[WOOLCOCK]

Aye better than HHH v Taker, I enjoyed that match a hell of a lot more than last year's and thought they structured it much better and did a great job keeping the crowd invested in the match...but I'm just not feeling it as anything close to *****. I'd put it about ***3/4 for the great story of Taker becoming the Phenom again as well as his selling of the chair attack, but man I just cannot in anyway get into HHH as a wrestler these days. Everytime the dude started a monologue about HBK having to end the match I just wanted him to shut up and wrestle the match....I dunno I thought Taker and HBK at Wrestlemania 26 did a much better job telling a story through their sequences than HHH did yelling it to the back row.

God damn at the spinebuster on the jagged edge of the steel steps though, that was certainly the bump of the night.

[Silverthorn]

I haven't watched Henry vs. Punk but the thought of it being better than Taker/Trips is laughable.

[sharkboy22]

I So jus re watched CM Punk vs Chris Jericho and it's a prtty good match but he pacing just feels a bit off in the match. I give it ***3/4

I just really can't dig Taker/HHH no matter how much I try. Give me their match last year over this one anyday 9and tbh I wasn't that big a fan of last year's match either). Like I said, Taker/HHH=Flair/HBK. I think that's a fair comparison.

So if you're one that thinks Flair/HBK was anything ****+ then most likely Taker/HHH is ****+ to you. But to me Flair/HBK was ***1/2 and likewise so is Taker/HHH. It's not a good HELL IN A CELL MATCH. I'm rating this match based on the fact that it's a Hell In A Cell match and to me it's just another typical PG era HIAC match. To me the best HIAC match since WWE went PG is Edge vs Taker at Summerslam 2008. All the others, including Taker/HHH, just feel like regular No-Dq matches and the cell just encloses them look awkward as fuck.

I just find a lot of people are overrating Taker/HHH and I rather watch Rock/Cena or Jericho/Punk over it anyday. Taker/HHH is just one of those matches where you see it once and that's it. The first time I saw it I was emotionally invested I have to say but the second time around it felt like a chore to watch. At least Flair/HBK is a match that I've seen three times and never once got bored of it, so I rally don't know if I could compare the two now lol.

But yeah, Taker/HHH, IMO, is just not a good match.

Segunda ****1/4 man? Not that 1/4 of a star makes much a difference but I probably have CM Punk/Henry anywhere around ***3/4-****. It was a damn good match.

[Gamblor]

I've gotta watch Henry/Punk again after seeing these thoughts. I wasn't giving 100% of my attention to it as I was entertaining my 3-year old nephew at the same time... nor did I think it would be anything special. It's crazy to think to some people at least it's in that 4 star range, and as for it being MOTY, I can't see it beating Jericho/Punk for that title, but hey... won't know until I see it.

And glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks Taker/HHH is getting overrated. I have the match at **** though, but it's on the lower end and I can't see myself ever putting it near *****. I do think it's better than last year's match though. But overall it was a great match... just not the HIAC between the two I would've liked.

[Mr Joe Perfect]

WrestleMania XXVIII

Bryan/Sheamus: *
Kane/Orton: ***
Rhodes/Show: **
Divas: **1/2
Trips/Taker: ****
Team Teddy/Team Johnny: **3/4
Punk/Jericho: ****1/2
Rock/Cena: ****

Overal: A great show and is probably up there as one of the best manias.

[WOOLCOCK]

Originally Posted by Hohenheim of Light

I haven't watched Henry vs. Punk but the thought of it being better than Taker/Trips is laughable.

Not really, I didn't hate the HIAC and quite enjoyed a lot of it but Punk's selling was about as good if not better than any selling in the Cell match, Henry's offence was tremendous and focused, they built to the comeback superbly with Henry continually cutting off Punk at every opportunity and there was just nothing I could find fault with.

The Cell match on the other hand had HHH in it, now that may seem a harsh criticism but the man does nothing for me as a worker these days and instantly reduced my emotional investment in the match, I don't really like his and Taker's chemistry and found some of the attempts at DRAMA to be too overdone (though I understand why they had to overact) and forced compared to Michaels/Flair and Michaels/Taker. I thought they placed the finisher kickouts much better here and played off of last year's match well with key call back spots but its a match I think is designed for a live audience....enthralling to watch but its not the sort of match that I can see getting better with every viewing. The nearfalls lose their impact and in the case of HHH/Taker I found the nearfalls in both matches to be one of the key aspects in what made the match so gripping live, whereas HBK/Taker has smarter work in between big spots and generally better chemistry and character dynamics.

