The Custom Made News Report 03.30.08

Posted by Ryan Byers on 03.30.2008

Lots of talk about WrestleMania and no talk about anything else.

Welcome, one and all, to the Custom Made News Report. As you probably know (unless you've been living under a rock), this is Wrestlemania weekend. This means that I – like many other columnists on the site – am forgoing my normal format to focus 110% on the biggest show of the year. First up, we've got the pay per view preview that I do for every PPV, and then we've got something a little bit different yet familiar at the same time. Want to know what I'm talking about?

Just keep scrolling down . . .

Traditional Wrestlemania Preview

PPV Preview: Wrestlemania XXIV

Wrestlemania XXIV

- As the name makes clear, this will be the twenty-fourth Wrestlemania event.
- 235 matches have taken place at past Wrestlemanias.
- This will be the first time that Wrestlemania has emanated from the state of Florida.
- There have been a total of 88 title defenses at Wrestlemania.
- In these 88 defenses, there have been 45 title changes.
- Well, that's 45 title changes not counting the times that they Hardcore Title switched under 24/7 rules.
- Don't even try to get me to count all of those up.
- Not surprisingly, the championship to change hands most frequently on Wrestlemania is the Raw Title.
- The championship with the second most changes at Wrestlemania is the Raw Tag Team Title.

Maria Kanellis & Ashley Massaro vs. Beth Phoenix & Melina Perez in a lumberjack match

- This will be the fifth straight year that a women's match has been held at Wrestlemania in conjunction with a photo shoot in Playboy magazine.
- Surprisingly, in those matches, the women who have posed in the year's spread only have a record of 1-3.
- This will be the second consecutive year that a women's lumberjack match has been held at Wrestlemania.
- This will be the first time that Phoenix and Kanellis have wrestled at Wrestlemania.
- Ashley Massaro's Wrestlemania record is 0-1.
- Melina Perez's Wrestlemania record is 1-0.
- Melina's victory came in the only previous women's lumberjack match at Wrestlemania, where she defeated Ashley.

Fit Finlay vs. John "Bradshaw" Layfield in a street fight

- This will be the thirteenth time that some variation on the street fight has been held at Wrestlemania.
- Fit Finlay's Wrestlemania record is 0-2.
- This will be the first time, however, that Finlay has had a one-on-one match at Wrestlemania.
- Layfield's Wrestlemania record is 2-2.
- This will be only the third time that Layfield has had a one-on-one match at Wrestlemania.

Twenty-Four Man Battle Royale

- This will be the fifth time that a battle royale has been held at Wrestlemania.
- In three more instances, battles royale have been held as dark matches prior to Wrestlemania.
- Of course, only a handful of the twenty-four wrestlers in this match have been announced.
- The Great Khali has been announced as participating in the match. His Wrestlemania record is 1-0.
- Kane has been announced as participating in this match. His Wrestlemnia record is 4-5.
- Kane and the Great Khali were opponents at Wrestlemania 23.
- Mark Henry has been announced as participating in this match. His Wrestlemania record is 0-1.
- Viscera has been announced as participating in this match. His Wrestlemania record is 0-0, though he has participated in various matches not affecting his record.
- Viscera won the dark match battle royale held prior to Wrestlemania 22.
- Chuck Palumbo has been announced as participating in this match. His Wrestlemania record is 1-0.
- Jamie Noble has been announced as participating in this match. His only prior Wrestlemania appearance was in a gauntlet match.

Chavo Guerrero, Jr. (c) vs. Battle Royale Winner for the ECW Title

- This will be the second time that the winner of a battle royale held on the night of Wrestlemania has received a title shot later that evening.
- The first time that this happened, D-Lo Brown and Test won a battle royale and then received a Tag Team Title shot at Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart.
- This will be the first time that the ECW Title has been defended at Wrestlemania.
- Chavo Guerrero's Wrestlemania record is 1-1.
- Oddly enough, this will be the second time that Chavo has come in to a Wrestlemania title match not knowing the identity of his opponent.
- At Wrestlemania XX, Chavo defended his Cruiserweight Title in a gauntlet match in which he was gauranteed final entry.
- Chavo retained his championship in that match.

