Welcome back to another Edition of my "History Rewritten" Series, where I like to revisit the abysmal flaws in sports history from Basketball, Football, Wrestling, you name it. When I witness what went wrong, I like to reconstruct and rewrite history from my vantage point. I rename Award Winners and provide my own Fantasy Booking.
Background:
This was the night where WWE and the Wrestling Community celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the Greatest Wrestling Event of the Year. The Super Bowl and World Series of Sports Entertainment. The Silver Anniversary for the Showcase of the Immortals took place on April 5, 2009, at the Reliant Astrodome in Houston, Texas. This was the night where we witnessed the closest thing that we will ever get to perfection in wrestling as The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels wrestled the greatest match in the history of this sport. It was perfect timing for them to have this match on the 25th Anniversary of WM. On the card, you also had John Cena wrestle Edge and Big Show in a Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Championship, followed by Triple H vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship.
What Made It Great:
Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker. What else needs to be said? They shut the building down. By the time that match was over, the crowd was mentally and emotionally drained, just like the fans at The Skydome for The Rock vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan match at WrestleMania X8. It became impossible to follow up those performances. Nothing else needed to follow.
WM XXV Main Event:
WrestleMania 25 featured a Triple Main Event, except Taker vs. Shawn did not end the show. Instead, you had a cluster Triple Threat Match for the WHC involving Cena, Edge & Big Show. The final match of the night was Triple H vs. Randy Orton in a lackluster match for the WWE Championship. These matches felt more like matches for Backlash Main Events than WrestleMania Main Events. I understand that those were title matches, but the Streak had become more important than the titles.
What Ruined It:
Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels needed to finish the show to make it complete. How can you have a match of this magnitude and not put it on last? Considering the history of Taker and Shawn at WrestleMania, Vince McMahon, and Co. should have known what to expect! Clearly, they did not learn from the mistake that they made from WrestleMania X8. Just like that show, the Most Iconic Match of the night was a Non-Title Match. Taker vs HBK set a giant shadow over the rest of the show as everything else felt underwhelming. If the World Title matches were booked BEFORE this match, they would have been better received. I guess they did not put enough trust in The Deadman and The Showstopper to create such a Masterpiece at this point of their careers. Big, Big Mistake. This is WrestleMania, the place where both of these warriors specialize in bringing their A++ Game to the table. If I were Vince, I would have ended the show after that match. Even Triple H and Orton did not want to follow this match. Cena, Edge and Big Show knew they could not compete with it either.
However, we were treated to a Triple Threat Match that looked like a giant pile of vomit between Cena, Edge, and Big Show. This was a far cry from the Triple Threat WHC Match from WrestleMania XX featuring Anonymous Wrestler (*coughs* Chris Benoit *coughs) vs Triple H vs Shawn Michaels. Sadly, that match has become a black eye in wrestling even though it was the greatest Triple Threat Match in WrestleMania History. Like WrestleMania 2000, the involvement of The Big Show brought the match quality down by several different levels. I feel as though whenever Big Show is inserted into the mix of a main event match, he becomes dead weight. He was certainly dead weight for this match. The only special things about this match were Cena's entrance and his Double Attitude Adjustment on Edge & Big Show. Besides that, I couldn't care any less about this match.
Then, things go from bad to worse as Triple H and Randy Orton have a watered down, WWE Title match to end such a special Anniversary. Triple H was not allowed to use weapons of any kind, or else he would be disqualified and lose the title. Historically, these matches have both become afterthoughts in comparison to Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker. To make things even worse, those two title matches were featured in the WWE 2k14 Video Game as part of the Special "30 Years of WrestleMania Mode". Yet, the greatest match of that night was not featured when you have to replay WrestleMania 25? Since I am rewriting WrestleMania XXV, I am inserting the HBK vs. Taker WM 25 match into WWE 2k14's 30 Years of WM.
Rewrite:
The first and most important order of business is simple. Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker needs to be the final match of the night. A match with the legacy and importance that it had deserves to close out the 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania. I know that it was the Main Event of the next year's WrestleMania in honor of Shawn's retirement, but that match did not fully live up to its predecessor. These two legendary generals pulled out everything that they had in their arsenal and held absolutely nothing back. This match not only showed what WrestleMania was about, but what wrestling itself is about. This was certainly worthy to be in the 2k14 video game.
Next, I would take Big Show far away from the World Heavyweight Title match and just book the match as Edge vs. John Cena for the WHC. Cena and Edge were perfect rivals for each other. I believe that Edge brought the very best out of Cena from an overall rivalry standpoint, and vice versa. Their feud goes back to 2006 when Edge won his first WWE Title by cashing in on Cena. WrestleMania would have been the perfect stage for their rivalry to reach its peak. Instead, WWE wasted a great singles battle by having it take place at Backlash. Edge & Cena's last World Title match should not have been at Backlash. It was more important than that. This would be the match right before the Epic Showdown of the night.
As for Triple H vs Randy Orton, I would put this match on right before Edge vs Cena.
In Conclusion, this is how I would have booked WrestleMania XXV. I hope you enjoy.
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