I was going to post my Wrestlemania thoughts yesterday but decided to wait and see how the follow up Raw would be.
The tradition has become that the Raw after 'mania has become just as much of an event as Wrestlemania itself. This year Raw proved to be the better show.
Let me say first that I had ordered the PPV online and had about 10 people over to watch, and the stream from wwe.com did not work all night long. I have e-mailed WWE since and explained how disappointed my guests were and I requested a refund. WWE has come back telling me that I was given an extra 48 hours to "enjoy" the event at my leisure. I've responded again explaining that the 10 guests I had over don't get that same luxury. Plus, the results are out and the excitement and surprises of watching a live event are now gone. Anyway, that battle for my $60 back goes on. But here are my 'mania thoughts. (Yes, we found another way to watch it but that is not the point is it? I paid for a service that I did not receive)
Intercontinental Championship: Wade Barrett vs The Miz
Short match as part of the pre show. Miz got the submission (with the figure 4) and won the title. I did not feel strongly either way. Until Raw when Barrett used his rematch clause and won the title back! So what was the point? Seems a little stupid to me.
The Shield vs Randy Orton, Sheamus and, The Big Show
I actually enjoyed this match. I felt that the shield was kept strong and it was not at the expense of the WWE crew of guys. Ambrose got the clean pin on Orton which I thought was a nice touch to keep the shield strong. Afterwards Big Show knocked out Sheamus and Orton. It was a little confusing because Big show was a heel already and he just kind of eased off of it in this story line. So he didn't really turn on Orton or Sheamus he just kind of stopped playing nice. It was justified in the post show on wwe.com by Big Show. He mentioned that he tried to be a good guy and do the right thing but Orton and Sheamus screwed that up for him (or something to that effect) and that he just can't play nice anymore.
Mark Henry vs Ryback
It was a short match, which I feel it should have been due to the fact that these 2 can't go that long. In the end it was nothing spectacular and Mark Henry won. After that Ryback attacked Henry. Kind of defeated the purpose if you ask me. On Raw Henry wrestled Cena and got disqualified. Had Henry won that match he would have got a title shot. After the DQ Henry continued to attack Cena until Ryback came down and took out Henry. Ryback then took out Cena. So I guess it's a 3 way for the WWE championship coming up. I guess Ryback is also heel now?
WWE Tag Team Championship: Team Hell No vs Dolph Ziggler and Big E Langston
Team Hello No ended up defending the titles. I didn't feel that there was much to this match but the start was funny as Ziggler and AJ kissed and Daniel Bryan went for the pin right away. Just like last year when Bryan and AJ kissed and Sheamus used that to his advantage to win the World Heavyweight Championship. I was really hoping Ziggler and Big E would win this. On Raw Ziggler took advantage of a beat up Alberto Del Rio and cashed in his money in the bank to win the World Heavyweight Championship. To me that makes sense, you get the divas belt on AJ and then you have a group that has tons of gold.
Fandango vs Chris Jericho
I expected this one to be the match of the night. It didn't end up being the match of the night but it was still good. Not a heck of a lot to say, Jericho put Fandango over
as expected and now WWE needs to follow up with making a star out of Fandango.
World Heavyweight Championship: Alberto Del Rio vs Jack Swagger
I really don't have much to say. The match was not exciting and Alberto Del Rio retained. It was just a back and forth between the 2 wrestler's submission holds.
The Undertaker vs CM Punk
I think that I was expecting this to be a let down. Punk was going to save this match for sure but I thought that Taker was just too old and beat up. I was wrong, this was the match of the night! Not too much to note. Punk did the old school to Undertaker and teased a tombstone which was countered. In the end it was a well worked match that kept myself and the crowd pretty excited. Taker continued the streak (as expected) and all is right in the world. On Raw Taker came out to do a little promo and The Shield interrupted him. They came down to ring side but as soon as they got there Kane's fireworks went off and Daniel Bryan and Kane ran down to the ring to back up Taker. The Shield retreated. I guess this means that Taker is sticking around for another match this year. That's pretty cool and I like the idea of the Brothers of Destruction working together again.
Triple H vs Brock Lesnar in a No Holds Barred match
The stipulation was that if Triple H lost he'd have to retire. Brock had Paul Heyman in his corner and HHH had Shaun Michaels in his.
I did not really enjoy this match. There was so many suplex spots that it just got a little stupid. Belly to belly, belly to back...we started making jokes that the next suplex would be a back to back suplex. There were some chair shots, the stairs were used and, good old sledgy (as I call Triple H's sledge hammer) made an appearance. Triple H went through the Spanish announce table. Lesnar took out HBK with an F-5. Triple H applied the Kimura lock on Brock Lesnar a few times after Brock had done it to him already. The last 5 - 10 miniutes of the match were basically the 2 guys beating each other's arms up. In the end Triple H won, he doesn't have to retire.
WWE Championship: The Rock vs John Cena
Snooze fest! Honestly, it was a slow match that never really got going. John Cena won and is the new WWE champion as expected. Apparently Rock had torn his abdomen and adductor muscles right off the bone so maybe that played a factor. Either way it served the purpose, bring back Rock to get more eyes on the product.
Just another thought: The crowd at Raw was super hot, they deserve a lot of credit. When Ziggler cashed in and won the title I thought the roof was going to blow off that stadium, it's been a long time since that has happened. Also the match that was taken off the Wrestlemania card: Tons of funk with the Funkadactyls vs Rhodes Scholars and the Bella Twins was on Raw. So no 'mania payday but the match did happen.
