by Andrew on Mon Apr 08, 2013 11:03 pm
Taker/Punk was definitely match of the night. I'm sure there'll be a lot of Punk marks talking him up as carrying Taker, not to mention whining about the loss, but both men brought their A game and put on a show. Punk definitely didn't look weak taking the loss; while it may have been a predictable outcome, that doesn't necessarily make it bad and Punk definitely didn't get buried. Taker's probably only got a couple of matches left in him, but he looked alright out there, better than his cameo at the house show.
Good opener, you could see the stuff with Big Show coming a mile away but they played up that angle very well from the first refusal to tag him in. Everyone involved did a good job, The Shield looked strong without making three top singles stars look weak.
Henry vs Ryback...well, what else can you expect. Gotta hand it to Ryback for getting Henry up after the match for Shell Shocked, though it didn't make a lot of sense given the finish. Sadly, still better than Lesnar and Goldberg at Wrestlemania XX, at least they were trying.
Brock vs HHH wasn't on par with Taker vs Punk and certainly not on par with Taker vs HHH last year, but it had some pretty brutal spots. I'd call it a good no holds barred match.
Cena vs Rock was alright, but not as good as last year. Decent passing of the torch moment, but it started out too slow, killing the crowd and the energy of the match. A few good falsh finishes, though.
Del Rio vs Swagger...nothing terrible about it, Zeb Colter's promo was good and the match was alright, but nothing special. I'm not a huge fan of either guy as a main eventer.
Jericho vs Fandango had the right outcome, I think Jericho did a good job of making him look good in his debut, but I'm not sold on that character at all. To me, it has a very low ceiling, lower middle card at best. Of course, not everyone can be a main eventer and you need some utility workers/characters to fill the undercard and round out a show, but I feel even that may be optimistic. I've got a feeling he's going to be among the pre or post Wrestlemania cuts next year, unless he's repackaged.
Tag match was OK, though I was surprised at the result. I guess Team Hell No will be together for a little longer yet.
On the whole, I felt I got my money's worth. I actually pre-ordered the DVD since WWEDVD were running a pre-order competition to win tickets to an event in Sydney and I usually get it anyway and I don't regret it, nor ordering the PPV today. Not the best Wrestlemania, but a couple of the matches, particularly Taker/Punk, made it for me, so I'm satisfied.