Happy Wednesday Everyone!
I decided to review Mania XXVII today as I recently covered the opener in my Every WrestleMania Opening Match series of reviews and I felt like taking the whole show in again. This Mania has a bit of a bad reputation, but outside of one notable stinker of a match I don’t think it’s all that bad.
The big story for this one was that The Rock had returned to WWE as the guest host of Mania, and he’d quickly gotten into a war of words with John Cena. Going in everyone expected Cena and Rock to have some kind of confrontation and that was the main selling point of the show.
The event is emanating from Atlanta, Georgia on the 3rd of April 2011
Calling the action are Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Josh Matthews
After the usual faffing around with the National Anthem we get The Rock in a dank tracksuit to open things up for us.Rock being so ridiculously cool that he can pull off a tracksuit look at WrestleMania whilst anyone else would look like they were out shopping at a local sports leisure wear store is not to be discounted. Rock doesn’t really say much outside of his usual schtick, but the classics are still the classics and the crowd has fun with it. He makes sure to insult John Cena of course, to keep that issue cooking.
We get the big dramatic opening video package following that. As always the production aspect is on point.
Opening Match
World Title
Champ: Edge w/ Christian Vs Alberto Del Rio w/ Ricardo Rodriguez and Brodus Clay
Brodus was Alberto’s NXT rookie at the time, so he’s brought him to Mania in order to be his muscle. Alberto had won the Royal Rumble after coming in with a solid push in 2010 and was getting over but never really “felt” like a true Main Event guy to me. He was a solid upper mid-carder, but it always felt like that was his ceiling in WWE, although they tried him in Main Events on a few occasions. Edge was mere weeks away from his initial retirement from wrestling and at the time everyone thought this would be his last WrestleMania.
Oh man, I forgot that they were doing this horrible Heel play by play announcer gimmick with Michael Cole at the time, meaning he’s sitting in a protective box called “The Cole Mine” so that Jerry Lawler can’t get at him. This character was excruciating, especially as he was still supposed to be the leader announcer whilst cheerleading for all the Heels and just being incredibly annoying.
Edge has a bandaged arm here from a Del Rio attack, which Del Rio of course targets. Edge sells that well and Del Rio’s offence looks good, so the match is good as a result. The crowd gets behind Edge whilst he sells for Del Rio and pops when he dodges a Del Rio attack and follows up with a TOPE CON HILO. The fact Edge was doing that with a knackered neck is all kinds of impressive, and terrifying. Del Rio goes back to the arm back inside, with the goal being to lock in a cross arm breaker for the win, but Edge manages to keep fighting it off.
Del Rio does finally manage to apply it, but Edge is able to get to the ropes quickly to break the hold. I like how Edge didn’t sit in the hold for ages before saving himself, as an arm bar is an instant tap out in MMA an fans recognise it as such, so if it gets locked in you need to tap quickly or get out of it quickly in order not to strain believability too much. Christian and Brodus end up fighting outside the ring as we head into the closing stretch, with some nicely executed near falls being done. Brodus tries to help his boss but Christian takes him out with a DDT off the apron and that leads to Edge putting Del Rio away with a Spear for three.
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: EDGE
RATING: ***1/4
This was a very good opener, with solid wrestling from both men and an invested crowd who were into the story being told. Edge sold his arm consistently and it was nice to see E&C reunited in order to back one another up. Christian would end up stepping in for Edge when it was time for a rematch with Del Rio and that led to Christian winning the World Title in an emotional moment.
Edge and Christian destroy Del Rio’s car following the match to really get him peeved.
Cole continues to antagonise Lawler from the safety of the Cole Mine.
Match Two
Cody Rhodes Vs Rey Mysterio Jr
The story here was that Cody was working a “Dashing” gimmick where he would brag about his good looks, but an errant 619 busted him open and he started wearing a protective mask and acting like a disaffected villain. Cody was entertaining in the role and the new evil mix of his formerly chipper Dashing entrance music is a nice touch. Rey’s special WrestleMania outfit tonight is Captain America themed.
