WrestleMania 21

This review is a little late, and I did watch this when it first premiered, but never thought about reviewing it on here. But I've decided that I actually have something to say, so here we go.

People I know who have seen this 'Mania, have been quite disappointed after viewing it. People compare it to the previous Manias, such as 19 and 20 (20, I think, paled in comparison to 21). However, I saw 21 as a kind of "New Beginning," that I hadn't seen since Mania 18, which was another alleged "let down," but one of my personal favorites. Like 18, 21 marked a new age for the business. 18 marked the beginning of the WWE itself, as opposed to the WWF, and was also the beginning of the Smackdown! branch, along with the convergence with WCW.

21 did something very similar, in that it converged with ECW, and turned ECW into an entirely new branch for the WWE. It also started something along the lines of the Undisputed Title (which was won by Triple H at 18), where both the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships were on one side of the brand, similar to what had happened with the World Title and the WWF title at 18 during the WCW-WWF/E convergence which was taking place.

Mania 21 was also the beginning of the now traditional Money in the Bank Ladder Match, and was the beginning of some of the longest-running and most dramatic rivalries in WWE history - Batista vs. Triple H (and the death of Evolution all together), JBL vs. John Cena, Undertaker vs. Randy Orton, and Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio, not to mention the feuds and battles between Shawn Michaels and Hulk Hogan. 2005 in general was and still is my personal favorite year in World Wrestling Entertainment, in that it was a year of new ideas and styles for the WWE, down to as things as little as the new-styled match cards for each PPV event.

I'd still have to say my favorite Mania of all-time is X-Seven, though, but how could you not? However, smaller Match card Manias such as these (only 8 matches, as opposed to XX's 12 matches and XIX's 10) I always enjoy, because each match is given enough time to develop and flourish, and each performer is given enough time to... Perform. I mean I don't think I've ever seen a better Taker one-on-one match at any other Mania than here (save for Michaels vs. Taker, of course), and with Randy Orton? He can put up one hell of a fight.

Its Wrestlemanias like these that I remember, not for the match length or for the more violent matches, but for the moments like Orton's RKO choke slam counter, Hogan's return, Piper's Pit with Austin, Batista's thumbs down, and of course the Michaels vs. Angle match in general.

Wrestlemania 21 Goes Hollywood.

Eddie Gurrero vs Rey Mysterio. 8/10. Good fast paced match, though it's not what I expected as I remember the two's WCW cruiserweight days. Kinda depressing that at WM 20 Eddie beat Kurt Angle to retain the WWE Title, now he's jobbing to Rey in the opener.

Money In The Bank Ladder Match: 8/10 A six man ladder match in where the winner gets a title shot with Jericho and Shelton Benjamin in it. How can the WWE screw this up? By having Edge win the match. I don't get his gimmick and I don't think he draws enough. I thought Shelton or Jericho should've won because of their superior skills, but the WWE in their infinite wisdom thought otherwise.

Undertaker vs Randy Orton: 9/10 Taker can still wrestle, but Randy shows that he doesn't need any ring vets to carry him. Both do an exceptional job in a nail-biter of a match. The best part was when Orton managed to reverse a chokeslam into the RKO. Surprised the heck outta me. The run in with Cowboy Bob Orton was also a nice piece of nostalgia, especially with the infamous cast. Taker now 13-0.

Trish Stratus (c) vs Christy Hemme WWE Women's Title Match : 2/10 WHY DID THEY HIRE CHRISTY? She is untalented, and not very attractive. You can see how angry Trish got at the end of the match as she attempted to carry Christy in this train wreck.

HBK Shawn Michaels vs Kurt Angle 10/10: Match of the night. This needed to be the main event. It was darn good and suspenseful. Both men showed why they are some of the greatest wrestlers of all time. It seemed that Angle rose like a bat outta hell in this match which made it all better.

Sumo Match Akebono vs Big Show: 6/10 Entertaining for a couple seconds, then you realise how little clothing Big Show is wearing, which is really scary.

JBL (c) vs John Cena WWE Heavyweight Championship: 6/10 More of a slow brawl than a good match. It seemed neither was quite ready for this one. Cena is becoming like Hulk Hogan as he only ends a match in a certain way every time. The crowd was pretty out of it as they knew the Cena would win the title, and when he did, they exploded.

HHH (c) vs Batista World Heavyweight Championship Match: 7/10 HHH carried Batista for most of this match. Flair interfered which got some boos, but mostly wooooos. It was pretty sick on how much HHH bled during the match. There was a good feeling that Batista took the title from HHH since he won it from Unforgiven a year before. But there should've been more. I can say that Batista is improving and his ring skills aren't as sloppy as they use to be.

Not the best, but entertaining.

Match one pitted Rey Mysterio against his friend and partner, Eddie Guerrero. To be honest this was a minor disappointment. Although one angle was seriously botched, Rey's adjusting of his mask, was distracting to the viewers then it was too him.

Next up was the brilliant ladder match which consisted of Kane, Chris Jericho, Edge, Christian, Chris Benoit and the all improving Shelton Benjamin. The match contained less suicidal bumps then Wrestlemania 17 TLC match, but it was a huge enjoyable effort. Edge won the bout.

Then Eugene (whom no one cared about) came down to talk about his favourite wrestlemania moment, which sent everyone to sleep. The relief came when Muhammad Hassan came to the ring with Daivari. They attacked poor Eugene, when all of a sudden Hulk Hogan came down and beat the crap out of the two villains. However Hogan did not check on Eugene and he posed for a couple of minutes, which seemed like 5 hours.

