– This is truly about as random as it gets, I know, but alas I had it next in my own little personal video order. For the record this is the first time I will have watched the show since watching it live at a friend’s house with a bunch of other people. Also of note at least to yours truly is that this was my first WrestleMania in the last three years that I didn’t attend, as unless you’re a relatively new reader of mine you knew that I attended both XXII and XXIII (that’s 22 and 23 for you non-Roman numeral savvy folks, not unlike myself) which were in Chicago and Detroit and thus both bubbling under the 6 hour driving distance limit that I hold for professional wrestling roadtrips, or any form of entertainment really.
The earlier I did a duel perspective rant of, the latter which is yet to be seen. We actually did consider going to this year’s in Orlando, but the sixteen hour drive was definitely out of the question as was the expensive plane tickets by the time we waited, so alas, the streak had to unfortunately come to an end. Although, it could have very well been a blessing in disguise as our seats would have also probably required an oxygen tank, as if our view sucked getting the nosebleeds at Allstate Arena and Ford Field, boy would we have been in for a surprise here. Actually though, I have heard that Ford Field held a larger capacity than this did at 80,000 but it sure doesn’t seem that way to view both of the fields, at least on a screen at least. Anyway, ordered it at a buddy’s, the annual PPV that we all actually pitch in and buy, and I will admit that I enjoyed it then and felt satisfied with what I paid, even though it was only a portion since it was split up. I always find it interesting (or maybe I’m just a nerd like that) to see how your opinion differs seeing it then and a few months later when you’re actually analyzing it, but that stopped a few years ago when all of the local sports bars stopped carrying wrestling PPVs. Curse you, Buffalo Wild Wings.
– Before we get started I wanted to address a little conflict that popped up with my recent review of No Mercy 2001, in which the opening line in the opening contest tag match (The Hardys v. Lance Storm & Hurricane) is a fun fact that everyone in the match is from North Carolina. This was referenced by Jim Ross to start the match and is part false and part true, as kayfabe had it at that time of course. As Ken B points it out via the comment section, during the whole Alliance angle McMahon and the WWF switched many of the Canadian wrestlers as being billed in random hometowns from the States to further fuel the America against France/Canada fiasco. Helms and the Hardys obviously both being legit, among those Canadian wrestlers were Lance Storm, from North Carolina and thus why it made sense at the time, Chris Jericho being billed from Manhasset, New York, which from what I gather is actually his actual hometown before growing up in Canada, and Christian from Tampa, Florida, where I found out he used reside so I guess that made some kind of sense. At any rate, I threw it in there thinking people would get it, though seven years ago has taken its toll on me as well and I didn’t remember directly. But, now you now and sorry for the confusion.
– Oh and ONE last thing before we start, an old friend of mine Roy Reynolds has registered his first excellent entry in this wacky side of cyberspace known as the IWC over at The Cool Kids’ Table, and I encourage you all to view that right here. The kid has a serious passion for indy wrestling and hopefully he gets the chance to showcase some of that at TCKT as well, and I’m sure he will.
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The NeelDown: WrestleMania 24
– From Orlando, FL
– Your hosts are JR, King, Coach & Cole
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JBL v. Finlay – Belfast brawl
In case you’ve already forgotten the brilliant storyline here, it was when Hornswoggle was supposed to be the son of Vince, father figure Finlay seeks revenge, evil JBL gets involved and tosses Hornswoggle around including assaulting him in his hospital bed. Perfect for a WM opener, eh? JBL attacks on the floor to start but gets fed to the steps early. Finlay throws a bunch of weapons in the ring but as he gets in JBL wacks him with a trash can then takes turns wailing on him with the dreaded cookie sheet and a can lid. JBL brings in some steps and tries to powerbomb Finlay on them, but gets backdropped off and now Finlay tees off on him with the COOKIE SHEET OF DEATH. JBL brawls him down in the corner but the midget sneaks in and wacks him with a kendo stick, allowing Finlay to nail him with the shilelagh to send him to the floor. Finlay retrieves a table and sends it up in the corner, but JBL blocks the Irish whip and goes to the outside to slap the midget. That forces Finlay to go smash his head against the announce table a few times, then try a suicide dive, but JBL catches him in mid-air with a STIFF shot with the can lid. Great shot. That gets two and then a hilarious spot sees JBL throw a can to the floor and it probably unintentionally skins the crawling away Hornswoggle. Finlay counters the Clothesline from Hell via hitting him with a can, then slams him down and sends him through the table in the corner for two. Finlay tries hitting him with the steps but the grounded JBL takes out the knee with a kendo stick and finishes with the Clothesline from Hell for the pin. Hey, when’s the last time JBL actually got a clean pin? I enjoyed this a lot more than the first time, which was during the actual show. Really fun garbage brawl match with a bunch of nice stiff shots taken by both guys. Good opener. (**3/4)
Winner: JBL
Chris Jericho v. MVP v. John Morrison v. Carlito v. Mr. Kennedy v. CM Punk v. Shelton Benjamin – Money In The Bank Ladder Match
On an interesting note, but one that apparently the announcers didn’t find significant, we have the Intercontinental, US, and a Tag Champ in this match. Everyone scrambles to the outside to get ladders to start while the wise MVP stays in the ring and knocks off everyone who tries to enter. He ends up getting the midget ladder but is met in the other corner by Jericho who has the big one, and in a stupid-looking sequence they stop to stare at each other before colliding and we know who came out on top of that one. Morrison comes in and takes out Jericho with one of his own, and then goes up to top and moonsaults onto a group of the guys on the outside while holding the ladder which came upon mid-jump. It barely hit anyone but it looked pretty damn sweet anyway. This leaves Kennedy all alone so he is the first to climb. Jericho comes in to stop him and succeeds, but when he tries to catapult him into the ladder Kennedy clings on and climbs again. You would think the participants in this match would have learned not to try catapults in these type of matches by now. Or at least not ones toward a ladder. Benjamin and Morrison are recovered and they get involved with their own ladders, leading to Kennedy hooking Morrison for a suplex off the ladder, but MITB spot-whore Benjamin sunset flip bombs them down into a great-looking domino effect spot for the crowd. Benjamin tries to capitalize and climbs, but Carlito makes his first appearance in the match and tips the ladder over. Benjamin however lands perfectly on the top rope, then tries to spring back in with the ladder at Carlito but it buckles and he ends up crashing into the ropes. Looked ugly, ad the refs check on him. Edge and Flair have been seriously hurt in these matches, remember.
That leaves Kennedy and Punk to go at it and attempt threatening climbs, until Benjamin returns looking fine and knocks Punk off the ladder. Punk returns the favor by giving him a sloppy GTS, but he forgot about Kennedy who then treats him to the rolling powerslam RIGHT onto a ladder. Phew! Carlito sneaks in again and climbs up by himself. He gets there, but pesky Benjamin is in again to pull him off, and he knocks Carlito down with the blocked superkick turned into spinkick sequence. Benjamin goes up, but Carlito and the newly refreshed Kennedy tip that over and Benjamin flips down and onto a big ladder that was wedged between the barricade and apron at ringside. And damn he fell right on it too. Well Benjamin is pretty much done now, poor guy MAKES this matches ever since the first one but never gets close to the finish line. And really, why are they sticking this guy on the joke that is ECW while guys like Umaga are on RAW and representing the brand tonight? I’ll never know. Back to the match and Carlito and Kennedy stare at the fallen Benjamin in amazement. Those two, along with Jericho end up climbing but MVP comes in to tip that one over and they fly into the ropes. MVP tries going up but that’s cut short by Morrison who I guess is just now recovering from the moonsault (in which he was supposed to be dishing OUT the pain) who tries to go up himself, but Jericho meets him at the top and ends up locking him in the Walls while on top of the ladder. Not as pretty as it has been done in the past, but gets the job done nonetheless.
