Wrestling Thread 3: Dan vs. Cam • Page 809

Also, if you’re considering going to Mania week and you’ve never been to actual Mania I say don’t skip on wrestlemania itself. Yes it’s long as fuck but I think it’s still enjoyable to be there. I think I enjoy the matches more and the ones that aren’t great I don’t hate as much. If that makes any sense

 

I didn't enjoy being at 32 too much tbh

 

Tho the atmosphere of booing reigns out of the building is interesting.

 

Crowd all around me was into it

 

Be careful, Mike

 

Quick Mania Grade/Review Recap
*didnt watch mens battle royal and im not invested enough into 205 live to have an opinion one way or another
- Womens Battle Royal = 2/10. Garbage, waste, rushed, bad winner. From the nonsense of giving Becky and Bayley the only full entrances, and yet Becky gets tossed nonchalantly, and the winner is Naomi? Bleh.
- IC Triple Threat = 7/10. As expected is the best way to describe this match. Maybe it's unfair and the score could be higher, but nothing about the match made it feel spectacular, but it was definitely a solid good match. Rollins winning is neither good or bad, just hoping they have some sort of idea going forward and it's not just (how about rollins?)
- Charlotte vs Asuka = 9/10. Easily the best 1v1 womens wrestling match in mania history. Match of the night. Big time feel, big time talent, and they delivered. Thought the match needed an extra 5 minutes though. I have no problem with Charlotte winning, but i don't like how Asuka took the loss. How they book both women going forward will determine if this was a good booking decision.
- US Fatal Four = 3/10. Match I was looking forward to the least, was the worst match of the night. Forgetful. Rusev winning was the only way this match was going to be saved and they went with the troll the crowd win. Some heels have to win, I get it, and I actually dont mind Jinder being the us champ...this match just felt like a good time to cash in on Rusev day. Roode as a face must end...Orton needs to take a big long breajk.
- Rousey 4way = 9/10. This was great. I could not have been more sports entertained by this. From the ego trip entrance of the Triple H's, to the way Rousey looked, to the way it was booked, and the hot crowd...good stuff. No complaints. Good wrestlemania moment.
- Smackdown Triple = 4/10. By the way those shitty looking graphic on this show (pancakes)....woof. Come on billion dollar company. We can do better than that. This match was, what it was. The Bludgeon Brothers push is happening. Not into the gimmick and the match was a squash so this is not for me but I'll keep trying to give the BB's a try. New Day MUST go on to do different things now as single stars.
- Cena/Taker = 3/10. Which is a shame because Cena made me laugh a LOT tonight when he was in the crowd. Him running to the back after the ref saying something...a lot of great gif's tonight from cena. But this was shit. I loved Elias coming out but him getting punked like that, booooo. I would've rather have Elias get a Hogan leg drop or something. Because after Cena makes him look like shit... Taker goes to make Cena look like shit. A very sad match. Let Mark Callaway REST IN FUCKING PEACE! I liked that they tried something different with this build, but in the end.it flopped hard.
- Shane/DB vs Owens/Zayn = 5/10. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE NIGHT. It wasn't "bad", but whoever was the agent for this match needs to be fucking fired. Hated doing the Bryan stretcher job in the beginning. It sucked the energy out of that match from the very beginning and the match never recovered after it. The WWE is WAY WAY WAY over thinking Bryan. Even his entrance, with the "cyber yes movement thing". They're ruining it. This match should've been a classic SHANE match, but with DB/Zayn/Owens stealing the work-rate show at the same time. Daniel was booked liked super-cena...owens/Zayn came off looking like nothing...and just a total bummer of a match.
- Nia/Alexa = 6/10. Thought the match was better than expected. Nia yelling and Alexa yelling in fear was hilarious. I think the actual match was surprisingly good and, just, yeah, no issue with this match. Nia saying "I loved you"... is either a roll your eye moment because wtf that storyline was never fleshed out...OR it's the beginning of an actually intriguing storyline idea that Nia loved Alexa all along (i dont think its this).
- AJ vs NAK = 8/10. I think this match was totally fine. I've heard some people say this match didn't deliver, and yeah, it wasn't a 5 star match, but it was by no means bad. I think it was a really good match, with a surprise winner, and a well executed and much needed heel turn ending. I'm looking forward to seeing more of these two going forward.
- Strowman vs Bar = 8/10. I got a big kick out of this. Thought it hit the LOLz and the AWz perfectly. Memorably moment that did the best they could with Strowman not being in the main event. I always thought it was going to be "no one" or "ellsworth" but this was great too.
- Lesnar vs. Reigns = 1/10. Worst match of the night obviously. Shit shit shit shit and just shit. I'm done with everything involving this. No more Reigns main eventing wrestlemanias without being over....no more wrestlemanias ending with no one giving a shit or mad.... no more Lesnar matches.... no more Reigns kicking out of a billion finishers.

