I'll keep this brief:  Wrestlemania XXV was not the greatest Wrestlemania ever.  It's not even, in my opinion, one of the better Wrestlemanias.  Here's the rundown:

Best Match:  Undertaker vs. HBK.  No question.

Worst Match (That wasn't a divas battle royal):  JBL vs. Rey Mysterio for the Intercontinental Championship.  The IC title hasn't been defended a Wrestlemania in over 5 years, and now it came and went in 20 seconds?  Not to mention that JBL's last match was so unimpressive.

Most Pleasant Suprise:  Legends Gauntlet

<****y Steamboat rocked the house against Chris Jericho.

Biggest Letdown:

No Unified Tag Team title Match

WWE title match

Money in the Bank

I originally posted this on the forums, but I kind of liked it, so I thought I would re-present it in blog form for the enjoyment of all of ya'll:

I don't think there's anything wrong with moving in a more family friendly direction, per se.  That brings more people into the fold.  My parents used to watch wrestling with me when I was a little kid, but then the Attitude Era arrived, and I was forbidden to watch (I did anyway of course).  A more family friendly program makes sense from a business standpoint since Mom, Dad, little Billy, little Suzie, and Grandma can all watch, and may even all want to attend shows.  Kids are key to the wrestling business, bottom line.

The biggest problem with moving away from Attitude/Aggression era stories is that it may bring out the huge flaws in certain talent (cough, John Cena, cough cough) that have been traditionally filled with vulgarity or other adult themes.

Really though, I don't think that nothing significant has been taken away from WWE (Playboy stuff and general skankiness not withstanding).  I do think there will be a slight drop-off in people who only watched WWE for violence or sexual things (you know who you are).  If people want more adult oriented wrestling, many independent promotions (ROH included) have lots of violence and swearing.  For those really into watching sexy women wrestle, there's Carmen Electra's Naked Women Wrestling League.

Many of us talk about the time in the 80s and early 90s as a Golden Age of wrestling, and there was no swearing or other vulgarity.  It was compelling characters engaged in competitive, intriguing matches.  I think this is starting to come around again, even if us old jaded wrestling fans don't like certain elements of it as much as we did when we were kids (cough, John Cena, cough, cough).  But maybe, just maybe, in twenty years there will be wrestling nerds on the internet talking about this great era of wrestling as HHH is getting inducted into the Hall of Fame before Wrestlemania XLV.

What's good ya'll?

This is something new I'm trying to do in order to keep the quality blogs coming which all of you love.  Match of the Week will feature a match (sometimes random, sometimes fitting some kind of theme) which I will describe and discuss.  These matches will come from WWE, TNA, ROH, and other promotions around the world.  So without further adieu...

Match of the week:  Do Fixer (Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi, & Ryo Saito) vs. Blood Generation (CIMA, Naruki Doi, & Masato Yoshino), Ring of Honor's "Supercard of Honor, Chicago Ridge, IL, 3/31/06

This match added fast, high impact action to what was already a stacked card.  This bout, in my opinion, stole the show.  You may recognize Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino from the 2008 TNA World X-Cup, where they represented Team Japan.  If you saw any of those matches, you know what kind of energy these guys bring to the ring.  Add in some of Japan's finest in Ryo Saito, Dragon Kid, and CIMA, and you have a blockbuster.  This is exactly what occurred, and Ring of Honor should be congratulated for bringing Dragon Gate to the American wrestling public.

This match brought together Dragon Gate's most bitter rival stables in a match for the ages.  Not only did they have a bone to pick with each other, they were on a big American stage in Ring of Honor.  Ring of Honor's fans are wonderful, but also brutal.  For these Japanese wrestlers, impressing the ROH fans was a task in and of itself.  The teams were evenly matched, both possessing high flyers, strong style, and technical specialists.  While Blood Generation dominated Do Fixer for most of the match, the tenacity of Genki Horiguchi put off Blood Generation's victory.  The Mach 5 match up of Dragon Kid and Masato Yoshino played well off the hard hitting encounters between Naruki Doi, CIMA, and Ryo Saito.

A lot went on this match, really too much to describe.  There was a seemingly perfect balance of high flying, mat wrestling, and double, even triple team moves.  If you missed the 2008 World X-Cup, or have never experienced Dragon Gate, this is a perfect opportunity, especially considering the other great matches on "Supercard of Honor".  The ROH fans showed their appreciation for this amazing contest with constant chants of "Dragon Gate!  Dragon Gate!" and "This is awesome!"  Ultimo Dragon would be proud.

