WrestleMania 26 Recap and Results!

Last night, I watched WrestleMania 26 live from Glendale, Arizona on PPV. It was an event that was hyped by the match involving "The Streak vs Career" as Undertaker faced Shawn Michaels. A total of 10 matches took place with some being good and some being...well...not so good.

NOTE: This is a SPOILER alert, so don't read this if you don't want to know what happened yet. These are in order as it happened.
Star ratings:
*****-Matches get no better than this.
****-Great match with good spots throughout.
***-Good, but not great match.
**-More to fill time on the show. Not a good match.
*-Why did this match take place?

Unified Tag Team Championship
ShowMix(Big Show and The Miz) defeated R-Truth and John Morrison
This match kicked off the show, and it was a short one. I had feeling ShowMiz would retain, but was surprised the younger guys(Miz, R-Truth, Morrison) weren't given more time to shine. Miz tagged in Big Show without Morrison knowing it, and Show hits a knockout punch to pin Morrison for the win. Rating: **

Triple Threat Match
Randy Orton defeated Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes
Orton got a nice POP coming out for this match which was a little better than the first. DiBiase and Rhodes used a two-on-one beatdown for the majority of the match until they went at it. Orton hit a double DDT with both DiBiase and Rhodes legs draped over the middle rope. The crowd POPPED huge when Orton hit the Punt on Rhodes before DiBiase had his Dream Street move countered by Orton with the RKO. Orton pinned DiBiase. Rating: ***

Money In The Bank Ladder Match
Jack Swagger defeats Kofi Kingston, MVP, Evan Bourne, Shelton Benjamin, Matt Hardy, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Kane, and Christian
This was definitely the shocker of the night. Not that Swagger doesn't have the ability, but he hasn't exactly been getting pushed by the WWE in recent months. Swagger had trouble unhooking the briefcase to win the match. I was expecting Christian to win this, and I thought there were too many involved in this match. That isn't to say there weren't cool spots like when Bourne hit the Air Bourne finisher off the top of the ladder on Christian. Kane broke a ladder in half which led to Kingston using them as stilts to walk across the ring and climb for the briefcase. That was cool. Swagger smashes the briefcase into Christian's head knocking him off the ladder. Swagger struggles to unhook the briefcase, but does so to win the MITB match to guarantee him a title shot to cash in anytime within the next year. Rating: ***1/2

Triple H defeats Sheamus
The crowd POPPED big for Triple H as I expected him to win this one. It was a decent match, but one has to wonder what this will do for Sheamus. They did book Sheamus to dominate some of the match. Triple H hits the Pedigree out of nowhere to win another WM match. This really didn't do Sheamus any favors, but WWE pushed him too quickly in my opinion which is something they've done too often before. Rating: **1/2

Rey Mysterio defeats CM Punk
Mysterio came out in a cool-looking mask that resembled a character from Avatar. This was another one of the matches where two solid workers wrestled in a short match. A good spot at the end came when Mysterio hit a Hurricarana that sent Punk flying into his Straight Edge Society partner Gallows, who was knocked off the ring apron trying to interfere. Mysterio hits the 619 followed by the rope splash to pin Punk. Rating: ***

No Holds Barred
Bret Hart defeats Vince McMahon
No one should be shocked at who won this match, but the bout itself was so one-sided it made it boring. The Hart family came out and were supposedly bought by McMahon before Bret told him he knew it was coming. Bruce Hart was the referee, and Bret completely dominated this match. I kid you not, McMahon didn't have a single bit of offense in this match. Bret used a steel chair several times to McMahon before finally putting on the Sharp Shooter finisher to make him tap out. The match was what it was, and it was hard to expect more than this given the storyline buildup for over 12 years as well as the age of Bret and McMahon. Rating: **

