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WrestleMania 25 Results and Ratings

WWE WRESTLEMANIA 25

APRIL 5, 2009

HOUSTON, TEXAS

1 — C.M. PUNK vs. MARK HENRY (w/Tony Atlas) vs. M.V.P. vs. FINLAY (w/Hornswoggle) vs. SHELTON BENJAMIN vs. KOFI KINGSTON vs. CHRISTIAN vs. KANE — Money in the Bank Ladder match (winner gets a world title shot of his choice whenever he wants)

Lots of high spots and creative uses of the multiple ladders. If you never saw a Money in the Bank match, you’d be amazed at the death-defying risks and high flying action. It was every man for himself in a fast paced opening match. Shelton Benjamin’s dive was the highlight.

C.M. Punk outlasted Christian and Kane to win in 14:00.

RATING: B Great opener, but really no different than any other Money in the Bank Match from previous years.

SEGMENT: Kid Rock performed live.

RATING: B- Wrestling fans usually bomb live musical performances, but they seemed into Kid Rock. I personally went to the bathroom, but that’s just me.

2 — TWENTY-FIVE DIVA BATTLE ROYAL

The female wrestlers had a comedy battle royal won by Santino Marella, who was dressed in drag. 6:00 time waster.

RATING: F

3 — CHRIS JERICHO vs. RICKY STEAMBOAT & JIMMY SNUKA & RODDY PIPER (w/Ric Flair)

Jericho vs. Mickey Rourke, lead actor from “The Wrestler” and the legends had been dominating RAW programming for some time. Jericho is the true heel, attacking their legacies and boasted to end their careers, so they don’t have to be pathetic like Rourke’s character in the movie.

Jericho wound up making Jimmy Snuka submit, pinned Roddy Piper, and pinned Rickey Steamboat. Although Snuka and Piper were limited in the ring, Steamboat made the match memorable and special, as he hit all of his vintage moves to make the match competitive.

RATING: C Disappointing that Jericho humiliated the Hall of Famers in 9:00, although it would be too unrealistic for Jericho to lose to 50-60 year old men.

Jericho proceed to beat up Ric Flair, and proclaimed that he won and disgraced all four legends. He then challenged Mickey Rourke, who accepted. Mickey punched Jericho out quickly with a knockout blow.

4 — MATT HARDY vs. JEFF HARDY in an extreme rules bout

Matt had turned on his brother Jeff out of jealousy since Jeff became a champion and Main Eventer last year. Matt proceeded to ruin Jeff’s life, including burning his house down and killing his dog.

The match was hard-hitting and high-flying. The end came when Jeff missed a drop off the highest ladder you can imagine. Matt hit his finishing manuever with a chair and shockingly pinned his brother in 13:00 to prevent the revenge.

RATING: B-

5 — JBL vs. REY MYSTERIO — Intercontinental Title match

JBL taunted the fans very badly- unemployment and how great New York is. He really lashed in. Rey Mysterio shut him up quickly by winning the title in 21 seconds.

RATING: D+ Not much of a match…cheap thrills for the fans.

6 — UNDERTAKER vs. SHAWN MICHAELS

The two icons going at it. Shawn played the heel. The Undertaker’s 16-0 WrestleMania win streak was on the line vs. Shawn Michael’s reputation as “Mr. WrestleMania”. This was an epic contest, where both men had super stamina and kicked out of there unbeatable finishing maneuvers. Match of the Year candidate won by the Undertaker in 31:00. Both men are creative geniuses when it comes to psychology and working a wrestling match. Both have reputations for being showstoppers, and they both did it again. No match on the card could come close to matching their chemistry and drama. Fans were split. This one match was worth the price of the Pay Per View.

RATING- A+

7 — EDGE (world champ) vs. THE BIG SHOW vs. JOHN CENA

This was a love triangle with Smackdown GM and Edge manager Vicki Guerrero but it never came into play. Cena was the only babyface, but Edge and Big Show are feuding as well.

The end came when Cena somehow lifted both Big Show and Edge on his back and slammed them with his finishing maneuver. He pinned Edge to win the title in 14:00. Fans celebrated.

RATING: B

SEGMENT: Saturday’s Hall of Fame inductees were given one last time to get cheered: Terry Funk, Dory Funk, Jr., Cowboy Bill Watts, Ricky Steamboat, Kevin Von Erich, Howard Finkel, and Steve Austin. Austin did his beer celebration and made the 70,000 fans go wild. It’s a shame the fans didn’t go crazy for the other wrestlers, even though most of them were from Texas.

