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

[AaronMLuke]

As far as the lita/trish/Becky entrance, I'm guessing someone  is a big Sin City fan.

[EVA]

Got damn, Rhea/Charlotte was nice. Probably Charlotte’s best match ever and BY A MILE the best thing she’s done since…pre-pandemic. Seemed like she understood she needed to tighten her shit up vs. Rhea’s physicality, and we got what felt like a rare female hoss battle, as a result.

Of course, then she kinda had to shit on Rhea’s win by doing her usual passive aggressive “laugh and clap” routine, but whatever. Charlotte gonna Charlotte.

[The Natural]

6 minutes ago, EVA said:

Got damn, Rhea/Charlotte was nice. Probably Charlotte’s best match ever and BY A MILE the best thing she’s done since…pre-pandemic. Seemed like she understood she needed to tighten her shit up vs. Rhea’s physicality, and we got what felt like a rare female hoss battle, as a result.

Of course, then she kinda had to shit on Rhea’s win by doing her usual passive aggressive “laugh and clap” routine, but whatever. Charlotte gonna Charlotte.

I still rate the No DQ, Falls Count Anwhere match with Sasha Banks on RAW, 28th November 2016 as Charlotte Flair's best match but this is up there along the Last Woman Standing match with Becky Lynch at Evolution 2018 and one of the Asuka matches. With you on the post match.

Edited April 2, 2023 by The Natural

[Johnny Sorrow]

12 minutes ago, EVA said:

Got damn, Rhea/Charlotte was nice. Probably Charlotte’s best match ever and BY A MILE the best thing she’s done since…pre-pandemic. Seemed like she understood she needed to tighten her shit up vs. Rhea’s physicality, and we got what felt like a rare female hoss battle, as a result.

Of course, then she kinda had to shit on Rhea’s win by doing her usual passive aggressive “laugh and clap” routine, but whatever. Charlotte gonna Charlotte.

I think that was more Charlotte being real and knowing they just tore the house down while her face was swelling up from the bump that rug burned her.

[EVA]

Just now, Johnny Sorrow said:

I think that was more Charlotte being real and knowing they just tore the house down while her face was swelling up from the bump that rug burned her.

She does that shit every time she loses a big match. It’s her way of no-selling the loss.

[Eivion]

Cole mentioned Charlotte told Rhea she earned it so it was more proud respect moment.

[Ziggy]

You can tell they kinda went back and forth about deciding between the Women's title Match and the tag title Match as main event because you'd think they'd drill the fact that this was the first time the Tag Titles main evented Wrestlemania for the first time.

I have to watch Rhea vs Charlotte again but people forget Charlotte is probably the best big match wrestler. People say she's been phoning it in alot on the regular shows but on PPVs she really brings it atleast when she's in a featured Match. Charlotte had a chip on her shoulder because she really believed she should have. In retrospect now, most of us would've have been upset if she had but maybe that made her bring it more than she would have.

Seth Rollins too is another really good big match wrestler. I kind of expected him to lose to Paul but even if Logan does stay, we probably won't see him till leading to SummerSlam. Logan Paul was impressive again of course but it's difficult to have a bad match with Rollins unless he's put in that Feind type situation.

I said it before, Dawkins is improving alot. Ford should be the one to breakout but I like that Dawkins isn't letting Tez completely tread ahead of him. He was in developmental so long before getting called up the past year he seems to really get better.

Rey entrance was so lit too, almost got emotional hearing Eddies music. 

My eyes got a little watery seeing Zayn and Owens shed tears and hug.

It would be wishful thinking for me to expect them to put more steam behind the tag division. New Day won't be tagging up anytime soon and the only other team close to as over as them is Street Profits and they are another babyface team. I doubt they want to keep doing rematches with Usos alot, Which would be excellent matches but wouldn't make sense business wise. They don't have heel teams that seem credible enough for Zayn and Owens.

Edited April 2, 2023 by Ziggy

[Craig H]

I get people saying Charlotte is a big match wrestler, but she hasn't been this good in a long ass time. She was on another level.

[Niners Fan in CT]

Re: WWE as a whole.  The story lines are better and more longterm with Hunter, definitely more thought out.  So you combine some good stories with great performers and the company delivers man.  

I mean.. even if the stories aren't great,  the production team and the wrestlers are too talented for the shows to suck.  Look at Rhea vs. Charlotte as an example of that. 

[Niners Fan in CT]

Sorry for the double post, I guess what I mean is Triple H knows how to drive this bus of really talented people.  Vince McMahon was literally fucking up a cup of coffee in his later years with downright drizzling shits booking. 

