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fromtheringapron · 3 years

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WWE WrestleMania XXVI

Date: March 28, 2010.

Location: University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Attendance: 72,219.

Commentary: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, and Matt Striker.

Results:

1. WWE Unified Tag Team Championship Match: ShoMiz (The Miz and Big Show) (champions) defeated R-Truth and John Morrison

2. Triple Threat Match: Randy Orton defeated Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr.

3. Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Jack Swagger defeated Christian, Drew McIntyre, Dolph Ziggler, Evan Bourne, Kofi Kingston, Kane, Montel Vontavious Porter, Matt Hardy, and Shelton Benjamin.

4. Triple H defeated Sheamus.

5. Rey Mysterio defeated CM Punk (with Serena and Luke Gallows).

6. No Holds Barred Lumberjack Match: Bret Hart defeated Vince McMahon. Bruce Hart was the special guest referee.

7. WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match: Chris Jericho (champion) defeated Edge.

8. Layla, Alicia Fox, Maryse, Michelle McCool, and Vickie Guerrero defeated Kelly Kelly, Beth Phoenix, Mickie James, Gail Kim, and Eve Torres.

9. WWE Championship Match: John Cena defeated Batista (champion) to win the title.

10. No Disqualification Career vs. Streak Match: The Undertaker defeated Shawn Michaels. Per stipulation, Michaels retired.

My Review

WreslteMania XXVI is a difficult show to sum up. It’s a pretty good WrestleMania, but also one that happens to be all over the place in tone and focus. Perhaps its reflective of how indeterminate the future of the WWE felt at the start of the 2010s. The roster was such a mishmash of eras that you’d be forgiven of not having a clue where the hell the company was going. John Cena, Batista, and Randy Orton were at the top of the card after their rise to superstardom in the 2000s, but the spotlight was still shared guys who rose to stardom in the ‘90s like Triple H and The Undertaker. Then there was a new generation of talent—The Miz, Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, etc. — bubbling in the undercard who seemed poised to rocket into the top at any moment. But wait! Time was also given to . . . the 13-year-old feud between Bret Hart and Vince McMahon?!? Suffice to say, with the show splintering off in so many different directions, it’s not surprising it has some misfires.

Let’s start with the good stuff, though. The main event between Undertaker and Shawn Michaels is fantastic and I’m gonna throw it out there that I like it more than their match from the previous year. The stakes feel higher, the suspense level feels higher, and there’s more of a story here than just Shawn needing to beat Taker. He puts his entire career is on the line here, for heaven’s sake! And speaking of his career, like many at the time, I didn’t have a clue this would be Shawn’s last match. Most on-screen wrestling retirements are never legit, so there was plenty of basis to believe this one would be no different. But alas, this one was different, and we get about as good a sendoff as we could’ve gotten for someone who’s been dubbed Mr. WrestleMania.

On another show, the WWE title match between John Cena and Batista would’ve been the main event. Their match here is great fun. It’s actually an end of an era for the two men who were crowned as the leaders of the next generation at WrestleMania five years earlier. Batista would move on to Hollywood shortly after this and, while certainly not his last WWE run, it would mark the end of his career as a full-timer. Interestingly enough, Batista was really coming into his own as a heel at the time of his departure, even winning over fans who previously couldn’t stand him. He would resurrect his heel run in 2014 and 2019, again only for a short spell. A shame we haven’t been able to spend much time with arrogant heel ‘Tista and his impeccable designer fashion, but then I guess that’s what makes it so special.

As for what doesn’t work, I probably don’t need to go into much detail about the Bret/McMahon clash. The basics of the story are solid — Bret gets his long-awaited revenge on McMahon, with his family right by his side. It’s just not super fun to watch in execution, however well-meaning it may be. They match is dragged out much longer than it should and it takes the crowd completely out of it. Another misfire is the Money in the Bank match. This would be the final iteration of the match at WrestleMania before it becomes its own pay-per-view. It’s clear the concept needs some rejuvenation by this point as it’s now a lazy, bloated affair where everyone gets in their allotted number of spots and there are way too many participants. To cap it all off, the ill-advised decision is made to push Jack Swagger into the main event scene, an idea which would run out of gas in a matter of months.

