with nothing but various one on one combinations. That’s not terribly interesting but it’s what we’ve come to expect in these things.

Cena hits his top rope Fameasser off the top rope and down goes Show. Off to Edge vs. Cena as I doubt Show will be in there for awhile. Edgecution gets two. More weak stuff here as Show is in faster than I expected him to be here. Chavo of all people runs out to save Show and takes an FU for his troubles.

Show gets tied up in the ropes and loudly shouts GET ME OUT OF HERE! Cena goes off on Edge as the fans aren’t really liking him. Five Knuckle Shuffle to Edge. Vickie gets up to save Edge but winds up getting speared onto Chavo. Both guys go down and Show is still stuck. Ah there he’s out.

Show goes off on them and manages to chokeslam Edge. FU attempt on Show but he gets out and drills Cena with the punch. Loud THANK YOU BIG SHOW chant from that. Edge gets a running spear through Show through the barricade. Back in the ring Cena counters the spear into the STFU.

Finally Show comes in for the save as this is actually pretty good. Back to Show vs. Edge for awhile as JR runs through Show’s measurements again. Show misses a Vader Bomb and here comes Cena again. The two non-monsters suplex Show in an always cool looking spot.

Everyone trades some more finishers and Edge gets a spear for two on Cena. Here’s your HOLY FREAKING CRAP spot of the match as Edge jumps on Show’s back with a sleeper so Cena is like screw it and picks up BOTH OF THEM AT ONCE IN THE FU! Edge falls off and Show takes the FU. Cena hits one on Edge onto Show for the pin and the title. Freaking sweetness.

Rating: B-. This was better than people gave it credit for. This wasn’t supposed to be the great and mighty be all end all title match and it wasn’t. It was a way to get the title onto Cena and make him look strong. It wasn’t bad and it accomplished its purpose. I liked it, but damn this would have been better if it was three matches earlier.

WM 26 is in Phoenix.

HOF Ceremony. Austin drives his ATV around and has a mini beer bash to kill time. I have no problem with this at all. It was needed to give the fans a breather and it’s not like Austin doesn’t deserve it.

Attendance is announced, but not called a record as we kill off even more time.

Massive recap video beforehand which kills the time so dead it’s scary. They’ve hated each other since Evolution, Orton is nuts and kissed Stephanie, HHH snapped, Orton faked being insane, HHH can’t disqualified or he loses the title.

WWE Title: Randy Orton vs. HHH

In the back, HHH passes both McMahons. Orton’s entrance literally goes on nearly two and a half minutes. There’s no special ordeal or anything. He’s just walking really, really slowly. HHH’s intro is long but not as long. We get BMI. Orton gets an RKO inside of two minutes but goes for the Punt and misses. HHH is up in about a minute and hits the Pedigree. What in the hell is going on here?

And remember, HHH can’t get disqualified in a match based on hate. This is going so slow that it’s painful. They’re moving like molasses out there for crying out loud (as I quote my inner Hayden Panitierre from Remember the Titans). HHH has a bad shoulder now. Orton takes over for a good while as he works on the arm.

I like the pace of this match as it’s very slow but more violent. That’s what this is supposed to be. You’re supposed to have a guy that’s completely insane and a guy that’s desperate to defend his wife’s honor. Would you expect guys to be using Greco-Roman style here?

I like the brawling stuff. Wait for it…wait for it…YES! We get an Orton chinlock! All is right with the world! This is a more physical style and while it’s not great, it’s also not awful. This match isn’t really building to anything though. Ok I’m thinking I’m changing my mind on the pacing thing. This needs to be FAR more brutal given the story backing it up. It’s similar to Kane/Undertaker at Mania 14 where they were supposed to be in a war and just weren’t at all.

Orton takes him down with the backbreaker for two. I love that dropkick that Orton has. HHH FINALLY sends Orton to the floor to break the very long stretch of momentum he’s had. On the floor HHH keeps teasing various weapons shots but won’t do them because of the title thing. He sets for the Pedigree but Orton backdrops him through the announce table.

Elevated DDT hits on the floor and HHH is more or less done. He beats the count of course and Orton mixes up his offense with various types of stomps. Orton catches HHH coming of the top rope (WTF???) with a sick dropkick. Ref goes down and Orton hits an RKO. He gets the sledge but gets kicked leading to him getting punched beyond all reasonable measure. Pedigree and Orton is dead. Fireworks and we’re out. Well, that sums up the whole show.

Rating: F+. The ending was just a total letdown. Fuck a good pace. This was a complete waste of time and had nothing good to offer at all. The ending is HHH’s revenge for his recent losses. Terrible way to close it out, absolutely terrible. Never in my life have I seen someone with a bigger ego. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever here for HHH to go over. Not a damn one.

Orton was pushed to the fucking moon recently and he gets nothing for it? Likely he’ll get the belt at Backlash or something, but this was a waste. Any credibility he has is killed. That was awful and I don’t want to see even the letter that comes after G for a long, long time. Horrible.

It’s the same issue that many recent Mania main events have had: it’s not a bad match, but there’s nothing mind blowing. It’s like they’re in safe mode or something. Orton catches HHH coming of the top rope (WTF???) with a sick dropkick. Ref goes down and Orton hits an RKO. He gets the sledge but gets kicked leading to him getting punched beyond all reasonable measure. Pedigree and Orton is dead. Fireworks and we’re out. Well, that sums up the whole show.

Overall Rating: D. This show had one good match in it. That’s all. You have a decent opener so that was ok. Then the Women’s match was absolutely a disgrace. Never in my life have I seen a dumber thing. Seriously, we get a ten minute concert of all things and then you don’t even see the older divas, in a match for NOSTALGIA get introduced? My goodness that’s a joke. Plain and simple, that was pathetic.

That was to get a weak comedy act in when it could have been something very cool. Austin could come out at the end but not come out to beat up Jericho? That would have saved that whole thing. Hardys match was just ok. Not great but could have been worse by far. IC Title was to get to JBL quitting so I don’t even call that a match. Then we have the one match: Taker and HBK was an absolute classic, hands down.

Maybe not the best ever as Steamboat and Savage was almost too incredible to ever be passed, but this was by far the best match in many years. After that, the three way was ok and the main event was just a waste.

Overall, watch Taker and HBK and if you’re out of other good matches to watch, check out MITB and the Triple Threat. Other than that, avoid this show. Is it the worst Mania of all time? It’s not due to HBK/Taker, but that’s literally the only thing keeping it ahead of 2 and 9. Terrible show.
 
I've been reading through this thread over the previous week, thanks for doing it man, been a really enjoyable read. I don't necessarily agree with all of your opinions on the different Manias but the way you put them across is excellent.

The HBK V Taker match this year really was special, wasn't it? Me and my mate actually gave it a standing ovation, from my living room, crazy

One thing I was just thinking about as I read your WM 22 (or was it 23) review. You mentioned Cole saying there had only been five submissions but you counted seven - I am guessing that Cole decided the sleeperhold submissions don't count as actual submissions? But then again if that's the case then you couldn't really count Austin's either. Oh well, anyway, great stuff man, well done.

Can we expect a similar thread for Summerslam next month? :D
 
First of all, KB, I just wanna thank you for taking the time to post all these reviews. You really did an awesome job, and I enjoyed reading them all today, on my day off. It made go back and watch some real classics, some I had completely forgotten about.


Just a few Wrestlemania's I personally want to touch on,

Wrestlemania III: Steamboat/Savage, that's all I ever wanna see from this one.

Wrestlemania IV: Tournament was a cool idea, and the WWE definitely pulled it off again with Survivor Series '98. I got off watching Savage climb through the bracket and eventually win the title, and against some pretty decent opponents, might I add. Going back I really got into Demolition/Strike Force for the tag belts.

