The 31 Days of WrestleMania

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 16- Review

WrestleMania 2000
From the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California
Attendance: 18,034, announced as 19,776 (PPV buys: 824,000)
​

Before we continue, let's compare this WrestleMania with the previous one. On WrestleMania XV, the action was VERY crazy, the action was a little lax, and the backstory was insane.

For this WrestleMania, the in-ring product was better, and WWF had a LOT of talent to show off... not including Austin and Undertaker (who were both out).

Here's the problem: Almost EVERY SINGLE MATCH was a tag-team match, or 3-way match. In fact, the ONLY singles match was a weird cat-fight between "The Kat" and Terri! WHY?!?

Best match: The Triangle Ladder Match (Almost every match also had some weird backstory. But here, WWF just told the Dudley Boys, the Hardy Boys, and Edge and Christian "Man, can you guys just do something with these ladders? Thanks!" And the results speak for themselves; it was a coming-out party for all 6 wrestlers.)

Worst match: Al Snow and Steve Blackman vs. Test and Albert (There were quite a few choices for this honor, but I'm going with this one. I mean, Al Snow and Mr. Blackman weren't too bad together; they didn't need some midget in a cheese outfit. And the tag-team "T&A" weren't good, either.)

Most pleasant surprise: Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle in a 2-fall match (Let me just explain what happens in this match: Angle is the European and IC champion, and he has to defend his belts in 2 straight "triple-threat" matches. Now go out there and just enjoy the action!)

Biggest disappointment: The Hardcore Battle Royal; Pete Rose (Tie) (I LOVED the Hardcore Battle Royal when I was younger, but the screw-job ending was a HUGE let-down after such a fun, chaotic match.
As for Pete Rose, here's his timeline at WrestleMania: At XIV, his segment with Kane was great. At XV, it was a good surprise to have him try to take revenge on Kane. Now at 2000, it's just plain embarrassing.)

Main event: Triple H defends the WWF Title over Big Show, Mike Foley, and The Rock (On the surface, this looks historic: For the first time ever, a heel champion actually SUCCEEDS at defending his title at WrestleMania.
That's where the fun ends. WHY does Vince always need to say "I'm the smartest man in the room" as he helps Triple H win. And the less said about the post-match shenanigans, the better.)

So really, this event was a "bi-polar" WrestleMania: A few great matches, but there are still some BIG holes. It was just surreal watching this today.
But it wasn't as surreal as watching WrestleMania X-7...

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

Kat and Terri in a catfight. Puppies!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 17- Setup

In January 2001, WWF's main competitors (WCW and ECW) were hurting, but still alive.

2 months later, right before WrestleMania X-7 in the Houston Astrodome, ECW would dissolve and WWF would buy WCW for only 2 million dollars! 2 MILLION DOLLARS!

http://oswreview.com/media/oswreview52/ Look. I'll let these guys explain everything, and come tomorrow we'll get to WrestleMania 17!

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 17- Review

WrestleMania X-Seven
From the Astrodome in Houston, TX
Attendance: 67,925 (PPV buys: 1,040,000... the first wrestling PPV to EVER hit a million buys)
​

Best Match: TLC II (Pro Wrestling Illustrated voted this match their "Match of the Year" in 2001. That alone says you NEED to watch this classic.)

Worst match: Chyna beats Ivory for the Woman's title (You know... not much about this card truly upsets me. So for this one, I'll look at in-ring content. And you know what, Chyna? You coulda at least let Ivory get SOME form of offense in.)

Most pleasant surprise: Shane McMahon vs. Vince McMahon; Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit (Tie) (For Angle vs. Benoit, WWF Creative just put those two together and... that was it. What a refreshing change!
As for the former, you could argue that Vince vs. Shane is the best "story-line" match of all time.)

Biggest disappointment: Triple H vs. Undertaker (These 2 were put together with 2 weeks to spare. So you'd think the WWF would just let these 2 fight at WrestleMania? Nope! These 2 would waste about 9 minutes outside of the ring! It was BORING!
[P.S: At least WWF allowed Triple H and Taker to try this match again a decade later.])

Main event: Steve Austin beats Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to win the WWF title (Once again, you can't go wrong with Austin vs. Rock. However, the heel-turn Austin did in this event continues to split fan's opinions to this very day.)

Other key notes: This was Paul Heyman's first PPV appearance in the WWF.
- Do you guys remember the visit to that military base WWF did at this event? If you do, find me a video of it.
- All but 1 WWF championship belt changed hands at this event. The lucky guy that got to retain? Chris Jericho.
- Funny story: The first couple of times I watched this WrestleMania, I skipped over the Gimmick Battle Royal. Then I found out Bobby Heenan was a commentator on that match, and now I can't get enough of this match.

