WWE WrestleMania XXVI

Date: 28th March, 2010
Venue: University of Phoenix Stadium
City: Phoenix, Arizona
Attendance: 72,219
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Unified WWE Tag Team Championship
ShoMiz (c) vs John Morrison & R-Truth
A good choice for an opener but it was the shortest match on the card which seemed like a strange decision. There was really nothing wrong with the match but it's hard to put on anything particularly great in 3 minutes. ShoMiz retained the titles after Show's big right hand got the pin.
Winners and STILL Tag Team Champions: ShoMiz (3:24)
Big Show pinned Morrison (KO Punch)
*3/4


Triple Threat match
Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton vs Ted DiBiase
Even though it's been a very long time coming, it was hard for anyone to get overly excited for this match due to the poor build and likelyhood that Orton would come out on top, rendering the whole thing fairly pointless. It was a decent match in honesty with Orton getting the win after DiBiase and Rhodes inevitably fell out over who would get the pin.
Winner: Randy Orton (9:01)
Orton pinned DiBiase (RKO)
**3/4


Money in the Bank Ladder match
Christian vs Kofi Kingston vs Jack Swagger vs M.V.P. vs Shelton Benjamin vs Evan Bourne vs Matt Hardy vs Kane vs Drew McIntyre vs Dolph Ziggler
It was obvious as soon as the match began that 10 is too many for a ladder match, but still this turned out to be a very good match, as it is every year. The best spots were probably Swagger getting trapped inside a ladder sandwich and Kofi using the broken ladder pieces as stilts. There weren't as many crazy high jump spots as previous years but Evan Bourne did his best with a sweet Air Bourne from a ladder. Swagger surprisingly picked up the win after having a 30 second struggle with the briefcase.
Winner: Jack Swagger (13:44)
Via briefcase retrieval
***1/2


Triple H vs Sheamus
It was shocking enough to see HHH this far down a WrestleMania card, and it would have been even more unlikely for him to lose here, and it never really looked like happening. This was a lot better than it could have been, and made for a decent big man brawl but Hunter got the win after hitting the Pedigree.
Winner: Triple H (12:09)
Via Pinfall (Pedigree)
***


If Mysterio loses, he must join the Straight Edge Society
C.M. Punk vs Rey Mysterio
It would be harsh to call this match a disappointment, but giving it only 6 and a half minutes on a 4 hour card seems a bit of a joke. Punk and Mysterio did what they could in the time given and it was a fast paced exciting match for what there was of it. Mysterio disappointingly picked up the win after his 619/Splash combo. I was disappointingly, because it seems to me having Punk win and have to serve under Punk for a while would have made a great storyline and fleshed this feud out for another few months.
Winner: Rey Mysterio (6:30)
Via Pinfall (Springboard Splash)
***1/4


No Holds Barred Lumberjack match
Bret Hart vs Vince McMahon
I'm not sure how they managed it but this was the most boring match of the event. McMahon came out claiming he had bought out the entire Hart family to turn on Bret and help him get the win, only for Bret to reveal it was a screwjob and they were on his side all along. The match then plodded on for over 10 minutes, mainly consisting of Bret hitting Vince with a chair. This may have been more enjoyable had the crowd been into it, but I don't blame them for being fairly lifeless as there wasn't a lot happening. Eventually, everybody got what they wanted as Bret locked in the Sharpshooter and the win. I suppose this wasn't really a match as much as it was an apology from Vince, but why did they need to make it take up nearly 30 minutes of the event when that time could be spent on other matches.
Winner: Bret Hart (11:09)
Via Submission (Sharpshooter)
*


World Heavyweight Championship
Chris Jericho (c) vs Edge
This was a fantastic match built on a fairly lame gimmick (the SpearSpearSpear thing) but these two were never going to produce anything less. It was just a really solid match between two great workers. The psychology was great with Jericho working on Edge's injured achilles, and it paid off with him getting the win via the 2nd Code Breaker of the night. Jericho winning and Edge spearing him through a barrier after the match means this feud isn't over, which can only be a good thing.
Winner and STILL World Heavyweight Champion, Chris Jericho (15:48)
Via Pinfall (Code Breaker)
***3/4


10-Diva Tag match
Beth Phoenix, Mickie James, Gail Kim, Eve Torres & Kelly Kelly vs Michelle McCool, Layla, Maryse, Alicia Fox & Vickie Guerrero
Urgh, why must the divas be on every WrestleMania, and always in the most pointless matches. This isn't even worthy of any more comment.
Winners: Team Guerrero (3:26)
Guerrero pinned Kelly (Frog Splash)
1/4*


WWE Championship
Batista (c) vs John Cena
It's surprising how these two aren't the best wrestlers in the world or even particularly good at pulling out great matches from others, but both times they have met they have put on really good bouts. The two biggest stars in the company didn't disappoint here as this fantastically built match ended very nicely. We saw the typical trading finishers and signatures but it all came together very well. Batista's face when Cena kicked out of the Batista Bomb was priceless.
Winner and NEW WWE Champion, John Cena (13:31)
Via Submission (STF)
***3/4


Streak vs Career match
The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels
These two had an awful lot to live up to with the pressure of bettering last years effort and the fact it was highly likely to be the last high profile match of both their careers. While it may not have been up to scratch with last year's in-ring work, the emotion and storytelling was great. A fairly fitting way for HBK to retire, with the best match of the night, as he has managed to produce at countless WrestleManias.
Winner: The Undertaker (23:23)
Via Pinfall (Tombstone Piledriver)
****1/2



Overall Thoughts:
The few crap matches and wasted time that could have gone to other matches can be ignored, because it really isn't every month you get a PPV that has 6 matches rated over three stars, and it's because it was so consistently good that I decided to add some bonus points to the final score.

The amount of hype going into this event was incredible, with talk of it possibly being the greatest WrestleMania of all time. It wasn't quite but it was still a damn good event with many watchable matches. In particular, the two titles matches and main event really made it a WM to remember, even if it can't quite compete with X7 and others of that ilk.

8.0 / 10.0

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