Wrestlemania 26 aftermath thread *Spoilers*

Bounty Hunter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7JC--kVrrA

Discuss

Penn

Can't believe Jericho beat Edge. That is absolutely fantastic. Edge, returned from injury and won the Royal Rumble and became a face in pretty much one swift move, and Jericho has defeated him. Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. I really would have thought Batista would beat Cena and Edge beat Jericho.

Motley Crue

Great event. Some comments

Battle Royal - Didn't see this match, just highlights, was glad to see Goldust took part and hope it features as an extra on the DVD...and hope we get to see all the wrestlers entrances too! From highlights I saw it looked like a solid match.

Tag Team Championship Match - Seemed mismatched because of Big Show's size and the fact he was always going to dominate, not particularly exciting, but a good matchup nonetheless. Would have been nice to see The Mizz put the US title on the line perhaps later in the evening.

Triple Threat - Really liked this one. Taught Rhodes would do more, but as it was there was a great technical element too it, nice to see three sons of former WWF/E participants fighting at Wrestlemania.

"Money in the Bank" Ladder Match - Drew could have defended his title, there was no reason for him to be in this match, was a solid effort but a lot of the participants did very little. Also, noticed Kane, and felt it was a poor effort from a wrestler who used to be on par with the Undertaker. He should have just killed them all from the start and won.

Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk - Good match. A little short but a nice one.

Triple H vs. Sheamus - Sheamus held his own, and it wasn't like a repeat of WM12 where HHH took on the Ultimate Warrior, I actually taught HHH would loose at one point...but solid performance from both men and good win from HHH

No Holds Barred
Bret "The Hitman" Hart vs. Vince McMahon - Major disappointment, Bret could have at least worn the glasses to the ring and given them to a kid in the front row:D and when he came out in non wrestling attire I knew he wasn't even gonna try. McMahon didn't wrestle, he just jobbed to Hart, and this was more of a "golden handshake" for Bret. Over way too fast and just felt rushed, and if that was Bret's last ever WWE match, I feel a little cheated

WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Chris Jericho (c) vs. Edge - Solid match, excellent performance, which I think Edge could have won just as much as Jericho. Fantastic event.

WWE Championship
Batista (c) vs. John Cena - Don't like either of these two wrestlers, but loved this match, great skills from both and can't complain. Nice title change too, it's nice when it happens, even if it doesn't happen too often at WM. Did Michael Cole say the title has been defended 35 times at WM when Cena was coming to the ring lol!

Streak vs. Career
The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels - Really don't want to think this is the end of Shawn Michaels because this was one of the best matches I've seen. Great charisma from both men and I sincerely hope Michaels will be a part of Revenge UK so I really hope his career is not over. Undertaker wrestled well too and I think he will get to 20-0 and then either retire or loose the streak.

Diva Tag Match - A waste of time. An embarrassment really.

General Comments: Lawler obviously misses JR, Cole should have spent less time telling us what a great view and seat he had, and no one said goodbye as we headed off air. WM felt a little bland this year, no celebrity, no special run in and no real backstage atmosphere or anything like that...I was disappointed by that even if the matches were mostly good.

2nd Row Donkey

It pains me to say it but Bret vs Vince was a disaster. No fault of the two men involved but the booking was shocking.

2nd Row Donkey

HBK vs Taker ended pretty well, it was cool when HBK did the cut throat thing at the end but I thought 'taker should have had to tombstone him 3 times in a row or something like that to get the job done.

Tribesmen7

2nd Row Donkey wrote: »

HBK vs Taker ended pretty well, it was cool when HBK did the cut throat thing at the end but I thought 'taker should have had to tombstone him 3 times in a row or something like that to get the job done.

TBH as good as an ending as it was, I thought it ended sudden. Dont know why. I was nearly expecting Shawn to kick out of the tombstone.

Was that the best tombstone Taker has done in years. The way he jumped up. Was pure class.

JP Liz V1

I was disappointed that Bret didnt wear his old ring attire to the ring. I kinda didnt expect much from that match anyways but it was awful.

I'm shocked Jericho won but i guess he can continue his feud with Edge now.

It was great seeing the Irish flags. Sheamus did well in his match with HHH just a shame he lost but again was expected.

I enjoyed Punk V Rey but as said above it was too short.

Taker V HBK was match of the night - I had tears when HBK lost even though i expected it

2nd Row Donkey

Tribesmen7 wrote: »

TBH as good as an ending as it was, I thought it ended sudden. Dont know why. I was nearly expecting Shawn to kick out of the tombstone.

Was that the best tombstone Taker has done in years. The way he jumped up. Was pure class.

Yeah thats what i mean.. after kicking out of numerous pins following a chokeslam or last ride I thought he would kick out too.

Tribesmen7

HBK backstage after the match

http://www.wwe.com/content/media/video/vms/wrestlemania/2010/march29-31/13951768

riflehunter77

HHH with alot of praise for Sheamus


http://www.wwe.com/content/media/video/vms/wrestlemania/2010/march29-31/13943862

Handsome Bob

I thought the commentating was piss poor. No built up anticipation for pinfalls that JR is so good at.