Final result = 6/10.

That sounds about right. A show that its moments, had its bad, and a few eh's. Not a top 10 mania..not a bottom 10.

 

So weird. There was an actual lightning strike in the arena that looked cool, but it’s totally covered up by that graphic

 

Holy shit, I didn’t know what people were talking about with the 90s graphics but yeah that’s bad. Should have just shown what happened in the arena. Now I want to see the rest of the bad graphics

 

Taker needed this. If nothing else just so that his final moment isn't some brokedick Roman Reigns match. Nothing really sad about it in my eyes. He looked great. Granted it was a Lesnar-esque squash, but he can still clearly get his offense in. Hell it even worked from a kayfabe standpoint. Cena spent weeks and weeks begging for (and focusing on) any kind of response from Taker without ever really considering what it would mean if he said yes. Then when the match actually came, he was unprepared and got his ass whipped.

Like I said, I think if we get a proper build next year for a real match now that he's "back", and if Taker stays in shape.... I mean there's your closeout match at MetLife.

 

Ah. Maybe my stream hitched then



As an aside, I'm not sure where they go with Asuka now. A program of her trying to overcome Charlotte? I think the loss would have been better if she had a win over Charlotte at SD or whatever. The post match promo doesn't seem to give it much room, unlike say Nakamura who's gone heel. I would have liked Asuka winning and Charlotte having to come back to get revenge so to speak. Getting a win at a later ppv.

 

Curious what happens with Brock tonight.

It’s amazing that even when somewhat squashing Roman, they still fuck it up.

 

fuck Nicholas

 

Meltzer actually used the word "masterpiece" for the Ronda match. lol

 

I saw this woman at a shop earlier in the week! She was...interesting

 

Hope Cesaro swings him tonight

 

Match ranking from my perspective last night in the crowd, since I have some time at the airport before my flight boards:

1A. IC title match
1B. Charlotte vs Asuka
3. Ronda and Kurt vs Triple H and Stephanie
4. Mustafa Ali vs Cedric Alexander
5. Braun and NICHOLAS vs The Bar
6. AJ vs Nak
7. Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon vs KO and Sami (Jesus, did Shane completely suck out all the energy of Bryan’s return)
8. Alexa Bliss vs Nia Jax
9. Cena vs Taker, feat. Elias
10. Brock vs Roman
11. Women’s Battle Royal (Honestly, not sure why you all thought this was such a cluster? I mean, yeah, it was, but all battle royals are. From being there in the crowd it seemed clear there was at least a story being told of the NXT girls vs main roster for a bit, and I was totally fine with the little Naomi swerve at the end. Outside of Sasha, Bayley, and Becky, she’s probably the most popular performer in the match)
12. New Day vs Usos vs Blusheon Brothers (that New Day entrance was, uhhhh, something)
13. Men’s battle royal

 

Oh, and just curious since so many people were unhappy about the Asuka finish—did the broadcast pick up the “Break the streak” chant that was happening about 3 minutes before the finish? Crowd was definitely slightly more in Charlotte’s favor.

 

Can’t believe a kid got the biggest pop of the night outside of D-Bry, HELL YEAH WRESTLING

 

havent watched raw since summer but I guess I'll tune in for a bit tonight.

 

Cool, man

 

Bro youre hurting Jerseys rep

 

yes, don't blemish Jersey's remarkable, sterling reeputation

 

this is the weirdest post-Mania day of reflection lol. the wrestling itself was really average at best throughout, but it was probably the most entertained i've been by a Mania in the last few years - i didn't really feel much burnout til Nia/Alexa, so they kept me pretty into it for 5 straight hours.