Go2Sleep

Every one of the 30 battle royal participants gets a special Mania entrance. You may now speculate on what the grand entrances of Curtis Axel and Titus O'Neill will look like.

Ryder certainly isn't main event good, but there's no reason he couldn't be in like the same spot as Kofi right now. He'd probably move some merch if he got just one segment on Raw or SD a week. I don't buy the "WWE won't push him because he got over without help" line because Daniel Bryan, but they could probably extract a little more value from Ryder if they wanted to.

One of my favorite Michael Cole moments... Ok, it's actually more of a Booker T moment, but I still don't know how Cole made it through his line without laughing.

Cena/Harper only getting 5 minutes is the biggest disappointment since Rey at #30. Shield vs. NAO/Kane looks like a lock, but the tag title match still looks like it's up in the air. I'm not sure why they'd run a multi-team clusterfuck that results is people pulling double duty when the battle royal is already there to squeeze everyone on the card. I could see The Usos burning through Rybaxel and the Real Americans over the next couple of weeks, then getting Harper/Rowan at Mania. I don't think anything's been announced for Harper/Rowan yet and they should be above battle royal filler.

I also thought Bryan was gonna get maced in true occupy fashion as soon as the cops showed up. Still think Trips choking Bryan with his tie would've been the best, though. Great video package visual sans blood, and just the right amount of "wink wink" for this feud, especially if they showed HHH getting a slap on the wrist next week for it.

That was about as good as of a heel beatdown as you could have during the PG era. The only one I can think of that was better was Orton to HHH/Steph. I knew it was unlikely, but I think what could've made this one #1 without any question was if it ended with HHH choking Bryan with his tie. Loved Orton yelling at that fan who said "ring the bell." Orton was actually in top form the whole match. Bray/Cena promos were kinda strange in the sense that they went from "generic Cena feud material" to "super serious possible defining moment" type stuff in a week. I liked it though, and Bray deserves an opportunity like this. The Shield's face turn was kind of underwhelming, if that was in fact their full turn. I was hoping they'd wait til Mania or the night after for that. I assume Kane tries to recruit a knockoff Shield now to "replace" them. I'd be ok with Rusev, Zayn, and Bo Dallas showing up in all-black faux combat gear next week for a semi-comedy feud that results in a good match at Mania.

I really love Nattie's character on this show. She's like the mutual acquaintance in a large group of friends that no one really likes but inexplicably turns up at every gathering and reminds people why they don't like her. And she has the most hilarious lack of self-awareness. "I don't have any drama..." Yeah sure Nat, we all saw Season 1. Eva's dad is also the best. He reminds me of Jim Mora. "Wedding? Don't talk to me about a wedding! Are you kidding me? Wedding?"

The line "I will bury Daniel Bryan" is pure genius, but nothing highlighted how much of dick HHH was better than his interaction with Sandow. The way he riffed on Sandow's gimmick combined with his best corpoate power-tripping was just harsh. Almost felt a little bad for Damien there.

There should be less troll-feeding and more discussion about how awesome Ambrose vs. Henry was. Limping during a powerslam and holding the ropes when you deliver a big boot is how you sell the damn leg. Nice comeback sequence by Henry and Ambrose was really moving sharp here too. The other Shield members were great on the outside. Rollins: What? I didn't do anything! *punch*

Added: Dean Ambrose vs. Mark Henry (Main Event 3-11) At the pace WWE is churning out great matches, this will probably out of the top 20 by June, but I'm putting it in now anyway. Really fun match with Ambrose getting to stooge a little and still show a lot of nice offense, like the double knee drop to the floor and those leg clips off the second rope with the roll through. Henry did a great job selling the leg work during the body of the match and during the comeback. Loved the desperation press slam off the top, favoring the knee during the powerslam, and holding the ropes when he went for the big boot. Rollins and Reigns were great on the outside as usual. Great showing from everyone here.

