By Tony Donofrio, Torch specialist

-- 3/28 WWE WrestleMania 26 PPV Hits & Misses

WWE PPV HITS

Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase: This was the start of a trend to the evening where the in-ring action was good but the booking was sub-par or vice versa. However, this one still ends up on the "hit" side of things. The match had a nice flow to it and was a good regroup type of match after the weak opener (more on that later). I'm not sure who Rhodes's tailor is, but he/she should be fired! That aside, this was a solid match. I don't necessarily agree with Orton going over here, but there were no real complaints about their in-ring work. I'm sure this feud has one more match to it before the three members of Legacy officially go their own ways. But, I'm also hoping to see Rhodes sell Orton's "punt" to the head for about at least a month, as has been the precedent.

Jack Swagger wins the Money in the Bank Ladder match: This had to be the big shocker of WM. First of all, the match was what most people thought it was going to be - a spot fest. I've been a fan of the match concept since it arrived. However, I'd like to see WWE scale this match back to six wrestlers. Ten wrestlers is WAY too many and I think that was apparent with this year's showing. My top three going into this match were Christian, Kofi Kingston, and Drew McIntyre, so having Jack Swagger walk out with the briefcase was a major surprise...but a good one. I've always liked Swagger and I hope that this means that he'll now get the push that he deserves. Some of the spots (including Swagger pulling down the briefcase) took too long to set up but it didn't take too much away from the match. I am expecting to see a quick cash-in (I thought for sure we were getting one after the Edge-Jericho match) this year. With the Money in the Bank PPV coming in July (and assuming that Raw and Smackdown will each have a winner), I don't believe that WWE will want to have three guys running around with a briefcase guaranteeing a title shot.

Triple H vs. Sheamus: This match falls into the aforementioned category of "good action/sub-par booking," like the triple threat match. I was actually pleasantly surprised by this match as far as the in-ring work went. But, I still can't believe that Triple H was booked to win over Sheamus. I'm assuming that this feud also has another one-to-two matches in it and that we'll see it continue. This match review seems short, but there really isn't much too much to say about it!

Edge vs. Chris Jericho (World Heavyweight Title): It certainly didn't live up to my big expectations, but it was solid from start to the post-match finish. The flow to this match was perfect; starting off slow and slowly gained momentum. I think what was apparent, however, is that Edge isn't 100 percent yet. The match was booked properly (to ensure that Edge will keep chasing Jericho) and to give Edge more time to keep rehabbing his Achilles tendon injury. The post-match spear through the barricade at ringside was a nice spot, as well. At this point, I was waiting and waiting and then surprised that Jack Swagger didn't cash in his briefcase for a title shot. All in all, though, a solid match and it was nice to finally see Chris Jericho get a major win at WM - a win that had eluded him until now.

John Cena vs. Batista (WWE Title): This match was a "hit"...barely! It also fell into the category of "decent action/sub-par booking." You had to know coming into this match that the wrestlers weren't going to set the world on fire with in-ring work. I think most people would have liked to see Cena continue to chase Batista, as Batista is currently doing the best work of his entire career. I must admit, I didn't think he could pull off a strong heel character and I was proven wrong. With this match not going on last, WWE could have afforded to go with two heel champions going over and I think that's the way it should have gone. But, again, these two put on probably the best match that they're going to put on together and I can't give them a miss for that.

Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker (Shawns career vs. Undertaker's undefeated WM record): Did this match top last year's? In terms of in-ring work...no, but barely. In terms of drama and story telling...absolutely! The nearfalls were done very well and I did, in fact, start to believe that Shawn was going to win. Shawn's moonsault off the top rope onto the announcer's table outside the ring was unreal. The idea that Shawn was working The Undertaker's leg since the beginning of the match helped build the belief that Shawn could win because of Undertaker's "injury." Once we got to the finish, though, it was apparent that Shawn was not going to win. I loved seeing Undertaker actually say "what do I have to do?" after multiple false finishes. It "humanized" him in a way that I think we haven't seen done since his return to the "Deadman" persona. Finally, seeing Shawn pull himself up Undertaker's body and look into his eyes, only to slap him, instantly reminded me of Ric Flair almost telling Shawn to end it like he did at WM 24. In a way, it showed that Shawn knew, at that point, that he couldn't win and wanted The Undertaker to end it. If this really is the end to HBK's career, I want to say right here and now, thank you Shawn for a great career and countless classics that we, as wrestling fans, will never forget. I'm hoping that Shawn will get the same type of send-off on Raw that we saw WWE give Ric Flair after WrestleMania 24.

WWE PPV MISSES

John Morrison/R-Truth vs. ShowMiz (Unified Tag Titles): For all the decent promotion that was put into this match, I was very disappointed. It went less than five minutes and came off as the throwaway match that many of thought it would be when Morrison/Truth first earned the title shot. Why put promotion into a match and then only give these guys less than five minutes to work? Not to mention, it was a weak way to start off the biggest wrestling show on the year. This was a match that was booked correctly, as far as a finish goes, but wasn't given nearly enough time to shine or get the crowd into the show. I never thought that ShowMiz was going to lose to begin with, but the fact that there was no real drama to this match to challenge that really makes this match a major "miss." Here's hoping that this is also the end of the thrown-together tag team of Morrison and Truth. Their interviews don't mesh well together and it's been uncomfortable to watch because of it.

Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk: I called Swagger winning the MITB match the biggest shocker of the night. This was a close second and not for good reason. Mysterio and Punk are arguably two of the best wrestlers in the company were given less than seven minutes to work with. That's only the first part of my gripe. I think the booking of this match was not the right decision. The way to go with this was that after Rey was forced to join Punk's Straight Edge Society, Punk would want Rey to unmask, to which Rey would refuse. Of course, from there we would get a very captivating Mask vs. Hair feud with Punk eventually losing his hair. Now, I'm not saying that we won't eventually get there, but I guess it won't exactly go that way. This was one of the two major disappointments coming from a show that had a stacked card and I still shake my head over and over about my first point...seven minutes!

Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon: Probably no one had Vince McMahon winning this match in their predictions. However, the lack of drama to this match was disheartening to say the least. Usually, it is the babyface of the match that is at a disadvantage. Vince bringing out Bret's family, including The Hart Dynasty, to ringside as lumberjacks and Bret's brother Bruce as a special referee was a good start. However, the double cross should have taken place later in the match and not from the start. It would have made so much more sense to see the Hart's side with Bret after the match had started and not been announced beforehand. This was definitely the longest eleven minutes of the show because there was no real drama to it. As I said, we all pretty much knew that Bret would go over in this match, but adding a little drama would have been nice. I do see some potentially good things coming out of this though, but more on that later.

10 Divas Tag Match: If you saw WM, then I don't really need to say anything. If you didn't, then be glad that you missed this match. This was five minutes of torture and no one should have to watch this. The only thing that was bright to come out of this was seeing Vickie Guerrero pay homage to her late husband Eddie from the top rope.

Michael Cole: "WrestleMania moment." "Vintage." If I hear those words/phrases one more time, my head might explode. You could have made a drinking game out of "WrestleMania moment" and would have been hammered by the third match! Michael Cole is obviously not Jim Ross, but I really wish Vince McMahon would give Todd Grisham a chance to shine with Jerry Lawler and Matt Striker in the three-man booths on PPV. Nothing personal against Michael, but I'm just not a fan of his work and have not been for quite some time now.

ANALYSIS/OVERALL GRADE

Did WM 26 live up to my expectations? Not quite, but I also had very high expectations for this show. Do I think it was the best WM since WM XIX, as I thought it would be? Probably. Despite the fact that there was only one more "hit" than there were "misses," I'd give the show an "A-minus." The reason is that I think the "hits" were weighted higher than the "misses." Overall, it was a fun show with a bitter-sweet ending. Either way I think most fans would say it was going to be bitter-sweet despite the winner of Undertaker-Michaels. We would have either seen the end of Undertaker's undefeated streak or the (potential) end of HBK's career. As I stated earlier, I hope that HBK gets the same send-off that Flair did two years ago.

As for the other potential fall out, I believe that we'll see a lot of re-matches at next months "Extreme Rules" PPV. That typically is what has happened the month after WM for the past decade or so. Most of the big feuds that were built up the past few months will officially start to wind down. The annual WWE Draft is also upcoming with some potential major shake-ups. I also wouldn't be surprised to see Jack Swagger cash in his briefcase as early as this week. I won't get too in-depth about where I believe WWE is going to go from here because of the aforementioned potential re-matches coming up and the shake up from the draft. For me to make that many predictions would purely speculative considering the upcoming month's events.

The only one that I will make from here is what I mentioned at the end of my comments on the Bret vs. Vince "miss." I've heard rumblings that Bret is happy with WWE right now and might be willing to extend his short-term contract. That would be great to see. Also potentially coming out of that will be the emergence of The Hart Dynasty. We can assume that Vince will now try to punish the group for double-crossing him at WM, vaulting them into some major storylines. I'd also love to see Bret take leadership of the trio and/or potentially add a fourth addition in Teddy Hart. I know that Teddy has past issues with WWE, but you'd have to think that if anyone could help straighten him out, it would be some firsthand mentoring from Bret. Here's hoping that this does come to fruition.

The last thing I will touch on is some hopefuls for the WWE Draft. I still really believe that Christian belongs on Smackdown, not Raw. He would fit in perfectly on the blue side with Jericho and Edge. That is, of course, unless there is a major shakeup that brings them to him. If things stay fairly the same, then I'm hoping that Batista stays on Raw. He has been great as a heel and Raw is in a major need for them right now. No matter what though, the draft always is an exciting show each year. With that and the Extreme Rules PPV coinciding with my one-year anniversary writing for The Torch, April should be a pretty exciting month for WWE and pro wrestling in general!

Tony Donofrio is a Specialist for the Torch covering WWE PPVs monthly and contributes to the Torch Roundtable Reviews on a weekly basis. You can contact Tony at PWTorchTD@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/TonyDonofrio..

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