The Wrestling Thread

[chadrtc]

Imagine going from $65 for Mania to free in a space of 2/3 years. Mad.

To be fair, this is the worst Wrestlemania card I can remember in a very long time... nobody in there right mind wouldve paid PPV money for it.

[MrShawnMichaels]

To be fair, this is the worst Wrestlemania card I can remember in a very long time... nobody in there right mind wouldve paid PPV money for it.

How could you not be excited for the BIG DOG v HUNTOR?

[Alex]

Looking forward to both events over the weekend. The Takeover Card looks really good. Cant wait to see what Nakamura will do in WWE. I feel like a bit of a hipseter with him, as I only really started to pay attention 6 months or so ago. But what I have seen he looks great.

Wrestlemania is a bit of a meh one again, but from the previous 2 years experience they absolutly nailed it on the night. So I dont have much worry again.

Watching with my brother and 2 friends as we do every year

[MrShawnMichaels]

I'm very jealous at this time of the year for anyone who attends the city where Mania is hosted. So many amazing events in around Dallas from tonight onwards. Walemania, Evolve, Ring of Honor, Kaiju Big Battel, Wrestlecon. So much great stuff

I'm amped for NXT too. Nakamura v Zayn will be hot. Aries v Corbin will have some good heat and interested to see how Asuka and Bailey fair.

Wrestlemania is meh. Last year bar a couple of things was very good, the year before was good too. This year is quite evidently a drought in quality.

[Jayesh87]

Wrestlemania Predictions

Kalisto v Ryback

The Total Divas v B.A.D. & Blonde

Charlotte v Becky Lynch v Sasha Banks

The Usos v The Dudley Boyz

The New Day v The League of Nations

Kevin Owens v Sami Zayn v Dolph Ziggler v Zack Ryder v Sin Cara v The Miz v Stardust (ladder match)

André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal - Braun Strowman

AJ Styles v Chris Jericho

Dean Ambrose v Brock Lesnar (street fight)

Shane McMahon v The Undertaker (hell in a cell)

Triple H v Roman Reigns (no dq)

[chadrtc]

The Zayn vs Nakamura match last night was astonishing!

As great card top to bottom. Sunday will have to some way to get even close!

[Alex]

That match almost ruined the next two. They both destroyed each other.

Another great NXT Special. I dont know how long they can maintain this, but its fun watching them try.

[MrShawnMichaels]

Nakamura v Zayn may have been good but it's been topped by
Ospreay v ZSJ
Ospreay v Ricochet

Go out of your way to watch these

Heard there was an excellent Chris Hero match too

[MrMichael]

Ricochet/Prince Puma is a top talent. Pretty much the only show I've been watching lately has been Lucha Underground, which is just all kinds of awesome.

Not seen NXT yet but looking forward to it. They're lining up some great indie dream matches to hit the main roster soon, the likes of AJ, KO, Zayn, Joe, Balor and Nakamura could rip the place up if allowed to.

Won't stay up for the whole of WM due to work so will have to watch most of it later in the week. Not having been paying that much attention though, the card seems very odd this year. Am I wrong in thinking that the endings to the 2 main events are rather ****ed? In one, Taker wins and the Authority stay in charge & Shane is gone, Shane wins and Taker retires? The crowd will be hot and not facing a proper wrestler this time will hide Taker's deficiencies, but the ending is going to be weird either way. And as for HHH v Reigns, unless they do a double turn the crowd are going to boo the face out of the building. Messy.

AJ & Jericho don't have the best chemistry for me but hopefully that one is good. The ladder match and Dean/Brock should be fun demolition derbies. The rest seems very meh.

[Alex]

Well that was poor. Few high spots, but overall it wasn't good was it.

[Keyser Soze]

Well that was poor. Few high spots, but overall it wasn't good was it.

The match ups were not good and the 'surprises' a tad meh.

Women's match was decent (theres been better on NXT though) and the ladder match as always was entertaining (Ryder, nice guy and all but really ).
Obviously Shane jumping off the cell was intriguing.

The NXT event was far superior. Mania seems to be nowadays two awesome entrances (Taker and HHH) and some old wrestlers from when wrestling was fun return to show us what we're missing.

[MrShawnMichaels]

Ricochet/Prince Puma is a top talent. Pretty much the only show I've been watching lately has been Lucha Underground, which is just all kinds of awesome.

Not seen NXT yet but looking forward to it. They're lining up some great indie dream matches to hit the main roster soon, the likes of AJ, KO, Zayn, Joe, Balor and Nakamura could rip the place up if allowed to.

