It sure was a roller coaster of a Wrestlemania.  There were some pretty high highs, and some very low lows.  The show was designed to reminisce the older Wrestlemania cards with the big match feel.  And they successfully did that.  John Cena vs. The Rock was all that everyone talked about.  This show no doubt just broke the all time Pay Per View record for the most buys because of that match.  They decided to emphasize the WWE Championship, and the “End of an Era” match  as well, while making the rest of the show a true under card.  It was actually represented so much as an under card that half the show was over in the first hour.  Only three matches had emphasis put on them.  And only those three matches were good.

They decided to not use many backstage segments or videos this year.  Which I liked.  Although they had dozens of legends and Hall of Famer’s backstage such as DDP, Iron Sheik, Kevin Nash, Mike Tyson, etc… they only used Mick Foley as a guest in a segment.  Only CM Punk had a backstage interview before his match.  This was truly unique.  They also decided to use a new format where they would have one participant enter the ring, followed by the highlight video, then the second entrance.  I personally hated this concept.  Hype videos should only happen before entrances.  I felt that the separation in entrances killed too much tension.

Overall, it was a decent show.  Decent.  Three matches were very memorable.  The rest was pure garbage.  And I mean garbage.  The terrible musical acts added nothing to the show, the backstage segments were very weak, and there wasn’t any nostalgia other than the Triple H vs. Undertaker match.  Let’s take a look at the results for Wrestlemania 28.

Sheamus defeated Daniel Bryan to become the NEW World Heavyweight Champion- All of my followers will already know my reaction to this match.  Pure anger.  And I mean anger.  The match lasted 18 seconds.  Daniel Bryan had an epic entrance down the ramp to a gigantic pop from the crowd.  There were dozens of “Yes” signs in the first couple rows.  The crowd chanted Daniel Bryan very loudly.  Then the crowd began to chant “Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes.”  One of the biggest reactions of the entire night.  Daniel Bryan then had his pre match kiss with AJ.  When he turned around he was Brogue Kicked and pinned.  That was it.  I was in immediate shock.  I first contemplated throwing my phone through the television.  Then I contemplated turning the tv off and not watching the rest of the show.  The main thing that angers me is how Daniel Bryan has been talking for years about how exciting it would be to be in a main event of Wrestlemania.  I was immediately angry that they decided to put this match on first.  I also hate how they denied us this match for two consecutive years.  If you remember, this same match happened last year and was bumped from the Wrestlemania card.  It was a dark match.  I’m also angry that after an epic title run, Bryan lost his title quickly.  The main thing that angers me was how great his crowd reaction was…and then the outcome.  We were denied the chance to see an amazing show stealing match.  No matter how great the rest of the card could have been, this Wrestlemania already left a bad taste in my mouth because I was denied of watching Daniel Bryan on the biggest stage of them all.  I’m now going to make a shocking but completely true statement….The decision to have Daniel Bryan drop his title in 18 seconds at Wrestlemania 28 was the worst decision in wrestling history.  I stand by that statement.  This Wrestlemania was not great because the best wrestler in the world did not compete on it.  We were denied from the best possible product they could have put on.  I’ll have trouble sleeping tonight because of this.

Kane defeated Randy Orton- And he did it clean.  The clean part really surprised me.  The finish was a chokeslam off the second rope.  Since my Raw Recap article on Monday I decided that Kane probably would win this match.  I was thinking about how bad it would have buried Kane to lose to Cena and Orton on back to back Pay Per Views.  Orton had nothing to lose by jobbing in this match.  He’s been pretty successful during Wrestlemania the past few years.  The match was pretty standard and boring overall.  A basic psychology of Orton not being able to gain the upper hand.  As the match continued Orton realized that he needed to do something big to put Kane away.  When he went for that big risk off the top rope, he was caught in a chokeslam for the finish.  I figured Kane would win, but I wouldn’t have guessed that it would have been clean.  The match was pretty much a waste of time as we all expected.  Orton vs. Ziggler or Orton vs. Miz would have been much better.

Big Show defeated Cody Rhodes to become the NEW Intercontinental Champion- This match should have been the 18 second one like I predicted.  I honestly think that was the original plan.  Once people like me figured out their plans they decided to change it.  Hell they probably switched the Rhodes and Bryan 18 second thing in spite of me.  Rhodes immediately ran out of the ring as the match started to kill the quick finish thing.  From there the match was not very impressive.  There were several botches.  There was also an awkward moment where Big Show was groggy and had to spin around groggily because he was facing the wrong side.  He hit a pretty terrible and botched spear for the turn.  After that came the WMD for the finish.  Another big waste of time.

Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos defeated Beth Phoenix and Eve Torres- This match was awful.  The crowd chanted Daniel Bryan and “Yes Yes Yes” throughout most of the match.  They actually chanted for Daniel Bryan during the first 4 matches on this card.  Hopefully WWE got the picture on how much they dropped the ball on that match.  Maria flopped around the ring in this match and was carried by the heels.  Kelly Kelly actually used an impressive 450 Thesz Press off the top rope at one point.  That was the only highlight of the match.  They decided to job their Diva’s Champion who is supposed to be invincible, to a talk show host.  Maria got the win via rollup.  The crowd was pretty dead and the wrestling was pretty awful.

