Pretty wild to be those guys hanging down from the ceiling on that structure especially since I don't see any railings in the front.

I was at the event and is really was nothing special. I was at WM 18 in Toronto and that was way better. The matches were ok but it lacked any surprises or any real mid card. I dunno, maybe I am getting too old for wrestling but it kinda sucks right now. At least there was no rapping tonight.

Why was Timbaland not there?

Kennedy killing Hornswaggle was a Wrestlemania Moment

...bank.

MISTAAAAAAAAAAAAAA KEENNEEEDYYYYYYYY !!!!!!!!!!!!

You know better than that Sammy. It's Mister Money in the Bank now.

Decent show

fuck Cena

Yes, yes. MISTAAAAA MONEY IN THE BAAAAAAAAANK. I am so unbelievably ecstatic he won

Wow. Has it gotten this bad that a fucking Wrestlemania thread only made 8 pages?

Good PPV. I knew I should have bet on Kennedy tho. :(

Damn right you shoulda bet on Kennedy.

I like that technically Edge can claim being undefeated. I mean, he was never pinned or submitted, nor was he participating in the match when it ended. Therefore he can claim to jump the loop hole and have it be a nondecision on his record, if WWE chooses to allow him to play this card and continue to promote him as undefeated.

Now that Kennedy has been given the MITB, they better not fuck it up. He had been buried the past few months up until now. So now that that burial is forgotten and he has a new lease, they need to run with it.
Hopefully they don't make the mistake of pushing him to fast and/or changing him to a face.
He needs to be put in a few meaningful fueds. I'd like to see him fued with Benoit and capture the US title as well and get pushed for that, have him lose the US belt down the road but not cleanly. Then I'd like to see him pushed to cash in his MITB sometime around Survivor Series.

I smell a Hardy Boys vs Rated RKO fued. It's clear that they'll be continuing the Cena/HBK angle so that takes Edge and Orton out of the main event for another month or two.

They should have Edge and Orton put aside differences and be on the same page again, to fued with The Hardys. Then have them break up and fued after that.

Had a bit of a crew going on here for Mania, as is tradition.

One of my mates, who has watched wrestling since around 1990, declared that Cena winning was the last straw for him... he's sworn off wrestling altogether now. I must admit that it is getting very stale now, I wanted Shawn Michaels to win, just for something different more than anything else.

Batista and The Undertaker had a surprisingly good match there.... as good as Cena/Michaels was (for the most part anyway - there were some very patchy periods in that match too) I'm thinking that Batista vs Undertaker should have gone on last.

I didn't think it was possible but Donald Trump just snatched the "Worst Stunner" award away from Linda McMahon. That match was a lot more entertaining than I had anticipated, but one thing Vince knows how to do is book a fun match that disguises the limitations of his workers... at least when somebody important is involved, such as himself. He knows all the shortcuts, he took them, and the results were good.

MITB was a good effort, didn't mind Kennedy winning, Edge bump looked nasty, a bit baffling because guys were way overselling, laying around at ringside for obscene amounts of time between periods of activity, but it was good.

I liked the Kane/Khali bodyslam spot, but the rest of that match was a bore and the squashing of Kane was an insult to a veteran of the company.

Lumberjills match.... what did you expect? A classic? Ashley looked more competant than she had any right to, but doubt she will get much credit for it from the IWC. WWE should not have booked someone with her limited training and experience in the showcase women's match at WrestleMania, but she held her own out there, and Melina can't take all of the credit for it.

I enjoyed the ECW match as a little filler. Nothing spectacular but then it was never supposed to be.

Surprised to see the ole Doctor Of Style, Slick. I was literally thinking about Slick a few hours before the show as I belted out Jive Soul Bro on my car CD player in work. I wondered if he would ever get Hall Of Fame recognition and started thinking about how you never hear anything about him anymore. Hey presto, a few hours later, there he is at WrestleMania. That is pretty weird.

The backstage dancing skit wasn't a patch on last year's Booker T "legend's walk" segment, or the Okerlund/Heenan/Moolah/Mae skit from the year before. Nice to see Slick, I.R.S., Steamboat etc. in full gimmick mode, though.

April 1st and no Gimmick Battle Royal? Missed opportunity.

Surprised to see Benoit take the win. Match was okay, but Benoit isn't the wrestler he was 2 years ago. Anticlimactic ending came out of nowhere too.

This years WrestleMania fell into the same category as last year's to me... better than it looked on paper, but still a lot of room for improvement. Just think... if WWE is churning out very good WrestleManias that look dire on paper, just imagine what they would produce if they put together a match card that had potential in the first place!

