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WRESTLEMANIA 36 Post Match Thread


Dolfan in NYC

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See, the thing with Edge and his "people just want to complain" is that almost everyone who has talked about this show is universally praising the effort of the wrestlers involved given these weird ass circumstances we are in. Let's be honest, would anyone REALLY fault them if they wanted to dial it down a notch or 3 when there is no crowd? I sure wouldn't. But everyone involved did the best they could. And everything Randy and Edge did leading up to the match was off the charts great. I am bored to tears by Orton but I will admit this has been some of the best work he's ever done.

All that being said, there was a really good 12-15 match contained within this just ok 35 minute match. When there is no crowd and a lot of dead space to fill, less is more. Now if you take this exact same match, put it in a stadium setting with people losing their shit for it, I guarantee it comes off better. As it was in this environment, it was too long.

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Way behind on viewing but I'm catching up on night 2 right now. Holy fucking hell, the flying teabag from Edge to a seated Randy had me fall off my couch laughing my ass off about as hard as I laughed at Nak missing the double clothesline on Best Friends and being compared to Charlie Brown ?

At first watch I wasnt that sure but then the replay with the alternate angle confirms Edge with the flying ? and oh my Gotch I lost it?

 

Then in the Smackdowns womens match Bayley and Sasha each get pinfall attempts from the other women and Cole says something about Bayley was nearly eliminated, so we cut to Bayley rolling out of the ring after kicking out and as she hits the ground she's defending herself about No she didn't, like shes arguing with Coles commentary in the middle of the match??? it was the look on her face and how she grit it out to counter argue with Cole that just killed me. I'm enjoying Night 2 just as much as I loved Night 1. It's the little things but hahahaha I love them

Edited by Hayabusa
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Watched Edge vs Orton. I swear watching the 104 minute match was took less time out of my life than this 37 minute thing did. And that one contained about 100 times as much wrestling as Rated RKO's match did. It was very one-paced, they did the pre-match finishing move and then sold damage and exhaustion the entire time. And we've all seen matches that contain very few moves and mostly consist of wandering around throwing each other into things. But usually in that type of match, the things they are getting thrown into are made of glass or wrapped in barbed wire, covered in thumbtacks or set on fire. We've seen both of these guys feud with Mick Foley in those type of matches.

I mean, it's not apples to apples. Edge is 46 and Randy Orton is 40. In 1997 Roddy Piper was 43 and Hulk Hogan was 44. The Age in the Cage is a fair comparison. And Edge vs Orton was far better than that.

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That was always going to be a problem for that match. The fact that the build included both of them talking about their Foley matches, and Edge specifically bringing up thumbtacks, barbwire, and fire... Clearly they weren't going to be that violent.

But, fuck, they didn't need to go that slow for that long. And that repetitive.

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21 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

That was always going to be a problem for that match. The fact that the build included both of them talking about their Foley matches, and Edge specifically bringing up thumbtacks, barbwire, and fire... Clearly they weren't going to be that violent.

But, fuck, they didn't need to go that slow for that long. And that repetitive.

Bringing all that up works in one way, showing the toughness of both but not the other in raising fan's expectations of that when it wasn't going to happen as you note. Similar to Dean Ambrose talking to hardcore icons before what turned out to be an anticlimactic match with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XXXII. The only time I remember thumbtacks used in the PG era was Dean Ambrose vs. Chris Jericho in the Asylum match at Payback 2016. Barbed wire, even longer.

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Just wanted to say something about the Crossface, that's one of my favourite finishers. I didn't expect anyone to use it after the Benoit Double Murder-Suicide in June 2007. I was gobsmacked that Shawn Michaels used it on Randy Orton at Survivor Series 2007 in a match when Sweet Chin Music was banned. I remember @NikoBaltimore telling the story he told here, in the 10 anniversary thread of the Benoit Tragedy by me/@Matt D that Shawn Michaels wanted to reclaim it and try to disassociate Benoit from it.

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Interesting thread. This was my first Mania in a minute, and I watched all the shows in buildup. 

I like the idea of the Boneyard as this super-kitsch irony watch like Sharknado. That's cool and all, but when I saw it, it was just a 55 year old squashing as many people as possible in one match. Slow, plodding and pointless, other than to stroke a surprisingly fragile ego.

Firefly Funhouse is the gift that keeps on giving. So much in the way of fun, cool dorky references, and as people have said, Cena is very game to do that with his character. Seems like a way of compensating Wyatt after the Goldberg squash in hindsight led to nothing.

Flair-Ripley was awesome. A proper Flair match. Fighting over the holds, a great flow, working a body part, a logical finish. Loved it.

Edge-Orton. I won't over-egg the pudding, but it was boring, too long (the idea that we may not complain about a match being overlong in this climate is petulant, Edge) and paled in comparison to either of the similar Gargano/Ciampa fights; that's how you communicate hate, skulduggery and brawling around the Performance Center. I didn't click on the Benoit spot while watching, but after I read about it I kicked myself. Not offended, it's just stupid given that Edge and Orton were both very ensconced in WWE when Benoit did the deed. 

Women's 5 way, women's tag title match, Black-Lashley, Otis-Ziggler all fun. Bryan-Zayn was fine, but a bit too much stooging for my liking. I love a good cowardly heel, but he worked it more like a manager. Rollins-KO was pretty decent as well.

The "big" title matches were embarrassing. I've seen people dissing Brock for being lazy, but given that the format was identical between that match and Goldy-Braun, I don't think it was his not wanting to put Drew over, though I can't explain why either match was planned out to be so shit (other than Goldberg is really old). At least the empty arena meant I was spared the toe curling "you deserve it" chant.

Overall, a heck of a lot of entertainment and I'm impressed at how well they built up rationale for so many feuds in such a short space of time. And def appreciate the wrestlers carrying on with shows while everything else has stopped. But yeah, pretty much all of the women's matches were better than pretty much all of the men's matches.

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On 4/19/2020 at 10:43 AM, throughsilver said:

Interesting thread. This was my first Mania in a minute, and I watched all the shows in buildup. 

So how've you been, man?

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