[Eivion]

12 minutes ago, Craig H said:

I get people saying Charlotte is a big match wrestler, but she hasn't been this good in a long ass time. She was on another level.

She had a great title match with Naomi a year or so ago. Most of the last year was her working with Rousey or being out for honeymoon and then healing from oral surgeries.

[Eivion]

4 minutes ago, L_W_P said:

Agree that KO/Zayn need to be booked really carefully post Mania. You want them to get a good run but there's not a heap of quality opposition.

I disagree with this. Gable/Otis, Braun/Ricochet, Viking Raiders, Sheamus/Drew, Imperium, Judgement Day, Legado, & Street Profits are all good-great teams. They could also call up teams like GYV and Pretty Deadly from NXT who are great.

[EVA]

Granted, the Alpha Academy run has been far better than most anything else Chad Gable has been given to do on the main roster, but…when you see him effortlessly hitting Chaos Theory on Braun Strowman, it really underlines the fact that SOMEONE SHOULD BE JAILED for how badly WWE fumbled the ball with the prime of that guy’s career. Fucking world class talent.

[Eivion]

12 minutes ago, EVA said:

Granted, the Alpha Academy run has been far better than most anything else Chad Gable has been given to do on the main roster, but…when you see him effortlessly hitting Chaos Theory on Braun Strowman, it really underlines the fact that SOMEONE SHOULD BE JAILED for how badly WWE fumbled the ball with the prime of that guy’s career. Fucking world class talent.

The man got that terrible Shorty G shit over and they still wouldn't push him. It is nice though that the most of the roster clearly agrees to some degree he should be doing more as they have been trying to make sure he looks good-great whenever they get singles matches with him or moments like tonight with Strowman.

[HumanChessgame]

As far as WWE quality on the whole goes, the weekly shows aren't bad as much as they are uninteresting or just serve to set up further storylines. The PPVs tend to deliver more often than not. There are plenty of talented people on the roster and the production team is second to none, which results in a polished overall product. Sometimes everything can be -too- polished, especially with the way a lot of the promos come off as people reading off a script and not as organic.

[ExcellenceofAirPollution]

I signed up for Peacock to watch Elimination Chamber and stuck around for WM.  Other than EC this is the first WWE show (tv included) I've watched since last year's Mania, but I keep up with the product a bit via internet/podcasts/clips

- First things first, the bad out of the way:  the spot calling was super loud and noticeable throughout the show from the first match to the last and it really bugged me.  KO in the main event when he's in the corner:  "double superkick" and he proceeds to get double superkicked.  Sami when he's in the corner and Jey is beating on him:  "More.  More.  More."   and not as part of the character.  those are just the two freshest in my head.  I know it's an open air stadium and the crowd is kind of weird and quiet at times and it's tough to mic but this was killing me and takes me out of matches.  Adjust the mics or something, someone in the back watching the PPV feed had to notice it too

- I'm not a Kevin Hart or a Miz fan so the first 10 minutes or so of bad comedy didn't get things off to a hot start for me

- I also thought the entrance with the kids was really sweet and touching.  Thought at first that meant they had to give Cena the win, give him a short run and drop it in Puerto Rico.  But as the match went on I figured Theory was winning and Cena can just go backstage, tell the kids you can't win em all and to Never Give Up and they'll be fine

- I was impressed with the 4 way tag because the crowd was DEAD at the start and they really managed to get them into it.  Some good spots here, this turned out to be really fun and I'd rank it 3rd on action

- wasn't into LP and Seth and other than the singing bit I didn't think the crowd was super into it.  Seth looked ridiculous in his gear and it highlighted how hit and miss his character and performances are with me.  This was largely a miss for me, while at other WM's he's been one of the highlights.  I'd seen enough clips of LP's appearances (the match with Roman in particular) to know he's talented, but I'm not the audience for this.  Thought it would be his brother in the costume, other than hearing the name KI before I had no clue who he was

- 6 woman tag was about what I expected, maybe a little better honestly, but just there.  This was my first time seeing Trish in years.  I don't know how to say this other than just say it:  Did she have her implants removed and then done again?  She looked like 1999 Trish out there and I remember her looking much more natural whenever it was she came back with the dark hair when I was still watching semi-regularly.

