411 Ranks The WrestleManias: #13 – WrestleMania 28

Following WrestleMania 27, the Undertaker was stretchered out after his match with Triple H and The Rock was set to face off with John Cena at this event in what was advertised as a “Once in a Lifetime” event. Also on the show Big Johnny and Teddy Long battled for GM supremacy, the Big Show was to get his WrestleMania moment, the Undertaker and Triple H would face off one more time and while Sheamus would score the world title and glory in 18 seconds, something much more important started that night…

* WORLD TITLE MATCH: Sheamus defeated Daniel Bryan (c) @ 0:18 to be come the NEW Champion
* Kane defeated Randy Orton @ 10:56 via pin
* IC TITLE MATCH: Big Show defeated Cody Rhodes (c) @ 5:18 via pin to become the NEW Champion
* Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos defeated Beth Phoenix and Eve Torres @ 6:49 via pin
* HELL IN A CELL: The Undertaker defeated Triple H @ 30:50 via pin
* Team Johnny (David Otunga, Mark Henry, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, The Miz, and Drew McIntyre) (with John Laurinaitis, Vickie Guerrero, and Brie Bella) defeated Team Teddy (Santino Marella, R-Truth, Kofi Kingston, Zack Ryder, The Great Khali, and Booker T) (with Theodore Long, Hornswoggle, Eve Torres, Nikki Bella, and Aksana) @ 10:38 via pin
* WWE TITLE MATCH: CM Punk (c) defeated Chris Jericho @ 22:21 via submission
* The Rock defeated John Cena

Sean Garmer
The Best Thing on the Show And Why: Undertaker vs. HHH. I really didn’t know what to expect with this match going in, but being there LIVE I may never witness something as dramatic again. Shawn Michaels played huge into that drama with his will he and won’t he on the pin attempts and being fair. I have never heard a collective gasp in an arena, like I did with that Super kick and Pedigree combination. Jericho vs. Punk may have been a rough technical marvel, but this was the attitude era personified. Taker vs. HHH was two ring generals that beat the crap out of each other with weapons inside a Cell that debuted between Taker and The Ref for this match. Maybe some folks don’t think it holds up, or didn’t think it was really all that great, but I loved it! And the ending and after match stuff made it even more memorable.

The Worst Thing on the Show And Why: In retrospect it wound up being a great thing for Daniel Bryan, but at that time it really left a sour taste in your mouth to start the show. These guys wound up having a terrific 2 out of 3 Falls match at the next ppv after this, but how crappy is it that they couldn’t do that at WM 28. The other matches that weren’t so great, I wasn’t expecting much out of them to begin with, so who cares if it was the worst. The opener was a World Title match that ended in 18 seconds between two guys that could have put together something great and put this WM into maybe into Top 5 conversation for sure.

Show MVP And Why: Taker & HHH. These guys had the best match on the show that told the best story and made the most emotional impact on the crowd. It’s the match that I remember most from being there at the show too. It truly felt like the “End of an Era” when it was over and I wondered if maybe Taker was done at that show just because of how it ended and the after match stuff. Maybe they weren’t the headliners, but without this match, the show is not the same.

Your Thoughts on The Show: Aside from the shock that pissed off a large part of the arena and many fans at home, there were only two other matches that were underwhelming. Maria Menounos was one hell of a trooper in that Divas match, but no one cared. The Johnny vs. Teddy multi team match, yeah… I like to forget that happened. Everything else was good to outstanding. Kane vs. Orton was better than it should have been, With Jericho vs. Punk giving us a great match that had some fantastic reversals and told the story for Punk getting some vengeance on Jericho for all the crap about his family’s past. Rock vs. Cena was exactly what I expected it to be, a spectacle that delivered. It wasn’t a classic, but it was very good and a great ending to the show as a whole.

Mike Chin
The Best Thing on the Show And Why: CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho, in so many ways, made WrestleMania 28 for me. As a devout Punk fan at the time, I lived in a constant state of fear that WWE could pull the rug out from under him in favor of retreating to safer, more established stars. Punk and Jericho put on a hotly contested match with near-falls aplenty en route to Punk picking up the clean submission victory via Anaconda Vice in an underrated gem of a bout.

The Worst Thing on the Show And Why: This dishonor goes to Sheamus squashing Daniel Bryan in the show’s opener. Apologists might claim that Bryan jerking the curtain and losing his World Heavyweight Championship to The Celtic Warrior in eighteen seconds set him up for Team Hell No, challenging John Cena, and the build to WrestleMania 30 two years later. Call me a cynic, but I’m much more comfortable calling those results happy accidents (or the results of Bryan’s undeniable talent) than purposeful design on the part of WWE. This match dishonored the brilliant work Bryan was doing at the time, and perhaps more importantly robbed the fans of the excellent match these performers proved themselves capable of putting together the following month at Extreme Rules.

