JaytheGamefan
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WM 25 was better than I expected it to be. I wasn't excited about the MITB match going in because I was so burnt out of those guys going at it due to the worthless random tag matches, but the match itself was very exciting. I loved seeing Finlay bring back his Belfast Brawler jacket (complete with mini-jacket for Hornswoggle), and I dug his suicide dive and sick landing on the ladder that was wedged between the ropes and the mid-ring ladder.
MVP's somersault dive off the apron was something new, while Shelton's somersault off the ladder was terrifying. Shelton's triple ladder-scale sunset powerbomb came off better than I expected it to. Sure, MVP seemed to screw up the powerbomb portion of it, but Shelton could have easily slipped during any of his ladder-scaling, and didn't. The ending was pretty good, although Punk winning was somewhat anti-climactic. Of the Punk-Kofi team, Kofi shined brighter tonight, and I loved his dropkick through the ladder onto Henry. Christian also looked good in the match, and would have been a more appealing winner than Punk given his ready-made feud with Edge. However, with Edge losing the title tonight, I could see why they wouldn't give him the case win.
Kid Rock's performance would have been really awesome if it was still 1999 and I was back in high school, but since it wasn't, and took up time that could have been used for either the TAG TITLE UNIFICATION match which was friggin advertised for the main show, or been used to give the divas (who in many cases looked nearly identical to one another) actual entrances or at least graphics to know who was who. The match was nothing special, and wasn't even funny due to "Santina" being downplayed. Total failure.
The legends match ruled - Piper and Snuka only did stuff they could actually perform well, so we didn't have another moment like Snuka botching a leapfrog to instantly kill the match. Piper and Snuka also wore attire to cover their guys, which helped maintain the idea of Jericho battling legends and not has-beens. Snuka and Piper went out fairly quickly, leaving just the right amount of time for Jericho and Steamboat to have a very good, memorable match. Steamboat's bald spot and grey hair certainly showed his age, but otherwise, he looked better than expected and moved better than I thought he would.
Sure, he's done some decent-looking stuff over the past 5+ years in both TNA and ROH, but lots of time has passed since then, and aging tends to be unkind for wrestlers. With that said, Steamboat hit just about everything I could have expected, and did most of his moves very well. The backhand chops and arm drags looked fantastic, while his reverse cradle and inside cradle looked off, but still okay, and his skin the cat spot, top rope chop and cross body looked absolutely perfect. Jericho had to be marking out like crazy inside during this match being in there with one of his favorites who basically came out of retirement for him. Very memorable match, although I didn't like the post-match stuff with Rourke. You'd think a guy with boxing experience who was there with Frank Shamrock would have hit him with some better-looking punches.
Matt vs. Jeff Hardy really felt flat after the MITB match. I think doing the ladder-involving match at Backlash and doing a dog collar match here would have worked better. I'm sure they could stiff the daylights out of each other with the chain and still have an exciting match, and for the big highlight reel spot, Jeff could have just dome something after the match. Instead, they delivered a spotfest that paled in comparison to the other one on the show, and it lacked any real emotional response from the crowd, which hurt it as well. Just about the only part of the match I liked was the ending. And Matt finally getting some actual gear.
Rey vs. JBL was just about perfect. JBL's pre-match speech ruled, and the match lasted exactly as long as needed. JBL got some stiff-looking stuff in before, leading to Rey making his big comeback and winning the IC belt in under a minute. Rey's Joker-inspired attire would have been fine if it was just the pants and maybe a top like the kind he wore with the Flash and Daredevil-inspired ones, but the suspenders and horrid Doink-esque mask looked ridiculous and took away from my ability to be excited for Rey having his first WM match in 3 years, and his first IC title win ever.
HBK vs. Taker was epic in every way. HBK's entrance was incredible, and both men definitely brought their A game for this match, which I've been wanting to see since their interaction in the '07 Rumble. With that 2+ year wait, I was skeptical as to whether or not they could deliver - each guy, especially HBK, has suffered some injury-related setbacks since then, but they delivered way more than I thought they could. The match had some great submission spots, like the crossface>sideslam, or HBK escaping the gogoplata by getting to the ropes, and the finisher-related stuff was incredible. The last ride escape leading to the last ride moments later made that move seem important again - especially since the crowd bought into it as a possible ending to the match, and I also loved the superkick getting a two count. What surprised me most was the skin the cat>tombstone getting a 2.99999 count leading to a look of absolute shock on 'Taker's face.