Also, if that 80,000+ attendance figure is accurate, they actually outdrew WrestleMania 3... of course, they could never admit that now because the company line has been "93,175" for all these years. They have fallen into the trap of exaggerating things to an extent that when they better themselves, they can't really shout out the fact because they would be admitting that the previous record was bullshit.

I believe SummerSlam '92 still remains the (genuine) highest attendance for a WWE PPV, but WrestleMania 23 came very close... again, assuming that the attendance they announced at the show was genuine, which is a big assumption with WWE.

What happened to those rap performances that were supposed to have taken place? Timbaland and someone else? Where was Bob Uecker, he was supposed to be there!?

what was that? Wrestlemania or judgement day? because i couldn't tell

Highly doubt it's accurate. Capacity was announced like last week as around 75k, I think.

They usually release more tickets on the day of the show, and it the day or two preceding it when all their production needs are determined and finalised... still an extra 5000 is a lot.

Funny how the people who didn't like where the ones posting on TPWW at the time. I wonder if there's anything to be learned from that...

I'm aware. In any case, pretty much every attendance figure at nearly every wrestling show, from WWE down to the lowliest indy, is exaggerated. So even with newly released tickets, I doubt the number is accurate.

Thing is, being a public limited company and all, don't their figures have to be 100% accurate nowadays?

I mean in 1987, they could have said that there were 250,000 people in there with no fear of reprisals. But in 2007, surely stating there are more paying customers at a venue than there are could be conceived as misrepresentation of the success of their company?

I thought it was a decent WrestleMania. Nothing spectacular, but it was entertaining.

Well, it's one thing to do a show that draws 200 people and inflate that figure to 1500. That's misrepresentation. But to take a show that drew a legit 75,000 and add another 5000 onto that? Don't think anyone really cares.

Good WrestleMania in my opinion.

I'm just wondering what the hell the WWE are going to do when HBK and the Undertaker finally retire...

Cena managed to have a stupider entrance than last year. That entrance was fucking retarded. I love how Cena will sell an injury for a bit and then completely forget about it. Blah. I could have bought a quick 3 count out of nowhere or something (even that would still be dumb) but the STFU finish was retarded.

What a blah show.

Though the Head shaving match was hillarious.

I cant believe some of the reactions im seeing here...This was an awful wrestlemania. how can anyone praise it?

and Cena's entrance would have been better if the camera didnt catch the actual driver getting into the back so Cena could pop out

my feelings exactly

I enjoyed it. I thought all the main matches delivered. Cena vs. HBK was intense near the end.

I'm still waiting for something interesting to happen.

Oh and I hope Taker buries Kennedy.

Pretty much sums up my feelings.

The best part is that it was painfully obvious he and the stunt driver were switching spots. But yeah, it was retarded. But it doesn't top last year's. I'm hoping nothing can possibly top that retarded abomination.

Anyway, overall, I'd call it a just below average WrestleMania. It wasn't the worst (there are much worse ones than this was), but it wasn't averagely good for a Mania either. It was enjoyable for the most part.

Sure, they understand. But look at all the people that still say Mania's special.

They know the morons will still buy it.

Which is fucking retarded, one way or the other.

What did he need a "stunt driver" for?

I'm pissed off. I really wasn't going to order this until everyone was saying "OMG IT'S WRESTLEMANIA" so I gave in, I ordered it.

And I'm fucking disappointed.

The PPV as a whole was absolutely shit.
Lets start with MITB. It was terrible. The whole thing was so slow paced and really felt like it was missing something. MITB the last 2 years was amazing and full of action. The spots in this year's one were few and far between. And I was bored for the whole match.

Kane vs. Khali? Why?

MVP vs. Benoit. This was nothing greater than an average match you'd see on smackdown. It seems that wrestlerts don't step it up a gear for WM anymore.

Undertaker/Batista match was the only good match on the card. I actually enjoyed this one.

ECW match was not no DQ. How does that make sense. It's WRESTLE FUCKIN MANIA. Why not make it no DQ and make it a bit special? Have the ECW stars winning by battling hardcore, the way they are used to? It was a less than average tag team match.

Head shaving match was watchable because of Austin. The match itself was crap. Austin was entertaining...but no surprises. It's wrestlemania, I thought they'd throw in a few surprises like The Rock coming down or something. Too predictable.

Womens match. I've seen some really great womens matches. So it makes me sad to KNOW that they can put on great matches, but they don't. This is wrestlemania, why not just put on a great match? Instead we get the standard piss-break women's match that we are all used to.

HBK/John Cena was a good match. Nothing special, not as good as the Batista/Taker match, but nonetheless, it was good. Cena wins again with the STFU. Why have the same finish as last year? And once again, no surprises.

