April 3rd, 2011
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Venue: Georgia Dome
Attendance: 71,617
Theme song: "Written in the Stars" by Tinie Tempah
It's 2011, and another year had come and gone in WWE as WrestleMania was upon them once again. The city of Atlanta received its first WrestleMania, and the Georgia Dome would be its venue.
A man who returned after a seven-year hiatus promised the world that this would be the best WrestleMania of all time.
It wasn't.
Back in February, WWE announced there would be a special guest host for WrestleMania 27. In one of the biggest shocks in history, The Rock returned to the company after last appearing in 2004.
In his return on Monday Night Raw, he spoke some words about John Cena and promised to meet him face-to-face at WrestleMania. As I mentioned, he also guaranteed it would be the most epic WrestleMania of all time. No pressure.
The big day had arrived, and as tradition, "America the Beautiful" was sung, this time by Atlanta's own Keri Hilson.
Before the opening video package and pyro, The Rock came out to address the crowd and get everybody excited. It worked as he is one of the best talkers of all time.
Eight matches were scheduled for a show that nearly lasted four hours. You would think with a show of that length that more would be added. Almost all but two matches were over ten minutes. Those two matches were under four.
The pyro went off to kick off the show and started on a high note as the World Heavyweight Championship match opened (which I'll speak about later on). It's an odd decision considering how important that title is in wrestling history, and incredible to see it drop so low in the card.
Cody Rhodes took care of Rey Mysterio, and Randy Orton defeated CM Punk in smaller but decent matches.
Everything else (except for one) would be a disaster.
For example, an eight-man tag team match not only had the most unexpected team but felt unnecessary. The Corre (Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, and Ezekiel Jackson) took on the team of the Big Show, Kane, and for some odd reason, Santino Marella and Kofi Kingston.
Don't interpret this the wrong way; Santino Marella and Kofi Kingston are fine. But to pair them up with the Big Show and Kane?!
The match only lasted 1:32. If you blinked, it was over. You may as well have put this on the pre-show and replaced it with Sheamus and Daniel Bryan, who were fighting for the United States Championship!
Another wasted match had Trish Stratus's return, who teamed up with John Morrison and Snooki from Jersey Shore.
I'm not kidding.
They took on Dolph Ziggler, Layla, and Michelle McCool in a six-person mixed tag team match. Snooki would get the pin over McCool in a match that lasted 3:17. The celebrity would get the pin over the actual wrestler.
I don't know why either.
Finally, the cherry on top would have play-by-play commentator Michael Cole take on his broadcast partner Jerry "The King" Lawler. Cole became a very obnoxious broadcaster and embraced a bad guy role. He feuded with Lawler, which lead to a match at WrestleMania.
To try and give this match some interest, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin would be the special guest referee.
It wasn't interesting. At all.
The impression the match gave was Lawler picking on a little kid since Cole has no experience in the ring and looked like an idiot in his orange wrestling gear. Lawler would win the match, but because Austin favored Jerry, the "Anonymous Raw General Manager" (a computer) announced that the decision was reversed and gave Cole the win.
Michael Cole is 1-0 at WrestleMania, and considering he'll most likely never wrestle at WrestleMania again, his undefeated streak will live on forever. Yay.
Although I just ripped through more than half of the show, some things caught my attention, somehow.
Here are the three moments that stood out to me from WrestleMania 27.
Thank you, Edge
History was made in January when the Royal Rumble match was expanded from 30 men to 40.
Alberto Del Rio would throw out Santino Marella for the final elimination and book his trip to WrestleMania. He would choose to face Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship and told the world it was his destiny to be champion at WrestleMania.
The lead-up to this match wasn't exciting in hindsight. Del Rio kept attacking Edge and continued to mention his destiny. The only excitement that came up was Del Rio announcing that Brodus Clay would be at his corner, and Edge had his real-life best friend Christian by his side.
At WrestleMania 27, Edge defeated Del Rio after catching him with an unexpected spear in the opening match. Moments later, Edge began to destroy his vintage Rolls Royce at the stage and stood on top of it with title in hand.
The reason why this stands out is not necessarily what happened at WrestleMania, but what happened the night after on Monday Night Raw in the news that nobody saw coming.
Edge told the world he was forced to retire as the injuries that his neck sustained in his career caught up to him, and he was inches away from being paralyzed had he continued. He listed all of his accomplishments and thanked the WWE Universe for their support.
On SmackDown just a few days later, he addressed the crowd one final time and vacated the World Heavyweight Championship.
It's a sad end to a man who had a fantastic career and would be forced to say goodbye to his dream. On a more positive note, it was great to see that his final match would be at the event he attended as a kid in 1990 for WrestleMania 6.
A kid who witnessed his hero Hulk Hogan fight would dream big of having his own WrestleMania moment and end up walking away with multiple.
He would earn his rightful spot in the WWE Hall of Fame a year later.
A friend's vengeance
In the lead up to February, a series of vignettes began to appear and continued to show the date "2.11.11".
When February 11th came, it was shown to be coming from The Undertaker, who was making his return after stepping away for four months.
As he was finishing his entrance, Triple H's music suddenly hit and also made a surprise return to the company after stepping away for nearly a year.
