THIS IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT. THE 25TH ANNUAL SHOW DOES NOT MEAN IT IS THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY. THE YEAR YOU GET MARRIED, IS NOT YOUR FIRST WEDDING ANNIVERSARY. STOP IT. Anyways, Wrestlemania 25 is precisely remembered for 3 things. The cool double AA spot by John Cena, a man winning a battle royal celebrating women and Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels. Here is a card reminder:
Money in the Bank ladder
‘Miss Wrestlemania’ Battle Royal
Chris Jericho vs Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper & Ricky Steamboat, Handicap elimination match
Matt Hardy vs Jeff Hardy, Extreme Rules
JBL (c) vs Rey Mysterio, IC Championship
Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels
Edge (c) vs John Cena vs Big Show, Heavyweight Championship
Triple H (c) vs Randy Orton, WWE Championship
For such a highly promoted celebration of Wrestlemania, this is quite a forgettable show. So many mistakes, so many easier ways to book a fun show. WWE, this is how its done.
Money in the Bank
As usual, the MITB ladder match to start Wrestlemania 25. CM Punk and Kofi Kingston represent Raw, Shelton Benjamin and MVP represent Smackdown, Christian and Evan Bourne represent ECW. ECW is pretty dead in the water at this point, so this will be the last we talk about them in these Wrestlemania bookings. Christian was the only thing ECW had worth watching. This is a pretty exciting line-up; you have Kofi, Benjamin and Bourne willing to do death-defying stunts to wow the crowd. Christian is a ladder veteran and an amazing wrestler. MVP plays the opportunistic heel. CM Punk wins here though, finally winning his MITB briefcase and putting the locker room on notice.
We get a backstage segment where Jeff Hardy is getting ready for his WWE championship match with the champion Chris Jericho later, but he is ambushed by a mysterious assailant and left injured. More on this later on.
Tag Championship Unification
Do you know what is so baffling? That WWE unified tag team championships for the first time and it was on the pre-show. I couldn’t believe it. The WWE tag titles had been active for 7 years, whilst the World tag titles have a history dating back to the 70s, and they were combined in a forgotten match that most people probably haven’t even seen. That is a huge disservice to tag team wrestling. In August of 2008, Cody Rhodes defeated himself by turning heel on his tag champion partner Hardcore Holly, teaming with Ted to win/lose the titles. Confusing, but I loved the booking.
I would have them keep a hold of those tag championships right up until Wrestlemania 25. On the other brand, I would still have Carlito as one half of the WWE tag champions, but instead of his cousin Primo I’d team him with Rey Mysterio. Have Carlito bring Primo in as his inexperienced cousin and train him up. Carlito and Rey then form an alliance and form a mini Latino faction and defeat Hawkins & Ryder for the WWE tag championships. After a competitive match, the heels representing Legacy score a cheap victory to unify the tag championships.
Women’s Championship
Next we have the women’s championship match, still champion is Beth Phoenix defending against Michelle McCool. I’ve had her as the women’s champion for 2 years now and I would still keep it on her. The division is floundering with only a handful of women you could consider as solid wrestlers, the rest of them are athletic models essentially. Alongside the women’s title, they can still introduce the Divas title, though I definitely wouldn’t have it be a silver and pink butterfly.
That gives another women’s championship that the likes of Mickie James, Melina and Gail Kim can hold and defend as the only other wrestlers I would call good on the roster. McCool ain’t bad though, she’s a pretty tall and powerful woman who can almost match with Phoenix but ultimately the Glamazon is still on top of the division. A title reign of epic proportion, being built up for a future newcomer to get a big rub from.
We get another little backstage segment, medical staff are attending to Jeff Hardy who is adamant to go out there but doctors are not so confident.
Intercontinental Championship
Phoenix’s comedy ally Santino Marella should still be the Intercontinental champion by Wrestlemania 25. I really liked the whole Honky Tonk-o-meter thing. I’d have him beat Kofi for the IC championship a little later in 2008 at No Mercy in October a few weeks before Cyber Sunday. Then, Marella introduces the meter and retains his IC championship against all challengers mostly thanks to Beth Phoenix being an effective manager. As Santino’s reign goes on and on, he gains more confidence and brags about being better than IC champions of old. He lists them off, mispronouncing their names as he does; “Pedro Morello (Pedro Morales), Pat-Pat Son (Pat Patterson), Titty Santa (Tito Santana) and The Dragon, Richard Rowboat (Ricky Steamboat)”
This brings out Ricky Steamboat, who thinks Santino should put his money where his mouth is, challenging him to a match at Wrestlemania 25, 22 years after when he won the IC championship for the first time at Wrestlemania. Before he goes out to the ring, Santino is told by Beth that he must do this alone. She says “if you cannot beat a pensioner on your own, you shouldn’t be the champion.” Santino is out on his own, Steamboat enters and he is flanked by former IC champions Roddy Piper and Tito Santana.