This is a good match, with Rey being an excellent gutsy babyface and Cody playing his role of being a calculating meticulous villain really well also. Interestingly Cody gets his fair share of cheers from sections of the crowd, with fans seemingly digging his character work. Cody keeps using his mask as a weapon, which is apparently allowed because the WWE commission have signed off on him wearing it in matches, with him cutting Rey off with a head butt at one stage before following up with a delayed Superplex in a nice sequence.
Rey sells for the majority of early part of the bout, with Cody working heat right from the off and Rey never really getting a proper babyface shine. Rey does eventually start putting some offence together in the second half though, with Cody selling all of that well and Rey’s stuff looking good. Rey tries to go for the 619 again, but Cody has it scouted and blocks it before taking off Rey’s knee brace, which is what had caused Cody’s initial injury (albeit inadvertently on Rey’s part).
Rey responds by going after Cody’s mask in a classic game of tit-for-tat, which leads to Rey getting the 619 and then following up with a PK to the face of Cody for two. Rey puts Cody’s mask on and starts using it as a weapon to get some payback and then heads up with a diving head butt for two. If Rey were going over then that would have been the perfect finish, but they’ve decided to go with Cody here instead, as he bails to the floor and clocks Rey with the knee brace whilst the ref isn’t looking and follows up with the Cross Rhodes for the three count.
WINNER: CODY RHODES
RATING: ***1/4
This was another very good match, with both men playing their respective roles well and the wrestling itself being to a good standard. Rey would actually have a cup of coffee with the WWE Title later in the year, whilst Cody would win the IC Title before dropping the mask and going to a more standard arrogant Heel act for 2012.
Apparently Snoop Dawg is here tonight, although we don’t get to see him (unless he was shown at this point and WWE Network has cut it out).
Match Three
The Corre (IC Champ Wade Barrett, Tag Champs Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater, and Ezekiel Jackson) Vs Kane, Big Show, Kofi Kingston and Santino Marella
The Corre had initially been members of The Nexus, but that group has splintered, leaving The New Nexus over on Raw under the control of CM Punk whilst Barrett set up The Corre on Smackdown. They’d been going out of their way to screw with the babyfaces, so an 8 man tag was set up in order to settle things. Kofi is stepping in for Vladimir Koszlov, who was attacked by The Corre at WrestleMania Access. This one is pretty short and is all-action, with everyone getting a chance to come in and hit something before Big Show DESTROYS Slater with a punch for the three count.
WINNERS: BIG SHOW, KANE, KOFI & SANTINO
RATING: *1/2
Too short to be any more, but it was fun whilst it lasted
We get a replay of Slater’s sell job of the punch and it’s absolutely fantastic. He earned his Mania payday with that bump and facial expression alone.
Rock and Eve Torres are talking backstage, which leads to Mae Young showing up and demanding some strudel. Rock makes fun of Mae, so Mae spanks him before leaving. This leads into Austin and Rock having a face off followed by a tense handshake.
Match Four
“The Nefarious” CM Punk Vs Randy Orton
Punk and The New Nexus had been feuding with Orton since the Royal Rumble, with Punk vowing vengeance on Orton due to Orton costing him the World Title back in 2008. CM Punk baring a long running grudge against someone? That certainly doesn’t sound like him. Punk had beaten Orton down in front of his wife to really heat this one up, attacking his leg in the process in order to take away the Football Punt of DOOM from Orton’s move list for the evening.
As is the trend with the matches that have been given some time on this show so far, this is a well worked match that tells a good story, with Punk targeting Orton’s bad wheel in order to control the match. Punk’s offence looks good and Orton does a good job of selling it, so the match is enjoyable as a result. Well, it’s enjoyable for me because I like matches like this, but I could see some maybe finding it a bit too deliberate at points. Still, it’s Randy Orton, “deliberate” is what you should go in expecting to see, and he does it better than most.
Orton sells the leg consistently throughout, with it effecting his performance throughout the match, and Punk does some really good stuff to work it over, including the old ring-post Figure Four that Bret Hart used to do back in the day. Orton does eventually prepare for the Football Punt of DOOM, but his leg gives out and he collapses, only for him to then to try an RKO OUTTA NOWHERE when Punk comes over to try and get him. Punk sees it coming at the last moment and slips out of it though before laughing it off. That was a great fake out there actually, as this match has had layers to it like an onion. Punk tries a springboard clothesline on a seemingly done for Orton, but Orton catches him with the RKO OUTTA NOWHERE for the last gasp three count.
WINNER: RANDY ORTON
RATING: ***1/4
That’s one of the better RKO’s you’ll ever see, as I loved how they had him miss it first from the prone position to make you think Orton had shot his last shot, only for him then to get it anyway when you least expected it. Both men would win Titles in 2011, with Punk getting the WWE Title as part of The Summer of Punk, whilst Orton won the World Title from Christian.
The Rock and Mean Gene Okerlund are chatting backstage, which leads to Pee Wee Herman coming in to the office to argue with Rock about John Cena. Pee Wee is eventually convinced to join up with The Rock though upon seeing Mean Gene in full Cena garb and realising how bad he looks.
The Hall of Fame members are introduced. We have Abdullah The Butcher, Sunny, The Road Warriors, Drew Carey, Bullet Bob Armstrong, Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Shawn Michaels.
Match Five
Special Guest Referee: Stone Cold Steve Austin
Michael Cole w/ Jack Swagger Vs Jerry “The King” Lawler
This feud came about because Cole cost Lawler the WWE Title against The Miz, leading to a long feud that built up to this show. Cole had notably brought back Brian Lawler to cut a promo on Lawler at one stage, as well as recruiting Jack Swagger to be his coach. Booker T and Jim Ross join us on commentary for this one. Ross gets his entrance interrupted by Cole of course, so that Cole can cut a promo on him. Cole was fine as a Heel character, but the problem was they tried to keep him on commentary as the lead announcer, which just didn’t work.
Austin of course has his ATV with him, which leads to both Swagger and Cole having to dive out of the way lest they get squished. Cole actually retreats to the Cole Mine at one stage to get away from Stone Cold’s crazed (probably) drunken driving. Now this match should be easy, you have Lawler destroy Cole for a couple of minutes, Swagger tries to help so Austin clobbers him and then Lawler picks up the clean win. It shouldn’t take any more than 3-5 minutes and Cole gets, at best, one or two attacks in that Lawler will laughingly shrug off. It’s a simple story to tell and would give the fans everything they would want from a match like this.
However, even though they start it out well enough with Lawler slamming Cole’s face into the Cole Mine and then battering him with punches, they then decide to over complicate things by having Cole actually work some heat on Lawler, leading to the match going (and I kid you not here) just under 14 minutes. Yes, they gave a match between the Heel announcer and a veteran babyface nearly 14 minutes. Cole would be lucky to go a couple of minutes at best, so to ask him to put that much time in and actually do some wrestling is just baffling. It’s totally counter to how a match like this should be worked, as well as being the exact opposite of what the fans wanted to see.
No one wanted to see Michael Cole attempting, and failing, to work an actual wrestling match. They wanted to see him take a couple of bumps and get pinned clean in the middle. He’s not a wrestler. Lawler was a good wrestler in his day who knows how to work as a babyface, but he’s got nothing to work with here. There’s a reason the famous Andy Kaufman match was 2-3 big moves and Lawler never really sold anything for him. Cole’s insufferable heat segment goes on for so long that the crowd doesn’t even care when Lawler finally starts making a comeback.
Swagger tries throwing in a towel for Cole at one stage, but Austin doesn’t recognise it and then gives Swagger a Stunner when Swagger gets into the ring to argue, which wakes the crowd up a bit at least. Austin enjoying watching Lawler throw punches at Cole is entertaining at least. Lawler busts out the special WrestleMania dropkick and then heads up to the second rope fist drop. Lawler pulls Cole up at two though and then locks in the ankle lock for the submission win, with Austin taking his time ringing the bell so that Cole can suffer for even longer in a funny moment.
WINNER: JERRY LAWLER
RATING: ¼*
The bits with Austin were pretty much the only entertainment I got from this. It was just a disaster for the most part. How hard is it to book a quick match where the Heel non-wrestler gets battered to pop the crowd? This was about 3 minutes of wrestling stretched out to 13 minutes 48 seconds. I’m thinking it was just one long practical joke from Vince and the rest of us had to sit through it.
Sadly Lawler’s celebration is cut short as the mystery Raw GM reverses the decision, due to Austin getting involved in the match, leading to Cole being the winner. So not only did we get a rubbish match but we get Dusty Finished out of the babyface celebration for good measure. This chuffing company dude…
WrestleMania Axxess was a thing that happened.
Match Six
Hold Holds Barred
Triple H Vs Undertaker
Undertaker defeated Shawn Michaels at back to back WrestleMania’s, retiring Triple H’s buddy in the process, so Triple H is having a crack at it this year to try and do what Shawn couldn’t. The pre-match video package is very well done, even if they don’t have much stronger a storyline reason for the match other than Triple H being all “Hey I’ve never beaten you at WrestleMania before, let’s have a match!”. This one tends to divide people, as I know some really hate it. I haven’t watched it in a while but I remember enjoying it the last time I watched it, so let’s see if it holds up.
Both men get the special WrestleMania entrances of course, although music rights mean the licensed tracks used originally (Metallica and Johnny Cash) don’t remain intact on the Network. They go straight into a brawl here, with punches getting thrown from the opening bell, and it’s not long before they’re outside the ring and smashing through the Cole Mine.
This is a bone of contention some have with the match as they feel it’s lacking in proper structure and is just two guys brawling and doing high spots. And yeah, that’s kind of what this match is, but that can still be entertaining to watch and it’s not like there’s an abundance of matches like that on this show. Most of the other matches have been straight wrestling bouts that have featured traditional storytelling tropes, so I think it’s fine for Undertaker and Triple H to come out and start slugging one another in an effort to see which one survives the longest. There is an actual story to the match as well, as Triple H gets the better of Undertaker for large parts of it but just can’t manage to beat him, with the idea being that Undertaker might just be on his last legs and his end as a top guy is nearing.
Undertaker manages to back body drop out of a Pedigree on the announce table at one stage, with Triple H taking an unpleasant looking flat back bump on the floor as a result, and then follows with his customary big WrestleMania dive. However, when Taker tries to put Triple H through one of the tables himself he ends up getting Spine Bustered through it in a really well done spot. Triple H follows up with another Spine Buster back inside when it looks like Undertaker might be getting himself back into the match, to keep the story going of Triple H just being that one step ahead of Undertaker, which then leads to Triple H bringing a chair in to the ring.
Undertaker manages to big boot his way out of getting hit with that though and delivers a chair shot of his own to a downed Triple H, only for Triple H to cut him off with a Pedigree when he tries it again, which gets Triple H a two count. Undertaker continues the trading of big moves by countering a Superplex into the Last Ride for two before getting the Tombstone for another two in a good near fall. The fans really didn’t seem to be expecting that and you can now start to sense that they might be getting a bit worried that Triple H might win, because if anyone could demand to end the streak and be allowed to do it then it would be him.
Triple H manages to catch Undertaker with a DDT onto the chair from earlier for a double down, which leads to both men dramatically climbing to their feet and Triple H being quickest to the draw with another Pedigree for another two count. The near fall game from both men has been very strong here and they’ve been getting the fans to bite on them as well. What I like about the match is that going in I think a lot of the crowd felt Triple H was unlikely to win, but as the match has gone on they’ve started to believe it might actually happen, so the near falls are having more “oomph” to them the longer the match goes on, especially when Undertaker kicks out of a THIRD Pedigree.