No match had the wrestlemania feel. Nothing BIG happened, no surprises, no matches that we will be talking about for years to come. This wrestlemania will be forgotten quickly, there was absolutely nothing special about it. And I'm sorry I wasted my time and money on it.

His entrance was basically Fast and the Furious-type "trick" driving in a Mustang. I'd honestly be surprised if he didn't have a stunt driver.

Please.

Cena's got mad driving skills.

Infact call him John "Spark Plugg" Cena.

JR: BAHGAWD THE WINDSHIELD WIPER SLAM! SPARKY CENA HIT THE WINDSHIELD WIPER SLAM! 1! 2! VRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM 3!

It wasn't spectacular, like a WrestleMania should be, but it wasn't awful. Sure, some of the matches could have gone longer and should have, but I think it was still a solid show. Some people will never be satisfied.

What was with Vince's backstage promo? That was terrible. I mean, firstly I could barely hear what he was saying, and on top of that it seemed totally boring and just plain waffling on anyway.

And of course, the thing that bugged me the most... the camera in the baby carriage. WTF? Was the baby holding a camera?

So does anyone know anything about Edges condition? That spot was fucking sick.

Well WWE is like a family farm, you're put to work as soon as you're old enough to coo and giggle.

See, you were supposed to believe you were seeing Vince through the baby's eyes. Sort of like when you, the fans in the arena, and the announcers all saw Warrior even though only Hogan could see him.

Also, given the post-mania reactions...:lol: Destor.

I was surprised by Benoit's victory and pretty shocked by the ECW Originals getting the win.

lmao @ Vince while getting shaved, "Ah, fuck this" (never played up and probably hard to catch, but I happened to notice it), JR with, "Lashley has got balls.", the fan jumping into the ring during the main event entrances, and also the ref manhandling Cena.

That fan looked like he was going after Michaels.

Fucking Cena mark.

:D @ Michaels waving goodbye to him though.

I place more money on the guy being a die hard Bret Hart mark.

Come to think of it, Cena really is a lousy worker. He was great at selling that leg injury, then out of nowhere he just hulks up and it was like he just discovered Enzyte or something. It just magically disappeared.

why cena.... how long has he held that fucking title now. No wait, how long has that effin' spinner been on the title

He's got Hogan's Disease.

It's a very serious condition, and I am appalled that people would mock him for it.

It, along with Alcoholism, are the only two diseases you can get yelled at for.

this is mania tho.

ALL of the matvhes should deliver.
Last year, the undercard matches like Edge vs foley, MITB, mickey james vs trish, heck even mark henry vs taker was ok...

This mania blew IMO. of the main matches:
Taker VS Batista was good.
Cena VS Michaels was average, Shawn's worst mania match in years tho
Lashley VS Umaga was dull, and was only saved by Austin and McMahon.
Ashley vs Melina was horrible.
MITB was good

The rest of the matches were just filler because the storylines for them were poorly constructed.
ECW match was good but short, just seeing RVD in a match like that makes me think "you screwed up big time RVD."
Kan vs Khali was terrible
MVP VSBenoit was possibly the match of the night, but with a dull storyline, it never really had me captivated

The MITB was good.

MVP really impressed me, that was a good wrestling match right there

And both the title matches were very good, with lots of emotion in them, I feel this was due to the older gentlemen in both these matches who know how to carry a guy.

Overall lackluster mania, nothing horrible, just nothing great, which is a shame as the build was quite good for it.

It was a good PPV, which made it sub-par as WrestleMania goes.
I'm glad The Undertaker is getting a title run. Hopefully it'll mean something and go beyond backlash.
As of HBK tapping out to the STFU...... part of me died.

So what you're saying is that this year's Wrestlemania BROKE IT. Right? Although Cena won, so did that MAKE IT?

:p



Anyway, judging by the variance in responses here, I'm starting to think that the diluted quality of PPV's over the past five years (getting more and more average with each year) has accustomed a lot of us to mediocrity, so that when you have a show that's decent (which this WM was, as a PPV by itself), people go "oh hey, that was good, pretty nice, etc... etc..."

Judging WM 23 from a pure PPV perspective, I think it was a good show. Meaning, say this was Judgment Day or Unforgiven. People would have been like, "Whoa, this was really good!" or "Great show!" and stuff (assume it'd be adjusted to normal PPV length).

But judging it as a Wrestlemania, it just lacks pizzazz. Yeah, definitely not the worst ever, but it just came off as blasse. It was a whole lot of style and not a lot of substance. It's as though Vince thought the big pyros, amazing stage, flash, glam, falling cash, custom entrances, and skits would make up for absolutely nothing happening from a storyline perspective (except Taker going 15-0... that's really it in terms of any significant major storyline evolutions) and average wrestling.



