Parties

Don't want a Shield reunion this soon. They broke up less than a year ago: anyone who's broken up with anyone knows the makeup sex should happen in a dark alleyway at the least expected moment. Hold off the reunion until WM32, for a chance to depict those guys as the Three Muskateers of their generation in front of 100K. How 'bout them Cowboys. Sunday: Reigns beats Lesnar in a manner so dastardly that it establishes Reigns as vicious. Chicanery extreme enough to keep Lesnar off TV for a month or two. “This guy announces he's here to stay on Sportscenter, and a week later I ran him out of the WWE sportsertainmentiverse.” You close the May special event extravaganza Payback with Lesnar coming out of the crowd, F5ing Reigns to hell. The hitch is that Rollins has to cash in. The hitch's hitch is that technically, he doesn't have to before this year's Money in the Bank. He has to cash in within twelve months of last year's MITB: June 29th, 2015. Reigns and Lesnar have their rematch at MITB, ending in some catastrophe that leaves them both destroyed. Reigns steals a win after being suplexed to death. Rollins sneaks in, waffles both guys with chairs, and cashes in his briefcase, thinking Reigns to be fish in a barrel. That is until ethical justice warrior Brock Lesnar wakes up and costs Rollins his one and only title shot. The feud becomes Rollins-Lesnar at Summerslam, with Rollins beginning a face turn that leads to either a match or angle w/ Rollins-Reigns at Night of Champions, and their cage match blowoff at Hell in a Cell. If you can get a fourth match out of tweener-Brock this year, he works Survivor Series to fight Bray, a heel Sheamus, or Bryan in a “who's the best wrestler” match between two beloved heroes. The internet goes into supernova.

One weird thing that I haven't seen discussed anywhere: at the end of the ladder dudes' schmozz, the ladder landed awkwardly on Harper's ankle and he immediately started looking like he'd been shot. Rolling to the outside, clutching where he'd been smashed, and being checked on by refs while he laid prone in pain on the floor. Either that hurt like hell, or Harper is secretly the best seller in the company.

I was intrigued by Dylan saying he thinks this year’s card is better than last year. Initially you wonder, “How could that be, given how bad the booking was this year?” How can this year have a better card with a far lesser build? But he’s correct. 31 has nine matches, 30 only eight. Both the US and IC titles are being defended this year in good, valued matches; neither was defended last year. (Big E, approaching the end of a forgettable six-month run as IC champ, floundered in the Andre battle royal, where he was tossed out halfway through the match. US champ Dean Ambrose, nearing the end of a record-breaking 12-month run with the title, was in the Shield squash of Kane/Outlaws. He would lose the belt in an arbitrary RAW battle royal to Sheamus one month later.) The case for WM30 as the better card would be: what incorrectly looked like the start of a big Cesaro push, Cesaro and Bryan both working twice on last year’s show, and Bryan winning the title/carrying HHH to the best match of Hunter’s career. But we don’t know how good Sunday’s matches will be, so it only seems fair to compare them as two cards on paper. You could argue that the teams in last year’s tag title 4-way (Usos, Real Americans, Rybaxel, Matadores) are slightly better than 31’s (Usos, Cesaro/Kidd, New Day, Matadores), but the group is so similar that it feels like comparing Tokyo Dome junior tag openers. The addition of Kidd offsets the loss of Rybaxel. This year’s women’s match is much better. And one of the bigger upsides for me is that Harper and Rowan are working this year, rather than just accompanying Wyatt to the ring. One minor-but-longwinded note about last year vs. now would be the Andre battle royal, which had 30 guys last year and only 20 this Sunday. It’d be cool to book it like a Rumble and throw a few surprises in to fill it up to 25 or 30, but it’s not vital given that it’s just a payday cameo where most dudes barely do anything. By not having a ladder multi-man to throw seven or eight guys into, you ended up with some stars wasted in last year's battle royal (Del Rio, Sheamus, Mysterio, Ziggler). It’s also interesting to see how many guys from last year's battle royal are either MIA (Sheamus, Otunga, Bo Dallas, Maddox, all of whom could be added in the end) or gone from the company a year later: Del Rio, Rey, Justin Gabriel, Santino, Mahal, McIntyre, Khali, Brodus, Yoshi Tatsu. While it’s pointless to have a big roster of guys-who-never-work show up to collect a Mania check, it seems fair to say that their undercard crew was better last year than it is now (as was the roster at large, given that last year's main eventer Batista is gone). The booking of said undercarders is marginally better now. You don’t have Billy Gunn, Road Dogg, or Naomi eating anyone’s lunch, but it reminds me that guys like Dallas, Fandango, and Henry should be forming/joining stables, just to liven it up a bit.

I voted “Low enthusiasm” ten days ago. For some matches my interest has been raised, others lowered. But general interest always improves the week of the show. In the last 10 days: Lesnar-Reigns: They have a good-to-great match in them, and I've liked Brock's mic work. The end of the final segment last night was bizarre. Looked like they had no clue what to write, almost as if they ran out of time in the overrun at the worst possible moment. There's intrigue in not knowing what they'll do, but no one has faith in the booking. If Reigns turns heel to win, was it all worthwhile? Call it a wash. HHH-Sting: Wasn't interested to begin with, less interested now. Ladder Match: More interested than I was, but only in who wins. Bryan's the only one capable of elevating the belt right now, and they sure seem to be pointing to him winning Sunday. Rusev-Cena: More interested. Either winner is appealing, and the build has been good. Orton-Rollins was confirmed, but I'm less interested than I was when Orton returned. Undertaker-Wyatt: Wasn't interested to begin with, less interested now. When you look at where Wyatt was 12-14 months ago, the downfall is stark. Tag title four-way announced. Less interested than I would be in a straight tag between the champs and any of the three teams. As always with tag title matches, putting it on the pre-show is lame. Battle Royal: Marginally more interested. For every Mark Henry or NXT entrant is a Kane or a Konnor. And no Sheamus, unless he replaces someone. Feels like Ryback should win to see if you can build him back into the title picture. Axel or Mizdow could upset as the throwaway comic feel-good stories, but of the slim realistic pickings, Ryback seems the best option. AJ/Paige-Bellas: Probably less interested than I was? I expect their time to be cut. If this is their “Use Your Voice” statement match, I'm skeptical. I find AJ insufferable, and the whole division needs fresh matches.

Wow, they are really throwing away Taker's match this year. Cole cut away from that promo like it was an Ascension match. Would not be surprised to see Taker beat Bray in under 10 minutes, just to get him out of there without injuring himself and rebuild toward retirement at Cowboys Stadium.

Missed the first half hour. Steph burying Sting sounds bad, but I've liked every other segment thus far. Even booking Orton in a three-on-one match as his sought-after reward (?) almost makes sense from a kayfabe perspective: Orton's so badass that he actually likes those odds, so as to punt three birds with one stone. Brock's video, Snoop's joy, Simmons making the jobber ten-man into something, Rusev/Swagger/Cena, and the tag match all advanced stories, in that "set the bar low" kind of way. Paige-Nikki was solid, even with that finish. Thought Axelmania was the good kind of dumb: first time in ages that I've LOLed watching RAW.

I def. agree Lesnar-Reigns will be a solid match. In fact, I think it'll be the best surprise of the night. My optimistic hope is that something about this feels reminscent of Rock's ladder match with HHH in '98 that "made" him for the casual fan (though I'm of course not suggesting that Reigns is on the verge of Rock-level stardom). Or perhaps a better example is Cena-Umaga "Last Man Standing" at Rumble '07. Lesnar vs. almost anyone is a fresh, never-before-seen pairing, so if nothing else it has marquee novelty value. If it's even somewhat better than expected, it could validate Reigns in the eyes of detractors, for the same reasons that Cena's rep was enhanced by his Lesnar matches and other "Monster-of-the-Month" outings. I expect it to be booked as a Clash of the Titans slugfest with a lot of brawling outside the ring, and the refs taking a "let them fight" attitude. And as anarchist says, when you look back on the actual main events of Mania for the last 5-10 years, I expect this will end up a better, more fondly remembered match than a lot of them. If Sting-HHH goes on last, that's as bad an indictment of the company as anything in the last year. I don't even think Hunter's ego is inflated enough to book it, even given past hubris re: his placement on big cards.

