Wrestle Mania 32... Live As It Happens

[Strummer]

PWI reporting that

Seth Rollins

is expected to return tonight

[SteveJRogers]

Steph confirmed this morning that female wwe wrestlers will be called "superstars" going forward. RIP "diva"

I wonder how this affects Total Divas then?

[bradhindsight]

Have a couple streams of thought from both last night and then thinking more on the show today (I just read this entire thread and it was infinitely better than Mania itself):

 

- Ryder's win feels like a "Swagger cashes in the briefcase and wins" pop and NEXT Monday (tonight doth not count with that crowd) everyone will be sitting on their hands. It's Fandango all over again. I would completely believe that Neville was slated to win here and they didn't re-write anything other than to give it to his replacement

 

- Jericho kicking out of the Styles Clash is an absolute burial. Never ever should happen. Could have told the same story without it. Now the story made no sense for Jericho to win anyway and worse off is that they ran through EVERYTHING here. What is left? Weapons I guess since its EXTREME RULES. Ugh.

 

- Awesome entrance for Sasha - KING pop for her (Snoop's other singer they introduced sucked fwiw) and while I'm sure she had nerves (you can catch her colliding with Becky before the bell gazing at the crowd), I actually thought she was the worst of the 3 in that particular match. Becky really held it together early for them to get into a groove. Charlotte was perfectly fine. And I like Sasha a lot. I liked how they teased the Bank Statement finish (she rolls over and keeps the hold on) and still had another couple of minutes. Really had you buying everything at the end. MOTN and it wasn't close.

 

- No one sells a ball shot like Lesnar. He's #1 all-time there and good on him for them still bothering him as he walked up the ramp after. Lesnar suplex squashes have been interesting exactly once - in the match where Reigns got to actually make a believable comeback. Here it was the same old shit and I honestly thought surely they'd switch it up and really get the crowd behind Ambrose here. I even PICKED Ambrose to win - thinking they'd actually try to make a star here since it was mid-card anyway. Instead we get kendo shots and all that storyline build with weapons is essentially for naught. Brock needed to take the barbed wire bat and create a nearfall to really bring everyone in. This was so flat.

 

- Just a couple months ago Undertaker was going toe-to-toe with Brock Lesnar in the Cell and then this abomination. Just as Kelly noted earlier - I also wondered aloud (for my wife who could not have cared less and was doing something else) that this was shaping up to be worse than Vince/Bret. Shane reversing the triangle choke was probably the worst move/sequence on the entire card. In what universe did that fit based on any kind of backstory? Shane doesn't have the strength to lift the damn bolt cutters! Obviously an insane spot (think about how fast Taker had to get the hell out of the way too) and it looked, thankfully, like the table was padded underneath too. Trotting your kids out for that though - I mean, damn.

 

- Poor Tatanka doesn't even get an intro. But neither did Corbin - wtf. The only match on the whole show where someone felt elevated.

 

- Maybe the biggest mystery on the show - was the main event No DQ or not? Seemed it, because, I mean the posters said it and Stephanie pulled the ref out but damn if the announcers had no f'n clue. I do want to give them kudos for watching Cheeseburger palm strike a woman on recent ROH TV and then think 'we should also have our biggest star hit a woman".

 

- By all accounts of the guys we had there live, they completely drowned out the boos with cheers when Reigns won.

 

 

[El Dragon]

https://twitter.com/RossOnRasslin/status/716833990070546432

 

Live recording in Stadium of Reigns winning. Yeah, they muted the FUCK out of that place.

[SteveJRogers]

https://twitter.com/RossOnRasslin/status/716833990070546432

 

Live recording in Stadium of Reigns winning. Yeah, they muted the FUCK out of that place.

Wowsers. At first I thought it was akin to a team getting swept at home, in a final game blowout in a finals/World Series. "Well, that's that. Let's get outta here."

[Cap]

He was acting kind of heelish in his response to the crowd. Their hand will eventually get forced with turning him heel. If nothing else booing Reigns has caught on as a trendy thing to do live and may continue.

