I am not only late with this column, but it is long this week, to boot. My wrestling weekend did not go according to plan, that’s for sure. So here are my explanations, excuses, and opinions of what was to be a super Wrestlemania weekend. My friend and I had tickets to the Hall of Fame Induction and we were both looking forward to going. Citywalk is always enjoyable and we were going to get over there early to walk around a little bit. Until, that is, she called me in the morning to tell me her eyes were swollen shut and were burning terribly. She couldn’t open them. But maybe if I drove, she could still go. Yeah, right! She went to Urgent Care instead and was told she had a major infection in both eyes. She had to stay home, keep the lights down and rest. I felt bad for her, but I don’t mind going places alone if it is somewhere I want to be, so even though I had been battling some allergies, off I went. I had just parked my car and was still in the parking garage when I came upon a friend of mine Wade Needham, who is also the webmaster and owner of World-Wrestling.net. It was good to see him again, and to get to spend a little time talking with him.
I really enjoyed the Induction Ceremony. I thought they did a very good job with the whole thing. To begin with, all of the superstars – with the exclusion of Undertaker (what happened?!) entered the building and could be seen close up on the big screens. Without exception, they all looked super! Batista was handsome beyond belief, Jericho looked adorable, Stephanie was beautiful; I could go on and on here. Everybody looked great. It was nice to see them with family and friends, reminding us that they do a job, but are just real people underneath it all.
Randy Orton introduced his father, “Cowboy” Bob Orton. I really did feel that this was a special moment for the two of them, and found it quite rude to hear “Randy sucks!” chants. Yes, this was a wrestling crowd, but I thought they should have been able to tell the difference between a show and something as special as the Hall of Fame Ceremony. There is a time and place for all things, and this was not the place for that kind of heckling.
Next out was Nikolai Volkoff, followed by The Iron Sheik, “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff, and “The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart. I think I have the order right. Anyway, it was great for me to see these superstars, and the clips they provided for us to watch. I was not watching wrestling when these talented men were strutting their stuff, and I think I missed a lot. The Iron Sheik was particularly funny when giving his speech, and I wasn’t even able to understand all of it! What a wonderful character. Unfortunately, these five men were not included in the televised portion of the show. I think that if all seven men were important enough to induct in the first place, then all of them were deserving of TV time.
So the emphasis was on the final two inductees. The first man was introduced by Ric Flair, who told several stories prior to presenting him. Finally, out came “Rowdy” Roddy Piper to quite a good ovation. Piper was his usual quick-witted self and seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself. I had only seen him a few times, but I like Roddy. It was fun to watch him in action again, and I was really looking forward to Piper’s Pit the following day.
Finally, the man everyone seemed to be waiting for, and Sylvester Stallone was on hand to introduce his friend, Hulk Hogan. The applause for Hogan went on and on for MANY minutes. I was going to look back at the tape and check the time, but I never got around to it. Suffice it to say, there was quite a long delay. Every time Hogan tried to speak, the crowd started up again. It has been often said that Hogan was not an accomplished wrestler. Some say that he was not even average. The fans could care less about that assessment. This man has done as much for professional wrestling as anyone could. His fan base is huge and consists of all ages, and I agree with the masses that say Hulk Hogan’s induction into the Hall of Fame was undeniable.
I really had a good time, and was looking forward to Wrestlemania the next day. Earlier I mentioned the allergies I had been dealing with for a couple of weeks, but I never guessed that they would slow me down, until…Sunday morning! I woke up with a raw throat, headache, and all of my muscles sore as hell. Having a firm grasp on the obvious, I realized that these weren’t allergies. My eyes hurt, and after I took a shower I had to lie down again because I was tired. I kept telling myself that I had to get to Wrestlemania, damn it! Get dressed and get going! As the hours went by I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t making it Staples Center. I saw Wrestlemania at the Pond in Anaheim, then went all the way to Toronto two years later. Now it was about 20 miles away from me again and I was going to have to watch it on television. Yep, I was pretty cranky, to say the least. But while I missed all the in-person action I thought the show was really good, and enjoyed every minute of it. Here are my views.
The first match put tag team partner against tag team partner – and the Tag Team Champions to boot – as Rey Mysterio faced Eddie Guerrero. I thought this would be a good match, and was certainly not disappointed. These two provided all of the fast-paced action I knew they would, with one quick move after another, and counter after counter. They really turned it up for us, and I thought this was the perfect match to have as the opener for Wrestlemania. It brought the crowd alive, and Mysterio showed he is all that, as he got the victory. Eddie and Rey shook hands after the match, but it still remains to be seen just how or if their tag team will suffer after this. And since I did not get to watch SmackDown! tonight, I don’t know if anything has happened yet. Anyway, great start to a great night!
