WWE Wrestlemania 25 Results: HHH, John Cena, Undertaker All Victorious

HHH retained his WWE title in a grudge match with Randy Orton, John Cena regained the World title and the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels put on a show for the ages at Wrestlemania 25 Sunday night in Houston, TX.

A spectacle? Yes. Impressive? In spots, yes. But overall, the show seemed to match the build leading up: average at best with some spots of greatness.

- CM Punk won the Money in the Bank match

• This opened the show, not JBL/Mysterio like was originally discussed.
• The ladder entered early with Christian/Shelton Benjamin attacked Mark Henry/Kane.
• The first guys to climb the ladder? Henry and Kane at the same time.
• A cool spot early on as everyone did topes to the outside. which Benjamin topped with a swanton off a huge ladder on the outside of the ring (aka The Shelton Spot). Hornswoggle even did one...that was lame.
• Kofi Kingston had two spots that really stood out: one where he jumped through the ladder and kicked Finlay. Another was when he ran straight up an upright ladder that Henry was holding in an attempt to get the briefcase.
• To me, it became clear they wanted Kane/Henry/Finlay in there, so the other six guys could shine.
• Christian was pretty underwhelming, pulling off a terrible Unprettier on CM Punk off a ladder braced between the ropes/another ladder.
• Benjamin pulled off a botched power bomb spot off the ladder on MVP. He then picked up MVP and tossed him over the rope into the barricade. This whole sequence looked very dangerous.
• Punk won it after battling Kane on top of the the ladder. Kane teased a chokeslam, but Punk kicked him off. End kind came out of nowhere, ending around 7:30 pm EST.

- Santino Marella won the 25 Diva Battle Royal

• Didn't make a big deal over people like Torrie Wilson, Tammy "Sunny" Sytch or Jackie Gayda. What was the point of having them there?
• Mae Young was at ringside with Candace Michelle.
• Clearly obvious that Santino in drag, but they're not referring to him/her at all. There are three people left, but they aren't saying even what the name is. He did a whole dance routine afterward, but was possibly the dumbest thing I've seen in years.

- Chris Jericho won the Legends handicap match.

• Ross said that the Legends' offense would likely be "bowling shoe ugly." Awesome. I'm hooked already.
• Piper started early, actually throwing some decent offense Jericho's way.
• Snuka's offense: ugh. He was the first one eliminated to the Walls of Jericho. No big surprise here. Piper was eliminated a few minutes later which left us with...
• Steamboat! Immediately goes to the top, deep arm drags. AWESOME! He was the star of this match for sure.
• Michael Cole should never be allowed to say "vintage" again.
• Steamboat "skinned the cat" but the cameras completely missed it. How does this happen? They didn't even replay it.
• Steamboat is absolutely amazing. You can feel the respect level just growing and growing amongst the masses. Unreal.
• Tons of near falls. Jericho hits the Code Breaker to get the pin on Steamboat.
• Ric Flair jumps in post-match and Jericho gives him the beatdown and Code Breaker. People are just waiting for Mickey Rourke to get involved.
• Jericho grabbed the mike and called out Rourke to come in the ring. Frank Shamrock was sitting next to Rourke. Rourke is taking forever to get into the ring and his attempts at getting the crowd involved are falling flat.
• After some jabs, Rourke connected with a left hand that dropped Jericho. Flair came in to celebrate with him post-match. That's it? Where did the Legends go?

- Matt Hardy pinned Jeff Hardy

• Matt has real tights/boots now...the long pants are gone. In order to really make this character change full, I would have gone with a haircut.
• Cole's revisionist history: "Did you ever think you'd see this day happen?" They feuded a few years ago...we have seen this day happen.
• Table is out early as a tease, but no go.
• End came when Jeff missed a leapfrog leg drop attempt off a massive ladder over a bigger freakin' ladder. Matt then hit a Twist of Fate with Jeff's neck through a chair for the win. Decent match that I need to watch again.

More matches after the jump.

- Rey Mysterio Jr. pinned JBL to win the Intercontinental title.

