WrestleMania XXXIV

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

4 minutes ago, peterien said:

If there’s a shakeup will it be after Backlash? I enjoyed everything about AJ/Nakamura. 

Rumblings that it might take place at Backlash itself, but most 1-8 days later. They have a 6 week gap between Backlash and MITB so good opportunity to build up the new rosters' angles.

[Archibald]

26 minutes ago, Beech27 said:

Still, heel Shinsuke is the one people wanted all along, even if they didn’t know it. 

Well lets hope that they don't turn him into some evil Asian stereotype or chicken shit heel. Unfortunately I suspect that Asian Mist is unavoidable. I probably would have had more faith in this if Nakamura won the title due to his heel turn rather than it coming after he lost already. To me this suggests that he will get pushed down the card.

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

It means they're not sure yet, wanna see how it plays out. They'll likely *gut* Smackdown (they usually do, but it usually also works out), so if stays on that show he'll probably be okay. Bryan's gotta feud with somebody right?

[Rows]

24 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

It’s gonna be amusing when they move AJ to RAW and he never gets his revenge 

There’s always the “Greatest Royal Rumble”. 

[RIPPA]

6 minutes ago, Rows said:

There’s always the “Greatest Royal Rumble”. 

God I am so stupid to only realize now why Jinder won the US title

[Archibald]

But he isn't Muslim as far as I know. Or are you implying that Vince couldn't tell the difference?

[RIPPA]

12 minutes ago, Archibald said:

But he isn't Muslim as far as I know. Or are you implying that Vince couldn't tell the difference?

Unintentionally yes

[Matt D]

1 hour ago, ComingToAmerica said:

It felt like they ran to the finish a bit, but I guess it might be that thing where they try to rebuild a finish (yeah yeah yeah I know). See also: Styles Clash.

Remember, we just had half a year of the F5 being an absolute killer, even on guys who have an aura of toughness and that might be expected to kick out of at least one, all so we could get that main event last night. I don't have a ton of good will for that argument right now.

[tlk23]

5 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

Charlotte ending the streak just doesn't accomplish much to me and now you have Asuka, having won the Royal Rumble not even win a title that's been traded several times throughout the last couple years.  I'm thinking Vince found out he had to write a $100K check to Rescue Dogs and this was the punishment. 

Am I the only one expecting Charlotte and Ronda to main event next year?

[Rehabilitated Rick]

If Roman kicked out of just ONE after being blooded up, it would have had a greater effect than kicking out of five of them, it's just agenda exposing bullshit that we're accustomed to with Vince. Hell even one F-5 knocked Braun out, and Braun had beaten Reigns a dozen times in the past year. Why even bother. 

[Beech27]

9 minutes ago, Matt D said:

Remember, we just had half a year of the F5 being an absolute killer, even on guys who have an aura of toughness and that might be expected to kick out of at least one, all so we could get that main event last night. I don't have a ton of good will for that argument right now.

Given that the finish looks way worse now in hindsight, does this mean you actually won the Joe/Lesnar bet?

[peterien]

Does AJ/Naka get a better reception if it’s placed earlier in the card? I think so.

Mania either needs to be split into 2 nights or condensed, 5hrs 14mins of a wrestling show is tough going for everyone, i tapped out during the DBryan tag match.

[cwoy2j]

Tom Phillips said "could care less" two or three times last night so he's now my least favorite announcer ever. 

[Matt D]

13 minutes ago, Beech27 said:

Given that the finish looks way worse now in hindsight, does this mean you actually won the Joe/Lesnar bet?

@RIPPA is the fake Dave Hebner and/or Dangerous Danny Davis of online pro wrestling wager officiating so I imagine this is doubtful. 

[RIPPA]

Since (at least per my memory) the bet was already paid off so it doesn't matter now.

I mean what are we going to do - vacate the reviews and take away scholarships to Full Sail University?

[Tromatagon]

I went to sleep after AJ/Nak and haven't watched the rest of the show, but Taker won already so I'm not sure if I want to watch the rest at all.

 

Enjoyable show but such a test of my endurance and patience

[RIPPA]

Yeah - if you went to be prior to AJ/Nak it actually is a fairly enjoyable show (especially if you don't really care about who wins and loses)

[Sublime]

I haven't read through the thread yet because it grew gigantically while I was asleep cause I live in the eastern time zone and have to work at 8am (don't judge me for being on the board at work you all do it too). But here are my thoughts likely repeating things that have been said many times already but my thoughts are the most important. Over all I thought it was a good Mania, loved that it was all in the ring not backstage "comedy" no musical performances, just wrestling. It was on it's way to be in the top tier but....

Andre Battle Royal was a waste of time, sad to see the lake of reincarnation didn't do much to Bray. 

Ali/Cedric was good but I felt like they had another level that they weren't able to get it too.

Women's battle royal was fine, liked seeing the NXT crew in there getting some shine. Liked Deville's LGBT pride inspired gear and look (though I wonder why WWE doesn't use her as part of their marketing ploy I mean push for inclusion rather than or in addition to Finn). Was surprised Naomi got the win I figured it was going to be from the three horsewomen present. 

Triple threat IC match was a good WWE style three man match. Finn's entrance was really great and liked his pride gear too, thought he had a good chance to win but really thought Miz was going to pull it out so I was surprised when Seth won, the least interesting choice yay. But the match wasn't boring or overly long and was fun to watch. Also Coach sucked any time he was on I'll get that out of the way here, him claiming that this was Seth's biggest Mania moment was so ridiculous when Seth won the WWE championship and closed the show before it truly seems like Coach has not watched any WWE since leaving and hasn't made an effort to do so since being rehired.

Asuka/Flair was probably my MOTN, the streak had to end the match that ended it was really good they both brought it and Charlotte kept up with Asuka's speed. Loved Asuka catching Flair's moonsault. They made things matter and the match was good and was happy to see Charlotte atleast sell the arm while doing the figure eight thought that might have given Asuka an opening to escape but it was not to be. Asuka's promo afterwards should have just been Charlotte was ready for Asuka. Cena's stuff happening during what was supposed to be time for the crowd to show appreciation to Asuka was a dumb decision. Charlotte has been in the best Mania match twice now. 

US title match went how I figured it would, technically sound, kept a good pace, gave everyone a chance to shine, Rusev being the most over guy and Mahal winning by pinning him. 

HHH/Steph vs Angle/Rousey was far better than it should have been. I'm no fan of Rhonda and still don't want her around but the crowd was into this, Steph got what was coming to her, Hunter made sure to do whatever he could to help get things over, I did not expect this to the be better of the two matches containing a McMahon.

Elias was one of my best moments of the night loved the lights going out the crowd buzzing and then we hear the strum I lol'd hard, my wife was pissed. Liked Taker squashing Cena hope that was just an ! on Taker's career and not planning to build to another match between the two next year.

Usos/New Day/BB was a fine showcase to put over Harper and Rowan they looked like big tough nasty guys and that powerbomb on Kofi was beautiful. The New Day's entrance was idk almost felt like a jump the shark moment honestly.

Bryan/Shane vs KO/Sami was where the card started losing steam, I was into everything before hand, enjoying the show and then I got to watch Shane sell for half the match while the announcers put over how tough Shane must be. Shane can bump like a madman, it's his strength as a performer but his comebacks are awful and for how much Sami and KO kicked his ass it made them look bad that they couldn't put him down, a middle aged non-wrestler coming off of hernia surgery shouldn't be kicking out after getting frog splashed by a guy built like KO. I have no idea why they laid the match out like they did the heat segment was far too long but Bryan's hot tag was great, it was wonderful seeing him in the ring again, he looked like his old self and the match ended hot but the opening half was not good.

Nia/Alexa was ok, loved Nia's path of destruction at the beginning, the match was good it showcased both Alexa and Nia as performers but I felt like it was just a bit too long they could have cut bit of Alexa's comeback and it wouldn't have hurt. Alexa is crafty and mean but she was overmatched by the emotional and powerful Jax.

AJ/Nak was fine, they did not deliver what was hyped, it was nowhere near their WK match, it never kicked into a higher gear. It wasn't bad but it wasn't what they got us expecting nor what those of us who have seen the WK match knew what they were capable of. The heel turn though was my highlight, I got a smile on my face everytime they replayed Nak lowblowing AJ. I loved that it was a call back to the Smackdown women's match with the Japanese face challenger Rumble winner giving respect to the champion. I'm glad they're giving Nakamura the mean and nasty edge he needs it, he needs to truly be Swag-suke and be a tough arrogant ass kicker who disdains his competition, as a face he was expected to spend too much time selling when his strength is violence.

The Bar/Braun & Nicholas was something, it didn't really work as a Braun showcase, the selection of his partner took too long, I wanted Joe at first, then I saw No Way Jose while he was going through the crowd and I wanted him cause he is awesome and never on TV or to randomly pick Okada or Tana or Suzuki but I knew that wasn't going to happen. The fan idea was fun but it made the match 1 have no drama cause we knew Braun wasn't losing and that Nicholas wasn't getting physical. It was a thing but Cesaro was trash talking a child so that was a highlight.

