The Vile One's Dungeon: WrestleMania XXV Live Report

Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 04.09.2009

The Vile One was live at Reliant for the big show this year.

I got to the arena early to check out the pre-show media question and answer session with Ricky Steamboat, Ric Flair, and Mickey Rourke. Rourke called Jericho a piece of shit and talked a lot about how much fun he had learning about wrestling in working on The Wrestler. Ric Flair talked about what a great performer Rourke is and what great friends they became. Flair considers Rourke to be up there with Marlon Brando. When asked about a movie being made about Flair's life, Flair said Brad Pitt would have to gain about 50 pounds. When I asked Ricky Steamboat about returning to the ring, Steamboat said he was regularly working in the ring and planning matches with the boys for years and he constantly kept training and keeping himself in shape. Steamboat said compared to when he was wrestling if he could put a number on it, he felt 80%.

Following the press conference, I went down to my seat on the lower level instead of opting for the press box space. My friends and I had pretty goods seats and a nice view of the ring. Much better than the floor seats in the back. Before the event started, I walked around a little so I could get some pictures close to the ring. In the process I also encountered the one and only Sign Guy.

Surprisingly enough the show began with The Colons vs. Miz and Morrison for the Tag Team Title Unification Match. None of us had any idea this was relegated as a pre-show/DVD dark match, when many were expecting this one to be a part of the main card to steal the show. They also made it a lumberjack match so a bunch of other guys who didn't make it on the card could be a part of "Mania." Pretty lame that this match was relegated to before the official card so Kid Rock could have more time.



The show finally begins in a great opening with the roster reflecting on the most significant moments in Mania history and how they want to be a part of it. Show kicks off with the fifth annual Money In The Bank Ladder match. A lot of people thought Mark Henry had no business being in there, but he played his role well. Christian Cage was definitely the fan favorite to win. Some really good, surprising spots. Kofi Kingston probably pulled the more impressive spots this year, a role that usually goes to Shelton Benjamin in this match. The finish was pretty surprising with Punk winning. No way did I feel that he had any chance of winning this match. That Punk sure does like staying in the dog house.


CM Punk is Money In The Bank for the second year in a row.

Kid Rock came out for his dull, dated rock music so it was time to get some concessions. By the time I came back, the music was STILL playing. The Bimbo Brawl started and we didn't even really know who was in there except "Santina Marella." The stuff with Santino was funny especially the dancing after he won, but still this was not worth relegating the tag team title match which could've been a potential show stealer. This match also could've been placed later instead of putting the two title matches straight after HBK/Taker.

So Jericho vs. The Legends was up. My friends and I totally marked out when we realized that Mickey Rourke was sitting next to Frank Shamrock. Mickey Rourke said in the press conference before that the insurance companies would in no way allow Rourke to step into the ring or get into some sort of brawl with Jericho. OK. Steamboat was by far the best part of the match, but from the looks of the TV video screens, they missed his skin the cat spot near the end of the match. The match played out how it should. Jericho cleanly beat all three guys and then Jericho finally confronted Rourke, and Rourke knocked him out. I thought it worked. Match was OK for what it was, but honestly they should've just done Jericho vs. Steamboat for just 10 minutes. That would've been more awesome.

The video package for Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy was very well done. I feel they did a great job of building the match up, unfortunately the match didn't really quite measure to the high standard of the buildup. The match by far was an improvement over Hardy vs. Hardy at Vengeance 2001 which was disappointing. Some good spots and some good bumps in this brawl, but when they brought out the vacuum cleaner . . . what the hell? I mean its hard considering Matt and Jeff have been in some of the sickest spotfests in the modern wrestling age. I'm glad Matt is finally wearing wrestling tights. The finish was great with the Twist of Fate through the chair and Matt beating Jeff as clean as possible in a No DQ bout. The problem? This should've been a world title match. Jeff should've never lost the world title. This could've been an awesome, fresh main event world title bout. Instead WWE booking went back to an all too tired well.


