NoDQ.com > Columns > New NoDQ column - WrestleMania 25 Rebooked Posted by Derek Ruttle on 10/27/2009 at 05:48 PM
This is my debut column here on NoDQ.com! Contact me with feedback by clicking on my name above! I hope you enjoy...
WrestleMania Rebooked
I only bought this year's WrestleMania on DVD fairly recently. I desperately wanted to take another look at it after seeing it live from the multiplex theater I experienced it in. That was almost seven months ago.
The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania certainly took its fair share of criticism when all was said and done. Personally, I still rank it as the best PPV of the year based on pure performance, spectacle and...well, because it's WRESTLEMANIA. It's the one show of the year that has its own feel to it. Every other PPV comes off with only a heightened sense of importance and grandeur, but WrestleMania is and always has been different. And based on a performance level, many of the matches were top-notch and as an old-school fan, that always gets top honors in my book.
However, I'm not saying the show was without its problems. Far from it, actually. Leading up to and during the show itself, parts of Mania came off flat and downright wrong in my view. I've had these feelings locked up inside my head for months now, but after re-watching the PPV last weekend on DVD, I just have to come out and say it.....
I SHOULD'VE BOOKED WRESTLEMANIA.
OK, a little presumptuous, I know. What experience do I have? I'm no booker. Maybe not, but I am a writer - having graduated with top honors from film school and having been a newspaper reporter for nearly three years. Storytelling comes naturally to me. And when it comes to WrestleMania 25, some of the stories we were told just didn't do it for me. So what I'd like to do is present the entire card and spill my guts on what I would've done differently with the match types, endings and participants in the "Granddaddy Of 'Em All".
First off, the Unified Tag Team Titles match would've actually taken place ON the show. The Colons and Miz/Morrison didn't deserve to be bumped to dark match status when the match would've been a solid contest. In my Mania booking, this would've opened the show.
- Money In The Bank Ladder match: Frankly, there isn't much I would've changed with this. This match was the starting point for CM Punk's rise to main-event status when he won it. Aside from the couple of botched spots, it was enjoyable. I will say that they dive right into the crash and burn spots too quickly though. I wanna see you wrestle each other, not a 10-foot ladder.
- 25-Diva Battle Royal: Major corrections in this one. First off, WTF was Kid Rock doing there in the first place? I get that one of his songs was a Mania theme, but it was only added to the show's soundtrack about a week or two before. AC/DC would've been a much better choice, and maybe the Houston crowd would've actually gave a shit about them instead of the smattering of hands Kid Rock received. Anyway, if Rock is all I got, then he would've played only the Mania theme instead of that 10-minute "medley" he gave us. There, shaved off a few minutes. And the Divas would've actually been announced when they were coming out, instead of having to look for past favorites like Sunny and Molly Holly in the ring. Also, the Santina shit would've been killed in favor of Melina winning.
- Chris Jericho vs Steamboat, Piper and Snuka: Let's face it - Piper and Snuka are embarrassing in the ring these days. I appreciated that their input in the match was short and swift, but I would've had Jericho specifically target Ricky Steamboat in the whole "I hate legends" angle, leading to a singles match between the two. We got that at Backlash a few weeks later, but how cool would it have been to see shades of Steamboat/Savage again, with Jericho playing the Macho Man? What I saw between the two I really liked, though.
- Jeff Hardy vs Matt Hardy, Extreme Rules: I really enjoyed this one and the right guy won in the end, but I think this could've been just as enjoyable if it were a normal exhibition match. Going extreme and hardcore is step two in a feud, not the first one. Considering they fought in a Stretcher match on Smackdown that same week, I would've booked an Extreme Rules match for Backlash and then end the feud at Judgment Day in an I Quit match. But maybe I'm just over-analyzing. The match was really good, though.
- JBL vs Rey Mysterio for the IC Title: Take those few minutes I gained from deflating Kid Rock and add them to this. I get that the whole point of Rey beating JBL in 25 seconds was that Layfield would be in utter shock and then quit, but I wanted to see an actual match for the IC Title because it deserves it, especially when you consider it hadn't been defended at Mania since 2002 when RVD beat William Regal. Just one man's opinion.
- The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels: Amazing. Suspenseful. Storytelling at its best. Instant classic. The most emotionally-draining match I've ever been witness to. No changes.
