Wrestlemania 24 Review

As the show kicked off the arena was a sight to behold with hundreds of thousands worth of dollars going in to set up one of the most impressive Wrestlemania sets of all time and I was starting to look forward to a Wrestlemania which had potential to be a highly memorable evening.

Here is my match by match run down from last night’s show.

Belfast Brawl: JBL (RAW) Vs. Finlay (SmackDown)

This match as expected was just a glorified hardcore match. They knew they couldn’t do many big spots and bumps because of the Money in the Bank match happening later but both competitors provided us with a solid start. It was good to see Hornswoggle back at Finlay’s side but no Vince McMahon which showed you how much he thought of his own storyline. Highlight of the match was Finlay’s suicide dive in to a trash can lid.

Winner: JBL

Money-in-the-Bank Ladder Match: Mr. Kennedy (RAW) Vs. Shelton Benjamin (ECW) Vs. Chris Jericho (RAW) Vs. Carlito (RAW) Vs. MVP (SmackDown) Vs. Vs. CM Punk (ECW) Vs. John Morrison (ECW)

I thought it was the wrong choice to put this on straight after another gimmick match involving weapons. In a match where we were expecting Jericho, MVP and Kennedy to reign supreme it was Morrison who was doing all the early work. Although some of the spots were the same as last year like the ladder break there was still enough innovative moments to keep us on the edge of our seats. Highlight of the match was the return of Matt Hardy to screw his nemesis MVP out of the match. In a surprising twist it was CM Punk who climbed the ladder to grab the briefcase and the open contract for a title shot. I don’t se CM Punk in a Raw or Smackdown main event so he will cash it in for the ECW title which will devalue this match and was not needed as CM Punk’s standing in ECW means he doesn’t need a contract to get a title shot.

Winner: CM Punk

Battle For Brand Supremacy: Batista (SmackDown) Vs. Umaga (RAW)

This match was the worst on the card. It was slow, boring and sloppy. I expected Batista to put a showing on to prove why he should be in the main event but after some sloppy work it looked like he was trying to get out of there as quickly as he could.

Winner: Batista

ECW Championship Match

We found out that Kane had won the pre-show Battle Royal and was going to be facing Chavo. Well if you blinked you missed this one as Kane beat Chavo in 10 seconds in a match reminiscent of Adam Bomb vs. Earthquake from Wrestlemania 10. Chavo’s entrance takes around two minutes match lasts ten seconds, you got to love it.

Winner: Kane

Career Threatening Match: Ric Flair (SmackDown) Vs. Shawn Michaels (RAW)

On a second viewing this was a really good match. Shawn Michaels worked his ass of to make Flair to look good and took some sick bumps including a moonsault through an announcers table. The submission and mat work was top notch and it was a much better match than I thought Ric Flair would have to end his career although being very predictable. However I though they could have made more of the scene after the match as Flair said his last goodbye.

Winner: Shawn Michaels

BuunyMania Lumberjack match: Maria and Ashley vs. Beth Phoenix and Melina

Luckily a technical fault made this match more memorable than it should have been with the lights going out during the match. The WWE scrambled well to spotlight the ring but in all fairness I was enjoying it more in the dark. If it hadn’t been for Santino, Jerry Lawler and Snoop Dogg all getting involved this match would have been a complete uninspiring waste of time.

Winner: Beth Phoenix and Melina

WWE Championship: Triple Threat: Randy Orton (c) Vs. Triple H Vs. John Cena

After being the most built up match on the WWE’s biggest weekly show it made no sense for this match to be on so early. Having it this early meant we weren’t going to see a big Cena or HHH win as if that was going to be the case they would have had it as the main event but in a triple threat which wasn’t a patch on Wrestlemania 20’s Triple Threat title match I was glad to see the back of it.

Winner: Randy Orton

Wrestler Vs. Boxer: Big Show Vs. Floyd "Money" Mayweather

In a match that many including myself thought was going to be the worst of the night both the Big Show and Floyd Mayweather surprised us both by putting on an excellent, entertaining match. This is probably why we haven’t seen Mayweather a lot on TV because he has been working hard to get this match to be the best it could be. This has to go down as one of the most successful appearances of a celebrity in a wrestling match.

