FanPost

WrestleMania XXIX Review: Once in a Lifetime...Take Two

Event: WrestleMania XXIX (WrestleMania NY/NJ)

Date: April 7, 2013

Place: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey

Attendance: 80,676

WrestleMania XXIX, compared to last year's great WrestleMania XXVIII, was one of the most generic and predictable WrestleMania shows in recent memory. However, a majority of the matches are actually pretty good. In addition, it also proved that "once in a lifetime" is one of the biggest lies that can be used in marketing.

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The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns) defeat Big Show, Randy Orton, and Sheamus

For as long as The Shield has been on WWE's main roster, they have never had a tag match that can be considered bad, if I can remember correctly. This match was certainly no exception to that statement. This match was very fun and showed The Shield's excellent cohesiveness and chemistry during this period. The face team was also pretty good in this match as well.

Mark Henry defeats Ryback

This match was slow and fat, uh huh huh huh (points if you get the reference)

Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan) defeat Dolph Ziggler and Big E Langston (with AJ Lee)

This was another very fun tag match featuring the usual amount of fun action. Daniel Bryan was incredibly over here, but it was nothing compared to how over he is now.

Fandango defeats Chris Jericho

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Fandango was in a WrestleMania match. His entrance was pretty cool with the group of attractive dancers. The match itself was pretty good, but it ended in a very bizarre fashion. It is considered to be one of the biggest upsets in WrestleMania history.

Alberto Del Rio (with Ricardo Rodriguez) defeats Jack Swagger (with Zeb Coulter)

Well...Jack Swagger WOULD have likely waked away as the World Heavyweight Champion after this match. HOWEVER, in late February 2013, he was arrested for DWI as well as marijuana possession. You can probably put two and two together here. In fact, Swagger and Coulter got a jobber entrance. Yes, a JOBBER ENTRANCE at a fucking WrestleMania show. Despite that, Coulter cut his usual excellent promo about border crossing, illegal immigration, and other things that you could hear on Fox News.

As for the match, it was pretty good. There were a number of "We want Ziggler" chants during the course of the match, which is something that WWE capitalized on at the infamous 4/8/13 episode of Raw.

Undertaker defeats CM Punk (with Paul Heyman)

It is 100% safe to say that this match completely stole the show here. No one was really expecting much of a story from this match...until Paul Bearer (real name William Moody) tragically passed away. After his death, WWE, after obtaining permission from Bearer's family, developed a brilliant story and ran with it. Punk's heeling during this story was absolutely amazing to watch. The match between these two was incredibly awesome, as expected. Also, Undertaker's entrance for the match is easily one of the best entrances of all time.

Triple H (with Shawn Michaels) defeats Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman)

It is safe to say that the Undertaker/Punk match cast a big shadow over the remainder of this WrestleMania. It also did a good job at wearing the crowd out, as they were completely dead for most of this match. In it's defense, however, the match was actually a great one. However, there were points where it was very slow, which didn't help the crowd much. A couple things to note here. First of all, as Triple H was coming through the King of Kings setup (which bellows dry ice smoke), he was burnt by dry ice that made contact with his skin. Also notable here is that Triple H used the Kimura Lock on Lesnar, which was pretty cool to see.

John Cena defeats The Rock

Wait a minute, wasn't this supposed to be "once in a lifetime?" Not according to WWE Logic! As a result, we get to sit through this matchup yet again. Unfortunately, this match was nowhere near as good as it was at WrestleMania XXVIII (which was just mediocre). This match was boring, predictable, and not that good. Does this have something to do with The Rock getting injured? Probably, but not completely. He simply wasn't in very good ring shape during this time, and it certainly showed. The ending was something straight out of a video game. In fact, AfraliciousT3 said it best when he said the following:

The final sequence of that match was me playing WWE 2K14 on legend difficulty.

Just finisher reversal after finisher reversal with no real drama or intensity, just me sitting at home wondering why the hell I paid 60 dollars for this crap.

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So, WrestleMania XXIX had a hell of a lot of potential. However, the predictability of it, coupled with a lackluster main event, really brings the final grade down a few pegs. Don't get me wrong, it has some really good matches, especially Undertaker/Punk. It just didn't feel like anything special.

Grade: B

Well, ladies and gentlemen, that is the conclusion of my WrestleMania Review Series. It has been some hard work, but I have genuinely enjoyed watching the evolution of WrestleMania from a company-threatening gamble to the spectacle that we have today. Although there have been some bad shows along the way (I'm looking at you IX, XI, 2000,), WrestleMania has generally proven itself to be the Super Bowl of the sports entertainment calendar.

Where do I go from here? Well, keep an eye on the FanPost section on Saturday, and you will find out!

Oh, and if you are all wondering, I will be reviewing WrestleMania XXX, so stay tuned for that as well!

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.