Wrestlemania 26: From God-Awful To Great

Wrestlemania 26 can be broken down into two parts. The first one, consisting of all matches except the main event, can be described as god-awful to pretty good.  The second part made you forget about all the rest; it was outstanding and memorable. Overall I believe the show to be a show to be a success. Below are my thoughts and opinions on each match starting from the beginning.

ShowMiz vs. R. Truth & John Morrison

"Give us 15 minutes to put on a good show and get the crowd excited," says ShowMiz and J. Truth.  "Sorry guys, we just don't have the time. The crowd doesn't care about opening matches, what they really want is to see a match featuring two men who can't wrestle any more as well as a match featuring 9-divas and a pig.  You can have 3 minutes," replies Creative. "Okay. We will do the best we can," the wrestlers mumble as they make their way to the entrance ramp.

That conversation might not be verbatim, but something along those lines must have taken place before the match.  I cannot figure out another reason.  Even though the match was short it was still pretty good.  It didn't have the same slow pace that most matches have when featuring the Big Show.  I was really disappointed that it ended so suddenly.  I do hope the feud continues. It does have potential.

Overall: 2.5/5     Fun while it lasted, hope you didn't blink.

Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Ted Dibiase

I wasn't expecting anything special with Randy Orton coming out the winner.  The match lived up to those high expectations.  Randy is already a star, Cody and Ted are not and when this match concluded they were no closer.  I do not fault any of the wrestlers, I just believe that Wrestlemania should be the culmination of a feud.  Instead it had the look and feel of a match that was thrown together at last minute.  The "entertainers" did an alright job, but once again it just seemed a little too short.  I would have preferred to see Legacy pull off the upset, but that would have been surprising and no one wants that.

Overall: 2.5/5     Solid but forgettable match.

Ten Man Money in the Bank Ladder Match

The common theme with all the early matches is that they seemed to end too early.  This match was no different. It had its moments but nothing I can define as spectacular.  The one thing it did do that really surprised me was allow Jack Swagger to get the briefcase.  (I expected Drew McIntyre to win.) I am pretty sure that 97.2% of us did not see that coming.  He even fooled me by taking extra long to get the victory. I was sure someone would come in and knock him down.  Maybe he can use his knew found success to partake in a clasp management course.  I have a strange feeling that Swagger will be the first to cash in and not win a title. Please tune in to Raw to see how Creative fails yet again. 

Overall: 3/5     Not as good as previous matches, but fun none-the-less.

HHH vs. Sheamus

I only caught the end of this match.  The stream I was watching cut out and it took awhile for me to get the new up and running.  I refused to pay to see a WWE pay-per-view because I refuse to pay for sub-standard crap.  I came back just in time to see HHH hit the pedigree out of nowhere.  Another predictable finish.  I believe Sheamus should have won if WWE was serious about making him a key player.  Or at least make him look good in the loss. 

Overall: I will be pitching in with a couple friends to watch an encore later. I think the pay-per-view was worth it. You will see why later.

C.M. Punk vs. Rey Mysterio

I thought this was supposed to be a street-fight or something along those lines. Don't know why they added that stipulation if they weren't planning to use it.  Anyway, it was a good match with a pretty cool finish.  I knew Rey was going to win I was mostly curious on how he would handle the other members of the S.E.S.  C.M. Punk continues to impress, he is great to watch on the mic and in the ring.  I don't know if they will continue to feud, but these two have what it takes to put on a classic match.  Hopefully a future pay-per-view will give these guys more opportunity to wow us.

Overall: 4/5    C.M. Punk is the future of the WWE.

Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon

Ouch. I am not saying that because Vince took 45 chair shots, it is because my head hurt after watching this horrible match.  How sad is it when you see Vince McMahon carry a match?  Bret Hart should never agreed to this.  For a match 13 years in the making, the match was empty.  It was flat; emotionless.  Maybe it is the stroke, but Bret looked positively bored.  They tried to make it interesting by involving the other members of the Hart family, but all it did was make you scratch your head at the most.  Did anyone for even a second believe that McMahon had actually bought the Hart family's allegiance?  There was so much potential ruined by bad creative direction.  Bret and the Hart Dynasty could have been used so much better.  The only highlight was watching Vince take chair shot after chair shot (now I know why they banned shots to the head.)  But even that was ruined by the fact that VKM looked more constipated then in pain.

Overall: 1/5     Apparently it takes 13 years to make a farce.

Chris Jericho vs. Edge

This was the match I was really looking forward to besides HBK vs. Taker.  Maybe it was because the previous match took away any enjoyment I was feeling, but this match was just alright.  Besides the final spear the match was pretty forgettable.  I just expected more. Jericho and Edge are among my favorites and are known to put on top-quality matches.  Maybe with Edge coming back from injury not too long ago they wanted to take it easy.  I don't know.  The feud is not over so hopefully we will still get to see the great match that was expected.

Overall: 3/5    Sandwiched between two abysmal matches sucked out any enjoyment I had for this match.

10-Diva Tag Team Match

I was absolutely blown away.  How was HBK vs. Taker going to follow the awesome-fest that was this match?  Impossible.  I was so inspired after the conclusion of this match that my friends and I poured a round of Bleach and toasted the magnificent decision making of the WWE executives.

Overall: To outstanding to rate.

John Cena vs. Batista

I do not care whether you love or hate Cena, this match was pretty damn good.  The thing that stood out the most was that it didn't follow the usual Cena match script.  Although Cena still won as predicted, there were moments that me doubt my expectations.  Batista really stepped up his game leading up to Wrestlemania and was then able to hold his own when he got there.  We are living in bizarre times when Cena/Batista outshine Edge/Jericho.  And you had to love seeing John pose with the audience members wearing "We Hate Cena" shirts. 

Overall: 4/5     On any other pay-per-view this would have been a great way to end the show.

HBK vs. Taker

They did it.  They lived up and exceeded the hype.  I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.  The match had everything: great wrestling, a story that gripped your interest, and tons of emotion.  This was the only match I could not make a prediction on, I could have seen it going either way.  Yes all the rumors pointed HBK retiring, but I just didn't want to believe it; after all rumors are called rumors for a reason.  Every current and wannabe WWE superstar needs to a good long look at the career of these two, I will not call them wrestlers, they are performers.  Not only do they show-case unbelievable skill in the ring, but they do so while telling a story that plays on your emotions.  That is something that seems to be very rare during the PG era.  The WWE is losing its top performer, we will just have to wait and see if anyone can fill the giant sized void left by the departing Mr. Wrestlemania.

Overall: 6/5     You know why.

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts and opinions.  I hope you enjoyed.  Feel free to comment whether you agree with me or think I that by calling me an idiot you would be praising me.  Take care.