R.D. Lee
RDLee's Wrestlemania 26 Breakdown
By RDLee
Mar 29, 2010 - 4:26 PM

Wrestlemania 26 is over and in the books. While it wasn’t the most spectacular Mania by any stretch of the imagination it was still a good show and fun to watch as usual. I am going to breakdown the event match by match and give my 3 positives and negatives. A lot of the show seemed too uninspiring to me but as a whole I felt the PPV provided my money’s worth. Let’s take a look at each match and see what went right and what went wrong, shall we?

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Unified World Tag Team Title Match
R-Truth and John Morrison v.s. ShowMiz (Champions)

Positives

1. We get a tag team title defense at Wrestlemania again after being skipped last year.
2. It was a great choice to open the show as R-Truth is good at getting the crowd excited.
3. ShowMiz retained.

Negatives

1. R-Truth and Morrison were not a real tag team and this match was just thrown together at the last minute.
2. The match was too short. Just as it was getting good it was over.
3. The finish was the same ol’ shit, different day with Big Show sneaking in a right handed KO from the outside on the unsuspecting guy in the ring.

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Triple Threat Match
Randy Orton v.s. Ted Dibiase v.s. Cody Rhodes

Positives

1. Randy Orton getting over big time as a tweener and garnering a massive pop.
2. Ted and Cody came out separately to different music signifying that they are now singles competitors.
3. They all had great chemistry even though everyone knew Orton would win.

Negatives

1. Cody’s attire. Ugh… He would never be my valentine wearing that!
2. Predictable finish with Orton winning.
3. Ted and Cody are boring and bland, they need to find more character in themselves like their fathers did. There is no real reason to want either to win.

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Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Kane v.s. Kofi Kingston v.s. Matt Hardy v.s. Evan Bourne v.s. Dolph Ziggler v.s. Christian v.s. Jack Swagger v.s. Shelton Benjamin v.s. MVP v.s. Drew McIntyre

Positives

1. Innovation. Kofi Kingston using the ladder as stilts.
2. Evan Bourne hitting a SSP off the ladder. And Bourne in general was amazing.
3. Surprise finish with Jack Swagger winning.

Negatives

1. Too many guys in the match even though it wasn’t as clustered as we all thought it would be.
2. A little short time wise considering the number of guys that were in the match that didn’t get time to shine.
3. Jack Swagger winning might have been a positive because people didn’t expect it but it’s a negative because he has not been built properly for people to care about him cashing in.

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Triple H v.s. Sheamus

Positives

1. Sheamus got a match at Wrestlemania at least.
2. Sheamus looked good in defeat but that’s not good enough.
3. There is not a third positive…..

Negatives

1. Triple H no selling the second bicycle kick and “playing possum” to hit a Pedigree out of nowhere made Sheamus look weak.
2. Helmsley once again puts himself in front of the needs of the wrestling business by winning clean after making Sheamus look like a punk on RAW this past week.
3. Hunter didn’t need the win, Sheamus could have built his career off the momentum of a win over a top star at the biggest show of the year.

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CM Punk v.s. Rey Mysterio

Positives

1. The attires. Punk wore some awesome GI Joe inspired tights while Mysterio looked cool in his Avatar outfit.
2. Fast paced, no rest holds style action.
3. Gallows and Serena did a good job trying to interfere this time around even though it backfired.

Negatives

1. The outcome, Rey should have lost, there would have been SO MUCH potential for TV magic if he had to join the Straight Edge Society for a while.
2. The match was too short which is a theme in tonight’s show when it comes to the lower and midcard matches other than HHH’s of course.
3. Mysterio’s entrance was botched which is not his fault but it made for a weird moment or two when no one knew what was happening.

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Street Fight – No Rules Match
Bret Hart v.s. Vince McMahon

Positives

1. Bret Hart and Vince McMahon can FINALLY get over all this Montreal Screwjob nonsense and put it behind them.
2. The Hart Dynasty FINALLY get used correctly and as babyfaces no less!
3. Vince McMahon FINALLY taps out to the Sharpshooter after 12 years of anticipation.

Negatives

1. The lack of Jim “The Anvil Neidhart” involved in the Hart family lumberjacks.
2. Bruce Hart once again has to get in the spotlight while thinking he looks cool.
3. Bret looked rough. He did some elbow drop and hit some nice punches and kicks, however, you can see his stamina is gone due to the effects of his stroke.

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World Heavyweight Championship Match
Edge v.s. Chris Jericho (Champion)

Positives

1. The build up for the match was good with the “Spear, Spear, Spear” bit.
2. Jericho winning clean was great and a little surprising considering Edge’s momentum since winning the Royal Rumble.
3. The Spear after the match on the outside was highlight worthy and a nice WM moment.

Negatives

1. Slower paced match from these two men which is out of the ordinary. They seemed tired before it even started.
2. This should have been a gimmick match of some sorts since both men excel in that area. The match was just a standard match to me the way it was.
3. The crowd didn’t respond as well to Edge as he had hoped, The “Spear” chant was a little on the quiet side tonight.

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Vicky Guerrero, Michelle McCool, Layla, Alicia Fox and Maryse v.s. Mickie James, Kelly Kelly, Eve, Gail Kim and Beth Phoenix

Positives

1. Most of America got a chance to refill their drinks or take a piss.
2. Vicky is a great heel and miles above most people in the business.
3. Alicia Fox hit a wicked nice Axe Kick.

Negatives

1. It’s a Diva’s match…
2. Vickie hitting a “Hogsplash” followed by Kelly Kelly botching the pinfall.
3. Not getting to see this again.... EXCUSE ME!

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WWE Championship Match
John Cena v.s. Batista (Champion)

Positives

1. Cena did a new move when he hit a top rope flying fist drop!
2. I will admit, Batista is much better as a heel, but I still hate the asshole and hope he chokes on his fishsticks.
3. Because only Cena can do this and get away with it...

Negatives

1. Batista botching a DDT and nearly killing Cena.
2. Batista tapping out should not have happened if they want him to remain a bad ass.
3. These two men just don’t have good chemistry working with each other inside the ring and Cena gets hurt everytime.

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Career v.s. The Streak
Shawn Michaels v.s. The Undertaker

Positives

1. The match closed the show and was the true main event. And rightfully so...
2. Shawn Michaels did an amazing and awesome top rope moonsault to the outside on Undertaker while he was lying on the announce table.
3. It topped last years match by a small bit due to the emotional ending and hell, The Undertaker did a frigging JUMPING TOMBSTONE to win the match.

Negatives

1. Lack of WWI’s favorite announcer, Good Ol’ JR, Jim Ross calling the match.
2. The reaction of fans at the end. We all know HBK will be back again and that this isn’t his last match. I can’t believe some people still don’t “get it”.
3. There are no other negatives, this match only had 2. The third one is that I couldn’t think of one.

Thanks should be given to HBK and Undertaker for once again bringing their A-games and giving us another classic match that we will remember for a long time.

Wrestlemania 26 was a fun show overall but not as good as WM's in the past.

Thanks for reading and Stay Classy.