Official Wrestlemania 23 Thread

[Jordan]

I buckled and decided to order Wrestlemania 23, and I am sure glad that I did. From top to bottom it was a really great show to watch and great achivement for the WWE. Money in the Bank was a wild hard hitting sick match full of some really stiff bumps. Kane v.s Khali was better than I expected, not good but not unbearable, plus a surprise victory was nice. Benoit v.s MVP was good, it will elevate MVP a litttle bit, and made Benoit look strong. Undertaker v.s Batista was perhaps MOTN and deffinatly a MOTYC. They went at it nonstop viciously and did some new things we haven't seen either of them do. Takers entrance was the shit and LOL at Batista obviously fucking up his entrance. New Breed v.s The Originals was decent and served its purpose. It really should have been a little longer and had extreme rules. Umaga v.s Lashley was a very entertaining match but in the style of the McMahon Wrestlemania style match. It had a lot of great moments as a match and the end was pretty funny. The Womens Title Match was decent and short, I wish they would have stripped each other down in the big brawl finish, woulda been nice. The main event was the shit, both guys were on fire and the match was just sweet.

Wrestlemania was everything I wanted it to be this year, perhaps on of my favorites of all time.

[SammyG]

What Jordan X said. I really enjoyed it.

[Jeritron]

Can't deny the day and the event had the feel. The big time feel. The event and venue and everything went off well. Great production.

felt the crowd was too tame, but this is probably because of the size.


As for quality, naturally I was left with a sour taste in my mouth but it really went off well. Cena/Michaels was a pretty good match, especially towards the end. Just didn't like the outcome but at least Bats lost.
Was very pleased with MITB
MVP vs Benoit, suprisingly decent.
Couldn't believe the originals won but thats great.

Overall I felt it was okay, just because I was left unahppy doen'st mean I'll knock the show it was good. But I think it would have benefited from one or two more matches and a few more backstage interviews and segments. Felt like it was just the matches with very little flow and segue.

[SammyG]

I had no audio for the Cena match. Did he get booed out of the building? Was it like last year in Chicago?

[Jordan]

I think it was one of the biggest PPVs I have ever seen, It had that huge time feel, everything was just perfect oldschool style wrestling. It was sweet.

[What Would Kevin Do?]

Meh.

I watched it, but didn't really get into it at all. MITB was decent as were a few other matches. Definitly good quality for WWE. However, after going to the 2 shows I went to on Fri and Sat, WM was horrible in comparrison.

[Blitz]

K, maybe my view is skewed because I was their live, but I thought it was an excellent show. Some thoughts.

-I hate wrestling fans. 94% of them are complete tards. Behind me, and in front of me, were about 10 of the dumbest fans I've ever seen. Wanted to kill them.

-Production was awesome. Stage was huge, pyros were huge, everything was great. Nearly every entrance was fun to watch.

-There was a dark match: Carlito and Flair beat Chavo Guerrero and Gregory Helms in a lumberjack match. Nothing special.

-Money In The Bank was pretty good. Interesting to note that Kennedy out-popped Punk, and Matt Hardy came close to out-popping Kennedy.

-Kane/Khali was predictably awful. Trying to recreate Hogan slamming Andre with Kane slamming Khali was just dumb.

-Maybe it's just me, but I think Ricky Steamboat coming into a promo, and doing a martial arts pose and yell should be the new "DAMN!".

-Benoit/MVP. Probably tied for 2nd best match of the night with MITB. MVP was great here. The guy can go. I may need to start watching Smackdown just for him.

-The Trump/Boogeyman segment was just......bizarre.

-Undertaker/Bats was good, but of course it didn't rival Savage/Steamboat like Dancin' Dave promised. Taker's entrance was amazing.

-Originals/New Breed. Nothing much to say here. Not a bad match, but not memorable at all.

-Battle of the Billionaires. They did the right thing, bumping Austin and involving Shane. Kept Umaga and Lashley from putting on a stinker. The looks on Vince's face post-match were tremendous.

-Melina/Ashley. Terrible, as everyone knew it would be. Thankfully short.

-HBK/Cena. Cena had a very strange night. Anytime he was in a video package, loud boos. When he came out, loud boos. When he won, great pop. Odd. Anyways, this was match of the night. Both guys were on their game, and all the trading of finishers was done well.

Overall, show was like an 8/10. I knew Khali/Kane and Ashley/Melina would suck. Everything else was better than I thought it'd be. If you had the opportunity to go to this show and didn't, or you had tickets and sold them, you made a mistake.

Will upload some pics from the show shortly.

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

I actually ordered this shit with a couple of kids down the hall lol

The Money in the Bank match was really good. Kennedy's head hitting the ladder, and front flipping off the top of the ladder with a midget on his shoulders was fucking crazy. Plus was that move on Edge planned on? I remember hearing he was legitmately injuried before the match so I figured it was planned.

Wrestling is some funny shit though

[Jura]

Originally Posted by sTiMa34 I actually ordered this shit with a couple of kids down the hall lol The Money in the Bank match was really good. Kennedy's head hitting the ladder, and front flipping off the top of the ladder with a midget on his shoulders was fucking crazy. Plus was that move on Edge planned on? I remember hearing he was legitmately injuried before the match so I figured it was planned. Wrestling is some funny shit though

When I heard Edge got carried out I immediately thought that since he was injured, he can claim that he didn't really lose and his streak is still intact. I figured this is so they can keep his streak and yet let Kennedy win.

[Kane Knight]

Originally Posted by jura When I heard Edge got carried out I immediately thought that since he was injured, he can claim that he didn't really lose and his streak is still intact. I figured this is so they can keep his streak and yet let Kennedy win.

Which is fucking retarded, one way or the other.

[Jordan]

It was hard to tell, in the big arenas the sound rises quickly, but he got booed for almost everything he did I belive, eventually he geared up some fans though.

[Jordan]

The Edge/Jeff Hardy ladder bump was one of the sickest things since Mick Foley HITC.

[Blitz]

PICS

The sea of humanity outside Ford Field



The sea of humanity inside Ford Field



PYRO



Stage during...I think Taker's entrance



Stage during Shawn's entrance. I found it odd that Shawn had no problem entering in front of what sort of looked like a burning cross.

[Jeritron]

I wouldn't go that far man, it was cool but it wasn't anything more impressive than the normal TLC. It was clearly a special ladder.


I thought the event was very good, but for some damn reason (and it may just be me) I felt like it didn't have much of a flow like they have in the past.
What I mean is having backstage segments and interviews throughout the card. As well as it seemed as though the commentary teams were kinda quiet and didn't do much "sending it back to.." or "send it over to.."
I dont know why, just seemed this way.
It was like each match would happen then there'd just be a commercial and the announce team would start fresh for a new match. Very patchy.

Small complaint for a decent show though. Certainly a fine wrestlemania, and I know many will knock it just because of how it ended but whatever.

[RGWhat316]

I just got back from the show a little bit ago, almost 2 hours to get home from Ford Field and I live 25 miles away.

I really can't give good details on matches, cus there were only parts that I saw. I was in the riser sections, and if you weren't in the first couple rows, you were basically 50 rows back since the risers didnt actually rise up too much from the main floor.

However, the spectacle was really there. The video screen entrances were really cool. Crowd seemed into most of the night. Probably except the ECW, Womens, and US title matches. The ECW guys seem to try to hard to get the rest of the crowd into the match.

Was surprised that MITB was the first match of the night. But awesome to see Kennedy win it.

But I was pissed at the finish of the main event. I just can't believe that Cena retained again after what happened at WM 22. Same type of hostile crowd, and same STFU finish. There seemed to be so many people upset at the end. But it was still a fun day. And now I think I can wait to go to more live events, since I did 3 in 3 days. Monday will be rest day.

[Blitz]

Originally Posted by RGWhat316 I really can't give good details on matches, cus there were only parts that I saw. I was in the riser sections, and if you weren't in the first couple rows, you were basically 50 rows back since the risers didnt actually rise up too much from the main floor.

My seats were in the 7th row of the risers. They were great.

Sure, a lot of standing up was necessary, but I expected as much.

[Corkscrewed]

Geez, that IS a fucking huge set! Nice pics!

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

Just a few other things I noticed, why didn't HBK shake Cena's hand after the match? I assume he was "in character" when he did but still seemed kind of pointless..and am I the only who noticed that neither of them brought the tag team titles out? Also, who else thought The Rock was gonna come out and grab McMahon when he was trying to run away? For some reason I really thought he was going to lol, same deal with Triple H making a run in during HBK/Cena but I guess I was wrong about that too.

[Blitz]

Special thanks to Corky for finally pushing me onto the next rep level. Good lookin' out, bro.

[Jeritron]

probably the best entrance way in wrestlemania history.

[SammyG]

Stima, I thought the Rock was gonna run out at that moment as well.

[SammyG]

I was expecting Mcmahon to make a run in, making Cena heel.

[Jeritron]

That's what I was hoping for. I'm dying to be swerved just once, where's Russo when you need him...

[Jeritron]

I think the opinion of this above average mania will fall below average because of 2 things.
The ending.
The small amount of matches.

With one more big match and a tag match, this could have been a bigger event.

With a swerve at the end...damn. That would have been good.

[Jura]

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.

[Shisen Kopf]

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.

[SammyG]

Why was Timbaland not there?

[Jeritron]

Kennedy killing Hornswaggle was a Wrestlemania Moment

[Jeritron]

...bank.

[SammyG]

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

[Jura]

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

[Skippord]

Decent show

fuck Cena

[SammyG]

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

[Jaton]

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

[D Mac]

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

[SammyG]

Damn right you shoulda bet on Kennedy.

[Jeritron]

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.

[Jeritron]

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.

[NeanderCarl]

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!

[Boondock Saint]

Originally Posted by NeanderCarl better than it looked on paper, but still a lot of room for improvement.

Pretty much sums up my feelings.