The Road to Wrestlemania

[rzombie1988]

So hypothetically that gives us:

 

WWE Title: The Rock© vs. John Cena

WHC: Alberto Del Rio© vs. Jack Swagger

No Holds Barred: Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H

The Undertaker vs. CM Punk

The Shield vs. Big Show, Randall Keith Orton & Sheamus

Tag Team Titles: Team Hell No© vs. Dolph Ziggler & Big Langston

IC title: Wade Barrett vs. The Miz

Fandango vs. Chris Jericho

8-Diva Tag Team match

Brodus Clay & Tensai vs. The Rhodes Scholars

Preshow match- US Title: Antonio Cesaro© vs. Kofi Kingston

 

SO 11 matches? This will be like Wrestlemania 5 with 100 4 minute matches, only without Randy Savage, Arn Anderson & Tully to make me care. But I still have hopes that Taker/Punk suprise the hell out of me. Also that Lesnar's raw athleticism provides some WrestleMania Moments™. And I know Cena & Rock have a classic match down deep inside of them, just wish we had Pat Patterson to map one out for them. The rest just looks like a 3 hour Raw. Not a special one with a Jim Duggan match either, just a normal "2 weeks out from the Over the Limit ppv" kind.

To be fair, everyone's perennial favorite, Wrestlemania 17 had 11 matches. That show had 4 matches under the 4 minute mark, counting the match from Heat. I'm not saying that this WrestleMania will be on that level, but I wouldn't discard it just by looking at the amount of matches.

 

I reviewed Wrestlemania 17 here:

 

Part 1 - http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/ww...ven-review.html

Part 2 - http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/wr...ven-review.html

 

(Please give the links a minute or so to load. There are tons of pictures and gif's.)

 

This is legit one of my Top 5 shows of all time. It had two matches that I rated 5-stars and the card was awesome from top to bottom. This is definitely my favorite Wrestlemania and one that will probably never be topped.

 

Some shots from the show:

[RWOOD]

Rock was on Leno Thursday and made no mention of the fact that he is the current WWE Champion, had a defense last month, or will be defending against John Cena in two weeks at Wrestlemania. So... what is the point of the Rock again? How on earth does that qualify as cross promotion aside from the fact Jay called him Rock a few times?

 

On a side note, Chris Masters' heroics headlined his monolouge.

[flyonthewall2983]

Rock was on Leno Thursday and made no mention of the fact that he is the current WWE Champion, had a defense last month, or will be defending against John Cena in two weeks at Wrestlemania. So... what is the point of the Rock again? How on earth does that qualify as cross promotion aside from the fact Jay called him Rock a few times?

Russo would have called this appearance a success for WWE.

[WingedEagle]

Rock was on Leno Thursday and made no mention of the fact that he is the current WWE Champion, had a defense last month, or will be defending against John Cena in two weeks at Wrestlemania. So... what is the point of the Rock again? How on earth does that qualify as cross promotion aside from the fact Jay called him Rock a few times?

 

On a side note, Chris Masters' heroics headlined his monolouge.

I imagine the appearance as booked by the movie people who thus can likely dictate what topics will be covered on his appearance. Don't think Rock has much say in that.

[Guest Andrews]

Rock was on Leno Thursday and made no mention of the fact that he is the current WWE Champion, had a defense last month, or will be defending against John Cena in two weeks at Wrestlemania. So... what is the point of the Rock again? How on earth does that qualify as cross promotion aside from the fact Jay called him Rock a few times?

 

On a side note, Chris Masters' heroics headlined his monolouge.

I imagine the appearance as booked by the movie people who thus can likely dictate what topics will be covered on his appearance. Don't think Rock has much say in that.

 

That's what Meltz reported...

 

Anyway,Wrestlemania 17 was the greatest card ever in my opinion, and I doubt it will ever be beaten.

