By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

WrestleMania HITS

Money in the Bank: As usual, the WWE wrestlers found a way to once again make the Money in the Bank ladder match feel special. It went 14 minutes and featured a ton of fun ladder spots. Kofi Kingston was the MVP (no offense Montel) of the match as he showed why he deserved to be in the match with some very innovative offense. I loved the spot where he climbed the ladder as Mark Henry vertically held it. In all ladder matches, there is a bit of choreography involved which can interfere with the quality of the match, but it didn't in this case. There were a few sloppy spots, but on the whole the match was well executed. I enjoyed the flying moves to the outside, particularly when Henry teased going to the top rope. He didn't have to hit the move, the tease alone was enough to get a rise out of the crowd. The crowd seemed a bit disappointed that CM Punk won, as they seemed more behind MVP and Christian. But, it will be interesting to see how they play him up as the first two time winner.

Steamboat: Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat made the Jericho vs. Legends handicap match watchable. He looked to be in good shape and he performed well in the ring. Perhaps not wrestling and putting his body through the wrestling lifestyle for 15 years has been good for him. It was good to see him get one last match on a big stage. He deserved it. WWE did a good job with the booking of the match to get Superfly Jimmy Snuka and Rowdy Roddy Piper out of the match fairly early leaving Chris Jericho vs. Steamboat. The match was good at that point.

Hardy vs. Hardy: When Matt Hardy first turned on Jeff at the Royal Rumble, I was not looking forward to the feud. WWE hasn't done a great job of building to this match. However, the match itself delivered. It was a good hardcore style match. After Money in the Bank, they had a tough act to follow in terms of using weapons and doing big spots, but they managed to pull it off. The double table spot was crazy. It looked cool, but is a case where it makes little sense. Jeff should be able to find ways of destroying his brother where he doesn't have to be destroyed too, like in that move. I liked the ending of the match, as Jeff probably could have finished Matt off, but went for one last big spot to really inflict punishment. That fit it with the storyline and Jeff's character. It also might give a way for this feud to continue as Matt can point out Jeff's mistake in the match. By the way, I liked Matt's new wrestling attire, but I still say his old music has to go.

Undertaker vs. Michaels: I don't have to say much about this match. As I have been saying for over two years, this is the one dream match left, and Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker did not disappoint. This was why I wanted to see this PPV, and I am very glad that I did. Everyone knew that Undertaker would win, but who cares? This was two of the all time best showing why they are who they are. They put on an outstanding 31 minute match. It had drama. It had emotion (Undertaker's look when Michaels kicked out of the first Tombstone was phenomenal). It had great wrestling action. It had striking, matt work, high flying moves, great submission holds by both wrestlers, incredible reversals, very close near falls. It had everything you could want. The crazy spot where the camera man got destroyed was scary and the only negative as it looked like Undertaker may have hurt himself. But, he seemed ok, as the match continued and just got better as it proceeded. Match of the year?

Edge vs. Show vs. Cena: I wasn't really looking forward to this match. For one, the match just didn't sound that good. For another, the build with the love triangle has been poor. But, John Cena did his best a few weeks ago on Smackdown to move the build in the right direction, and the match exceeded my expectations. It wasn't great, but it was a good triple threat match. It went 15 minutes and was very well booked. They were able to effectively work around Big Show's limitations. Edge and John Cena worked hard to create the movement in the match. Big Show was good for his part. The match effectively built to the strong ending with Cena lifting both Show and Edge into the Attitude Adjuster position. We've seen him FU the Big Show multiple times, but it is still impressive.

Triple H vs. Orton: Everyone knows that Undertaker vs. Michaels should have been the last match. It was going to be the best and nothing could follow it. However, I have always felt that the WWE Title match (or World Title match) with the Champion defending the Title against the Royal Rumble winner should be the final match of the show. It is the right thing to do for the Champ and the challenger. Rock vs. Hogan wasn't last. Michaels vs. Flair wasn't last. So, Michaels vs. Undertaker wasn't either. However, after that match, Triple H vs. Randy Orton didn't feel epic enough to be the final match at WrestleMania 25. Yet, it was a good match. I liked how they each hit their finisher early in the match. Triple H did a good job of nearly crossing the line a few times during the match and almost getting disqualified, only to pull back at the last moment. Orton's leverage DDT on the outside was sick. I have mixed feelings about the final few moments. Triple H's surprise punt to Orton's head was really well done. It seemed to come out of nowhere. I guess we were supposed to feel good watching Triple H destroy Orton at that point, with the punt, a sledgehammer to the head, several punches, and the Pedigree. But, it was a bit disappointing as it seemed anticlimactic. It wasn't like he hit a big move and got the win. He hit three potential finishers in a row and got the win. But, the match was still good and if it had been earlier in the card, it would probably have come off better.