RATING: A

8 — TRIPLE H (champ) vs. RANDY ORTON — WWE Title match

Randy Orton, the #1 heel, had attacked HHH’s wife- Stephanie McMahon, father-in-law Vince McMahon, and beat brother-in-law Shane McMahon at the last PPV. Orton won the Royal Rumble in January and then attacked Vince on RAW. This feud has been super hot, as HHH is defending his wife’s honor and the family name.

I have issues with the McMahon’s being good guys, and HHH is supposed to be a rebel, not the establishment.

I think Orton is a master villain, and should have looked better tonight. He should have kicked out from HHH’s finishing maneuver, the pedigree. HHH won in 23:00 after hitting Randy with his sledge hammer while the referee was knocked out. The match was well plotted given the storyline, but it seemed anti-climatic after Shawn Michaels-Undertaker two matches earlier, which should have been the Main Event. However, HHH and the McMahons have big egos and wanted to be featured last in the most prestigious slot as Main Event at WrestleMania.

Randy and HHH are brawlers and ground-based wrestlers, so the pacing was a bit slow for me, especially when compared to the other matches on the card.

More importantly, with so many stipulations added to the match, and every member of the McMahon family involved in the angle these last few months (not to mention Orton’s own stable of Ted DiBiase, Jr. and Cody Rhodes)the tension was gone since NONE of that came into play during the match.

RATING- B-

OVERALL WRESTLEMANIA 25 RATING: B-

Chris Jericho fan fight!

CANADA: After a WWE show outside the arena, there was an altercation between Jericho and a female fan. A female fan jumped on top of his car. Jericho rolled down the window to yell at the fan, and she spat at him. Jericho got out of his car and spit back. The fan’s boyfriend threw a punch at Jericho. The female fan kicked Jericho in the knee . Security jumped in and tried to restrain all three. Jericho pushed past security and tackled the female fan down to the ground.

Here is exclusive footage of Jericho…unfortunately we don’t see the whole story from the beginning. I support Jericho on this, even though he looks bad in this footage:

Sgt Slaughter vs The Iron Sheik

Sgt Slaughter

On the heels of Sgt. Slaughter being laid off by Vince McMahon last week as a backstage road agent for the WWE, I’d like to rewind back to June 1984 in Madison Square Garden NY, when Sgt. Slaughter was in his prime as one of the most popular wrestlers in the WWF, if not the world.

Slaughter had recently turned good (wrestling terminology is “face”) and defended the U.S. against the evil Iron Sheik, who was one the hated men in wrestling thanks to his pro-Iran stance. The Sheik’s manager was Freddie Blassie, one of the most notorious former wrestlers.

The match is historic for a few reasons: 1) A boot camp match is a hardcore match. Back in 1984, the level of violence in the WWF was rare, and taken very seriously by the fans. Faces rarely broke the rules during the era, so this match had no rules. 2) Slaughter’s patriotism helped land him a deal with GI JOE, and become one of the most famous wrestlers of all time.

Special notes:

Sgt Slaughter was fired by Vince McMahon in late 1984 for working out the GI JOE toy licensing deal with Hasbro, and talking about unionizing wrestling. If Hogan never went to the WWF, Sgt may have reached his level of popularity, and taken the top spot. The Sarge got screwed by Vince.  He wrestled in the AWA, was featured in the GI JOE cartoon, and eventually returned to the WWF in 1990 as an evil turncoat American who supported Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War. Slaughter cheated to win the WWF World Championship from The Ultimate Warrior in 1991. Slaughter would face Hulk Hogan, who in many ways replaced Slaughter as an American icon, and dropped the title to him.

The marine at the beginning of the match is Private Jim Nelson, who was a jobber whom Sgt. Slaughter trained to be competitive and fight communists.

The time of this clip is over 20 minutes. I highly recommend this excellent match: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xuvfk_sgt-slaughter-vs-the-iron-sheik-684_street

Wrestler Profile: Jimmy Wang Yang (James Yun)

James Yun playing redneck cowboy.

Name:  James Yun

Born:1981

Ring names: Yang, Yun Yang, Jimmy Yang, Apeman, Akio, Jimmy Wayne Yang, Jimmy Wang Yang

Years: 1999-Present

Status: Active

Famous runs: Jung Dragons (WCW), Flying Elvis’s (NWA/TNA), WWE Cruiser-weight title contender

One sentence career summary: A great young talent who gets saddled with bad gimmicks and angles.

Brawling/Hardcore: Average.

Aerial: Excellent.

Technical: Above Average.

Interview/Promo: Below average.

Announcing/Commentating: Poor.

Athleticism: Excellent.

Stamina: Average.

Power: Below average.

