WrestleMania 29 Reaction!

WrestleMania. The biggest show in WWE's industry. The showcase of Immortals. Let's see how the show went. BIG crowd. BIG arena. LITTLE hype.

Pre-Show:

The Pre-Show was pretty damn good. Reminded me of Sunday Night Heat. An hour long, covering all the matches, and we have a panel now. This Scott Sanford guy, Jim Ross (who should be commentating), Kofi Kingston, and The "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes.

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match

Wade Barrett (c) vs The Miz

Not much of a feud between these two, but these two had a nice little match. Back and forth and not much lagging or lull in the action. I'm not a fan of the characters, but I know Barrett and Miz can go in the ring. A short match to set the pace, and Miz wins with the figure four. Miz is the new IC Champion like I called.

The Pre-Show closed with one last look at The Rock and John Cena.

Not a bad Pre-Show. I remember when they had Sunday Night Heat before each pay-per-view in the Attitude Era showing promo packages highlighting the main feuds and I loved that. This was a nice little show to get everybody hyped and ready for WrestleMania. JR and Kofi were the two best commentators/analysts. I would've preferred it was just those two to be honest.

And now, on to WrestleMania!

WrestleMania 29:

No celebrity singing the National Anthem. We instead get a video covering Hurricane Sandy. Ok? Moving on.

We get a pretty sweet video package and it's time to get this show started!

6 Man Tag Team Match
Randy Orton, Sheamus, & The Big Show vs The Shield

WrestleMania kicks off with the The Shield taking on Randy Orton, Big Show, and Sheamus. The fans were HOT for The Shield. Everything about these guys is great. I've said it on many occassions, so I won't repeat myself. I'll get to the match.

Definitely one of The Shield's shorter matches, but you don't want a LONG opener for WrestleMania, so this match was satisfying. The Shield looked great in their Mania debut. They kept that fast pace and quick tags. Rollins looked like he took one too many flying moves because when went for a suicide dive, he looked he flew right into the barricade.

Show was in for a while, but Sheamus was the best member of that team. He brought it tonight. The ending saw Orton reaching out and stealing a tag from Show and that was a theme in this match. Orton didn't want to tag Big Show. Reigns hit his HUGE spear on Orton and Ambrose got the cover and win while Show didn't do anything.

After the match, Show knocked out both Orton and Sheamus because he literally only got ONE tag in the match. Specifically, it was Orton who didn't want to tag him in. So, this whole time, I thought Orton would turn heel, but he sort of did. He acted a little heelish to a Big Show who was trying to be good.

Maybe a Show/Orton feud in the works?

All in all, The Shield looked great in their WrestleMania debut and scored a strong win over Show, Sheamus, and Orton. It was a decent opener missing a little something, but a good match to get the crowd riled up. Maybe now, The Shield can move on to other things. Sheamus can move on. Show will probably go on to feud with Orton after tonight.

But what does The Shield move on to? They've beaten every top star in the WWE? Where is this going? We'll have to wait and see.

Ryback vs Mark Henry

This is one of the matches I was looking forward and I was underwhelmed.

Love Mark Henry. His attitude, theme music and Monster gimmick. Ryback was supposed to be his Kryptonite, but didn't look like it here.

The started with a staredown and got it on. Mark Henry dominated pretty much the whole match, making Ryback look very weak in the bulk of the match.

Here's where I get confused. Ryback start to build momentum and hits the meat hook clothesline. He gets him up for the Shellshock, but Henry grabs the rope, Ryback crumbles under the weight and falls and Henry gets the win. What?

But then Ryback hits the Shellshock and celebrates. He didn't win the match. Yeah, he looks strong, but HE DIDN'T WIN THE MATCH. Ryback has jobbed the last 5 pay-per-views. I'm not a big Ryback fan, but constantly losing makes him look very weak.

That was bad. Really one sided and Ryback didn't get the win. And they were pushing him as one of the top faces? He needs to WIN some pay-per-view matches first.

WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Team Hell No (c) vs Dolph Ziggler & Big E. Langston (w/AJ Lee)

Tag Team Championship Match for the first time in 3 years. I was excited to see this match. I was hoping Team Hell No dropped the belts, but boy was I wrong.

The match itself was another short one. Bryan and Ziggler worked a bulk of the match. Big E. looked strong in his debut. He manhandled Kane and when he was in, he displayed a lot of power moves. I'm not a fan of this guy yet, but he could grow on me.

I like the tease they did with Bryan/Ziggler/AJ. They were trying to do to Ziggler what Sheamus did to Bryan last year. That was funny. I would've been legit upset if the match ended there.

Not much to say with this match. It was a good match, don't get me wrong. I felt like it could've been a little longer. Too short, and seemed rushed. Kane and Bryan double team Ziggler and Bryan picks up the win after a flying headbutt.