Winner: Floyd Mayweather

World Heavyweight Championship: Title Vs. Streak: Edge (c) Vs. The Undertaker

After just witnessing one undefeated streak remain in tact it was time for The undertaker to put his streak on the line. In a very occurrence of a Smackdown match headlining a joint brand PPV The Undertaker and Edge put on a brilliant match with an edge of your seat ending. Edge through all he had at Undertaker including a camera and his two cronies but regardless of what he tried Undertaker was in no mood to let go of his streak.

Winner: And new World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker

Overall: In my predictions I only got two wrong and one was a result nobody would of could have predicted so I’m happy with that. I thought the event had lots of memorable moments but not outstanding matches that will be remembered for years to come as classics. I think the WWE could have done more with Flair and the WWE title match but they handled Big Show vs. Mayweather and Undertaker vs. Edge very well which helped Wrestlemania go out with a bang and send the fans home happy.

WWE Smackdown Review - Friday 28th March 2008

Smackdown was the WWE’s last chance to push Wrestlemania to try and get a few more buys for the PPV this Sunday. So I went in expecting the best Smackdown we had seen in some time. I knew that all the major develops would have happened on Raw this week if they were going to happen but I still thought they would pull out all the stops to continue the Wrestlemania buzz.

Good Points

Wrestlemania theme

To get people excited for Wrestlemania a lot of the matches tonight had a Wrestlemania theme with an over the top rope elimination match between some of the competitors who are taking part in the Battle Royal this weekend, an inter-promotional match for Batista and having the Money in the Bank briefcase above the ring for matches featuring wrestlers who were going to star in that match.

Some solid matches

It was up to the stars of ‘Money in the Bank’ to provide the wrestling quality this week for Smackdown as the matches which featured CM Punk vs. John Morrison and Chris Jericho vs. MVP being the highlights of the show.

Undertaker funeral segment

The end segment of Smackdown was a great classic old school Undertaker moment as Edge held a mock funeral for Undertaker’s streak at Wrestlemania which he thinks he is going to end this weekend only for the Undertaker to pop out of the coffin and attack Edge and his clan forcing Vickie Guerrero to expos herself as a fraud by getting up off her wheelchair and making a run for it as the Undertaker cleaned house.

Bad Points

Not enough Raw stars

In the week running up to a PPV where there is a joint brand show and inter-promotional matches happening it is important that Raw stars are on Smackdown and that Smackdown stars are on Raw. The show needed Umaga, Big Show, Floyd Mayweather and others to best develop the buzz before Mania.

Too much wrestling

Regardless of whether the WWE want Smackdown to be the wrestling show or not in the last Smackdown before Mania wrestling isn’t important it’s building the feuds and the hype for Wrestlemania which they didn’t do and if it hadn’t been for their Wrestlmania theme there would have been no build. The best way to develop feuds on TV is through mic time and backstage segments.

Jesse and Festus – Why, why, why?

Again back on Smackdown taking up time when they have no major role in Wrestlemania. The character of Festus has no place in the modern era and unlike the character of Eugene the man playing this character can’t pull this type of character off. If you are to use characters like this you have to use them on Raw as the style of show is more suitable for it.

Another poor Divas segment

It’s turning in to a weekly occurrence on Smackown that you can guarantee there will be some stupid pointless and inappropriate moments with the Divas. This week it was a wet and wild match which was cringeworthy at best and featured Divas who haven’t really got a part to play in Wrestlemania.

Overall

The last episode of Raw and Smackdown have if anything quelled my excitement for Wrestlemania and am now wishing it happened last weekend. Instead of getting us hyped and using the last two shows correctly they have just been treading water.

Wrestlemania 24 - My Predictions

The WWE are branding Wrestlemania 24 as “The Biggest Wrestlemania Under The Sun” making it’s reference to the fact that for the first time it is taking place in Florida and from the open air arena known as The Citrus Bowl. The tagline can’t be making reference to the biggest card or the biggest venue for a Wrestlemania and I highly doubt it will do the biggest amount of Pay Per Views buys so it’s only in Florida they can get away with a tagline like this.

I know we are yet to see what happens on Smackdown this Friday night but as we stand these are my match-by-match predictions for this years’ Wrestlemania starting from the bottom of the card.

