I had the opportunity to attend to WrestleMania 21 tonight, and I’m glad I did. I feel honored for being a part of the PPV. It is truly an amazing spectacle that cannot be compared to any RAW taping, or WWE event. If you live in the Chicago area, or are willing to spend the bucks and travel, definitely see WrestleMania 22.
The Staples Center Attendance Record was broken last night at WrestleMania, as 20,193 people saw the PPV live! I was one of them, and I can tell you there was tons of people. The line to get in was insane. As a result, most of the people got inside the arena either a minute or two before the PPV started, or even afterwards.
I heard Booker T’s theme music playing, and a lot of cheering as I was walking through the isles, so I realized he had won the 30 Men Battle Royal that WWE didn’t want you to see apparently.
Although everything was perfect, I realized that the Staples Center is not a good venue for such a huge event. WWE likes to go all out in pyro and special effects when it comes to WrestleMania, and they were very limited inside the small arena. However, they went small, but creative and it was a very successful formula, at the end. The pyro and effects were great throughout the night.
Eddie Guerrero got the show off to a very hot start. His match with Mysterio was top-notch, and seeing as this is Los Angeles, where SmackDown is the more-watched show, and the Hispanic audience dominates, the crowd was extremely into this. From what I seen online, many are saying the two seemed “nervous” out there. Although true to a certain extent, I personally thought they had a great match. Certainly, it’s not their best, and it’s certainly no 1997 Halloween Havoc, but face it – They’re eight years older, they’re already both established, they’ve both had serious injuries since then and know how important it is to be more protective, and Eddie has gone from being Cruiserweight Champion to Heavyweight Champion, while Rey has gone from being Nash’s dart to having **** to **** 1/2 matches with Kurt Angle on PPV. Good match. Unsure why Rey won, but I guess we’ll be seeing a rematch.
Throughout the night they played video clips and a backstage segment that you saw here (JBL and Triple H). Although people weren’t too happy about that, it again goes back to the limitations of the Staples Center. They didn’t have the choice not to, since throughout the entire show, the crew was always working on setting up the next segment. The JBL/Triple H segment got a good reaction.
Christian got booed out of the arena because he was the first heel to come out. At the latter parts of the bout, people actually cheered for him. Edge has been getting the “X-Pac” type of booing, and this can’t be good. This is where I have to point out the funniest sign in the crowd — “We Lie, We Cheat, We Steal *picture of Edge and Lita underneath*”… Kane’s entrance was nicely done, and a touch of creativity. Seeing as they had NYC in burning ruins last year, and now the ladders, are you too second-guessing what Chicago will be seeing on fire next year? The man behind me screamed “Get the ladders!” at the beginning of the match, while they were burning. Found that funny. The match was tremendous, with non-stop big spots. Very good.
The celebrities that were shown in the audience got a decent amount of pops from the crowd, with no boos. Adam Sandler got the biggest pop out of them, but ZZ Top was big too. Nobody knew Brooke Hogan. David Arquette being still there is scary.
The biggest pop of the night followed, as Hogan saved Eugene. Eugene got a decent pop as well. If you haven’t seen Muhammad Hassan live yet, make sure to do so. He is extraordinary. From his entrance to every word he speaks, he has a lot of charisma to offer. I haven’t seen such a good heel in a long time. It doesn’t matter that it’s for the wrong reasons due to the horrible gimmick he has. What matters is that he’s 100% efficient if put to use the right way. I’ve been impressed with him lately.
Undertaker and Randy Orton surprised everyone with a very good, solid match. Wow. The feeling of seeing Undertaker’s entrance is indescribable. WWE really knows how to work with what they have to create the right environment for you to mark out! Him “floating” was done well, because nobody in the arena could see a thing or figure it out! We were in awe. The crowd might have seen dead for the entrance, but that was due to the fact that lots of noise and yelling was wasted when the torch-carriers came out – that was while the video of the feud was rolling for those watching on TV.
The funniest moment of the night had to be next, as about 1/3 of the arena literally disappeared in 30 seconds. The second the graphic for Hemme/Stratus popped on the screen, everyone either went to the bathroom, or to buy food. Hemme and Stratus got some good reactions, actually. Stratus got the bigger pop, especially when she mocked Hemme’s dance.
Match of the Year (so far) followed. All 20,000 people were into this. May God bless Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels for they’re amazing! We’ll be talking about this one for a long time to come in columns, news articles, and analysis pieces, so I’ll skip for now.
Piper’s Pit was next. Boy, it is really tough to decide on this one, but I personally think that Piper got a louder pop than Austin did, although it was clear that the fans were buzzing about Austin more. Neither one of the two could even be compared to the loudest pop of the night (Hogan). I thought this segment was hilarious and very well done! The whole arena was in love with Piper’s interaction with them for the “What” chants. Good stuff.
The audience loved every second of the movie trailers that were used to advertise WrestleMania. When the winning one, Taxi Driver, was played, there was a lot of random pops.
I don’t know why, but once Akebono and Big Show started, the people were into it. Before that it was a lot of jokes on Show’s outfit and his ass showing, as well as the ridiculous drag of time before the match began.
JBL and Cena put everyone to sleep. Oh man, it was bad and painful to sit through. It didn’t even feel like Cena had won anything at the end. This was a horrible timing to give him the belt. We’ll discuss why in the Inside the Ring Newsletter, later tonight.
Triple H’s entrance was sick! That’s the only way one can describe it. The fans went nuts for it, and although nobody cared for Motorhead, since they’ve done that before, they decided to “Wooo” the rest of the song since Flair showed up. Batista doing the Ultimate Warrior tope rope ordeal was definitely the final nail in the coffin to get the people back into the show. The match had its ups and downs, but the crowd was awake for most of it.
After the PPV ended, Batista stood in the ring and bowed down to his belt. He seemed to be wiping tears of joy. He then went to each corner and posed for the crowd, and reflected on his win by once again looking at the title. Emotional segment, as Big Dave realized that he is the Heavyweight Champion of the World. (I wonder how he felt when he saw David Arquette there.) Batista went ringside and hugged Triple H’s father (I don’t know why!) after the match, which I believe made it on TV, but I’m unsure of that. WWE, respectfully, waited for him to return to the back, and then played the recap package of the event. No after-show.
Check out TBL for more coverage, and for Inside the Ring Newsletter, with full analysis of the PPV!
Eddie
Levski11@aol.com