World Heavyweight Championship
Chris Jericho(c) defeats Edge
This was a solid match. Edge at one point went for the Spear only for Jericho to counter it into his Codebreaker finisher which looked cool. The Walls of Jericho had been put on Edge before he reached the ropes to break it. The ref was bumped after this happened, and Jericho used the title belt to hit Edge in the face with it. Edge kicks out of that which the crowd POPPED big for, but Jericho catches him in the Codebreaker again after he got up to retain the title. But it was after the match that will be shown on highlights. Jericho wanted to further injure the leg of Edge after the match, but Edge kicked him off to the ring floor. Edge clears off both announce tables and sets Jericho on one of them while he stands there waiting to Spear him on another. Edge runs across both announce tables to spear Jericho off the tables through the barricade at ringside! That was an awesome moment there. Rating: ***1/2

10 Divas Tag Team match
Vickie Guerrero, Michelle McCool, Layla, Maryse, & Alicia Fox defeat Beth Phoenix, Mickie James, Gail Kim, Kelly Kelly, and Eve Torres
They followed up a solid title match with this cluster of match. This would have been best as a match before the show, and not sure why they chose to have it this late in the event between two title matches. Not that I have anything against women, but they let someone that doesn't perform in their division get the pin: Vickie Guerrero. Lawler's funny line of her hitting the "hog splash" unfortunately made me laugh. Not sure why they have the divas competing in a match only to bury them with someone that can't wrestle or isn't a woman(See Santina Marella last year at WM). Rating: *

WWE Championship
John Cena defeats Batista(c)
I was fully expecting Cena to win after the way this angle was going although I have to say Batista has become a solid heel. I thought at one point in the match that Cena was legitimately hurt after being dropped straight on his head by Batista countering the Attitude Adjustment finisher. Cena hit the Five Knuckle Shuffle off the top rope, and kicked out of the Batista Bomb in the match. Batista kicked out of the Attitude Adjustment, too. Cena locks in the STF on Batista which he finally taps out as he finally beat him in this match. Rating: ***

Streak vs Career
Undertaker defeats Shawn Michaels
The streak continues at 18-0 for the Undertaker as he pins Shawn Michaels to end his career. At one point in the match, a trainer comes out to check on Michaels after he was caught with a dive off the top rope to the outside into a counter by the Undertaker with the Tombstone on the floor. The crowd POPPED huge for that. Undertaker goes for the Last Ride finisher, but his leg gave out during the move which I'm not sure if something went wrong or not with it. Not long after that, Michaels goes for his top rope elbow drop as Undertaker counters by getting his knees up which didn't look right either. Michaels hits Sweet Chin Music on Undertaker causing him to fall on the announce table. Michaels hits a moonsault crashing the Undertaker through the table. Another awesome spot. Undertaker hits another Tombstone in the middle of ring, but Michaels kicks out which prompted another huge POP from the crowd. Undertaker gets mad after Michaels mimicked his throat-slashing gesture by hitting another Tombstone on him. Undertaker gets the pin and Michaels' career is over as the streak is still intact. They shake hands and hug after the match as the crowd cheers for HBK as they go off the air. Rating: ****

Overall
The show did have some surprise finishes as well as cool spots which is what you're supposed to get at a WrestleMania event. The Undertaker/HBK match was something they did learn from by having it as the last match unlike a year ago. The couple of questionable spots in the match they had kept it from getting another half star, but still came off great. Both of them know how to entertain a crowd. The Divas tag team match stopped the buzz temporarily especially for when they had the match between the two heavyweight title bouts. Swagger won the MITB in a shocker, and I think that it will be sometime before he cashes it in because they have to know what they have with him. The promos being left out of the show probably helped because the event was composed on wrestling action which is the way it is supposed to be. This was a good WrestleMania show, but not the greatest of them all.

Rating: *** out of 5

Best matches:
1. Undertaker vs HBK
2. Jericho vs Edge
3. Money in the Bank Ladder match

First Commenters:

Posted in: WrestleMania, WrestleMania 26, WrestleMania XXVI, wrestling, WWE

Reactions: