WRESTLEMANIA XL - 4/6 & 4/7/2024

[Just Adam Bay Bay]

17 minutes ago, Just Dave said:

I’ve talked about the shit I didn’t like, but in the interest of good faith discussion, I’ll say that someone should win an Emmy for that continuous shot of Sami Zayn backstage where he was running into his family and Gable & Owens. As someone who’s done camera work & production, that’s not easy and deserves kudos. 

Good faith and your posts are two things that don’t ever belong in the same discussion. You’re still trolling on the AEW threads about your fixation with two on air VIPs then you come here just to dump on Wrestlemania.

We get it. You’re a troll. Quit trolling. At least my contribution earlier was what I’m looking forward to and not crapping on a company just because I “hate it” and it’s “Not for me”. Like no kidding. AEW isn’t for you, WWE isn’t for you. Maybe you’re the problem then.

[Cobra Commander]

2 hours ago, blitzkrieg said:

Last June. HHH gave him a belt which is the "Undisputed Universal" title, at which point he stopped carrying the two belts. This came around the same time all the top-tier champions got new belts and Raw got the World Heavyweight Championship as their main belt.

oh okay.. on the weekly TV that I haven't watched much of.. I wasn't sure if Roman was under a new directive to only carry one belt because the Rock didn't want to make 2 People's Champion belts

[hammerva]

Man is Jimmy Uso vs Jey Uso the Sting vs HHH of this WM where the perception live is incredibly different than watching at home.  I have heard the DUD category and while it was basically a TV match with excessive HBK acting, I thought it was solid 

[For Great Justice]

Just watched. 

Man, I wasn’t feeling this one at all and I hate that. Last year’s Night 1 was one of the best, most entertaining wrestling shows I’ve ever watched. This was…not.

Everything sans the IC match felt run of the mill. This was missing all the fun of stuff like the Jackass match.

If last year was 14, this was 15. If last year was 17, this was 18.

15 is a good comp IMO. A miss of a show during an otherwise hot run. Philly curse?

Edited April 7 by For Great Justice

[ExcellenceofAirPollution]

This was my first WWE show since Night 2 last year.  Money from Google Opinion Rewards accumulates and I never have anything to spend it on, so there you go Peacock you got me for a month!   Hopefully there's some non-WWE stuff worth watching....

Stone IPAs mixed with ganja had me nice and lit by halfway in.  It was a pretty fun show to watch drunk/stoned.  I'm not sure how much I would have enjoyed most of it without the gimmicks but as a big event I thought it was pretty ok and it held my interest for the most part.  Definitely nowhere near as good as night 1 last year

I really enjoyed the main event.  Thought Rock looked great, everyone delivered and it hit all the notes it needed to.  I didn't watch any of the buildup and had pretty low expectations for Dwayne based on getting hurt in the Cena matches a decade ago.  But he was moving well, didn't seem to have any limitations.  They protected him but so what, they should do that.  He's probably got a couple matches left in him, it just sucks that one of them will likely be in Saudi and I won't be watching it

Sami/Gunther was MOTN, no surprise there.  Sami's wife is great at ringside. 

Rhea Ripley is fucking awesome, total rockstar!  Great entrance.  I didn't think Becky was a great opponent for her but it's still a big win.  I remember back in 2019 when I was still semi-watching WWE/NXT, and she looked on the cusp on megastardom when they had her interacting with the main roster.  It's awesome to see her become such a huge star and great character after they seemed determined to fuck it up back in 2020

I forgot how annoying WWE commentary is.  I guess McAfee had his moments but I just can't handle Cole anymore.  He is the voice of shitty Vince McMahon WWE to me and he's still loaded with Vince-isms and WWE speak

What the fuck was up with Lil Wayne?  First of all calling him the greatest rapper alive is laughable.  He was on point like 15+ years ago, I haven't heard shit from him in years.  Then he comes out rapping about menstrual blood on his sheets and they immediately cut him off with Jey's theme....

Rest of the show was just kind of there but I didn't think anything was actively bad.  I actually thought it was lacking in the big pomp and circumstance I expect from WWE in the entrance department.  I did think Seth's robe was incredible.  looking forward to night 2.  Not gonna get quite as ripped

[odessasteps]

Twitter is telling me that 

Spoiler

WWE signed Jacob Fatu this week. 