Kennedy comes in and climbs with a ladder of his own and Jericho abandons Morrison to brawl with him on the other ladder. Carlito and Punk join the fun now as well. Kennedy gets the Mic Check off the ladder to take himself and Punk out of the equation for now. That leaves Jericho and Carlito, but Carlito gives Jericho the Back Stabber off of the leader. MVP is all alone just like the start, and he climbs up and has the briefcase in his hands, but (prepare to be floored), MATT HARDY VERSION ONE hits the ring and takes care of MVP via a Twist Of Fate off the ladder. No real relevance but to get stuck in another feud with MVP, I assume, but the crowd dug it so whatever. After all that aftermath, Morrison tries to climb but gets tipped and crotches on the top rope, which has to be assumed when wearing tight white pants. Anyway, Jericho and Carlito battle atop another ladder and Carlito spits an apple in his face. Carlito grabs the case but Kennedy shoves him off. He gives it a shot instead, but Punk fights him off in revenge from earlier, however Punk takes the ladder-assisted Code Breaker from Jericho. Jericho and Punk slowly climb up the same ladder and meet on top as they both grab it, which results in the case swinging away. They brawl and Jericho shoves it into Punk’s face. Punk is able to trip Jericho up however and he falls backwards with his feet caught in the ladder upside down, and Punk retrieves the case and the title shot. Not the best MITB so far for me, but match was great as usual with the risky spots and nearly impossible to screw up with these guys in it mixed with unlimited ladders, as not the case with guys like Kane and Lashley in there previously. Finish was at least kind of surprising to me at the time (unlike previous years), and no one suffered any legit injuries this time around as well which has to be a morale victory. (***3/4)
Winner: CM Punk
– Backstage shots of Orton, Cena and HHH. A little early, isn’t it?
– Howard Finkel comes out to introduce the Hall Of Fame members. Flair was of course represented by his family as he has a big match to be preparing for. Miavia gives us his shuffle when he is announced.
– Josh Mathews is with Snoop Dogg who discusses the Bunny match before he is interrupted by Santino who mocks him and tells him he will be at ringside in case he’s trying any funny business. Snoop however wisely thought ahead and has recruited Festus, and he rings a bell and has him chase him off. Mick Foley now makes his token WM appearance with a pimped-out Mr. Socko. Oy.
Batista v. Umaga
They even have Teddy Long and William Regal come out and play off that it truly is a “battle of the brands” match, even though no one cared about that storyline two years ago and it’s just a cheap way to get Dave on the card. Slugfest to start resulting in Umaga in control. Blind charge misses and Umaga gets dumped for ringside brawling. Back inside and Umaga gets his token spin kick. He knocks Batista off the apron and that gets two back inside. Umaga locks in a nerve pinch hold, just what the match needed, as the crowd must be bored and actually starts cheering for Umaga. Umaga tries his diving headbut that that misses, Batista tries a powerslam but gets rolled back on for a two count. Typical stuff here. Batista can’t fight back so we head back to the nerve pinch. Dave fights out, blocks the throat thrust, gets his spinebuster, gets excited and follows with the Demon Bomb for the pin. This was what it was, a mess of a filler and nothing more, which is a bad thing (see explanation above). Crowd didn’t even want Batista to go over, which was supposed to be the whole point. So SmackDown is superior to RAW, I guess, although that looks kind of stupid in retrospect considering the two swapped places in the draft lottery a few months later. D’oh. (1/2*)
Winner: Batista
– Turns out that Kane won the annual 24-man battle royal before the show started, which earns him a shot at the ECW title tonight. Hey, it’s not like it’s much better, but at least the winner gets something now. Estrada comes out to announce the match for his token appearance as well.
