Wrestlemania 24: A Retrospective Look

[Judah's Lion]

Mania 24 was a really solid card from top to bottom. as it stands, it's a top 10 Mania for sure, maybe even top 5. so it's hard to rebook this in the sense that it's a very good show. and i'm keeping in mind that Mysterio was injured and Jeff Hardy was suspended, both of which were unfortunately timed.

Jericho/Mysterio for the IC Title would have been awesome and Jeff Hardy winning MITB would have been a red hot Mania moment. that said, i'll side with Brain on some options...

US Title: MVP vs. Matt Hardy. this was an obvious choice to be on Mania. the feud was literally months in the making and should have happened here. have MVP go over as he was really coming into his own with this feud.

Tag Team Titles: Hardcore Holly/Cody Rhodes vs. Ted Dibiase/Mystery Partner. this storyline happened shortly after Mania but i'd slide it up to Mania instead. it'd be a great way to debut Ted Dibiase and plant the seeds for Legacy to form.

IC Title: not sure what i'd do here. i'm so sad that Jericho/Mysterio couldn't happen on this major stage as they so richly deserved. the only thing i can think of is making the Batista/Umaga match not only for "brand supremacy" but also for the IC Title. with more on the line, maybe this match would be a bit more watchable than it was.

ECW World Title: Kane vs. Chavo; Extreme Rules. i liked this match up, just not the match. and i absolutely loved Kane and Taker both holding World Titles by the end of the night and seeing them on the different shows defending their different belts or teaming together again. so i'm definitely good with Kane winning here. just make this match longer and more brutal with Extreme Rules since it is the ECW Title after all.

MITB: Punk vs. Miz vs. Morrison vs. Kofi vs. Jericho vs. Benjamin vs. Carlito vs. Kennedy. i swapped Miz for MVP and added Kofi. major change i'd make is to have Jericho win this one. Punk winning two MITB matches is not really a feather in his cap and this win and first World Title win did very little for his career. Jericho earned the win here and it would have played a more meaningful role for his heel turn later in the year.

Women's Title: Beth Phoenix vs. Mickie James. just make this a one-on-one match with two women that can wrestle. give them a few minutes and give Beth the win.

Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweather. best celebrity match of all time. liked this match a whole lot more than i expected i would and the build up was very well done. and i also like that this was the launching pad of Big Show's new finishing maneuver of the Knockout Punch. so i'd leave this as is.

JBL vs. Triple H. Brain is right on this one. their interactions at Mania 21 were enjoyable but this feud never had the right timing. except for here. this match would have been great here with an ultra heel JBL and a now face Triple H. it would be a great brawl and match i think. plus the promo work building it up would have been second to none.

World Title #1: Orton vs. Cena. this could have easily been one-on-one. especially with Cena being the Rumble winner and returning from injury. the other major change i'd make is that i'd have Cena win this match and the World Title from Orton. yes, it's predictable and maybe even a little tired already at this point to have Cena go over yet again for the World Title at Mania. but this sets up for my planned Cena match to come at Mania 27.

Flair vs. HBK. perfect match and perfect Mania moment. the emotions were told flawlessly and this was just a classic. ask anyone who the greatest wrestler of all time was or is and you'll either get Flair or HBK as an answer. so putting the two greatest of all time in a match at Mania was brilliant and epic. loved it.

World Title #2: Taker vs. Edge. another great match and one of Taker's best at Mania. loved that this closed the show and that the final image of the night was Taker walking out with the World Title.

really great Mania but i'd make a few tweaks just to make it that much better and perhaps the best of all time.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

I've been to every Wrestlemania since 23, and this one is clearly the best. The setting was awesome, the pyros (which I believe were for a few months the biggest firework display the world had seen, later overtaken by the Beijing Olympics that year and now every New Year in London and Sydney) were fantastic and logical (like to celebrate Ric Flair) and 90% of the matches delivered. I'd actually put this as the 2nd greatest WM ever, after 17

 

[AnthonyM4]

My favorite match was Flair vs HBK. An amazing match and it would have been the PERFECT way to end Flair's career. As you all know, Flair came out of retirement so all the hoopla that happened the night after was for nothing. I wish I can say(and I'm sure Flair does now too) that this was Flair's very last match.

Worst match was the ecw title match. It should have been longer. First time that title was defended at wrestlemania. Being that the lineage goes back to the original ecw, it would have been cool if there was a decent title match on this show. Overall I think this was one of the best wrestlemanias of the 20s(meaning 20-29).

 

[klunderbunker]

This is one that people are starting to like more and I can see why. It's a very solid show from top to bottom with the main event being a forgotten classic. I never saw Edge as a real threat to the Streak, but it was nice to see him give it a good try and for Undertaker to get the title in a big match to close out the show. Flair vs. Shawn should have gone on last though, and there's really not much else to pick from.

 

[FlairFan2003]

I disagree. On a Pay-Per-View supercard with more than one main event, the main events should all be at the end of the show. If they're done properly, the crowd doesn't get bored of seeing the most important matches. That's why I will always say WrestleMania 19 was the closest WWE ever came to booking a perfect WrestleMania card. All four main events were at the end of the show, with no filler or bullcrap in-between them. The only thing they did wrong in my opinion was have the main events themselves in the wrong order. It went Triple H vs. Booker T, Hogan vs. McMahon, Austin vs. Rock, and Angle vs. Lesnar, and I think it should have been Hogan vs. McMahon, Austin vs. Rock, Triple H vs. Booker T, and Angle vs. Lesnar.

As for WrestleMania 24, I think the final four matches should have been Big Show vs. Mayweather, Flair vs. HBK, Orton vs. Triple H vs. Cena, and Edge vs. Undertaker. If they had reordered the matches that way, I think it could have been THE greatest WrestleMania of all time.

WWE did the same thing this year, putting the Divas Match NEXT TO LAST ON THE SHOW to separate Taker's match from the main event. WWE knew the crowd would be totally spent after the physical, pounding brawl of Taker-Lesnar with Lesnar in a shock that clearly wasnt popular with fans ending The Streak in a clean win despite being a mega heel. It would have been really hard for the crowd to recover fast enough to get into The Daniel Bryan Triple Threat Match, so they inserted an entertaining but far less meaningful Divas Match in between, giving the crowd time to get over the emotion of the last match and get up for the M-Event. It was the best thing to do.