Bottom line: One of the strongest WrestleMania's out there, and a great watch. And it tided me over until that awful "WCW/ECW Invasion" mess ended.

So after that mess, the WWF would move back to Toronto for WrestleMania X-8... with a few old faces joining the fun! That comes tomorrow...

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 18- Review

WrestleMania X-8 (From the Skydome in Toronto, Canada)
Attendance: 68,237 [a new record]
PPV buys: 840,000
​

Best Match: Hulk Hogan vs. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (For those of you who think "Aw, you're just going with the majority on this one", I'm not. Pro Wrestling Illustrated voted this epic showdown as "Match of the Year", and you just have to watch it once to understand why.)

Worst match: The Fatal-4-Way Tag Team elimination match (Sorry A.P.A, the Hardy's, the Dudley's and Billy and Chuck. This match just doesn't get me excited for some reason.
And by the way, WWF: I'm sure you were excited to have Saliva and Drowning Pool for WrestleMania 18. But did you REALLY had to have both bands perform TWICE on the show?! It just took away most of the fun for me.)

Biggest disappointment: Steve Austin vs. Scott Hall (Mind you, this was a good match. But for some reason, it just lags in quality compared to the other matches. Maybe Hall had something to do with it, I don't know.)

Most pleasant surprise: DDP vs. Christian for the European Title; the Hardcore Title bonaza (Tie)
(One thing you can say about this WrestleMania was that it started with a bang. First, RVD won the IC Title from William Regal. Then, Diamond Dallas Page [in his last BIG wrestling match of his in-ring career] gave us an entertaining encounter with "cry-baby" Christian.
As for the mess with the Hardcore Title, it was surprisely quite fun.)

Main event: Triple H beats Chris Jericho to win the WWF Title (I'll give Triple H a pass here; He was coming back from his first major quad injury, and WWF was riding the goodwill he was getting from fans. Plus, it's a pretty good match if you look hard enough.)

Other key notes: This was the last time the European and Hardcore Titles would be defended at a WrestleMania, as both belts would be retired later that summer.

This would be the highlight of WWF in 2002, as a lot of things went down. On the business front, the World Wildlife Fund won the rights to the "WWF" logo, and the WWE was born.
On the creative front, things were even crazier: The revival of the N.W.O stank up the joint (except when they bought back HBK), Steve Austin would leave citing "creative issues" and a deteriorating home-life, and the Rock was beginning his slow move to Hollywood.

Thankfully, WWE would solider on, as we move forward now to WrestleMania 19...

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 19- Setup


Remember this little film WWE made? I guarantee you that you'll get goosebumps watching it. As for the event itself, that comes tomorrow.

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 19- Review

WrestleMania 19
From SafeCo Field in Seattle, Washington
Attendance: A sell-out 54,097 (PPV buys: 560,000)
​

Best match: Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho (Apologies to the main event, but to me this was the more exciting match: A young man [Jericho] faces his idol [HBK], he loses a classic, but still gets the better of him afterwards.)

Guy most disappointed: Nathan Jones (Nothing on this event really disappointed me. Oh, I could have gone with the Miller Lite cat-fight girls, but I think they were just there for the comedy relief. And there's nothing wrong with that. So instead, I'll go with the guy who was the most disappointed on the show: Nathan Jones. He was supposed to make his in-ring debut with Undertaker, but then Vince got this letter:

Dear Vince McMahon, Stop.
My name is the Undertaker. Stop.
It's bad enough you're trying to call me
"Booger red", but listen up: Stop. You do NOT use a
WrestleMania to debut a new wrestler! Stop.

Sadly for Nathan, Vince listened to Taker this time.)

Worst match: Triple H vs. Booker T (Not really for the in-ring content, but for the build-up to this match. I mean, you paint Triple H as a "white supremacist" and you don't let Booker T get his revenge by beating him? This one was just a downer.)

Most pleasant surprise: Trish Stratus beats Jazz and Victoria for the Woman's Title; Steve Austin vs. the Rock (Tie) (I thoroughly enjoyed the triple-threat woman's title match, it's as simple as that. As for the latter, it was good to see Austin give us one more good match considering his medical problem before the event.)

Main event: Brock Lesnar defeats Kurt Angle to win the WWF Title (Just a great wrestling match. No more, no less.)

Other key notes: Limp Bizkit was at the show, and they performed "Crack Addict" for the first time ever at a live show. Sadly, the album it was on Results May Vary did not do well.
- As we all know, this was the last match Steve Austin had in the WWF. But Kurt Angle would also be out following WrestleMania, as he would have neck surgery right after the event.
- For those of you who want to mock Hulk Hogan vs. McMahon, just think of it like Hulk vs. Andre: You're not here to see a technical tour-de-force, you're here to see the spectacle.