RosyLily

Yeah, commentating was fairly poor. It's Wrestlemania, you'd expect everyone to be at their best. Although Striker had some great lines "Tie your mother down, here's Triple H!":D:D
It was great to see all the Irish flags waving during Sheamus's match. You could kinda see a small smile on his face when he spotted them. Wonder if that's the end of the HHH-SOS feud...

MITB: Nice surprise.Great match, hope they don't throw it away. Great way to push him.

Sheamus V HHH: I enjoyed it but felt it could have been better.

Orton V Rhodes V DiBiase: Wasted opportunity to make something of DiBiase or Rhodes.

Tag Match: A filler match that meant nothing. Like those belts.

Punk V Mysterio: Didn't like the finish. Rey's Moonsault DDT was awesome.

Cena V Batista: Thought this was going to be the big letdown but it actually turned out well. I enjoyed this match.

Edge V Jericho: Loved it. Great chemistry and some nice twists and turns.
Having Y2J go for the spear was a bonus XD. Hated the lead up to this match though so that brought it down.

Shawn Michaels V The Undertaker: What can I say. It was a great match but it's overshadowed by the first. Didn't like the finish at all for various reasons.

Nuri Sahin

Just got in and am watching WM again atm.

I have to agree with one of the comments above regarding the commentary, it was frankly diabolical. I used to think Stryker was a decent commentator but he was a complete and utter failure despite the odd hilarious 1 liner here and there. Cole is a complete mong we all know that. King is nothing with JR. Listening to them last night was painful.

As well as that, the crowd was appalling. It's WM FFS! I've been watching WM since WM 10, and that is by far the worst WM crowd. It was like an WWE-ECW crowd for the most part. I question whether 3/4 of the people in attendence knew half the wrestlers on show. Past WM crowds have themselves made matches that bit more special. Last night they were pitiful except for the Cena match and parts of MITB and taker v HBK match.

Opener for the Tag Titles was too rushed and short. Disappointing to see JoMo and to a lesser degree wasted like that.

While I wasn't too crazy about Orton being a face or Orton in general, but he did very well as did Rhodes and DiBiase in fairness. It was an enjoyable match I must say.

I thought Seamus came off well last night surprisingly as I was kinda expecting him to be buried. Be interesting to see where he goes from here and whether his feud with HHH will continue.

Anybody who has seen all the past MITB's will surely take note and recognize last night's match was poor. That was to be expected IMO as having 10 men is far too many and simply it was too much of a mess. I don't mind Swagger winning, as there is definitely potential with him but since moving to Raw has he built up any momentum towards winning last night? They need to revert back to having 6 people competing at the MITB PPV later this year.

Diva Match...

EXCUSE ME............... FAIL!!!

Punk and Rey was good while it lasted but far too short plain and simple. Guess for all the kiddies Rey was always going to win but I so hoped for a Punk victory. Rey bores the heck out of me for a long time now.

I wasn't over expectant of the Bret match, didn't want him killing himself in the process of killing Vince, who actually looked to be in pain during the chair shot bashing :pac: Fair play to Vince for what he has done in the ring but hopefully he never wrestles again. Having Bret's family involved was pointless. At most, I wouldn't have minded seeing SES get involved and the Hart Dynasty masking the save. I'm a massive Bret fan but when I think of WM, WM26 will be buried to the back of my mind and hopefully soon forgotton. For the most I enjoyed having Bret back, but some parts during the storyline and match were so poorly booked. Bruce Hart is a complete nutter btw :pac:

Jericho V Edge I expected a lot from but at the time of watching it live it was a bit meh, though perhaps with a better atompshere my opinion would sway. Might need to re-watch one or two more times to really give a proper opinion.
Saying all that, I'm very pleased to see Jericho retain.

Couldn't care about the Cena match as at the time. For one I was making myself a sandwich and browsing other sites more so than concentrating on the match to give an opinion. Saw Cena's enterance though and like.... WTF!? Liked Botchista's lone spotlight enterance

HBK V Taker yet again was the saver. But in short was never going to live up the 1st match. Really believed Taker jacked up his angle early on. Said last night I believed HBK is retired in the wrestling sense. I kinda changed my opinion towards the end. Tonight's RAW will tell us if he is retired or "retired".

Overall it was a solid PPV, but this WM ffs, not No Mercy or something. Might have been harsh in some of my comments but... solid doesn't cut it.

Diabhal Beag

Hated the Bret match. Went too long for a beating and was a poor squasg match.

Punk-Rey didn't get enough time IMO. Wish that Punk won.

Cena-Batista was brilliant. Stole the show from HBK/Taker

Edge-Jericho was decent

MITB was a shocker. Hope that Swagger will get a push now.

Taker/HBK was fantastic but nowhere last year's match sadly. Good match all the same.

Vince135792003

LZ5by5 wrote: »

I thought the commentating was piss poor. No built up anticipation for pinfalls that JR is so good at.

It was very bad I thought aswell.

Matt Striker just annoys me and Cole even when he tries hard is 6 out of 10 at best. If Ross called the 'Taker/Michaels match it would have added even more to the match.


7 hours later, the way they layed out the Bret/Vince match still boggles my mind.