Both that and the moonsault>tombstone finish, along with the terrifying over the top dive where 'Taker thankfully flipped over right before impact were highlight reel-worthy moments. That dive was even scarier than Shelton's due to 'Taker's age, and his height not giving him as much room as a small man to safely avoid landing on his head, but thankfully, he pulled it off. In doing so, he appeared to just squash the camera guy's head with his lower back, but still, that could have ended up far worse, and after seeing that, I hope he either retires that spot or saves it for only big PPV matches.
Cena vs. Show vs. Edge was pretty good. I didn't like this as much as any of the '06 Edge vs. Cena match or the recent Show vs. Cena matches, but it was still fine, and deserving of more excitement going into it than the horrid build-up allowed. Cena being able to hoist Show up on his shoulders after his '07 and '08 injuries was impressive, as was the double FU spot, although that was definitely hurt by Edge falling off about a second after getting onto Show's back. As long as they were able to get a cool photo of it for WWE.com though, or work it into a video package, it served its purpose. It certainly wasn't up to par with the World title matches of the past three 'Manias, but I enjoyed it more than WM 21's HHH-Batista match, which had a great build-up for what wound up being a boring match, or for that matter, the HHH-Jericho WM X8 match, which was also pretty boring, but also had a horrid build-up.
Speaking of HHH and boring WM main events, the show-closer here was definitely the worst match on the tail-end of the show. Now, given how much airtime the storyline took up over the past month, and the top-level characters involved (including the return of Vince), I'm not the least bit surprised that it closed the show, but man would I have preferred either the three way or Taker-Shawn as the show's final match. This was just a long, plodding match that reminded me of that HBK-HHH cell match that just seemed to go on for about five lifetimes for no real reason.
The only thing about this match that I liked was HHH getting some revenge on Orton for punting his in-laws by punting Orton and leaving him laying as a result. If that was the finish, I might've been able to forgive the boring match itself to some degree, but no, they went with the stupid hammer to lead to the finish, which could lead to a Dusty finish - something that's already plenty annoying with any title change, let alone one on the biggest show of the year. Orton should have won this, with HHH getting his revenge at the next PPV.
Angle vs. Tanahashi for the IWGP Title at the 4/5 NJPW show -
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S4U9I12Z
MVP's somersault dive off the apron was something new, while Shelton's somersault off the ladder was terrifying. Shelton's triple ladder-scale sunset powerbomb came off better than I expected it to. Sure, MVP seemed to screw up the powerbomb portion of it, but Shelton could have easily slipped during any of his ladder-scaling, and didn't. The ending was pretty good, although Punk winning was somewhat anti-climactic. Of the Punk-Kofi team, Kofi shined brighter tonight, and I loved his dropkick through the ladder onto Henry. Christian also looked good in the match, and would have been a more appealing winner than Punk given his ready-made feud with Edge. However, with Edge losing the title tonight, I could see why they wouldn't give him the case win.
Kid Rock's performance would have been really awesome if it was still 1999 and I was back in high school, but since it wasn't, and took up time that could have been used for either the TAG TITLE UNIFICATION match which was friggin advertised for the main show, or been used to give the divas (who in many cases looked nearly identical to one another) actual entrances or at least graphics to know who was who. The match was nothing special, and wasn't even funny due to "Santina" being downplayed. Total failure.
The legends match ruled - Piper and Snuka only did stuff they could actually perform well, so we didn't have another moment like Snuka botching a leapfrog to instantly kill the match. Piper and Snuka also wore attire to cover their guys, which helped maintain the idea of Jericho battling legends and not has-beens. Snuka and Piper went out fairly quickly, leaving just the right amount of time for Jericho and Steamboat to have a very good, memorable match. Steamboat's bald spot and grey hair certainly showed his age, but otherwise, he looked better than expected and moved better than I thought he would.
Sure, he's done some decent-looking stuff over the past 5+ years in both TNA and ROH, but lots of time has passed since then, and aging tends to be unkind for wrestlers. With that said, Steamboat hit just about everything I could have expected, and did most of his moves very well. The backhand chops and arm drags looked fantastic, while his reverse cradle and inside cradle looked off, but still okay, and his skin the cat spot, top rope chop and cross body looked absolutely perfect. Jericho had to be marking out like crazy inside during this match being in there with one of his favorites who basically came out of retirement for him. Very memorable match, although I didn't like the post-match stuff with Rourke. You'd think a guy with boxing experience who was there with Frank Shamrock would have hit him with some better-looking punches.
