WrestleMania 28 drew over 78,000 fans from all 50 states and 36 countries .. The show grossed $8.9 million – the richest WWE live event in company history

As far as Daniel Bryan goes, he'll blame AJ and it'll make his character even more brilliant. Plus nobody seemed to care when Kane did it to Chavo. And poor Chavo had far more to lose than Daniel Bryan does. It makes a blind bit of difference. Thats the whole thing. Sure it would be nice to see a Sheamus and Daniel Bryan match go longer (but that will happen on TV and the next PPV anyway), but there is not one single chance in hell that this will damage Daniel Bryan in anyway. How can it? Its all about the character. He's been a complete knob to his lass, to his fans, even Michael Cole's pals with him now. This big gladiator was chomping at the bit to get his hands on Bryan and he got exactly what was coming to him. Its what happens in wrestling. The heel gets a kicking on the biggest show of the year, and then bitches about it after. Sheamus looked awesome as well. AJ will probably win the Divas belt now and Bryan will be fuelled with comedy rage. And the world will keep turning.

I heard this on the Observer Live show earlier. They said if it had gone five minutes and Bryan lost it would have been far worse, because 5 minutes is a squash. 18 seconds, getting attacked on the blindside taking someones finisher isnt a squash. And people must be watching at different show to me, because whent the ref counted three the place popped. It kicked off Mania with a big reaction, which was more than can be said the last few years. I thought Sheamus was going to be in for a rough night.

WrestleMania XXVIII

I liked Sheamus winning with one move - Bryan has been a prick to everyone for months, constantly weaseling his way into keeping the title, comes out here with this big fancy entrance, does a real smug kiss to his lady and then gets kicked right in the mouth and it's all over. Serves him right, and no-one expected that. Just fantastic.

Orton-Kane was perfectly fine stuff - nothing wrong with it, and doing a chokeslam off the top was easily the best finish they could do that involved Orton losing. Kane probably had to win this if they want to ever portray him as a top guy again since he clearly lost to Cena at EC, and this was a great way to make him seem like a threat again.

Cody white and red Chono-style long vest dealie looked great. The red and white gear looked slightly less like him wearing briefs in a match, but only slightly - his gear is too Meat-esque to take him too seriously. Show coming out really made the set look so massive - it was so horizontally-focused that it stood out from the usual super-tall ones. They had a fine big man vs. little man match...then Show speared him off the kick RIGHT IN THE BALLS~!. Goddamn that must have sucked. I hope Cody gets double pay for that. Match ended as it always should've with the build-up - with Show winning decisively with the KO punch. Show crying helped make this seem like a big deal, as did Cole saying that this was the first time Show could ever call himself IC Champ.

Beth's headgear looked like something you'd give a create a wrestler as a joke. Not sure why the heels used Eve's theme since Beth's the champ. Maria looked so fucking hot. Can't believe there are two super-hot Marias in wrestling at one time. The double stinkface spot was something new, as was Eve getting her ass literally kicked by Maria during the booty-popping moonsault spot. Maria did way more than I thought she would given the two broken ribs. It says quite a lot that she basically carried the match despite having fewer matches with this as a side gig than Kelly has had in probably a week.

Loved J.R. not only getting a chance to announce, but get a full intro and get to call the Cell match that was shockingly low on the card. J.R. made this seem so much more epic during HHH's intro, which was way better than last year's - instead of cheap cardboard shields, he just had a massive smoking skull and mountain setup. Really could've done without Cole talking about how much HBK said over the last few days without saying ANYTHING about what was said or where it was said. Taker's spiked robe ruled and the close-up overhead view of the arena with pyro going up as he raised his hands was epic. Loved the shaved head reveal getting its own music sting. Taker staring down HHH, then looking at the cell going "see that motherfucker, YOU'RE TRAPPED IN HIT WITH ME!" was a great moment. I wish HBK had tucked in his ref shirt, because he looked like a schmo. 'Taker definitely looked a bit heavier, but can still have a great, carefully-paced match. I can't believe he took a spinebuster on the steps and then took the Rampage powerbomb counter from the Hell's Gate on the steps, which was a nice way to play off of last year's match. Having HBK get involved to prevent HHH from completely destroying 'Taker with the chair was great, as was having 'Taker shove HBK away after doing it earlier. Really like HBK grasping 'Taker's hand after counting the 2 - it showed he cared about 'Taker, making HHH's "END IT OR I WILL" demand that much harder when 'Taker is barking at him to not stop it. The closeup of HHH's split open eyelid after the hammer shot was surprising.

