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LOOKING AT LAST NIGHT'S WRESTLEMANIA TRILOGY OF GREATNESS, THE TRUE MVP OF THE SHOW AND LOTS MORE LIVE THOUGHTS: PART ONE OF A SERIES ON MANIA WEEKEND

By Mike Johnson on 2012-04-02 06:38:59
Some rambling live notes and thoughts from last night's Wrestlemania as I wait for my flight back to New York.

Without a shadow of a doubt, the MVP of last night's PPV show was once again, from a live perspective, the production team. With the exception of Shawn Michaels' pyro not firing (they instead used it during HHH and Undertaker's entrances), WWE was once again spot on. For all that everyone wants to say that the other companies out there are just as good as WWE or better, the one place they will never, ever catch up to this company is just the monstrous infrastructure they have, which allows them to put on such a damn fine spectacle. From the pyro, which was beyond awesome live, to camerawork with great close-up shots like HHH and Undertaker face to face with the cage lowering into the forefront of the screeen to even the little things like the background of the video screens that featured the Miami skyline slowly darkening as the dusk set in and went to night - it was perfection.  The production team was far and away the MVP of the night.   Their work at hiding the Hell in A Cell behind a square video screen was also genius.

In a lot of ways, the ONLY negative on the production side of things were the giant faux palm trees built to mask the structure they needed to hold their lighting and production rig, drawing a lot of complaints and negative chants live.  For those of you planning to go next year, the show is outdoors so expect similar issues.

There has been a lot said already about The Rock vs. John Cena and I am sure I will go into this in a lot more depth in the days to come, but as a spectacle, this was off the charts. I am told that the Miami crowd was well represented via the PPV broadcast but the sheer roar when Dwayne Johnson pinned John Cena was one of the loudest pops I can remember in my entire life watching pro wrestling. The Sun Life Stadium just erupted as if one of their own had just a accomplished the impossible. It was a hell of a view to watch from my seat and I really wish all of you could have seen the same view. It was just pure electricity and one of those moments that makes you remember why you love pro wrestling - because when it's done right, there is never anything better than it.

I've read a lot of reader feedback about Rock winning and Cena losing, as well as the performances of each man, but to me, it was as perfect as we were going to get. Johnson was working his first singles match in almost a decade (and that's after recovering from an Achilles' Heel tear a few years back) and Cena, at his best, has never been seen as someone who's in-ring work was his strengths. But, in that moment, in front of that crowd, it was the equivalent of Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior in Toronto at Wrestlemania 6. It was just this incredible battle of personalities first and wrestlers second and it was a hell of a sight to witness.  Rock was in his zone in front of his people.  He was a force of nature last night, and honestly, while the "right thing" was for the guy who would be there every week to win, WWE is looking at a bigger picture. 

For everyone complaining about Rock going over, the reality is that tonight on Raw they will reset their storylines anyway. Obviously, their long term plan will involve Wrestlemania 29 (with some in the company strongly teasing a main event could be announced tonight), so they've set that groundwork if they want to go with a rematch. Cena wanted the bout and ripped on Rock until he returned and in the end, was humbled. Johnson returned to WWE and shut his top detractor down. So, where does Cena go from here to save face? What does Johnson do next? These are the questions WWE has to answer and they've created a lot of talk and wonder about what's going to happen next. That's a hell of a lot better than the usual morning after of your average PPV.  It used to be that WWF would build from one big Madison Square Garden show to the next.  Now, they are building from one Wrestlemania to the next, trying to maximize their long term storytelling.  In a perfect world, that's a great idea.

Live, the crowd couldn't have cared less about the musical performances.  As anyone who has ever been to a concert knows, you can feel and see when the audience is moved by something.  This was just a bunch of wrestling fans waiting for this stuff to end so they could see the Rock.  There was far more interest in the Brodus Clay segment than any of the musical performances.  I did pop for Flo Rida's Tron cycle, as well as the usage of the Tron font for his logo. 

This won't happen, but I really wish there was a way that we'd never, ever see Triple H or the Undertaker in the ring again.  Last year's match may have been better in terms of the actual wrestling in the ring, but the drama and psychology last night was as damn near perfect as Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker I in Houston, Texas.  This incredible triangle of egos and anger between HHH, Undertaker and Shawn Michaels came to a head following stories we could date back to the mid-1990s.  Shawn Michaels' facial expressions were off the charts, to the point that it was pretty damn clear that it's going to be hard for anyone to ever match how well he emotes to the crowd.   Undertaker looked fine in his first match in a year (even getting a "holy sh**" chant live for his new hairstyle)  and this was easily HHH's best bout since last year.  The sequences and near falls towards the end completely exhausted the crowd and the post-match, with HHH being helped up and walked to the back by both his best friend and arch-enemy, leading to all three embracing, was as perfect an ending, tying up all of their respective storylines as has ever been written in pro wrestling.  There is no way that match and that scene will ever be topped.  I don't care if you have Undertaker face Brock Lesnar, The Rock, Steve Austin or John Cena - there will never, ever be a match that will feature that level of belief that Taker was about to lose and that it was truly over.  I have chills here just thinking about it.