[Strummer]

pretty big spoiler for tonight via reddit guy:

 

 

Rollins is returning tonight as a babyface to start a feud with the Authority that will lead to him trying to get them removed from power. Looks like another long Hunter PPV match coming up, this time with Seth

 

[FMKK]

pretty big spoiler for tonight via reddit guy:

 

 

Rollins is returning tonight as a babyface to start a feud with the Authority that will lead to him trying to get them removed from power. Looks like another long Hunter PPV match coming up, this time with Seth

 

 

Some fun promo segments to look forward to then.....

[TheBigBoot]

I already commented on the opener and was planning on doing the same for the rest of the card today but don't know if I feel up to it.

 

Glad Taker and Reigns won. Small mercies and all that. The Mark in me was having nightmares about Shane joining Brock as the only man to beat Undertaker at WM. Probably was never on the cards but the way they kept hyping it as a Taker loss meaning his last match at "WrestleMania" not WWE had me worried Taker had decided the only person he could put over in his last WM was a McMahon andsomeone was going to intefer just instigate "change" and Taker would get revenge on them and Shane at SummerSlam/Survivor Series/HIAC. I get why some fans thought that could be used to shake up the product with a Brand Split or whatever but just the idea of Shane O' Mac beating Taker under any circumstances made me feel a bit nauseous. Reigns going over would have been the most predictable booking against any other opponent... In the other WrestleMania thread someone mentioned how long we are going to then hear about Hunter headlining the biggest card ever. Not sure I could have handled the years of him reminding us he went over as well (even if he then mobbed the belt tonight). Wins and losses may matter less than they once did but those two did to me.

 

On the other hand, I'm annoyed Henry lost.

 

The main thing that stood out to me was how long it seemed to last. Seven hours was way too much. The matches were just "there" other than Ryback looked very good (again) even if he was stuck on the pre-show (yet again), and I enjoyed both women's matches. The triple threat was positioned strongly on the card and did feel like a big deal.

 

Need to rewatch the WWE Title Match some time.

 

I hope Steph keeps her hair like that from now on.

[goodhelmet]

Oh, didn't see it mentioned here but Kelsey Grammer voiced the opening video.

 

Classy stuff.

Ha!!! I remember when he was complaining to his HOA about the house next door filming Tough Enough. Pretty sure that was in the Observer.

[Parties]

Significant story coming out of this show that isn't getting enough play (as it happened early on): the successful burial of AJ Styles in under three months.

 

It's too early to say if AJ-Reigns is a going to be a real feud. Fans online are already speculating how AJ'll get robbed or jobbed. If it is legit, then I'm happy to be wrong on this, but wow: what a weird way to set up Styles as your #1 contender. But weird in a very typical WWE way of the Attitude era guy establishing superiority and then having it gently erased. And while I really don't want to see Jericho-Reigns, Sunday and Monday's matches do offer a multifaceted story of who should be next in line/who beat who/etc.

[Johnny Sorrow]

 

Better than anything.

[NotJayTabb]

Maybe it's the environment I watched it in (drunk in the Nottingham branch of Rileys with my mates) or maybe because I'm a contrary fucker who actually preferred the guys that were put over in some of the "trolling" results (Ryder, #TheLads, Reigns), but I really enjoyed Mania. Most of my friends are casual fans, and they enjoyed the show for the most part - loved the ladder match, enjoyed the antics of the New Day and the LoN, enjoyed all the segments with the old boys (especially the Rock) and I was pleased to note they all really enjoyed the women's title match (and not JUST because they liked "that hot Irish one"). The only match we all agreed was terrible was Shane/Taker. As an added bonus, even though 4/5 of our table was Team Roman, the 1/5 who was Team HHH was so loud about it, the other loud HHH fan in the room bought our table a pitcher of beer in solidarity. As a comparison, though NXT was a much better show, and the only event I'll watch again, the circumstances (loud pub with drunken friends vs sat in my spare room with my iPad, trying not to wake up my girlfriend) meant I probably enjoyed myself more watching Mania.