Having 'Taker choke HBK out to prevent him from stopping it, only to get hammered in the head again was tremendous. 'Taker locking the Gate in yet again , leading to HHH once again grabbing for the hammer, only to fall to the move once again...but without a ref there to call it. Robinson coming out was good, but the chokeslam as the HOLY SHIT I CAN'T BELIEVE HE KICKED OUT OF THAT spot didn't work as well as the tomstone at either WM 25 or last year when HHH did it. Taker chokeslamming Robinson was a great move to show how pissed he was. However, following it with the superkick>Pedigree leading to a kickout did lead to that moment. HBK losing his shit after that ruled - it showed that he realized the err of his ways and now, since he didn't put down 'Taker, he would at some point have to face the consequences for his actions. HHH throwing HBK out was built up well, but wasn't such a blow that it didn't make sense for him to be able to get back in to count the tombstone. This was another great holy shit moment. Loved the fighting on their knees spot. Loved having each man go for a weapon, then have 'Taker stand on the hammer, leading to 'Taker wearing out HHH with the chair like HHH did to him earlier. And with every blow, HBK looked like he just wanted to end it, but knew he couldn't. He thought he wanted to be there, then realized he didn't when it dawned on him what he'd be forced to see. Taker's back looked so welted up - he's going to be hurting for weeks just with the chair shots to the back. Loved 'Taker hitting HHH with the hammer, getting revenge for yet another thing done to him earlier. Taker won with one last tombstone and it felt just a bit anti-climatic given what they'd done earlier as a tease, but was a fine poetic end to the match. The commentary here was tremendous, and was Cole's best work in many years. I still have no real idea as to what " the end of an era" meant, although J.R. tried to say it was due to us knowing HBK would never wrestle again and that we may never see HHH or 'Taker do it again. Outstanding post-match pyro and lighting job. They nail that every year and it never ceases to amaze. I really hope this wasn't 'Taker's last match, because I think that should only happen with Paul Bearer being involved. Without him, I don't think 'Taker's character would've been able to get through some early rough patches, and Kane should be involved too - if only to do a Brothers of Destruction spot with him after the match. Loved having both HBK and 'Taker carry HHH out. This set up them being able to easily do DX vs. BoD next year, or maybe even have HHH and 'Taker team up, maybe against Kane and HBK.

Obviously, I can't talk you into liking it, but the storytelling in this match was fucking epic. Triple H trying to get Shawn to stop the match so he doesn't have to cripple Taker, Taker refusing to allow it, and then choking Shawn out to make sure it didn't happen. Undertaker getting back on top and repaying it in kind. Taker winning the match because he won the race to a weapon. Triple H being defiant right to the end (which was an interesting third take on something Mania has been doing the last half-dozen years. From Flair knowing he was beat and calling for HBK to hit SCM and Shawn's "I love you, I'm sorry" to Undertaker telling Shawn to stay down, not wanting to do any more damage, and Shawn knowing was beat, but having too much pride to lay down, slapping Taker across the face to piss him off enough for the tombstone... Triple H went with a third direction for the "I know I'm beat" and that was to yell "fuck you" and just stand defiant until Taker forced him down one last time) to the mutual respect as all three leave the ring....

Even if you hated the work itself, you have to be able to see that it was about as great a bit of storytelling as pro-wrestling ever gets. And when you take HBK/Flair, both HBK/Taker matches, and last year's HHH/Taker match into account with it as one long story, it's probably literally the best job of storytelling the WWE, and maybe the business, has ever seen.

WWE DONATED HALF A MILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF SLIM JIMS TO THE TROOPS. Kinda odd to not reshoot this to cut Eve out of it, since she was all decked out in American flag gear. HoF vid looked good, and I loved all the WOOOs leading to Flair actually being on-stage on WWE's biggest show of the year...while working for TNA. Wow. The Horsemen got a graphic and they didn't even use that for an Impact one alongside it. WWE really made out like bandits here. Edge tearing up during his theme was bittersweet, but I'd rather see him cry due to his career ending early than have him cry due to being in a wheelchair. Fink was so great at announcing them too. Loved Stlater calling Flo Rida "Florida". Hawkins' cane and...I think that was Trent Baretta's wacky getup was great.

