Wrestlemania XXXI - The Greatest Show Ever

[Just Dave]

Just random thoughts I jotted down during the show:

 

Damn, Natalya. The "evil queen" look suits you. Tittays.

 

Poor New Day. 

 

Los Matadores as a gimmick licks greasy camel dicks, but both those guys are gifted workers. 

 

EL TORITO!

 

Naomi is a freakish athlete. Too bad she's in an era where the Divas mean less than ever.

 

All the guys in the IC title match went out and got new gear, and Dean Ambrose shows up looking like he walked there. 

 

Wait a damn minute. Dean Ambrose is cosplaying John Connor! I get it now.

 

"Come with me if you want to sleep in a dumpster...."

 

Hopefully Daniel Bryan can do something with the IC title. He, Barrett, Ambrose and Ziggler probably deserved better.

 

Luke Harper is a terrifying human being.

 

Randy Orton shouldn't be boring. But he is.

 

Seth Rollins hairstyle keeps me from taking it seriously. Looks like sour ass.

 

holy damn that RKO!

 

Mr. Miyagi didnt have anything better to do than play that bell looking thing during Sting's entrance?

 

Old guys having fun. This looks like when Foreigner and Styx tour together. Billy Gunn is a freak of nature. 

 

Sting/HHH felt like SNL40. All guys i wanted to see doing things i used to love watching them do, but its a sad reminder that time waits for no man.

 

This music is....no worse than Kid Rock. I guess.

 

#givedivasachance....to gettheir assbones broken on the ring steps. Holy shit, Paige.

 

Mildly surprised Pay-J went over.

 

Rusev's entrance. ALL THE DOLLAR SIGNS. 

 

Damn, Lana. Just, damn.

 

I keep waiting for C. Thomas Howell to pop up from the crowd and shoot an RPG at Rusev's tank. 

 

Cena should've aped Apollo's entrance in Rocky 4. Bruno Mars could sub in for James Brown. Uncle Sam hat, Stars n Stripes trunks. WTF, man?

 

The Rock can hold a damn audience's attention. He is unparalleled in a live setting. And I 100% believe the sun wouldve just gone down if the Rock had told it to. 

 

HHH is a saint for bumping for Rousey like that.

 

Rousey vs. Steph in JerryWorld. They have 100000 seats to fill. That's 200000 buttcheeks. Rousey is the definition of "box office" right now.

 

Bray Wyatt needs a family. A cult leader with no followers is a shitty cult leader. 

 

Taker looks like he's in shape. 

 

Taker didnt need this win, but in a way it makes sense. Still wish they saw in Wyatt what I do. He is the best promo in the company right now.

 

Reigns straight shoving fools out of the way on his way to the ring. Dug the "punch the mat and fireworks shoot off" thing. 

 

Heyman swaggering behind Lesnar is like when Will would act tough from behind Uncle Phil on Fresh Prince. Classic stuff.

 

I wish Heyman would introduce me for job interviews and shit. 

 

Brock Lesnar is the scariest athlete on the planet right now. 

 

Really dug this match concept. Roman dies for the sins of the writing team, but won't give up. 

 

YOU CAN'T HEADBUTT A SAMOAN. We all know this. 

 

Reigns kicked out of more F-5's than Undertaker. That's some starmaking shit right there.

 

On my last beer. Gonna try to rap it up.

 

Rollins! This is brilliantly timed, because he doesnt have to pin Lesnar.

 

Man-sized spear on Lesnar. 

 

Rollins gets the W. Great way to start the new WWE yr. Rollins has feuds with Reigns, Orton, Lesnar, and Ambrose all ready to go. Nice.

 

Great show. Not as satisfying an ending as last year, but FAR exceeded my expectations.

 

8/10.

[Greggulator]

I like calling this the new WWE year. FY 2015.