Won't stay up for the whole of WM due to work so will have to watch most of it later in the week. Not having been paying that much attention though, the card seems very odd this year. Am I wrong in thinking that the endings to the 2 main events are rather ****ed? In one, Taker wins and the Authority stay in charge & Shane is gone, Shane wins and Taker retires? The crowd will be hot and not facing a proper wrestler this time will hide Taker's deficiencies, but the ending is going to be weird either way. And as for HHH v Reigns, unless they do a double turn the crowd are going to boo the face out of the building. Messy.

AJ & Jericho don't have the best chemistry for me but hopefully that one is good. The ladder match and Dean/Brock should be fun demolition derbies. The rest seems very meh.

Lucha Underground is rather awesome as a spectacle. Did you watch Aztec Warfare?

Operative terms that I have bolded. Haha

[MrShawnMichaels]

This was a show short of expectation due to the poor creative and decimated roster – both of which were hugely highlighted by the end of the night. A huge 7 hour production with 11 official matches and one impromptu was largely underwhelming. Some questionable decisions made by the key people in the promotion surrounding the whole event and the lay out.

Started with Kalisto/Ryback for the US Title match. ¾ empty, this was down to power issues in allowing the 85,000 into the building. This was a by the numbers match. Ryback hit a few power moves. Nothing spectacular. **

Total Divas v BAD and Blonde. This was ok, I expected it to be worse. Some solid showings from Emma and Natalya. Eva Marie continues to be booed despite their thinking that she is going to be a strong babyface because of her looks. This is where Vince shows his inability to understand his audience. He thinks pretty women make money whereas the world is now seeing tough women make money. Lana did a few kicks and was largely protected. This is probably Brie Bella’s last match and it could have gone with her doing the honours but instead they allowed her to win the Yes Lock. Nikki in her gear and neckbrace (weird) came out after to celebrate. **

Usos v Dudleys. The crowd didn’t seem to like the Usos at all. This again was a nothing match. Both these teams are capable of so much more, especially Bubba Dudley, who is showing his Bully Ray character more. Usos win with a nothing finish – superkick. At the end, the Dudleys went for the tables, which the crowd popped for, but the Usos instead put them through tables, few boos at the end. **

I remember last year the four team tag match was one of the better parts of the show. It’s as if none of these matches were used to heat the crowd up because of the show going so long.

IC Title ladder match. The main body of this match was the Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn feud which they have done nothing to explain on television. It was cool to hear the crowd sing along to Zayn’s theme song. Some awesome moves in this match, a dangerously fun showing from everyone. Zack Ryder in the biggest surprise win of the night. I remember last year the idea was for Cena and Bryan to elevate the US and IC titles respectively, so that it could help prop up Reigns and remove the negativity surrounding poor title matches. This year, they’ve opted for Kalisto and Ryder. I know which one of the two mentalities I prefer. ***3/4

AJ Styles v Chris Jericho. This is where the show fell off the cliff (yes, this early). Not a great spectacle but it was acceptable. Both guys don’t have good chemistry and Styles is capable of far more. They’ve completely killed the Styles clash as a finisher with Jericho kicking out of it, after it was protected so well by New Japan as a legit killer finisher. Styles won with the codebreaker from a springboard. Bad decision here – Styles badly needed the win. I can’t understand the 50/50 nature of this nor the need to have a best of 101 matches. ***

The League of Jobbers v The New Day. So in the pre show, they were still promoting this as a handicap, however this turned out to be a six man with Barrett sitting out. The New Day came out from a box of BootyOs. Lovely. This was decent, nothing spectacular of note. Xavier Woods had a good showing. Sheamus getting the win in another surprise finish. This win was done to set up old men coming out and showing how poor the current roster has been booked. HBK, Foley and Austin accepted the challenge of the Nations which led to all the signature moves being hit. Woods was later stunned when asking Austin to dance. This is where you can again question Vince for his booking as yet again one of his hottest acts is just a sideshow for OLD MEN and it did nothing for The New Day going forwards. **3/4

Lesnar v Ambrose in a streetfight. The story has been that Ambrose is a madman who cost Lesnar the chance to headline Mania after screwing him at the last PPV. Ambrose was being inspired by past hardcore icons to topple this behemoth. In this match, we saw neither of the lunatic element or the real hardcore elements which were being promised. Ambrose used kendo sticks, chairs and a fire extinguisher whereas Lesnar refused to indulge in such tomfoolery. The booking of Ambrose did him no favours – another Vince special to not protect a guy who is getting a strong crowd reaction (see Styles/New Day). Lesnar beat Ambrose clean with a F5 on a stack of chairs in the ring. Underwhelming. **1/2