- Edge vs Big Show vs John Cena for the World Heavyweight Title: Match-wise it was fairly decent, but the problem was that anything following Taker/Michaels was gonna feel like a step backward. I'm probably a bigger fan of this match than most; I felt all three of them kept a good pace to the action and nobody felt like a third wheel, which is the problem with a lot of Triple Threat matches these days. I liked Edge spearing Show through the barrier and then Cena through the air. Wasn't a fan of Cena winning but it was necessary in order to finish the long feud between he and Edge at Backlash. Would've maybe added another 3 or 4 minutes to this bout, though.
- Triple H vs Randy Orton for the WWE Title: As far as the action goes, it was good, but not unlike anything we've seen before from these two. My beef with this match was mainly with the ending. With HHH having the McMahons on his side and Orton having Legacy, virtually every educated person watching thought there would be some suspenseful twists in the end and a ton of outside interference. Instead, we see HHH punch Orton about a thousand times and Pedigree him to retain the Title. It felt flat, deflated and the two words in my head were "That's it?" when Mania ended.
Now let's talk match order, storylines and different outcomes.
First, the World Title picture. To me, this felt rushed and Cena was more of a nuisance in the entire thing. I really felt that they should've went with Edge defending the gold against Big Show in a singles match. And seeing how they're two heels, I would've pushed Show as the face. He could've came out on Smackdown in February and said he only fooled around with Vickie to get a World Title shot at Mania. Edge and Vickie would make up and she would refuse his Title shot, throwing obstacles in Show's way each week. Show would start a campaign with the fans both in the arena and at home to gain support, and maybe have Vince show up on Smackdown and make the match, citing overgrowing demand from the audience. At Mania itself, I'd have Edge retain the Title and leave Show in the ring to gain sympathy from the audience. As far as Cena goes, there was reportedly a plan for him to have a match against Hulk Hogan, but Hogan's back problems put the kibosh on that. I just felt there was some lost opportunity there to do something different and something that engages the audience more than the actual storyline did.
Second, the WWE Title scene. This was doomed from the start. The problem was that the belt itself was virtually ignored. It was more or less a prop HHH had to carry to keep up appearances. Orton may have won the Rumble, but his focus in this angle became to just survive the match rather than win the Title. That, and he had to be goaded into the match by HHH himself on Raw. For HHH, this was about defending his family, not the belt. When all the life is sucked out of the WWE Title like that, it just doesn't add up to a WrestleMania main event, in my opinion. And as I mentioned before, the ending was horrible. For one, the wrong guy won the match; Orton should've regained the belt. Second, this match should've had all sorts of violence because the angle called for HHH to get revenge on Orton, but to me it just looked like these two were holding back inside the ring. The stipulation of HHH losing the belt if he was DQ'd was beyond ridiculous and hurt the emotion behind it. In an interview after the PPV, Orton himself was quoted as saying "We weren't able to go to the extreme. If anything hurt us, it was that." That and a couple other things, Randy.
Finally, the match order. I've said it before and I'll say it again - Taker/HBK should've closed the PPV. It was incredible storytelling that took the audience on a rollercoaster ride. And I know what the main argument against me seems to be - Mania should always end with a Title match. And I definitely see WHY it should, but am reminded that Manias 8, 11 and even the first installment didn't end with a Championship match. Sure, those first two I mentioned are regarded as having the worst Mania main events of all time, but a point's a point. Secondly, this is the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels we're talking about. The collective pulses of the WWE. The most legendary names on the current roster. And definitely the most anticipated match for the show. So why NOT put them in the main event? As far as the "Mania should end with a Title match" argument goes, the way both Title matches were booked doesn't do the main event slot justice. The Triple Threat match, while ending on a relatively happy note with Cena winning was far too short to end the show. And the Orton/HHH match, as I said before lacked so much focus on the actual WWE Title itself that Vince should be slapped in the face.
And another thing that's been nagging at me - I've read that "nobody is bigger than the Title". So which Title is that? Vince seems to randomly pick which belt he wants to book as being the most important, and I've found it's always the belt that's on Raw. Doesn't matter if it's the World or WWE Title. When you have two World Championships, their prestige also takes a big hit. And we've all seen one of the belts avoid the main event slot before. Hell, Summerslam last year featured two main events that involved neither of them. Mania would've came off feeling better if Orton/HHH went on 6th, the Triple Threat on 7th and Taker/Michaels last. Or throw the Triple Threat match in after the Jeff/Matt brawl.
So call it playing "Fantasy Booker" or whatever, but these are my thoughts on WrestleMania after a second viewing. It may be War & Peace in size, but I've been meaning to get these issues off my chest for awhile.
Thanks for reading.
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