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Wrestlemania XXXI - The Greatest Show Ever


Big Fresh

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Watched Mania with a ton of people who don't watch wrestling and it was the god damn worst. Any other PPV and I will gladly hold your hand and explain why people climb the ladder slowly because audience reaction and story telling. At Mania though? Goawaygoawaygoaway.

 

The show was pretty great. I don't really understand what happens with our MAIN EVENT MIDCARD TITLES now that the WWE World Heavyweight Champion will be on every show and at every house show... Honestly, I hope they keep his defenses for the big 4 events and maintain champ Rollins as a special attraction and not involve him in constant angles because it's a winning formula with Berrrrrrrrawk Lesnar.

 

Rusev is so, so good and I was excited to see Cena do a new move so that everyone can point it out as a reason for voting Cena in March Madness next year. Lana cosplaying as Miss Bianca from The Rescuers was tremendous and I really hope they aren't broken up. 

 

Is it weird that I want Randy to find a partner and chase Cesaro and Kidd? Every now and then it's nice to be the one guy in the room that says he likes Orton before the Orton match starts, and that dude was ON POINT last night.

 

I can't think of a better WCW tribute than have Sting's match be an overbooked mess. 

 

Lesnar and Reigns was fantastic. Now can you imagine that match if Roman's build hadn't been so god damn terrible?

 

The director that handled the camera pan from Rock to the Rousey reveal deserves a god damn raise. Brilliant stuff.

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I nearly spit coffee on my monitor when I logged in and saw the words "Greatest Show Ever" in the thread title.

To each their own, I guess.

I posted that right in the middle of Rollins' celebration. I was quite excited. Plus, I was expecting the worst show ever.

 

 

It's appropriate that this show had a video package with Dubya in it, because it clearly benefited from the soft bigotry of low expectations.

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Watched Mania with a ton of people who don't watch wrestling and it was the god damn worst. Any other PPV and I will gladly hold your hand and explain why people climb the ladder slowly because audience reaction and story telling. At Mania though? Goawaygoawaygoaway.

 

The show was pretty great. I don't really understand what happens with our MAIN EVENT MIDCARD TITLES now that the WWE World Heavyweight Champion will be on every show and at every house show... Honestly, I hope they keep his defenses for the big 4 events and maintain champ Rollins as a special attraction and not involve him in constant angles because it's a winning formula with Berrrrrrrrawk Lesnar.

 

Rusev is so, so good and I was excited to see Cena do a new move so that everyone can point it out as a reason for voting Cena in March Madness next year. Lana cosplaying as Miss Bianca from The Rescuers was tremendous and I really hope they aren't broken up.

 

Is it weird that I want Randy to find a partner and chase Cesaro and Kidd? Every now and then it's nice to be the one guy in the room that says he likes Orton before the Orton match starts, and that dude was ON POINT last night.

 

I can't think of a better WCW tribute than have Sting's match be an overbooked mess.

 

Lesnar and Reigns was fantastic. Now can you imagine that match if Roman's build hadn't been so god damn terrible?

 

The director that handled the camera pan from Rock to the Rousey reveal deserves a god damn raise. Brilliant stuff.

 

Agree with all this. Always liked your sig BTW. Great surprise first seeing Ronda Rousey in attendance and getting involved as a fan of her's/MMA.

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Sting/HHH was definitely built for people watching at a bar.

And I hate to beat this dead horse even deader, but holy shit that horrible announcing. "IT'S A MOMENT! A MOMENT!" It's going to make so many of these decent events unwatchable in a few years.

Since I was at a bar, I can verify that match got over huge with the entrances and runins.  Also was great being there as I didn't hear the commentary that much so I call a win-win.

 

What a fun show that was.  Didn't see all of the kickoff but saw the ending of the match and ending of the battle royal.  Glad BRC won and I'm okay with Show winning.

 

-Looking back the ladder match wasn't as dangerous as past ones, and that's fine with me.  It gave the guys something to do, and as planned Bryan won.  I'm glad they're at least acting like they give a shit about the IC title now.  Nice touch having the legends around him.  Really hoping his neck holds up for the long haul as booking permitting he can do a lot with this.

 

-Myself and everybody else tuned out of the Orton/Rollins match.  While it was good nobody had any interest in it.  But that fucking RKO at the end was tremendous and badly needs a gif.

