ORLANDO: In the immortal words of the Four Seasons: Oh, what a night.
I'm back in my hotel room at the conclusion of one of the most memorable nights in my career as a wrestling fan. It is nights like this one that should reaffirm our faith in the pro wrestling business, and all it can be when practiced at its highest form.
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| More Photos: WrestleMania 24 |
In the tens of thousands of hours of wrestling I have watched in my life, I have experienced an array of emotions - jubilation, frustration, excitement, and boredom. I have never gotten choked up during a match - until tonight. Shawn Michaels' poignant final message to his adversary and friend - "I'm sorry. I love you" - as Flair invited HBK to give him all he had was pro wrestling's finest hour.
I loved every second of this match. Even the botched spots only added to the story of the tremendous pressure that Shawn Michaels was under in carrying an aging Ric Flair in the final match of his illustrious career. It was not until Charles Robinson's hand came down for a third time that I was hit by the weight of what just had occurred: The 35-year career of the greatest wrestler that ever lived had just concluded before my eyes. I am thankful that Flair was given such a grand stage to take his final bow; thankful that Mr. WrestleMania, Shawn Michaels, lived up to his reputation in such an important match; and thankful to have been part of it.
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| Video: WrestleMania 24 |
I was really surprised by the order of the matches. I would never in a million years have guessed that the Undertaker - Edge match would go on last, but, ultimately, it turned out to be a good choice. Even after sitting in an uncomfortable seat for nearly six hours, I was totally into the final match, as were 73,000 other fans. Another fantastic performance by the Undertaker at WrestleMania. And I was glad to see Long Island's own Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins getting to take part in the main event of one of the biggest pro wrestling shows in modern history.
Randy Orton becomes only the second heel ever to retain the WWE championship at WrestleMania. That's fine with me.
I'm not sure what to make of C.M. Punk winning the Money in the Bank title shot. He claimed if he won the match, he'd cash it in for an ECW title shot, but that seems like a waste. Maybe with Jeff Hardy in the doghouse, WWE is grooming Punk to take over Hardy's spot as a major challenger to Orton this summer.
Somewhere in the West Indies, S.D. Jones breathed a sigh of relief upon watching the Kane vs. Chavo match. He no longer lays claim to the quickest defeat in WrestleMania history.
The Mayweather-Big Show spectacle was a lot more fun than I expected. The match had Pat Patterson's fingerprints all over it. It was a smart move to fill Mayweather's entourage with trained wrestlers who could take bumps in place for Mayweather. For his part, "Money" Mayweather did an exceptional job, and showed a lot of respect for the wrestling business.
Other in-person notes:
- The Money in the Bank participant rehearsed their match in their street clothes in the ring about an hour before the doors opened up. At the same time, John Legend rehearsed his performance.
- I didn't think the building looked all that great when I first took my seat, but after the sun went down and the lights came up, I was blown away by the magnificence of sight in front of me. I don't think I've ever seen a better looking wrestling show. Not having a roof gave WWE the space for a lot of special touches, including the massive stage and the fireworks.
- WWE might as well gave billed the Bunnymania match as intermission with the amount of fans who left to the bathrooms, concession stands when the match came to the ring.
- A few of Mayweather's dropped currency made it all the way to the upper level seats on the opposite side of the stadium, including one bill that I missed by a few feet.
- Despite the sea of humanity, I was able to be on the I-4, cruising back to my hotel, within about 10 minutes of the show ending.
- The streets surrounding the Citrus Bowl were filled with residents selling parking spaces for $20-$25 in their backyards, behind churches, in the parking lots of private businesses, and everywhere else. I got there early enough that I didn't need to go that route, but I imagine a lot of locals made some good change tonight.
- Rev Theory, the band that performed the WrestleMania theme this year, played a concert at the Fan Axxess across the street from the stadium a few hours before the show. Fans really got into their music, despite the copious dropping of the F-bomb in front a crowd filled with kids.
- Despite some speculation, TNA never flew a plane over the Citrus Bowl, although there were no shortage of annoying aircraft hovering above. One advertised a strip club and beared the suitable message, "Wooo!"
- I read something about a fireworks accident at the end of the show. I didn't see it for myself, but I can attest to an ambulance racing through the crowded streets on its way to the Citrus Bowl immediately after the show ended.
