Terry's Peeps wrote:
My thoughts.
2 very good matches (Punk/Jericho and HHH/Taker)
3 average matches (Cena/Rock, Big Show/Cody, and the Tag Team thing)
2 bad matches (Kane/Orkman and the Divas)
1 abortion (World Title match)
Grade: C
I think that is a fair assesment but I would put the grade at C+ and had they not robbed us of a World Title match it would have been a solid B.
I thought Trips/Taker was a really good match and story. Sure there was typical HBK over acting but the story was solid and yea they didn't climb the top of the structure but they didn't need to. A little overbooked with Lil Naitch running in for a ref bump but didn't hurt the overall match. I thought they wrapped it up nicely and I am happy with how it ended. Not often you can say that
Punk/Jericho was a solid match and was really well done and. I enjoyed the actual wrestling and story of the match itself in this one. Surprised Punk went over as I think a loss here would have setup a grudge/gimmick match at AllState in 4 weeks.
Rock/Cena was OK storywise I think, but technically - yikes! Cena and Rock both need to learn how to apply submission moves and make them at least somewhat believable. That sharpshooter Rock put must have made Bert Hart rip off his pink sunglasses and apply it properly to his broom. And Cena has the absolute worst looking STF - its turrible. When Rock is "passing out" from the pain Cena barely had his hands/arms anywhere near a spot on his neck that would cut off bloodflow and make him lose consciousness. That whole segment was goofy. But not as goofy as the waist lock at the beginning of the match on the mat where Cena was just hugging Rock. That was just bizarre. I realize Rock was blown up but can you try to not give the "wrestling is ghey" haters free ammo? Having Rock win in Miami sent the crowd home happy but not the PPV audience. The finish was interesting as Cena did a heelish mock before getting his comeuppance. I hope they don't extend this 2 more matches though.
Tag team gimmick - don't care
Divas - don't care
Big Show/Cody - I still think a win here for Cody is huge. No one wants to see Big Show wrestle - seriously. He is out of shape and boring. Cody isn't quite ready for Main Event feuds and another 2 or 3 months with IC strap would have helped him I think. He is really finding a groove with this character. Now they will probably hot shot the title back to him on SmackDown this week and his loss on Mania will be even more pointless.
Kane winning makes zero sense. The match taking place at all made zero sense. But Orton is one of your guys who will be around a few more years, Kane needs to retire or be used to put young guys over. I can't think of any other wrestler that is so protected by Vince. He never loses cleanly - ever. Odd.
I enjoyed this years Mania - it wasn't the best ever and some parts let me down (like the entire first hour) but overall I enjoyed it. Twitter and texting with you goofs probably helped though

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Bobby Heenan wrote:
Oh...Eastern Illinois. They contacted me. I didn't take the entrance exam because I had 64 crayons instead of 3. But I loved going through Central Illinois. Watching people on bad cooked up Tide is the best.