Pruett's WrestleMania XXVII Live Blog: Real time thoughts on Cena vs. Miz with The Rock involved, Del Rio vs. Edge, Punk vs. Orton and the rest of this stacked card

By Will Pruett

These thoughts are my real time thoughts, written down while WrestleMania was in progress. They include reactions and observations that I hope you enjoy. Dot Net Members will be enjoying a double does of exclusive audio with Jason Powell's review of the show with former WWE creative team member Seth Mates and Chris Shore, Jake Barnett and I will be sitting down for a triple threat audio as well.

- Getting ready for the show and saw that Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan was moved to the pre-show, then turned into a battle royal. Bad form on that one. I guess that match won't be stealing the show now.

- WWE's own pre-game is reporting that the US Championship match will be defended at the show for the first time in four years. This makes me sad. They are not only ill-informed, but it just makes me sad.

- The stadium, as always looks like a million bucks, although I'd bet they spent more. Nice work WWE production team.

- I was disappointed with the WrestleMania intro. I've gotten so used to the epic intro that they play every year that makes WrestleMania feel very special. I'm sure The Rock's promo will do something similar, but I'm missing one of my favorite parts of WrestleMania.

- I'd expect the "Fruity Pebbles" chants to actually get really loud during the WWE Championship match.

- The Rock is not actually as tall as Andre the Giant. Nice try though.

- That promo was not quite as good as I hoped it would be. I don't want to nitpick, but it

- Just as I complain about the lack of epic video, I get one. Thank you WWE.

- World Heavyweight Championship opening the card? I smell shenanigans. At least, I sincerely hope I smell shenanigans. The entry way with the screen in back looks fantastic.

- The video cube lowering into the ring looks all sorts of beautiful. WWE went above and beyond production-wise. The Georgia Dome looks fantastic.

- Del Rio's fall to the outside, hitting the mat on the way looked a lot like Shawn Michaels hitting the casket at Royal Rumble 1998. Sick move that does not look near as painful as it could be. Hopefully Del Rio is okay.

- Edge's crazy eyes are now the signal for the spear. This is how TV and even more, HD has changed wrestling.

- Nice ending to a pretty good match with Edge and Del Rio. The outside interference resolved at the perfect time and Del Rio looked very strong before Edge took him out.

- Why is Edge beating up a car? It didn't work for Michael Jackson in the "Black or White" music video and it doesn't work for Edge now.

- Quote of the night contender: "How's Del Rio going to get home?" - Michael Cole

- I believe that Cole and Lawler will be the first men ever to call a match and compete at the same WrestleMania.

- Cody Rhodes' new entrance video with the words "Grotesque" and "Deformed" is very well done. It fits the new "formerly dashing" character extremely well.

- And Captain America wins the Rey Mysterio costume pool. Congrats to Jason Powell who picked that one correctly.

- The delayed vertical super-plex from Cody Rhodes was a great spot.

- And I'm 0-2 with WrestleMania picks as Cody Rhodes beats Rey Mysterio with the CrossRhodes. Good match that made me

- Quote of the night contender: "He's in the hiz-house." - Jerry Lawler on Snoop Dog.

- So we got a bad guest host segment with Snoop Dog when he isn't even the host. I have no idea why this is on WrestleMania. Seriously, I'm not one to complain a whole lot about matches being left off, but they removed Daniel Bryan and Sheamus so Snoop Dog could see Hornswoggle rap? This was an awful choice.

- Here's the eight man tag starting and I'm about to grab beer number two. I was hoping for new Corre t-shirts tonight, but no such luck. As least Kofi is in this match.

- I don't mind the eight man tag going very quickly, since fans weren't into it anyways. If there is more time for the main events, I'm all for cutting an early match that doesn't look promising short.

- Austin and Rock face to face ten years after their epic WreslteMania X-7 encounter was surreal. Nice work on keeping it short but still keeping it special. That was one of the moments I was looking forward to the most on this show.

- I'm disappointed that the cube was not a giant spinning Nexus logo. Opportunity lost.

- C.M. Punk with the great shout out to Bret Hart with the ring post figure four. Liking the pace of this match so far. I'm looking forward to seeing it shift gears.

- I was opening for more of a closing sequence from Punk and Orton. The match was good, but did not meet the admittedly high expectations I had for it. Nice match from both men.

- The PeeWee Herman and Rock segment was too long for my tastes. It seems like this show is using the four hour time slot to put in more fluff which isn't what I bought WrestleMania for.

- Got to be honest, I didn't buy WrestleMania to see a commercial for the "True Story of WrestleMania" DVD. I paid $60 to see this show and actually think it's pretty cheap to roll a commercial in the middle of the show.

- Even if the rest of the show is not amazing, it will sound about 50 times better with Jim Ross calling the action.

- I don't know if Michael Cole needed that promo to get heat from the live crowd, in fact I doubt he did. The promo itself was fine for making sure that he gets booed out of the building and that Lawler gets a huge reaction when he enters and of course punches Cole.