Chavo Guerrero v. Kane – ECW championship
Kane appears in the ring from behind Chavo, and he walks right into a Chokeslam for the pin and the title in about three seconds. I’m not really exactly sure why they would throw this on the card of the biggest show of the year to showcase this “brand” and they give them less than ten seconds, especially when a lot of people (like myself) still aren’t convinced to actually take it seriously. And did they actually have Tazz and Styles out for the whole night just to announce this five second, one move match? You’ve gotta be kidding. But hey, for the few fans of Kane remaining who still think of him as a legitimate big man powerhouse, he finally won something again, even though that would be made short for of by Mizark before long. (-/-)
Winner: Kane
– Raven from the Disney Channel, or whatever she’s doing these days, comes out to introduce the Make-A-Wish foundation kids in the audience.
Shawn Michaels v. Ric Flair – Retirement Match
Flair wearing all blue to counter Shawn’s red is a nice touch. They trade hammerlocks to start, Flair takes him down with a drop toe hold but Shawn goes right back to the hold. Flair gets a hip toss and stops to strut. They exchange clean breaks in the corner and Flair is pissed that HBK recently called him, insult of elderly joke insults, Old Yeller, so Shawn slaps him which actually draws some blood. We all know Flair bleeds like a sieve, but THIS early? They then exchange chops in the corner, won out by Flair and he drops a knee for good measure. Shawn blocks a blind charge with an elbow and goes up top, but Flair tosses him off in the exact way that all of his opponents have done to him, revenge after all these years! I love that. Flair then goes up and hits a high crossbody (!), seriously, for two. Lawler says this truly is a historic night because Flair actually hit his move off the top rope. He tries the Figure Four early but HBK kicks him to the floor and follows with a baseball slide. Shawn tries a second rope moonsault but Flair has it scouted and Shawn lands quite stiffly on the announce table. One of the simpler, yet best bumps I’ve ever seen, God that’s hard to watch. HBK escapes the count but falls victim to a back suplex for a close two. Underhook suplex gets two for Flair. They chop it out and Flair nails a delayed vertical for two.
Shawn catches him off the ropes with a swinging neckbreaker, dumps him and capitalizes with a moonsault from the top, though it never really got any of Flair and pretty much just skimmed Ric’s arm. That results in a double KO and as they make it in at nine, JR reminds us that a double countout would result in a loss for Flair. Back to the chopfest inside that HBK gets the advantage of this time, then gets the patented kip up. He adds an atomic drop and scoop slam then connects with the flying elbow for two. Shawn tunes up the band but stops as he goes for the superkick, so Flair promptly takes him down into the Figure Four without hesitation! HBK is able to reverse it however, and Flair gets the ropes quick. Flair stays in control with a snapmare and they exchange bridged pin reversals, and Shawn takes the crazy turnbuckle bump setting up the chopblock, but HBK turns the Figure Four attempt into a cradle for two. Flair ducks an enziguiri and is able to lock it in soon after, though. HBK fights and makes it to the ropes. Flair pauses a bit for a little ‘profilin, and then walks straight into a superkick out of nowhere but only for two. Shawn tunes up again, but Flair is slow to make it up so he goes to check on him, but Flair gives him a low blow mule kick for a close two. The close kickout was cool, but I’m not sure how many people thought it would end on a low blow. HBK gets his own Figure Four but Flair makes the ropes and rakes the eyes, then rolls Shawn up for two. HBK then hits ANOTHER superkick out of nowhere, and then another with the Sweet Chin set up, right before muttering “I’m sorry, I love you”, for the pin, and he immediately hugs Flair on the mat. Shawn quickly makes his way to the back as Flair, fully in tears, stands up to a standing ovation 70,000 + strong, and makes one final pose on the ramp before heading to the back. A lot of people including myself were a little irked that this was all that happened following Flair’s loss, but the real ceremony would happen the next night on RAW, and a grand one indeed. I thought the finish was as good as they could have made it, and for the match itself, easily the best Flair’s had in a long time, and another one I enjoyed quite a bit more upon second viewing. Wrestling was top rate the whole time, from the reversals and quick superkicks to the great spot where Shawn nearly broke his whole rib cage on the moonsault attempt. (****)
Winner: Shawn Michaels
– Edge promises a win with Mathews backstage.
