wrestling / Columns
Pantoja’s RetrospectiveMania Series: WrestleMania 26
Image Credit: WWE
Alright, so I was doing this series back in 2019 in an attempt to figure out which WrestleMania I actually think is the best. I stated when it aired that WrestleMania 35 was and people were big mad at me for it. Anyway, life getting busy halted my progress and I was never able to finish it. Now, I’ve got the itch to do so. So, I’ve included the links to every Mania I covered before this so you can catch up. I likely won’t be able to finish this ahead of WrestleMania 40, though I’ll include it in the end. Looking back at the response in 2019, I apologize for not finishing it as people seemed to enjoy it. Here’s where we stand so far:
1. WrestleMania XIX – 62/70
2. WrestleMania X-Seven – 61/70
3. WrestleMania XXIV – 59/70
4. WrestleMania III – 55/70
5. WrestleMania 21 – 52.5/70
6. WrestleMania X – 52/70
7. WrestleMania 23 – 51/70
8. WrestleMania VIII – 50.5/70
9. WrestleMania XX – 50/70
10. WrestleMania I – 50/70
11. WrestleMania XII – 48.5/70
12. WrestleMania 22 – 48/70
13. WrestleMania VII – 46/70
14. WrestleMania XIV – 46/70
15. WrestleMania VI – 44/70
16. WrestleMania XXV – 43.5/70
17. WrestleMania X8 – 43.5/70
18. WrestleMania 2000 – 39.5/70
19. WrestleMania V – 39/70
20. WrestleMania 13 – 37/70
21. WrestleMania XV – 35/70
22. WrestleMania IV – 32/70
23. WrestleMania XI – 31.5/70
24. WrestleMania IX – 31.5/70
25. WrestleMania II – 29/70
For those who don’t remember or weren’t following initially, I rate the shows on the criteria below.
• Match quality – Self-explanatory. Will always be the longest section.
• Memorability – How memorable is the show?
• Historical significance – The impact the show had on wrestling
• Booking decisions – Did the event have logical booking decisions for the stories they told
• Presentation – Things like stage setup, video packages, commentary, etc.
• Pacing/Flow – How well is the show laid out? Does it drag or move along smoothly?
• Entertainment – The non-wrestling elements like promos, celebrity interaction, concerts, etc.
Of note, the last one of these I published was WM 25 but the link created and title said XXVI, so I will list this Mania as 26 despite it using roman numerals. Anyway, I’m a sucker for when WrestleMania goes somewhere new. That was the case here as it hit Arizona for the first time ever. WWE decided to swing for the fences by giving us a rematch of something that was perfect last year. Could it live up to the hype? This also had some other notable things up and down the card that would make this an interesting show on paper. I haven’t been keeping great track of this but I will going forward: This is my third time watching this show.
WWE Unified Tag Team Championship: ShowMiz [c] vs. John Morrison and R-Truth ~ The Miz looked awesome draped in three titles. There’s not much to talk about here because this was kept short. Big Show tossed his opponents around and handled a lot of the heavy lifting. Miz did his part too but there wasn’t a lot to do. Morrison got in some offense on his former partner but Big Show blind tagged in and knocked him out. That ended this in 3:21. Weird choice for an opener. [*½]
Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton vs. Ted Dibiase ~ Legacy explodes! This was kind of a glorified handicap match. Dibiase and Rhodes admitted they just didn’t want Orton to win. Not the best game plan. Especially when they went the obvious route and turned on each other because only one of them could win. That opened the door for Orton tu get going and hit a double hanging DDT. He ended up alone with Rhodes and decided not to beat him with the RKO. Instead, he used the Punt like a vicious bastard. Dibiase snuck in to steal it but fell to an RKO at 9:01. I was hoping for more here but Ted Dibiase was super bland and Cody Rhodes wasn’t ready yet. Two guys looked inferior and this was never all that interesting. [**]
Money in the Bank: Christian vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Evan Bourne vs. Jack Swagger vs. Kane vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Matt Hardy vs. MVP vs. Shelton Benjamin ~ It’s nice to have Christian back. This was the first Money in the Bank to go up to 10 participants. With so many people involved, this quickly became something of a clusterfuck. There’s not really anything bac about this match, it just doesn’t do anything overly great either. Every prior MITB had plenty of positives and some memorable spots. This one doesn’t. I did appreciate that everyone seemed to get an opportunity to come close. That added to the sense of the increased total of entries meaning anything could happen. Kofi Kingston using the ladder as stilts is kind of the only standout moment but even that was kind of dumb because I don’t think it would’ve worked. By the time Swagger pulled down the briefcase to win after 13:38, it all felt underwhelming. Far from bad but too cluttered and forgettable. Probably the worst MITB I can recall. [***¼]
Sheamus vs. Triple H ~ I mainly just remember this match because a lot of people were saying Sheamus only got pushed because he was Triple H’s workout buddy. The story here just stemmed from HHH pinning Sheamus in the Elimination Chamber, ending his first WWE Title reign. HHH was a step ahead of Sheamus throughout. He even pulled out the Figure Four as a tribute to Ric Flair. When Sheamus gained control, he put the focus on Triple H’s back. HHH sold that well. He seemed way out of it when he delivered the Pedigree from out of nowhere. It looked really good and like it came from someone exhausted. That gave him the win in 12:06. This told a good story and featured some strong selling from Triple H. Still, it was largely forgettable. No matter how hard Jerry Lawler tried to put it over as a classic. [**¾]
CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio ~ The build for this was incredible. G.I. Joe gear for Punk was fantastic. Rey’s Avatar getup was solid too. The only true problem with this match is the length. Usually I’m all for a short sprint but this needed more time to develop. What we got was good. The SES played mind games by faking like they’d interfere which got under Rey’s skin. Punk used that to take control and his heat was great, making him an ideal foil for ultimate underdog Rey. They flubbed a flipping DDT spot that was the only mistake of the match. Rey fought through more SES interference, countered the Go to Sleep, and won with the 619/splash combo at the 6:28 mark. A tidy match that left me wanting more. They’d best it on later PPVs but this was still fun while it lasted. [***]
No Holds Barred Match: Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon ~ 13 years in the making. Vince introduced the Hart Family as lumberjacks that he paid off. It was a dumb angle because nobody believed the Harts would turn on Bret here. The whole thing was a SWERVE, BRO as the Harts cashed their checks from Vince and were still on Bret’s side. The match is a giant waste of time. I get that Bret getting his revenge was cool. It just dragged on for way too long. The Hart Family jumping Vince, the chair attacks, and all of it was kind of overdone. It never veered into the territory where I felt bad for Vince, I just didn’t need 11:09 of it. Bret finally ended it with the Sharpshooter. Switch the length of this one with Punk/Mysterio and I think it benefits this show greatly. [½*]
World Heavyweight Championship: Chris Jericho [c] vs. Edge ~ This feud could’ve been so much more but it was instead built around Edge saying “Spear” a lot. Edge went for that move early but missed and Jericho completely took over from there. Despite Jericho holding serve, the idea of this match was how well they knew each other. That meant a handful of counters, with the highlight probably being Jericho countering the Spear into the Walls. I loved Jericho going for a Spear of his own and Edge stopping him with a boot. He’d know how to stop his own move. When Edge followed with a Spear attempt of his own, Jericho countered into a dope Codebreaker. I also loved Jericho doing the Maple Leaf to target Edge’s injury. Edge survived that but couldn’t do the same after eating a second Codebreaker, losing in 15:46. Very good match here that never quite reached that “great” level. Still, enjoyable from start to finish. [***½]
Alicia Fox, Layla, Maryse, Michelle McCool & Vickie Guerrero vs. Beth Phoenix, Eve Torres, Gail Kim, Kelly Kelly & Mickie James ~ Vickie taunted Gail Kim to start but her reaction to seeing Beth get tagged in was classic. Vickie was so damn good. This was rushed to get things done as quickly as possible. That meant we got a finisher barrage from everyone. Some of them looked bad, like Eat Defeat and Maryse’s DDT. However, it all began with Michelle McCool pulling Kelly out of a pin right into the Faith Breaker. It was dope. In the end, Kelly was held down so Vickie could do her version of a frog splash, complete with an Eddie shuffle. Her pin was so bad that she pulled Kelly’s shoulders off the apron and had to pancake her back down. That ended this in 3:20. It would’ve been a DUD if not for McCool’s spot. [¼*]
WWE Championship: Batista [c] vs. John Cena ~ The two biggest stars of the Ruthless Aggression era. I love the story of their rises to the top being almost identical, from the final two spots in the 2005 Royal Rumble to the WrestleMania 21 title wins to being top guys on their brands. Cena went for early covers and Matt Striker tried to sell it as he was desperate and doubtful about the outcome. Lawler and Cole shot that down because why tell stories on commentary? Batista dominated a lot of this since they were trying to tell the story that commentary wanted to ignore. Cena would find openings and do things like slap on the STF but it was never enough. The Attitude Adjustment near fall here was fantastic because it hadn’t been overdone yet and you bought that Cena might not be able to beat him. They repeated a variation of the spot that broke Cena’s neck at SummerSlam 2008. Before Batista could capitalize, Cena trapped him in the STF and made him submit in 13:38. A compact match that was filled with big time action and told a simple story. A super underrated Mania gem. [****]
Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker ~ Streak vs. Career. Shawn showed zero intimidation during Undertaker’s entrance and even did the throat cut signal to piss him off. That set the tone for what this match ended up being. Shawn had a game plan and he executed it to near perfection. For example, he worked the legs and did well with it. But Undertaker would wreck him with something like a Tombstone on the outside. How was he supposed to prepare for something Undertaker hasn’t done in years? I loved that Shawn could hit Sweet Chin Music from anywhere and how he had a counter ready for Hell’s Gates. The sequence of Shawn slipping out of the Last Ride announce table spot, hitting Sweet Chin Music, adding a moonsault, and hitting a second SCM inside for a near fall was spectacular. The fans were losing it. Shawn survived a Tombstone but Undertaker showed some mercy. He shouted for Shawn to stay down. As defiant as ever, Shawn did the throat slash gesture again and slapped him. Undertaker finally ended it with a goddamn jumping Tombstone after 23:59. They had a ton to live up to yet still succeeded. They told a fantastic story and gave us the kind of drama that only two of the greatest ever could pull off. Shawn was desperate to keep his career but he simply wasn’t good enough to get the job done. Undertaker had to put him down. A slight notch below last year’s encounter. [****¾]
This is an interesting WrestleMania to look at. There are some huge matches and some that didn’t belong on the card. Five of the ten matches got at least *** from me, with two scoring more than ****. Without the opening tag, the women’s match, and Hart/McMahon, this would’ve worked better. HBK/Undertaker is enough to help bring this just above a middling score and I’ll consider it above average.
