Wow.
If someone asked me to describe Wrestlemania 28 in one word, it would be exactly that. Wow. In every sense of the word.
From the opening joke of a match, to the epic Hell in a Cell, to the somewhat subpar main event, Wow seems to sum it up perfectly.
It had everything. So it seems right to talk about everything.
Lets start with the dark match. I didn't see much of it, but I know that Epico and Primo retained their titles. I guess that's a good thing right?
I have to say, I was quietly very excited about this Wrestlemania. Maybe it was the 3 main events, but I just had this feeling it was going to be one of the best, at least of the last 10 years. For me, my favourite Wrestlemania is 19, probably because it was the first one I saw, but there were so many big feel matches. Angle/Lesnar, McMahon/Hogan, Rock/Austin, Michaels/Jericho. Wrestlemania 28 had the same feel.
And for the most part, it really didn't disappoint. Yes, there were bad parts, which we'll get to when I run through the matches and segments, but the good definitely outweighed the bad.
And from a personal point of view, I picked 7 out of the 8 matches correctly. Not a bad effort.
Ok so let's get down to business and go through the card.
So first up we had the World Heavyweight Title match between Sheamus and Daniel Bryan, with AJ at ringside. And, in less time than it takes for Undertaker to walk out of the entranceway, the match is over.
I literally looked away for 3 seconds, and I missed the finish.
My first reaction, like a lot of people I would imagine, was just .. "what?" And from there, it morphed into a "what the f**k?" .. I mean come on. Apparently the WWE wanted to break the record set by Chavo and Kane back at Wrestlemania 24. And failed. So instead of being able to use the "record" angle as part of the story to soften the blow, we got an 18 second title match. Way to make the World Heavyweight Championship seem about as important as the Tag titles.
It was a joke. Plain and simple. We got commercials for next year's Wrestlemania, a Diva's commercial, a spot promoting deadliest catch that were longer than the first match. Couldn't we have done without the mimed musical performances, and had an actual match instead? It is called WRESTLEmania after all.
However, I don't think it made Daniel Bryan look as bad as most people think. It's the Honky Tonk Man principle. Ultimate Warrior defeated Honky in 30 seconds or so to win the Intercontinental title, and it didn't hurt Honky, because it was a surprise. He could claim he wasn't ready, wasn't prepared etc.
In the same vein, Daniel Bryan can now say that Sheamus took advantage of him while his back was turned. Not 100% true, but as a heel he can get away with bending the truth. So if there's one saving grace, at least the storyline in the next month or so will be a little interesting.
I'm not really sure how to score this match out of 10.. on one hand we got ripped off because we didn't get to see a good match, but for what it was, and what it could be, it's not the worst thing ever.
So, for what it was, i'll give it 7/10, but for what it could have been, it's a 2/10.
After a quick backstage segment with Team Johnny, next up was Randy Orton vs Kane. I really wasn't sure about this match, I felt like it had no reason to be happening, and there wasn't really any reason that I should care about it.
They talked about how Kane was trying to shake of the last of his humanity I guess? And Orton was responsible for some of that humanity? I'm not sure.
It was however, a really solid match. Not amazing, but it definitely didn't suck. I think on first viewing it looked worse than it was, because of what happened with the opening match. People were still shocked. I know I was.
The problem was though, this match lacked any kind of "big fight" feel. It may have had to do with it still being daylight. Seeing wrestling in natural light is still a little strange. But I think really it was just the lack of story behind the match.
We got the usual spots from Orton and Kane, but the finish was at least a little special, with Kane hitting a chokeslam from the ropes.
A decent match, but could have been better with more build up. 5.5/10
Next up was another backstage segment with Santino, Mick Foley, and eventually Ron Simmons. Very funny stuff, especially Mick's pirate voice. Oh and there was some guy from some discovery channel show they were trying to pimp.. I mean advertise. And of course, we got Ron Simmons delivering a perfect "damn".
Following on from that we got the Intercontinental Title match between Cody Rhodes and Big Show.
I had a feeling this might have been one of those "dark horse" matches that could end up being really, really good. And Show and Rhodes did not disappoint.
Great action to start off, and Big Show's chops to the chest sounded extra brutal. In fact, a lot of the impacts sounded more violent tonight. Maybe it was that everyone was working a little stiffer, maybe the WWE used different microphones because it was an outdoor event. Either way it was great.
The only thing was that the match to me was a little short. But it worked.
