WWE Wrestlemania 28 PPV Overview
One of the WWE’s main problems for the past few years has been the lack of long-term build and planning. This has obviously led to some big failed angles and missed opportunities, however when it comes time for WrestleMania, everything is normally in place, far in advance and this year the Wrestlemania 28 matches are no exception.
After this past week’s WWE Raw Supershow went off the air, we had a pretty good idea if not confirmation on all of the major matches on the card, which can only be a good thing. In this article we take a look at and preview these matches.
Wrestlemania 28 The Rock vs. John Cena
Two of the biggest draws of their respective eras (Attitude vs PG), facing off in what will most probably be from a business standpoint, the biggest WrestleMania match of all time.
The match has been built on and off for a year, starting with the return of the Rock to WWE last year. For the most part the WWE has done a decent job of building the feud, but we haven’t gotten to the final most important stretch and the road has been far from smooth throughout.
The build to the Rock’s first match back in over seven years was so bad that the Survivor Series pay-per view only did marginally better business than the year before, with the element of Rock and Cena being partners essentially being the hook.
They faced a midcard team of R-Truth and the Miz, who where not built up strong and the biggest reason that creative could find for Cena and Rock teaming up, was that the Rock’s twitter followers told him that he should do it. This tells us the return match of the Rock, after being absent for seven years can still be botched.
Wrestlemania 28 John Cena vs The Rock
There is potential for a lot of good however, with the WWE creative team trying to get a split reaction at Mania, (which will not happen) they have made Cena more likeable in many ways.
This was demonstrated on WWE Raw this week when Cena delivered what was arguably his best promo in the past year, he came out there and cut a serious promo on the Rock, no bad comedy, no “I don’t care if I win” nonsense, it was as straight forward as could be, he wants to beat the Rock, because the Rock will leave after their match and Cena will still be there, because Cena is a full time professional wrestler.
That was it and it worked. Granted the “Rock left us deserted” argument has little to no basis anymore, but the promo itself really helped put the Cena character over.
As far as the rest of the build goes for The Rock vs John Cena Wrestlemania 28 match , it should be really straight forward. As long as Cena continues along this path of serious promos and the Rock has some control over his material or is at least given decent material, the build should be fine for The Rock Wrestlemania 28 single match return.
Based on the drawing power of John Cena and Rock match up, the WrestleMania 28 buyrates should pull in very big numbers. Even if the build was messed up some how, it will probably still do very good business.
There has been talk of a multi-match series between the Rock and John Cena, which would see the loser of the WrestleMania 28 match getting a win at SummeSlam 2012 and then having the rubber match at next year’s WrestleMania 29, which could be a viable option, depending on the way that it’s built.
The John Cena vs Rock Wrestlemania 28 match itself probably won’t be Steamboat vs. Flair, but it should be a good match and the atmosphere and moment that can be created in the Rock’s hometown of Miami on April 1st could be something very special.
Hell In A Cell
Undertaker vs Triple H Wrestlemania 28
Last year their No Holds Barred match stole the show without a doubt, this year they look to recreate that magic in the Hell in a Cell.
The entire premise of the Triple H vs Undertaker Wrestlemania 28 rematch is that Triple H called out the Undertaker for not being able to walk out on his own powers at WM 27. However Triple H later declined the offer when Undertaker issue the challenge of a rematch to end all doubts.
This set up a great series of segments involving Triple H, UnderTaker and Shawn Michaels respectively. These segments revolved around the fact that Undertaker did not walk away from his match with Triple H at last year’s WrestleMania. Triple H said that he didn’t want to damage the Undertaker brand and that he was doing the right thing for business.
Things progressed when Shawn Michaels was a guest on WWE Raw and confronted Triple H on the issue, they had a heated confrontation about the matter, but the Undertaker Wrestlemania 28 match wasn’t made until the next week.
The next week Undertaker confronted Triple H in a generally great segment, apart from some rusty delivery from the Undertaker at the beginning and the crowd “What?” reaction to Undertaker’s promo.
Undertaker came out with short hair under a hood and exit with Metallica The Memory Remains, but it wasn’t really pointed out by the announcers.
Eventually Triple H accepted the Undertaker’s challenge and makes it Wrestlemania 28 Triple H vs Undertaker Hell In A Cell match to end it all. This is a logical step in the right direction for the feud and it will probably make for a good match.
But, the direction that they were heading in with all the focus on how the Undertaker could not walk out of the match last year, it would have made sense to have the last man standing stipulation. Although the match would be worse than a cell match, because of the lack of near falls and crowd reaction, it still made the most sense.
The Wrestlemania 28 Undertaker vs Triple H Hell In A Cell match should be great and the huge cell structure coupled with the huge Wrestlemania 28 arena will definitely be a site to be hold.
