wrestling

411’s Countdown to WrestleMania 28: WrestleMania 23

March 28, 2012 | Posted by Larry Csonka

INTRO
WrestleMania 23 saw WrestleMania 4 and 5 host Donald Trump get involved, as he was a part of the Battle of the Billionaires with the WWE’s Vince McMahon. Both men would chose a wrestler to represent the in the battle, but it just wasn’t pride on the line, but also the prized pompadours of the Billionaires. Elsewhere, the Undertaker would challenge Batista for the World Title and in the main event, Shawn Michaels would return to challenge John Cena for the WWE Title…

* Mr. Kennedy won Money in the Bank @ 19:11
* The Great Khali defeated Kane @ 5:32 via pin
* US Title Match: Chris Benoit defeated MVP @ 9:18 via pin
* World Title Match: The Undertaker defeated Batista © to become THE NEW WORLD CHAMPION @ 15:47 via pin
* The ECW Originals defeated The New Breed @ 6:26 via pin
* Battle of the Billionaires: Bobby Lashley defeated Umaga @ 13:02. Donald Trump got to Shave Vince McMahon’s head
* Lumberjill Match: Melina defeated Ashley Massaro @ 3:11 via pin
* WWE Title Match: John Cena © defeated Shawn Michaels @ 28:22 via pin

TJ Hawke
BEST MATCH: Money in the Bank [Edge, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, King Booker, Randy Orton, CM Punk, Mr. Kennedy, Finlay] [****1/4] While most people seemed to be partial to the two world title matches on this show, I think this match ended up being the best match on the show. It was definitely one of the best Money in the Bank matches ever, in large part due to the atmosphere, the star power, and he stories told throughout.

WORST MATCH: Melina vs. Ashley [0] Yep, the girls had a worse match than Kane and Great Khali.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE SHOW: Batista/Taker Exceeding Expectations: This is the match that started Taker’s streak of fantastic Wrestlemania performances…and most people thought for sure in the lead up that this match would be the shits. Good on them for stepping up and delivering a great contest.

MVP OF THE SHOW: Shawn Michaels: Sure, Vince McMahon and Donald Trump probably are the reasons this show got the highest Wrestlemania buyrate of all time, but I firmly believe that a great Wrestlemania Main Event is usually the determining factor of how fondly Wrestlemania is remembered. Shawn Michaels absolutely carried John Cena here to a damn good (some say great) Wrestlemania main event.

OVERALL SHOW RATING: 8.5 – This show had a little bit of everything and most of it was done very well. MitB was a great stunt show, Trump/Vince provided some fun moments, Batista and Undertaker had a great power match, and Michaels and Cena provided a very strong main event to end the show on a high note. In my opinion, this is the best overall Wrestlemania since 2001 (yea, I think it’s better than 2003).

Steve Cook
BEST MATCH: John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels [****½] John Cena was on fire in 2007, having classic to good matches with pretty much everybody he worked with. It was easily the best in-ring year of his career, so it wasn’t surprising that he had a classic match in the main event of WrestleMania with a guy that most people believe is one of the greatest ever. Cena vs. Michaels got a similar reaction to Cena vs. Triple H the year before, and it fed off of the energy in Ford Field with HBK pulling out every trick in the book but just coming up a little short. I forget what the deal was with the aborted handshake at the end or if it was ever properly explained. In any event, Cena & Michaels tore the house down.

WORST MATCH: Kane vs. Great Khali [*] This was just brutal to sit through. I know that Great Khali is an avid listener of the 411 on Wrestling and is a huge fan of 411 in general, so I kind of feel bad about saying this, but this match had no chance at all. Khali’s tough to have a good match, and Kane is probably the last guy on Earth that’s capable of it. I don’t know who thought that having matches with these guys going one on one was a good idea, but hopefully they were wished well in their future endeavors.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE SHOW: Vince McMahon gets his head shaved. As silly as the Vince McMahon vs. Donald Trump feud was, it sure as heck was entertaining. Bobby Lashley vs. Umaga was better than it had any right being, with some fun over-booking helping out, Steve Austin being involved as a referee, and the ending with Vince’s famous hair being removed from his hair. Vince’s reaction to seeing himself with the ol’ Stone Cold Special was a moment that’s tough to forget.

