WrestleMania 28 Results: Why Giving Attitude Era Stars Big Wins Was Right Move

WrestleMania XXVIII has come and gone, and while most considered it to be a rousing success, there are still some who are questioning the booking decisions. Most expected The Undertaker, CM Punk and Team Johnny to come out on top, but there were certainly some surprising outcomes throughout the card that few predicted.

Coincidentally, or maybe not, the vast majority of those surprises came in the form of Attitude Era stars going over stars of the current era. Many fans generally get upset when the young talent isn't put over, so it's no surprise that there was some backlash regarding Kane, Big Show and The Rock coming out on top by night's end.

At first look, it may seem like none of those decisions were logical ones, but if you dig a little deeper, they make perfect sense. Attitude Era stars ruled the night in Miami, and in each instance, it was for the better.

The Rock

It should come as no surprise that The Rock beating John Cena cleanly at WrestleMania has become a major point of contention. It's quite comical that so many are up in arms over Cena losing when the vast majority of fans normally hate when he defies the odds.

The expectation by most was that Cena would get the win and The Rock would "pass the torch." That honestly would have been awful, though, and this result was infinitely better.

If The Rock and Cena were engaged in a respectful feud heading into 'Mania, then it would have made sense, but they continually insulted each other and seemingly had a strong dislike for one another. Because of that, it would have been senseless to have The Rock lose and shake Cena's hand.

What The Rock winning does, though, is force Cena to face some adversity.

Cena seems to always find a way to win, but his cockiness got the better of him against The Rock and it cost him the match. Now we get to watch a far more compelling storyline, as Cena has to battle back from losing the biggest match of his career.

Also, The Rock didn't have to slink away with his tail between his legs after losing, and he can return at any time with a ton of momentum.

Kane

The Rock winning was surprising, but the most shocking ending of the night for me was Kane going over Randy Orton cleanly. Orton is probably the No. 3 guy in the company right now behind John Cena and CM Punk, and he has basically been booked to be unstoppable for the past two years, with the exception of Mark Henry going over him.

Because of that, it seemed like a given that he would beat Kane on Sunday.

Orton had gotten the better of Kane in nearly every exchange leading up to the match, and save for Kane continually injuring Zack Ryder, he had been made to look like a fool by Cena and Orton since returning with his new persona.

When you think about it, even though Kane is supposed to be some sort of unstoppable monster, his credibility had probably reached an all-time low.

With that in mind, Kane needed some sort of positive result to look like a legitimate threat, and beating Orton on the big stage should do the trick. The loss really doesn't hurt Orton, as he has beaten pretty much everyone and their mother over the past couple years and it will be very easy to build him back up.

Kane was on the brink of becoming irrelevant, though, and needed the win much worse.

Big Show

Although it was a result that I personally expected, many were caught off-guard when Big Show easily disposed of Cody Rhodes to win the Intercontinental Championship. Seeing as Big Show doesn't have many years left and Rhodes appears to be a future world champion, it might seem senseless for Big Show to go over, but it was the right move in the grand scheme of things.

It was nice seeing Rhodes with the Intercontinental Championship for so long, as he helped bring some credibility back to the title, but it was ultimately holding him back. I can probably count on one hand the amount of opponents he defended the belt against despite having one of the longest reigns since Mr. Perfect. Having the title wasn't really serving a purpose for Rhodes. Now he can get involved in some main-event programs.

As for Big Show, this was simply a good-will gesture. He had never won a singles match at WrestleMania before, so this victory helped him conquer his demons. Also, he had never won the Intercontinental Championship before, and the win made him a prestigious Triple Crown Champion.

Winning the match won't really do much for Big Show, but at least it frees up Rhodes.