So, that was WrestleMania XIX then... and I think anyone who watched it could be reasonably happy with what they saw. My predictions came in at 6 for 10, which by my standards is a quality month... result! Petty Smash competitions aside, it was a good show. Not the greatest WrestleMania ever, but by no means a farce of WrestleMania 9 proportions.
Even Heat was mostly enjoyable. I say mostly as Lita and Coach do not inspire me to stay tuned, but John Cena does... his solo rapfest, once the mic caught up with him, was a good way to further establish his character, and show how comfortable on the mic he is. His claims of headlining WrestleMania 20 might not be too far fetched either...
For whatever reasons the RVD/Kane vs. Morley/Storm match was relegated to Heat, the de-push continued with an AD BREAK in the middle of the match. Charming, I’m sure... anyway, ad-break aside, it was a pretty standard tag match, and I’m sure it could have been squeezed into the WrestleMania card somehow... maybe ditching that pointless catfight, for example...
Storm and Morley retained their titles, at least an attempt to restore some much needed credibility to the belts, and RVD & Kane can go off to do whatever it is they’ll be doing next. The WWE seem to have no idea what to do with them, so why should anybody care? The most interesting part of this match is the role that the reluctant heel Dudleys played... this could be an interesting little angle developing here.
On to WrestleMania proper, and as expected, Matt & Rey opened things up. The sheer size of the WrestleMania set really showed Rey’s (lack of) size to the fullest, I thought... and credit to Rey for his Daredevil inspired outfit. Matt’s entrance informed us that he “often wondered how they did WrestleMania without him” - he might well have wondered why he bothered turning up for this one.
Only giving this match 5 minutes was a travesty - things looked to be just getting into their stride when Matt scored the rope assisted pin and it was all over! This one should have had a good 10 minutes or so and we could have been in for a really great match. As it was, it was still by no means the worst effort of the night, and Rey’s high-flying certainly popped the crowd.
Just a quick note about the set-up of the stadium - at the beginning of the show, with the daylight still shining into the field, it looked a bit strange, but later at night - I thought it was a great arena - anything after the Jericho/HBK match looked really good, and befitting of a WrestleMania... but I digress.
Fred Durst and his Limp Bizkit compadres launched into Rollin’ next, and at that point I knew that Taker would be using it as his music for the night... a nice touch, but 2 years too late - this should have been done at WMX7 - Trips entering to live Motorhead, and Taker entering to live Bizkit would have been great... having Bizkit do it now after he’s changed his music kinda waters down the effect, but it was still pretty cool to see.
It seems as if the WWE realised that poor Nathan might not be up to making his debut at WrestleMania as he was punked out on Heat, following an altercation with Show & A-Train... leaving this as a handicap match. And, to be honest, it was a fair enough match... Taker looked like he raised his game, as he always does at ‘Mania and managed to make something out of what could have been a horrific moment in WrestleMania history.
Thankfully (?) Nathan awoke from his chair induced slumber in time to wander to ringside, and actually land his spin kick on the Show at ringside, and not fall over! Admittedly, it did look quite impressive, especially for a man of Jones’ size. Jones would also get a big boot in on A-Train, but shockingly ignore Taker’s clear shout of “help me!” when the Dead Man tried to get A-Train into place for the tombstone. He eventually managed it, and the streak extends to 11-0 now. Will Taker ever lose at WrestleMania?
Ah, and following this we had the biggest struggle of the night - Trish’s breasts and their struggle for freedom - you have to say, for a small lass, she’s certainly built well... but again, I digress. This women’s match was really good, one of the best Triple Threat matches I’ve seen in a while, and at 7 minutes, long enough to be a bit special, and short enough not to overstay it’s welcome.
Victoria’s psycho character has developed really well, and if she has to go get her surgery, it’s a shame, the women’s division is pretty strong right now, and she’s a major part of that. Jazz was the powerhouse of the match, and Steven? Well, Steven was just there, providing that unique Steven-ness. Bless him, and his pink tights... Trish got the pin in the end, and this no doubt resurrects the Trish-Jazz feud from last year... by no means a bad thing.
The Smackdown Tag match stunned me by how short it was... just under 9 minutes? It was developing into a great little match, non stop action and cool tag wrestling all over the shop, and then all of a sudden... WHAM! Match over... still, good to see Team Angle win something on their own at last. These two guys are going to be huge stars, trust me. Shelton looks the better of the 2, but that’s not putting Charlie Haas down any.
I thought the experience of the Guerreros and Benoit helped the match along nicely, and it was very slick and fast paced, but same story as the Matt-Rey match - too damn short. Surely some time could have been shaved from other, less exciting matches and allocated to this and the Cruiser match?
The match a lot of people were waiting to see certainly didn’t disappoint - Jericho and Michaels put on a match which fully deserved the 20 minutes it got. Michaels rolled back the years with this performance, his most impressive since his return from injury, and he and Jericho had a great chemistry together. Jericho’s heel character came to the fore in this one, and surely he deserves better than constant jobbing?
