sek69 Posted April 4, 2005 Report Share Posted April 4, 2005 Cena beat JBL, which means either they are switching both belts or HHH decided Batista isn't worthy after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bruiser Chong Posted April 4, 2005 Report Share Posted April 4, 2005 Which would make it only the second time the heel won the main event of Wrestlemania (Austin winning at Mania X-7 is a toss-up). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted April 4, 2005 Report Share Posted April 4, 2005 HHH did the right thing after all. I wonder if by WM 22 he'll be the champ again while Dave is in the second match from the bottom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dazed Posted April 4, 2005 Report Share Posted April 4, 2005 Fuck, was that awful. Wow, there was no blowaway match, nothing. Rey / Eddie was probably the highlight, and it's amusing that it was a throwaway show opener, and not the main event as it probably should have been. Rey's constant mask checking was a distraction (has he ever worn a more revealing mask? And that sounds really weird out of context!) and the finish was too out of nowhere and not making the most of the backwork by Guerrero to make this a classic. The ladder match was just a collection of spots and nothing more, although there were a couple of cool ones (Shelton's run, for one), it was the 4th best Mania ladder match ever, and there's only been 4 (counting TLC, of course.) It looks like the Orton experiment is over; having Taker kick out of the RKO and pin him clean is both hilarious and pathetic, showing how WWE's writers so badly misjudge their audience in pushing Orton so hard, and have no idea of wrestling with Taker going over so emphatically. Similarly, Carlito looking such a bitch to two retired wrestlers is a fucking joke. There was no need for him to come out, and Stone Cold would have looked a million dollars regardless of *who* he stunnered. It summarised the night really, when Eugene was buried in favour of Hassan, who was in turn buried for Hogan. Trish and Christie was shit, as expected, with JR proclaiming how Trish had shown experience and so on, when nothing of the sort was evident. All she did was kick Christie in the face, which has been her finisher for fucking ages. Showing experience would be to know that Christie would expect that, and adapt accordingly. Angle / Shawn was a let down, and not just because I bet on "Mr. Wrestlemania". Of course, it was hyped to such a degree that it couldn't help but disappoint, but there was no substance to it, nothing happening, just a collection of moves with anklelocks interspersed to count as a build to the finish. JR's constant shilling of "OMG THIS IS A WRESTLEMANIA MOMENT OMG WRESTLEMANIA" was fucking irritating; a Mania moment comes from something delivering on its hype. You can't call it before it happens, you fat tit. Akebono and Show was retarded and a total waste of time. It just showed that Show, who is pushed as the ultimate big man, is not the ultimate big man, and that Akebono, who has only been on TV like 3 times *is* JBL / Cena was a typical bland, shitty Bradshaw affair. He's shown that he can be carried by a competent worker like Eddie, but when he's thrown in with someone shitty like Taker or Cena, he's got no hope. This was no exception as Cena attempted to walk him through a series of spots that didn't hold together well nor did they build to anything substantial. These are the best two workers that SmackDown has to offer? If the answer is "no", then why the hell are they on top at Mania? 1) Where was Booker T, and 2) did anyone else notice Cena being booed? It was great how Cena just fucked off after winning; Hogan was given easily 10x as much time to celebrate beating the shit out of someone for no real reason. Hunter and Batista was a paint by numbers affair. I think it ran about 20 minutes, and of those 20, 19 had no bearing. They only served to kill time before the finish. There was no build, no wearing each other down (except on an extremely superficial level) and nothing. You could have had any two wrestlers go out there for 19 minutes, fight, then tag in HHH and Dave for the finish. Having such an obvious winner was no help either, and Cena's win only served to cheapen Batista's victory. Total waste of time, don't bother. Check this out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted April 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2005 Oh man, where do I even begin? At least as far as recent memory can recall, that was the worst Wrestlemania (WM) that I can remember. Granted, I don't believe that I watched Wrestlemania 2000 live and that was probably the last "bad" Wrestlemania. At least in my eyes. This show certainly wasn't anything special. Of course, a lot of people were saying that it "looked bad on paper" so I can't say that I'm surprised. It wasn't so much the match outcomes. It wasn't even the content of the matches themselves. It just seemed like everything went wrong. The Pay-Per-View (PPV) seemed to be running in fast-forward. The matches...just ended. Obviously Trish Vs. Christy & The Sumo Showdown were jokes but I knew heading into the PPV that they wouldn't be worth watching, let alone anything special. So, I just chalked them up to being previously acknowledged trash. At least the non-wrestling Christy Hemme didn't randomly win a title. I told you guys that Akebono wouldb't fly all the way around the globe to lay down at his "specialty" either. Sek said so as well. The commericals. My goodness, the commercials. WE'VE SEEN THEM! Holy crap, I swear I never want to see another "Wrestlemania goes Hollywood" commerical for as long as I live! They were getting out of hand heading into Wrestlemania. I sure as shit don't want