WRESTLEMANIA 32 POST SHOW THREAD

[MoeCristyV.1.6]

So, I sure didn't miss THAT Cena.....fuck off again, please!

[HumanChessgame]

I look forward to a 15 minute promo about how he Overcame The Odds and felt the power of all the make a wish kids to help him get better faster and get back to action, followed by him probably winning the IC belt from Ryder.

[The Unholy Dragon]

1 hour ago, Casey said:

Roman defenders and/or people who want to challenge your statement will say WrestleMania is just a smarky crowd now, and it's not the measuring stick for what general WWE audiences think.

That said... I can't wait for the usual suspects to trout out their excuses in the morning. It'll be a blast. "Roman doesn't care what the "IWC" or males 18-80 think about him! It's a family product!!!"

It's weird though. Roman has a kind of heat that makes him over in a weird way. My buddy was at Mania and in line heard someone say he was looking forward to booing Roman. My buddy asked why and the guy couldn't say what he disliked about him, yet he was genuinely excited to boo him.

 

Hating the company guys has become its own trend, basically. The fans have veered from cheering who Vince wants to cheering who the IWC wants. The wheel turns.

 

I can't wait for the inevitable Roman heel turn when the same fans immediately start cheering him again.

[The Comedian]

Well, I guess you could say this show was the ultimate culmination of Vince's vision that Attitude retirees and Ruthless Aggression holdovers are the real stars and the young guys (other than his chosen one Roman of course) are bush league. This is the Mania he's wanted to give you for years. 

Vince is the movie studio exec who doesn't wanna greenlight anything other than sequels and remakes of stuff that's already been successful. NXT guys are like arthouse films; maybe you give them limited distribution to get a little prestige on the festival circuit, but the big money goes to 80's action reboots and superheroes.

Speaking of superheroes, understand that's how Vince sees wrestling. People used to shit on WWF by calling it a circus, but really it's a comic book. Larger-than-life heroes and villains having larger-than-life battles. NXT, on the other hand, does something that's anathema to Vince: they present wrestling as a sporting event. Yeah they have characters too but they're characters who are truly invested in winning and losing and actually care about the titles they compete for. Imagine someone crying over winning the WWE Tag Titles like Jason Jordan did winning the NXT Titles. Vince hates that. I think he hates sports in general. I mean the guy started a fucking pro football league where he tried to de-emphasize the football in favor of sideline antics and gimmicks.

And one of the ironies in all this is that, for all his Attitude longings, if Vince had actually booked Roman like an Attitude Era star it would have worked. Imagine if Stone Cold got screwed out of the title at Mania XIV, then spent the rest of '98 chasing a Corporate champ while being made to look like a fool repeatedly. Think Austin would've still been red hot by '99?

[RIPPA]

5 hours ago, Matt D said:

Look, if you guys just stop talking about it, I will too.

We can just move on. It'll be like pulling a bandaid off. This can be a two page note buried on page 31. 

Let's just make a pact. We can do this. I know we can.

I am amused that I woke up to read this when the thread was already 10 pages..

[MoeCristyV.1.6]

He was still red neck by 99 though.

[RIPPA]

6 hours ago, Vader does my taxes! said:

Meltzer says no, for what that's worth.

Update

 

[RIPPA]

The only thing I learned from the main show is all of you fuckers need to stop hating on Sin Cara

[jstout]

Boy, Raw is going to be something else.

Did anyone else notice that the ladder that broke in the IC ladder match was made of wood? I mean, of course it was, but I thought it was pretty cute gimmicking. Owens' sell at the end of the match had me concerned for his safety. Zayn could really be something if they handled him right, which means he'll be a nobody like the 2,000 other people you could say the same thing about who've been botched over the years.

I can see why people hated the HBK-Foley-Austin thing, but man, Rusev sold that stunner in such an awesome fashion.

Man, I wanted Ambrose to win that match so bad by doing something just freakin' mon-u-mental. I wanted him to pull a truck out from under the ring and run over Lesnar with it. I wanted him to pull out a defibrillator from under the ring, give Lesnar a good enough juicing to stop his heart and then pin him. I wanted him to put on a cowboy hat and herd a bull into the ring, GORE GORE GORE, Ambrose wins. Drop an anvil on Lesnar's head. Just something in-freakin-sane. Losing like that wouldn't have hurt Lesnar (he got hit by a bus, for goodness' sake, come on) and it would've cemented Ambrose as a complete lunatic.

