WWE Wrestlemania 24 Results

(pics from WWE.com)

~WWE's 24th annual Wrestlemania event occured last night from the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. This is WWE's biggest event of the year and is always good for producing a memorable moment or two, or ten. I would normally include "Monday w/ the Smart Marks" in this post, but I think Wrestlemania deserves a post by itself. I'm still pumped about the show, here's what went down:


-Kane wins the 24 man battle royal and earns the right to fight Chavo Guerrero for the ECW Championship later on in the show.


-JBL beats Finlay in a “Belfast Brawl”. A really good opener.


-Mr. Kennedy yells in Kim Kardashian’s face.


-CM Punk won the amazing Money in the Bank Ladder Match and earns the right to receive a WWE, World Heavyweight or ECW Title shot at any time within the next year.


-Santino Marella tries talking some more trash to Snoop Dogg, but he’s not having it and has Festus attack him. Funny stuff.

-Smackdown wins the Smackdown vs. Raw challenge match when Batista beats Umaga.


-Kane defeats Chavo Guerrero in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it match to become the new ECW Champion.


-Shawn Michaels ends Ric Flair’s career by beating him in a match. This match was WAY better than I thought it would be.


-After the match, Flair takes one last walk to the back while receiving a standing "o" from the Orlando crowd.


-In the Bunnymania match, Raw Color Commentator, Jerry Lawler tries to play the hero again and punches Santino Marella when he prevents Maria from winning the match. Eventually, WWE Women’s Champion, Beth Phoenix & Melina pick up the win over Maria & Ashley Massaro.


-Afterwards, Snoop Dogg comes out of nowhere and clotheslines Santino Marella, kisses Maria (I thought Snoop was married) and leaves with her and Ashley.


-Randy Orton retains the WWE Title over Triple H and John Cena.


-Floyd Mayweather knocks out the Big Show with a chair and a pair of brass knuckles.


-The Undertaker goes 16-0 in Wrestlemania matches and defeats Edge for the World Heavyweight Title to close out the show.


I kind of wanted the Money in the Bank Ladder match to open the show but the Belfast Brawl was a surprisingly good opening, hard-hitting match, so I’m not that upset about it.

The blonde haired Shelton Benjamin was all decked out in gold last night. That man nearly killed himself in the Money in the Bank ladder match.

Speaking of Money in the Bank, that match was CRAZY~! Bodies were flying everywhere. The match continues to be a Wrestlemania highlight every year and I think this year's was the best out of the four. I was pretty shocked that Punk pulled out the win and I’m interested to see where WWE goes with this.

Why was that Kane/Chavo match so short? I actually went to go use the bathroom before Chavo made his entrance and when I came back, Kane was walking out with the ECW belt.

I was not feelin’ that robe Ric Flair had on last night. He looked like a cross between a superhero and a religious cult leader.


There was a point in the Michaels/Flair match where Michaels missed a moonsault from the ring and I thought he broke his ribs. He actually went for the move twice and looked to have missed both of them.

Speaking of things broken, I thought Michaels broke Flair’s jaw with Sweet Chin Music. Michaels went for that move three times.

Flair vs. Michaels was one of the surprises of the night to me. The build-up was great and I was certain that Flair's age would show and he'd drag the match down. I was glad to be wrong on that one. Eventhough he lost, witnessing Flair take his final bow sure was a sight to see.

Edge delivered an awesome promo about him as a kid watching Wrestlemania 6 and how he planned on ending the Undertaker’s undefeated streak.

Snoop Dogg clotheslining Santino Marella was hilarious. I didn’t see that coming at all.

John Cena’s Entrance!!!! That was so sick! One of my new favorite Wrestlemania entrances of all time! I used to play drums in my high school school band and I never got to play anywhere as cool as Wrestlemania.

I DID NOT expect Randy Orton to retain his title. Wow! He really came out of nowhere with that one. I thought HHH would be walking out with the belt, I guess I was wrong, again.

Big Show/Mayweather was another pleasent surprise of the night. I thought they were going to have Mayweather try and pull of wrestling moves, which would have been a mistake. Thankfully, they let Floyd do what he does best, which is punch and run, and they made Big Show lose in a way that I don't think made him lose his credibility.

I really thought the Edge/Taker match was gonna get the short end of the stick and be buried in the middle of the card, it was surprising to see them get the main event. I haven’t made up my mind if it’s a good surprise or a bad surprise yet but I thought the match was decent.

Wow, overall, a damn good show. I don’t know if it is worth $70 in HD but it was a damn good show. Match of the night for me was the Money in the Bank Ladder Match (in terms of excitement) and the Flair/Michaels match (in terms of importance and because it was Flair’s last match). I completely missed the Chavo/Kane match but I thought every other match was surprisingly solid, even the Bunnymania match which I thought was gonna be complete trash.

I've read other fan reports and have seen that people had various petty complaints about the show, like it sucked that Flair/Michaels wasn't the main event or they thought Bunnymania killed the show (the lights actually went out halfway through the match and the women were wrestling in the dark for about a minute or so).

I think sometimes, wrestling fans are so focused on finding and pointing out the negatives in everything, that they forget to sit back and be a wrestling fan instead of a wrestling critic, which leaves them never satisfied no matter how good the show is.

Anyway, I was thoroughly entertained for 4 hours and I don't think I could have asked for more.

Weekend Update

ROH "Supercard of Honor III" Results

~Ring of Honor closed out their weekend with the second of two shows in Orlando yesterday featuring wrestlers from the Dragon Gate promotion in Japan. Here's what went down:

-Go Shiozaki beats Delirious.

-Kenny King, Sal Rinauro & Chasyn Rance (The Young, Rich & Ready) beat Dingo, Luke Williams & Alex "Sugarfoot" Payne.

-ROH Tag Team Champions Rocky Romero & Davey Richards (The No Remorse Corps.) defend their titles against Jigsaw & Ruckus (The Vulture Squad).

-Tyler Black & Jimmy Jacobs (The Age of the Fall) beat The Briscoes.

-BxB Hulk & Shingo (from Dragon Gate) defeat El Generico & Kevin Steen

-Nigel McGuinness beats Austin Aries to successfully retain the ROH World Title.

-After the match both the AOTF and Tammy Sytch try, once again, to get Aries to join them. He ends up joining the Age of the Fall. AOTF are about to attack Sytch but The Briscoes come out to make the save.

-Genki Horoguchi, Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino defeat CIMA, Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito in an all-Dragon Gate six man tag match.

I really didn't expect Aries to join the Age of the Fall, but he would definetely fit in with their whole "death to society" look. I'm interested if ROH is going to do anything with The Briscoes and Tammy Sytch, hopefully she becomes their manager and speaks for them because the Briscoes, although talented in the ring, are god-awful on the mic.

I'm glad to see Richards & Romero get a run with the tag belts. When they won them a few months ago, I was sure they would drop the belts to the Briscoes or the AOTF by the next week. I dig Davey Richards and Rocky Romero as singles wrestlers and from the few matches I've seen of them as a team, I like the pair just as much.

-There goes Kevin Steen's winning streak.

2008 WWE Hall of Fame

WWE held their 2008 Hall of Fame ceremony last night. The inductees included Ric Flair, Rocky Johnson, "High Chief" Peter Maivia, Jack & Gerald Briscoe, Eddie Graham, Gordon Solie and Mae Young.

I wasn't even alive when any of these people were in their prime, despite that, I still found the show enjoyable. Seeing The Rock aka Dwayne Johnson, a former wrestler who I witnessed in his prime, induct his father, Rocky Johnson, was pretty cool.


Also, Flair's speech was really heartfelt.


I wish I could have seen all the speeches but I guess there goes one bonus feature on the Wrestlemania 24 DVD.

Speaking of Wrestlemania 24, it's going on right NOW. I'll be sure to have results up tomorrow. So far, the show is extremely good.

WWE on CNN, Impact, Smackdown and ROH Results

WWE Featured on Larry King Live

~On Wednesday, various stars from the WWE were on CNN’s “Larry King Live” to hype up Wrestlemania 24.

Featured on the show were WWE Owner, Vince McMahon, Triple H, John Cena, WWE Intercontinental Champion, Chris Jericho, Big Show and Floyd Mayweather.
A full transcript of the show can be found here.

