Official Wrestlemania XXV Thread: 4/5/09

This year's Mania sucked really bad.

God the wwe should be embarrassed.



I wonder how many buys it will get.

It deserves to get a low #.

Now that I think about it, I was pissed that the match was just.....boring.

If you saw the video package after Mania Triple H missed the punt by a mile.

Alright, so without holding anything back - here it goes.

First of all, at exactly 7pm, Time Warner Cable decided to shoot me an onscreen message that said they could not complete my order, after I had watched the pre-show fine. I called them and was on hold until 7:40, at which point I refused to pay for the show. The guy told me he would do everything he could to not put the charge through, and he gave me the event on all TVs in the house. Big whoop.

Needless to say, I missed Money in the Bank.

I have however, gone back and watched the majority of it. I thought it was easily the best build Money in the Bank match in a while, so I was really excited to see how it turned out. From what I've seen, it looked like it was an excellent match. Seems like everyone really pulled out all the stops and made it an incredible opener. Odd to see CM Punk get the win, but it could have been much, much worse. Interested in seeing where they go from here.

The Divas Battle Royal was, for the most part, a mess. King, JR and Cole had all they could do to keep the divas straight, so it just became clustered and confusing. Santino winning was hilarious, I have no problem with that. I just wish he would have gotten on the mic as himself afterward. Everything is better with a little Santino.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Legends match. Steamboat had an incredible showing against Jericho, and Chris sold everything incredibly well. This was certainly the sleeper match of the night, I was shocked to say the least. I can't tell you how happy I was to see Jericho win - it would have looked horrible had he lost. WWE booked it exactly as I was hoping they would, including post-match. Rourke looked horrible, but the whole segment played out perfectly as it was supposed to. Great stuff here by WWE.

Hardy vs. Hardy was just what we expected - a spot fest that told an excellent story. Both guys left it all in the ring and it really showed, a stand up performance by the both of them. The spots were innovative, original, and sometimes downright shocking. I absolutely loved the finish, I thought it was played out perfectly and I was totally shocked that Matt got the win, but I loved it. Matt definitely deserves more credit than he gets, and a win against the more popular brother at Wrestlemania is definitely a way to get it.

The Intercontinental Title match was a joke, but I understand the booking. Rey's Joker get up was ridiculous. JBL played his role perfectly, although I have to admit I genuinely felt sorry for him after the match, Hopefully this really isn't the way he's going to go out, I think he deserves a better send off than that. I can't complain that Rey is the Intercontinental Champion, though. He's been working his ass of lately and that is a perfect place for him to be.

Next up we have, what will undoubtedly be a match of the year candidate, as we all expected. From their respective attires, to the layout of the match, it was perfect. The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels put on an absolute clinic. I expected the match to be great, but not quite as great as it was. Whoever the agent was for this match deserves a pat on the back, though I'm sure HBK and Taker had a lot to do with it. It played out flawlessly like an Oscar winning movie. Just a perfect example of everything wrestling should be today. The drama, the intensity, the near falls and false finishes, all leading up to a perfect true finish. The veterans stole the show once again, The match lived up to every bit of its hype, and I hope to hell they receive some nice bonuses for it.

As a side note, HBK's entrance was one of the coolest we've ever seen at Wrestlemania as far as I'm concerned.

Triple Threat match was incredibly underwhelming. I had high hopes despite the horrible build but I wound up with a bitter taste in my mouth. I'm usually a fan of triple threat matches - they office some pretty intense situations with very little down time (something we'd seen a lot of already tonight and needed a bit of a break from) - instead we just got more down time and creative, yet bland finish. John Cena didn't need the Championship and putting it back on him just solidifies more stale television. I expected it, though, so I wasn't all that disappointed. My only hope is that this is the end of Edge and Vickie Guerrero.

The Hall of Fame segment was cool. I understood why they saved it until the end - give the crowd a much needed rest (not that they needed one, I'll get to that later) and give Stone Cold his moment. It was incredibly apparent that Austin was really saying his final goodbye to the sport, and while sad, it is totally understandable. Very classy send off.