to have to rewatch them all for fifty bucks (which is the price of the show, even if I, personally, didn't pay). Did anyone else randomly lose the Wrestlemania feed at the beginning of the show and during the finish to HBK/Angle? I didn't even get to see HBK tap out. We (the people I watched the show with and myself) didn't even know what happened in the match until they recapped the show after Batista/HHH. I did get to see a lot of the content of that match though. It started out slowly, like it was going to build to something...but it never really did. This isn't Japan, and I don't know why WWE randomly tries to do that. We went from headlock spots straight into high-flying, big bumps and finishers. It, again, just seemed like the middle of the match was forgotten. Like WWE were strapped for time or something. Shit, the PPV was four hours long! I HATE when Kurt seemingly spends an entire match working over the back only for him to slap on an Ankle Lock for the win. What was the point of the ring post, normal & top rope Angle Slams? The curtain jerker? Terrible. Rey most likely won't ever be wearing THAT mask again. Did you see how much trouble he was having with that? Eddie's "backne" was so bad that he initially had to wear band-aids over some of the larger zits. How pitiful. Then there were the botched spots, at least one big one, and Rey winning. Granted I don't get Smackdown, so I can't say if it was the "right" thing to do but Eddie was the freaking WWE champion last year. Now he's losing the curtain jerker to a Cruiserweight (CW). They better either push the shit out of Mysterio or the whole damn CW division. Otherwise, this match did nothing but hurt Eddie. Dazed, if you think THIS match was the highlight of the show, you must've hated Wrestlemania more than me. The Undertaker against Orton was pretty much what everyone expected. 'Taker won with a Tombstone after an RKO and a "Cowboy" cast shot. We had people calling all that two or so months ago. Nothing special. The most noteworthy moment of the match was the botched Last Ride. Ugh. Well, the PPV didn't have Snitsky or Hedeinreich (outside of in the WM commercials) so I guess that's a good thing, right? Eugene, whom before his injury, seemed to be pretty over. So, Hassan comes out to get some cheap heat on him. It makes sense. What does WWE get out of Hogan decimating Hassan and Daivari though? I mean, The Hulkster didn't even acknowledge Eugene. He just hit some big boots, then posed a lot. I love the Hulkster, hell, I grew up on him, but even when expecting him to show up, he still seemed well out of place. It hurt Hussan, which in turn made Eugene look even worse. The Ladder match? What the hell happened? Where was everyone? I must admit, the Benjamin running ladder clothesline spot was pretty neat. Of course, I wish he would've hit the actual clothesline more flush, but I guess he was too worried about not killing himself. A couple of big bumps and then a very anticlimatic ending. I kind of expected Edge to win, and I knew that Kane was going to physically dominate everyone in the match. Still, when it actually happened that way, I felt let down. Kane started out demolishing everyone, by himself, on the ramp. Then we just had bodies laying around and people taking too long to make saves. It was junk. Just because the wrestlers take big ladder bumps (which are retarded, I might add) that doesn't make the match good. Why should Benjamin kill himself in the midcard in a match that he's not going over in? He's the IC champion and WWE isn't even using him. I'm surprised he's not acting like RVD by now. Muhammed Hussan was the highlight of the PPV for me. I'm a little disappointed that WWE decided to not kill off the Eugene character. I actually anticipated Hogan coming out too...but I didn't get to see a legdrop. Piper's Pit was trash, just like I thought it would be. The best part was Piper clowning on the HORRIBLE fucking crowd. My goodness. That crowd was downright fucking pitiful. Even if you're not enjoying the show, do SOMETHING. It's fucking Wrestlemania. Those mother-fuckers with the floor seats probably paid around five-hundred bucks for tickets. They least they could fucking do is "boo." I'm not happy that the up-and-coming Carlito had to fall victim to the "Stunner" but I was actually happy to see Austin. At least it got CCC on WM too. Cena/JBL wasn't what I anticipated, which seemed to be the real theme to the show. The ending...just came. This match also seemed like it was in fast-forward. There was some brawling, and then Cena hit all of his spots and the match just ended. I think Bradshaw hit some boots. What the hell? Random recap of the Hall of Fame inductees. I don't really know why. I guess to give some more women camera time? Each inductee was escorted out onto the ramp by a "diva." The crowd at WM didn't get behing Hogan as much as the crowd at the Hall of Fame induction show did. How sad is that? I think the live crowd may have been the worst part about the PPV. At least Batista went over in the main event. When Cena won, I was starting to doubt it. The crowd didn't even seem that energetic for Batista. I figured that maybe they were just saving all of their energy for the main event. I was wrong. I mean, they weren't completely dead but with that many people there, and in Hollywood, you'd think they'd have a more vocal crowd. It just seemed like most of the people that were there weren't wrestling fans. You could tell that Batista was gassed very early in the match too. It's not to say that Wrestlemania XXI didn't have it's moments. There were a lot of things that I liked. Triple H did a GREAT bladejob. The previously mentioned Shelton ladder spot was good. Trish cleavage is never bad. Kane's entrance when the