Triple H destroys Undertaker with the chair following that near fall, and to be honest they haven’t gone crazy with the weaponry element here either, just keeping it to one chair and an announce table spot, with the drama coming more with the way the weapons are used and the way the weapon attacks are being sold. Undertaker acts like his very life force is being drained with every chair shot, and the crowd is totally into the story they are telling. Triple H demanding that Undertaker stay down and him almost being guilty about clobbering him with the chair so much is done really well, with both Triple H and Undertaker selling the whole situation perfectly.
The big spot the match is most known for is Triple H delivering a Tombstone to Undertaker for the ultimate near fall, with the crowd totally buying that it’s the end, including me when I watched it at home back in the day. They were really freaking out there and it was great, with the spot really suiting the story they are telling and Undertaker timing his kick out to the very last moment in order to gain the maximum reaction from the crowd. Just an all-time great near fall there. Triple H decides that the only way he’s going to be able to put Undertaker away is with his trust sledgehammer, but he drops his guard and Undertaker is able to catch him in Hell’s Gate for the last gasp submission win.
WINNER: THE UNDERTAKER
RATING: ****
This really held up for me and I thought it was an excellent match, but I can also understand why some wouldn’t like it because it was all about brawling, big moves and storytelling, which is definitely an acquired taste. It was the archetypal “Sports Entertainment” match, where less is more and you focus more on getting the storyline over with the wrestling itself almost being secondary at points. Once Undertaker went through that table I think he delivered all of 4-5 moves once Triple H put him back in the ring, whilst Triple H hit some finishers and chair shots but mostly sold frustration at being unable to win. I thought the story they told was an interesting one and they executed it well, so I had a lot of fun with this but your own mileage may vary
Undertaker is absolutely knackered following that and needs help getting to the back, which was used as the set up for the rematch the following year as he wanted to prove he could still hang and this win wasn’t a fluke.
Match Seven
Dolph Ziggler, Michelle McCool and Layla El w/ Vickie Guerrero Vs John Morrison, Trish Stratus and Snooki
Snooki is from Jersey Shore, a trashy reality TV show that we had a version of in the UK set in Newcastle called Geordie Shore. I personally would have preferred for them to keep the name and set it on the island of Jersey, although I think posh Channel Islanders complaining about foie gras and whether they should get a yacht or a car for their 15th birthday might not have connected as well with the target audience. Anyway, Snooki ended up in a feud with the Heel women to set this up. Morrison was actually annoyed in real life about this as he felt Melina should have been in the Trish role, but the WWE higher ups disagreed.
McCool and El seem to be having some dissension in the ranks, which might mean we were reaching the end of their alliance. Personally I found Lay-Cool as an act to be hugely over rated and never really got that into them, so I struggle to keep track of the chronology sometimes. Trish does most of the wrestling for her team, with Morrison doing one dive onto Ziggler to pop the crowd and Snooki’s involvement being limited to a handspring elbow and a splash on McCool for three.
WINNERS: SNOOKI, TRISH & JO-MO
RATING: *
This wasn’t much of a match but Snooki’s handspring elbow looked okay at least. I’ve no idea why they limited the men so much and left it mostly down to Trish to carry things for the babyfaces when she wasn’t a full-timer at the time.
Morrison makes sure not to directly celebrate with Trish following the match so as not to get any heat with his then missus. I think he ended up getting told off for that actually.
Main Event
WWE Title
Champ: The Miz w/ Alex Riley Vs John Cena
Miz cashed in Money in the Bank the night after Survivor Series 2010 to defeat Randy Orton for the belt. He was then booked as a very weak Champion, needing help to beat commentator Jerry Lawler in a TLC match amongst some of the notable “lowlights” of his Title run. It was almost a repeat of Chris Jericho’s Title reign in 2001/2002, where he often only won because someone else ran in to help him rather than him being an effective heel that was able to win on his own through treachery. Cena had spent the build-up squabbling with Mania guest host Rock, with Miz mostly being an afterthought. They did belatedly let Miz beat Cena up to try and get some heat on him on a Raw near the show, but it was really too late at that stage.
