Wrestlemania XXIV Discussion Thread

[ANKLELOCK 0]

Randy Orton may have passed John Cena as the best thing going in wrestling. Cena's entrance was the shit(ie: good).

 

Flair/HBK was perfect. I even liked it being outdoors as opposed an MSG-type. Something seems so fitting about Flair going out looking up at the night sky instead of your standard "looking up at the lights".

 

Great show. Great ambience. Fireworks were great. Worth the money.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

My mate said he saw a Firework go into the crowd, and apparently nodq are reporting that one set a fan on fire. Anyone else heard anything about this? Sounds CRAZY.

[Thanks for the Fish 0]

My mate said he saw a Firework go into the crowd, and apparently nodq are reporting that one set a fan on fire. Anyone else heard anything about this? Sounds CRAZY.

 

Yeah, one of the cables broke and the firework shot into the crowd and reports have one fan lit on fire. There goes the WM profits...

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

No serious injuries.

 

WFTV.com in Florida has a story online about the fireworks accident that occurred at the end of Wrestlemania last night. According to the story, at least 35 people were injured when a "pyrotechnics malfunction sent fireworks and hot cables flying into crowded stands". While many of those injured left with ice packs on their minor burns, three fans were taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center. According to the fire department, none of the burn victims were "seriously hurt". At least one fan also complained about the slow reaction to the incident by firefighters, noting "We had to sit up in the bleachers and wait for a paramedic to come. They didn't really examine us. And we had to walk all the way down to first aid and had to ask for a bag of ice just to put on our head."

 

And they got it from http://www.wftv.com/news/15748647/detail.html

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

As promised, a lazy C&P of what I wrote in as Observer feedback:

 

Big thumbs up.

Best: Flair vs. Michaels for storytelling and pure emotion.

Worst: The women tried so let's go with Umaga vs. Batista

 

The tone of your report seems to suggest you were not a big fan of the unique atmosphere of the show, or maybe even the show itself, but I loved it. As someone who was at Ford Field last year and found the crowd quite loud from inside, only to find we were called "not that hot" due to building acoustics, I was happy to be able to hear the noise of this outdoor crowd.

 

JBL vs. Finlay was a fun bout - will it be well remembered? No, but it was still a fun opening bout to the show.

 

I enjoyed the 4th Money in the Bank a great deal and would even rank it above the second one, not call it the weakest ladder match in Mania history. It was cool to see Punk win and those spots were both incredible and inventive.

 

Umaga vs. Batista was one of the shows let downs, but it was no worse than the actual wrestling from Lashley vs. Umaga last year. Even though it was sloppy, it was still a sight to see Batista powerbomb Umaga.

 

Kane vs. Chavo - I enjoy a good squash to put someone over from time to time. Good for Kane.

 

Flair vs. Michaels - Good stuff and a great Mania moment. Michaels doing a moonsault into the announce table with no one there to catch him was absolutely insane on his part. I don't know if t was high definition sound or what have you, but the crowd reaction sounded loud enough on my end (though it could have been louder, it's not like they were dead). The story of Michaels being hesitant, ending with the "I'm sorry, I love you" spot was excellent.

 

Bunnymania was what it was. I like Beth and Maria seems to be trying harder each week. Lawler got a laugh out of me with his "Did the Undertaker show up?" comment during the power outage.

 

The triple threat was a fun match and while I wouldn't have opposed to either Cena or HHH winning, I had a big smile on my face when Orton retained. He's come a long way.

 

I wasn't into Show / Mayweather as much as you were, but there's no denying it was an entertaining spectacle that worked the way it was designed to.

 

Edge / Undertaker started out out slow and just a bit sloppy, but built into quite the excellent main event which, even though the final match placement with Orton already winning seemed to guarantee a Taker win, had me believing more than once the win may have been Edge's. I was happy to see Edge get the final match spot and Undertaker certainly deserved it after not getting it last year and working his ass off with Batista. I also thought Edge's promo earlier in the show about Hogan losing at Mania VI crushing his spirit as a kid and he was going to now crush the dreams of other kids by defeating Undertaker was a nice character touch.

 

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Like TCD said, the opening moments of Flair / Michaels with the Old Yeller, slap, and first blood comments was great. I liked how those lines were picked up so clearly for TV AND because of the outdoor setting, you could see Shawn's hair blowing in the wind on the close up. Very cinematic.

[Thanks for the Fish 0]

The Mayweather handler how took the offense was wwe developmental Charles "The Hammer" Evans.

[Black Lushus 0]

Personally, i liked Edge/UT just a tad more than Flair/HBK...mainly because Flair/HBK was pretty much a standard Flair match with a lot of added emotion. It doesn't take anything away from the match, don't get me wrong. Although I knew Taker was winning, there were some spots where they generally had me fooled in to believing Edge might just possibly, maybe, ya just never know pull this win off. That gave it the slight edge (no pun intended) as the MOTN, to me. Also, it was nice that they kept Edge looking strong. How many guys can say they survived a Last Ride, Tombstone and withstood the choke out for a good minute or so?

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Someone sent word to PWInsider that the plane spotted during MITB was not TNA's banner, but (possibly) a strip club's.

 

Despite some speculation, TNA never flew a plane over the Citrus Bowl, although there were no shortage of annoying aircraft hovering above. One advertised a strip club and bore the suitable message, "Wooo!"

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

I have to say I'm really happy Orton won. He's been a really good champion. Glad he finally got the monkey off his back and got clean pinfall over John Cena.

 

Mayweather/Big Show was entertaining. Mayweather did his role very well, and Big Show was on point.

 

Nothing more needs to be said about Flair/HBK, simply amazing. Typical Shawn Michaels performance, and Ric Flair couldn't have went out any better. I almost felt like shedding a tear, they did such a great job.

 

UT/Edge was a great way to close out the show, finally SD! gets to close out the show at WM... The last time was Lesnar/Angle at WM19.

 

MITB was fucking awesome. I was a bit dissapointed MVP didnt win, but I have no problems with CM Punk winning it. Shelton had a typical MITB MVP performance, he defiently made up for Jeff Hardy not being in the match.

 

Finlay/JBL was fun stiff match like I expected it to be. I hope the feud is over, and both move on to better things. I still want to see one more JBL world title reign.

 

Batista/Umaga wasnt good, but wasnt horrible.

[foleyfanforever88 0]

My thoughts on Wrestlemania 24:

 

As I briefly said last night, I loved this show from top to bottom. I knew coming in that it had the potential to be the best WM since X-7 and in my opinion, it was. It wasn't that every segment was spectacular or even very good, but other than the women's match (which nobody expected anything from anyways), nothing on the show stood out as being bad. The worst real match of the night was Batista-Umaga and I'd even call that decent for what it was.

 

JBL vs Finlay was pretty good for a brawl. I thought Finlay should have made JBL bleed but other than that, the match was just about what I expected. The shots were stiff, both men took weapon shots right to the head, Hornswoggle had minimal involvement (though JBL throwing the garbage can at him was hilarious), and Finlay's diving through the ropes into JBL's swinging garbage can lid spot was great. I definitely think another brawl between these two men could be even better, but I had no real complaints about this one. JBL winning was good in that it continues the feud. ***

 

Money in the Bank 4 was the second best MITB match at worst (behind the original). After viewing it again though, I could see myself putting it as the most entertaining one. It was nice that half of the guys in the match had a chance at winning and multiple times I thought the match was over. Matt's return was expected but exciting nonetheless. Shelton's fall through the ladder was great (man, he needs to win a MITB after all he's done in his previous ones), as was Morrison's attempted moonsault with ladder in hand. Carlito pushing the ladder w/ Shelton on it over, only for Shelton to land standing on the ropes was awesome, though it's too bad Shelton fucked up getting back on. I know there were other spots I really liked but I have to watch the match again to remember them all. I was glad to see Punk get the win, although I'm afraid if he goes for a title other than ECW he will be the first person to cash in and lose. ***1/2 as a match, ***3/4 due to not having a clue who was going to win

 

The Santino/Snoop/Festus/Foley segment was short enough that it didn't feel like a waste of time. I actually laughed out loud when the camera panned over to Festus..I can't help it, I love his gimmick. Foley's punchline was terrible, but whatever. If I had to rate a segment based on how bad it could have been, I'd give this one ***1/2.