I just don't very much care for HHH at all and found Taker and to an extent some of Michaels' acting/reactions to be the glue of the match. The crowd were magnificent and it was a better 'epic' match than last years which suffered too much from poor placement of finisher kickouts and stalling, I did really enjoy the story of Taker taking back his aura and dominance and thought that played in very well with the finish. But if you're asking me which match I could watch time after time I'll stick with Punk/Henry since it has enough tangibles to hold up on a rewatch whereas HHH/Taker's quality was rooted in the suspense of the nearfalls which will only become less special with every rewatch of the match.

Also Obis don't go in expecting as good a match as I thought it was, I mean this is literally everything I can ask for in a 2012 wrestling match: story, character work, selling, less is more etc. I can definitely see a lot more matches by the end of the year topping this from a workrate perspective but in terms of entertainment value and a personal favourite match this will be hard to top.

[robertdeniro]

Undertaker Vs Triple H (Special Guest Referee: Shawn Michaels) ****3/4
CM Punk Vs Chris Jericho ****
John Cena Vs The Rock ***1/2

[BGLWrestlingGod]

I know I'm a little late on my thoughts, but I ate way too much pizza and pop 'ems Sunday night, and was in no condition to share my thoughts. This review is based on both my live viewing and my immediate second review. I usually watch A WrestleMania three times in the first couple of months: live, downloaded the next day, and a month later when I get the DVD. This review is based solely on the first two viewings.

WHC: Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus
I may not have mentioned it before, but I had a feeling this would happen. The match was too randomly paired, there was no buildup, and with so much time needed for the three main events, I knew they were going to cut somewhere, and it had to be here. Am I glad that the WHC is reduced to an afterthought, opening the ppv, and being contested in 18 seconds? No. When I got back into wrestling, the WHC matches were HHH/HBK/Benoit and HHH/Batista killing each other for 20+ minutes. The title is completely dead.

However, I am okay with Sheamus capitolizing on DB allowing himself to be distracted, getting a big win, and re-legitimzing the title. I mean, the belt looks great on him, he's a big, agile guy who could probably have some great main events, and this could be the start of the best WHC reign since Batista in late 2007. It got a good pop, and as someone else said, I could completely buy a rematch in which a pissed off DB really goes after Sheamus. The match was just like Mysterio/JBL at 25 and Chavo/Kane in that no one was paying to see it. Haha, the bigger guys always win.

** (out of 5)

Randy Orton vs. Kane
Kind of falls in line with Batista/Umaga for me: two big names who had nothing else to do, they had some solid exchanges, but the match just never took off. I don't mind the win, since Kane beating Orton at WM completely elevates him, while Orton is big enough that the loss won't hurt him.

**1/2

IC Title: Cody Rhodes vs. Big Show
Reminded me a lot of Punk/Show from NOC '10: little guy heel bumping like crazy, taking the fight, getting some advantage, but being made short work of. Good for the time it got.

**1/4

Divas Tag
Not bad as far as 7-minute divas matches go. Kelly Kelly has gotten better in the ring, I appreciate the fact that Menounous "gets" in, loves the product, sells like crazy, and works with her opponents.

**

HIAC: Undertaker vs. Triple H
To me, like sequels, a lot HUGE rematches are rarely as good as the original. HBK/Angle II at Vengeance, HBK/UT at WM XXVI, Cena/Punk at SummerSlam, Angle/Guerrero at SS, for example, were all far cries from the original. I loved UT/HHH at WM XXVII. I had no idea it would be so intense, so powerful, so compulsively rewatchable. Probably one of the fastest 30 minutes ever. I anticipated a rematch, but was very hesitant about if they could follow up.

Somehow, they did. Everything about this match was perfect. UT coming out with a cool costume, his haircut indicating just how much HHH's beating changed him, HBK feeling sorry for UT getting his ass kicked, UT putting the hell's gate on HBK for wanting to ring the bell, the SCM/Pedigree combo nearfall (almost as good as the tombstone last year), HHH's defiance at the end, and the moment UT, with HBK, helps up Triple H, and the three walk to the back together.

I agree that it didn't make the most out of the cell, but they did some stuff at the beginning, and I'm glad that for history's sake, this end of an era match took place inside HIAC. Doing "No Holds Barred" again would have been repetitive, so the name of the HIAC stip alone makes it worthwhile. Fantastic action, story, and finish. Maybe 1/4 not as amazing as the original, but at this point my favorite match of 2012.

