ReviewsShow Reviews
Share This Article
TWF Daves Quick Wrestlemania Review
By: TWF Dave | Posted: 04/02/12


Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to my Wrestlemania 28 review.

I finished watching the show just moments ago without seeing any news or anybody elses opinions on the show -so this blog is my untainted, honest opinion of WWEs' biggest show of the year.

Starting off at the beginning with:

Sheamus vs Daniel Bryan
Classic PPV booking says you should start off your show with a big pop. A fast paced or big name match with the good guy going over to get the crowd pumped for the rest of the show. - So while I understand the logic behind WWE doing what they did, I'm hugely disappointed that they chose to do it with one of the matches I was most looking forwards to. Since the Royal Rumble Daniel Bryans character has gotten over immensely from a combination of both the Macho Man/Elizabeth style dynamic with AJ and Bryan Danielsons just plain awesomeness. Meanwhile Sheamus has very much been in a holding pattern and received very little hype from being the Rumble winner at all. With that said, this was a dark horse to be the match of the night and it sucks that for the second Mania in a row, we get shafted out of seeing Daniel Bryan vs Sheamus.

Kane vs Randy Orton
Wow, I could NOT care less about this one and from the sounds of it, neither could the crowd. I was surprised to see this match made into a singles bout in the first place because both guys could've been used to add star power to the GM vs GM match. Instead we got a standard Mania filler match just one match into the card. That's two matches out of two that get a thumbs down from me so far (although I dislike both Orton and Kane as performers, so make of that what you will).

Cody Rhodes vs The Big Show
Ahh, three matches in and we finally get some storyline. Cody Rhodes mocking of The Big Show has been one of the better angles coming into Mania and it had a very obvious resolution - which we got. Not the best match on the card by a long way but the first of the night to peak my interest and that of the crowd.

Maria Menounos & Kelly Kelly vs Eve Torres & Beth Phoenix
You know what, this wasn't actually that bad. Of course, it wasn't a patch on either of the two Divas matches that we all actually wanted to see (those being Beth vs Natalya or Beth vs Kharma) but it was better than I was expecting at least. That's not to say it was anything other than passable and botch free (surprising give that Kelly Kelly was involved I know!), but it was over quickly enough. It should be noted that Maria Menounous showed up with two cracked ribs and still worked a spot too - so credit to her for that.

Undertaker vs Triple H
It may have taken one of the main events of the show to really get the crowd off their hands, but when they finally did they made up for the earlier lack of enthusiasm. First of all, it should be noted just HOW AWESOME the Undertakers entrance attire was; it looked like something out of a Darksiders videogame and really stood him out as a character, even his lack of hair looked good with it. This was a really entertaining match that started slow and built to a crescendo. Following along similar lines to last year, the match had lots of false finishes and exhausted expressions abound. That said last years match was most peoples match of the show, so if it ain't broke, why fix it? An enjoyable match with an awesome false finish spot involving HBKs' Sweet Chin Music.

Team Johnny vs Team Teddy
I was fully expecting this one to last just long enough for all the competitors to get in a spot of their own before we headed to the finish. It may have lasted a little longer than that but for all of the people involved, this match can be boiled down to just three (or four including a diva). Dolph Ziggler did most of the donkey work, The Miz took the pinfall over Zack Ryder who then got kicked in the nuts by Eve. Johnny Ace is now the General Manager of both Raw and Smackdown, presumably Zack has now learned his lesson about Eve, The Miz is back to winning ways and Dolph Ziggler is the best bump man/seller in the business... but then we knew that last one already.

CM Punk vs Chris Jericho
The crowd were NOT into this one were they? I suppose Jerichos left sleeve failing on him was a sign of things to come but to be honest, it was more the crowd bringing a good match down here rather than Punk & Jericho failing on their part. We even got the trademarked CM Punk "vault off the ropes into finishing manouver of choice spot" which barely managed to wake the crowd. Admittedly this wasn't the Savage/Steamboat classic that Jericho had been talking of but it was a good match. Maybe it was the fact that the crowd were a little tired after the Undertakers match and knew The Rock was still to come, or maybe they just weren't interested but either way, this just didn't seem to connect with them. Shame.

The Rock vs John Cena
I've just mentioned how a crowd can bring a good match down if they're not into it - well this was the opposite. This was not a Match of the Year candidate by any means, but the crowd were hot for it and dragged it up a notch. It was good, very good considering just how long the Rocks been absent, but it also had it's slow points. The Rock seemed to be blown up pretty quickly so rest holds abound and at certain points you could very clearly see Cena calling spots... Taken from purely an entertainment perspective though the match did it's job with a finish that both sets up a rematch down the line and sent everybody home happy.

WWE always go all out with the glitz at Wrestlemania and the set looked phenomenal - taking up an entire end of the Sun Life Stadium with a giant video wall and entrance ramp. These outdoor arenas add to the atmosphere too - as the matches raise in importance the sky grows darker and adds an aesthetic and atmosphere all of its own, something which WWE made the most of with numerous panoramic shots from above the stadium.

The matches themselves ranged from passable to worth watching and overall this was as enjoyable a Wrestlemania as we've seen in recent years...
- TWF Dave
Want to comment on what you've just read? Tell us all about it over on the forum!

Click HERE to read more articles by TWF Dave.

Check Out More From TWF!

TWF Events

2013 TWF SuperCup
Click Here To Vote!

Top Team Tournament (MLB)
Ongoing - Click Here To Join In!
PPV League: WWE Payback Round
Weekend Beginning Fri 14th June

Mid Year Mini-Rankings:
June 1st - June 15th
Babe of the Year
Winner Announced - Click Here To Read More!

Best Wrestling Themes Ever
Complete - Click Here To View!

Visit The Event Center