Matt D

Nov 5, 1977 Buddy Rose vs Sam Bass 2/3 Falls This is pretty awesome. First fall is Bass just dissecting Buddy's arm. They had a match the week before so this is hateful but not in a brawling sort of a way. It's more to show Bass' superiority and to keep Rose from running away. Just a brutal mauling of the arm til he gets the first fall. Second fall is Buddy running while selling. Cheapshotting while selling. And then starting to work over the back. He's really good at that and it sets up the Billy Robinson Backbreaker for a completely believable second fall despite the first fall's mauling. Third fall is Buddy getting busted open and stumbling around on the outside while scratching his head dazed. It's actually really great and ends with special ref Dutch Savage tossing him in repeatedly til Ed comes out and nails Savage leading not just to a DQ but more importantly letting Dutch offer Bass his newly created cyclone fence cage. Great storytelling to set up the blowoff cage match. Really great Wiskowski promo postmatch complaining about the cage.

Who cares? This is a godsend. Rock doing the "Thank you" 20 minute goodbye speech would have been the worst.

rovert.

Someone compare and contrast WMVII with this Mania.

Also, and I said this earlier. To me, it didn't look like Taker ate the G2S. it looked like Punk couldn't hit it right and Taker either blocked it or took it on the chest/stomach. Then bounced off the ropes. It was visually distinct and significant and that's why it didn't hurt the match for me. I've seen the spot 3-4 times now and I still take that away from it.

The problem this year is that it didn't feel like that much of a spectacle either. A couple of entrances (way down from usual), UT/Punk, and the crowd reaction to Daniel Bryan post match.

Your computer sides with me. Just call it "Shaska"

To be fair I did miss the opener, but that show was dreadful. I mean, it might have been fine for something else, but it was a terrible Mania. A few fun six minute sprints. Rock vs Cena felt like weird performance art to me, not a wrestling match. I don't see how that was even close to good. It was like the last five minutes of a normal WWE main event match but for 25 minutes. I didn't find Escalating Reversals to be a particularly sound narrative. As for the rest, I like the entrances. I like the backstage BS where Mean Gene shows up in some goofy situation. I like guys getting to talk backstage at Mania to prep for a match over really well produced video packages. It makes things feel special. We see video packages all the time. I like the spectacle of it and I didn't get any of that here. And of what I got instead, none of it felt particularly worth it. Even then, if this thing existed in a vacuum it'd be okay. But the idea that they're going to continue from it tomorrow? With a bunch of rematches and a few shifts here or there due to the part timers? Ouch Edit: To also be fair, part of the problem wasn't the show but the card. Someone just asked me what single result I'd change in order to improve things, and with the way they laid it out and built it up, there's not a hell of a lot to be done there. That said, the show only partially helped and in some ways very much hurt.

Can we close this note before Johnny gets home from the bar or whatever? Let's all just move on before he ruins our night more?

You know those assholes who get pissy when things happen logically and they're not swerved? I think I'm with them this once, because logic was pretty damn painful tonight.

Cena's confused look was stretch armstrong levels of grotesque.

This match is like a video game match with the reversals without substance. Also, it feels awfully early for them to be doing some of this stuff.

Poor Tensai.

Heyman's great on the outside. Michaels is more like Kelly Kelly wearing a hat.

It's the Blow Away Diet.

Heyman managing the heels in the #2 and #3 matches is kind of cool. It's like Heenan having Rude and Andre at Wrestlemania V kind of. Best thing about Brock is his awesomely mangled ears.

I'm also generally okay with the lack of arm selling by Taker because it was a containment segment, mainly. This felt a little more like an Edge vs Taker match to me than HHH or HBK vs Taker but when they were doing the forearms on their knees, it felt like Punk did belong in there with him so that was good I guess. The throat-cut was pretty ridiculous though.

The front row fans really made that urn shot near fall. I'm okay with the g2s into tombstone shot since he obviously got him way low. I didn't catch if they made that clear or not.

Heyman's expressions are awesome.

Given the way Dutch wrote about his first Mania, I am so glad he got to have another, and in a featured role too. He was great here, especially that look of horrified frustration when Swagger lost. There was a huge whip on that final Cross Arm Breaker. I wouldn't have minded the abruptness of the finish on another PPV but it was a little weird here.

I bet they could have gotten Confederate Railroad for a lot less money. whatever the fuck that is.

it's fun to see Jericho kicking out the babyface offense. I thought the beginning was real rough. That bugged me more than the finish. They just didn't seem to be syncing early on. They're definitely getting the most out of their match times on this show.

Big E's offense segment on Kane looked great. Loved the crowd post match.

I actually kind of love how bloodless this is, because there's really no reason for it to have blood. The cage is used as a prop and a means to do some more stuff on the top rope.

This may be the single match i saw the most times as a kid. No lie. The only tape I owned was a taped off the TV version of GAB which cut off halfway through Sting vs Nikita.