[goodhelmet]

Reaction show for NXT and Mania up at P2B....

 

http://placetobenation.com/ptbn-reaction-show-wrestlemania-32-and-nxt-takeover-dallas/

[Cox]

That show was sort of a reminder to me that WWE will never really be what I'd love for it to be, no matter how talented their roster is. And I don't even say that to complain -- they had better things to do than try to craft a show to appeal to me. I'm just peacefully stepping away from it for the most part. It does more to cause me frustration than provide enjoyment. I had made peace with this once before, then Daniel Bryan came along and I got lured back in. He was an anomaly, not a signal of a better functioning WWE. And that's ok -- they drew 100K people last night and the people who complain the most vocally about their booking are the ones who fork over the most money. It's a model that's working even if there's no precedent for it. But as long as it's working, it's guaranteed fans looking for change will have no peace. It's just not for me. Someone call me when they are building around Samoa Joe and Sami Zayn as their top stars, promos aren't scripted verbatim, the announcers sound like real people, the heavy-handed, self-serving PR stops, fans cheer and boo in a way that's aligned with WWE's vision and the McMahon family aren't TV characters and maybe I'll reconsider.

 

I know this isn't a sentiment that is often expressed, but I sympathize greatly for the writing staff. The job of the writers is completely different than the job of a wrestling booker until around 1995. In the days of territorial wrestling, the booker wasn't looking to make TV entertaining, per se. They were just looking to create excitement so people would pay to see the show the following week/month/whenever. The shows were full of squashes, interviews, and angles to build to get the fans to the arenas to pay to see the blowoffs. And bookers could largely use the same cards 5-6 nights a week, because nobody really checked results or even cared to do something like that. It was an infomercial, basically. And sometimes the shows would be a slog to get through, but the few storylines or promos that happened every once in a while really made the show worth it.

 

Today, wrestling is different. The goal is to deliver 5 hours of highly rated prime time programming to the USA Network every week, and on top of that a monthly WWE Network supercard. To put this in perspective, the TV shows generally accepted as being the best TV shows of the past 10 years are Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Sopranos, and The Wire. Those four shows aired anywhere from 8-13 episodes a year, one hour a week. WWE does that much programming every 2-3 weeks. Of course the quality isn't going to be good. They're putting out way too much TV product. The best writers on TV have an entire year to plot out intricate storylines that culminate after 13ish weeks with a big finish. WWE tries to do the same with a similar sized writing staff, only they have five times the number of characters and infinitely more TV to fill. No wonder the weekly product is garbage. No wonder PS took time out of his Hall of Fame speech to thank the writers. It's an impossible task. That's why it's so easy for NXT to be so good. It's so much less TV to write, so it's easier to dedicate time to making it good.

 

I just think the way things are structured, it's almost impossible for WWE to sustain truly great TV for anything other than short spurts because there's too much product to produce. They're asking too much of the writers to expect these shows to be coherent when they're trying to fill that much time and write for that many people. The fact that it's occasionally coherent, let alone good, is a miracle. And that's before we talk about having to cater to crowds who are impossible to please, how hard it is for heels to get heat anymore in a post-internet era, and how impossible it must be to work for a megalomaniacal billionaire who changes his mind on things fifty times before the show takes the air, and another thirty times when the show is ON the air.

 

This is a long-winded way of saying I reached a point a few years ago, similar to the point you've reached, where I stopped watching the show weekly. And it helps me enjoy the PPVs so much more when I do tune in. My biggest complaint with Wrestlemania 32 was that it was too damned long (no wrestling show should EVER be 7 hours - nor should any entertainment event, for that matter). But as somebody who didn't care who won and lost and had no investment in the show as any sort of culmination of the best wrestling stories of the past year, I enjoyed it. The work was largely good, and sometimes great. The Shaq surprise was fun. It was cool seeing the women treated as actual stars and the men were treated as the bathroom break. I enjoyed my friend's annual tradition of critiquing everybody's new Wrestlemania gear. And I was happy that so many of the boys got to work the show and get a Wrestlemania payoff or a Wrestlemania moment, big or small. It was a fun show to watch that was immediately disposable. That's what WWE has become for me, much like I think it has for a lot of people judging by how much the numbers fluctuate month to month. And as long as WWE remains profitable, that's probably what it's going to be. And I think that's OK. I'm at peace with where my relationship with WWE is these days.