- Jerry Lawler's new theme music lasted a total of one show. Good choice WWE.

- Warm ups in the Cole mine from Michael Cole had me cracking up. As does his ring gear and attempts to shake Lawler's hand. Basically, Michael Cole is making me laugh.

- This is the first time I've seen Steve Austin without knee-braces in years. Glad to see he's pretty healthy.

- How I knew Michael Cole was getting intense: He pulled the strap down! The match just won me back after going a little long.

-The Lawler-Cole match was exactly what I expected. A fun match with Lawler finally getting a quality beat down on Michael Cole. It wasn't technically brilliant, but it was funny enough to keep me engaged for the entirety of the match.

- The Anonymous GM overturning the Lawler win was not what I would have done. It was what will lead to Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler reuniting for the rest of show, which means that I'm absolutely fine with it.

- Was it really necessary to leave Triple H's "Nothing else will matter" line in the video package?

- Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" was well used by Triple H. It would have been a great time for him to use that completely instead of his Motörhead song. Both songs are great for entrance music though.

- All night at my WrestleMania party people have been calling for Undertaker to descend from the video cube over the ring. Sadly, this is not what happened.

- I'm glad someone finally destroyed the Cole Mine. Way to pay off that ringside structure and save an announce table or two for Cena-Miz and Rock!

- Why does Undertaker keep trying the dive out of the ring? It's impressive, but it is not smart when he seems to almost kill himself every time he tries it.

- Absolutely sick with great timing on the sudden spine buster by Triple H through the Spanish announce table. I loved that very well set up and brutal looking spot.

- It seems like Undertaker and Triple H went very quickly from the fast moving opening sequence to the false finishes after finishers part of the match.

- I'm all sorts of surprised to see a chair shot to the head in Undertaker vs. Triple H. Undertaker got his hands up in time and it looked good, but I'm just surprised. WWE has done a good job eliminating these shots, which makes them mean a lot more when we do see them.

- Triple H's tombstone and pin of Undertaker had my entire apartment up in arms. We were all convinced it was over in that moment. Nice dramatic near fall.

- I did not buy into the struggle for Triple H not to tap, especially when he dropped the sledge hammer twice. Great match, but I definitely was not that into the ending.

- I picked Shawn Michaels to interfere in that match, but am glad I was wrong on that front. Undertaker and Triple H could more than hold their own. Great dramatic final ten minutes from those two.

- Undertaker's struggle to exit before being loaded up on the injury cart added a lot of post match drama to the show. It's an almost frightening image to see, but it was effective for writing him off of TV for the near future.

- Trish Stratus and Michelle McCool should be a dream divas match from WWE. Then we had to get Snooki involved and Trish became an afterthought. Bummer.

- I don't think that this six person tag with Snooki was the match WWE should have put on after Triple H and Undertaker. It was not atrocious, but it definitely brought the crowd down after The Game and The Deadman whipped them into a frenzy.

- The video package introducing The Miz was all sorts of great. I love the idea of showing Miz's history along with a little WWE Championship history mixed in. Nice device by WWE and a very good package that made Miz look like a star!

- In that same vein, the John Cena video package was just as cool. The gospel entrance was not my cup of tea, but the review of John Cena's career worked very well. The entire device of not telling the story of the rivalry, but the competitors is something I wish WWE would do more often.

- No matter how long it happens for, I will always love in-ring introductions for World Championship matches.

- I enjoyed the dramatic near falls in the WWE Championship match before Rock appeared, but the fans just could not get into the, knowing that Rock had yet to interfere. That said, Miz looks very good after kicking out of John Cena's Attitude Adjustment.

- The barricade spot leading into the draw in the WWE Championship match was sick looking. We all knew it wasn't the end, but those two made it look fantastic.

- The Rock Bottom followed by Miz's pin sequence was anticlimactic. I get that they did not want Miz to win the match clean, but even delivering his own finisher after Rock's would have added something.

- We all knew this WrestleMania was about The Rock, but I have to wonder if it was the best choice to make the closing moments of the show all about The Rock. Even though he will presumably be involved as we move forward, The Rock is not the week in and week out star of the company.

- The re-starts and shenanigans in that final match may have left a bad taste in my mouth. It was not a bad match, but it felt over-booked. Rock's interference and the subsequent Miz win really fell flat. They killed off the crowd with the draw and did not bring them back.

- In hindsight, which is what I now have, Undertaker and Triple H should have gone on last. The two matches after it suffered from just how great that match was. After having the rug ripped out from under him twice before (WrestleMania X-8 and WrestleMania 25), Triple H was the man to steal the show from the actual main event.

- This was a middle of the road WrestleMania with one great match and a few good ones. Nothing truly transcendent outside of the Undertaker and Triple H and a flat ending.

To hear more from me about this show, make sure to check out the Member's Exclusive Triple Threat Audio Review featuring Chris Shore, Jake Barnett and myself. Also follow me on twitter to stay abreast of my wrestling thoughts at twitter.com/itswilltime. Thanks for reading tonight!