MVP OF THE SHOW: Shawn Michaels. WrestleMania 23’s main event wasn’t supposed to be John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels. All signs were pointing to Triple H getting a rematch with Cena until he tore his quad, and HBK was inserted into the spot because he was Triple H’s buddy and could have a good match with Cena. Well, HBK had a great match with Cena and was a huge part in drawing over 80,000 people to Ford Field on this evening. Just another reason why WWE calls him Mr. WrestleMania.

OVERALL SHOW RATING: 8 – This was a much better show than I remembered it being on first watch. In addition to Cena/Michaels & Lashley/Umaga, you also had Undertaker & Batista in what was probably Batista’s best match ever. MITB was strong as usual, MVP & Chris Benoit had a solid match and ECW’s debut was well-received. There were a couple of duds (Who thought it was a good idea having Ashley challenge for the Divas title?), but overall WrestleMania 23 was a really strong show.

Tony Acero
BEST MATCH – SHAWN MICHAELS VS JOHN CENA: [****] My knee-jerk reaction was to give the title of “Best Match” to the Money in the Bank match, but I think I was just being drawn in by the spectacle of it all, because in reality Michaels and Cena put on a match without all the excess of ladders and the like, and still put on a match worth watching. This was around the time where Cena was still having some good matches with the likes of Umaga, and really showing that he has the capabilities to wrestle and not just turn on the Superman switch. Of course, with HBK and Mania, you damned near expect greatness. Not even the chemistry between Taker and Batista could make me label their match better than this. Michaels does it again, but Cena deserves just as much credit.

WORST MATCH – THE GREAT KHALI VS KANE: [1/2*] This should really go to the Divas Match, as it was crap, but the thing is that I expected this to be crap, even back then. Not to say I didn’t expect Kane and Khali to suck, but arguably, Melina vs. Ashley was much easier to watch and much more pleasing to the eye. This was crap, and it’s hard to believe that Khali is still around. We’ve got evil Kane here with Khali who is just sort of…there. The match was just a lot of crap, and ended with Khali choking Kane out with the chain from his movie. Just….bad, especially since it followed immediately after the Money in the Bank Match.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE SHOW – THE MONEY IN THE BANK MATCH: Of course, if I can’t give this match the Best Match of the Night title, then I’ll hand over the Highlight of the Show to it, because it truly was a highlight. This saw Mr. Kennedy take the win, and at the time I really liked Kennedy and wanted him to go all the way to the title belt with the win. Of course, shortly after he’d be wrongly diagnosed, lose the briefcase, then eventually leave the company. Nonetheless, they had all the right ingredients for the match here. There was enough action to keep us salivating for more and for the first time (At least, I think the first time), there wasn’t really a “big man” to depend on for carnage, which meant the average built guys could do a lot more, I think. For some reason, I saw Edge winning this, and it just didn’t happen since he left quite early, effectively ending his Wrestlemania streak. A lot of what the fuck moments and the right winner (at the time) makes this match good enough for the Highlight Reel.

MVP OF THE SHOW – DONALD TRUMP: More of a default pick, and mostly because he completely no sold The Boogeyman during the show. He also was able to clothesline Mr. McMahon and take a Stunner! The man with more money than I’ve ever seen was able to have some fun on a show and step away from his scowling attitude of the norm.

OVERALL SHOW RATING: 7.0 – Let’s look at the positive first. An amazing opening match, a great World Title Match, and a spectacular Main Event! Now let’s look at the negative; Khali and Kane, ECW old vs. ECW New, Lashley vs. Umaga, and Melina vs. Ashley. Then there is the in between of Chris Benoit and MVP and his cheerleaders. While there was a lot of sucktitude, the Main Event and the opening match hold so much weight. All in all, the thumbs are pointing more up than down, but still, it’s not completely upward. While the opening and closing make it feel very Wrestlemania, a lot of the rest was just average or below. As such, I’m thinking just above average for this show.

-Remember to come back tomorrow for our review of WrestleMania 24…

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Larry Csonka