Well boys and girls, it's that time of year again, WrestleMania!! Overall I found the event to be rather mediocre compared to previous Manias. Once again the WWE has blown their chance to start the creation of the futures SuperStars.
We were late starting to watch the show, which worked out because I was able to fast forward through Fantasia's brutal National Anthem version. Where oh where is Lilian?
Match One: ShowMiz vs MorTruth
Average match, it wasn't really any better than a RAW match. Nothing special from anyone really. But I did like Morrison's delay on the ropes as he leaned into Show's hamhock sized fist. I didn't expect MorTruth to win, but I expected a better showing. Their first chance to start creating a new star was blown here. Daniel Bryan should have cost ShowMiz the match, furthering the Miz/Bryan storyline. It might have piqued some interest in NXT, with it's dropping ratings, it needs it.
Rating: 2 stars
Match Two: Orton vs DiBiase vs Rhodes
I liked the placement of this match. Something to appease the crowd early. The match starts off like I expected with a gang up on Orton. I was confused by the constant reference to this match as an elimination match, until in Vintage Michael Cole he reminded us that it wasn't an elimination match. Way to be on top of things WWE. Awesome. Attempt two, failed. Once again, putting either DiBiase or Rhodes over Orton on the biggest stage of the WWE would have gone a long way in creating either one of them as a legitimate threat, instead they both get to look weak against the Viper. While Orton will move on, we'll get stuck with a DiBiase/Rhodes feud.
Rating: 2 1/2 stars
Match Three: MITB
Not as much of a clusterfug as I expected, with four too many SuperStars than needed. Some nice high spots, a few blown spots that were recovered. As much as I like Kane, he shouldn't have been in this match, he's too big and everyone knows his time is past. Bourne, Benjamin and MVP shouldn't have been in there either. One a spot monkey, one will never get a shot and the other is still feuding with Miz, supposedly, although that seems dropped. I was expecting McIntyre to win this one as pay off for his "I didn't lose those two matches" storyline, and he is McMahon's chosen one. I was surprised by Swagger's win. I laughed at how long it took him to get the briefcase though. I was thinking well if Swagger cashes in tonight like he claimed he would, at least they would take a step in creating a new big name.
Rating: 3 stars
Match Four: HHH vs Sheamus
I was looking forward to this match. I assumed, and you know what they say about assuming, that HHH would put his training partner Sheamus over by taking a loss. I don't know what I was thinking. Sheamus did look better in this match than he has against any other SuperStar, dominating for the most part. Of course as strong as they made him look, they lost all that momentum with HHH suddenly coming awake from dead weight to hit a pedigree and win the match. Chance three of creating a new name, shot to shit.
Rating: 2 1/2 stars
Match Five: CM Punk vs Mysterio
Again not what I expected. Of course my better half was saying 'Of course Rey wasn't going to win. he wasn't going to join SES', which made it my duty to explain about how it was better storyline wise for Rey to lose so he can sabotage SES from inside. She just smiled at me like I was a retard, 'They will feud as long as the writers want them too'. Le Sigh. The match itself was shorter than it should have been, but there were some nice reversal of moves. Still, I was disappointed in the ending.
Rating: 2 stars (3 stars because of Punk's awesome prematch promo)
Match Six: Bret Hart vs McMahon
Pitiful. What a lame payoff for a lame storyline. First it made Vince look stupid, like he really thought people would fall for the Hart family turning on Bret? Second, everyone knew they were going to turn on Vince, hell the dog came in the room and said 'Do you think people are falling for this shit?' The match was as horrible as I expected it to be. I watched most of the match near tears. I've never been much of a Hitman fan, but to see a once great and well respected performer make a return in such a pitiful, weak shadow of their former self was sad. Just the fact that they had to have someone else do the actual beating on Vince made it more pitiful. Then when it should have ended it kept right on going. Not only was this match pitiful, but it sapped the energy from the crowd for the rest of the night. Hopefully the Hart Dynasty will get a push out of this. At least then something good will have happened.
Rating: 1/2 star
Match Seven: Jericho vs Edge
Decent match up, but I expected a bit more bang for my buck. With the build for this match I expected more stops to be pulled out. Maybe Edge really isn't at a 100%. I was glad to see Jericho pull out the win, he deserves more than a month title reign after carrying both brands for the better part of a year. His talent in the ring, on the mic, and a making faces deserves a length title reign. I liked the spear on the announce tables. Even with the loss it made Edge look strong. Of course, once again a chance was blown to create a new name for the future. Swagger should have come running out, rolled Jericho in the ring and won the title. Perfect chance blown. Again. Again.
