WrestleMania 28 – It Came, It Saw, It Delivered

For my money, WrestleMania 28 this past Sunday more than lived up to all the hype, promotion, pomp & circumstance when all was said and done.

Shawn Michaels, Triple H and The Undertaker look to the crowd following an awe-inspiring clash. (Photo WWE.COM)

I would easily slot this in as one of the all-time best ‘Manias in history. No joke. If I had to give you my Top 5, I’d have to say that ranking goes 17, 19, 20, 24 and then 28, but that’s just the chronological order. If I rearranged them to go from absolute best to, well, the fifth best, then those ‘Mania editions are scattered in the form of 17, 20, 28, 19 and 24. So this year’s event is sitting pretty right in the middle of the greatest editions ever. Well, at least in my humble opinion.

I rank ‘Mania 28 as high as I do because, as I said, it more than delivered on all the hype. It exceeded my expectations and as a lifelong fan, I was incredibly satisfied with the overall show when it was all over.

I’ll put it another way. This is the first ‘Mania in years (since 24 in 2008) that I could sit down right now and watch all over again, from start to finish. That hasn’t been the case with the last few ‘Manias. There may be a great match here and there (in the case of 25, the greatest one ever), but the last few ‘Manias suffered from a lot of misses on top of the few hits. Last year is probably the greatest example of that, when the main event match for the WWE Championship – The Miz vs John Cena – was bland, off the mark, and more about what someone else NOT WRESTLING was gonna do other than the actual match inside the ring.

Was ‘Mania 28 perfect? No, but again, in my book it was the closest thing to it in a long time. But the matches that needed to deliver – CM Punk vs Chris Jericho for the WWE Title, The Undertaker vs Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match, and of course, The Rock vs John Cena – did just that, and then some. In an era where fans are lucky if a big-time match goes over 20 minutes, those three bouts consisted of nearly 85 minutes of bell-to-bell wrestling. Money well spent, in my book.

But enough marking out over the show in general. My thoughts on each of the matches….

1. World Heavyweight Title, Daniel Bryan (C) vs Sheamus: Here’s where the Internet is going ballistic. The match was over before it even began, because what WWE did was have Sheamus kick Bryan’s face off as soon as the bell rang and after Bryan was done kissing girlfriend AJ for good luck. The angle is that Bryan either didn’t hear the bell, or just didn’t care that it rang, and it cost him the World Title. It was over in 18 seconds. Of course, I was instantly disappointed to begin with, but as it sunk in more I realized that perhaps people would remember that moment MORE than they would an actual match that went maybe ten minutes at best. It kicked off ‘Mania with a bang and popped the crowd huge. Did I want to see Bryan and Sheamus have the match they should’ve had last year? Sure. But in the end, it was more about creating a moment than a match. And I think with how well he’s gotten over as a heel, Bryan isn’t leaving the Title picture anytime soon.

2. Randy Orton vs Kane: It had next to no heat or momentum going into the PPV, but on paper it’s still a match between two main event superstars. I liked this match and thought it was in the right position on the card. A solid undercard bout that got very physical, very quick. I was surprised that Kane got the win, because if I had to guess I wouldn’t have pictured this feud continuing. Looks that way, anyway. Far from Orton’s best ‘Mania outing, but it’s the best we’ve seen from Kane in a long while.

3. Intercontinental Title match, Cody Rhodes (C) vs Big Show: This one was short and sweet, for good reason. Cody looked good against the mammoth Show, who gave him more than his fair share. I didn’t see Show actually winning the gold, but I don’t hate it either. That was a cool tackle in mid-air when Rhodes went for the kick off the top rope. I wonder if Cody finally losing the Intercontinental Title after eight months is a sign he may be moving up the ranks to the World Title picture? I’m not sure about WWE pulling that trigger yet, but there’s nothing wrong with at least teasing it.

4. Kelly Kelly & Maria Menounos vs Eve & Beth Phoenix: Yay, it’s the annual Divas match at ‘Mania that no one cares about! Just kidding, but sadly it’s not really a joke. The last time the Divas division got any proper attention at the biggest show of the year was six years ago at ‘Mania 22, when Trish Stratus fought Mickie James in the payoff match to that really well done stalker angle. That being said, I didn’t hate this match. Listen, it was what it was – another match where a celebrity goes over an actual WWE star to gain even a morsel of mainstream publicity. That’s just the reality of it. The match itself was fair, and I actually applaud Maria for trying to work a match like an actual wrestler, even getting worked over at times and selling like a champ. That dumb bitch Snooki did jack shit in that farce of a match last year.

