The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania

Wrestlemania was held in Houston, Texas and the show was decent. That said 2 of the WWE's most reliable superstars (Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker) saved this show from being mediocre.

The Money in the Bank Ladder match was good but was let down by botched moves, like for instance Shelton Benjamin was going to sunset flip power bomb MVP off a ladder but Porter was late releasing his grip, which resulted in both men falling to a heap on the floor. WWE didn't need to have Mark Henry, Finlay or Kane in there, they could have put the likes of R-Truth, The Brian Kendrick or Evan Bourne in with Kofi Kingston, Christian, MVP, CM Punk and Shelton Benjamin to make it more interesting.

The Rey Mysterio vs JBL match was a waste of time, 21 seconds long? Why bother putting it on a super show? Oh yeah to make room for Kid Rock's abysmal singing which lasted 11 minutes but seemed like 11 hours. This was one of the reason's why the WWE unified tag team title match pitting Carlito and Primo against The Miz and John Morrison was cut from the PPV to make room for Kid Rock. If Kevin Dunn generally believes that he done good making this decision he needs his head testing.

The 25 Diva battle royal was abysmal. Not memorable at all, Trish Stratus made the right decision turning the offer down to appear on it and Santino..... oops sorry Santina Marella winning it seemed like someone's idea of a joke.

I was hoping that WWE would have put Chris Jericho in there with Ricky Steamboat alone. My fears were confirmed when they announced that Steamboat would be teaming with the ancient 64 year old Jimmy Snuka and the barely mobile Roddy Piper. Give Steamboat his due he had a very good 4 minute scrap with Jericho at the end. But the result with anti-climatic, fans sensing a feel good ending were baffled when Steamboat lost.

The Triple Threat match between Edge, Big Show and John Cena was OK but not the best, Big Show was totally knackered but looking at Show's age (37) weight (440 pounds) and his condition (knackered)it's no wonder he's feeling the strain of wrestling long matches. This isn't the same Paul Wight who wrestled in WCW were he was billed as the Giant. Wight who could execute moonsaults and standing drop kicks in WCW, has never really fulfilled his true potential and never will.

The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels was outstanding. Possibly the best match at a Wrestlemania. Undertaker won with a Tombstone. Watch out for when Taker landed on the camera man, that was Sim Snuka (yes the same Sim Snuka who used to wrestle as Duece in the tag team with Domino, and hasn't been seen for months) Results from the show: CM Punk won the MIBL match which also featured, Kane, Finlay, Kofi Kingston, Christian, Shelton Benjamin, MVP and Mark Henry.... Rey Mysterio downed John Bradshaw Layfield in 21 seconds to win the Intercontinental Championship.... Chris Jericho downed Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper and Rick Steamboat in an elimination match.... John Cena defeated Big Show and Edge in a passable triple threat match to win the Heavyweight title.... Matt Hardy pinned Jeff Hardy in a good Extreme Rules match.... Santina Marella won the diva Battle Royal.... The Undertaker pinned Shawn Michaels in a superb match.... Triple H defeated Randy Orton in a disappointing match to retain the WWE title.

Overall grade - B/C

I don't care what the fed' are trying to call the show. It's "Wrestlemania 25" and it's the 24th anniversary of Wrestlemania because that's how the English language and time works.

This show came from the Reliant Stadium, in Houston, Texas, in April of 2009. The cards consists of an 8 Man 'Money in the Bank' ladder match. A Miss Wrestlemania battle royal. Chris Jericho against Jimmy Snuka, Ricky Steamboat and Roddy Piper. Matt Hardy against Jeff Hardy. JBL against Rey Mysterio. The Undertaker against Shawn Michaels, Edge vs John Cena vs The Big Show and Triple H vs Randy Orton.

The show consists of one all time classic, a couple of other solid matches, some decent moments and a lot of rubbish.

The money in the Bank ladder match kicks us off strong. With Shelton Benjamin, Kofi Kingston and CM Punk providing various high spots and Kane and Mark Henry spotting for others. It's full of big moments, obviously and is a great start. Mercifully, Kid Rocks concert isn't on the DVD, so instead we se the Diva's already in the ring for their battle royal. This is probably one of the lowest points that womens wrestling would be at, and that it's won by a man in drag shows how little value these women had at this point. Jericho vs. The Legends would have been fine, had it just been him versus Ricky Steamboat, the other two add nothing - nor does Flair on the outside or the post-match business with Mickey Rourke.

The Hardy's battle was better and had a really good ending. JBL vs Rey was over quickly and would be the last the universe would see of JBL for a few years. The first Undertaker vs. Shawn Michael's match is an undisputed classic, full of false finishes and kick outs that I can't believe, even though I've seen the match several times before. The Cena triple threat is OK, but the ending is poor and the HHH vs Randy Orton match is fine, but struggles to follow that Michaels / Taker match - as anything would.

The blu ray version also includes Raw and Smackdown from before the show, as well as the Dark match, which was a lumberjack tag titles match.

The classic match and the high spots in some of the others makes this a show that you would just about recommend.

'WrestleMania 25' is supposed to be a grand affair, a brand which has been the most prominent affair in the history of WWE. But sadly the event doesn't live up to its mark.... Minus HBK vs Undertaker, no other match makes you go wow!! WM 25 could've been the best event ever, but sadly it joins the league of events like 'Summer Slam', 'Royal Rumble' and 'Survivor Series', not WM.

Things which left a mark: HBK vs Undertaker. The-duo once again proved that they are the true legends of WWE, delivering a fantastic match. Easily, The best WrestleMania in recent times. The Showstopper and The Deadman deserve a standing ovation for their contribution in WWE. Mickey Rourke's cameo was entertaining, knocking Y2J down.

The disappointments: Everything else. The Money In The Bank match was plain mediocre. Y2J vs The Legends was good, not great. The match reminded me of RAW. Triple H vs Randy Orton was a yawn. The built up for the match was instigating, but the result was narrow. Santina winning miss WM was unintentionally funny. Jeff vs Matt was boring, ditto for the other matches.

Being a hardcore fan of WWE since childhood, I expected a lot from WM 25, but sadly it didn't reach my expectation. HBK vs Undertaker, will surely be remembered as one of the greatest matches of WWE history. The performers didn't disappoint, the event did.

What can I say about 2009's stinker that hasn't been said before? The 25th Anniversary of Wrestlemania was an insult to the wrestling world, and will go down with the likes of Mania IX as one of the all-time worst Manias. It was abysmal, truly. Of course, aside from the now famous Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels match up.

The show started off with the usual matches, such as the Intercontinental Championship and the Money in the Bank Ladder Match. The IC title match was a joke in itself, less than 30 seconds long. The WWE has attempted to mimic last year's Hardcore Championship bout between Kane and Chavo, which was just as short, if not shorter. However, when Kane beat Chavo, it felt much more fresh and unexpected and worked much better then than it did here.

The Ladder Match, interesting as usual, always seems to be their get-out-of-jail-free card from Mania 21 on, using it as a way to make each Mania at least somewhat entertaining. But, Mr. McMahon, why is it that the most hyped-up and talked about Wrestlemanias are always the biggest failures in this business. Why is it that we have to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Wrestlemania with a triple threat match between Edge, Big Show, and John Cena (one of the worst main events in history)? Answer me that. How hard is it, exactly, to come up with a decent Wrestlemania. I mean, at least put some effort into an event as big as this.

Anyway, let's move on to the rest of the show, starting with the much hyped Chris Jericho vs. WWE Legends match. This match, along with the rest of the matches, was a joke in itself. The match quickly boiled down to generic garbage that was not only boring, but depressing to watch - to realize that the WWE has resorted, simply, to the match cards of their events to make sales. This was an obvious failure of a match and of an event, one Vince must've seen coming.

Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels. This one was for the ages, and will go down as, possibly, the greatest match of all-time for the Undertaker, and maybe even for the Show Stopper as well. It was quite the battle, and really helped me through the night, but you've heard enough about this glorious fight, so let's move on.

The Hardy vs. Hardy Extreme Rules match was actually quite entertaining, but not even high-flying violence could save this show. They both put on one hell of a show, one which I really enjoyed, but quickly faded away into the rest of the event, which include the two absolutely horrible main events.

XXV's main events included the triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship, as I stated before, and a one-on-one bout between Randy Orton and Triple H which actually wasn't that bad, but could've been saved for Backlash or even Summerslam, not the 25th Anniversary of Wrestlemania. The two obvious faces came out victorious (Triple H and Cena), something which was not the case at the previous year's show. They need to remember that, every once in a while, people don't like to see Cena walk away with every title and a hand-job. But, rather, see Cena lose for once, and what better place than the grandest stage of them all? Now the rest of the matches, or as I like to call them, "card fillers," were the usual garbage you'd expect. A tag team title match that nobody was excited about, and a Diva Battle Royale, which is always a bad sign seeing as how the Divas in today's WWE just can't pull off a good performance.

In conclusion, other than the Undertaker vs. Michaels match, nothing really stuck as special or even useful to the WWE or the event itself, and frankly I can't remember the event that match, and even had to look back at the Wrestlemania History section on WWE.com to see the matches in order to spark some sort of memory.

I do not recommend viewing this. You'll get more pleasure out of watching the highlights on YouTube.

This year the grandest stage of them all (Wrestlemania) went to Houston, Texas where the most classic Wrestlemania in history took place. The opening match was the Money In The Bank Ladder Match which featured Mark Henry,Kane,Christian,CM Punk,Finlay,Shelton Benjamin and MVP, definitely one of the highlights of the night when CM Punk stepped out the winner for the 2nd time. The next match featuring Intercontinental Champion JBL and the No.1 Contender Rey Mysterio,before Mysterio could even warm up JBL leveled Mysterio with a giant boot. Everyone thought it was over, but it wasn't Mysterio got up hit the 619 and splashed JBL to pick up the 21 second win and his first Intercontinental title win. After the shocking victory JBL grabbed a mic. and said the shocking and rare words.......'I QUIT!!!!'.The next contest was an intense contest between former WWE champion Jeff Hardy and his brother and former ECW Champion Matt Hardy which started 3 months earlier at the Royal Rumble. The contest wasted little time in brutal violence as both men quickly took it to the EXTREME....with tables, ladders, chairs (OH MY) both brother punished each other until Matt Hardy hit a twist of fate with Jeff tangled in a steel chair to pick up the win. Next was the 3-on-1 handicap match between Y2J(Chris Jericho) and Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper and Ricky Steamboat, the match started with the legends ripping Y2J apart but Piper and Snuka were quickly eliminated for the match then it was Steamboats time to shine. As he hit a huge combination of moves involving a cross body, DDT, missile dropkick and several suplexes. Minutes later Y2J hit a codebreaker and picked up the win.The next contest was 'The Heartbreak Kid' Shawn Michaels looking to end the 16-0 streak of THE UNDERTAKER who at that time had never been able to beat Shawn Michaels one-on-one. Both men entered the ring and pushed each other to the limit Taker' powered out of several submissions and hit Michaels with several blows all over the body Michaels did whatever he could to avoid Taker' but nothing worked. The action intensified as Taker' leaped out of the ring onto his neck giving Michaels some momentum Taker' hit a last ride and a tombstone but Michaels shockingly kicked out,Taker' then caught Michaels in mid - air and hit a 2nd Tombstone for the win.The World title match a triple threat match featuring Edge, John Cena and THE BIG SHOW! All 3 men immediately took each other to the limit with everything in there arsenal but at the end Cena FU'ed both men at once to pick up a huge win and his 2nd World Heavyweight Title. The next and final contest featured a match 5 years in the making with 2 former friends and partners WWE Champion Triple H and the No.1 Contender Randy Orton in a completely personal rivalry. The match started unusually with Orton hitting the RKO and Triple H hitting the Pedigree, Triple H and Orton quickly took each other to the limit. Minutes later Triple H hit Orton with a punt and then a quick Pedigree to win and retain his WWE Championship.