 

Batista vs Umaga was not a match that I really thought would be good, but it was passable. I love Umaga (his match w/ Cena is still one of my favorites ever) but I don't really enjoy Batista's in ring work at all. This match wasn't terrible, but it also just wasn't that exciting and didn't really captivate me. The Batista Bomb at the end could have been better, but I didn't mind since they were playing off that Batista's back was hurting and that he had to use all the strength he had left to lift Umaga. This would normally be a ** match but considering who is in it, I'd say they hit **1/2.

 

Chavo vs Kane was exactly what it should have been. Nobody has cared about Chavo since the end of the ECW show where he won the title. Kane and Chavo don't seem like two guys who would mesh very well in the ring so I'm glad they kept this one short, ha. Kane deserves the title reign and I think the crowd was glad to see him take out Chavo as quickly as he did. It certainly made the chokeslam look better as a decisive finishing move. Squashes like this are acceptable once in a while, and because of who was in the match and how much the fans really cared, I'd say this is one of those times. As a match, this was obviously no more than 1/4* but as a segment I'd say it was ***.

 

Ric Flair vs HBK..what can I say that hasn't already been said? This was the defining match of the show and one of my favorite WM matches ever. It started out great with the slap to Flair and the first blood comment, and the greatness continued for a good 20 minutes. I'm really glad they were given time on this one. HBK's moonsault into the table scared the shit out of me, as I thought the match would have to be stopped, but props to Shawn for getting up and continuing the match. I think the spot added to my enjoyment of the match once I realized he was ok. The last 5 minutes was some of the best storytelling I've seen in a long time. As someone who never watched Flair before his return to WWE in 02, I probably wasn't as emotionally invested in this match as others, but even I started crying as Flair got up to take the final SCM. "I'm sorry..I love you..BAM" was one of the best endings to a match I've ever seen and Flair's departure was very emotional. I couldn't stop myself from crying as I watched the tears pour down Flair's face after the match. Great, great stuff. A **** match usually, but ***** due to the emotion, storytelling, and the fact that it was Flair's goodbye.

 

BunnyMania was what would be expected, except for the power outage of course. I can't even remember who won, but I assume it was the Playboy girls..not that it matters. Snoop clotheslining Santino and kissing Maria after the match was fun. ** all around.

 

Cena vs Orton vs Triple H was somewhat of a letdown, though the result was not. Once I realized that this match wasn't going on last, I had a feeling that Orton was retaining and of course I was right. Halfway through the match though, I got really scared that the reason it wasn't last was that Cena was going to win and they were afraid of ending WM on a mixed reaction. I thought both Orton and Triple H were going to tap on different occasions but luckily they did not. I don't think I could have stomached a third Wrestlemania in a row with someone tapping to Cena. Triple H locking the Crossface on Cena was nice. The ending was alright though I wish all three men could have hit their finishers. Did Cena hit an F-U at all? I don't think he did. Orton kicking Triple H in the head to steal his pin was classic Orton and I loved it. I'm interested to see if Orton gets a new challenger or if this three-way feud continues. The lights being out for this match was interesting at first but I'm glad they came back on. Cena's entrance was boring but kinda cool at the same time. I thought eventually his real music would kick in but it didn't. Oh well. ***.

 

Big Show vs Floyd Mayweather was 10 times as entertaining as it should have been. The people I watched with seemed to be the most into this match and every move Big Show hit caused a reaction from us. I'm surprised but glad that Floyd took as many bumps as he did. Even though I expected this match to be really short, I found myself not complaining at all about how long it went. I really enjoyed it for what it was and thought that it lived up to the hype. We all knew Floyd was going to win but I don't think he should have put on the knucks before knocking Show out. It would have been cooler if he just took him out with a straight fist. Mayweather's handler trying to take out Show with a chair only to get a chokeslam was great. I can't really give this a rating as a wrestling match, but as a celebrity match/segment I'd say it hit **** in terms of entertainment.

