Every year in the professional wrestling world is topped off with the Granddaddy of them all in WrestleMania even though it always happens in the early spring. The greatest matches. The biggest spectacles. All of the top names in the business come together and put it all on the line in order to showcase their talents in front of millions around the world in what is perhaps a childhood dream for every single one of them. One of my boyhood dreams was just to one day sit in a seat at a WrestleMania and watch all of the action in front of me and not emanating from a television set. 2009 marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of WrestleMania and also was the year that my boyhood dream finally came true.
On April 5, 2009 from Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, all of the superstars from Raw, SmackDown, and ECW came together to celebrate a tremendous event that had been a quarter of a century in the making. WrestleMania 25 was an event that I had the liberty of attending and all I can say is that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Sure there will probably be more times in my life that my butt is sitting in the seats of a Mania, but never again will be the twenty-fifth anniversary. There I sat in the pressbox reporting every single thing that happened throughout the night and it was an experience that will never be forgotten. If you’d like to read my full live report from the show then check it out here.
Eight matches lined the card for Mania this year and topping it off was a match between Randy Orton and Triple H for the WWE Championship. It was a feud that had been building for months (possibly years) and had gotten extremely personal thanks to Orton being overly physical with Triple H’s now revealed family, the McMahons. The World Heavyweight Championship was also on the line as Edge defended against John Cena and the Big Show in a triple threat match. Our traditional Money In The Bank Match filled up the card along with an extreme rules’ match between Jeff and Matt Hardy, JBL versus Rey Mysterio for the Intercontinental Title, and a handicap match pitting Chris Jericho against three WWE legends.
WrestleMania is one of those Pay Per Views (PPVs) that has a tendency of being enjoyable no matter what. The matches could be subpar and expectations may not end up being met, but there is still the excitement in the air that allows the fans to find something to be entertained by sometime throughout the night. I’ll admit that some of the matches on the card looked a lot better on paper then they ended up being once it was time for the action to happen. Still it was a night full of big spots, powerful and high-flying moves, celebrities, and championships. I still can’t help but wish though that there would have been more matches like Undertaker versus Shawn Michaels and less matches like the Divas Battle Royal.
~ Money In The Bank Ladder Match: CM Punk Vs. Kofi Kingston Vs. MVP Vs. Shelton Benjamin Vs. Kane Vs. Mark Henry Vs. Finlay Vs. Christian – The MITB ladder match is always a great big “spot” match each year and usually ends up thrilling the crowd like no other. This year’s match was no exception and it was a great way to get the evening kicked off and hype up the already jacked up fans. One thing I like is that there are more and more power guys being added to the match like Finlay, Mark Henry, and Kane instead of just the high flyers. It adds to the excitement by not only watching people fly through the air and flip but also seeing wrestlers get slammed down or thrown around beyond their will. A great start to the evening and with a rather surprising result that actually didn’t thrill some of those in attendance.
~ 25 Diva Battle Royal To Determine The First-Ever Miss WrestleMania – Very pointless and over the top boring. The best part about it was the ending and aftermath since Santina Marella ended up winning “her” crown. It was more so a way of getting every diva imaginable on the card.
~ 3-on-1 Handicap Match: Rowdy Roddy Piper, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, & Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat Vs. Chris Jericho – Building for a long time leading up to Mania; this match pitted three legends against the man that thinks he is the living legend. The match itself was kind of slow going at first when Piper or Snuka was in there but things really began to speed up when Steamboat faced off with Jericho. If there was ever any question whether the Dragon could still go after so long out of the ring then this match surely answered that. Jericho and Steamboat put on a hell of a showing and I would have been overly pleased with it being just a singles match between the two of them.
People wanted to see more legends though so Piper and Snuka were thrown in along with Ric Flair being in their corner. Let’s not forget The Wrestler‘s Mickey Rourke being in attendance and siding with the WWE legends.
~ Extreme Rules Match: Jeff Hardy Vs. Matt Hardy – The Brothers’ Hardy had been long time partners but it was high time for them to face off and there was no better way for Team Xtreme to do so then with “extreme rules.” I’ve seen better from these two but that doesn’t mean this match was tame by any stretch of the imagination. Jeff continued to be a bit more of the high flyer while Matt played the bulkier and more powerful brother with big chair shots, vicious shopvac hits, and one of the sickest Twists Of Fate that I’ve ever seen. Good stuff.
