Dot Net reader Derik Zooashkiyani attended WrestleMania 27 in Atlanta, Ga. and sent the following report.
I attended my first Wrestlemania last night, and thought overall it was great. It may not have played out well on TV, but being live was another story. It truly is something every wrestling fan should do at least once. We had club seats and they honestly were the best seats in the house. More on that later. The set looked amazing! WWE definitely went all out for it.
Dark Match: Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus in a lumberjack match for the U.S. Title. My friends and I were very upset as this was one of the matches we were most looking forward to. By the groans and looks of confusion by those around us, we weren't alone. My friend Al is the biggest Sheamus fan in the world, and I thought he was going to cry.
Good back and forth action until Sheamus wound up on the outside and started beating up the lumberjacks. Teddy Long came out and announced an impromptu battle royal. At this point non of us knew if it was also for the U.S. Title or not.
Of course, The Great Khali won due to the "Iron Sheik Rule" as we called it. Thankfully, Sheamus kept the title, and it wasn't the last time we saw him that night. More on that later.
Alberto Del Rio vs. Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship: I couldn't believe this match went on first. There were lots of Del Rio fans in Atlanta, which was kind of surprising. Edge got a great pop. Good match. I like both guys so I was happy either way, although I'm worried they might be cooling Del Rio off.
Cody Rhodes vs. Rey Mysterio: Lots of Cody chants from the crowd which surprised me. His entrance with the fake newspaper headlines was great. Rey dressing as Captain America got a huge groan from my section, but we mostly cheered for the heels anyway. The delayed superplex got a great reaction from the fans. Definitely the right guy won this one in my opinion.
The Snoop Dogg segment was a waste, but Hornswoggle got a decent pop for finally speaking. He seemed to say something that was bleeped out, but I could be wrong on that.
The Corre vs. Kane, Big Show, Santino, and Kofi Kingston: Okay, after the entrances were made, I went to the concession area to get food and a drink and missed the whole match. I wish this had been the dark match and Sheamus vs. Bryan would have been on the card. Then again, if they were only going to get two minutes maybe they were better off.
I called the Mae Young cameo in the backstage segment. It got laughs but seemed just kind of there until Austin showed up. Everyone hopped to their feet and hung on their every word. One of the top three moments of the whole show for me.
CM Punk vs. Randy Orton: The crowd seemed split for this match. The guys in our section loved C.M. Punk...possibly too much. Good match, I wish they had been given more time. The RKO off the springboard clothesline was awesome.
The Rock, Mean Gene, and PeeWee Herman segment was what it was. Earlier in the day, my friends and I were complaining about why Drew Carey was placed in the Hall and not someone like PeeWee or Bob Barker. Lo and behold, the Wee has come back to WWE. Mean Gene doing his, "You gotta be kidding me!" line got a nice nostalgia pop.
The Hall of Fame presentation was honestly the main reason I came, as I'm a huge HBK fan. Great response for the Road Warriors and Sunny. When the lull came, a nice "HBK" chant broke out. When the music hit and the man walked out, I got goosebumps. Not the only time that happened that night. It seemed like Shawn was fighting back tears, and so was I. Fantastic moment.
Michael Cole vs. Jerry "The King" Lawler: When Booker T was introduced, he got a nice reaction but I think some were disappointed he wasn't Jim Ross. Thankfully, JR came out next to a great ovation. Of course, Cole interrupted that and looked like a combination of Taz and Rick Steiner.
It was great to see Austin live. I haven't had that privilege since 1998. He, of course, got a great pop from the crowd.
It was during this match that WrestleMania started becoming awesome. Not because of the match, obviously, but what was going on behind us. As Cole was cutting his promo, I caught a glimpse of Paul Ellering taking a seat directly behind me and my friends on the next level up in the box seats. Not five seconds later, Animal came down too, which caused an "LOD" chant from my section. Then a few minutes into the match, X-Pac was spotted and threw us the Kliq sign. It was fantastic. More on this later.
As for the match? Well, thank God Steve Austin was in there. The reverse decision took the life out of the crowd. The Stunners made up for it though.
When JR and Lawler were shown together, the place erupted. I can't wait to hear JR's commentary.
While they were setting up the Taker/Triple H match, we saw Ezekiel Jackson, Great Khali, and Christian. Big Zeke even waved at us.
Undertaker vs. Triple H: Hands down the match of the night. It did seem to drag at times while they sold the beating. I, of course, kept one eye on the ramp hoping Shawn would run in. Now I'm glad he didn't. My hat's off to both men for doing what I didn't think could be done: making me doubt Taker would win. When Hunter did the throat slash and the Tombstone, we all thought we'd seen Undertaker's last match. When he kicked out, everyone hit their feet and the reaction was amazing. The finish was a bit anticlimactic, but just a wonderful match.
Dolph Ziggler and Lay-Cool vs. John Morrison, Trish Stratus, and Snooki: Poor Dolph and Morrison. They deserved their own match. Snooki got booed all the way until she started her tumbling routine. Give her credit for showing a lot of people she actually has athleticism. Trish, Ziggler, Morrison, and Lay-Cool deserved better than a four-minute match though.
By this point, nearly every wrestler and Diva were behind us in the box somewhere. Edge and Christian waved at us, and I got some pictures of Ted DiBiase Sr, Paul Bearer, Jerry Brisco, and Terry Funk. See why I said our seats were the best in the house?
John Cena vs. The Miz for the WWE Championship: God help me for booing a choir, but I just couldn't cheer anything associated with John Cena. The video on the Miz was outstanding. I don't care what anyone says, he totally deserves this main event spot. From my perspective, Miz was cheered more than Cena, who was booed heavily throughout the match.
This match was doomed from the start. Having to go on after Taker/HHH was difficult enough, but also The Rock factor ruined it. Everyone had one eye on the ramp the whole match. Miz kicking out of the AA was the Pop of the Night, though.
It blew my mind that some people actually thought the double count out was the finish. People started to leave until they heard Rock's music. With them both down, my friends and I were hoping Rock would restart it as a triple threat. Again, looking back I'm glad he didn't. The Rock Bottom was great, as was the People's Elbow. Even though he didn't look the strongest, I'm glad Miz kept the title. He's got it, and can be a major player for a long time to come.
After Mania was over, we were walking out when we saw Randy Orton in the box seats. Once Randy saw the crowd, he started posing and interacting with us. He brought Ted DiBiase Jr. out and kissed him on the cheek. Then Sheamus came out and tipped his cap to Al, who was going nuts for him. It made Al's night.
Kofi Kingston came by next and posed for a second, but the star of this was Randy. He milked it for all it was worth, getting several RKO chants. When some poor fan tried to get a "Cena" chant going, Randy looked down and smirked at him. He then proceeded to do the "You can't see me" gesture and then did a jacking off gesture. Funny.
Overall, it was the best live event experience I've ever had. To also be so close to several superstars and legends was amazing. Kelly Kelly is gorgeous in person. It made my experience ever better to see the superstars enjoying themselves so much. I can't wait to watch the DVD with JR's commentary. Great night, made me feel like a kid again.
From PROWRESTLING.NET
WrestleMania 27 onsite report: Wrestler antics in the WWE box seat, including Randy Orton mocking a fan who tried to get a John Cena chant started, Orton kisses Ted DiBiase on the cheek, an excellent live perspective report
Posted in: WWE News,
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Apr 4, 2011 - 05:31 PM
Apr 4, 2011 - 05:31 PM
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