jcmmnx Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 Sting looked way better than Taker imo. Sting was throwing dropkicks and hit a dive off the top to the floor. It looked like it took everything Taker had just to get off the mat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Migs Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 Yeah, I was baffled with that one, I thought it was good and ended great and I guess that probably skewered people's closing opinions quite a bit, but let's not go crazy here. The Rollins thing was something where, when he came out I was ready to take a total shit on it, thinking they'd spoilt an excellent main event, and then it was over it just all fell into place for me with the realisation that they'd just set up months of main events with Rollins vs. Orton, Reigns and Lesnar, plus a possible three or four-way blow off to it all down the line. Rollins also has had very recent issues with Cena, as well as with Ambrose (a proper main event match between the two could be excellent). You have your pick of programs in a way that no one else on the roster is setup to have. Also, frankly, the heel side of the roster is so thin that a heel champ was almost a necessity. Who were the heel challengers lined up for a babyface champion? Big Show and Kane? No thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchistxx Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 I thought Undertaker looked a lot worse this year. He looked like the broken down, fifty year old man that he is, all the lines and sagging on his face, the horrible gelled hair, the facial hair that looked slovenly rather than intimidating. In terms of his body he looked lean and toned, but the way he was moving showed how fucked his knees are. At least last year his appearance was still slightly demonic and and scary, rather than just like a regular guy his age with a lot of injuries. to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(BP) Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 I was going to jump in and defend Taker/Bray, but I realize that being unobjectionable isn't the same as being good. Taker should have hung it up after 28, but he looked better than I expected. Also, Roman Reigns is a bad man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cox Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 Between paydays for everyone who did a run-in, HHH's entrance, Sting's entrance and HHH and Sting's payoffs, I can't imagine the expense of that match. I did enjoy HHH making sure he got WrestleMania payoffs for all of his buddies in his match, even though it made no sense for the nWo to be backing up Sting (seriously, they couldn't have gotten Flair, Arn Anderson, and the Steiners?). Say what you will about Hunter, he does look out for his friends at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cox Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 Also, who would have thought a year ago, that on a WrestleMania show that included Bryan, Ambrose, Rollins, Cesaro, and others with great reputations, that the top three workers on the show would wind up being Rusev, Reigns, and Lesnar? That's pretty wild. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchistxx Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 Also, who would have thought a year ago, that on a WrestleMania show that included Bryan, Ambrose, Rollins, Cesaro, and others with great reputations, that the top three workers on the show would wind up being Rusev, Reigns, and Lesnar? That's pretty wild. Not really. Bryan, Ambrose and Cesaro were working in multi-man garbage matches so they didn't really get a chance to shine. Brock Lesnar is possibly the best worker in the world in terms of overall package. Roman Reigns has been unfairly maligned and has an aura, so the match was always going to be solid. Rusev is pretty well regarded in smark circles as a very good worker. Nothing has really changed in the last year, other than more exposure for Rusev. Jerry only watching PPVs gives more credence to his argument that the finish was blinding. If he had been broken by the hundreds of hours of monotonous, repetitive, lazily booked, neverending television devoted to 'The Authority' in the last couple of years the idea of Seth Rollins as a chicken shit heel world champion would not fill him with any joy whatsoever. So he has a lot of challengers? Doesn't mean the feuds will be interesting or well booked or draw well. Lesnar had the same quota of challengers and is a better worker, with a bigger aura and a more proven draw. Roman Reigns didn't have to be booked against Big Show & Kane, there are a lot of placeholder heel challengers or people you can turn before leading up to big title matches with Rusev, Bryan [who he promised a rematch], Lesnar and ultimately Cena. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradhindsight Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 I'm with Childs (and Loss mentioned this too), the aura of the Undertaker was just gone. It's probably a combination of the streak being over, him not appearing on TV until now, and (as weird as it sounds) having his entrance in daylight. Was very pedestrian and didn't feel special at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
