Wrestlemania XXVI Recap

Here are the results from last night's Wrestlemania.

- Yoshi Tatsu won a 26 man battle royal in the dark match
- WWE Unified Tag Team Champions ShoMiz (The Big Show & The Miz) defeated R-Truth & - John Morrison to retain their titles when Show pinned Morrison
- Randy Orton defeated Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes in a triple threat match when he pinned DiBiase
- Jack Swagger won the Money In The Bank ladder match
- Triple H defeated Sheamus
- Rey Mysterio defeated CM Punk, so Mysterio does not have to join the Straight Edge Society
- Bret Hart defeated Vince McMahon in a no holds barred match (Vince made it a lumberjack match, claimed to have paid off Bret's family, and brought out the Hart Dynasty and all of Bret's surviving siblings as the lumberjacks. Bret revealed that they told him and agreed so Vince would pay them in advance.)
- World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho defeated Edge to retain his title (After the match, - Edge speared Jericho off the announcers' tables through the barricade)
- Alicia Fox, Vickie Guerrero, Michelle McCool, Layla, & Maryse defeated Beth Phoenix, Eve Torres, Gail Kim, Kelly Kelly, & Mickie James when Guerrero pinned Kelly
- John Cena defeated WWE Champion Batista by submission with the STF to win the title
- The Undertaker defeated Shawn Michaels after a jumping tombstone piledriver to retire him

My instant reaction to Wrestlemania XXVI was meh. I thought the show was very disappointing. One of the worst Wrestlemania's that I can remember watching. Then I started thinking about the show more and thought there were factors why this Wrestlemania felt disappointing. Then I re-watched the entire card again and I can point to several factors why this show felt like a disappointment.

Lack of Crowd Energy: Maybe because the early matches were awful maybe because the crowd noise didn't translate on TV until the Cena-Batista match but the lack of crowd energy sucked the energy out of the entire card. I felt like I was watching your average Raw show. When the crowd energy doesn't translate onto TV it sucks the life out of the matches.

Lack of Jim Ross: I'm sorry, but Wrestlemania isn't the same without Good Ole JR. Jim Ross has been out of action since October with another bout of Bells Palsy. So last night Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, and Matt Striker did the announcing for Wrestlemania. Lawler seemed lost without JR, Cole screams during the matches no matter what, and Matt Striker isn't experienced enough at announcing to be calling a Wrestlemania. It just didn't feel like a Wrestlemania without Jim Ross.

Lack of Chemistry Between Edge and Chris Jericho: I along with many others, thought this match was going to bring the house down. You have both tremendous in-ring performers battling it out against each other. Only one problem though, the chemistry was off. There was just something off during this entire match. Either both guys weren't feeling it or they were both concerned about Edge's previous leg injury that he came back too early from? Then the match ended with an thud. The refs was knocked out, Jericho hit Edge with the belt and then the Codebreaker and the match ended Jericho retains. Edge speared Jericho off the announcers table after the match, but it was way too late the crowd wasn't feeling it and neither was I. The disappointment of this match might have ruined the night for a lot of wrestling fans.

Expectations: I don't know what I was expecting between the No Holds Barred match between Bret Hart-Vince McMahon. Maybe I was expecting McMahon to beat the living hell of Hart early, then Bret coming back in a fury to beat the living hell out of McMahon and winning the match. This didn't happen. At the beginning of the match McMahon changed the stipulations. He said the match would feature Lumberjacks and a special guest referee and those people would be the Hart family. Then Bret turned the tables on Vince and said the Hart family would always side with Bret. Then you know what happens from there. This match turned into a huge squash match featuring Bret beating the living hell out of McMahon.

These are just some of the aspects of last nights Wrestlemania that made the show feel disappointing. There was though some aspects of the show that made this a fantastic show.

Hindsight 20/20: After sleeping a night, I have no idea what I was expecting between McMahon and Hart. One guy is eligible to collect Social Security and the other guy suffered a stroke 8 years ago. Also didn't everyone only want to see McMahon get the crap beat out of him by Hart? That's exactly what happened. McMahon was absolutely squashed in this match, making a lot of people happy.

Cena vs. Batista: A highly entertaining match that I didn't think both guys were capable of. Cena's Air Force Drill Team entrance was one of the coolest entrances ever. They each hit their spots and there was a least a couple false finishes. Both guys were surprisingly athletic and the crowd finally picked up their energy level. This was a really good match.

Quote of the Night: During the terrible Diva's Tag match, Vickie Guerrero attempted a Frog Splash in honor of her husband Eddie. Only she didn't quite get all of it which prompted Michael Cole to call that move a "Hog Splash." High comedy I tell you. This match between the Diva's prompted the Brando Corollary: something said or done that is truly awful is actually quite funny.

Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels: What else can be said about this match? It was the main event and it lived up to that status. Undertaker kept his Wrestlemania streak alive by pinning Michaels and effectively ending his career. I really don't know if this match was as good as last year's match between Undertaker vs. Michaels. Both matches featured false finishes and both matches featured Undertaker getting destroyed out of the ring. This year, Michaels landed a Moonsault onto a prone Undertaker on the announcers table. It was a great spot that made this match even better. This match was fast paced match that saw the Undertaker dominate the majority of it. It had a fantastic ending which included the Undertaker and Michaels shaking hands at the end with Michaels crying after he left the ring.

All in all, this was a great Wrestlemania. This is why I didn't post anything about the event until I slept. While Wrestlemania had a couple of dull moments (which Wrestlemania hasn't had dull moments?) it was saved in the end by the Cena-Batista and Undertaker-Michaels match. In the end, I have to give this Wrestlemania a B.