Wrestlemania's V-VII: Some great matches throughout those Manias, they all kind of lump together for me, with the exception of Hogan/Warrior, and Hogan/Savage. I love all three of these for the nostalgia.

Wrestlemania VIII: Still probably one of my favorite Wrestlemania's to date. Savage/Flair, Jake the Snake/Taker, and of course my personal favorite, Piper/Hart.

Wrestlemania IX: As a kid, I absolutely loved this PPV. And there are still some matches I enjoyed watching, but as far as Wrestlemania is concerned, after rewatching some of the matches, I decided it was pretty terrible. For some reason, when I re-watched the Perfect/Luger match, it just didn't deliver the same enjoyment for me, as it did when I was 10. Oh, and I'm sorry if anyone disagrees with me, but the two Doinks ending is still awesome to me.

Wrestlemania X: You said it all. Owen/Bret, Razor/HBK. I still love watching some of those matches.

Wrestlemania XI: Thank you. I thought I was the only one who liked HBK/Diesel.

All the others are pretty cut and dry and I had to agree with you on most of them.
 
Wrestlemania 1

The first match you posted with Steamboat taking on Borne was kind of boring to be honest. In the second match you posted you gave it a C- because you said Valentine didn't need to be wasted in a 7 minute bout with Junkyard Dog. But to be fair Steamboat shouldn't have been wasted in a 5 minute bout with a clown either and you gave that a B. I found the second match to be much better even though I would have preferred if the opponents were switched and Hammer took on Steamboat and JYD had faced Borne. None the less good review I'd have posted more but you only posted two matches.
 
There's a match in I think every show, which is the point of it.

At the time, Steamboat was more or less nothing. He hadn't gotten big at all and was just a good midcard guy. Valentine had been champion for a long time. Valentine and Steamboat would have definitely been better, but at the same time no one knew what was coming with Steamboat. Bourne and JYD were pretty worthless.
 
Looking at it now if Flair/HBK went last at WM24, Vince would probably be pissed that he did. Considering all the emotion was based it being Flair's final match. Of course that was not the case as Flair would join Hulk Hogan's tour and return to the ring.
 
I'm not sure about that. Since that's never been mentioned on any major TV show, it's possible that a lot of fans don't know abou tit. That was his last match on national TV, so to a lot of fans, that indeed was his last match. That helps it out a lot.
 
I just watched WM25 twice in the last couple of days to give it another chance and here are some random thoughts:

- The MITB match was actually really good. It had a nice complement of wrestling, spots, entertainment, big guys, little guys, etc. Knowing what I know now two things REALLY stand out.

1) MVP can not consistently wrestle anywhere but the mid card. Seriously, I see him botch a lot and I don't understand what people see in him. He's an average wrestler.

2) CM Punk was the only right decision to win. That set so much up for the year. In fact, it set up one of the best feuds the WWE had all year. Playing it out in my head, there was no better pick to win the match.


- Hardy vs Hardy: This match was actually sweet. I'm surprised about the comments directly after the match. The TOF and the spot w/ 2 tables was solid. This is exactly what I expected out of these two. You even sensed the storyline come to fruition and felt the hated. That was very believable.


- HBK/Taker was ring psychology 101. That crowd was alive and that's what made it.


I would say this WM was a bit underrated. Yes, it wasn't a dominant WM, but it wasn't a terrible one either. It was pretty solid.
 
Wrestlemania 26
Date: March 29, 2010
Location: University of Phoenix Stadium, Phoenix, Arizona
Attendance: 72,219
Commentators: Matt Striker, Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler
America The Beautiful: Fantasia

Well, here we are. This has been one of the best hyped Manias in a LONG time and I could not wait for what was coming. Seriously, the card looked perfect and just about everyone that mattered was on it. The two biggest stars are fighting for the WWE Title. The Royal Rumble winner is fighting his former partner who turned on him.

Two legends are fighting in a career vs. streak match. This is old school booking at its finest and it’s worked like a charm. Pay attention Vince: keep things simple. Oh and Bret Hart and Vince are going to FINALLY end the Montreal Screwjob after over 12 years. Nothing major though. Let’s get to it.

Fantasia CANNOT SING. It sounds like an elephant stomping on my mother. The opening video is about everyone wanting to have their Wrestlemania moment. That’s the big thing indeed and that’s what it should be about. This is without a doubt the biggest night of the year and as JBL puts it the lights are on bright and everything is right here. That’s what Wrestlemania is all about: everyone wanting to steal the show.

It’s a beautiful thing and when it hits, there is nothing close to it in wrestling. They kind of run down the card without mentioning anything by name. This is really well done. That song I Made It is growing on me rapidly. It makes sense if nothing else so that’s all you need at times. Apparently this place is called the Toaster. Sure why not?

Unified Tag Titles: John Morrison/R-Truth vs. Big Show/Miz

Sweet DAMN there are some pretty ladies there. As X said, where are they the rest of the time? Yes, the pyro is cool in slow motion. Damn Miz’s theme music is awesome. Don’t expect a ton of criticism on this show as I thought it kicked all kinds of ass. The jacket on Miz…might be cool. I’m not sure though. I’d love to be the costume master for a company like this. It’s just awesome to get to pick the tights etc for these guys.

Imagine the memories of all of those various props and clothes in there. The ramp is really long so I have time to fill in here. We have a Spanish announce team. That and King being in a tux are nice things to get thrown out once in awhile. Now if only we had some John Wayne cufflinks. The arena looks awesome by the way. Apparently we’re in Romania for the first time ever tonight. Good show to start with I guess. Miz and Morrison start us off.

Morrison does that breakdancing legdrop of his. He’s athletic if nothing else. Show goes for maybe a Vader Bomb but Morrison kicks him in the head. This nearly kills Truth as Show falls backwards. Whose side is Morrison on here? Starship Pain misses. Show catches Truth’s plancha. That’s freaking insane. I mean Truth is a grown man and was coming down at Show. He just caught him. That’s insane. And Morrison goes for a springboard move and gets punched for the pin. What the hell was that?

Rating: D. This felt like about 4 minutes were edited out or something. It came from nowhere and just felt awkward. To be fair though, no one cared about this and it was just a way to get the tag titles on the show. Also, they knew this would be forgotten by the end of the show so why not just get it out of the way?

We recap the events of Mania week and it looks awesome. There was a golf tournament, an art show, and of course Axxess. DAMN it looks awesome. Oh and there was a reading challenge too. Can’t beat that.

Randy Orton vs. Ted DiBiase vs. Cody Rhodes

Remember, this is NOT a handicap match. DiBiase has the look far more than Rhodes does and it’s not even close. That could be due to the white boots he’s wearing that make him look like a fucking moron but that could just be me. Orton is WAY over. Thankfully the next night on Raw Vince got the hint and did the full face turn that he had been dying for the past few months. Remember, this is NOT a handicap match.

Everyone throws dropkicks to start. If nothing else Rhodes is cool for the Triforce. Legacy beats up Orton and you know what’s coming. Hey, did you know there are over 70,000 people there? We’re 20 minutes in and we’ve only mentioned that 8 times or so. Didn’t know if it was clear or not. Orton gets a few punches in and the place POPS. They try a leg sweep/clothesline combo but Rhodes completely misses his leg sweep.

Make that a chopblock as I forgot my move names there for a bit. Legacy EXPLODES! Rhodes channels his former asshole…I mean partner, Hardcore Holly, with an Alabama Slam. While DiBiase throws some bad punches at Rhodes, Orton gets up. In the coolest spot of the first hour or so, Orton hits the double DDT on Legacy. That kicked ass, of which both members of Legacy have decent looking ones. Orton humps the mat as usual, waiting on Rhodes to get up.