concrete1992 Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 Some thoughts I had last night: -Outside of the winner, not sure what to dislike about the Battle Royal. And I thought Show was rad in it. Amazing how they just let things unfold and it came off great. Cesaro looked like a king out there eliminating Kane with the bodyslam. Truly thought he was about to be eliminated by Kane, and they've trained me for Kane doing things that are dumb but not here. Then he comes at Show and it makes perfect sense and it looks awesome. Mizdow and Miz portion POPPED me. It is the Andre the Giant Memorial thus I'm surprised it took 2 Battle Royals to get the win. -Love how they talked about how they didn't know what Taker would show up throughout the show and then we get UNDERTAKER cosplaying as Biker Taker. Another year for the full transformation back? -Jaw hit the floor during Sting vs. HHH. Like...it was weird but it was weirder they decided for it to be NWO(WCW) vs. DX. Then post match it definitely looks like the end of a play. Was hoping everyone was gonna pat each other's backs and take a bow to all 4 sides. Someone brings them roses. Perversely entertaining at best. -Rusev may have lost but he lost after bumping into his lady. Didn't even mind him losing in the grand scheme cause it is Russia vs USA on the biggest wrestling stage possible. And it was against Cena on that stage. Wish Cena had worked a pseudo-Yano gimmick with The Marine. Match was great. Rusev had to have his stock rise with the match AND that beautiful entrance. Some people that pretty much only watch WrestleMania have to think he is one of the biggest deals in the world before the bell rang. Anyone else come out in a tank? Nah! -Lesnar vs. Reigns might be my MOTY. The ending was weird in a sense that I think they could have creatively come at it in multiple ways and I would be cool with any of them. Not sure how often in recent memory that WWE could do that. Oddily that may be a product of terrible build where everything seems even. Reigns won me over more than ever. I was all in on him winning after that beating. As good as any of the Cena performances in those Lesnar matches on first watch. Legit hopped out of my chair when Brock kicked out the second spear. Would not have been disappointed with it ending there. Lesnar is gushing, looks like he is out on his feet, he's Rocky-ing the piss out of the whole thing. Reigns is hitting his superman punches but Brock isn't going down. Reigns isn't just standing there waiting for his next punch but backed into the corner gathering himself. Seth coming out and doing what he did, no problem. Don't think Reigns is dead but on my end, didn't feel like it shot Rollins into orbit either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 Meltz loved Sting v HHH. I have a feeling he's going to be taking a lot of crap for that for the next little while. Well, Meltz actually says that this was maybe the best WrestleMania of all time… I think it might be my favorite, at least of the last 20 years.......and I am rarely in agreement with Meltzer on these things........but I thought that was a fantastic show beginning to end and booked beautifully (and as some have noted, I expect Pat Patterson and Paul Heyman had big influence on it) whether or not WWE can take what they did at that show and build and sustain from it.......eh........we'll see.......that's why we keep watching Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 I am sympathetic to Loss' argument about last night. If somebody were to say that they had a problem with the way the main event ended, I wouldn't have an answer to that. If you paid your hard-earned $9.99 (or $64.99) for the show to see Reigns/Lesnar end in a decisive finish, you didn't get what you wanted last night. That is on WWE for not delivering. I'm not. This is what pro rasslin has always done NWA title matches ended in time limit draws. WWWF matches ended in countouts or DQs? Why? Because the people wanted to see the finish........and you string them along to get them to the next show THIS IS HOW PRO WRESTLING HAS ALWAYS DONE THIS Roman Reigns v. Brock Lesnar pt. II is now THAT MUCH BIGGER MORE EYEBALLS. MORE MONEY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 It wasn't time yet for Rusev to lose, and they should've used Rusev's loss to elevate someone. Not John Cena. No, Cena doesn't lose his aura because he's John Cena. Ok, Rusev (who's only been in the company for a year and is a relative newcomer) elevates who with his first loss? Kevin Owens (which actually would be awesome, but I digress), Samoa Joe? Sami Zayn? Rusev's undefeated streak has been limping along for a while now IMO. I honestly think it was time to just end it. Nobody