WWE WrestleMania 28 Results: Why This Was a Huge Disappointment

While WrestleMania 28 had its highlights—most notably the fantastic Hell in a Cell bout between Triple H and The Undertaker—any fair and balanced evaluation of the show has to deem it a disappointment and one filled with missed opportunities.

As far as the in-ring aspect goes: The wrestling on the show was largely fine, but aside from the aforementioned HHH-Taker bout, nothing stood out.

The laughably short Sheamus-Bryan match was too brief to be anything other than a dud. Orton-Kane was a mediocre bout, which few in the building cared about. Ditto for the lame IC Title match (notably, Big Show cried at the end; whether this was due to his title victory or the fact he'd seen the calamity that was the opening match has not yet been made clear).

The women's match, which was hampered greatly by Maria Menounos' rib injuries from Dancing with the Stars, had "bathroom break" written all over it. 

The competitors in the GM bout tried, but the match had far too many personalities (in and outside the ring, a whopping 20 people from both Raw and SmackDown were involved), and the whole thing descended into a cluttered, chaotic mess.

At one point, things got so ridiculously crowded, I wondered if there was anyone in Miami not involved with the match in some way or another.  

Jericho and Punk both worked hard in the second-to-last spot and their WWE Championship bout was very enjoyable in places, but the crowd was flat and didn't get into it until the end.

Finally, John Cena took on The Rock in a clunky, lethargic bout, which saw Rock (who has not wrestled a singles match in almost a decade) blow up half way through and Cena, no Kenta Kobashi on his best day, struggle to keep the action going and get things back on track. 

One issue was surely that the match went on way too long (30 minutes), which served as a major burden to both men. Maybe cutting their time by 10 or 15 minutes (and giving something like the Sheamus-Bryan bout or the GM match more time) would have been best for everyone involved.

However, despite the so-so wrestling, it was the awful writing on the show that caused the most offense.

A crammed, erratically booked event, WrestleMania 28 showed WWE's incompetent writing team continue to misplace their priorities, prop up tired old stars and overlook their hard-working, younger wrestlers.

Several huge and disastrous booking mistakes stand out.  

The biggest disaster on the card easily has to go the laughably short 18-second World Heavyweight Championship bout between Daniel Bryan and Sheamus.

How comically bad was this? Hey, some people on my Twitter feed—who were not watching the show live and following the results online instead—heard the finish and assumed it was an April Fool's Day joke.

How does Bryan, who has previously been carrying SmackDown with his obnoxious, holier-than-thou heel character, recover from this incredibly humiliating defeat? Well, we don't know. And it's questionable whether WWE have any idea, either.

Not to mention what a huge slap in the face it was to both competitors. 

Bryan and Sheamus' bout last year (for the US Championship) was left off of last year's WM card due to timing issues and was relegated to a dark match, something both men have expressed disappointment about in recent interviews.   

How soul-crushing must it have been for both men—no doubt greatly excited about their bout making it into an important position on the main card and eager to have a terrific, potentially show-stealing match—to have been told they were only going out there for a paltry 18 seconds?

It may even have been enough to make Daniel grab AJ, get in his Prius and attempt to get as far away from Miami Gardens as possible. Seriously, who would have blamed him?

Not that they were the only ones. YouTube sensation Zack Ryder was treated extremely shoddily, too.

Yes, after months of being badly beaten up by Kane and thrown around like a human rag doll, as well as following the indifferent and sneering Eve around like a lovesick puppy, it was difficult to see how the former United States champion could be made too look even more useless and incompetent by WWE.

Well, never one to turn down a challenge, they found a way.

Not only did the Long Island native lose the match for his team after getting distracted by Eve and getting hit by Miz's brutal Skull-Crushing Finale (per the stips of the match, sending the beloved Teddy Long packing), but the Diva Search winner, apparently entering the ring to comfort the fallen Ryder turned heel—well, more so than she already was—and viciously kicked him blow the belt.

Then she smirked and triumphantly walked off while the rest of Team Teddy looked on aghast. Gee, you'd think one of them (even Aksana or Nikki Bella, if none of the guys wanted to lay a hand on her) would have done something to stop her or make her pay. The rest of Team Teddy were almost as useless as Zack was. 

Long really should have been more astute and picked his group better. Hey, this is what happens when you let yourself get distracted by your gorgeous Lithuanian assistant and take your eye off the ball.

Similar to Bryan, it seems uncertain how the talented Ryder can possibly recover from this calamity. Hey, maybe WWE doesn't want him to recover from it. Maybe this burial is what happens when you get over on your own, without the permission of WWE brass.   

While Cena doesn't look like the joke Bryan or Ryder do, putting Rock over him when he's going off to make movies again soon and Cena is the one who has to carry the company going forward seems like a rather dubious decision, too (and that's being generous). Sure, it sent the strongly pro-Rock crowd home happy, but it is difficult to see what it will achieve in the long run.

Cena promised to beat Rock, didn't and may now look considerably worse in the eyes of the fans, many of whom already dislike him and consider him a phony.

Summarily, WM 28 was a letdown.  A sloppy undercard, misplaced priorities and some truly awful and nonsensical booking marred what was easily one of the company's biggest events ever. Hopefully next year's WM will be better.