Can we all agree that in the end, the true villain is Max Landis, Hollywood Rich Kid-turned-Smark in a Throne Drinking Stella Artois?

At 3 minutes, that Rusev video is great. So great that tomorrow night it'll be cut for time in favor of Heyman, HHH, Sting, Cena, Reigns, Orton, and Rollins each cutting 10 minute promos.

I just opened this thread for the first time and have a lot more to go through, but the first couple pages alone are revelatory and Puerto Rican wrestling is the new greatest thing ever. We need more Chicky Starrs and Billy Joe Travises in sports entertainment. Colon's portrait should be on the wall of every modern pro wres writers' room, to enforce the notion of booking to strengths and around limitations.

I actually like the production of the new TNA, if they can maintain the momentum of these England episodes. The whole show – despite its shoestring budget – looks more modern than WWE in some ways. RAW/SD's aesthetic is so stale that the last two weeks of TNA appeared avant-garde in comparison. Even their workers look more relevant, and I say in spite of whatever bizarre costumes the Knockouts are being put in. Galloway, EC3, Lashley, Roode, Spud, Robbie E, DJZ... these look like athletes living in the present day, while most WWE workers are a decade behind the times. In particular I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Zema Ion. I would not have expected to enjoy a dubstep gimmick this much, but the dude's figured it out. Carter/Spud was a hell of a match. Probably more memorable than the Rumble three-way, to be honest. EC3 is the loathsome rudo wrestling needs right now. It proves that you can produce superior TV with inferior wrestlers. Their roster completely sucks compared to WWE's (hell, compared to NXT's), yet they seem to be making something more watchable.

Bruno’s beef with Vince came almost 30 years into his run with the company. Bret’s issues came after 12 years, at the moment that his career was supposed to be winding down, which sounds a lot like where Cena's at right now. There’s obv. no WCW or steroid scandal here to cause a ruckus, but it’s not impossible that something would set Cena off. He’s a company man, but that was true of half the guys you listed, and there are some big questions - concussions, unionization, salaries in an “over the top” media landscape, the power struggle surrounding Vince - that Cena could have a role in over years to come. Do HHH and Cena get along well? If I had to guess, I’d say Cena ends up as a weird hybrid of Johnny Ace and what Bret was supposed to be with his 20 year contract. He’ll work there forever and have a valued backstage title. The degree of fame he garners after Trainwreck comes out will be the indicator of his future. He seems poised to get a Batista-sized career in Hollywood after this, if the buzz around his performance is genuine. But everyone says the guy loves wrestling and is a workaholic, so he may be content as the world’s biggest and best version of the Miz.

From a pure talent standpoint, is Fujinami the best worker in the HOF? The other strongest candidate being Lawler? Certainly the best since Steamboat ('09), Flair ('08), Bockwinkel ('07), or Eddy ('06), all of whom I'd put behind Fujinami? I love Savage too, but stardom and booking have as much to do with his status as his wrestling.

As I'm only a casual NJ viewer right now and don't know all of their booking ins and outs: what are these politics that are keeping Shibata from main events? Do people resent him for being out of the business for so long, or do they just not see him as a star on that level?