 

-I'll admit it, I fucking loved Sting's entrance.  Don't care if it made sense or not, the Japanese vibe ruled hard.  HHH's Terminator entrance got a huge "pop" and it honestly was damn entertaining.  Of course they loved DX/nWo's parts but the ending blew.  It didn't make sense why nWo (not Wolfpack version, OG version that wanted him destroyed) would help Sting.  But Sting got his match and more importantly Scott fucking Hall got involved.  It's wild to think about considering a couple years ago he was spiraling way out of control.  Good for him.

 

-Somewhere in all this was the musical number.  Nothing against them, but it was your token piss break/check the Twittah Machine part of the show.

 

-Bellas vs. AJ/Paige was the main reason my wife joined me.  She loves them so much and it was great that she had something to look forward to instead of just putting up with the show.  Good match, glad they won.  Paige appeared to be buckets of tears, that has to feel really good for her.

 

-Rusev would have easily won March Madness if that goddamn entrance occurred in the voting period.  He came out in a fucking tank, whereas Cena came out with a towel and some videos.  Looking at the video it was obvious he would win, but it was a fun match regardless.  The rebound stunner was a real eye-opener.

 

-Rock coming out was cool as it's setting up next year's match.  I knew Ronda was there, but when they panned the camera to her the place exploded.  Might have been the loudest reaction of the night.  It was so fucking cool seeing her out there.  Seems like they're setting up Ronda/Steph or a mixed tag for next year and I would be delighted by that.  Awesome segment.  It went long, but there was enough to keep it really fun.

 

-Undertaker wasn't supposed to be coming out there as the Deadman of old.  He got his ass beat last year, he's "human" for the first time.  It made sense that he scaled back on the entrance and gear, and even how he moved in the ring was him finding the Deadman he used to be.  I can see why many think he didn't look good in there, but from a storyline perspective (if they chose to tell it this way) it made sense.  He got his win, so next year he'll be back more like he used to be (I hope)

 

-That main event was wonderfully brutal.  Had a feeling that Roman would need to get the shit beat out of him to help him out, and it appeared to work to a degree.  What a fun match.  I was the only one flipping out over Rollins cashing in, and man was that a great way to end the show.

 

Is it the best of WM of all-time?  Not so sure about that.  But it's one of the better ones, that's for damn sure.

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If this is one of the best shows of all time, wrestling must be really bad.

People are only saying it was an all-time great show because they are used to seeing such bad shit and forgetting how good things used to be.

Once the nonsense cools off, like it always does, people are going to see this for what it was. Wrestling wise, it doesn't compare to 19, 17, 3 or others. You had one good main event without a true finish, compared to 17/19 which had multiple good matches. Entertainment/All-around fun, I thought 21 was more fun and made more sense. The right people also won then, whereas multiple right people didn't win here - Sting, Axel/Itami/Mizdow in the Battle Royale, Rusev and Brock.

I've watched very little wrestling in the last two years, but the Tokyo Dome show was much better and at least two of the NXT specials of late were better. If I can come up with better stuff after seeing most of ONE Tokyo Dome show and a few of the NXT specials, then you know this wasn't that great.

SNL_1350_09_Debbie_Downer.png

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I would have enjoyed even more silliness there, really. Like X-Pac ripping off his DX shirt to have a NWO shirt on underneath or something.

I was thinking that the whole time.

And it actually would've helped explain the NWO saunter-in if Waltman was a double agent who tipped them off.

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Reigns looks to be in great shape. I wish he'd ditch the cargo pants and vest, and get some real wrestling gear. In fact have him lose the Shield music and entrance too. This is a perfect time to tweak his presentation after coming up short at Mania.

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I'm not a fan of Reigns and really didn't want him to win but I consoled myself that Rollins was going to cash in so Reigns wasn't likely coming out as champ.  But I'll be damned if I didn't get so sucked in to that main event that I completely forgot about the now former Mr MITB.  As far as that match's booking goes, it was the best way to do it it to try and make Roman.  Brock creams him and Reigns laughs and keeps on coming and still looks like he might have a chance until Seth snatches it from him.  It was very deliberate.  I'm not going to be swayed by it as everything Roman does makes me roll my eyes but I can totally see why it might change peoples minds who were on the fence.  Having said that, I think they pushed peoples patience with Roman kicking out of what was a third F5.  Get out of here with that.  Otherwise I really enjoyed it and hope Lesnar gets to come back as a face and challenge someone for the title again.  

 

Everything else was good to great except for - Rusev/Cena wasn't quite as good as their last match imo, which is weird and a little bit of a letdown.  

 

The HHH and Sting match was overbooked fun with some epic entrances and nostalgia moments but yeah, I agree with most that the ending handshake was a bit odd and flat.  I assume that's because Sting only wanted the one match, or will only work a Wrestlemania like Taker, so there's no point continuing the animosity and just leaving it hanging, so whatever.  