Here are some more of my thoughts on more of the 2008 Wrestler Observer awards:

Best Tag Team:  The Miz and John Morrison (WWE)

These guys are the hardest working tag team in the world.  Not only are they on every WWE TV show every week, but they manage to successfully generate heat the whole time.  They work very well together, with the flamboyancy of The Miz well balanced by strong silence of John Morrison.  These two will see a lot more tag team gold before all is said and done.

 

Most Improved:  The Miz (WWE)

I totally agree with this.  The Miz has a great story, and one to which many wrestling fans can relate.  He was just a wrestling fan who dreamed of stepping into the squared circle.  He was made fun of, but worked at it, and now has made it.  And he's pretty damn good!  Plus, he will only get better.

 

Best on Interviews:  Chris Jericho (WWE)

Absolutely.  I don't think there is any disputing this.

 

Most Charismatic:  John Cena (WWE)

Charisma comes in many forms, but I don't think John Cena really gets any of them.  Sure, he can come out and jack up a crowd, but that's easy when you happen to be the top face in a company.  When people boo him, its not because he made us boo him, but just because he sucks.  A more appropriate candidate would probably be Kurt Angle.

 

Best Technical Wrestler:  "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson (ROH)

This is an easy award to give him.  I haven't seen much ROH from 2008, so its hard to say if all his matches were technical masterpieces, but they likely were.

 

Bruiser Brody Best Brawler:  The Necro Butcher (CZW/ROH)

Given to the most hardhitting, hardcore, and/or unorthadox of wrestlers, this award has been give to many hardcore legends (including Mick Foley for ten consecutive years).  The Necro Butcher definitely falls into many of those categories.  The man is insane, and well deserves the chant of, "You sick ****" that he receives that nearly all shows.

 

Best High Flyer and Best Wrestling Maneuver:  Evan Bourne and his Shootingstar Press (WWE)

Evan Bourne's Shootingstar press is breathtaking, a thing of true beauty.  While there may be other, flashier high flyers (Jack Evans comes to mind), there are non as spot on as Evan Bourne.  Let's hope he's still good at it when he returns from his injury.

 

Most Overrated:  Vladimir Kozlov (WWE)

I really disagree here.  I like Kozlov.  He's a good character and performs well in the ring.  Although he is traversing well worn territory with the unbeatable monster gimmick, he pulls it off well.  He needs a chance to shine.  For my money, the Most Overrated in 2008 is certainly Matt Morgan in TNA.  He is hard to watch.

Most Underrated:  MVP (WWE)

Perhaps.  I think Kozlov could fit up there as well.

There are more awards, but this post is getting long.  Please, please leave your thoughts and comments.

Recently, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter published their yearl wrestling awards.  These awards have been given out since 1981, and address the best and worst of the major wrestling promotions around the world, including Mexico and Japan.  Although they now cover MMA too, I will only focus on MMA in awards where crossover occurred.  Here are some of my thoughts on these awards:

Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Wrestler of the Year Award:  Chris Jericho (WWE)

This award is given to the man who essentially single-handedly carries a promotion on his back.  There is no one this year more deserving than Chris Jericho.  Jericho had an amazing year, including a record setting 8th Intercontinental Title reign, 2 World Heavyweight Championship reigns, and the long, amazing feud with Shawn Michaels which generated some of the best heat and best matches of 2008.  No one in the WWE, TNA, ROH made people pay attention to wrestling like Chris Jericho.  Jericho is a consumate professional, and a future Hall of Famer.  Bravo.

 

Most Outstanding Wrestler:  "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson (ROH)

This award is given to the wrestler who consistantly puts on high quality, technically sound matches.  There are few better in this regard than Bryan Danielson.  For proof of this, check out any of the matches he had in 2008 with Nigel Mc****ss.  Although I personally think Nigel Mc****ss is a better worker than Byran Danielson, there are few who can stand toe-to-toe with The American Dragon.  John Cena would get totally wrecked by Danielson.  If only.

 

Best Box Office Draw:  Brock Lesnar (UFC)

The Next Big Thing could put butts in seats this year.  This is strictly a numbers-based category.  Obviously.

 

Feud of the Year:  Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels (WWE)

Bingo!  I can't think of a feud in recent years, that captured the attention of wrestling fans like this one.  It was long, intense, and masterfully played out.  And to cap it off, just when you think that Shawn Michaels wins the war by defeating Chris Jericho in the no DQ match at Unforgiven, Jericho comes back to win the World Heavyweight Championship.  This helps to set up....

 

Match of the Year:  Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho in a Ladder Match for the World Heavyweight Championship (WWE No Mercy).

I don't care what the Slammy's say:  this match was spectacular, and capped off by the extremely metaphorical jockeying for the belt at the top of the ladder.  Brilliant.

 

I'm tired of writing for now.  I may be back with another installment.  I encourage you to leave your comments and thoughts.  That's the point, after all.