Concluding our revisit of previous Ramblemania postings. Look forward to Ramblemania 27 in the near future.
Wrestlemania 24
Orlando, FL
March 30, 2008
Some people have called HBK/Flair a last great hurrah to a legendary career… turns out that wasn’t the case, but it was certainly the last decent match Flair was going to get, unless he somehow performs a miracle in TNA. If anything, I prefer to look at this as the end of Ric Flair’s career as a legend and the prelude to the beginning of Ric Flair’s career as a freakshow attraction desperate for cash.
Mayweather/Big Show match was humorous, if nothing else. Don’t know if that was the intent, but in my mind, it doesn’t hold up to the “stature” of other celebrity matches such as LT/Bam Bam or even the Mr. T/Roddy Piper boxing match… it’s a step up over Snooki’s non effort, so there’s that.
RESULTS
Here are the quick results from Wrestlemania 24:
JBL defeated Finlay.
CM Punk won the Money In The Bank ladder match.
Batista defeated Umaga
Kane defeated ECW Champion Chavo Guerrero to win the title in a very short match.
Shawn Michaels defeated Ric Flair. As a result, Flair would retire… or just be tired.
Beth Phoenix and Melina beat Maria and Ashley.
WWE Champion Randy Orton defeated John Cena and Triple H in a Triple Threat Match to retain the title.
Floyd “Money” Mayweather defeated Big Show.
Undertaker defeated World Heavyweight Champion Edge via submission to win the title.
-o-
Wrestlemania 25
Reliant Stadium, Houston, TX
April 5, 2009
The 25th iteration of Wrestlemania… often called the 25th anniversary of the Wrestlemania… which means there’s a Wrestlemania Zero that took place in 1984 that nobody knows about.
It probably goes without saying, but Shawn Michaels and Undertaker truly stole the show here and even in their advanced ages, they still managed to produce a truly fucking awesome match that holds up rather well years later. See, I’m not always fed up with old guys hogging the spotlight and stealing the show – only old guys who can’t go and have no reason to do so (hello, Terry). And if the show ended there, it would have been fine… but then you have the two World title matches. Surprisingly, Cena was in the better match, whereas HHH/Orton, not surprisingly, stunk up the joint. Seriously, leave it to Triple H to kill any good will left in the show on the final match of the evening. In either case, a massive let down in regards to the championship bouts.
The whole show in general is rather… meh. Better than I had originally thought of it, but still well below standards. Jericho vs. the Old Timers was surprisingly watchable thanks to Ricky Steamboat, who could still go at the time (don’t get any ideas), but Money In The Bank was above-average at best and botchworthy at worst, the Divas Battle Royal was an affair best forgotten (and you wonder why Trish Stratus and Lita opted not to participate), and the rest of it didn’t really stick out in my mind. In fact, the only other thing that really made this show special was Stone Cold Steve Austin’s last hurrah where he just saluted the crowd and drank beer… that, to me, was more exciting and entertaining (not to mention a fitting closure to a great career) was better than anything the McSon-In-Law could crap out of his anus on this “meh” show.
RESULTS
1. C.M. Punk defeated Christian, Shelton Benjamin, MVP, Kofi Kingston, Finlay (w/Hornswoggle), Mark Henry (w/Tony Atlas), and Kane in the Money in the Bank ladder match in 14:25.
2. Santino Marella won the 25-Diva Battle Royal in 6:05.
3. Chris Jericho defeated Ricky Steamboat, Roddy Piper, and Jimmy Snuka (w/Ric Flair) in an elimination match in 9:00.
4. Matt Hardy defeated Jeff Hardy in an Extreme Rules match in 13:15.
5. Rey Mysterio defeated JBL to win the Intercontinental Title in 0:21.
6. Undertaker defeated Shawn Michaels in 30:42.
7. John Cena defeated Edge and Big Show in a Triple Threat match to win the World Hvt. Championship in 14:40.
8. Triple H beat Randy Orton to retain the WWE Title in 23:32.
-o-
WRESTLEMANIA XXVI
Glensdale, AZ
March 28, 2010
Otherwise known as the show where Shawn Michaels had his last match; a rematch with Undertaker that wasn’t as good as the previous year’s offering, but was still great stuff. This match did get the main event spot, which it was very deserving of getting because neither of the two World title matches were worthy of being in that main event spot… perhaps too harsh a statement made since both matches did deliver the goods and after a year or so of reflection, were very good matches.
First time watching, the supposedly-much-anticipated blow off between Bret Hart and Vince McMahon was a sad case. Both guys clearly weren’t up to snuff and while you did get the expected pay off of McMahon finally getting his after a long time coming, there was no real sense of satisfaction that come of this. Perhaps it’s the sense of timing or perhaps the setting; this match didn’t need to take place at Wrestlemania in the middle of the desert. It needed to take place in CANADA in order for the match to actually mean anything… or rather, ages ago when the Screwjob was still fresh.
Looking at the event as a whole, it’s still pretty decent for the most part and pretty watchable. The title bouts were fairly good stuff (Edge/Jericho edges out Cena/Batista as the better match) and some of the undercard was solid fare. Certainly a whole lot better than the crap that was Wrestlemania XV, but felt more like a longer In Your House PPV than a Wrestlemania-worthy card.
RESULTS
WWE Unified Tag Team Championships
Big Show & The Miz (c) vs. John Morrison & R-Truth
Winners & STILL WWE Unified Tag Team Champions: Big Show & The Miz
Randy Orton vs. Ted DiBiase vs. Cody Rhodes
Winner: Randy Orton
“Money in the Bank” Ladder Match
Kofi Kingston vs. Evan Bourne vs. Jack Swagger vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Matt Hardy vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. MVP vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Kane vs. Christian
Winner of the “Money in the Bank” briefcase: Jack Swagger
Triple H vs. Sheamus
Winner: Triple H
Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk w/ Luke Gallows & Serena
Winner: Rey Mysterio
No Holds Barred
Bret “The Hitman” Hart vs. Vince McMahon
Winner: Bret “The Hitman” Hart
World Heavyweight Championship
Chris Jericho (c) vs. Edge
Winner & STILL World Heavyweight Champion: Chris Jericho
10 Divas Tag Team Match
Mickie James, Kelly Kelly, Eve, Gail Kim & Beth Phoenix vs. WWE Women’s Champion Michelle McCool, WWE Divas Champion Maryse, Layla, Alicia Fox & Vickie Guerrero
Winners: WWE Women’s Champion Michelle McCool, WWE Divas Champion Maryse, Layla, Alicia Fox & Vickie Guerrero
WWE Championship
Batista (c) vs. John Cena
Winner & NEW WWE Champion: John Cena
Streak vs. Career
The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels
Winner: The Undertaker
-o-
And that is all. See you for Ramblemania 27 at the end of the month.
dtm666 