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Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (7.0): Best: Chavo-Dreamer-Delaney promo; Solie goes to the HOF Worst: Knox/Layla vs. Richards/Kelly; too much Show-Mayweather. ECW's effort going into WrestleMania was a bit flat but still solid, ironically speaking. The 24 man tag match was a busy signature spotfest but not much else besides exposure. For the record, Brian Kendrick was on the heel side but didn't fit there at all. No followup on his apparent turn on Paul London just makes me believe the turn was brief to be on the heel side of this match. I really like Tommy Dreamer's line to Chavo Guerrero about Colin Delaney having more passion and whatnot for the business in his little finger than Chavo having in his whole body - a quick but nice expose as to why Dreamer has become a mentor figure. Carlito vs. Shelton had the crowd at the end, but almost didn't as they lost them early. WWE crowds need to understand that while the MITB match has high expectations for high-risk spots; a regular match between its competitors should not have those same expectations. The Knox-Richards and Kelly-Layla feuds have nowhere to go but down at this point as their tag match was just filler - and not real good at that. Richards is miles above this in the ring. The 24 guys got another piece of exposure during the short main event as well as a beatdown, which all but tells us that it won't matter who wins the battle royal because Chavo will retain. At this point my enjoyment of the Show-Mayweather is now inversely proportional to the amount of exposure it's being given. It's the "The Condemned" of WrestleMania. Just watched the opening salvo on my brand spanking new copy of No Way Out on DVD, and that whole story never really found its way after this.

Shane McKinley of Danville, Calif. (4.0): Best Match: Hall of Fame Video Package. Worst Match: Chavo vs. Dreamer. Everything felt exhausted tonight. According to WWE, fans can watch the 24 man battle royal on wwe.com, while Kane or whoever vs. Chavo will be on the PPV. I was more exicited actually with seeing the battle royal than seeing the ECW Title match. I always thought that mini Royal Rumbles are a sure-fire bet. I think Shelton Benjamin looked better than Carlito during their match. It was weird, because Carlito locked in a three minute rest hold in the middle of the match and all you could hear were pindrops. Ever since Carlito ran into the wall after Hornswoggle, he gives off the impression that he'd rather do anything else other than wrestle with painfully obvious set ups and mannerisms. I know that most, if not all, of WWE matches are scripted beforehand, but near silence during a match is not a good thing. It did have nice spots at the end, but it was pretty much a mess. Fast-forwared the Knox match and main event because they were awfully short and not much to these matches. Best moment of the night was the Hall of Fame video package. There is a wealth of fascinating info layered into the history of wrestling, and things like these I always like. This works for both new and old fans. That's the thing about this Mania, in that they are so many matches where the wrestlers really have to step it up, because there's no Hogan vs. Vince or HBK vs. Stone Cold with Tyson as "Special Enforcer." If it wasn't for HBK vs. Flair, this would be a regular old PPV. I think if the focus was on putting out great matches for each one, I think it might be as good as WM 17, for example, in that there are no obvious silly throwaway matches (for a good dose of that, see WM 16). The focus really shouldn't be on advancing storylines, since I think that this Mania can't fall back on celebrity star power or grandose spectacle matches. It might be a big letdown or a big night, so I am questioning if I should order it.

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