anarchistxx

I thought she came over quite well, she looked humble but fiery, got an amazing crowd reaction, it will help her down the line debuting her in front of a cxrowd that were so into her. Never seen her in NXT so no idea what her act is usually like. As great as Hulk is, it pleased me to see that even his reaction wasn't anything like the roar and pandemonium that greeted Daniel Bryan.

Even the Divas stuff is great tonight. Paige already comes accross like a star. AJ is so far ahead of any of the other 'divas' it isn't even funny. They are literally all interchangable other than her. Guessing this ends in a shock win for Paige. Edit: Wow, that came over really great. AJ isn't leaving is she? Real shame if so, she is one of the best all round talents in the company.

Ryback was a face booked as a new Goldberg. It worked for a while, but look at him now. Once you have no character and motivation the squash schtick gets old quickly. This is more like the Lord Tensai type deal. I just think it is a lazy, outdated way to book someone. Do people really have the patience for boring, methodical squash matches now? Lesnar worked because he was explosive and looked legitimately dangerous. Yeah, that is true I suppose. He was helped by having some white meat babyfaces like John Cena and Jeff Hardy to elevate him, maybe Daniel Bryan can do the same for Rysev. Maybe it's just me.

It is the way WWE presents it. Not as if they are going to have him cut political promos about Crimean independence. It has 'Lord Tensai' written all over it. Plus this character was around/planned way before the recent Ukraine crisis.

Can't believe they are booking an evil Russian gimmick in 2014 and expecting it to get over. Especially since for weeks he will just wrestle squash matches without any storyline or reason. Such lazy booking. Like the Damien Sandow 'blue blood' character, it is several decades out of date and won't get over. Truly awful submission move as well. Edit: 'USA' chant in the front row, maybe I was wrong about it being out of date...

Loving the soccer chants. "Wade Barrett's Barmy Army" and "We love you Barrett we do". How could anyone hate this crowd? Wasn't really hot on Barrett but he could well be part of this new generation if he stays over, very solid in the ring and has a good look. Amazed Mysterio can still go at this point, have to admire him even if I'm in the corner of people that despise the 619. Very solid match, the wrestling on the show has been really good so far, every match has achieved what it set out to. Unlike Damien Sandow, he dropped like a stone, I never liked him and saId about a year ago when people were repping him that he was going nowhere. Terrible gimmick, too little natural charisma. No. Cesaro celebration hasn't been on yet, RVD just beat Damien Sandow in a glorified squash. More of a showcase really.

They would boo RVD under the right circumstances, unless they were in front of a 75% smark crowd who cheer for a lot of the heels anywhere. Make RVD an arrogant, sneaky prick, put him against big faces like Daniel Bryan, have Heyman act as his mouthpiece, he would get enough heat. Production has been sloppy all night, they missed a lot of stuff in the six man by switching to the wrong angle.

RVD is back, then. Still think they should turn him heel and align him with Lesnar and Heyman. No mileage in him as a face other than a brief pop. Didn't hear much to be riled at, they were mostly chanting for Bray and doing the 'whole world in his hands' song he does in his promos. The chants for CM Punk and Y2J were maybe annoying, but chanting for a superstar you wish was there isn't exaclty being overly snarky.

Nothing wrong with the crowd at all. They are loud and passionate and vocal and into it, what more can you ask? We are way past the days of simply cheering for the faces and booing the heels - WWE acknowledges this and they run with it. The fans aren't 'trying to get themselves over', they are merely cheering their favorites, which include faces like Daniel Bryan and heels like Bray Wyatt. The heels like Batista and Orton are still getting heel reactions, as is Lesnar. They certainly ran with the narrative for the HHH/DB stuff, they weren't sat there chanting "thanks for jobbing" to HHH.Fans are a huge part of the show, and this is a far better crowd than some boring, silent crowd who only pop for finishers. It fits with the narrative, anyway. WWE are pushing this as a new generation, and the fans are cheering the exciting new guys and booing the stale old guys. The six man tag was fucking great, the whole show has been perfect so far. Heyman's promo is brilliant, his best in ages. The opening was amazing, so pleased to see Daniel Bryan get that kind of reaction, biggest ovation and biggest love for a character I've ever seen. The 'you deserve it' chants got me really emotional. WWE is on such a roll right now. My Facebook feed this morning was full of people talking about Wrestlemania, albeit mostly buzzing over The Rock and Steve Austin. Boom time is coming.

I'd never even heard of them before people started discussing them. Don't know anyone who has one. A trip on Amazon suggests they are relatively cheap to buy, but it is still more of an effort than just buying the PPV for some people. It isn't really an issue for me personally, as I was done spending money on wrestling a long time ago, so there was no way I was either buying the event or subscribing to the network.

A friend actually said to me last night that this was the biggest shock in wrestling since Hogan turned heel.

That isn't really a case of not understanding the technology though, just that people prefer to watch things on their television and through traditional, easy channels. Personally I can't stand watching wrestling or movies for any length of time on my laptop, and there is no way I can get WWE Network on my television since I don't have a Roku box or a games console. Unless I can recline and sit back and watch on a big screen, there isn't much point. Plenty of people are the same, hence my prediction that the show would do a strong number of traditional buys.