Team Hell No wins and retains the tag titles. Ok, I like Team Hell No. I really do, but their tag team title reign has gotten very stale. This was a fresh feud for the tag team scene, and I really thought Ziggler and Big E. were going to walk away with the belts, but I guess WWE still wants Team Hell No to parade around with the tag titles. I hope this feud isn't over. I would like to see these two teams feud a little more.

Chris Jericho vs Fandango

The WrestleMania debut for FANDANGO and he's taking on Chris Jericho. Fandango had a pretty cool entrance with multiple exotic dancers. Fancy entrance for a guy who's making his debut at WrestleMania.

I was excited to see this match and it didn't disappoint. Jericho dominated a bulk of the match, but when Fandango got it going, he pulled off some great moves. The kid sold moves well, when he countered Jericho, he hit a great kick, and he can get some air when he wants to. I thought it was over when he hit that legdrop. Jericho wasn't going to be outdone hitting the spot of the match with a BIG cross body on the outside.

Something I liked about this match is that it had a fast pace to it. When they moved slow, it wasn't for the whole match, it would be for a little while. These two guys put on a show in that ring and told a good story. It was physical, fast, and had a good pace. Not too long, or short. Great match. Ending saw Fandango counter Jericho and get him into a small package for the upset win. It could'be been executed better, but it was nice that the upstart heel got the win over the top face.

Not surprised here in the least to be honest. Who didn't think Fandango would win? For a guy who's first match was at WrestleMania, I say he did a damn good job. It also helped that he had a guy like Chris Jericho to work with. The ending was VERY sloppy, but the rest of the match was good.

I don't think this feud is over. I'm not sure how long Jericho is around for after tonight, but if he's sticking around for a while, I would love to see this feud continue.

Match of the Night so far for me. I may be biased because I like this Fandango guy, but this was still a good match.

For all the people complaining about Jericho losing, he's back to PUT PEOPLE OVER. Get over it. It's his job. You can't build new stars by having them lose. Jericho is being a company guy.

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Alberto Del Rio (c) vs Jack Swagger

The World Heavyweight Championship didn't last 18 seconds this year. Good start. Jack Swagger got a jobber entrance. As in, we didn't get to see him even enter the ring. I knew then, he wasn't going to win.

I'll keep this brief. The crowd was dead, but the match was pretty solid to me. It seemed sluggish and lagged at times, but it kept a consistent pace and we got to see a little interaction with Zeb Coulter and Ricardo on the outside. I really can't say much about this match. It was a good, solid match with one cool spot where Del Rio countered the ankle lock into his cross arm breaker. That was a great reversal. Never seen somebody counter the ankle lock like that before. Del Rio and Swagger wrestled as good as they could, but in the end, it felt like I was watching a SmackDown Main Event.

It's a shame. I had high hopes for this match. Don't get me wrong, it was good. I just felt like more could've been done with it.

Del Rio retains and Ziggler does NOT cash in. Told ya.

The Undertaker vs CM Punk

Most of the hype was on this match. A LOT of people were calling this the match of the show. I thought it was going to be slow and methodical, but I was blown away. Taker maybe an old man, but he can still work a damn good match and move like he's around his 30s.

This match started off fast and the crowd was HOT. Some of what Punk did in this match reminded me of what Randy Orton did in his match Undertaker at WrestleMania 21. He slapped Taker a few times to set the tone and get him riled up. They took it to the outside where Taker beat him down and dominated the early goings in this match. Taker missed a big boot in the corner and Punk took advantage. He hit a great crossbody, did old school, and dominated the latter parts of this match. They went back and forth a few times, but ultimately, they wanted to make Punk look dominant for most of this match and this man was good. Punk hasn't wrestled in a while, so I forgot how good he actually is in the ring.

Let's move on a little bit. Punk tries to pull a Shane McMahon later in the match hit an elbow from the turnbuckle to Taker on the announce table. Unfortunately for them, the tables don't break as easily as they used to. The ref gets knocked out and Punk uses the urn to drop the Undertaker. Punk does Undertaker's pin much like HHH at WrestleMania 27 and he kicks out! Taker hits the Tombstone and Punk kicks out! I gotta admit, I'm not a fan of the whole kicking out of finishers thing except when it's at WrestleMania.

CM Punk goes for the GTS one last time, but Taker comes back with a sweet reversal and hits the Tombstone for the 2nd time. 1, 2, 3!

21-0.

THAT is now Match of the Night. It's gonna be a tough act to follow without question. The pace in this match was so well done. Taker proved he can still work a good match at his age and Punk showed he can hang with The Deadman. This was a great match. BUT Taker vs HHH in Hell in a Cell last year was better, and there no point where I said, "OMG IT'S OVER!" but this was a great match for those who said Taker didn't have it anymore. I'll put this in Taker's top 10. Maybe.

This match really reminded me of Orton vs Taker at WrestleMania 21. Go back and watch that match. You'll see I'm right. Only difference here is the crowd was better and the match was longer.