was going to be elevated by being the first guy to tap or pin him unless we're talking someone like a Samoa Joe. Nobody on the current roster works in that role. If you have a great idea of who it should be pitch it to me, I'd love to hear it And Parv is 100% right, Cena is still the #1 dude and he certainly couldn't lose to Rusev at WM here......not after all the jobs he's been doing.......and not with the USA v. Russia buildup. WWE still wants to make money ya know, and Cena is the cash cow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bierschwale Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 Also, who would have thought a year ago, that on a WrestleMania show that included Bryan, Ambrose, Rollins, Cesaro, and others with great reputations, that the top three workers on the show would wind up being Rusev, Reigns, and Lesnar? That's pretty wild. Not really. Bryan, Ambrose and Cesaro were working in multi-man garbage matches so they didn't really get a chance to shine. Brock Lesnar is possibly the best worker in the world in terms of overall package. Roman Reigns has been unfairly maligned and has an aura, so the match was always going to be solid. Rusev is pretty well regarded in smark circles as a very good worker.. It WAS phrased as "a year ago". Reigns was the least skilled/most raw Shield member and kind of awful in his June-September singles run last year, and Rusev had only one main roster appearance as the NXT guy in the Rumble and had no buzz as a worker on his debut, and was still obviously incredibly green in his first couple of months. It was a rapid, rapid improvement for him into his hossoff feuds. So from the perspective of the day after WM XXX, it can't help but be nuts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skipps04 Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 I was actually looking forward to this whole card, and I really wanted to see Brock vs Reigns just for the match, the build wasn't great and the thought of Reigns winning didn't sound good, but for the match itself, I think it really out did what the expectations were for it, and now I definitely want to see it for a second time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artDDP Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 I was in attendance last night and absolutely loved it. I haven't seen the telecast yet. My seats were in the lower bowl, directly opposite the ring and stage. Until the Sting-Triple H match it was blisteringly hot in there. Once the sun set a breeze rolled in and we finally got some relief. I just let myself mark out all night and ignored the absurdity of things like the NWO coming to the aid of Sting. It was a blast. I'll go back and nitpick the show with you guys and Dave and Bryan later At about 7:55 PDT one of the refs ran out to ringside and began frantically waving his hands to get Lesnar and Reigns' attention and gestured to "wrap it up". That was pretty funny. Right before the Steph segment I jumped up to get some refreshments. My seat was right by a concession stand and there were no lines. The stadium was built to try to eliminate concession and restroom lines. Anyway, I grabbed my food and beer and heard Stephanie's voice and something told me a big angle was going to take place. I kept thinking Wade was going to lose his shit if Triple H and Steph started thanking the audience. As soon as they started heeling I figured Rock was due any second now. The crowd ate it up. Throughout the event I was getting texts from friends who passed on going telling me how much they hated me. The stadium was well managed. No security issues that I saw, though there were a few fights in the crowd. It was easy to get around and in and out of the building. The parking wasn't as bad as I'd heard. As for the main event finish, I'm not sure how I feel about that yet. For what it's worth the live crowd was calling for Seth to cash in all night and when his music hit the place went nuclear. Oh, and when Pat Patterson came out before the ladder match (off-camera, I think) everyone thought it was Ric Flair and started "Whooing". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjaminkicks Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 Looks like some people are down on it, but I thought this was an awesome show, and almost definitely a top 10 Mania for me (though I'll have to give it a rewatch sometime to know for sure). I enjoyed pretty much everything on the card (well, besides the musical performance, the fucking commercials, and the announce team). I was super baked and kinda drunk throughout the show, so I won't do a critical review of it right now, but here's some thoughts on the matches: Ladder match was a fun spotfest, and Bryan winning started the show off on a positive note. Not sure how I feel about Bryan going from being the WWE Champion last year to the IC Champion this year, but hopefully they book him to be a dominate champion who can bring back a little prestige to the belt. I'm a big fan