The action was kept alive with the Money in the Bank Ladder Match to see which of the six participants would get their chance at the World Heavyweight Championship belt. Those involved were Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Christian (is there a pattern here?), Edge, Shelton Benjamin and Kane. Again, this was a great match with many bumps taken by all the athletes. That is to be expected in this type of match, but it always seems as if there are some spectacular ones, and this night was no exception. Each man had his share of wild antics, and I can’t say enough about each and every one of them. However, when asked, the one of the six that I said would NOT win was the eventual winner, Edge. I was really surprised here, as there are certainly others in my opinion that deserved that push. Many will argue that I know, but that’s just how I feel.
We saw the return of Eugene, who was quickly interrupted by Hassan and Daivari. They attacked Eugene for a bit, only to have Hogan come in for the rescue! After he applied his beat-down to the two of them, he stayed around awhile, basking in the glory that is Hulkamania.
Oh boy, my match was next, and I was nervous. Silly I know, but I couldn’t help it. The Undertaker, Legend, faced off against Randy Orton, Legend Killer. And trying not to be prejudiced, this was a good match, I thought. There were several times when I actually thought that Orton would succeed in breaking ‘Taker’s 12 and 0 Wrestlemania win record, but NO! Yes I was sick, but I did manage to jump up and down a little bit when The Dead Man got the three count. OK, and I yelled a little bit too – all alone with my two dogs, who I will admit, thought I was crazy. No matter – Undertaker, 13 and 0!
The Women’s Championship came next, and thankfully, the champ Trish Stratus did beat Christy. I have to admit though, that there were a couple of moments when Christy did surprise me. She has been schooling up some, for she actually had a couple of moves. But should she win the Championship? No, so Trish’s win was a good thing.
Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels went head to head in what was expected to be a very strong match. Again, no disappointments here, as these two men worked their asses off for us. What a clinic they put on! I have watched this one back, and it was even better the second time around. As the match went on, I really had no idea who would win it. They played off each other perfectly, and each man not only made himself look good, but his opponent as well. This is a skill that not many wrestlers possess, and it only made their match even better. In the end, Angle defeated HBK by tap out, but Michaels got a standing ovation (as far as I could tell) for his hard work, and deservedly so. Super job by both parties!
The irrepressible Roddy Piper followed with the return of his Piper’s Pit. His guest was Stone Cold Steve Austin, and these two superstars were awesome. The banter that Piper had with the crowd was funny, and of course, nothing gets by Steve either. Carlito decided to crash the party, complete with his now-familiar apple in hand. Piper turned the tables on him though, as he caught the apple in mid-air, took many big bites, and blam – spit that baby right into Carlito’s face. That was great. The “Cool” one split, and SCSA celebrated with Piper as only he can – beers, please! After they guzzled several and it looked as if all was right with the world, Roddy became yet another victim to the Stone Cold Stunner before Austin took his leave. This was a very well received and entertaining segment.
The Big Show and Akebono’s Sumo Match was next. I never thought I’d see the day when Show looked small, but it happened here. While Show is taller, Akebono’s immense girth made Show appear to be, well, not so big. He also didn’t look nearly as bad as I thought he might in the Sumo wrestling gear. This was a short match, with Akebono winning, as he should have. I didn’t mind this at all. It didn’t take forever, and was something different.
John Cena challenged John Bradshaw Layfield for the WWE Championship, and I don’t know if I got a bit tired or if the match was slow, but I couldn’t get into it, and that surprised me. I thought this would be pretty interesting, but I just couldn’t seem to get up for it. I did think that JBL would hang onto his belt a bit longer to really make him seem even more dominate, and I really didn’t think that it was Cena’s time. So what do I know? Cena was victorious, and is now the NEW WWE Champion. How long that will last, I’m not sure. I like Cena, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t expecting them to hand him the belt.
The class of the 2005 Hall of Fame Inductees were introduced, and this was a nice touch. These men deserved to be front and center one more time.
The main event of the evening was for the World Heavyweight Championship, which had Triple H putting his belt on the line against his former Evolution member, Batista. This match woke me up and I quite liked it. This was one of the few times that I was 100% - OK, 99% - sure that the belt would change hands. So much time has been spent cultivating and preening Batista that if he had lost all their hard work would have been for nothing, and that would have been such a waste. I was proud of Batista (God, I sound like Paula Abdul), but I thought he did a really good job here. And as usual, hats off to HHH, as he put over his opponent perfectly. So now we have two new champions for the two most important titles. I hope that neither one loses right away, and that they get to nurture their accomplishments for a time.
I wasn’t too bad with my predictions, either. I came up short (bad choice of words when you’re only 5’ tall) three times, picking Guerrero, Jericho, and JBL to win their respective matches. Ah, that’s alright.
Anyway, I’m still sick and really tired now too, so I’ll close – no applause, please!
Be safe and God Bless,
Barb.
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