On April 5, 2009 from Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, all of the superstars from Raw, SmackDown, and ECW came together to celebrate a tremendous event that had been a quarter of a century in the making. WrestleMania 25 was an event that I had the liberty of attending and all I can say is that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Sure there will probably be more times in my life that my butt is sitting in the seats of a Mania, but never again will be the twenty-fifth anniversary. 

Eight matches lined the card for Mania this year and topping it off was a match between Randy Orton and Triple H for the WWE Championship. It was a feud that had been building for months (possibly years) and had gotten extremely personal thanks to Orton being overly physical with Triple H’s now revealed family, the McMahons. The World Heavyweight Championship was also on the line as Edge defended against John Cena and the Big Show in a triple threat match. Our traditional Money In The Bank Match filled up the card along with an extreme rules’ match between Jeff and Matt Hardy, JBL versus Rey Mysterio for the Intercontinental Title, and a handicap match pitting Chris Jericho against three WWE legends.

WrestleMania is one of those Pay Per Views (PPVs) that has a tendency of being enjoyable no matter what. The matches could be subpar and expectations may not end up being met, but there is still the excitement in the air that allows the fans to find something to be entertained by sometime throughout the night. I’ll admit that some of the matches on the card looked a lot better on paper then they ended up being once it was time for the action to happen. Still it was a night full of big spots, powerful and high-flying moves, celebrities, and championships. I still can’t help but wish though that there would have been more matches like Undertaker versus Shawn Michaels and less matches like the Divas Battle Royal.

~ Money In The Bank Ladder Match: CM Punk Vs. Kofi Kingston Vs. MVP Vs. Shelton Benjamin Vs. Kane Vs. Mark Henry Vs. Finlay Vs. Christian – The MITB ladder match is always a great big “spot” match each year and usually ends up thrilling the crowd like no other. This year’s match was no exception and it was a great way to get the evening kicked off and hype up the already jacked up fans. One thing I like is that there are more and more power guys being added to the match like Finlay, Mark Henry, and Kane instead of just the high flyers. It adds to the excitement by not only watching people fly through the air and flip but also seeing wrestlers get slammed down or thrown around beyond their will. A great start to the evening and with a rather surprising result that actually didn’t thrill some of those in attendance.

~ 25 Diva Battle Royal To Determine The First-Ever Miss WrestleMania – Very pointless and over the top boring. The best part about it was the ending and aftermath since Santina Marella ended up winning “her” crown. It was more so a way of getting every diva imaginable on the card.

~ 3-on-1 Handicap Match: Rowdy Roddy Piper, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, & Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat Vs. Chris Jericho – Building for a long time leading up to Mania; this match pitted three legends against the man that thinks he is the living legend. The match itself was kind of slow going at first when Piper or Snuka was in there but things really began to speed up when Steamboat faced off with Jericho. If there was ever any question whether the Dragon could still go after so long out of the ring then this match surely answered that. Jericho and Steamboat put on a hell of a showing and I would have been overly pleased with it being just a singles match between the two of them.

People wanted to see more legends though so Piper and Snuka were thrown in along with Ric Flair being in their corner. Let’s not forget The Wrestler’s Mickey Rourke being in attendance and siding with the WWE legends.

~ Extreme Rules Match: Jeff Hardy Vs. Matt Hardy – The Brothers’ Hardy had been long time partners but it was high time for them to face off and there was no better way for Team Xtreme to do so then with “extreme rules.” I’ve seen better from these two but that doesn’t mean this match was tame by any stretch of the imagination. Jeff continued to be a bit more of the high flyer while Matt played the bulkier and more powerful brother with big chair shots, vicious shopvac hits, and one of the sickest Twists Of Fate that I’ve ever seen. Good stuff.

~ Intercontinental Championship Match: JBL (c) Vs. Rey Mysterio – Yeah I know there was a point for this match being what it was, but it was still ridiculous to have on WrestleMania.