of both Orton and Rollins in the ring, so I thought their match was pretty awesome. And that finish was amazing. Gonna have to rewatch it, but it my mind it was at least a 4-star match. Sting/Trips was completely stupid, but in a totally fun and endearing way, at least for me. It was basically a bunch of old guys masturbating themselves while the whole crowd cheered them on, but if they're gonna go full Attitude Era, might as well give us a total overbooked clusterfuck like the main events from back them. Not great by any means, but I enjoyed it for what it was. The women's match was fine. Not much to say really. I like all the wrestlers involved, but I dunno, they couldn't really do anything to make the match feel important. The terrible booking hasn't helped them with that. Cena/Rusev was great. The entrances were dope as hell, and the match itself was a lot of fun, and pretty much exactly what I wanted it to be. The "Cena locked in the Accolade" stuff was kinda overly dramatic, but considering the story of the match, I thought it was totally appropriate. Haven't watched FastLane yet, so I don't know how this compared to their match there, but I'm gonna have to check it out if it was at least as good as this. I don't give a shit about UFC or MMA, but I know that Ronda Rousey is a total asskicker. The segment with her, Rock, and the Authority was great. Too long? Probably. But the crowd was eating that shit up. So much better than the usually "celebrity appearances" at WrestleMania for me. Wyatt/Taker was not great, but it wasn't too long, and I enjoyed it. Good chance I don't like this at all on rewatch, but I was watching with friends that weren't wrestling fans at all, and Undertaker was like the only guy on the show they knew. They were marking out for everything he did, and I was just along for the ride. Kinda lame that Wyatt lost, but Streak or no Streak, it's Taker at WrestleMania. The chances of him losing again were pretty slim. I wonder if he'll have a match next year? Holy shit, that main event was nuts. My friends and I were talking throughout the show, but we quieted the fuck up pretty soon after the match started. For all the WWE likes to talk about "big match feel" and whatever, they really nailed it with this one. It just felt important and huge, and completely worthy of being the main event at the biggest show of the year. Good on Reigns and Lesnar for decided that they were going to stiff the hell out of each other, it really added to the match. Lesnar totally ate that ringpost, and the gusher he got going from that put the whole match into overdrive. Great match and awesome performances from both guys. I liked the finish. Sure, a clean win would've been nice, but I think it was a good way to get the title off Brock without him eating a pin. I think Seth is good, and him being Champion is much more interesting than Reigns right now. Though I will say, that match pretty much sold me on Reigns as a future champion. Would be totally ok if he won the belt at like SummerSlam, hopefully after he gets a little more seasoning in the ring. Great show all around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerpride Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 John Cena is "John Cena" because he won a lot of matches. I said it earlier, do you really think even Hogan or Bruno could withstand being jobbed out with that regularity? I don't get that thinking that says Cena is just totally untouchable. I can't think of any aces ever that jobbed out that much. Heels can lose because they lie and cheat and can spin that into a form of win anyway (see: Flair, Horsemen, etc.), babyface aces can't lose too often because it chops their balls off. Cena NEEDED that win to retain a sense of being "the man". I don't see why people think he didn't. Cena's always been the man. He survived the loss to Brock just fine and he survived an incredibly one sided feud with The Rock (until he won in the end) just fine too. They had a chance to make Rusev a made man last night and just blew it. It would've been Cena's first real loss in 200 days. I think he'd do okay. I'm not saying Cena needs to job all the time but he would've easily survived the Rusev loss because he's John Cena, while Rusev becomes the unstoppble main eventer and you can keep building him up until it's finally time for him to lose. Mania wasn't the time, especially like that. The win wasn't entirely clean though. It was an old-school manager-mixup-on-the-apron finish. So he has an excuse. Is this feud done now then? 1-1 by my count, with one "tainted" win on either side. Next step would be the cage match blow-off? Who will Rusev feud with otherwise? Bryan for the IC belt? Babyface Lesnar? I suspect too that Cena going over there was as much to do with Rollins going over in the main event. You can't have a heel walk out with the title AND have your ace lose to the evil Russian on the same card. If I'd done that in my 1983 booking I'd never ever hear the end of it. Shit, I put