I originally thought that Show needed to win, but Cody should retain his title. I was going with this line of thinking because I had figured Cody was going to be an IC champion with a long title reign, as in a record setting title reign. That way, Big Show got his revenge, but Cody could still stay champion.
But that wasn't to be. Big Show loaded up his KO punch and nailed Cody, pinning him for the 1, 2, 3, and becoming the new Intercontinental Champion. And also a grand slam champion. Which is an awesome effort.
You could tell that it really did mean something to Big Show. I've always liked that about him, he shows real emotion when he wins titles. It happened for that 45 seconds at TLC when he won the world title, and again at Mania. It makes it feel real, and it shows that he's not just there to be there.
So I've been thinking about what happens to Cody Rhodes now. I would imagine he has a rematch at Extreme Rules, but over the next few months I would expect to see him starting to get into the World Title hunt, whether it be on Smackdown, or RAW.
So overall I think that this match was right up there in the top few of the night, and Big Show deserved the win. 7/10
This tag line that has been used this year.. the "end of an era".. It's not only about the Hell in a Cell match, which i'll get to in just a minute. It feels like that was the overriding theme of the night. Not "Once in a lifetime". That was strictly for The Rock and Cena. (And possibly a TNA contracted wrestler appearing on camera at Wrestlemania as well, but hey.. it's Naitch!).
Think about it. Sheamus decimated Daniel Bryan and became World Heavyweight Champ for the first time. Big Show achieved the honor of becoming a grand slam champion. The fact that he was so emotional.. maybe that was his last Wrestlemania match.
There was the embrace after the Hell in a Cell match, almost like Undertaker, Triple H and Shawn were saying goodbye (I'll get to it in more detail later).
Jericho (the veteran) put Punk over.
Rock one his Once in a Lifetime match. Everything has this "end of an era" feel about it, like RAW tomorrow (or today depending on where you are in the world) is going to be the start of a new day in the WWE, with a lot of the veterans stepping away. I have a feeling we might see Triple H, Undertaker, Big Show on raw, but we might not see them much after that.
I did notice that the first 3 matches were all done and dusted with only 45 minutes of the pay per view gone,
which did seem a bit fast. But we found out at the end that they needed all that time. I think it ended with only a few minutes to spare. So the timing was well done this year. It certainly didn't look like anything had to be cut down. So well done to the WWE for that.
So next up was a 3 or 4 minute video package about all the Divas. .. I don't know what point that served.
And now it's time for the Diva's tag team match. It was better than I expected, but to be honest, I wasn't expecting much. Beth carried the match (as usual), although Kelly Kelly did surprise me (and in a good way too) hitting a Molly Go Round (you know that's what it's called) on Beth.
What I didn't like is that damn finish. Maria Menounos took longer than a world heavyweight title match (Yup, that's going to become a thing) to climb the turnbuckles, selling the fact that she could hardly move. Yet she had the strength to hold Beth down with her entire body (including her apparently injured ribs) for a 3 count? A wrestler I could buy being able to do that, but a celebrity? She shouldn't have sold so hard. And if it was a legitimate injury and she really couldn't move that fast, she could have kept up the selling when going for the school boy(girl). Also, don't wear white pants when wrestling girls with fake tan on.
Overall it wasn't the worst divas match ever, but it was nowhere near as good as a one on one match with Beth and Natalya would have been. 4/10
Next up, somewhat surprisingly at first, is the End of an Era Hell in a Cell match. Undertaker vs Triple H, with Shawn Michaels as the guest referee. So many expectations. Would Shawn screw over one of the combatants? Would the match live up to the hype? And most importantly.. What would Undertaker's hair look like?
Before I get to the match, let me just say it was great to have Jim Ross call this match. Moreover, it was fitting. This match signified the last act of the attitude era. Jim Ross was the voice of the attitude era. In a perfect world, Cole would have left the commentary table for this match, but at least we got JR.
Shawn makes his entrance, and then that thundering open Eb Chord (yes, i know my music) hits, and Triple H makes his entrance, out of some kind of stage prop, that looked very cool, very metal, and very Triple H. He's been taking on this Viking style King of Kings character for his Mania entrances, and this one was right up there.
And then there's Undertaker. As you all know I'm a bit of an Undertaker mark, so his matches are always a special thing for me. As are his entrances. And this year he did not disappoint. That coat... yes it had a little bit of a Super Shredder vibe about it, but it was amazing. Somewhere between that ministry outfit, and his monk-like hooded robe/jacket.
