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FIRST BATCH OF VERY MIXED FEEDBACK TO WRESTLEMANIA

By PWInsiderXtra Readers on 4/2/2007 1:01 AM

I saw the show with my brother and fellow wrestling patrons at a local bar and grill, and while I thought the show was solid overall, the pacing could have been so much better. The longer matches were very solid, while the shorter matches were just there at best. After seeing highlights of the Carlito/Flair vs. Chavo/Helms tag match, one has to question why WWE didn't think they could fit this into the PPV. They could have done the tag match *and* the Battle Royal.

The Money in the Bank match was a great way to start the show. Everyone popped huge for the Hardy legdrop on Edge and Kennedy senton bombing Hornswoggle. He deserved the victory, and his promo afterwards was priceless. I see him turning face in the future and being a future World Champion. Everyone looked solid here, especially Kennedy, CM Punk, and Finlay.

Kane vs. Great Khali: Argh. Easily the worst match on the show. Poor Kane. Then again, if Undertaker had to lie down for Khali, so did Kane. What's worse, the finish meant this feud would continue. This is one Backlash or Judgment Day rematch I am *not* looking forward to.

The Cryme Tyme/Eugene/Extreme Expose/WWE Legends segment was priceless and almost made us forget about the previous match. It was great to see "The Doctor of Style" Slick again.

Benoit vs. MVP: Decent, but nothing to write home about. They had an OK match, but nobody really gave MVP a chance, despite his offense. And no offense to Benoit, but why couldn't the finish be booked with either the Crossface or Sharpshooter? Lesser opponents have kicked out of his flying headbutt.

The Trump/Tara Conner/Boogeyman segment was awful. Trump has his own TV show, but not can he not act, he can't stop looking right at the camera. The Vince/Stephanie segment was not that much better. I am so glad this angle is ending.

Batista vs Undertaker: A very solid match with the finish everyone wanted. Batista had his best match since his matches with Triple H, thanks to the Undertaker. Taker looked excellent. Congrats on one more run.

The ECW Originals vs. New Breed: I was happy to see the Originals win, but I was hoping this match could have gone longer, since there are some solid workers in the match. Given how the rest of the show was timed, this match seemed rushed and could have been given more time. Any chance of Paul Heyman returning to help the Originals?

Battle of the Billionaires: Good overall, with the expected extracurricular activities. The crowd hated both Vince and Trump, and WWE needs to book Lashley more carefully, as the Detroit crowd turned on him during the match. Shane McMahon's appearance was welcome. Trump had a decent takedown on Vince, but couldn't properly sell a Stone Cold Stunner. Umaga looked solid here. The crowd loved Austin's involvement, and the post-match haircut/stunner. I am looking forward to seeing "The Condemned."

Melina vs. Ashley: I'm glad they kept it short and it was better than Kane/Khali, but instead of putting someone who can wrestle to work with Melina and put together a longer match, they decided selling Playboys was more important. Heck, they could have even fit another women's match if they wanted to.

John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels: Slow match to start, but it ended up being a very strong match. While the Detroit crowd was anti-Cena, the people at the bar was mostly pro-Cena. Michaels really made the match for me, and it was surprising to see the spike piledriver on the steps, given WWE's stance on such moves. While Cena worked hard as always, he hurt the match by no-selling the leg which Michaels worked over for around 5 minutes. I think he might have realized it a little later, but it was too late. While I think most everyone expected Cena to retain, it was great how the match ended.

With all that said, I wonder why WWE felt that the number of matches had to be limited to 8, especially that *half* the card was less than 10 minutes. The show ended before 10:40pm, and there were definitely times when one felt that WWE was trying to space out things too much with the video packages and other extracurricular activities. They could easily fit *at least* one or two matches in, as well as making the ECW match longer.

In addition to Carlito and Ric Flair, I wonder if superstars such as Brian Kendrick, Paul London, and Johnny Nitro are asking themselves what they have to do to get into the actual Wrestlemania PPV. While watching the Money in the Bank match, it occurred to me that although the Four-Way Ladder Tag Team Title match at Armageddon was critically acclaimed and off-the-charts, only one team, the Hardy Boyz, made the cut at Wrestlemania. It is also very disappointing that the Smackdown tag team champions were left off the PPV for the second year in a row.

All in all, a good PPV that had a great build-up, but there is plenty of room for improvement for WWE going into the next Wrestlemania.

Jimmy Chang

St. Petersburg, FL

**********

The MITB match was ok but they put the match I was most wanting to see at the very beginning, so after that I had nothing to look forward to. I didn't even see the Kane/Khali match. I had to let my dog outside. The MVP/Benoit match started out good, but ended before anything interesting could get going. The Undertaker/Batista match was better than I expected. I can't even remember what happened during the ECW tag match. The whole Battle Of The Billionaires segment was about what I expected it to be. The actual match was better, and longer than I expected. Vince was great at the end. The diva match was waste of time. Cena/Michaels was way, way too slow. Seemed like a lot of stalling to me. I know that selling is becoming a lost art in wrestling nowadays, but this was ridiculous. I think I can sum up Wrestlemania 23 like this; there was just over 1 1/2 hours of wrestling on a 4 hour wrestling PPV. I'm glad I didn't have to pay for it. Oh yeah, there's no use denying it. We all know that it was PWInsider's own Mike Johnson that jumped into the ring during the main event. Busted!

Glen
Cincinnati

**********

All I can say about this show is WOW! Except for the Women's Title match and Khali vs. Kane, this was not a bad show at all. Lots of surprises on the show. MVP showed a technical side to him in his match with Benoit and was shocked but glad that Benoit retained. Is Edge still alive after that spot through the ladder? I was surprised the show opened with Money In The Bank, but it was a great match. Everyone worked their butts off. The World Heavyweight Title match went about as long as I expected and was nice to see Undertaker win another title. It had some close calls near the end and I almost thought they were going to end the streak. Cena vs. Michaels had some great psychology and had me on the edge of my seat. So many near finishes and then a great wrestling sequence at the end with Michaels tapping out. All in all, this was a great show and can't wait for the DVD so I can relive it and watch the complete Hall of Fame show.

Marques
Tampa, FL

**********

I would have loved to write an in-depth, concise review of WrestleMania 23. I'd love to analyze the high spots, low spots, and even the missed spots witnessed at "The Grand Daddy of Them All". I'd love to...but I just can't.

No matter how good (or bad) the show may have been, WrestleMania ended with a big let-down. Now, I mean no disrespect to HBK or John Cena...they both worked their tails off. What disappointed me was the finish of the main event. I expected Cena to retain the title. I expected HBK to do "The Job" the moment the match was announced. What I didn't want to expect, what I didn't want to SEE, was another legend, far beyond Cena's caliber, humiliated at Mania.

John Cena, ladies and gentlemen, is boring. I'm not talking about his mic skills or his in-ring performance (I'm no worker so I don't feel I have a right to criticize his in-ring skills). I'm talking about his character. Ever since he started the overgrown Boy Scout routine he's just been an absolute snoozefest.

How is it that everyone but Vince can hear the boos that Cena gets from every crowd he gets in front of? Can Vince not see that the only people cheering for Cena are pre-teens (oh, and teenage girls)?

HBK. The Icon. The Main Event. The Showstopper. Taps to the STFU? It was bad enough watching Triple H tap last year. Now you're telling me that two of the biggest names in pro wrestling history have not just lost to Cena on the biggest stage in the industry, but they've both SUBMITTED to him?

If they had switched the title matches around it wouldn't have been so bad. Ending the show with Taker winning the title would have made far more sense. I give HBK full credit for doing everything in his power to steal the show...but that finish just killed it for me.

John

**********

Well another year and yet another completely disappointing Wrestlemania. I mean yeah this is just my opinion but how about a match by match breakdown?

Don't get me wrong I know last year MITB opened Mania, but why on such a weak under card would you possibly have it open, let's get the crap out of the way first. Anyway MITB did not live up to the hype. Great spots by Jeff Hardy but really unnecessary, the flurry of RKO's had the crowd going banana's and I assume the Edge spot and being carted out was because of his jaw injuries.

