Wrestlemania 28: A Retrospective Look
Yep, that's right. To me, the so called Best Match of 2012 is the worst match on the card. For many reasons. For one, it felt too melodramatic. It felt more like a Dragon Ball Z fight than a match with the panting by Undertaker's part and HHH telling HBK "End it or I will!" and that cycle repeating every 3-4 minutes got repetitive fast. It's also probably because I came in on the match late to the party. It wasn't until about a month after the ppv when I was able to watch the whole show and in between that, I was hearing all these whispers and reading all these lists online where everyone (except a friend who hated the match more than I did, believe it or not) claimed "It was best match of the decade!" and "SO awesome!" and it really hyped up a match I wasn't even that excited for but then I see it, it disappoints. Not even a knock against the match itself. It's just when you hype something like that and act like it's the best thing since sliced bread for so long, it'll never live up to such high pedestal levels of expectations and that was the case for me. Also, the way this match was hyped by WWE itself, it was really just a repeat of their previous match from the year before, which I dug much more than this match. The Cell was basically non-existent.
Oh, and of course I've got to talk about Cena vs Rock. Contrary to popular belief, I think it was a really great match. Had that WrestleMania feel to it, which was lacking from most of the card which felt more like your average Raw matches instead of a Mania contest. I know everybody says Cena should have won, but I liked the finish. Hell of a lot better than their Mania 29 finish. I'm still a firm believer that Rock and Cena should have just happened the year before and save the pointless year worth of build up. With that said, I guess this is where I talk about how I'd change the card...
0. Pre Show- Triple Threat Tag Match- stays as is. Nothing special and was just a filler match to begin with so keep it as is.
1.Cody Rhodes (c) vs GoldustL Intercontinental Championship: First of all, huge missed opportunity. This would have made a great feud whether it resulted in a regular title match or a Title vs Career match. Brother vs Brother matches have a good history of being good and I'm sure this would be no exception. One of the most important things about a WrestleMania is the opening match. Something to get the crowd going early on and let them know they'll be in for a hell of a show from the start. I think this would really do the trick. Rhodes wins.
2. Kane vs Zack Ryder: Not much of a Mania profile match, but Ryder was really over at the time and the storyline was that Kane put him in a wheelchair so there's enough heat to stem a good match from a decent feud. Either guy can win. You can either have Kane dominate the whole match until Zack gets a roll up or it can go back and forth for a bit until Kane gets a chokeslam and wins.
3. Kelly Kelly vs Layla vs Beth Phoenix vs Natalya- Divas Championship: Maria Menounos is Special Guest Ref: I think we can all agree no one cared much for the match going in so lets make it a little important. Divas Title match. If you have to bring Maria in, make her special guest ref.
4. Team Teddy (Randy Orton, Booker T, Kofi Kingston, and Big Show) vs Team Johnny (The Miz, Drew McIntyre, Dolph Ziggler and Mark Henry): The concept was a decent way to put people on the show who needed to be on. Problem is there were too many people in the match who didn't. Shorten the time and the number of competitors and switch them with people with actual star power so it at least feels more important than it is.
5. John Cena vs The Undertaker- Career vs Streak: Since I still think Cena and Rocky should've went at it the year before at WM27 instead of some pointless buildup, I say give Rock the win at 27 and then, like how it basically went down in real life, you have Cena go through this losing streak and these dark times where his confidence was crushed since he couldn't get the "big win". He's losing all these WWE Championship matches (maybe one where the stipulation is if he lost he can never get another championship match for a year, just to really set his character off edge) and loses high profile matches in feuds with guys like Kane and Jericho; guys he used to mop the floor with years ago. Then he reaches his breaking point when he fails to when his promised desire to win the Royal Rumble. From then on, it looks like his character starts going through this depression. Not a drastic one, but think the character development AJ Styles went through in TNA in 2013. If you watch TNA of course. I myself sparingly watch it but he doesn't have the same fire and intensity and drive that he used to in his promos or in the ring. Then he cuts this promo revealing he feels he's letting his fans down by losing so often. He's going to make it up to them in a little "go home" match as he'll call it...by challenging Undertaker's streak. He says this is his last time to prove he's worth a damn and not just yesterday's news and if he loses, he has no career. Since everybody claims that the only believable threat to the Streak is John Cena so lets add some extra drama to it. We know that The Streak won't end, but at the same time we know Cena's career can't end so no one will really know what direction WWE would be going with this. Undertaker wins, then Cena retires. AKA Go on vacation for 5 months and then returns at SummerSlam. Cop out? Maybe. But remember, Macho Man "retired" at WrestleMania 7 and then defended the WWF Title at WrestleMania 8 so Cena can do the same thing.
6. The Rock vs HHH- End of an Era- I still think The Rock should have faced Cena the year before so if that had happened, I would say give him Cena this year.This always struck out in my mind as a match that made more sense to dub "End of an Era". Their characters started against each other as jobbers and then when it was DX vs Nation of Domination and then when they were in their prime as main event players. They both came in a little before the Attitude Era first began and they can end up as "ending the era" as the #2 and #3 guys from that era. The feud can stem from Rock announcing he wants to be in The Royal Rumble so he can have one more match for the WWE Title at Mania in his hometown. Fast forward to the Rumble, Rock is #30. His music hits, but no one comes out. We cut backstage (in a probably pre-taped segment) and The Rock is in his gear laid out. A few weeks later, he returns fully recovered and says that he didn't see who attacked him...but he knows what it feels like to get smacked in the back with a sledgehammer far too well and then accuses HHH. HHH denies for a bit, until he just pedigrees Rock. Then COO HHH (here you can give him a short heel turn if they don't wanna turn him until 2013) says he's sick of Rock hanging like a monkey on his back everywhere he turns. He was always in his way in the Attitude Era and he's in his way now. He thought he was done with Rocky when he packed his bags and fled to Hollywood. He tells he was always better than The Rock and he's going to prove it in one more match at WrestleMania. The Rock wins. If you don't want HHH to stay heel, you can have them both shake hands after the match. If I had it my way, this would be Rock's last match.
7. Daniel Bryan vs Sheamus- World Heavyweight Championship- Moved this down the card, but keep it as an 18 second match to serve as a cool down match. A part of me really wants to give them 18 minutes instead of 18 seconds, but I see this as the moment DB started to really get over and won over some sympathetic fans. Much in the same respect that Mankind won a lot of his fans after getting the hell beat out of him by the Undertaker in the Hell in a Cell. I think after DB lost in 18 seconds, people started seeing him as a guy who was screwed out of having a big Mania moment/match and then the IWC community started complaining and that started stemming slowly but surely into the crowds and then the YES chants started. The rest is history. Therefore, I think this was a very necessary thing to happen to DB and if it didn't happen, he probably wouldn't be as over as he is now. We'll probably look back on this as the defining moment of his career.
8. Chris Jericho vs CM Punk (c) for the WWE Championship- Stays as is, but moved to the main event. Perfect build up. Brilliant match. Match of the night. Sure, you can argue that the biggest stars should get the main event, but nothing should be bigger than the title. Hogan vs Rock was the biggest match going into WrestleMania X8, but that didn't stop Jericho from defending against HHH. Nor did it stop Brock vs Angle at WrestleMania 19 from main eventing over Rock vs Austin. For 19, WM19 was all the better for the decision.