– Snoop Dogg makes his way out in a pimped out golf cart complete with leopard skin interior. All the other divas follow behind him. Snoop gets the honor of announcing the participants of the lumberjack match. Santino Marella valets the heels wearing a blue boa, and thus is the luckiest person in the world as he collects a large paycheck for doing nothing but escorting two hot chicks to the ring at WrestleMania and getting to impersonate Hulk Hogan to boot.
Ashley & Maria v. Beth Phoenix & Melina – Bunnymania Lumberjack Match
How exactly do they expect us to take a match called “Bunnymania” seriously? Oh well. Ashley starts with Beth and gets a rana, so Maria tags herself in. Melina comes in but gets dumped and pounded on by the other chicks. Maria gets her bronco buster as Snoop watches smiling from his throne at ringside. Ashley gets a bunch of sloppy offense in including a facebuster out of the corner but the heels use evil heel tactics to go in control. Ashley gets dumped on the heel divas pound on her. I guess the good divas and bad divas are on each side. Beth dumps Melina off her shoulders onto Ashley for two. The lights go out now and it’s pretty much pitch black until they turn on some kind of emergency light so we can just see the ring. Well, at least it happened in this match and not the previous or one after. Lawler asks if the Undertaker has arrived. Anyway, Beth finishes Maria with a fisherman’s suplex for the pin. Not the worst match in the world from what we actually saw, but there were only two wrestlers actually in it. (3/4*) Afterward Snoop clotheslines Santino and fakes making out with Maria.
Winners: Beth Phoenix & Melina
Randy Orton v. HHH v. John Cena – World Heavyweight Championship
The special ring announcing by Lilian is a nice touch. I guess Cena’s marching band entrance is cool too, much better than bringing the armed Chicago gangsters to the ring like a few years back. Orton grabs the belt from the ref and clocks HHH with it to start. Cena goes on him quick with a bulldog and snap suplex, but HHH comes back and dumps them both. HHH and Orton brawl onto the announce table and back inside HHH grabs a quick sleeper, which Cena interrupts by attempting an early double FU, but HHH slips off and promptly kicks him in the gut, because you simply do not interrupt a HHH sleeper that early on a show of this caliber. Anyway, he turns around into Orton’s backbreaker which is called an inverted atomic drop by JR. Ouch. He decides to cover Cena instead, and gets two. Orton tries going up, but Cena meets him up there to try a superplex, but HHH grabs Cena and they do a nice tower of doom spot with Orton hitting a crossbody onto Cena off of HHH’s shoulders. Cena rolls through on the pin and lifts Orton up for the FU, but Orton turns it into a sunset flip for two. “Let’s go Cena/Cena sucks” chant starts up at this point. Orton plants them both with a rope-assisted double DDT for two.