This shouldn’t go too long, 5+ minutes of Steamboat proving he can still go and even defeating Santino to win the IC title, becoming the oldest ever winner of the IC title at 56 years old. Marella is a comedy heel and he can take a quick loss to a legend, a feel good moment for a legendary return. You can still run the Jericho vs Steamboat feud at Backlash where Jericho can take the IC belt off of him.
Defining Your Legacy
An injury to Orton puts him on the shelf in 2008 from June until November, Jericho has cashed in his MITB contract and won the WWE championship from Orton just before his time away. It was a match against Triple H that Orton got injured in.
At Survivor Series, a WWE title match between Jericho and Triple H is interrupted by the returning Randy Orton. He drops Jericho with an RKO, before extending a handshake out to Triple H. HHH is confused, goes to finish off Jericho but is also hit with an RKO. Then we see the debut of the punt kick Orton uses, he kicks Triple H right in the skull and drags Jericho on top of him. Triple H is carted out on a stretcher.
Orton put HHH on the shelf in return for Triple H injuring him, but this is much more than that claims Randy. Once again, Hunter actively tried to sabotage Orton’s rise, a theme that has been reoccurring ever since Evolution. Triple H is jealous of Orton, he feels threatened by how superior he is to him and he will do anything to stay on top. Orton tells Hunter to stay at home, and never come back.
Vince McMahon denounces Orton for his actions and threatens to suspend him. Orton RKOs him and hits the punt kick. Vince is wheeled out on a stretcher. Stephanie McMahon takes control over the company and goes to suspend him but Batista says no and demands that he deliver justice. He and Hunter never see eye to eye, but to threaten his livelihood, his career and to attack Mr McMahon is too far. At Armageddon, Orton gets some help from Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. to defeat Batista. Legacy is officially formed.
Far Too Personal
Orton punt kicks his way through the roster and have confrontations with Stephanie. Orton is entered into the rumble at number 1. Later in the match, entering around 15 is the returning Triple H. He immediately targets Orton and eliminates him. Later in the match, Orton returns to the ring and eliminates HHH from the match, RKOing him on the announce table and again hitting him with a punt kick. Orton brags about his actions, he threatens a similar fate for Stephanie when we see the on-screen return of Shane McMahon.
He challenges Orton to a No Holds Barred match at No Way Out, which Orton wins after a punt kick. Triple H returns and demands to face Orton at Wrestlemania, but he is ambushed by Legacy. They hold him down as Orton drags out Stephanie McMahon for an RKO then a punt kick, and that kiss on the cheek because that segment was fucking gold. Steph is wheeled off by medics. Triple H invades Orton’s home like in real life because that was crazy.
Triple H tells Orton how stupid he is. He has went and targeted his family to get revenge but he has made his life even harder. With no McMahon around in power and no active GM, the control of Raw now falls into the hands of the next family member in line. As the boss’ son in law, that’s HHH. He books himself vs Orton for Wrestlemania 25 inside Hell in a Cell.
They have a violent war, Triple H is full of aggression whilst Orton’s offence is more deliberate and sadistic. Triple H gets revenge with a sledgehammer shot to the head, a pedigree on to a chair and a punt kick of his own. HHH wins, Orton is carted off on a stretcher.
Heavyweight Championship, Done Wrong
We have our heavyweight title triple threat that does indeed include Edge and John Cena, but someone else instead of Big Show. As silly and soap opera the whole Edge and Vickie Guerrero angle was, it was entertaining and for the most part a well booked, long term story right until the end. Triple H revealed that Edge had been cheating on Vickie Guerrero, cancelling their wedding and she got Undertaker to exact vengeance as Edge was chokeslammed through the ring and off TV for 3 months. When he returned, he was brought back by Vicky and it seemed like things were back to normal.