Another amazing moment last night was watching WWE champion CM Punk and Chris Jericho completely manipulate and capture the live audience.  When that match started, the crowd was emotionally spent from Hell in A Cell.  Even with an incredible pyro display for Punk's entrance (and hey Justin Roberts, he's THE WWE champion, not the CURRENT one, what the hell was THAT?), the crowd was, well, dead.  It wasn't a slight at Punk or Jericho but they had been overwhelmed by the entire Hell In A Cell display.  So, Jericho and Punk did what they do best and put together a slow building storyline based around Jericho working on Punk's back.  They picked the major spots that they put together until they could feel the audience starting to come back with some near falls.  By the time they went into the incredible reversal of submission holds and Punk grabbing and squeezing the Anaconda Vice for all he had.  When Jericho finally gave up the fight and tapped, the crowd exploded, jumping up and down.  That was a textbook case of taking an audience that was apathetic because they were just mentally done and making them believe, bringing them to a perfect climax.  I am sure that a lot of the work in the WWE title match will get overlooked due to the sheer magnitude of the aforementioned matches, but one day, it will be considered a great learning tool for future wrestlers.   Just perfection. 

I also really liked the recap video before the match.  For lapsed fans who were tuning in to see Rock or just coming into the business for the first time because of all the hype, the video was a great way to explain both who Punk was and the issues with Jericho.  I've been outspoken about how WWE hasn't used the buzz of the Rock to try and put some extra shine on the talents they will need to carry them towards the future, but this was a nice step in the right direction.  Watching Punk come out with that fireworks display really showed that WWE wants the guy to make it.  You don't spend that sort of money on someone you don't want to invest in.   It really underscored how far Punk has come from his days of working Shopping Cart Death Matches for the LWF and training under Ace Steel, much less the more famous runs in places like ROH and IWA Mid-South.  How one can be a wrestling fan and not happy and proud for the guy is beyond me. 

Likewise, last night, Jericho just proved once again that while there may be talk of the "last of the breed" when it comes to HHH and friends, Jericho is equally as important.  He came from an era of world class journeyman workers like Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero who could walk into any situation and make it work in the ring.  He can do just that and there's no one that's come along in recent memory in WWE, beyond Punk, who can match that.  Jericho's importance on that roster should and cannot be understated.

The Daniel Bryan-Sheamus curse continued last night.  It was a terrible miscue by WWE and quite honestly, a bullsh** move.  It's not that the storyline twist of Sheamus winning the World title and Bryan being trapped and not able to weasel out on the biggest show of the year wasn't the right move, but the execution was disgustingly stupid.  Bryan is one of the best in-ring workers of the modern era.  Sheamus has shown signs of greatness and has matured and evolved into an important hand for WWE.  WWE shortchanged them both by booking the 10 second match and honestly, shortchanged themselves from presenting what would have been yet another entertaining bout.  Sure, it shocked everyone to open Mania and there's something to be said for that but to me, it also took an asset and didn't use it...on the biggest show of the year.  No excuse for that ever, no matter who that asset is. 

Live, the crowd, which had been chanting, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" for Bryan for almost the entire three hours since WWE opened the doors of Sun Life Stadium, were anticipating their favorite do his thing.  Instead, they got to watch one of the shining stars of the current TV product get crushed.  By doing so, the WWE message was to not care about the character they've wanted the fans to invest in.  There were a lot of Bryan chants the rest of the night, although none strong enough to truly impact the viewing experience of the show.  WWE could have accomplished the same ending through different means.

The live audience in Miami was also, in many ways, the star of the show.  WWE has made the show of shows a destination point for the most diehard and loyal of wrestling fans, so you always get an interesting mix of locals excited that such a huge attraction is in town (I can't tell you how many non fan friends are already asking me about tickets to next year, because it's seen as this huge event) and fans that truly love the business.  That brings a really unique electricity to the PPV in general on its best days but to me, last night was the perfect meshing a great environment, beautiful weather and incredible work by a lot of talented people to pull the viewers into a fun world for four hours.  I truly believe this was the best Wrestlemania I've attended since 19 in Seattle or 20 in New York City.  There have been other great shows and other phenomenal matches and moments since those shows but nothing like the trilogy of greatness above. It was enough to make you remember why you loved pro wrestling when it was great - and maybe it's never going to be a return to the perfection of the past as we remember it, but there are moments when it can still be great. Those are what the jaded but hopeful true fans still wait for....and some of those moments came around last night.

Now, there was a lot of stuff on the show that I didn't care for as well, but since my plane is boarding, that will have to wait until later (which I guess means Part Two is coming soon!) but just based on the three main events and the constellations coming together for atmosphere, electricity and weather, what a show!

Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com.

 

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