The SmarK Rant for WWE Wrestlemania XXVIII

PPVs, Reviews, Top Story

Wrestlemania XXVIII

The SmarK Rant for WWE Wrestlemania XXVIII

Live from Miami, FL

Your hosts are Michael Cole & Jerry Lawler

Opening match, World title:  Daniel Bryan v. Sheamus

Well we knew that one of the World titles would be opening the show.  Kind of a heel reaction for Sheamus for some reason.  And then he hits Bryan with the Brogue Kick and pins him to win the title at 0:15.  What the FUCK?  The crowd is not terribly pleased about that.  I was looking forward to seeing that match.  Why even bother having it on the show?   Unless they think that this was Bryan’s Honky Tonk Man moment where the heel finally gets his comeuppance, but people LIKE Bryan.

Meanwhile, Team Johnny and their dorky t-shirts rally around Johnny Ace, in his Col Robert Parker suit.

Kane v. Randy Orton

Orton hammers away in the corner, but Kane EMBRACES THE HATE and fires back.  Orton stomps him down and tries the draping DDT, but Kane drops him on the top rope and boots him down to take over.  Seated dropkick gets two.  Chinlock, but Orton slugs out until Kane boots him down for two.  Sideslam gets two and Kane goes back to the chinlock.  Orton with a neckbreaker for two and the crowd is dead silent.  Can’t blame them.  Delayed suplex gets two.  And it’s ANOTHER chinlock.  They couldn’t have made this one the 15 second win by the babyface?  Orton flips out of the chinlock and gets the backbreaker, and the powerslam.  Draping DDT (which Cole calls a bulldog, faceplant and DDT in succession) sets up the RKO, but Kane counters with a boot for two.  Kane to the top, but Orton catches him with a dropkick coming down.  Kane dodges the punt and chokeslams him for two.  Kane gets upset and pounds away in the corner, but Orton dropkicks the knee and they fight to the top.  Kane brings him down with a chokeslam and pins him at 11:00.  Seriously?  What is the point of Kane going over here?  So that we’re gonna have to watch this shitty match AGAIN, but with stipulations?  I mean, I’m no Randy Orton booster, but he’s been doing WAY too many jobs.  This was slow and plodding and just never got going, and Randy didn’t even get to do the RKO so you KNOW they have to have a million rematches until he does. *1/2  And Kane has been on a rampage of sucky matches since his return.   EMBRACE THE CRAP!

Meanwhile, Santino and Mick Foley help plug the Deadliest Catch and eat crab.  Shouldn’t Santino be getting ready for his match?

Intercontinental title:  Cody Rhodes v. Big Show

Cody runs away to start and tries a dive, but Show catches him and tosses him back in.  Show pounds away and gives him a stinkface in the corner, but Cody dropkicks the knee and elbows him down for two.  Cody goes to work on the knee, but Show swats him down and makes the comeback.  Cody goes up to escape and Show sends him to the floor, but Cody comes back in with the disaster kick.  Another one is countered with a badly timed spear, and Show knocks him out and pins him at 5:18 to win the title.  Another nothing match.  **

Kelly Kelly & Maria Menounos v. Beth Phoenix & Eve

Kelly gets a rana on Eve for two, but a handspring elbow hits knee.  Eve goes up and Kelly brings her down, giving us a double stinkface from the babyfaces.  Maria’s makeup actually rubs off on Maria’s white pants, which prompts my wife to exclaim “What the hell is that on her ass?” and thus I have to stop and explain the mechanics of the stinkface to someone who doesn’t watch wrestling.  That whole conversation is much more interesting than the match, as Maria plays celebrity-in-peril through a series of bearhugs by the heels, but Maria kicks Eve out of the ring to block the rumpshaking moonsault.  Yeah, I can’t believe what I’m forced to type some days either.  Kelly gets the hot tag and does her spinning headscissors on Beth, into a somersault senton for two.  Huh.  Beth comes back with the Glam Slam, but Kelly reverses it into a bulldog.  Maria tags in again despite her injuries, and Beth collides with Eve and gets pinned at 6:50.  Best match of the show thus far.  Not really a compliment to the show, but whatever.  **1/4