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I've actually lost the point of this argument. What exactly is the main objection with the Rousey/Rock stuff? Is it that it went too long?

Everybody liked the Roman Reigns match. We're scrambling here.

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Just re-watched the main event. Fantastic. And it wasn't just Brock.

 

Gonna echo what JCM said. I was going to post it myself, but tonight is the night to change the presentation of Roman. I'd change the entrance, maybe change the music (they should add a catchphrase to the opening) and, if they're confident he can maintain a physique have him shirtless. It's so typical that after all the turns and drama of the Shield break-up, the shirtless ripped dude is the champ. 

 

This next few months are key. I've posted a lot that he's destined to be Sheamus, a main-event level guy that's not actually a 1A or 1B guy. If they do a rebuilding arc, though, it could turn out differently, though.

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With Roman, he has to keep the entrance, if only because he's said Vince won't let him get away from it because Vince can sell those aisle seats for more money since they're guaranteed prime-time TV time seats.

 

I still think Roman gets the strap sooner (by Payback) than later (SummerSlam) just due to the fact that guys who win the title by cashing in MITB generally hold the belt for 60 days or so. So I don't know how much rebuilding they do with Reigns, other than have him either A. run through a gauntlet of the Authority (If you do Lesnar/Rollins at Extreme Rules have HHH/Reigns be the semi-main for a shot at Rollins at Payback) or B. put the strap on him at Extreme Rules by having go through everyone who wants a shot at Rollins (Orton/Bryan/Ambrose)

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If this is one of the best shows of all time, wrestling must be really bad.

People are only saying it was an all-time great show because they are used to seeing such bad shit and forgetting how good things used to be.

Once the nonsense cools off, like it always does, people are going to see this for what it was. Wrestling wise, it doesn't compare to 19, 17, 3 or others. You had one good main event without a true finish, compared to 17/19 which had multiple good matches. Entertainment/All-around fun, I thought 21 was more fun and made more sense. The right people also won then, whereas multiple right people didn't win here - Sting, Axel/Itami/Mizdow in the Battle Royale, Rusev and Brock.

I've watched very little wrestling in the last two years, but the Tokyo Dome show was much better and at least two of the NXT specials of late were better. If I can come up with better stuff after seeing most of ONE Tokyo Dome show and a few of the NXT specials, then you know this wasn't that great.

SNL_1350_09_Debbie_Downer.png

Please explain what made this the best show of all-time and why this should be anywhere within my top 100 shows ever. It had one great match with a questionable finish, and a bunch of "moments", including one that made no sense multiple ways and one that went too long. It also had a battle royale that seemed to exist only to make internet fans mad.

 

Posting response meme's is no defense of your point. If I'm gonna say a show is the best ever, I'm gonna defend it and I'm going to compare it with oher shows I thought were great. For instance, I think DreamRush, Super J Cup 1994 and WM 17 are all good examples. They all had great matches top to bottom, they all were important historical shows, the heat was great and their legacy hasn't really changed in the 10-20 years since they all took place.

 

I don't even think it's the best show in the last few months from WWE and the Tokyo Dome was 100 times better.

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I've actually lost the point of this argument. What exactly is the main objection with the Rousey/Rock stuff? Is it that it went too long?

Everybody liked the Roman Reigns match. We're scrambling here.

 

I was the original objector, and I said the show was mostly fine aside from the wrong guy going over in Sting-HHH and the pointlessness of the Rousey segment being on a Mania.

 

My issues with the segment:

 

1. It went way too long to the point where people have been suggesting they were stalling for time.

2a. The battle royal was bumped from the show, meaning 20 wrestlers that would have been on the main show didn't get on it so a non-wrestler who won't be returning could be put over for ESPN coverage that won't make the company a dime - unlike many of the wrestlers in the battle royal, who could be successful in the company if given the chance.

2b. The Miz/Mizdow angle has been building for months, and the big turn was buried on the pre-show.

3. The Rock showing up isn't special anymore because they trot him out for things like this that don't help anyone.

4. The Authority segments already eat up a shitload of time on the weekly shows - the PPVs are supposed to be about important matches.

5. Again: Ronda Rousey isn't going to wrestle. This would have been a cool RAW segment to build up to a match featuring her if it was going to happen, but it isn't.

 

The whole "How famous is Ronda Rousey?" argument started when I said she isn't famous enough to eat up a half hour of the biggest show of the year in a pointless segment. I don't think most NBA and NFL stars are famous enough for that.