ECW Championship Match

What a mess this has been. For many years the WWE have put on an inter-promotional Battle Royal as a dark match before Wrestlemania and chucked in on the DVD extras but this year we were lead to believe that for the first time we would be seeing this on the main show. For once the WWE had come up with an interesting angle for the Battle Royal with the winner facing the ECW champion Chavo Guerrero that same night but now it’s pointless as we will be watching Mania not knowing who is going to be facing Chavo and as we won’t see someone winning the Battle Royal live we won’t care too much for the match. The WWE should have either kept it in the main show or not done it at all and built a proper feud for Chavo against a pre-announced opponent. The WWE have proved Battle Royals work at Wrestlemania like with Wrestlemania 2 and 17 so why they couldn’t just keep it in I don’t know.

Don’t expect much from the match itself, out of the 24 named participants for the Battle Royal your most likely winners are Mark Henry, The Great Khali, Kane, Jamie Noble or Chuck Palumbo. On a side note I can’t believe after being on Raw for three weeks out of six they can’t even give Paul Burchill a spot in the Battle Royal. I expect the creative team to slingshot the winner of the Battle Royal to capture the ECW championship.

Winner: Whoever Chavo faces.

BuunyMania Lumberjack match: Maria and Ashley vs. Beth Phoenix and Melina

Now that Candice Michelle is out of the match it has lost the only shred of a storyline it had with her returning to face Beth Phoenix who put her out of action. Now the only reason for the match is because of Maria’s recent photoshoot. We have hardly seen Ashley on TV as of late and Melina is just there to make up the numbers so this match could be a time to stretch the legs and go to the fridge. The only good thing about the match is that it is a great way to get Snoop Dogg involved in Mania which fits his rap character as he performs the duties as Master of Ceremonies. On a side note I thought the WWE referred to female lumberjack matches as lumberjill matches. For those unfamiliar with this type of match it is where fellow wrestlers surround the ring and throw the competitors back in the ring if they are thrown out.

Winner: Do we care?????????

Battle For Brand Supremacy: Batista (SmackDown) Vs. Umaga (RAW)

Unless they do something big on Smackdown the build up for this one has been rubbish. The only build up we have had is them both squashing opponents on their respective shows and then the odd bit of interference in each other’s matches. This is not going to be the greatest match by any stretch of the imagination so the build up was what was going to get this match over. Last Wrestlemania Batista’s match with Undertaker was down to be one of the worst matches of the night and he managed to make it a good match so hopefully he does the same this year. It just depends how Batista reacts to being booked this far down the card which is the same for Umaga who had one of the main matches last year. I don’t see this being more than a one off match as Batista will want to get back in to the main event scene.

Winner: Batista

Belfast Brawl: JBL (RAW) Vs. Finlay (SmackDown)

This match came about because of the worst change in creative direction I have seen in some time just so they could give JBL a match for Mania. Since then however it has had a strong build up and I have no doubt that this is going to be one of the most intense matches on the card. It is good to see Finlay in a match on Mania where he isn’t just making up the numbers like the Money in the Bank match. Depending on how the WWE want to play it they could have a comedy moment with Hornswoggle returning to get involved in the finish but I hope they don’t as I want this to be an intense encounter. With JBL being the one man heat generating machine I’m sure the fans will be in to this one.

Winner: JBL

Money-in-the-Bank Ladder Match: Mr. Kennedy (RAW) Vs. Shelton Benjamin (ECW) Vs. Chris Jericho (RAW) Vs. Carlito (RAW) Vs. MVP (SmackDown) Vs. Vs. CM Punk (ECW) Vs. John Morrison (ECW)

Normally at Wrestlemania this match is put on early to get the crowd going but in the past many wrestlers have had problems following this match as the fans after witnessing crazy stunts are normally less appreciative of a solid wrestling match. I like traditions and Wrestlemania needs tradition so am glad this match has become an annual event. However with the talent pool being light at the moment it’s hard to have eight or in this years case because of Jeff Hardy seven guys used up in one match as it means either this match suffers or the rest of the card suffers. In my opinion there are three guys there to win it, the rest are just making up numbers with Kennedy, MVP and Chris Jericho being the guys who could win it. Four weeks ago I would have said Kennedy to win it for the second year in a row but after hardly appearing on Raw on recent weeks and with the brilliant MVP / Jericho feud going on I have to side with one of them. Of course this would have all been irrelevant if Jeff Hardy hadn’t got suspended as in my opinion this was his match to win. My only fear for this match is they may be running out of ideas for what they can do with this match as so many spots have already been done.