Hell In A Cell:  Undertaker v. HHH

Rather subdued entrance for COOHHH tonight, although the cell gets its own entrance music.  Seriously.  I’m surprised Undertaker’s new Mohawk didn’t get its own entrance, too.  By the way, despite the pictures circulating before the show that made it look like a big black cage or something, it’s just the standard mesh cell.  JR joins us for commentary, thank god.  They throw hands in the corner and head to the floor, and HHH meets the stairs as Michael Cole brings up Jimmy Snuka as the first victim of the streak.  Well, since he brought it up, how can I not mention that Snuka has a daughter named Tamina Snuka?  They slug it out on the floor as the announcers keep talking about how it’s the END OF AN ERA, an era that we’ll never return to.  What are they talking about?  Anyway, back in the ring, Taker works the arm and goes old school.  Back to the floor, and the stairs get pulled apart, leading to the guillotine on the apron by UT.  HHH responds with a DDT and rams Undertaker into the stairs a few times, but can’t get a Pedigree on them, as Taker backdrops him off.  HHH comes back with a spinebuster onto the stairs, and THAT had to hurt.  He stupidly comes in blind, though, and Taker catches him in the gogoplata again.  HHH quickly counters out with a slam for two.  And now the chairs get involved, as HHH pummels him with one and runs him into the stairs.  HHH lays in another beating with the chair, just destroying the back until even Shawn is offended.  The crowd gets pretty uncomfortable as HHH just keeps pounding him with the chair, but of course Undertaker won’t quit.  Finally HHH covers and gets two.  More from the chair and Undertaker still won’t stay down, so HHH retrieves his trusty sledgehammer while he tells Shawn to stop the match or else.  Undertaker won’t quit, so HHH levels him with the hammer for two.  He goes to BASH UNDERTAKER’S SKULL IN, but Shawn finally grabs it from Hunter to save.  Shawn is once again tempted to ring the bell, but Undertaker grabs him and puts him out with the gogoplata to prevent it.  Well that’s one way.  HHH breaks it up with the sledgehammer, but Undertaker kicks him in the nuts and locks in the gogoplata.  HHH grabs the hammer like last year, but Taker chokes him out completely with Shawn Michaels also out cold.  This brings Charles Robinson running out like a madman, because Shawn is ONE OF HIS PEOPLE now, and the chokeslam gets two.  It’s ingrained into referees to run down whenever another striped shirt is in jeopardy.  Taker takes out his problems on Robinson, chokeslamming him, but Shawn superkicks Undertaker, and KICK WHAM PEDIGREE gets two.  THE SECRET PLAN!  What an awesome near fall.  The crowd agrees and chants about how awesome it is.  HHH gets rid of Shawn again, but Undertaker sits up and he’s FUCKING PISSED.  He beats the shit out of HHH and hits Snake Eyes and the big boot and legdrop, but the tombstone only gets two.  Also an awesome near-fall.  Shawn is nearly rocking in the corner like an emotional wreck.  You have to love that.  They slug it out from the mat and just keep firing away, but HHH gets another Pedigree for two.  Undertaker recovers first while HHH crawls for the hammer, but Undertaker gets the chair.  And steps on the hammer.  Uh oh.  HHH gets MAULED by the chair until Shawn finally steps in as the voice of reason, but Undertaker gives HHH one more shot and gets two.  Well the chair was broken anyway.  HHH gets the hammer again but he’s not really in much condition to use it, and now Undertaker is the one telling him to stay down.  HHH takes one last swing, and Undertaker shrugs him off and takes the hammer like it’s a toy.  HHH crotch chops him in response, so Undertaker lays him out with the hammer, pulls him up, and the tombstone finishes at 30:45.  And there’s your second ***** match for the weekend.  Just an amazing performance from both, as they just beat the shit out of each other and let it all hang out.  I literally don’t think they could have produced a more perfect match given the guys involved, unless there had been blood or something.  Shawn and Undertaker mend their fences afterwards, and everyone goes out together, because they’re real men who settled their differences like men, and now they respect each other again.  That is what wrestling is supposed to be.  Just fantastic.

The Hall of Fame group is introduced, and yeah, Ric Flair is there.  Edge with short hair is just wrong.

Meanwhile, Heath Slater bugs Flo Rida and gets beat up as a result.

