WrestleMania XXIV

Overall, this is a pretty standard and quite respectable Wrestlemania DVD package. However, I have a warning to any WWE fans who are contemplating springing for the rather expensive deluxe 3-disc collector's edition of Wrestlemania 24. One of the reasons I purchased the 3-disc edition was to own the unforgettable 2008 WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony. Be forewarned though that the ceremony is truncated. In the original broadcast of the Hall of Fame Ceremony, before presenting any awards, the Rock made all kinds of clever and light-hearted comments. These included self-deprecating remarks about his own involvement in the "Doom" box office debacle, sarcastic words about Santino Marella and a jab at John Cena and his work in the WWE film "The Marine". Sadly, this lively and entertaining banter has all been removed from the DVD version of the Hall of Fame ceremony. The most disturbing part is that this was obviously a conscious decision by the WWE to save money. I felt robbed, since it was one of the main reasons I bought the collection. I am sure that other WWE fans will clearly feel the same. If they don't, they should. This is unfortunately, a reminder of all that is wrong about the WWE today.

This was a great wrestlemania , the stadium, the atmosphere and the stage all set this up for the great show it was.

The matches pretty much all delivered we had 3 great matches in my opinion on this card, we had the money in the bank ladder match which was great, the undertaker main eventing against edge in one of the best streak matches, great stuff overall and the best match on the show ric flair vs Shawn Michaels, never expected that to be the last match but yeah, it was a great match and the best retirement match for a wrestler I've ever seen (mania 26s match with Shawn is great too but this is a little better)

The opener Belfast brawl was pretty good, fun and brutal. The umaga vs Batista match was decent, triple threat wwe title match was pretty good too and surprisingly the big show vs mayweather match was actually pretty good too.

The lumberjack match and the ECW title match where both OK but nothing I liked but nothing bad or show ruining either. Stuff with the hall of fame was great as always

Run through

Best Match: Ric Flair vs Shawn Michaels

Worst Match: Playboy Lumberjack Match Ashley and Maria vs Beth Phoniex and Melina.

Like Wrestlemania X-Seven and Wrestlemania 3, XXIV was of the more "classical" Wrestlemanias that I've ever seen. It brought back that feel, that "Mania Feel" that I hadn't experienced since X-Seven.

What really helped this event was the decisions behind the match card, and where the matches were placed. Ending the show with two upsets and an excellent one-on-one title match, that wasn't over-hyped, with the Undertaker was a brilliant decision. Another great choice was to start the show off with a fast paced, quick street fight, or as it is referred to here, a "Belfast Brawl." The show had something new to offer for each match, and had no "card fillers" as you would expect from seeing many Manias in the past. The problem with the WWE is that they over-hype Manias like 20 and 25 and try too hard to make them good, and they come out as stinkers. For some reason they feel the need to fill the show by having 12 matches, and every title defended. Nobody really cares about the Tag Team titles or the Women's Championship, they want to see matches like the Ladder Match and the three main events. They want to "feel" Wrestlemania, which certainly happened in the Flair vs. Michaels match, and the very emotional outcome. But most of all, they want to be surprised.

And boy did this show have some surprises, not to mention the wonderful choice of CM Punk winning the Money in the Bank Ladder Match. What everyone seems to be talking about when they think of XXIV is Orton's win in the Triple Threat. This was a brilliant move by the WWE, and I'm sure it was a last minute decision (note the poll that was taken early on in the show, I'm sure they based who won on the lowest percentage of people who voted for that person, which just happened to be Orton thankfully). The Triple Threat was great, I think, because it was so well set up - you had the two big comebacks over the past year (HHH and Cena) who were both potential Champs following Mania. But if there's two hyped comebacks in one match? Together? For the title? At Wrestlemania? How can you possibly make the best of it? You turn it into a triple threat match with the most unlikely winner on WWE, and there you go...

Now to The Biggest vs. The Best. I was pleasantly surprised at the excitement I had while watching this match, and watching Big Show's interaction with the crowd, which made it all the more entertaining. Big Show always seems to be the first in line for these kinds of odd-ball matches, like his Sumo Match at 21 (which wasn't as exciting, but still interesting). Mayweather walked away with the win, by knock out, which was partly surprising and partly expected. A great match nonetheless.

Finally, we arrive at the main event: World Heavyweight Championship. They under-hyped this match so much that its brilliance was unexpected and was an amazing choice for the main event of the evening. Undertaker truly was put to the challenge, surprisingly, by Edge in this match. The crowd in this match helped out a lot, as they did with many other matches, and really brought the event to life in the last 30 minutes of the show, making Taker's win all the more special and appropriate.

Of course, in the "good-bad-good" trend that WWE's Manias have been following over the past couple of years, I didn't expect much from the 25th Anniversary, that truly was one of the dullest and most laughable Manias I've ever seen, a real dive. By "good-bad-good" I of course am referring to the trend started around 18 or 19, or even 20, where it goes from a good Mania, to a bad Mania, to a better Mania, to a horrible Mania. With 26 being an improvement over 25, obviously, as bad as it was, I think I may just vomit thinking about how bad 27 could be.

Oh well. All I can do is hope for another XXIV.

I was just getting back into the wwe just before the No Way Out PPV a month before wrestlemania so i was able to follow the stories leading into it and was quite impressed with the quality of the event.

Obviously the hype going into this Wrestlemania was (to the outside world) Mayweather vs Big show. However within Wrestling the show was all about Ric Flair vs Shawn Michaels, where if Flair lost then his career would be over. So for all wrestling fans its a must have as it is 2 of the all time greats up against each other on the grandest stage of them all.

Match 1 Belfast Brawl JBL vs Finlay 7/10 Not a bad match by any means. Hard hitting as you would expect from 2 men like Finlay and Bradshaw with a few entertaining spots. An enjoyable and worthy opener for Wrestlemania, just overshadowed by matches later on the card.

Match 2 Money In The Bank Ladder Match. 7.5/10 Always enjoyable to watch. MitB was a great concept for wrestlemanias and this one didn't disappoint. Slight criticism would be that you could see a few wrestlers being a touch lethargic when preventing someone from grabbing the briefcase which meant they had to be REALLI slow in reaching for it. However there were quite a few high spots in this match involving Jericho, Shelton Benjamin and John Morrison.

Match 3 Umaga vs Batista 7/10 This match could have been better. Again it wasn't bad but it seemed very run-of-the-mill and average for a match at Wrestlemania between 2 big men. Although there were a few good displays of power from Batista and agility from Umaga and the crowd did get into it which keeps this match on 7/10 Match 4 ECW Championship Match. Chavo Guerrero vs The Battle Royale Winner 1/10 I don think there is a single person who liked this. ECW gets one match per PPV. This is the biggest PPV of the year and they were given an 8 second match. I sincerely hope the writers change this for Wrestlemania 25. VERY disappointing Match 5 Career threatening match. Ric Flair vs Shawn Michaels 10/10 10/10 because these 2 wrestlers did do nothing wrong in this match. they excelled themselves and you even see Flair successfully perform a top rope move!!! lol. This match had so much emotion and had a perfectly fitting ending. Considering Michaels is early 40's and Flair is late 50's it was an incredible display of athleticism and a fantastic match.

Match 6 Playboy Bunnymania Lumberjill Match Maria and Ashley vs Beth Pheonix and Melina. 5/10 Its very difficult to give womens matches high ratings as they simply don't captivate the audience enough. This match was also stupidly placed on the card. After Flair vs Michaels and before the WWE championship match. Nothing wrong with this match but just nothing special. Apart from snoop dogg and the slight beating santino gets.

Match 7 WWE Championship Match Randy Orton vs HHH vs John Cena 6.5/10 Disappointed a bit here because these are 3 great wrestlers. The match didn't seem gripping enough for me. After being caught up in Wrestlemania so far this was a let down with an ending that could have been much better. Nonetheless worth a watch, but for something that was no DQ and no Countout there was barely any hardcore intervention, which would have been fine had the wrestling been more entertaining.

Match 8 The Biggest vs The Best Floyd Mayweather vs Big Show 8/10 What can i say? Very entertaining considering the size difference. Both Mayweather and Big Show fought very well and both took a substantial amounts of beatings. I was impressed with Mayweathers ability to put up a good fight. Surprisingly good Match 9 World Heavyweight Championship Match. Undertaker vs Edge 10/10 A slight bias here as these are 2 of my top 3 favourite wrestlers, but this was an awesome and deserving main event. Both men brought their best to this match and it went back and forth keeping the crowd on their feet. Sensational main event of good length, that topped off what was an entertaining 'Mania.

Hall Of Fame Ceremony. 10/10 Now its a bit strange 'rating' the hall of fame ceremony, but it comes with the DVD and it is definitely worth watching. JBL was very funny inducting the Brisco's, there was a very long part with none other that THE ROCK who was incredibly entertaining as always and he gave a good light hearted roasting to many including Santino, John Cena, Jericho, Foley and others. But aside from being funny, this was a tear jerker at many points but mainly in the Ric Flair induction. Not tear jerking to the extent of the 2006 ceremony with Eddie Guerrero but it was highly emotional nonetheless and needs to be watching by wrestling fans.

On the whole a very solid Mania and definitely one of the better ones. Though the event card equates to just over 7/10 it was also the way the event was put together along with the attendance (in excess of 70.000) and the atmosphere that kept the rating high. The WWE really did put on a classy show. Not as good as 17 or 21 but still very good.

WWE pulled out all the stops, to make this Wrestlemania memorable and they certainly did that in more ways then 1, some of which where beyond the company's control. For instance as viewers may have been aware after The Undertaker vs Edge match as Taker was celebrating his win, the fireworks shot into the crowd and injured about 40 people.

The Batista vs Umaga match was disappointing, and as Big Dave had a match with The Undertaker last year and in my opinion his match last year was the best match of 2007, it reminded me that Batista can have a dire match with even the best of workers, in this case Umaga. Listen when Umaga makes his way down the ramp for his match, William Regal announces him as "You - Manga", no surprise there.

By putting the Edge vs Undertaker match on last WWE did the right business decision, because if WWE had put HHH vs Randy Orton vs John Cena match on last I would be suffering from HHH overkill.

As usual the Money in the Bank Ladder Match was very good but was let down by a couple of botched moves, The Big Show vs Floyd Mayweather match was very good and exceeded my expectations, however this writer is baffled on why the WWE would pay Mayweather $2 million for one worked match, when Edge, The Undertaker, Randy Orton and John Cena wouldn't even earn that in 1 year, disregarding royalty bonuses of course.

Results from the show before a crowd of 70,000 in Orlando, Florida at the Citrus Bowl are as follows: JBL downed Finlay in a decent Belfast Brawl.... CM Punk beat John Morrison, Montel Vontavious Porter, Chris Jericho, Carlito, Shelton Benjamin and Mr Kennedy in a thrilling Money in the Bank Ladder Match.... Floyd 'Money' Mayweather defeated The Big Show in a good no DQ brawl.... Shawn Michaels pinned Ric Flair in an emotional career ending match.... Kane downed Chavo Guerrero to win the ECW title in about 10 seconds.... Randy Orton downed Triple H and John Cena to retain the WWE title in a good match.... Beth Pheonix and Melina downed Ashley and Maria (the lights failed in this match, but not that anyone was complaining and afterwards Snoop Dogg close lined Santino Marella and then gave Maria a giant snog, lucky him).... Batista defeated Umaga in a mediocre match.... The Undertaker beat Edge to win the World Heavyweight Championship in a superb worthy main event.

I attended a Raw House Show in Liverpool, England on the 11th April and this was called The Wrestlemania Revenge Tour, if you want the results for these please e-mail me at masterfighter123@lycos.co.uk Overall Grade - A