PhilTLL

Idle thought from the previous match: everyone should have a second during these empty arena shows, just for the noise. They all have to carry white towels. The involuntary losses could build feuds!

It depends how cringe-inducing it is. Trash talk that you can't really make out is always good, but bad dialog is just bad dialog.

A solidly done, meat and potatoes Flair match. Unfortunately, those thrive on crowd reaction. Still very good work, the 3rd-best match of the 2 nights so far IMO. (This was about 3.75*, last night was Boneyard 4.5, Bryan/Zayn 3.75, and Becky/Shayna 3, for reference. With a crowd, this is 4+.)

The work here is very good; I loved the knee on top rope transition. The talking was a segment of "Really?!"with Seth and Amy for the first 5 minutes. It's better now that they're into the heat where Rhea can sell and Charlotte would usually start talking in a normal match. Rhea's selling is very good especially by 2020 standards.

I'd bet real money this leads to Taker working one of these at Mania again.

Best Taker match since Arizona, obviously.

There's even a tractor.

Undertaker's grunt selling sounds like Principal McVicker from Beavis and Butthead.

Massive audio synch issues! I assume everyone is seeing that. What an embarrassment. Okay, I rewound and it corrected.

And speaking of why not, why not just have Taker do a total shit-talking ass-kicking for this? It would keep the fans home happy.

My stream cut out, but I'm told there actually was a Goldberg introduction, and I look like an idiot. Alas. I've been waiting for a full-blown, arena-free production number like this since these empty shows started. Why not?

> 37 is for the new LA football stadium, right? Yes, it is. I don't know why I didn't just look it up.

Not doing the Goldberg entrance with 1 security guard who stays 10 feet away from him is a huge missed opportunity.

"How's this for a WrestleMania moment, huh?" Stupid and contrived, thanks!

If they can say shit and bitch, then surely Owens can bleed a little off a bell shot. Come on.

Let's play catch up! Oh boy, it's Sincere Stephanie. "Hard times!" When ya whole family got the covid and your government gives you a little tiny check sixteen weeks late, that's hard times! Instead of replaying Americas the Beautiful from Manias past, they should have just had somebody in the building sing it. Also, the ones in the medley keep switching keys, which is awkward. Don "In A World" LaFontaine died in 2008, and this intro is dying on my TV right now. I bet they'll show the entire thing again tomorrow night. Skip! It's Gronk Mania! I looked at this and said NOPE! Bliss Cross vs Kabuki Warriors. Kairi wearing the belt as a true accessory is fun. Nikki's strikes aren't. Hey, a really obvious commentary dub! I wonder what it was. (After the 2nd time Cole calls a sitting dropkick a "basement" dropkick.) The shine was a mess here, the heat was okay mostly thanks to Asuka, but Nikki should berate Michael Cole for sarcastic-selling her hulk up. Obvious edit during the Kairi Macho Man elbow!! The finishing sequence was a mess. I assume the Twisted Bliss is supposed to hit the torso. One match down, and I would not be totally offended by some fake crowd noise here. This is drier than saltines. A promo and two commercials! King Corbin vs Elias. Oh dear. Hey Corbin, a countout is a countout, not a forfeit. There's no way I'm finishing this. Rollup and a handful of tights for Elias! Becky Lynch vs Shayna Baszler. "Shit" and "bitch" feel as out of place in 2020 WWE as "fuck" did on Star Trek Picard. Not unrealistic, just out of place. Shayna is boring as shit in front of a crowd, so we'll see. Making a big deal out of Shayna's "wheelbarrow slam" move is smart. Becky's "moment of doubt" face is a blank. Whatever the name of Shayna's clutch is, it needs to be said less on commentary. There's that wheelbarrow slam! Nice finish for a rematch; too bad about the impending hiatus. This was fine, but it should have ended in a crazy Shayna beatdown. Commercials! Daniel Bryan vs Sami Zayn. Bryan is the most popular guy among this crowd of 2. The Superdome is actually on Poydras Street, not Bourbon Street. The no-contact period to start is gorgeous. No surprise that these two would think of a way to work the crowd-at-home. This is also the only match so far which understands the value of shit talking in this dismal atmosphere. Sami repeating "Giant mistake!" only makes me think of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. ... And just like that this match is over. That's a shame. Sami retains the Art Deco IC belt. Commercials! Kofi Kingston vs Jimmy Uso vs John Morrison in a tag team title ladder match. Hey, Morrison still has his old Faux Hendrix music. Please dear God don't let this be a typical ladder match, because taking those bumps for no one is twice as dumb. I am just shocked to see a tumbling sequence to start. This match feels the most like "watching practice" so far. Long and boring even though I skipped half. Good on them for not killing themselves. Hey, I'm live! Oh fuck, it's Kevin Owens vs Seth Rollins.

Boredom and curiosity will probably make this one of the most-viewed Manias of all time, which is another reason Vince wouldn't give up the ghost. People are starving for anything right now.

Jim Cornette did a great look back and watch-along of this match recently. The DVDVR Memphis set version has the full intros and an extra bit of action that Jim's YouTube-sourced version doesn't, so if you're using that one, pause on the first lockup and you'll be at the watch-along's start point. (You could also just find whatever YouTube he's watching.)

Is there a Mania payday when there's no gate?

I was just listening to a Cornette clip where he talks about ICW painting fans on the wall for TV. Around 10:50.

I have more wrestling distractions than I'll ever watch on endless terabytes of disk space. Cancel all these shows ASAP.

https://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/28900441/wrestlemania-36-jeopardy-hillsborough-county-says-pull-plug The status of WrestleMania 36 appears to be on the ropes after Hillsborough County commissioner Les Miller said he "probably" will have to cancel the event if WWE doesn't make the decision itself because of the coronavirus pandemic. The event, scheduled for April 5 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, is expected to attract a crowd of more than 70,000 people. "I'm hoping that Vince McMahon and WrestleMania and WWE make the call themselves, but a week from now, if they've not done that and we're still in the situation we're in, we'll probably have to pull the plug on that," Miller said Thursday, according to Fox 13.

Yep. "Currently, the XFL will not be playing its regular-season games. However, all players will be paid their base pay and benefits for the 2020 regular season. All XFL ticket holders will be issued refunds or credit toward future games. The XFL is committed to playing a full season in 2021 and future years." https://www.xfl.com/en-US/articles/xfl-statement

It's about the entire weekend. Since Mania became a magnet for satellite shows and the most rabid of those fans started dominating the seats most visible on camera, the heat dies halfway through Mania, because those fans have seen 37 hours of wrestling in 3 days. And half of them are also jet-lagged.

Like I said, old fashioned heat.