No RKO though as Orton channels his inner Ray Guy (He’s a punter in the Hall of Fame. How weird does that sound?) and Rhodes is out for good. DiBiase goes for Dream Street but Orton gets a sweet little counter into the RKO and the POP! The fans love this guy to say the least. And we get the sweet pose. Love that damn thing.

Rating: D+. Not much here, but at the same time they did the right thing. Orton needed to beat these two to put them behind him and move on to a feud with a heel. The RKO got a pop so that’s all that matters. This was exactly what it was supposed to be. Oh and to all you morons that say one of Legacy should have gone over, you’re an idiot.

Don’t try this at home. I mean it. Do it at school or at your aunt’s house. Just DO NOT TO IT AT HOME!

Vickie and her heel Divas talk about their match. I don’t pay attention because Michelle looks good. Jillian comes in to sing and Santino shows up. He bites a Slim Jim and Jillian becomes Mae Young who of course kisses him. Another bite and it’s Mean Gene. Ok that makes things better. One more bite and it’s Melina. Damn that hair is hot.

Money in the Bank

Kofi is out first and is more or less the weakest of the three favorites. His hair looks like a buffalo came in it. He’s wearing white trunks here for some reason. He’s only been qualified for 6 days at this point. MVP is in second. No one cares. At least he’s not in red anymore. Bourne is third so we have our high flier. Three Raw guys so far. Fourth is Swagger to a nice reaction. He debuts the Angle look here and those pushups…don’t appear here.

That sucks because they rock. Shelton is 5th and he belong here. Matt gets a nice pop. Ziggler is in next and I legit forgot he both existed and was in this match. McIntyre, one of the other favorites, has the majority of his entrance cut which sucks. He’s IC Champion here in case you forgot. Kane….you need a better push. Yes I know that’s one of the biggest debates here. Get over it. He has a big black eye which might be from Shawn on Monday.

Christian gets a decent pop as the odds on favorite. There are a ton of ladders and there we go. Drew goes for it maybe 30 seconds in so of course it doesn’t work. In a cool sequence, everyone goes up but everyone else pulls them down. Bourne touches the case and FTS wants to cry. Swagger is in front of the turnbuckle, Matt is in front of him, a ladder is in front of them, Kofi is thrown into the ladder.

That…wouldn’t hurt as much as it would seem to. Ziggler almost gets there but we remember he’s Dolph Ziggler so we know it’s not ending yet. Kane powerbombs Kofi onto a ladder. Freaking OW. I’m not sure if I like the ten men or not. On one hand, it keeps things from being all boring and whatnot as you have someone getting hurt and then others coming back and then repeat. On the other hand, yeah right. Striker says some people think Swagger can carry the WWE. HA!

In a cool spot (shocking I know) there’s a ladder in the ring and Swagger is under it. Matt and Christian have a ladder each and ram it through the rungs to spear Swagger with it. I like that. Bourne and Christian fight on the ladder that’s bridged between the rope and the ladder in the middle like a scaffold. Bourne knocks Christian down and like an IDIOT hits a shooting star press onto Christian. Yeah he deserves to get beaten here.

Matt takes a front flip onto the scaffold ladder. Yeah he’s broken SMACK DAB IN HALF! Sorry the Oklahoma guy got me there for a minute. Naturally this is a spotfest, but what did you really expect? Kane gets a BIG pop when he makes a save. He throws a ladder at Ziggler which is damn cool looking. Dolph gets put between a ladder and gets worn out with it. Yep it’s broken. Trouble in Paradise puts Kane down.

In a BRILLIANT spot, Kofi takes the two pieces of the ladder and walks from the corner to the middle using them as stilts. That’s AWESOME. That is why these matches stay awesome: making new spots like that. Drew makes the save but Matt stops him. I would have bet on that being the ending. Matt stays up there FOREVER but can’t get the damn thing off. That’s just idiotic but whatever. Seriously, he has like 5 chances to get it and doesn’t do it.

Matt: YOU ARE A FUCKING IDIOT! Christian takes him down with the reverse DDT so Cole says it was a Twist of Fate. Yeah, the hint would be that Christian is ok. Swagger is back now and it’s him vs. Christian.

Swagger puts Christian down…and fiddles with the case…and fiddles with it…and writes the great American novel…and WINS THE FUCKING THING. THAT is your Mania shocker right there. No one, and I mean NO ONE saw this one coming. Match felt short, which you’ll hear a lot more tonight. Had to pause there. Norcal’s explosion is still giving us tremors.

Rating: B. This would start at a B in case you were wondering. These matches are ones that you can’t grade like a normal match based on the amount of people and the gimmick involved in them. While not as good as some of the others, the idea is cool.

Naturally WWE is going to have a PPV about it instead of letting it be a Mania exclusive but that’s their idiocy for you. Swagger winning is a legit shock though so I can complain about that one at all. Solid stuff though but I could have gone for more people in the ring at once and more spots.

Ad for Extreme Rules.

Hall of Fame time, and for once the class is AWESOME. When Mad Dog Vachon is the worst wrestler and smallest star, that’s saying A LOT. Gorgeous George’s wife is awesome. I want to see Uecker’s speech. That could be hilarious. Ted DiBiase is the best heel of all time. End of argument. Yes that includes Hogan and Flair. That laugh is just amazing.

FINK!!! He brings out the Class of 2010. The entire Hart Family represents Stu. I want to punch Bruce in the face.

We recap HHH vs. Sheamus. This was almost the world title match but they woke up and realized it should be a regular match which I can more than live with. Apparently Sheamus is jealous of HHH. That makes sense. I’d be jealous of his wife if nothing else. HHH eliminated him at Elimination Chamber to really set this up. We get Ultimate Warrior clips. That’s saying a lot.

Sheamus vs. HHH

The view from the top of the stadium with the tiny ring in there is awesome looking. They say no one has had a first year in WWE like Sheamis has. That’s true. When Lesnar did three times what Sheamus did in one year, it was WWF still. HHH gets a nice pop but it doesn’t hold up that long. Ok I’m wrong on that one. HHH has made Wrestlemania? Not sure on that one. HHH looks a tad chubby here. Maybe that’s just me. Ok the entrance is still cool.

He looks like a huge star and he’s supposed to. Talk about a contrast of skin tones here. HHH goes for a Pedigree about a minute in. That’s credited to Mania experience. Uh, why? Isn’t that called going for a finisher early? I’d want to do that in any match. Since HHH got big in the Attitude Era, we hit the floor. The figure four goes on and Flair is reference. Does that make AJ and HHH some kind of brothers? Ok, we get it: HHH is a veteran.

Oh and he’s the Ace of Spades now. What the hell does that even mean? Sheamus likes to yell when he kicks people. It’s rather annoying. Stop it. DO YOU HEAR ME YOU MILKY SKINNED FUCKTARD??? Hey that actually worked. He channels his inner British Bulldog and hits a running powerslam. Nothing wrong with that. HHH breaks the momentum with a DDT. That might not work due to that hair though.

Striker: Tie your mother down, here comes HHH. So Striker has random shouts of incestuous bondage. Right. We get a nice finisher reversal sequence that ends with Sheamus hitting the bicycle kick. He gets another after HHH kicks out but both guys are down. Isn’t that a bitch? HHH falls on his face and Striker says it’s experience. Lawler has some sense and says it might have been dumb luck. Thank you Lawler. And there’s a Pedigree from nowhere for the pin. Ok then.

Rating: B-. This was pretty solid I thought. It came off like a main event level match and that’s what it was supposed to do. Also, there was a big thing here about how Sheamus should have won. Ok, that’s fucking stupid. HHH is a bigger star and at the big shows, the bigger stars are supposed to win.

This guy debuted a year ago and he’s wrestling a 12 time world champion at Mania. What more do you want? It’s his best match ever by about a mile also, so this worked out fine. Good match, but not a classic like Lawler claims it is.