The Streak will never die. Is Taker done? After tonight, he can probably do this for one more year or two. I heard Punk was going to take time off so I'm not sure if he'll be on RAW tomorrow night.

This will be a tough act to follow.

No Holds Barred
Triple H vs Brock Lesnar

This was the match I thought would be match of the night, but it didn't really live up to what I thought.

This was a GREAT brawl, but I expected a little more from it. There was a lack with weapon use. They barely used the chairs and HHH only used the sledgehammer ONCE. It started out fast and Lesnar suplexed HHH through the announce table that Punk tried to break earlier. I liked the story they built. Lesnar is a Monster so I'm not surprised that he dominated almost the whole match. I think it would've been better that instead of punishing him with wrestling holds, it would've been more suitable in a No Holds Barred Match to punish him with weapons, make him bleed, make him suffer. This is what this match needed.

Anyway, it picked up more towards the end when Brock Lesnar introduced the steps into the match hitting Triple H with them twice. Triple H came back and tried to use Brock Lesnar's submission move to beat him and Lesnar powered out of it THREE times, showing how strong he is. It would've been pretty weak to make Lesnar, a former UFC Heavyweight Champion, TAP OUT to his own submission move.

Triple H hits the pedigree on the steps for the win over Lesnar. Not too surprised there.

Great brawl. I'll say that. It towed the line between wrestling and brawling. Lesnar dominated the match to push his Monster gimmick so that HHH could stage that comeback. The fans were drained from Taker/Punk so they didn't get loud until the closing moments of this match. It got good and they turned it up. As a old school guy, I needed to see more violence in this match. It seemed too laid back and normal for a No Holds Barred match. The match told a great story, but more violence, adds to that story. Great match though. I'm not taking anything away from the match. They worked their asses off. Just expected a little more.

8 Person Intergender Tag Team Match
Tons of Funk & The Funkadactyls vs Team Rhodes Scholars & The Bella Twins

The match didn't happen. All 8 of them got hosed. Poor Damien Sandow. Moving on.

WWE Championship Match
The Rock (c) vs John Cena

No special entrances for either men and no last minute hype/sell right before the match. Interesting.

Right off the bat, the crowd was a dud for a good portion of the match. The match started out much slower than last year. They spent like 5-10 minutes in the feeling out process trying to get the upper hand on each other. The crowd was bored. I liked the storytelling early on, but they spent just a tad bit too much time on it. It took a while for the match to really get going. There were a lot of holds and a very slow, methodical pace. And no, it wasn't because Rock was gassed. It's called selling. Sheesh.

Let's get to the part where the crowd woke up. Cena was going for the 5 knuckle shuffle and the crowd exploded with boos. Rock counters and goes for the People's Elbow and the crowd erupts! From that point on, it was an endless number of reversals, near falls, kicking out of finishers, and etc. Too much for me to even go into. I do know that Cena kicked out of THREE Rock Bottoms. THREE. Sheesh. I knew that only one thing could make this match better: Using each other's finishers! Cena used The Rock Bottom and I was waiting for Rock to use the AA, but it never happened. Cena reversed the Rock Bottom for the umpteenth time and hit the AA for the third time, if I remember correctly and got the win.

Rock and Cena then pulled a Rock/Hogan and shook hands in the middle of the ring. Cena left and Rock soaked in the cheers. This is most likely his sendoff. I'll miss The Rock unlike some marks that confuse him with David Arquette circa 2000. But The Rock made WWE watchable for a while when it was unwatchable. I thought he was advertised for Extreme Rules but I guess not.

Rock and Cena raise each other's arms at the top of the set and the pyro goes off.

Show ends.

NO CENA HEEL TURN! I told you WWE doesn't have the guts to turn Cena heel. Maybe now people will drop that subject because it's not going to happen. Cena is once again WWE Champion. Lord help us.

I'll admit, last year's Rock/Cena was better. Much better. Even the crowd was better last year. There was no 10 minute feeling out process and it was more fluid. It's weird because that was their FIRST meeting. You would think Part 2 would be better. As much as I don't like Cena, I admire the whole Rock/Hogan way to end the show. The match didn't have that one HUGE moment. It had good moments, but you kinda expected what was going to happen in this match.


So, THAT was WrestleMania. I will say this. WrestleMania 28 was better. MUCH better. It started off really good. I thought we were in for a show that blew WrestleMania 28 away, but nope. WM 29 was good, but I was expecting more. It didn't beat WrestleMania 28 in my view. I'll give it a 7/10. Generous number. Henry/Ryback was horrible, Rock/Cena was a letdown, and only ONE title changed hands. Tag Title match and Jericho/Fandango was too short, Del Rio/Swagger was meh, The Shield match was good, HHH/Lesnar was still good, but missed something, and Punk/Taker stole the show.

I enjoyed the show, but nothing about it was exciting. No twists, no turns, no HUGE moment that you'll go back watch over and over.

Let me know what you think.


Feel free to Comment.


By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete