Hello everyone!
First off, thank you for coming and viewing my new blog. This will be a fun one as I will be reviewing my extensive library of wrestling dvds from the past, present and future. I hope you have fun with it and if there are DVDs or Blu-Rays that you want me to review, comment here and let me know!
Today's review is about the "biggest blu-ray of the year" as the WWE likes to tell us in their advertisements around May-June, Wrestlemania 26.
This set was released in both a 3-disc DVD set and a 3-disc Blu-Ray set, which is a change from many of the early WWE Blu-Rays which were typically 2 discs with a ton of information on each disc. The blu-rays break down as such:
Disc 1 - The entire Wrestlemania 26 event from start to finish
Disc 2 - The entire 2010 WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony with matches featuring each inductee
Disc 3 - The complete Raw and Smackdown episodes from the week before the event
The Wrestlemania 26 event itself was a bit of a rollercoaster ride.
Now I know WWE has had events held while it was still daylight, but Wrestlemania should not be one of those events. With all of the massive sets and pyrotechnics that are used at Wrestlemania, having the night atmosphere creates an amazing ambiance that gives the entire event more energy and luster. In Phoenix, the local time was 4:00 p.m. when the show began......absolutely too early for a Wrestlemania. The crowd was a bit reserved for most of the show until the main event and, even with great speakers on a blu-ray, you can't replace the sound of a crazy audience and it looked as though some of the people were still having their Sunday nap. Ok, since that is off my chest, lets start with the event.
The tag team title match is on first. I know this because since this is Wrestlemania and there is a longer ramp and longer time for everything, someone in Stamford decides that R-Truth needs to sing "whats up" for what seems like an hour coming to the ring. After I have gone to get a sandwich, heal some babies, and fly to China and back, he is finished and his partner, John Morrison, finally comes down, with the normal entrances by the opponents, Big Show and The Miz, the tag champs. The match was a good, solid curtain jerker to get the crowd excited for the event, but Show and Miz end up winning in about 3-4 minutes after Show goes Mike Tyson supersized and clocks Morrison with the right hand. Game. Set. Match.
WWE then shows us how they pretty much took over Phoenix for the week. (Side note: If you get a chance to go to a Wrestlemania weekend, please do. Its an amazing atmosphere and the company treats everyone first class. Highly recommended.)
Its then time for Legacy (Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase) to go up against Randy Orton in a 2-on-1 handicap match. Its not supposed to be a handicap match, but the build up was so crazy coming into the match that it seemed that the creative team just decided to roll with the handicap idea with a little bit of Ted and Cody getting in each others' way every once in a while. OK match, Randy wins over Cody, but it was not of Wrestlemania quality. Great RAW or Smackdown main event though but this should be not on a 'Mania card nor should Orton be working against young bucks like these guys and so early in the card.
EXCUSE ME! I SAID EXCUSE ME!!! Sounds like Vickie Guerrero wants to have a little chat with Josh Matthews about how her hot diva teammates are gonna beat up the other hot divas later on tonight.........Slim Jim references to Mean Gene, Mae Young and Melina. Yay for seeing even an injured Melina saving that segment.
This is about the time I get some more food and drink to get me ready for the rest of the night.....
I see a lot of ladders around the ring, time for the Wrestlemania tradition (and many times the best match of the night) - Money In The Bank. This match was a little bit different this year because there were 10 men in the match, the most in the history of the match. When I first started seeing who was going to be involved in the match. I could pretty much figure out who had a legit shot of winning:
Kofi - Decent shot, but has to work on his mic skills some more before a world title reign
MVP - No chance unless he brought the championship to his player's lounge segment and made it fun again
Evan Bourne - Young guy plus still earning stripes in the WWE world.......NEXT.
Jack Swagger - Good chance, but young.
Shelton Benjamin - The most talent in the match but has little personality, even when they brought in Thea Vidale to be his mother. NEXT.
Matt Hardy - Great performer but has never been looked at as anything more than a US or Intercontinental Champion. NEXT.
Dolph Ziggler - Great talent and is the future, but the future is not right now. NEXT.
Drew McIntyre - Young man but is still honing his art and the craft of wrestling. NEXT.
Christian - Umm............yeah........NEXT.
Kane - The guy who I thought was going to be the man who was going to win this match. He has the tenure, is believeable as champion and can do well with a storyline, if its tailored to his skills and abilities.