Undertaker defeated Triple H- Excellent story.  The match itsself was not great, but the story was amazing.  Both men had epic entrances.  Unfortunately the on set camera kept losing connection so most of Triple H’s was cut off.  I’m not quite sure why the Hell in a Cell was really needed.  There was only one spot where Triple H was rammed into the steel.  Shawn Michaels was really involved in this one.  He spent the early going being impartial.  Triple H began to dominate with a steel chair.  Multiple chair shots to the back of Undertaker.  And I mean multiple.  He must have hit him at least 20 times.  It sucks that they aren’t allowed to use chair shots to the head anymore.  That aspect was really missed here.  Chair shots to the back just isn’t the same and doesn’t have as much believable emphasis.  Triple H pleaded with Shawn to stop the match but he wouldn’t.  So Triple H turned to the sledgehammer.  He began to repeatedly beat Undertaker with the sledgehammer.  There was a point where Shawn thought about calling for the bell to stop it.  Triple H attempted a sledgehammer shot to the head, but Michaels stole it from behind.  Undertaker choked him out with the Hell’s Gate because of his attempt to throw the match.  Another referee came in but was chokeslammed.  Michaels regained consciousness and delivered Sweet Chin Music to the Undertaker.  That was a false finish near fall.  Undertaker eventually took back control and began to beat Triple H with the chair.  Then in reverse psychology from last year, Undertaker was in charge of putting Triple H down.  Triple H realized that he was finished, gave the “suck it” sign, and walked into a sledgehammer shot.  Shawn Michaels turned his back so that he did not have to watch the brutal finish.  Undertaker put Triple H down for good with a tombstone to become 20-0 at Wrestlemania.  The three walked out together and hugged on stage.  That hug could have signified the last match ever in the careers of Undertaker and Triple H.  What a classic moment these guys made tonight.

The Hall of Famers were introduced to the crowd.  Edge had tears in his eyes.  Mike Tyson kept doing the DX chop.

Team John Laurinaitis defeated Team Teddy Long- Each guy got their few minutes to wrestle.  Kofi, Truth, and Ryder hit a pretty cool triple 450 splash to the outside.  Great Khali was booed.  Ziggler was pretty good.  Mostly everyone else was pretty non existent.   Zack Ryder was tagged in for the final shine.  He took out both Ziggler and Miz.  He was about to win the match when Eve Torres got into the ring to do the “Woo woo woo” fist pumps with him for the Broski Kick.  When Ryder noticed she was in the ring he turned around to get her out.  Miz connected with the Skull Crushing Finale for the win.  I was very happy to see Miz get the pinfall.  Well deserved.  I was also happy to see Ryder involved in the finish.  Instead of making Ryder a non factor, which I feared they would do, they decided to make him a focal point of the match.  After the match was over Eve kicked Ryder in the balls.  A classic heel move.  I’m glad they decided to make the Ryder and Eve storyline more important than the GM storyline.  This whole match was basically booked to put Ryder over as a face.  Well booked.

Alex Rodriguez and Torrie Wilson were shown at ringside.  I threw up.  Way to ruin my night with a Yankee.

CM Punk defeated Chris Jericho- Match of the night.  They put on a psychology and a wrestling clinic.  Very stiff match.  Every move had a purpose.  A true classic.  Jericho’s jacket added the colors red and green to it.  That was impressive.  CM Punk had a massive entrance with fireworks that were set off behind the arena in an open field.  This is a match you must go back and see.  An excellent striking and submission based match.  The Walls of Jericho and Anaconda Vice counters were amazing.  The chain wrestling was great.  The psychology of the body was epic.  This truly was match of the night and one of the best wrestled matches in WWE history.  It was as good as I imagined it would be, plus more.  The only downside was that a late stipulation was added by Laurinaitis where if Punk was disqualified he would have lost his title.  Because of this new concept the beginning of the match was nothing but Jericho trying to get Punk to get himself disqualified.  I was worried for awhile that this psychology would dominate and change the entire match.  Thankfully those two geniuses in the ring decided to only use that as a match starter.  It was a well wrestled match the rest of the way.

Brodus Clay came out and danced.  Then he called his mamma.  A whole crew of bridge club mammas came out and danced.  It was funny.  It was just very weird to see that right before the main event of Wrestlemania.

The Rock defeated John Cena- I’m surprised.  I really am.  Didn’t see that one coming.  Towards the end of the match I saw it coming though.  The wrestling aspect wasn’t anything special, but it didn’t have to be.  The hype of this match was so large that it could carry itself.  Very good chain wrestling at the start from both guys.  The Rock was impressive.  From there it was pretty much a lot of big bumps with Cena targeting The Rock’s ribs.  All of the moves in their arsenal was used.  There were a bunch of false finishes.  The Rock jumped off the top rope, was caught by Cena, and was hit with an Attitude Adjustment.  I thought that was the finish.  The Rock kicked out.  Right then I knew that The Rock was being put over.  And you could see it in Cena’s face that it had to be that way.  He pretty much said, that’s all I can do to win now I have to put this guy over.  Cena tried to steal The People’s Elbow and was hit with a Rock Bottom.  That was the finish.  I’m not sure if The Rock couldn’t put his ego aside for the betterment of the company, or if Vince McMahon just simply wanted to put The Rock over.  Either way Cena looks like a million bucks for doing what he did.  He showed a lot of class.  Kudos to Cena.  Job well done.  You just built the biggest match of all time and put the outsider over with class.

Decent Wrestlemania overall.  Everything was black or white.  Either great or awful.  3 matches were great.  5 were awful.  Plus the best wrestler in the world didn’t get to compete.  I feel deprived.  I’ll be angry about this for a long time.  I sure am glad I didn’t attend this show in person.

Please leave comments.  I want to hear and interact with everyone’s comments on this show.