The Wrestling Thread

[CrappyMike]

Well played wwe.

[Applecore]

Yup. They took what was looking to be a dire event and actually put on a great show. Gutted I'll be missing Raw now.

[florencethemachine]

Mania was sub par but saved by the obvious but much welcomed mitb cash in. It was well booked in the sense that all three main eventers looked strong and we never had the David vs Goliath finish we were all expecting. Lesnar looked good because he was an absolute beast as always and never got pinned. Reigns took a hell of a beating but seemed to enjoy it which developed his character so much more than this paltry WM build up. And Seth is finally out of no mans land and hopefully onto the start of a career defining run.

Ladder match was good but short.

Sting v HHH was pure fan service. Having a Monday Night Wars showdown between NWO and DX. Sting was impressive and clearly took the match seriously unlike Bret Hart or other legends which normally phone it in during these nostalgia matches.

Rollins v Orton was very solid. The Phoenix Splash cancel and RKO were amazing.

Wyatt v Undertaker was also good but not to the standard of the average Taker mania bout. Undertaker looked in great shape too. Not sure what the point of this match was though.

So tired! Stupid payroll today so having today off was impossible.

[Matty_the_Emo_Slayer]

I missed the pre-show but caught the highlights of it during the main show. Was glad to hear Cesaro and Kidd retained as they were part 1 of my accumulator but they should have won it clean instead of the opportunistic blind tag. I think settling the Mizdow thing with the battle royal was good but Big Show winning was the right choice. That close elimination was very impressive as I didn't think he would've had the core strength to support himself like that so well done. The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal concept was made for him so it's only right he should win as a final career accolade. I just wish I put a single bet on him to win as he was 25/1 going into it!

Also, at least one of those matches should've been on the main show though to help with the middle of the night slump.

Michael Cole couldn't even wait 60 seconds to start lying with the old "Pat Patterson won a tournament in Rio de Janeiro" myth but in general the whole IC title history build was fantastic. I loved the comedy segment later as well with Patterson, Steamboat, Piper, Flair and Hart too. Let's hope they're serious about making the belt important again, and once Barrett has his rematch a long feud between Bryan and Ziggler will be just the thing to do it. Both Ambrose and Harper were awesome in this match too. Good to see they still bleed the yellow and black- CZW for life.

Orton vs Rollins may well have been match of the night, and maybe even Randy Orton's best ever match. Some amazing spots and reversals and Orton really worked his ass off. Not an ounce of laziness in him on the night. The result killed my accumulator but I didn't care.

Triple H vs Sting. Sting looked in great shape and as said above he was taking it seriously, even trying to sit down on the Scorpion to make it look proper which I know puts his knees in agony at his age. Trips' entrance was so cool but stupid I was almost hoping Robocop would come out to help Sting and battle the Terminators. The DX run-in and nWo walk-in we got were both good though. It was pure nostalgia but it's what that match needed. It covered Sting's deficiencies perfectly and it was fun too watch, that's all that mattered. Not even Sting losing really mattered.

It would've been nice to see a DX vs nWo survivor series match but to make it work they'd either have to bring Michaels out of retirement and have X-Pac defect to nWo (making it HHH, Michaels, Gunn and Dogg vs Sting, Nash, The Giant and Syxx) or bring in Scott Steiner, Buff Bagwell, Chono, Tenzan or Muta to even up the numbers. It looks like they have other plans for HHH anyway.

For once the divas match was solid and wasn't a piss break spot. I loved Rusev's entrance but got pissed off at Cena's entrance package and went to bed to watch the rest today. The rest of the world already ha to sit through "America The Beautiful" every year, why do we need a propaganda video full of Bush and Reagan? The match itself was gick but at least it was Lana's distraction that cost Rusev the win so he isn't buried completely. The bad news is, awful rematch at Extreme Rules is going to happen. Yay.

And then things got even shitter. Boring music/celebrity spots, and the Authority vs The Rock/Ronda Roussey segment went on waaaaaaaay too long and didn't even have a proper payoff. No Rock Bottom and now actual armbar from Ronda. I'm a big fan so I wasn't unhappy to see her on the show, and at least she's an actual wrestling fan (i.e. not just sports entertainment, actual Pro Wrestling as well like PWG) but Vince obviously only wanted her there to piss off Dana. He has been very disparaging about women's fighting in the past so Ronda should really have had more self-respect than to be involved in this. The Rock vs HHH at Mania next year should be decent though, possibly even brilliant if they go out there to actually "wrestle" rather than to "tell a story."

Bray's scarecrow entrance thing sucked and although I liked the whole "gunslinger's last stand" thing with Taker that was why his entrance and ring gear were so toned down I think it could have been put across much much better. And they'll probably just be repeating it next year in Dallas if they do Taker vs Sting, which doesn't even look certain at this stage. Part of the underwhelming entrances was down to the sunlight which can't be helped when doing Mania on the west coast, but the match itself was very sub-par. Some nice storytelling parts but nothing else of note. Particularly Bray's spot where he Mick Foley'd himself over the steps and completely missed Taker's head looked awful.

I really enjoyed the main event though. Lesnar's "Suplex City, bitch!" line was one for the history books and I loved that he threw in a couple more variations this time. Heyman was on fire with his facial expressions as usual, Reigns was selling like a boss and for the most part (all except for the vacant look on the slo-mo replay of the big slap) he was spot on with his moneymaker as well. Laughing the pain off really goes a long way to making him less one dimensional. Brock was definitely letting him take some liberties with stiffness which was good, it made the blood look more legitimate even though they were cuts that had clearly been made prior to the match and reopened.

As for the finish it was perfect. Brock stays strong and has a legitimate reason to become even more violent and uncontrollable now until he gets his belt back. Reigns looks like a survivor but because he never really came that close to winning he isn't necessarily next in line for the belt. But a little further down the line when he has developed more and fans are ready for his big push this will stand well for him. Orton has a legit claim to being the #1 contender now too which is well-timed as he is finally back on form as his match earlier in the night proved. And Rollins now looks like the biggest genius ever, and because Steph and HHH weren't present it looks as though he did it by himself. A turn from heel to tweener looks likely.

All in all it was a 7/10 Mania, which they managed to pull off with what was only a 5/10 or 6/10 card. Very well played.

[JamieH]

I cba to edit out your wall of text for the Ronda Rousey bit. But I thought that whole thing was incredibly cringe worthy and pretty damn embarrassing for Rousey.

[CrappyMike]

yeah it was bad. nice to see her involved but the whole thing ran too long and she didnt really do anything

[Matty_the_Emo_Slayer]

Not that she really needs it, but at least her payoff for it will be huge. I just hope she doesn't do something stupid like agree to a mixed tag match at Summerslam.



Also, Scott Steiner was banned from attending the HoF ceremony lol

[Matty_the_Emo_Slayer]

Speaking of mixed tag matches, I thought of this during the Cesaro, Kidd and Natalya vs Los Matadores and El Torito match on RAW. WWE only do mixed tag matches nowadays (i.e. men can't be in the ring against women unlike in intergender tag matches), so are they so saying intergender violence is only okay if the man is a midget?

[florencethemachine]

The only top player that has been left in the dark is probably Bray Wyatt. Unless Taker is back for a couple of months because he looked in good shape. The only problem with Taker is that I can never tell whether he is selling or in genuine pain. I suppose that is a testament to his in-ring ability.

I legitimately fell asleep around three times during that Rock/HHH segment. Each time I woke up it was still going on!

[florencethemachine]

I would just like to add that the commentary during the fatal 4 tag match was some of the worst I have heard the three stooges utter.

[JamieH]

yeah it was bad. nice to see her involved but the whole thing ran too long and she didnt really do anything

Other than that really awkward holding Stephanie's arm thing

[Matty_the_Emo_Slayer]

An underhook from Ronda is like a normal person smashing a breezeblock into your arm though! The hip toss to HHH was good but come on, you're paying to have one of the best legit wrestlers in the world on your show have her put somebody in an armbar!

[Jobdone]

The main event can be summed up by Mattys signature.

It was an alright show.

I just think I'll never like Reigns. I hated their attempt at a "PLEASE SIR MAY I HAVE ANOTHER" with Reigns laughing and shit, though maybe that'll get him over with the crowd more. Fuck knows.

Not sure why Taker won.

The Uppercats are GOAT and should be tag champs forever.

Fuck Cena.

Divas match was okay.

Completely skipped the Rock bit because I had no interest in a Raw promo in the middle of Wrestlemania.

[Matty_the_Emo_Slayer]

Anyone got any predictions for next year's Hall Of Fame? Seeing as it's in Texas I'm expecting at least a couple of Texas entries. Maybe something like this.

The Undertaker
Goldust
Mark Henry
Jacqueline
Slick
The Guerrero Family (Eddie is in the HoF already but Vickie, Chavo Jr., Chavo Sr. and Hector [The Gobbledy Gooker] have all worked for WWE as well. Plus Mando and Gory Guerrero.]

And some possibilities who may never have really worked extensively for WWF but are still legends

Stan Hansen (most famous for wrestling in AWA and All Japan but in his brief WWF run in 1976 he broke Bruno Sammartino's neck.)
Bobby Duncum Sr. (part of the original Heenan Family in AWA)
The Fabulous Freebirds (none were actually from Texas but they were the biggest thing in WCCW in the early 80's. Michael Hayes was a commentator/interviewer in the Attitude Era, briefly managed The Hardy Boyz, was on creative for a while and seems to appear on every WWE DVD.)
Gentleman Chris Adams (trained Austin and Scott Hall and inspired Shawn Michaels' superkick. Maybe inducted with Gino Hernandez as "The Dynamic Duo.")
Bruiser Brody (wasn't from Texas but played college football there and was a big star in WCCW and basically everywhere but WWF)

[Matty_the_Emo_Slayer]

And for the celebrity wing maybe Willie Nelson seeing as he sang at Mania?