- TNA set up a small area across the street from Citrus Bowl before the show where fans could take pictures with the X-Division title. There were also TNA flyers littered around the stadium.
- WWE made the wise move of opening the doors to the stadium more than two hours before the show. In other years, they've cut it pretty close. This gave the fans plenty of time to file in.
- The sun was shining almost to the minute that the show went on the air, and then became completely overcast and started raining. The showers were light and sporadic throughout the night, but never much of a problem. It did get quite chilly, though.
- The power outage during the women's match really affected the live fans' enjoyment of the WWE title three way. After the lights went, the giant screens over the ring soon followed, making it hard for many fans to follow the action in the ring.
- Despite WWE making it look awesome, the Citrus Bowl, by no means, is a nice building. In fact, it's rather beat up and gross. Most of the seats were uncomfortable, backless bleachers, and the mens' room urinals consisted of long, open tubs with no dividers for all the gentlemen to share, shoulder to shoulder. I wish I had skipped that second Miller Lite.
- What're more, the immediate area surrounding the Citrus Bowl was quite blighted and desolate; not at all the Disney World-Orlando you may be used to, and offering few options for pre-and-post game activities for fans.
Overall, it was definitely a WrestleMania that deserves a spot in the Top 10 in history.
370 days, and counting, to WrestleMania XXV.
Comments (16)
Wrestlemania Thoughts:
JBL/Finlay was a shocker because I totally expected the feud and the angle to end here, but I guess we're going to be treated to more which is a bit disappointing. We should have gotten a Tadpole Splash and a pin from Finlay. Regardless, a decent match but a bit disappointing all things considered.
Money in the Bank was a nice treat. It was better than last year, better than 2006 but not as good as the original so that's still saying something. A lot of nice spots. Shelton's was nasty in a semi-rehash of last year. Plus, Matt Hardy returning was a nice mark out moment. Punk winning was a shock but a nice shock nonetheless. I picked Punk to win but didn't think he actually would.
Batista/Umaga was disappointing. Extremely disappointing. It was still a good match, don't get me wrong, but they could have done so much more with this. If rumors of Umaga being switched to Smackdown are true, hopefully they do more with this. I wanna see more because I was pretty excited for this match.
I chuckled at Kane squashing Chavo. Kane deserves it after 10 years and I hope they let him hold it for a while.
What to say about Flair/Michaels? It was fucking amazing. No, it wasn't Flair or Michaels' best match but I dare someone to find a match with more emotion than this one. REAL emotion because everyone knew that this was Flair's last hurrah. It was a classic match and was a beautiful way for Flair to be sent off. The “I'm sorry... I love you” is definitely a Wrestlemania moment. I am not afraid to admit that I cried during the final moments and afterwards. Flair means so much to the business and to me, it's sad to see it end. But at the same time, it's nice to see it end. And end properly.
Bunnymania was bleh. Filler match, but Snoop Dogg's clothesline was the shit.
Triple Threat was really good and Orton retaining was a HUGE shock to me, but a pleasant shock. He deserves this win and I'm happy he got it. Solid action all around and a decent finish. Could have been a lot better, but could have been worse too. No big complaints here, but the match didn't have “epic feel” written on it.
On another note, rewatching the Triple Threat Match, I hate how they pretty much killed Cena's STFU during the match. Usually, the STFU means instant end for whomever is in it but tonight, they turned it into Kurt Angle's Ankle Lock. I hate that. I love a submission that means "end" when it's locked on
Who else loved Mayweather/Show as much as me? That was a SHITLOAD of fun and how a celebrity match should go. WWE again does it properly.
Main event started out slow but built and built to a great match – until the finish. I fucking HATE the stupid Go-Go-Gadget-Submission that Taker uses. Tombstone, pin, win the title. That's how it should go. I hate the move and that kinda scarred the match for me, despite the fact that the rest of the match was really fucking good. Had the finish ended how I wanted, I would have nothing bad to say about it.
Solid Mania, and I'll enjoy rewatching it. As a stand alone show, this is above average. However, for Wrestlemania only time will tell if it'll be one of the higher ranked WM events for me. Right now, I'm a little iffy.
I bought the PPV for the First Time in almost 20 years. It was worth it. Good review of the Citrus Bowl and the area.
The Flair/Michaels match was one of the best I ever saw.