Matt vs. Jeff Hardy really felt flat after the MITB match. I think doing the ladder-involving match at Backlash and doing a dog collar match here would have worked better. I'm sure they could stiff the daylights out of each other with the chain and still have an exciting match, and for the big highlight reel spot, Jeff could have just dome something after the match. Instead, they delivered a spotfest that paled in comparison to the other one on the show, and it lacked any real emotional response from the crowd, which hurt it as well. Just about the only part of the match I liked was the ending. And Matt finally getting some actual gear.
Rey vs. JBL was just about perfect. JBL's pre-match speech ruled, and the match lasted exactly as long as needed. JBL got some stiff-looking stuff in before, leading to Rey making his big comeback and winning the IC belt in under a minute. Rey's Joker-inspired attire would have been fine if it was just the pants and maybe a top like the kind he wore with the Flash and Daredevil-inspired ones, but the suspenders and horrid Doink-esque mask looked ridiculous and took away from my ability to be excited for Rey having his first WM match in 3 years, and his first IC title win ever.
HBK vs. Taker was epic in every way. HBK's entrance was incredible, and both men definitely brought their A game for this match, which I've been wanting to see since their interaction in the '07 Rumble. With that 2+ year wait, I was skeptical as to whether or not they could deliver - each guy, especially HBK, has suffered some injury-related setbacks since then, but they delivered way more than I thought they could. The match had some great submission spots, like the crossface>sideslam, or HBK escaping the gogoplata by getting to the ropes, and the finisher-related stuff was incredible. The last ride escape leading to the last ride moments later made that move seem important again - especially since the crowd bought into it as a possible ending to the match, and I also loved the superkick getting a two count. What surprised me most was the skin the cat>tombstone getting a 2.99999 count leading to a look of absolute shock on 'Taker's face.
Both that and the moonsault>tombstone finish, along with the terrifying over the top dive where 'Taker thankfully flipped over right before impact were highlight reel-worthy moments. That dive was even scarier than Shelton's due to 'Taker's age, and his height not giving him as much room as a small man to safely avoid landing on his head, but thankfully, he pulled it off. In doing so, he appeared to just squash the camera guy's head with his lower back, but still, that could have ended up far worse, and after seeing that, I hope he either retires that spot or saves it for only big PPV matches.
Cena vs. Show vs. Edge was pretty good. I didn't like this as much as any of the '06 Edge vs. Cena match or the recent Show vs. Cena matches, but it was still fine, and deserving of more excitement going into it than the horrid build-up allowed. Cena being able to hoist Show up on his shoulders after his '07 and '08 injuries was impressive, as was the double FU spot, although that was definitely hurt by Edge falling off about a second after getting onto Show's back. As long as they were able to get a cool photo of it for WWE.com though, or work it into a video package, it served its purpose. It certainly wasn't up to par with the World title matches of the past three 'Manias, but I enjoyed it more than WM 21's HHH-Batista match, which had a great build-up for what wound up being a boring match, or for that matter, the HHH-Jericho WM X8 match, which was also pretty boring, but also had a horrid build-up.
Speaking of HHH and boring WM main events, the show-closer here was definitely the worst match on the tail-end of the show. Now, given how much airtime the storyline took up over the past month, and the top-level characters involved (including the return of Vince), I'm not the least bit surprised that it closed the show, but man would I have preferred either the three way or Taker-Shawn as the show's final match. This was just a long, plodding match that reminded me of that HBK-HHH cell match that just seemed to go on for about five lifetimes for no real reason.
The only thing about this match that I liked was HHH getting some revenge on Orton for punting his in-laws by punting Orton and leaving him laying as a result. If that was the finish, I might've been able to forgive the boring match itself to some degree, but no, they went with the stupid hammer to lead to the finish, which could lead to a Dusty finish - something that's already plenty annoying with any title change, let alone one on the biggest show of the year. Orton should have won this, with HHH getting his revenge at the next PPV.
Angle vs. Tanahashi for the IWGP Title at the 4/5 NJPW show -
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S4U9I12Z
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the belt is.
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