WrestleMania XXXIV

[Overly Critical Man]

4 minutes ago, The Natural said:

Better than the earlier edit: 

[EVA]

4 minutes ago, Beech27 said:

It’s weird as hell they spent the last year rebuilding the F5 as a one-shot kill, only to have Roman kick out of five, and lose anyway. I get looking strong in defeat, but another not-quite coronation isn’t that, and we may suddenly be right back to seeing other would-be main eventers pinned without a reaction, because the crowd just knew they’d kick out of at least one. It doesn’t help anyone.

This made me crazy.  Feel like we spent all year stomaching Joe and AJ and Braun going down to one F5 because, well, at least it would mean something down the line.

Turned out it didn’t mean anything at all.

[Peck]

5 minutes ago, El Dragon said:

It also sours people on Reigns even in defeat. One F5 beat Joe. One F5 ended the triple threat at the Rumble. But Reigns kicks out of FIVE, with one being through a table? Even if he didn't win that's still fuck off nonsense.

This is the exact point we discussed in the Takeover thread. The "overkill" in Gargano/Ciampa mostly gets overlooked/still praised because the build and emotional involvement is there with the characters but it gets completely shit on here(and understandably so) because everyone is apathetic to Roman and Brock.

[Craig H]

I don't understand the booking of Roman one bit. This is now they third or fourth time they didn't pull the trigger on him and two of those were at WM. Vince and the rest of creative just keep killing Reigns, but they want him to be the top guy.

SO BOOK HIM LIKE THE TOP GUY FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.

[Craig H]

1 minute ago, EVA said:

This made me crazy.  Feel like we spent all year stomaching Joe and AJ and Braun going down to one F5 because, well, at least it would mean something down the line.

Turned out it didn’t mean anything at all.

Almost like how Brock ending the streak didn't mean anything at all.

[Casey]

You can book him like a top guy all you want, but if the crowds won’t respond appropriately - what’s the point? Book him like a mega badass face, and he gets booed everywhere but Corpus Christi.

[Peck]

 

[The Man Known as Dan]

 

Just now, Peck said:

This is the exact point we discussed in the Takeover thread. The "overkill" in Gargano/Ciampa mostly gets overlooked/still praised because the build and emotional involvement is there with the characters but it gets completely shit on here because everyone is apathetic to Roman and Brock.

 

It's not just apathy though. Brock hit back to back F5's, kickout. Brock F5'd him through a table, threw him back in teh ring, and F5ed him again. Kickout.

Ciampa and Gargano had a lot of big shit, but they were not repeating their finishers over and over. Fuck, the Powerbomb to the floor, a big fucking spot, never was kicked out from, cause there was never a pinfall made after it. They paced it well. The pacing for the Lesnar/Reigns match was just atrocious.

[nate]

Brock Lesnar has a "kill em all" trampstamp.

This continues to boggle my mind.

[turk128]

4 minutes ago, Lamp, broken circa 1988 said:

I dunno man, like, Cena didn't have the week to get into Big Match John Mode so I buy him biting off more than he could chew with Taker. And he started this whole thing by asking if people wanted to see him get his ass kicked and tombstoned at wrestlemania. Veterans get to be over-confident too.

I had wish they showed Cena rolling out quickly in the background, then a camera man running over to him to show him trying to hide a wide grin... throw in a hand money sign to sell it more.

[FluffSnackwell]

Shit far, Reigns himself went down to only one F5 at Summerslam.

[The Man Known as Dan]

Like, you honestly wonder if Vince himself put that match together for some reason. I can't see a capable agent seeing hte plan for the main event and saying "Yep, this is a Mania Main Event right here". Or was second place for the "Be Brauns Tag Partner!" competition "Random Kid from the crowd books the Main Event!" and he decided "Lesner should F5 Reigns, like, 5 times! No, 6!"

[Greggulator]

I was hit with my wife's finishing move tonight, my wife's angry e-mail why I was out after midnight to watch people pretend to fight.

[Go2Sleep]

That was just a weird Wrestlemania. Way too long of course, as has been the case for the past few years, but not really overly good or bad. Found myself scratching my head at a lot of the finishes.

The Andre battle royal was jobber-iffic. I loved how the announcers talked about how this match making someone's career when the last two winners were in the same match this year. Matt's woken universe may well be a life preserver for Bray Wyatt's WWE career at this point.

The women's battle royal was slightly better because at least the NXT contingent infused a few people who actually gave a shit into the match. Kicking the can on Sasha/Bayley again was the first of many strange moments throughout the night.y

The CW title match was just there. I feel like I've missed nothing having not watched 205 Live since like week 3.