Slim Jim Ad. OH YEAH!

We recap Rey vs. Punk. This was a cool buildup I thought but it could have been a bit more. Rey sang Happy Birthday to his daughter and Punk interrupted him. Rey cost Punk his spot in MITB. Rey’s son Dominic is taller than he is. That’s the same kid from 05 in the Eddie feud. That’s just amusing.

Rey Mysterio vs. C.M. Punk

Oh sweet Punk has a mic. Punk needs to actually win a match once in awhile to make this gimmick work perfectly though. These promos get better every single time. Rey is dressed like a character from Avatar tonight. Oh just take me now. It can’t get stupider than this. It just can’t. Yep, Rey looks like a fucking moron dressed like that. He truly does. Gallows interferes early and it’s Punk in control. Straightedge prevails again bitch!

Punk’s tights make me think of GI Joe for some reason. Aren’t the Na’vi really tall? See, the costume makes no sense. Punk gets a SICK kick to the side of Rey’s stupid looking head. We get a CM Punk (sucks) chant going and Rey kind of botches a backflip off the top rope into a DDT. It was close though. And Rey manages to piss me off again by doing the Eddie dance before throwing out a Frog Splash. HE IS DEAD. LET IT GO. I fucking hate the 619.

After some botched heel interference, the springboard splash ends this, saving him from joining the Straightedge Society and gaining him…nothing at all. Ok then. Not agreeing with the ending here, but it could be ok I guess. Oh and Cole says you never mess with another man’s family. I don’t see why not. Eddie did it and he gets a dozen tributes a year.

Rating: B-. Pretty good stuff here I thought. These two have decent chemistry together, but like I said I would have preferred Punk to win for a few reasons. If nothing else this could continue though so that’s a perk. Pretty solid stuff here overall.

We recap Bret vs. Vince. No way am I recapping this. If you don’t know this story by now, why are you here? The image of Vince in Bret’s sunglasses is cool.

Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon

Damn that is weird to type. Bret is in street clothes here. That’s the right thing to go with I think, as if nothing else he’s likely not in the shape he was before so why embarrass yourself? Are you listening Flair? Vince comes out and says that he has insurance for this match and it’s going to be a lumberjack match. And of course they’re the Hart Family. Bruce is a douche, period.

When they came out, it couldn’t have been much more obvious what was coming. Oh great Bruce is the referee. And of course the Harts turn on Vince before the match starts. Bret’s first punch gets a pop. Bruce, ever the douche, counts when Vince is on the floor in a match with no countouts. Vince is on the floor and the whole family beats him up including a Hart Attack from the top via the Hart Dynasty. Vince hasn’t landed a single shot.

He does however find a tire iron under the ring. Bret gets about 10 shots in with the tire iron over a few minutes. He goes for the legs and the fans go nuts. Nope not yet. Nice tease there though. He sets for it again but it’s a low blow instead. Good to see some old Bret stuff in there. David slides in a chair…which Bret sits down in. Ok this is a bit awkward. Also it’s amusing that Lawler is behind Bret here when he used to HATE Bret.

SWEET chair shot from Bret. He goes OFF on him with it for a total of TWENTY chairshots, breaking Austin’s record of shots to Rock at X7. And then he puts on the Sharpshooter and kills the Montreal Screwjob forever. Vince literally did not hit anything, not even a punch.

Rating: A+. Now before X jumps down my throat for this, you have to consider what this was about. This wasn’t about a competitive match or storytelling or anything like that. This was about Bret getting revenge on Vince. Vince never should have gotten anything in here and literally he didn’t.

Bret completely destroyed him for ten minutes and then the match ended with Vince giving up to the Sharpshooter. That is all you could have wanted out of this and the most infamous moment in wrestling history can be laid to rest. That alone makes this perfect.

Now can we make Bruce Hart fall into a damn hole?

Mania 27 will be in Atlanta.

The attendance is announced. That’s always cool. Of course we launch fireworks that few in the arena can see. Ok then.

We recap Edge vs. Jericho, which is a simple revenge story. This year they kept things simple and it worked very well. Jericho was showing some emotion here and it worked very well. Oh and spear, spear, SPEAR!

Smackdown World Title: Chris Jericho vs. Edge

This should be good from an in ring perspective if nothing else. Edge looks to have lost a bit of weight. They start by feeling each other out as you would expect I would assume. It is a bit odd that they try to make their tag title reign sound important when they were together what, maybe a month? Jericho and Edge trained together? I don’t remember that. Jericho is controlling which is what you would expect. Oddly there was no control period by Edge. That’s most odd.

Hey, did you know Jericho beat Austin and Rock in the same night? Edge hits a nice running clothesline from the apron to the floor. It’s the simple moves that work the best sometimes. Edge hits a sunset flip from the middle rope. Ok then. Codebreaker is blocked. Pretty good match so far. Edge, complete with the great looking eyes, goes for a spear but in a SWANK counter, Jericho jumps over and more or less gets a schoolboy into the Walls.

Since Edge is a face though he doesn’t tap. Has that ever beaten a prominent face? The Edgecution hits but of course it’s not called that anymore because the announcers suck. They point out that Jericho never gets hurt. That’s very true actually. Jericho goes for a spear but winds up hitting the Codebreaker for two. Jericho goes for the ankle which makes sense. As someone with very bad ankle problems, it really is smart to go after them if you’re fighting someone.

Walls go on again but Jericho switches to a half crab. Well he did train with Lance Storm. The crowd is having fun with this. He gets to the ropes in case you were wondering. Jericho goes for the belt but that doesn’t work. Ok never mind it does since the referee goes down. A really bad Codebreaker gets the clean pin.

I would not have seen that one coming at all. Post match, Edge gets him on one of the tables and after a running start, spears the living hell out of Jericho into a barrier which clearly will be an injury spot.

Rating: A-. That’s likely too high but I really liked this match. It was entertaining the whole time through but it needed a few more minutes. I really like the surprise ending where Edge loses when he was more or less seen as a lock. That’s risky booking but here I think it came off very well. Very good match and definitely the best of the night so far.

We talk about the battle royal before Mania which Tatsu won. Good for him.

Face Divas vs. Heel Divas

Seriously do the rosters matter here? It’s 5 on 5. That’s all you need to know. Vickie is one of the heels so of course she’ll be the focus of the whole match. Beth looks great in white. That is all. So everyone beats up Vickie until Michelle makes a save. They alternate back and forth with everyone coming in and hitting someone with a finisher until we’re left with Beth and Vickie. Michelle puts Beth down and Vickie hits a “Hog Splash” on Kelly for the win. She managed to botch a cover. That’s hard to do. This was like 3 minutes long.

Rating: F. Seriously, what the fuck was this? Eddie, I never thought you were anywhere near what people made you out to be, but you deserve better than this.

Time for Cena vs. Batista. I know you know the story so I’ll spare you the details. The crowd exploded for the graphic coming onscreen.

WWE Championship: John Cena vs. Batista

Love them or hate them, this is THE money match right here. Period and end of story. There is no other combination that is a selling point like this is right here. This is what Mania is supposed to be about: the biggest stars in the world squaring off for the world championship. I’ve loved the buildup for this and it was what I was looking forward to more than anything. Oh and Cena’s thing this year is a group of Air Force drill people spinning rifles until Cena runs through them.

Far better than last year if nothing else. We start with the feeling out period as the announcers argue over who is stronger. That’s an interesting argument actually. The idea is Cena’s neck injury from about a year and a half ago is still bothering him. Sure why not? Batista counters the FU into a DDT that was PAINFUL looking. Apparently if your opponent’s arms and legs go limp, he’s in trouble. Ladies and gentlemen, the insights of Matt Striker!

