Wrestlemania XXIII

Only 6 days to go to The Big Dance and I can’t wait. It’s gonna be off the hook, off the chain. hi5

Had planned on having a party for it up here in the gaff in Dublin but now I have to head to Wexford next weekend but still I’m ordering it in at home (kicking off at midnight on Sunday).

I think it promises to be the best Wrestlemania in years. As well as the Cena/Michaels and Batista/Undertaker title fights the Bald Billionaire match between Donald Trump’s Bobby Lashley and Mr McMahon’s Umaga will be nothing short of awesome, especially with Stone Cold Steve Austin returning as guest referee.

Not to mention the women’s title match between Ashley and Melina and Kane and Khali in the Battle of the Beasts. Or the ECW 6 man tag bout between the originals and the new breed. Or MVP trying to take the US Championship off Chris Benoit. Or the 8 man Money in the Bank match. Or all the other match ups that I can’t even remember.

Staying up to watch Monday Night Raw live tonight from the States as Mr McMahon has arranged 2 main events that are gonna be off the chain…He himself is taking on Bobby Lashley to try to soften him up for The Big Dance. I expect a lot of cheating from the chairman and wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of other wrestlers running interference on Mr McMahon’s behalf.

Then there’s a repeat of the tag team bout from No Way Out as Cena and Michaels take on Batista and The Undertaker. Can the members of either team trust their partner seeing as they’re fighting that person on Sunday in Detroit?! Pure genius by Mr McMahon to book this fight.

Can’t wait - it’ll be off the hook. hi5

Mr McMahon just pinned Bobby Lashley!!! Twice!!!

At the start he had Lance Kade, Trevor Murdoch, Chris Masters and Johnny Nitro come in and attack Lashley. I just knew he’d run interference. Lashley overpowered all of them and battered each one and then Umaga came in. Lashley was beating him before McMahon came in and struck him a low blow from behind. Umaga then undertook a savage assault on Lashley that culminated in two Samoan Spikes allowing the chairman to get the 1-2-3 count on two separate occasions and he even had the victory announced twice.

Lashley’s in bits after the brutal gang assault and I’m not even sure he’ll be able to take part in the Bald Billionaire match at The Big Dance on Sunday…

This is off the chain.

All 8 MITB competitors going hell for leather in the squared circle.

Randy Orton and Mr Kennedy just beat Matt and Jeff Hardy in a great tag team battle. Orton finished off Matt with the RKO after Kennedy ran interference. With Orton and his regular partner, Edge, now feuding this new partnership with Kennedy looks a good one.

Getting all set for the main event now but before that there’s something incredibly special…a 6 person Diva tag team match!!! This will be off the hook.

Jim Ross in tears as he’s announced into the Class of 2007 Hall of Fame.

Man, I love this game.

Michaels just gave Cena Sweet Chin Music!!! He nearly beheaded the champ.

What a superb fight. Batista was about to do the Batista Bomb on Cena but The Undertaker lifted Michaels above his head, fired him on top of Batista and walked out of the arena.

Cena and Michaels then launched a savage attack on The Animal - Cena with a Spine Buster, Michaels with an elbow from the top rope. Then they did a double 5 Knuckle Shuffle on Batista and as Cena turned back around after receiving the adulation of the crowd he was met by a boot to the chin from The Heart Break Kid.

Batista rolled over and pinned The Champ as Michaels stood back menacingly.

Off the chain, off the hook.

I can’t wait for Wrestlemania now.

Have the dvd preordered so Ill wait to June to watch it. I think Cena will retain and taker will win the belt. The way they set up the hair vs hair match its obvious its Lashley winning and Vinnie Mac getting the hair shaved off. Cant wait to see it. :smoke:

Yeah, Lashley’s definitely gonna win especially after the savage beating he took last night.

Can definitely see The Dead Man beating Batista. He’s a 14-0 record at The Big Dance and I don’t think anybody can beat him there.

Was reading a few weeks back about how the WWE fans haven’t really taken to Cena as much as Mr McMahon wanted so they decided that Cena would come to the ring wearing military type gear because we all know how much the Yanks love their troops. The last few months there’s been an upsurge in support of Cena but even last night when HBK turned on him there was more cheers than jeers! I really want HBK to win on Sunday night - he deserves another reign as champion before he retires.

Picture of Michaels flooring Cena with Sweet Chin Music last night:

[img width=300 height=225]http://www.wwe.com/content/media/touts/splash/images/4396490

Awesome.