So we have seen 3 rock-solid WrestleMania's in a row! Would that trend continue at WrestleMania 20? We'll find out tomorrow!

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 20- Review

WrestleMania XX "Where it All Begins Again"
From Madison Square Garden
Attendance: A sell-out 18,500 [PPV buys: 885,000]
​

Best Match: See the "Raw" main event

Worst match: Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg (And no, I'm not "going with the majority on this one". I mean, when a Hulk Hogan impersonator in the audience gets more cheers than you do in the ring, you're doing something wrong!
Hmmm... Maybe it's because the fans knew both guys were leaving...)

Most pleasant surprise: The Playboy Evening Gown match (This one has everything for the male fans. If you like hot girls fighting in underwear, you'll like this match. And if you're a wrestling purist, all 4 girls did a few good moves here, so you'll like it too.)

Biggest disappointment: Both Fatal-4-Way Tag Team Title matches (That's right, BOTH of them. Neither one got me excited, and it wouldn't have hurt to have at least ONE of the titles change hands.)

Main events: Smackdown!: Eddie Guerrero defends the WWE Title against Kurt Angle (I have nothing bad to say about this match, as Eddie has his "WrestleMania Moment".)
Raw: Chris Benoit wins the World Heavyweight Title over Triple H and Shawn Michaels (This is easily my favorite match of the show. And with both Guerrero and Benoit as world champions, wrestling fans thought that they would be the future of the WWE.
Sadly, by 2008 they'd both be gone...)

Other key notes: We know what happened to Lesnar after his match here, but what about Goldberg? Well, at the moment he hosts Garage Mahal on the DIY network, he acted in a few movies of variable quality, and right now he does a few appearances on the Legends of Wrestling events.
- In the middle of the show, Jesse Ventura comes out to interview Donald Trump at ring-side, who said he would support Ventura if he ran for president. Omens...
- The WWE Hall of Fame re-started it's induction process at this event, inducting legends like Harley Race, Bobby Heenan, and... Pete Rose (somewhat passable).
- As for the Kane vs. Undertaker match, once again we were there for the spectacle (Undertaker returning to the "Dead Man" gimmick, thankfully). It doesn't matter what the in-ring action was like.

So that's it for WrestleMania 20. And while some people didn't like it (SLAM! Wrestling, for instance), I think it still holds up. But WWE was in need of new stars, and before WrestleMania 21 they found their next 2 "money-spitters": John Cena and Dave Batista.
Their ascension will be seen tomorrow...

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 21- Review

WrestleMania 21
From the Staples Center in Los Angeles
Attendance: A sell-out 20,193 (PPV buys: 980,000)
​

Best match: Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels (Once again, HBK is on this part of the list as he and Angle have the classic we all expected.
P.S: You could argue that after this event, Kurt Angle began his long, painful descent.)

Biggest disappointment: John Bradshaw Layfield vs. John Cena (Years later, JBL said he was disappointed that his match with Cena wasn't the main event. And it clearly showed; this was easily the worst of the 2 world title matches.)

Worst match: Big Show vs. Akebono, Trish Stratus vs. Christy Hemme (Tie) (Really, WWE?! You put the Big Show in a sumo outfit for THIS?! A bad sumo match against a guy we've haven't heard of before [or since, come to think of it]? Another one of these "brilliant ideas" WWE had that didn't work.
As for Christy, she tried to apologize to Mr. McMahon after her match against Trish. That alone should tell you how bad it was.)

Most pleasant surprise: The Money in the Bank Ladder Match (Be honest, everyone. When Chris Jericho came up with this match back in 2005, did ANYONE think it would become so successful that it's now an PPV event?! And when Edge won this great match [and cashed it in 9 months later against a bloody Cena], a new WWE tradition was born.)

Main event: Dave Batista beats Triple H, wins the World Heavyweight Title (Happily, this match was a lot better than we expected. And also when Batista won, he ended Triple H's first "reign of terror" [from 2002-2005].)

Other key notes: Eugene and Muhammad Hassan had their WrestleMania moments here... before good ol' Hulk Hogan came out.
- Celebrities at this show was Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, Billy Gibbons, Marg Helgenberger [from CSI], and some guy named Arquette.
- Hall of Fame inductees on this WrestleMania are Hogan, Roddy Piper (who had a Piper's Pit with Steve Austin at this event, by the way), Jimmy Hart (another good choice), Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, Bob Orton Jr., and Paul Orndorff.
- This was the WrestleMania where the Undertaker's winning streak started to become a BIG deal. Keep that in mind as we continue onward (By the way, his match with Orton was pretty good, and his RKO in this match was maybe the best I've ever seen).