The obvious bit of memorability on this show was the main event. Nobody will ever forget where they were when Shawn Michaels was forced to retire at the hands of the Undertaker. The other memorable thing here was probably Bret Hart against Vince McMahon. It wasn’t good but it was a spectacle that we never thought we’d see. Honestly, the rest of the show is forgettable. Chris Jericho/Edge, Money in the Bank, and even Batista/John Cena are all things that don’t get talked about all that much.
For the same reasons that this scored well in the previous category, it gets major points in historical significance. The fact that this was the final WrestleMania match for Shawn Michaels is huge. Had he not come back for the Saudi paycheck, it would’ve held more weight as his final match ever. This was also the return and final Mania outing for Bret hart, which is pretty big. Again, other than those two, there really isn’t much to discuss here.
Most of the way, this show seemed to get the booking right. ShowMiz retaining, Randy Orton winning, Bret Hart and Rey Mysterio going over, John Cena winning the title, and Shawn Michaels losing were all the right calls. The biggest question mark was probably Chris Jericho retaining (though knowing it was just to drop it two days later is reassuring) as Edge seemed poised to win. Then there’s the case of Jack Swagger. There were several far better options to win Money in the Bank. But yeah, most of this was well done.
At this point, you just know that every WrestleMania is going to look good. The stadium was sweet, though I will admit that the stage wasn’t great. There was a bit too much going on for me and it isn’t up to par with some of the best ones from the era. Still good though. The video packages were pretty great and I liked the theme music used for the event. I thought commentary was again an issue. Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler aren’t good together and Matt Striker felt like he was trying way too hard.
For a ten match show, this actually doesn’t feel like it goes too long. I appreciate that. Not a single match goes longer than 25 minutes and the only one to come close was HBK/Taker, which was fine. The only problem in terms of flow came right at the beginning. You need to start the show with a bang. The Tag Team Title match and triple threat back to back really got this off to a slow start before Money in the Bank did its best to pick this up.
While watching the show, I didn’t leave any notes in this section. That’s because there wasn’t much in the way of non-wrestling moments. There was the usual opening ceremony stuff but that’s really it. For some reason, the Network cut out the fun segment with Santino and the Slim Jim. I remember that being funny. The Bret/Vince pre-match stuff took too long. I guess there’s that. There’s really nothing here, so it at least doesn’t drag the show down.
While this is a good WrestleMania for the most part, it ultimately feels like a disappointment looking back. The main event is a classic and there are some very good matches (the WWE and World Heavyweight Titles) but a lot misses the mark. There are some flat out bad matches and that disappointed (MITB, Tag Team Titles). It ends up being a middle of the road show.
WrestleMania Rankings
1. WrestleMania XIX – 62/70
2. WrestleMania X-Seven – 61/70
3. WrestleMania XXIV – 59/70
4. WrestleMania III – 55/70
5. WrestleMania 21 – 52.5/70
6. WrestleMania X – 52/70
7. WrestleMania 23 – 51/70
8. WrestleMania VIII – 50.5/70
9. WrestleMania XX – 50/70
10. WrestleMania I – 50/70
11. WrestleMania XII – 48.5/70
12. WrestleMania 22 – 48/70
13. WrestleMania VII – 46/70
14. WrestleMania XIV – 46/70
15. WrestleMania XXVI – 44/70
16. WrestleMania VI – 44/70
17. WrestleMania XXV – 43.5/70
18. WrestleMania X8 – 43.5/70
19. WrestleMania 2000 – 39.5/70
20. WrestleMania V – 39/70
21. WrestleMania 13 – 37/70
22. WrestleMania XV – 35/70
23. WrestleMania IV – 32/70
24. WrestleMania XI – 31.5/70
25. WrestleMania IX – 31.5/70
26. WrestleMania II – 29/70