The show seems to have some weird pacing issues as well. In the era of the Network, I’ve grown so accustom to Manias being stretched to the point of exhaustion, so it’s always little odd to go back and watch one that feels like it doesn’t have enough time. It’s almost like it’s struggling to figure out how spread out time across a card so stacked. The tag opener and Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk feel like abridged versions of the matches we would’ve otherwise gotten, while Bret vs. McMahon gets more time than either combined. Even Money in the Bank feels somewhat rushed. I’m definitely not a huge fan of WrestleMania becoming a seven-hour event, and WWE has proven they struggle with time management on longer Manias, but this is one show where it seems an extra hour absolutely would’ve been to its benefit.

At its best, WrestleMania XXVI is a nice sampler plate of eras, even if struggles to give you equal portions for all of them. The multi-generational makeup of the card ensures there’s a little something for everyone and even closes the books on a couple of legendary careers. You’re bound to dislike some it but for better or worse, and this is a cheeseball thing to say, it definitely puts the “showcase” in the Showcase of the Immortals.

My Random Notes

No joke, I really did not think this would be it for HBK and even seriously thought Taker’s streak was in jeopardy. Am I a fool for thinking that? Maybe, but I like that wrestling conned into believing it in a way it hardly ever does anymore.

I feel like the temple entrance set is something that should’ve been more impressive than it is in actuality. They just stacked LED screens on top of each other and just rolled with it. It looks like something from Minecraft.

Ah, this show reinvigorates my fond feelings for Matt Striker. Such a handsome chap! Not surprising at all he would appear on a Bachelor ripoff a whole decade later.

I chuckled at Bruce Hart being the special guest referee for Bret vs. McMahon. You just know he huffed and puffed his way into that one, much to Bret’s annoyance.

I also chuckled at Diana Hart-Smith walking down to the ring with her best “evil, vindictive femme fatale on the cover of a pulp novel” look. God bless her. She needs to write another book.

I know Rey singing Happy Birthday to his daughter is meant to be a heart-warming thing but if I were a kid in the same situation, I would be traumatized. Just think of how uncomfortable it is when a room full of people is signing at you and then think of enduring that in an arena filled with thousands of people. CM Punk did her a huge favor by crashing the moment, as far as I’m concerned.

Not saying anything new here, but the whole Spear thing with Edge is cringe as hell and it’s for the best that it’s been forgotten in the annals of his career.

I know some people like to mock Vickie Guerrero doing Eddie’s frog splash, but I personally thought it was a sweet moment while staying true to comedically heel Vickie.

The official theme song to this Mania is “I Made It” by Kevin Rudolf. A time-period appropriate choice, I must say. I feel like the dawn of the 2010s is the only time a Kevin Rudolf could be a success.

I identify myself as someone who will always be more embarrassed by John Cena haters than Cena himself and I gotta say him posing next to the guys in the front row hating his guts is fucking hilarious. Cena is funny sometimes when he just straight-up trolls.

On the Legacy fallout: The storytelling for this was weird as hell. Am I the only who remembers that one time on Raw where they teased Ted turning face and the crowd was actually kinda into it? Then they completely abandoned it for whatever reason and just had Randy be the breakout face (as if he needed it) and dunk on both Cody and Ted at WrestleMania. I feel like Cody’s AEW origin story more or less began here.

Awwwwe, this show has little baby Drew McIntyre. It’s so interesting watching this with the benefit of hindsight. I remember a lot of people Not Feeling It when he was anointed as the Chose One, and truthfully I wasn’t feeling it at the time either, but watching it back really makes you appreciate how much hard work he put in to get to where he’d be a decade later. A lot of folks were dreading the inevitable Drew world title run in 2010. The title run did happen, but it was much later and much more welcome than anyone back than anyone could’ve imagined.

#wrestlemania #wwe network #the undertaker #john cena

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empty-church · 7 years

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The Most Popular Verse in the Bible and how it got there

You know what the most popular verse is in the Bible?

John 3:16?

Psalm 23?

Ezekiel 23:20?

Nope.

