WrestleMania 40 lived up to the hype.  Might not have been the greatest of all time, but it was one hell of a show.  The Granddaddy of Them All delivered with some great wrestling and even better storytelling.  I am thinking that instead of going match by match, I am just going to hit you with random thoughts I had throughout the weekend

–First thing I have to point out is that I am both very happy and very upset that everyone has jumoed on the Samantha Irvin band wagon that I have been driving for years.  I am happy because it’s great that everyone else is realizing she is the best ring anouncer in the world.  I am glad she is finally getting the recognition she deserves.  I’m mad because I have been telling everyone how great she is, and now it’s like it’s a new idea or something.  I was so happy when it was reported that she was going to be the ring announcer for the entire Mania.  It’s like when you find a band that’s not very famous and then they hit it big.  It’s bitter sweet. 

–A second note I have to mention that’s not about the actual wrestling is that in night 1, Micheal Cole wore one of the worst suits I have ever seen.  It was the worst outfit of the weekend until Seth Rollins came out.  I have no words for what he was wearing, and I apologize for putting that image back in your head.

–Turns out a lot of these notes have nothing to do with the wrestling.  The Rhea vs. Becky match was really good.  As you would expect from the two of them.   I predicted Rhea would win and I am glad I was right.  The band that plays her theme song was not a good-looking group of people.  I imagine some of that was intentional.  I really thought the singer was Ripley when they first showed him up close.  As for Becky,  I like her book promoting outfits, but it reminded me of a box of Marboros. 

–The tag team ladder match was very entertaining.  Wasn’t the greatest ladder match ever, but it was fun.  R-Truth trying to tag into a match that isn’t  a tag match will never not be funny.  I am happy that he got rewarded for being so good at what he does.

–As I predicted, the WWE used the match to finally separate the tag belts.  I thought they might use a funky finish to do it, but they did it straight up.  I’m glad they did as there are so many guys on the roster each show having tag belts makes for more meaningful matches.

–I love the little things in wrestling.  The small things wrestlers and refs do during a match to make it work better.  One of these happened during the ladder match when the ref, Jessika Carr, I believe, noticed the ladder Damien Priest was using towards the end of the match was broken and let him know.   Preist then dumped the ladder and got another one for the finish.  She and another ref also held the ladder as Truth and the Miz celebrated at the end of the match. 

–The Rey Mysterio match had two great moves in it.  Joaquin Wilde did his get lauched off the middle rope by two guys move.  It’s great the distance he gets in that.  The second move was something I don’t believe I have ever seen before.  Andrade had Rey on his shoulders and they hit a double cross body off the second rope onto two of their opponents on the outside.  It was a really cool, and as far as I know, original move. 

–Cargill looked as dominant as she has since debuting.  I was surprised that her teammates were just as dominant.  I didn’t think Damage CTR would job as bad as I felt they did.  And Belair’s hair whip was nasty.

–Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre  must have felt bad Brock couldn’t be at Mania because they had a classic Lesner match.  Both guys only using two moves for most of the match.  It was a stomp and pedigree vs. a claymore and a future shock DDT.  Don’t get me wrong, it worked, as it usually does with Brock. I just thought it was funny. 

–The way they told the story of McIntyre being more concerned with CM Punk than Rollins and winning the championship and it costing him the title was done perfectly.  As a Punk fan, I am glad they are keeping that rivalry going even though he is on the shelf. 

–My favorite part of Mania may have been Damien Priest cashing in.  Once he and Finn lost the tag titles, I figured the Archer of Infamy was going to cash in.  I’m a huge Judgment Day fan, and I am glad they still have their clout with Priest as Men’s champ and Rhea as woman’s champ. 

–As surprised as I was that Damage CTR lost badly I was even more shcoked at how bad the Final Testament got their asses kicked.  I would have thought the new faction would have gone over, never mind gotten destroyed.  Bubba Ray going full Bubba Ray was great.  It does give the Final Testament an out as far as why they lost. 

–The stuff between KO and Orton was fun.  They make a good budy team.  I’m wondering if they will tag up now that there are a set of titles on Smackdown to go after now. 

–You knew Bayley was going to get her revenge on Iyo Sky.  My problem is that she didn’t go and celebrate her big win with George Kittle.  It was just rude. 

–I waited til the end to talk about the two main events together.  I thought they were perfect.  Were they overbooked?  Probably.  But they were gloriously overbooked.  Both of them, especially the second night, had a real Attitude Era feel to them.  And not just because of all the Attitude Era guys who ended up involved.  All of the run-ins and chaos were typical of the late 90s. 

–Jey took out Jimmy, Cena took out Solo, Taker took out the Rock.  It’s too bad they ran out of bad guys and had no way to get Stone Cold involved.  I really wanted to hear that glass break. 

–Once they changed from the Rock to Cody, Cody had to win.  Any doubt was extinguished when Cena showed up.  They are not gonna have him involved in a match (that wasn’t his match) and lose.  They could have just had him come out and give the attendance or something at that point. 

–I am glad Cody finished his story.  I was rooting for Reigns mostly to see the Cody Cry Babies flip out.  I am also a big fan of long title reigns.  It should be a big deal when the Champ loses.  And it’s awesome that Roman has one that is right up there with Hogan, Backlund, and Sammartino.  It would have been cool for him to make a run at Bruno.

–I am also glad they made it as hard as possible for Cody.  Sure, he got help on night two, but they set up every obstacle they could on both nights, and he came through. It’s good storytelling.

–The only problem I had with Mania this season, and it’s the tiniest, smallest, little issue that I will never think about again once I am done typing this, it’s that the results were all predictable.  In my Mania preview, I predicted Mami would retain, Gunter and the Tag Champs would lose and the Rock and Reigns would win night one.  I even had the Archer of Infamy cashing in and them spliting up the tag belts.  I agree with all the results, but you could see them all coming. 

–The thing that surprised me most this weekend was how surprised everyone seems to be at the great long-term story telling the WWE used for the main event feud.  Triple H has been doing this kind of stuff ever since he took over NXT.  It’s why he’s the best booker in the industry.  Once he was out of Vince’s control and able to fully run the show, he has shown what he can do on the biggest stage possible.  I don’t know why people are surprised by this. 

–One of the reasons Hunter is so good is that he has no ego when booking.  He’s not stubborn.  If Vince decided it was going to be The Rock vs Reigns, do you really think he would have changed it when the fans spoke up or do you think he would have shoved the Rock down the fans throats the way he did Roman when he first became a singles competitor?   You can’t always listen to the fans, but knowing when it’s the right time to listen is a skill.  Triple H knows when something is working and when something isn’t and is more than willing to adjust either way.  He also is great at long-term booking and knows when to piss off the fans for a big payoff down the road (see last years Mania).  The best thing that happened to wrestling and wrestling fans since Vince bought the WWF was Triple H taking over as head booker.  

–WrestleMania this year was great.  We saw some great action and the conclusions of some great storylines.  The WWE has set the bar really high for the next year to build compelling story lines for Mania 41 to live up to this years standard.  I trust Hunter to get it done.