DiBiase over Bruno and never heard the end of it. And all I was trying to do was exactly this. And DiBiase was a bigger name in 1983 than Rusev is in 2015. Oh come on, that's a pretty clean win and it seemed like a definitive ending to a feud. I don't need to see another match between them. Either way, Rusev's undefeated streak is done, which sucks and I thought was pretty weak booking. I don't know what your 1983 booking is, but given the reaction to Rollins last night, I think you could've put them both over, especially with Taker winning, D-Bry getting the IC belt and Rock and Ronda Rousey showing up, you can have Cena lose and it's fun. If anything, Cena can move onto another feud pretty easily (heel accuses him of letting down America) and Rusev continues to build to an epic world title match or another big dream match against a main eventer. Cena going over kills all that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 I think all the bitching about the booking of the main event and Rusev v. Cena really misses the bigger point, which is that the real problem with the booking is macro not micro. I completely disagree with Jerry and cm funk on the Rusev thing, but I get that the presentation of the feud made a Cena win almost a given, and I can see their argument. I get the anger over the finish to the main event involving a third party who wasn't even in the "official" match, even if I thought it was absolutely the right thing to do. I can see arguments for Orton and Show going over in their matches. I can even see an argument for Taker going over if the theory is they are building to a retirement match next year in Dallas, even if I think it is clear that he's done as a star with any real value barring something miraculous. The HHH thing is indefensibly stupid, but they clearly never had any intention of getting any returns out of Sting any way, as the whole angle was about illustrating a fifteen year old point via live action role playing. Anyhow the point here is that all of the individual decisions are defensible in one form or another. But then when you pull back and you look at the show you see this: Show, Orton, HHH, Cena and Taker all won their matches, and all basically won clean. The opener was four new blood teams, so of course a new blood act won. The ladder match was all new blood guys, barring comedy old guard worker R-Truth who was to a large degree the focus of the build to the match. A new blood act won, but it was the opener, and the match was basically the equivalent of Boise State beating TCU in a secondary BCS bowl game. I guess you could argue the new blood won the Divas match, but that meant nothing. A new blood act did win in the main event to win his first title, but ONLY after losing to an old guard act clean early in the show, and ONLY by pinning another new blood act. The old guard guy in the main event didn't even take the fall, despite being put in a position where he would not really have looked weak if he had. This show was a show filled with part timers, retirees, and other old guard players (Cena, Orton, Show) in key matches. The old guard either won every match they were in, or didn't job in the match they were in. This happened in every single case unless you are counting R-Truth of all people and the Divas tag which was just a space filler. On top of this, the hot angle coming out of the show involved two old guard players, an old guard character (Steph) and a MMA fighter (Rousey). This was a show where you could argue that the five most over babyfaces (Mizdow, Ryback, Ambrose, Bryan, and Ziggler) were all involved in multi-man undercard matches, that were over less than thirty minutes into the "main" card - everyone of them is a new blood performer. On top of this the new blood performer who did get the big main event push took the fall in the match he was in, and his push was so badly mishandled that this was actually the BEST thing that could have been done for him. And the new blood guy who beat him is a sniveling heel opportunist, doing an Edge/HHH 2000 tribute act, who effectively "stole the win." (again I agreed with that decision, but let's not pretend Rollins has been presented as a top level guy on par with the old guard). Mania was a great, great show. But the key messages coming out of the show were that HHH is the top star and centerpiece of the promotion, the most pushed new blood acts barring one exception (Rollins) are all chokers (Rusev, Wyatt, Reigns), and the best liked new blood acts aren't even worthy of being put in meaningful matches (Cesaro/Kidd, Usos, Dolph, Ambrose, Ryback, Mizdow, Bryan, Barrett, Harper). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigell Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 I'm surprised nobody mentioned that Dean Ambrose getting incapacitated in the ladder match also foreshadowed the cash in. Ambrose always vowed he would never let Rollins cash in successfully, and it would have been a major plothole if Ambrose hadn't gotten hurt in the opener. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 Looks like some people are down on it, but I thought this was an awesome show, and almost definitely a top 10 Mania for me (though I'll have to give it a rewatch sometime to know for sure). I enjoyed pretty much everything on the card (well, besides the musical performance, the fucking commercials, and the announce team). I was super baked and kinda drunk throughout the show, so I won't do a critical review of it right now, but here's some thoughts on the matches: Ladder match was a fun spotfest, and Bryan winning started the show off on a positive note. Not sure how I feel about Bryan going from being the WWE Champion last year to the IC Champion this year, but hopefully they book him to be a dominate champion who can bring back a little prestige to the belt. I'm a big fan of both Orton and Rollins in the ring, so I thought their match was pretty awesome. And that finish was amazing. Gonna have to rewatch it, but it my mind it was at least a 4-star match. Sting/Trips was completely stupid, but in a totally fun and endearing way, at least for me. It was basically a bunch of old guys masturbating themselves while the whole crowd cheered them on, but if they're gonna go full Attitude Era, might as well give us a total overbooked clusterfuck like the main events from back them. Not great by any means, but I enjoyed it for what it was. The women's match was fine. Not much to say really. I like all the wrestlers involved, but I dunno, they couldn't really do anything to make the match feel important. The terrible booking hasn't helped them with that. Cena/Rusev was great. The entrances were dope as hell, and the match itself was a lot of fun, and pretty much exactly what I wanted it to be. The "Cena locked in the Accolade" stuff was kinda overly dramatic, but considering the story of the match, I thought it was totally appropriate. Haven't watched FastLane yet, so I don't know how this compared to their match there, but I'm gonna have to check it out if it was at least as good as this. I don't give a shit about UFC or MMA, but I know that Ronda Rousey is a total asskicker. The segment with her, Rock, and the Authority was great. Too long? Probably. But the crowd was eating that shit up. So much better than the usually "celebrity appearances" at WrestleMania for me. Wyatt/Taker was not great, but it wasn't too long, and I enjoyed it. Good chance I don't like this at all on rewatch, but I was watching with friends that weren't wrestling fans at all, and Undertaker was like the only guy on the show they knew. They were marking out for everything he did, and I was just along for the ride. Kinda lame that Wyatt lost, but Streak or no Streak, it's Taker at WrestleMania. The chances of him losing again were pretty slim. I wonder if he'll have a match next year? Holy shit, that main event was nuts. My friends and I were talking throughout the show, but we quieted the fuck up pretty soon after the match started. For all the WWE likes to talk about "big match feel" and whatever, they really nailed it with this one. It just felt important and huge, and completely worthy of being the main event at the biggest show of the year. Good on Reigns and Lesnar for decided that they were going to stiff the hell out of each other, it really added to the match. Lesnar totally ate that ringpost, and the gusher he got going from that put the whole match into overdrive. Great match and awesome performances from both guys. I liked the finish. Sure, a clean win would've been nice, but I think it was a good way to get the title off Brock without him eating a pin. I think Seth is good, and him being Champion is much more interesting than Reigns right now. Though I will say, that match pretty much sold me on Reigns as a future champion. Would be totally ok if he won the belt at like SummerSlam, hopefully after he gets a little more seasoning in the ring. Great show all around. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlMwc1c0HRQ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 I'm surprised nobody mentioned that Dean Ambrose getting incapacitated in the ladder match also foreshadowed the cash in. Ambrose always vowed he would never let Rollins cash in successfully, and it would have been a major loophole if Ambrose hadn't gotten hurt in the opener. That's a nice idea.......but that plotline was ditched a while back. Seth has teased cashing in several times and Dean was nowhere to be seen. They have so badly dropped the ball with Ambrose. He's still over.....but man, they had a white hot dude and just cooled him down to being "just another guy" as Alvarez likes to say. They didn't strike while the iron was hot with him......and now he's the guy killing himself in garbage matches (see: last night, the entire Wyatt program in which he lost every single match) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 I got the feeling the ladder match was originally conceived to finally be his big