WrestleMania 29
East Rutherford, NJ
MetLife Stadium
April 7, 2013
At the time, I remember we enjoyed Wrestlemania 29 and were blown away by the awesome Escape From New York style set, giant Statue of Liberty above the ring, and matches that turned out to be quite a bit better than we expected. I remember we were both satisfied with the card and thought it was one of the best ones since Mania 22.
Watching it now, I didn’t find it nearly as good. It was kind of a meh event overall, and I was often bored at points. The crowd also seemed fairly quiet throughout most of the show, and while a couple of the matches were very good, most were middle of the road. There’s also the head-scratching card planning, as we get an IC match in the pre-show and a planned 8 person mixed tag featuring Brodus Clay, Tensai, Cameron & Naomi vs. Cody Rhodes, Damien Sandow, Nikki & Brie Bella didn’t happen because of timing issues. You know, I’m kind of sick of this crap. There’s no reason not to feature these matches on the show, and maybe I’m more than a little tired of near 30 minute Undertaker matches. Also stupid was Wrestlemania 29, not 30, being in New York/New Jersey, something that I still find irritating now. Especially since they hype the “Coming Home” theme throughout the show, along with that stupid song. Made no sense.
Pre-show) The Miz defeated WWE IC Champion Wade Barrett via submission with the figure-4 to win the title at 4:08
I can say this is the only live Wrestlemania match I’ve ever watched on my phone lol. I fired up the Youtube pre-show since the countdown show we were watching wasn’t the same as the stupid internet pre-show. What’s cool about this short match is that you actually get to see the awesome set in daylight. It quickly got darker in NY/NJ over the first two matches. No reason this couldn’t have been on the card since it was under five minutes. Hilarious that the Miz is still in the IC picture three years later, and will forever be until the end of his WWE career. This match is completely rushed, and you could tell that they were just working through spots as quickly as possible, with no real flow to this match. Miz’s mom is shown in the crowd after, and they try to hype it like his win meant something, which of course it didn’t.
1) The Shield (Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, & Roman Reigns) defeated Randy Orton, Sheamus, & the Big Show at 10:35 when Ambrose pinned Orton after a spear from Reigns, immediately after Orton hit the RKO on Rollins as Rollins came off the top; after the contest, Show knocked out his two partners with punches to the face
At the time we were so expecting the Shield to be buried by the corporate WWE good guys, but surprisingly, the upstart heel faction would win the match and expectations were high for these newcomers. Little did anyone know at this time how big a role all three Shield members would have in the coming years. This match itself was mostly a good opener, but as was the case was a lot of things on this show, hindered by stupid moments, like the Big Show doing flips when Dean Ambrose dropkicked his legs and being the punching bag for a part of the match. I laughed at the RKO out of nowhere, and laughed even harder when the crowd went nuts for Reigns spearing Orton right after. Wow, they sure fucked up with Reigns, as he had something really special going for him when he was in the Shield.
2) Mark Henry pinned Ryback at 8:03 after Henry fell on Ryback as Ryback attempted Shellshocked; after the match, Henry came back into the ring where Ryback fought him off and hit the move
This match followed in the footsteps of past power battles, like the Bulldog vs the Warlord at Mania 7. It wasn’t a horrible match, but because of the hype, crowd size, and sets, it’s hard for ordinary matches like these to get over at Wrestlemania anymore. It seemed like a forgone conclusion at the time that rising star Ryback would win this match and go on to feud with Cena. Shockingly, he loses, yet still goes on to feud with Cena but isn’t as over as he should be. Gee, I wonder why? Maybe because he lost to a perennial midcarder who’s best days were long behind him.
3) WWE Tag Team Champions Daniel Bryan & Kane defeated Dolph Ziggler & Big E Langston (w/ AJ) at 6:17 when Bryan pinned Ziggler after a chokeslam from Kane and headbutt off the top, moments after Kane prevented Ziggler from using his Money in the Bank briefcase as a weapon behind the referee’s back
I completely forgot about this match’s existence. The crowd was hot for Daniel Bryan, and there was a great joke at the beginning of the match, making fun of the year prior as Ziggler kissed AJ to mock Bryan. This was apparently Big E’s first match. For all his internet hype and fame, Ziggler has never had a truly classic Wrestlemania match. He’s usually in mid-card tag or multi-man ladder matches. This match was good, but nothing special. It’s hard to believe Ziggler would win the title from Del Rio the next night on Raw and the fans would go bananas. The fans loved seeing Bryan get the win, and you could tell he was a bigger star than what they were letting him be at this time.
4) Fandango pinned Chris Jericho at 9:13 with an inside cradle as Jericho attempted the Walls of Jericho
This was Fandango’s debut match, and another match I had completely forgotten about. The next night on Raw the fans hijacked the show by “Fandango’ing” which at the time was hilarious, but was annoying days later. This match was much better than expected, and Jericho carried Fandango through a solid seesaw battle, even putting him over by pin. I wonder what their plans were for Fandango? I doubt they had any, but giving him a big marquee debut victory suggests they might have seen some potential in him. But of course his career flamed out fast.
We got the usual concert no one wants to see as Diddy comes out to perform a bunch of songs, including that horrible I’m Coming Home theme song. So… your IC title is not over in the least, eh? Wonder why.
5) World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio defeated Jack Swagger (w/ Zeb Colter) via submission with the cross armbreaker at 10:30
I remember us watching Elimination Chamber back in February and were shocked by Jack Swagger’s sudden main event push under his new image. It actually got me watching Raw in the weeks leading up to Mania, as they really pushed the envelope with Colter and Swagger, who in true WCW fashion, were far more over than the shitty babyface Alberto Del Rio. He was such a wimpy good guy and panderer, no wonder people turned on him. Fans were chanting for Ziggler during this match. I remember there was a story at the time that Swagger was suppose to get the title here, but failed a drug test or was arrested or something, and they changed plans at the last minute, which is why Ziggler won it the next night on Raw. The match itself, like everything on this card, is good, but not that memorable or spectacular. Del Rio winning was lame storyline wise and fans were pretty apathetic to the finish.
Speaking of pandering, in between matches I fast forwarded a ton of garbage, like them promoting the Special Olympics, supporting the military, reading to kids, etc. I fucking hate that they fill the show with this crap and cut actual matches. Man that makes me mad!
6) The Undertaker pinned CM Punk (w/ Paul Heyman) at 22:08 by reversing the Go To Sleep into the tombstone
This is the match internet fans are gaga about from this Mania. And at the time, I thought it was pretty awesome. Now however, I found myself bored through a lot of it, since the Undertaker wrestled the same formula match at the next three Wrestlemanias. It has all the trademarks – kicking out of the Last Ride, breaking out of Hell’s Gate, reversing finishers over and over, long periods of lying on the mat, silent points in the commentary, going through tables, etc. We’ve seen it all, year after year, the worst being in his match with Shane McMahon this year. The storyline, like all Undertaker Wrestlemania storylines, started for no reason after Paul Bearer died and CM Punk decided to steal the urn and fuck with the Undertaker. It was pretty low of the WWE and CM Punk to disgrace Paul Bearer the way they did, and I think they went too far with things like Punk dumping out Paul Bearer’s ashes. All just because of some otherwise pointless Wrestlemania match. Maybe in the future I’ll like this more, but I was just bored through it.
7) Triple H (w/ Shawn Michaels) pinned Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman) in a no holds barred match at 24:00 after hitting him in the head with a sledgehammer and following with a Pedigree onto the ring steps, inside the ring; stipulations stated Triple H would have to retire if he lost
Well this was the big surprise for me. Before he became nothing more than a caricature of himself, Lesnar was pretty damn great. There was exactly one suplex in this match – one! It was a solid big man fight, with Lesnar and Triple H beating the shit out of each other for 24 solid minutes. There was a great mix of wrestling and brawling and the fans were solidly into it. I think this was my favorite match of the show. After losing two years in a row to the Undertaker, I think it was smart to have Triple H win on a big stage and settle a well-built feud with Lesnar, getting revenge for his family.
8) John Cena pinned WWE World Champion the Rock to win the title with the FU at 24:00 after avoiding the Rock Bottom; after the contest, the two shook hands and hugged before Cena left the ring so the Rock could have it; Rock then walked up the ramp, where Cena saluted him and raised his hand as fireworks went off overhead
Easily the disappointment of the show. At the time, I remember feeling this match was a letdown, but it was even weaker than I remembered. Rock-Cena at Mania 28 was a tremendous main event, one of the all-time best. Repeating the “once in a lifetime” match a year later was a big mistake, as it couldn’t reach the bar set the year before. Fans were quiet through most of this match, and it basically was the same match again. Endless kicking out of Rock Bottoms and AAs, endless STF attempts, endless People’s Elbow teases, etc. Maybe, just like Undertaker-Punk, I’ll come around to liking this match more in future years, but for now I thought it was just a disappointment.
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