Dave Batista vs. Umaga

- This is being billed as a Raw vs. Smackdown match.
- Of course, Finlay vs. JBL also technically an interpromotional match, but it's not being billed as such.
- Wait a second, isn't Flair vs. HBK technically interpromotional as well?
- Don't forget Money in the Bank!
- Oh, and the battle royale is interpromotional.
- This brand split gimmick is dead.
- Umaga's Wrestlemania record is 0-1.
- Batista's Wrestlemania record is 2-1.
- This will be the first time since 2004 that Batista has been on Wrestlemania without being in a title match.

Chris Jericho vs. Montel Vontavious Porter vs. Johnny Nitro vs. CM Punk vs. Carlito vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Ken Kennedy in a ladder match

- This will be the seventh ladder match in Wrestlemania history.
- It will be the fourth consecutive "Money in the Bank" ladder match.
- This will be Johnny Nitro's Wrestlemania debut.
- Montel Porter's Wrestlemania record is 0-1.
- Carlito's Wrestlemania record is 0-1.
- CM Punk's Wrestlemania record is 0-1.
- Punk's only prior Wrestlemania appearance occurred in last year's ladder match.
- Ken Kennedy's Wrestlemania record is 1-0.
- Kennedy was the winner of last year's ladder match.
- Shelton Benjamin's Wrestlemania record is 1-3.
- Benjamin was in the first two Money in the Bank matches.
- Chris Jericho's Wrestlemania record is 1-4.
- Chris Jericho was in the first Money in the Bank match and lost.
- In WWE storylines, the first Money in the Bank match was Jericho's idea.

Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels

- If Ric Flair loses this match, he will be forced to retire.
- This is not the first time a wrestler has put his career on the line at Wrestlemania.
- At Wrestlemania VII, the Ultimate Warrior pinned Randy Savage in a match that forced Savage to "retire."
- Savage's retirement ended in time for him to appear on the next Wrestlemania, where he fought, of all people, Ric Flair.
- I somehow doubt that Flair will be returning so quickly if he loses this match.
- Ric Flair's Wrestlemania record is 1-3.
- Shawn Michaels' Wrestlemania record is 5-9.

The Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweather

- Since its inception, Wrestlemania has been known for its celebrity involvement.
- There have been six prior Wrestlemania matches in which celebrities have competed.
- Of those six matches, the celebrities have defeated the wrestlers five times.
- The only time a wrestler won a match involving celebrities was at Wrestlemania II.
- That match saw Andre the Giant win a battle royale involving several NFL players.
- This will be Floyd Mayweather's Wrestlemania debut.
- The Big Show's Wrestlemania record is 1-6.
- Show snapped a six year Wrestlemania losing streak at Wrestlemania XXII.

Edge (c) vs. The Undertaker for the Smackdown Title

- This will be the sixth time that the Smackdown Title has been defended at Wrestlemania.
- In the five prior defenses of the title, it has changed hands four times.
- The only man to retain the Smackdown Title at Wrestlemania has been Triple H.
- You're shocked, I know.
- Edge at the Undertaker were stablemates at Wrestlemania XIV, which featured Edge flying through the arena on a harness after UT's match with the Big Bossman.
- Edge's Wrestlemania record is 5-1.
- Edge is undefeated in title matches at Wrestlemania.
- However, this will be Edge's first title defense at Wrestlemania.
- It will also be his first singles title match at Wrestlemania.
- This will be the second consecutive year in which the Undertaker has fought for the Smackdown Title at Wrestlemania.
- Last year, Taker upended Dave Batista for the belt.
- The Underatker also defeated Sid for what is now the Raw Title at Wrestlemania XIII.
- The Undertaker's Wrestlemania record is 15-0.

Randy Orton (c) vs. John Cena vs. Triple H for the Raw Title

- This will be the twenty-fourth time that the Raw Title has been defended at Wrestlemania.
- However, not every Wrestlemania has had a match for the championship.
- It was not defended at the first Wrestlemania or at Wrestlemania IV.
- However, multiple title defenses at Wrestlemanias IX and X bring the total up to twenty-four.
- In its prior twenty-four Wrestlemania defenses, the Raw Title has changed hands fifteen times.
- This will be only the third time that a major title has been defended in a three-way at Wrestlemania.
- Randy Orton's Wrestlemania record is 1-3.
- Orton lost his chance at the Smackdown Title in a three-way match at Wrestlemania XXII.
- John Cena's Wrestlemania record is 4-0.
- All of John Cena's Wrestlemania matches have been title matches.
- Three of those title matches were for the Raw Title.
- Triple H's Wrestlemania record is 5-6.
- Triple H is 3-3 in Raw and Smackdown Title matches in Wrestlemania.
- One of those losses came to John Cena in the main event of Wrestlemania XXII.

IT'S COMING

On April 6, 2008, the Custom Made News Report will begin its latest lengthy, multi-part feature in the vein of last year's Great WWE Countdown. What will the subject matter be? For how long will it run? Will I drive myself crazy attempting to write it?

You'll have to stay turned to find out.
Random Video Interlude

Today, I give to you a hype video for the best heel appearing on Wrestlemania this weekend.



To view videos that have appeared in previous editions of the Custom Made News Report, be sure to check out my new YouTube page.

The Wrestlemania Crater

Most of you reading this are probably familiar with The Impact Crater, my weekly breakdown of the booking of TNA Impact. Over the course of the past year or so, the Crater's format has proven rather popular with the 411 reader base. As such, I figured that there would be no better way for me to preview Wrestlemania than to lend my analytical eye to the strides WWE has made towards its version of the Superbowl.

Thus, I give to you the first ever Wrestlemania Crater.

Match Numero Uno: ECW Number One Contender Battle Royale and Title Match

I do have to say that I'm surprised at the amount of actual hype that we've had for this match. Normally these Wrestlemania battle royales – even when they involve a championship or the number one contendership – are just slapped together at the last second and presented on the big show with little or no fanfare. This time, however, there have been numerous matches between competitors in the battle royale on all three WWE shows, an effort by the company to establish clear-cut "favorites," and even interaction between the biggest names in the match and the champion that they stand to face on the pay per view.

That being said, I'll be amazed if there's a fan out there over the age of twelve who actually gives a damn about the winner of this thing. Chavo Guerrero, though I've loved the guy in some of his past roles, has been dreadfully bland in the flashes that I've seen of him as ECW Champion, and it's gotten to the point that I sincerely doubt that many people will be thrilled about the prospect of him dropping the title, even if it is to their favorite wrestler. Besides, I can't imagine that anybody's favorite wrestler is actually in this match, as the biggest names participating (Kane, Khali, and Henry) have all recently plummeted from being upper-card threats to being the guys who dominate in matches that are nothing more than filler. It would have been nice if the company made it look like at least one new face had a shot at walking away with the ECDub gold, but I guess that the temptation of doing "Monster Mash II" was just too strong for the booking team to avoid.

Match Numero Dos: Melina Perez & Beth Phoenix vs. Maria Kanellis & Ashley Massaro in a lumberjack match

This was, of course, originally supposed to be Perez and Phoenix against Kanellis and Candice Michelle, but Michelle suffered an injury a few weeks ago and has been forced to the sidelines. When Candice was in the bout, its presence on the card made a lot of sense. Obviously there was (or at least should have been) a big Women's Title feud ongoing between the Go Daddy girl and the Glamazon, given that Beth cracked her opponent's clavicle this past fall. They couldn't have a singles match between the two on the show, though, because there was only a slot for one women's match on the card, and it needed to be reserved for the promotion's annual cross-promotion with Playboy. Thus, you may as well throw the two-lady title picture in there with the women involved in the annual "You take your clothes off, so you're a skank that I must kill!" angle.

Of course, Candice once again winding up on the injured reserve list threw a monkey wrench in to that well thought out plan, as now we've got Ashley Massaro and her unsightly rib cage making their way in to the match. Not only does this eliminate some of the fun storyline possibilities for the match (i.e. using it to further the Phoenix/Michelle angle), but it also drags the potential for a good match way down. Granted, Candice Michelle isn't exactly Ray Stevens when she steps through the ropes, but she's worlds better than Massaro, who seems to be totally incapable of improving her in-ring game despite the fact that she has put some substantial effort in to it. Sadder still is the fact that WWE had a bit of an opportunity to salvage the in-ring by sticking angle participants Jerry Lawler and Santino Marella in to the match, though they screwed the pooch by running that six person match on this past Monday's episode of Raw instead of saving it for the big show.

Oh well, at least we're guaranteed some more interaction between Santino and Snopp Dogg. THAT was gold.

Match Numero Tres: Fit Finlay vs. John "Bradshaw" Layfield in a street fight

My thoughts on the storyline headed in to this match mirror my thoughts on many of the storylines heading in to the matches on this show. There have been some AWESOME promos and angles building up this contest . . . however, there has also been some absolute bullshit.

