KB8

That was a great little tv main event and probably the perfect way to put some heat on Nakamura at the end. His dedication to hammering AJ Styles in the balls is admiral and ruining fantasy matches should probably be his gimmick from here on out. And of course more of those interviews explaining why he’s doing it. Super fun couple hours of wrestling. First time I’ve watched RAW and Smackdown in the same week in about twelve years. Part of it is because I was up doing work anyway, but I may do the same next week for this draft.

This feels like a show that's mostly given fans exactly what they want, so I'm guessing Rusev gets to look strong here and pin Orton on his way to winning the US title at the PPV...

Well damn, how about that for a debut?

Imagine those mannerisms and in-ring gesticulations coupled with condescending interviews and promos about faux remorse because he no speak English. I'm sure down for that.

Is Nakamura the best promo in the company?

I'm guessing they bring up the AoP for this tag tournament...or would that be a call-up too much after Moon and Jose?

Alexa is a tremendous sociopath.

I don't actually believe they're doing that, btw. I think they've just booked him poorly and that's about it.

Unless WWE are trying to out-meta everyone. Maybe they think that by calling a late audible and keeping the belt on Lesnar because they promised Saudi Arabia a title change, the folks who hate Roman are now going to sympathise with him for being the victim of Vince's capricious booking. By booking him shambolically bad, they're actually booking him well!

I've found Cole's NXT run more than fine. He's someone I couldn't really be bothered with before, but I hadn't watched enough of him to be actively annoyed or...anything, really. I had no real opinion of him. He wasn't far off clean slate territory with me upon entering NXT, basically. EC3 was the same, and if we're going on first impressions I liked Cole way more in that extreme rules match with Black from Philly than EC3 in the ladder match from Saturday (though there's obviously a huge asterisk there as a multi-man car crash ladder match isn't necessarily the best way to introduce someone, or the best setting for someone to look good). I don't think he's GREAT in ring, but he has a sort of chickenshit quality to him that I can get behind. Maybe I'll change my mind once I watch him in a lengthy straight singles match, but as of now the Edge comparison feels a wee bit unfair even if I understand it (and can agree to an extent). I also feel like the Adam Cole Baybay catchphrase is pretty lame, but lame in that good way where he thinks he's the coolest motherfucker walking except people are laughing at him, not with him (or at least *I'm* laughing at him, not with him).

Yeah, I'm a sucker for a royal rumble match and it looks like they're really going for it top to bottom with this.

I watched this again just there. The miracle of all miracle matches. Going in I fully expected this to blow. I don't think any of us in the Wrestlemania thread were anticipating much beyond a car crash. Angle somehow moves slower than Undertaker and Undertaker moves slower than my 88 year old grandfather. HHH is less interesting to me than lots of uninteresting things. Rousey has looked awkward at best in the build up. Yet this match went from kinda nothing when it was Angle/Helmsley to way hotter than expected when Rousey got in to flat out awesome by the end. I was practically in slack-jawed disbelief at one point. When they did Rousey/Helmsley I fucking flipped my melon and when she put him in the armbar I was stripped to the waist. I thought he was actually going to tap for a second there. Steph was the best McMahon on this show by a million miles and I loved how she was basically a cheapshotting Jim Cornette for the most part. Did she look stronger against Rousey than she should've? Maybe. But she took the advantage by clawing Rousey's eyes and Rousey sold it great and her eye shadow was all over the place like Steph had maced her or something, so it's not like she bested her with wrestling proficiency. She certainly never looked as strong as most of us probably feared she would. I wouldn't have hated it if Rousey just ragdolled her silly, but I don't mind her showing a wee bit of vulnerability out the gate. Can't say enough good things about Rousey in this match and it felt like a true star making performance. I mean, she absolutely felt like the biggest deal on this card and she probably main events Summerslam and that is fucking wild. Match was probably laid out to the letter but I don't give a shit. Lay everything else out to the letter if it ends up being this enjoyable. I wasn't sure how it'd hold up on a rewatch, but it was somehow even better and it was already one of the most fun live wrestling experiences I've ever had. Amazing spectacle and genuinely one of my favourite matches in company history.

The Wrestlemania main event probably SHOULD'VE been a real life button mashing. They were just mashing the wrong buttons.

I loved that she only managed to gain an advantage in the first place by clawing Rousey's eyes. Plus Rousey sold it great and her eye shadow was all over the place like Steph had maced her or something. Fighting off the armbar might've been a bit too much, but I really wasn't bothered by it considering the comeuppance she got in the end was perfect. I'm still in shock at how good this was.

The first third had the IC and US title matches. Maybe those matches overperformed, but there is no chance that the first third was great. Was the US title match before the Rousey tag? I thought that came after (edit: you’re right, it was the tag titles after the Rousey match). I actually thought the IC title match was perfectly fine for a match type that’s pretty rubbish, and if nothing else the crowd was way into it.

Well, I absolutely did not expect Ronda Rousey to be my favourite wrestler on this show, nor did I expect her match to be my favourite, but I’ll be damned if that’s not what happened. The first third of this was great. It all kind of went downhill afterwards.

Crowd have basically shit all over this. They don’t like Roman and they know Brock is gone so they’re pretty much amusing themselves now.

Cesaro shit talking a ten year old is your true Wrestlemania Moment.

I was about to call it a night and then that man punched that other man in the balls and now I’m probably good for another hour.

Yeah, in general Im nowhere near SLB on most things, but were not even in the same stratosphere with this.

Yeah, I figured they’d basically work a ten minute bombfest and eschew any slow build, but I sure never saw a squash on the cards. His walk to the ring lasted longer than the match!

Honestly one of the most fun live wrestling experiences I’ve ever had. Never in a million years did I expect something so fun.

Ronda as fucking babyface Naoya Ogawa was the last thing I expected but I’ll be damned if she didn’t absolutely smash that out the park. I’m so buzzed after that match. One of best miracle matches ever?

I cannot fucking believe that match. In honest to god shock.

This is about fourteen million times better than I expected so far.