 

Edge vs Undertaker was my most anticipated match a month ago, but I thought the build-up focused too much on Edge's cronies and Vickie and didn't really get anyone believing that Edge could end the streak. Edge's promo earlier in the night about crushing some kid's spirit brought back my anticipation though. I'm glad these guys got the last match on the card, as Taker deserved it after last year's placement and Edge deserved it after a year of being the best heel in the company. The match was slow at first, but it picked up and ended up being a very good match. Edge's multiple counters and kicking out of everything Taker threw at him was great and really put Edge over well, I thought. Charles Robinson booking it down the ramp after the other ref got knocked out was a hilarious sight. The attempted interference of Hawkins and Ryder was short and didn't take anything away from the match. I'm glad Taker won though I still think the match would have more exciting had Taker come in as champion. I'm not sure how I feel about him winning with the triangle choke, but I guess it's different from the usual Chokeslam, kick out, Last Ride, kickout, Tombstone. ***3/4.

 

Overall, there was nothing I disliked about this Wrestlemania. I was interested the entire time and the Flair-HBK match was worth the price of the show alone. This pay-per-view along with the entire HOF ceremony is an absolute must-buy for me.

 

 

 

 

[Thanks for the Fish 0]

It's interesting that nobody was busted open at all last night - Does wwe shy away from blood at WM because of the larger more diverse audience?

 

Morrison moonsault with the later spot would have been epic if everybody didn't chicken out catching him - I believe Punk tried on the far left and was clipped with the ladder for his trouble. Flair not catching HBK on the moonsault to the outside spot made two for the show.

 

Another thing I liked during the Flair-HBK match was Flair hitting a high cross body off the top. HBK was probably the best opponent for Flair (save MAYBE Edge as they have great chemistry in the ring together), and you knew HBK was going to try his damnedest to make it memorable. The match actually improves on second watching, not so much the execution as the psychology and drama.

 

It has been reported that Flair was offered the ME and flatly turned it down, saying the titles are most important and nobody is bigger than the titles. The plan was to have the fade to black being the robe and boots left in the center of the ring.

 

Cole and Coach were terrible in the ME. I'll say it again, JBL and the WWE don't know how valuable JBL was as color commentator.

[foleyfanforever88 0]

It has been reported that Flair was offered the ME and flatly turned it down, saying the titles are most important and nobody is bigger than the titles. The plan was to have the fade to black being the robe and boots left in the center of the ring.

 

Damnit, Flair..you were wrong.

[JimmyHendricks 0]

Yes, it would have been a fantastic ending, but I agree with Flair.

[Wrestlefreak 0]

Edge/Taker was the best match IMO. Edge's promo before the match was absolutely brilliant. The match itself was utterly engrossing. I loved it.

 

HBK/Flair was good. Shawn did an great job of putting over his "hesitancy" to beat Flair.

 

I'm glad Orton retained, but I have a feeling he won't be keeping the title much longer. Even though he deserves to.

 

MITB was good. They came up with really cool spots.

 

Good to see Kane get another title run.

 

Mayweather/Show was surprisingly well done.

 

Overall, a brilliant Mania, with the jewel in the crown being Edge/Taker.

 

Long may Taker reign!!

[Enigma 0]

Flair vs. Michaels as the main event would have made that 99.9% that Michaels would win into 100%.

[Caliban 0]

My thoughts:

 

Having had a chance to watch again with the benefit of it not being between the hours of midnight and 4am, I have to say that while Wrestlemania wasn't flawless, it was still a damn good show, up there in the top 5 Wrestlemanias for sure.

 

Certainly this was a better and more memorable show than last year.

 

The flyover was a grand way to open the show. The Citrus Bowl looked magnificent in the daylight, even with the drizzle.

 

The opener between Finlay and JBL delivered a nice brawl that met expectations that could quite possibly have been a little high considering it involved the fairly useless JBL. However, Bradshaw and Finlay didn't botch anything and the match came across well.