With Cena and Batista starting a new generation, we'll move on tomorrow to WrestleMania 22!

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 22- Review

WrestleMania 22 "Big Time" (...I kinda liked that title.)
From the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois
Attendance: 14,300, announced as 17, 159 (PPV buys: 930,000)
​

Best match: Edge vs. Mick Foley in a Hardcore match (Picking a winner for this category was HARD. But I'm going with the one that everyone seems to remember, the one where Edge proved he would take thumbtacks and flaming tables to get over.)

Worst match and Biggest disappointment: Undertaker vs. Mark Henry (You might have thought I would'a gone with the "Playboy Pillow Fight", or the Boogeyman. But here's the thing: I remembered how those matches went. This one... I've got nothing.
P.S: This was the last bad match Undertaker would have at a WrestleMania...)

Most pleasant surprises: HBK vs. Vince McMahon, Trish Stratus vs. Mickie James (Tie) (In the "30 Years of WrestleMania" book, Shawn said WrestleMania 22 was "a WrestleMania off for me". Really?! From the way you and Mr. McMahon looked in this match, I couldn't see it, so well done.
As for the latter, it's maybe one of the best woman's matches in WWE history! Great build-up, good action in the ring, and Mickie got to win.)

Main events: Smackdown: Rey Mysterio beats Kurt Angle and Randy Orton to win the World Heavyweight Title (Nothing really bad to say about this, as Rey wins one for the late Eddie Guerrero despite Randy calling him a "charity case". And if WWE had booked Rey properly in the months to come, he would'a have a GOOD title reign.)
Raw: WWE Champion John Cena defends against Triple H (True story: One of my friends had taped WrestleMania 22, and his other friend let slip that Cena won the main event. But when I watched it, I was still surprised with how it ended. Why? Because Cena actually got HHH to tap out. I still remember that part to this day.)

Other key notes: Vince McMahon got one foot in the door of returning to Bret Hart's good graces, as he inducted Bret into the Hall of Fame at this event.
- Other inductees included "Sensational" Sherri, Verne Gagne ( ), Gene Okerland (brilliant), the Blackjacks (Acceptable), William Perry (Really?!), and Eddie Guerrero.
- The crowd for this WrestleMania may be one of the best WrestleMania crowds ever, as they cheered for whoever they wanted, WWE booking plans be damned.
- Rob Van Dam had his "WrestleMania moment" here, as he won Money in the Bank. And 2 months later, he cashed it in at "ECW One Night Stand 2006" against Cena to win the WWE title. Sadly, it would be all down-hill afterwards...

By the way, if you hate WrestleMania in the tiny arenas, you're in luck. Starting tomorrow, we begin the WrestleMania stadium tour, starting with WrestleMania 23!

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 23- Review

WrestleMania 23 "All Grown Up"
From Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan
Attendance: 74,687, announced as 80,103 (PPV buys: 1,188,800)
​

Best Match: The Money in the Bank Ladder Match; the Main Event (Tie) (One thing you can say about this WrestleMania is that it started with a bang, as I loved the opening match. And when Mr. Kennedy won (since Edge was unable to do so due to injury), John Bradshaw said he would be "the future of wrestling".
As it turns out, Kennedy would be a world champion... just not in WWE.
As for the main event, I'll get to that later.)

Worst match: Melina vs. Ashley for the Woman's Title (I'm giving Great Khali vs. Kane a pass; I think that match was made just to get Khali over. But the Woman's Title match, I can't defend. This was when woman's matches on WWE were "bathroom break" matches, and it showed here.)

Biggest disappointment: (The ECW New Breed vs. ECW Originals) (I KNEW there was a reason I never watched WWE's version of ECW. There was "December to Dismember", Abraham Washington, and the awful "New Breed" faction. Needless to say, I was let down by this match.)

Most pleasant surprise: The buy-rate (Mock the "Battle of the Billionaires" all you want, but look at the buy-rate for the "Hair vs. Hair" Trump vs. McMahon match. So what if more people wanted Trump to lose his hair? McMahon may have lost his hair, but he made a butt-load of cash for it. So there.)

Main events: Smackdown! Undertaker beats Dave Batista, wins the World Heavyweight Title (Before this match, Batista did everything he could to create a more competative feel for an Undertaker WrestleMania match. Listening to the crowd reaction for this match, it worked.)
Raw: WWE Champion John Cena over Shawn Michaels (Say this about John Cena: No matter how many fans scream and boo at him, he is unflappable. This match against HBK is a perfect example.)

