Tons Of WrestleMania 27 Live News & Notes Inside

Credit: Geoff Clark and Pwinsider.com

I just got back to the hotel from WM27. I will say that LIVE, this was an awesome show! Being in an arena the size of the Georgia Dome with the "smartest" of the "smart" fans is definitely an experience.

The crowd was pretty pissed when Sheamus/Bryan came out for the dark match.... which turned into a battle royal... that ended with Sheamus eliminating Bryan and then Khali eliminating Sheamus? ... Not sure about that one, but I will say that Khali is over as the goofy giant gimmick.

The Rock intro LIVE was completely awesome. Loudest pop of the night by far. He had the crowd in the palm of his hands with every word that he said. Great way to start off the show.

The opener of Del Rio/Edge was solid. The crowd was ready for two things that never happened. Everyone was waiting for Christian to turn on Edge... never happened. Then everyone was expecting Del Rio to win the belt.... never happened. The car being destroyed was pretty lame from the section I was in.

The Mysterio/Rhodes match was actually pretty good. Mysterio got a decent pop. Everyone were I was sitting (smart fan central) was expecting Rey Rey to win and when Cody got the victory everyone was pretty shocked but were happy that Rhodes didn't get buried.

The Snoop Dogg/Teddy Long segment was like... eh... whatever. Snoop did get a good pop from the crowd and so did Regal's bit. Hornswoggle got groans from my section of the arena. But I will say that his "rap" was over with the crowd, they popped for it.

The 8-man was my first restroom break. I literately walked to the restrooms and walked back in what was like 5 minutes and the faces were doing the trumpet celebration. The replays of Slater getting KO'd were a little excessive I thought.

Rock/Eve/Mae Young. OK segment. Of course Rock being in it was the only reason anyone was interested. It is what it is.

Orton/Punk was a great match. Great psychology and Punk is just awesome with the facials. Dueling chants through the whole match "Let's Go Punk/RKO" over and over again. Crowd popped for the springboard clothesline countered into the RKO finisher. Great match.

Rock/Mean Gene. Again. The crowd only cared because Rock was in the segment... although Pee Wee got a nice pop. Crowd loved the Cena insults from Rock. The Austin/Rock stare down got a good pop with everyone waiting to see what happens next. Great teaser.

Hall of Fame. Abby and Bob Armstrong got great pops. Sunny and Animal/Ellering got decent pops. Hacksaw got the HOOOOOOOOOOO pop. HBK got standing ovation and a great pop. The crowd was really happy to see him.

Booker got a good pop (most likely from the remains of the old WCW crowd that were there). JR got a good pop too. Everyone was really happy to see him from my section with a lot of comments of "I'm definitely getting the DVD now that JR is calling the second half of the show". Cole is a heat magnet. I hope he is either the GM or is a manager. He is awesome in that role. When Swagger came out, everyone agreed that going from winning Money In The Bank to seconding Michael Cole was just criminal. Lawler got a great pop coming out with the AWA/Memphis cape. Stone Cold got an awesome pop coming out on the ATV (not bigger than the Rock's though). The match itself was okay. The middle of the match dragged. Cole beating down Lawler and using the ankle lock was just so unbelievable. Swagger eating the Stunner got a big pop. EVERYONE where I was sitting wanted to see the piledriver... but we knew it wasn't going to happen. Lawler's win got a good pop. Austin/Lawler celebration was fine for what it was. For the record, live, Lawler never drunk any beer, the cameras would pan off him and he would toss them out of the ring. It was real smooth how he did it. Great production. Booker coming in the ring got a good pop. The crowd wanted the Spinarooni and they got it... and then a Stunner. Big pop. Then the GM chime and the overturn. The crowd was chanting BS the whole time. Josh Matthews eating a Stunner made NO sense but the crowd popped anyway. But I guess it was the only way to get JR and King in the booth. If Cole isn't the GM, this booking made NO sense.

Everyone was very surprised that Taker/HHH was next. Everyone was expecting Snookimania. HHH's entrance was awesome. I would say that his pop was about that of Austin's but not quite the Rock. Taker was about the same pop too and his entrance was awesome LIVE. This match wasn't great from a solid workrate but being there live, there was those moments of "Triple H could really win this one". The Taker Tope was just awesome. The three Pedigrees, the Choke Slam, Last Ride, and Tombstone all got big pops and the crowd was hanging with the counts. I was shocked to see the chairshot to the head. I cringed like a lot of others in my area, but I will say that since we hadn't see one in a long time, it meant WAY more. During the finish exchanges with the kickouts, my area started a loud "THIS IS AWESOME" chant and there was that "rumbling" vibration in the arena. The Triple H Tombstone got a huge pop, everyone thought it was over. When Taker kicked out and we got the GameHammer... EVERYONE was looking for HBK... but he never showed. The Hell's Gate finish was out of nowhere. And everyone around me, including me, thought the finish was anti-climatic.... mainly because we were looking for HBK to cost HHH the match. HHH sold huge after the match and so did Taker... although a lot of us "smart" fans were trying to figure out if he was selling or it was legit. This was definitely the match of the night, purely for emotion, although the ending, LIVE (I'm sure JR sold it well in the broadcast) was kinda lame.

6-person diva match. My whole section went to the restroom. And like the 8-man, I walked off and came back within 5 minutes and it was over.

The Miz "Hate Me Now" promo was awesome, no pun intended. The crowd was popping for the Miz and the promo video. The Miz got a great pop and people were chanting "MIZ IS AWESOME" in my area. While Miz was in the ring, we saw the choir come out and the crowd starting booing. I want to clarify, the crowd was NOT booing Miz (although it may have come off that way), they were booing the choir.

The Cena "DMX Prayer" promo was NOT over with the crowd. The adult portion (majority) crowd absolutely, in the XPac Heat way, HATED this video. They HATED the choir sing. They HATED the Red/White/Blue theme. And they HATED Cena's entrance. And in my section there was a split of kids cheering and booing Cena. That was interesting.

Side Note, I thought it was really, really lame to use religion, a gospel choir, and the American Flag/Colors to try to get the crowd to cheer Cena. They should just embrace it and turn Cena.

The match itself was nothing to go home about. It was your standard match. The crowd was really just sitting on their hands for the majority of this one. Everyone was waiting on the ref bump and Rock run in... We got the ref bump and a Riley interference. Of course Super Cena could not be pinned. The outside brawl and then collision into the crowd got a pop. The crowd hated the Double Countout and LOVED that Cena did NOT win the belt. They popped for Miz being announced still champion.

Then The Rock came out to the pop of the night. Rock restarted the match and Cena goes the AA and Rock jumps in the ring. The Rock Bottom got a huge pop. Miz pinning Cena got a great pop. Everyone was happy that Miz won. Then Rock got a huge pop for the spinebuster and People's Elbow. After the show went off the air Rock posed for a while and then left.

I would say that it was great show. I think that the last two matches should have been Cena/Miz THEN HHH/Taker... but if Rock is back and will be in the ring, okay, it makes sense for Rock to close the show.

I will say that this show was awesome to attend live. I am interested to see how it came off on TV. It is definitely time to turn Cena... at least do something like Cena is a face to the kids but heel to everyone else? He needs something. I'm not a Cena hater, but The Marine salute, the lame t-shirts, and the "never die" gimmick is very slate and overdue for a change. But it was an awesome show. Definitely worth the money I paid to see it!