Show MVP And Why: This may not be the most popular choice on a show in which CM Punk solidified his championship legacy, The Undertaker put on one of his last epic masterpieces, and, heck, Maria Menounos put forth an alarmingly good celebrity performance. But in the end, WrestleMania 28 belonged to The Rock. Making his first in-ring WrestleMania appearance in eight years, and, as far as I can tell, performing in his first one-on-one match since he put over Goldberg nearly nine years earlier, The Rock made a downright triumphant return to the Showcase of the Immortals, more than holding up his end of the bargain in a half hour match with John Cena. The Rock drew attention and buys to WrestleMania 28. And while the match itself was far from a five-star classic, it was a perfectly competent bout in the WWE main event style that demonstrated The Rock still had all of the tools necessary to cut it as major talent in wrestling.

Your Thoughts on The Show: This show tends to get underrated on account of Rock-Cena not being as epic as WWE would like for us to believe, and because Bryan got squashed in the first match. Just the same, looking at the show objectively, I’d place it as a top five ‘Mania, with a dream match main event that delivered as well as it could be expected to, a four-star-plus Punk-Jericho outing, a very good Hell in a Cell match in which Shawn Michaels was no small part of helping ‘Taker and Triple H to a classic, a feel good moment for Big Show winning the IC title, the aforementioned fine outing for Maria Menounos, and a fun and kayfabe-important twelve-man tag match that got everyone on the card (including underappreciated Zack Ryder in a spotlighted, if ultimately humiliating role). Despite a few weak spots, this show overall gets a big thumbs up from me.

Kevin Pantoja
The Best Thing on the Show And Why: Hell in a Cell; The Undertaker vs. Triple H [****1/4] – I remember watching this live and thinking that it was absolutely epic. Going back and re-watching has lessened my feelings about it but I still think it was a fantastic conclusion to the Triple H/Undertaker WrestleMania trilogy. I know that a lot of people loved their WrestleMania 27 match, but I felt this was slightly better and WrestleMania 17 was around the same level. Up until this match, this WrestleMania was severely lacking in something to stand out. This being in Hell in a Cell and the history between the three men involved (Shawn Michaels was the guest referee) made the math something special. I’ve never been one to truly believe in many possible Streak ending false finishes but the Sweet Chin Music/Pedigree combination was the one that made me believe the most. Undertaker’s streak reached 20-0 and this was the standout match of the night.

The Worst Thing on the Show And Why: World Heavyweight Championship: Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Sheamus [SQUASH] – Hindsight being 20/20, this ended up doing wonders for Daniel Bryan’s career. Losing in 18 seconds in front of a crowd that already liked him just led to him becoming the most over guy in the company. However, that still doesn’t excuse the WWE for putting two of their best guys in a World Heavyweight Title match and having it end so quickly. A month later these two showed what they could do in a great 2 out of 3 falls match, but the fact that they weren’t allowed to showcase their talents on the biggest stage of them all is simply a crime.

Show MVP And Why: The Undertaker – This was the beginning of his run where he would work one match a year. At the previous year’s WrestleMania, he had worked some a few months prior. However, after being taken out on a stretcher at WrestleMania 27, the Undertaker returned for the first time in a year and didn’t miss a beat. It takes a special kind of Superstar to sit out for a year and come back like he missed no time.

Your Thoughts on The Show: On the whole, I feel like this was a rather strong year for WrestleMania. The big match was John Cena vs. The Rock and it delivered for the most part. It wasn’t a classic but it was the spectacle that it was supposed to be. Obviously I’ve stressed my enjoyment for HHH/Undertaker. My second favorite match was the CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho WWE Title match. Granted everyone wanted it to be the greatest thing ever, but it was still very good. Just a shade under the Hell in a Cell ranking wise for me. Everything else was only decent. The World Title match was disappointingly short, while Cody Rhodes and Big Show had a lackluster match for the IC Title. The Divas did all right, as did Kane and Randy Orton but the twelve-man tag on the card wasn’t very good either. It wasn’t one of the best WrestleManias of all time but it earns itself a thumbs up from me.

The List So Far…
30. WrestleMania 9
29. WrestleMania 2
28. WrestleMania 11
27. WrestleMania 4
26. WrestleMania 15
25. WrestleMania 27
24. WrestleMania 29
23. WrestleMania 25
22. WrestleMania 5
21. WrestleMania 13
20. WrestleMania
19. WrestleMania 6
18. WrestleMania 16
17. WrestleMania 7
16. WrestleMania 12
15. WrestleMania 8
14. WrestleMania 22
13. WrestleMania 28

REMINDER, each 411 writer had the opportunity to rank the WrestleMania events (based on overall quality, historical significance and personal preference), those rankings went into creating the final list.