Watts is the best booker. Memphis had the most compelling episodic TV. Eighties NJ is the best sports presentation, with peak World of Sport as close second. The other UWF (Maeda/Fujiwara/Yamazaki/Funaki) had the best crowd reactions, and probably the best matches. AJW had an exceptional connection with fans, and is underrated as a great "total package" of work, style, and presentation. Great lucha is the most fun. My "perfect" promotion would be the aforementioned Dundee-booked era of Mid-South, with more guys brought in from Mexico and Japan. Bringing in a young Fuchi and Onita to work Dundee/Lawler and Eaton/Gilbert is pretty much the coolest stuff that ever happened: more things of that nature would elevate prime Mid-South/UWF to the zenith.

Having Bryan in this six-man is a bad idea, healthwise and in almost all other ways. Hopefully he's the first to win a ladder match by ground-and-pounding his opponents, tapping all five with increasingly harsh submissions, then slowly and calmly climbing a ladder like he's out to clean gutters.

That was actually a really good Reigns promo. Lots of confidence, made the match about whooping ass rather than the pussy-foot “prove my doubters wrong” theme they've been missing the mark on. He took a promo that had too much nerd verbiage and made it seem genuine and off-the-cuff. Short, effective, directed to Brock rather than the Penguin to his left. The “Dan-yul Bry-an” chants trying to drown him out honestly feel lame at this point. I like Bryan. It should be Bryan. But conflating Reigns with WWE's unwillingness to push Bryan (right now, on this one show, coming off a near-career ending injury) seems increasingly unfair.

First two hours of the show fly by when you keep in on mute while listening to Dylan on Shake Them Ropes. I did hear the Cena, Rusev, and Brock promos. Cena was very solid rah-rah-patriotism take, on par with his others this month. Rusev has good delivery, but he shouldn't be this polysyllabic, cutting long scripted promos, to deliver the same bad lines as anyone else. Brock was by far the best of the three. He is clearly better on the mic than Heyman right now. Short and sweet sells fights.

The build to the show has been unusually bad this year, but I went back to look at the cards for old Manias to compare 31 to recent years. I expect this show to be better than 27 (2011) and 28 (2012). Esp. in hindsight, those were bad shows built around HHH, over-the-hill Taker, Miz, and Cena trying to carry Rock to a good match twice (if you include 29). Your main event was a mediocre Cena-Rock match for essentially three years in a row. Those shows had Cole vs. Lawler, Bryan losing the world title in 18 seconds, the squandering of Punk and Del Rio, the phasing out of Jim Ross, Team Johnny vs. Team Teddy, and a women's division fronted by Maria Menounos. For as much as we all gripe, the booking and roster were worse as recently as three years ago.

This is like asking hardcore football fans if they plan to watch a bad Super Bowl. It's the one show per year that I can get a bunch of people to come over and watch, or watch together elsewhere. Fun even during bad Manias. Last year was the first in a while where my casual viewer friends liked the show, because they perceived Bryan beating HHH to be a big deal and liked that the same guy then won the title in the main event. I expect this year's show to be badly booked, and that everyone on the show will be working hard to overcompensate for lousy writing, exhausting themselves in the process. That ladder match is genuinely worrisome given who's involved.

Ah... there you go. #momentofzen Really good show, by the way!

For what it's worth, I'm listening right now to the October 2014 Good Will Wrestling podcast about "Fixing the WWE PPV schedule", and Bix/Will/Charles discuss this same idea at show's end, esp. the possibility that HHH may be using NXT not just as a means of proving himself, but as a contingency plan of sorts, full of guys who will be loyal to him down the road.

I thought the same. Best part of the segment. Told a story they haven't explored yet: his fam have historically been badasses. Also, AJ: still always skipping, to convey that her character's a bit mental.

How long was that promo? Five, ten minutes? I'd rather hear a twenty second "blood, urine, and vomit" line from Brock himself. Also: they know that to get over, Reigns has to say and/or do cool things, right? Which doesn't include getting beaten up by four guys for as long as it takes for Orton to turn face and start RKOing the other three dudes?

The company line is to "teach them how to work our style", but I'm not seeing Zayn throw 500 irish whips into his matches, so not sure if that ever held water. But if you're Baron Corbin, you're likely leaning harder on their blueprint than an indie star would.