If your opponent is losing the ability to support their own weight, THEY COULD BE IN TROUBLE! And the fans have already turned on Cena with the Boo/Yay thing. And then there’s a very face pop for the Five Knuckle Shuffle which is countered into a spinebuster. You would think there would be a shift to booing there but not really. STFU is hooked and we’ve cranked it into a higher gear. In a cool spot, we hit a test of strength on the top rope. That’s new if nothing else.

Five Knuckle Shuffle from the top as he channels his inner Jannetty. Yes, a Marty Jannetty move landed in a Mania main event. Batista Bomb gets two and a mouth from Batista that could swallow Molly Holly’s ass. Jannetty and Molly Holly got mentioned in this match. Wow. Cena gets a SWEET counter into the FU out of a reversed Batista Bomb. He rolled from slipping over the shoulders to what looked like a tombstone to the FU.

Amazing and he threw Batista about a mile but it only got two. In almost the same spot that his neck got hurt in, Batista catches Cena in a spinebuster from the top. ANOTHER Batista Bomb is countered into the STFU for the tap. It looked like a weak version but the shot of Batista’s leg made up for it. Cena being named a 9 time champion just makes it seem a bit weak though as it always does.

Post match, Cena celebrates with the crowd and we see a guy saying Cena sucks and Cena acknowledges him. That right there is something I freaking LOVE about Cena. Guys like Hogan got a mixed reaction like that and acted like they were still the most over thing ever. I’ve always hated that as it’s just idiotic.

It’s like when WCW said there isn’t a seat to be found as we scan over the crowd seeing all the tarped off areas and empty seats. Cena talks about the booing. It makes him seem more down to Earth which I like for a change.

Rating: A. Sweet match here as these two continue to be the Austin/Rock of their generation. Like I said this is the money match of this generation. The chemistry here is undeniable as Cena is one of the few guys that brings out the best in Batista. This is what a Wrestlemania main event match should be about and it delivered in a big way.

Another Extreme Rules ad.

And now, it is time. This had to be the last match, period. Flair vs. Shawn should have been as well but that’s another story. I’m again not bothering to explain this one as it’s Career vs. Streak. End of explanation. They call it the most anticipated match in Mania history. Not sure on that one.

The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels

Well here we go. This is one of two matches this show was sold on so you know it’s going to be good considering who’s in it. This many years after he debuted, Taker’s entrance is still awesome. Taker is rocking something that makes him look a bit like a boxer which works. We hit the staredown and Shawn does Taker’s throat slit. Keep that in mind. Taker dominates early, hitting Snake Eyes and Old School in the first minute or so.

He tweeks his knee on Old School though and Shawn goes for it. Old guys know psychology. Shawn goes for the arm which makes sense as it takes away the Tombstone and Last Ride. Oh and remember there are no count outs or DQs. Both finishers miss and the crowd is liking this a lot. And now back to the knee. The arm work was brief so that’s fine. Taker teases the rope dive but Shawn slides in and takes out the knee again. Good after what happened with that move last year.

Shawn busts out a figure four and much like Flair, PUTS IT ON THE WRONG LEG. The straight leg gets hurt. How hard is that to get? Nip Up is caught in a chokeslam. I like how he just launches him with those at times. An ankle lock is on as Shawn is fine maybe 8 seconds later. He gets the heel hook out of it and Taker is in trouble. He gets out though because Shawn isn’t an American hero. Shawn gets tombstoned on the floor. Ok then.

Shawn is dead apparently. Someone comes out to check on him and of course the match keeps going. Striker, CALM THE FUCK DOWN! The Last Ride hits but Shawn kind of counters into an X Factor so the impact is lessened. I can forgive him for being up quickly for that. Shawn gets out of Hell’s Gate with a nifty counter where he jumps over into a rollup. That was ni…SWEET CHIN MUSIC! Of course it gets two but that came from nowhere. The camera missed most of it.

I love stuff like that as it makes things feel more shocking. Taker blocks another kick and hits the biggest Last Ride ever for two. Shawn was at least 11 feet in the air. Awesome looking. Taker looks pissed.

And now, we go to the floor. This might not end well. Why do they take such care of the monitors? I’ve never gotten that. And I mean in kayfabe before you freak out on me. Taker goes for a Last Ride through the table but Shawn counters and hits Sweet Chin Music to put Taker on it. He slowly climbs up to the top rope and launches a picture perfect moonsault.

Now if only he had hit Taker’s chest and not his leg. I legit thought his leg was seriously hurt for a bit until he got up on it a bit later. Back in the ring Shawn hits the THIRD superkick and IT gets two. This isn’t quite last year’s match but it’s DAMN close. Another kick is blocked into a chokeslam but his knee is out. Tombstone also gets two and the crowd is losing it over these twos. Taker is PISSED. There go the straps. Shawn hasn’t moved yet.

Taker starts the throat slit but can’t finish it. Just like he did for Jeff Hardy, he can’t bring himself to hurt him anymore. After he shouts at Shawn to stay down, Shawn does his own throat slit, admitting he just can’t do it. He then does the unthinkable and slaps Taker. This was four days ago and 3000 miles from me and the look on Taker’s face scared the hell out of me. Taker is livid and picks up Michaels for a JUMPING TOMBSTONE.

Shawn is of course legally dead now and the career ends. No music plays at first, which is a very nice touch. The crowd isn’t sure what to do. I collapsed when he got the pin on my first viewing and it’s still a tiring match to watch. Taker staggers up and does his pose as 18-0 flashes up on the screen.

That, to say the least, is mind blowing. More on that later. Taker gets him to his feet and they shake hands like they should do. It’s Shawn’s moment as Mr. Wrestlemania gets a standing ovation. He walks up the ramp, and Jerry Lawler puts is perfectly: Shawn, it’s over. Good-bye. Thank you.

Rating: A+. It’s not as good as last year’s was, but this was an epic match to say the least. We knew who was going to win, but that’s ok here to me. The ending was perfect as Shawn gave up and was defiant until the end. If someone is going to end it, Taker is a fine choice and the angle was perfect.

It’s a very emotional match, but that takes nothing away from the quality of it. The best word I can think of for this is satisfying. Everything you could want is in here and it’s a fitting end to the show. Shawn, I was never a big fan of your’s, but your career was remarkable to put it as low as I can. I’ll miss you.

Overall Rating: A. GREAT Mania. Nothing at all feels slow on here at all. Even the Divas match is at least fast paced and at three and a half minutes with hot women, how much can you really complain? This had it all as there is history, title changes, surprised, tons of emotion and a perfect card. Shocky made a comment that it’s in the top three Manias ever and he might be on to something actually.

It’s behind 17 for me and off the top of my head that’s it from a quality standpoint but I haven’t thought about it much. This was a great show though with the big matches all being great and the others being very good as well. Nothing was truly bad other than the Divas match which is totally overlookable. Great Mania and ABSOLUTELY worth seeing. I loved it.

And now for three bonus sections. Of course I’m going to do more for a Mania review. It’s the biggest show of the year and I started my reviews with Mania.

To begin with, this Mania set up the upcoming year rather well. As always, Mania marks both the beginning and the end of the year. Cena is back on top which is fine as he should be there. Jericho was a shocker to retain for me and maybe they’re showing confidence in him.

Swagger, Sheamus, Punk, Christian, Kofi and others are ready to take this company over while the current generation of stars in Cena, Batsita, Orton and HHH can more than hold down the fort and bring those guys up. That’s how you have a good company: a well rounded new generation that is ready to take over. I have high hopes for the company as the roster is clicking and the stories have been great thanks to them slowing things down and going with basic angles.

The older generation is dying away as Montreal is finally laid to rest and Shawn is retired now. That’s how things should be as guys from 8 years ago like Cena and Orton are the top guys now and they have been groomed for these spots. I have high hopes for this company as this is the best its looked in many a year.

