PWP’s continuous coverage of the grandest stage of them all rolls on with Eron Ramadanov’s review of WrestleMania 24.
Every WrestleMania has its own identity. Each show is known for their own good, bad or great moments, more commonly known as “WrestleMania moments”.
WrestleMania 24 sure had its WrestleMania moments!
Before we get started, here are some fun facts:
- WrestleMania XXIV was the second WrestleMania to be held outdoors, with the first being WrestleMania 9 held in Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.
- Vince McMahon announced that the show would have taken place regardless of the weather conditions, so if it started to rain… you were pretty much screwed.
- Up to seven generators were used to power up the show’s lights and theatrics.
- The steel beams for the structure of the overhead “tent” was custom built in Belgium and shipped over to Orlando.
- According to WWE Magazine, the amount of pyrotechnics used would be ten times that of the amount used on RAW, which came to a whopping $300,000 for WrestleMania 24 alone.
- WrestleMania 24 was the first to be filmed in HD (high definition).
The show started off with the classic Air Force fighter jets flying overhead, and the singing of the national anthem from John Legend. WrestleMania was underway and began with an Irish twist…
Finlay (w/Hornswoggle) vs. JBL
“Belfast Brawl” Street Fight
The story leading into this match wasn’t the best thing ever, but it was interesting enough for me to invest in Finlay as a babyface and JBL as a rich snob, who deserved a beating. The match was an interesting way to start the show, as I thought the Money In The Bank Ladder match would have been the way to go, but this match rose above what was expected.
Finlay vs. JBL was entertaining and fun, as the two beat the crap out of each other for the better half of 10 minutes. The fans were into the spots, and JBL going through a table was nice. Hornswoggle would get involved and get beaten down by JBL. JBL ended hitting the clothesline from hell, defeating Finlay clean. The lasting image is Finlay and Hornswoggle in the ring consoling each other.
Winner: JBL (via pinfall)
Official Match Time: 8:43
CM Punk vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Chris Jericho vs. Carlito vs. MVP vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. John Morrison
“Money In The Bank” Ladder Match
After the bruising match-up between Finlay and JBL, we moved on to an even more gruesome match-up between 7 athletes looking to lay claim to the Money In The Bank briefcase. This match is mostly remembered for the crazy spot from Shelton Benjamin, where he was sent flying head first through a ladder. I can still see that spot in my head, without looking at any video. Blows my mind, still.
The other spot that made people lose their minds was from Chris Jericho, when he put John Morrison in the Walls of Jericho on the top of a ladder. Finally, after 15 minutes of complete chaos, CM Punk and Chris Jericho were the final two left at the top of the ladder, but the smarts of CM Punk prevails, as he grabs Jericho’s foot and gets him stuck in the ladder, which allows Punk to grab the Money In The Bank briefcase. Overall, one of the best Money In The Bank matches.
Winner: CM Punk
Official Match Time: 15:12
Batista vs. Umaga
SmackDown vs. RAW: Battle for Brand Supremacy
It seems like WWE loves this Smackdown vs. RAW stuff, eh? And why does it seem like Smackdown always beats RAW, when RAW is the “flagship show”.
Anyways, this match wasn’t great and quite boring. It was a lot of Umaga dominating most of the match with nerve pinches and other useless crap. Overall, if you’re watching this WrestleMania this week, you can honestly just skip over this one.
The only notable thing about this segment is to hear William Regal say, “U-MANGA”…
Winner: Batista (via pinfall)
Length: 7:03
Kane vs. Chavo Guerrero (c)
ECW Championship Match
The fourth match for the event featured Chavo Guerrero defending his ECW Championship against Kane, who won a battle royal during the pre-show to have the right to face Chavo for the title, where he defeated the likes of Mark Henry, The Great Khali and others. Kane surprised Chavo by emerging from underneath the ring instead of from the entrance stage during his ring entrance. Kane instantly pinned Chavo after a chokeslam and won the ECW Championship in eleven seconds. This was the only ECW match on the show.
(Side note: this being an 11 second match and being the only show from ECW shows you all how absolutely idiotic WWE’s version of ECW truly was).
Winner: Kane (via pinfall)
Official Match Time: 11 seconds
Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels
Career Threatening Match (If Ric Flair loses; he must retire)
Okay, from an absolute joke that is ECW, to one of the most emotional moments in WrestleMania history. Any true WWE or wrestling fan knows how important and great this match was. From the entrances of Shawn and Ric, to the final moments, this was wrestling poetry at its finest.
This began with Flair wanting to face Michaels at WrestleMania, to see if he still has “it”, after Vince McMahon made Flair run for months to save his career. Michaels resisted at first, but after constant baiting from Flair, Michaels agreed. After HBK agreed to the match, we saw the ruthless Shawn Michaels that we love. Michaels compared Flair to “old-yeller”. That comparison rode through-out the entire feud, even to the match itself.