Other key notes: Hey, WWE! Bonus points to you for bringing Aretha Franklin back to Detroit 20 years after WrestleMania 3. That was a nice touch.
- On the DVD, there was a montage about the premiere of the WWE-produced movie "The Condemned" (featuring Steve Austin). Did it do well? No, it lost about $15,700,000. Maybe THAT's why most WWE movies are direct-to-DVD now.
- Hall of Fame inductees this year were Dusty Rhodes, Curt Hennig, Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross, Mr. Fuji, Nick Bockwinkel, the Wild Samoans, and the Sheik (all worthy inductees, so well done WWE).

Next up, we're going back to Florida for WrestleMania 24!

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 24- Setup

Originally, WrestleMania 24 was going to be in the Amway Arena in Orlando. But when Vince realized there were only around 14,000 seats for the event, he changed his mind and went to the bigger Citrus Bowl. A Citrus Bowl, by the way, that was old and tired.
But you wouldn't know it looking at the job WWE did in changing the venue for this event.

The other interesting thing entering this event is the Big Show. Originally he was going to be in a tag-team match with Floyd "Money" Mayweather against Batista and Rey Mysterio. But when Rey got hurt, Floyd said "Ill take on the Big Show, no problem". WHAT?! He doesn't know anything about wrestling! Oh, this is gonna be a disaster.

Or WAS it? Find out tomorrow!

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 24- Review

WrestleMania 24 "The Biggest WrestleMania Under the Sun"
From the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 74,635 (PPV buys: 1,024,000)
​

Best Match: HBK vs. Ric Flair; the Smackdown! Main Event (Tie) (For the former, the emotions alone make it a must-watch as Michaels gives Flair a great farewell. Or at least, a farewell to wrestling in WWE, because Flair would be in TNA come 2010.
As for the latter, that'll come later...)

Worst match: Chavo Guerrero vs. Kane for the ECW Title (I know this match only lasted 11 seconds, but that's not the point. The point is this: At this time, fans were already thinking ECW is the WWE "third-tier" show, and this insult didn't help matters.)

Most pleasant surprise: Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweather (Yeah, winning the IC Title at WrestleMania 28 was good, but to most fans THIS match is the Big Show's "WrestleMania Moment". And give Mayweather credit; he and his entourage played their roles brilliantly.)

Biggest disappointment: Batista vs. Umaga (To be honest, I expected a little something more epic in this match-up of "brand-supremacy".)

Lame comedy skit: (Starting at WrestleMania 22, WWE started doing these weird "promotional sketches" where someone [or something] gets promoted in a weird way. The first one with Booker T and his wife at 22 was pretty good. The next year, both Trump and McMahon did one.
Now here in Orlando, Snoop Dogg does something with Doc Gallows [as Festus], Santino, and a ring bell. Look on the bright side, Santino: This bit was better than what you did next year!)

Main events: Raw: WWE Champion Randy Orton defends against HHH and Cena (I'm giving WWE a bit of credit for this one. This whole "Age of Orton" thing wasn't really working... until this night as Randy stuns the WWE Universe by beating Cena and Triple H in his title match, as Orton gets his "WrestleMania moment".
P.S: To me, this was the highlight of me liking Randy Orton, as he started to fall out of favor REAL quickly afterwards...)
Smackdown!: Undertaker defeats Edge, wins the World Heavyweight Title (True story: Me and my brother were MST'ing this WrestleMania one day, and we tried to make fun of Taker vs. Edge. Thing is, we just couldn't. I guess that was why it was the last match on the card.)

Other key notes: Snoop Dogg wasn't the only celebrity at WrestleMania 24. There was also Kim Kardashian, John Legend, and Raven Symone (who gave a shout-out to some Make-A-Wish kids in the audience).
- To me, the 2 most rock-solid WWE Hall of Fame classes are 2007's and 2008's. Last year we had Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, and Dusty Rhodes just to name a few. And for this year there was Flair, Rocky Johnson, and Gordon Solie just to name a few.

Coming up tomorrow, the sliver anniversary of WrestleMania!

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 25- Review

WrestleMania 25
From Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas
Attendance: 61,661; announced as 72,744 (PPV buys: 960,000)
​

Best Match: Chris Jericho vs. Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka, and Ricky Steamboat (This match had EVERYTHING! Legends, a soon-to-be legend defeating them all, and Mickey Rourke! What more could you want?)

Worst match: The Diva's Battle Royal (On the live show, fans got to see Kid Rock perform before this match. Thankfully, you won't get that on the DVD. Partly because of copyright issues, but mostly because it was terrible.
Oh yeah, the Battle Royal. It was pretty bad, too. And Santina Marella as the winner? That's the best WWE could come up with?)