[ZThomas]

John Cena✔ @JohnCena

 

 

 

 

Dear Mr. @S_C_ kindly asking permission to come to NY/NJ on 4/7/13 to handle some bizz with @TheRock #redemption#RTime=NOW

 

10:52 PM - 22 Mar 13

 

 

I wonder if he talked to before posting that or will he get shown up by him again

 

 

 

If he does get him to show up I'll be a Cena mark fo' life

[rzombie1988]

I've been in the mood to watch old Wrestlemania's and reviewed Wrestlemania 2000 in 3 parts here:

 

Part 1 - http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/ww...000-review.html

Part 2 - http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/ww...-review_31.html

Part 3 - http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/ww...eview_9129.html

 

Overall thoughts: The show was good overall as a whole but the main event and the hardcore battle royal stunk. The main event was a McMahon family masturbatory celebration and had tons of gaps in logic. The 3-way ladder match was by far the best thing on the show and the 3-way IC/European titles match was good too.

 

Some shots from the show:

[Ricky Jackson]

If there is zero chance of him turning heel on Sunday, that was a HORRIBLE promo by Cena.

[Slasher]

If there is zero chance of him turning heel on Sunday, that was a HORRIBLE promo by Cena.

Think it was designed to get the fans who weren't too interested in Rematchamania to order the show for the hope they get to see the long awaited potential heel turn.

[Johnny Sorrow]

I loved all the build-ups they did on RAW tonight, except for Cena. I LOVED The Rock's promo, though. But I realized that the only match I really don't care much about is Cena/ Rock. Well, after Rock's promo I now really want to see Rock win, but still. I actually think the match is gonna deliver, but I'm just not feeling an emotional attachment to it. I'm more invested in Tons Of Funk and the Funkadactyls vs. Rhodes Scholars and the Bellas.

 

And I thought I was only gonna like Fandango because I love some goofy shit now and then, but now I legit love the guy.

[WingedEagle]

I was a big fan of the show as well well with Rock's promo the only key segment that left me underwhelmed. Call me crazy but between Heyman's makeup, Punk's antics and UT taking a beating I was completely sold on the close and finally looking forward to that match.

 

Thought HHH/Brock could've used a face to face or a more physical visual if not interaction but if I'm able to watch HBK skip to the ring with his air pistols and some pyro on Sunday I'll take this nonsense.

[goc]

I wish they were getting behind Cesaro as much as they seem to be behind Fandango, but I really like Fandango so far so I'm gonna hope he and Jericho steal the show. I really think this is a Mania card where an undercard match given any decent amount of time has the chance to steal the show, at least from a pure "work rate" standard.

[BruiserBrody]

Shawn dressed like Zeb...

 

Cena's promo was annoying as usual. "Against the odds!" is just so stale - especially since he always wins. At least Hogan was Superman while playing Superman - Cena is Superman cutting Rocky Balboa promos.

 

I wonder if Lawler found it hard to try and act like Dutch Mantel was some untrained slub. He even has WWE matches under his belt.

 

I don't get what Shawn in HHH's corner is suppose to add. Lesnar shouldn't be out manned as the heel. I'm hoping this means HHH loses and Shawn is there to give him the big hug and then HHH can put him on his shoulder as he marches into retirement while all the fans cry at seeing the longest running couple in WWE history have finally get to be together away from the stresses of the ring.

 

Santino's facial when Henry's music hit was fantastic.

 

Seeing Jericho vs Cesaro made me wish that was the WM match - with Jericho going for the belt and putting over the next big mid carder. :/

 

I love that for the 2nd time now Fandango got a "You can't wrestle" chant and silenced it with a hop to the top rope.

 

Has Da Meltz said anything about what Plan A was for Punk vs Taker, had Bearer not died and given them the urn stealing angle?

 

 

[rvd356]

some tasteless angles to lead up to mania this year. I for one think using the dead for angles is trashy but hey no one is bigger than the E right

[Guest Nell Santucci]

Has Da Meltz said anything about what Plan A was for Punk vs Taker, had Bearer not died and given them the urn stealing angle?

Meltzer said that he thinks there was no Plan A since by the way it looked on TV, they literally wrote it at the last minute and that when the last minute came, Bearer had already died.

[Superstar Sleeze]

After Cena's tremendous performance against Punk this past February, they had me transformed into a huge Cena fan. I was already to cheer Cena onto victory against The Rock and they dissipated all the goodwill they built up with me with these atrocious promos. I kept waiting for these promos to turn the corner and they never did. When The Rock absolutely decimated Cena in the debate when he said The Rock has never failed. I cringed because I knew The Rock was going to crush that meatball. I don't understand the booking for these past couple weeks because everything post-Punk match has failed to impress. Cena wins, but this is the toughest of the three to predict.