The "hair reveal" almost had as much hype as the match itself. We'd all read the reports that he would be bald, but, in another surprise, Taker removed his hood and revealed a low mohawk. If you can, watch that part again, but watch the faces of the people in shot behind him. It's priceless.
It's certainly a different look for him, but it worked. Jim Ross's commentary once again made this moment so much more epic. Just a simple.. "My god".. Michael Cole really should pay attention to when the greatest of all time is speaking.
I'm not going to go through the match move by move, because let's face it, this is already long, and I've still got 3 more matches after this one to run through. Favourite parts though included the Spinebuster on the steps, which amazed me. Undertaker doesn't need to take bumps like that, but he still does. Amazing.
The brutal chair shots. All of them. Like I said before with Big Show's chops, the impact of the chair shots sounded different, more brutal.
The "DX finisher combo" on Undertaker had me going. No-one has ever kicked out of that combo of moves. Not that I've seen anyway. It's things like that which remind me how much I love pro wrestling. Even though every fibre of my being knows that Undertaker will win, because of the Streak, I still mark out for those near falls.
I liked the finish as well, but it was really the only part of the match that I felt like had been done before. We'd seen it with Shawn a couple of years earlier, only this year there was a sledgehammer. But it worked. It made sense. It was right.
What made this match so good though, was the story. And you can thank Shawn Michaels for making it as good as it was. Even in a refereeing only capacity, he is Mr Wrestlemania. Watch his reactions to the chair shots, the sledgehammer shots, the kickouts.. That was why Shawn was a part of this match. Look at the final Sledge shot from Taker to Triple H. The camera cuts back and it shows that Shawn can't even look. That says so much. And then after the pinfall.. Shawn looked like he genuinely had tears in his eyes.
All in all this was an amazing match, and an amazing finale to this 4 year journey of Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels/Undertaker vs Triple H, and an amazing final act of the Attitude Era. And the way that Undertaker, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels left the arena was.. it was perfect. Sure, people can say that Taker's character would never have done that, but this wasn't Undertaker the character. Since his return he's basically been I would say, as close to himself as he's ever been, without riding to the ring on a motorcycle. These three men have been a part of something that none of us as fans will ever truly understand. They clearly have a bond that goes beyond their gimmicks, and deserve all the accolades they have, and will ever get.
Before I move on from this match, let me posit a theory. Undertaker, and possibly Triple H, will come out on Raw tomorrow, and retire. Undertaker has reached 20-0. He's beaten every big name over the last 22 years. There's nothing else for him to do. 20-0 seems a fitting time to me, and if you watch the final couple of shots of Taker, Shawn and Hunter, it almost looks like a "goodbye" look from them. And I'm just going to go ahead and say it. That was a beautiful moment.
Ok so overall did this match live up to the hype? I think that yes, it did. It gave us everything we wanted (even accidental blood).. and brought to an end this amazing rivalry. 9.5/10
How does anyone follow that? The easy answer is that they don't, which is why a 12 man tag went on afterwards. That way the responsibility wasn't just on one or two people.
Just quickly, Edge choking up when he was announced in the hall of fame segment, same as Big Show, is one of those things that makes this feel even more special, and more real. It's really weird to see him with short hair though.
Heath Slater got slammed into that wall hard. Somebody tell that Flo Rida dude it's meant to be a work!
So next up is Team Johnny vs Team Teddy.
I really don't have a lot to say about this match, I thought it was as good as it could be. Dolph did indeed steal the spotlight as I thought he would. His sell of that monkey flip was insane. Best spot has to go to the Triple front flip rope dive though. Great timing by everyone, and everyone was caught safely.
It was an interesting finish, with Eve showing her true colours (again). But it was good that Miz got the pinfall. Going from main eventing Wrestlemania to being part of a 12 man tag match mustn't have been easy.
A decent match overall, but really nothing all that special. 6/10
Punk and Jericho came next, with the freshly added stipulation that if Punk got DQ'd, he'd lose the title. This was a really good decision, because it made the story of the match so much more intense. Punk had to keep his cool, and Jericho would try to make Punk snap time after time. A really smart booking decision. Well done.
Jericho's jacket now comes with a 2nd colour. But he still can't get it all to flash at once.
I think this match was going to have a hard time just because of it's place on the card. People were still reeling from the Hell in a Cell match. But I think that if people watch this match on replay, once they've already seen Wrestlemania once, they'll realise just how good this match is. It was what they both said it would be. The best wrestling match on the card.
