Childs

That sucked. Sorry, the build was interesting, but that sucked.

Timing is way off in the early going.

Kid Rock sing-off with Elias?

If the second half of this show shoots even par, we probably have the best 'Mania ever, right?

The contrast in athleticism between Ronda and Kurt is just stunning.

I know it's hardly relevant, but Angle looks horrible.

Yeah, disappointing.

Glad this match is going now. The talk of it going on last always struck me as absurd.

Having Mahal beat Rusev is the clearest possible thumb to our eyes, right?

Asuka won. Ha! It came back on, so I can't live in your fabricated reality. Excellent match, though.

My power went out right as Asuka-Charlotte was building to the finish. So pissed.

One of the worst things about him was that he didn't change up his ring work at all when he was the demon, so I guess eliminating that could be a good thing. Granted, I'd give him more points if he changed up his ringwork as the inclusion-warrior. Well, he kind of sucks no matter what he's wearing. That's a given.

Give me inclusion-warrior Balor over the inane Demon any day.

I'm probably somewhat guilty of what Dylan is talking about here, judging Riddle against the wrestler I hoped he would become. I definitely hold him to a higher standard than most of the other top indy guys, because he has so much talent, both athletically and in terms of charisma. I still love him in matches where he's physically challenged -- the WALTER series, the Shibata match, the Speedball match in OTT, the SCI sprint. But throughout last year, I was more likely to end up frustrated with his performances than blown away by them. I respect anyone who isn't taken out of his matches by the upkick or the shitty tombstone or the the German no-sell. But I hate that shit, and I really hate that he's made it part of his routine. There was no one I looked forward to watching more in 2016, and that's just not the case now. I haven't watched much of this Mania weekend yet, and I'll be thrilled if his performances blow me away. He's certainly still on the short list of guys who inspire the highest of hopes.

Top that, Wrestlemania. Good lord.

Well fuck, that was pretty great. Who knew that Johnny Gargano would be the guy to make me feel stuff about wrestling in 2018?

These Almas title matches have been tremendous. I really have no use for Tommy End but still got into that. Hope the Almas-Vega act goes on for years.

Baszler-Moon was really good in the broad strokes, if not always in the details.

I feel like Ive lost the ability to say whether those WWE car-crash matches are good or not. I know they no longer interest or shock me, despite the danger.

Yeah, I hope that's the case. I just feel like Riddle, for all his legit bona fides, has become more and more of a generic indy superstar. So it would be cool to watch him pull out something more unique.

I was vastly more excited for Ki-Riddle. Suzuki-Riddle already happened and was merely pretty good. Don't get me wrong, it's a good match to pull out at the last second. But it's a letdown.

Meltzer gave the doc a positive review overall but poked some holes in the Shoemaker-narrated history of the territories and WWF expansion. Which feeds into a lot of my reservations. Anytime I listen to Simmons or Shoemaker discuss wrestling history, it's so obvious they don't know what the fuck they're talking about. So I'm sure the core story of the doc will work, but I suspect it will be a little more frustrating for hardcore fans than for casuals. Of course, that's pretty much always the case with something like this.

Sinclair is based in our area and is truly one of the most dreadful companies in a blighted media landscape. I stopped watching ROH a long time ago, so I don't have a dog in this fight. But a serious boycott (which won't happen) would probably hurt the wrestlers, who've done nothing to deserve it, far more than the corporate overlords.

The build for Taker-Cena has to be one of the oddest they've done for a big 'Mania match, right? I've actually found it refreshing, but if you step back, it's super weird by their standards.

The Ibushi botch certainly didn't add to the match. But there was so much stuffed into the fucking thing that I don't think it made much difference one way or another.