 

I acknowledge that Punk/Taker angle is incredibly tasteless, but it is at least refreshing that the Undertaker feud of the year actually has some hatred in it as opposed to the Lovefests against the Kliq we have been treated to the past 4 years. I have also like they have gone with a more physical build. Undertaker wins in the easiest of the three to predict.

 

I may be alone on this board, but I am looking forward to the HHH/Brock. I wish it was an "I Quit" match instead of No Holds Barred, which we basically got last Summerslam. I thought the HHH/Brock match from Summerslam was one of the best of last year and am still perplexed at the amount of hatred it received on the internet. I am going to post my review of the match in the subsequent post.

 

Personally, I think Sheamus is the best worker in the WWE right now and The Shield is one of my favorite acts (though they have cooled down since February) so I am really hoping this gets a decent chunk of time on Sunday. What irks me is that Ryback is not in this match. Ryback has been The Shield's number one target and the guy most fucked over by The Shield. So now at the big blowoff he won't even be present is such fuckin dumb booking. 80s Vince would have never let that happen.

 

The silver lining is that we get Ryback/Mark Henry. My brother is a bigger mark for Ryback, but I like the big lug. He sells more than a Goldberg or a Warrior would. His match against the 3MB this past week was my Match of the Night and one of the better squashes recently. I dont think I need to explain that Mark Henry is all kind of awesome and that he splits wigs for a living.

 

I dont get who thought the Fandango character was a good idea. It seems like the WWE is once again cashing in too late on a pop culture fad. I like how Jericho has upped his physicality in his matches. Those are some vicious chops he is laying in. I am looking forward to this match.

 

Del Rio is a guy I want to like so bad, but bores me to tears. Swagger is an athletic beast and I know he can be so good in the ring, but he cant buy a good angle.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Brock Lesnar w/Paul Heyman vs Triple H

Summerslam 2012 Los Angeles, CA

 

 

My brother and I were on the fence about ordering Summerslam for the third time in four years. Given Lesnar’s unique performance earlier in the year against Cena, we decided in favor of ordering plus there was a match between family favorites Dolph Ziggler and Chris Jericho we wanted to see. Unfortunately, that match for a myriad of reasons did not live up to expectation. However for the main event, my family was left very satisfied with the performances of both men. The internet was not so kind to the match deemed “slow, disjointed”, “an uneven effort”, “booked too even”, “too formulaic, Brock dominated then hit the finish” and “that Brock looked too much like an ordiniary wrestler and HHH did not bump well for him”. Was this bout the Match of the Year? No, but I think it was in the top handful of matches from WWE this year. As you can see from some of the purported criticisms, the critics are even fighting amongst themselves with what’s wrong with the match.

 

 

The story going into this match was that Brock Lesnar had broken HHH’s arm and quit the WWE over not meeting his contractual obligations. Paul Heyman acted as Brock’s agent and did a serviceable job (at times, very good, his post-Summerslam promo was his best yet in this role) as his mouthpiece. After some goading and lackluster booking, the match between the WWE, legendary, rugged stalwart (HHH) and the bully invader (Brock) was booked. For extra heat, Brock broke Shawn Michaels’ arm sending HHH into a tizzy. Helmsley stressed to the official that under no circumstances was he to stop match for anything other than a pinfall or submission because he wanted a true finish to this match. Thus making the match a de facto no disqualification match.