• Rey came out looking like The Joker from The Dark Knight. I have no faith that Ross/Lawler/Cole had any idea what he was trying to look like. If there was a blander version of vanilla ice cream, it would be named Michael Cole.
• JBL beat up Rey Mysterio pre-match and then the bell hit. Mysterio hit all his moves including the big splash and then, pinned JBL for the title. Total match time may have been two minutes.
• JBL grabbed the mike and said he had something to say. After stammering, he said, "I quit!" and that was it. I'm speechless at how poorly they pulled this off.
• Of note, Ross sounded 100% less-than-enthused at nearly everything with this match.

- Undertaker pinned Shawn Michaels

• Shawn was dressed in all white and was lowered via a riser on the stage...pretty awesome. Undertaker rose up from stage, which the announcers made clear was a parallel to Heaven and Hell (note—it's not as cool when you have to explain out the symbolism. It's ok to give the audience a few minutes to get it).
• Early on was a lot of Michaels working over Taker. Match turned to Taker when Michaels went for a superkick, missed and Taker snared him in the Hell's Gate.
• Michaels went for a moonsault to the outside and Taker shoved him off to the side. Ouch.
• Good lord. Taker dove over the ropes, but Michaels pulled a "cameraman" in the way to take the brunt of the action. Taker nearly landed directly on his neck as he pencil-dove over the top rope. Double ouch.
• After Taker rolled in, HBK went for a superkick and Taker came out of nowhere to connect with a chokeslam for a near-fall. Michaels would then connect with a superkick for a near-fall to which Taker matched with a Last Ride for a near fall.
• The fact everyone expects Taker to win hurts this match slightly, no?
• Taker even went for a top rope HBK elbow, complete with mannerisms. He missed, but the announcers made sure to again explain the symbolism.
• Michaels attempted to skin the cat right into an awaiting Taker for a Tombstone. However, Michaels kicked out at two. This match has completely swung from beating the streak to how can the Taker put away Michaels. Suddenly, I'm not so convinced Taker is going to win.
• Michaels hits another superkick and Taker kicks out at two. I'm back on the bandwagon that Taker is going to win.
• Michaels went for another moonsault and Taker caught him and drove him home for the pin and win. Total match time: 30 minutes.

Final two matches after the jump.

- John Cena won the World Title in a three-way with Edge and Big Show

• When Cena came down, there about 50-100 Cena lookalikes lining the aisle. Edge's entrance was similar to last year...very cool.
• Vickie went down when Edge accidentally speared her off the apron.
• Edge did a spear to Big Show through the barricade outside.
• I still don't understand why the biggest star in the company (Cena) is stuck in a match like this. Shouldn't the plan be for him to always be in the main event at all costs?
• Cena put up both Big Show and Edge in an F.U. at the same time, but Edge slipped off. Cena then FU'd Edge on Show and pinned Show to win the title.
• I only saw the last half of this match, but what I saw didn't do anything for me. This was about as anti-climactic as it gets. Not exactly befitting of a guy that is supposed to be the biggest mainstream star they have.

After the recognition of the Hall-of-Famers, Austin came back out on a four-wheeler and did his beer-drinking deal in the ring.

- WWE Champion HHH defeated Randy Orton

• Orton hit an RKO about one minute into the match and then missed the killer kick.
• HHH hit RKO with a pedigree soon after. Huh? Why so early?
• There was a lot of "Will he or won't he" with HHH coming close to getting DQ'd and losing the title. The belt was essentially worthless in this whole angle.
• Plenty of work outside with the announce tables and the Orton standing DDT.
• Ref bump! Orton hits the RKO and went outside to get the sledge hammer. But HHH hit a punt of his own, connected with a sledge hammer shot of his own. He landed a few more right hands, hits another pedigree and gets the pin. Announce team was hard pushing the HHH punt kick as "the ultimate in cruel irony."

- Notes:

• Kid Rock performed after Money in the Bank. The divas came out for their battle royal as he performed "So Hott."
• Announced attendance: 72,744

Josh Nason - josh [at] ropesringandcage [dot com] - has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He joined up with Bleacher Report in 2008 and achieved Columnist status in 2009.