HBK in the ring after his epic entrance to end all Wrestlemania entrances.

The stadium darkened before HBK/Undertaker was set to take place. You could see Michaels being elevated in during the video package. The entrance and atmosphere for this match was amazing. The match got going and it was absolutely awesome, definitely a career best for both guys. I thought the match was going to end prematurely after Undertaker's sick head first dive to the floor. Then Michaels brought the ref in and it looked like he was trying to just get the count out victory. That should've been the first sign he was going to lose when he pulled a wussy move like that. The match was great, but I think it went about five minutes too long. My friends and I went apeshit when HBK kicked out of the Last Ride and the Tombstone. The Tombstone definitely looked like it could've been the finish. The other problem is HBK doing his lame slow to cover pins which made the kick outs a lot more predictable and way less dramatic. Not a ***** match of the year candidate but definitely in the **** range. For my money, KENTA/Richards that weekend was my more favored match.

What was the big mistake? The show blew the wad after this match. The crowd had pretty much died. They tried to get worked up for Cena/Big Show/Edge, but they just started losing interest and stopped caring. Fans livened up a little for the finish where we almost saw Cena pull off a double FU on both Edge and Show. Cena wins the world title . . . again. Look, I'm no Cena hater. I like Cena, and I think Cena can have some really good matches. But c'mon. This was a lame sitcom feud where the world title was almost an after-thought. We really should've had Matt vs. Jeff as a world title match that could've elevated that feud to an Owen/Bret level. Edge/Show/Cena seemed like a waste of time and another excuse to put a new world title belt on Cena. Last year it felt like Show was returning to become a huge deal. That boat has now sailed.

Before the main event was the mini-ceremony to recognize the Class of 2009 Hall of Famers, and all the guests from the night before came out on stage, and Stone Cold Steve Austin was given a special entrance. Austin came to the ring for one last beer bash to so fans could say goodbye to Stone Cold one last time, for good. Much like the night before, this was I imagine Stone Cold closing the book on his wrestling career and doing it one last time at Mania for the fans.



Things went further south with the main event. I was so excited about the Orton era finally beginning and Orton winning the world title. I think going an Orton/HHH route was a little weird. HHH/Orton already had so many matches before and now they were doing it "for real" where HHH is now a McMahon and Orton is targeting the McMahons. The problem? This became a bad TNA main event. Orton/HHH were having this boiling, bloody, personal feud and yet the match is this dull, boring "wrestling" match. Wrestling is fine but Orton and HHH didn't bring the intensity. They didn't bring the heat. Say what you want about ROH or KENTA and Davey Richards, but in their 20 minute classic they made you feel the hatred. They made you feel the kicks and the chops and the near falls. Orton and HHH totally dogged it and it looked like they just didn't care. They could clearly see that they were losing the crowd. Fans were getting up and leaving, and they even started doing the wave. This was Jericho/HHH from Wrestlemania 18 all over again, probably even worse. HHH wins in the worst fashion possible. None of us could believe that was the finish. It was so random and there was no rhythm.



Overall it was a decent show that ended on a low note. I'm not saying HBK/Undertaker needed to be the main event. But at Wrestlemani X7, the show started with a lot of energy and they managed to keep that energy up the whole show throughout the main event. This show lost all of its energy after HBK vs. Undertaker. The world title matches were a disappointment, and WWE ruined something big with Randy Orton. And that's why this feels like TNA now. TNA ruins many of their big moments and opportunities. I hope they can salvage Orton now, but this HHH/Orton feud was a colossal error and a giant mistake. HHH is terrible as a world champion right now, and he's terrible as a top babyface. He can't let go of his Wrestlemania main event spot or step aside. He should know better since he didn't bury Batista or Cena at Wrestlemania. He put them over because that was what was best for business at the time.

It was a good weekend for wrestling, but as far as Wrestlemania goes, X7 had it over this one in spades. But it was fun to have two Wrestlemanias in my hometown in less than decade.