Team Johnny (The Miz, Mark Henry, Drew McIntyre, Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler, David Otunga) v. Team Teddy (Kofi Kingston, The Great Khali, R-Truth, Zack Ryder, Booker T, Santino)

As feared, everyone is wearing t-shirts and they don’t even get separate entrances, as each side uses the theme song of the GM.  It just makes everyone look like such nerds.  Kofi with a crossbody on Dolph for two, and Truth comes in for the double-team for two.  Drew is in and he gets dominated by the faces and chopped down by Khali.  Booker chops him in the corner and gets a sideslam for two, and he goes after the heels on the apron and gets laid out as a result.  Swagger  (who has new, non-American themed tights) comes in with a chinlock, and clotheslines Booker for two.  Over to Henry, who pounds Booker down as the crowd is DEAD.  Miz continues the beating to dead silence and Dolph drops an elbow for two.  Miz comes in with his own chinlock as it just gets deader and deader and the crowd is literally silent.  Finally Khali comes in with the big chop and they start randomly doing the wacky finisher spots, leading up to the babyfaces doing a triple dive onto the heels.  The chicks get into a random catfight and we’ve got Santino and Miz left in the ring.  Flying headbutt sets up the Cobra for two.  Over to Zack and Dolph takes a crazy bump off a monkey flip.  And of course Eve comes in and screws him over, allowing Miz to hit the stroke at 10:44 to give Johnny Ace both shows.  Really, eleven minutes for that finish?  Ryder’s getting pinned by Miz now, he might as well hang up his tights.  And Eve turns on him formally afterwards and kicks him in the junk, as I guess we’re supposed to be shocked that heel Eve would do something bad to Zack.  What a boring load of shit this whole thing was.  You’d think it would be a bunch of comedy spots or crazy brawling or something, but no, just a super-dull tag match with the heat on Booker the whole time.  DUD   So yeah, to recap, Zack gets no revenge, gets pinned by Miz to lose the match, and Eve kicks him in the nuts to dump him.  Great night for him.

Meanwhile, Big Johnny waives the DQ rule in the WWE title match, just to mess with CM Punk.

WWE title:  CM Punk v. Chris Jericho

They’ve certainly got a lot of time to save this show.  They take it to the mat to start and Punk hits him with crossfaces and stomps him in the corner.  They’re basically wearing matching outfits tonight, which is either a fashion faux pas or Jericho trying to play mindgames.  Punk keeps pounding him in the corner and flirting with a DQ, so Jericho eggs him on with a comment about his dad and Punk pounds him with elbows.  To the top, but Jericho rolls out to escape, so Punk hits him with a flying clothesline to the floor instead.  Jericho:  “How’s your SISTER?”  So Punk grabs a chair and Jericho flings insults, hoping for the DQ, but Punk just spinkicks him instead, and Jericho regroups with a dropkick to take over.  They head to the apron and Jericho clotheslines him back into the ring and then suplexes him to the floor.  Now there’s a spot you don’t see often, for good reason.  Back in, Jericho gets two.  Backbreaker gets two.  We hit the chinlock, and another backbreaker gets two.  Senton gets two.  Punk fights back and goes up, but Jericho yanks him down hard on the back of his head and gets two.  Jericho goes to the surfboard and Punk escapes with the mule kick.  This thing just isn’t clicking at all and the crowd, as usual tonight, is dead silent.  Punk comes back with the leg lariat and neckbreaker for two.  Jericho blocks the bulldog and tries the Lionsault, but Punk gets the knees up, so Jericho goes for the Walls, and Punk escapes that.  High kick gets two.  Punk goes up with the flying elbow, but he takes forever and Jericho gets his knees up and then hits the Codebreaker.  Punk flies out of the ring on the sell, but he waits for Jericho to throw him back in and then hits a GTS out of nowhere.  That gets two.  Punk comes back with a powerslam for two.  They trade back elbows and Jericho suplexes Punk onto the top rope and hits the Lionsault for two.  “Not often you see someone kick out of the Lionsault” notes Cole.  Except for every opponent of Chris Jericho, ever.  They head up and Punk tries a rana, but Jericho hangs on and gets the Walls off that.  Cool spot there.  Punk quickly makes the ropes, and dumps a charging Jericho.  This leads to Punk hitting a high knee that rams Jericho’s head into the post, and they head back in…where Punk springboards right into a Codebreaker.  That gets two.  Jericho stops to talk some trash and Punk tries the GTS, but Jericho elbows out and goes to the top, so Punk brings him down with a GTS…that Jericho counters into the Walls.  Or rather, the Liontamer, but Punk fights out and cradles for two.  Jericho reverses for two, so Punk turns THAT into the Anaconda Vice.  Jericho rolls him over for two, but Punk hangs on until Jericho knees him in the head repeatedly to break.  Back to the Walls, but Punk kicks him in the face and hooks the Vice again, moves out of the way of the knees, and Jericho taps at 22:18.  Man, they took their sweet time getting into gear, but it ended up a near-classic with crazy drama and submission reversals.  Unfortunately that beginning just dragged it down too far to fully recover from.  ***1/2