 

This suggestion that I'm somehow "in the wrestling bubble" is hilarious. The reason the people so incredulous that I'm saying all this think Ronda Rousey is so famous is because *they're huge MMA fans*. Nobody is going to the movies to see "the new Ronda Rousey film." She's a bit player in huge franchises. I've yet to see someone who doesn't watch MMA chime in here and disagree with me.

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Just re-watched the main event. Fantastic. And it wasn't just Brock.

 

Gonna echo what JCM said. I was going to post it myself, but tonight is the night to change the presentation of Roman. I'd change the entrance, maybe change the music (they should add a catchphrase to the opening) and, if they're confident he can maintain a physique have him shirtless. It's so typical that after all the turns and drama of the Shield break-up, the shirtless ripped dude is the champ. 

 

This next few months are key. I've posted a lot that he's destined to be Sheamus, a main-event level guy that's not actually a 1A or 1B guy. If they do a rebuilding arc, though, it could turn out differently, though.

 

What they need to do is have Reigns talk very little and destroy people quite a bit. Tonight's the night where J and J security earn their performer salaries once and for all. If he makes a physical show of force the crowd will get behind him. If he makes a lot of snickers references, they'll tar and feather him.

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If this is one of the best shows of all time, wrestling must be really bad.

People are only saying it was an all-time great show because they are used to seeing such bad shit and forgetting how good things used to be.

Once the nonsense cools off, like it always does, people are going to see this for what it was. Wrestling wise, it doesn't compare to 19, 17, 3 or others. You had one good main event without a true finish, compared to 17/19 which had multiple good matches. Entertainment/All-around fun, I thought 21 was more fun and made more sense. The right people also won then, whereas multiple right people didn't win here - Sting, Axel/Itami/Mizdow in the Battle Royale, Rusev and Brock.

I've watched very little wrestling in the last two years, but the Tokyo Dome show was much better and at least two of the NXT specials of late were better. If I can come up with better stuff after seeing most of ONE Tokyo Dome show and a few of the NXT specials, then you know this wasn't that great.

SNL_1350_09_Debbie_Downer.png

Please explain what made this the best show of all-time and why this should be anywhere within my top 100 shows ever. It had one great match with a questionable finish, and a bunch of "moments", including one that made no sense multiple ways and one that went too long. It also had a battle royale that seemed to exist only to make internet fans mad.

 

 Posting response meme's is no defense of your point. If I'm gonna say a show is the best ever, I'm gonna defend it.

 

I don't even think it's the best show in the last few months from WWE and the Tokyo Dome was 100 times better.

 

 

k

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If this is one of the best shows of all time, wrestling must be really bad.

People are only saying it was an all-time great show because they are used to seeing such bad shit and forgetting how good things used to be.

Once the nonsense cools off, like it always does, people are going to see this for what it was. Wrestling wise, it doesn't compare to 19, 17, 3 or others. You had one good main event without a true finish, compared to 17/19 which had multiple good matches. Entertainment/All-around fun, I thought 21 was more fun and made more sense. The right people also won then, whereas multiple right people didn't win here - Sting, Axel/Itami/Mizdow in the Battle Royale, Rusev and Brock.

I've watched very little wrestling in the last two years, but the Tokyo Dome show was much better and at least two of the NXT specials of late were better. If I can come up with better stuff after seeing most of ONE Tokyo Dome show and a few of the NXT specials, then you know this wasn't that great.

SNL_1350_09_Debbie_Downer.png

Please explain what made this the best show of all-time and why this should be anywhere within my top 100 shows ever. It had one great match with a questionable finish, and a bunch of "moments", including one that made no sense multiple ways and one that went too long. It also had a battle royale that seemed to exist only to make internet fans mad.

 

 Posting response meme's is no defense of your point. If I'm gonna say a show is the best ever, I'm gonna defend it.

 

I don't even think it's the best show in the last few months from WWE and the Tokyo Dome was 100 times better.

 

 

k

 

Exactly, my point.

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If this is one of the best shows of all time, wrestling must be really bad.

People are only saying it was an all-time great show because they are used to seeing such bad shit and forgetting how good things used to be.

Once the nonsense cools off, like it always does, people are going to see this for what it was. Wrestling wise, it doesn't compare to 19, 17, 3 or others. You had one good main event without a true finish, compared to 17/19 which had multiple good matches. Entertainment/All-around fun, I thought 21 was more fun and made more sense. The right people also won then, whereas multiple right people didn't win here - Sting, Axel/Itami/Mizdow in the Battle Royale, Rusev and Brock.

