Posted in: Mr. Tito
TITO REPOST - Full Wrestlemania 27 Review and Grade
By Mr. Tito
Dec 24, 2011 - 2:02:20 PM

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Mr. Tito, 12/24/11: Here is my full blown review of Wrestlemania 27. In hindsight, easily the MOST POSITIVE review online. I get often criticized for being "too negative", but I guess we were in the Bizarro universe for this day.

I stand by my review 100%. Wrestlemania 27 was a GREAT show.

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So here we are folks, the Mr. Tito WRESTLEMANIA 27 REVIEW... I ponied up $54.95 on Comcast to check out the show in High Definition (I was hearing that DirecTV was charging an additional $10 for HD, but I didn't see that on Comcast when I clicked "buy") and had some good friends over to watch it... As you may have read from my BLOGS, for the past few months, I bought into the hype of Wrestlemania 27 with the improved booking of the Miz, having the Rock as the "guest host", and adding Triple H vs. Undertaker to the show. Thus, WWE earned my monetary attention...

We'll kick it oldschool style by reviewing each match, each segment... And of course, I'll give my grade at the end. Enjoy!

First of all, Wrestlemania 27 looked beautiful in glorious High Definition. All of you younger wrestling fans are SPOILED, as that beautiful of a picture and in widescreen form wasn't available during the late 1980's or the late 1990's when pro wrestling had two previous peaks.

The show started off with the Rock just giving lip service for about 15 minutes. He played to the crowd for much of it and probably mostly served to add his presence to the show for later in the show.

The opening match of Wrestlemania 27 was... A World Title Match?!?! That's right, Smackdown viewers, Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio was the opener, and for a good solid 11 minute match, it earned the right of "hot opener". I thought Edge and Del Rio worked very well together, and Del Rio went for several high risk maneuvers that I didn't think he was capable of. While Christian and Brodus Clay were there, their interference was kept minimal (though Clay pulling Edge into the post was costly) and the match had a very nice sequence of Del Rio fighting off the submission but then falling prey to the spear. Nice opener, even if it's a World Title match opening Wrestlemania. ***1/2 The right ending for the match... There is absolutely nothing wrong with losing a Wrestlemania World Title match... Del Rio can hang his hat on a great Wrestlemania performance and grow from it. Afterward, Edge destroyed Del Rio's car... Seems that everyone was predicting a Christian heel, but it didn't happen.

Next match was Cody Rhodes vs. Rey Mysterio... Two comments, first... My brother-in-law made mention how he can't stand how how Cody Rhodes doesn't wear knee pads and that played with my head throughout the match. My brother, also in attendance for Wrestlemania, commented that it was Hannibal Lecter (Cody) vs. Captain America (Rey). Boy, Rey looked AWFUL in that costume! The match was as good as it could be, as Rey Mysterio is set on hitting the same 10-15 moves per match and Cody had to make do. The match wasn't bad, as they were both trading moves well at the end as well as trading medical devices across the head. **1/2 Good win for Cody at Wrestlemania for him to grow on.

Backstage, a very strange segment with Teddy Long and Snoop Dogg. Yes folks, Rebecca Black's "Friday" song was just immortalized by Wrestlemania. Yikes! If you get the chance, by the way, check out Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert's rendition of that horrible song from Fallon's show on Friday night.

If you would have blinked, you would have missed Big Show/Kane/Kofi Kingston/Santino defeating the Corre in an 8 man match. One would figure with 8 wrestlers, there would be more resting time and more chances to break pins... Oh well... Just seeing the booking beforehand, you knew ahead of time that this was a throwaway match. 1/2*

Backstage, The Rock and Diva Champion (but not wrestling tonight - Ha Ha, no Awesome Kong for you wrestling marks!) Eve Torres were talking, and with the way they were laying eyes on each other, probably could have done more. But of course, this sets up the annual Mae Young punchline. Rock got in some pretty funny old jokes, given that she's 88 years of age...

Randy Orton vs. CM Punk was up next and overall, it was a really good match. The finish was ABSURD, as Orton hit the RKO on Punk in midair. As I worried about from my RAW reviews, part of the match was selling the knee injury as Punk did a nice move with the steel steps that hit Orton's legs early. Even though I preach psychology in my columns and blogs, these two wrestle with pure intensity that selling a leg injury would pull it down a bit. I believe they both have a better match in them. **** I would have booked CM Punk to win this match, as Punk needs the legitimacy more than Orton...

