Wrestlemania 21 Review

They kick off the show with Lillian Garcia doing a fantastic job singing ‘America The Beautiful’, followed by a compilation of the hilarious movie spoof ads for Wrestlemania.

Eddie Guerrero vs Rey Mysterio

Mysterio seemed to have a lot of issues with his mask in this one. It seemed to be shifting to the side of his face too much and caused him to adjust it pretty often. Didn’t hurt the match or anything though. Mysterio gets the win with a huracanrana, shocking Eddie. They manage to shake hands after the match. While I think this is a pretty good match, I don’t think it comes close to the classics they put on the rest of the year. Of the seven fantastic matches they had in 2005, I would probably put this in 6^th place.

We get a cool little interaction with JBL and Triple H backstage. Both the respective world champions. This would have been a very interesting match around this time. Probably a very slow paced one, but interesting nonetheless.

Money in the Bank

Edge vs Kane vs Christian vs Chris Jericho vs Shelton Benjamin vs Chris Benoit

This match was exactly what the MITB concept needed. It’s a near perfect match with loads of action and each of the six competitors really get their time to shine. If you weren’t in awe at Shelton Benjamin’s athleticism going into this match, you sure as hell were afterwards. With how over he was here, it’s amazing they didn’t flirt with him in the main event more. Benoit’s selling of the arm was phenomenal and Kane was straight up vicious. Edge waited until the right opportunity, took a chair to Benoit’s arm and took the briefcase. Absolutely fantastic match.

Eugene comes out to talk to the crowd about his favorite Wrestlemania moments. Muhammad Hassan and Daivari quickly cut him off and attack. Hulk Hogan comes out and Eugene and Hogan fight them off. We get a pretty sweet moment where they celebrate together. I think things like this are what make Wrestlemania special and the crowd went wild for it.

The Undertaker vs Randy Orton

We were seeing big character changes in Orton going into this feud. He went from being the guy standing up to Evolution, to the cocky Legend Killer heel of the previous year. Orton and Taker put on an amazing performance here. This seemed to be the first time an Undertaker WM feud was really built around the streak and they did it well. We of course get an interference from Cowboy Bob Orton and his cast. Orton reverses a chokeslam into an RKO, an iconic spot, but Undertaker kicks out at two. Taker finally manages to put Orton away in a great match.

WWE Women’s Championship

Trish Stratus (c) vs Christy Hemme

Trish mostly plays mind games with Christy here, not taking her seriously at all. Trish beats down and embarrasses Christy before she makes a small comeback, only to take a Chick Kick, giving Trish the win. I wouldn’t even say this match was bad because neither one of them did anything to mess it up, it just wasn’t overly interesting either. Sadly I believe the original plan here was a Trish vs Lita match, before Lita had that awful ACL tear diving off the apron.

Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels

This match had a crazy amount of hype going in and, in my opinion, it lived up to all of it. Angle and Michaels beat the living hell out of each other for nearly thirty minutes and there isn’t a single second of this match that isn’t filed with drama. The one small gripe I had was Michaels being in the ankle lock for such an absurdly long amount of time. But at the same time, on such a grand stage and with Michaels being such a legend, I can accept that he can fight through the pain longer than most. Hell, much of Michaels’ character upon return to the company was going through a lot of abuse and continuing to fight. Just an amazing match all around and their rematches were great too.

Next we get Piper’s Pit featuring Stone Cold. It was so great seeing Austin and Roddy in the ring together and they really made this promo fun. Carlito comes out and all three play off each other extremely well. Piper spits the apple in Carlito’s face and a brawl breaks out where Austin and Piper beat up Carlito. Austin & Piper share a beer before Austin gives him a stunner in a great segment.

Sumo Match

Big Show vs Akebono

This was more a spectacle that match itself and it was kind of cool. Akebono is absolute legend, as is Big Show. It also only took up about five minutes so I don’t really see what the big deal was and why this is regarded so poorly. Akebono gets the win, tossing Big Show out of the circle. It’s not amazing but I think the hyperbole over this is a little ridiculous.

WWE Championship

John Bradshaw Layfield (c) vs John Cena

The good majority of this match is JBL kicking Cena’s ass and Cena trying to fight back. It honestly was underwhelming and the crowd wasn’t really into it at all. Cena manages to fight back and get the win and does get a good pop for winning his first world title. While the match itself is fairly weak, I still think Cena’s celebration and the moment itself is awesome.

World Heavyweight Championship

Triple H (c) vs Batista

This match seems to be widely regarded as forgettable but I absolutely love it. I thought the story it told was amazing. Triple H tries all the things that worked on all his opponents over the last three years and Batista just sort of shrugs them off. It was like Triple H was playing against a whole different monster and none of his tactics could work. Triple H really puts over Batista in this, getting his ass kicked for much of the match. Batista finally puts down Triple H with a Batista Bomb and wins his first world championship as well. It’s not a technical masterpiece or anything, but I do reallty enjoy this match.

Conclusion

This had arguably the best undercard in Wrestlemania history with Mysterio/Eddie, Money in the Bank, Orton/Taker and Angle/HBK all really delivering. The one big disappointment of the show was Cena vs JBL, which they made up for a couple months later at Judgment Day. I thought the filler and in ring promos were really well done and a good use of the time. And while it certainly wasn’t at the level of their Vengeance ’05 match, I enjoyed Triple H vs Batista. I think if Reigns vs Triple H was booked more like this, people may have enjoyed it more.