Two Words, One Answer.
WrestleMania XXIV
 WWE WrestleMania 24 $39.95 Belfast Brawl: JBL vs. Finlay (with Hornswoggle) Nothing like a good 'ole hardcore match to start off the evening at the WWE's biggest and most important event of the year. The match was actually pretty good, with Finlay taking some nasty head shots with trashcans and trashcan lids. There was some back-and-forth action, with JBL also taking quite a few bumps, including a counter by Finlay off of steel steps, and Hornswoggle beat the crap out of JBL with a kendo stick at one point. The highlight of the match was when Finlay dived through the middle ropes and JBL dodged him and smacked him right in the head with a trashcan lid. JBL ate a Celtic Cross and was thrown through a table set up in the corner, but still kicked out. The finish came when JBL took Hornswoggle out by throwing a trashcan at him and then hit Finlay with the Clothesline from Hell to get the win. Winner: JBL. Match Rating: 4/5 Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Carlito vs. Chris Jericho vs.CM Punk vs. John Morrison vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. MVP vs. Shelton Benjamin Another great match but it really pales in comparison to last year's Money in the Bank. There were some sick ladder shots everywhere, but there wasn't really anything new we were seeing. Morrison hit a moonsault to the outside onto most of his opponents using a ladder, which was a sick spot. At one point, Kennedy was about to superplex John Morrison off a ladder, but Shelton Benjamin, climbing the ladder next to them, hit a sunset flip powerbomb on Mr. Kennedy off the ladder, causing Kennedy to hit the superplex on Morrison at the same time! That was awesome. Later in the match, Shelton Benjamin got taken out of the contest after he was spilled off a ladder and through a ladder set up like a bridge, similar to what Jeff Hardy did to Edge last year. It would have been much cooler if we hadn't already seen it before, is what I'm saying. Carlito hit a Backstabber to Jericho off a ladder, which was awesome, and Jericho and MVP had a little "jousting" spot with ladders that was also interesting. Carlito spit apples in Mr. Kennedy's face, and Morrison got knocked onto the top rope off a ladder right on his groin, ala Shawn Michaels. Jericho nailed CM Punk with a Codebreaker using a ladder, which was also a sweet spot, but at one point, everyone in the match was down except for MVP. MVP started climbing the ladder, but then Matt Hardy (!!!) ran out to a big pop and hit MVP with a Twist of Fate off the top of the ladder to prevent him from winning the match! The run-in was sweet, if not a little expected, and it was sweet, sweet justice since MVP had injured Matt months before. The end came when Jericho locked in the Walls of Jericho on John Morrison using the ladder and Mr. Kennedy then attempted to grab the briefcase, but CM Punk hit him with a ladder in a way similar to how Kennedy hit CM Punk at last year's match. Jericho and Punk then battled over the briefcase, but Punk tripped Jericho, causing Jericho to get stuck in a ladder rung and allowing CM Punk to win the match. It was an amazing and phenomenal match, it just wasn't as good as last year's. Winner: CM Punk. Match Rating: 5/5 Battle for Brand Supremacy: Batista (with Theodore Long) vs. Umaga (with William Regal) The consistantly good matches keep on rolling in for this pay-per-view. It's SmackDown! vs. Raw for this match, with Batista representing SmackDown and being managed by SmackDown's assistant General Manager Teddy Long, and Umaga being managed by Raw's General Manager William Regal. The match was pretty straight-forward, with Umaga actually dominating Batista for a good portion of the match, and the crowd even got behind Umaga a little. Batista did an excellent job of selling Umaga's submission maneuvers, no matter how stupid they were, and Umaga missed a flying headbutt off the second turnbuckle on Batista. Batista tried to scoop slam Umaga at another point, but Umaga converted the move into a crossbody. Later, Umaga tried to hit Batista with the Samoan Spike, but Batista powered out and hit the Spinebuster out of nowhere! He followed up with an astonishing Batista Bomb on the giant Umaga to get the pinfall and win the match for SmackDown!. Nothing amazing, but