Never even heard of the guy, and I've been watching semi regularly again since mid-2011. How do these guys continue to get paid while doing precisely nothing? Do they still do the post-Wrestlemania cull? The litany of 'future endeavors' in April seemed to go on for years.

I think they have to have someone retire him for the major rub. If John Cena is ever going to go heel, they should have him beat the hell out of Undertaker, cheat to win and retire him at Wrestlemania next year. Other than that, someone like Roman Reigns could really get a lot of mileage out of being the one to retire Undertaker. I wonder how often plans for this years Wrestlemania changed. Originally it was going to be Rock vs Brock, right? So where does that leave Taker? Still ending the streak>

The product was awful generally at the time, true, but she was one of the worst. Her voice, her screaming, everything about her made you turn it off. She was genuinely hated, that much is true. Mostly it is because her character was so grating and annoying and a poor, one dimensional performer. It was nice of WWE to give her some financial security, but the benevolence wore thin after the tenth time you heard her screaming hysterically.

The biggest gripe with the streak ending was how Brock Lesnar has been booked over the last few years. Seems a bit shortsighted to have him lose to HHH in a garbage match, take his aura away, and then have him end the streak. Still, Undertaker likely had nothing to do with that, and you suspect as an MMA mark he would rather lose to a real life tough guy like Lesnar. And given their recent track record he likely doesn't have any confidence in WWE giving a sustained, well written push to a new guy if he lost to them - imagine if he had given the streak to Alberto del Rio or Sheamus or even Batista when they were the hot new things? Hoping to hell they don't run a Sheamus/Del Rio feud in the coming weeks, can't think of two guys I would less like to see. Extreme Rules could be shaping up pretty nicely: Daniel Bryan vs Brock Lesnar The Shield vs Evolution Cesaro vs Jack Swagger Bray Wyatt vs John Cena Would like them to see something with Dolph Ziggler as well. I'm not his biggest fan and his name is absolutely awful (they surely regret that now), but he is really over and always works hard and deserves to be in a solid position on the card.

In terms of match placement it was just about right. Cena/Wyatt had been relatively muted, and the crowd had a rest after the amazing first hour. The match just had no build, and nobody really thought anything was at stake because it was assumed 100% that Taker was winning. It was just building to the signature moves and the pop for the tombstone and victory. There weren't even any believable nearfalls, not least the finish which made it all the more shocking. One thing is for sure, wrestling is exciting and interesting again, popularity is going to shoot over the next year or two if they don't mess the booking up. 2007-2011 were kind of dark days for the company, with two belts and a load of nobody wrestlers and title reigns for Swagger, Del Rio, Khali, Sheamus and The Miz. Ever since The Rock came back the product has picked up steam again, with some genuinely talented young stars, great matches and generally a continually improving product. Raw is still too long and the booking can be off, but it is a product on the up. Money In The Bank 2011 was another catalyst.

As a sidenote, some lovely jackets tonight. Bray Wyatt rocked a great one, as did HHH for his main event run in, they should start selling those on WWEShop.

A couple of the near falls had me. Was expecting a big babyface coronation with him lifted onto shoulders, but it was decent as it was. Match was fine, picked up towards the end and it was probably the right match for the situation, they mostly brought the crowd back. Hogan wasn't exactly prominent considering he was shilled as the host. Rock & Austin were minimal as well, I was hoping for a clusterfuck with those three fighting off the authority, rock bottom on HBK type shit. Michaels wasn't on the show at all which was pretty surprising, figured he and Nash might at least do something with Scott Hall. No Vince either, which was weird for the thirtieth anniversary. Excellent show in the end, can't complain at all. One amazing match, and quite a few good ones, plus it all flowed well and felt like a huge show.

Imagine if they had ran Randy Orton vs Batista as planned after that? Crowd reaction would have been mental. Already it is like the main event of WM18 going on after Hogan/Rock, arguably worse. If anyone can bring them round Daniel Bryan can.

Really quiet for Bryan, gutted for him. The JBL comment that The Attitude Era is dead was a bit prescient with what happened to the streak, wonder if he had it in mind when he said it. Taker losing and Kane getting squashed.

They need to ditch all these nu metal bands as well, it isn't 2001 anymore. With them making big strides to bring new guys through and sell it as a new era for the company, they need an update to the soundtrack. In five years Vince will start using dubstep things thinking it is an exciting new genre. Possibly, but Alvarez and others are reporting people are just heading out the doors.

Surely Shawn Michaels has some impact on the main event? Hasn't been on the show. I feel a bit sorry for Bret, the likes of Austin and Hogan got a lot of time, and even Piper/Di Biase etc got some mic work. Hart was just treated as a minor afterthought, a brief shot of him in the crowd. Still annoys me when the champion comes out first for a title match.

Hope the crowd shock doesn't affect the Daniel Bryan coronation at the end, hope they are still into it. Might need Undertaker to come out and raise his arm to crown him. Rumours that people are walking out of the show in disgust. Apparently Daniel Bryan was Taker's choice to face him this year - would DB have ended the streak?

Anyone else get a jolt in the gut when they actually counted the three? It was like when you get some sudden, shocking bad news. Never saw it coming, it wasn't like the HHH matches where there was a couple of spots where I genuinely thought the streak was ending.