Botches, Awesome Signs and JACK SWAGGAH~!: WrestleMania XXVI

I thought this could have been the best WrestleMania ever coming in. Did it deliver? Well, I do think that it was well worth the money, and it was up there with WMX-7 and WMIII, but I'm not prepared to call it the best ever. That's not a bad thing, as it was really, really good. I thought what brought it down were the number of botches from guys you don't expect them from. I mean, yeah, Kofi Kingston whiffing on the ladder spot in the corner was expected coming in that kind of situation, but there were others that were head-scratchers. Cena and Batista had one in their match with the recreation of the Batista Bomb that injured Cena at SummerSlam '08. I could have sworn I saw one in the Jericho/Edge match too. The most egregious one though? Shawn Michaels' moonsault that barely hit Undertaker's shin going through the table. Yikes.

Still, I don't want to focus on the negative, since I did like it. First up, I'm glad they gave Yoshi Tatsu the shoutout with the BR win. He's over and he's a really fun wrestler. Hopefully, this is the gateway to bigger things.

I would have liked to have had a longer Tag Title match, but it was a fun sprint, and the right team won. Morrison's kicks were on point, Truth wasn't too bad, and Show as always looked crisp. They didn't really give Miz much to work with outside of selling, but hey, he sold well.

Orton winning over both his former minions was expected for me, but it was the right call. I liked the match for what it was, although egads, Cody, they found a way to make you look even more naked than you already do. Need. To. Wash. My. Brain. With. Lye. I liked the punt on Cody and the RKO sequence. Anyone else notice Cody doing the Alabama Slam? A nod to his former tag partner? Nice.

Money in the Bank was the expected spotfest, but outside of the Kofi botch, it was a good spotfest. I thought Evan Bourne shone in this match with his limited opportunities. It seemed like there were more "oh shi..." moments in this with some of the big, dangerous looking spots than normal, which took the focus off the clutter somewhat. Another really awesome thing was the spot where Kofi used the broken ladder as stilts. Made up for his earlier botch. Still, I didn't like how there were points where you were looking for guys and they were just not to be seen. Too much Matt Hardy, not enough Christian.

Despite the fact that he took like 5 minutes to do what should have took 30 seconds in unhooking the briefcase, I liked that Jack SWAGGAH~! won in that it was a surprise and that they seem to show faith in him. I got worried a bit after they booked him like utter dogshit post his mini "feud" with Miz over Eve Torres that he'd be lost in the shuffle, but hopefully, this means a true, in-earnest elevation for him is upcoming. I also liked his ring attire. Finally, a nod to the "American" part of his All-American American nickname.

Trips beating Sheamus was predictable, but at least he looked strong in defeat. I liked the match. Sheamus is a much better opponent for Triple H, mainly because he's physically credible to inflict major damage on him (and Trips would sell for his BFF, right?). The best part of the match wasn't anything to do with the match itself, but it was the sign above the lefthand ringpost that said "HHH fears divorce". One of many awesome signs on the night. The Phoenix crowd deserves major props for bringing out some clever, creative and quirky signs for the biggest event of the year. What I didn't like about the match? Yeah, that was easily one of the worst Pedigrees I've ever seen thrown.

Punk and Mysterio was a really, really good match. It was probably the match of the night, but it didn't steal the show like I hoped it would. Still, there were some pretty good spots, including Punk countering the wheelbarrow bulldog on the outside with a face-bomb on the steel steps and ReyRey hitting a sort of shiranui/Sliced Bread #2 type move later on. Rey winning was the right call here I thought. The whole indentured servitude angle is played out and it works when done years apart, not months. There are so many other things that they can do to extend the feud without putting Rey in the SES.

Bret/Vince went on about 10 minutes more than it had to. I liked the bit with the double-cross, as it really worked well to close out the feud given the way it started. I also liked that the Hart Dynasty was given a rub as they should have been. Still, for it being a glorified squash match, it should have been a lot shorter. Seriously, when Bret teased the Sharpshooter the first time, he should have gone through with it. The crowd was hot for the move, but you could feel them deflating when he went to get the crowbar again. And the chairshot overkill? It was just that, overkill. I understand they had to put over the revenge factor, but it could have been done in a shorter period of time.

I don't think any of us fanboys on the Internet can complain about the way they treat Chris Jericho anymore. He got a borderline clean victory (okay, clean-ish) over the Royal Rumble winner and got to retain his title at WrestleMania. Any memories of him picking up dogshit are just that, memories. That being said, I thought it was a strong match although the best spot came afterwards, when Edge speared Jericho through the guardrail. That was also only the first time that a spear looked good coming from Edge. I'm also not sure it was the right call, unless they have Edge turn heel soon after. The only way I'd have booked Jericho to win that match is if he dropped the title right afterwards to the MitB winner, which I was hoping would have been Christian. Maybe SWAGGAH~! would have worked too, but then again, I'm guessing they want to keep him heel.

The Divas match... well the less said about it, the better. Really? They had to shoehorn that into the match just so Vickie Guerrero could do her husband's memory the biggest disservice ever with that? I fucking hate the WWE sometimes it's not even funny.

Of course, they then go onto redeem themselves with the Cena/Batista match, which wasn't anything super special, but it was a solid, heavyweight WWE main event style match. Again, the Phoenix crowd amused me with their signs, including a nonsensical but funny sign that said "Batista likes fishsticks". lolwut? Also, John Cena haters can suck my balls. I loved how he celebrated with the people in the front row after the match who were wearing the "we hate Cena" shirts. The dude gets it. He's the kind of guy who deserves to be a celebrity, a guy who appreciates his fans and takes his ribbing with good humor.

They closed the event with Taker/HBK, which wasn't surprising, but at the same time, it took me off-guard a little bit. It bothered me that they centered the match around the table moonsault when Michaels botched it so badly, but I thought the rest of the match was okay enough. It wasn't as good as last year's match by far, which isn't surprising. The crushing weight of expectation can be unbearable. But they've closed WMs in the past with far worse main events. IF this really is HBK's last match ever, then hey, he's had a great run. It didn't really feel like his last match though, which makes me think he'll be back. I mean, he didn't cry, he kinda yukked it up with the crowd. Even the interaction with Taker at the end felt forced. There seemed to be a lot more emotion from HBK's end when he said farewell to Flair two years ago. I don't know.

Anyway, this year's event was a huge, huge step up from last year. Outside of the dreadful Divas match and the Bret/Vince slogfest, there really wasn't a bad match on the card. It had surprises, big spots, and despite the botches, it did have a big-time feel. Good work, WWE.

Also, thanks to blog-fans Tom K., Sean, Phil, Adam B. and Brad for coming out, watching the show and enduring my dog's awful farts.