Ring Psychology: Average.

Safety: Average.

Looks: Below average.

Terror/Menace looks: Poor.

Longevity: Below average.

Popularity: Poor.

Titles: None.

Notable feuds: Chavo Guerrero, Jr.

Gimmicks: Young Asian, high flyer, martial artist, redneck cowboy

Real Personality: Laid back, funny, West Coast type.

Awards: PWI Top 500: 246, 110

Career Push: Opener.

History: James Yun was just a normal guy who applied at WCW’s Power Plant training facility. He made his debut on WCW Nitro as part of an Asian stable with Jamie-San and Kaz Hayashi, and managed by Jimmy Hart.

After WWF bought out WCW in 2001, Yun was deemed not good enough to make WWF’s combined roster and sent to a development territory. He was eventually released by WWF. Yun found work in All Japan Pro Wrestling where he was appreciated more.

Yun then went to TNA in 2002 and was one third of The Flying Elvises gimmick. Trivia answer: In TNA’s first ever match, they defeated  A.J. Styles, Jerry Lynn, and Low Ki, something which would be impossible today, since A.J. is a big star.

A try-out match with Tommy Dreamer for the WWE was so good that he got a job. He would stay with WWE, mostly as a Japanese henchman, stable member, and was on the undercard and B-shows from 2003-2005, before getting laid off…again.

In 2005 and 2006, he wrestled in ROH, and did a spoof on The Last Dragon.

He was hired back to the WWE in May, and after a few months debuted his redneck cowboy gimmick, which is funny because it breaks stereotypes. He was involved in very intense matches with Smackdown’s cruiserweight division, including a feud with Chavo Guerrero, Jr. However, WWE’s lukewarm focus on smaller wrestlers stalled his push. To make matters worse, on June 9, 2008, he was suspended for thirty days for failing a drug test.

Jimmy is still on WWE’s roster, though his TV time is limited. He is also on MySpace.com and runs a wrestling school in Ohio.

Conclusion: This guy has all the moves, but either due to him not playing politics or something else, he never got the real push. I hate to judge a guy without knowing him, but it seems like he gets these crazy gimmicks because maybe he doesn’t have charisma. Every time I see him on TV, I am most impressed with his matches, but he seems forever stuck in the lower card.

Please post any memories or comments here!

Wrestler Profile: Yokozuna

Name: Rodney Anoa’i

Born:1966, died 2000 (Age 34)

Ring names: Great Kokina, Kokina Maximus, Mr. Sumo, Wild Samoan Kokina, Yokozuna (WWF)

Years: 1984-2000

Status: Deceased

Famous runs: WWF champion, managed by Mr. Fuji

One sentence career summary: A dominant monster whose weight became too much.

Brawling/Hardcore: Below average.

Aerial: Poor.

Technical: Poor.

Interview/Promo: Below average.

Announcing/Commentating: Poor.

Athleticism: Poor.

Stamina: Poor.

Power: Above average.

Ring Psychology: Below average.

Safety: Above average.

Looks: Poor.

Terror/Menace looks: Excellent.

Longevity: Below average.

Popularity: Average.

Titles: 2-Time WWF World Champion, 2-time WWF Tag Team Champion (with Owen Hart) , Royal Rumble winner

Notable feuds: Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Lex Luger, Undertaker

Gimmicks: Samoan Monster, Japanese Sumo Monster

Real Personality: Gentle giant, professional, big heart, who indulged with food, alcohol, and women

Awards: PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year, PWI Top 500′s Ranks: 143, 110, 5, 11, 32. Ranked #145 for wrestlers from 1979 to 2003.

Career Push: Upper Midcarder

History: Trained by his uncles Afa and Sika, and part of the famous Samoan wrestling family, he started off in Japan, and then Mexico. In the early 1990′s he was managed by Sheik Adnan El Kassey, during the end years of the AWA. As Kokina Maximus, he “broke” Greg Gagne’s leg and ended his career (storyline).

Because of his size and family connections, WWF kingpin Vince McMahon signed him and pushed him hard by giving his squash victories while giving him a Japanese sumo wrestler gimmick: Yokozuna (Grand Champion). Yokozuna was huge and got a heel megapush to superstardom. Managed by the Japanese flag waving Mr. Fuji, he won the 1993 Royal Rumble, and won a feud with the patriotic Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

At Wrestlemania 9, he defeated Bret Hart to win the WWF Championship (thanks to Mr. Fuji’s salt toss). Immediately after the match, Hulk Hogan quickly pinned Yokozuna in one of the low points of Hogan’s selfish career.