It was very inside. You'd have to know an awful lot about Bret to get some of the spots and enjoy it.

If they were doing the match in Montreal or Calgary, I could see it just about working but not in Phoenix.

I did think that the family would be involved in some way but they were too involved.

In my head I figured they would have all been in the front row and each of them might have gotten to hit Vince. To me that would have been alot more fun than the Harts looking like a bad heel gang.

Also this might sound picky but they could have done a dozen little things to make it better:

- If Bret didn't feel he could pull off his old gear, he could have at least worn the pink tights with a hockey shirt. When he came out wearing the same gear he wears on Raw, it didn't make the moment feel special.

- He could have brought back the old pink shades (very picky I know!). Little things matter though!

- They never should have changed his music.

- They could have brought Bret Hart out second instead of first to just add a little anticipation to it.

- It needed to go about 6 minutes shorter than it did.

Tricity Bendix

Vince135792003 wrote: »

I did think that the family would be involved in some way but they were too involved.

In my head I figured they would have all been in the front row and each of them might have gotten to hit Vince. To me that would have been alot more fun than the Harts looking like a bad heel gang.

Or have Vince try and high-tail it away from Bret onlt to be stopped by the Harts at the top of the ramp and beaten back down to the ring.

But we really should have known better than to think they wouldn't botch the match seeing as how they botched the whole feud leading up to it.

Vince135792003

Tricity Bendix wrote: »

But we really should have known better than to think they wouldn't botch the match seeing as how they botched the whole feud leading up to it.

But and Meltzer said this on his audio show, Vince and Bret are masters at putting matches together.

I was not expecting a match but I was expecting well put together drama. This felt like they spent 5 minutes putting it together.


Bret did say something in an interview that all he cared about was that his true fans enjoyed it. Well I'm a pretty hardcore Bret fan but I think you would have needed to be around watching the Hart's in the 1980's Calgary stampede and still be raging over Montreal to enjoy how they did that match.

Tricity Bendix

At least we got to see Vince selling for Tyson Kidd. And Nattie's juicy slap.

JP Liz V1

I liked Rey and Vickie's little nod to dearly departed Eddie

Mitch Connor

i thought the matches were mostly good, and it would have been a very good 'normal' PPV - I just think that the night lacked a little spark that WM should have. Weren't enough spots in the matches. In most matches i don't think anything really special happened. Just feel there were not many 'WrestleMania moments' in the night.

Was very disappointed with how the Bret/Vince match was booked. We all knew there wouldn't be a proper match between them - but it really could have been so much better. Get Bret in actual ring attire, to signal some intent. The Hart family lumberjack angle was terible from the get go - was obvious what would happen so it was a pointless 'swerve'. Also think the pacing of it was poor and the sharpshooter, when it eventually came, lacked impact. The fact Vince tappened to it immediately kinda sucked the life out of it too - there was no real look of pain on Vince's face and the tap looked weak.

The Diva match, and its positioning was another killer - the crowed had really only got warmed up from about the halfway point of the Edge/Jericho match and then the life was sucked out of the event by going to the Diva match - should have been got out of the way sooner.

I enjoyed the Rey/Punk match too - but the end really did disappoint me. A win for Punk would have aided both himself and Rey from a story point of view, but WWE can't afford Rey to go anyway dark at all, which I feel will always hold him back as a character.

Thought the actual matches between Cena/Batista, Edge/Jericho and Taker/HBK were very good and entertaining - didn't drag out - all actually felt like they ended too soon. Was disappointed with how the Taker/HBK fight ended - HBK showing some defiance and heart, and immediately got owned by Taker - should have given him a few more minutes of offence. In the end, I think they booked Taker too strong and made HBK look weak - it boils down to HBK not being able to beat Taker with an apparently destroyed knee/leg for most of the match.

krudler

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

I liked Rey and Vickie's little nod to dearly departed Eddie

I liked more how Rey got booed whereas Vickie got cheered.

It was a decent if not overly spectacular Mania imo, it was missing a certain , I dunno, something. There was no backstage atmosphere, no interviews, no run ins, no celebrities. It was a good ppv in a massively impressive arena.

Best moment of the night aside from HBK/Taker was Cena posing in front of the gobsh1tes with the "we hate cena" shirts, they're always at ppvs and act like a bunch of dickheads, they were at Raw in Orlando as well and were just acting like obnoxious smarks the whole time, Cena showing that he has a sense of humour about himself was brilliant

HorseRadish

What ticked me off more than anything was the crowd. They were silent for half the show!! Echo Krudlers statement about Cena and the smarks at ringside though,nice of them to get shown up!!:D

paddyismaddy

hbk/taker was a good match not as great as last year's match but still good part of me wanted hbk to win

i enjoyed cena v batista i was surprised cena won

i thought mitb was quite short

i was surprised no backstage segements or heel turns or celebs involved

i agree the commentary was terrible jr was missed

i'd nearly prefer if bret hadnt returned to the wwe now

sky88

really enjoyed wretlemania but damm good ol JR was missed big time he would have made taker hbk even better only other thing i was dissapointed in was cena winning cause i wanted batista to win plus it would have been cool if two heels had retain the belts

Machismo Fan

Considering the build up and the fact that Jericho won, I really can't believe they didn't do a nearfall off an Edge Spear. That would've added an extra dimension to the match, the move Edge thought would win him the match failed plus I could imagine the crowd reaction when Jericho kicked out. Hart/McMahon was terrible, I doubt anybody would have complained if that was one minute long and Bret just beat him the Sharpshooter but 11 minutes was unbearable. Plus, Punk/Mysterio, a potential show stealer, only got six minutes.