Cena blocks the RKO by shoving Orton onto the still down HHH, then comes back with the five moves of death and looks for the STFU, but Orton bails to the floor where Cena chases him but Orton intelligently sends him to the post. HHH is finally rejuvenated and he goes after Orton’s knee, but Cena interrupts and that bides Orton just enough time to nail a surprise RKO out of nowhere on HHH. Cena locks in the STFU on Orton, but eventually HHH helps Orton gets the ropes and then feeds Cena to the steps. HHH comes in now and it’s Indian Deathlock time to replace the STFU. Cena comes back in to break it up as he guess he no sold the steps, and HHH takes a Shawn-like turnbuckle bump to go to the floor. Another STFU is locked in mid-ring but HHH comes in to make the save and lock in a Crossface on Cena, but he makes the ropes. HHH and Cena slug it out now yay/boo style and Cena gets a couple of shoulders and a back suplex. HHH slips out of a FU and tries the Pedigree, Cena gets out of that but runs into a facebuster and the Pedigree connects, but Orton comes in and kicks HHH in the head then pins Cena for the pin to retain the title. I still find that finish really weird, even though I like Orton going over because he was the clear underdog and no one expected it, but that he just kicked him in the head just seemed anticlimactic. Good match but pretty short and mostly based around a bunch of finisher attempts and counters, which makes it remind me of the triple threat from 22 a little bit. Not really main event quality, but I guess that’s why it wasn’t. (***1/4)
Winner: Randy Orton
The Big Show v. Floyd Mayweather – No DQ
Mayweathers’s entrance wastes quite a bit of time which I’m sure they were aiming for. Pinfall, submission or KO decides the victor here, but “there must be a winner”. Pretty sound rules I would say. Show can’t catch him to start and Mayweather lands a couple of jabs to the gut in the corner. Show no-sells them and Mayweather lands a couple of the face. Mayweather does the evil heel tactic of stopping to get a sip out of a chalice from one of his numerous lackeys, but that pisses Show off and he tosses the lackey into the ring. Show is able to catch his fists and he tries choking him out but Mayweather slugs away with the free fist and jumps on his back with a sleeper choke combo. Show is eventually able to get out and stomps on one of his hands as Mayweather’s annoying manager (I guess) in a white tux keeps yelling “you can’t be doin that”. He kind of resembles a bald MVP, come to think of it. Show takes him to the corner for one of his big chops as Mayweather takes his first real semi-bump of the match, followed by a side slam and Show is grinning ear to ear. He then steps on him some more, until his crew pull him to safety and head up the ramp, because, “they out”. Show of course hunts them down and hauls Mayweather back in where he tries a Chokeslam but yet another of the crew run in and wack him with a chair, so he gets it instead. That allows Mayweather to block another Chokeslam with a low blow and tee off with oodles of chair shots to get Show down to a knee, and he finishes with a brass knux-assisted punch for the KO. The knux were disguised as a lackey’s bling, FYI. This went pretty much as I and probably many others expected and I have no idea how to fairly rate it, a bunch of stalling with Mayweather avoiding any damage until Show finally caught him and then his crew got involved leading to the cheap win so Show still looks stronger in retrospect. ( * ) I wasn’t big on this ever since it was announced so it didn’t really do much for me, but a lot of people seemed to think they did a good job I guess, so judge for yourself, but like I said, didn’t really do much for me. Maybe I was just hoping for Oscar De La Hoya-ference to avenge his decision loss. For what it’s worth, Show did suffer a legit broken nose from the match.
Winner: Floyd Mayweather Jr
– There is a new Citrus Bowl record of 74,635 and it is announced by Kim Kardashian, complete with a big pyro display like has been happening with entrances all night. But is it real or fake? Oh, and not talking about the crowd or fireworks, as they are both indeed real. Now accepting e-mails with your votes.
Edge v. The Undertaker – WWE Championship
The show has flown by so far for me so this main event should go a pretty good length. Of course, you always have to figure in Undertaker’s entrance as well. Edge slugs away to start but Undertaker quickly clotheslines him to the floor and skins the cat, and back inside adds a forearm for two. Vintage Undertaker, calls Cole, those forearms. Edge counters Old School so UT turns it into an armdrag and does some choking in the corner. Edge dodges a blind charge sending Taker to the floor and Edge knocks him off the apron to try a count out. Cole and Coach use the phrase “ultimate opportunist” twice within a couple seconds of each other at this point, and Cole adds that he is also indeed a master manipulator as Edge adds a baseball slide. Edge continues to keep UT on the floor by skinning the cat via neckbreaker. Edge hauls him back in and Spears him in the corner. Undertaker fights back and tries a slam but he’s too weak on Edge falls on top for two, then adds a dropkick. Edge goes up, but Taker alertly tosses him off to the floor and follows with one of his nice dives. Out there he adds the vintage, thanks Cole, apron leg drop. That gets two inside, and Taker tries following up with a powerbomb, but Edge escapes and nails a big boot for two. It spills to the outside again and Edge back suplexes him into the crowd, and that gets two inside. Edge locks in a Half Boston Crab fully equipped with the great facial expressions. UT counters it and turns it into a pin for two, but Edge goes right back to the hold, because, just like Cole enlightens us, that’s what ultimate opportunists do. They do their own yay/boo slug fest, won out by Taker because he is the best pure striker in sports entertainment after all.