In match number 3 , The Legend Killer - Randy Orton battled The Undertaker, in a surprisingly good encounter. Taker won when he Tombstoned Orton. Next up was the poor Women's encounter between Christy Hemme and Trish Stratus. This was poor and even though Trish tried to get the best out of Christy, it wasn't good enough. Trish won when she hit the chick kick.

Then perhaps the best match of the night, Kurt Angle battled Shawn Michaels. This was excellent and even though these two men aren't in their prime, they showed everyone that age isn't important. Angle won when he made HBk tap to the ankle lock. Then unfortunately, the event goes down hill. The Big Show battles Japanese sumo wrestler Akebono, in a crap sumo match. Akebono won (obviously) when he threw Show out of the ring.

Next up John 'Bradshaw' Leyfield battled John Cena in a poor match. Cena hit the F-U on Bradshaw to win the WWE title. However the fans knew that Cena was going to win, and it seemed like someone won a raffle as opposed to winning the title.

Then in the main event, Triple H battled Batista in an average match. The match went on for 22 minutes, which was probably long enough in Dave Batista's eyes. Batista won when he power bombed HHH and lifted the World Heavyweight Championship up, but no one cared! Overall 7/10

Interpromtional Battle Royal Very good battle Royal. I suggest you watch. -Play-

Well it started it of with Eddie Guerrero Vs Rey Mysterio, the match wasn't that hot, exspecially Rey Mysterio was not a gift to look at with his freaky mask. -Fast Forward Through Parts-

Money In The Bank Ladder Match-They Match would of been boring w/t out Shelton Benjamine and Chris Benoit. They saved this whole match. -Play-

Eugene Sagment, Muhammed Hassan and Davari come attack Eugene hogan walks out. Fights Blah Blah Blah -Fast Forward near end-

Taker Vs Orton Watch the last 5 min of it. -FF Parts-

Trish Vs Hemme -Chapter Skip-

Kurt Angle Vs Shawn Micheals Very good match but extremely long. -Play the whole match-

Pipers Pit We all know what happens to Piper before the segment starts(or you buy the DVD) -Fast Forward stop Fast Forward-

Sumo Match: The Big Show vs. Akebono Akebono hasn't won a Sumo match in the last 5 years will this be his first match won in the past 5 years? -Chapter Skip-

JBL Vs John Cena Worst Match of the night i'd say almost like Grandpa playin catch with his grandson pace. -FF button may come to action-

Triple H Vs Batista Good match Bloody i suggest you watch it all. -play-

bonus stuff 5/5 2 Bloody people Chris Benoit and Triple H

This Wrestlemania was definitely a good one. Plenty of solid matches. There were also a few bad ones, but in comes with the package. One thing that could have definitely been improved was the number of matches. Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrerro A nice lead off match, with both guys having a heated rivalry over the past couple of weeks. They were a great tag team and they knew each other so well and kept each other going. Their high flying antics kept the crowd going. 8/10 Akebono vs. the Big Show in a Sumo Match This was a goofy and pointless match and ended incredibly quickly. Thank God it did. 2/10 Randy Orton vs. The Undertaker One of the better matches of the night. Randy Orton kept up to pace with the Undertaker and did a good job at being the heel and the Undertaker proved he was still one of the best, despite all of his nagging injuries he has had over the years. , though Randy's father "Cowboy" Bob Orton kept interfering and that was just annoying instead of adding excitement. Still a good match. 8/10 Women's Champion Trish Stratus vs. Christy Hemme Christy Hemme in not a wrestler. Most divas in the WWE are basically glorified models. This was one of Trish's easier matches and Christy was not a wrestler. Trish attempted to make it look like a good match, but in vain. Christy is hot and sells tickets, but a better match would have been Victoria vs. Trish 2/10 Money in the Bank Ladder match: Edge vs. Kane. Chris Benoit vs. Christian vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Chris Jericho Definitely one of the more exciting matches. It was very interesting to see how Kane would fair in a quicker, high paced match-up, but he held is own, despite looking a bit winded at times.. Some of the times when the guys were at the top of the ladder, they hesitated, clearly waiting for someone to knock them down, but still a solid match, though the ending was bit of a disappointment. 8/10 Kurt Angle vs. "HBK" Shawn Michaels Definitely the best match of the night. Both guys aren't really in their prime, but are two of the best showmen of all time. HBK had fought through his back injuries and Kurt Angle through his broken neck and both guys wrestled their hearts out. Kurt Angle proved, once again, he is one of the best, but HBK put up a solid effort. Excellent match. 10/10 Sometime during the show, Eugene decides to come out and talk, effectively putting the crowd to sleep. Muhammad Hassan and Daivari then proceed to come down and beat the crap of him. However, just as things were looking bad for Eugene, BAM! The "Real American" music hits and Hulk Hogan comes down and destroys both Hassan and Daivari. You could tell that both Hassan and Daivari were playing along, but the crowd loved it and I thought it was great to see Hulk Hogan again. 10/10 Piper's Pit with Stone Cold A bit of an out of place sideshow, but still interesting. Watching Carlito get his butt kicked but "Stone Cold" and Piper was pretty cool though. 8/10 WWE Champion John Bradshaw Layfield vs. John Cena Neither of these guys is a good wrestler, so this was really just a glorified fist fight. JBL carried John Cena a bit, but Cena still proved that he could make a solid main event. Not the best match, but still solid one. 7/10 World Heavyweight Champion Triple H vs. Batista Definitely an over-hyped match. Triple H was sort of carrying Batista, but Batista held his own despite being a weak wrestler. Triple H also looked like he was going a bit slow, but is always a solid performer. Still got the crowd going, but the JBL/Cena was better. Definitely a good Wrestlemania, but could have used more matches. The best match of the night was HBK vs. Kurt Angle, while the championship matches were okay.