Tricity Bendix

Machismo Fan wrote: »

Considering the build up and the fact that Jericho won, I really can't believe they didn't do a nearfall off an Edge Spear. That would've added an extra dimension to the match, the move Edge thought would win him the match failed plus I could imagine the crowd reaction when Jericho kicked out.

That might have worked if Edge was a heel. Not so much when Jericho is the heel.

Machismo Fan

Tricity Bendix wrote: »

That might have worked if Edge was a heel. Not so much when Jericho is the heel.

I don't know, it would've gotten Jericho loads of heat when he won. You could see it was the Spear that brought the crowd to life in that match and I would've thought the crowd reaction to the kickout would've been to good to turn down.

irish_stevo815

Well first off I've got to admit, the commentary was pretty poor. For the most part, Lawler just seemed to be carrying Cole & Striker. But the very last bit of commentry we heard, wehn HBK was heading backstage was just awful, could have ended on a better note -"It's over Shawn. Goodbye".
I know it was supposed to be a sad moment and all but could have been better.

Also, this is the first time I've actually watched a full PPV in a long long time as I've only really gotten back to casually watching WWE since the start of 2010, leading up to Royal Rumble, and I'm happy i ordered it on Sky box office.

So here's a brief rundown of how i felt about the matches.

26 Man Battle Royal: From the highlights they showed, it looked like it was an alright match - loved seeing everyone teaming up to knock out Khali.

ShowMiz v. Morrisson / R-truth: Big Show was always gonna dominate this match. Was expecting a bit more from the first (televised) match of the night. Too short and was hoping it would have ended good for Morrisson. 5/10

Orton v Rhodes v DiBiase: Not too sure about Orton playing the good guy. In a way though, the outcome was always gonna be Orton winning, and i'm sure noe it will lead to a nice feud between Rhodes and DiBiase. The double DDT from the ropes was good, and seeing Orton destroy the 2 boys was great. 6/10

Money in the Bank: Was expecting a hell of a lot more, 10 people was just way toooooo much. Should have just had 6, would have given more time for some sick bumps. I'm sure everyone was expecting Christian to come out on top but he never really got involved. 2 best moments were Kofi using the broken ladder as stilts and Bourne jumping up the side of the ladder. Swagger was a surprise win, and major LOL at him trying to remove the briefcase, it took ages and thought he was waiting for some1 to knock him off. 5/10

HHH v Sheamus: Glad to see Sheamus didn't get hammered here. Was actually really rootin for the Celtic Warrior but was still happy HHH won. Sheamus put on a good solid show for his first Wrestlemania. Hopefully he'll be pushed properly, and won't be non-existant by WM27. Also good to see HHH in a lower / mid card slot, giving the spotlight to other guys. 7/10

CM Punk v Rey Mysterio: Didn't really know too much about this stroyline so didn't have much invested in this one. But it did turn out to be a really good match. Rey shows once again that he doesnt need to be in a WHC/WWE title picture to have a good feud. Loved the homage to Eddie with the frog splash. Best moment of the match - spotting Luke Gallows on the apron and landing 619 on punk. Also liked his Avatar outfit. 6.5/10

Bret Hart v Mr. McMahon: Not much to say,, predictable, waste of time. But good to see Vince take a beating 2/10

Y2J v Edge: Now this is one of the reasons I ordered the PPV. Edge coming back from injury, surpirse number 30 entrat in Royal Rumble, winnign Royal Rumble and going onto to win the WHC title at Wrestlemania would have been the most obvious way to do it. But WWE creative team got us on this one. A good back and forth match, with the momentum being shared by both men. Yes, Y2J is the heel (and an asshole heel at that) but he is one of the greatest wrestlers of our time and deserved to be WHC champ. Seeing him line Edge up to hit him with the spear was great. One of the best moments of the night was Edge spearing Y2J off the announcers table, through the barricade after the match. It was truly a "Holy ****, Holy ****" moment and it gave the fans the chance to cheer Edge with his music playing. 8/10

I was kind of expecting to see Swagger cash in here, specially after Jericho being speared like that. But i think that would have taken away from the match itself. But started thinkin, maybe Swagger will come down and hand the contract to Edge for another shot after buying him out or something. Would have been interesting.

