WrestleMania 29 Review
With all the dust and smoke settled, we’ve come out of WrestleMania 29, and finally, after all said and done, we have a new WWE Champion, as the road to redemption finally ended for John Cena. If you ordered the PPV in the United States, you might think right about now that it wasn’t worth it. Out of the 10 matches announced, including the pre – show, one match got cut because it was literally made at the last second, and people didn’t get upset with it getting taken off the card. This has always been a problem with WWE, as it gives too much time to the ‘Entertainment’ aspect, and falls short on time.
Met Life Stadium saw an over-80,000 capacity crowd for WrestleMania 29, and boy, was it electric! People from all over the globe came down to the NY-NJ area to witness the grand daddy of entertainment. WrestleMania has almost always lived upto the hype, but since the last 2 years, it has fallen flat, with only a couple of matches saving the card from being boring. A few hours ago, we saw an amazing match, a couple of good bouts, and a lot of celebrities coming down to be a part of history. I’ve seen all the matches on the card, and have decided to give my reviews, analysis and rating of the entire PPV.
Pre – show:
The Miz vs Wade Barrett for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
Before I begin, I predicted 7 out of 9 correctly. That’s not a bad start, although logic says the other 2 should have gone the way I predicted, but WWE never follows logic. Anyway, the pre-show match was for the WWE IC title between Barrett and Miz. It’s silly how Josh kept plugging that the main show would start in minutes. We know that, but there’s no need for him to say it. It takes away the importance of the pre show match. They got about 8 minutes to go through the match, and they did a decent job in hyping up the crowd for the main card. Miz was over with the crowd, which was nice to see. A small ‘We want Ryder’ chant broke out. I’m surprised they still remember him. Woo woo woo, you know it! Anyway, Miz and Barrett had some decent exchange before Miz trapped Barrett in the figure four. It was an innovative way to slap it on, which was nice to see. He did it differently from all other versions of Flair’s. Barrett tapped out to give Miz the victory, and for him to become the new Intercontinental Champion. I predicted this right, 1 – 0.
Winner: The Miz
Rating: **
They did a good job in hyping up the crowd for the matches to follow. Miz won the title, which makes it obvious that he’ll be a face for a bit longer. Hopefully, they go with him as the IC champ through the Summer.
Main card:
The Shield vs Orton, Sheamus and The Big Show in a 6 – man tag team match
Here we go with the main card. Shield made their entrance through the crowd, which was pretty neat. Orton, Sheamus and Show went into the match as the favorites, and the story to this match was simple. Shield was a cohesive unit, and the faces had to work together to beat them. A basic tag team match to kick off the main show. The Shield were impressive once again, as Ambrose looks to be the more ‘all round’ performer. There was a nice spot where Shield were going for the triple power bomb on Sheamus, but he was saved by Show. The end came when Sheamus was about to tag Show, but Orton tagged himself in. Randy gave an RKO to Rollins who came off the top rope, but was speared by Roman and Ambrose covered Orton for the win. Post match, Show KO’d Sheamus and Orton.
Winners: The Shield
Rating: **
A basic tag team match that got the point across. Although I was hoping for Orton turning heel, story was that there were clash of egos in the team, which led to Show knocking both Orton and Sheamus out. The Shield are still undefeated on PPVs, which is the right way to go. Build them as a dominant stable, and that’s what the WWE did here as well. I called it, so I’m 2 – 0 in my predictions.
Mark Henry vs Ryback
This started out very slow, which was what everyone expected. These two never got going. The crowd wanted to see them over power each other, not a slow boring encounter, which unfortunately it was. There was a ‘Sexual Chocolate’ chant, which made Henry mad. That was funny. Henry kept applying Bear hug on Ryback, and the crowd was dead at this point. Ryback came back with a meat hook clothesline which woke up the crowd, and started a ‘Feed me more’ chant. Ryback tried to go for the Shell shocked, but as he lifted Henry, Henry over powered him and fell right on top of him for the pin and the win. Post match, Henry came back to attack Ryback, but Ryback delivered the Shell shocked which was impressive.
Winner: Mark Henry
Rating: *
A very slow, boring match. Everyone wanted to see them brawl, but it looked like they weren’t in the mood to work. Ryback lifting Henry for the Shell shocked was impressive, and can be counted as a ‘WrestleMania moment’. But that is all we can take out of the 10 minutes. It didn’t make sense to put Henry over Ryback. Guess it’ll lead to a rematch at Extreme Rules with Ryback winning it. I called this one wrong, so I’m 2 – 1 now.
Ziggler and Big E (With AJ) vs Team Hell No
As the bell rang, Ziggler kissed AJ, which was an enactment of last year’s Mania when Bryan did it, and lost the World Heavyweight title in 18 seconds! That was a funny way to start, as Bryan kicked Ziggler and almost pinned him! Kane and Bryan worked in tandem, as the crowd was firmly behind Bryan with the ‘Yes!’ chants. Big E over powered Kane and worked on him. The match went on for 8 minutes, which saw Bryan taking out Big E with a running knee on the apron, and Kane hit Ziggler with the choke slam. Bryan came back with a swan dive headbutt for the pin and the win! I called this one, so this puts me at 3 – 1 in my prediction list.
Winners: Team Hell No
Rating: ** ¾
A solid tag match with the crowd hot for all of Bryan’s offenses. NY NJ really loves Bryan huh! Good for him. This gives him his first WrestleMania victory. Dolph lost again on a PPV, which doesn’t speak well about the guy who holds the MITB brief case. With the WHC match still to come, will he cash in his brief case? We’ll have to wait and see.