I've watched very little wrestling in the last two years, but the Tokyo Dome show was much better and at least two of the NXT specials of late were better. If I can come up with better stuff after seeing most of ONE Tokyo Dome show and a few of the NXT specials, then you know this wasn't that great.

SNL_1350_09_Debbie_Downer.png

Please explain what made this the best show of all-time and why this should be anywhere within my top 100 shows ever. It had one great match with a questionable finish, and a bunch of "moments", including one that made no sense multiple ways and one that went too long. It also had a battle royale that seemed to exist only to make internet fans mad.

 

Posting response meme's is no defense of your point. If I'm gonna say a show is the best ever, I'm gonna defend it and I'm going to compare it with oher shows I thought were great.

 

I don't even think it's the best show in the last few months from WWE and the Tokyo Dome was 100 times better.

 

 

I'm right with you, but I just popped in to remind everyone that feline aids is the number one killer of domestic cats. 

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If this is one of the best shows of all time, wrestling must be really bad.

People are only saying it was an all-time great show because they are used to seeing such bad shit and forgetting how good things used to be.

Once the nonsense cools off, like it always does, people are going to see this for what it was. Wrestling wise, it doesn't compare to 19, 17, 3 or others. You had one good main event without a true finish, compared to 17/19 which had multiple good matches. Entertainment/All-around fun, I thought 21 was more fun and made more sense. The right people also won then, whereas multiple right people didn't win here - Sting, Axel/Itami/Mizdow in the Battle Royale, Rusev and Brock.

I've watched very little wrestling in the last two years, but the Tokyo Dome show was much better and at least two of the NXT specials of late were better. If I can come up with better stuff after seeing most of ONE Tokyo Dome show and a few of the NXT specials, then you know this wasn't that great.

SNL_1350_09_Debbie_Downer.png

Please explain what made this the best show of all-time and why this should be anywhere within my top 100 shows ever. It had one great match with a questionable finish, and a bunch of "moments", including one that made no sense multiple ways and one that went too long. It also had a battle royale that seemed to exist only to make internet fans mad.

 

Posting response meme's is no defense of your point. If I'm gonna say a show is the best ever, I'm gonna defend it and I'm going to compare it with oher shows I thought were great.

 

I don't even think it's the best show in the last few months from WWE and the Tokyo Dome was 100 times better.

 

 

I'm right with you, but I just popped in to remind everyone that feline aids is the number one killer of domestic cats. 

 

Great. Have your pets spayed or neutered folks and maybe some opinions without details with them.

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I've actually lost the point of this argument. What exactly is the main objection with the Rousey/Rock stuff? Is it that it went too long?

Everybody liked the Roman Reigns match. We're scrambling here.

 

This suggestion that I'm somehow "in the wrestling bubble" is hilarious. The reason the people so incredulous that I'm saying all this think Ronda Rousey is so famous is because *they're huge MMA fans*. Nobody is going to the movies to see "the new Ronda Rousey film." She's a bit player in huge franchises. I've yet to see someone who doesn't watch MMA chime in here and disagree with me.

I'm not a huge MMA fan. I couldn't tell you the last time I watched a single match, let alone a whole show. I have never watched a single Ronda Rousey fight. I've seen gifs of some of her finishes, but that's about it. (Granted, I understand her fights tend to be gif-length.)

The angle was hot. I liked it, despite it being 8 years long. But the length of the segment and the question of whether she should've been on the show at all seem like two different issues to me.

Since the very first Wrestlemania, WWE has always been about utilizing outside celebrities to drum up mainstream buzz, so I don't really see what was so appalling about this. It has happened literally every year for 31 years.

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WWE twisting Eisenhower's Farewell Address concerning the military industrial complex into "fuck yeah, America," was only the 2nd most WWE thing done all night behind the Sting/HHH booking.

 

And I thoroughly enjoyed how the crowd wasn't sure how to react in that match. "We fucking hate John Cena. And Rusev is amazing. But Russia is evil... Hmm... LET'S GO LANA!"

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Everyone can evaluate matches differetly but I think you had one all-time ***** classic (main event), two ****+ matches with Rollins/Orton and the ladder match, and everything was *** or so (divas tag exempted).

 

Combine that with the best spectacle garbage match since Hogan/Vince, two legit shock angles with the main event finish and the Rock/Rousey angle, and some of the best entrances in the company's history and it's impossible to praise this show enough.

 

It's not WM 17, but it's the best top-to bottom Wrestlemania in maybe a decade. 

Did anyone think that was even possible a week ago? Did anyone think this show had any shot of being even half as good? 

 

I think when you look at all the factors it's one of the best "big shows" of all-time.

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