These two pierced each other with vicious chops and blows. Through-out the match, I kept thinking, “Flair looks great and moves better than some 25 year old rookies… why is he retiring again?!?!”
In the end, the emotion was running high, as the fans in attendance knew that the end of a 35+ plus career was going to come to a beautiful end. Shawn sets up sweet chin music in the far right corner, and words to Flair, who is barely standing, with both hands up, “I’m sorry… I love you.”, and delivers a devastating kick to the Nature Boy. Michaels slowly goes for the cover, waiting as long as he could, to pin his childhood idol and adult mentor. Referee Charles Robinson goes hits the mat and counts, “1…2…3…”
That’s it. The career of the greatest wrestler of all time was over like that. Right after the pin fall, Michaels immediately hugs Flair and is whispering something in his ear, while Flair is just balling his eyes out. Just typing this right now is giving me goosebumps and making my eyes water.
To this day, one of the most emotional and well-told stories in PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING HISTORY.
Winner: Shawn Michaels (via pinfall)
Official Match Time: 20:34
Beth Phoenix & Melina (w/Santino Marella) vs. Ashley & Maria
Playboy BunnyMania Lumberjack Match (w/Snoop Dog as the “master of ceremonies)
The only remotely worth-mentioning moment of this match was the ring lights going out, forcing WWE to adjust on the fly and to place all spotlights on the ring itself. Other than that… I don’t care and neither should you.
Winner: Beth Phoenix & Melina (via pinfall)
Official Match Time: 5:00 (…4:59 too late…)
John Cena vs. Triple H vs. Randy Orton (c)
Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship
The back story for this match is as textbook as it goes for a triple threat match, especially leading up to WrestleMania. Going into WrestleMania, you have Orton, the heel champion, against the clean-cut babyface in John Cena, who made an epic comeback at the Royal Rumble, and the badass, ass-kicking babyface in Triple H, who also was coming back from injury in mid-2007 and won his way into this match by winning the Elimination Chamber (Okay… maybe not so textbook).
This match was as good as a mid-show/main event triple threat match could get. Each guy got their respective move-set in, and all got their time to shine.
The match came to an end when Cena had Triple H on his shoulders for the FU, but was countered into a pedigree. As Triple H was in the pin, Orton come across and punted Triple H in the head and pinned Cena to win the match and retain the WWE Championship. I thought this finish was a clever way to protect Triple H for the coming feud, and a rare time where John Cena lost clean at WrestleMania. Overall, it wasn’t a special match, but solid for a co-main event match in the middle of the card.
Winner: Randy Orton (via pinfall)
Official Match Time: 14:10
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. The Big Show
No Disqualification Match
This match still baffles me to this day. I still don’t understand why this wasn’t made into a boxing match. I found it utterly unrealistic to believe that someone with the size of the Big Show could just eat up someone like Mayweather. I’m sorry, but I just don’t buy it.
As for what it did for WWE’s main stream appeal, it definitely caused some buzz around WrestleMania 24. But another problem is the idea of celebrities coming into our world and going over on our guys. If a wrestler were to go into the boxing ring, they wouldn’t have said wrestler go over. Same case goes for this. I’m not a fan of Mr. T going over on Roddy Piper, and I wasn’t a fan of Big Show jobbing to Mayweather.
I will give Mayweather his due for getting into the ring and taking some of the punishment that he did. I still think Mayweather would make a legitimately tremendous heel manager.
Winner: Floyd Mayweather (via knockout)
Official Match Time: 11:40
The Undertaker vs. Edge (c)
World Heavyweight Championship Match
The final match and main event of the night saw Edge putting his World Heavyweight Championship on the line against The Undertaker. The early going of the match was slow-paced, in which both superstars countered each other’s maneuvers.
Near the end, Edge hit Undertaker with a television camera while the referee was knocked down. When he proceeded to deliver a tombstone piledriver to Undertaker, the latter countered it into his own version and successfully delivered it to Edge for a two-count. The Edgeheads (Hawkins and Ryder) came to the ring for Edge’s aid, but Undertaker took them out. Because of their distraction, Edge was able to hit a spear on Undertaker, but was unable to pin him. When Edge delivered another spear to Undertaker, the latter caught him in his Hell’s Gate submission hold and forced Edge to tap out to become the new World Heavyweight Champion and improve his WrestleMania record to 16–0.
Honestly, I think this match is truly underrated for the value of good wrestling, story-telling and how much it legitimized Edge’s career as a top-tier main eventer. Before this match, Edge was looked at a main event star, but being in the main event of WrestleMania with the Undertaker raised his stock by 10s. True career moment for Edge.
Winner: The Undertaker (via submission)
Official Match Length: 24:03
Thanks for reading everyone! PWP’s complete coverage of WrestleMania continues with WrestleMania 25 tomorrow.