The beginning of the feud? Awesome. As you'll recall, this was spun off of the "Vince McMahon's bastard son" angle, as Vince challenged little Hornswoggle to a steel cage match which ended in anarchy. Finlay found himself handcuffed to the structure, and Bradshaw intervened, brutalizing the midget in a manner that will be burned in to my mind for several years. Finlay sold the whole moment beautifully as well, giving the most dead-on portrayal of a man legitimately watching his son being beaten that I've ever seen in professional wrestling. The scene was made all the better by Vince McMahon. He's the personification of evil in the WWE universe, and to have him standing there amid the carnage with a look on his face that said to JBL, "Dude, this is just a little bit too much," really put the beating over as something for which the FOX financial analyst should be booed. After that angle, I was ready to see Finlay and Layfield lock it up right then and right there.

Unfortunately, there was still a good month left before Wrestlemania, and the angle fell off a cliff in that month. Granted, it did have its moments, including the beautiful segment in which JBL ticked Finlay off to the point that he just couldn't stop HITTING KEN KENNEDY WITH A STICK. (Seriously, we need more Kennedy-beating related angles.) However, for the most part, the storyline is so goofy and cartoonish that it's dulled the awesome serious edge that the angle had in that first segment. Fortunately the two men are both top notch workers when it comes to pulling off the style of match that they're set to have on 'Mania, so, if nothing else, the fight will be far more memorable than the angle.

Match Numero Cuatro: Dave Batista vs. Umaga

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Batista comes in to this match after appearing in major championship matches on his last two Wrestlemanias, while Umaga wound up in this bout after being in the biggest contest of last year's WM. Though Batista is definitely still a legitimate main eventer and Umaga is not too far behind him, this match feels so horrifically unimportant compared to what the two have done in the past. The build has essentially been Batista running out and hitting a move on Umaga one week and then Umaga running out and hitting a move on Batista the next week. This has certainly served its purpose in reminding fans that the match is happening, but it's hardly the most original or most compelling storytelling in the year 2008. Much like Finlay and JBL, I have full faith in these two to put on a fun brawl on the biggest show of the year, but the angle giving rise to the match has made it no more special than any midcard match on any pay per view.

Match Numero Cinco: Chris Jericho vs. Montel Vontavious Porter vs. Carlito vs. Ken Kennedy vs. CM Punk vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Johnny Nitro in a ladder match

At least on the internet, I'd have to say that Money in the Bank has been one of the most heavily discussed matches of the forthcoming Wrestlemania. Frankly, I can't figure out why. Maybe I'm a little too old fashioned for my own good, but, even though I think the prior MITBs have all been fun, I have a hard time getting in to any multi-man match (ladders or not) as much as I can get in to a one-on-one encounter with a heated issue behind it.

Plus, this match was originally designed to give Jeff Hardy a huge win and a major Wrestlemania moment headed in to a title program later in the year. Now that Hardy has been taken out of the picture, the whole thing feels rather meaningless. Yes, the eventual winner of this contest might be built in to a main event star who could garner as much heat in that position has young Jeff would have. However, in the case of all seven of these men, that sort of heat will have to be built up after the victory, as none of them are anywhere near the level of a guy who could believably win the WWE Title. Hardy was there. Thus, this isn't a match in which you're tuning in to watch one of your favorites almost certainly earning a crack at the richest prize in the industry. It's a match in which one of seven guys who couldn't be taken seriously in a heavyweight title match will be winning a heavyweight title match. Combine that with the multi-man bout factor mentioned earlier, and this just isn't doing much for me.

Some people I've seen out there have attempted to argue that the match is exciting because, with Jeff Hardy out of the hunt, the result is "unpredictable." Hardly. All you have to do is look at who WWE has been pushing heading in to the match to know that there are really only two likely candidates to win this thing. WWE isn't stupid enough to treat a guy like a midcard act for months or years and then all of a sudden make him in to a heavyweight title contender overnight with one victory. That's why Carlito's not winning. Ditto for Shelton Benjamin. Though Punk and Nitro both get their fair share of wins, they're on a program that less than half of WWE's fans watch every week, so I sincerely doubt that they'd be given the victory over more well-known commodities. Kennedy hasn't even been on television in a meaningful role for the last several weeks, so you can scratch him off the list of potential victors as well. That leaves Chris Jericho and Montel Porter. Jericho's got an outside shot of winning it, but the fact that he was recently punked out by the Big Show in a high profile angle while Porter has been kept relatively strong makes it obvious to me that MVP is walking out of the Citrus Bowl with the title shot. Bank on it.