 

 

Brock Lesnar hits the ring in his MMA gear (read: Jimmy John’s advertisements adorn his MMA shorts and mouth-guard) with Paul Heyman. Triple H enters with his normal ring entrance. Upon the completion of the super special ring introductions, Brock charges at Triple H and double-legs him into the corner. Brock maintains control in the corner with strikes. HHH briefly displays a flash of wrestling acumen by executing a back heel trip, but Brock escapes that easily. Brock targets the arm with his dreaded Kimura (this is the hold that broke HHH’s and Shawn Michael’s arm) and there is the impressive visual display of Brock applying the Kimura and a standing body-scissors on Triple H while Triple H holds onto the ropes. Normally this would necessitate a rope break, but without the power of disqualifying Lesnar, the referee is powerless to force Brock to break the hold. What follows is the short babyface shine segment with Triple H being able to knock Brock out of the ring twice. All this serves to do is piss Brock off, this is visually symbolized by Brock taking his gloves off. After another double-leg takedown, Brock lands vicious shot to the back of Hunter’s head. The announcers do a good job putting over that would be illegal in the UFC, making it seem extra dastardly. This serves as the transition to the heat segment. Brock dominates Triple H with a hammerlock slam on the announce table, which continues the arm psychology. Brock heads back into the ring for some taunting (as any good bully would) meanwhile this illustrates the no-countout stipulation. The verbal selling of HHH during this portion is well-done with Brock working over the arm. There is a smattering of desperation spots. Normally, I would term them hope spots, but the viewer has very little hope that HHH is going to overcome the Beast. Rather these spots seem like a man lashing out in pure self-preservation rather than attempting to win a competitive bout. Brock sends HHH into the steps and Triple H does not bump as hard as he could have. In another impressive visual display, Brock tips the announce table on its side; mounts it; delivers a superman punch. Then weirdly Lesnar goes for an inside cradle pin, which Triple H kicks out before 1. This leads to the first and only rope-running spot of the match, which sees Lesnar deliver one helluva lariat to HHH. However, Triple H is able to block a vertical suplex attempt into his own. He attempts a Pedigree, but his arm is too injured and Brock is able to send him crashing to the floor as HHH takes his normal corner bump, without the usual vigor.

 

This is the hook of the entire match: in an act of utter self-preservation and total fortune, Triple H uses a leverage move to send Brock crashing abdomen first into the edge of the announce table. Immediately, Brock is double over in pain and selling so well that he snookered my dad into thinking he was legit hurt. The selling was truly fantastic with Heyman putting it over with his concern “Are you hurt?”. His tone was perfect. Brock spits up and there goes the mouthguard. HHH capitalizes on this stroke of good luck by attacking the abdomen with unrelenting fury, punches first then the vaunted HHH knee. For those that do not know, Brock Lesnar legitimately had a disease known as diverticulitis that caused huge portions of his intestines to be removed. This is the driving force for his retirement from UFC. It was a great bit of storytelling that hooked my entire family into the match. While Triple H was ravaging Brock with knees to his gut, Heyman was screaming “Stop doing that” and again his tone was so spot-on. We head to the finish after HHH hits the spinebuster. A couple of finish reversals before Brock kicks out of the first Pedigree. Brock then hits a wicked low-blow and follows that up with the F-5, which only gets two. So Brock goes back to his bread and butter: the Kimura and HHH makes the ropes, but there are no rope breaks. However, Triple H is able to escape due to punches to the mid-section (abdomen psychology). HHH hits another Pedigree, but when Triple H was trying to turn him over for the pin, Brock in a flash caught him in the Kimura. Then proceeded to break his arm and HHH was forced HHH to tap out.

 

 

Almost no wasted motion throughout the fight and a well-thought story made this seemingly an easy thumbs up from me. I am a sucker for Monster Heel takes on Franchise Babyface (see Vader/Sting). I think Brock did a good job emulating Vader especially in the corner. He was just absolutely relentless on the arm and going for the Kimura. I did not care one iota about the lack of variety in his offense. It was logical for him to keep vicious and arm-focused. He broke it once before, why deviate from that. The pacing was a bit on the methodical side, but it was never intended to be a sprint. It always had my attention and never felt like it dragged. I do not see the disjointed argument at all. The match layout was very typical:

 

Heel domination -> Babyface Shine -> Heat segment with hope spots -> Hope Spot finally connects -> Babyface comeback -> Finish.

 

The blow to the head transitioned to heat segment and the leverage move that “discovers” Brock’s weakness transitioned to the comeback. The transitions were accomplished and logical thus negating the "disjointed" arguement. Cena was able to defeat Lesnar because of a fluke chain shot. The idea was to put over that Cena was able to survive the onslaught. This match was built on that premise of HHH discovering a weakness to the monster he could exploit, but it was too little too late for our hero. This type of inter-match storytelling almost never happens in the WWE and I was eating it up. The dueling arm/abdomen psychology was bordering on brilliant for WWE’s typical ring work.