The main event....idk I don't get it, if that was the match ending it didn't need to be last, HHH/Steph/Angle/Rhonda should have gone on last. It also didn't need Roman getting busted open hardway. and fucking brock is still champ and still here I wanted Roman to win so that we'd alteast get rid of the waste of space Lesnar and his shitty matches at least Roman is a great match machine but he couldn't do shit with brock. That belly to belly into the table was an awful botch and I don't want to see Brock bust people open hardway, it's gross. This is awful indeed (I don't think I ever heard that chant before but it was appropriate) the crowd was tired and didn't give a shit about either guy this should have been in the Shane/Bryan tag match spot on the card. They tried to make Roman look tough in defeat but that's not what the crowd wants of him, the Mania crowd was going to boo him but they weren't into Lesnar either and probably would have atleast popped for a title change. A terrible ending to what was almost an all time great mania that ran out of steam. The show also didn't need to go on to Midnight. 

[Nice Guy Eddie]

1 hour ago, Archibald said:

But he isn't Muslim as far as I know. Or are you implying that Vince couldn't tell the difference?

Exactly. Indian/Middle Eastern/Dark skinned Meditteranean; it's all the same to Vince. I'm not even dark skinned Greek & Italian, but I've got the brown hair and brown eyes, so I'd probably be packaged as Middle Eastern. 

[Tromatagon]

We're talking about a company that had a Samoan Japanese guy and a Middle Eastern Italian here.

 

Braun shouldn't have picked Suzuki.  Suzuki should have introduced himself to Kohai Nicholas.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

I think smoked way more pot than I thought I did, because I really liked New Day's entrance, but Harper & Rowan winning was really my only mark out moment of the show matchwise.

[Craig H]

I can't get over that main event. I should be able to, but WHY.

Anyway, this was more enjoyable than 33 and 32. It doesn't even come close to how good 31 and 30 were. 32 really sucked. To go off of what Rippa said, it probably helps to not care about who wins and loses. I think it sucks that Rusev didn't win the title and Jinder did, but I don't really care.

I'm kinda bummed that Asuka lost, but the streak had gotten so long and it was becoming more of a problem than anything. At least she lost in a good match and didn't get shocked by a cattle prod. I do wish they worked the leg more before the finish. I didn't even think that would be the finish because Charlotte was one armed doing the figure 8. If anything, it made me think Asuka was legit hurt.

The winner of the IC title match didn't really matter much to me, but I'm one of the few here who really like Seth so I'm happy he's champion again.

Other matches had the right people win. Nia won, but the match was not what it should have been. The Bludgeon Brothers won in quite the Demolition way so that went off about perfectly. Ronda and Angle won and the way that went down was about as good as it could have gone. Braun and Nicholas actually overdelivered for me, so that's cool. I don't think there's any doubt now that Braun is the top babyface.

And then there's matches where I did care about who won and lost and the match was odd. I liked the AJ vs Nakamura match, but fuck Nakamura losing. Have him turn heel during the match. Even though I liked the match, there was still stuff about it that bothered me. Nakamura started selling the knee way late into the match and his knee didn't factor at all into the finish. AJ sold his back big time on one move where he couldn't finish lifting Nakamura, but that's the only time he really sold his back like that.

Finally that main event. I just don't get it. I don't think I'll ever understand it. There has never been another wrestler pushed as much as Roman where they never pull the trigger with him and shoot this guy to the moon. He looked like a chump the entire build up to the match. Constantly gets beat up. You think, well, they've built to this stupid thing for like forever now and had just one F5 put so many people away so the F5 won't put Roman away, they'll make him look strong, and Roman will win. Instead it was a really boring, poorly put together squash match. For all they try to do to make Roman the top guy, they do shit like this which is so counterproductive. He got his ass kicked in that match. Badly too. His offense didn't matter. He was pouring blood from his head because once again they let Lesnar bust someone open hardway. You still think this is Roman's moment and it's even cooler because he's wearing a legit crimson mask. Nope. Loses to a 6th F5.

I joked to a friend days before the show that maybe Vince does something wacky and has Lesnar win and they do their own Summer of Lesnar angle. I guess he is still there until August. I didn't think that would actually happen.

[Tromatagon]

There's building sympathy for a guy (what they're trying) and then there's making him look like a Lex Luger choke artist little bitch (what's happening).  

[joseph2112]

RE: Styles/Nak. I think they just had the "dream match" thing in mind, but with Nak not a particularly strong character on SD that type of thing doesn't translate to a WWE crowd. I think if they would have done the heel turn stuff three weeks ago and built it from there, the match would have had a ton more interest and heat.

[Rows]

1 hour ago, tlk23 said:

Am I the only one expecting Charlotte and Ronda to main event next year?

Thats exactly whats going to happen. I suspect Ronda will win the rumble a year after her 'debut' and go after Charlotte, and succeed where Asuka failed.