[Burgundy LaRue]

Just Drew is 100% correct about Natalya's outfit.  Holy smoked cheese on a cracker, she looked good.  Naomi's 49er shirt and skirt combo was hot, too.  Those two really should be given a chance--it's called Give Divas a Chance, not Give the SAME Divas a Chance.

 

And I really hope that they go somewhere with Reigns laughing in Lesnar's face.  Dude was getting his ass served to him and went all Joker to Lesnar's Batman:  C'mon and hit me, HIT ME!  Lesnar's WTF reaction to it was perfect.  How great would it be that for all the talk about Ambrose being the crazy one from The Shield, it's actually Reigns who finally snaps and starts straight murking guys in the ring?

[Brian Fowler]

 

Question I'd like to pose to you all, WWE Match of the Year so far:

 

Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins. Royal Rumble.

Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan. Fastlane

Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns. WrestleMania XXXI

Other.

 

For me its either the Rumble Triple Threat or Lesnar vs. Reigns from last night. Plan to watch both to decide.

 

Those are three pretty friggin' epic MOTYs and it's March.

 

 

 

I know, I know, it's me, grains of salt, but I put both Cena/Rusev matches right on the same level of the stuff just below that triple threat.

[_MJ_]

Question I'd like to pose to you all, WWE Match of the Year so far:

Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins. Royal Rumble.

Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan. Fastlane

Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns. WrestleMania XXXI

Other.

For me its either the Rumble Triple Threat or Lesnar vs. Reigns from last night. Plan to watch both to decide.

Are you basically saying Roman Reigns is currently the lead candidate for WWE wrestler of the year?

Say it Natural!

[Brysynner]

I didn't mind the announcers as much, mostly because calling 5 straight hours of wrestling with Vince and everyone else in their ear has to be physically and mentally draining. Then they get to do 5 more hours over the next two days.

[The Natural]

 

[Jamal]

Just Drew is 100% correct about Natalya's outfit.  Holy smoked cheese on a cracker, she looked good.  Naomi's 49er shirt and skirt combo was hot, too.  Those two really should be given a chance--it's called Give Divas a Chance, not Give the SAME Divas a Chance.

 

I've liked what little we have gotten when Naomi and Nattie have tangled and I think they could kill a longer match. There were reports of them getting good reviews, when they wrestled at a house show, a few years ago. 

[Playa Shunna Ver 3.0]

I didn't give a shit about this show before it started.  There were a few things I was curious about, but I really wasn't invested at all.  Anyway, I enjoyed the shit out of this show.  It was great.  HHH-Sting was great.  The Rock stuff was great.  Entrances were amazing.  Taker-Bray was pretty good.  Ladder match was awesome.  Brock-Roman was fantastic, then the Rollins cash in.  Highlight of the night was definitely the greatest RKO of all times baby!!  Top to bottom I was entertained the entire night.  That's all you can really ask for.    

[Craig H]

I get what they were going for with Sting vs HHH. It felt like a weakly written movie converted into a wrestling match. One thing many always wondered about way back when was what would happen if DX took on the nWo. And when people think of WCW, you think of nWo. So nWo coming out for Sting makes sense to me, but I'll admit it's very weak considering that they were such adversaries. However, that was written as WWE vs WCW, and in the vacuum of WrestleMania, it works. HHH's entrance was awful. That Terminator video along with the Terminators was about the dumbest entrance I've seen. It's by far HHH's weakest WrestleMania entrance, with For Whom the Bell Tolls being the best.

 

As for match by match and other thoughts...