Hes such a chav Cena. Hes only cool if you are a 6 year old or something. Hes nothing compared to The Rock, Stone Cold, Hbk, Kurt Angle, Hunter, and of course Bret Hart. :wink:

Looking at the card the Money in the bank match probbaly the highlight. Can see Edge and Orton costing each other the match thus allowing Mrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Kennedy to sneak the win.

The lowlight the “Great” Khali against Kane. This will be woeful. Just hope it dont go too long.

Love the hall of fame ceremony. I like the old superstars more than current ones by a long way. Heres the inductees

Dusty Rhodes: Proved you didnt need to be the best in the best shape to be a star.

Jerry the King Lawler: Well deserved. Some of this stuff with Bret Hart was brillant and him always slagging the babyfaces was priceless especially Brets parents. I still use his they went into a antiques store and they kept them line. Not so much now as he phoning it in on Raw.

Nick Bockwinkel: Saw the AWA Dvd and seemed to be a solid wrestler. Dont know much more.

The Wild Samoans: Dont know that much about them but paved the way for the likes of the Rock so they cant be a bad thing. And of course the headshrinkers. ;D

Mr Fuji: Never saw the guy wrestle but remember him more as Yokozunas manager. I always thought the fella so feeble whenever he got thrown around. http://www.thefreekick.com/board/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif

The Original Sheik: Again never saw him wrestle but read some of the stuff he did and no doubt was a mad bastard. Did train Sabu and Rvd so hes ok in my book.

Mr Perfect: What a guy. True greatness. He rarely had a bad match and his promos were brillant. Who didnt belive he caught his own pass playing Amercian Football. Matches with Bret Hart were superb and when he was Ric Flairs manager.Just a shame he died at such a young age.

Jim Ross: Good auld Jr. Hes been the voice of wrestling for the past 10 years since Vince decided to become Mr McMahon. He always gets the piss taken out of him but keeps coming back which is a testament to him. Probbably my fav moment was when he brought in the fake Razor Ramon and Diesel. Disgruntled J.R rules. hi5

John Cena and Batista are very popular in my place of work.

Agree with pretty much all of that Excellence of Execution.

Really looking forward to the MITB match. The likes of the Hardys will be entertaining flying off the ladders but they’re not gonna win it and get a title shot. It is between Edge, Orton and Kennedy too imo. I’m a big fan of both Edge and Orton even though they’re both ‘heels’. Don’t think Kennedy’s up to much though.

Hope HBK batters Cena. Even with HBK ‘turning bad’ the other night the whole crowd were still cheering when he decked The Champ because all discerning wrestling fans know that Cena isn’t fit to lace the boots of The Show Stopper.

Gag for the Hall of Fame part too. Must say I was nearly in tears too when JR started crying. You can watch all this and the conclusion to the various fights from Raw on www.wwe.com on media player. Well worth a watch.

I emailed Paddy Power to see if they were offering odds on The Big Dance and I got the following reply. You’d swear it was staged the way they’re not giving odds - clowns (like flano).

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your email.

We will not be offering prices on this.

Kindest regards

Gary

Paddy Power Customer Service

Email: support@paddypower.com

Phone:
Ireland - 1800 238 888
UK - 08000 565 275
Rest of World - +353 1 404 0120

Well I’d rather not incriminate myself with my thoughts on the customer service dept.

Bandage if I was you I’d point out the fact they take bets on Coronation street storylines of which the results are known of in advance also and see what they say to you

Just watching yesterday’s pre Big Dance press conference at Trump Towers online.

Donald just gave Mr McMahon a bitch slap! Superb stuff.

More correspondence with Paddy Power:

My email back to them:

Gary,

Thanks for the reply.

Can you not inquire with the novelty bets department please?

You did Coronation Street bets in the past so why not for the Big Dance?

Regards,
Bandage


Their reply:

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your reply.

Our novelties department have said;

“Please inform the customer that we would love to bet on Wrestlemania but with it
being fixed that makes the main and only reason we wont offer prices.”

I personally think its a disgrace that they won’t price it, The Big Dance only comes along once a year.

Kindest Regards
Gary

Thats hilarious, it looks like he actually went to the bother of checking that out for you.
That response from the novelities department is weak considering the shite they offer markets on. Wrestlemania is as valid as a lot of the shite they’ve done

Sent this back:

Gary,

Your words of support are greatly appreciated.