 

Did I mention how incredible Lesnar’s selling was? He is not known for his selling, but he put over the abdomen injury so well. I thought Triple H started off selling very well for Lesnar, but then almost seemed to get a bit lazy. Sure he did the bare minimum and not move his left arm, but where were the grimaces and the verbal selling. Also, this may be due to HHH's old age, but he was not throwing himself into bumps as well as he normally does. I think the Cena/Lesnar match is way better, but this match is still very good.

 

I have no idea how Lesnar came off as ordinary. He used a bunch of amateur/MMA moves and worked over a body part that almost never happens in WWE. In addition, they ran the ropes exactly once and used Irish Whips threes times. This match along with Cena match is the closest WWE has gotten to shoot-style ever. This felt like nothing else I get to see on a regular basis.

 

In conclusion, I felt like I got my money’s worth for being able to see this on HD TV live. It was a tremendous match that I enjoyed greatly with my family. I think you can improve HHH’s bumping and selling, but he is limited by age on one of those fronts. Also, while I loved the flash submission victory. I thought the finishing sequence was a bit tame with the usual finisher reversals. A grander false finish could have been employed to get the crowd more involved, which admittedly seemed dead during the majority of the match. The high points were definitely Brock’s offense, his selling and the match layout. On the very same card, Jericho had taped ribs and Ziggler did nothing but a token attack of the ribs. I would love to see more body part psychology in WWE, but for now I will just take Brock being an utter beast and having two MOTYC’s to his name having wrestled only two matches on the year.

[rzombie1988]

I totally agree about how dumb its that Ryback isn't in The Shield match. I mentioned it a while ago and didn't approve of it, especially since Ryback/Henry isn't going to be good.

[NintendoLogic]

I suspect that if Paul Bearer hadn't died, we would have heard some variant of "This is Phil Brooks talking to Mark Calaway" at some point.

[Cox]

I totally agree about how dumb its that Ryback isn't in The Shield match. I mentioned it a while ago and didn't approve of it, especially since Ryback/Henry isn't going to be good.

On the contrary, Henry/Ryback is one of the few matches I'm actually looking forward to on Saturday.

[S.L.L.]

I totally agree about how dumb its that Ryback isn't in The Shield match. I mentioned it a while ago and didn't approve of it, especially since Ryback/Henry isn't going to be good.

On the contrary, Henry/Ryback is one of the few matches I'm actually looking forward to on Saturday.

 

Henry/Ryback may be the only match I'm looking forward to this Sunday. Most of the rest of the card seems designed specifically to piss me off.

[Log]

I have this weird feeling that Jericho/Fandango could turn out to be good.

 

I haven't been high on Jericho in a while, but something intrigues me about this match. Maybe it's because I haven't seen Fandango wrestle yet.

[El-P]

Jeez, I have zero curiosity about WM this year. Two years ago I was interested in watching Rock come back. Last year I was interested in watching Rock wrestle. But this year, with all I heard about the build ups of the main feuds, including that godawful Taker vs CM Punk shit based around Paul Bearer legit dying, I have zero interest in the show. I know it will be the biggest WM of all time yaddi yaddi yadda, but I will have to force myself to throw an eye at it, while usually I'm at least intrigued about watching my yearly WWE megashow. Sad state of affair for me.

[flyonthewall2983]

I found out today Comcast is charging 75 dollars for the PPV (in HD, standard is 5 dollars less). Is this the same rate for the other cable companies?

[Guest aceman]

Jeez, I have zero curiosity about WM this year. Two years ago I was interested in watching Rock come back. Last year I was interested in watching Rock wrestle. But this year, with all I heard about the build ups of the main feuds, including that godawful Taker vs CM Punk shit based around Paul Bearer legit dying, I have zero interest in the show. I know it will be the biggest WM of all time yaddi yaddi yadda, but I will have to force myself to batch an eye at it, while usually I'm at least intrigued about watching my yearly WWE megashow. Sad state of affair for me.

What does batch an eye mean