My WWE WrestleMania XXVIII Recap

Sheamus defeated Daniel Bryan (c) in just 00.18 to win the World Heavyweight Championship after applying a swift Brogue Kick. Boy, where to start here. What an absolutely disastrous start to the years biggest event. A match for the World Heavyweight Championship, the companies second most prestigious title, on the grandest stage and it ends in just 18 seconds? Needless to say most fans reacted very poorly to this, especially considering one of WWE's top talents in Bryan was completely wasted here.

I have nothing against Sheamus winning the title, his run over the last few months as a face has been a success and been well received by most crowds, and he's a wrestler of the future. It's just the fact that both he and Bryan were treated like this. Loosing the title this quickly could also damper the heelish, egotistical persona Bryan has developed since winning it. Anyway, on we go...   

Backstage John Laurinaitis gave a pep talk to his team, claiming that if they won it'd be up there with the great 'Mania moments, such as Austin refusing to submit to Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan bodyslamming Andre. Slight exaggeration there Johnny.   

Kane defeated Randy Orton in a surprisingly fair contest. The bout started off a little drab, with disgruntled parts of the crowd still chanting "Yes!" in support of Daniel Bryan, but fortunately picked up in quality in the final third as Orton picked up the pace.   The crowd also reacted very well to Orton's attempt to punt 'The Big Red Monster'. For the finish Kane Chokeslammed Orton form the top rope in an effective and believable pinfall victory.  

In a shameless backstage segment to promote the show 'Deadliest Catch' (can you believe they'd advertise a show like this at WrestleMania?) Santino Marella and Mick Foley attempted to break open king crabs with Captain Jake, or whatever his name was. The only part which saved it was the well received appearance and trademark "Damn!" of Ron Simmons.  

Big Show defeated Cody Rhodes (c) to win the Intercontinental Title. The actual bout was okay, by Show's standards anyway. But the wrong man completely won here. Show, unlike the talented Rhodes, has no major future in WWE, Rhodes should've retained here, even with a tainted win he should've won. He's the one going places, not Big Show. Or at least Cody should've dropped the belt to another younger wrestler. At least Rhodes managed to look fairly competitive here against the challenger which was a minor plus I suppose.  

Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos predictably defeated Beth Phoenix and Eve in a mediocre tag team match, which is probably a big compliment to the Divas division nowadays. Unfortunately guest celebrity Menounos couldn't live up to Snooki's surprisingly entertaining performance and effort at last years 'Mania and rather amusingly elicited chants of "Let's go skid mark!" after obtaining a brown stain on her trousers.  Maria picked up the win with a roll up pin on Phoenix. The fact that this contest went on longer than the World title on was a joke, and at the fan's expense. 

Before the Hell in a Cell match Jim Ross was wisely brought out to guest commentate and even Michael Cole, who usually belittles JR every chance he gets at the order of Vince McMahon, shook his hand and admitted that it wouldn't be WrestleMania without JR. Undertaker also revealed his shaven head for the first time on television, which received a warm reaction from the crowd in Miami. 

The Undertaker defeated Triple H in the Hell in a Cell Match. Well I can safely say that this match up is without a doubt the most dramatic and intense of the year so far, although it'll take something special to outdo it. Both men managed to top their superb bout last year on the big stage and went all out to provide another exciting and 'Mania calibre match. Taker and Triple H both went back and fourth through spells of dominance over the other man, with Shawn Michaels torn between the two.

HBK also deserves a hell of a lot of credit here for his part in the match. He acted brilliantly and provided even more drama as his emotions clearly surfaced as he officiated. Without Michaels the match would've still been tremendous, but with him it just added even more. The near finishes were also executed perfectly, such as 'The Game' almost submitting to Taker's gogoplata like last year and a Sweet Chin Music followed by a Pedigree to 'The Dead Man' for perhaps the finest near fall for Undertaker at a WrestleMania ever.  

Undertaker gained the one-two-three after Tombstone Piledriving Triple H.   

