BTWNCHAOSNORDER’S gives a recap of World Wrestling Entertainment’s Wrestlemania 28 that took place on PPV April 1st., 2012.
Thoughts on WWE WrestleMania 28
Sheamus “one-shotting” Daniel Bryan (w/ A.J.) w/ the Brogue Kick to win the World Heavyweight Championship: This should’ve been alot longer than it was, but oh well, what can you do.
Kane p. Randy Orton w/ the Chokeslam from the middle rope: Great action throughout, and Kane definitely made a statement with the finish.
Big Show p. Cody Rhodes w/ the WMD to win the Intercontinental Championship: Was it just me, or did Show incidentally Speared Cody in the nuts? Still, the match was decent, if relatively lacking in entertainment.
Kelly Kelly & Maria Menonous def. Beth Phoenix & Eve Torres when Maria p. Beth w/ the Crucifix: To me, this was the biggest surprise of them all. I thought they wouldn’t use Maria that much, but they did. With all the action and bumps she took, I wonder if that will take a toll on the celebrity going into her next Dancing w/ the Stars routine on ABC tomorrow/tonight.
“End of an Era” Hell in a Cell match, w/ HBK as the special guest referee — Undertaker p. Triple H w/ the Tombstone Piledriver to go 20-0: Definitely delivered on its hype. Even though he superkicked Taker and stopped a few other attempted moves, I felt Shawn Michaels called it down the middle as best as he could. Great action, excellent storytelling, and they showed some great sportsmanship in the end.
Team Johnny def. Team Teddy to give John Laurinaitis control of both Raw & SmackDown when The Miz p. Zack Ryder w/ the Skull Crushing Finale: I thought Otunga would finish it by pinning Santino Marella, but Eve’s actions in the end really stamped her “Hoeski” label. You can wonder what will Johnny do to make CM Punk’s life miserable, while Dolph Ziggler & The Miz should be back in the title hunt.
CM Punk def. Chris Jericho w/ the Anaconda Vise submission to remain WWE Champion: Another great see-saw action throughout, with plenty of great counters into submission holds. I would love to see this feud go all the way to SummerSlam, regardless of the title situation.
The Brodus Clay segment was a nice way to give the fans time to refresh themselves and hit the restrooms before the big main event. Good move by WWE.
The Rock p. John Cena w/ the Rock Bottom: Excellent see-saw action with some great counters. With Cena’s new green CeNation shirt, he definitely does look like, as The Rock would put it, a “giant bowl of Fruity Pebbles”. Even with The Rock winning, I think Cena was definitely put over as this generation’s best. Now if only he could show more of the stuff he provided here and in his summertime feud w/ Punk.
Overall, a much better WrestleMania than last year’s edition in Atlanta. I believe the 78,363 that converged on Sun Life Stadium in Miami got their money’s worth, and saw three of the finest matches of the year, so far. Personally, it’s hard to tell which of the three big matches were the best, but Rock v. Cena, Punk v. Jericho, & Taker/HHH 3 were definitely the 3 best matches on the card.
Looking ahead to the regional scene this month
Very busy month, if you ask me, w/ 2 new promotions, the return of the NWA Hollywood taping & M1W, and PWG’s annual DDT4 tournament. Here’s my current schedule, so far, with “?” denoting one that is not locked-in, but being considered:
7 – MPW ?
8 – NWA Hollywood
13 – EWF
14 – Pro Wrestling Coalition
15 – DCW
20 – IWL
21 – M1W Matinee, then the 2012 PWG DDT4 Tournament
28 – Elite Masters of Combat ?