Official Wrestlemania XXVI Thread: 3/28/10

All the matches were fun & enjoyable too watch IMO.

I honestly wasn't disappointed. I enjoyed it, honestly. Vince/Bret was a downer with the whole family ganging up. This Mania was a B-

I'm really glad that unlike the last time he left as a drug addicted, jerk, broken man in constant pain now he leaves proving he's still the best, is a good god loving man, and has a great family waiting for him at home. I'm very happy for HBK.

So JSYN, about MVP winning MITB...

that would be amazing.

That was such a ing disappointment of a 'Mania. *sigh*

Looking at MITB pics and a ton of people have cool entrance gears.

Swagger with his little jacket reminding me of Angle..
Matt in a cool pant with keys details.
Kane in a new attire finally..
Bourne looked cool as well.
McIntyre was different since he always wore black.
I like Christians since silver is my favorite color!
Kofi was okay but wtf was his hair doing?
MVP and Shelton were blah.. Pretty boring for WM attires.
I couldn't even see Ziggler..

HHH and Sheamus were plain as well.

^They weren't on the same page at the beginning? The beginning was awesome, with Michaels trying to target his leg.

Well, there it is, another Wrestlemania in the books. To be honest, I'm quite torn as to how I feel about it.

First, let me comment on the fact that it was incredibly interesting watching this with a former fan and a friend who has never had any interest in wrestling. He decided to watch it with an open mind and ask questions to become more informed as the night progressed. That being said, he was, by far, most entertained by Edge/Jericho. I asked him afterward, and he said they were the only match that made him feel like he was watching something special.

As for my other friend who had a genuine interest tonight, he started to lose interest after Edge/Jericho, and hardly paid attention the rest of the night. It was really interesting seeing how a "casual" fan and someone totally on the outside reacted to the show tonight. I've never watched it like that before.

Now, onto my feelings...

I had my heart so set on Punk and Mysterio opening that I was disappointed to learn it would be the tag title match. The match itself was decent at best, and plagued by a short match time and a crowd that wanted something bigger to start the night. Glad to see ShoMiz retain the titles, and I think this program may continue in the weeks to come, but overall, quite disappointing.

Shocked to see the triple threat go on next, though I immediately noticed the irony in the situation. Orton has one of the worst Wrestlemania main events of all time and then nearly opens the show, and Triple H didn't do much better. VERY slow match to start off, seemed like it was going nowhere. When Legacy finally split, things got far more interesting. I enjoyed it a lot more from there, and I thought the finish was set up nicely. Orton was MEGA over, which helped the match out quite a bit as far as I'm concerned. Served the feud well.

I was horribly disappointed with Money in the Bank. A couple cool spots here and there and a few innovative situations, but for the most part, I didn't think it spoke for the concept very well at all. I was really pulling for Christian here, but I was fine with anyone but McIntyre or Kane. Swagger winning was a HUGE shock, but I pleasantly surprised. Makes me wonder why he didn't just get Sheamus' push in the first place, though. I had figured they had given up hope on him.

(By the way, the uneducated friend found Swagger incredibly entertaining, and wanted him to cash in later on, badly.)

I was glad to see Sheamus and Triple H early on the card. Things started off slow, but I will admit, Sheamus had an impressive showing later on in the match. Definitely his best effort since coming into the limelight. This, by all respects, should have been the start of Sheamus' push, not a failed WWE title reign. When push came to shove, though, I was glad they went with a Triple H victory. Sheamus has been given enough already, he's not quite deserving of a win against Triple H at Wrestlemania.

Excellent match between Punk and Mysterio. Very disappointed with the length, but the card was so packed that it was bound to happen. Poor booking as far as I'm concerned, this feud was really heating up and Mysterio in the SES would have been incredibly entertaining, and lead up to some big blow off match between the two. Instead the feud is now dead in the water and left Punk looking pretty weak. Great match, though.

Hart/McMahon was the let-down of the night. It was hard to watch. I was never expecting a good wrestling match, but I also wasn't expecting to see the whole Hart family taking shots at McMahon. The whole "twist" was incredibly stupid and cheesy, and it made the whole situation feel really impersonal, especially for a rivalry that was so bitter and so focused on two men. WWE really dropped the ball here. I didn't feel vindicated when Vince finally tapped out, I was bored out of my mind.

Absolutely loved Jericho/Edge. I'll even go out on a limb and say this was the best match of the night. They told their story, they sold it well, and they made the match feel important. I felt like there was so much on the line, it felt like a legitimate Wrestlemania main event. I thought giving Jericho the win was brilliant, and it sets up the rivalry for so much more. Edge can take the belt next month, or hell, even after if they play it right. This couldn't have possibly been handled better. I can't wait to see Jericho gloating on Smackdown.

Divas match was a waste. Even the uneducated friend could see through the nice bodies and point out the fact that it was just simple filler. I expected McCool and company to win, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to see someone beat down Vickie Guerrero post-match.

Cena/Batista was what I expected it to be. Nothing great, nothing terrible. I thought it was right on par with their Summerslam match. Batista's face after Cena kicked out of the Batista Bomb was absolutely priceless, it made the entire match for me. Finish was cool, glad to see Batista tap. Don't really care for seeing Cena as champion again, but there's no use fighting it. Plus, the farther the belt is from Batista, the better.

Post match celebration for Cena was great, I loved how he went to the crowd of kids with the "WE HATE CENA" shirts. If this is some sort of new edge to his character, I'm all for it.

So we come to the main event, and going in, I was nervous. Not only because I more or less was sure this was the end of HBK's career, but because i wondered if they could top their match from last year.

Unfortunately, I don't think they did. While watching the match, at times I couldn't help but thinking I was just watching a repeat of Wrestlemania 25. The last few minutes were even more similar. It just seemed like they followed the same formula to a tee, producing a match equal in quality, but lacking in luster and originality. I really wasn't big on the finish at all. Michaels pulling to his feet and then just standing there, waiting to be tombstoned. It was almost as if he had accepted defeat, and the build to the match had centered around him never willing to give up. It just didn't seem right to me.

The handshake and HBK exit was incredibly emotional, and I'm glad they gave him a couple of minutes out there. It felt like it truly was the end, and at the same time, I couldn't help but feeling disappointed that the last site at Wrestlemania I was going to see was the end of the career of one of the all-time greats. The end of Wrestlemania was anything but happy.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the show, but I have a hard time committing to sentiment that it lived up to the hype. Perhaps I have to sit on it for a day or so to really let it all sink in. But Wrestlemania X-Seven can take comfort in knowing that it wasn't knocked from it's throne tonight, at least as far as I'm concerned.

On a side note, the crowd seemed lackadaisical and unimpressed throughout the majority of the show. They only popped for huge events and rarely, if ever, did it sound like there were 72,000+ in there. It's sad, a crowd can really enhance an event.