WingedEagle

But how often up to 6/92 was a singles match involving the world champion not the main placement? Solely as far as what was pushed to sell the show, card placement posters/video boxes aside. Not suggesting it didn't happen because I haven't looked back at all but I can't recall instances where another match took the spotlight from the champ.

I haven't watched the TV leading up to it in almost 22 years, but I thought Sting/Cactus was the main event. Weren't we still at the point where the world title match was always top dog if it was on the line?

I was away on vacation this week so just caught Raw this afternoon, which other than catching up on PWO has definitely been the highlight of the day. If they're not adding a stip to get Bryan into the title match they've got me fooled, as he seemed way too involved with Batista & Orton just to split them up again and go heel/heel at the big show . I also won't buy a Wrestlemania title match without a babyface until I see it. As unenthused as I was i initially for Cena/Wyatt, the recent 6 mans and promos have me looking forward to the match. Only concern is I don't see how Cena loses there, and don't see how a Cena win does anything for anybody unless Bray gets the title shortly after Mania, which certainly isn't happening.

I always thought Kobashi could get over with his size, charisma and fire, speaking be damned. I know they'll never give someone who can't speak the opportunity to establish themselves at a meaningful level. I also generally don't blame them for it, but think the right guy with the right mouthpiece could very well get over. Okada may have a chance with his size. As much as I love Nakamura, I think he's a bit too lanky to overcome the language issue, and I'm not sure Tanahashi's act / charisma would go over quite as well here.

lol pretty easy to get caught up in the moment at times. What'd you think about Brock/Punk? Watching the show live that night I thought both matches were in the ****1/2 range, but having rewatched them I thought Cena/Bryan was a bit better than the first watch, while Brock/Punk was a bit worse.

No doubt Batista's going heel now.

Got back in to see Neville grab the belt. That was pretty disappointing.

I've logged out of PSN, WWE app, restarted the PS3, not sure what else is let to reboot.

Yeah going on 20 minutes of problems here now. I give up.

Alright Blondie officially has Xpac heat with me. PS3 keeps cutting back to his face.

I can get back in, see HBK speaking, then it cuts back to the blonde dude taking selfies before we get booted to the main menu again. Not fun.

I also got bounced for all of the Woods match. Got back in briefly to see the belt hanging above the ring, then kicked back to the main menu now. PS3 here.

This tag should've been a quick squash. Not doing anyone any favors.

As much as I liked Cesaro/Zayn, the commentary tonight has been the highlight. So refreshing, informative and fun. Its like the Inside the NBA on TNT minus the comedy.

Hell of a job making Zayn tonight. I feel like after that match he could walk out on Raw next week and immediately matter. I think I preferred the Cena match because they actually had me buying that Cesaro could win and the closing stretch was fantastic, but in a vacuum this holds up pretty damn well.

Picture quality went in & out a couple times during Zayn/Cesaro. HD one second, blurry the next. Only lasted for a couple seconds and no big deal. It also locked up early for about a minute, then continued fine from there. On a couple other occasions it seemed to rewind about 3-5 seconds and then continue playing without a problem. That match was awesome though, so who cares. They definitely need to make sure the live stream works well for Mania, because if it doesn't there will be major uproar. Hopefully a couple other live shows before then to test it out.

Totally agree, I've never understood why fans care if the match is laid out beforehand. Its one thing if I can see them calling spots during the match, but as long as everything looks spontaneous and on the up & up I never give any thought to how much is improvised vs. scripted.

Are ECW/WCCW tv already accessible?

Any recommendation where to start tonight? Almost wish I could ask it for a random show. So much to choose from!

Yep, on demand has definitely been a problem tonight. Watched that NXT special at 8 without any problems.

From what I understand the problems they're having are pretty impressive for day 1/2. Other online projects are often much more buggy and subject to a ton of bigger issues than they've had thus far. The quality isn't where you want it to be, but for launch they should be proud. Its not hard to imagine a scenario where the story of day 1 is massive signup / access failures that completely overshadow everything else going on. That hasn't been the case here.

I was actually scrolling through this thread on my phone before going to bed after the show, and so while I saw someone talk about the chamber match being one of their all-time WWE faves I initially dismissed it, then saw a ton of replies and realized Loss made the big statement. I know it doesn't need to be said, but we're talking about someone here who has probably gone to greater lengths than just about anyone on here to state what wrestling he likes and why he likes it. While I didn't think it was match of the nighton this show, much less one of the top matches in the company over the last few years, that kind of pimping is enough for me to go and rewatch the match to see what's up once the show is on the network. My gut is that even if the bulk of the match were at or close to that level, the booking/finish would likely drag things down well below anything approaching the all time level. Kind of switching gears here more into Current WWE territory, but its relevant to this show, last night and the direction going forward as well. I liked the angles with Wyatt & Co. setting up the match with Cena. But that kind of traditional, heels attack babyface without any compelling reason more resembles how you set up a common PPV headliner, not the company ace's match on the biggest show of the year. I dig Bray as a character and am enjoying him in the ring too, but I don't set see the Wyatts as anywhere near the main event type level that the Shield were at almost immediately from day 1. This is a match that needs some serious violence to try and make it feel big, more along the lines of the Nexus angle or something similar where there is absolute chaos (and ideally some color, but we know that's not happening), rather than a worked knee injury. I love Taker's Mania gimmick, generally enjoy the setup each year (excluding last year) and was looking forward to this year. But he finally looked OLD last night. We're talking Jazz Hoyt with atrophying arms and aged 30 years in the last 1 year OLD. I have no doubt they'll go to every length to make this an awesome match and obviously have certain liberties along the way, but when its done I hope we're not left wishing they pulled the trigger on the Cena match while Taker was still Taker. Bryan? I dunno, but forget that Batista isn't him. He can't control that and its an unfortunate situation he walked into, but here's another guy who looks smaller, older and like much less of a star than his last run. I don't know that pushing him completely against what live audiences want will cost them a dime in business, but it will make for some awkward television through at least the summer. I can't imagine they don't call an audible before the big show, but if their internals say that top line figures won't vary much if they don't change course why bother?

I just loaded up Bash '89 during a Raw commercial. It loaded basically right away and looks to be streaming without any issues at all. Pretty cool.

No idea what expectations were on day 1, but ~200K sounds pretty great for day 1 given how many potential customers are at school/work and unable to sign up until later.

Hmm. Wonder what's up with that. Just confirmed I entered my email correctly when registering and I'm able to get in without a problem. Will probably sort itself out later.