Presumably factoring in the main event? 

[The Natural]

1 hour ago, Octopus said:

you’re in a lot of trouble, buddy

I'm fancying a Big Mac, my go to burger at McDonald's.

Edited April 7 by The Natural

[Just Dave]

38 minutes ago, Just Adam Bay Bay said:

Good faith and your posts are two things that don’t ever belong in the same discussion. You’re still trolling on the AEW threads about your fixation with two on air VIPs then you come here just to dump on Wrestlemania.

We get it. You’re a troll. Quit trolling. At least my contribution earlier was what I’m looking forward to and not crapping on a company just because I “hate it” and it’s “Not for me”. Like no kidding. AEW isn’t for you, WWE isn’t for you. Maybe you’re the problem then.

I missed you, buddy. I figured you’d hate wwe as much as anyone, seeing as how they knew early on that adam Cole was never going to amount to anything on a show people were actually paying for. 
 

Idk why you would say I don’t like AEW. I love AEW. I just get upset sometimes with the glut of skinnyfat dorks with shitty hair and third rate cosplay ring gear throwing too many super kicks who have no idea how to sell. Whoever you think I’m talking about, you’re right. 

[ExcellenceofAirPollution]

16 hours ago, TimLivingston said:

There’s a few interesting things that stood out to me that I didn’t see mentioned here so far:

1. I thought the production presentation was actively bad more often than not. It seems like they had a lot of new toys and didn’t understand who was lead camera in a lot of the matches. Some weird cutaways and replay choices, especially on Cody’s two missed Cody Cutters that Roman didn’t want to take due to his nose. It seems like they’re gonna be in a transition phase for a while on big shows to get this stuff right.

I meant to look for production differences from the Dunn era because people are saying there's been big changes on TV, but I didn't really notice anything different from the usual WWE presentation.  I did notice the continuous shot of Sami going from his wife/kid to Gable to his entrance and thought that was a cool touch, and I gather they've been doing that on TV

I'm going to keep a closer eye on the match production tonight

[Just Dave]

3 minutes ago, ExcellenceofAirPollution said:

I meant to look for production differences from the Dunn era because people are saying there's been big changes on TV, but I didn't really notice anything different from the usual WWE presentation.  I did notice the continuous shot of Sami going from his wife/kid to Gable to his entrance and thought that was a cool touch, and I gather they've been doing that on TV

I'm going to keep a closer eye on the match production tonight

There seem to be fewer midmatch camera cuts. The TD is missing fewer big moves & moments. I don’t watch regularly, but I watched last night & during the Dunn era and there were some stark differences. I’d be interested to see what you think…

[Cobra Commander]

1 hour ago, Just Dave said:

I’ve talked about the shit I didn’t like, but in the interest of good faith discussion, I’ll say that someone should win an Emmy for that continuous shot of Sami Zayn backstage where he was running into his family and Gable & Owens. As someone who’s done camera work & production, that’s not easy and deserves kudos. 

also good work by Sami to hit stuff in the ramp walking there without messing that up

as for Jacob Fatu.. would be wild if he got to immediately go on WWE TV when pretty much all of their new arrivals (that weren't already in the WWE) end up working NXT for 3 years or being in the Performance Center for months (Jade)

Edited April 7 by Cobra Commander

[Greggulator]

9 minutes ago, ExcellenceofAirPollution said:

I meant to look for production differences from the Dunn era because people are saying there's been big changes on TV, but I didn't really notice anything different from the usual WWE presentation.  I did notice the continuous shot of Sami going from his wife/kid to Gable to his entrance and thought that was a cool touch, and I gather they've been doing that on TV

I'm going to keep a closer eye on the match production tonight

On Raw, they have had a really long single camera track like that the past few weeks. They have also had a lot of really quick 30 second promos to promote a match without an interview. The Sami thing was a combination of the two pretty much. Was really awesome to see that because it felt like a great storytelling representation of Sami’s journey for this WrestleMania.  

[Cobra Commander]

Sami beating Gunther has the potential to get around the whole "why wouldn't Gunther just want a rematch" (or the "how to make Gunther not challenging for the IC title not make the new champ look weak/insignificant" thing) by having Chad Gable on the scene to challenge Sami while Gunther does whatever until his WWE title match.