WrestleMania MISSES

No Tag Title Match: I was really looking forward to seeing Primo & Carlito vs. Miz & Morrison. I understand now that it was the dark match, but they announced it for the show, and they did a better job of hyping that match than much of the card. I was looking forward to it more than any of the other Title matches on the show. I didn't officially time the performance, but I swear Kid Rock (more later) went on for at least 7 minutes. The opening video package with the wrestlers picking their favorite Mania moments was cool, but lasted about 4 minutes. There were plenty of bits that could have been shortened. There is no excuse to not have this match. I feel really bad for those four guys. They deserved to be on the actual PPV. I wanted to see that match. I paid by $55. That sucked.

Kid Rock: I have nothing against Kid Rock. I'm not a big fan of his, but I do like several of his songs. I don't mind having him play at WrestleMania in general. But as I said, he played for a long time. He should have just played the Divas to the ring. We didn't need the medley of his songs before hand. It started to drag. This is not what I pay to see at a wrestling PPV. It took too long and got me in a bad mood early in the show. It is called "Wrestle"Mania, right?

Divas Battle Royale: What was the point of bringing back Divas from the past like Sunny, Torrie Wilson, and Molly Holly, if they are not going to get introduced? The announcers barely had time to say their names as they were getting eliminated. Nobody expected one of them to win, or even last long in the match. But, that means that the whole point of bringing them back (and making a big deal about bringing them back) is to have them get a bit of face time and some recognition from the live crowd. It was a waste. It was also a waste of Gail Kim's talent. Her return has sucked so far. Having her thrown in with the rest like this and have a short showing just lumps her in with the Alicia Foxs of the company, and she isn't special. The wrestling quality wasn't particularly good. Diva battle royales where they can roll out of the ring below the bottom rope to be eliminated are really weak. This whole thing was stupid. Santino Marella can be very funny, but to have the announcers act like they didn't recognize him the entire match made them look totally stupid.

Mickey Rourke: Another way that WWE could have cut some time in order to have the Tag Title Unification match would have been cutting Mickey Rourke's involvement. If Jericho is to be believed (which I do since it was what I thought happened when the red carpet interview first occurred), Rourke screwed up this storyline from the start by announcing the match on the red carpet too early. Then, he backed out leaving WWE to scramble to come up with a different match. They could have come up with something better, like my Evan Bourne idea, but as I said above, it was cool to see Ricky Steamboat wrestle again. However, Rourke didn't belong. He took way too long to get in the ring. He milked the moment forever, and then just punched Jericho. He had enough wrestling training that he could have done something more than that. I wouldn't have had him do anything at that point, but if he had to get involved, they could have done it better. It would have at least been quicker if Jericho had just gotten in his face at ringside and Rourke had punched him out from there and then celebrated with Ric Flair.

JBL Quits: The whole Intercontinental Title situation was bungled. The Title hasn't been defended for several years at WrestleMania, then it finally is, but in a match with very poor build, and it only lasted 21 seconds. Having John Bradshaw Layfield get his in the end after promising to have the most dominating performance in WrestleMania history was fine, but the quitting thing afterward was bad. WWE didn't do enough to put his quitting into the context of having a WrestleMania dream. He hired Shawn Michaels to help him go to WrestleMania as the Champion. When that didn't work, the tried to face Undertaker to get his historic moment, but that didn't work. His third attempt at history failed, so he quit. That wasn't talked about. It seemed like it came out of nowhere. His delivery as he yelled at the fans that they would miss him was strong. And, the follow up might be good. But, I'm disappointed that he didn't have much of a historic moment planned. Beating Mysterio quickly would not have been historic.

No Final Stunner: Stone Cold Steve Austin's Hall of Fame speech focused on the fact that his wrestling career is over. I don't recall the exact quote, but he talked about transitioning from the ring to the world of movies. We all know that he isn't going to wrestle again, but you figure he would get involved in the future as a guest referee or something. But, the speech really hinted that this was going to be his swan song. In this business you never say never, so he might be seen in a WWE ring again, but for now this looks like his last appearance. The chance to see him ride to the ring in his ATV and do his four corner beer solute was fun. However, I was disappointed that he didn't get one final Stone Cold Stunner at WrestleMania 25. With Vince McMahon involved in the Orton - Triple H storyline, he wasn't going to get Stunned, so maybe it is just as well as he should take the final Stunner when it happens.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and TNA Impact each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.

For another view from the original Hitlist author, compare Jason Powell's views to mine by visiting prowrestling.NET's "Hitlist" section here.

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