Coffey

I'm a wrestling fan. Wrestlemania is the biggest show of the year, from the biggest promotion on the planet and I've followed their product for years, so yeah, I'll be watching. Plus, I already have the WWE Network anyway, so why would I not watch it? Am I happy with how everything has turned out? No, not really...but am I ever? There will always be something to complain about and I usually do. I don't really care who wins/loses each match, I'm just hoping for some memorable moments, some good matches & a hot crowd. I think I'll get all of that. I look forward to watching this with my girlfriend, my best friend & his wife, while eating nachos & pizza and shooting the shit. We're making a day out of it. It should be a lot of fun. If the show is subpar, we'll have fun by making fun of it. If the show is great, hey, bonus. One of the highlights for Wrestlemania each year to me, is seeing who gets new gear or big, elaborate entrances. That's a lot of fun to me. I am also really excited for the post-Wrestlemania RAW as that crowd is notoriously hot & that's usually when WWE does something big to kickoff the next "season" of WWE television. Sting Vs. HHH and The Undertaker Vs. Bray Wyatt will both be spectacles. I don't think either will be a good wrestling match but I expect to see a lot of bells & whistles to cover up for that. The André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal will, most likely, be a jobber show... but Battle Royales are always fun. The Intercontinental multiman clusterfuck, I'm sure, is going to have some sick ass spots that make me shake my head but I'll be entertained none the less. Let's hope I don't have to cringe too many times at bad bumps off of ladders. Rusev Vs. John Cena is the match that I'm most anticipating and I don't care if Cena wins or Rusev wins. If Cena wins, cool, try to add some prestige to the U.S. title & fade him out of the main event scene. If Rusev wins, cool, he'll be a top dawg heel with a lot of momentum. Randy Orton Vs. Seth Rollins is probably the match that I anticipate the least, outside of random Divas match or Tag Team match. I'm just not real high on the Orton train, but I do like Rollins. If Rollins loses, he could cash-in later too, which is something. Brock Lesnar Vs. Roman Reigns, I'm more interested in the crowd reaction than anything else. Maybe WWE will have Roman turn heel, or Heyman turn on Brock or both or whatever. Maybe Roman just wins clean and gets booed. It'll be interesting no matter what, just because I have no idea which direction they're actually going to go. At the end of the day, one of my hobbies is posting on various internet wrestling message forums. If I don't watch Wrestlemania, I'll be like the only guy not knowing what is going on & then I would be trying to avoid spoilers, or not being able to partake in conversation post show and, eh, I wanna watch it. A lot of the fun of pro-wrestling to me is the surprises & living in the moment that comes about from watching live shows. If I read about it afterward, there's no shock or surprise. I already know what's going to happen.

How does the pay even work for the wrestlers now based on the WWE Network? I remember that was one of the things Punk mentioned for taking off. Did they ever figure that out, or we having a second Wrestlemania where no one knows what they're getting paid?

It certainly feels like WWE is not trying read hard for Wrestlemania this year. I'm not sure if it's a case of them just assuming people will buy it based on name alone, because it's on the WWE Network, or both.

The new Jim Ross blog really made my skin crawl and blood boil. Every cliché you would expect to see is in there unironically.

I would say late 1994 for me. Last guy I cared about being or becoming Intercontinental champion was Razor Ramon. I didn't care about the feud with Jeff Jarrett, or when Jarrett won the title. Certainly didn't care about Dean Douglas, Ahmed Johnson or Goldust. Everything after Summerslam 1994 probably. Austin & Rock feuded over the IC belt too in 1997 but it was way dead for me by then. I mostly watched WCW over WWF at that time period. EDIT: Replied before reading the thread entirely, like a jobber. Had no idea it was an old thread.

Triple H throws out one-liners insulting the internet because he wants to be booed at Wrestlemania by smart fans. Smart fans that don't give a fuck to watch Triple H or Sting wrestle in the first place. That can surely not backfire. Triple H is, at least partially, responsible for a lot of the success of NXT, which the majority of smart fans seem to really enjoy & give him credit for. I don't think it's that black-and-white. It never is. I'm just an idiot guy getting worked though. Me and Lance Storm.

I'm in the camp that Rollins should be a babyface (and Reigns heel) anyway, so I wouldn't complain about that.

Some of the stuff Jeff Jarrett did in TNA actually wasn't bad. Dare I say even entertaining. Double J Double M A Challenge. "Tap that mat!"

I said it here before Lance Storm ever said it. Grumble, grumble.

Ever? I'm not sure. I would have to think about it more. Currently? Easily Michael Cole. Admittedly, Alice is terrible. So terrible, in fact, that I stopped listening to the Jim Cornette podcasts completely. That being said, although she is terrible, Jim talking about politics & religion was equally bad. On a grand scheme though, she's just a co-host on a podcast that I no longer listen to. That doesn't affect my pro-wrestling fix at all, really.