Most pleasant surprise: See the Smackdown main event.

Biggest disappointment: See the Raw main event.

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The real Best Match: Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels ( Oh man. I REALLY had you guys thinking I didn't like this match, didn't ya?)

Main events: Smackdown!: John Cena defeats Edge and Big Show, wins the World Heavyweight Title (Despite this match following Taker vs. HBK, the crowd was still into this title match. And (of course) Cena wins it.)
Raw: WWE Champion Triple H over Randy Orton (This one is just a shame, 'cause I thought the build-up to this main-event was pretty darn good. But by the time Hunter and Randy came out, the crowd was gone [and you can blame Cena lifting 700 pounds over his head for that one].
True story: My brother and I were MST'ing this PPV, and while watching this match we got so bored, we periodically switched over to CNN for the hype about the royal wedding. Oh well, at least it got us through to the end.)

Okay, so I had a laugh at your expense. But tomorrow, things will get back to being serious.

On January 2010, Bret Hart returned to WWE TV for the first time in over 12 years. That alone says "Watch WrestleMania 26, 'cause we'll have something planned for him". And that something would be Bret trying to get revenge on Mr. McMahon.
So, did it work?

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 26- Review

WrestleMania 26
From University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona
Attendance: 61,093, announced as 72,219 (PPV buys: 885,000)
​

Best Match: See the Main Event

Worst match and Best disappointment: Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon (The build-up to this match was great. The pre-match antics were great. So WHY THE HELL DIDN'T VINCE DO ANYTHING IN THIS MATCH? I watched this match only once, and at the 8-minute mark I was BORED. This was the best Bret and Vince could do?!
Hmm... Maybe they could have had Shawn Michaels be the special referee for the match. That would have livened things up.)

Most pleasant surprise: Triple H vs. Sheamus (Yeah, Triple H won, but at least we got to see Sheamus show off his strong points against a quality opponent.)

Lame comedy bit: (When it comes to lame advertisement skits, WrestleMania 26 had a doozy. It had Santino [again], a bunch of divas [including Vickie Guerrero], Gene Okerland, Mae Young, and some Slim Jim's. You just have to watch it to believe it.)

Title matches: Smackdown!: World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho over Edge (Just a good title match. Shame that Edge didn't get to win, but at least he got to spear Jericho afterwards.)
Raw: John Cena defeats Dave Batista, wins the WWE Title (Okay, now this is getting a little irritating. Cena pulls out a win... again, and then defeats Dave 2 more times to send him packing from WWE.)

Main event: Undertaker beats Shawn Michaels to end HBK's career (This match was quite different from last year's match, but it was still awesome. For HBK, it was the perfect way to go.)

Other key notes: Remember Edge spearing Jericho? 5 days after this event, Jack Swagger (who won the "Money in the Bank" match) took advantage as he beat Jericho for his first (and only) world title.
- Is it just me, or was 2010's Hall of Fame class the weakest one ever? The class had Ted Dibiase, Stu Hart, a grand shout-out to Gorgeous George, Antonio Inoki, Mad Dog Vachon, Wendi Richter, and Bob Ueker. Hmmm... maybe it IS just me.
- Remember Yoshi Tatsu? He won a battle royal that took place before the PPV started. When I researched him I intially thought that WWE had neglected yet another Japanese talent. Turns out this win is currently his biggest highlight of his career! Honestly, I was shocked.

So how do we quantify this WrestleMania? Well, there was a few mis-steps, but skip those spots and you're good to go (much like other WrestleMania's of this era).
Case in point: WrestleMania 27.

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 27- Setup

On Valentine's Day 2011, a cosmic event took place. This was when Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson returned to a WWE ring after a 7-year hiatus. And immediately, he went right after John Cena.
To be fair, the discourse that took place between these two before WrestleMania 27 was grand, as both Rock and Cena went back and forth. But 2 people didn't like it.

Those 2 were CM Punk and Mike Mizanin. For Punk, he thought that he should be in the main event as WWE champion. That frustation would boil over later that summer. As for Miz, he was the WWE Champion going against Cena in Atlanta.
And then there was the guy NOBODY liked: Michael Cole. At this time he was at his absolute worst, and Jerry Lawler was hoping to make him shut the f--k up.

Meanwhile, concerned about his many injuries (and to a lesser extent, Brodus Clay), Edge passed a strength test before facing Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight title. But after-
Okay, no spoilers. Tomorrow we'll touch on WrestleMania 27 proper.