Winner: Chris Jericho (although I would like them to take a gamble on MVP and give him the push by having him win this match)

Career Threatening Match: Ric Flair (SmackDown) Vs. Shawn Michaels (RAW)

This is a match in which we can forget about the terrible build up and just enjoy it as it is what looks like Flair’s last match. When Flair was out of favour in the WWE last year he said he wanted to end his career at Wrestlemania and this weekend he has his chance. I’m glad they haven’t made too much of a storyline of this one as it should just be about Ric Flair having an athletical encounter against someone he respects and who respects him. Many would argue Flair doesn’t deserve a place on Wrestlemania but for what he has done for and in the business I only think it’s fitting for him to bow out here. I would love for the WWE creative team to pull the rug from under us and have Flair win but I don’t see it happening.

Winner: Shawn Michaels.

Wrestler Vs. Boxer: Big Show Vs. Floyd "Money" Mayweather

I take it back Batista and Umaga this in matter of fact is going to be the worst match. Everyone knew as soon as it was signed that this match was going to be awful but it was going to be the build up which saved it but because of the WWE’s terrible creative direction and planning it didn’t even get a good build up. After the best start to a feud ever with Floyd Mayweather jumping the barrier at No Way Out to legitimately break Big Show’s nose in a planned shoot to get people talking it has dwindled out to a point where I can’t wait for it to be over. This match is going to be like the disaster that was Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar from Wrestlemania 20 as nobody knows who to cheer or boo as the WWE didn’t book it properly. Floyd’s main involvement has been through video segments rarely appearing in person on Raw and the Big Show has just kept going on about taking Floyds undefeated streak, message to Big Show results of wrestling matches don’t count in the boxing world.

Winner: Floyd Mayweather (The WWE have paid him far too much money and he is far to egotistical to lose)

World Heavyweight Championship: Title Vs. Streak: Edge (c) Vs. The Undertaker

This match has been excellently booked so far although I wait to see the final installment of the build up this Friday. Edge like a good heel champion has thrown obstacles in the way of the Undertaker and escaped every time it looked like he was going to get a beating and then when Edge has attacked it has been in numbers and not by himself. Throughout this The Undertaker has been made to look strong by running down the obstacles and only getting a beating when set upon by a group. I am intrigued by this match to see what the creative team do with it. To build Smackdown and to build Edge to have him taking Undertaker’s legacy would solidify his position as a main eventer and be great long term planning. However I don’t see The Undertaker giving up his streak so I still have to put him odds on. Whatever happens I think Edge will get the best match out of the Undertaker that he has had at Wrestlemania since his match with Triple H at Wrestlemania 17.

Winnter: The Undertaker

WWE Championship: Triple Threat: Randy Orton (c) Vs. Triple H Vs. John Cena

Although the build up to this has been a bit hit and miss this match has the most excitement in my eyes. John Cena and Randy Orton may not be the best wrestling technicians but it’s not about what moves you can or can’t do it’s about how you tell a story which I think these two can do adequately well especially with Triple H there. The thing with this match is that you don’t honestly know who is going to win as you can make a case for all three and that’s what makes it exciting. The reason going to a football match on the weekend or watching it on TV is exciting is anything can happen and you don’t know who is going to win which is exactly what wrestling fans want. They may go to an event supporting their favourite but the reason they get vocal and excited about supporting their favourite is that there is a real chance they could lose so they have to support them in anyway they can.

If WWE are doing their usual safe booking they will put the belt back on Cena as that is probably the reason they rushed him back so early. If the WWE want to do what’s right and take the company in a new direction they will put the belt back on Triple H. Triple H hasn’t won at Mania for some time as he has been involved on the booking committee and the unwritten law of wrestlers booking shows is that you don’t book yourself at the top however he is the most deserving but with one child and another on the way is he going to want a champions schedule? Again if the WWE are thinking long term and really want to build Orton they will have him retain the belt and retain it clean. So there you go three cases why each could win it. I think we will see at least one major title change at Mania and if it is going to happen anywhere I think this is where it will happen.

There is also an outside chance of a Rock appearance at Wrestlemania itself. After John Cena went on my friends Simon and JK’s Wrestlecast at The Sun to say that the Rock annoys him and that he doesn’t give back to the business that made him people are thinking it may all be a work to get Rock on Wrestlemania. Hulk Hogan has before gone to the Hall of Fame the night before and then got involved in Wrestlemania but even that wasn’t the main event so I don’t see it happening here.

Winner: Triple H