WWE WrestleMania XXVII

WWE WrestleMania XXVII
April 4, 2011
Georgia Dome
Atlanta, Georgia

Thought I would change it up a little bit and review this show, being that Mania is less than two months away. I watched this show on the live broadcast. Whether you are attending a live event or simply watching it as it happens, there really is only two ways you can view the show. You either vastly overrate the show or vastly underrated the show. Typically it’s on future viewings when you can look at it objectively. Rarely have I watched a show live and had the same exact opinion of it when I watched it later. This is a show that I admittedly dumped on when I first viewed it. I had seen everything but HHH-Taker. When I purchased the DVD a while back I watched Triple H – Undertaker because it was a match that had a lot of people that loved it and a lot of people that hated it. It wasn’t until today that I viewed the show in its entirety a 2nd time.

Commentators: Josh Matthews, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and Michael Cole

The Rock comes out and cuts 15 minute promo to open the biggest show of the year. You see, because he’s the host. I love the Rock, but my god they pretty much made this Monday Night RAW in a big domed stadium with a big fancy stage. Rock hypes up the show, and runs down John Cena to hype the main event… of WrestleMania 28. I’m immediately reminded of the main reason I did not like this WrestleMania. Again, great to see the Rock and he’s always entertaining, but really? It’s WrestleMania. It’s not RAW, it’s not even Fatal Four Way.

WWE World Championship
Edge (champion) w/ Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio w/ Brodus Clay

Immediately my thought here was and still is, why is there a World title match (with the 2011 Rumble winner no less) on the opening match of the biggest show of the year? It really makes all parties involved, and the world title itself less prestigious and less important. The match is solid, especially when you consider that this would be Edge’s last match due to injury. I also really like Del Rio as a performer. Edge hits the spear out of nowhere and gets the win to retain. This would be the 4th WrestleMania in a row that the Royal Rumble winner doesn’t leave with the title. This is a prime example of why there shouldn’t be two world titles. This seemed so much like an afterthought. Really, it’s too bad. ***1/4

Cody Rhodes vs. Rey Mysterio
Mysterio comes in his captain America costume. Always love Rey and his WrestleMania outfits. Mysterio broke Cody Rhodes nose with his knee brace doing a 619. Cody now where’s a protective facemask which predictably comes into play here and gets used as a weapon. This is a fantastic match with a clever finish of Rhodes getting a hold of Rey’s knee brace and nailing him as Rey was trying a suicide dive. Great match. ***1/2

8 Man Tag Team Match
Big Show, Kane, Santino Marella, and Kofi Kingston vs. The Corre (Wade Barrett, Ezekial Jackson, Heath Slater, and Justin Gabriel)
This actually looks ok on paper, but looks can be deceiving. The match ends in less than two minutes and the Corre gets squashed. ¼* for Kofi

CM Punk vs. Randy Orton
Here is a match that I underrated a little bit upon first viewing, but it is a damn fine match with CM Punk working on Orton’s leg. Orton’s selling was very good, and he couldn’t do his little punt to the head move at one point in the match. Excellent storytelling by both guys. Match ends when Orton catches Punk with the RKO as he’s coming off the ropes. ***1/4

Special Referee: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
Jerry “The King” Lawler vs. Michael Cole w/ Jack Swagger

Booker T and Jim Ross come out to join Josh Matthews on commentary for this match. This was actually a rather entertaining storyline coming into the match, however some idiot in booking decided it would be a great idea to give these two 11 minutes for a match. The match is pretty awful as the only entertaining thing is Austin. I have no idea why this match got so much time as it escalates into one of the worst WrestleMania matches I’ve ever seen. The finish is even worse as Lawler wins by making Cole tap out to the ankle lock. Then the computer GM (I shit you not) announces that because Austin got physically involved that Cole wins by disqualification. The match itself was 11 minutes, but there was like 10 minutes of entrances and beer celebrations too. Meanwhile Sheamus and Daniel Bryan got taken off the main show at the last minute and made into a dark match. DUD

Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler finish out commentating duties for the rest of the show.

No Holds Barred Match
Undertaker vs. Triple H.
*Rated #40 on my Top 50 WrestleMania matches of all time*
As stated before, this has been a very polarizing match from a lot of fans. I’ve seen people rate this thing *****, and others (even some I have a lot of respect for) do not like this match at all. I guess you can call me in the middle. It is an absolutely brutal match which fits these guys’ styles. Triple H takes a SICK back body drop from the announce table directly to the padded floor. The problem with the match is however, that they start brawling all over the ringside area and hitting these brutal spots to the point where the rest of the match consisted a lot of laying around as both guys recovered. A lot of people knock the match because it was for the most part dominated by HHH and those people don’t like HHH too much. I thought the story was outstanding, and it is simple that Undertaker CANNOT lose at WrestleMania, and if anyone can give him the beat down of his life, it’s Triple H. HHH tries everything, hitting him with pedigree after pedigree, chair shot after chair shot, and even a tombstone. Finally he goes for the sledgehammer but Undertaker catches him in his submission hold and HHH fights but eventually taps. To sell the significance of the beat down that HHH gave, Undertaker does a stretcher job. These are the only two guys who could put a match like this on just because of their style. ***3/4

6 Person Intergender Tag Team Match
Dolph Ziggler and LayCool (Michelle McCool and Layla) w/ Vickie Guerrero vs. John Morrison, Trish Stratus, and Snooki
Pretty bad match here as you would probably be able to predict but it is short and inoffensive. Snooki comes in and does some nice athletic moves and shocks pretty much everyone watching, and gets the pin. ¼*

Main Event
WWE Championship
Miz (champion) w/ Alex Riley vs. John Cena
Both guys get pretty cool videos and entrances. Cena as usual gets some unique entrance, this time with a church choir singing. The match is ok, but extraordinary underwhelming for the main event at WrestleMania. And it turns into a raw finish as it ends in a double count out, and then Rock comes out and re-starts the match, and rock bottoms Cena, and Miz retains. So Rock buries both the guys in the main event like Hogan did at WrestleMania IX, only at least Hogan had the title to show for it. Miz just looks like a chump here, as they are just hyping up Cena-Rock for the NEXT YEARS show. Ugh. **1/2 for the match -1/2* for the lame finish. **

Final Analysis: Wrestling-wise the show was pretty solid with 4 matches over ***. It just didn’t feel like a big show though. I absolutely hated that finish, and it really dragged the entire show down. I have to admit I am looking forward to Rock vs. Cena at this year’s WrestleMania, but man, what a waste last year.