~ Intercontinental Championship Match: JBL (c) Vs. Rey Mysterio – Yeah I know there was a point for this match being what it was, but it was still ridiculous to have on WrestleMania.
~ Undertaker Vs. Shawn Michaels – There is no way that this match could be done justice by simply talking about it. It is far and above anything else that went on at WrestleMania 25 and quite easily the match of the year for 2009. Two long time veterans stepped into the ring after one stepping down from Heaven and the other stepping up from Hell, and they put on the match of their lives. Tons of near falls, great chemistry, constant excitement, and Undertaker taking a flying leap and literally almost dying on the floor of Reliant Stadium. You need to see this match to believe it and it is well worth the purchase alone.
~ Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Edge (c) Vs. John Cena Vs. Big Show – Three men in the ring vying for the big gold belt and it wasn’t the most exciting match in the world, but it wasn’t awful either. It was rather back and forth between mostly Edge and Cena with Show adding the big power moves every now and then. I have to admit that the two person Attitude Adjustment from Cena was incredibly impressive even though it was only for a few seconds. I just kind of expected more from the World Heavyweight Title portion of the main event.
~ Introduction Of The 2009 WWE Hall Of Fame Inductees
~ WWE Championship Match: Triple H (c) Vs. Randy Orton – For every bit underwhelming that the first title match was; this second title match and main event of the evening was even more so. Both men had a lot to fight for as Orton was after the title and Triple H wanted revenge on the man that had been tormenting his family for the past month or two. It just really was rather boring and overly anti-climatic to what was a long but pretty damn enjoyable evening. Orton and Trips’ match just kind of dragged on without much excitement and not so much as even a showing from a single member of the McMahon clan which surprised me. Maybe Undertaker and HBK had taken everything out of me by this point, but it was just evident that both men could have put on a better showing. I’ve seen them do it before.
The event is shown in 1.33:1 Full Screen format and it again looks beautiful as the WWE continues to do with all of their home releases. Not a problem to be found anywhere as far as I could see.
The event is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and it also is perfectly done with the commentary flowing from the center speaker while the crowd noise piddles around the room and is drowned out by the booming pyro and entrance themes.
25th Anniversary of WrestleMania – April 5, 2009: Lumberjack Match for the WWE Unified Tag Team Match: Carlito & Primo Vs. The Miz & John Morrison – This match was originally scheduled to be part of the main card but was scratched to a dark match about an hour before the event. It really is quite a good match too with a lot of the wrestlers who didn’t have a match that evening ending up as the lumberjacks. Both teams of the Colons and Miz & Morrison are phenomenal in the ring and really made for a great opening to the night.
WrestleMania Highlights – Each of the twenty-four WrestleManias get their own little highlight reel showcasing the biggest matches and most memorable moments. These little highlight features are all viewed separately and run anywhere from two to three minutes in length.
2009 WWE Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony – The night before WrestleMania is always the Hall of Fame ceremony to induct a few more legends into the hallowed halls. This years inductees were “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, The Funks, Howard Finkel, Koko B. Ware, The Von Erichs, and “Cowboy” Bill Watts. It was a very fun event that saw a lot of much shorter speeches then in recent years, but it is still great listening to stories of days gone by. This was another event I got the privilege to attend and you can read my full live report from the show here.
Trailers – Macho Madness: The Randy Savage Ultimate Collection, Greatest Stars Of The 90s, and 12 Rounds
On the grandest stage of them all in 2009, the superstars of the WWE came together and delivered what is overall a really good show. Not all of the matches delivered as we hoped they would and some of them fizzled out just as we expected, but it was still a great spectacle to observe and should be taken in by any fan. Considering this is their biggest PPV of the year, the WWE went all out with the special features section that is usually neglected on all their releases and gave us a lot more then usual. Highlights of past years, an extra match, and the Hall Of Fame ceremony adds up to a lot of extra viewing time that is well worth checking out. Let’s not forget that the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels match is honestly worth the price of purchase all by itself. I wasn’t joking when I said that earlier. It’s the honest to God’s truth. Grab yourself a copy, sit down and watch it, and wish you were there just like I was.
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WWE Home Video presents WrestleMania 25. Featuring: Randy Orton, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, Shelton Benjamin, John Cena, Big Show, Edge, and many more. Running time: 540 minutes on 3 discs. Rating: PG. Released on DVD: May 19, 2009. Available at Amazon.com