Punk took a really hard fall from that suplex off of the apron, it looked brutal. But having said that, Jericho took a few fairly stiff looking knees from Punk when he said "how's your father?"
Speaking of those barbs, I thought that was a really original, and really well executed idea. Jericho verbally goading Punk into snapping, and letting us hear it through the camera (i'm not sure if it got picked up for the live crowd) was a great touch. And Jericho's facial expressions were perfect too.
What else can I say about this match? It was great. Pure pro wrestling. Back and forth pinfall attemps and submission attempts, reversals, and most importantly, a great story was told. I think it was right that Cm Punk won this match, and it solidifies him as a top guy. He defended the title, at Wrestlemania. That's a big deal.
8.5/10
We got a dance number instead of a world heavyweight title match. But.. plus side is we saw the Dactyl! .. I'm happy for Brodus getting a fairly unique Wrestlemania moment to say the least, but I think the time could have been better used for the opening match.
And last but not least, the main event. The once in a lifetime match. John Cena vs The Rock. Would it live up to the hype? Would The Rock become the best ever? Or would Cena finally shut Rocky up?
First of all, I'm just going to say one thing about the musical "performances". Lip-Syncing. Terrible.
One saving grace, I thought that Machine Gun Kelly guy performed really well. And I liked his little speech too. It seemed like he was really grateful to get the opportunity. Too bad whoever the female "singer" was performed so badly. But the dude was like a heat magnet. Cleveland jersey in Miami, and saying Cena would beat Rock. Well done.
But let's forget about all that, and focus on what's important. Which is the match.
I have to say, I'm a little disappointed with this match. There seemed to be a lack of chemistry and timing between the two. Rock looked like he was half a step slower than Cena, and there were at least 2 times I saw Cena having to wait for Rock to get in the right position for the next move.
And Rock seemed less .. well less like "The Rock".
Also from a Cena fan point of view, I was a little disappointed that he went back to the jean shorts and coloured shirts. The black was a little more aggressive, but maybe with Rocky being associated with wearing the black tights and shirts, they wanted to give a visual indication of how different the two guys are.
The match reminded me a lot of Rock/Hogan from Wrestlemania 18. I mean the difference here is that both guys were still in their prime, but still it had the same feeling. Both guys hitting their big moves only to have the guy kick out at 2.
I'll admit, I was almost sure that Cena was going to win when he finally hit the AA. Rocky kicked out so late it was almost 3 for real. And then Cena kind of changed a little, got a bit of an attitude.. got a little angry, and disrespectful. It was kind of interesting. Trying to hit a people's elbow on The Rock, in Miami, at Wrestlemania. Very ballsy.
Now I've been sure of a Cena heel turn before and it's not happened, so I'm not going to sit here and say "Cena's turning heel on Raw!" But it felt .. interesting. I can't wait to see what happens. Maybe there will be a Rock/Cena II, maybe at Summerslam. If there is Cena has to win that one. But a heel Cena vs a Babyface Rock would make the rematch more appealing, because it would be different.
If you read my Wrestlemania predictions, you'd know that I picked Cena to win. In retrospect, that was .. stupid. It's The Rock's hometown, he talked about wanting to be the best ever, and honestly, it makes sense. And Cena is a stand up guy to be good with that and do the job.
So Rock wins, and it's fitting. It made sense. Overall this match wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be, but it really had a lot of hype to live up to. John Cena and The Rock did a really good job though, and it was a great way to finish the night. 8/10
So overall what did I think of the show? I thought that it was one of the best Wrestlemania's in recent memory. I'm trying to think of what I'd thought the best was before today. Possibly Wrestlmania 23. Undertaker/batista.. Shawn/Cena, That epic MiTB match with both Hardy boys. And the battle of the billionaires. This card had a similar amount of epic matches, and overall, it lived up to the hype.
Yes, the WHC match was ridiculous, but it opens up an interesting storyline moving forward. Yes, the Rock and Cena wasn't as good as it could have been, but it was still great. And we got a better Cell match than I think a lot of people were expecting.
So overall I would give Wrestlemania 28 a 7 out of 10.
So that's all for now, I'll be back in a few days with the next edition of Home Schooling, talking about the fallout from Wrestlemania and Monday Night Raw. Until then, follow me on twitter if you're not already @TheOZMouthpiece and leave me a comment on here or twitter to let me know what you think.
Business concluded.
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