WrestleZAYNia XXXIX - 4/1 & 4/2/2023

[Niners Fan in CT]

Night 1 FAR exceeded my expectations.  I'm in the corner of thinking Night 2 is the better card but hot damn they delivered tonight.  

Just a quick list of things that RULED  

 

1.  Cena's entrance with the Make-A-Wish kids was FANTASTIC.  Loved it.  Got a little dusty in here.  Wish he had won honestly. 

2. DAWKINS TRUCKED Stroman and Gable hit a RIDICULOUS rolling German on Stroman.  Ricochet and Montez are insane too. 

3. Dom's Prison entrance with the corrections van and mask,  Rey's entrance with Nuthin But a G Thang and the lowrider, Muta mask. Oh hey the match was really good too! 

4. Logan Paul and KSI's theatrics and KSI getting obliterated.  Seth's battle chant was great too. 

5. Rhea and Charlotte BROUGHT IT.  Fantastic hard hitting match. 

6. How about everything to do with the STORYTELLING of The Usos and K.O./Zayn???   ALSO... PWG logos?  

7. Main Event Jey Uso is a true main event talent.  I need that singles run.  

Great night. 

 

[HumanChessgame]

Cena/Theory was about what I expected it to be.

The 4 way tag match was going to be a trainwreck, but I ended up liking it better than I thought. Even though he's slimmed down, Gable hitting a chaos theory on Strowman was damned impressive. The tower of doom spot was even better than the norm in multi person matches. Street Profits winning wasn't exactly unprecedented, but the tag division is pretty damn shallow.

In keeping with past years, the mania crowd sure does like to chant stuff. Once again I'd believe that Logan Paul had been wrestling for years. He's got a better physique than a lot of the roster, moves and sells well, annd has that natural asshole charisma you can't really teach. Granted Rollins can lead most people to something watchable, but Paul did plenty of heavy lifting on his own. I figured the guy in the bottle costume would factor in somehow and I have no idea who that guy is but it provided the prequisite amount of fuckery.

Women's trios match had a few rough moments given the ring rust on Trish and Lita but wasn't bad.

Rey/Dom was predictable but decent.

Charlotte/Rhea started off slower and more methodical than I was expecting. The match didn't do that much for me at first, then around the time of that face first superplex it really started to kick in. The last third or so was compelling stuff with both women countering or kicking out and laying it in progressively heavier. That avalance riptide was an impressive as hell finish. Rhea deserves the title and I hope she gets out on her own now. Charlotte even kinda gave her the smile and nod of respect at the end.

As obnoxious as Graves can often be on commentary, I got a chuckle out of him having it on the mic during the McAfee/Miz segment.

The main event was everything it needed to be. For everyone saying Sami should have gotten his big moment by beating Roman, this came off as a much better end of the storyline. Sami and Kevin were both parts of the narrative, and by getting their win together here after patching things up it really tied everything together.

Good show overall. There wasn't anything on there I can say was actively bad. As much as I liked the main event, I think Charlotte/Rhea was my favorite match of the night.

I get for the biggest PPVs they need some sort of intermission for fans between matches, but even with Mania split into two nights the amount of recaps, commercials, and other bits in between the matches seemed incredibly long.

[Niners Fan in CT]

I like Pat McAfee and The Miz but that's one thing that needed to be cut to save on time. That's my only real gripe tonight.  The show could have easily been more around the 3.5 hours mark. 

[Phantom Lord]

That was a fun show. There really wasnt anything that disappointed tonight. Just for emotion alone, Rey/Dom was amazing. Rhea vs. Charlotte was probably the match of the night. But Owens/Zayn vs. Uso's might be a top three match of the year candidate. I'm exhausted just from watching all that.

Oh yeah honorable mention to Chad Gable doing the rolling german on Braun. I popped for that.

[For Great Justice]

Dawkins will have a job for life man. See exhibit A of him performing the greatest dive catch I’ve ever seen and saving Ricochet’s life. See exhibit B of truck sticking Braun Stroman, reminding everyone that there’s popcorn muscles and then there’s division one athlete muscles.

Dude was the MVP of that match with Chad Gable right there too. Another guy with a job for life.

[hammerva]

The crowd reaction to the main event was strange.   Sami is kicking out almost impossible scenarios 2 or 3 times to almost no reaction.    Almost like they still have some kind of Montreal PTSD and was expecting the worse.  But then he kicked out one more time and the crowd immediately woke up and after they had the crowd in the palm of their hands.  

 

[Greggulator]

The tag match and the women’s match were both masterpieces. 

Rhea/Charlotte came in as the coldest match in terms of build and ended as a MOTYC. They built the story well before it got into bomb throwing time, and the bombs they threw looked like they were going to ruin spinal columns forever. The finish to get to the Avalanche Riptide with Charlotte getting her head spiked on the post to set up why she would be out for so long for Rhea to his something so elaborate was really clever. If you put Charlotte in a big match you are going to get a classic, pretty much. But Rhea really has “put the whole promotion on her back” level talent. She is great at literally everything. 