Rating 3 1/2 stars
Match Eight: Five on Five Diva Tag match
Why was this added to the card? Why wasn't this the dark match instead of the Battle Royal? Why was this placed so high up on the card? Why was Vicky in the ring? Why did they make me feel like they were more making fun of Eddie than paying homage? No one looked good in this match, well looked good ring skill wise. The diva division is in dire need of a refocus, dedication to wrestling or just dropping it instead making them all valet's.
Rating 1/4 star
Match Nine: Cena vs Batista
Hold on let me get behind a protective shield. Okay. You know this match was so much better than I thought it would be. Maybe it was because we had just seen that horrible Diva's match, I don't know. I thought Batista looked powerful and legitimate, I was surprised that he sold the STF at the end so well. His hand was moving so slow when he tapped out, I thought he was passing out. Cena went through a few "hulk up" moments, but Batista countered them. Cena actually started out the match with mat wrestling. This was the first match of the night that had me actually into the pin attempts. Batista should have won the match in my opinion. One he's been great as a heel the last few weeks, and it's always better for the Face to chase the title. The fans get into it more. Once again, no Swagger and blown chance number 348. Well at least he didn't cash in the MITB and lose to either Cena or Jericho. That would have really sucked.
Rating 3 1/2 stars
Match Ten: Taker vs HBK
This match was no where near as good as last years. Maybe it was because the build up this year was so well done, or maybe because lightning can't strike twice. The match was still the best of the night, but overall it didn't really have to try that hard. I expected there to be more outside objects since there was no DQ or Countout. Not a bad spot through the table and Taker sold the knee injury very well afterwards. Even, Lawler sold it well, making it sound like he was whispering to the other guys that he thought Taker's leg was broke. The match was a solid three star match. It was nothing that wasn't seen before. A lot of kick out of each guys finisher. But the end put it over the top for me. With Taker's look of 'I don't want to do this', telling HBK to stay down, and HBk climbing up Taker's chest, giving him the throat cut sign and slapping him. That one moment gave it a whole nother star. To me it made the match and summed up HBK in doing so. At least they got something right in this WM.
Rating: 4 Stars
Overall: 2 3/4 Stars
Final Thoughts
Once again some guys made bones, but there were no made men. On WWE's biggest stage they once again blew chance after chance to create some new top faces. Orton's still young, as is Punk and Cena. Batista, Jericho and HHH have a few good years left. Edge and Mysterio maybe, but he's injury prone. Taker's on his last legs, as is HBK. The time is now to create the next generation of big names.
DiBiase or Rhodes should have gone over Orton. Especially with a rumored Orton/Christian fued on the horizon. A win for either would have made a fued between the two seem like there was more to it. Now they are both one step away from joining the Job Squad.
Sheamus should have gone over HHH. Sure he looked strong and dominant, but then he looked weak falling for HHH, oh my I'm out of it routine. I really thought that Trips would put him over since they are training partners and what not. I guess nepotism is still alive and well in the WWE.
Sure Swagger won the MITB, but does anyone really see him as a World Champion after burying him for the better part of a year? Really? Really!? McIntyre should have won the MITB. It fits better. McMahon has already called him the chosen one. He was undefeated until a few weeks ago and even that was built into the McMahon's chosen one storyline. Winning the MITB made perfect sense, so of course WWE didn't go that route.
Thank God for Matt Striker. If i were Lawler and Cole I would be asking, why is Striker suddenly announcing with us on PPV's? Lawler and Cole were horrible. At this point I think Striker could do it alone. He can call action, offer up anecdotes about the guys, talk about the moves since he was a wrestler. He is a total package announce wise.
Maybe I graded this WrestleMania hard. I don't know. I expected so much more with this card. I was actually excited about the card this year as opposed to last year where I just wanted to see Taker/HBK I. I felt let down by almost every match ending except for the Taker/HBK match. I'm sure that's not what WWE had in mind for a fans. Then again, I'm not WWE's target Demo. I don't buy merchandise, cheer for who they tell me to cheer for, and I have a sense of story. There were points last night watching the show that I thought, why do I watch, if I'm constantly disappointed with the product? I think this all the time, but like a hard habit, it's hard to break. I've been watching Wrestling for almost 30 years.
One last thing. What the hell is up with the PPV pricing? You know if I was actually paying for matches I wouldn't mind so much. Out of a four hour PPV, we may have had two and a half hours of wrestling. The rest of the time was talking about the Axxess weekend, hall of fame, advertising the next PPV and stupid how we got here segments. Do they really think their fans are idiots? If the bought the fucking PPV they probably know the build up to the damn story.
Man, I wish I was in charge.
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