Jericho winning was such a stupid idea. AJ's first Wrestlemania and you have him lose. Who's gonna be around longer? Who's gonna be around year-round while Jericho go plays Ray's House of Metal with his "band"? Dipshitty booking.

I liked Shane-Taker more than everyone here (not saying I liked it a whole lot). If you notice, every bit of Shane's offense, including the contrived sharpshooter spot, was fluky in some way or the other. Either he'd somehow grab Taker up in some sorta submission lock or flurry for some flying God-knows-what. Maybe the most sustained bit of offense he had was when he hit Taker with the Van Terminator, and that was just one longish spot. I REALLY thought Shane would win, somehow (thought Raw could use whatever shakeup would be coming) and I thought there'd be a ton of shenanigans to cover for the fact that it wasn't gonna be much of a match. I was expecting all sorts of wacky interference.

Reigns obviously needs to turn heel, but the last thing in the world he needs is to "sell out" and become another corporate champion like Rollins did. That corporate champion shit is SO played.

Sorry, Dragon, but Bray Wyatt continued his record streak of goofery. If you gave that darkened arena entrance to any other wrestler on earth, people would do that shit with their cell phones. It's not Wyatt. His promos sound like he's either gonna lapse into "well, I do declah" or some odd homage to Foghorn Leghorn, Strowman's just a large hunk of beef and Rowan's a guy with a beard. Bray's been buried so deep he has absolutely no hope of ever getting out and he's still overrated. 

 

 

[ReiseReise]

I´m amazed by the negativity. The show was long, but I enjoyed huge parts of it.

 

My negatives: I didn´t get into Taker vs Shane, simply because 25 years of being booked as a total force to be reckoned with make it hard for me to accept wrestlers as valid contenders, let alone Shane. They did put thought into it and got good reactions in the end, though. Reigns vs HHH suffered from the backlash. It wasn´t a bad match in my eyes. I caught glimpses which I interpreted as Reigns getting more of an edge, but in the end he just won clean. Fell kind of flat. Two segments of legends beating down snotnosed up and comers was a little much, I agree on that. I think the six men was the right spot to do it, the Wyatts v Rock segment was not. The promo part was good enough, the aftermath went too far for me.

 

I liked the IC ladder match, good showcase for everyone, especially Zayn imo. I liked Styles vs Jericho although I was surprised by the finish. Women´s title match and renaming the title into Women´s title was great. Becky Lynch appeared as the one who should be champion to me, she came across as a ring general and covered up for the others when needed. Finish fell kind of flat, since people really treated Charlotte as a heel (which she is, it´s just so uncommon to have a reaction like that these days) and wanted to see one of the other competitors - especially Sasha Banks it seemd - take the title. Fans weren´t as into it as I had hoped in the beginning, but the ladies reeled them in after they bit hook, line and sinker after the Dive hitting Flair. Battle Royal was fun and alright and Corbin was a good winner imo. I feel like I´m forgetting stuff, but I didn´t see the preshow other than bits and pieces of Ryback v Kalisto which looked fine enough.

 

I for once liked to see the Six Men play out the way it did. League of Nations are cheating scumback heels who just had a competitive match so I didn´t see too much of a problem with them getting beaten down. The Stunner on woods is what I´d call character consistency, Austin stunned Mae Young for crying out loud and Woods cried over his broken trombone. Put those two in the ring and a Stunner happens, period. I agree that WWE should have far less of a "blast from the past" in the future. You need the contemporate generation to carry your events.

 

 

[RIPPA]

I am begging someone who hates themselves more than I hate myself to break down the HIAC match with actual wrestling vs. guys laying around & building shit

[Marty Sugar]

6 hours ago, piranesi said:

I love how the company has brainwashed all these young workers into being honored to have old legends make them look like shit over and over and over.  "I took a Rock bottom at Wresltemania!  Amazing!  Who can not love that?" "Oh, yeah, well i got stunnered and sockoed!"  "Oh yeah, well I jobbed clean to the Lion Heart!"

 

What did you expect was going to happen, though, when they started hiring all these indy guys? Indy guys love jobbing to legends...

[RIPPA]

 

[Jamal]

4 hours ago, The Unholy Dragon said:

Probably going to go unnoticed for various reasons but Naomi was great tonight. Did a lot to hold together the Divas tag and bumped like a lunatic. That missed crossbody hitting the ropes was insane. Also the dyed hair and light up boots ruled. She totally deserves a Women's Title run but will probably fly under the radar because zeitgeist.