Item number two is the Streak. This my friends, is the most amazing achievement in wrestling history. “But KB, all it means is he’s been booked strong at one point a year.” Yeah that’s bullshit. To begin with, the Streak didn’t mean anything until 2001. I don’t think it was even mentioned until around that time. Second, think of this. Shawn Michaels is called Mr. Wrestlemania. He’s wrestled at that show 17 times.

Mr. Wrestlemania has not competed at Wrestlemania as many times as Taker has won there. Let that sink in for a moment. The Streak is an angle in and of itself. What was the argument between Shawn and Taker over both times? Nothing other than beating Taker at Wrestlemania.

There is no equivalent to it in all of wrestling and there never will be. To even be around for 18 years is an accomplishment. The thing is just amazing and hopefully it will never die. It’s my favorite part of the show and it never fails to deliver.

And now we move to the white elephant in the room. Shawn Michaels, arguably the best performer ever, has retired. Like I said I was never the biggest Shawn fan, but to deny his talent or the impact he had on wrestling would be ridiculously unfair to him and his legacy. He changed the way a lot of wrestlers perform and there are many reasons why, all of which you can see by watching him.

He stole the show so many times and retired as better than probably 95% of the wrestlers in the world. He went out on top on his own terms which is all you can want. He was one of the best ever and maybe the best ever, but that’s an argument for another time. I’m sad to see him go, but glad that he went out like this. In his speech the next night on Raw he more or less said he wasn’t going to TNA which is great as he would likely wind up jobbing to people beneath him.

Also, if he ever wants to, Vince would welcome him back with open arms. His exit was classy and perfectly done and to me it would be a shame if he came back, but I could live with it. It’s sad to see him go, but nice at the same time as he can go in peace. Have a good retirement Shawn. You’ve earned it.
 
Nice review KB, agree with most of that. I'd definitely give the same ratings to the three main events so to speak. I'm really surprised all-round for the lack of love for the Orton match. His performance alone gets that match at least a B for me. Tag match was good while it lasted but then just stopped, reckon I'd give one of your 'N/A's for that.

Pretty much agree with the rest, certainly for me X-Seven is the only one that I immediately mark as better. Watched 19 for the first time in a while two weeks back, I know it's an IWC favourite but I reckon this year's was better.

Great show.
 
I should start off by saying so far I’ve only read KB’s review and not any of the responses yet. Since I’m a year late on this thread it’s going to take me long enough to get through it as it is. Also I’m going from memory. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen some of these.

WrestleMania I

WrestleMania I was a solid show. I can see newer fans hating this, but for 1985 it was really good. The first two manias are the only two where I wasn’t watching yet. Therefore I can’t comment from my own memories, but I think I know enough about it to offer an opinion.

Tito Santana vs. The Executioner: I don’t understand this match. I realize this was the first mania and the undercard didn’t get nearly the attention that future manias would get. My problem is I think this was one of the only appearances for the Executioner in the WWF. I think Don Muraco would have been much better in this spot. He was a big star for the WWF in the mid 80’s and his presence would have made this a better show.

SD Jones vs. King Kong Bundy: The sole purpose of this match was to make the newcomer King Kong Bundy look like a monster. Mission accomplished. I normally don’t like such squash matches at mania, but Bundy was being introduced on a big stage and needed to make an impact. This match was talked about for years. Although I don’t know why they said this was only nine seconds. I understand there is exaggeration in wrestling, but anyone who saw this could clearly see this was longer than nine seconds.

Ricky Steamboat vs. Matt Borne: This is similar to the opening match for me, but more acceptable because it was a better match. I wasn’t too familiar with Borne. If not for this match I’m not sure I would have ever heard of him (until Doink). If he was a regular member of the roster this match is fine. If he was brought in for a one and done like Executioner I don’t like it as much.

David Sammartino vs. Brutus Beefcake: The purpose here was to have a feel good moment for the fans when MSG legend Bruno Sammartino came to the rescue of son David. This lead to some tag matches of Bruno and David vs. Beefcake and Johnny V. Maybe this match should have taken place leading up to mania and the tag match should have been at mania. I don’t know if that would make much difference. Just an idea.

Junkyard Dog vs. Greg Valentine: Tito Santana might have been a more appropriate challenger, but since JYD was second to only Hogan in popularity I’m ok with him getting the shot. Nothing special, but certainly passable.

US Express vs. Nikolia Volkoff & Iron Sheik: Volkoff and Sheik were hated at this time. I like the foreign heels cheating to take the titles from the American faces. Very basic but very effective.

Andre The Giant vs. Big John Studd: Now this was a mania match. Two big stars with an ongoing storyline and a major stipulation. The match wasn’t much, but anytime Andre was in there it was special. Heenan stealing the money at the end was classic.

Wendi Richter vs. Lalani Kai: Nowadays the women’s match is looked at as the bathroom break match. Not in 1985. This was the second biggest match on the card. I think wrestling fans owe a debt of gratitude to Cyndi Lauper. Her involvement made it acceptable for other celebrities to get involved in wrestling which was an integral part of WrestleMania’s success. She helped launch wrestling into the boom period in the mid 80’s. Richter was the female Hogan and the crowd went crazy when she won the title. It’s surprising that she was gone only a few months later.

Hulk Hogan & Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff: I used to think this should have been Hogan vs. Piper in a singles. Looking back I understand how critical T’s appearance was to mania’s success. This was pretty much what you expect and turned out like it should have. Many times the basic formula is the best formula and that was the case here.

Again, I can see newer fans hating this show, but I think it was good for 1985 and did its job. It got off to a slow start but finished strong. I recommend watching any mania at least once. I admit you may be bored at times, but any true fan should see every WrestleMania.
 
WrestleMania 2

WrestleMania 2 is possibly the worst mania of all. Definitely bottom three. I’ll give Vince credit. Three venues was a unique idea and I can understand trying it. It just didn’t work out. This could have been better if there was more focus on the wrestling and less on the celebrities. Too many matches were way too short to care about.

Paul Orndorff vs. Don Muraco: On paper this looks like a good mania match. These were two of the bigger stars of the 80’s and seemed to match up well together. If they had an actual storyline and about a ten minute match this could have made a big difference on the show. Instead we got about three minutes before a double count out. The fans were right to chant bullshit.

George Steele vs. Randy Savage: I’m a little more forgiving to matches involving Steele. With him you don’t expect a technical masterpiece, or much of a wrestling match at all. Savage vs. Steele was a big feud and even though it wasn’t the greatest of matches it was an appropriate match for mania. Besides anything involving Savage was passable.

George Wells vs. Jake Roberts: This is similar to Steamboat vs. Borne from WM1. If not for this match I probably wouldn’t know George Wells. If he was a regular member of the roster I have no problem with him putting over the newcomer over. If he was more like a Barry Horrowitz this match doesn’t work as well for me. Either way, nothing special.

Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper: This was good for what it was. This was all about hype, publicity, and celebrities. A performer as talented as Piper had no problem pulling this off. I don’t like boxing so at times this was boring to me, but I think everyone accomplished their goal here.

Velvet McIntyre vs. Fabulous Moolah: This was another match that was too short to care about. In their defense I think it was a botched finish and wasn’t supposed to end so early. Regardless it was only about 30 seconds and didn’t leave any impact. Women’s wrestling had fallen since WM1.

Cpl Krishner vs. Nikolia Volkoff: Yet another match too short to matter. I don’t expect much out of these two, but if you’re going to bother to have an actual storyline and build for a mania match I think it should go more than three minutes.