That being said, the match was very entertaining, as all of the MITB matches are, but it was hurt a bit due to the amount of people in the match and each person didn't get enough time to hit their signature moves and offense. Great spots with Bourne and Shelton but Kofi was truly amazing with his walking of the broken ladder and using it as a stilt. I have had to do stilts for a show and let me tell you, NOT easy at all so major props to Kofi. In the end, Swagger wins and on the Blu-Ray, the ending was edited to not show Swagger taking forever to unhook the belt from the top. Give the editing staff a bonus.
Hall of Famers come out to the top next. Great moment, as always, to recognize the past and be thankful for the present. And..........when are we going to get an actual, physical hall of fame??? I know I would visit every year, maybe more if the lady will let me! :)
Now we start to get into the major part of the card with the Triple H/Sheamus match. This is the match where we really see why Wrestlemania can't be held in the daytime no matter what part of the country you live in. Triple H comes out and there is pyro that shoots up into the sky in the retractable roof at University of Phoenix stadium............we can't see it on TV and even on the Blu-Ray we can't see it! WWE, remember that this is a visual HD world we live in and if we don't see it, we are lost on it. The match was decent, Trips wins, walks out like "what's left for me to do? Im the King of Kings, the game, ive whooped everybody in the history of the business. Im going to go chill and enjoy my hot wife and make a movie. Peace."
Next up is Rey Mysterio vs CM Punk. The build up to this match was really strong on Smackdown! over the last few weeks leading up to Mania, and any pure wrestling fan knows that if these guys get some legit time in the ring, they can pull off a 5-star match. Well, as I go to call up my girlfriend and say some sweet nothings to her while I am getting ready to watch this, the match is over in the blink of an eye. Umm.....what?? You have this amazing buildup, storyline, fly Rey's family to TV, Punk just verbally owns everyone in the ring, including Rey himself, get Rey all mad, and you don't allow for a true struggle on the biggest event of the year??? Bad move. The match was great for the time given, but if it had 10 more minutes, it would have been one of the classics.
There is a ton of Pink and Black on the screen and its not a promo for Playboy, but its the Bret Hart/Vince McMahon match promos. This match was one of the main reasons why I wanted to watch this event live and get the Blu-Ray of the event. The entrance for Bret was amazing and looks amazing in HD with the pyro in the ring. When Vince comes out, Vince decides to give us a swerve and have the entire Hart family vs Bret until we see that Bret double-crossed Vince and Bret is going to actually go through with the match.
(Side Note - Bret had a massive stroke after Goldberg kicked him in the head in WCW. A stroke everyone!!!!! Its amazing that he is able to function, let alone wrestle a match, but WWE is going to go through with it.)
The match was absolutely horrible. Im gonna keep the details minimal on this. Bret hits Vince. Family hits Vince. Bret hits Vince with chair. 9000 times. Bret forgets sharpshooter. Bret remembers. Bret wins.
Next match is Jericho vs Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship. The match was strong but the crowd in Phoenix was so dead that it made the match seem like it was horrible and both guys weren't working hard in the ring. Jericho wins but if the crowd had been hot, this match could have been a classic.
Next up is the 10-diva tag match. When I watched this event at the bar with my boy Geno and watching it at home on Blu-Ray, I watch the entrance, then I go to do something else productive for 3 minutes.
Next is the WWE Championship between John Cena and Batista. The promotion for this match was absolutely amazing, as Batista, week in and week out, cut some of the most amazing promos on Cena that I have ever seen done by Batista. I hate that he left the WWE because he was just starting to really get back to being the monster again.
The entrance was a little bit tame this year for Cena as he had a local Armed Forces squad play him to the ring. While it was cool to see, when you get used to marching bands, 100 Cena-look-a-likes, and cars through glass, I expect more. Again, personal rants.
The match itself was very solid. It had a great workrate, the crowd seemed to wake up a bit for the match and Cena becomes the champion.
The main event. The match that all of us wanted to see ever since Wrestlemania 25. The match that could pit the 2 greatest superstars in history against each other. Undertaker. HBK. HBK's career vs Taker's streak. Build up was awesome. Crowd was great. The match was as good as, if not better than their classic at WM25. HBK lost, but the reaction from the crowd as Shawn was walking out, will leave you with goosebumps and proud to be a wrestling fan and makes the entire event worth watching.
I would give this Wrestlemania 3.5/5 stars. Solid matches, some down moments, dead crowd, possibly the greatest match ever. If you are going to get this at a local store, get the Blu-Ray for all of the extras as well.
Save me an appetizer at the next wrestling bar night.