A few months later, Yokozuna regained the WWF Championship by beating Hogan at the 1993 King of the Ring, thanks to Mr. Fuji. After dropping the title, Hogan left the WWF for 9 years, and was never a centerpiece of the organization ever again. At the time, Yoko and Fuji claimed they were the ones to finally end Hulkamania.

Yokozuna’s next feud was with Lex Luger, who was being pushed as the next Hulk Hogan, even using his Real American gimmick. Luger made a suprise appearance by accepting Yokozuna’s bodyslam challenge at the USS Intrepid in New York. Because of Luger’s personality, he never won the belt, even with a mega face push and mainstream publicity. Jim Cornette took over as being Yokozuna’s spokesman/manager, while Mr. Fuji was more of a background character.

The Undertaker and Yokozuna had a major feud, and it looked like Yokozuna had met his match, but a stable of heels and Yokozuna laid the Undertaker to rest in a Casket Match at the 1994 Royal Rumble (Undertaker had to take some time off in real life due to injury).

At WrestleMania X in Madison Square Garden, Yokozuna defeated Lex Luger by disqualification to retain the WWF title, but lost to Bret Hart in the main event to lose it. Yokozuna held the title for 280 days as a heel champion, something extremely rare in WWF history.

Yokozuna’s momentum stalled a bit, as he no longer received title shots, and teamed with Mr. Fuji’s other wrestler, Crush, and he actually lost a sumo match to Earthquake on TV.

At Survivor Series 1994, The Undertaker returned, and…got revenge. Yoko took time off, and returned as Owen Hart’s secret tag team partner at WrestleMania XI, and beat the Smoking Gunns for the WWF Tag Team Title. This unusual team actually had a great run, winning matches against the Smoking Gunns and Allied Powers (Luger and Davey Boy Smith).

They lost the titles after 5-6 months in a weird match at In Your House 3, but were awarded the titles back the next night due to a rule technically. However, they lost the titles for the same night to the Smoking Gunns at Monday Night Raw. Yoko’s conditioning was extremely bad at this time.

At this point, Yoko was a mid-carder, and to add some momentum to his character, he actually turned good (along with Mr. Fuji!), broke away from Cornette and feued with Cornette’s new monster, Vader. Owen Hart, Vader, and Davey Boy Smith “broke” his leg.

Yoko was forced to take some time off to lose weight, and when he returned  he fought Stone Cold Steve Austin in 1996, and lost. The next night, WWF Champion Shawn Michaels beat the behemoth on RAW. His last WWF Pay-Per-View had he and Vader battle to a double disqualification. His weight got so out of control, that some state athletic commissions refused to allow him to wrestle. That caused Yokozuna to be released in 1998.

Yokozuna wrestled in the independent circuit in small towns, where state commissions didn’t give him a hard time in 1999-2000. He appeared on an ill-conceived and poorly rated Legends of Wrestling PPV in 1999, where he wrestled in a tag team match with a drunk Jake The Snake Roberts vs. a drugged Jim The Anvil Neidhart and old King Kong Bundy.

The end of his career…and life…came in 2000 in a Liverpool hotel when he had a heart attack at 34 years of age.

Conclusion: Yokozuna was the #1 heel during the dark ages of the WWF (post-Hulkamania, pre-Attitude Era), so he doesn’t get a lot of historical respect as he should. His size, dominance, and early push lead to a relatively long title reign. Although he was at the right place and the right time to get the title- and pin Hulk Hogan, he did a great job, and was underrated, as was his tag team reign with Owen Hart. Because of his poor conditioning, his push and momentum ended. Because of his midcard feuds and times off, he began to be forgotten, and unfortunately became a footnote in wrestling history. Amazing since he accomplished something no other big men from the 1980′s did- he won the WWF title, held it for a long time, and beat Hulk Hogan!

Please post any memories or comments here!

Wrestler Profile: Zeus (Tiny Lister, Jr.)

Name: Thomas Lister, Jr.

Born:1958

Ring names: Zeus (WWF and WWC), Z-Gangsta (WCW)

Years: 1989-1996

Status: Retired

Famous runs: Was pushed as a monster heel to face Hulk Hogan at SummerSlam 89, after the movie No Holds Barred.

One sentence career summary: An actor who had no business in the wrestling ring, he was an embarrassing mockery of the “sport”.

Brawling/Hardcore: Poor.

Aerial: Poor.

Technical: Poor.

Interview/Promo: Poor.

Announcing/Commentating: Poor.

Athleticism: Poor.

Stamina: Poor.

Power: Above average.

Ring Psychology: Poor.

Safety: Poor.

Looks: Poor.

Terror/Menace looks: Great.

