Like Wrestlemania X-Seven and Wrestlemania 3, XXIV was of the more "classical" Wrestlemanias that I've ever seen. It brought back that feel, that "Mania Feel" that I hadn't experienced since X-Seven.
What really helped this event was the decisions behind the match card, and where the matches were placed. Ending the show with two upsets and an excellent one-on-one title match, that wasn't over-hyped, with the Undertaker was a brilliant decision. Another great choice was to start the show off with a fast paced, quick street fight, or as it is referred to here, a "Belfast Brawl." The show had something new to offer for each match, and had no "card fillers" as you would expect from seeing many Manias in the past. The problem with the WWE is that they over-hype Manias like 20 and 25 and try too hard to make them good, and they come out as stinkers. For some reason they feel the need to fill the show by having 12 matches, and every title defended. Nobody really cares about the Tag Team titles or the Women's Championship, they want to see matches like the Ladder Match and the three main events. They want to "feel" Wrestlemania, which certainly happened in the Flair vs. Michaels match, and the very emotional outcome. But most of all, they want to be surprised.
And boy did this show have some surprises, not to mention the wonderful choice of CM Punk winning the Money in the Bank Ladder Match. What everyone seems to be talking about when they think of XXIV is Orton's win in the Triple Threat. This was a brilliant move by the WWE, and I'm sure it was a last minute decision (note the poll that was taken early on in the show, I'm sure they based who won on the lowest percentage of people who voted for that person, which just happened to be Orton thankfully). The Triple Threat was great, I think, because it was so well set up - you had the two big comebacks over the past year (HHH and Cena) who were both potential Champs following Mania. But if there's two hyped comebacks in one match? Together? For the title? At Wrestlemania? How can you possibly make the best of it? You turn it into a triple threat match with the most unlikely winner on WWE, and there you go...
Now to The Biggest vs. The Best. I was pleasantly surprised at the excitement I had while watching this match, and watching Big Show's interaction with the crowd, which made it all the more entertaining. Big Show always seems to be the first in line for these kinds of odd-ball matches, like his Sumo Match at 21 (which wasn't as exciting, but still interesting). Mayweather walked away with the win, by knock out, which was partly surprising and partly expected. A great match nonetheless.
Finally, we arrive at the main event: World Heavyweight Championship. They under-hyped this match so much that its brilliance was unexpected and was an amazing choice for the main event of the evening. Undertaker truly was put to the challenge, surprisingly, by Edge in this match. The crowd in this match helped out a lot, as they did with many other matches, and really brought the event to life in the last 30 minutes of the show, making Taker's win all the more special and appropriate.
Of course, in the "good-bad-good" trend that WWE's Manias have been following over the past couple of years, I didn't expect much from the 25th Anniversary, that truly was one of the dullest and most laughable Manias I've ever seen, a real dive. By "good-bad-good" I of course am referring to the trend started around 18 or 19, or even 20, where it goes from a good Mania, to a bad Mania, to a better Mania, to a horrible Mania. With 26 being an improvement over 25, obviously, as bad as it was, I think I may just vomit thinking about how bad 27 could be.
Oh well. All I can do is hope for another XXIV.