****1/2

Team Teddy vs. Team Johnny
As far as random mult-man tag matches go at WM, this is probably the best. Everyone got in some good shots, the pace didn't let up, the triple-threat splash outside was great, Santino almost getting the win was a nice nearfall, and this somewhat restore's Miz's luster by getting the big win for the team at WM. A lot of fun, short and sweet. Would have liked a spinarooni, though, unless I missed it.

***

WWE Title: CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho
I'm of two minds about the random stip change. Ace and Punk had a pre-existing feud, Ace had just won a lot of power and was clearly in the mood to abuse, Jericho was trying to instigate Punk by brining up his family, so trying to get Punk to go nuts worked with both feuds.

Problem is, none of this should have happened. The feud between Jericho and Punk disolved into a very cliched "your family sucks" bs, which made the feud contrived and falsely personal, when it should have really focued on "who's the best"? A great face/heel competition.

So for the match to start with some gimmicky storyline bullshit just killed the first few minutes. Worse, nothing about that came up again towards the end of the match, like it was completely abandoned. You have CM Punk and Chris Jericho, let them fucking wrestle. We already have a storyline match in Rock/Cena, a hardcore match in HHH/UT, let this be the pure wrestling match. They didn't add some gimmick a minute before HBK/Cena, Guerrero/Angle, or Angle/Lesnar. Just let them wrestle.

Luckily, though, they did abandom the bs, and had a very suspensful exchange of submissions, which luckily had the match ending on a high note. A better second half made up for the first, shame they couldn't just let it be and let them have a whole 20 minutes of you know, wrestling.

***3/4

The Rock vs. John Cena
No one match could live up to a year of hype, especially one with a guy who hasn't had a singles match in 9 years and somehow not completely capable of carrying a match for 30 minutes.

The staredown felt quiet, the feeling out process was bland, the match was just very, very conventional. I knew we were in trouble when Cena went for that first bear-hug. It just looked like the two of them needed to lie down. I would have had no problem with this being 10-15 minutes of feeling out, and then another 5-10 minutes of finisher fest. It worked for Cena/Batista, Cena/HHH, and Cena/Orton, so why not here. I think on paper the layout was fine, but there was just some awkward transitions.

Rock should not have been going for 30 minutes, though I do understand WWE's attempt to give fans their money's worth. As far as payoffs go, at least it's better than Sting/Hogan at Starrcade '97, but it's obviously not as good as Punk/Cena MITB.

The fact that it ended just as soon as it started getting good was very TNA for me. If you're going to go for 30 minutes, you need to be changing gears about every 5-10 minutes. This switched maybe once, never left it, and ended. It's not a bad match, but it's not worth 12 MONTHS of hype.

It's a solid dream match, I'm glad it happened. My biggest bias is against Rock winning. While I understand that Rock still has a wrestling career ahead of him, is only 39, and perhaps Cena will be put over in the rematch, his coming back, getting the better of Cena at WM 27, Survivor Series, and now 28 makes it looks more and more like a celebrity inclusion than an actual competitor.

I get Cena acting cocky costing him, but Rock winning the main event of WM 2012 is just weird form. WM used to be a statement about the future of the company. Look at the main events of III, VI, X, XII, 13, XIV, 16, XIX, 21, 22. Cena not turning heel and now feuding with Lesnar is just a distraction. A great distraction, but a distraction.

I also found it laughably hypocritical that they WERE plugging GI Joe throughout the fucking show. So movie star comes back, gets better of top guy on two occassions, pins him in main event of WM (his second match in eight years), they plug his movie, and he disappears.

Say what you will about Hogan, and I know he was a lot older at this point in his career, but when he came back in 2002, he put over Rock, Undertaker, Triple H, Angle, and Lesnar, and they ALL looked better for it.

This hasn't elevated Cena. It hasn't hurt him, but it hasn't help

Ranting aside, a solid match burdended only by its length of hype.

***1/4


Hard to tell where this ranks with WMs. My most recent favorite remains XXIV, the last great WM. I think the problem with this show was that there was nothing in between. It was all main events and bullshit. If you weren't Rock/Cena or UT/HHH, you were Big Show/Rhodes and DB/Sheamus. I like a deep card at WM, like 26, 22, etc.

The whole show I'd give a *** (out of 5)

[Word]

Why are people hating on the Brock return? The IWC was terrible when I joined in '07, I don't even go near the RAW section anymore as 90% of people in there are clueless.

At least most people in here are talking sense.

[SmokeAndMirrors]

How would everyone feel about a 'Best Technical wrestlers' dvd? I would be all for it provided it was made well and the matches were great.