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WWE WrestleMania 24 Reax #5: "Floyd definitely played his role well and I wouldn't mind seeing him again." Mar 31, 2008 - 12:35:24 PM
Tom Whitefield of Pittsburgh, Pa. (9.5): Best Match: Flair vs. Michaels. Worst Match: Bunnymania. I haven't ordered a PPV in quite a white. I wanted to see this one because it's almost certainly the last of Flair's storied career. I went into this hoping that the match would go maybe 30 minutes. But, after having seen them go for 20 minutes, I'm not sure how much more they could have done. I really hope that every wrestler in the business was watching this match. Michaels at 40-plus and Flair at nearly 60 tore the place down. I'm glad the Undertaker won the match. I've never cared for Edge, I think he's over-hyped. Not much more I can add that others haven't. It was a well booked show (for a change).
Kevin of Connecticut (9.5) Best Match: HBK-Flair. Worst Match: Kim Kardashian. I debating buying the show, and finally I did with about 10 minutes to go. I'm actually very happy and reminded why I follow wrestling. Flair and HBK was one of the best WrestleMania matches ever. Just classic pro-wrestling, a lot of what is truly lacking today. Michaels was lucky - five more inches and he might have broken every bone in his chest. Thankfully, it looked like he only had the wind knocked out of him. It was an amazing match, a beautiful send-off for Flair, and the "I'm sorry. I Love You" was pure beauty. An excellent passing of the torch from the "greatest to 1-A." As much as I would have loved to see it be Flair-Sting, Michaels is one of the best in the business, a personal favorite, and he has wowed me as long as I've watched wrestling. For him, this match was on par with his matches against Kurt Angle. I love Batista and I thought he showed his usual good intensity, and it was an okay big man match, better than what we would have gotten had it been Hogan-Khali. There's only so much you can do with Umaga and Batista. And I know it's gotten some criticism already, but I really liked the awkward Batista Bomb, which showed off the strength and the size of Umaga, and it actually looked very realistic. This match gives William Regal a great excuse to draft Batista - start the Batista-Orton feud, although if you ask me, Smackdown is a better show if you actually want to watch wrestling over story. Floyd and Big Show was A LOT of fun, totally not what I expected. Floyd definitely played his role well and I wouldn't mind seeing him again. I half expected Rey Mysterio to at least distract Show. Floyd's posse deserves credit for taking a few bumps. Bunnymania was what it was, Snoop and Santino were great, and Festus is the second funniest character in WWE behind Santino. Money in the Bank was absolutely insane - insane bumps and just pure madness. Shelton Benjamin and John Morrison are insane. Great spot for Matt Hardy, and a smart move to restart that great feud. Punk's win was unexpected, but I'm sure we'll see him drafted to Raw. The triple threat was good, really unexpected finish, I thought Hunter was a no-brainer, but then again, we've seen Hunter-Batista before. Kane and Chavo was believable and Kane deserves it. JBL-Finlay was okay. I wish Finaly could have pulled it off, or they saved Hornswaggle for the end of the match and had him pop out under the ring. And JBL really needs to do a sit-up. Taker-Edge was obviously predictable, but a great match nonetheless. Taker continues to deliver and I'm really happy this match wasn't bogged down in the horrendous Vicki-Edge love story. This was probably one of Edge's best matches, and Taker just continues to prove that he can roll with anybody. Also, kudos to the WWE production team for handling the power outage. The Citrus Bowl looked insane.
LOWEST SCORE GIVEN BY A READER...
Jeremy Quist of Lynchburg, Va.. (6.0) Best Match: HBK-Flair. Worst Match: BunnyMania. Am I the only one that thought that this WM was terribly booked? First, the triple threat match had to be last. They give away the finish when it's not, but also that is the WWE Title. That's what anybody who cares about the business and not just the money is in the WWE for. If you are going to book Randy Orton to win at WM 24, then you must be trying to establish his credibility as a dominant heel. You take away from that when he is booked as the third to last match. Some idiot told Vince McMahon that they had to send the fans home happy. That was a mistake. No one really believed Edge had a chance. That took the passion out of the main event, despite it being a great match. Second, if the boxer was not willing to do the job, then he should not have been brought in. Vince got mainstream media coverage, but he made wrestling look silly as well. The mainstream media will always view wrestling that way. But the media could have made all the jokes that they wanted if they were showing clips of Paul jakking that little kid up. Bring somebody in that is willing to make the WWE look good. Mayweather came out of that deal much better than Vince in the long run. Not because he won, but because he got paid big for nothing. Third, the MITB ladder match - C.M. Punk? Who cares! They wasted a great storyline with MVP or Jericho. No one would buy the little man as WWE Champion, or even as the World Heavyweight Champion. Nobody cares about ECW. The Belfast Brawl was boring. Hornswoggle was the only entertaining part of the match. The only thing the did right was HBK-Flair. As a Bret Hart fan, HBK is not my favorite out of principle, but he did more than just put on a great match physically. He told an unforgetable and emotional story. Ric Flair made the right choice in picking Shawn. I will never forget as long as I live Ric Flair telling Shawn to come on, and Shawn saying, "I'm sorry. I love you." That match was worth my $55 alone. Where do they go now with Orton, and the WWE Title? I hope it's not a rematch of the triple threat match.
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