I don’t understand the reasoning of the novelty bets department though. It appears they’re suggesting that professional wrestling bouts are fixed. What an outlandish suggestion.

I just hope that Bob Woolmer’s death isn’t some way connected to this.

Regards,
Bandage

Still shaking off the cobwebs after this veritable feast of wrestling entertainment and still shaking my head thinking about the sheer audacity, bravery and guts shown by these superstars last night.

Recap:

Undercard - The Great Khali pinned Kane (after a choke slam). Chris Benoit defeated MVP to retain the US Championship (flying headbutt from the top rope to get the fall). The ECW Originals beat The New Breed in the 8 man tag match (Rob Van Dam pinning Matt Striker following the 5 Star Frog Splash). Melina rolled up Ashley to retain the Women’s Title but all hell broke out with 15 divas battering each other after it ended!

Mr Kennedy won the Money In The Bank match against 7 other competitors to guarantee himself a shot at the World Title at a time and venue of his choosing over the next 365 days. This match was notable for the injuries sustained by Jeff Hardy and Edge. Hardy was climbing the ladder to claim the MITB when his brother Matt urged him to stop and do a leaping leg drop on Edge, who was lying prone across another ladder on the outside of the ring. Hardy dropped 20 feet through the air on Edge with such force that the ladder shattered and both men were literally in bits. At one stage I thought Edge might die like the late Owen Hart as medics frantically worked on him and I haven’t heard how either man is since. But the show had to go on. Fighting Irishman, Finlay, with the help of his leprechaun, Little Bastard, nearly did the business before Kennedy claimed the spoils.

Undertaker defeated Batista in a classic to claim the World Heavyweight Championship and bring his Big Dance record to 15-0. The ferocity of this encounter was awe-inspiring - Batista doing a running power slam on The Phenom through one of the commentary tables on the outside. 'Taker kicked out after The Animal got him with the Batista Bomb and Batista kicked out of the Last Ride. Finally, The Deadman finished it with the Tombstone Piledriver to prove his immortality.

Mr McMahon had his head shaved by Donald Trump and Bobby Lashley after Lashley pinned the Samoan Bulldozer, Umaga. Stone Cold Steve Austin was superb as the guest referee, dragging the two lads around the ring when they ignored his instructions. Umaga hit him with a Samoan Spike in return and McMahon’s son, Shane, came in and attacked Lashley with Umaga. He ripped off his T-Shirt to reveal a ref’s uniform and began a 1-2-3 count before Stone Cold roused himself, disrupted the count and battered Shane. Umaga went to get him with another Spike but Austin ducked and then delivered a Stone Cold Stunner. As Umaga rocked back Lashley bounced off the ropes and buried him with a Spear to get the W. Then Trump clotheslined McMahon on the outside! And Austin delivered a Stone Cold Stunner to the chairman before the bhoys shaved his head! Stone Cold, Lashley and Trump celebrated by cracking open some beers in the ring before Austin gave the Donald a Stone Cold Stunner too! A vintage Wrestlemania moment.

In the main event The Champ, John Cena, and the Heart Break Kid, Shawn Michaels, fought for 40 minutes in one of the greatest bouts I have ever seen. Both men delivered their full array of moves on each other and still they couldn’t be separated. Michaels with his Super Kick, elbow from the top rope, even a piledriver into the concrete floor on the outside that drew blood from Cena’s head. Momentum changed when Michaels cracked his head off the ring pole and split himself open but he somehow managed to kick out of the pin after Cena’s trade mark FU finishing move. He then dragged himself to the ropes to force a break after Cena had his submission hold, the STFU. in place. After another 5-10 minutes of awesome action from these two men, both literally out on their feet, Cena managed to lock in the STFU in the centre of the ring and The Show Stopper had nowhere to go. Like Triple H last year, he tapped out and Cena retained his title and the two legends lay batterred and bloodied in the centre of the ring as the curtain came down on what I consider to be one of the best Wrestlemanias of all time.

What a night. It was off the chain. Off the hook. Sensational.

Lads,People are telling me all this WWF thing is a hoax,like clothes-lines and all the moves are just hoaxes and they dont really hit each other.I need some reassurance on the matter…pronto!

Tiger, you shouldn’t listen to what some people say if this is the nonsense they are spouting! Wrestlemania was without doubt, the greatest event in sports entertainment history! If you only saw the blood pouring from Cena and HBK during this momentous encounter, you would realise there is nothing fake about it!!!