5. Hell in a Cell, The Undertaker vs Triple H (guest referee Shawn Michaels): Absolutely amazing. The whole presentation of this match fired on all cylinders; great entrances, awesome face-off, Taker finally revealing what his new hairdo looks like (a cool mohawk), and even playing Metallica’s “The Memory Remains” as the Cell was being lowered to start the match. The action was intense and told a fantastic story. Well, it HAD to. This was the last chapter in what can really be called a four-part epic, starting all the way back to ‘Mania 25 with Taker’s first classic with Michaels. I thought it blew away the Taker/HHH match from last year, and really mimicked the second Taker/HBK clash from ‘Mania 26 as it reached the conclusion. Taker himself looked healthier and even quicker with the full year off he had from action. Triple H looked better than he did in his matches late last year with CM Punk and Kevin Nash. And HBK as the guest ref was great in his facial expressions to really sell the drama. And of course, with a final Tombstone, the Dead Man went 20-0 in his winning streak following a 30+ minute blockbuster. Cool as that is, the post-match image of Shawn and Taker helping a defeated HHH to his feet and then the three of them walking up the ramp is one hell of a WrestleMania moment. The emotion behind it made me question whether we’ve actually seen the last of The Undertaker at WrestleMania. I really, really hope not.

6. Team Teddy vs Team Johnny 12-man tag match: This was the right place for this match. People needed to rest after the HIAC epic and there needed to be a good ‘buffer’ between it and the other two main events, so this was appropriate. By itself, I thought it was a fine mess of a multi-man match. Everyone got a chance to perform in the ring, and it even managed to pop the tired crowd once or twice. The right team won, that being Team Johnny representing John Laurinaitis, because it opens up a lot more storyline opportunities for the foreseeable future.

Punk calls for the GTS to end the match. It wouldn't work. (Photo WWE.COM)

7. WWE Championship, CM Punk (C) vs Chris Jericho: Excellent match. What I salivated over was the prospect of this being the best pure wrestling contest, and that’s exactly what we got. For over 20 minutes, Punk and Jericho tore into each other with various moves, strikes, holds and submissions in a match that started off slow, but gradually snatched the crowd’s attention and had them on their feet in the final moments. Just a great chemistry between these two, and I loved the several submissions attempts by both of them to try and end the match. It pulled the crowd in with every anguished yell and scream, as Punk or Jericho tried making the other tap out. Punk finally managed to get the win by submission, and I cannot wait to see how this story moves forward. If I had my way, I’d have Jericho win the gold at the next PPV, Extreme Rules, which is in Punk’s hometown of Chicago. Then a third match, the rubber match, somewhere else down the line. And I’d make it an Iron Man match. Book it, Vince.

8. The Rock vs John Cena: Epic. Historic. Once in a lifetime. That’s how WWE promoted this match, and the end result lived up to it. Great face-off when both guys got in the ring, which I was looking for to mimic that feeling of Rock/Hogan from a decade ago. Very back and forth in the beginning, which was the right move in order to show the fans that it could go either way and was too hard to predict yet. Rock was the absolute babyface throughout and Cena the heel, which surprised me because I thought that, like at ‘Mania 18 when Rock fought Hogan, a large portion of the fans would switch over to Cena and split the stadium almost 50/50. That wasn’t the case here. I thought Rock looked great in his first singles match in nine years; very fluid and bumping really well for Cena. And people can say what they want about John, but he brings his A game in big match situations. For a match that’s designed to only happen once, I liked the chemistry between them. It had some great near-falls and great drama in the end. I loved that the WWE brought back that old bit of the ref checking on a wrestler by lifting his arm to see if he’s conscious. The ref did that to The Rock when Cena had the STF submission locked in, and just like it always does, Rock’s arm staying up on the third check blew up the Miami crowd. From there, it built to the end where Cena got too arrogant and attempted his own version of The People’s Elbow. It bit him in the ass though, as Rock exploded and nailed the Rock Bottom for the huge win. That, I didn’t expect. A pleasant surprise to see Rock win this half-hour battle, even if it does produce many calls for a rematch some day. But I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t happen.

Rock vs Cena provided as much drama as was expected for this year-long anticipated match. (Photo WWE.COM)

Again, overall, this was just a fantastic PPV. Great wrestling, emotional storytelling, and memorable moments. All ingredients that a WrestleMania should always have.

On to ‘Mania 29 in Jersey…..