Chris Jericho vs Fandango
Fandango came out first amongst a lot of ball room dancers. He took about 4 minutes to get into the ring. Jericho followed with his light jacket, as the entire arena went dark. That was fantastic. Fandango tried to avoid Jericho in the beginning, but started working on Jericho soon. They had a 10 minute match, and JBL kept saying how Fandango has never performed in WWE before. Yes, but Curtis has. I guess we’re not supposed to know that. Anyway, Fandango came down from the top with a leg drop, but Jericho kicked out at two! The crowd was hot for Jericho, but not for the match. The end came when Jericho missed a Lionsault, and Fandango countered the Walls of Jericho into an inside cradle for the pin and the win. My prediction came true, which puts me at 4 – 1.
Winner: Fandango
Rating: ** ½
A decent match that never really got going. Fandango’s gimmick restricted him at times, with the flow of the match stopping due to him posing. It was an upset win at Mania, as Jericho just wants to put the younger guys over. We’ll have to see where Fandango goes from here.
P Diddy’s concert followed which I’m not going to cover. You’re welcome.
Alberto Del Rio (With Ricardo) vs Jack Swagger (With Zeb Coulter)
Zeb cut a heel promo before the start of the match, which got them good heat from the crowd. Ricardo then came out and introduced ADR to a good pop from the crowd. Going into the match, I expected a good technical match from these two, and that’s exactly what we got. “We want Ziggler” chants during the match. The match received about 11 minutes, with good counters by both men. The end came when ADR applied the cross arm breaker on Jack Swagger, and he tapped out to give the win to ADR. I was wrong about this, which puts me at 4 – 2 in my prediction list
Winner: ADR
Rating: ***
Good solid match for the World title. At least it wasn’t for 20 seconds or less. I expected Jack to win the match, but I guess WWE still goes with ‘Get beaten on RAW, win on PPV’ methodology.
The Undertaker vs CM Punk (With Paul Heyman)
CM Punk made his entrance to Living Colour performing the Cult of Personality live. Undertaker followed next in what was one of the most amazing WrestleMania entrances of all time, as there were hands reaching out to/for him, and him walking on top them, like the damned souls reaching out to the reaper. Takes your breath away to see Taker coming out. Punk wasn’t intimidated though. The match went for over 20 minutes, and as you’d expect, was easily the match of the night. The story telling was simply amazing, and the spots were timed to perfection. That’s what you get when you have two of the best performers in the history of the business in the ring at the same time. Punk threw everything he had at The Undertaker, while Taker came back strongly. Punk hit Taker with the urn, which almost ended the streak, which would have been a beautiful tragedy! Taker finished Punk with the Tombstone piledriver to keep the streak alive. That makes me 5 – 2 in my prediction list!
Winner: The Undertaker
Rating: *****
That folks, is your match of the night. Amazing in – ring psychology and presence by these two phenomenal athletes. Post match, Taker took the urn and looked at it, almost as if he was telling Bearer to rest in peace, now that he had the urn. He walked back to a standing ovation. Absolutely amazing.
Triple H (With Shawn Michaels) vs Brock Lesnar (With Paul Heyman) in a No Holds Barred retirement match
They got about 25 minutes to go through the match. Lesnar absolutely dominated the first 3/4th of the match, taking complete control over Hunter. He destroyed Triple H with suplexes and over head throws. Shawn tried to interfere but received an F – 5 for his troubles. The end came when Triple H locked Lesnar in the Kimura (Or Key) lock, and Brock tried valiantly to free himself. Paul tried to interfere but received a SCM by Shawn. Triple H then hit the pedigree on the steel steps for the pin and the win. Again, predictable, which makes it 6 – 2 for me.
Winner: Triple H
Rating: *** ¼
It was a well planned match, with good spots and good story telling. Shawn had very little to do, which questions him being at ring – side, but I’m okay with it. This match also sets up the main event nicely, but it obviously suffered by following an absolute scorcher of a match.
The Rock vs John Cena for the WWE Championship
The last bout of the night was for the WWE title, between Rock and Cena. As I previously mentioned in my article, this was a passing of the torch match. Crowd absolutely hated Cena, as the Met Life stadium booed him out of the building. The match was very slow, and very sloppy. These two did the same moves over and over, and how do you follow that? By giving your finishers over and over again. The crowd at one point started chanting ‘Boring’. The match received about 25 minutes, and the end saw Cena countering another Rock Bottom to hit the AA on The Rock for the pin and to win the WWE title! For some reason, the crowd started cheering Cena now. Post match, Cena and Rock shook hands, and after Rock soaked in the crowd reaction, he met Cena at the top of the ramp and held his hand up, thus signifying the ‘passing of the torch’. Ended the night with 7 – 2 in terms of predictions. Not bad.
Winner: John Cena
Analysis: ** ½
The match suffered big time, as not only were these two sloppy in the ring, but Cole absolutely killed the interest in the match. I was honestly, at one point, counting the mistakes Cole was uttering during the main event! And Rock didn’t seem too happy while lifting Cena’s arm. I might be reading too much into it, but Shawn was supposed to do it years ago, and he refused to shake Cena’s hand for his abysmal showing at WrestleMania.
Overall rating of WrestleMania 29: *** ¼ (Out of 5 stars)
That’s about a 6.5 in my book out of 10. Not the greatest WrestleMania by any means, but it was average. The Taker – Punk match was the show stealer once again, but the rest of the card was just about average, excluding the Triple H – Lesnar match which was also a good brawl. Well, that does it from me for WrestleMania 29 Review. Hope you enjoyed the show.