So we come to one of the best built matches in Wrestlemania history. The atmosphere, the electricity and intensity SHOULD have rivaled one of the many Rock/Austin encounters of years past. Instead we got the most disappointing match in Wrestlemania history.

The match was a failure in every sense of the word. Triple H and Orton both failed to capitalize on several opportunities to showcase how personal the match was. It was unorganized and sloppy. Triple H's momentum and attempts to beat Orton in the early going were horrible. This match was about extracting revenge. Sure Triple H wanted to retain the title, but primarily, it was about kicking Randy's ass.

The match played out like two amateurs going at it. An unbelievable amount of down time coupled with an absolutely flat finish had me shaking my head in disgust when it was all over. This match managed to ruin every incredible thing that H and Randy have done in the last month and make it mean absolutely nothing.

That being said, I don't necessarily think it is entirely Triple H and Randy Orton's fault. I think they've got a lot to do with it, but at the end of the day, there is an intangible factor that WWE had no control over - the crowd.

I'm sorry to anyone who attended the show, but tonight's crowd was, by far, the absolute worst in Wrestlemania, and quite possibly, WWE history. They popped only when they were supposed to. They added nothing to any match. Their excitement for Taker/Michaels died after the first five minutes and they were so quiet that you could hear a pin drop throughout the title matches.

In fact, the crowd was so dead for the majority of the show, that i have never in my tenure as a wrestling fan had an easier time hearing wrestlers call out moves to one another. Particularly during the Hardy match, I found myself knowing every upcoming move - you could hear it clear as day.

It just goes to show you how absolutely crucial an audience is to the WWE experience. If you don't have a vocal audience, the show is ruined, no matter how good it is.

The Houston crowd managed to ruin what, aside from the H/Orton match, was one of the best Wrestlemania's we've seen in a long time.

No way this should be stuck with 11. 11 had MAYBE a 3 star match in shawn vs. diesel and absolutely nothing else. hardy vs. hardy was better than anything on that card, let alone MITB or Taker vs. Shawn.

This Mania is getting both way to much negativity and a bit too much praise. It was just okay. Taker vs. Shawn, MITB, Hardy vs. Hardy and the World Title Match were all pretty good. Hell so was Steamboat vs. Jericho. But besides those first two nothing else was blowaway.

I'm pissed as hell about the ending though. easily the worst ending in years.

Punk winner of MITB again? WTF is that about?
Divas was pointless and what a mockery having "Santina" win.
Thank god Steamboat can still work...poor Jericho.
Hardys= complete success of a MANIA match
Joker new IC Champ= predictable
Triple Threat Title=predictable
TAKER/HBK by far match of the night & best Mania match in my opinion since HBK/Angle.
And the Slammy for worst match of the night and possibly worst Mania Main Event in a long time.....Orton/HHH.
What a disgusting snooze fest for a finale.
Overall I give this show a 4/10.
Maybe next year.....maybe next year.

In my opinion...The best match of the night goes to Jericho vs. Piper/Snuka/Steamboat and Undertaker/HBK. I never got a chance to see Steamboat wrestle because I didn't watch when he wrestled, but tonight was amazing! Getting to see him live at WrestleMania was awesome. All his dives and all the moves he pulled off were incredible!

Perhaps I'll feel differently when I watch things the second time around, but for whatever reason, the crowd just seemed so lackadaisical about everything that was going on.

I think at the end of the day, people's opinions of this show are entirely tainted by the main event. It just goes to show what a lasting impression the last match really has on an event. We all gave WWE the benefit of the doubt for booking such an overdone match, and they slapped us in the face with it. I don't know who is to blame - Orton, Triple H, Vince, the agent, or WWE as a whole, but that wasn't an acceptable Mania main event. Hell, it would hardly be an acceptable Raw main event.

I thought the crowd was great in the Taker/HBK match, but can you really blame them being quiet in the wwe championship match?