It has been pretty clear for a while that one of the WM nights was going to end with Sami pinning Jey with the Helluva Kick. But how they got there in the match was just a fantastic ride and I bit on so many of the falls. It isn’t just Sami who deserved the spot. KO and Jimmy and absolutely no doubt about it Jey all deserved main event WM status, too. Who knows where this heads next. But if that was how the ended the whole saga — the ended the saga perfectly.

[hammerva]

As if Kevin Owens tights have the PWG logo was anymore of a homage to their former, Kevin Owens just put over Super Dragon in the presser.   

[Eivion]

Cena/Theory was solid if forgettable.

The 4-way tag was fun clusterfuck. Dug Gable getting in the massive german suplex on Braun.

Rollins/Paul was about as good as expected. Paul is such a natural at this.

Becky/Lita/Trish vs. Damage Control ended up building into something solid despite the occasional off times. 

Absolutely loved Rey/Dom. The entrances were fantastic. The action was solid. I loved the family drama bits. And Dom was a tremendous asshole from beginning to end. This was Dom bes performance in WWE so far, and it wasn't all just Rey. Everything just came together so damn well. It probably wasn't quite MOTN, but it damn sure was my favorite. 

Rhea/Charlotte was pretty damn good, maybe even great. Just so physical with the two going to war at times. That german poor Charlotte took on the face was disgusting, but kudos to her for being able to continue on. Very happy to see Rhea come out ahead finally. 

The whole Pat/Miz match/segment with Snoop was a decent come down from the high we got from the women's title match. Fun but nothing crazy. Kind of love that they gave Snoop his own hemp belt like Bryan had. It also nice to hear Cole so legitimately happy whenever Pat comes around. 

Sami/KO vs. Usos was damn good with the right result. Dug how the Usos were just out to punish Sami at times. Sami just kind of dying each big double team and barely kicking out was nice as well. The finish was perfect too. Great way to end the night.

At least 4-great matches with everything else at least being fun. This was a fine Night 1 for Wrestlemania. MOTN was probably Charlotte/Rhea, but as I said before Rey/Dom was easily my favorite match here, maybe even for the weekend so far. 

[Andrew POE!]

Crap, sorry for providing my thoughts mid-PPV.

I was 'eh' towards Cena/Theory because there was a LOT of downtime in the match with Theory having to showboat due to Cena being gased (apparently).

Fatal Fourway Men's Tag Match was a trainwreck and fun to watch but I still feel like they called an audible. HOLY SHIT at Gable German Suplex'ing Strowman. I was more surprised by that than Big Men Flying Off The Top.

6 Women Tag Match was okay but Lita and Trish seemed a little off (Lita more than Trish). I do want Bayley to get a title reign at some point.

I halfway expected Sasha Banks to show up since Snoop Dogg was there.

Rhea/Charlotte was probably the best Charlotte Flair match I've seen. Her wrestling moves still don't look good and come close to looking fucking painful. I seriously hope Rhea has a long title reign and doesn't have to feud with Ronda Rousey (which would require us to have to hear Ronda talk on the mic as the crowd shits on her completely). Maybe Ronda can go to NXT if she doesn't like it.

Rey/Dom was great in the Ruthless Aggression Era main event style and Owens/Zayn vs. Usos is probably one of the best tag matches I've ever seen (up there with Rock N Rolls vs Midnights or Steiners vs. Williams/Gordy).

 

[Octopus]

I really enjoyed the parallel moments in Flair vs Ripley. Both performers having near ref bump leading to a signature move near fall  and also a signature submission leading to a rope break, showing how even of competitors they were. With Rhea being quicker to the ropes being a big difference. Charlotte sold really well. I also loved the ending with Flair looking on with earned admiration and respect for Rhea’s victory. My MOTN.

I very much loved Rey be Dom. Everything about it was a treat and complimented the story they had building up to this match.

The Main tag made me happy. The body catching while falling forward spot has been a staple visual in this feud and having it happen the few times it did throughout this match looked great. Even KO lifting Zayn in similar fashion (maybe not intentional but could have been) in the end standoff was beautiful. Very much a modern WWE main event.

The multi team extravaganza was fun. Very much a multiple people rushing to the top to get or miss the attack. Very fun and a lot of neat characters.

[cubbymark]

I'll echo the sentiment of people that got teary eyed with Cena's entrance with the Make A Wish kids honor guard. I did too.

Rey's mask felt current day Muta esque with the puffiness. Dom was such a shithead heel. Dom vs Bad Bunny in Puerto Rico might be something.

Michael Cole flat out name dropping El Generico was interesting. 

[ChesterCopperpot]

18 minutes ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

ALSO... PWG logos?  

They had talked earlier in the week thanking Super Dragon and Excalibur and would give PWG a nod during the show. 

[peterien]

KOs reaction > everything.

Pro wrestling is the fucking best.

[NoFistsJustFlips]

First the good. Everything. All of it. That was a damn good show. Even the match I liked the least (Cena vs Theory) was still good. And some of it was downright fucking stellar. Rey vs Dom, Rhea vs Charolette, The Main Event.

