Wrestlemania 23: Batista/Undertaker or Cena/Michaels?

King Steventon · 06-17-2009, 09:10 AM

Just like with Wrestlemania XIX, two huge matches that delivered and recieved universal praise. But which one do you think was better, and why?

Y 2 Jake · 06-17-2009, 09:15 AM

It's only recently that I've started to hear people say that Cena vs. HBK was great. I was under the impression that Undertaker vs. Batista was more popular. I guess I'm not as with it as I used to be.

Anyway, there's one thing that ruins the Cena vs. HBK match for me. That's Cena no selling a leg injury that Michaels spent about 10 minutes working on. Or maybe he was trying to be subtle in his selling, for a change.

I'd go for The Undertaker/Batista match over the two. I still think it's grossly overrated.

King Steventon · 06-17-2009, 09:31 AM

Cena/HBK got more love at the time, though since then people's opinions of it have dwindled slightly, more so because they had a better match on RAW than anything.

I prefer Batista/Undertaker too, but I wouldn't say Cena's selling was bad in the match at all. He sold it just fine for what HBK had done to it, the problem was that HBK forgot all about it after that, which made it a waste of time and pointless.

Batista/Undertaker didn't waste any time or screw around with stuff that went non where. They had an intense, heat-filled brawl that managed to elevated both men in the process.

Tomas · 06-17-2009, 10:41 AM

I went with Bats/Taker
Even the hype up the weeks before were intense and they actually potrayed that they really hated one another in the match.
Like many have said before that match stole the show in my mind and I was really dissapointed that the E put it in the middle of the card at the time

Y 2 Jake · 06-17-2009, 10:48 AM

I think it being put in the middle of the card really helps it's reputation. WWE didn't feel that it should go on last for some reason. Even though Undertaker won the Rumble, elected not to challenge Cena and the Raw main event was thrown together once Triple H got injured.

Going on in the middle of the card probably motivated Batista & Undertaker to do a little more to prove a point.

I also don't think people were expecting it to be great either, which certainly helps. Undertaker often had duff Mania matches with big, oafish wrestlers. The fact that he was facing one again but managed to have a quality match probably makes people enjoy it more than a match between two solid wrestlers.

Tommy Platinum · 06-17-2009, 11:57 AM

I really enjoyed both of these matches (with is just as well considering how bare the card was) but I preferred Taker/Batista. Cena/Michaels was a very good match but as Steve pointed out, it was overshadowed by a RAW match between the two later in the month, but I also believe Taker/Tista was simply a better match. Cena/Michaels, while good, had some obvious flaws such as the legwork which went nowhere. I would have to rewatch to assess whether it was Cena's no selling or not.

Batista/Taker was a lot more fun I felt. It was basically as good as the match could have been. A great example of how to do an epic confrontation between the unstoppable force and the immovable object, and a great power vs power match between two big men. I loved the brawling, I loved the counters, I loved the near falls. It was just really great and made Batista look awesome in defeat. The element of doubt as to whether Taker would win also made the match a lot more enjoyable.

horrorfan_1986 · 06-17-2009, 03:35 PM

Chris Benoit vs MVP.
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But between the two title matches, I'll go with Batista vs Taker. It was a match where very few people had any faith that it would be any good. Some people may overrate it, but it's still one great match. What really helps it is the fact that it was one of the early chapters in the Batista vs Taker feud. As for the other match, there wasn't any real meaning behind their matches. With Triple H hurt, it felt thrown together and the small story they did try to add to it had been done to death.

Tommy Platinum · 06-17-2009, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Steventon Fan_1986
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Chris Benoit vs MVP.
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But between the two title matches, I'll go with Batista vs Taker. It was a match where very few people had any faith that it would be any good. Some people may overrate it, but it's still one great match. What really helps it is the fact that it was one of the early chapters in the Batista vs Taker feud. As for the other match, there wasn't any real meaning behind their matches. With Triple H hurt, it felt thrown together and the small story they did try to add to it had been done to death.

Yeah good point about Cena/Michaels being thrown together too. Batista/Taker was a lot more meaningful.

But I felt Benoit/MVP was just about the most overrated match of 2007. It was good but it was fairly short and the finished seemed anticlimactic. The two title matches were on another level imo.

King Steventon · 06-17-2009, 03:47 PM

Benoit and MVP's best match was at Backlash, though their Wrestlemania match was also good and a key turning point in the fued.

horrorfan_1986 · 06-17-2009, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tommy Platinum
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Yeah good point about Cena/Michaels being thrown together too. Batista/Taker was a lot more meaningful.

But I felt Benoit/MVP was just about the most overrated match of 2007. It was good but it was fairly short and the finished seemed anticlimactic. The two title matches were on another level imo.

I couldn't disagree more. It was supposed to end quickly to show that while MVP was damn good, Benoit's experience trumps that and could hit a few of his spots and pull off the (For me at least) surprise win. What makes it better especially was how the feud continued from this point on. For each match, MVP showed that he was learning more and was a real threat to Benoit's title. But in every showdown, Benoit's experience kept being the factor that led to MVP losing. Finally, MVP has enough to not only beat Benoit in a 2/3 falls match, but to beat him in two straight falls. This feud, starting back at 'Mania made MVP a legit star in the company.