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NewsWrestlemania I-XXX Series (27/30)

Wrestlemania I-XXX Series (27/30)

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Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio – World Heavyweight Championship

Welcome to WrestleMania XXVII! Del Rio had a great entrance with the titantron showing his mansion in the background as he drove in with one of his luxury cars; Ricardo Rodriguez and Brodus Clay stood at ringside. Christian accompanied the World Champion Edge to ringside. I have to admit, I didn’t like that they put it on as the opening match. As expected, they put on a decent match, with Del Rio targeting the injured arm. Clay tried to interfere but Christian played his part in stopping him.

Edge took some bumps on his neck and shoulder area; cringing considering what we found out the following night. After a submission attempt by Edge, he got to his feet first and delivered the spear on Del Rio for the 1-2-3. A competitive contest, but it never looked like Del Rio was going to put him away to fulfill his destiny. After the match, Edge delivered an elbow drop to Del Rio’s car.

Christian introduced some weapons, a crowbar and a lead pipe. Edge used them to scratch the paintwork, and break the glass. Edge stood on his car and held the World Championship up high; sending Del Rio a message. Edge left, and Del Rio was booed as he came close to crying over his lost opportunity and broken car. So to clear it up, the winner of the biggest Royal Rumble match ever, not only lost in the opening match, but he also got his car smashed? Hmm. Sadly it was Edge’s last match, as he was forced to retire the following week after doctors gave him the news.

Cody Rhodes vs. Rey Mysterio

Cody wore his face mask for protection, and Rey wore a Captain America-inspired attire. The feud began because Rey hit the 619 with his knee brace on, which busted Cody’s face open. It ended the “Dashing” Cody Rhodes gimmick, and started the disfigured gimmick.

During the match, Cody hit Rey with a nice Alabama Slam. The most visually appealing move was the delayed vertical suplex from the turnbuckle; Cody held him in the air for a long time. Shortly after, Cody ripped Rey’s knee brace off. Rey managed a moonsault without his brace on, giving Cole reason to say he didn’t really need one. Soon thereafter, Rey took Cody’s mask off, and put it on himself. Rey got some boos as he launched his face in to Cody; possibly because Rey was stooping down to Cody’s level.

Rey tried for a suicide dive, but he didn’t realize Cody had picked the brace up. Cody clocked Rey in the head with the brace, slid in the ring, and quickly delivered Cross Rhodes for the 1-2-3. He got revenge on Mysterio for disfiguring his beautiful face. and I appreciated this because they took the time to build the feud, and the pay off was sweet. Cody looked great, and Rey put him over. I would say it was his best run in WWE; he never reached this level again.

Big Show, Kane, Santino Marella & Kofi Kingston vs. The Corre (Barrett, Slater, Gabriel, Jackson)

Yawn. Ok, so the Corre had t-shirts made, they looked like a unit, while the other team was a group of randoms thrown together. The result? Santino doing his Cobra on Slater, followed up by Big Show’s knock out punch. One minute and thirty-five seconds! What was the point!? The entrances lasted longer. To top it all off, Barrett was the Intercontinental Champion, and Slater/Gabriel were the Tag Team Champions. What a waste.

Afterwards we got one of the best moments of the night. The Rock was talking with Eve Torres for a while (the Divas Champion who wasn’t booked to defend her title), til he told her he was going to make a WrestleMania moment with whomever walked round the corner. Mae Young appeared and wanted the people’s strudel. The Rock kindly declined, but Mae Young was still able to surprise The Great One with a spank to the people’s backside before leaving.

As Rock recovered from the Mae Young ordeal, a wild Stone Cold Steve Austin appeared. The entire audience went crazy at the sight of Austin and Rocky going nose-to-nose. They asked each other how they’d been, and shook hands before Austin walked away. Nice for nostalgia purposes, but also a tease which never lead to Austin vs. Rock IV at WrestleMania.

Randy Orton vs. CM Punk

Difficult to understand the feud. Orton continued to portray his heel character as a babyface, punting all the members of the New Nexus one-by-one, expecting everyone to jump on board and love it. I know I didn’t, I was more entertained by CM Punk. This was to end the feud, and the other New Nexus were banned from ringside. What I liked about it was Punk’s motive; he remembered Orton punting him in the head two years earlier, which cost him the World Heavyweight Championship, so he promised Orton would never be champion again.

The first spot of the match saw Randy attempt to whip Punk in to the steel steps. Instead, Punk jumped over the steps, and kicked them in to Orton’s damaged knee. Smart! Punk mocked Orton by pretending to limp around the ring. Punk’s facial expressions were highly amusing as Orton failed to make comebacks. A short time later, Orton delivered a visually perfect superplex on Punk.

Orton’s “side slam” (according to King) on Punk; actually an Olympic/Angle slam by Orton. Punk recovered and locked in the Anaconda Vice on Randy! But he was able to reach the ropes for the break. Punk looked frustrated. Again, Orton fired back with a “vintage” DDT, and was to be followed by the punt kick, but Orton fell like a sack of spuds as his leg gave out from the earlier punishment. Punk laughed again, as a sign of relief more than anything. Punk signaled for the GTS. He attempted, but Randy sat up for the RKO outta’ nowhere! Punk quickly reacted and shoved him off, and acknowledged how close it was by laughing and saying “phew”.

