WrestleMania XXV is in the books and the results were interesting to say the least. Plus Tazz says goodbye to the WWE Universe in a surprising moment.
Opening Witty Banter
WrestleMania XXV is in the books and to say it was a polarizing show would be an understatement. Money in the Bank and the Hardyz match were pretty good. Ricky Steamboat brought the awesome against Chris Jericho. The triple threat was about what I expected and Orton and Triple H went for old school epic and nearly stunk up the place in the process. Oh yeah, and Undertaker versus Shawn Michaels owns you…seriously it owns your soul now. It was that good. I had high hopes for the match and figured it would be good but if it doesn’t win some Match of the Year awards at the end of this year then we are in for some amazing pro wrestling coming up later on this year.
Now I’m watching the Academy of Country Music awards that I DVRed earlier tonight and I must say I have been quite impressed so far. But Miley Cyrus needs to get the hell away from country music before she ruins that too. Between getting good and hammered drunk last night, watching WrestleMania XXV and now the ACMs; all the while shoveling in Domino’s and Coors Light makes for a pretty good weekend for yours truly.
Let’s take some ‘E…
The News of the Week
There isn’t really a whole lot of relevant news in WWE land this week as everyone was on autopilot during WrestleMania week. Everyone was doing their best to stay out of trouble and the limelight (Hi Robbie McAllister!).
The only big news to come out of the week other than WrestleMania itself was the surprising news that Tazz left the company after his contract expired on March 31. He finished up at the triple taping in Dallas last Monday. He apparently offered to work WrestleMania last night but the company decided to go with a three-man booth of Michael Cole, The King and Jim Ross for the pay per view, completely leaving ECW out in the cold. But I guess ECW’s only real involvement was in Money in the Bank so Striker and Grisham would have just looked foolish sitting out there. Plus it allowed for the Spanish announcers to make their return to ringside being that there wasn’t three tables to accommodate the three separate teams.
Tangent aside, Tazz wanted to walk away and recharge his batteries. It seems as if he left on good terms and could be back with the company in the future. He apparently gave his notice weeks in advance as he wanted to leave the company the right way.
That sucks that WWE lost another of their top-notch color men, but I can’t help but think and hope that with JBL “quitting†last night at WrestleMania that he will waltz back into his old chair at the blue brand’s announce desk and bring back the awesomeness.
As for WrestleMania here’s the fall out from the company’s biggest event:
Nicole Sherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls opened the show with a rendition of “America the Beautiful.†It wasn’t as terrible as I anticipated so that’s good.
Money in the Bank opened the show and all eight men put on a crazy effort. Finlay even busted out his old leather/shoulder pads jacket for the event. Kofi Kingston and Shelton Benjamin were the stars of the match, pulling out all kinds of crazy stunts. CM Punk came out with the surprising victory once again this year, but it was so obvious of a choice that it didn’t seem possible.
Then Kid Rock came out did a twenty-minute set of some of his biggest hits. I am a fan of Kid but this was a colossal waste of time that could have been used for the Tag Title unification match. While he was performing “So Hott†all the Divas ran out for the battle royal. No one was introduced and the women started fighting during the announcement of the match. So much for a big return for girls like Sunny, Victoria, a blonde Molly Holly and whoever else was in there. Seriously I couldn’t even tell who was in there. Santino’s victory was predictable but the whole presentation left a really bad taste in my mouth.
Chris Jericho’s bout against the Legends was saved by Ricky Steamboat. Seriously the guy moved like he was still tearing it up in WCW. Sign that man to a full time contract and give him back the Intercontinental Title. Mickey Rourke’s appearance was also a nice and predictable treat.
The Hardy Boyz “Extreme Rules†match was quite good as they busted out some innovative spots (seriously, a ShopVac?) and had a great finish. With Matt winning the feud must continue but now I wonder how they can top this match? A Hell in a Cell?
Rey Mysterio beat JBL in 21 seconds to win the Intercontinental Title. After the debacle JBL took the mic and simply said he quit. Mysterio really saved the segment with his Heath Ledger-like Joker costume.
After that was Undertaker and Shawn Michaels and all I can say is wow! See this match now. It will be winning awards in December.
With no way to follow that Edge, Big Show and John Cena put the match I expected them; an awesome match if it main evented RAW and a great match if it main evented Backlash but lacking something for a WrestleMania main event, especially one following Shawn and Undertaker.
After that they announced the Hall of Fame inductees and Stone Cold came out to do his apparent final curtain call as he rode his four-wheeler to the ring and drank a lot of beer and celebrated with good ol’ JR. The announcers made it point to drive home that this was Austin’s swan song and he was off to Hollywood to do movies from now on. I’m sure he’ll be back at some point but I’d just like to say thanks for the memories and entertainment Stone Cold.
The main event of Triple H and Randy Orton tried to be something epic, with an old-school match feel but ultimately it disappointed. Triple H’s anti-climactic clean pinfall didn’t do the match any favors either.
Wrestler of the Week
Week of March 30 – April 5: Undertaker/Shawn Michaels
It’s kind of a novel concept to actually award a Wrestler of the Week to someone who actually had a good wrestling match. Last night at WrestleMania XXV Undertaker and Shawn Michaels showed that the middle “W†in WWE still stands for Wrestling. Props go out to both men for not only putting on one of the best matches in WrestleMania history, but one of the best matches in recent memory. Time will tell how the match stands up in the future, but at this point nothing else this week in the world of wrestling compared to the clinic these two modern-day legends put on.
RAW’s On Tonight!
With WrestleMania in the books it officially means a new booking year for the company. Plus with the annual Draft happening eight days tomorrow’s RAW will be the definition of a placeholder show. John Cena will appear with his new World Championship. Santino Marella will brag about being Miss WrestleMania. Chris Jericho will have something to say about getting knocked down by Mickey Rourke. And I’m sure CM Punk will out to celebrate with his second Money in the Bank briefcase.
On Last Week’s Episode…
SmackDown
How They Rated
SmackDown! (3.27.09) – 2.0
A.M. RAW (3.20.09) – .92
RAW (3.30.09) – 3.6
ECW (3.31.09) – 1.3
This is Boring, What Else is There to Read?
Ditch talks puro
In Case You Didn’t Spend the $55
Pulse Wrestling was all over the place with WrestleMania XXV coverage. Paul Marshall did the site’s official recap. Danny Cox did live coverage from a press box at the show. Scott Keith turned in his usual great rant, and Brad Curran chimed in with his own 25 thoughts. Yours truly also did live recapping for Examiner.com.
IP Staff Roundtable Results for WWE WrestleMania
Being it was WrestleMania a larger group than normal got together to contribute with our traditional pay per view Roundtable, including a bunch of first timers. Frankly most of us did pretty awful in our picks (including yours truly.)
Roundtable Champion: Kevin Hellions: 6-3 (6-3)
The rest of the field:
John Haley: 5-4 (5-4)
Victor Maiar: 5-4 (5-4)
Brad Curran: 4-5 (53-33)
Kevin Innarelli: 4-5 (4-5)
John Wiswell: 4-5 (4-5)
Iain Burnside: 3-6 (137-89)
Daniel Douglas: 3-6 (3-6)
Widro: 3-6 (43-29)
Mark Allen: 2-7 (129-63)
Chris Biscuiti: 2-7 (6-18)
K Sawyer Paul: 2-7 (2-7)
For more relevant, interesting and exciting wrestling information from your truly, check out my gig as the Pro Wrestling Examiner over at Examiner.com.
