WrestleMania XXIV

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

I was taken by surprise by this event since Wrestlemania 21 to 23 were nothing more then Backlash with an extra hour, I wasn't expecting what I got, the show was thrilling and very entertaining.

JBL vs. Finally (3/5) I thought they should of opened the show with a normal match but hey, overall it was better then I thought it was, and I was happy to see JBL come out on top.

Money in the Bank Ladder Match (4/5) WOW, I think this was the best Money in the Bank yet, and kunos to John Morrison, his spots with the ladder were incredible. I was really blown away. I am a huge Morrison fan anyway. I was hoping for either Jericho or Morrison to come out on top, but CM Punk did, I'm okay with that.

Womans Tag Team Match (1.5/5) A lot better then I expected. Even though it was the worst match of the night. Beth Pheniox and Melina really carried it.

Batista vs. Umaga (2/5) Boring. I like Umaga a lot. I thought Batista was alright a few years ago but now he isn't really anything special. I was not looking forward to this before WM and after I forgot, I almost forgot judging it while typing this.

ECW Championship Match (2/5) Well I was happy to see Kane on the card. And the match made me laugh and overall, I think this was the best approach they had for this match.

WWE Championship Triple Threat Match (3/5) I was expecting a great match with the three top guys in the WWE, but I did not get that. I feel like the match was to short, and it was very messy, so to say. I was hoping Triple H to win, I wanted to see Randy walk out so WWE could reclaim the surprise factor in it. I was VERY happy to see Orton walk out with it.

Floyd "Money" Mayweather vs. Big Show (2/5) Well good job to WWE making Mayweather a face and Big Show a heel. Only that did not happen at all, I was expecting something like what we got a WM21 with Big Show vs. that Sumo guy. But hey I have to give Mayweather his congrats, I was shocked that he would take those chops by the Big Show. Those are the only things that hurt a lot wrestling and Mayweather got them hard. Overall I was expecting something worse out of it, though it wasn't great.

World Heavyweight Championship Match (4/5) WOW, It felt like old wrestling again. It didn't seem fake, it seemed like Undertaker wanted to pop Edge's head off, which was good. It brought the feeling of a compotision not a fight, which pro wrestling is supposed to be. The hype wasn't great for this match, but the match brought near falls and more. Even though everyone knew Taker was beating Edge. And btw, Edge is my favorite in WWE right now, I know WWE wouldn't let Edge end the streak. And I didn't want him to either. Overall it was exciting. It would of been a 5 out of 5 if they hyped it up better.

Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels (5/5) (beyond the best match) Wooooo. Great story to it, great storytelling, great emotion, great hype, great performers, and a GREAT MATCH. I was sad to see Ric Flair leave. But he went out in style. And the way he dissevered to leave in. Ric Flair is one of the best, way better then Hulk Hogan. And him to face in most wrestling fan's opion the best wrestler ever Shawn Michaels. Two of the best wrestlers in history in Flair's last match. This is with out a doubt one of the greatest matches in pro wrestling history. It had a great storyline, and every different type of wrestling was involved. And Flair saying he didn't want this match main eventing the card and hearing his reason why was so respectful, I have so much respect for him. And the end of the match when Michaels said "I'm sorry, I love you" and Flair cried while getting pinned showed that this match was very emotional, a lot of people were very sad to see Flair go, watching this match live, my friend cried a lot when Flair started to cry, I can not describe how wonderful this match really was...

This Wrestlemania was with out a doubt one of the best in a very long time, all the superstars involved gave it their all in it and it shows. It very much gave that Wrestlemania feel that it was lacking for some time.

P.S. Sorry if I misspelled some things I didn't go back to check, and I'm already a very bad speller.

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.