Match Numero Seis: Edge (c) vs. The Undertaker for the Smackdown Title

I hate to sound like a broken record, but I feel the exact same way about this match as I do about Money in the Bank, Umaga/Dave, and Finlay/JBL. It'll be a good match, but the storytelling in the preceding several months has left me underwhelmed. When Edge first screwed the Undertaker out of the Smackdown Title last year, I was stoked to see an angle between the two in which Taker came back in order to regain his strap. Then, once UT returned, this blood feud did not begin immediately. Instead, we had to sit through another relatively dull incarnation of the Undertaker's epic rivalry with Mark Henry, after which 'Taker and Batista resumed their championship feud while the Edgester sat things out with a bum pec. It looked like things were going to pick up in November, when Edge made his triumphant return at the Survivor Series and laid out the Deadman. "Great!" I thought to myself, "We're going to start the march towards Wrestlemania now and get almost four months of great build between these two!"

Well, that didn't happen. After regaining the Smackdown Title in December, Edge headed in to a rivalry with Rey Misterio while his issue with Taker faded in to the background. Aside from a brief allusion to the hatred between the two men here and there, the feud was almost completely forgotten about until February. What happened in February, you ask? Did Edge once again jump the Undertaker from behind and leave him laying, giving UT a new motive to absolutely dismantle his foe on the grandest stage of all? Nope. The Undertaker just won a number one contender match. Yeehaw. Instead of the epic, heated feud that we could have gotten here, we just got your standard "wrestler wins title match/champion attacks wrestler a couple of times/wrestler attacks champion a couple of times" story arc. That works for any other pay per view under the son, but this is WRESTLEMANIA. I want something a little bit bigger, ya know? We had the perfect opportunity to get something bigger here. We had the perfect opportunity to get an epic. Instead, we got a cookie cutter run up to a pay per view. It's very unfortunate.

Match Numero Siete: Randy Orton (c) vs. Triple H vs. John Cena for the Raw Title

See everything that I wrote about everything about the Smackdown Title match and square it here. The match will probably be awesome, but the feud is nothing that we wouldn't have seen for Judgment Day, Backlash, or any of the other minor shows that I skip 99% of the time.

Match Numero Ocho: Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels

A lot of people have written about how disappointed they are in the Ric Flair retirement angle. I agree with the vast majority of those people. This could have been SIGNIFICANTLY bigger than it wound up being. It could've started earlier, involved a slower progression of the angle, and perhaps even included a Nature Boy brush with the championship. Any of those factors would have resulted in a huge jump in the storyline's quality.

However, if you ignore everything that happened prior to Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels beginning their involvement with one another, the Ric Flair retirement angle has been a thing of beauty. Both HBK and Naitch have been cutting wicked old school promos on one another, making fans realize that these are two of the best in the history of professional wrestling and that, if they tune in on Sunday, they're going to see one for the record books. I also have absolutely no doubt in my mind that Flair and Michaels will deliver. This won't be a Briscoe brothers match with five thousand insane athletic highspots, because neither wrestler has that sort of match in their bodies. (And thank god they don't, because those matches tend to suck.) What this will be is two absolute masters of actually WORKING a crowd using all of the little tricks that they've learned over their decades in this business to make people care about the tiniest movements that they make in the ring, which is a style of wrestling that will always result in a more heartfelt, passionate reaction than the guy who can do five thousand flips and hit his opponent really hard with a forearm to the head. Given where professional wrestling has been headed over the last several decades, this may also be our last opportunity to see that style of match on a high level, which is unfortunate.

And, of course, the big question is whether this will be Ric Flair's last match. For the longest time I figured that the Flair retirement storyline would culminate at Wrestlemania, since it made sense to have the man go out on the biggest show of the year. However, Michaels' excellent promo this past Monday night put some doubt in to my mind. He stood in the middle of the ring and told Ric Flair that Flair just couldn't go anymore . . . that he couldn't win the big one. HBK had alluded to that fact before, but this past Monday he said it outright. I frankly don't think that WWE can let Flair lose after such a statement has been made. Some of you may recall that, even years ago, Chris Jericho was feuding with the Rock over the WCW Title. The entire rivalry was built on Rocky claiming that Jericho "couldn't win the big one" and that he was a "choke artist." At the end of that rivalry, Y2J did walk away with the championship. Why? Because if you tell an audience that a guy is a worthless wrestler and then have him lose to the man who made that claim, you're doing nothing more than confirming everything that the victorious wrestler said. You taint the reputation of the losing wrestler almost irreparably, and I don't think that WWE is stupid enough to do that with Ric Flair of all people.

