The Commentary: Reviewing an Entertainingly Predictable WrestleMania 29

It’s the same comment I’ve been reading all over the Internet for the past 12 hours. It’s the same comment I’ve received in various different forms via both Facebook and Twitter. And it’s the same comment that is quite frankly annoying me.

“WrestleMania 29 sucked. It was too predictable.”

I was fortunate enough to be in the stands for WrestleMania 29 at MetLife Stadium Sunday evening. It was my first WrestleMania in person, and a gathering that I have been very much looking forward to as long as it was announced the big event would be surfacing from my home territory. Moreover, I knew it would be one that would go over well with the local crowd, as New York/New Jersey crowds are always among the best in the world.

In regards to predictability, I myself have mentioned various times over the past month that one of the harmful elements to this year’s card was the idea that many of the results could be foreseen. How so? Simply due to the respective building of the feuds, and the relative weakness of creativity that has been flowing in the process of getting part-timers main event time.

I’m no mark, but that is undeniable.

With that being said, predictability is also sometimes logical. Swerves are not necessary to make something entertaining, especially if it goes against the logical progression of a storyline. In reality, professional wrestling consists of the protagonist vs. the antagonist. The protagonist is often bullied or beaten by the opposition, and thus, must rise above the obstacles and usually comes out on top. Every now and then, it is fun to see the bad guy stand tall, but usually at the end of the day, that is not the case. WrestleMania is usually that spot where the face prevails.

And if they don’t, that’s why there’s Extreme Rules.

If the competitors are of quality, they were be entertaining regardless of how foreseeable an outcome is. And for such, I was entertained. Let’s take a look at the card.

Pre-show: The Miz defeats Wade Barrett to win the Intercontinental Championship

A good match to get the crowd going. Wish it had been on the pay-per-view itself, but both guys came out strong. It wasn’t all that long in length, but undoubtedly served its purpose.

Miz gets the win and a good face pop from a usually pro-heel crowd. I’m cool with this as long as Miz can progress with it. However, I am not a fan of him using the Figure Four. He cannot slap it on for the life of him. We’ll probably see this one again at Extreme Rules. Nothing great, nothing bad.

By the way, nice touch by Barrett of hitting Wasteland. Been a while since it’s been used effectively on a big stage.

Grade: 6.5/10

The Shield defeats Sheamus, Big Show and Randy Orton

Now that’s how you open the show. The issue with putting The Shield in all the six-man tags is that they need to find ways to keep each match fresh and showcase the individual members of the faction. They have done a great job in doing so.

Roman Reigns is turning into a breakout star. He’s the perfect henchman to do the dirty work and make the save. Ambrose and Rollins are fantastic in their own right as well. Big Show did a nice job putting on the face hat for a night, but his turn was quite obvious (going along the theme of the predictability factor). However, many called for an Orton turn, which did not happen (take that to the bank, baby). However, he too was serviceable in his role, and I actually thought Sheamus was the weakest link of this match.

Nonetheless, a great decision to have this one open, and they came through.

Grade: 7.5/10

Mark Henry defeats Ryback

Talk about coming out of left field. This is the one where predictability fell through. And I’m not so sure I agree with it.

One thing we all knew was that Ryback would get his opportunity to apply the Shellshock on Henry, and when he did, it looked phenomenal. However, how many saw Henry coming out on top? I’m glad Henry got the nice WrestleMania moment, and he won in the right way that still makes Ryback look strong. But “Big Hungry” needed this win for any purpose of keeping him relevant.

They blew his booking with his failed run for the WWE Championship. He hasn’t won on a pay-per-view since he became involved in programs. What more does a win over Henry at Extreme Rules do now? Virtually nothing. He is, in my mind, no longer believable as a credible threat. I like him, but his booking has been piss-poor. Throw that in with a bunch of bear hugs and headlocks, and this one came up short.

Grade: 4.5/10

Team Hell No defeats Dolph Ziggler and Big E Langston for the Tag Team Championship

Loved almost everything about this match. The throwback to last year’s “kiss of death” by AJ was fantastic, and every member in this match played their respective role incredibly well.

Big E Langston looked really strong throughout, which was crucial for setting a tone going forward. Kane and Bryan delivered as always, and I loved seeing the camaraderie between the two. The diving spot off the top rope finished the match strong, and even though Ziggler takes the pin, he still remains unharmed ultimately. My only question is, do they continue this feud going forward?

Grade: 8.0/10

Fandango defeats Chris Jericho

Don’t get the hate for this match. I enjoyed this one. Jericho did the job for a guy who is getting a strong push with a silly gimmick.

The biggest worry coming into this match was that Fandango would be far too reliant on Jericho, and would come off as incapable of performing a solid match. The hateful chants towards Johnny Curtis can end now, because he worked a great one, and not just physically.

The pacing of this match was solid, and the heel sneaks away with a win in a match he didn’t dominate. But he still hit his finisher, and had some great spots that made him look strong. I’m curious to see their rematch.

Grade: 7.0/10

Alberto Del Rio defeats Jack Swagger for the World Heavyweight Championship

This one wasn’t perhaps as strong as I had hoped, but we have since learned the time constraints were tightened on the match due to poor planning for the pay-per-view. Colter came out and cut a great promo that drew some legitimate heel heat, which led to a great pop for Ricardo Rodriguez and, subsequently, Del Rio.

The finish had to end with a submission, and I’m glad it did. Del Rio looked aggressive, as he should have been, but he didn’t exactly do anything innovative. Swagger came out with purpose, but also didn’t do anything to blow the crowd away.

I’m still not sure how I feel about this feud, and the crowd wanted Ziggler badly. But, in a move that surprised many (see?), he did not cash in his briefcase.

Grade: 6.5/10

The Undertaker defeats CM Punk (with Paul Heyman)

After this match, I wondered how they could do it. How do they do it? Every single time he’s in the ring, CM Punk puts on a clinic that reaches far beyond his abilities in the ring. He is a tremendous storyteller, facial expressions and all, and Paul Heyman only helps in making his disdain seem even more believable.

And then of course, The Deadman isn’t bad either. He looked to be in solid shape, and people exploded when he set up for the Last Ride. Punk kicking out of the Tombstone was an incredible spot, and the final piledriver was hit with purpose.

What made this match great was not just the precision of the spots, but the delivering of promises. Taker swore he would knock the living daylights out of Punk, and he hounded him with punches like no tomorrow. Punk seemed like a Punk, and would play cat and mouse at all possible. It was perfect, frankly.

Oh, and their entrances were pretty darn awesome as well. Thanks for the match of the night, boys. Not of HBK/Taker or HHH/Taker quality, but after all, how can those be topped?

Grade: 9.0/10

Triple H (with Shawn Michaels) defeats Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) in a No Holds Barred Match with his career on the line

Tough night to be Paul Heyman. I’ve seen many people attack the crowd during this match for being dead. The reason we were? Undertaker/Punk had just taken all the air out of us. This was, as mentioned earlier, the issue with the card. With poor placement and no pacing, people were thrown for big event after big event after big event.

Frankly, it was too much to handle.

There weren’t many who believed Triple H would lose this one, and obviously, he did not. He took the beating from Lesnar in the first half of the match, which was perhaps a tad bit slow-paced. However, the final act of this one saw The Game finally get his revenge on Lesnar (remember that protagonist vs. antagonist argument?), and Shawn Michaels played his part in delivering the music to Heyman. The way Hunter attacked Lesnar’s arm was the brutality the match needed and had lacked early on, and I liked the inclusion of trying to get Brock to tap to his own submission move.

Seriously though. You’d think Brock would learn not to bring the steel steps into the ring by now. Nonetheless, better than their SummerSlam match, but not great.

Grade: 7.0/10

John Cena defeats The Rock for the WWE Championship

Let me get this off my chest. I had zero interest in this feud from the start. It was poorly built, and offered little intrigue considering how undermined the championship became after Punk had spent so much time building it up.

With that said, I have no problem with Cena winning. But once again, at no point did I believe The Rock could win. And by most of the crowd’s reaction, many didn’t either. Predictability did hurt in this case, but perhaps that is just subject to the poor build for the feud as a whole.

Regardless, there were some solid spots in this one. I liked the flipping of last year’s finish as a tease here, but once again, never believed at any point it would work. Very little extra was done for this to top last year’s match, and much of it was spent walking around and headlocking.

I believe both men can work, I do. There is no hatred in writing this. It was just a letdown in delivering itself as the “payoff” for the night.

Grade: 6.0/10

True. The main event did fail to deliver, but not because of its outcome. It just wasn’t very good. The event as a whole provided us with solid wrestling, which after all, is what is important.

The event was a spectacle, and while it was a shame that a guy like Antonio Cesaro didn’t have a match or even that a match was canceled, WWE does everything big, and this was no exception. I am glad I got to experience WrestleMania 29 in person, and I hope that it came off as well on TV as it did live.

But seriously. Calling this one of the worst WrestleMania’s ever because it was “predictable” for many people? That’s just silly. WrestleMania 29 was not great. Nor did it suck. It was good, and that’s just fine with me.

WrestleMania 29 Grade: 7.0/10

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