10 Diva Tag Match: Didnt even watch this one. Should have been on earlier and let MIB or HHH/Sheamus take this spot.

Batista v Cena: First off, screw the Cena haters. He's a top draw, full stop. It was probably the first time all night you could really hear the crowd go for it. This was a great match, which has been waiting to happen for a very very long time. I know Batista does Botch it a lot, which is probably enough reason for Cena to carry the title, but thye did put on a great match. 5 knuckle shuffle from top rope was cool (even though I'm sure it wasnt the first time we've seen it, as Lawler said). Thought Cena was done for sure after the Batista Bomb, but he bloody well kicked out. which had me jump out of my seat and puch the air with excitment. It paid off well with a fantastic Attitude Adjustment/ FU and making Dave tap to the STFU. Good Job. 8/10

Undertaker v Shawn Michaels: The Big One, the main reason to stay up until 4 in the morning. Glad to see this was the Main Event of the night. It was what I expected and more. After last year, it had a hell of a lot to live up to, and i think it would be safe to say that Taker v HBK will be Match of the Year for the 2nd time in a row. I was on the edge of my seat for most of it, and did not have a clue which way it was going to go. I mean it actually looked like the legendary streak might just be over. I also thought early on in the match, that it might be compromised by Takers knee, but fair play to him, if it was a legit injury. This match ahd everything needed for a WM main event. Chokelsam, Superkick, tombstone, last ride, super kick, moonsault from top rope thru announcer table, superkick, chokeslam, tombstone, slap to face and finally the tombstone that eneded it all. Just absolutely fantastic, 2 legends show they still have it. Now i just wonder will 18-0 be the final score in Taker's legndary streak or does he have 1 more left in him. In my opinion, if this was his last Wrestlemania, it would be fitting as it it was one of the greatest matches ever. Unless he takes on someone whos just as much a legend he is. Great match. 10/10

Goodbye (for now??) Shawn Michaels - True Legend!!!!!

Overall A great PPV, well worth staying up to watch it.

mr.mayo

Tag Match: Decent opener, nice fast paced match, some nice spots. The ending was rather abrupt, would have liked another 5 or so minutes, I'd give it a 6.5

Triple Threat: Really liked this match, some fantastic storytelling from Orton and a nice finish. It was only 10 or so minutes but it got the job done. Orton got a great reaction here, this should set up a mega face push for him. Also nice to see that he retained some heelish qualities even when acting as the face, particularly liked the punt, shows us that he can be a complete bastard and still get cheered! Also happy to see him being back the Legend Killer pose at the end, Overall I'd give it a 7.25

Money in the Bank: Nice match with some great spots, was happy to see Swagger winning, hopefully he'll get a major push now. My only grievances were how little Evan Bourne and Shelton were used. I was expecting them to attempt suicide so I was a bit disappointed. Nevertheless, overall a very good match, I'll give it an 7.5

Triple H vs Sheamus: Nice little match here, very well executed and was good for its purpose. Would have liked Sheamus to have won but even in defeat he looked pretty strong. Just to be in a match with Triple H is a magnificent achievement for him. 7.25

CM Punk vs Rey Mysterio: Good technical match, some great counters and fast paced action. It deserved more time than it got imo, especially considering how long Bret vs Vince was allocated. Would have liked to have seen Punk win but a victory for Rey was to be expected. 7

Bret vs Vince: This was a complete trainwreck, horribly overbooked and yet still very predictable. Nobody expected much from this, I mean Bret is a stroke victim and Vince is a pensioner but still. Ended with Vince tapping to the Sharpshooter as expected. It brings closure to the whole Montreal thing, I'll give it a 3 just for the sheer size of Bruce Hart's gut:P

Edge vs Jericho: For me, it seemed a bit underwhelming, probably because I had huge expectations for this but it was still a very good match. The crowd was completely dead thorughout, both men seemed to be holding back a bit, basically nothing happened in the first ten minutes but it did pick up after that, there were some really nice counters, I was surprised that Jericho got the win but it's understandable. I usually hate when they fight after the match but I have to admit that Edge's spear was sick, great spot. Overall I'll give this an 8

Divas Match: Nobody cared about it, I'll give it a 4 just for the "Hog Splash"

Cena vs Batista: These guys get a lot of stick from the internet fans but they deserve a lot of praise for this effort. A great match right from the start, some memorable moments and great storytelling. Cena winning was to be expected but I won't begrudge him the victory, I'll give this an 8.5

Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker: Phenomenal match, a brilliant effort from these two legends. Wonderful storytelling right throughout and a perfect send-off for HBK. It probably wasn't as good as last years but who cares, it was still a fascinating encounter. Some great spots, the Tombstone on the outside was great, as was Shawn's moonsault through the announce table. The ending was great, Shawn displaying his fighting spirit right until the end before eventually going down to a vicious Tombstone. This was rightfully placed in the main event slot, it didn't disappoint and I will give it a 9.5

D2D

Finally got around to seeing the rest of the PPV, here are my thoughts.

- Commentary: Pretty poor considering it was Mania though Striker had the line of the night with "Tie your mother down, here comes Triple H" (Still don't know what that exactly means) - 5.5/10

- ShoMiz vs. Truth/Jo Mo: Really short opener and, tbh, it's a pity it couldn't go a bit longer. A pretty solid tag match with some good spots - 6.5/10

- Orton/Ted/Cody: Another match that could've done with some extra time. Maybe it was just me but there was a "seen this before" vibe to the match. Still though, a good triple-threat match which the right man, imo, won - 6.5/10

- MitB: 2 words, spot-fest. I really liked this match although with 10 competitors in it, it was hard to focus on all the action. Bourne's SSP of the ladder was cool and Kofi and the ladder stilts was pretty funny. Swagger (Kurt Angle 2.0 by the way he was dressed) winning was a huge surprise. Like I said in the In-show thread, maybe someone from WWE is looking through our own BWE. - 8/10

- HHH/Sheamus: Tbh, it was expected HHH would win and it happend but Sheamus came out of this match really strong. I'm still laughing at "I'm the future" line from Sheamus in the strong Dublin accent. Strong showing from Sheamus inc a couple of near falls - 7/10

- Punk/Rey: Considering the amount of time to build this match up, WWE did a pretty good job with this. Rey came out like an Avatar (eventually) while Punk just gets better and better on his promo's. Solid little match (again, another time constraint match victim) but I hated the finish. S.E.S - 6.5/10

- Bret/Vince: Considering that this was Bret's 1st match since the stroke, they had to play it safely. An ungodly amount of time was given to this which sucked. The idea was good (having all the harts as lumberjacks), the match, hmmm..... not so good. Still though, Vince sold for Tyson Kidd, Bret gave Vince around 30 chair shots and locked in the sharpshooter for the win. My highlight was Bruce giving the count to 10 for them to get in the ring only for Bret to tell him there was no count-outs. I enjoyed some of this match but went on for way too long. 4/10

- Jericho/Edge: A great match. Both Y2J and Edge work so well together. I'm happy Jericho retained which means the feud will continue. The spear from the announcers table through the barricade was unreal - 8.5/10

-Team Raw vs. Team SD diva's match: Who said WWE doesn't treat the diva's properly?!? 2.5/10

- Cena/Batista: Way better than any expectation's I had for this. A really solid match that was better than their SummerSlam match from 2008. Cena winning was to be expected but still, a really solid match - 7.5/10

HBK/Taker: An epic main-event. Taker and HBK had a lot to live up to after last year's match but they did a hell of a job. Unbelieveable match that had me glued to the stream. 18-0, that'll never be broken. HBK put on 1 of his greatest performances here. A must-see match that some people would say, really saved this PPV - 10/10

Overall: I had a lot of expectations for Mania and a lot of them were lived up to. A really solid Mania but, imo, was tainted by how dead the crowd were and the commentary - 8.5/10

chopperbyrne

Hopefully Shawn does the right thing and stays retired. He certainly doesn't need the money and he has a job for life with WWE in many other roles anyway.

I reckon himself and Bret could both end up as road agents or on the creative team.

Who would have thought back at the end of 1997 that Shawn and Bret would both have their last ever matches at the same Wrestlemania and be friendly with each other again almost thirteen years later.

Big Daddy Cool

i have to say i was disappointed in wrestlemania this year, most of the matches seemed rushed and micheal cole and stryker on commentary was incredibly bad, i was praying bob euker would come out and take over, whether vince likes it or not, he needs jim ross on commentary. and now the worst 2 decisions of the night. it made no sense to book the diva's match so high up on the card and was a total waste of time, and then the complete mess of vince and bret, why was the hart family involved, it was so bad and non sensical i taught russo had got his job back and was booking it.

cena won enough said, swagger winning was a shocker, would've been better if christian had won, cos after edge spearing jericho, christian cashing in with edge looking on would have been a great moment,

taker and michaels while a great match was not as good as last year, the surprise element of last year just wasnt there for me, the end was a surprise, no build up to the tombstone, just michaels slapping him and bang. i think the way michaels walked up the ramp made me think he'll be back unless they give him a proper send off tonight on raw.

JP Liz V1

Big Daddy Cool wrote: »

i have to say i was disappointed in wrestlemania this year, most of the matches seemed rushed, the worst 2 decisions of the night. it made no sense to book the diva's match so high up on the card and was a total waste of time, and then the complete mess of vince and bret, why was the hart family involved, it was so bad and non sensical i taught russo had got his job back and was booking it.

cena won enough said, swagger winning was a shocker, would've been better if christian had won, cos after edge spearing jericho, christian cashing in with edge looking on would have been a great moment,

taker and michaels while a great match was not as good as last year, the surprise element of last year just wasnt there for me, the end was a surprise, no build up to the tombstone, just michaels slapping him and bang. i think the way michaels walked up the ramp made me think he'll be back unless they give him a proper send off tonight on raw.

I agree Christian winning would have been better i'm guessing Vince only sees him as mid carder which is a shame

Motley Crue

I'm still appalled by that Diva's match, made no sense whatsoever, was way too high on the card...was over before it had started and I'm pretty sure most of those "female wrestlers" did nothing

We need someone like Sable or Chyna back, someone who actually competes as opposed to just taking off their clothes (even if they did both pose for Playboy)

The only other massive let down asides from that was the Hart match. Hart couldn't wrestle a proper match and they shouldn't have tried what they did. People mention the crowd was dead. Well, there was 70k + in that arena last night...and I'm thinking most of those just came along because WM was in their hometown...casual fans, as opposed to the kind of fans who were at WM9, crowded into a tiny arena...then again, maybe WWE meant more to fans at that time

PTH2009

So Bret Hart will he stay in WWE or is there any reason for him to be there anymore. TNA could be chasing him.

I can see Michaels becoming RAW GM.

I can see Randy Orton, MVP, Mark Henry and Sheamus being drafted to Smack down.

Batistia, Drew Mcintrye, Christian and John Morrison being drafted to Raw.

It will be intresting what there going to do with Jack Swagger. I think Jack Swagger vs John Cena would be a good title match or even Jack Swagger vs Triple H.

Heel Turns for Triple H and John Morrison are on the cards.

Big Daddy Cool

PTH2009 wrote: »

So Bret Hart will he stay in WWE or is there any reason for him to be there anymore. TNA could be chasing him.

I can see Michaels becoming RAW GM

bret hart is advertised as a ring enforcer on the britain and ireland tour, though after last night what he can enforce is beyond me

johnn

I know alot of people are saying that the HBK/Taker match was just a little below the standard set last year and I would agree.

In my opinion the main contributing factor to this is that last years match had the kick-out from the tombstone with the cross armed pin for the first time, i dont think i can recall ever seeing that before when Taker folds his opponents arms over, it really was a jaw-dropping moment.....so then this year you pretty much know that HBK has a tombstone kick-out in his locker at some point so i didnt really get too excited until after he kicked out of the move.

I really didn't like the "Mercy killing" ending to the match, it should have just ended like any other match. He was like Flair in his last match out on his feet and being put down like "Old Yeller", thats not Shawn to me.

It would seem odd if thats him retired because it all seems a bit out of the blue, but the WWE website's footage of him backstage with the other superstars & his wife seem to suggest that this could be it, at least he went out on top being remembered for raising the bar of Wrestlemania Main events forever with the Undertaker, probably no better way to go out.

Thank you Shawn.

newballsplease

Id say hes definitly retired. They wouldnt have put that match as the main event for any other reason then Michaels retiring at WM. was a good send off for him. His tears said it.

Vince135792003

Dare_2_defy wrote: »

The idea was good (having all the harts as lumberjacks)

Considering, none of them had been really on tv since 1997 aswell as the fact that 1 minute after Vince said he had paid them off, they were back with Bret I didn't think it was good at all.

parker kent

I agree with most of what people have said here so no point regurgitating stuff. Good PPV but not special like Mania should be.

The Vince/Bret storyline and match was such a disappointment. So much more could have been done better over last few months. The best way of doing it would have been to copy the Trump/Vince idea and have two wrestlers competing for each man with stipulation such as if Vince's guy lost, Bret could put him in the sharpshooter. Or even give the Hart Dynasty the rub (given that they did make eventually join in the story) and have them wrestle a tag team. Everybody knew Bret couldn't have a proper match, so why bother doing what they did?

As it was, it was such a waste of WWE's most valuable story.

G-Money

Just finished watching WM. Was it just me or was the crowd fairly dead for it? I wasn't mad impressed with any of the matches really, HBK v Taker saved it though from the point of view that there was at least one good match. The rest of the matches were fairly meh. I also had one thought as well which I think doesn't bode well for WWE. In their biggest show of the year, the best match was by two guys at the end of their careers. You'd want some others to have some show stealing matches, not just from the two guys who are likely to retire soon and in Michael's case, who now has.

Bret v Vince wasn't the best and I think Bret gave him too many chair shots. But at the same time, I think they lost some of the momentum to this match in the build up over the past few weeks. They perhaps could have done a better job here and Bret seemed to be moving pretty well for someone who's had a stroke.

I have to admit though, for a while I thought Michaels had Undertaker beat.

Mitch Connor

grandmaster wrote: »

I also had one thought as well which I think doesn't bode well for WWE. In their biggest show of the year, the best match was by two guys at the end of their careers. You'd want some others to have some show stealing matches, not just from the two guys who are likely to retire soon and in Michael's case, who now has.

i don't think it was down to a lack of talent available though.

I honestly think Punk and Mysterio could have stolen the shown but they simply were not given enough time.

Jericho and Edge could have done better too, but I think their match was too short as well. Same goes for Cena/Batista - though I think there was some poor booking there as well as the match seeming short.

I think the fact the HBK/Taker match was so much longer than the rest, and thus gave them more time to tell an in ring story, helped make their match seem so much better.

DM_7

Great Mania. Back to basics, all about the matches and less showbiz ****.

The show was all about four matches.
Vince v Bret didn't really work on the night but there is a killer video package waiting to be made from the spots in it.

The other three all delivered, Cena v Batista, Edge v Jericho and Taker v HBK.

I think the rest of the matches all complimented the big 4 without doing anything that would take the focus off them.

I thought Sheamus and Cody looked like stars in their matches. Not surprised rey won, he gets his night in the sun and Punk can take him out before Rey heads for surgery(again).

Top 4 moments:
HBK's slap, takers Reaction, tombstone
Reys DDT
Edge's spear on Jericho post match
Batista kicks out of the HUGE Attitude Adjustment.

Degag

My thoughts on Mania....

Missed the first 3 matches and will watch them tonight.

Surprised but pretty happy that Swagger won. Surprised because they've pretty much buried him over the last few months. Happy because I think he can be a star of the future. Think they will have to build him over the next few months for people to take him seriously again and would hope that he doesn't cash it in too fast. Not too disappointed that Christian didn't win because IMO he doesn't need the push. Think that if he was put in an angle with Edge (pretty easy to do) he can be elevated to Main Event status pretty easily if needed.

Rey/ Punk needed more time. Simple as that really. **

A bit disappointed with HHH and Seamus tbh. Thought it could have been better. **1/2

Bret and Vince was a real disappointment i thought. The Harts involvement was terrible. It would have been much more effective if Vince tried running away up the ramp and they stopped him and threw him into the ring or if Vince had some outside interference, and they came to make the save. That ruined it as a spectacle, what ruined the match was Vince not getting any offence. I understand why of course though. Overall though it was great seeing Bret back and getting closure but the whole angle was terribly booked from the beginning. *1/2

Edge and Jericho needed another 5 minutes. Happy that Jericho won though. Very unexpected. ***

Batista and Cena surprised me, in that i didn't expect it to be as good. Good match. ****

If last years match was 5 stars, then this was four and three quarters. The difference in quality was small, really a great match. Says alot when 2 men closer to 50 than 40 totally show up any younger talent the WWE have bar none. I didn't expect Taker to lose but when HBK hit the final SCM and nearly knocked his head off, i thought it was. Only for Cole shouting "The Streak is Over, the Streak is Over!":mad: What a tombstone though!

I really hope that HBK is retired though and doesn't come back, especially if there is a Flair like send off tonight. Until i see the first few matches i can't give an overall score, but there is something inside me saying that while it was good, it was miising a few elements to making it great....

2nd Row Donkey

Just watching the replay on sky box office. Edge just speared Jericho through the barrier.

If I ever hear the words "spear, spear, spear" again it will be too soon.

The lows for me were:

The hart family "swerve"
The crowd
The commentry
Those marines with the swinging guns (jayzus :rolleyes:) B4 cena's entrance.
Diva's match - the spots were okay but the pointless screaming was embarassing.

Gerard.C

I enjoyed it, but lads that Bret-Vince thing was painful to watch. All it needed to be was maybe 4 mins of Bret beating Vince, with a bit of crowd interaction and whatever. The lumberjacks idea was ridiculous. Why would Vince actually think they wouldnt double cross him? The lack of logic in it was amazing. Bret should have dressed a bit more appropriate for the occasion, too.

Enjoyed the show overall. Orton-Legacy match was a suprise, I REALLY enjoyed it I must say. Fair play to the three of them

davrho

Last night was a return to the good old days for me. A crowd of us met in the pennyhill around nine and then headed to the house for 10. A couple of hours playing the xbox and everyone was well up for wrestlemania.

I will have to watch it again as I never really heard the commentry but the matches seemed to fly by. The only disapointment was the Bret match but its been obvious for weeks he was in no shape to get in the ring.

Everyone seemed to enjoy their night and there were a few "sickies" phoned in this morning.


On another note wm was shown in a pub in Glasgow, the sports cafe, but they made an arse of the license and only arranged to be open to 3 o'clock. The staff switched off the tv's and closed the bar. The pub was set upon by a large group of angry fans.:pac:

SilverFox261

Big Daddy Cool wrote: »

cena won enough said, swagger winning was a shocker, would've been better if christian had won, cos after edge spearing jericho, christian cashing in with edge looking on would have been a great moment,

With the rumoured MITB ppv coming up this could be the first year that the winner doesn't cash in and win the title. It makes sense to give MITB to Swagger if that is the case. He gets pushed into the main event spotlight even if he doesn't win.

Plus Christian doesn't really need MITB to look like he deserves a title shot. If they use the story that he is a former ECW champion, they just need to give him a win streak to make him a believable contender.

Vince135792003

I watched the replay of it on Sky Box Office and the commentary is worse the second time. I just wanted Stryker to shut up in the main event.

There's an interesting part in the main event when 'Taker is super kicked onto the table. Lawler says something to the effect of "He can't be pinned here though". Stryker then replies saying something like "But he can do something here" totally making it obvious that Michaels was about to do something special. Lawler looked at him and just shook his head in disbelief. I probably did a horrible job explaining it but keep an eye out for it..

irish_stevo815

Vince135792003 wrote: »

There's an interesting part in the main event when 'Taker is super kicked onto the table. Lawler says something to the effect of "He can't be pinned here though". Stryker then replies saying something like "But he can do something here" totally making it obvious that Michaels was about to do something special. Lawler looked at him and just shook his head in disbelief. I probably did a horrible job explaining it but keep an eye out for it..

Ha Ha, yeah I remember that bit alright. What a total dumb ass. As if it wasnt obvious enough already that HBK was gonna land a big move. And also, Just before Michaels jumped from the top rope, someone, Striker I think, got right in the way of the camera and you could hear Lawler say "Get out of the way" and someone pulls him from in front of the camera. I thought we were gonna miss him jumpig off LOL