As expected, tomorrow will bring "Rate the Booking" where I will go in depth with all the match outcomes (and you better believe I'm going to rip into a few). Tonight though, i just wanted to get a few things off of my chest. We're going to do a special HOT or NOT: Wrestlemania Edition because, well, I felt like it! Interwoven in that should be some thoughts I had on the show:
HOT
1. The Miz - I know he ended the show laying on his back, but he did so while still holding the WWE title. If ever a young guy was put over, it was tonight. His intro video was epic, his entrance was very cool, and by the time he got to the ring, he had you believe that he belonged. While the match itself wasn't fantastic, Miz's night was. Kicking out of the Attitude Adjustment is something very few have done, and Miz did it tonight. He was a made man after that, so holding on to the title was icing in the cake. We should be in for an epic gloating sessions tomorrow night. Side note, as soon as I get that Miz video, I will post it. Best video I've seen in a long time, and that says a lot.
2. Cody Rhodes - In the shocker of the night, Rey Mysterio put over a young guy! I did not see this coming, but I'm glad it happened. Cody has been fantastic lately and I truly believe that if he weighed 20 more pounds, we'd be talking about him in the title picture by now. He will get there though because he's really good and he showed that tonight. He can play a character and maintain it from entrance to exit. On top of that, his wrestling is top notch. There's not much this kid doesn't have, but I figured his time would come in a month or two. I was shocked that Rey (or should we say Captain America?) actually lost clean to the kid, but now that he has, you can expect big things from the Arist that is No Longer Dashing.
3. The Rock - While I wasn't blown away by his performance, it was the Rock at Wrestlemania. Who would have thought that would happen even 6 months ago? It was great to see him there and the encounter with Austin was probably worth the entire trip. I didn't love his stuff at the end, but it was good to see Rock celebrate at the end, even if a heel walked out with the title. My gut feeling is that Rock did the best he could with the segments he was given, and I sincerely hope that this wasn't his swan song for another 7 years. Yes, he'll be on Raw tomorrow, but here's hoping he sticks around a while. It seems like he will.
3A. Zack Ryder - I had to do it! The Long Island Loudmouth, a man after my own heart, fist pumping to "Friday" by Rebecca Black had me falling off my chair in laughter. Even in short moments, this guy steals the show. Then, he got the ultimate rub, a coconut shot from Piper! If that doesn't solidify his job status, nothing will! This guy needs to keep his job as he will go places. This is easily the best part of the rap session.
NOT
1. Alberto Del Rio - Congratulations ADR on the biggest depush I've ever seen! This is a guy that took out Rey Mysterio and Christian and then won the Royal Rumble, all in 5 months! This guy was on top of the world and nothing could stop him.......except himself that is. His work lately has been bad and at Wrestlemania, it wasn't much better. Their match went on first, itself a first in Wrestlemania history, and for good reason. The hype behind it was poor and it just didn't feel that big. The match itself wasn't great and what bothered me most was when Edge and Christian were destroying his car afterwords, his facial expressions were awful. I know he's got the wink and smile down, but you can't just rely on that. You have to create a full character and be able to react to any situation organically in that character. Cody Rhodes can do it, Del Rio cannot. Get him some acting lessons before you push him again.
2. The Corre - A few months ago, most of these guys were in The Nexus, taking out John Cena and reigning supreme. It's nice that they got on the Wrestlemania card, but they lost in less than 2 minutes! Nothing of note happened in the match and it just kind of ended. I guess the group itself will probably end, but this was pretty bad. I especially feel bad for Barrett who was rumored to face Undertaker at one point. To go from that to this is an epic fall. He'll get his chances in the future, but on this night, they got two minutes of nothing. In fairness though, Heath Slater probably sold Big Show's knockout punch better than anyone I've seen, so points for that.
3. Jerry Lawler - What the hell happened? This should have been easy. Lawler gets made fun of more, he gets mad, Swagger tries to stop him, gets Stunned, Lawler kicks Cole's ass, match over. That kind of happened, but it took too long and just didn't have the drama I thought it would in some ways. Then, in the personification of stupidity, the GM emails that Lawler is DQ'ed and Cole won? What the hell is that? We'll talk more about that tomorrow in "Rate the Booking" but for now, I just want to say I feel bad for Lawler. This was his Wrestlemania moment and it should have been simple. He should have killed Cole and got to celebrate with nothing in the way. Unfortunately, everything got in the way. Way too much stuff going on here and the ending is a giant slap in the face to Lawler. I get that this will probably lead to the reveal of the GM soon, but you just don't do that to Lawler. He's on the NOT list simply because he did not deserve what he got tonight.
This was a weird Wrestlemania to say the least. We'll get into the details tomorrow, but I hope this suffices as an appetizer until then. For now, leave comments, get at me on twitter at @FanVsFanMotSS or email me at eric@fanvsfan.com. I hope you enjoyed the show. I'm still trying to figure out if I did or not.
Written by:
