The Road to WrestleMania 28 Part 5: Top 5 WrestleMania Moments

Each and every year, WWE comes out with a special WrestleMania magazine.  This year the magazine had 75 WWE Superstars, Divas and Hall of Famers recounting their personal WrestleMania moments, which made for a great read.  It got me thinking as a fan, what my top WrestleMania moments were.  Out of the 12 WrestleManias I have watched and also own, I have been emotionally involved in the build-up for 8 WrestleManias considering I only started watching wrestling in late 2003.  So the moments that stick out in my head are predominantly from WrestleMania 20 and up.  These moments listed below are what sticks out in my head when I think of WrestleMania. Some are entire matches, some are spectacular spots, some are emotional moments of amazement and awe and some are heartfelt moments that just make you want to tear up.  These are my WrestleMania moments. 

5.  “Tap Out!  You hear me Michaels… TAP OUT!”- WrestleMania 21

Those were the last few words Kurt Angle got to say before eating some Sweet Chin Music.  An incredible encounter led down to one moment that has gone on to define this match for many fans.  Michaels’ superkick from out of nowhere made me and many others jump out of their seats in utter shock.  Shawn looked like he was out of the match, but he pulled out that superkick and the Staples Center exploded as it looked like he still had a chance to beat Kurt Angle.  While Kurt Angle would eventually make Michaels tap out to one of the most grueling Ankle Locks in wrestling history, this one superkick lives on in many wrestling fans hearts as the moment that launched Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle into stealing the show at WrestleMania 21.

4.  “I’m Sorry.  I Love You.”- WrestleMania 24

Already an extremely emotional match, Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels ended with possibly the most beautiful moment in wrestling history.  As Ric Flair stumbles to his feet after taking a thunderous superkick from Michaels, Shawn goes to put down the Nature Boy.  Conflicted by being the one to end Ric Flair’s illustrious career, Michaels mouths the words, “I’m Sorry.  I Love You.”, before hitting Flair with one last Sweet Chin Music for the win.  What an excellent way to end a career and an excellent moment that could only happen at WrestleMania.

3.  “I just had an Out-of-Body experience!”- WrestleMania 25

That pretty much sums up everybody’s reaction to this incredible spot.  After being sent over the ropes, Shawn Michaels goes to skin the cat, but Undertaker is there to grab HBK into an impactful Tombstone Piledriver that made me and many others believe that there was no way Shawn would kick.  Well he did and the reaction from the crowd, the announcers, mainly Jim Ross, Undertaker and I was a collective gasp at what happened.

2.  Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero Celebrate- WrestleMania 20

In all honesty, nowadays it is hard for me to watch this celebration without breaking into tears.  Call me whatever you want, but when I first started out watching wrestling Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit (the wrestler, not the murderer) were my heroes.  Seeing them celebrate at the very end of WrestleMania 20 both holding the top titles for their respective brand is just a beautiful moment that makes me miss these great wrestlers.

1.  Streak vs. Career- WrestleMania 26

Nothing can compare to this match.  No title match, no dream match, not even Rock vs. Cena or the supposed End of an Era can compare to Undertaker’s unprecedented undefeated streak vs. Shawn Michaels’ illustrious career.  From the opening bell to the awe-inspiring Leaping Tombstone Piledriver to end it, this match is everything you want in a match.  Emotion, suspense, story and phenomenal wrestling are all key components of Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels II.  It had everyone on the edge of their seat for one 24 minute moment that lives on in my heart as the greatest WrestleMania moment of all-time and the greatest match of all-time.

The Road to WrestleMania 28 Part 4: The Best in the World

While WWE is focusing a lot on Rock vs. Cena and Triple H vs. Undertaker, the major heavyweight championships seem to be lost in the shuffle.  One feud in particular that is sadly getting little attention is CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho, self-proclaimed Best in the World vs. self-proclaimed Best in the World.  Things started out a bit rocky between Punk and Jericho, but they have consistently put on the best segments on Raw for the last month.  Their segments rival those between Shawn Michaels, Undertaker and Triple H and sure as hell beat Cena and Rock’s segments on Raw each week.  Today, we will be looking at both CM Punk and Chris Jericho and which one is the Best in the World.

 He has been wrestling for 20 years, has won over 30 championships and achieved many things few wrestlers even dream of such as beating the Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin in the same night to become the first WWE Undisputed Champion or winning the Intercontinental Championship a record nine times.  He has reinvented himself time and time again.  Going from Y2J to an egotistical hypocrite-hating heel to now a cocky veteran wrestler who believes everyone from the wrestlers in the back to the people in the crowd want to be him (Jericlones as he calls them).  He is a trend setter in the WWE and all of wrestling.  Just look at all the clean-dressed suit wearing heels in the WWE and other promotions since he made it popular back in 2008.  From the world of wrestling to music to television to even dancing, he has been the best at anything he does in and outside of the ring.  He is the challenger to the WWE Championship and the title of “Best in the World” in a couple weeks at WrestleMania.  His name is Chris Jericho and he is the best in the world at whatever he sets his mind.

He is the Voice of the Voiceless, the Cult of Personality and the current WWE Champion.  He has been considered upon one of the elite wrestlers in the world from his days in the Indies all the way to being a squandered talent in the WWE.  He has enough personality and charisma to play any character from a crazed cult leader to an outspoken punk.  He even turned his career in the WWE around with a microphone.  Now he is the new top dog in the WWE and he is not afraid to speak his mind about whomever.  He has lead two factions, the Straight-Edge Society and the New Nexus.  He is the fastest wrestler to become a Triple Crown Champion.  He is the only wrestler to win tow Money in the Bank Ladder matches and two in a row no less.  His name is CM Punk, the WWE Champion and currently the top dog in the WWE.

Considering that I am a big fan of both CM Punk and Chris Jericho, deciding which one is the Best in the World.  Chris Jericho has had a much longer career than CM Punk and has proved that he can do anything he sets his mind to and be the best at it.  CM Punk has been wrestling just over a decade and is now at the top of his game.  While Punk might not a multimedia superstar, this debate is about the Best Wrestler in World, not who is the Best Superstar of the World.  By a slim margin, it has to go to CM Punk.  He is the current WWE Champion, the top dog in the WWE and clearly puts on the best match and/or promo every time he is in the ring.  Also with CM Punk being much younger than Jericho, he has more potential to get better.  While Chris Jericho is a bone-fide first ballot WWE Hall of Famer right here, right now, CM Punk is in my opinion the Best in the World.

This week saw Jericho make things personal as he attacked Punk and his alcoholic father.  While some think it was not needed, I personally think it added a great new dynamic to this feud in the last couple weeks leading to WrestleMania.  If you have not been paying attention to this feud, you better start now because you will be in for a surprise come WrestleMania when Punk and Jericho steal the show.  Make sure to come back next weekend for the next installment in The Road to WrestleMania 28 series.  Next week will be my personal Top 10 WrestleMania Moments.

The Road to WrestleMania 28 Part 3: John Cena

As we continue on the long road to Miami, the Road to WrestleMania 28 series continues.  This week I pick up right where we left off.  I gave my opinions on the Great One, the People’s Champ, the Rock.  Here today will be the leader of the Cenation’s turn to run through my analysis.  As today, I will be discussing my opinions on the most polarizing person in WWE history.

Way back when I started following professional wrestling, I was a John Cena fan.  I enjoyed his charisma, his in-ring ability and his rapper gimmick.  It was fresh and for a 12 year-old boy, a character that he really seen before.  Also as a 12 year-old boy first starting to follow wrestling, I tended to side with all the faces.  At that time, if you were a heel, I hated you and if you were a face, I liked you.  It is kind of how everybody starts out.  Eventually as I got older and more mature, I started to care more who was the better wrestler and who entertained me more.  With that realization, I started cheering for superstars in the WWE that could actually wrestle no matter if they were face or heel.  After a while, I realized that John Cena was not that good of a wrestler and he did not entertain unless he was put with a guy like CM Punk, Chris Jericho, Edge or Shawn Michaels that could carry him to a great feud.  With the torch of Face of the WWE passed directly to him, John Cena reverted from the interesting rapper gimmick he started out as to a generic Superman gimmick.  Cena had no real character, no real charisma (shouting loudly and cracking lame jokes do not count as charisma) and severely lacking wrestling ability.  He did the same old crap every single night with little to no variation and many wrestling fans including myself got sick of it very fast.  But as the Face of the WWE, the Hulk Hogan of this era, WWE shoved Cena down our collective throats, giving him the WWE or World Title time and time again when it did nothing for him and nothing for the titles and having him squash new talent like he is the new Triple H.  While I do not like John Cena, I do respect the hard-working company man he is.  I am just sick and tired of his inconsistent character that jumps between burying his opponents by not taking them serious and making lame jokes that make more people roll their eyes than laugh, which I hate with a passion, and actually taking things seriously and even getting angry, which I actually enjoy.  I am sick and tired of his generic Superman gimmick, which means Cena can get hit by lightning, run over by a truck and take other amounts of pain no human can actually withstand then shrug it off like nothing really happened and still win the match.  Cena has been doing these things for the last seven years and I am just exhausted of it all.  Something needs to change in his character and soon or there might not be a way to redeem Cena in the eyes of hardcore wrestling fans.  Turn him heel, make him more serious, just WWE please do something with John Cena that is actually interesting and worthwhile or history will just continue repeating itself over and over again once this whole feud with Rock is over. 

While I did complain more about John Cena than the Rock, I will say Cena is bringing it these last few weeks.  For once in I don’t know how many years, Cena is actually taking an opponent seriously and it really shows.  Cena has upstaged the Rock these last few weeks and looks to be under the Great One’s skin.  Like I mentioned before that I don’t think that Cena will stay serious once WrestleMania has come and gone, but one can only hope.  Out of the two, I prefer Rock over John Cena any day of the week, but I see the current Face of the WWE walking out of Miami with his hand raised high in victory.  With WrestleMania 28 only a few weeks away, come back next weekend for the next installment of the Road to WrestleMania 28 series.  Next week I will be looking at Best in the World vs. Best in the World, CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho.

The Road to WrestleMania 28 Part 2: The Rock

Set almost one year ago, The Rock vs. John Cena is a dream match that many have waited for a long time.  Comparable to the Rock vs. Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8, the main event of WrestleMania 28 will see one of the Faces of the WWE during the Attitude Era go up against the current Face of the WWE in an epic clash that should be nothing short of magical.  Ever since Rock made his first shots at Cena over a year ago on Raw, fans and also other wrestlers have split into Team Rock and Team Cena.  While neither Rock nor Cena are among my favourite wrestlers, I want to put my opinions on these seemingly polarizing characters in anticipation for their upcoming main event match at WrestleMania.  Considering that is a lot to talk about here, I will be breaking this article into two parts.  As you can see from the title, this article will be all about the People’s Champ, The Rock and next week’s article will be all about John Cena.

I did not start watching WWE until late 2003, early 2004, so all I knew of the Rock at the time was what my friends who heavily followed wrestling said about him.  As my passion for professional wrestling grew, I started collecting wrestling pay-per views and other DVDs and a handful featuring many of the Rock’s great matches and promos.  I learned quickly what an amazing wrestler and entertainer the Rock was and still is.  Some of my favourite WrestleMania matches feature the People’s Champ.  I also believe the Rock is one of the best talkers to ever grace the squared circle.  When you talk about the Rock, the biggest elephant in the room seems to be that he supposedly “abandoned” the WWE for the glitz and glam of Hollywood.  This point has been repeatedly been brought to the forefront lately as it is a key part of Cena’s argument why he is better than Rock.  For all those who think Rock abandoned the WWE, I will be blunt, get your head out of your behind and face reality.  We are no longer in the day that will see wrestlers stay in the business for years upon years, decades upon decades.  You will never see a career as long as Ric Flair or Hulk Hogan ever again because professional wrestling is incredibly taxing on the body and mind.  These guys and gals cannot do this job forever.  They either succumb to nagging injuries or get out before they have to.  Just look at Edge, Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin who all forced to retire from the ring because of injuries.  Also look at Undertaker who can only wrestle one match a year now due because his body cannot take anymore than that one match.   Back in 2003, Rock figured out that the Attitude Era was over and the WWE did not need The Rock anymore.  So instead of over staying his welcome, Rocky stepped aside for others like Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Edge and John Cena, yes, John Cena to get their time to shine in the main event.  While he did leave WWE, he did not turn his back on it.  Rock came back again and again to do promos when it did not conflict with his other commitments.  Eventually when things calmed down, he came back to the WWE to help bring in fans and put over others in this transitional period in the WWE.  The Rock may not be able to be with the WWE ever single show, but he is giving back to the company that made him the star you see today.  While I do have a lot good things to say about Rocky, his promos as of late have not come close to his return promo from last year or his promos when he was a full time employee of the WWE.  Maybe Rocky has been scripting his promos out way too much instead of letting his creative juices flow and his mouth just go.  Hopefully as we get closer to WrestleMania, the Great One will go back to what made him great in the first place and stop making notes on his wrist.  You are a great wrestler and an amazing talker Rocky, but at the moment your promos are not up to standard you set for yourself.

Love or hate either the Rock or John Cena, you have to at least respect them and their contributions to the WWE and wrestling industry.  The second part of this article will be on my opinions of possibly the most polarizing WWE superstar of all-time and the current Face of the WWE, the one the only John Cena as the Road to WrestleMania 28 series will return next weekend.