Brodus Clay comes out and calls his mama.  This leads to a big group dance number with dancers dressed as Brodus Clay’s mama.  And this leads to nothing, as I guess they had too much time to use up and just needed the stupidest fucking thing possible.

John Cena v. The Rock

And after all those weeks of trying for the 50/50 reaction, John Cena gets booed out of the building.  Team Edward and Team Jacob indeed.  Although Twilight is so 2 years ago; kids killing each other in dystopian arenas is what all the pre-teens are into these days.  Even with MGK doing his pre-entrance musical interlude.  My god, who would boo Machine Gun Kelly?  No friend of mine, that’s who.  The Rock is looking JACKED tonight.  Cena wins the epic lockup battle to start, but Rock wins the second try.  Rock with the headlock and armdrags, into the majastral cradle for two.  No ring rust there.  Cena gets his own headlock, but Rock slugs him down and tries the Sharpshooter, so Cena bails.  Back in, Cena hits a shoulderblock in the corner and lays Rock out with a clothesline, but it only gets one.  Rock slugs away, but Cena dumps him and sends him into the table.  Back in, Cena gets two and starts to wrestle quite heelish, stomping the ribs to set up a belly to belly suplex for two.  Cena with the bearhug, but Rock slugs out of it and gets the DDT for two.  Cena pounds the ribs in the corner, but Rock comes back with a clothesline and spinebuster…but Cena breaks up the People’s Elbow with an STF attempt.  Rock escapes, so Cena gets the FIVE MOVES OF DOOM, with a smile on his face during the Five Knuckle Shuffle.  FU is escaped and they clothesline each other, but Rock is up first and it’s the slugfest.  Rock stops to talk the trash, and Cena hits the FU for two.  Rock pops up with Rock Bottom for two.  Rock lays the smackdown in the corner, but Cena gets a sideslam for two.  He goes up and gets the guillotine for two, as Rock took forever getting into position.  Another FU is blocked, and Rock takes him down with the Scorpion King Deathlock, and he still can’t do it properly.  Cena makes the ropes regardless, so Rock pulls him back and applies it again, and Cena gets the ropes again and bails to the apron.  They brawl on the floor and Cena meets the stairs.  Back in, Cena suddenly gets the STF and pulls Rock into the center to thunderous boos.  Rock is the most awesome actor in the world because he actually makes it look like the move is painful and causing him to block out.  That’s Oscar-caliber right there.  And we go OLD SCHOOL, as the ref checks the arm, but Rock is up on the third drop.  And he makes the ropes.  Cena charges and walks into a samoan drop, and it’s the double KO spot.  Rock is up first and slugs away, but Cena fires back into the ribs…and it’s SPINEBUSTER AND PEOPLE’S ELBOW.  For two.  Cena with a small package for two.  The crowd goes crazy with duelling chants and Cena catapults Rock into the corner for two.  Cena puts him on the top, but Rock sends him down again and goes AERIAL with the high cross, but Cena rolls through with the FU for two.  Cena’s at a loss now and does a People’s Elbow for the hell of it, and ROCK BOTTOM  finishes his ass at 30:38.  Thank god they changed the finish.  ****1/2  Rock was a bit gassed, but he just went 30 minutes after being retired for years, can you blame him?  Other than that, tremendously epic stuff that delivered exactly what was promised.

The Pulse

I’m pretty sure 90% of the people buying this show were doing it for Rock/Cena and HHH/Undertaker, and both matches delivered tremendously, so that’s a thumbs up show from me.  I just wish that something else had turned into a show-stealing classic to really elevate this thing to the upper tier of Wrestlemanias, but sadly nothing did and in fact a couple were really horrible from a quality and booking standpoint.  Still, HHH v. Undertaker is well worth your $65 and I left happy that I bought the show.