He adds a pair of corner lariats and rolls the snake eyes and looks to follow with the big boot, but Edge catches him off the ropes with a dropkick out of nowhere for two. Taker catches him off the top and tries the Chokeslam, but Edge counters to the Impaler DDT for a close two. Edge tries the Spear but it meets Taker’s knee and a weak-looking Chokeslam connects for two. Edge crotches him on another old school attempt and follows up with a superplex. Taker tries the Last Ride out of the corner but Edge slips off and nails a neckbreaker for two. They slug it out and Taker connects with the Last Ride, but only for two. Taker signals for the Tombstone and sets up for it, but Edge counters it with the Edge-O-Matic for two. Taker lands a big boot off the ropes and finally connects with old school on his third attempt now. Edge ducks another big boot and it nails the ref and Edge plants Taker with a reverse DDT. Edge stops to taunt him but Taker grabs his neck, so Edge goes low given the ref is still out. Edge levels him with the TV camera but the ref is still out and it’s zombie sit-up time. Edge tries his own piledriver, but Taker counters it to the Tombstone. Charles Robinson RUNS down the two mile ramp to count the pin, but Edge kicks out at the last second. The Edgeheads hit the ring now but UT makes quick work of them, Chokeslamming one off the apron onto the other. I still can’t really tell them apart so I can’t commentate. That allows Edge to nail a SPEAR but Coach immediately calls the streak over so we know Taker will kick out, and he does. Crowd is electric all of a sudden and Edge nails a second Spear, but Taker lifts the legs up and locks in the triangle choke, and after a bit of fighting, Edge taps to give Undertaker his sixth world title and extending his WrestleMania record to 16-0. I loved this match for a lot of reasons, starting with the foundation, which was both guys wrestling a hell of a match in the ring. But everything else just seemed to “work”, from the little stuff like Robinson having the long run to the ring to count the pin allowing Edge enough time to kick out, even in the expected interference was very brief and served its purpose without making things look ugly. One of my main concerns coming in was that people simply couldn’t buy into Edge, even as Champion, being someone who could finally end Undertaker’s streak, but all the nearfalls at the end worked out well enough, and even though I’m not necessarily a fan of that finish, it worked out well because it was the only thing in Taker’s arsenal that Edge didn’t have a counter for. It also gave the crowd their happy ending necessary after Orton’s earlier victory. An easy MOTYC for me. Oh, and do yourself a favor by ignoring the abysmal commentating and watch the match on mute. (****1/2)
Winner: The Undertaker
End of show.
The NeelDown – Definitely a good show overall, a quality WrestleMania and I would probably rank it on the same line if not better than the previous two, which is saying something considering I enjoyed them both live. The main event delivered far beyond my expectations (not that I expected it to be bad or anything) and I enjoyed Flair-Michaels immensely both times around. Had the triple threat match gone a little longer and with a better finish we would be looking at four **** matches easily including the on-the-line MITB. The rest of the undercard was pretty forgettable, be it the Dave-Umaga snoozefest or dud of an ECW title match, and take Mayweather-Show as you will. The main problem with the show, if you want to call it a problem, was the position of the matches on the card, as like I referenced earlier, I’m not sure how many people actually bought into Edge being victorious in ending the streak in the main event and the massive crowd needed their big lukewarm moment to avenge Orton retaining earlier on, but that’s just how it goes sometimes. Highly recommended.