ladders caught fire was cool as all hell. I "marked" when Carlito came out. Both World Titles changed hands too. Still, I can't help but feel...not letdown, I don't think the show let me down. It just feels lackluster. It feels like it was exactly what I thought it was going to be. It didn't go above my expectations. It WAS my expectations. It's just that, it's Wrestlemania. It should have SOMETHING that makes me want to watch Raw tomorrow. I don't even see what direction the shows are going in now. I mean, are we just going to get more HHH/Batista? Trish going to admit that she beat a non-wrestling Playboy Diva Search winner? The biggest question coming out of the show is when will Edge get his title shot? Definitely not worth fifty bucks, especially with all of the production errors, but I didn't have to pay for it. We made a nice day out of it. I had a cookout with some friends, we had some good conversation and we played a few games. Hell, we even watched the '88 Royal Rumble to pass some time. It was a good day, overall, just a lackluster PPV. I don't even want the DVD. I don't want to see the show again. I don't know what the hell Meltz is talking about. The ladder match and HBK/Angle both seemed slightly above average to me. Nothing that you couldn't see at a throw away PPV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cam Chaos Posted April 4, 2005 Report Share Posted April 4, 2005 Eddy/Rey was good but disappointing. Ladder match was good but seemed too short. Orton/Taker was good but when Orton signalled for his own tombstone you could see the end coming. Taker's entrance was cool as usual. Piper's pit was entertaining. Piper taking the piss out of the crowd for saying "what" was funny. Austin stomping over everyone when he is not active was pointless. Christie couldn't even keep up with Trish for their match's spots. They got the Playboy shoot out of her, I doubt she'll be around next year. Angle/Shawn was good but Angle's anklelock looked super weak after all was said and done. The fact he also outwrestled a fucking gold medallist is testament to the bullshit power he has. The fact Shawn left under his own power was bullshit also. Akebono owning Show after the hype they put behind Show didn't do them any favours. I really could have done without seeing Show in a thong also. JBL/Cena had no heat aside from a few cheers for Cena's comebacks. I bet they are considering whether investing in that Chain Gang bling and spinning world title belt was worth the expense right now. HHH/Batista seemed like it would never end. At least the right guy went over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyOwnSummer Posted April 4, 2005 Report Share Posted April 4, 2005 I pretty much completely disagree with Dazed's anaylsis of the show. I don't think there was any GREAT matches either but I enjoyed the show as did seemingly the 100 people I watched it with in the theater. Spoilers Eddie/Rey was not good. It was far too short, Rey was distracted by checking his mask, and they seemed to botch a few things. The Ladder match WAS a collection of spots, but if you were expecting anything else you're watching the wrong pseudo-sport. Shelton Benjamin had a great spot in there and Christian was his usual entertaining self. The man who seemed to do the least got the win, but it made sense for him to go over. I didn't mind the Orton/Taker match at all. It wasn't a great match or even a good match but neither man embarresed themselves. Taker going over made sense if Orton is going to be out for a few months. And I personally marked for Bob Orton's run in (with cast). I REALLY liked Piper's Pit. Roddy was priceless countering the "What" chants and Austin was amusing too. Carlito got a big pop in the theater as well. No one is going to remember that Carlito got punked out by Austin and Piper. All they're going to remember is marking. Hassan destroying Eugene and then being destroyed by Hogan wasn't a highlight for me either. Trish/Christy was very bad but they didn't expose the business as bad as has been done in the past. I really enjoyed Angle/Shawn. Did it live up to the hype? Of course not. There was no way it could. But it was a good match and they had all of us on the edge of our seats for almost the entire match and cheering them both on, that's all I can really ask for. Akebono/BigShow was a waste of time I agree. Cena/JBL was very dissapointing. I wanted JBL to stay champ and have Cena take it at SS. Cena winning to me, lessened the impact of Batista winning. HHH's entrance was pretty great. The theater was anti-HHH the whole show but everyone popped for him appearing on stage. The match was completely Inoffensive which was all I expected. Batista got a huge reaction for winning so that's something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted April 4, 2005 Report Share Posted April 4, 2005 OK, there are enough conflicting opinions of the show that will entice me to grab this on netflix but not enough to actually buy the disc. It certainly doesn't sound like it was worth $50. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dazed Posted April 4, 2005 Report Share Posted April 4, 2005 I pretty much completely disagree with Dazed's anaylsis of the show. Eddie/Rey was not good. The Ladder match WAS a collection of spots Orton/Taker ... wasn't a great match or even a good match I REALLY liked Piper's Pit. Hassan ... Eugene ... Hogan wasn't a highlight for me either. Trish/Christy was very bad I really enjoyed Angle/Shawn. Akebono/BigShow was a waste of time Cena/JBL was very dissapointing. HHH's [vs. Batista] was completely Inoffensive Doesn't sound like you disagree with me much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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