~ Undertaker Vs. Shawn Michaels – There is no way that this match could be done justice by simply talking about it. It is far and above anything else that went on at WrestleMania 25 and quite easily the match of the year for 2009. Two long time veterans stepped into the ring after one stepping down from Heaven and the other stepping up from Hell, and they put on the match of their lives. Tons of near falls, great chemistry, constant excitement, and Undertaker taking a flying leap and literally almost dying on the floor of Reliant Stadium. You need to see this match to believe it and it is well worth the purchase alone.

~ Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Edge (c) Vs. John Cena Vs. Big Show – Three men in the ring vying for the big gold belt and it wasn’t the most exciting match in the world, but it wasn’t awful either. It was rather back and forth between mostly Edge and Cena with Show adding the big power moves every now and then. I have to admit that the two person Attitude Adjustment from Cena was incredibly impressive even though it was only for a few seconds. I just kind of expected more from the World Heavyweight Title portion of the main event.

~ Introduction Of The 2009 WWE Hall Of Fame Inductees

~ WWE Championship Match: Triple H (c) Vs. Randy Orton – For every bit underwhelming that the first title match was; this second title match and main event of the evening was even more so. Both men had a lot to fight for as Orton was after the title and Triple H wanted revenge on the man that had been tormenting his family for the past month or two. It just really was rather boring and overly anti-climatic to what was a long but pretty damn enjoyable evening. Orton and Trips’ match just kind of dragged on without much excitement and not so much as even a showing from a single member of the McMahon clan which surprised me. Maybe Undertaker and HBK had taken everything out of me by this point, but it was just evident that both men could have put on a better showing. I’ve seen them do it before.

The Wrestlemania 25th Anniversary Blu-ray looks quite good here in this 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen AVC encoded transfer, at least when you compare it to a standard cable broadcast. Presumably on par with what HD cable fans saw when they ordered it via Pay-Per-View, if not a bit stronger (the bit rate hovers around 22 - 30 Mbps);  there isn't as much crystal clear detail as there would be in a movie, but the picture quality is pretty strong when you consider the dark lighting conditions under which it was all shot. There are spots where skin tones look a little waxy and overly pink but this just could be because everyone is sweaty. Color reproduction is strong across the board and black levels look good. There are some mild compression artifacts if you want to look for them but aside from that, the image is good. Not perfect, but very good.

The primary audio track on this disc is a 48kHz 640 kbps Dolby Digital Multi-Channel track that puts most of its emphasis on the front of the mix using the rears to play around with the score and some of the background and crowd noise. From the opening volley of fireworks toe the dialogue bits and commentary scattered throughout, this is a pretty well mixed track. There aren't any problems with hiss or distortion though some minor echo is present, which makes sense considering that this was recorded live inside and auditorium. An alternate Spanish language Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track is included, though there are no subtitle or closed captioning options provided.

Aside from the event itself, itself, the first disc contains a featurette entitled 25th Anniversary Of Wrestlemania - April 5th, 2009 - Lumberjack Match For The Unified Tag Team Championship which features Carlito and Primo battling against The Miz and John Morrison. This thirteen minute match is a home video exclusive isn't as exciting as the feature matches but it's worth a look and is presented in 1.78.1 AVC encoded high definition. Animated menus are included and a few WWE ads play before you can get to them.

The first extra on the second disc is the 2009 WWE Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony that features some great footage with Terry and Dory Funk, Koko B. Ware, The Von Erichs, Howard Finkel, Cowboy Bill Watts, Ricky The Dragon Steamboat, and last but not least, Texas' favorite son, Stone Cold Steve Austin. This featurette, which clocks in at over two hours and fifteen minutes and is presented in an ACV encoded 1.78.1 widescreen, starts off by looking at the greats from wrestling's past before giving all of 2009's inductees and chance to get in front of the podium to talk about their careers and express their gratitude for the award. It all ends, appropriately enough, with Steve Austin chugging a beer.

Also included on the second disc is a mammoth highlight reel that features clips from each one of the twenty-four Wrestlemanias that have come before this one. With a combined total of 55:40, this is a nice collection of clips from some of the now completely famous and instantly recognizable matches that made so many of us the fans that we are. Going all the way back to the first Wrestlemania at Madison Square Gardens, this is a fun look back even if it doesn't give more than a couple of minutes to each year's worth of insanity.