The biggest event in the wrestling calendar finally arrived, and this year marked the 30th anniversary of the prestigious Wrestlemania,. although in fairness the card billed didn’t look that great. However it did turn out to be one unforgettable pay per view and the matches on the card didn’t disappoint all that much.
Kickoff match – Fatal 4 way tag team elimination match for the WWE Tag team championships – The Uso’s vs Los Matadores vs The Real Americans vs Rybaxl
Unfortunately this match was on the WWE Network exclusively, and because I’m a Brit, we’ve yet to get the Network here, so I had to make do with checking people’s posts on various forums to see how this match panned out. The outcome was The Uso’s getting the pin over Cesaro from The Real Americans. From what I’ve read the Americans also split up after this match which is a good thing in my opinion as hopefully Cesaro can go onto better things in singles competition.
Once the show started officially, Hulk Hogan made his way to the ring to a fantastic crowd reaction. Hulk being Hulk managed to botch up his lines 3 times in the opening sentences, referring to the Superdome as the Silverdome and the WWFE network. It made for some laughs though. Hulk was then interrupted by glass shattering, and the next thing Stone Cold Steve Austin is making his way down to the ring to thunderous ovation from the crowd. This is surreal, we’re all ecstatic. Austin begins to work the mic, making fun of Hogan’s botches lightly and the crowd are eating it up. They love this. Queue another entrance theme….”IF YOU SMELL…. WHAT THE ROCK… IS COOKING!” and there it is, another massive crowd pop and the people’s champion appears on the ramp and makes his way down the ring. He of course works the crowd amazingly too.Chants of “THIS IS AWESOME” ring straight away, and it is awesome. There is no fight, just 3 ultimate legends of the business in the ring giving alot of banter. Everyone loves it, I could of watched them talk for another 30 minutes. But eventually after the crowd is worked, all 3 say one of their legendary phrases and the beer is thrown into the ring, all 3 of them crack open a beer and toast in the centre of the ring to an incredible crowd reaction.Just amazing.
Singles Match – Winner entered into the main event – Triple H vs Daniel Bryan
Well what a way to kick off Mania, after the 3 legends leave the ring, Steph McMahon is in the centre of the ring and introduces her husband, the king of kings. We then see a throne on the top of the titan tron and HHH in an outfit which is unheard of. WWE have gone big here with the entrances. He stands up and 3 scantly dressed women take off a chain mail cloak and mask. Then the signature HHH Music kicks in. “The Game” by Motothead. Excellent.
Bryan makes his entrance and the Superdome erupts. He come’s down to the ring with his left shoulder bandaged up, So you know what the Game will be targeting.The match gets underway after Bryan refuses a hand shake. It is a very brutal match, but also incredibly entertaining. Steph on the ringside in ridiculously short shorts was an added bonus too. Bryan takes many falls, and eats a pedigree. You think it’s over but he kicks out of the pin. After many dives out of the ring taking HHH out, the brawl is back in the ring, HHH goes for another pedigree but it’s reversed and Bryan pulls of his flying knee. It connects and HHH is out. Bryan gets the pin and the arena goes mad. HHH not happy with this result smashes Bryan’s bad shoulder onto the ring pole and then again with a chair for good measure. Just to further make Bryan’s time in the main event even tougher.
So far so good. 1 hour in and we’re happy.
Six man tag match – The Shield vs New Age Outlaws & Kane
Outlaws make their way to the stage, but before they can get their traditional entrance on they are interrupted by Shield’s entrance and they make their way to the ring sporting awesome masks. Kane’s music then kicks in and we’re off. This match is what you come to expect from a Shield match now, fast paced and frantic. The action spills out of the ring and order doesn’t last long at all. This match was over very quickly, and we see the Shield do their triple powerbomb but to both members of the outlaws at the same time. With that the match is over to the applauding fans. Shield going over at Mania at the expense of Outlaws and Kane. Good result. Whether this is true or not, as the night progressed stories were circulating that Billy Gunn suffered an injury and was suffering from internal bleeding. I’ve not followed up on this, but hope that he’s okay if it was true.
31 Man Battle Royal for the Andre The Giant memorial Trophy – Cesaro
When this started it was billed as the jobber battle royal, as it was full of mid card talent. Big Show and Sheamus got their entrance music while all others were already in the ring. So already you’ve got a suspicion that one of these 2 are the favorites to win. It progresses nice and quickly. Kofi Kingston was almost eliminated, but in traditional Kofi circumstances somehow landed on the steps and his feet didn’t touch the ground so he was back into it. Dolph Ziggler spent the majority of the time hanging from the bottom rope. There was a bit of an ongoing gag with the guys I was watching with that all we saw Ziggler do was roll on the floor, The next thing the camera cuts to him and he’s in the air legs kicking around, it brought laughs to the room. And when Ziggler was eliminated it was in hysterical fashion. Even Del Rio who eliminated him was laughing. Finally we’re left with Cesaro and BigShow. We’re all expecting Show to win, but out of nowhere Cesaro gathers enough power to pick up the show and throw him over the top rope to win the Royal. Again the crowd reaction to this is phenomenal. This is shaping up to be an awesome Mania. New talent getting over in each match so far, so this could mean massive things for the next match…
Singles match – John Cena vs Bray Wyatt
CENA WINS LOL. Yes, that theme is still apparently going to continue in the WWE. John Cena will always overcome the odds and win the big matches. This was a good match, and as I always say when writing about Bray, he is incredible at keeping his creepy persona on all the time, and tonight was no exception. The main goal of Bray was to make Cena snap and fight in a manner that he hadn’t in a long time, he wanted Cena to fight angry and dirty. And he did an incredible job of frustrating Cena and almost achieving this. An amazing spot was Cena jumping off the top rope and taking out Harper and Rowan outside the ring, and Cena smashing Luke Harper through the crowd barricade. Bray went out to the ringside and got a chair, but rather than use it, threw it at Cena begging him to use it. Again Bray was just amazing as selling this twisted scenes. Cena almost snapped but ended up using the chair on the 2 cronies out side the ring. There were exchanged of finishers and kick outs, but eventually Cena got the AA on again and finished the job. The downfall of mania had started. Cena didn’t need to win this, there was nothing to achieve. This should of been a match to get Bray over more. But alas we have Cena continuing on his legacy.
Singles match – The Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar
No… you’re not seeing that incorrectly. Brock Lesnar is in bold font because he won. There isn’t alot to write up about this match. In terms of a spectacle it was a terrible match. It was slow, both guys looked out of energy all to soon. Heck Taker looked knackered just walking down the ramp to the ring (although his entrance was incredible). There were so many breaks for rests. Undertaker looked all too weak and brittle, But Lesnar hardly looked an elite athlete either. Standard match in which finishers were applied, Undertaker appeared to struggle holding Lesnar for a powerbomb, Lesnar struggled to pick Taker up during his submission move, so that spot was done twice. It was hard to watch an icon in this match, but we were discussing how could Taker go on again next year and fight Sting as rumored, well we got our answer, he wouldn’t. 3 F5’s later and Lesnar pins The Undertaker and he doesn’t kick out. It’s over, the crowd are stunned into silence. 80,000 people are all in complete shock. Lesnar’s music doesn’t even kick in, it’s as if the sound guys couldn’t believe it. The announcers were silent, the whole arena was just in disbelief at what happened. So were we, so was the internet. The Undertaker is done. 21-1. Somewhere CM Punk must have been feeling furious. A small part of my childhood died when that 3 count happened. Undertaker surely a number one pick for Hall of Fame next year?
14 Diva Single Fall Match for the WWE Diva’s Championship – AJ Lee
Well, this match had an unfortunate time slot. The crowd are still in complete despair at what had happened previously. In fairness I hate to say it, but I didn’t watch this match, it was on, but I wasn’t watching, I was scanning the internet for reactions and reading comments. AJ Lee won, her title reign continues as the longest running Diva’s champion
Triple Threat Match for the WWE World Heavy Weight Championship – Randy Orton vs Batista vs Daniel Bryan
Still coming to terms with what happened, the main event is starting. Randy Orton came out to his theme played by a band, Batista came down to a ring of boo’s and Bryan came out to a rapture of Yes’s but he was still playing the injured card.
This match was actually really really good. For a long while it was a handicap match though as Batista and Orton punished Bryan. An incredible spot saw Batista do a Batista bomb on Bryan on an announcer table with Randy Orton catching him mid bomb and applying an RKO through the table. It looked incredible, but in all fairness it looked like Orton took more punishment as his spine hit a monitor that wasn’t moved away. The replay looked brutal. From here Bryan was stretchered out of the arena while Batista and Orton went on. But of course Bryan isn’t leaving the arena that way. He gets him self off the stretcher and gets back into the action. There are many good spells and spots of finishers and physical moves, there’s interference from HHH and Steph and a 2nd ref brought to the ring. Bryan dispatches of all 3 in one go. There are some damn close counts on a few occasions where it looks like Orton may survive. It had us nervous in our seats. But finally Batista drops a bomb on Orton and Bryan then swings onto Batista and gets a Yes lock locked in. The crowd are going nuts willing Batista to tap out… and then it happens, Batista taps. 8 months of building and Bryan has his wrestlemania moment. He’s the new WWE World Heavy Weight Champion. The Skydome is electric, the YES chants are in their thousands. The fireworks cap it off, and Bryan stands on the table with his championship belts joining in on the yes chants.
It was a good ending the crowd were fully behind it, but while this mania was meant for Bryan’s moment, it’ll always be remembered as the mania the Deadman lost his incredible streak.
– Murr
Id give it a 4 out of 5