Well, I know Bayley didn't start in NXT. She was Davina Rose & wrestled in Shimmer that I know of.

This is an interesting take & thought. I can't really disagree with it either.

Don't overthink it. Just put him on ignore & move on.

Triple H Vs. Sting The Undertaker Vs. Bray Wyatt Brock Lesnar Vs. Roman Reigns These are three of the biggest matches going into Wrestlemania. The next night on RAW, of the six guys, four of them won't be wrestling again anytime soon. So are we going to get a Roman Vs. Bray feud post Wrestlemania? WWE has a bad habit of doing this lately. The biggest show of the year & the guys that work all year are never seemingly the focal point of it.

I don't understand Triple H constantly taking shots at "internet fans." I mean, the entirety of RAW has a hashtag in the top left hand corner. WWE shills WWE.com & the WWE app the entirety of the show. Every wrestler that comes out has a Twitter handle. You need the internet to watch the WWE Network. It's just so stupid. Like, does he think "the internet" is still something that only a handful of people have? Their entire viewing audience is on the internet. Everyone with a cell phone has the internet.

Casual Fans are not what I think of when I think of Wrestlemania. Those tickets are not cheap. You have hardcore fans from all over the world flying over to go to it. Same with RAW the night after. It's been this way for the past few years. Crowd is gonna be loud & super smarky.

I can't think of anyone on the planet wanting to see a WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns Vs. The Big Show feud. Jesus Christ.

I'm more interested in the crowd reactions than I am the matches at this point. WWE could just turn Brock babyface & have him retain if they could get him to re-sign...but that seems up in the air & doesn't help their new star problem.

Kane & Big Show have been protected more than anyone lately, including Cena & Roman. It's flabberghasting.

I feel like WWE and Vince McMahon have been spoiled by John Cena. The dude is not human. How many professional wrestlers in professional wrestling history have been as much of a work horse as John Cena has for WWE? The man returned from a torn pectoral muscle in like three months and that was after working non-stop for who knows how long on top. Not to mention everything he does outside of the ring. He never stops. I hope his Terminator-like abilities are not the new barometer for what is expected of a top guy now. That is insane. Of course Daniel Bryan can not live up to that. Neither can Roman Reigns or anyone else. I really hope a lot of Vince McMahon's recent perspectives have not been influenced by the Jason Voorhees-esque John Cena or his Wolverine mutant healing abilities. Working through being hurt is one thing. Sin Cara calling off a match over a finger is pretty lame. Working through a debilitating injury is another entirely. Especially with all the wear and tear from all the travel and everything else that these men and women put their bodies through. Vince expecting the abnormal from these people is just ridiculous in the first place but now seeing what John Cena has been capable of for so long, I hope he has not raised his expectations even more.

I don't even think it's a negative to be referred to as a mark anyway. Of course we're all marks, that's why we're here. That's why we still care. I like if I can still get worked every now & then, or get sucked into the story of a match still. With as jaded & pessimistic as I always am, it's refreshing to get caught up in the moment of a show/match or still be genuinely surprised by something.

Signed. This is downright embarrassing at this point. I have no idea what they're doing. The 1-year anniversary announcement of the WWE Network was how RAW went off the air...hyping shit that you can watch at any time, whenever you want, at your leisure, on the Network... Do they even know how their own Network works? They also, on their App that they push the shit out of, confirmed Brock Lesnar to be on the show. Only for him to not be on the show. WWE are making dying days of WCW level mistakes at this point, in my mind. Better reform D-X again!

I'm fine with The Sheepherders/Bushwhackers, honestly. They deserve it. I hope in the video package they show when they showed up in ECW though. That was tremendous! That heat.

I would argue that Bray is not "a really good wrestler" either. His matches are pretty damn boring, actually. He doesn't work like a hoss, but maybe he shouldn't. He's always just kind of there. I think the character itself could have some legs & I sort of like what I think they're trying to go for...but he just comes off as long-winded & boring, whereas I wish in matches he either played the masochist that wants to be beaten to make his opponent go to the darkside (sort of like Raven in WCW I guess) or was just merciless & totally annihilated people. Instead he works his matches about 50/50, gets his shit in & you can't really differentiate him from anyone else on the roster, like an Epico or Erick Rowan. I don't know if they want him to be like a Louisiana cult leader, like a character out of True Blood, or a Papa Shango esque leader or if he's supposed to be supernatural or what. Up to this point, any potential has been squandered by him incoherent, rambling promos that don't have a point & his matches being cut-and-paste snooze fests. I want to like him but they have yet to give me a reason why I should. I mean, I get he's a heel right now but you know what I mean. I actually think he could be a pretty over babyface if they turned him. The crowd wants to chant along. They want to light up their cellphones during his entrance. He really needs some direction. I have no idea what losing to The Undertaker at Wrestlemania is supposed to do for him?