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 27- Review (Trust me, this one's not gonna be pretty)

WrestleMania 27
From the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA
Attendance: 61,617, announced as 71,617 (PPV buys: 1,124,000)
​

Best match: Triple H vs. Undertaker (Man... Who would have thought I'd pick 4 straight Undertaker matches for this category? And Jim Ross coming back to call the match with Lawler adds a nice old-school feel.)

Worst match: The Corre vs. Kofi Kingston, Kane, Big Show, and Santino Marella (You'd thought I'd go with the mixed-tag match, right? Well, at least THAT match had people interested thanks to "Snooki". This match lasted 2 MINUTES! Not acceptable.)

Most pleasant surprise: Cody Rhodes vs. Rey Mysterio (Trust me on this one: All you have to do is mute the commentary [which is awful] and you got yourself a nice, fast-paced match.)

Biggest disappointment: Michael Cole vs. Jerry Lawler (Again, the build-up to this match was actually pretty good. Sadly, even with Steve Austin there it was a plodding match for the majority of the 14-minute run time. And the reverse-decision just sealed it's fate as a disappointment.)

Lame comedy skits: (That's right, everyone! WWE had the "brilliant idea" to have not one, not two, but THREE lame skits at WrestleMania! First, we had the Rock "helping" Snoop Dogg find new talent. In this skit we had William Regal rapping, Yoshi Tatsu butchering "We Will Rock You", and Zack Ryder singing "Friday", just to name a few.
For the second one, we had the Rock [again] doing something with Mae Young. 'Nuff said.
And finally, the Rock does something with his "#1 fan" Pee Wee Herman. For god's sake, WWE! Couldn't you let the planned Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus replace 2 of these comedy catastrophes?)

Main event: WWE Champion Mike Mizanin over John Cena (Listen, John Cena. I know you're a nice guy, and you wouldn't INTENTIONALLY ruin someone's career. But you ruined Umaga in 2007, you almost ruined Great Khali, you ruined Batista, you ruined Damien Sandow, and you ruined Wade Barrett.
Here in Atlanta, we got awesome introductions for both you and the Miz. And when you 2 fought to a double count-out, I thought "Man! WWE must have a lot of balls to end a WrestleMania main event like that."
And then the Rock came out and re-started the match. And yes, Miz got to win. But once Cena and Rock whipped his butt, it was all over for Mr. Mizanin.)

Other key notes: When Shawn Michaels joined the Hall of Fame in 2011, the people joining him was Abdullah the Butcher (Great), the Road Warriors/Legion of Doom (Another good one), Bob Armstrong (some old-school guy), and Tammy Sytch (AKA Sunny).

So in my opinion, of all the modern-day WrestleMania's (2005-today), this one is the worst of the bunch. At least at the end, we knew what the Main Event for the next WrestleMania: The Rock vs. John Cena. And tomorrow, we'll see how it went!


(By the way, I'm not acknowledging Drew Carey as a "Hall of Famer". Please do the same, folks!)

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 28- Review

WrestleMania 28 "Once In a Lifetime"
From Sun Life Stadium in Miami, Florida
Attendance: 78,363 (PPV buys: A whopping 1,253,000)
​

Best match: Undertaker vs. Triple H in a "Hell in a Cell" match (Dammit! This is the 5th straight time a Undertaker match is on this part of a review! I guess when you combine 3 of the greatest of all time [and throw in Taker kicking out of 2 straight finishing moves], a great match is a gimme.)

Worst match: Randy Orton vs. Kane (No, I won't go with the 18-second match Sheamus had with Bryan. Because that match would turn out to be a blessing in disguise. After that match, Daniel's fans got REALLY fed up and started the "Daniel Bryan movement", which would culminate at WrestleMania 30.
Instead, I'll go with Orton vs. Kane. 'Cause it was just plain boring.)

Biggest disappointment: Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus (That being said, Orton vs. Kane did go 11 minutes. At the very least, WWE could have let Daniel get in some moves before he lost.)

Most pleasant surprise: Maria Menounos, CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho (Tie) (For the latter, I didn't really know what to expect from this match. Turns out WWE just let Punk and Jericho go, and that was enough for the fans [Although a small part of me wanted to see the referee try to DQ Punk just to see what would happen].
As for the former, it was good to see Maria doing a good job in the ring [And it was a hell of a lot better than that whole Diva recruitment video WWE showed before the match].)

Lame comedy skits: (Two more promotional skits ahoy! First, we had Santino [again], Mike Foley, and a captain from "Deadliest Catch" eating crab legs. I didn't get it.
As for the other one, it was a little bit better as Flo Rida just destroyed Heath Slater.)