My prediction? Old Yeller dodges the bullet and lives to fight another day.

Match Numero Nueve: The Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweather

Some people will probably be annoyed that I've got this listed above the two title matches, but, let's face it, this program is what has gotten the majority of the attention headed in to Wrestlemania, and, if the show gets a higher than average buyrate, it's going to be attributable to this match and Flair/Michaels, not the title bouts that we could be seeing on any other pay per view.

More than any other bout on the show, this is the one for which the build has really captured my attention. It's the match for which the angle and the hype actually feel of Wrestlemania caliber. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that, though I realize it has been scripted for the most part, the company has found a way (or possibly lucked in to a way) to make several aspects of the angle feel like a shoot. Whether it actually was the case or not, they got enough people believing that Floyd Mayweather crossed the line and broke the Big Show's nose at No Way Out. Whether it is actually the case or not, they got almost every mainstream media outlet on the planet to actually believe that Floyd Mayweather is receiving twenty million dollars for this match. Whether it is actually the case or not, they got fans to believe that there was some legitimate brawling when Floyd's crew met up with the WWE roster. In fact, they even got some media outlets to believe that the "injury" Mayweather received as a part of that segment was legitimate. The air that some aspects of professional wrestling just might be real is part of what made storylines so exciting for me as a youngster, and the fact that WWE has created a similar feeling in 2008 when I'm far more jaded and scrutinize the legitimacy of everything that they say speaks volumes for how well this has come off.

The second reason that Mayweather/Show feels more 'Mania-worthy than any other match on the card? It's none other than Floyd "Money" Mayweather himself. His appearances on WWE programming for the last couple of months have allowed the masses to learn something that boxing fans have already known for a while: This man is one of the greatest, most natural heels of this or any other generation. Even when WWE was attempting to book him as the babyface in the feud, every promo that he cut dripped with a level of self-importance that made the "Pretty Boy" absolutely loathsome, and his delivery has been more natural than any other professional athlete to cross over in to wrestling (and, in fact, better than 90% of the pro wrestlers to debut in the last decade). Mayweather has managed to make himself in to such a contemptible jerk that I cannot imagine any WWE fan not wanting to see him killed at this point. It's a shame that this guy won't be around in the company for the long haul, because an extended run by "Money" would be money.

Overall

This card is a funny thing. On one hand, looking at the matches that have been booked, I have no doubt in my mind that, unless the wrong people are having off nights, that this will be an EXCELLENT show from an in-ring perspective. In fact, if everything clicks on all the right cylinders, it could be one of the best in-ring Wrestlemanias in history. If that happens, the show will no doubt be looked upon favorably by history. In other words, when looking at it in a historical context, people will most likely judge this WM by what they get on Sunday as opposed to what they got heading in to Sunday.

That's a good thing for WWE because, at least in my opinion, this has been one of the worst years for pre-Wrestlemania booking. There were so many angles that had so much potential, only for that potential to have been squandered. Edge going up against the Undertaker could have been the culmination of several months' worth of feuding instead of a the final stop in a one month quicky rivalry. Ric Flair's final match could be coming on the heels of a hot angle which provided non-stop drama instead of being a poorly thrown together jumble that was forgotten about for several weeks at a time with real emotion only making its presence felt in the story's final three weeks. Finlay and JBL could have had a feud that did a better job of reminding you that they're ferocious asskickers instead of a feud over the safety of a glorified cartoon character. Umaga and Batista could've been given a more compelling reason for fighting other than the ridiculous notion of "brand supremacy" in a WWE in which there may as well no longer be brands.

I hate to sound like such a cynic. I hate to make it sound like I'm not in to watching Wrestlemania. I am in to watching the show, I will watch the show, and in all likelihood I will enjoy the show. However, I still can't help but think what might have been and how what might have been is infinitely superior to what we've actually received. Oh well, there's always next year.