Miz does at least get a superstar entrance on the show itself, with a music video and an inflatable “AWESOME” sign on the stage for him to barge past. Cena meanwhile gets a gospel choir, which the fans still mostly boo because they hate Cena so much. I can only imagine what those poor people in the choir thought about all that. Hopefully someone smartened them up so they didn’t take it personally. This match has a reputation for being absolutely atrocious, but that would be a bit of an exaggeration in my opinion. It’s your standard TV Main Event from this era, but it happens to be closing out a WrestleMania instead of an episode of Smackdown, so a better standard of bout is expected.
Miz tries to be all aggressive and heelish, but it doesn’t feel authentic because he’d been booked so weakly of the past few months that it was pretty much impossible for anyone to buy him as bad ass. Cena’s performance is really just “there” as well, as “Big Match John” clearly decided to stay home for this one. Cena spends a lot of time selling to try and make Miz look dangerous, but the crowd has no sympathy for him and Miz has no credibility as a Main Eventer, so it’s wasted effort. Miz is one of those guys made for the Honky Tonk Man style IC Title push, and indeed when he got a chance to perform that role he did really well, but that sort of thing doesn’t work in the World Title picture.
There is one noticeable botch where Miz sends Cena off and drops down, causing Cena to take a thoroughly awful bump by collapsing in a very inelegant manner. That looked awful. Cena finally gets some sustained offence with the Five Knuckle Shuffle, but Miz counters the F-U into a DDT for two before following up with a neck breaker for another two count. Cena avoids getting thrown into an unprotected buckle and goes to the STFU, but Miz makes the ropes to break the hold. Cena does eventually go into the buckle courtesy of Riley, which leads to Miz getting The Skull Crushing Finale for two. That was a decent near fall actually and was well executed.
The ref gets bumped, which means there is no one to count when Cena gets the F-U. Riley comes in and hits Cena with a briefcase, which allows Miz to get a two count from the revived referee in another nicely done near fall. For the most part the work hasn’t been bad here, the match has just been dull and not what you’d want from a match in this slot on the card. It’s been pretty paint by the numbers, which you don’t want from a big Mania match. Heel miscommunication sees Miz knock Riley off the apron and another F-U follows from Cena for two. For such a generally uneventful bout, I have to say that those last three big near falls were excellent.
What follows after that is the spot this match is probably best known for, as the brawl heads outside and Cena spears Miz off the barricade to the floor, leading to Miz cracking his head off the concrete with a sickening thud, concussing himself in the process. I’m not really sure if that Cena’s fault or Miz just didn’t bump properly, but either way that was really grim and they probably shouldn’t have even had that spot planned in the first place in all honesty. This leads to a double count out, but guest host Rock isn’t going to let the Mania Main Event end like that on his watch, so he marches down and restarts things under No DQ rules. Rock uses this opportunity to drop Cena with a Rock Bottom though, which leads to Miz following his usual MO of crawling over to pin his opponent after someone else has already done all the work, which is enough for him to Honky Tonk his way to another victory.
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: THE MIZ
RATING: **
This match was a major disappointment for a Mania Main Event, but as a match it wasn’t a disaster or anything. Definitely one of the worst show closers in Mania history though. To think that they sent them out there with THAT match to do when they already knew that this feud was a cold one is mind boggling. An exceedingly flat way to end the biggest show of the year.
Rock destroys Miz post-match, just to make sure no one but the part timer who isn’t going to be there next week gets over.
In Conclusion
This is one of those shows where if it was just a standard pay per view it would probably be remembered quite fondly due to so many of the matches delivering and only one match being what you would class as truly bad. However, at WrestleMania you expect a bit more bang for your buck and the Main Event was definitely not a strong way to end things.
It’s certainly not in the discussion for worst WrestleMania or anything like that (People who say that it is have actually watched WrestleMania’s IV, XI and 32 right?) but it’s kind of a middling one due to the weak ending and the fact that it just doesn’t have that special WrestleMania feeling to it for the most part. There is a lot of good wrestling though and there was a solid 3 hour pay per view in there if they removed the filler.
Mildly recommended show