Seth Rollins gets the IC belt? Sure, why not?

Asuka/Charlotte was a really good match and I while I wouldn't have ended the streak here, it didn't feel out of place. Whoever scripted the post match should not be leaving New Orleans as a WWE employee. Just terrible stuff that doesn't fit Asuka at all and makes both her and Charlotte look worse for how transparently insincere it was. A turn from Asuka here would've made way more sense than the turn later. Then of course you had the ref and Cena hamming it up in the background when that could have been done in any number of lesser matches.

The US title match was boring as it looked, the least over guy won, and we're guaranteed more Jinder Mahal ppv matches in the future. Yay.

The mixed tag was as good as it could've been. Ronda looked awkward at some points, but very good at others. She definitely has a lot of potential in the ring. If they let her tap HHH, the roof would've come off. They could've still had her take Steph out afterwards, felt like a missed opportunity. At least for one match on this show, they knew who the star was and booked the match accordingly.

SD tag title match was surprising. I always liked the Harper/Rowan team, so I was glad to see them get a dominant showcase and take the belts.

The Cena/Taker payoff was what it should've been. Hopefully both guys take a lot more time off.

The SD gimmick tag match was the exact opposite of the Raw gimmick tag. So much verifiable talent, and booking that made no sense with it. Loved that Bryan's still the most over guy in the company when he steps in the ring. So of course, Shane works the bulk of the match selling a made-up injury when they could've had a better seller with a legit injury history getting serious heat for the heels. Then Bryan sells the apron powerbomb less than anyone, cleans house and wins clean to keep Sami and KO off SD? Why?

Nia/Alexa was decent. Alexa got way more offense than she should have, but the finish was right. I hope Nia can channel her off-camera likeability into being a good face.

AJ/Nak was your standard "good WWE Nakamura" match. Nak's entrance was boss too. The post-match turn made very little sense on its own, and even less so in the context of doing a surprise turn that will require an explanation with a guy who doesn't do long promos in English.

I don't care what anyone else thinks, the Braun/Nicholas team was awesome. They should've done more with Nicholas, but that was good comedy and I'm glad to see that the death spot didn't hinder the creativity or effort in this match.

The main event was just bizarre. It could've been a decent match without that terrible F5-kickout-repeat sequence, but that ensured that the crowd turned on it, when it looked like they were going to dodge that bullet at first. Roman doing the first true WWE crimson mask in 10 years or so was pretty cool, but they had already lost the crowd at that point. Then Brock went over, which gets more and more puzzling each time you think about a different piece of Raw's booking over the last year. And as if Brock going over wasn't bad enough on its own, they just did it with a lame F5. They obviously planned the hardway blood like Brock did with Cena and Orton, but they didn't use it all. A call-back to Bret/Austin where Roman fades in the kimura would've at least been cool if you didn't think about the build up. The craziest thing is the multi-year plan to beat the audience down and accept Roman winning here had worked and everyone was going to let it happen to mostly indifference, then they just decided to make the wrong decision at every juncture for the last 10 minutes and we're back to square one. You figure it out.

[piranesi]

2 minutes ago, Greggulator said:

I was hit with my wife's finishing move tonight, my wife's angry e-mail why I was out after midnight to watch people pretend to fight.

Damn Nicholas is on a longer leash than you, brah!

[The Natural]

[Octopus]

So I had a family function during the first half of the show. After reading the results of the Asuka match, I decided to do the WWE Network free trial. Did not see that coming. I can't wait to watch that one. I don't see it ruining Asuka's dominant character. Now that we know she's human it might add more drama to future matches. She could still be looked at as tough. Maybe build to her and Nia or even a series of Flair matches. But we'll see what happens. 

Pretty much started at Cena walking up the ramp to meet Taker. Cute squash. Cena reacting to the sit-up was perfect. I wouldn't want it to go any longer than that for how much was on the show. If Taker is in shape you can build on it and if not just have him bury Cena alive in a segment tomorrow. Eh. 

I also liked the post-match Nakamura nuts uppercut. The mutual respect poking at each other works to a point. But now for the next PPV's you can have a blood feud between an angry AJ Styles and the Cock-Puncher Nakamura. 

I enjoyed the Nia Jax match. I like that it wasn't a squash because I was so expecting it to be. Nia looked dominant and Alexa got some healthy eye pokes in.

I feel Daniel Bryan will become the new Hogan with his gets beat down and then Hulks up. Yes chants instead of pumped up hard-of-hearing motions. 

Bruan picking the kid was fun. I feel someone is putting him through a table tomorrow though. 