Battle Royal: Battle royals were still pretty cool in the 80’s and this one had all kinds of hype. This was definitely unique. The involvement of football players added to the mania flair without taking away from the wrestlers. It was surprising to have active players involved. This was especially cool for me since I’m from Chicago. This was in Chicago only two months after the Bears won the Superbowl. William Perry and the Bears were the hottest thing going.

British Bulldogs vs. Dream Team: This was a great match. There was a long build and good storyline between these two teams. This was perfect for mania. Easily the best match of the night and might seem even better than it was after watching several underwhelming matches before this.

Ricky Steamboat vs. Hercules: I like this match. Really you can’t go wrong with Steamboat. I’m not familiar with any build for this match, but it was good nonetheless.

Uncle Elmer vs. Adrian Adonis: Ugh. At least there was a story between these two, but the match was just terrible. What did you expect?

Junkyard Dog & Tito Santana vs. The Funks. I thought this was ok. The match was decent and there was a pretty big feud here. At least between JYD and Terry. I don’t have much memory of this, but I know JYD and Terry Funk had a big feud in 1986. I don’t know how Tito got involved. He seemed to stick his nose into other people’s feuds a lot.

Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy: Sandwiched between WM1 and the epic Hogan vs. Andre match at WM3 this seems to be a forgotten main event. Hogan was defeating everyone, big or small, pretty easily at the time. I’m not sure if anyone thought Bundy had a chance, but they added a nice touch having Hogan wrestle against doctor’s orders. Pretty standard stuff, but perfectly acceptable.

There was some decent stuff here, but there was a lot of bad too. This probably would have had a better flow in one arena with Gorilla and Jesse calling all the matches. It was only WrestleMania 2 so they were still trying to find their niche. I’d say they found it the next year.
 
WrestleMania III

Pardon me for sounding like a mark without an original opinion, but WrestleMania III was damn near perfect. I think you needed to be watching wrestling in 1987 to understand how truly special WM3 was. There were some lackluster shows back then. WM3 definitely set the standard for what mania should be. Just about every match had either some kind of build or gave us something to remember.

Can-Am Connection vs. Don Muraco & Bob Orton: This was pretty much the only match that didn’t give us any kind of special moment. There’s nothing wrong with that as it was a good opener. The Can-Am was a popular new team who went over some hated veterans. Good start to the show.

Billy Jack Haynes vs. Hercules: A lot of these matches had a very simple and basic build to them and this was one of them. I have no problem with simple storylines and this one was fine with me. This is more memorable to me for what happened after the match. Blood wasn’t forbidden back then, but it was rare. It was cool to see Herc bust Haynes open with the chain.

Hillbilly Jim & Little Beaver & The Haiti Kid vs. King Kong Bundy & Lord Littlebrook & Little Tokyo: I was still new to wresting at this time so my memories are very fuzzy. I don’t remember what lead up to this. It was a weird match for mania. The match wasn’t much, but Bundy dropping the elbow on Little Beaver was a pretty big deal. It was a unique WrestleMania moment.

Junkyard Dog vs. Harley Race: Another match with a simple story. These were the type of storylines that were going on when I get into wrestling so I may be more accepting of them than others. I like how JYD got the chair shot on Race and rode off with the crown and cape to the King’s music.

The Rougeau Brothers vs. The Dream Team: This was all about the fallout between the Dream Team with the Rougeaus just playing a supporting role. There was dissention on the Dream Team leading up to this and we were wondering if there would be a split. It may not seem like much but Valentine, Bravo, and Johnny V riding away in the ring cart and leaving Beefcake behind was a pretty big deal.

Roddy Piper vs. Adrian Adonis: This was all about Piper’s retirement. Piper’s many comebacks over the years do not take away from this moment to me. Whenever I watch an old event I put myself back in that time so the future is irrelevant. The crowd went crazy for this and we saw the birth of Brutus the Barber. I always thought Beefcake just randomly ran out to do the haircut to start his new gimmick. A while back I saw a match on Classics on Demand. It was right before WM3 and The Dream Team teamed with Adonis in a six man tag. During the match Adonis accidentally cut a little of Beefcake’s hair. So about 20 years after it happened I finally learned why Beefcake ran out there.

British Bulldogs & Tito Santana vs. Hart Foundation & Danny Davis: I really like this match. This had a very strong build and everyone wanted to see Davis get what he had coming to him. I liked the finish. The faces all got to beat up Davis, but he managed to steal a win anyway. I don’t think he was no selling. There was a lot of commotion in the ring and I think Davis got lucky with a desperation swing with the megaphone. He had to be practically dragged off so he was still feeling the effects of the faces onslaught.

Koko B. Ware vs. Butch Reed: There’s nothing wrong with a little filler. It was commonplace in the early days of mania. Even in a throwaway match like this the fans got a little enjoyment with Tito coming out and ripping Slick’s threads. Although I don’t know why he did it. It goes back to my earlier statement that Tito always seemed to stick his nose in other peoples business.

Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage: What can I say that hasn’t already been said? This was a beautiful match with an excellent build. A newer fan may not appreciate this as much, but in 1987 this was pure gold. This set the standard for what a great match should be and was the first true classic of WrestleMania.

Jake Roberts vs. Honky Tonk Man: This was an interesting match. Jake was a heel, but popular with the fans. Honky was brought in as a face, but was hated by the fans. They swapped roles for this feud. Alice Cooper was a nice choice for a celebrity, especially since they were in Detroit. Honky got a cheap win which he would become famous for. We got a fun moment seeing Jake and Cooper torment Jimmy Hart with Damien.

The Killer Bees vs. Nikolia Volkoff & Iron Sheik: Duggan was relatively new at this time and found that going after the hated foreigners was a quick way to get over. This match was done more to get Duggan over than any of the guys in the match. I kind of like the finish. I can see where you would be confused by it. The way I see it Duggan is in the ring with his board. Sheik has one of the Bees in the clutch. Duggan stops, looks at the Sheik, looks at the crowd, and looks back at the Sheik. You could see him thinking “oh fuck it” and he nails the Sheik. Even though he was a face Duggan didn’t always play by the rules and he established that part of his character here. Besides what does he care if the Bees loose? He just hated Volkoff and Sheik.

Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant: The textbook definition of what a WrestleMania main event should be. For those who complain about this not being a good match, who cares? This was all about the story and the build. Andre was a beloved fan favorite for 15 years. To see him join Bobby Heenan, who he feuded with more than anyone in recent years, was surreal. Andre was very limited at this time. We knew it wasn’t going to be a great match. The story was good enough to make up for that. Everything led up to that moment where Hogan slammed the Giant and retained the title. My guess is if you weren’t watching in 1987 or shortly after you don’t like this match. The match was at least passable and the months of drama, hype, and suspense made up for the limited action.

I can see younger fans not liking this as much, but if you were watching in 1987 you know this show was awesome. The WWF put it all together for this one and found the winning mania formula. As I said, this set the standard for what mania should be. I would still put this in my top three all time.
 
FANTASTIC review of all the Wrestlemanias, KB. I agree with 99% of all your grades to the matches. The one match I have a completely opposite opinion of is: The Blindfold match at Wrestlemania 7.

You gave that match an F. One thing I like about your letter grades is that you don't compare matches from back then to the matches of today. They are in their own time and should be graded by the standard that was set back then. So of course this match would be silly today...but for back then it had everything going for it:

Originality
A great back story
Comedy
Great announcing "What was he expecting to do with that move?" LOL ( after Martel whips him into the ropes)
And a great finish

I'd give this match a C+ or a B- but in no way was this a failure.
 
WrestleMania IV

I loved this show as an 8 year old. I got to see a four hour show where pretty much everyone on the roster competed. The battle royal and tournament appealed to me as a little kid. Years later I can say this was not that great. I’ll comment on all the non tournament matches, and then the tournament as a whole.