I like that WWE went with Ken Kennedy as the winner, personally I think Randy Orton needs the push but as I understand it he's lined up to face Edge. Your winner and new Mr. Money in the Bank Mr Kennedy......Kennedy!!!!!!

So how do we follow up MITB (which wasn't as good as the first one in my opinion), we go with Kane vs Great Khali, which I think should have been the opening match, simply because who cares about watching Great Khali crush another great character in Kane, but Khali wins in a squash no one cares and we move on.

Chris Benoit vs MVP, United states title. Im not going to lie I would have bet $1,000,000 that MVP would win this match, but again surprises only at Wrestlemania. Chris Benoit and MVP put on a decent match but not really what I think they are capable of together. Winner and still U.S Champion Chris Benoit.

Just wanted to pause and let u know that the legends backstage segment was ridiculous and quite honestly so was the Trump Boogeyman segment.

Now we move on to EXCUSE ME, The World Heavyweight title has now become a mid-card title, someone explain this to me, you got probably the match that should have closed the show on 4th, Vince must have been smoking the peace pipe on this one, but water under the bridge now, so Batista comes out they botch his side entrance pyros, then the camera pans out horribly on TV during his top of the stage whirly bird, machine gun thing he does. Then we get to feel the awesome power of the Undertaker, druids and all. So the match begins, and believe me I was not really looking forward to this match assuming we had yet another big man vs big man garbage match, but the spot on the table was great, and at one point I legitimately thought maybe Batista would do it, then reality hit me, Batista isn't liked backstage so guess that wont happen. Well sure enough Tombstone almost Randy Orton esque of 21 the way it all went down, and your winner New World Heavyweight Champion and 15-0 The Undertaker. Honestly probably the 2nd best match of the night.

So now we have ECW originals vs The New Breed, not a bad match kind of surprised, I am really taking a liking to Kevin Thorn, disappointed no Pounce, but was happy the originals picked up the victory. All in all a decent match.

Now we move onto something that was funny, but honestly a joke, Battle of the Billionaires Lashley vs Umaga, these 2 need to face off in a match that isn't weighed down by a horrible feud between Donald Trump and Vince McMahon. Ok so we get a decent match, we get coast to coast and we get Donald Trump tackling Vince McMahon priceless. We see stunners left right and center and a bald headed Vince McMahon. Good match, decent story and decent finish. But gotta love how a match features your ECW World Champion, The Intercontinental Champion and yet Stone Cold Steve Austin still gets the last laugh.

Women's title match not even discussing, starting to agree with VKM, the more and more I watch WWE programming. Sorry if I offend anyone but honestly.

So now we come to the main event, The man I have idolized since I was a kid the Showstoppa getting one more shot at being on top of the mountain. He would face possibly the most hated face in the history of professional wrestling, and the man who is possibly literally kissing Vince McMahon's ass. John Cena. Seriously name a PPV where he hasn't got booed, excluding Royal Rumble against Umaga, I mean did we honestly have a choice but not to cheer for him. I mean the guy gets booed last summer in his hometown, then has the nerve to come to Toronto and take Edge's strap. LOL little bit of theatrics. Anyway easily the best match of the night, back and forth action honestly thought it could go either way, but called the finish miles away, I knew STFU, he beat Trips with it, now HBK, and honestly HBK what has this come to what happened to the politicking backstage prick, because he should have come out just for this one day so legions of fans everywhere could have someone to believe in, not some punk ass, kiss ass, bosses bitch. That's my opinion again sorry if I offend any John Cena fans out there but everything about him seems too rigged to me the polls, and his whole persona, heel turn needed huge. Well another Wrestlemania is in the books and another one to add to the list of terrible Mania's along with WrestleMania 16, 20, 21,22, and now 23. Four straight terrible Wrestlemania's not a good streak Vince.

Jaimz Ledyit
Barrie, Ontario Canada

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FIRST BATCH OF VERY MIXED FEEDBACK TO WRESTLEMANIA