The only moment I wasn't feeling in my starting-at-half-point watching was the Main Event. Too many F5s. I liked the idea of having Brock go over for the simple reason that I was thinking how predictable it was getting booked. Everyone thought that either you had Roman winning after not being put down by an F5, Roman "turning" on the fans with Heyman after a clean win, or Heyman cheating out Brock. Didn't expect a clean Brock win. Good? Bad? Didn't ruin the event for me. I'm kind of over that program. Hopefully Brock puts someone else over or leaves and they do a no champion angle. Could be fun. Eh. 

I think what helped me the most with this was starting in the middle. I possibly missed some fun. However, I didn't have fatigue. 

This was my first live PPV since Kurt Angle vs Samoa Joe. Didn't disappoint. This is also my first post. Special, special night. 

[DreamBroken]

Enjoyed the Andre for what it was, glad to see Woken Matt get a win. Hated the womens battle, as expected it was just a backdrop for the silly 'best friends' drama and pretty rushed. Did loveBianca Belair getting a little shine and was very thankful in the end for Naomi, very glad she got the moment there.

IC title was a solid opener. Charlotte/Asuka I had pegged as my most anticipated match going in and I was really enjoying it then as it was just really getting going, Asuka fucking taps out. I knew Charlotte winning was a solid possibility but never thought they would have Asuka tapout, that sucked. Especially when Charlottte was injured doing a one armed figure eight, presumably giving Asuka an easy out to escape. Hated that as I never wanted Asuka to lose. All the times Asuka had been seemingly unbeatable while Charlotte just got pinned by Natalya two weeks ago, it just seemed ridiculous. To me it was like the womens version of Cena tapping out, that just doesn't happen. Felt like they blew the chance to build Asuka/Rousey next year, but I guess they see Charlotte/Rousey as their money match. Also wasted the chance to get Asuka onto SDL where she has fresh opponents after just going through the Raw roster.

US title match was short but good for Jinder. HHH/Steph vs Angle/Rousey was my match of the night for sure and I loved that. Super fun entertaining showdown all the way through. The outcome was never really in doubt but when the double submission didn't get the finish, it almost seemed possible as Angle shoulderblocked Rousey's face on that counter. This was great and also the longest match of the night as usual with HHH, surprised only two matches went 20.

SDL Tag title match sucked. Outcome was obvious but felt like a real shit on the Usos. 7 years to get off the preshow onto the main card, here's 5 minutes. The Bludgeon Brothers bore me. Undertaker/Cena was bizarre. All that build and a real longtime dream match goes down as a 2 minute squash.

I enjoyed the Shane/Bryan tag a lot. Got what I wanted out of it, no Shane heel turn, he gets his revenge after 10 months and Bryan makes his triumphant return hitting all his trademark spots. Good stuff. Nia/Alexa was the match I expected to be the 2 minute squash instead of Cena/Taker, but I actually ended up loving this. Obviously Nia had to win but I'm glad it got some time and Alexa got to shine a bit after all. Twisted Bliss always looks awesome. Alexa remains my absolute favorite and a cool moment for Nia.

Styles/Nakamura was a little disappointing given all the dream match build but the finish was very cool. Didn't expect the post-match turn at all. Was prepared for disappointment for Cesaro/Sheamus and got the dumbest level of shit imaginable. So sick of Braun and it just keeps getting worse. With now every team on Raw buried, I'll hold out hope for the new Woken Wyatt Family.  Main event was utterly bizarre in every way with the ending just feeling like a deliberate swerve but I liked Brock winning just because it was so what the hell. No more 'coronations' for Roman. Interested to see what Brock does next, how long he's staying, or if he's just holding the title to pass Punk's record. Overall a pretty underwhelming Mania. Main highlights for me were the Rousey tag, the ShaneBryan tag and Alexa/Nia

[The Natural]

Welcome, @OctopusCinema.

[turk128]

Alias with probably one of the best troll job.

And yeah, that Cena reaction...

[twiztor]

@Go2Sleep basically nailed my thoughts on this card. lots of good stuff early, lots of weird stuff later. loved reigns losing, but it makes zero sense. only match i actively tuned out during was Nia/Bliss. 

[The Natural]

[piranesi]

Jesus there's hazing and then theres' "cutting off Ronda ROusey's hand!"

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

Twelve beers deep and now watching my wife feed my seven month old in a Red Rooster carpark while I try and hulk up to work tonight.

Someone's beating Lesnar on RAW tomorrow night in under five minutes. Whether it's Roman, Braun, a returning Samoa Joe or AJ unifying them I don't know

[(BP)]

There was one point at the tail end of Hunter and Steph's entrance where he started to make his pecs dance, and they sort of collapsed inward and began to resemble the pecs of an average 50-year-old man. It was harrowing.