- I absolutely love Dominic's character now and his entrance was tremendous.  Rey is one of my all-time favorites since the mid-90s.  I loved everything about this......except for the action between the ropes.  Dom still isn't very good in the ring but I expected them to have better action and for Dom to be more vicious.  I don't want to bemoan that though because Dom's gotten good at all the other stuff and this was great from a storyline perspective.  I kinda love that they've randomly brought the lWo back

- I'm still used to the marathon shows where they have the HOF or a music performance or something intermission like, timed my smoke break poorly and missed maybe the first 10 minutes of Ripley-Flair.  From where I picked it up until the finish was great.  Charlotte not being able to keep the smile off her face on the outside post-match was nice to see as I'm someone who's in the "this should have happened 3 years ago" camp but it all worked out in the end.  Her reaction when the fireworks went off was pretty great too.  They made the right call not putting this last.  It was a better match than the main (from what I saw) but it would have been an uphill battle with the crowd.  I'll be watching this in full tomorrow b4 night 2

- I was ready for the main by this point, not a McAfee or Miz fan.  I did not need this buffer and I'm not sure the crowd did either.  Might have worked better if the last 2 matches were reversed?

- I've been a fan of all 4 guys in the main for so long that I was just happy to see them in a WM main event.  I remember when the Usos were in the WM pre-show opening match in 2015 in San Francisco, 8 years later in LA and they're main eventing.  And as a fan of tag team wrestling I didn't think I'd ever see the tag title main event WM.  Crowd seemed drained once the match began but they got into it and it ended up being pretty darn good by the end.

Overall I thought the Night 1 was pretty fun for the most part.  I'm not expecting great matches at WM at this point and the crowd is always a bit weird at huge stadium shows but I was entertained.  I don't mind the commercial breaks on Peacock, I can use the downtime between matches, but with 2 nights I wish night 1 had been a little bit shorter

[ExcellenceofAirPollution]

2 hours ago, Eivion said:

Cole mentioned Charlotte told Rhea she earned it so it was more proud respect moment.

to me she looked genuinely happy for Rhea and like she knew they just tore the house down

[Ramo2653]

3 hours ago, ChesterCopperpot said:

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

These shirts only work if there are Uso shirts that have gotten shipped to Guatemala. 

[The Natural]

Congratulations!

Edited April 2, 2023 by The Natural

[The Natural]

LOL.

[Eivion]

1 hour ago, L_W_P said:

I think they are all perfectly fine in terms of quality but none of them, outside the Profits, screams "Make us champs".

And even then, the SPs need to be handled with care because there's a singles run for Ford coming.

I wonder if the tag belts get split again? It seems strange to have 1 world champ & 1 sent of tag champs but then 2 women's champs... and then one women's tag title as well...

Maybe we see a unification of the women's belts instead?

Ah, if you are talking who should beat what is a super team at this point in Sami/KO then I don't know. Only Drew/Sheamus and Street Profits really have the cred for it already.

With the women's belt I have somewhat wondered if they avoided Rhea/Bianca so they can have a unification match down the line. 

Edited April 2, 2023 by Eivion

[Hail Sabin]

The Answer is Pretty Deadly they should be like Ultimo Dragon with Tag Belts. 

[Casey]

I really need to watch some of these matches by myself, because I watched last night (and will be doing it again tonight) with a lapsed Attitude Era fan, and... uh, it was something. I've never thought about how someone who watched the car crash TV style back then might react to current day wrestling where just one TV match exceeds the total wrestling time of any given RAW from 1999.

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

Run the rematch against the Usos at the next PPV.

Roman teams with Sikoa and does what the Usos could not.

Roman/Sikoa vs. Usos at Summerslam. Jey gets his win over Roman. Sikoa turns on Roman, Roman goes away for a while.

[Andrew POE!]

1 hour ago, GuerrillaMonsoon said:

Run the rematch against the Usos at the next PPV.

Roman teams with Sikoa and does what the Usos could not.

Roman/Sikoa vs. Usos at Summerslam. Jey gets his win over Roman. Sikoa turns on Roman, Roman goes away for a while.

I'd almost rather the tag titles not be on anyone with the Bloodline for awhile - maybe have Roman/Sikoa fail against Owens/Zayn too (mistimed interference, Roman or Sikoa walk out on the other one, maybe even Roman eats the pinfall depending if he's still WWE/Universal champion after tonight).

Honestly, there's so many tag teams right now in WWE that Owens/Zayn could have classics against for months (Street Profits for sure, Alpha Academy definitely, Viking Raiders would be interesting, dig out Bobby Roode/Dolph Ziggler for a title shot, even Strowman/Ricochet would be great).