The bad. The bullshit sell out sponsorship shit went too far. You have Rey & Dom, the culmination of a almost a yera long story with very adult tones and a realism to it you don't often get from WWE. And these two guys have to settle their blood feud in a neon zone of kid's cereal bullshit. I complained in a Dynamite thread about the ropes being distracting to me and taking me out of the presentation. This was that x500000000. I get you gotta make your money. But the trons being neon purple EVERYWHERE is too god damn much. I also don't know how a kid's cereal company would be cool with a delinquent petulant child being released from prison and accosting his sister and mother taking an ass whopping from his father. Screams great product placement to me

[Octopus]

1 minute ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

The bad. The bullshit sell out sponsorship shit went too far. You have Rey & Dom, the culmination of a almost a yera long story with very adult tones and a realism to it you don't often get from WWE. And these two guys have to settle their blood feud in a neon zone of kid's cereal bullshit. I complained in a Dynamite thread about the ropes being distracting to me and taking me out of the presentation. This was that x500000000. I get you gotta make your money. But the trons being neon purple EVERYWHERE is too god damn much. I also don't know how a kid's cereal company would be cool with a delinquent petulant child being released from prison and accosting his sister and mother taking an ass whopping from his father. Screams great product placement to me

Wait until you see the Bounty’s Quilted Quicker Picker Upper First Blood Match between Cody and Roman.

[ChesterCopperpot]

Nice touch with the Champions T-shirt  for Sami and KO that they were wearing at the press conference.

[DreamBroken]

Cena going down so easily to Theory was weaaaaaak. Felt more like diminishing Cena's returns than elevating Theory.  Logan Paul rules.  Really liked the Lita/Trish/Becky entrance, glad to see them victorious.

Rey/Dominik was amazing. Both entrances were perfect. I hope Bad Bunny wrestles again.  Rhea/Charlotte was an incredible showstealer, definitely felt like a big time main event match that delivered huge.

 

Edited April 2, 2023 by DreamBroken

[The Natural]

Great show particularly Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens vs. The Usos which deservedly went on last with an all time feel good ending as Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens finally win the WWE Tag Team Titles sticking it to the Bloodline, Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair and Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio. Your move, Night 2.

[Andrew POE!]

13 minutes ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

First the good. Everything. All of it. That was a damn good show. Even the match I liked the least (Cena vs Theory) was still good. And some of it was downright fucking stellar. Rey vs Dom, Rhea vs Charolette, The Main Event.

The bad. The bullshit sell out sponsorship shit went too far. You have Rey & Dom, the culmination of a almost a yera long story with very adult tones and a realism to it you don't often get from WWE. And these two guys have to settle their blood feud in a neon zone of kid's cereal bullshit. I complained in a Dynamite thread about the ropes being distracting to me and taking me out of the presentation. This was that x500000000. I get you gotta make your money. But the trons being neon purple EVERYWHERE is too god damn much. I also don't know how a kid's cereal company would be cool with a delinquent petulant child being released from prison and accosting his sister and mother taking an ass whopping from his father. Screams great product placement to me

 

[Craig H]

I may be slightly drunk, but the was the show of the year. Rhea vs Charlotte fucking ruled, the storytelling in the main event is on par with Kenny/Hangman vs the Young Bucks, Mysterio vs Dom was great.

 Fuck man, does WWE rule?

[Octopus]

1 minute ago, Craig H said:

I may be slightly drunk, but the was the show of the year. Rhea vs Charlotte fucking ruled, the storytelling in the main event is on par with Kenny/Hangman vs the Young Bucks, Mysterio vs Dom was great.

 Fuck man, does WWE rule?

It does now. There will be misses and poor builds like anywhere else, but it’s a legit fun product again. I’m excited for the big shows. Plus, with Peacock I can just watch Wrestlemania without dropping 50 bucks or whatever.

[Dewar]

Night one was outstanding. Everyone who should have went over did, and they all went over strong. Really nice to see Rhea/Charlotte and the main event not have any outside interference involved.

[Johnny Sorrow]

5 minutes ago, Craig H said:

I may be slightly drunk, but the was the show of the year. Rhea vs Charlotte fucking ruled, the storytelling in the main event is on par with Kenny/Hangman vs the Young Bucks, Mysterio vs Dom was great.

 Fuck man, does WWE rule?

Yeah, it does. Everything is on fire. And the Bloodline story stomps the Elite stuff's dick in the dirt. What a great show!

Edited April 2, 2023 by Johnny Sorrow

[Dewar]

5 minutes ago, Craig H said:

I may be slightly drunk, but the was the show of the year. Rhea vs Charlotte fucking ruled, the storytelling in the main event is on par with Kenny/Hangman vs the Young Bucks, Mysterio vs Dom was great.

 Fuck man, does WWE rule?

They have done a really good job building stories for most of the big matches. It's almost as if they went back to the Pat Patterson days where you book the main angles out a year in advance.