Why Michaels was given the win in this one is beyond me - Jericho could certainly have used the rub from defeating HBK at WrestleMania, and what Michaels gets out of this is debatable, but I guess some parts of the old HBK are still there... In my eyes, the match should have ended when Jericho had The Walls on HBK, and pulled him back into the centre of the ring... Evil Jericho’s little cameo at the end, with the hug and the kick made it all worth it though...
Oh, look it’s a promo for Goldbore... 2 years in exile... blah blah... The Man... wonder what Trips thinks of that then... Hopefully, Goldie will be used right from day one, and surely he must have developed a bit more of a moveset with his stint in Japan? A good signing for the WWE, just not sure how it’ll turn out in the end... but unlike some people, who seem intent on decrying him already, I’ll wait and see.
Talking of bores... Look, here’s soggy digestive... erm, sorry Limp Bizkit again with their new song, which sounds suspiciously like a Korn track to me, but there you go. It’s hilarious to hear Tazz trying shill like crazy for Durst’s crew, and to hear Tony Schimmel introduce them as “The WWE’s favourite band in the whole world”...
Some pointless bimbo catfight followed, and the Coach ended up in his undies, which is something I could live without, and surely the time for this crap could have been given to some of the shorter matches?
Now, the Triple H - Booker match - has any World Title match at WrestleMania ever been such a foregone conclusion? Oh yeah, last year’s Triple H demolition of Chris Jericho, I forgot... Really, was there anyone that thought Book was walking away from this with the gold? The ending was in no doubt, and the match was one of the dullest I can remember for a long time.
Confession time, troops - I fell asleep during this one - didn’t even make it past Trips entrance... I woke up in time to see Book take the inevitable pedigree. I watched my tape of it this afternoon, and thought that being asleep was the best use of the time... 20 minutes for this crap??? Make this 12 minutes, and give another 4 minutes to the Cruisers and the Smackdown tag, or allow the Raw tag match on to the big card... absolute rubbish. Oh, and Booker? Enjoy the trip back to the midcard...
The Hogan match wasn’t quite as bad, and just about lived up to the hype bestowed upon it. The bloodbath that was promised did materialise, Vince especially looked to be bleeding like a good ‘un. Vince’s legdrop looked quite swish, and seeing Roddy Piper was a surprise, and it was paced quite nicely - I didn’t quite feel myself being drawn into this as I did last year with the Hogan - Rock classic though...
The one image that’s stuck in my mind all day with this one was when Vince’s bloodied face peeked up over the ring apron - I have to admit, I cracked up at that one... there’s your image of WrestleMania, folks! If Hogan getting the win was expected, it at least looked in doubt at a couple of points in the match. Vince ain’t no wrestler, but he tries, bless him. Shane’s interaction at the end was strange - Hogan vs. Shane soon?
Rock and Austin, by contrast, was nowhere near the blockbuster it could have been, or the “slobberknocker” Jim Ross would have you believe it was. I thought it was quite ironic when JR was spouting his “Steve Austin won’t quit, dammit!” hype... didn’t he do just that last year? To me, it looks like he’s getting ready to do it again - the fire hasn’t been there since his return, and every time he bumps, it looks like his neck is playing him up.
I thought that The Rock was the one trying to carry this match forward, and it just wasn’t happening. Maybe it was one of those nights where nothing clicked, but things didn’t seem as slick as they normally do with The Rock and Austin... just seemed to degenerate into a finisher battle - each man trading finisher’s left right and centre... just seemed a hastily put together mess. And Austin’s walk up the ramp after the match - looked like the walk of a condemned man to me...
Rightfully so, Brock and Kurt’s much anticipated match was the main event of the night, and given the limitations of Angle, who according to WWE.com was working with only 50% strength in his left arm, was something to behold. The wrestling exhibition at the start was superb, and the two told a great story, I thought. Not the 5 star classic we all thought we’d get, but that’s understandable - 2 weeks ago, there wasn’t even going to be a match at all.
The only sour note was Brock’s Shooting Star Press - watching it again on video, the ropes seemed to shake just before he leapt - possibly, that’s affected his spring, but no matter what it was a sickening landing... I’m amazed he managed to get to his feet and continue. I presume the SSP was supposed to be the finish, so credit to both guys for improvising the third F5 to end it all... Brock was taken to hospital after the match, and he didn’t look at all with it at the end - I hope he’s alright, but it looks like a concussion at least.
So overall, the good outweighs the bad - Brock/Kurt, Michaels/Jericho, Matt/Rey and the Women’s match being the standouts for me, and nothing stinking too badly, bar the Trips snoozefest... I’m just interested to see what direction things take now - tonight’s Raw could be interesting indeed...
Until next time, have fun, go mad.
