Pretty much summed it up there, masterblaster. Some good, some bad, and one all-time classic in HBK-Taker. I'm pissed off with the Triple H-Orton ending, and confused by MITB, and disappointed with the tag match being pulled, and once again confused by JBL-Rey, but mostly I'm trying to focus on the sheer genius of two of my all-time favourites.
It wasn't pulled
per se, it took place before the PPV went on air, personally I think they could have fit it in instead of Kid Rock's mimefest
. Carlito & Primo won.
Having just read over the thread, it seems I enjoyed WM more than most. maybe it was the pizza, beers and mates being here, i dunno, maybe it was because I haven't watched a live Mania in quite some time, but I thought it was awesome.
I enjoyed the MITB. I did find Punk winning a little random; the point where it looked like Christian was going to win would have been a good way to finish the match, and the crowd reaction was immense. Hopefully he gets drafted to Raw or Smackdown and gets a decent push now because there is no dobut that he's over, despite having one of the most anti-climatic comebacks of all time.
The one thing that did disappoint me about MITB was that there was two pretty badly botched spots and these were disappointing. CM Punk seemed to bottle it when Christian hit him with the unprettier off the ladder, and there was a bit of a ****-up between MVP & Shelton Benjamin. I'm not complaining too much, but if these spots had gone properly they would have both been very impressive IMO.
The battle royal was obviously somewhat average, but they got it over quickly. It did seem a bit pointless having former divas come back to zero exposure. The end was funny though.
Jericho and Steamboat put on a hell of a show after they got rid of Piper & Snuka. There were a couple of times were I really thought Steamboat was gonna take it, but they wrestled brilliantly. And I agree with masterblaster that the ending was appropriate.
I enjoyed Jeff V Matt. Again, masterblaster called this match as being a feud-starter, and I agree, I think the next couple of PPVs could see some good matches between them. The twist of fate at the end was brutal!
JBL V Mysterio was a little strange; I was glad they got it over with quickly as I wasn't looking forwards to it but it's really odd to have a match that short on a PPV, never mind WM. Nonetheless, let's hope JBL goes into the commentary box to replace Tazz as some have predicted round these parts.
HBK V Taker - what can I say about this? It was one of the best matches that I have ever seen. They were both amazing, and I marked out so much for HBK all the way through, every time I kicked out I was turning to my mates screaming that HBK was gonna end the streak! I could watch that match another five times today.
Mind you, was I the only one who was worried for a minute that Taker was genuinely injured when he landed on his head outside the ring? Me and my mates thought he'd hurt himself as it looked like he landed funny
I actually enjoyed the triple threat. It was nothing special, but let's be honest it was never going to live up to what had just happened before it. I thought the ending was impressive to say the least!
Finally, I seem to be the only one who enjoyed Triple H V Orton. I found the match really interesting, but the ending was poor. It's not so much the fact that Triple H won that annoyed me, but the anti-climatic way it happened. As soon as the ref counted three, I flicked the time on to see if there was a possibility of a twist. Very strange.
Triple H and Orton look set to feud for a little while more, so whether it's all part of a bigger plan I don't know, but that's not really what the WM main event should be about!
Hopefully the draft next week shakes things up a bit. They have pretty much told UK viewers who is going where as they are already promoting the matches for Raw & Smackdown when it's over here. I won't give anything away mind.
Anyway, back to WM, I'd probably give it 8 out of 10, on the basis that I really enjoyed it. Would have been a 9 if there had been a decent finish.
edit, by the way, how amazing were HBK & Undertaker's entrances? Phenomenal.
