goc Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 They were great because if immediately after the last match you were kind of unsure whether or not you felt that was a good show, the highlight video was usually so good you'd end up thinking the show was really better than it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchistxx Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 The biggest gripe with the streak ending was how Brock Lesnar has been booked over the last few years. Seems a bit shortsighted to have him lose to HHH in a garbage match, take his aura away, and then have him end the streak. Still, Undertaker likely had nothing to do with that, and you suspect as an MMA mark he would rather lose to a real life tough guy like Lesnar. And given their recent track record he likely doesn't have any confidence in WWE giving a sustained, well written push to a new guy if he lost to them - imagine if he had given the streak to Alberto del Rio or Sheamus or even Batista when they were the hot new things? Hoping to hell they don't run a Sheamus/Del Rio feud in the coming weeks, can't think of two guys I would less like to see. Extreme Rules could be shaping up pretty nicely: Daniel Bryan vs Brock Lesnar The Shield vs Evolution Cesaro vs Jack Swagger Bray Wyatt vs John Cena Would like them to see something with Dolph Ziggler as well. I'm not his biggest fan and his name is absolutely awful (they surely regret that now), but he is really over and always works hard and deserves to be in a solid position on the card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 Looks like they may do Cesaro vs Swagger on TV just to get away from it quickly, so they can move Cesaro into something bigger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 So. I enjoyed the first hour immensely. Awesome opener, the best ever probably, with Hogan, then Austin then The Rock in the ring at the same time. Hogan Silverdome blopper made it even better, and Hogan selling it along Steve & Rocky was funny as hell. The three biggest name ever. Then HHH vs Daniel Bryan. Damn, this must be one of Trip's best match ever. And Stephy did her best Woman impersonnation. Didn't get bloated, didn't do any dull brawling either. Great ridiculous entrance by HHH. Great post-match too. Damn, I was fired up. And then… well… Modern WWE reminded me that I can't get too excited. The Shield match was a squash, so it was decent bu still, kinda useless on a WM card to me, especially when there was so few matches on the card to begin with. Although Cesaro winning the way he did was excellent, the battle royal in itself was a waste of time. Bray Wyatt vs John Cena. The Wyatt's entrance was great. From there it was all downhill. Terrible "acting" match at the beginning. Cena getting enraged was embarrassing to watch, and Bray Wyatt is just way too manufactured to be believable. Then it turned into a vaunted overlong WWF semf-conscious epic with counters and kicking out of finishers galore. Yawn. Taker vs Lesnar. Great entrance by Taker, better than last year. But damn, the match was just nothing forever then kicked in into kicking ot of finisher's galore and. WTF ? Really ? Taker losing his streak to Lesnar who's been turned into just another guy the previous year, after a totally underwhelming build and a snoozefest of a match ? I was bored with the streak anyway but this is just a ridiculous decision. The reaction of the crowd was priceless though, but you can feel the total downer it was. Heyman's selling of the victory was one for the ages though. So, next year is the last match for Taker I guess. Looks like the tank is empty. I fast forwarded during the Divas match, let's be serious. Orton vs Batista vs Bryan. Thankfully it turned into somewhat of a fun Attitude Era like dog and pony show, because Orton vs Batista was a dead match. The match really picked up thanks to HHH and Stephy, coming through the crowd no less which was a nice touch. I can't believe I'm saying that, but apart from Bryan who was the obvious star, this card was saved by Paul & Stephy doing exactly what they needed to do. Cool post-match (who was the woman with the little girl ? they weren't acknowledge on commentary). So yeah. No RVD (couldn't care less), no Sting (which would have been a big moment if done right). A terrible end to the streak. Really, this show was all about Daniel Bryan supported by HHH and Stephanie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 Oh hell, Randy was not supposed to land on that monitor. Yep. I cringed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 I don't even understand how that happens. They took forever clearing off the tables so how was the monitor even there for that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyonthewall2983 Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 I think that was Bryan's sister and his niece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 I think that was Bryan's sister and his niece. That's what I thought too. Now, despite the underwhelming card as a whole, there was indeed the feeling of a change of the guard with guys like Cesaro, the Shield, Bryan being put over huge, Taker losing, HHH losing and getting some more in the main event (kudos to Steph for bumping in high heels on the outside, dangerous for the ankles), NOA & Kane getting squashed. It seems like they won't ever dare to do anything different with Cena, and he's getting old, banged up and boring, and I'm not buying the Wyatts, but still, with the whole Network launch and the business model probably evolving big time, these are very interesting times indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 Cena would have lost if Undertaker was keeping the streak intact. There's no doubt in my mind on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 Probably, he's a trooper. But they need to refresh his character. This Wyatt feud is not the way to go. He's the same old same old Cena. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(BP) Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 Hunter's entrance killed me. He needs to be sitting on that throne in all of his backstage segments from now on. His warmup jacket from the end was great too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steenalized Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 Triple H's dad jacket is a great switch from how he opened the show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 I thought he had that jacket on because he had a ref shirt under it at first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 I guess I'm one of the few who didn't think Cena was losing under any circumstances. Building up monsters to feed to the ace has been the WWE business model for the past 50 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 One small detail, I was very surprised to see French announcers back at ringside. This hasn't been the case since Raymond Rougeau left, and although WWE programming are all over the TV in France, the product isn't nearly as hot as it was a few years ago during the peak of Cena's reign of terror (when you could see kids with Cena merch regularly, even my nephews got into it at that point before forgetting about it). And as far as I know, since Pat Patterson is gone, there is no French connection backstage either. So I wonder why they are being brought back at ringside. Are they still strong in Quebec ? (well, you can point out that the next boss of the WWE is named Paul Levesque, of course… I wonder if he has any French ties at this point though). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 I think they always bring out the French announce team for WrestleMania, but Mania only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 Really ? Damn, it didn't strike me the last few years if that was the case then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(BP) Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 Rewatching Brock/Taker, and it's not bad at all. They're both working their asses off, and Heyman is fantastic. The crowd just wasn't buying it, which made the finish even better. The commentary team is actually foreshadowing the loss heavily, in a different way than other years where they tried to sell a possible loss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Crackers Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 As I said last night this was a great show because of the good matches and booking but the lack of great matches still keeps it behind WM 23 & 24 for me. The big surprise for me is how excited I am about the current creative direction. I haven't been this excited about what will come after Wrestlemania since Wrestlemania 23. I may even watch Raw live for the first time in about five years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badlittlekitten Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 I'll never understand why people with such a narrow-tipped jaded cynicism decide to watch these shows at all besides for self-indulging mental masturbation... Aren't you the one that was crying when Daniel Bryan lost at HITC, saying WWE deserved to go out of business and that their decision making was determined by their fear of TNA? Still buzzing after that show. Amazing experience which run you through the emotional grinder. There won't be another moment like that in a long time. My stomach fell out when that resounding three count hit. It certainly saved what would have been a fairly depressing match. I was unsure about Brock being The One at first but in hindsight it was the right way for the Taker to go out. He's just a man. The opener and the main event were fantastic, the battle royal turned out fun and a nice moment for Cesaro, The Shield disposed of the shite as easily as the Shield should have. Swank entrance and ring gear all around. And a new star was made. Easily the best Mania I've ever watched in real time. Maybe the best Mania I've ever watched at all. Roll on Raw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerpride Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 They had me several times during those near falls in the main event. We were freaking out, screaming at Batista to tap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Jiz Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 I'll never understand why people with such a narrow-tipped jaded cynicism decide to watch these shows at all besides for self-indulging mental masturbation... Aren't you the one that was crying when Daniel Bryan lost at HITC, saying WWE deserved to go out of business and that their decision making was determined by their fear of TNA? Still buzzing after that show. Amazing experience which run you through the emotional grinder. There won't be another moment like that in a long time. My stomach fell out when that resounding three count hit. It certainly saved what would have been a fairly depressing match. I was unsure about Brock being The One at first but in hindsight it was the right way for the Taker to go out. He's just a man. The opener and the main event were fantastic, the battle royal turned out fun and a nice moment for Cesaro, The Shield disposed of the shite as easily as the Shield should have. Swank entrance and ring gear all around. And a new star was made. Easily the best Mania I've ever watched in real time. Maybe the best Mania I've ever watched at all. Roll on Raw. You obviously misunderstood the argument/context, and it's pointless to try to explain. However, I kept my word: I stopped watching, since wasting at least three hours a week to watch swerves with a company that has time and again failed to make a decent payoff simply isn't worth my time or energy. There was nothing "Torchish" about my grievance. People pay a lot of money for PPVs, and I expect more than to get a screwjob finish when you can watch UFC and get a decent finish almost every PPV. Sorry, but wrestling isn't my only hobby. EDIT: I'll add too that there's no telling whatsoever that what happened last night was a long-term plan. The fans were focal, and WWE finally changed direction after trying to maintain status quo for years. That's not booking genius as much as something good fell in its lap, and the company decided to not fuck it up for once. My criticism of WWE has been predominantly constructive, like in anything else. It has never been "Everything the company does sucks" as much as what the company presents is not what I care to see, i.e. guys who were headlining almost a decade ago. Fresh talent is a good thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 This was the perfect WrestleMania for Taker to lose at because it made the crowd think anything could happen during the triple threat main event that really only had 1 possible ending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Jiz Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 This was the perfect WrestleMania for Taker to lose at because it made the crowd think anything could happen during the triple threat main event that really only had 1 possible ending. I thought Lesnar would win the match, but it's just funny to watch him pin Undertaker anyway. I'm a big fan of shock finishes that happen in MMA where sometimes in key matches, an unexpected outcome happens where it almost looks real but isn't treated as a "shoot" by promoters (because that's stupid). Fantasy booking of Bret Hart as world champion v. Vader. Owen takes out Bret's knee earlier in the night. During the match, he hobbles around, tries to fight back, but gets smashed by Vader to become the new world champion. Something like that. So people have a reason to see a rematch, but Hart was borderline squashed under particular conditions where the audience wonders how he'll do when 100% healed due his disproportionate defeat. These types of matches do require subtlety, but they should be done way more often (two times a year, maybe) where a very counterintuitive finish is done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyonthewall2983 Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 I think they always bring out the French announce team for WrestleMania, but Mania only. I remember when they had both the Spanish and French tables on Raw every week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.