Evan Roberts of WFAN: WrestleMania 26 recap

Posted by Rick Morris

Our friend Evan Roberts, co-host of the Joe & Evan show from 10 AM to 1 PM EDT middays on the legendary WFAN in New York, was kind enough to write up a recap of WrestleMania 26 for us. I actually missed the big event for the first time since '02 and only the second time since '97 because of the scheduling of my fantasy baseball draft, for which I can thank FDH Lounge Dignitary Dave Adams. :-)

Anyone who has watched Evan's webcasts on the link above at the home page for his show or heard him on our FDH LOUNGE program (Wednesdays, 7-10 PM EDT on SportsTalkNetwork.com) knows what a passionate and educated fan he is. As such, we're proud to be able to showcase his thoughts here.


WrestleMania 26 Thoughts
By Evan Roberts

First off, the rendition of America the Beautiful…Fantasia looks tougher than any women wrestlers the WWE can offer. I did enjoy the flyover, makes it feel like a Super bowl which for us wrestling fans ‘Mania is. As always a killer production piece to open up the PPV…nobody does it better than WWE when it comes to that.

They decided to go with a three-man booth of Cole, Lawler and Striker. Quick prediction…Matt Striker will completely out-“color” Jerry Lawler tonight…

Match #1 (C) ShowMiz VS. Morrison and R Truth Tag Titles
Match ended every quickly when Big show punched Morrison…very bizarre. I actually thought the match was going somewhere and it ended out of nowhere.

Match #2 Ted DiBiase VS. Cody Rhodes VS. Randy Orton
From last match and annual Wrestlemania main-eventer to the 2nd match on the card...for Randy Orton. He does at least get the W when he pins DiBiase with the RKO, but bad job by camera crew who missed the “Punt” a few seconds earlier on Rhodes. I’m guessing Orton gets back into the title picture now that he beat his former Legacy-mates.

Segment with Vickie Guerrero and then Santino…kinda funny, but can they please get rid of Vickie already!

Match #3 Bourn/Hardy/Christian/Kofi/Kane/Shelton/Swagger/MVP/Dolph/Drew
Fantastic…Hardy flipping backwards onto the ladder hanging on the ropes was one of many great spots, also Kofi using the ladders as stilts was pretty cool. Also, can they please freakin’ acknowledge that Christian and Edge used to be a tag team and they are “brothers.” In talking about Christian’s ladder match history, they seem to forget about that. Very surprised that Jack Swagger won the thing (after he finally figured out how to unhook the briefcase). Should be interesting to see how he uses the title shot.

Match #4 Triple H VS. Sheamus
Considering it’s a non-title match, the WWE did a good job of pumping me up for it. Decent match, ends when HHH plays possum, then hits pedigree out of nowhere. Unfortunately for Sheamus, I think its all downhere from here.

Match #5 CM Punk VS. Rey Mysterio Jr.
Yawn…Mysterio won

Match #6 Vince McMahon VS. Bret Hart
So Vince brings out the Hart family to be lumberjacks…very weird. Then Bret announces that it’s really a double-cross. Brilliant, so Bret won’t have to do much work. I don’t know what I was expecting, we all knew Bret would win, so I can’t say I’m disappointed. But this was by far Vince’s worst ‘Mania match.

Match #7 (C) Chris Jericho VS. Edge World Title
Match was very slow at the beginning, but picked up the steam towards the end.

Match #8 Some Women’s Match
Got up and shaved, didn’t watch, didn’t care.

Match #9 (C) Batista VS. John Cena WWE Championship
Surprised it didn’t go last, hated the dumb as hell intro for Cena with the military dance. Fans started booing, Cena has a habit for lame Wrestlemania intro’s…(See Wrestlemania 22 in Chicago). By the end of the match, the crowd was clearly backing Batista and so was I. Had some great turns at the end, but having Cena make Batista tap was horrible!

Match #10 Undertaker VS. Shawn Michaels
Great, great match! Crowd was into it, and had a lot of close calls. The ending was bizarre, with Taker almost not wanting to beat him kind of like Flair/HBK from a few years ago. Good close with HBK getting a well-deserved standing ovation.