Big Johnny's suit was fan-fucking-tastic. I am now considering asking my sister if I can wear a similar number to her wedding.

Having all of the GM match guys come out to the generic show themes really made them all look like jobbers - and the shirts didn't help. At least Otunga got a his giant maroon jacket, super-cut up shirt to show off his muscles AND thermos for mid-match hydration. Whichever Bella did the intros couldn't pronounce interim, bearer, or privilege. Loved Teddy's giant peanut head on the tron. Loved Hornswoggle being used as a decoy so Truth and Kofi could do a dive. Dolph took his greatest full flip bump off a monkey flip yet. Otherwise, the match was just a match. Solid enough. Zack Ryder is a knob and Eve, rightly, decided she'll have a go on the Master of the Universe instead. Ace Crushers FTW!

WWE LUVS READING. Unless it involves researching actual attendance figures - then they don't.

Adding a "DQ equals title loss stop" at the last possible second really seemed needless. Jerichoat 2.0 ruled. Not sure why they aired the video package after Jericho's intro - really made things seem a bit disjointed. Then they did a massive fireworks display and it made sense - I guess they needed more time to set that up. Punk's ugly '70s green and red gear needs to never be used again. Jericho's new gear looks great. The DQ stip played into the match nicely, but they should've set it up before since the match's story wound up revolving around it and the insults Jericho used towards Punk's family. The knees to the rib spot during the flying elbow didn't quite work. Loved the Walls out of the top rope rana spot, but the GTS leading to the Liontamer felt a lot newer. The small packages leading to the Vise was great. Very surprised to see Punk win, but I'm happy enough with the result. The match itself had some good stuff, largely involving them doing matwork and hold exchanges, but a lot of stuff looked clunky, which surprises me given that Jericho was involved. Punk's usually not super-crisp, but he had an off night in that regard here and it hurt the match. The DQ addition hurt it the most though since it seems like they had a great technical match planned and then had to shoehorn in stuff to fit a new part of the story.

Brodus's tron ruled. I like the new part of his act where he tells the crowd to pull out their phones and call their mommas!

Rock and Cena was a spectical you rarely see. The fans just didnt want a result other than the Rock. Was very much like Rock vs Hogan, in the sense that the fans were reacting to who was doing the moves, not what the moves were. Matches like that mean nothing until the end. Its the opposite of a TNA PPV main event. Cena and Rock could have done a thousand things right, but if they got the finish right all was well. And thats what happened. The staredown leading to a giant Rocky chant was great. Rock looked more like Rock and less like super-ripped Rock here - not sure if it was a good or bad thing. Loved having Cena get the edge on a shove, while Rock got the better of him with his new headlock into a kip up and la mahistrol cradle combo.

They did a lot of very well-executed stuff, mostly simple moves and attacks, then had a clumsy-looking double clothesline spot. They did their usual exchange of big moves, including kickouts of the FU and Rock bottom. Rock did the sharpshooter well the first time, but did a really shitty version the second time. I liked Rock throwing more realistic punches up close than his usual really broad ones. I liked the STF out of a sunset flip - that was something new and made for a very credible ending for things. I loved that they played it up as Rock passing out from it for the hand raising spot, only to get up at the last second. Loved the People's Elbow getting a giant YES! sign in the crowd. The flying crossbody into the FU spot was tremendous - I thought for sure it was over there after the first FU was kicked out of, but nope. Loved Rock winning with the Rock Bottom after Cena tried to use the People's Elbow. Cena came off fine here and wasn't hurt by the loss because of the super-close nearfall right before.

The show as a whole was very good, but nothing quite lived up to the standard set by HHH-Taker and Rock-Cena.

I still think it was either HHH or Takers last match (or both!).
You don't wheel out JR to just call one match for nothing.
At the end of the match you could see Taker talking ala Rock/Austin in Austins last match.

Dolph hangs out backstage with his brother. . .

Layla

If her and AJ formed a tag team it would be the hottest in history!!

*eats that ass*

Get in line.

Gladly.

So for 2 years in a row now, Bryan/Sheamus have wrestled for a combined total of 10 minutes of air time at Mania