Longevity: Poor.

Popularity: Poor.

Titles: None.

Notable feuds: Tag team matches against Hulk Hogan

Gimmicks: (Invincible) Monster

Real Personality: Born again Christian/motivator/actor.

Awards: Ranked #500 in the PWI’s Top 500 Wrestlers in 1991

Career Push: Occasional wrestler

History: A character actor with menacing roles based on his looks, he opposed Hulk Hogan in the B-Movie No Holds Barred. WWF owner Vince McMahon brought him in before the movie was released to promote a “rivalry” between Hogan and Zeus.

Zeus made numerous appearances on WWF’s TV shows in 1989, and would give interviews and run-ins, with evil alliances with Ted DiBiase and Randy Savage (he would be in Savage’s corner, along with Sensational Sherri). He finally got into an altercation with Hogan and his friend Brutus Beefcake on Saturday Night’s Main Event, leading up to a tag team main event match at SummerSlam 89: Hogan and Beefcake vs Randy Savage and Zeus.

There was a lot of heat going into this match, but the only people who really were into this storyline were kids. Older fans and teenagers realized that Zeus had no skill and blurring a B-Movie into “reality” was too much. Many wrestlers probably resented Zeus’ huge push (and payday) at the main event. (After all, he was an actor, while the other wrestlers were working 300+ days a year).

Hogan used all the publicity to push his friend Beefcake, as Hogan let Beefcake save him in the main even in SummerSlam by finding Zeus’ only known weakness- raking his eyes (Zeus had previously withstood chairshots to the head, and never sold any move). However, Hogan finished Zeus with the legdrop for the pin.

Zeus became  a bodyguard for Ted DiBiase, and would run interference in his matches, but hardly wrestled. Towards the end of 1989, once again was in a main event tag team match at Survivor Series 1989, but by then his momentum was very low, and just a background player.

The final blowoff for this long storyline was a steel cage match at 12/27/89 where Hogan and Beefcake once again beat Savage and Zeus after Hogan legdropped Zeus three times.After being used up, Lister continued to appear in movies and TV shows as character roles, but he actually had a match with Abdullah the Butcher in WWC in Puerto Rico in 1990.

His last wrestling appearance was in 1996, when Hogan pulled strings to bring him in WCW in a Tower of Doom match, which was a chaotic match featuring a bunch of monsters facing Hogan and Savage at WCW Uncensored. Hogan and Savage won the match. Lister was called “Z-Gansta” due to WWF owning the copyright to “Zeus”.  Smart wrestling fans realized how desperate WCW and Hogan were for resurrecting a ridiculous storyline and character.

Irony of ironies: for someone who was supposed to be invincible, he never won a watch, only had around matches, yet was a main eventer.

Conclusion: Lister is a nice guy in real life, and actually landed some pretty well-paying movie and TV roles in his career, so I don’t blame him for taking the wrestling jobs Hogan and McMahon signed him up for. However, that doesn’t excuse how whenever he shows up in a wrestling ring, it’s a jump-the-shark moment.

His only skill is his terrifying appearance, which means he should have been a bodyguard only. Anyway, wrestling is not his first vocation, and he had some pretty solid acting jobs in the movies. I wish he just stayed in Hollywood, though. His wrestling legacy is infamous, ridiculous, and makes wrestling seem fake and a big joke.

Please post any memories or comments here!

Pro wrestling

Florida pro wrestling. Photo copyrighted by Damian Hospital 2009

I have been a professional wrestling fan since 1984. As a young boy, I got all the old wrestling magazines, books, and listened to stories from my mother, grandfather, and uncle about the past.

Later on I would get the Wrestling Observer newsletter and call Coach Kurt’s wrestling hotline to get the “inside scoops”.

I attended many independent wrestling shows, in addition to seeing some great cards in Madison Square Garden. I also knew an independent wrestler down here in Florida, and have been exposed to the inside of the industry as much as a person can without being in the business.

I was never biased to one federation over another, although I have a preference to the past than to the current WWE/TNA/ROH product, but I do watch all the PPVs and TV shows. If I miss them, I follow the reviews on the web and the Pro Wrestling Torch online.

I truly have the utmost respect for wrestlers, and don’t appreciate non-fans that consider it “fake”.

I’ve heard great things about WordPress over Blogger.

I’m actually a pretty well known blogger over at skew.dailyskew.com and baseball.dailyskew.com, but the WordPress format and community is new to me, so I’m excited about trying this out.

My goal here is to post wrestler profiles using all of my knowledge and research, in addition to some reviews, analysis, and thoughts on how the industry has changed over the years.