Wrestlemania 28 - Thoughts, ideas, questionable booking.

Good evening




So I've decided to watch Wrestlemania 28 completely and provide my thoughts. Surprising, considering I haven't watched a full Wrestlemania event since 22 (full still excludes diva matches). This specifically because the card was underwhelming for my taste. A few good matches coupled with numerous pointless ones. You can't win 'em all, I guess. 


Anyways, Wrestlemania 28 featured a number of matches I wanted to see so I caved in and watched the event.
I'm now going to run down the card and provide my thoughts on each match that took place.


Triple Threat Tag Team Match for the Tag Team Championships.


Primo & Epico (c) vs Tyson Kidd/Justin Gabriel vs Uso's


This took place during the pre-show, which was viewable on youtube, the WWE website (which I can't even access without being redirected to the french website. fuck that.) and Facebook, apparently. This was a match I could look forward to regardless. It featured young stars, and it gave 'em the opportunity to shine. Cousins Primo & Epico ended up prevailing but Rikishi's boys Jey and Jimmy Uso stole the match for me. They worked a very solid match with a couple of nice spots here and there. 


Why Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel were in that match to begin with is beyond me, but they seemed to be an obsolete factor and the match would've been good without them. The team's highlight was Justin Gabriel's missed spot when he slipped on the top rope while attempting a dive to the outside. It looked ridiculous and it even prompted announcers Josh Matthews and Matt Striker to apologetically blame the sweat and oil that was on the ropes. Yeah, sure. Either way Epico and Primo, who are a very cohesive team, ended up retaining their championships. Let's hope the Uso's will get a bite of the ensuing action. They showed they can tear it up even in a relatively short match.


Relatively short is an understatement for the first match on the main card. It's already baffling that the World Title match is the curtain jerker of the event, but the way it played out left me with the shame the creative team should've felt. 


World Title Match - singles


Daniel Bryan (c) vs Sheamus


This is probably the only match I've seen in between blinks. 18 seconds is all it lasted. No fucking excuses for this one, but apparently WWE wanted to break the record of the shortest match ever. A record they hold already. D-Bry turns around and meets with a boot from Sheamus. 1-2-3 and it's over. On top of it all, they didn't even break the record. The smoke from the opening pyrokinetics had barely cleared or match 2 was up. Every fan of Bryan Danielson just got a figurative truckload of manure dropped onto their heads. Fuck you Vince and the people you employ for creativity.


Singles Match
Kane vs Randy Orton


In all honesty, I expected Orton to waltz over Kane. Let's face it, Kane's monster return was stopped abruptly when he got involved with Cena and he's been the same joke character he was for a long time. Just a little more menacing. Imagine my surprise when they actually got ten minutes to work and even worked a very solid even match in which Kane took the victory. It still doesn't erase the horrible booking of the first match.


The third match was again, a step down. It's still WWE programming guys, highs and lows are mandatory.


Singles match for the Intercontinental Championship
Cody Rhodes (c) vs Big Show.


Five and a half minutes. 5.5 for a match that generally gets 20 mins. Big Show takes the win after Cody mounted some clever offense. I get how it's special for Big Show. It's his first IC title and all, but with everything Cody has accomplished since last year's Mania, it's a bit of a let down.


I can only hope this leads to a proper chance at the World Heavyweight championship for Cody. Otherwise, he gets the undeserved short end of the stick.


Next match, the divas and some trashbag ho who is pretty popular in the States. Didn't care, skipped it in favor of taking a piss.


Now, we're getting somewhere. Triple H vs Undertaker, Part III. The End of an Era as Jerry Lawler frequently reminds us early in the match. 


It's funny, when it was first revealed that this match was gonna take place, I wondered why the hell they would go for this. It wasn't until the guys promo'd back and forth (repetitively) that they had my interest. And boy, did they deliver. This match was built up as "One Left Standing", the "End of an Era" apparently, though that didn't get tossed around much. (I sincerely hope you recognised the sarcasm.)


Nobody went into this match expecting a technical bout. Nope, it was all about beating the shit out of each other and they delivered greatly. Even Shawn Michaels as the special referee proved to be a worthwile decision as he played an integral part in elevating this one to the Asgaard of wrestling matches.*




*Where Oden is played by Dave Meltzer with a funny hat


This match should be an obligatory watch for every student of the game trying to "get" ring psychology. Also, Taker -> 20-0. The old dogs really showed the young guys how it's done.


There's no way any match on the card could top that showing, so WWE opts for a little lighthearted breather in between top bouts. Team Johnny vs Team Teddy. Didn't care, only saw the finish. 


This whole match was reminiscent of  the Team Alliance vs Team WWF match at Survivor Series 2001. Just less "at stake" and less interesting altogether. I was particularly surprised it was even used as a vehicle to further the heel turn of Eve Torres (of all people?!). Very blegh.


Luckily I have something good to look forward to!


Singles Match for the WWE Championship
CM Punk (c) vs Chris Jericho.


So, who is the best in the world?


This match had a good  build up, with CM Punk finally snapping and kicking the shit out of Christian for some reason. This match had a lot at stake. Before the match started, Mr. Excitement himself declared that were Punk to be disqualified, he'd lose the WWE championship. Again, a great display of psychology early on, with both men later on relying on their technical ability to work a really solid match with a couple of false finishes. Great match overall, as expected. It even got over 20 minutes. Not bad.


Punk would benefit the most from winning, because it would elevate his character to the point where he's believable. Luckily, WWE Creative shared my vision and Punk ends up retaining after a very crafty finish.


The last match on the card....


Singles match
The Rock vs John Cena.


The match that had been hyped on and off for a year. I wasn't particularly stoked to see the match taking place and while I did watch, I was reminded why.


The segment started off good, obligatory special entrances and all. They started off generically (neither of these guys are Lou Thesz, after all) and soon enough, the match fell flat on its ass, before picking up near the end when Rock pinned Cena, to my surprise.


Neither of these guys would benefit or find a disadvantage from any result so it was basically good fun to see these guys go back and forth, without really excelling or even putting the previous matches to shame. A good match for the casual fan to close the show and go home happy.






Overall, the event was much better than last year's. There were some awesome matches and there were good matches. There was also a divas match and an appearance of Brodus Clay. Neither of those actually mattered one bit. I hope everyone noticed that Brodus Clay sucks out loud....




Won't stop creative from putting a title on him down the line....




Ah well... it could've been a lot worse.






~D.