Charlotte v Sasha Banks v Becky Lynch. On the pre-show, they announced a rebranding of the womens division and a new belt to get rid of the butterfly. This was a thoroughly enjoyable hard hitting match from all three who really put a lot of graft into it. It felt more in line with the quality displayed at NXT. They all equally showed how much they wanted the title with the intensity and aggression. Another questionable finish (see Styles/New Day) with Charlotte applying the Figure 8 on Lynch with Banks being screwed by Nature Boy. ***1/2

Undertaker v Shane McMahon in the Hell in a Cell for the control of Raw and ability to perform at Mania again. This was far too long (>30mins) for a non-wrestler and a 51 year old man. This was always going to be stunt show giving Shane’s past and what was teased on Raw. Shane hit the Van Terminator, got hit with a chokeslam on steel steps, got speared through the cage and then hit the much rumoured jump from the top of the cell to the gimmicked announcers table. Match ended with a tombstone. *1/2

Andre the Giant Battle Royal with surprise entrants Tatanka, DDP (he has Dallas in his name, geddit??) and Shaquille O Neal. The rumour was Conor McGregor was in Dallas. HAH. This was like all battle royals, nothing spectacular. Shaq and Big Show got eliminated early, Social Outcasts had the comedy spots. In the end, Baron Corbin threw Kane out to win it. The least over guy in NXT gets to win a match at Mania whereas one of the most over (Zayn) can’t overcome Ryder (a mid level tag team wrestler in the developmental brand). Another questionable finish (see Styles/New Day/Sasha) Classic Vince booking of going with the big guy with long hair. *1/2

Rock came out to announce the attendance with a flame thrower. This was so weird. The promo kept going on and on and on. Until the Wyatts came out. Rock mocked Bray yadda yadda. Rock challenged one of them to a match and pinned the Vintner, Eric Rowan after six seconds. The Wyatts circled Rock who was saved by the returning John Cena who was so serious about this evening of odds that he showcased his cum rag to the camera. And they wonder why he gets booed. These older stars killed the younger act despite outnumbering them (see League of Jobbers and Old Men confrontation). DUD

Triple H v Reigns where the winner has the misfortune of being called champion of this company. Triple H came out with Steph delivering what sounded like a shoot promo on the audience. Only the WWE has a disdain for its audience for not liking the crap its churning out on a weekly basis. Weirdly, this was being promoted as a No DQ through the week. Turned out that was ignored when this match started. This was long and boring. Crowd didn’t care with chants for Sami Zayn and Nakamura (that’s them screwed). This is third Mania HHH has headlined which has been an utter turdfest: Jericho at X8, Orton at 25. Reigns got a reaction when he speared through Steph accidently. When Reigns’ hand raised at the end of the night, the crowd sweetening was very evident. Huge boos for the guy with long hair and is good looking. No huge angle at the end of this like a heel turn or interference. Disappointing end. **3/4

Wrestlemania is usually the barometer for how the company is when it comes to its creative. What we have seen here is Vince go with the status quo. Heel authority figure is continuing, his big muscle meatheads winning matches and a lot of 50/50 booking. Nothing has changed and nothing will. In contrast, last year’s Mania was a blowaway to the turd displayed this year. Some acceptable matches but only for a TV setting, not for Mania. My star ratings hover around ** to *** demonstrating exactly that. It did turn out that the Shane v Taker storyline was a gimmick to spike interest into the Network. A very disappointing 7 hours of viewing.

[Alex]

Watched it back (on fast forward) and I think you are maybe being a little harsh on it. Except maybe the Lesnar v Ambrose match. That **** was sanitised.

Most of the matches were good. Nothing outstanding, which hurt the show. But everything else was solid. Even the main event, which for whatever it was was decent. Id have probably put the Battle Royale on the Pre Show and kept the show shorter. Plus give wins to AJ and Sasha. But other than that the rest sort of made sense.

It was probably a 7/10 Mania. With the last two being 9/10. More on a level with WM19, 21 or 25. Not terrible though. I think peoples hatred of Roman Reigns kind of ruined what could have been a really good main event.

Womens match was probably the match of the night, and too be honest it was the sort of story and match quality that could have headlined a smaller PPV. Which in itself is a big deal for a 'sport' that traditionally treats women as a bit of a joke.

Roll on Summerslam when Rollins, Cena and Cesaro are back up to speed.


Also, Nakamura. Jesus that match was good fun.

[Bender]

imo Seth Rollins absence is very telling for wwe