The match ended with Punk going for a springboard straight in to the RKO! I have to say, even if Punk lost, it was still the second best match of the night. Clear chemistry which helped the match, but you could tell the fans wanted more Punk and less Orton. We all know what happened to Punk in the following years; it’s matches like these which gave Vince the confidence to push Punk to the main event scene.

After the match we got another Rock segment, with him converting Cena’s #1 fan Pee Wee Herman to Team Bring It. Pee Wee Herman called Okerlund a tool for wearing Cena’s attire. It ended with Herman’s “If you smelllllalalalala, what the Pee is cooking”. Thanks I suppose? The Hall of Famers were out next, with the Road Warriors getting a nice ovation, Drew Carey getting booed, and Mr. WrestleMania Shawn Michaels easily getting the biggest pop. Booker T and Jim Ross (yay) came out to provide commentary for the next match.

Michael Cole vs. Jerry Lawler – Steve Austin as Special Guest Referee

Hmm. All I remember is being sick and tired of hearing Cole’s heel persona on commentary. I was sick of Cole vs. Lawler and Jim Ross, and the only positive I could see was Steve Austin’s involvement. Cole entered wearing the orangest attire of all time. He cut a promo saying how he was going to be the new “Mr WrestleMania”. Swagger entered next, to no reaction. As he started his press-ups, Austin’s music hit and Swagger’s face dropped. Austin made his way to the ring on his 4-wheeler, almost running down the All American American American.

Cole hid from Austin in the Colemine as Jerry Lawler made his to the ring for his WrestleMania debut match. Cole refused to get in to the ring and stretched in his Colemine, so Austin got impatient, signaled the official to ring the bell, and ordered Lawler to get him. Swagger stood in his way, so Lawler sent him face first to the ring post. Cole panicked as Lawler climbed in to his Colemine and had his way. This is exactly how it should be! As Lawler dragged Cole towards the ring, Swagger recovered and nailed Jerry behind Austin’s back.

Cole barely hit a baseball slide, as he got the advantage for the first time So .. umm, Cole targeted the ankle. The crowd became restless as they chanted “You can’t wrestle!”. Swagger told Cole to do the Swagger Bomb, but Cole was reluctant to do it from the second rope, so he did it from the first instead and got a near-fall. Crowd chanted “Boring!”. Cole lowered one of his straps, mocking Lawler (and Angle possibly) before setting up the “Ancole Lock”. Lawler kicked out of it and mudhole stomped on Cole.

Swagger threw the towel in, trying to end the match on Cole’s behalf. Austin looked at him, and at the towel, picked it up, and used it to wipe the sweat off his bald head. Not exactly what he was hoping for. Swagger got in the ring to argue with Austin, which was the dumbest move of the night as he got a Stone Cold Stunner for his troubles. Cole got in Austin’s face, and shoved him. Austin shoved Cole back in to a right hand by Lawler. The crowd was excited as Lawler beat on Cole, including a sweet dropkick (Austin appreciated it as well). Instead of going for the piledriver, King locked in the anklelock. Cole tapped over and over again, and Austin played with him, repeatedly asking if he wanted to tap, despite Cole tapping with both hands.

Austin finally called for the bell and began the celebrations with King. Booker T couldn’t contain himself and entered the ring to join them. After congratulating King, and doing a Spin-A-Roonie, Austin gave him a beer. Just as Booker drank his beer, Austin delivered a Stone Cold Stunner. The anonymous GM chime went off, and Josh Matthews answered the email seen as Cole was incapacitated.

Josh told them the winner was Michael Cole as King had been disqualified due to Austin’s interference. The crowd chanted “bullshit”, as Austin showed his disgust. Austin got Matthews in the ring and gave him a stunner. Lawler looked pissed as Austin drank some beers and left. The only good thing about this was the show continued with the classic duo of Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler on commentary.

The Undertaker vs Triple H – No Holds Barred

“Ain’t no grave, can hold my body down”. The true main event of the show. While it clearly wasn’t going to beat the previous encounters between HBK and Taker, the second encounter between Triple H and Taker at WrestleMania XXVII was one to remember. The selling and the storytelling was top-notch quality. I’m not going to call the action, instead I suggest you watch the match in the video below. What happened after the match was the sign of things to come; The Undertaker only appearing once a year due to his many injuries. After the event, Triple H and Undertaker were fined for their use of steel chairs to the head; due to the banning of chair shots to the head. And finally, I will say that if anyone tells you Triple H can’t wrestle, point them to this No Holds Barred match.

John Morrison, Trish Stratus & Snooki vs. LayCool & Dolph Ziggler

This has Botchamania written all over it. McCool and Stratus fell to the outside from the top turnbuckle at one point, which had to be a botch. Trish continued to take on LayCool by herself as Morrison and Snooki stood on the ring apron. After a while, Ziggler tried to get involved but Morrison cut him off and did Starship pain to the outside. Trish tagged Snooki in, who was booed considerably. She soon shut the booing fans up by doing an athletic handspring elbow, followed up by a cart-wheel splash on McCool. Yep, she won with two moves, but she did more than anyone expected.