That was kind of a terrible episode of NXT. Paige/Sasha was probably the best match, and it's good to see Paige go to that submission as her main finisher. The fact that they had to recap Mojo's Arrival match in still-frame form was pretty damning. The Ascension are like a poor man's Kronik. I want to like them, but it's just not happening in the ring. Victor is alright, but Connor is a lumbering oaf and has the completely fake "trying too hard" thing going on with his intensity. They should probably make Victor's second rope shining wizard their finisher too. The High/Low doesn't help the generic image at all. That 4-way divas promo was awkward as fuck. Bailey and Sasha seem to play their characters well enough, but Charlotte and Nattie have no presence at all. It's like each person who talked had progressively less presence and understanding of their character. "We both come from great men" has to be the worst line I've heard in a promo in some time. Mason Ryan is still around, I guess? He looks like he's lost weight. After Rusev moved around so well in the Rumble and when he beat down Woods and Breeze a couple weeks ago, I was thoroughly disappointed by this plodding, sloppy match. He should probably have a different finisher than the Steiner Recliner. His music still rules, though. Oh, and lol at the ring announcer botch introducing Breeze as the opponent during his "surprise" entrance. The main event was way too long. Haven't seen Cassidy before but he strikes me as a Matt Morgan type, only less intimidating. I'm not sure what Bo's strengths are in the ring exactly, but his offense was limited by the size difference and he couldn't do much in the way of bumping because Cassidy's offense sucks, so he didn't have a lot to work with here either way. The only good part of this match was the "boring" chant. "Yes, this is Bo's ring!" I guess we did need a show at some point to remind us that this is still a developmental program. Can't expect Zayn/Cesaro every week.

Watched Austin vs. Bret from WM 13, and it's still the leader of WM matches as far as I'm concerned. Both guys enter to mixed reactions, and they both do great work with their characters to tilt the crowd almost all the way to Austin by the end, and Bret lands some cheap shots in the post match to seal it. Bret was just in top form here, showing off his underrated brawling and being absolutely vicious during the technical portions of the match. He also nailed the "on tilt" aspect of his character from this time, getting more and more frustrated as the match wore on. Austin played the underdog role and did a lot of fighting spirit kind of stuff without betraying his asshole character too much. Bret was being such whiny jerk, you kinda wanted someone to tell him fuck off anyways. Of course, the visual of a bloody Austin trying to fight out of the sharpshooter is one of the true iconic visuals in WWE history. The blood was a great touch here because it added a lot more urgency to Austin's comeback and you really felt like he only a limited amount of time to put Bret away before he passed out. And since I watched that, I decided I was in the mood for double turns and hit up Del Rio vs. Ziggler at Payback last year. I put this as my #2 match last year (maybe should've been #1), and it's definitely an underrated gem from WWE last year, and a MOTDC for my money. Probably gets forgotten because both guys have been stale as shit for large portions of the last 3+ years, but this is easily a career effort from both of them. They both start with mixed reactions, but Dolph's selling and previously unseen fighting spirit gets just about everyone on his side by the end. Del Rio's offense has never looked better as he relentlessly targeted Dolph's head coming off a concussion. Those kicks were straight nasty and Dolph took some crazy bumps for the high spots as usual. Ziggler does a great job coming across as tough, yet hopeless. Del Rio controls most of the match but can't put Dolph away and ups the dickishness as the match progresses. The seconds in this match (AJ and Ricardo) also deserve a lot of credit for their work to advance the story. AJ shows a lot of concern and does a lot of Woman-like shrieks when Dolph takes blows to the head. Ricardo doesn't care about Dolph's health in the slightest and is constantly telling Del Rio to stay on him. The finishing stretch is almost total perfection. Dolph spills to the floor, tries to do the heroic "beat the count" out move, only to get blasted by running apron kick from Del Rio. Doctor comes out to try stop Dolph from continuing, Dolph blows him off, only to take a vicious baseball slide square in the back of the head. Dolph still won't give up. In the ring he tries to pull himself up while Del Rio mocks him in disbelief. He hits a flash zig zag, but due to slamming his own head into the mat, can't make the pin. In fact, ADR is up first, and nails the kneeling superkick for the win. Tremendous performance from both guys, and Ziggler has to be the unluckiest guy in wrestling to deliver this once-in-a-lifetime amazing babyface performance people had been waiting for from him for 4 years right in the middle of Daniel Bryan's meteoric rise. Talk about unfortunate timing.

