Caliber Winfield Super Terrific Wrestling Hour – In Defense Of WrestleMania 25

Greetings, all.

Alright, we’re going to jump into the Q&A, let’s get it…

In regards to last week’s article, quite a few of you questioned why no David Arquette. Simply because the WCW title didn’t mean anything by that point. And there was no way that they thought any good would actually come of it, in my opinion.

Also, yes, JBL wasn’t a life-long jobber, I misspoke.

Props to my boys who caught the Bloodsport reference during the portion on WrestleMania 9.

Jeff: OK, you got that match that everyone loves but you don’t?

Perfect timing. We’re about to get into number 1 on that list. But I also have a few others that I’ve received a lot of heat for not-liking. For instance, I’ve never seen a War Games that I absolutely loved. I wasn’t a massive fan of Flair vs Steamboat II, or Flair vs Sting from the first Clash.

Guy Who Forgot To Leave His Name In The Email: you watch TNA?

I use to. I was actually a pretty big TNA fan from 2005 to around the beginnings of 2007. I can’t explain it, but there was just an energy to TNA back then, and certainly a quality. You really felt like there could be a number 2 that could compete with the WWE. They had a solid mid-card and main event scene, with a lot of fresh things being done, especially with the inclusion of Angle, who I believe gave Sting his best match ever. I really miss those days.

If you guys ever want to ask me a question, wrestling related or not, leave it in the comments, or hit me up [email protected] or @CaliberWinfield on IG.

Alright, time to come to the defense of WrestleMania 25.

CM Punk vs Mark Henry vs Kofi vs MVP vs Finlay vs Shelton vs Christian vs Kane
Henry and Kane run the match in the beginning which makes for good fun, that’s soon followed by a pretty sweet ordeal where bodies pile up outside the ring as everyone takes turns launching themselves onto the growing pile of bodies. There’s a ton of great spots that follow, with all the constant action you’d expect from one of these. Of all the MiTB matches I’ve seen, this is probably my favorite. These guys absolutely killed this one.
Punk grabs the case after knocking Kane out at 14:32 | ****1/4

Kid Rock & Diva Battle Royal
I’m not even going to bother reviewing either of these sacks of crap. Wrestling fans want WRESTLING at WRESTLEmania. We do not want concerts. You wanna have live music for a wrestler’s entrance? By all means. But Kid Rock for 10 minutes, and the respect paid to the women of wrestling that you’d pay to broken shoelaces? No thanks.

Chris Jericho vs Ricky Steamboat, Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka
Well, Snuka & Piper most certainly look their age out there, with Snuka being so out of shape he can’t even tap out correctly. Yikes. Once they’re gone, the match really picks up, with Steamboat killing all sorts of ass, and helping to make this a pretty damn memorable match.
Jericho wins with the Codebreaker on Steamboat, eliminating him last at 8:33 | ***

Jeff Hardy vs Matt Hardy – Extreme Rules Match
Jeff starts off in control, but that changes after Jeff attempts a Whisper in the Wind, and Matt nails him with a chair mid-air. They trade momentum back and forth, with a highlight being Matt placed on a table, with another stacked on top and Jeff crashing through it off the top rope. They trade back and forth with weapons until Jeff goes for a guillotine leg-drop off the mega-ladder, only to miss, and have Matt put Jeff’s head through a chair and hit a Twist of Fate, which is fucking brilliant. This was a very fun match. There were no dull spots, and they kept the action well paced. Good times.
Matt Hardy won with the Twist of Fate on a chair at 13:38 | ***3/4

JBL [C] vs Rey Mysterio – Intercontinental Championship
I thought this was pretty smart of them. JBL sucks as a worker, and with their massive difference in size, you could have only made a lengthy match seem so believable. JBL got to run his mouth, be a jerk, and do what he does best. This worked perfectly, good times.
Rey wins with the Frog Splash at .21 | *** [for the whole thing on an peer entertainment scale]

Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker
Loved the entrances. I also want to state right off the bat I hate Old School. If there’s one move that completely exposes the business, that’s the one. This will probably be the 15th time I’ve seen this match, and each time I hope it’ll hit me. I think it’s something you need to have seen live to really get that appreciation, because to me, they work a simple match, then lay around hitting finishers for 30 minutes. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a solid match, and I wish I could love it, but I can’t.
Undertaker wins with the Tombstone at 30:44 | ***1/2

Edge [C] vs Big Show vs John Cena
They do a great job of avoiding the usual trope of “one guy is out the other two wrestle” that most triple threats have. Most of the time it’s all three working, and working well. Eventually it spills outside and we see Edge spear Show through the barricade, a spot I always love. Edge is probably my favorite swarmy heel, he plays it so fucking well, and at the same time you know he can kick ass. Eventually they go for a WM moment where Cena gives the AA to both men at the same time, unfortunately Edge slips off, so they call an audible and Cena delivers the AA to Edge ontop of Show before pinning. I thought this was a fine triple threat, and they kept the action going the entire run, good times.
Cena pins Big Show for the WHC at 14:33 | ***3/4

Randy Orton vs Triple H [C] – WWE Championship
Everyone knows they fucked up here. I have nothing to add except right before the match they show a fan’s sign that says “No Rules, No Law, Game On”, except this is a super rule fuled match. Decent stuff, but nothing amazing, and surely lackluster when considering the build and it’s the main event of WM.
Triple H wins with the Pedigree at 24:35 | **

Over All:
This Mania gets a bad wrap for whatever reason, and I have no clue why. Honestly, every match delivered with the exception of the Diva Battle Royal. There was a nice mix in match variety, plus an all time classic squeezed in there for good measure. Take a look back sometime and you’ll see that WM25 deserves to be talked about among some of the best. Dig it.

Any questions, comments, drunk-ramblings, feel free to send them my way, I always dig hearing from you, the beautiful people.
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