Backstage again, and we have the Rock speaking with Mene Gene Okerlund and John Cena's #1 fan, Pee Wee Herman. Hey, what can I say... I laugh whenever I see Pee Wee Herman, as I laughed my ass off at Herman's recent HBO special. Pee Wee was unfairly shamed during the 1990's, as his whacking off in a porn theater hurt nobody. What are you expected to do in a porn theater?

Seeing the 2011 Hall of Famers makes me feel robbed of not seeing a Saturday Hall of Fame show... Oh yeah, we'll get to see the 1 hour special on Monday night... Thanks, that will make up for it.

Michael Cole vs. Jerry Lawler was an interesting match, to say the least... Tons of interference by Jack Swagger, which seemed to help Michael Cole dominate much of the match with Jerry Lawler selling everything despite an unathletic announcer trying to work on his leg. Eventually, the Swagger factor was eliminated when special guest referee Steve Austin delivered a Stunner. Jerry Lawler then unloaded on Michael Cole and Cole was quickly tapping out from Lawler's version of the Anklelock and for a while until Austin finally called it. However, the dirty RAW General Manager said that Steve Austin unfairly acted as referee in the match (he pushed Michael Cole once), and thus disqualified Jerry Lawler and resulted in Michael Cole's win... **1/2 As I said in my 2011 Predictions, I believe that Michael Cole will be revealed as the RAW General Manager and I wouldn't be surprised if he announces it tomorrow just to screw with Jerry Lawler at Wrestlemania.

Triple H vs. Undertaker was EXCELLENT, as both veterans performed at a high level despite the match being their first televised match since 2010. I sense that the match's ending might have been rushed, provided the Triangle Choke (even though the Undertaker's shoulders are clearly down for a pin! Hello referee!!!) and not a Tombstone or Last Ride Powerbomb as the finisher. I'm sensing that either the chairshot to the head or Triple H's Tombstone where Undertaker's head seemed to bounce off the canvas caused some damage and that the Undertaker getting carted off at the end was real. The match itself was a battle, as both guys did some excellent and violent brawling to start. Triple H getting tossed off the table was sick, as was the spot on the Spanish announce table. Undertaker's dive through the ropes was crazy, as usual, and both guys had no problems physically harming each other. Both guys hit multiple finishers yet no pins, especially Triple H hitting multiple Pedigrees. Great match, but a better ending could have been warranted. ****1/2

As I predicted, the Dolph Ziggler/LayCool vs. Snooki/Trish Stratus/John Morrison would be the "pisser match" to be sandwiched in between Triple H/Undertaker and Cena/Miz. I know the professioal wrestling business too well! It was a decent match and served its purpose of putting some space between two big matches. Morrison hit a few nice spots, as he and Ziggler look to have a nice summer of battles ahead of them... The match ended quite well, as Snooki did some very impressive acrobatic moves to finish off Michelle McCool for the win. **

The main event was Miz vs. John Cena... The match took a solid 10 minutes to get started, as they just weren't doing anything special in the ring and the crowd seemed to also not be excited by it, all 71,000 of them reportedly. I think around the time they got the Alex Riley (I thought Miz agreed to fire him?) interference out of the way, as Riley had the briefcase thrown at his head accidentally by the Miz, The intensity ramped up and the crowd began feeling the match after that point. Both wrestlers were either attempting or trading finishers, and several near falls came close to happening. Then, on the outside, John Cena drilled Miz with a clothesline over the barrier. When Miz got up, Cena drilled another clotheline over the next barrier and both wrestlers were knocked out from the spot. This resulted in a 10 count and an officially ruled DRAW. ***1/2

But then, the Rock came out and, after disagreeing with the RAW General Manager's ruling on the match by slamming the computer, the Rock ordered a restarting of the match that was now a non-DQ, no countout, etc. match. Both Miz and Cena came to the ring and Cena immediately tried the Attitude Adjustment, but Miz was holding on to dear life with the ropes. After letting go of the Miz who was on the ropes, Cena turned around to get hit with a ROCK BOTTOM by the Rock. Miz then made the cover, as I applaud the WWE for a satisfying win that plants a huge Rock vs. Cena seed for future events. Afterward, the Rock was still pissed off and whooped on the miz to end the show.

CONCLUSION: Overall, an excellent Wrestlemania that had great matches and great finishes to matches. I'm very satisfied as a $54.95 customer, and am not crying that Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus was cut from the show... Most of which was hyped paid off and there wasn't a painfully bad moment on the show. I'm rewatching it as I type this column, so we'll see how I feel about this show upon repeat viewings. But overall, I give this show an A and might suggest that this is a Top 10 Wrestlemania.... However, I need more viewings for that determination.

Just Chill... Till the Next Episode...

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