WWE: The Wrestling Opus (WrestleMania XXVII Review)

WrestleMania XXVII, regardless of what many on the Internet have said, was a good WrestleMania with some high caliber matches and unpredictable finishes. It's hard to say where this event would rank all-time, but of the 27 WrestleManias it should be placed right around the middle point.

The first match of the night was Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship. At ringside stood Christian (Captain No-Charisma) and Brodus Clay. Del Rio carried the first half of the match working as Edge has been subpar since his return at the 2010 Royal Rumble. Del Rio worked Edge's arm and scored two cross arm-breaker submissions.

Non-consequential outside interference took place before Edge performed his signature offense and hit a spear for the three count. Overall, this was a good match and a nice start to the event. I would have preferred Del Rio to win, but the case could be made that it is too early for him. I'm not sure where Edge goes from here, hopefully he actually does something worth watching.

Rating: 3/5.

Rey Mysterio vs. the horribly disfigured Cody Rhodes was next in line. Mysterio in a Captain America inspired suit and Rhodes traded offense about evenly throughout the course of the match. Each hit signature moves while Rey's knee brace was used by Cody and Cody's protective face mask was used by Rey.

This match was approximately the same duration as the Edge vs. Del Rio bout, and it was similar in terms of intensity and action. Where this match succeeded was in the ending. Rhodes hit Mysterio in the face with the knee brace when the referee was not looking and then hit the Cross Rhodes for the finish. It was a more exciting ending, and it was surprising to see Cody get victory. The right wrestler won the match. Hopefully this will propel the former dashing one to championship contender level.  

Rating: 3/5.

The Corre vs. the team of Santino, Kofi Kingston, Kane, and the Big Show was next. Kofi replaced Kozlov, who was initially booked, due to an "injury" the Russian suffered in a pre-WrestleMania event.  This match was over before it started.

Santino and Heath Slater started the action, which soon delved into a four on four brawl before Santino hit the cobra on Slater followed by a Big Show knock out punch. I'm not really sure what the point was. The match didn't really get the four winners over, and it weakened the Corre even though they have had moments on smackdown looking strong.

I assume this match was to just get names on the card, but the least they could have done was a five-minute match as opposed to 90 seconds.

Rating: 1/5.

CM Punk vs. Randy Orton was the fourth match of the night. This was a true pay-per-view level match that was approximately 15 minutes in length with plenty of ebbs and flows in the action. The bout consisted largely of Punk using unique ways to further injure Orton's knee. Punk had a long anaconda vice and Orton performed a superplex.

However, Orton eventually hit his trademark moves and won with an RKO as Punk jumped off the top turnbuckle. This match was predictable. Without the aid of Nexus (where were you Skip Sheffield?) Punk would never have been booked to win. That's a shame as it seems like Punk, the best overall wrestler in WWE, never gets a big win in PPV events.

Rating: 3.5/5.

Michael Cole taking on Jerry "The King" Lawler with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin as the guest referee was next. Booker T and Jim Ross served as guest commentators. This match was essentially the Hart family vs. Vince McMahon match for this year's event. It was boring, slow, too long, and just hard to watch.

Cole stalled facing Lawler until Jack Swagger hindered Lawler's progress. Cole got in some pathetic offense until finally Lawler fought back and Stone Cold hit the stunner on Swagger. Lawler finished off Cole, but then the RAW GM buzzed in to say that Lawler was disqualified due to Stone Cold's involvement.

Stone Cold gave Josh Matthews the stunner for this horrible, wretched, atrocity. King and Stone Cold celebrated and were soon joined by Booker T who celebrated with them. Stone Cold hit the stunner on Booker and that was that. Stone Cold saved this debacle with his stunners.

Rating: 0.5/5.

Next up was the most anticipated match of the night, Undertaker vs. HHH in a no holds barred match. The promos leading up to this match were convincing in the notion that the streak was at serious risk to be broken. There were some worries that this match wouldn't be able to live up to the legend of the previous two Undertaker-Shawn Michaels matches, but these worries were wrong.

This match was legendary. HHH was backdropped off the announcer's table. Undertaker dove head first over the top rope and onto the floor. HHH hit a spinebuster through the Spanish announcer's table. In the ring there were last rides, choke slams, tombstones, and a hoard of pedigrees and chair shots.

I thought the streak may have been over on three occasions; after HHH tombstoned the Undertaker, after HHH's multiple pedigrees, and after his chair shot to the head of 'Taker. These moves all failed and Undertaker caught HHH in hell's gate for the submission victory.

This match was a tiny notch below 'Taker and Michaels' first 'Mania encounter, and a notch above their last one. It was an incredible performance with absolutely perfect pacing, and will be remembered as one of the all-time great WrestleMania matches.

Rating: 5/5.

Snookie, Trish Stratus, and Johnny Nitro vs. LayCool and Dolph Ziggler was the seventh televised match. This match was essentially the same as the earlier eight-man tag; very short duration with little relevant wrestling. The only highlight of the match, and it was a great and unexpected highlight, was Snooki doing cartwheels and handsprings in succession before planting Michelle McCool with a flying butt.

I find it funny and disgusting at the same time that many Internet sites are saying Snooki's move was a handspring elbow. It wasn't. They are clearly trying to take credit away from Snooki by saying this. It was a cart wheel - hand spring - hand spring - flying buttocks. It was a very impressive, athletic move, and the websites that are disregarding this are clearly choking on sour grapes. They seem too fragile to accept the fact that a non-wrestling celebrity was able to perform better than some current female wrestlers.

Rating: 2.5/5.

It was now time for the main event between WWE Champion The Miz with Alex Riley and John Cena.

This match started off very slow, and both champion and challenger seemed to be sluggish. Some cheating by the Miz and A-Ri along with an injured ref was the extent of activity until Cena hit Miz with a huge clothesline over the guardrail and onto concrete. There was a double countout... until The Rock came to ringside and declared that WrestleMania can't end on a count-out and that the match will continue with a no disqualificaton rule.

As soon as the pair hit the ring the Rock snuck in and hit Cena with the Rock Bottom allowing The Miz to get the pin and win. The Miz remained in the ring until the Rock came back in and hit Miz with a spinebuster and the people's elbow.

Rating: 3/5.

The Rock capped off a good, but not great (and certainly not bad) WrestleMania by standing tall in the ring.

Notes:

-It was nice to see Mean Gene Okerlund back. He should be used for interviews (and not gimmicks) on every pay-per-view.

-Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather see Mae Young sit at home. I don't find promos involving her funny or interesting.

-The meeting between Stone Cold and The Rock backstage was a nice touch. It was poignant in the way that Big Show and Diesel's meeting on the ramp at the Royal Rumble was.

-Why is Snooki already a better wrestler than Maryse, Kelly Kelly, and Alicia Fox?

-Michael Cole has some nebbish tattoos.

-Jim Ross is still the best. His chemistry with the King was still there, and he didn't miss a beat calling the event. Unlike Michael Cole, JR knows when to talk, when not to talk, and especially how to talk. His use of tone is second to none.

-The Undertaker and HHH had some great intros. The pre-match videos for the Miz and Cena were also very well done.

-TNA could only dream to have an event this good. Now let's cheer Ric Flair's wrinkles and the ever exciting Matt Morgan!