I was just getting back into the wwe just before the No Way Out PPV a month before wrestlemania so i was able to follow the stories leading into it and was quite impressed with the quality of the event.
Obviously the hype going into this Wrestlemania was (to the outside world) Mayweather vs Big show. However within Wrestling the show was all about Ric Flair vs Shawn Michaels, where if Flair lost then his career would be over. So for all wrestling fans its a must have as it is 2 of the all time greats up against each other on the grandest stage of them all.
Match 1 Belfast Brawl JBL vs Finlay 7/10 Not a bad match by any means. Hard hitting as you would expect from 2 men like Finlay and Bradshaw with a few entertaining spots. An enjoyable and worthy opener for Wrestlemania, just overshadowed by matches later on the card.
Match 2 Money In The Bank Ladder Match. 7.5/10 Always enjoyable to watch. MitB was a great concept for wrestlemanias and this one didn't disappoint. Slight criticism would be that you could see a few wrestlers being a touch lethargic when preventing someone from grabbing the briefcase which meant they had to be REALLI slow in reaching for it. However there were quite a few high spots in this match involving Jericho, Shelton Benjamin and John Morrison.
Match 3 Umaga vs Batista 7/10 This match could have been better. Again it wasn't bad but it seemed very run-of-the-mill and average for a match at Wrestlemania between 2 big men. Although there were a few good displays of power from Batista and agility from Umaga and the crowd did get into it which keeps this match on 7/10 Match 4 ECW Championship Match. Chavo Guerrero vs The Battle Royale Winner 1/10 I don think there is a single person who liked this. ECW gets one match per PPV. This is the biggest PPV of the year and they were given an 8 second match. I sincerely hope the writers change this for Wrestlemania 25. VERY disappointing Match 5 Career threatening match. Ric Flair vs Shawn Michaels 10/10 10/10 because these 2 wrestlers did do nothing wrong in this match. they excelled themselves and you even see Flair successfully perform a top rope move!!! lol. This match had so much emotion and had a perfectly fitting ending. Considering Michaels is early 40's and Flair is late 50's it was an incredible display of athleticism and a fantastic match.
Match 6 Playboy Bunnymania Lumberjill Match Maria and Ashley vs Beth Pheonix and Melina. 5/10 Its very difficult to give womens matches high ratings as they simply don't captivate the audience enough. This match was also stupidly placed on the card. After Flair vs Michaels and before the WWE championship match. Nothing wrong with this match but just nothing special. Apart from snoop dogg and the slight beating santino gets.
Match 7 WWE Championship Match Randy Orton vs HHH vs John Cena 6.5/10 Disappointed a bit here because these are 3 great wrestlers. The match didn't seem gripping enough for me. After being caught up in Wrestlemania so far this was a let down with an ending that could have been much better. Nonetheless worth a watch, but for something that was no DQ and no Countout there was barely any hardcore intervention, which would have been fine had the wrestling been more entertaining.
Match 8 The Biggest vs The Best Floyd Mayweather vs Big Show 8/10 What can i say? Very entertaining considering the size difference. Both Mayweather and Big Show fought very well and both took a substantial amounts of beatings. I was impressed with Mayweathers ability to put up a good fight. Surprisingly good Match 9 World Heavyweight Championship Match. Undertaker vs Edge 10/10 A slight bias here as these are 2 of my top 3 favourite wrestlers, but this was an awesome and deserving main event. Both men brought their best to this match and it went back and forth keeping the crowd on their feet. Sensational main event of good length, that topped off what was an entertaining 'Mania.
Hall Of Fame Ceremony. 10/10 Now its a bit strange 'rating' the hall of fame ceremony, but it comes with the DVD and it is definitely worth watching. JBL was very funny inducting the Brisco's, there was a very long part with none other that THE ROCK who was incredibly entertaining as always and he gave a good light hearted roasting to many including Santino, John Cena, Jericho, Foley and others. But aside from being funny, this was a tear jerker at many points but mainly in the Ric Flair induction. Not tear jerking to the extent of the 2006 ceremony with Eddie Guerrero but it was highly emotional nonetheless and needs to be watching by wrestling fans.
On the whole a very solid Mania and definitely one of the better ones. Though the event card equates to just over 7/10 it was also the way the event was put together along with the attendance (in excess of 70.000) and the atmosphere that kept the rating high. The WWE really did put on a classy show. Not as good as 17 or 21 but still very good.
