I thought Mania was a pretty good show. Not the big event it should have been because so much of it was obvious, but a pretty decent show, however I don't think I'd recommend buying the replay if you didn't see it.
Just some quick thoughts on some of the bouts:
I really like MITB, I thought this was easily the best, most exciting bout of the night. Kennedy was a strong choice to win, and I like that CM Punk was right there in the end and they really put over that he could just as easily have won, I'd like to see those two have a singles match at some point for the briefcase, or just for the fuck of it. Loved Jeff Hardy's spot, and even though the ladder was obviously gimmicked, that was a hell of a dive and I like that it put he and Edge out of the match so that Edge could not win, but not really lose either. Very smart of WWE to protect Edge's aura and streak here as that's a tool they can use later to get somebody over.
Kane/Khali was whatever. Very basic. They should have just said "Memo to Hulk Hogan: Fuck you!!!" when Kane body slammed Khali, and if you stuck around and watched the video at the end where they juxtaposed Kane's slam of Khali over Hogan slamming Andre at Mania 3, they drove that home here. The wrong guy won here though I think, Khali is just a monster who's never going to really make them money, and I think I would have liked to see Kane put him down and then use that aura to help make him and make other guys as Kane is much more capable of that then Khali. That said, hopefully this is all building to a day when someone beats Khali and gets a huge push out of it (somebody good obviously).
Benoit vs. MVP was perfectly fine, but kind of came off like filler to me as it just seemed like they just put these guys on the show to have them take up the air time and have something decent. Hopefully they're building to a bigger issue here somehow, or it's leading into a renewed push of Benoit. Otherwise, all this did was illustrate how far Chris Benoit has fallen the last 3 years.
I thought the placement for the World Title match was definitely odd, but it definitely followed a pattern the show was establishing of trying to sandwhich the dreck between something good. This was a pretty good match between two big men, and they kept Batista strong by it taking Taker's best move to put him down, and giving him that running powerslam through the ECW table (I guess that'll probably become the new Spanish announce table). The finish was never in doubt, and this will not be heralded as a classic Taker match, but it's certainly nice to see the company reward their best soldier of the modern era. The shot of Taker walking off with the belt was great, as was his entrance.
ECW Originals vs. New Breed was 7 minutes of pure fun. I think the match went the appropriate amount of time, and I liked that the Originals came in through the crowd, I said to my friends who are fellow ECW diehards that just these guys getting on the show was an accomplishment as they paid their dues, and they earned the oppurtunity. To have them then go on and beat the New Breed was further awesomeness!! It seems like maybe we can hope WWE is finally realizing that the Originals have real value to the company, and to the ECW brand. Everybody looked good, and the only real complaint I have is the complaint I've voiced at other points during the feud, it seems like every time you get these guys together, RVD is the one getting the win for The Originals, or it's Elijah Burke getting the win for the New Breed. Just seems to me like they're trying to get over somebody in RVD who's already over, so let somebody else have the victory, especially since the guy what got pinned is Matt Striker, and he's been screwed ever since they dropped that feud he was having with The Sandman. Very good stuff though, and this was definitely one of my favorite bouts of the night.
Women's match was whatever. The right person won though, mercifully short. Moving on.
Cena and Michaels had a good matchup, they built slow and came up with something pretty darn good. I liked the piledriver on the stairs spot, I liked the sequence of reversals they went through, but there were obvious gaffs, like Cena not properly selling the leg, and I just don't feel the match really got going to the point of truly feeling like a Wrestlemania main event. I think both guys have definitely had better matches, and with Michaels tapping out, it makes it seem hard to me to fathom how we get into a rematch. Which, as was already pointed out here, it leaves us with a feeling of where do we go from here? Who can Cena fight now that he hasn't already beaten? Someone from ECW, or SD! maybe? WWE really needs to stop doing one off fights with this guy and building up more long term storylines for him like they did with the Edge feud.
Battle of The Billionares was pretty good. Umaga carried Lashley, and the fans seemed to be somewhat behind him, I marvel at how security let a guy in the front row with a "This is stupid" sign get through, they usually confiscate those types of signs at the door. Good for what it was, Vince proves that he is still one of the best actors the company has as I really loved his bit with backing into Austin and all. Trump even got off a really good clothesline! Too bad his punches were so fucking lame. I wonder if Trump was told he'd be taking a stunner, or if he just got cold feet, because he botched the move so badly live. Vince gets his head shaved, and everyone is happy, fine for what it was.
