Last night WrestleMania celebrated it's 25th anniversary in Houston Texas. It was an all-around good WrestleMania, with not a lot of gimmick matches.
Let's recap the action from last night.
Michael Cole, Jim Ross, and Jerry "The King" Lawler are announcers.
Apparently Tazz's contract had expired, so the WWE just went with the three-man booth. They should have just gone with JR and Lawler. Having Cole there was absolutely pointless. He brought no qualities to WrestleMania and it would have been great to hear just JR and Lawler going back-and-forth like they used too.
After one of the Pussycat Dolls sang "America the Beautiful" we were greeted to our first match of the night.
The Money in the Bank ladder match: CM Punk, Kane, Mark Henry, Christian, Kofi Kingston, M.V.P., Finlay, and Shelton Benjamin were the competitors.
As usual this match was great. A lot of spectacular moves that would keep an average wrestling fan on the edge of their seats. Just a great match to start Wrestlemania.
CM Punk would come out victorious in the match. The second year in a row that he has won the MITB match
4 out of 5 starsKid Rock comes out to perform. This is the part when I grabbed some dinner.
25 Divas Battle Royal to Crown Miss WrestleMania: This match was completely useless. You cannot have a Battle Royal were opponents can go under or through the ropes to be eliminated. But I guess the WWE wanted this match to move at a quick paste.
This match did though provide some comic relief at the end. The Miss WrestleMania winner was none other than Santino dressed in drag. He said that his name was Santina, and that he was Santino's twin sister. This part saved this match and segment.
1 out of 5 stars3-on-1 Elimination Match: Chris Jericho vs. Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka and Ricky Steamboat with Ric Flair: This match wasn't that bad at all. The legends were pretty good except Snuka. "Superfly" looked too old in the ring. They should have substituted Snuka with Sgt. Slaughter.
Ricky Steamboat was the one who stole the match. He looked fantastic for being in his 50's. He didn't look old and most of his moves came with a lot of fluidity, which is rare for someone his age. Jericho still picked up the win.
3 out of 4 starsRic Flair came into the ring to do his thing, but was quickly put down by Jericho. Then Jericho called out Mickey Rourke who was sitting ringside.
There was about three minuets of uncomfortableness before Rourke finally stepped in the ring. He danced around the ring with Jericho before landing a left hook sending Jericho to the ground. Another pointless gimmick that was not played out well at all.
Extreme Rules Match: Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy: You knew at some point the WWE would have these two fighting. I am surprised this didn't happen sooner.
To give you some background into this fight, Matt Hardy turned heel and cost Jeff his WWE title. And how do all family members straighten out their problems? That's right they get in a squared circle and fight with chairs, tables, shop vac's, canes, trash cans, and ladders.
This was a great match, as you would expect from the Hardy's. The match ended with Jeff jumping off an ladder, missing Matt. Matt turned around and gave Jeff a Twist of Fate while Jeff's head was in a folding chair. Matt picked up the win. Really cool way to end a match.
4 out of 5 starsYou get to see Randy Orton preparing for his match in the locker room. Then they cut it back to JBL coming out for his match.
JBL on his way out to the ring makes fun of the Houston crowd and talks about how this will be the greatest day of his life.
Rey Mysterio comes out with a joker mask on. He looked flat out bizarre.
WWE Intercontinental Title Match: JBL vs. Rey Mysterio: After JBL hit Mysterio before the bell rang, Mysterio hit JBL. Then he set him up for the 6-1-9 and finished that with a big splash. The match in total lasted only :21 seconds.
While it was a short match is was funny to watch.
2 out of 5 stars, needed to be a little longer.
After the match, JBL sat in the middle of the ring. Then he got up and announced to the crowd that he quits. The crowd waves him goodbye.
After long introductions we get ready for the Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels match.
Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels: The last WWE five-star match ever given by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer was an Undertaker, Michaels match. It was the very first Hell in a Cell match. Well after this match, I think they both earned another five-star match.
This match was 30 minutes of pure goodness. The match started pretty slow, both men doing their normal things. But then action really started to get going.
Michaels attempted a Moonsault on Undertaker outside of the ring. Taker threw down Michaels and he hit the floor so hard that it hurt me. While Michaels is outside of the ring, Undertaker is going to attempts a dive. Michaels shoves the referee out of the way and shoves the cameraman into the way of Undertaker. Taker hits the cameraman and the floor hard. After Michaels gets the ref back in the ring, he starts giving Undertaker the 10-count. Undertaker barely makes back into the ring, setting up the most dramatic 10-minutes of wrestling that I have ever seen.
Both men go back-and-forth. Both men successfully hit their patent moves. Both men kick out of the 3-count. Finally at the end, Michaels attempts another Moonsault. Undertaker catches him and gives him the Tombstone piledriver. Undertaker is your winner and improves his WrestleMania win streak to 17-0. This match was an instant classic.
5 out of 5 starsWe get the two main events now. But after the the Undertaker, Michaels match any match would be a disappointment.
World Heavyweight Title Match: John Cena vs. Big Show vs. Edge: I have never been that big of fan of triple threat matches. Most of the time they are pointless and they can't end soon enough. This one was particularly bad because Big Show was involved. Big Show is like the Shawn Kemp of the WWE. He has all this skill but it has been wasted.
This match wasn't that bad. Both men did their things in the ring. Best part of the match was when Edge hit Vicki Guerrero with the Spear and knocked her off the ring apron.
Cena won the title by F.U.'ing Big Show, then F.U.'ing Edge on top of Big Show.
3 out of 5 starsUp next, the second main event.
WWE Title Match: Randy Orton vs. Triple H: Their was a twist in this match. If Triple H is DQ'd, he loses the match. This match was an all-around disappointment. There was such a great buildup to this match, that you would think this match would be great.
The match ended with Triple H nailing Orton with his sledge hammer after the ref was knocked out. He hit Orton a couple more of times, then finally gave him the pedigree.
Pretty disappointing way to end a great WrestleMania.
2 out of 5 starsAn all-around solid WrestleMania. WrestleMania 17 is still the best one that I have ever seen, but this one wasn't that bad. It gave us an classic match with Undertaker, Michaels and it also gave us the return of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Stone Cold was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame during the weekend. During the WrestleMania, Austin came out and did his thing. He drank some beers in the ring and drank a beer with JR. It was just great to see Stone Cold again, and reminisce about the old days.
Good Ole' JR One-LinersOf course would any WrestleMania would be complete without some Jim Ross one-liners? No, so here are a couple of gems from Jim Ross last night.
"They didn't land in a lazy-boy."- Talking about when Edge speared Big Show through the ring barricade.
"I am not driving tonight."- After he drank a beer with Stone Cold
"I just had an out-of-body experience."- Talking about Shawn Michaels kicking out of a Tombstone Piledriver.
"The world is watching a classic."- Talking about the Undertaker-Michaels match
"Broken chairs, broken tables."-Jerry Lawler
"Broken Brotherhood."- Jim Ross, talking about the Hardy-Hardy match
"That will affect the love triangle."- Talking about Big Show throwing Edge on the ropes right onto his anatomy.