I happened to catch the show and I thought it was pretty entertaining and everyone came across really well. Mayweather kind of alluded to ending his boxing career and becoming a full-time pro wrestler (which would be ridiculous).


Also, video of Larry King beating down Vince McMahon was shown.


Overall, it was good stuff.

3/27 TNA Impact Results

~This week's LIVE episode of Impact is TNA’s answer to WWE’s Wrestlemania 24 (both of which are in Orlando this week). I’m expecting a solid show, but we’ll see.


-The live show starts with a brawl between Booker T and Robert Roode. Peyton Banks and Traci Brooks get involved just before security comes down and breaks up the fights.


-TNA Management Director, Jim Cornette announces that it’ll be Booker T vs. Robert Roode in a match that will be chosen by the TNA fans via text messaging. The choices are a Last Man Standing Match , an I Quit Match , and a First Blood Match. I would really like to see a Last Man Standing match.


-Johnny Devine defeats Alex Shelley in an X-Division Escape Qualifier match. Devine joins TNA X-Division Champion, Jay Lethal, Curry Man and Sonjay Dutt in the match, which will take place at Lockdown.


-TNA shows WWE wrestler, Robbie McAllister (real name Dereck Graham-Couch), in the crowd. He was obviously trying to hide from the TV cameras.


-Team 3D congratulate Johhny Devine on his win and they warn Sting, who’s supposed to be making his return to TNA on this episode, that if he stays away from them, they’ll stay away from him.


-Homicide, Hernandez & Salinas (LAX) beat Scott Steiner, Petey Williams & Rocha Khan.


-Clips of Samoa Joe training for his TNA World Title match against Kurt Angle at Lockdown are shown.


-TNA World Champion, Kurt Angle (once again rocking the ankle tape), has a sparring session with TNA Tag Team Champions, Tomko & AJ Styles.


-Christian Cage, Rhino and Kevin Nash come down to the ring during the sparring session and challenge Angle, Styles and Tomko. Team 3D comes out and they get involved.


-Sting makes his return to TNA and clears the ring. It’s announced that it will be Cage/Rhino/Nash/Sting vs. Tomko/Styles/Team 3D in the show’s main event.


-Booker T beats Robert Roode in a First Blood match.


-TNA Women’s Champion, Awesome Kong, successfully defends her title against ODB.


-Team Cage beat Team Tomko in an 8 man tag match.


-After the match, James Storm, who was last seen on the wrong end of the horrible Elevation X match at Destination X last month, comes out of nowhere and smashes a beer bottle on the head of Sting and helps Team Tomko beat down Team Cage.

I had no idea who the hell Dereck Graham-Couch was when he was first shown (TNA didn’t mention his WWE name probably because of copyright issues). I didn’t find out who he really was until I read a report on Wrestleview.com revealing the guy's identity.

This is Robbie McAllister, by the way.

According to what I’ve read, Robbie or Dereck or whatever he wants to call himself, had that “I’m so dead” look on his face because WWE informed their wrestlers not to be seen socializing with any of the TNA talent during the weekend. It would be sad if this ends up costing him his job but he should have never put himself in that position in the first place.

Booker T gave a decent interview concerning his match with Robert Roode…until he started talking about wanting Roode’s blood. Pretty disturbing if you ask me.



TNA is building the Angle/Joe match at Lockdown as a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight. If that is the case, it could turn out as either really good and innovative or really bad and awkward. I think Angle and Joe can pull it off, but it all depends on how the crowd at Lockdown take to it because there are lots of aspects of MMA that pro wrestling fans may not understand.



That was a real solid match between LAX and Steiner/Williams/Khan. I’ve become a real fan of LAX over the past couple of months, especially Hernandez (who’s being billed as the “Mexican Superman”, nice). I think they are just so exciting.



That was a sick ending sequence in the 8-man tag main event, which I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would.



Overall, I thought it was a pretty decent show from TNA. No “Super” Eric Young though but that’s ok.

3/28 ROH "Dragon Gate Challenge II" Results

~Ring of Honor held the first of their two shows this weekend in Orlando featuring talent from Japan's Dragon Gate promotion. Here's what went down.

-ROH World Champion, Nigel McGuinness beat Delirious in a non-title match.

