12 Man Tag Team Match For Control of Raw and Smackdown: Team Laurinaitis vs Team Long
This match had all the makings of a cluster-mess, and it turned out that way. The match was fast paced and all the participants had reasonable ring time with plenty of finishers and some generic high flying spots. It was a fairly generic tag team match, and the finish was awkward because it involved Eve Torres costing Zack Ryder and Team Long the match, and then proceed to screw him over in what was supposed to be a shocker. It was strange because she already had a match early on in the show. It made no sense to put the focus on her ‘heel turn’ when she was in fact already a heel.
Overall: 2/5
WWE Championship Match: CM Punk (c) vs. Chris Jericho
This match had a lot of pressure and hype to deliver the best ‘wrestling match’ of Wrestlemania 28, and in many ways it succeeded. There was a last minute stipulation added where CM Punk would lose the title on disqualification, and they tried to play that a little early on in the match, but in a very unconvincing manner, but thankfully it looked as if they decided to drop that angle soon after and just focus on a straight up wrestling match.
The match had a lot of cool counters, with Jericho countering several of CM Punk’s moves into either a Code Breaker or a Walls of Jericho submission, Jeircho also landed a very picture perfect Lionsault in a similar fashion. There was this one awesome spot where Jericho suplexed CM Punk to the outside of the ring, and there were also a few good high risk moves from CM Punk.
The main problem with the match was that you couldn’t sense much emotion or passion from both participants, as it seemed like another day at work for them. It lacked the in-ring psychology that really creates that Wrestlemania atmosphere. It was well worked for sure, but it was missing that special intangible ‘Mania’ ingredient so to speak.
They put on a good, nicely paced, and back forth style of match. At some instances it almost felt like a classic Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit match up with plenty of submissions and counters. The ending in particular was nicely done with Jericho doing his best to fight out of CM Punk’s Anaconda Vice submission hold before finally submitting, in much similar fashion to the ending of Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 21. A solid and nicely worked wrestling match featuring some cool moments. Even though lacked some emotion and chemistry, it still had a title match atmosphere.
Overall: 4/5
Once in a Lifetime Match: John Cena vs. The Rock
This match had too much hype, and had over a year-long build up. It reminded me of the match between Hulk Hogan and Sting at WCW’s Starrcade 1997, which also had year-long build up and so much hype that the match simply could not live up to it.
The Rock vs. Cena had too long of a build-up, even reaching a point where it started growing stale. However, the actual match itself delivered the best it could, whether or not it lived up to all the hype is debatable but it was still nonetheless a powerful ending to Wrestlemania 28.
The Rock performed extremely well, he was spot on and didn’t miss a beat. Cena performed well enough and was actually quite different from his usual self, both in terms of ring work and presence. The action was good, as both men were hitting their finishers out of nowhere, which added some unexpected twist and turns to the pace. However, the crowd wasn’t nearly as electric and enthusiastic as they should have been. I was hoping for a Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock (Wrestlemania X8) kind of atmosphere, but at least the crowd energy did pick up towards the end.
The greatest thing about the match was how it ended, in a truly unpredictable and symbolic manner. The finish saw The Rock leap off the top turnbuckle to hit a flying cross body, shades of his earlier years as Rocky Mavia. Cena countered that into an Attitude Adjustment and that point it seemed like the match was over, but The Rock kicked out of it. What followed next was amazing as John Cena, almost in a heel fashion, attempted to mock The Rock by trying to perform the People’s Elbow. Cena paid heavily for trying to imitate that iconic move as The Rock was able get up and hit his Rock Bottom finisher out of nowhere for a profound victory. That ending happened so fast and felt so surreal that everyone couldn’t help but go crazy with sheer joy.
Everyone expected John Cena to win this match, because it made logical sense, and everyone was expecting it to be a ‘pass the torch’ moment like Hogan vs. The Rock at Wrestlemania X8. The year-long build up and hype, all accumulated to the amazing and unexpected ending, making it all worthwhile. The ending sent a powerful message, and marked the true downfall of John Cena’s character.
Overall: 4.5/5
Overall:
Wrestlemania 28 is a huge improvement over the extremely weak Wrestlemania 27. Over the past few years, the only good match at Wrestlemania would be the one with The Undertaker defending his Wrestlemania streak, and all the other matches being average at best. This year however, the overall match card was a bit better as The Rock vs. Cena match, the WWE Championship match, and the Hell in a Cell match were stellar. The rest of the card however was really underwhelming, with the only exception being Kane vs. Orton. The undercard had too many awful moments, in particular the World title match and the Intercontinental title match.
Overall, it was a fun show with some great main events. It’s far from being one of the greatest Wrestlemanis of all time, but it is definitely an improvement over recent Wrestlemanias in the past five years or so, and hopefully from this point on things will get better.
