Wrestlemania XXV was a spectacle, nothing short of that.  The night provided many highlights and a couple of lowlights as well.  Having watched the card and charted all of the results, here is how things went down Sunday night:

Carlito & Primo Colon vs The Miz & John Morrison – This match actually took place before the pay-per-view began.  The Bella Twins, split by their allegiances to each team were no factor in the match.  Primo made the winning pin after he delivered a back cracker to unify the tag team belts.  I stated in my predictions that John Morrison is ready for a big singles push, look for that to happen real soon.

The Money In The Bank Ladder Match – The match is always loaded with dangerous spills.  Kofi Kingston did some really athletic stuff jumping vertically over a ladder held sideways charging at him.  Mark Henry got about halfway up a ladder once.  Other than that, his role was simply to inflict punishment on the ground before laying outside for the last several minutes of the match.  Christian Cage got close a couple of different times, but couldn’t seal the victory.  Finley, as expected, was basically used as comedy relief with his son Hornswaggle.  Hornswaggle went under the ring and pulled out a little two-step ladder for a good chuckle.  In the end, CM Punk repeated his ladder match victory from Wrestlemania XXIV last year by kicking Kane off of a ladder as they both neared the case.  I always thought this match was to give someone a push and was suprised MVP or Christian Cage didn’t get that push.  I guess we can probably expect Punk to lose the briefcase somehow because I really can’t see WWE brass giving him the strap again.  Shelton Benjamin took a nasty dive from the top of a ladder outside the ring and may have injured his neck.

Chris Jericho vs Hall of Famers Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat, & Jimmy Snuka – Steamboat was impressive and even did some high-flying.  Piper bullied Jericho around for the first few minutes.  The legends lost their momentum when Piper tagged in Jimmy Snuka.  Superfly looked horrible, no other way to say it.  He looked old, a step behind everything going on, and played to the crowd more in ten minutes then he did for ten years.  He was eliminated first, tapping out to The Walls of Jericho.  Next out was Piper, leaving Steamboat.  The dragon looked strong scoring several two counts and showing great heart throughout.  Eventually though, Jericho prevailed.  The obvious jump-in by Ric Flair after the match was predictable.  Flair beat Jericho around for a moment, then Jericho threw him out of the ring.  Jericho then grabbed the microphone and taunted Mickey Rourke to come in to the ring.  Rourke entered and delivered the traditional celebrity roundhouse knockout punch flooring Jericho.

Kid Rock, who I didn’t even know was going to be around, played about a fifteen minute medley set and sounded pretty good.  On his last number, the WWE Divas started entering walking past Kid Rock while still performing.  This too, was a predictable outcome.  Santino Marella wins the battle royal dressed as a woman.  When the trophy and sash to be given to Miss Wrestlemania are brought into the ring, Marella says his name is “Santina“, the twin sister of Santino.  I predicted an end to Beth Phoenix and Marella to happen at WM XXV, and he eliminated Phoenix last to win.  Too hard to believe the announcers acted like they didn’t know who it was.  Marella has a pretty large tattoo on his back. Duh.

Matt Hardy vs Jeff Hardy – This was a good match.  The Hardy Brothers worked better against each other than I first thought they would.  There were some pretty rough bumps.  Jeff had Matt in trouble and set up two ladders, one two steps taller than the other.  He then climbed the shorter of the two ladders and leapfrogged the larger flying down about 10 feet only to miss Matt.  Matt then took a chair, put Jeff’s head in between the backrest and seat and delivered a wicked Twist Of Fate for the pinfall.

JBL vs Rey Mysterio – I hope Rey Mysterio doesn’t continue to wear the ugly mask he had on.  It was something new, kind of looked like The Joker Heath Ledger portrayed in the last Batman movie – just awful and ugly.  Anyhow, Rey scores the win and is the new Intercontinental Champion.  At the end of the match, JBL grabbed the microphone, paused for a long time, looked around, and yelled, “I QUIT“.  He then dropped the mic and slowly walked confusingly up the ramp.  Not sure if it is an angle or if JBL has actually had enough.

The Undertaker vs Shaun Michaels – Match of the night.  Both wrestlers really sold each others stuff well and proved to live up to all of the hype of 17-0 vs Mr. Wrestlemania.  In the end of a long and suspense filled thriller, Undertaker wins with a second Tombstone Piledriver.  Michaels connected on Sweet Chin Music but could not score a pin as Taker kicked out.  Match was an instant classic, look for Michaels, who does not take losing big matches well (ask Bret Hart) to congratulate Undertaker on one of WWE’s shows this week.  The top video clip was a nasty spill Taker took diving outside the ring, poor cameraman took the worst of it.

Edge vs Cena vs Big Show – Sort of predictable.  Neat intro for cena as several Cena clones with jean shorts, UCSM tee-shirts, and hats pulled over their eyes lined the ramp.  There were not too many instances where all three guys were in the ring.  Most of the time two guys would fight for a bit, one would get thrown out, and the guy who was laying at ringside for five minutes reentered to start back up.  Cena scores the win in this match.  Should be interesting to see what happens with Vickie Guerrerro now as neither guy won the title or her heart.  I am thinking Edge may be turning face soon.

Triple H vs Randy Orton – Pretty good match, similar to Michaels vs Undertaker except Orton and Triple H have predictable arsenals.  RKO’s and Pedigrees get old.  The only neat swerve was that Triple H used Orton’s “Punt” tactic on Orton.  The sledgehammer made an appearance as well with Orton digging it up under the ring.  Triple H scores a clean pinfall to retain his championship.  Not sure where this goes from her, should be an interesting RAW this week.

Not bad but it seemed to me that Wrestlemania 25 dragged at times.  It needed a couple of more matches.  I give the card a B+ and really have newfound respect for Jeff and Matt Hardy.  The Michaels – Undertaker match will be a classic match down the road. 

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