My personal thoughts are as follows. Note: You might see a lot of moaning in this post, but I think you'll agree, it's rightly deserved.
Now, don't get me wrong, I love WWE. I've been watching the show for exactly ten years now, and it still fills me with excitement and makes me get out of my chair whenever I'm watching a main-event calibre match. The first match I ever saw was the phenomenal ladder match between Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) and HBK Shawn Michaels all the way back at Wrestlemania X, and the magic still stays with me. I sat down to watch Wrestlemania XX with my expectations set very, very high, and I think...well, I think I was expecting far too much. For me, the WWE didn't deliver in it's usual WM way. Although WM was great, and it delivered some top class matches that were worthy of a PPV, it didn't feel like a 'big four' supercard event to me. It just felt...ordinary.
John Cena vs The Big Show (United States Championship)
What a way to start off a PPV, and I don't mean that in a good sense, Cena is super-over with the crowd, but it's not fair to subject any crowd to a Big Show match after the opening segment of the show. The opening match is designed to warm up the crowd with faced paced action, and in this role, Cena and Show didn't deliver. Although I'm pleased that Cena won (and perhaps he can restore some prestige and dignity to the US title), the match itself was quite a bore, and it wasn't WM calibre.
Dudley Boyz v La Resistance v Cade/Jindrak v Booker T/RVD (World Tag Team Championship)
I'm happy that RVD got to be a part of Wrestlemania this year, but this match really stunk up the place. Although the teams tried their best to entertain the fans, the building wasn't exactly on fire for the contest - and why should they have been? Hardly any hype was built up for this one, RVD and Booker have been a team for less than a month, the Dudleyz are as stale as three year old bread and Jindrak/Cade and La Resistance...well, they suck. Absolute crap.
Chris Jericho v Christian
I actually predicted the outcome of this match to my WM watching buddy just before it started. For some reason, I could see Trish turning on Jericho to side with Christian. The match itself was excellent, and reminded me that WM could be saved from boring matches like the opener and the tag team farce. Jericho hit some excellent moves, and Christian hit some even better ones - including a very nasty looking spiked DDT (which looked a lot like the Edgecution). These two guys always pull out the stops for WM, as we could all tell from this match. Top quality stuff.
Evolution v Rock 'n' Sock Connection
The idea of Foley coming back to WWE was for him to put someone over - in a really big way. He's managed to do this so far in his feud with young Randy Orton. Randy has the talent (no doubt), and he's an excellent in-ring competitor, so I was glad to see him take the three count. His RKO reversal was amazing and completely unexpected, and Mick made Orton look like a 'million bucks' by taking it so well. Rock and Flair also entered excellent performances in this match, working the crowd up to no end. Batista was a big pile of crap (as usual), but that was to be expected. All in all, a very enjoyable match with a satisfactory outcome.
Torrie/Sable v Miss Jackie/Stacy
I really enjoyed this match. The luche libre style reversals and counter-reversals were phenomenal, and the technical ability of these fine atheletes was apparent in this classic encounter. Okay, so it wasn't that great in terms of ring quality, but seeing these girls in sunset flip and surfboard position was...pretty damn good.
Cruiserweight Open
Good, but far too rushed. What really ruined the match for me was my favourite Ultimo Dragon making a complete arse out of himself, as you can see from the tape (if you recorded the event). As he was making his entrance, he slipped on his cape and nearly fell on his backside. He then looked at his cape in disgust and tried to rescue his character from the jeers and laughs he was receiving by lifting up his arms in a vain attempt to gain some applause. Then, as he entered the ring, his foot slipped on the turnbuckle as he tried to climb the top rope for his pose. Then, he failed to land on his feet during a routine in the match (with Jamie Noble) and nearly flew out of the ring. Ultimo Dorkface would have been a more appropriate name for this idiot tonight. Ultimo has always said that 'his dream match would be at MSG'. Well, he had his match, and he totally screwed it up. Aside from Ultimo's hilarious f00k up, the match itself was alright. Some exchanges were very good, and the finish was good, too. Chavo retaining is the best thing that can be done for the division at the moment.