Backstage we had to witness a missable and dull segment with Heath Slater trying to convince Flo Rida to let him perform with him on stage. Rida eventually had enough and pushed Slater into the wall.

Team Johnny defeated Team Teddy in a match that ranged in quality. Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston kicked it off with some decent exchanges. Unfortunately Khali entered the fray and slowed down and dulled the bout. Booker probably received the biggest reaction for a tag as he entered and tangled with McIntyre and looked to have quite a lot of fun in there. Ryder, Kingston and Truth later performed simultaneous flips to the opposing team on the outside, which looked great and was the highlight of the match. It also conveniently removed most wrestlers for the finish. 

Marella almost pinned Miz for a nice near fall after a Cobra that was thwarted by Ziggler. For the ending Ryder was distracted the villainous Eve, which caused him to receive a Skull Crushing Finale from Miz for the victory for Team Johnny. So he finally redeemed himself after weeks of loosing on Raw and SmackDown.

Afterwards Eve then low blowed a confused Ryder and left. This storyline with Eve has really ruined Ryder's former momentum and credibility. At least on the plus side it's made Eve ten times more interesting, to capitalise on this I'd have her manage a major heel. Maybe her and Miz could link up? He could use it and it would gather some red hot heat for them both.

Backstage Laurinaitis warned CM Punk that he wanted a "wrestling match" between him and Jericho, not a brawl, so he added a stipulation that if Punk got disqualified he would loose the WWE Championship. Laurinaitis' new reign has begun, expect a lot of this kind of thing. 

CM Punk (c) defeated Chris Jericho to retain his WWE Championship in a fine effort by both wrestlers. Both men here went back and fourth with nice counters and effective near finishes, along with some crisp action. Jericho would convert a top rope hurricarana attempt into the Walls Of Jericho to a big pop from the fans as Punk would later on also reverse Jericho and lock on the Anaconda Vice to a strong reception. They went toe to toe until Punk eventually forced Y2J to tap to the Anaconda Vice. 

Both wrestlers here, who clearly take real pride in what they do, wanted to steal the show with this match and almost did. It also certainly exceeded my expectations, and I'm a huge fan of both men. They should both be extremely proud of their work here.

In a bizarre segment Brodus Clay came out and introduced his 'Momma', along with the rest of her Bridge Club and performed a dance routine. It was just odd, I'm not sure if it was entertaining or a waste of time to be honest. All I do know is that this guy needs a real feud, I've had enough of his same old routine now. Maybe he could face another powerhouse like Kane?   

Then came the main event of the evening. And a match that has had just about every single wrestling fan debating fiercely. 

The Rock defeated John Cena in the match billed as 'Once In A Lifetime'. The action was decent enough as both men traded moves, although not technically brilliant the bout created an absolutely exhilarating atmosphere. With every STFU, Sharpshooter, AA and Rock Bottom the crowd jumped out of their seats to witness if that was the move that would determine the victor in this huge match up. 

In the end it was The Rock that would gain the surprise win after applying a Rock Bottom out of nowhere. Although I disagree with the victor, as Cena will be around far more than Rocky after the event, it was a fitting and exciting finish to the contest, I can't argue that. Although saying Cena winning would've made more sense isn't necessarily true. I mean, it's not like one clean loss in a blue moon for him will hurt his status, he's still going to be the top guy in the company. Plus Rock's win was always going to prove more popular in his home of Miami. And there will more than likely be a rematch at some point anyway where Cena can even the score with 'The People's Champ'. Maybe at the rumoured SummerSlam appearance or next years 'Mania.   

Overall it was a very memorable and exciting WrestleMania, and one that has seemed to have gone down well with most fans. Unfortunately the first four matches could've easily been taken from a Raw and were definitely not 'Mania calibre bouts, and the treatment of Bryan was inexcusable. On the other hand we witnessed three very special matches that I'm sure we'll all remember for a very, very long time to come.