[ButchReedMark]

Maybe it's the environment I watched it in (drunk in the Nottingham branch of Rileys with my mates) or maybe because I'm a contrary fucker who actually preferred the guys that were put over in some of the "trolling" results (Ryder, #TheLads, Reigns), but I really enjoyed Mania. Most of my friends are casual fans, and they enjoyed the show for the most part - loved the ladder match, enjoyed the antics of the New Day and the LoN, enjoyed all the segments with the old boys (especially the Rock) and I was pleased to note they all really enjoyed the women's title match (and not JUST because they liked "that hot Irish one"). The only match we all agreed was terrible was Shane/Taker. As an added bonus, even though 4/5 of our table was Team Roman, the 1/5 who was Team HHH was so loud about it, the other loud HHH fan in the room bought our table a pitcher of beer in solidarity. As a comparison, though NXT was a much better show, and the only event I'll watch again, the circumstances (loud pub with drunken friends vs sat in my spare room with my iPad, trying not to wake up my girlfriend) meant I probably enjoyed myself more watching Mania.

 

Yeah, I watched it in The Bierkeller in Liverpool and my experience was pretty similar other than the place being cray cray for HHH and shitting all over Reigns. Also there was a bunch of cunts dressed like Mick Foley, one tried to socko me. Arsehole. Most finishes shocked the people there, and I'm not sure if that was in a good or a bad way. It was fun to watch it in a loud and boozy atmosphere though. I'd wager I'd have hated it far more if I was watching it in my wanking chariot on a stream from Cricfree.

[JerryvonKramer]

I forgot to mention during everything, that I was not generally a fan of all the really obvious little visual cues back to "Wrestlemania moments" past that were scattered through this show. All I could think about is those video games they put out. There's something about meme culture that fundamentally rubs me up the wrong way. I think it's this thing where the cue stands in for actual knowledge, and the audience gets to feel smug about themselves in a way that I think is totally undeserved. There's also some sort of sign and referent dislocation going on.

[Jimmy James]

I liked Tatanka's offense, from what little he did. I'd pay to see an independent show with him headlining.

[Alucard]

This thread was a great read to catch up on, classic.

 

Couple notes over the last few pages. On HHH/Reigns being no dq, I'm pretty sure commentary said that HHH would get DQed if he used the sledgehammer. So I guess that was a misprint since it was never officially announced as such. On the cues for the crowd to cheer thing, it only happened for New Day and Charlotte, where the big screen showing the action would suddenly change to a big "Wooooo" across the screen if Charlotte attempted the figure 8 or chops and a couple times along with New Day's "new day rocks" or "hey we want some new day" chants. A bit odd but nothing major.

[clintthecrippler]

The big screen was also keeping a suplex count during the Brock vs Ambrose match. Every time Ambrose got suplexed, the number would flash big on the screen.

[Jimmy Redman]

I like that they think they need to remind people to woo when Flair is around.

[hammerva]

I like that they think they need to remind people to woo when Flair is around.

 

The only thing I thought seeing this was that this is how they get Cowboys fans to care about the game. Like when you have to tell the fans to scream and cheer when it is 3rd down and they are on defense <_>

[Goodear]

I mean if you are about the 'pure sports build' I don't see an issue presenting chant cues like that since it is so common in regular sporting events. No one really looks at "Make some noise" tron stuff the major sports do as talking down to the crowd.

[SteveJRogers]

I like that they think they need to remind people to woo when Flair is around.

And when they are both heels at the moment!

[Loss]

I suspect it was more them trying to prevent some of the pockets all around the building reacting out of sync and in different ways, as has happened at previous Wrestlemanias.