WWE Smackdown is recently enjoying one of the time-tested feuds; Kane vs. The Undertaker, the battle of brothers! In recent past, The Undertaker had an injury during an un-aired match with Rey Mysterio. Taker had minor injuries during the match and was out of the ring for a few weeks. WWE creative team started a brilliant new angle using this real-life injury of “The Phenom”.  Storyline-wise, his brother Kane found him in a vegetative state and was in pursuit of the culprit. Kane, during The Undertaker’s absence, won the World Heavyweight Title against Rey Mysterio in ‘Money in the Bank’ PPV.

Once Taker returned, WWE Universe came to know the attacker was Kane himself! Since then, the two veteran WWE performers have started a feud that gained instant popularity among the fans. This rivalry was a part of the storyline many times earlier, and it still seems to be a hit among the fans.  They met each other in two PPVs in a row:  ‘Night of the Champions’ and ‘Hell in a Cell’ and on both occasions, Taker lost the match to Kane. Paul Bearer, another legendary manager with strong past links with both Kane and The Undertaker is also brought back to give the storyline a big push.

Kane deserved the limelight long back. Glen Jacobs, the man behind the character Kane, has been a dedicated and hardworking performer with an undying loyalty to Vince McMahon’s company. He recently expressed his desire to quit professional wrestling and start a career in politics. But that may well not be the reason why he is given this push. WWE is recently going through a big transitional phase. Established stars like HBK, Jericho, Matt Hardy, Rick Flair, Jeff Hardy, Hulk Hogan, Dave Batista – all have either retired, taken a break from wrestling or joined the rival promotion TNA. Other stars The Undertaker will retire soon, Triple H is out due to injury. To make the situation worse, no young superstar except John Cena and Randy Orton came up to fill their shoes. This made WWE to bring forth young guns like Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, David Otunga, Darren Young and many others to the limelight earlier than expected. During this time, this was the best possible storyline that can bring sure success.

Since his return, Undertaker looks much weaker than his usual self. This may be a hint to the fans that Taker is growing weaker with time and will retire soon.  The brothers will probably meet soon again in the one of the PPVs in a ‘Buried Alive’ match. Now it will be interesting to see how the story takes its shape in future.

This year, WWE’s grandest Pay per View, WrestleMania 27 was hosted at The Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. The show opened with Justin Roberts welcoming the crowd to the show and introducing Keri Hilson who sang “America the Beautiful”.

World Heavyweight Championship: Edge (Champ) vs. Alberto Del Rio

Del Rio didn’t get much of fan reaction as he entered the ring. Brodus Clay was at ringside to accompany the Mexican wrestler. Edge was interrupted by Brodus Clay but managed to grab a victory by hitting a spear on Del Rio.  Winner: Edge

Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes

This match saw Rey Mysterio in an extravagant outfit that resembled the costume of Captain America. But his performance in the match was not as heroic as the comic book hero. Mysterio was hit by “Cross Rhodes” and was pinned by Cody resulting in his defeat on the biggest stage of the year.  Winner: Cody Rhodes

Big Show, Kane, Kofi Kingston & Santino Marella vs. The Corre

The unlikely team of Big Show, Kane, Kofi and Santino pulled out the shortest match of this year’s WrestleMania. Big Show hit Heath Slater with a KO punch and easily pinned him.  Winners: Big Show, Kane, Kofi Kingston & Santino Marella

Randy Orton vs. CM Punk

This was the “dark horse” bout of the night. There was no title involved and still the match drew some serious attention of the WWE fans present in the arena. Randy started as the crown favorite but Punk fought brilliantly with some good old wrestling maneuvers. He, however, lost the match after being hit by the RKO.  Winner: Randy Orton

Michael Cole vs. Jerry Lawler

This was significant for two reasons. Firstly,  it was the first WrestleMania match for Jerry “the King” Lawler. Secondly, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was the guest referee in this match. The result of this match was almost certain as Austin was in support of “the good guy” Lawler. Lawler won the match by putting the ankle lock on Cole who gave up the match by tapping out.  But later the anonymous GM of Raw handed the match over to Cole. Winner: Michael Cole

The Undertaker vs. Triple H

This was the biggest attraction of the night. Both men got huge response from the fans as they entered the ring. Taker was at his very best and so was Triple H. The Phenom was repeatedly hit by Triple H only to kick out during the pinfall. Finally, he applied Hell’s Gate on Triple H who succumbed to Taker’s hold and was forced to tap out.  Winner: The Undertaker

Trish Stratus, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi & John Morrison vs. Dolph Ziggler & LayCool

This was a kind of “WWE-Glamour world collaboration” match.  Snooki was the key attraction of the matchup. She successfully charmed the audience with her wrestling moves and her team managed to grab the victory by pinning Michelle McCool. Winners: John Morrison, Trish Stratus & John Morrison

WWE Championship: The Miz (Champ) vs. John Cena

This match was on under scanner as many fans wanted to check the ability of The Miz on the biggest show of this business. Miz impressed the audience and put on a good show. Initially, Miz held the tile as both competitors were counted out. But later, The Rock entered and restarted the match. Cena was hit by a huge Rock Bottom and Miz cashed in the opportunity. He crawled over Cena managed a victory by pinfall.  Winner: The Miz

The 2011 Royal Rumble Pay-per-View immediately made its place in history as it was recorded as the longest match in WWE history running for 70 minutes.  This was the first time when WWE increased the number of participating candidates; it was a 40 man rumble this year, yet another record for this historic PPV.

In fact, record and surprise elements were in plenty in this year’s Royal Rumble. The Big Red Machine Kane was the 40th candidate to enter the ring and this year was Kane’s 13th consecutive participation in the Rumble, most by any superstar in WWE. Evan Bourne missed this year’s Rumble due to his injury though many fans from WWE Universe believed he will show up. Bourne is still recovering and going through physical therapy, as he twitted recently. He is expected to return during WrestleMania.  There are three other superstars who were advertised for the Rumble but didn’t appear during the match. They are David Hart Smith, Primo and Darren Young.

But the biggest surprise for this year’s Rumble was the ‘return’ of Booker T and “Big Daddy” Kevin Nash in his ‘Diesel’ avatar.  Both veterans had enjoyed some momentum with the fans going crazy for them. But in both case, their involvements in the Rumble were short-lived. Sources say that Booker has signed some sort of contract with WWE while Kevin Nash just played a cameo. But the creative team couldn’t decide whether Booker will be used as a wrestler or an announcer or will be working backstage.  As WWE has plans to bring back Tough Enough, Booker may be used for that show as well. Now can you dig that, sucka!!!