 

Money In The Bank always has huge expectations and again they were met here. Morrison in particular shone in the match, for example the laddersault from the top rope, and damn near castrating himself later. Matt Hardy returning and taking out MVP was a great moment. Actually this match was just innovative spot after innovative spot, and turned out to be the best MITB match since Wrestlemania 21. Unfortunately the big finish with Jericho and Punk came off a little flat. CM Punk winning was a huge surprise to me. This was the first example of WWE trying to push some new stars at Mania which is what Mania should be all about...

 

Unfortunately as I covered earlier Batista vs Umaga was a bit of a letdown. It suffered from high expectations, it was never going to be on the same level as Batista/Taker from last year. Why Umaga went for a nervehold in the middle of a seven-minute match, I'll never know. This is supposed to be the biggest show of the year. The finish was pretty good though, for what it's worth. Looked like Batista injured himself on that powerbomb.

 

Kane vs Chavo Guerrero amused me, now they have their offical Wrestlemania record time. And Kane deserves a run with that belt.

 

Flair vs HBK was everything that it promised to be. Truly scary moment when the table didn't break correctly for HBK's moonsault off the ropes. Thought HBK and the match were done right there... I'm sure he must've broken his ribs. If not that was the best selling I've ever seen. But the match carried on and to their credit a 59-year-old man and a man with broken ribs assembled a hugely emotional and dramatic contest. I can only remember one flub, when they tried to do a bridge out of a pinfall attempt. Flair's post match standing O is truly one of those moments in wrestling that sends a chill down your spine. It's a shame that those moments don't come along as often as they used to. This was a Wrestlemania moment to savour.

 

Bunnymania - Snoop Dogg was funny. The lights blowing out was shocking, but somehow unsurprising. That's all you got here.

 

WWE Title Match - going on so early didn't really make me think Orton was going to retain, I figured they had made an ass-backward decision to put Show/Mayweather on last, which would have been ridiculous. Happily, I was wrong. This was an exciting triple-threat match. I should mention that I thought Cena's college football band entrance sounded fantastic. Orton winning is such a wise move that I never thought WWE would do it.

 

Mayweather/Show - this definitely surpassed my expectations, as Mayweather showed himself capable of performing admirably as a heel in a wrestling match. Big Show had the crowd in the palm of his hand. Mayweather winning after battering Show with a chair and brass knux takes nothing away from Show. In fact I think this match enhanced Show's status if anything.

 

Another man who gained in defeat was Edge. He gave Undertaker his best Wrestlemania match. I was burned out watching it live, but this match is awesome on second viewing, it's around the level of Undertaker/Angle from No Way Out a couple of years ago. It's the best match on the show and a very worthy main event.

 

So, in order of quality, 2 excellent matches in Flair/HBK and Edge/Taker. 3 good to very good matches in the Triple Threat, Money In The Bank and Mayweather / Show. 1 entertaining brawl, 1 mediocre bout, a terrible womens match (but, erm, the lights went off and Snoop Dogg was there!) and a squash match. Oh, and the Battle Royal pre-show was fun. Yep, this is looking more and more like the 2nd greatest Wrestlemania ever, only behind X-Seven.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Kane vs Chavo Guerrero amused me, now they have their offical Wrestlemania record time. And Kane deserves a run with that belt.

 

 

Why? Who'd he piss off?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

JBL vs. Finlay

 

A good opener, but by being the opener it limited what they could do and so it didn't live up to its potential. Hopefully, they'll rematch them in a similar kind of match and let them really cut loose.

 

MitB

 

A very good stuntfest with plenty of creative spots, even if some of them didn't come off as planned. Shelton Benjamin's bump to the ladder outside was probably the best of the bunch. Punk winning was a surprise, but I hope he doesn't become the first person to win MitB and lose when he makes his title challenge.

 

Batista vs. Umaga

 

Short and disappointing. Both guys can do much better than this and if this feud does continue, I hope they can redeem themselves.