Edge vs Big Show was booked, but John Cena got himself added to the match by leveraging some information, that Vickie was now cheating on Edge with Big Show. It didn’t really make much sense. First it makes Vickie look like a moron to bring back her ex to win the world title when she is already banging someone else that she could have inserted in the match instead. Also, wasn’t Edge only hooking up with Vickie to benefit his own career? Like they weren’t actually supposed to be in a romantic relationship. Vickie loved Edge, but Edge was manipulating her. That was the story, but they quickly forced it into a love triangle arc for some reason.
Heavyweight Championship, Done Right
At Summerslam 2008, Undertaker beats Edge for the title, sending him to hell at the end. Undertaker holds the title until Survivor Series where he loses it to John Cena. Around this time Edge returns but heads to Raw and stays away from his Ex, Vickie. She is only the Smackdown GM. Edge wins the WWE championship from Chris Jericho at the Rumble. At No Way Out, he is eliminated in the first 2 minutes of the Elimination chamber match. Later in the night, Edge attacks Kofi to enter and win the Heavyweight title, because that was awesome.
Edge has to move back over to Smackdown and he is congratulated by Vickie. Edge tries to win back her favour but she has found someone else and he will be facing Edge for his world title at Wrestlemania 25. That man is…Matt Hardy. Think back to 2005, the very real feud turned into a storyline where Lita cheated on Matt with Edge. 4 years later, now it is Matt Hardy who has taken Edge’s partner. This is the beginning of a small push for Hardy, who is transitioning towards being a heel anyways.
Edge confronts Matt. “You do realise that she means nothing to me right? I was using her to keep my status as world champion?” Matt responds “How do you know I’m not doing the same thing?” John Cena doesn’t like all of this and reveals this information to get himself an opportunity. He defeats Edge in a non-title match on Smackdown, turning the match into a triple threat. Cena gets the victory and we can even see him hit that double AA spot. You can follow with an Edge vs Hardy feud, maybe turn Edge face, or you can redo a Cena x Edge feud if you like.
WWE Championship
Jericho won the MITB at the previous mania and cashes in on Orton for the belt. He holds it throughout the entirety of 2008 and into 2009, turning heel when he feuds with Shawn Michaels. Edge wins it from him at the Royal Rumble but Jericho wins it back in the Elimination Chamber. Jeff Hardy is back from his suspension and should be right back in the main event scene. I’d have Jeff Hardy unsuccessfully challenge Jericho for the world title at Armageddon. Hardy wins the 2009 Royal Rumble and he chooses Jericho.
Hardy struggles to enter the ring. Referees and medics prevent Hardy from going in the ring. CM Punk comes down with his MITB briefcase. He checks on Jeff and speaks to him. He says “Don’t worry Jeff, you need to stay healthy and fix yourself up. I’ll go down there and take care of business for you.”
Punk announces he is cashing in his briefcase right now to wrestle twice in one night. Jericho is shocked and clearly rattled, arguing about the legality of it. We get CM Punk vs Jericho and I’d give them like 15-20 minutes. Punk should win his first world title at Wrestlemania 25.
CM Punk is the one who attacked Jeff. Punk turns heel and justifies his reasoning as not wanting a self-destructive junkie as champion. This kicks off the amazing feud between these two which can run longer from Mania to Summerslam. Punk wins and Hardy leaves the company. I know I run a serious risk here of a royal rumble winner not actually wrestling at Wrestlemania 25. I’m hoping that the support for CM Punk is equal to the support for Hardy. The shock of a Wrestlemania cash in will outweigh the disappointing of the rumble winner not wrestling.
The Main Event
Main event of Wrestlemania 25, Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels. Yeah, I don’t really need to add much else. This is one of the all time great WWE matches. I actually like the Wrestlemania 26 rematch more purely for the story that has been told, but this is still one of the best matches ever. I loved that it was so even all the way through, that the only way Undertaker won was from one mistake, catching a moonsault attempt into a tombestone piledriver. This is perfection and I could not do it any better.
Final Wrestlemania 25 Card
Money in the Bank Ladder
Rey Mysterio & Carlito (WWE) vs Legacy (World), Tag Championship Unification
Beth Phoenix (c) vs Michelle McCool, Women’s Championship
Santino Marella (c) vs Ricky Steamboat, IC Championship
Triple H vs Randy Orton, Hell in a Cell
Edge (c) vs Matt Hardy vs John Cena, Heavyweight Championship
Chris Jericho (c) vs CM Punk, WWE Championship
Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels
(Here is the previous Wrestlemania rebooking, in case you missed it.)
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