Wrestlemania 29 has come and gone, and it seems as though a lot of the IWC (or Internet Wrestling Community, for those of you not in the know - which included me until I looked up that acronym just moments ago) aren't exactly thrilled with the outcomes of the matches. It seems as though WM29 is being looked at as one of the more disappointing Wrestlemania cards of all time and I can't say that I necessarily disagree with that opinion. There were very few surprises coming out of World Wrestling Entertainment's biggest event of the year, which would seemingly continue WWE's progression towards going with storylines & angles which favor maintaining the marketability of the product over taking chances with innovative possibilities. This is where professional wrestling as a form of performance art gets tampered with by stockholders and bean counters. That said, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon just ran an event that drew over 80,000 attendees, generated more than 12 million pay-per-view buys and who runs a billion-dollar industry. Meanwhile, I'm just a guy with a blog - I'll defer to the man who could use $100 bills as toilet paper as opposed to trying to convince anyone that I know better, at least in this context.
As for my WM29 picks, I'd say that I did well overall, finishing with a record of 6-2. There was one match which I did not pick as a result of it having been added to the pre-show card after I'd published my previous entry, that being the Miz vs. Wade Barrett for Barrett's Intercontinental Championship. Miz defeated Barrett for the title; he's been on an intense climb as of late, and had I been aware of that match prior to releasing my blog with picks I'd have definitely chosen him as the winner. I won't be so bold as to retcon my picks, though, so my record for WM29 shall hold strong at 6-2.
There was another match added to the card after I'd made my predictions in the form an inter-gender 8-person tag team match: Brodus Clay, Tensai & the Funk-adactyls vs. Damien Sandow, Cody Rhodes and the Bella Twins. However, this bout wound up getting bumped off the card at the last minute. I'm not sure if it was because of time restrictions or what exactly but I hate it for all those involved. Performing at Wrestlemania is a dream for every professional wrestler and I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have the rug yanked out from under you in such a way as that. To make matters worse is the fact that WWE, despite having promoted the match in advance of WM29, appears to now be attempting to scrub it from ever having been a part of their planning as all mentions of it have been removed from content associated with the event.
At any rate, here are the full results from WM29 with my remarks tacked onto the matches I failed to correctly project.
1) The Miz def. Wade Barrett to win the Intercontinental Championship
2) The Shield def. Sheamus, Randy Orton & Big Show
3) Mark Henry def. Ryback
If you look back at my predictions, I mentioned the fact that having Mark Henry win here would do a lot towards elevating him as a top heel seeing as how Ryback, up until WM29, had been on a tear. The fact that WWE saw fit to put over Henry in a decisive manner means that he's in someone's good graces at this point in time; I would hope that he is because Henry really has been turning in some quality performances over the past year and looks like a legitimate monster. While Henry hopefully has many more good years of competing in him, I would say that the time is now for Mark seeing as how he's on the verge of his 42nd birthday. Pro wrestling, much like any pro sport, is a young man's game. Mark has shown repeatedly that he's not bulletproof and his being up there in age won't help matters.
I would say that Ryback is due for some repackaging. He just does not come off to me as a guy for whom the fans should be cheering. I would say he could benefit greatly from being taken under the wing of a manager, handler or mouthpiece but those are roles WWE doesn't seem keen on filling these days and that's a real shame. There was a point in time where a guy like Ryback who has obviously tremendous physical gifts could go farther with their potential by being paired up with a great manager. I'm not sure when managers became a bad thing but regardless of that Ryback is a prime example of a guy who could go from being just another ticked-off meat head to a real villain just by giving him a dastardly ally to play off of and rely upon to make the crowd hate them both.
4) Team Hell No (Kane & Daniel Bryan) def. Dolph Ziggler & Big E Langston to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship
5) Fandago def. Chris Jericho
6) Alberto Del Rio def. Jack Swagger to retain the World Championship
7) The Undertaker def. CM Punk
8) HHH def. Brock Lesnar
I'm not surprised at how this match ended. To think that Hunter would ever have someone like Brock Lesnar be the one to retire him was a mistake on my part, however I will say that it seemed like a decent potentiality at the time. Helmsley is an executive within the upper ranks of WWE management now, meaning his in-ring career as a wrestler isn't his sole focus anymore. There will come a point in time where he hangs up his boots, but that time isn't here yet.
Brock Lesnar is left without much direction coming out of this match. He and Hunter have been at each other for quite some time now, and as a result of their feud seemingly coming to an end Brock is - well, Brock is left without a dancing partner, at least not one that naturally springs to mind. I've seen some rumors floating around that WWE is interested in having Brock feud with The Rock in the future, but that shouldn't be taken as anymore more than pure speculation for now.
9) John Cena def. The Rock to win the WWE Championship
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