I don't know if they would have been able to do that as easily if Gable had beaten Gunther.

[Octopus]

1 hour ago, Just Adam Bay Bay said:

Good faith and your posts are two things that don’t ever belong in the same discussion. You’re still trolling on the AEW threads about your fixation with two on air VIPs then you come here just to dump on Wrestlemania.

We get it. You’re a troll. Quit trolling. At least my contribution earlier was what I’m looking forward to and not crapping on a company just because I “hate it” and it’s “Not for me”. Like no kidding. AEW isn’t for you, WWE isn’t for you. Maybe you’re the problem then.

Idk, I don’t think Drew is a troll. He can be openly negative and maybe a curmudgeon. But I think he’s genuine.

He’s gone too far before but I think I recall him saying he’s working on himself. 

All in all, it’s worth putting people on ignore. I’ve had people that rubbed me the wrong way and did that for my own posting enjoyment. 

[ExcellenceofAirPollution]

If anyone has me on ignore go fuck yourself

[Just Dave]

2 minutes ago, Octopus said:

Idk, I don’t think Drew is a troll. He can be openly negative and maybe a curmudgeon. But I think he’s genuine.

He’s gone too far before but I think I recall him saying he’s working on himself. 

All in all, it’s worth putting people on ignore. I’ve had people that rubbed me the wrong way and did that for my own posting enjoyment. 

I am the hardest on the things I love the most: the Atlanta raves, pro wrestling, batman movies. I’ve been that way since I was a kid.

[jaedmc]

Definitely put people on ignore.

Life's too short and it makes our job easier.

It drives me nuts that the same people on this board have been bickering with each other for so long. In some cases it's been years. The same fight for years.

 

[Cobra Commander]

Atlanta raves sounds like a heck of a party scene

[Andrew POE!]

11 minutes ago, Cobra Commander said:

Atlanta raves sounds like a heck of a party scene

It is until they shut it down at 1 am because of city ordinances. Atlanta is a sundowner's town at this point.

[Cobra Commander]

looks like the sun is out in Philadelphia, so it looks less gloomy than last night

[odessasteps]

It’s definitely warm and sunny now, but expected to get cold.

[Ziggy]

On 4/7/2024 at 11:31 AM, EVA said:

They never really figured out how to book Bianca outside of Mania. That they spent the last 3 years feeding her Sasha, Becky, and Asuka and now she’s in an undercard 6-man that was more about putting someone else over really says it all.

That's why I never understood the Super Cena criticism she started to get about a year or so ago. She's had a few lengthy reigns and Wins at Mania. Sure they think highly of you if you're leaving Mania as Champion but most of her reign have had no real substance as far as memorable angles. She is one of the most credible women on the roster but even the Damage CNTRL feud seems very lazy and uninspired. Outside of the powerful visual of having Noami, Jade and Bianca aligned together. I hope they do go to the Rhea vs Bianca feud they teased last year. It could be a Money match on the Women's side if they can put Bianca in some meaningful angles. The only comparison to Cena is the fact that she's a good spokesman for the company. She's is amazing at doing appearances and is a great representation for someone that didn't grow up watching wrestling. As good as she is and as prominent as she's been featured  , I think they could get much better use out of her 

Edited April 8 by Ziggy

[Curt McGirt]

56 minutes ago, Andrew POE! said:

Atlanta is a sundowner's town at this point.

You do realize what you wrote right. About of all places, Atlanta.

[The Natural]

Cody Rhodes ends Roman Reigns historic reign as Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. Reigns held the WWE Universal Championship for 1,316 days and WWE Championship at 735 days. Congratulations, Cody Rhodes.

[dragonzombie]

The WHC is the B title of the B brand (RAW), it will take some time for it to matter over the years. I woulda booked Damian to lose to Drew and have Damain seethe at his own faction. But oh well.

I weirdly like the Prime logos in the ring. I remember the WWF Spectrum shows had logos in the middle, back in the 80's.

I didn't expect Bubba Ray to show up and ref.

Lot of pushing former NXT people these two nights combined.

I loved the overbooked main event. The crowd was better for the main.