 

Kane vs. Chavo Guerrero

 

What's to say about a squash? On Bryan Alvarez's recap of WM, he said that he'd heard that Chavo showed up at Impact after the Highlander was told to leave, which would explain the brevity of the match.

 

Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels

 

The match was entertaining, but I think it could have been a lot better. However, as an emotional spectacle and an nvolving story, it was perfect. The ending with Flair telling Shawn to superkick him and Shawn apologizing to Flair and telling him he loved him before hitting the superkick was a dramatic masterpiece. Flair walking to the back, bidding farewell to the fans, is the new lasting memory of Wrestlemania to replace Benoit and Guerrero in the video packages.

 

Playboy Bunnies match

 

Didn't watch it, don't care.

 

Cena vs. Hunter vs. Orton

 

Very good match with a great story. I enjoyed this a lot, and the final five minutes was very well executed. The finish was good for at least two reasons;

 

Orton got over by being the first person to pin Cena on PPV since, I think, Booker T back in November of 2006.

Hunter got over because his big move set up the pin on Cena.

 

Orton retaining was a minor surprise, but unlike some surprises, it makes sense and his winning, plus the nature of his winning, adds more to this feud than any other finish could.

 

Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweather

 

This was amazingly good. And not in a 'I thought it would be horrible but it was merely just bad' way. This was really good. Whoever put this match together deserves an award, because it was great to watch. Meltzer speculates that Mayweather leaving with so much heat means he's probably coming back at some point. I wouldn't mind that at all.

 

Edge vs. Undertaker

 

This was a great main event. It started cold. Very cold. But with a lot of hard work and some great sequences, this had the crowd going wild. Edge lost clean but, as mentioned by someone else, he was put over huge with kicking out of almost all of Undertaker's big moves and forcing Undertaker to resort to his biggest move. And that gogoplata is over.

 

This was a very good Wrestlemania looking back, and would probably rank in the lower end of the Top Ten WM's of all time.

 

 

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Really positive write up from ESPN on Mayweather/Show

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

So if Chavo got squashed for hanging out at Impact, what's Johnny Ace's punishment for hanging out at the airport with Jeff Jarrett?

[garfieldsnose 0]

No TV for a week.

 

Not my best work, either.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

TNA: We ruin your career (but...we're profitable now!)

[Hawk 34 0]

I took another look at the Triple Threat match and there was a little moment that didn't get noticed that I liked. After Orton pinned Cena and got up, HHH rolled over to cover Cena for a pin. That was a great sell of the death kick.

[ANKLELOCK 0]

*Exchange shoves*

 

"Old Yeller, huh? Old Yeller?!"

 

*Slap*

 

"You can leave if you want."

 

*Spits blood into hand*

 

"First blood, brother."

 

 

This exchange was why I love Wrestlemania.

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

http://www.tmz.com/tmz_main_video?titleid=1482364080

 

 

Thats the video of the fireworks fucking up and almost taking out a shitload of people in the upper deck at Wrestlemania.

[Thanks for the Fish 0]

Supposedly at a fan axess event Hillbilly Jim let it slip that WM would be back in Orlando in 2010. There was rumors that Orlando was already bidding to hold another, however that seems too soon. I mean Houston next year, and then back in Orlando? Is there any big indoor venues there, or will it be back in the Citrus Bowl?

 

Also Big Daddy V has pneumonia, which is why he was dropped from the card.

[garfieldsnose 0]

It'd be pretty shitty if it was in Orlando again. Like they deserve 2 WM's in a 3 year span.

[Hawk 34 0]

Supposedly at a fan axess event Hillbilly Jim let it slip that WM would be back in Orlando in 2010. There was rumors that Orlando was already bidding to hold another, however that seems too soon. I mean Houston next year, and then back in Orlando? Is there any big indoor venues there, or will it be back in the Citrus Bowl?

 

UNIVERSIAL STUDIOS! They have the Amway Arena which is where tonight's Raw will be held. If they do return to Orlando, it'd have to be back at the Citrus Bowl. I'm not sure if Jim is the expert guy anyways, he was probably just hyping the crowd.

[RonL21 0]

Just thought it looked cool..