it was still a very solid and very entertaining match. Winner: Batista. Match Rating: 4/5 ECW Championship Match: Chavo Guerrero (Champion) vs. Kane Wow, what a terrible idea. Instead of keeping the momentum and having an at least decent match between Chavo and Kane, the WWE decided to end this match in less than ten seconds. Basically, Kane starts out in the ring behind Chavo, having come through the crowd, gives Chavo a Chokeslam, and then pins him to win the ECW title. It's cool to see Kane with a championship again, but Chavo really deserves much more credit than to be beaten with a single move. Still, I'd rather have the crap short and sweet than long and painful. Winner: Kane. Match Rating: 2/5 Career Threatening Match: Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels Emotions. When a wrestling match makes you feel emotional, that's when you know it's an absolute classic. The stipulation was, once again, that if Ric Flair lost, he would be forced to retire. The match started out with a lot of powerful chops and with Flair and Michaels doing their usual routine, albeit with a lot more force put behind it. Flair took a lot of bumps, being dumped to the outside and landing pretty damn hard, but he nailed a picture-perfect flying crossbody on Michaels. At one point, Flair was resting against the announce table, and Michaels tried to hit him a springboard moonsault, but Flair moved out of the way, and Michaels hit his stomach on the edge of the table, with the rest of his body going through it! Absolutely breathtaking! Flair dominated for a portion of the match, focusing on Michael's now injured abdomen. Momentum went back to Michaels, and he nailed the Flying Elbow Drop! He then went for the Sweet Chin Music but hesitated at the last second. Flair tripped him and then locked on the Figure Four! Michaels was in the submission hold for a long time, but he got the ropes. Flair locked in the Figure Four Leg Lock again later, which led to a flurry of perfect counters from both competitors. The match went outside again, and Michaels hit a moonsault on Flair that was quite the spectacle. Back in the ring, Michaels hit Flair with the Sweet Chin Music, but astonishingly, Flair kicked out! Flair kicked Michaels in the groin, and when Michaels locked on the Figure Four, Flair's own maneuver, on the Nature Boy, Flair distracted the referee by taking the bottom turnbuckle off. This gave Flair the opportunity to poke Michaels in the eyes, just like the old days! The match continued with solid back-and-forth action, but Michaels went to a corner, ready to nail the Sweet Chin Music on Flair again. Tears were going down Michaels's cheeks, and Flair, bleeding from the mouth when Shawn slapped him in the face at the beginning of the match, stood up, ready to try to fight Michaels. Shawn said, "I'm sorry. I love you." and hit Flair with the Sweet Chin Music. That was all she wrote, and the legendary career of Ric Flair was brought to a close in one of the most emotional and heartbreaking matches in not only WrestleMania history, but the entire history of professional wrestling. Winner: Shawn Michaels. Match Rating: 5/5 Lumberjill Tag Team Match: Ashley and Maria vs. Beth Phoenix and Melina (with Santino Marella) I was surprised that this match was actually good. Beth Phoenix is very talented as a wrestler and she reminds me of Chyna in so many ways, and coupled with the talent of Melina, I was still in doubt. I mean, Ashley and Maria are basically only known for their sexiness, and that's about all they're good for. Well, the match actually proved to be entertaining. Snoop Dogg was at ringside in a big old chair that looked like the King of the Ring chair, and there were a bunch of Lumberjills, basically all the other WWE Divas working for the company, surrounding the ring. Even Victoria was out there, which was nice. I miss her. Regardless, the match had some basic moves, with a surprisingly nice headscissors by Ashley, and Melina and Phoenix stole the show with an awesome moonsault off of Phoenix's shoulders by Melina. Santino interrupted a cover by Maria, so Jerry "The King" Lawler got up from his announcing seat and punched Santino in the face! Melina and Ashley and all the other Divas ended up in a brawl outside of the ring, and Phoenix took advantage of the chaos by hitting Maria with a stalled fisherman's suplex to get the pin. Winners: Beth Phoenix and Melina. Match Rating: 3/5 Triple Threat WWE Championship Match: Randy Orton (Champion) vs. John Cena vs. Triple H This match literally made me laugh out loud by the end of it. Throughout the contest, Cena, Triple H, and Orton did their usual stuff, with Orton trying to use cheap tactics at the start by nailing Triple H in the face with the WWE Championship. Cena showed off by getting both Triple H and Orton on his shoulders, but Triple H fell off and then kicked Cena right in the groin! Orton performed a double DDT off the second rope to Triple H and Cena, and then couldn't decide who to RKO in a particularly entertaining part of the match where Orton was crawling around and drooling in anticipation. It was almost scary. Cena got up first, and Orton tried to RKO him, but Cena pushed him onto Triple H! The rest of the match was pretty solid, with Orton nailing the RKO on Triple H, who smartly rolled out of the ring, to Cena locking on the STFU on Orton. Triple H got back into the contest and started brawling with Cena, incapacitating him by throwing him so hard into the steel steps that they literally flew out of position. Back in the ring, Triple H tried a very well done inverted Indian death lock, but Cena broke up the submission. Orton then suffered yet another STFU from Cena, but Triple H broke it up by pulling Cena's arm away from Orton's face and locking in the Crossface! Cena got the ropes, unfortunately, and the match went on with Cena nailing his usual power moves and Triple H taking most of the pain. However, Triple H managed to hit Cena with the Pedigree out of nowhere! Triple H made the cover, but Orton punted Triple H in the head, his good `ole concussion kick, and then pinned Cena for the win! Hilarious ending! I love it when Cena loses, and it was awesome to see Randy Orton, the best bad guy around in WWE right now, retain his championship at WrestleMania. Winner: Randy Orton. Match Rating: 5/5 No Disqualification Match: Floyd "Money" Mayweather (with his entourage) vs. The Big Show Just like the women's tag team match earlier, this match surprised me with its quality. Big Show took some sick jabs from Mayweather at the outset, and Mayweather outmatched Show with his speed. The fans were behind Big Show the entire time, which was great and it worked really well, especially when Big Show started nailing some moves back. Big Show actually stomped on Mayweather's arm, and he knocked a member of his entourage off the apron when Mayweather started mocking Big Show. Show gave one of Mayweather's entourage members a sick chop across the chest, and then followed up with one for Mayweather. Mayweather and his entourage then started to retreat down the ramp, but Big Show followed them, taking out a few members of Mayweather's entourage, and then dragged Mayweather by his head back down to the ring! Show was about to nail his Chokeslam, but a member of Mayweather's entourage ran in and smacked Show in the back with a chair. Show responded with a Chokeslam for this guy, but then ate a chair to the head and back from Mayweather! Mayweather then hit Big Show with two absolutely sick chair shots, and then pulled some brass knuckles off of one of his unconscious entourage members. Mayweather straight-up punched Show right in the face with the brass knuckles and pinned him for the win. It's disappointing that we didn't get to see Mayweather get Chokeslammed, but the match was pretty entertaining, and it was cool to see the fans behind Big Show. Winner: Floyd "Money" Mayweather. Match Rating: 4/5 World Heavyweight Championship Match: Edge (Champion) vs. The Undertaker Undertaker always gives spectacular performances at WrestleMania, and with someone talented as Edge as his opponent, we all know that this match was going to be great the second it was booked. And man, it was. It started off fast and exciting, with a lot of powerful moves being used by both wrestlers, with Undertaker doing a variation of the Stone Cold Stunner using the ring rope, and Edge doing the same thing, only as a neckbreaker. At one point, Edge went to the top, but Undertaker knocked him to the outside, causing Edge to flip and just SMACK right on the ground! OUCH! Undertaker then dove out of the ring like he