I only say all of this because I'm honestly a bit surprised by the reactions I'm getting from some people who I would have expected to be more critical about the show. Or maybe it's just that the steady dilution of the product has just led to a lot of us not caring, so if it doesn't suck ass, we don't waste the energy to critique it.

Bummer. Cena won.

Did the PPV take up all the time available? Because as I'm reading some of the later posts when I left, this cut out early than expected.

Yeah the match ended with around 20-25 mins left.

Awww look at the little baby. He looks like he's gonna cry.

http://www.wwe.com/shows/wrestlemania/photos/43.jpg

The amount of time it took for the whole "build-up segment, match, head shave" of the BotB, we coulda got London + Kendrick VS Worlds Greatest Tag Team, and Chavo Guerrero VS Jimmy Wang Yang. Or something along those lines.

Hell, throw in Cenas, Batistas and Undertakers entrances and we coulda had a whole other PPV.

WWE never (even years back) fills up the whole 2/3/4 hours. I believe they only have until 10-5 of the hour, but they almost always wind up being at the 2:45 mark.

Worst Wrestlemania Ever

No.

:y:

lol not even close.

I just finished watching it. Pure shit.

Watch Wrestlemania 2 and IX before saying that.

I'm sorry but one would think that by the twenty third attempt they'd be able to make ONE PPV a year memorable. They have not done that this year. Wrestlemania 23 was shit. No Wrestlemania feeling to it. Just sucky sucky sucky.

Half of y'all must have just read the online reports. I watched it and thought it was a great show. It wasn't the greatest show of all time, but you can't expect every WrestleMania to be the greatest show of all time. Kane/Khali was the only disappointing match to me. I will admit that I yelled "son of a bitch" and "fuck" repeatedly after the Cena/HBK finish.

What about the people who said they saw it and still didn't like it, James?

Maybe, just maybe...Not everyone's as impressed by shinies.

While you can't expect every WrestleMania to be the greatest show of all time, it is supposed to be the greatest show of the year.

I took over 100 pics with my digital camera. But I'll only show off a few of the decent looking ones for now, since most came out pretty dark.
Outside, heading to Ford Field.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y68/RG810/100_0148.jpg
Me inside waiting for the show to start.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y68/RG810/100_0161.jpg
Aretha with America the Beautiful.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y68/RG810/100_0178.jpg
Kennedy retrieving the MITB.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y68/RG810/100_0204.jpg
Divas Entrance.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y68/RG810/100_0260.jpg
Cena celebration.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y68/RG810/100_0298.jpg

Well by the end of the year it might just be the greatest show of the year.

I agree.

Yo what section were you RGWhat? I was in Riser 27. Some of your pics look like you were real close to where I was.

My thoughts on WM...

*ahem*

Not very good.

Rename it Armageddon and put it in December and it is a very good pay-per-view.

As a WrestleMania... knowing we only get this build and the whole WrestleMania atmosphere ONCE in a year, it was horrible. For all the reasons already given, it just sucked.

I was riser section 21, row 17. Had to zoom in for most of my pics so they look closer.

Overall, I'd say 3.75/5. Sure there was nothing spectacular, but this year's Mania is only getting shitty responses because of the fact that 80,000+ fans at Ford Field couldn't be more vocal, and that's really all I have to say other than that I am glad Undertaker has the World Title now, and that V.K.M. looks pretty :rofl: bald.

As far as crowd noise is concerned, I thought it was pretty loud in there at times. I'm guessing it didn't come across too good on tv, and I think the reason for that is how huge the building is. With how many people were there and how big that place was, it was hard to get really good chants going. Compared to Chicago last year, which was rocking, but also due to a smalller building where the noise comes together more.

Yeah I didn't hear one huge chant all night. It was all coming from different sections.

Taker and Batista looked like the only ones going all out for Mania, and it showed as their match was probably the best.

The rest of the show was pretty average, especially Cena's no-selling and winning the exact same way as last year.

Money In The Bank was very lazily thought out. Example: Wouldn't it be cool for Edge to spear everyone, and then for Orton to RKO everyone?

Very underwhelming.

The spot that Edge and Jeff had was pretty sick IMO...yeah minus the whole 5-6 finishers in a row, it was a great match.

I see a trend here

Why is there only 388 replies? Did 90% of TPWW attend WM 23?

:lol:

I am slowly turning into a Juan mark right now.

We need to stop dissecting everything and just enjoy the shows, man...

They'd have to be more enjoyable first

:y:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...dNecroCArd.jpg

Three years dead, lol.