WrestleMania 27: Return of the Brahma Bull

Hello everyone, and welcome once again to yet another edition of WrestleMania Rewind. We’re nearly done with the series, and are ever so close to this year’s mega event, WrestleMania 29. With just a couple of days left for the super bowl of Entertainment industry, we look back at the WrestleMania where Rock made his comeback, after half a decade. This WrestleMania followed the previous one, which saw the end of an illustrious career of the Heart Break Kid, as well as Cena defeating Batista for the World Heavyweight championship. Shortly afterwards, Batista left the WWE.

This WrestleMania saw the rise of The Miz. He became the WWE Champion, and was going into this WrestleMania as the champion, with the challenger being John Cena. Instead of Cena – Miz, the hype surrounded Cena – Rock, which didn’t speak well about the defending WWE Champion. The other matches on the card included Alberto Del Rio, who won the Royal Rumble, taking on Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship, and this opened the show! Shortly afterwards, Edge retired from professional wrestling. The other main match was between Triple H and The Undertaker, with Triple H trying to avenge the career ending loss of Shawn Michaels at the hands of the dead man. This WrestleMania came to us from Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. For those who care, this was where Benoit used to reside after moving to US. Anyway, without further ado, let us jump right in.

Keri Hilson opened the show by singing ‘America The Beautiful’.

Under card:

Edge (With Christian) defeated Alberto Del Rio (With Ricardo Rodriguez and Brodus Clay) for the World Heavyweight Championship

This took me by surprise when I watched it a couple of years ago live. This was for the WHC, but opened the show! ADR had won the Royal Rumble to ‘Main event’ WrestleMania. A card opener isn’t a ‘Main Event’. Guess we aren’t supposed to remember that. The same thing happened the next year (You’ll see by tomorrow). Anyway, a good match between two good performers, and which would be Edge’s last WrestleMania/TV match. The bout went on for over 11 minutes, with ADR working on Edge’s arm for the most of it. In the end, Edge pinned ADR to retain his title. Solid match that felt more like a TV match, because of its placement on the card. Post match, Edge and Christian destroyed ADR’s expensive ride.

Cody Rhodes defeated Rey Mysterio

There was no MITB match from this year, as it was a separate PPV on its own, and what a PPV it was later in the year! Maybe I’ll do a separate review of that down the line. Anyway, the next bout of the evening saw Cody taking on the masked wrestler, Rey Mysterio. Both are solid workers, and put on a decent match that got about 12 minutes. The end came when Cody removed Rey’s knee brace and hit him with it. The crowd was dead for most of the match, which was a surprise.

Kane, Big Show, Santino Marella, and Kofi Kingston defeated The Corre (Wade Barrett, Ezekiel Jackson, Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater) in an 8 man tag team match

The entrance of these guys was longer than the match itself. Why did WWE even bother to put this on the card? I don’t know. The match went for about 90 seconds, and the end came when Show KO’d Slater for the pin and the win. Awful booking.

Mid card:

Randy Orton defeated CM Punk

This could have been one of the better matches on the card. Although it was a good match, it could have been great. The match was way too slow for the fans to get into it. That’s Orton’s style, but that didn’t work with a great worker like CM Punk. The crowd was into the match only towards the end, when Orton RKO’d Punk while Punk was going for a Springboard forearm. Great spot to end the match, which went on for nearly 15 minutes.

Michael Cole (With Jack Swagger) defeated Jerry Lawler by Disqualification with Stone Cold Steve Austin as the special guest referee

This was the point when the whole WWE Universe was against Cole. Cole got X – Pac heat, which is not a good thing, but Vince didn’t care. The awful thing about this match was that it got way too much time on the card. Lawler originally won the match when Cole tapped out to the ankle lock, but the Anonymous GM, I mean Hornswoggle (?!) over turned it and gave the win to Cole. This was Lawler’s and Cole’s debut match at WrestleMania, and frankly, neither of them should have been on the card.

The Undertaker defeated Triple H by submission in a No Holds Barred match

The most anticipated match of the night was between Triple H and The Undertaker, who were facing each other for the second time in WM history. Taker dominated early, and went for his top rope plancha, but Triple H was off by a bit and Taker landed badly. It’s a surprise that a guy like Taker, who was approaching 50 could do something like that. This was an all – out brawl, and one of the best WrestleMania matches in the history, although not being a technical wrestling match. They did spots which were timed exceptionally well. Story revolved around how Triple H would beat down the Undertaker to win, and he’d do anything for that. Taker sold it all brilliantly, which guys like Cena should learn. The end came when Taker trapped Triple H in the Hell’s Gates submission move and Triple H tapped out. The crowd was on its feet for the entire thing! Amazing match by amazing performers.

John Morrison, Trish Stratus and Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi defeated Dolph Ziggler and LayCool (Layla and Michelle McCool with Vickie Guerrero) in a 6 person mixed tag team match

A filler on the card to put ‘Snooki’ on WrestleMania. A waste of talent honestly. Someone like Natalya should’ve been on the card. Anyway, Snooki showed some athleticism, and the end came when Snooki did the flipping cartwheel on McCool for the pin and the win. Awful match that got about 4 minutes.

Main event:

The Miz (With Alex Riley) defeated John Cena for the WWE title

This has to be one of the worst WrestleMania main event matches in history! Wait, I guess this is the worst main event. Not something The Miz would want to remember. This wasn’t a match, but an angle that was being set up by the WWE for a Rock – Cena encounter for the next year’s WrestleMania. The Miz suffered a legit concussion when Cena put him through the barricade as he hit his head on the concrete! Ouch! Rock came out to restart the match and gave Cena the Rock bottom. Miz capitalized on it and covered Cena to retain the title. Post match, Rock gave Miz the Rock bottom and people’s elbow. As a wrestling fan, I saw that as the beginning of the end for The Miz. This wasn’t about the WWE title or Miz or Cena. It was about the Rock, and two years later, it’s still the same case, which is sad.

Analysis: ** ½ (Out of 5 stars)

The Undertaker – Triple H and Punk – Orton match saved this WrestleMania. But that didn’t save it from this WrestleMania being one of the worst WrestleManias of all time! The WWE title should never be secondary, but that’s what happened in the main event. It came off as a normal PPV than the biggest event of the year! Anyway, that does it from me for now. We have only one more edition to go before WrestleMania 29, and we’ll come out with it tomorrow. Until then, eat your vitamins, say your prayers and drink your milk, brothers!