• The WrestleMania is set is MASSIVE. Was this the biggest set they've had? It seriously dwarfed everyone that came out.
• The IC Title Ladder Match wasn't that crazy, but that bump Ambrose took was fucking bonkers. Oh, and Bryan and Dolph exchanging headbutts was tremendous stuff.
• I liked Seth vs Orton as well. Seth lost in the most spectacular way possible. Just when you think you've seen every cool use of the RKO countering something, they bust that out. That finish too made me think Seth was going to cash in later since in the past, they've used a loss by a wrestler with the MitB contract to throw people off the scent.
• I already spoke about HHH vs Sting.
• The Divas tag was good stuff. I still like the NXT girls better, but these four are definitely right there with them.
• Again with the fucking video entrance, this time for Cena, Whatever. Rusev's entrance was king sized. The match was also awesome. Springboard Stunner?! Awesome. I have no problem with Cena winning. It elevates the title even more and we'll get another Cena vs Rusev match at Extreme Rules, which is great for us.
• HHH AND THE ROCK! RONDA ROUSEY! HOLY SHIT! MY BRAIN IS EXPLODING FROM THE EXCITEMENT AND INSANITY! People who think that Rousey isn't as popular as LT are out of their fucking mind. Get the fuck out of the wrestling bubble.
• Undertaker vs Bray was OK. I liked Undertaker: the Ass Kicker coming back. I like that Undertaker slightly less than Bikertaker, but way better than zombie or demon Undertaker. Undertaker busting out the Old School got a legit holy shit out of me, one of many on the night. Then Undertaker started acting concussed again. I couldn't tell if he was selling or legit hurt. I really didn't want to see Undertaker lose and I was really, really worried he was going to lose to Bray. Thankfully, Bray bit off more than he could chew.
• Reigns vs Brock. Wow. I mean...wow. So, Brock had to have told Reigns to go as stiff as possible because no one is going to believe he has a shot unless Brock looks like he's hurt. Meanwhile Brock doles out the most destructive looking offense you'll ever see that also happens to keep his opponent safe. Such an awesome, awesome, awesome fucking match. The direction they were going in made me think that Reigns would have his flurry, but then get caught with an F5 and get pinned. Oh, and before that, Reigns laughing at his shit kicking was very Tyler Durden-esque and very awesome. He should be doing more of that. Anyway, then Rollins' music hits. Now, I started watching WrestleMania late. It was close to 2 AM at this point. This match got me wide awake and when Rollins' music hit, I jumped up. Reigns eating one more F5 would have been the best possible finish, but Rollins cashing in on the biggest stage of them all was second best. I didn't think they would do it and this worked perfectly. Seth Rollins/Tyler Black is YOUR WWE World Heavyweight Champion and it's fucking awesome.

Final thoughts: Just an amazing show. One of my all-time favorites. I had the lowest of expectations and nearly everything on the card blew those expectations away. In fact, even if I had high expectations, this show would have surpassed those as well. Also, there was a giant cut out head sign in the front section that looked like Dolfan. Or at least I thought it did.

[Craig H]

By the way, it sounded like Dean Ambrose got an incredible reaction from that crowd during his entrance. Bigger than Daniel Bryan's even.

[Spontaneous]

Where does this rank among Wrestlemanias? Better or almost as good as last year's?

[Josh Mann]

By the way, it sounded like Dean Ambrose got an incredible reaction from that crowd during his entrance. Bigger than Daniel Bryan's even.

It's hard to compare Bryan's pop to anyone's because the fans seem to save it more for the YES thing, but all three (Dean, Bryan and Ziggles) got healthy pops, as opposed to R-Truth, who didn't.

[Fallacy!]

"This is a Wrestlemania moment!!!" is definitely quickly becoming the new point to the sign.

[MADCAP]

[Ace]

Roman Reigns is a lousy John Cena, but he makes an awesome Tommy Dreamer.

[supremebve]

I was trying to read through all of this before I responded, but I've come to the realization I'll never catch up.  Excuse me if everything I say has already been said 35 times.

 

I liked this show about 750% better than I expected.  I had really low expectations going in and only though a couple of matches had the potential to be good.  I was wrong, and I'm happy as hell about it.  The 4-way tag match was a fun spotfest that served the exact purpose you want from the first match of a show.  There were all types of imaginative spots that got the crowd energized and the right team won.

 

I missed the Andre battle royal, but it's probably for the best, because Big Show winning is dumb.