The match is more famous because of the aftermath. Apparently Morrison didn’t appreciate Trish’s involvement, and wanted nothing to do with her, refusing to work with her to add to the contest, and the following celebrations. He did everything to avoid Trish, and instead celebrated with Snooki. Regardless of the real-life drama, this was nothing more than a bathroom break between the two main-events. It was also Michelle McCool’s last WrestleMania as LayCool broke up shortly after, and McCool retired from wrestling.

The Miz (w/ Alex Riley) vs. John Cena – WWE Championship

I remember in 2011 I still didn’t care for Cena, and The Miz even more so. I saw them both as bathroom breaks, mid-carders at best, so to have a WrestleMania dedicated to them as the main event? Yeah .. no, this won’t do at all sir. A video package showed The Miz sitting with his back to everyone as he watched older video packages highlighting the greatest of all time. You could tell WWE REALLY wanted to make him a star from how much effort they put in. He also got the silly AWESOME letters to barge through on his entrance.

Oh lordy lord, Cena’s entrance was another African-American choir. As they sang a church version of Cena’s theme song, I was just sat there .. staring at the clock, wondering how long it was going to be. Despite their talent, the fans booed heavily the second they stopped singing because they knew Cena was coming. I felt sorry for the choir, because they sang too well for such a harsh reaction.

No! I don’t feel like calling all the action because it’s Cena vs. Miz, and to be honest, not much happened. The best part of the match was Alex Riley getting some sneaky interference in. Another surprising moment was The Miz kicking out of the AA; possibly the biggest kick-out of his entire career. After some fighting on the outside, Cena jumped the barricade and speared Miz to the floor. According to the aftermath, Miz picked up a legit concussion, and later said he couldn’t remember the match or how it ended. Both men were counted out and it was officially ruled a Draw due to a Double Count-Out. What the fudge is going on!?

The Rock wasn’t going to end the show that way, so he appeared and cut another long promo. In the end, the anonymous GM chimed in once more, and this time The Rock answered it. The email started with “I think”, which The Rock read and immediately stopped. “It doesn’t matter what you think!”, and threw the laptop on the floor. Rocky said he was the host of WrestleMania XXVII and no one was going to tell him how to run the show. The Rock restarted the WWE title match and demanded a winner whether it was by pin-fall or submission.

Despite restarting the match, The Rock chose to end it his way. He ambushed Cena and got payback with a Rock Bottom. The Miz covered Cena and retained the title. The Rock looked on at The Miz as he celebrated, and soon enough The Miz noticed Rock. After a short time of contemplation, The Rock ran down to the ring and fought Miz. He managed a spinebuster and People’s Elbow on the WWE Champion. The Rock ended the show with the people, as Jim Ross noted the show was all about The Rock returning to dominate WWE once again. When I remember back to watching it for the first time, all I feel is a sense of disappointment in regards to WrestleMania XXVII.

Not only did the main event suck more than usual, it was dominated by The Rock, who I felt had no business interfering in the title match. Also I wasn’t sure who we were supposed to be cheering, as The Rock talked down The Miz and Cena, and I guess everyone (including those who liked Cena and/or The Miz) was expected to jump on Team Bring It and go along for the ride? I don’t know, the Rock/Cena/Miz dynamic was incredibly one-sided, to the point it seemed inevitable. The Rock never clicked as the guest host for me .. except perhaps the brief moment with Austin. Aside from that, The Rock was sloppy, and the show wasn’t going to be remembered as great because the focus was heavily on him.

I also remember not caring for Taker vs HHH II .. that was til I saw the match. Watching it again yesterday confirmed my feelings, Triple H (!) and The Undertaker put on match of the night, by a long way. And no, it wasn’t all Undertaker, Triple H stepped up and played an equal part. Second best match of the night was Orton vs. Punk, followed by Cody Rhodes vs. Mysterio. While Edge vs Del Rio was a decent match, it didn’t feel important despite Del Rio winning the biggest Royal Rumble ever, so I’ll say it under-performed for what it was; that’s not the fault of the wrestlers; it was the way it was booked. Cole vs King, Snookimania, and The Corre matches were all terrible in their own way.

Did you know? There were no Divas, Intercontinental, United States, or Tag Team Championship matches; the Money in the Bank ladder match was absent as well. Most of the card consisted of singles matches with little meaning and nothing to fight for. Cole vs. Lawler never needed to happen, and as many would have guessed, the shows aim was to reintroduce The Rock as one of the biggest stars in the history of the business. I didn’t need a reintroduction, and I’m sure no one else did, even if we appreciated everything he did back in the day.

While Wrestlemania XXVII provided “some” quality entertainment and a few “good” to “very good” matches, it was average as a whole, and I’ll go on record as saying it was one of the worst WrestleMania’s I’ve reviewed for the series. I am happy to be moving on from the so-called “Biggest WrestleMania Ever” which never was. Thanks for reading, and I shall see you again soon. WrestleMania XXVIII is next in the series.

**Last edited on April 18th 2020**

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