Goldberg v Lesnar
I had no idea Brock was leaving to pursue a career in football. I only found out when my friend (who was watching WM with me and was under strict instructions not to spoil the match) was forced to explain to me why the MSG crowd was chanting 'YOU SOLD OUT!' in the direction of Lesnar. All in all, this match was the worst of the night. Lesnar and Goldberg couldn't be bothered, their exchanges were pathetic, the crowd had fun with them, and the 'BOOOOORING!' chants were echoing throughout the building. It's nothing more than these two selfish, pathetic fools deserve. Goldberg does indeed suck, and Lesnar leaving WWE after years of them building him up is a sign of stupidity and selfishness. I'm glad Austin stunnered them both. Now, Lesnar can piss off to football, and Golberg can get the hell out of the WWE and back to Japan. Bastards.
Basham Brothers v Scotty/Rikishi v APA v World's Greatest Tag Team (WWE Tag Team Championship)
Another boring waste of time. As much as I love TSPWGTT, they couldn't pull a decent match out of these three other teams even if they tried. Rikishi/Scotty are awful champions (who've been doing the same ridiculous dance routines for years, and with less and less crowd response each time), the APA are just...crap and the Basham's are the most boring team I've ever seen in the business - aside from the Midnight Express. To be honest, I fast-forwarded this bore, and I was disappointed when TSPWGTT didn't win the belts. That fat fool Rikishi somehow retained...
Victoria v Molly Holly (Women's Championship)
Another WASTE of time. Although these women are good, they didn't deliver a WM quality match. The crowd was pathetic throughout, and nobody even cared about the outcome. Plus, nobody reacted when Molly was having her head shaved. It also took Victoria far too long to do it, and it interfered with the next match up...
Kurt Angle v Eddie Guerrero (WWE Championship)
Now we're getting back on track. I had very high expectations for this one, and it only disappointed me slightly. If the match had been given more time, it could have been so much better, but it seemed a little rushed. Unfortunately, I think Kurt is on the sidelines again with another neck injury, as has been reported on most of the main Internet Wrestling sites. After the match, he started to feel numbness in his arms and fingers. This could be another huge setback for the olympic gold medalist. The big question is - how many times can he keep coming back? I have to believe that Angle's career may be coming to an end.
Kane v Undertaker
I was really excited about this one, and it nearly lived up to expectations. I wasn't expecting the match to be amazing by any means, but it wasn't all that bad. Kane did a great job of selling to 'Taker, and the crowd were well into this one. Unfortunately, 'Taker still looked exactly like his American Badass incarnation. The old 'Taker didn't return at all - this is just another weird hybrid of his characters. Nevertheless, I was happy to see him back, and his new (or rather, his old) music rocked.
Benoit v HBK v HHH (World Heavyweight Championship)
The match of the night, by a huge margin. These men got the crowd to respond to nearly everything they did by the end of the match, and the crowd were in Benoit's corner throughout. An excellent performance (even from HHH, who bumped himself silly for the crowd), and a superbly crafted storyline coming to an end...perhaps. I was ecstatic when Benoit won, and I said to my friend 'This is why I watch wrestling' after the match had finished. And I was right. Once again, Wrestlemania had captured my heart and made me believe in these fine performers once more. This match is why I watch wrestling, and I don't need to say any more than that.
So, in summary:
The Good Points: 'Taker got a huge pop from the crowd, Angle/Eddie was nice to see, Cena took home the US title, Christian got a big push, Goldberg and Lesnar have gone and Benoit finally received his well earned push (and title).
The Bad Points: Not enough build-up for most of the matches, Smackdown/Raw quality matches for the most part of the show, an apathetic and disrespectful New York crowd (what is it with New Yorkers? They're so pathetic and rude...), Angles that didn't seem to mean anything and expectations that were far too high. Ah well, at least Kevin Nash and Hulk Hogan weren't on hand for the show.
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