 

The IC ladder match was almost an old school Shawn Michaels/Razor Ramon ladder match that was more of a match that had ladders in it than a match that was only there to see people get hit with ladders.  There were huge ladder spots, but they didn't do anything that was that convoluted.  The powerbomb to the outside was insane as was Barrett's superplex on Cody from the top of the ladder.  The only problem I had with it was that it was a ladder match filled with all the guys who have injury issues.  Why put Bryan, Barrett, and Dolph's concussions into a match that is most likely to injure them?  If this is some grand plan to rejuvinate the IC/US titles, I love Bryan winning it...if not I don't.

 

Randy Orton and Seth Rollins put on a match that was pretty good, but not great.  There were some really fun sequences, but as a whole something was missing.  With that said, that is one of the best finishes I've ever seen.  There was a roll through on a phoenix splash, which is insane by itself, but then the elevated RKO from the Curbstomp was out of this world great.  I think the first Curbstomp set it up well as Orton kind of held up for a split second before going down which caught my eye, but I just figured it was a slight hiccup in the sell.  Then the second one had the same hitch until Randy expoded upwards and caught him in the best RKO/Diamond Cutter variation ever.  Seth gets so much height on everything it makes all of his high flying moves look spectactular.  So basically I'm saying that this is a good match that made me pop more than some great matches.

 

Sting's entrance should have been saved for Hideo Itami's first big Wrestlemania match.  It was great, other than the guy not knowing how to play a gong, but had nothing to do with Sting.  HHH's entrance was a trailer for a movie that is probably going to suck, but if it puts money in my dragon baby's mama's pocket I can't complain too much.  This match was so fucking stupid...but I can't lie I loved it.  DX and NWO were fun surprises, but the wrong guy won.  I never understood why they tried to make this a WCW thing, but I knew as soon as it happened HHH was going over.  It was basically an Expendables movie, overwhelmingly stupid, but ultimately that was the point.  Where was Flair during the interference?  He is the ultimate WCW guy and he should have been the HBK pocket wildcard for Sting.

 

Rusev's entrance was all types of epic, but they missed the mark by not having Cena come out to "Living in America."  When does the Cena backlash stop?  He's been having super fun matches and has busting out crazy offense lately too.  That springboard stunner went over huge with me and my friends.  It made all of us say, "Where the fuck did that come from?"  Once again the wrong guy won, but it was fairly transparent that this is where Rusev's streak was going to end for about six months now.  Rusev has gotten over in a way I wouldn't have believed a year ago, and he's broken through the ceiling of what I thought his in ring potential was as well.  He is awesome and I hope they don't drop the ball with him.  Rikishi and Gangrel trained him?  Are those two miracle workers, because there is nothing about Rusev that makes me think of Rikishi or Gangrel.  A dancing dude in a thong and a vampire trained an absolute wrecking machine. 

 

The women's tag was pretty decent, but they get no heat whatsoever.  Hopefully they keep getting the time to put on matches that one day they'll actually mean something to the fans.  These four have pretty decent talent, and the NXT girls are also full of potential, why not give Divas a chance.

 

Undertaker and Wyatt was better than I expected, and Undertaker kind of carried the match.  Wyatt's matches always drag when he's on offense.  All of his offense looks really good, but he really doesn't know what to do between moves.  He just kind of stands around.  Undertaker's in ring persona went from unstoppable demon to old gunslinger who came back to his hometown and realized some young punk was standing on his lawn.  He sold everything like a combination of why won't you die and fuck you.  His reaction when Wyatt kicked out of the tombstone was great, the look on his face said, "I'm way too old for this shit."  This wasn't all that good, but I can't lie I did enjoy it.

 

The Rock and Rousey thing was great.  I don't care what any of you say, Stephanie McMahon is the very personification of a heel.  She has no redeeming qualities as a character.  She may be the only person on the entire show that no one is rooting for.  I think the authority storyline has run its course, but she's really good in the role. 

