Finally, the biggest PPV in the wrestling industry happened, and depending on who you talked to it was either exceptional or was kinda disappointing. I am in the disappointed camp as the show started off with a dud. There were several moments in the PPV the left me wondering why the hell they were wasting time when this is supposed to be the most exciting PPV of the year. There were some great moments but, as I'll explain, Wrestlemania just didn't live up to the hype.
Daniel Bryan (C) vs Sheamus
This match started us off and had longer entrances than the actual match lasted. Sheamus and Bryan came out to thunderous roars from a crowd that was expecting a war between the Celtic Warrior and The Vegan Champion. However, after getting a kiss from his girlfriend, A.J. Lee, Bryan ate a brogue kick and was pinned to lose his heavyweight championship in 18 seconds. I, for one, thought this set a terrible tone for the entire evening and took away from what should have been an all around awesome PPV. Daniel Bryan is one of the best performers the WWE has and they bump him from Wrestlemania last year only to embarrass him this year. The booking of this match made absolutely no sense. I would not be at all shocked if Bryan asked for his release after this. It was that bad. If there is any justice in the world Bryan gets a rematch at Extreme Rules.
Winner and new Heavyweight Champ: Sheamus
Kane vs. Randy Orton
This was basically a filler match for the biggest PPV of the year. The crowd was barely into this, and the lack of a true build made it hard to care who won or lost. There was a decent spot at the end where Kane ended the match with a chokeslam off the top rope, but this was an otherwise average match.
Winner: Kane
Big Show vs. Cody Rhodes
Nothing special here as the Big Show was dominant and ended the match after Cody tried to make it as interesting as he could but could not overcome the strength of the Big Show, and got put down with a WMD . I see Cody invoking his rematch clause and having a rematch at Extreme Rules to regain the Intercontinental title.Winner and new Intercontinental Champ: Big Show
This match had no business being even near this PPV after the debacle that was Bryan/Sheamus. Maybe it was used to temper the crowd for the Taker/HHH match, but I saw it as a waste of time. Kelly and Maria won after Maria rolled up Beth for the win.
Winners: Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos
This was when the PPV really got to where it needed to be in terms of greatness. When Jim Ross came down to call the match I immediately knew we were in for a treat. I was not disappointed. This match was what you think of when you think great Mania matches. A lot of people thought that Taker and Triple H were going to put on a stale match and they were wrong. Extremely wrong. HBK called this match down the middle despite getting involved physically with both competitors without making it about him, and added to the match in a way one of the best in ring performers of all time could. There was back and forth action, brutal spots, drama, and a sense of importance lacking in most of the matches on this PPV. This was two masters of their craft exhibiting why they have been on top for so long. I don't care if Taker only wrestles on time a year, when he does you know he is going to put on a memorable match. Triple H is to be commended as well as he was just as much a part of this match's greatness as Taker was. It was not to be for the Cerebral Assassin as Taker took his great Mania streak to 20-0.
Winner: Undertaker
This match was pretty much chaos from the word go. Nothing memorable as Team Johnny picked up the win after Eve caused a distraction and Miz capitalized with the skull crushing finale on Zack Ryder to give John Laurinitis control of both Raw and Smackdown. After the match Eve gave Zack a kick in the nuts.
CM Punk(C) vs. Chris Jericho This was the match I was most excited for as it featured two of the best wrestlers in the world today and it did not disappoint. The match started off rather slowly as Jericho tried to get Punk to disqualify himself so Punk would lose the title as Laurinitis made the stipulation that if Punk lost control he lose not only the match, but the title as well. Punk didn't take the bait and the match was as good as expected. However, both competitors seemed to be holding back some as if they knew this rivalry would continue and they didn't want show all their cards. CM Punk eventually retained his title in match that was as competitive and exciting to watch
Winner and still WWE Champ: CM Punk
The People's Champ vs. The Leader of The Cenation. Never Before, Never Again(hopefully). This was the final match of the evening and it was....kinda clunky. The crowd was firmly behind The Rock. The Rock started off using actual wrestling holds which noticeably shocked Cena, Cena quickly shrugged off Rock's surprising grappling prowess and proceeded to dominate most of the match. Cena, despite using everything in his arsenal, and even stuff not in his arsenal, such as a top rope leg drop, could not out The Rock away and ran right into a Rock Bottom as he attempted to mockingly use the People's Elbow to lose match that does not signal the end to this rivalry that has already gone on too long.
Overall, I was rather disappointed in a Wrestlemania that really only delivered on 3 matches and featured bad singing performances from Flo Rida and Machine Gun Kelly(Who? Exactly.) and made the World Heavyweight Title look as important as the U.S and tag team titles, which means not very. While I may not be very happy about dropping the cash to see this PPV, I am happy that I learned to not ever waste money on a WWE PPV. With multiple rumors swirling that Brock Lesnar has signed a WWE contract I expect tomorrow night's Raw to be as exciting, if not more so, than Wrestlemania.
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