Wrestlemania 23 Thoughts and Reviews

Yeah I know, Wrestlemania 23 was shown like almost 2 weeks ago but hey, blame it on my low bandwidth.

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW


Opening Match - Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Mr. Kennedy v Randy Orton v Matt Hardy v Jeff Hardy v Finlay v Edge v CM Punk v King Booker

A solid match with Mr. Kennedy coming on top which is much to my delight because I kinda love Mr. Kennedy's gimmick. A bit like The Rock's but with a few personalized touch here and there. The match is none other then a spot fest with some major bumps here and there. The highlight of the match is when Jeff Hardy puts Edge through the ladder. The bump itself is very unnecessary IMHO because it serves nothing but to shorten Jeff's career (or whatever that is still left in him).

Match Rating: 8 out of 10 stars


2md Match - The Great Khali v Kane

This match is nothing but a bore fest. I would rather see two polar bears fighting each other than to watch this match. Good thing is, this match is short. Note to the bookers of WWE: Next time if you want to book a "battle of the giants" match, put them in a sumo match.

Match Rating: 0.5 out of 10 (the 0.5 is because the kept the match short)


3rd Match - US Championship: Chris Benoit v MVP

I am kinda surprise at how technical MVP can go. It is as though Chris Benoit had given him a wrestling class before their match up. Kinda solid but short. It would deserve more stars if it were any longer. Match ends with Benoit nailing MVP with the diving headbutt.

Match Rating: 7.5 out of 10 (could be better if they would just give this two more time by canceling of the previous match)


4th Match - World Heavyweight Championship: Batista v Undertaker

This is ridiculous, the entrance is nearly the length of the match itself. The match according to wrestling sites is clocked at 15 minutes and 47 seconds. Given the amount of time the Undertaker takes to crawl into the ring I say it is about 6 to 8 minutes. Given that this match is consider one half of the main-event, it should be around 20 to 30 minutes at least. There's so little to build up in this match given just 16 minutes. At least these two men had did quite a job to make full use of the 16 minutes allocated to them. Lots of false finishes but in the end the Undertaker nailed a victory with a tombstone piledriver on Batista. Seriously, does the Undertaker need another victory in Wrestlemania? He had already won all 14 of his previous Wrestlemanias already. Wouldn't it be nice if the bookers would just push Batista even higher by ending the Deadman's 14-0 streak? Or does Vince McMahon wants to rewards his most loyal employee by giving him an undefeated winning streak in Wrestlemania until the day he retires? Hmmm...

Match Rating: 7 out of 10 (this is a main even dammit, why is it only 16 minutes long?)


5th Match: ECW Originals v ECW New Breed

This match is uber short. Maybe the only reason why they decide to place this one on the cards is to finally give the ECW Originals (Sandman, Dreamer, Sabu and RVD) excluding RVD, a chance to shine in the grandest stage in professional wrestling. Match is over very quickly with Sandman and Dreamer doing mostly nothing. Sabu had some screentime but heck, it does no justice to this great risk taker. The Originals win after RVD hit a frogsplash on Matt Striker.

Match Rating: Too short to even rate.


Battle of the Billionaires: Umaga on the side of Vince McMahon v Bobby Lashley on the side of Donald Trump (If Umaga lost McMahon gets his hair shaved and vice versa)

An entertaining match with zero wrestling involve maybe a part of it is due to people wanting to see either billionaire getting their head shave off. Most of the entertaining parts come from none other than Stone Cold Steve Austin who serves as the special guest referee of that match. After getting bashed by Umaga a couple of times, a pissed rattlesnake hit a Stone Cold stunner on the Samoan before getting speared by Lashley and thereby winning the match. The "head shaving ceremony" is funny largely due to McMahon's over selling. Still I really wish Donald Trump loses and got his head shaved instead. I mean c'mon, that ugly combover of his simply got to go.


WWE Championship: John Cena v Shawn Michaels

A very lengthy entrance with Michaels coming out with the DX theme. I was hoping he would come out to his original Heartbreak Kid theme because seeing him dance to the DX theme looks kinda.... stupid. Cena's entrance is even worse, with a nicely editted video of him "drifting" on the streets of Detroit before crashing into the arena. Well this confirms my theory that if Cena is a wrestler here, his gimmick would be none other than a Mat Rempit's. The match is not bad. It is build up nicely which is carried by Michaels. Lots of in-ring psychology is involved and it ended nicely with a great counter-frenzy finish. With Cena and Michaels both countering each other's finishers and just before you think Michaels finally escaped the FU, he got locked on the STFU in the middle of the ring and which he is force to tap. I seriously wished that Michaels would had won this match instead. That would be like a fairy tale ending for Wrestlemania. I mean can't the let a guy who had not held any gold for 9 years hold it one last time before losing the title on Backlash? Cena had accomplished nearly everything in his career and by letting him win proves nothing in his already shiny resume.

Match Rating: 8 out of 10

Overall this Wrestlemania is ok. Not the best definitely but still, it is quite entertaining.

Overall Rating: 7 out of 10