usually does, and nailed Edge with an amazing flying clothesline. Back in the ring, some more sweet spots were pulled, and Edge was actually dominating the match for a good portion of it, even nailing a superplex on Undertaker. Edge countered Old School twice, as well as the Snake Eyes/big boot combination, but Undertaker countered a Spear attempt by Edge. As the match went on, more solid and entertaining wrestling transpired, with Undertaker going for a knee in the corner, but ended up being dumped to the outside. Undertaker hit a Chokeslam on Edge finally, but Edge managed to kick out!!! Undertaker went for the Last Ride, but Edge ended up nailing a neckbreaker out of nowhere! Edge got frustrated and called for the Tombstone Piledriver...and ACTUALLY GOT UNDERTAKER IN THE POSITION! Undertaker countered the move into his own Tombstone and...EDGE KICKED OUT!!! Wow!!! Edge is really becoming a big thing in the WWE, and he's going to be in the Hall of Fame if he keeps putting on extraordinary matches like this. Edge dodged a big boot that hit the referee, and Edge took advantage of this opportunity by hitting Undertaker with a camera he stole from a cameraman on the outside of the ring, even knocking the cameraman flat on his butt! Undertaker still kicked out! Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins ran out after Undertaker nailed the Last Ride I believe it was, but Undertaker Chokeslammed one of them off of the apron and onto the other one in an absolutely sickening way! This gave Edge the opportunity to nail the Spear...BUT UNDERTAKER KICKED OUT AGAIN! The ending came when Edge nailed yet ANOTHER Spear, but Undertaker countered it out of nowhere into Hell's Gates, and Edge, bleeding profusely from his mouth, ended up tapping out. Phenomenal match. Winner: The Undertaker. Match Rating: 5/5 BACKSTAGE SHENANIGANS There was a lot going on at WrestleMania XXIV. There were interviews, musical performances, and appearances by celebrities, including Raven Samone and Snoop Dogg, as well as Kim Kardashian. Snoop Dogg nailing Santino with a clothesline, and Dogg's interview that also included Mick Foley and Festus as part of the proceedings was pretty entertaining. The Hall of Fame highlights were tearjerking, and Mae Young's appearance was pretty funny. Edge gave a pretty good promo to hype up his match with Undertaker. It all went very smooth and surprise appearances by our favorite superstars was great. Rating: 5/5 EXTRAS The entirety of the Hall of Fame ceremony is included. This is great, though a lot of the speeches just seem to drag on, especially Rocky Johnson's. The Rock's return to the WWE to induct his father was great fun, hilarious, and spine-tingling as he hinted towards "one more match", and even expressed interest in wrestling John Cena, Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio, and even Stone Cold Steve Austin one more time. Also included on the Extras is the Battle Royal for the #1 contender's spot in the ECW Championship match that took place later that night. Since you know who wins and the thing was just an excuse to get all of the WWE superstars an appearance at WrestleMania XXIV, it's not really that great, though there are some cool spots. Rating: 4/5 OVERALL EVENT Almost all of the matches were absolutely wonderful. The opening match was a hardcore bout that was very entertaining, while the momentum continued with the always astonishing Money in the Bank ladder match, as well as an impressive battle between Batista and Umaga. The Flair/Michaels match was heartwarming and heartbreaking all at once, plus it was simply a great showing between two of wrestling's biggest stars. The only disappointments were the tag team women's match (though it had its moments), and the ECW Championship match between Kane and Chavo. Big Show/Mayweather was great fun, and both the WWE Championship match and the World Heavyweight Championship match was great. I just can't get enough of John Cena getting pinned.  WWE Wrestlemania XXIV Ring and Stage - Toys R Us Exclusive $43.95 For use in only the second WrestleMania event ever to be held entirely outdoors, this ring and stage will be used regardless of the weather in the real Citrus Bowl stadium. Get ready to match up your favorite fighting figures in "The Biggest WrestleMania Under the Sun." |
|