Battle Royal: This was a good way to start off the show and a nice way to get a lot of guys on the card, but it’s usually not a good sign if you’re regulated to a battle royal on mania. That proved to be true here as only five of the twenty participants would make it onto WrestleMania V. This however was significant as it was the start of Bret Hart’s face turn.

Ultimate Warrior vs. Hercules: This was a good grudge match and Warrior’s first real feud. The match wasn’t anything special, but Warrior was getting over and it was important for him to be on the show.

Brutus Beefcake vs. Honky Tonk Man: This was a good feud for the IC title. As a kid I loved Beefcake and hated Honky. I couldn’t wait to see Beefcake take the title and cut Honky’s precious hair. I guess it’s appropriate that HTM would get intentionally get disqualified. That was pretty much his thing as champ. At least there was some satisfaction when Jimmy Hart got his hair cut.

British Bulldogs & Koko B. Ware vs. Islanders & Bobby Heenan: I think you’ve underestimated this feud just a tad KB. It wasn’t anything earth shattering, but this was a pretty big story in early 1988. The Islanders kidnapped Matilda because The Bulldogs kept sicking her on The Islanders and Heenan before a match on Superstars. For weeks Heenan would taunt the Bulldogs by coming out with a leash with nothing on the end of it. Heenan and The Islanders were hated for this. Heenan tried to run off with Frankie too which brought Koko into the feud. Jack Tunney even got involved by suspending the Islanders until Matilda was returned. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but they made a big deal out of this. The fact that Heenan was forced into a match made this even better. Everyone wanted to see Heenan get what he deserved. I like how Heenan stole the win but Matilda got a piece of him anyway.

Strike Force vs. Demolition: This was the popular pretty boy champions against the intimidating powerhouse challengers. I loved Strike Force at the time and remember being worried that they wouldn’t be able to beat Demolition. My worries were confirmed as Demolition began a record setting title reign.

The tournament: Here is the problem with the show. I’m not saying they shouldn’t have done the tournament. They always seem like a good idea, but at times they can drag on and be dull. For example, Don Muraco vs. Dino Bravo may have been acceptable mania match if it were a normal feud. Being a tournament match actually made this pointless. There was absolutely no way either of these two had any chance of even making the finals much less winning. I would say out of the 14 participants only four had even a slight chance of winning. Most of the matches were just disguised filler. I actually thought Bam Bam Bigelow was going to win. He came into the WWF with a lot of fanfare. He looked great at Survivor Series eliminating both Bundy and the Gang before being beaten by Andre in a three on one situation. He was also teaming with Hogan on house shows against Andre and Dibiase just a month before mania. It looked like he was being set up as the winner.

I’ve said on these forums before that there is one thing that could have made all the difference in the world for this show. This would have been so much better if Ricky Steamboat beat Greg Valentine. This would have set up Steamboat vs. Savage in the second round. How perfect would that have been? One year after their epic match at WM3 they coincidentally meet again at WM4. This time they’re both face. This could be a good clean match with Savage going over this time. At the end they would shake hands and Steamboat would wish Savage well the rest of the way. Steamboat was leaving the WWF after mania and this would have been the perfect way to go out and would have given even more credibility to Savage’s tournament win.

Overall this is a decent show, but it is rather dull at times. It was like let’s get through the formalities of rounds two and three because we know what the final is going to be. It was sorely missing a great match that Savage vs. Steamboat could have provided. Closer to the bottom of my list than the top, but not one of the worst.
 
WrestleMania V

I’ve always liked this show. It was nice to get back to the traditional format after the tournament. Nothing was going to be able to follow WM3, but now two years removed from that show mania was back on the right track. I may be a little biased toward this show as it was the first mania I saw live on ppv as it was happening instead of having to wait a few months for the rental.

Hercules vs. Haku: The feud between Hercules and Heenan had died down a little by mania, but it was still fresh enough for this to be an appropriate match for mania. Decent opener.

Rockers vs. Twin Towers: This was a surprise match. Looking at these two teams you would think the Towers would destroy the Rockers. This turned out to be a good competitive match. It was fun to watch. It did seem a little strange that Bossman & Akeem were this low on the card after several months of feuding with Hogan & Savage.

Brutus Beefcake vs. Ted Dibiase: This match confuses me a little. These two were at about equal spots on the roster. Beefcake was one of the most popular faces and Dibiase one of the most hated heels. Nothing wrong with that, but I don’t recall any storyline for this match. This could have been better had there been an actual feud between the two.

The Bushwhackers vs. The Rougeau Brothers: I hated the Rougeaus at this time which makes me like them now. They were underrated and there music was beyond awesome. This was kind of tag team filler, but that’s ok with me since the roster was pretty stacked in 1989.

Blue Blazer vs. Mr. Perfect: Owen Hart vs. Curt Hennig. Of course this was a good match. It could have been better with more time, but both were pretty low on the card at this time. They did great with the time they were given and delivered a fine match.

Demolition vs. Powers of Pain & Mr. Fuji: I like this match and this feud. Although the Powers of Pain didn’t amount to much these teams matched up well. The double turn at Survivor Series was very unique. This was one of the best built tag title matches in mania history.

Ronnie Garvin vs. Dino Bravo: This match didn’t do much for me. Just filler between two guys that weren’t very entertaining. It was cool to see Snuka come back, but the timing of it on the show was very odd.

Piper’s Pit was a bit disappointing. I thought the segment went ok and I love the fire extinguisher spot. The only problem was the crowd was pretty dead for this. This was Rowdy Roddy Piper’s first appearance in two years, but there was hardly a reaction. That’s a shame.

Strike Force vs. The Brain Busters: This I like. The story wasn’t really between the two teams. It was that Strike Force was teaming for the first time in a long time. For weeks Jesse Ventura and Bobby Heenan would tease that Strike Force hadn’t teamed in too long and there were problems between the two. As a kid I didn’t pay much attention to what the bad guy commentators were saying. Well it turned out to be true and Martel walking out on Santana turned out to be a mania moment. Good match too.

Jake Roberts vs. Andre The Giant: Andre had been struggling to get around for at least two years, but it was becoming more obvious here. It was becoming sad to watch. Still he was the giant and Jake was overmatched. There was a good build as the two had been feuding for six months. I assumed this would start another feud between Andre and Studd, but Studd disappeared shortly after mania. This did however begin the year long feud between Jake and Dibiase.

The Hart Foundation vs. Honky Tonk Man & Greg Valentine: Honky and Valentine weren’t regular partners yet and wouldn’t be known as Rhythm & Blues for a while, but it certainly wasn’t strange to see them teaming up. This was good as it finally brought some closure to the feud between the Harts and Jimmy Hart.

The Ultimate Warrior vs. Rick Rude: This was a big feud in 1989 and was a pretty anticipated match. KB speaks the truth about these two having great chemistry together. This was a good match with a very surprising outcome. I love the finish as you can see desperation coming over Heenan when he grabbed the leg of the Warrior. After five years Heenan finally had his first champion.

Jim Duggan vs. Badnews Brown: This was more filler, but these two matched up well as two out of control brawlers. It went pretty much as expected.

Red Rooster vs. Bobby Heenan: For months Heenan slapped Rooster around and belittled him. He made Rooster feel inferior as a wrestler. Finally Rooster had had enough and dumped the Brain. This match was supposed to be vindication. Of course it was a squash. In my opinion Rooster didn’t come off very strong by beating a manager who was already injured.

Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage: Jesse said it best right before the bell. This is what the words main event are all about. This was a great story that had its seeds planted the year before at WM4. I’ll spare you the history lesson as I think we all know how this came about. This had it all; hype, drama, anticipation, star power, and a good match too. This delivered all the way around.

Overall I think this was a strong show. There was a lot of filler, but I think it was mostly good filler. The roster was matched up very well and the show flowed nicely.
 
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