Hopefully because it’s HHH and Undertaker, they will be allowed to implement blood, because this is a time where it is very important to bring out the brutality of the cell. Otherwise the cell may loose it’s importance as a way to end feuds.
I expect the match to be one of the best on the show, if not the match of the show, the cell could add or detract from the match, depending on the way the match is worked. The cell could also be a logistical issue with the Wrestlemania 28 venue being an outdoor stadium, but I’m sure the issue will be sorted out pretty easily.
The build should also be some of the best out of all the Wrestlemania 28 match card, maybe even greater than that of Rock versus Cena.
WWE Championship Match
Chris Jericho vs CM Punk Wrestlemania 28
On paper this looks like possibly the best match on the card, in terms of match quality and build. The build hasn’t been as stellar as one would expect from Punk and Jericho, but from all indications it has been a slow burn, so it will probably pick up in the coming weeks.
Punk and Jericho both have great promo ability and the gimmick theft angle is quite original making for a very interesting build. It’s ” The Best In The World” vs “The Best At Everything I Do” as the two have been billing it on Raw.
The first few weeks of Jericho’s return were just spent with him not speaking, then the first words he said were “at the Royal Rumble the world as you know it will end.”, but he ended up not winning the Rumble nor did he win the elimination chamber. Instead he won a train wreck of a battle Royal on Raw to get the shot at Mania.
I am fine with Jericho not winning the chamber, given that the entire angle is stronger because Jericho is going in as the challenger. However having Jericho not win the Royal Rumble was a booking mistake.
The crowd was ready for it and Jericho said that the world as you know it will end, the only explanation that I could think of at the time was that from the Monday Night Raw before the Rumble, to the Rumble PPV, plans were changed.
Regardless of how the CM Punk vs Chris Jericho Wrestlemania 28 match came to fruition, we have it confirmed now and the match itself has the opportunity to be the best match on the show, although UnderTaker vs. Triple H will probably outdo it in terms of in ring spectacle, Punk and Jericho might have an opportunity to out shine them in terms of pure ring work.
World Heavyweight Championship Match
Daniel Bryan vs Sheamus Wrestlemania 28
Although the choice to have Sheamus win the Royal Rumble 2012 match was questionable, the fact that the world championship was kept on Bryan was admirable. On the Smackdown side of things Orton was expected to win the Rumble and when Sheamus won, it was a disappointment for some.
As far as star building goes, I am perfectly fine with Sheamus winning the Rumble, in fact it is a far better decision than having Orton win the Rumble.
The only problem I really have with Bryan being champion, is his current character is difficult to take seriously as champion. Yes, it was made better at the elimination chamber, but still he came out last and submitted Santino to retain.
In his feud with Sheamus and the match itself this is something that need to be addressed, because obviously in the context of a pure wrestling match, Daniel Bryan is arguably the number one wrestler in the promotion.
As far as Sheamus goes, he has been getting over as of late and this could be a good opportunity for him to reestablish himself as a maineventer. Sheamus is a decent worker so if they get a good amount of time they should be able to put on a good to great match.
Daniel Bryan’s new “Vegan Role Model” gimmick is getting over to a degree and although it’s not where I would like him to be, the fact of the matter is, he is World Champion and that is an accomplishment in and of itself. Bryan has made the gimmick work and the build up to Sheamus vs Daniel Bryan Wrestlemania 28 should be a good one.
Overall WWE Wrestlemania 28 PPV Outlook
Wrestlemania 28 Matches
The show itself is shaping up to be very good match quality wise, with the HIAC match, WWE and World Heavyweight championship matches shaping up to be possible four star matches.
We also have the Rock vs John Cena main event which will probably deliver a phenomenal spectacle in terms of crowd reactions.
As far as build up goes for these Wrestlemania 28 matches, this show is also shaping up to be strong, you have six great talkers in Undertaker, Rock, Cena, Hunter, Punk and Jericho who will fill most of the air time on Raw. And even Daniel Bryan who has morphed into a great talker as of late, coupled with Sheamus who is a decent to good talker, depending on the material he is given.
All in all this looks like it is going to be a good five weeks of WWE TV programming and don’t forget the quality Wrestlemania 28 videos promos that will be used to hype up the feuds.
Plus there’s the Wrestlemania 28 Hall of Fame Induction ceremony (Four Horsemen, Edge etc), the Wrestlemania 28 Fan Axxess Weekend and the Wrestlemania XXVIII PPV event itself. There’s also shows hosted by a group of different wrestling promotions during Wrestlemania weekend. This is shaping up to be a very enjoyable time to be a fan of professional wrestling.
By Ryan Clingman
e-mail: rubyclouding@gmail.com
I hope you enjoyed the WWE Wrestlemania 28 article and recommend it on Forum, Facebook, Twitter and leave your comments too.
Sincerely, Ryan.