According to BibleStudyTools.com the most popular verse in the Bible is Jeremiah 29:11.

Using the power of Google let's chart the rise of Jeremiah 29 in our modern culture. It began shortly after a historic presidential election.

The Data starts in 2008

Shortly after the General Election in November 2008 a very peculiar Google search trend began to emerge. A revival of sorts was bubbling and throughout the next 8 years, it would result in an explosion of marketable proportions.

In November 2008 no one would have guessed that a single verse would become such a marketing vehicle. It would go on to adorn journal covers, wall art, coffee mugs, and other religious trinkets.

Jeremiah 29:11 has become an oft-quoted and more oft-misunderstood verse since it splashed on the digital conscience of saints around the globe. Stripped of its context, the verse is as comforting as a bowl of hot oatmeal. But it is that context that brings the verse its true importance.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." -- Jeremiah 29:11

Google Doesn't Lie

I always find it fishy when I hear the same exact verse thrown around in multiple contexts by various groups of Christians. There is no way that everyone can be studying the same verse simultaneously, right?

I have heard more people claim the promises of Jeremiah 29:11 in recent memory than the utterance of John 3:16. Of course, my ears tend to perk up at trends and I do admit to being fallible, so I wanted to check my research. Here are some results straight from the world's largest search engine:

Search trends for "Jeremiah 29 11"

Search trends for "I know the plans I have for you"

Both charts show a steady increase in user queries beginning around November 2007 and taking off a year later in 2008. The trends were noticeable enough for the marketers to pounce and books, trinkets and other paraphernalia flooded stores. Though the verse has not reached the levels of Jabez's prayer, its cultural significance has caused its misappropriation.

What Does the verse really mean?

I highly recommend you read Chris Blumhofer's article on Jeremiah 29:11. He explains it in better detail than I can in this space.

The TL;DR version is this: A false prophet has told exiles about this God-provided, get-out-of- Babylon free card that is there swift coming destiny. It made the false prophet very popular because the oppressed and exiled people wanted to go home to Jerusalem.

The people believed in this message of false hope and Jeremiah had to come along and correct them. Jeremiah did agree with one thing the false prophet had to say. It was that God would work out his plan of deliverance. They just disagreed on the timetable.

Jeremiah's version of the story ended up being the correct one. The people hearing the message didn't see the fulfillment of the promise.

The good news the false prophet had certainly brought hope to a desperate people. They latched onto the message and maybe even smiled a little more when they thought about it. But false hope is a terrible thing.

How Does a Verse become so popular?

People have a long history of latching onto to the parts of a message while dumping the rest. We love to hear that "You've just won a million dollars" and we conveniently toss aside the oppressive strings now attached to our hips.

In desperate times verses and messages of hope will stick out. We will grab on to them because we draw strength from their message. I think this is why verses peak in Christian pop-culture. We desperately want a message of hope and to know that we are going to be ok.

I am a complete advocate of such thinking...as long as we don't abuse the boundaries of the verses.

Holding on to the hope that God has a plan for your life is perfectly fine, but only with the understanding that his sovereignty usurps our comfort. His plan may or may not include our personal prosperity. It may include a continued exile.

But why were we so hopeless in 2008?

I can think of two things that happened in 2008 that got American Christians in an eschatological tizzy: The election of President Barrack Obama and the economic crash.

The ultra-conservative evangelical Christian lost two positions of power that year, the White House and their money. Perhaps this is why they felt so hopeless and they searched for some solace from the Scriptures.

Severe loss will trigger destitution and desperation. Marketers will be there to sell inscribed baubles to keep hope alive and keep the money rolling in. It is a shame that we put more faith in a coffee mug than the whole council of God. But alas, that is why Empty Church is here.

About the Author | Josh Schaidt Twitter – Facebook – Instagram I love cookies and I still buy music one album at a time. @EmptyChurch is one way I live empty, talk faith, and opt in to follow Jesus.

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The Digital Kingdom Exploring the implications of technology in the lives of God’s people. It is more Black Mirror and Twilight Zone than light shows, powerpoints, and webcasts.

→ Explore more of The Digital Kingdom here.

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