I was also in attendance at the nasty Citrus Bowl. WWE should get a lot of credit for making that dump look like a million bucks. Matt Hardy should have remained in the MITB match and won it. He, along with Kane, got some of the biggest pops of the night. I hope everyone that was at the show , calls that realtor, whose ad was flown over the Citrus Bowl, and tells him to suck it.
that was one of the worst pay per views ever,with a few things happening. money in the bank-okay match. big show/moneyweather: give me a freakin break! brass knucks,please. triple threat was so-so,could have been alot better.cool to see kane win the ecw belt,and the undertaker beating edge,another clown. to charge $54.95 was atrocious,and the next one should be held in the new yankees stadium or msg. its time for flair to go,he can barely move in the ring. he didnt look to healthy. watched every wrestlmania,not one the best ones to say the least.
Man, some people are so hard to please. Can't you sit back and just enjoy the show without over-analyzing everything? And what are you talking about, "Flair should go"? It was his retirement match! He IS going.
Randy Orton is the third person to retain the WWE Title as a heel. Yokozuna did it at WMIX (beating Bret Hart before the Hogan debacle) as well at WMX (beating Luger by DQ before losing it to Hart in the final match of the night) and Triple H defended successfully against Big Show, Mick Foley and, Rock at WM 2000 (16) in a Fatal Four way.
It was a great Mania overall.
As an Orlando resident, I will fully acknowledge that the Citrus Bowl is a dump. However, the next time the event comes to Orlando (and it will), it will be in a Citrus Bowl that receives $200 million in renovations. The entire Lower Bowl will be redone.
Finlay - JBL was OK, also surprised that they seem set to continue this. Liked when Finlay ran into the dustbin lid.
The MITB match was really entertaining. A couple of cool spots. Good to see Hardy get the reaction he did, and good to see CM Punk win. I hope they don't have him 'waste' it on an ECW title shot.
Batista - Umaga was disappointing. Never caught fire.
Kane squashing Chavo was fine with me.
Flair - Michaels was great of course. Just special.
Bunnymania - don't care. Surprised they had the Playboy girl pinned although they balanced it by having Snoop come in.
WWE title match might be a touch underrated. It was fast and entertaining whilst not being epic, good finish, with the right winner. Agree with Matt that the STFU suddenly seemed half as potent as any other Cena match which was strange at best. Also interesting to see HHH crack out the crossface.
Mayweather - Big Show was better than expected.
Agree totally with Matt about the World Heavyweight match. I hate Taker's finisher which did spoil it a little for me, as did the fact he'd absorbed 2 spears in relatively quick succession prior to it which devalued Edge's finisher slightly.
Too bad we didn't get the Brothers of Destruction posing together to end the show. I mean, it is the first time both Kane and Undertaker have been world champions at the same time and all.
It could be a feel good moment to replace the moment at that other Wrestlemania where two new champions posed and hugged to end the show. Or maybe not.
I'm highly apprehensive about WWE suddenly restoring Chris Benoit to the conscience of wrestling fans.
Ric Flair mentioned him in his induction speech at the Hall of Fame ceremony. Later, Trips actually used the crippler crossface against Cena during the title bout.
Benoit's patently horrific life-ending actions truly outshadow his legacy as a great wrestler. I do not feel comfortable with WWE acknowledging him this early.
I'm highly apprehensive about WWE suddenly restoring Chris Benoit to the conscience of wrestling fans.
Ric Flair mentioned him in his induction speech at the Hall of Fame ceremony. Later, Trips actually used the crippler crossface against Cena during the title bout.
Benoit's patently horrific life-ending actions truly outshadow his legacy as a great wrestler. I do not feel comfortable with WWE acknowledging him this early.
Richard, just a correction. Yokozuna won the belt at Mania XIX. Bret was champ going in.
IX (9), not XIX (19).
The Citrus Bowl was a major dump. I'm glad to hear they're spending 200 million on renovations before Wrestlemania comes back. I think they should spend the majority of the money wiping out the neighborhoods around it and turning them into a parking lot. Parking was ridiculous and scary, since it was right in the middle of the ghetto. WWE should crack down on the people selling fake merchandise around it as well. While trying to get through to my parking area, I honestly saw a guy selling shirts literally pulling them out of his ass. It was disgusting and people were still buying them! I just think the whole area needs to be demolished to stop crap like that. I don't think I'll ever go back unless it becomes a parking lot.
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