Main event: (...Come on! You know what it is already; WWE was hyping the crap out of it for the past 12 months! And Rock vs. Cena was... actually pretty damn good.)

Other key notes: Also on this event, a 10-man tag-team "Winner runs Raw and Smackdown" match took place between Team Teddy Long and Team John Laurinaitis. Once John's team won, Teddy left WWE television soon after. Sadly, Laurinaitis was also sent packing 3 months later.
- Hall of Fame inductees for this year include Yokozuna, Ron Simmons, Mil Mascaras, Mike Tyson, Mr. Adam Copeland, and a special shout-out to the Four Horsemen. Altogether, another awesome class.

So, there you have it. Another WrestleMania with a few blemishes, but altogether a solid show. And it lives on in history, thanks to the once-in-a-lifetime encounter between Cena and...

Wait, what? John Cena faced Dwayne Johnson again at WrestleMania? WHY, WWE? WHY?!

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 29- Review

WrestleMania 29
From MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ
Attendance: 80,676 (PPV buys: 1,054,000)
​

Best Match: Undertaker vs. CM Punk (The build-up to this match was pretty awful, but ONCE AGAIN an Undertaker WrestleMania match delivers!)

Most pleasant surprise: See the Main Event.

Worst match: Hmm... Actually, none of the matches on this card were terrible.

Biggest disappointment: Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger (That being said, I don't think Swagger should have deserved this title shot, so I didn't care for this one.)

Lame comedy skit: (Thankfully, there was only 1 skit in this show, and it was the commentary teams playing with some new WWE action figures. Other than that, it was mostly support pieces for the state of New Jersey in the wake of Sandy.)

Main event: John Cena defeats Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, wins the WWE Title (I groaned when I found out Cena vs. Rock was headlining WrestleMania... again. And then I watched the match. And you know what? Their 2nd encounter is even better than the first! To be honest, I was shocked.)

Other key notes: In the 9 months leading up to this event, I was SO scared that bad weather was going to ruin everything. But once again, good luck was on WWE's side as it was nippy, but sunny.
- Remember Fandango? After he had his "WrestleMania moment" against Jericho, his theme music would go on to chart on the UK Music charts. But sadly, WWE killed him dead soon afterwards.
- For the Hall of Fame this year, a REAL shocker took place: Bruno Sammartino, who used to HATE Vince McMahon, was inducted. I thought Vince was going to wait until Bruno was dead to do that.
- As for the others in the class of 2013, we had Mick Foley, Booker T, Donald Trump (Really?), Trish Stratus, and the one and only Bob Backlund.

Tomorrow, we move on to New Orleans, where Dave Batista returned to win the WWE World Heavyweight...
Wait wait wait... That didn't happen?

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 30- Setup

By the summer of 2013, Daniel Bryan was finally given a chance to grab the brass ring. And so at SummerSlam, he defeated John Cena to take the WWE Title... only to have Triple H ruin the moment and basically hand the title to Randy Orton. So over the next 2 months, Randy and Daniel would feud with Triple H and his wife Stephanie pulling the strings.
(By the way, I think that during September 2013 and WrestleMania 30, Randy Orton had the best run of his career as a corporate puppet champion.)

Once that feud ended, WWE went ahead with their original plans for WrestleMania 30: Dave Batista would return, challenge Randy Orton, and win the title. Just one teeny, tiny, problem: The fans still wanted Daniel Bryan. Here's how it went for them:

Mid September: "Come on, Daniel! Keep the title away from that bozo Orton!"
Survivor Series: "Man, this Big Show vs. Orton feud SUCKS! Daniel Bryan (clap clap, clap clap clap)! Daniel Bryan...)
TLC 2013: "Wow! That title-unification match was awesome! Now let's see Daniel go after Orton again!"
Beginning of 2014: "UGH! WHY are they putting Bryan in the Wyatt family?!?"
January 13th, 2014: "HOORAY! Daniel's out of the Wyatt family! He'll win the Royal Rumble match! DANIEL BRYAN (clap clap, clap clap clap)! DANIEL BRYAN...
Right after the Royal Rumble: "ARRRRRRRRRGGGHHHHHH! DANIEL BRYAN! DANIEL BRYAN! DANIEL..."

Finally, WWE had enough of the chants, and made plans to get Bryan into the title match. He was already slated to face Triple H, but the title match would now be a triple-threat. And so, thanks to a great fan take-over segment, Bryan vs. HHH was made into a "play-in" game for the triple-threat.

Tomorrow, I'll bet the emotions will flow as we review WrestleMania 30! Okay, did I forget anything, Undertaker? What's that? You're fighting Brock Lesner? Ah, you'll be fine...