Without saying a word, the two eyed each other down and proceeded to look at the big WrestleMania sign that hung in the rafters, making their statement clear.
A few days later, their match was official on WWE.com and would mark the second time they faced off at WrestleMania, the first in 2001.
In the weeks that led up to Atlanta, Shawn Michaels, the man who fell in back-to-back losses to The Undertaker, expressed doubt in Triple H. He stated if he couldn't defeat The Undertaker, how could Triple H?
Michaels lost all faith in Triple H and walked out on him on an episode of Raw, convinced that he wouldn't get the win at WrestleMania.
On the day of the event, the two got extremely physical and held nothing back. From spine busters towards tables to using weapons, it could have gone either way.
But if there's one thing that everybody noticed, it was that Undertaker was looking weak. It felt as if his body was barely hanging in there in the match.
Somehow, just as Triple H was ready to seal the deal and give The Undertaker his first loss at WrestleMania, The Deadman surprised him with his Hell's Gate submission. After a long battle in the submission hold, Triple H had no choice but to tap out.
Shawn Michaels was sitting in the Georgia Dome press box, with a look on his face that said, "I was right."
After the bell rang, The Undertaker had issues standing up and practically fainted outside of the ring. Medical personnel and a cart had to come in and drive 'Taker out of the stadium as he could not walk to the backstage area wilfully.
The Undertaker's winning streak grew to 19-0, but at what cost?
Rock Bottom
In July 2010, The Miz won the Raw exclusive Money in the Bank contract, giving him the right to have an opportunity at the WWE Championship whenever he pleased.
Jump ahead to November, and The Miz would cash in on Randy Orton to win his first and only WWE Championship to date.
A few weeks later, he and John Cena would be partnered up and win the Tag Team Championship from The Corre. That was short-lived. Miz would turn on Cena and instantly lose the titles, planting the seeds of what was to come.
At the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, John Cena won yet another opportunity to compete for the WWE Championship, and his match with The Miz was official.
In the midst of this, as mentioned, The Rock returned to WWE and declared he was going after John Cena.
At WrestleMania, in an uneventful match, The Miz and John Cena fought to a double countout, and due to that result, it meant that The Miz would retain his WWE Championship.
I sped through the lead-up and the match because it's what happened after that makes this moment stand out.
The Rock came out towards the ring and announced the match would be restarted, thanks to his responsibilities as Host of WrestleMania.
As soon as the bell rang, The Rock stood right behind Cena and hit him with his signature Rock Bottom. The Miz took advantage, pinned Cena, and once again retained his WWE Championship.
The Rock would eventually hit his signature People's Elbow on The Miz, and the closing image of WrestleMania 27 was The Rock standing on top of the turnbuckle and showing his love to the crowd.
Despite that the centerpiece of the main event was The Miz and John Cena, none of that would matter as The Rock stole the show.
The following night on Raw, Cena confronted Rock for costing him the WWE Championship. Then, The Rock laid down a challenge to John Cena, asking him for a match.
The only thing was, this wouldn't have been at the next pay-per-view or the following week on Raw. The Rock asked to meet Cena at next year's WrestleMania in his hometown of Miami. Without hesitation, Cena agreed, and it would be the first time in history that a WrestleMania match was planned that far in advance.
Final thoughts
I'm going to be blunt. WrestleMania 27 was hot garbage.
It's been considered one of the worst WrestleManias in the last decade. The entire night had you wondering "why?" from a timing standpoint to the participants involved in the match.
For example, as I mentioned, the World Heavyweight Championship went on first. I understand if you want to start the night on potentially a high note. However, considering this was Edge's final wrestling match, you would think this would have been placed closer to the end of the show.
The night would progressively worsen, and once again, a match involving The Undertaker was the best of the night. I think it's impressive as The Undertaker continued to get older; he still put on excellent performances. This would be the first Mania in which he no longer competed on a full-time basis and only began to show around WrestleMania season.
As for The Rock? I think it's great that he returned to the company as he was missed. I wish it didn't come at the expense of Cena and (mostly) The Miz, who was in his first and, to this day, the only main event on the grand stage.
Had the Rock and Cena match been set up differently, I think it still would have gotten the excitement it did a year later.
That said, WrestleMania returned the following year outdoors. With a match set up in advance, fans would have the year leading up to what was labeled "Once in a Lifetime."
Results:
- Edge (c) def. Alberto Del Rio - World Heavyweight Championship
- Cody Rhodes def. Rey Mysterio
- Big Show, Kane, Kofi Kingston, and Santino Marella def. The Corre (Wade Barret, Ezekiel Jackson, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater) - Eight-man tag team match
- Randy Orton def. CM Punk
- Michael Cole def. Jerry Lawler - "Stone Cold" Steve Austin as Special Guest Referee
- The Undertaker def. Triple H - No Holds Barred
- John Morrison, Nicole "Snookie" Polizzi and Trish Stratus def. Dolph Ziggler and LayCool (Michelle McCool and Layla) - Six-person mixed tag team match
- The Miz (c) def. John Cena - WWE Championship
Rating: D+
Thanks for reading. Look out tomorrow when I take a look at WrestleMania 28.
8 days away until WrestleMania 35.
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