-Ruckus & Jigsaw (The Vulture Squad) defeat Sal Rinauro & Kenny King.

-Austin Aries beat Genki Horiguchi in a ROH vs. DG match.

-After the match, Jimmy Jacobs, leader of the Age of the Fall, tries to get Aries to join his group again. Tammy Sytch comes out and tries to get Aries to join her instead. Aries says he doesn’t need either of them and leaves.

-Kevin Steen & El Generico beat Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino in a ROH vs. DG match

-Shingo & BxB Hulk defeat Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black in a ROH vs. DG match.

-The Briscoes beat Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito in a ROH vs. DG match.

-Go Shiozaki, Erick Stevens & CIMA beat Davey Richards, Roderick Strong & Rocky Romero (The No Remorse Corps.)

Despite what Aries said on the show, I think he will end up joining a group. I think he has the look to fit in with the AOTF but I hope (and have a feeling) that he’ll join Tammy Sytch.

I know I would if I were him.

Kevin Steen & El Generico, Steen in particular, has been on a role lately racking up tons of wins. This is a good thing considering Steen won a ROH World Title shot tournament a few weeks back, so he’s being built as a legitimate threat to Nigel McGuinness and the ROH title. I’m not too familiar with Kevin Steen as a singles wrestler but in the tag matches I’ve seen him featured in, I think he’s very good and for a big guy, he sure can fly.


3/28 Smackdown Results

(Pics from WWE.com)


~The show starts with a 4 man over-the-top-rope challenge featuring Kane, Mark Henry, The Great Khali and Chuck Palumbo. These guys will be 4 of the 24 man competing in a battle royal at Wrestlemania 24 where the winner faces ECW Champion, Chavo Guerrero right after.


-Mark Henry wins the match. Chavo Guerrero tries to attack Henry but that doesn’t work out too well.

-Assistant General Manager of Smackdown, Teddy Long, announces that Eve Torres is eliminated from the Smackdown Diva Competition, which leaves Michelle McCool and Cherry as the final two. Victoria and Maryse, who were eliminated from the contest in the past two weeks, make fun of Eve for losing. Long says that there is going to be a “Wet and Wild Water Fight” between the five women.


-CM Punk beats WWE Tag Team Champion, John Morrison, in a really good one-on-one match. Both wrestlers will be featured in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match at Wrestlemania.


-Kofi Kingston, Jesse & Festus defeat WWE Tag Team Champion, The Miz, Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch.


-Batista beats Snitsky in two seconds.


-Michelle McCool & Cherry defeat Victoria (rocking scuba gear) & Maryse in the match of the night. Ok, that was a lie.


-A match between WWE Intercontinental Champion, Chris Jericho and WWE United States Champion, MVP, ends in a no-contest when the referee stops the match for no reason. Afterwards, Jericho hits MVP with a ladder, which symbolizes the Money in the Bank Ladder match the two will be in at Wrestlemania.


-World Heavyweight Champion, Edge, delivers a eulogy in honor of (hopefully) ending the Undertaker’s Wrestlemania winning streak.


-Undertaker pops out of a casket in the ring and chokeslams Edge into it to end the last WWE show before Wrestlemania.

I really liked the Morrison/Punk match. I’m so hyped for the Money in the Bank ladder match!



Jesse and Festus have a really cool theme song called “Biscuits and Gravy”. I can't get the song out of my head.


That “Wet and Wild” match was pretty much soft-core porn; I don’t know why I was expecting something else.


Batista has a match with Raw’s Umaga at Wrestlemania, yet WWE is really dropping the ball in terms of interaction between the two. On one show, the two end up brawling (as evident from this week’s Raw, where Batista sneak-attacked Umaga) and then on the next show, they do nothing with it (as evident on this week’s Smackdown, where Umaga failed to show up to even the score). These inconsistencies, I think, have killed the build for this match.

WWE showed an awesome video hyping up the Edge/Undertaker match at Wrestlemania. The video was great but I still feel like this match is being buried under the hype of the Randy Orton vs. Triple H vs. John Cena for the WWE Title, Floyd Mayweather vs. Big Show, Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair and maybe even the Money in the Bank Ladder Match (or maybe just in my mind).