win until they realized they had to do something with Daniel Bryan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 a couple pages back somebody asked about how much $ it cost for the Terminator stuff it's quid pro quo. They're going to be promoting the hell out of that movie on their television, the network, the whole entrance itself was movie promotion. we the audience are the ones who will pay for having RAW full of Terminator stuff for months. And I'm someone who loves or at least likes every Terminator movie.....but the trailers for this one make it look ungodly bad and it has bomb written all over it.....which is probably why Arnold and the producers reached out to WWE who will pimp the hell out of it and a lot of their audience will go see it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjaminkicks Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 Looks like some people are down on it, but I thought this was an awesome show, and almost definitely a top 10 Mania for me (though I'll have to give it a rewatch sometime to know for sure). I enjoyed pretty much everything on the card (well, besides the musical performance, the fucking commercials, and the announce team). I was super baked and kinda drunk throughout the show, so I won't do a critical review of it right now, but here's some thoughts on the matches: Ladder match was a fun spotfest, and Bryan winning started the show off on a positive note. Not sure how I feel about Bryan going from being the WWE Champion last year to the IC Champion this year, but hopefully they book him to be a dominate champion who can bring back a little prestige to the belt. I'm a big fan of both Orton and Rollins in the ring, so I thought their match was pretty awesome. And that finish was amazing. Gonna have to rewatch it, but it my mind it was at least a 4-star match. Sting/Trips was completely stupid, but in a totally fun and endearing way, at least for me. It was basically a bunch of old guys masturbating themselves while the whole crowd cheered them on, but if they're gonna go full Attitude Era, might as well give us a total overbooked clusterfuck like the main events from back them. Not great by any means, but I enjoyed it for what it was. The women's match was fine. Not much to say really. I like all the wrestlers involved, but I dunno, they couldn't really do anything to make the match feel important. The terrible booking hasn't helped them with that. Cena/Rusev was great. The entrances were dope as hell, and the match itself was a lot of fun, and pretty much exactly what I wanted it to be. The "Cena locked in the Accolade" stuff was kinda overly dramatic, but considering the story of the match, I thought it was totally appropriate. Haven't watched FastLane yet, so I don't know how this compared to their match there, but I'm gonna have to check it out if it was at least as good as this. I don't give a shit about UFC or MMA, but I know that Ronda Rousey is a total asskicker. The segment with her, Rock, and the Authority was great. Too long? Probably. But the crowd was eating that shit up. So much better than the usually "celebrity appearances" at WrestleMania for me. Wyatt/Taker was not great, but it wasn't too long, and I enjoyed it. Good chance I don't like this at all on rewatch, but I was watching with friends that weren't wrestling fans at all, and Undertaker was like the only guy on the show they knew. They were marking out for everything he did, and I was just along for the ride. Kinda lame that Wyatt lost, but Streak or no Streak, it's Taker at WrestleMania. The chances of him losing again were pretty slim. I wonder if he'll have a match next year? Holy shit, that main event was nuts. My friends and I were talking throughout the show, but we quieted the fuck up pretty soon after the match started. For all the WWE likes to talk about "big match feel" and whatever, they really nailed it with this one. It just felt important and huge, and completely worthy of being the main event at the biggest show of the year. Good on Reigns and Lesnar for decided that they were going to stiff the hell out of each other, it really added to the match. Lesnar totally ate that ringpost, and the gusher he got going from that put the whole match into overdrive. Great match and awesome performances from both guys. I liked the finish. Sure, a clean win would've been nice, but I think it was a good way to get the title off Brock without him eating a pin. I think Seth is good, and him being Champion is much more interesting than Reigns right now. Though I will say, that match pretty much sold me on Reigns as a future champion. Would be totally ok if he won the belt at like SummerSlam, hopefully after he gets a little more seasoning in the ring. Great show all around. Haha, thanks man, I guess? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 I was in complete agreement with every word of your post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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