If you're not concerned about the "major card" qualifier, you could probably pick about half of WCW's ppvs from the NWO era. BATB 96: Rey vs. Psicosis Fall Brawl 96: DDP vs. Chavo Havoc 96: Dean vs. Rey WW3 96: Rey vs. Ultimo Starrcade 96: Dean vs. Ultimo Superbrawl 97: Dean vs. Syxx Uncensored 97: Dean vs. Eddie Slamboree 97: Regal vs. Ultimo BATB 97: Glacier/Miller vs. Mortis/Wrath Fall Brawl 97: Jericho vs. Eddie Souled Out 98: Juvi/Lizmark/Calo/Chavo vs. La Parka/Psicosis/Silver King/El Dandy

Rey is definitely up there with the all time greats. He had about a 15-year stretch where he was a top 5 wrestler in his company (at least when he was healthy), has a laundry list of great matches, and his contributions to the style of US wrestling can't be overlooked. Right now he's like watching Shaq on the Celtics, but I'd imagine he's top 20 all-time on most lists.

Wouldn't be a bad idea either. Running a Neville/Zayn sprint would probably get more people to tune into NXT.

Probably won't happen with the battle royal and Extreme Rules just a month later, but I think a 4-way ladder match with The Usos, Real Americans, Harper/Rowan, and Rollins/Ambrose (let Reigns go win the battle royal) would be a great way to round out this show. You could advance a lot of different stories and have a killer midcard match in the process. If you run out of battle royal fodder, just put a bunch of NXT guys in there. It'll increase brand awareness and give them no shortage of guys looking to take crazy bumps to get noticed. You could get the bigger NXT names a good rub by just doing some standard battle royal spots when the stage is this big. Zayn in the final four stare-down, Neville takes a highlight reel elim from Reigns or somebody, Rusev is the guy that it takes 10 people to eliminate, etc.

Rewatched the 4-team ladder match from Armageddon 2006 (Hardys, MNM, Blue Bloods, London/Kendrick). For my money, this is the best ladder match WWE has ever put on. Most famous for Joey Mercury being on the receiving end of the most brutal spot in ladder match history, it has a forgotten element of storytelling and unique characterization of every team that is far and above anything seen in a ladder match before or since. You have the Hardys in there as the reigning kings of the ladder match, London and Kendrick as the young guns who are unproven but possess as much talent and courage as the Hardys, MNM as equally talented athletically as the first two but inexperienced and not very bright, and Regal and Taylor as two rugged old timers who are way out of their depth. The Hardys and L/K rule the ring early and often and the story of L/K (who have had a lengthy run with the belts at this point) needing to supplant the Hardys in this type of match to cement their legacy begins to emerge. MNM and the Blue Bloods persist as minor annoyances to the quest of the flyers trying to prove who is the king of the ladder match. Regal and Taylor manage to out-slug the flyers after they've worn each other down and desperately try to keep the ladders from becoming a factor. Eventually the other three teams realize the best way to get those two out of the picture and all unite to swamp the ring with ladders. The big spots come in rapid succession as they are wont to do in this environment, but the story is not lost. The Hardys and L/K are the ones dishing out almost all the punishment with the ladders, while MNM makes careless mistakes that land themselves in a lot of trouble. There's some quality stooge spots by MNM that keep up the visual aesthetic while putting over the prowess of the Hardys and L/K in this match. The infamous ladder catapult would've continued this aspect of the story just fine without destroying Mercury's face, but instead added a layer of brutality rarely seen in this kind of match. There's no doubt this match would still be the best without the visual of Mercury's swollen face dripping blood like a sieve on the floor, but that spot just puts it that much farther out of reach. Following that spot, the Hardys and L/K continue to focus on one another. Regal and Taylor are able to gain control for a couple minutes, but their momentum quickly falters when they try to climb for the titles. They look like the best fighters in the match at points and even adapt to the ladders as weapons (Regal kills London with a half nelson suplex into an angled ladder in the corner), but they clearly have no chance to win as both appear to be afraid of heights and have no sense of balance climbing more than 2 rungs. Despite missing his partner, Nitro makes an incredible one-man effort, nearly babyface-like, to try to capture the belts. Despite being careless early, he shows his talent here hitting a series of good moves to take multiple guys, including tearing Regal's arm up by splashing him with a ladder. Still, the numbers and talent catch him, and he becomes a non-factor. Regal is able to make one last gasp for his team, scaling the ladder as high as he can before eating sliced bread 2 off the top. He sells this by appearing to break his neck on the apron, looking eerily lifeless. The match ends as it began, and as it had to with the Matt Hardy and Paul London atop a ladder for the gold and total tag team supremacy. London decisively out-slugs Matt and secures the titles. This match really has it all. The storytelling of the Michaels/Razor matches combined with the frantic pace and assortment of brutal spots from the early TLCs. This is a match where there is truly something for everyone. Highly recommend everyone give this a re-visit. Also, JBL was an infinitely better announcer in 2006 than he is in 2014.