I was gonna post that she was my MVP of the tag match for all of the reasons you mentioned. 

And I agree that Brie's Yes Lock transition was probably one of the best things she has done. Flawless. 

I'm glad that the Women's Title is back. I thought the 3 way was good but frenetic. Charlotte winning was a surprise but I can dig it. Her act is so good right now. I loved the frustrated, spoiled girl "daaaaaad" she yelled out to Flair when her pin attempt didn't go through. It's the small stuff. 

[RIPPA]

BTW - in regards to the ticket fiasco

Quote

The WWE and Jerry World provided the following statement to Deadspin: “To ensure the safety of WWE fans, increased security measures were put in place tonight. We apologize that it may have taken some fans longer than usual to get into AT&T Stadium.”

 

[Zac_Fu]

1 hour ago, jstout said:

Reigns obviously needs to turn heel, but the last thing in the world he needs is to "sell out" and become another corporate champion like Rollins did. That corporate champion shit is SO played.

 

The irony here is that Reigns, with the stylized chest symbol and trim in gold, it looked for the world like he was sporting his style meshed with Seth's that made me wonder if he was gonna have some kind of influence on the match. If nothing else but to show up at the top of the ramp longbenoughnto make everyone go batshit and throw Trips off enough we'd get the shock pin or something.

[Goodear]

6 hours ago, Matt D said:

I'm going to bed. You guys can complain about Shane or whether it's too soon for Sasha to win or whatever, but you're letting the bad guys win. 

You already let them win.  You watched the show.  It's been the same pattern for ten years.  Anyone who didn't expect what they got and is complaining about it now hasn't been paying attention.

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

Questions

1) Why not do just a straight Shaq vs Big Show match and advertise it ahead of schedule?

2) Why not advertise a Rock vs Bray match/showdown ahead of time? I get that with Rock's schedule, he couldnt be there for the build up to it, but not like that stopped them doing a Taker program?

 

[peterien]

In one sense should we have expected anything less about how the show as a whole was booked?

Mania is all about spectacle and that one main event story (it used to be Takers streak and main event) are its selling point these days so i dont know why i even give a shit anymore. 

Its all about "the greatest spectacle in entertainment" now and nothing to do with being the biggest WRESTLING show of the year where year long storylines finish and results matter or make sense! 

Wrestle Kingdom for the wrestling and Wrestlemania for the spectacle and imagery. 

God i dont think I've ever been so pissed off at a wrestling show.

[steve]

6 minutes ago, RolandTHTG said:

Questions

1) Why not do just a straight Shaq vs Big Show match and advertise it ahead of schedule?

2) Why not advertise a Rock vs Bray match/showdown ahead of time? I get that with Rock's schedule, he couldnt be there for the build up to it, but not like that stopped them doing a Taker program?

 

You're assuming THEY knew until right before it happened.

[Ramsey]

The ladies match was the match of the night.

The ladder match was fun.

I would rather put hot sauce in my pee hole than EVER watch a show that bad again. Fucking awful.

 

[Brysynner]

With Taker's streak gone this really is the epitome of "no off-season in WWE" there's no hard reset button that on Wrestlemania a bunch of major feuds end and starting tonight on RAW new beginnings. The LON will still feud with New Day, Becky/Sasha/Charlotte will still continue their feud, Roman vs. the Authority will continue on until they end. Also unless I completely tuned it out, there was no big musical number in the middle of the show like their normally is. In the end for all the people who complain RAW at three hours is too long, we basically got a SEVEN HOUR Wrestlemania so I will be interested in seeing how the crowd reacts at RAW tonight

[RIPPA]

You could have watched NXT: Dallas three times in the length of that show

[J.H.]

Can't decide if Steph was cosplaying as Janet Jackson on The Velvet Rope Tour or Queen of Bartertown

James

[Playa Shunna Ver 3.0]

Loved the show all the way up to the Brock match.  Liked the match, but Ambrose needed more here.  Women's match was good besides Sasha Banks blowing tons of spots.  She looked way off today.  Charlotte and Becky were solid, and I like the finish.  The Hell in a cell was so bad.  Just awful.  Cena/Rock stuff was okay.  Fell asleep during Ro-Man's entrance.  Legit stood up when HBK came out, and for the rest of the segment.  That was amazing.  Sin Cara.....fucking beast.  Liked the ladder match the most.