 

That main event delivered and then some.  I loved every second of it, especially the cash in.  Brock gave Reigns the beating of a lifetime only to have Reigns comeback and come withing seconds of finishing him.  Then that smarmy dick Seth Rollins came in and stole all the glory.  I think that is the best story they could have possibly told, and I'm extremely happy the way it turned out.  That may be the stiffest match in WWE history.  Brock bled hardway at least twice, but I have a feeling that last one was a blade job.  Those guys put everything they had in that match and it delivered.  I think Reigns actually gets over with a larger group of fans because of this match.  He went to suplex city and was probably going to get out alive if it wasn't for Rollins.

 

This was the most fun I've had watching a wrestling show in years.  While nothing was a ***** classic, everything, other than the Divas match had at least one memorable moment.  I loved this show.

[Playa Shunna Ver 3.0]

"This is a Wrestlemania moment!!!" is definitely quickly becoming the new point to the sign.

Yah.  This is the truth.  The D-Bryan promo with the legends was pretty awesome.  They had the right amount of nostalgia.  The Hulkster bumping for X-Pac was great.  The DX/NWO thing kind of reminded me of the news team fight from Anchorman.  Still, the NWO still looked pretty fucking cool for a bunch of older dudes coming down that ramp.  I was waiting for the NWO to turn on Sting, and for DDP or Flair to run in, but I get that they don't trust the Nature Boy.  

[supremebve]

 

"This is a Wrestlemania moment!!!" is definitely quickly becoming the new point to the sign.

Yah.  This is the truth.  The D-Bryan promo with the legends was pretty awesome.  They had the right amount of nostalgia.  The Hulkster bumping for X-Pac was great.  The DX/NWO thing kind of reminded me of the news team fight from Anchorman.  Still, the NWO still looked pretty fucking cool for a bunch of older dudes coming down that ramp.  I was waiting for the NWO to turn on Sting, and for DDP or Flair to run in, but I get that they don't trust the Nature Boy.  

 

I forgot to mention that in my review...Flair giving Steamboat a chop for old times sake was one of my favorite parts of the entire show.

[Craig H]

Where does this rank among Wrestlemanias? Better or almost as good as last year's?

 

As a complete show, it was better than last year's, but last year had higher highs. Last year felt very much like a two match show: HHH vs DB and the triple threat match.

 

I think it's a top five WM for sure. X-7 is still the best from top to bottom. This was maybe the third or fourth best I feel. Others are welcome to disagreement.

[Josh Mann]

I think that's accurate. There might have been more epic booking on 30 (which is my sneaky way of lumping Brock-Taker into my point without having to defend its quality), but 31 was the better overall show.

[Craig H]

I'm stunned at how consistently good last night's show was. It dipped a little bit for Taker vs Bray, but it finished about as strong as you could finish on the heels of everyone having their working boots on. No dumb skits either from what I could remember, as I liked the backstage skit with DB a lot. It was fun.

[Josh Mann]

The worst offender, and even this was more cute than dumb, was J&J having a run-in with The Stooges that ran on the pre-show.

That felt like a DVD extra that got cut for time from the main show but they ran it anyway.

[Playa Shunna Ver 3.0]

The whole show was really well paced.  It didn't seem like anyone had to cut out 75% of their match like the past few years.    

[RandomAct]

• HHH AND THE ROCK! RONDA ROUSEY! HOLY SHIT! MY BRAIN IS EXPLODING FROM THE EXCITEMENT AND INSANITY! People who think that Rousey isn't as popular as LT are out of their fucking mind. Get the fuck out of the wrestling bubble.

Placing Rousey and LT in the same level of popularity is EPITOME of "wrestling bubble".  No one outside of wrestling/mma circles could pick her out of a lineup.  LT is legitimately one of the most famous athletes of the last 40 years.  I'd say easily top 15 as far as just people knowing who the fuck he is.  You think in 15 years people will remember Ronda tapping out someone like they do  Joe Theismann being crippled by LT?