I'm still disappointed we didn't get Rollins vs. Harper as a by-product of the Shield/Wyatts feud, but Cena vs. Harper is a good consolation prize.

Love the strong face booking for The Shield. It's actually gonna be kinda sad when one of them turns.

Cena's promo is a-ok as long as Bray wins their match, which I think he has a decent shot at. The Shield used a lot of the same material in the build for their match with the Wyatts, but after they lost clean, the Wyatts still look like the baddest dudes in the company (not named Brock Lesnar).

This is true. When I read the question, I immediately set my brain to 5 years plus in the past. I do suspect this match will stand the test of time. Nitpick, but Dean/Scotty didn't go on first. Road Dogg and X-Pac vs. E&C opened Backlash 2000 (a great ppv btw).

Rey/Psicosis at BATB 96 was a perfect way to kick off that show. Fast paced match to lighten the hostile takeover mood and a good showcase for the beginning of WCW's cruiserweight revolution. WCW regularly opened ppvs with CW matches for the rest of its existence. Also, Owen/Bret at WM 10, obv.

It's a combination of 3-hour Raws and a bunch of mid 2000s indy wrestlers hitting the roster at the same time. The extra time on Raw has allowed just about everyone to significant reps with 10+ minute matches and the indy guys are responsible for things like more/better strikes and the "kings road" style finishing runs. Not surprisingly, the time frame of these changes correlates rather strongly with the usage of Daniel Bryan on WWE tv. Then you follow him with guys like Cesaro, Rollins, Ambrose, etc that do the same things in the midcard and pretty soon the majority of the roster has adapted because it's what the hot new acts are doing.

I thought the hot rumor at the time was that Cena was giving him shit backstage and Riley snapped on him (or Cena was bullying him and Riley refused to take it depending on whose perspective we're talking about).

I've been watching a lot of Foley matches lately, and this one still stands the test of time. The two big spots at the beginning are just as sick now as they were 16 years ago, and the chaos between them actually puts a lot of emotion behind them. The rest of the match stays together surprisingly well given the condition of the competitors. The spot where Foley tries to grab the steps, but can't pick them up, and Taker follows by ramming the steps repeatedly into Foley's injured shoulder was choice. They were moving like molasses but it was 100% believable that it was due to the match, not two guys being out of shape. The piledriver on the chair looked nice and made a good sound, and the tack spots actually provided a worthy finish which would seem impossible given how the match started. The visuals of Foley busted up smiling in the corner and getting off the stretcher post match are timeless as well. And yes, this is probably JR's best announcing performance ever. Before, during, and after he was just spitting out epic lines that straddled the boundary of great fictional storytelling and not being too cheesy. I've re-watched this probably 3 or 4 times since the network came out, just a wonderful display of pro wrestling story telling, even if the hardcore aspects won't be for everyone. Depending on your parameters for the attitude era, there's a good case for this match being the best from that time frame. I'd write out some more epic JR quotes, but there's just too many. You just have to watch it.