ShittyLittleBoots Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 When the build to this match started, my biggest fear was that it would be a 30 minute DRAMATIC™ finisher nearfall -fest forced epic, but MY GOODNESS it wasn't anything like that! The whole angle building to it with Cena on the crowd, coming out to thinking he'll face Taker, Elias coming out, Cena destroying Elias etc was tremendous & once Taker's theme finally hit, Cena sold that tremendously. He had already accepted that Taker wasn't gonna show up, and because of that he wasn't ready at all for the match - that was the story of this under 3-minute sprint squash; Cena wasn't ready for Taker & Taker just absolutely wrecked him. Awesome angle, awesome match. ***3/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 I want the same shit you take. Match was nothing, and they still manage to make a boot to the face look awful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KB8 Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 Yeah, in general Im nowhere near SLB on most things, but were not even in the same stratosphere with this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eas Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 Cocaine is Bath Salts are a hell of a drug, I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShittyLittleBoots Posted April 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmartMark15 Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 After the shocking outlier of the Takeover main event, SLB and I are right on the money with this one. Except I'm tempted to rate it even higher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 This was great, what the fuck are you guys saying. If you expected an epic match, the joke's on you. The story of Cena wanting Taker to the point of looking pathetic - he's basically forcing Taker out of retirement just so he can have a payday - and getting the shit kicked out of him is something unexpected and honestly, it was quite fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G. Badger Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 I want the same shit you take. Match was nothing, and they still manage to make a boot to the face look awful. Are you talking about the one that didn't even come close to making any sort of contact? They switched camera angles on that whiff so fast I thought this segment was tedious filler for a WM moment etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cactus Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 We finally got Cena vs Undertaker at Wrestlemania. It's just a damn shame we got it at least 5 years too late. For an angle, this was fine for what it was worth. That big boot was hilariously bad. All the build up leading up this on the show was delightful as Cena is a man who can still sell me any storyline. This was fun filler on a show that was already too long to begin with. I can't say I'm a fan of them undoing everything they achieved with Undertaker's perfect send-off last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 I was hoping that they were going to have something of a dramatic match, but if this was always the goal and Taker wasn't going to do anything more physically intense, the way they booked toward it and pulled it off was actually PERFECT. In context this wasn't disappointing at all. Very memorable segment, Elias with one of the great heel spots of all time, and man Cena went HIGH for that Chokeslam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spookysaku Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 I thought this match was garbage but I love that this thread exists. I look forward to watching these matches individually with a bit of separation. I like the idea of Taker and Cena working a quick sprint but the execution was awful, the 'moment' anticlimactic, and it took a lot of the energy out of the building. After a hot start the show went downhill exactly at this point for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wahoos Leg Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 The best Taker has looked in years, but the entire build and execution of this makes no sense in the greater context of what happened in the main event Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 I thought Taker looked cosmetically strong but absolutely dreadful in the ring. He moved like what he is -- a beat-up 53-year-old man. And his timing was amateurish. A hot 10-minute sprint would have been fine, even ideal. But this was a big letdown after all that booking effort. I appreciate Cena's humility and willingness to try something different. But it was weird to see him portrayed as such a stooge on a show where the announcers were proclaining him the best ever. This just didn't work, and as stated above, it was the negative turning point for the entire show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 That gets overlooked here. Cena is a fucking trooper. And as far as presence, aura and star power, he's still above everyone else, as demonstrated by the whole "sit in the crowd/reaction shots/Elias angle" combo and the way he reacted to Taker's entrance. The guy is still at that level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yo-Yo's Roomie Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 This was pathetic. I enjoy a good squash, but Taker could barely move. That big boot... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruiserBrody Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 I took the story to be that Taker was pissed that Cena was talking smack and dragging him out of retirement, so Taker just went fast and loose and whooped him before SuperCena knew what hit him. It was fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickH Posted April 11, 2018 Report Share Posted April 11, 2018 Its scary that WWE may have found the formula to make Taker appear at Mania for the next 10 years. Squash matches. Taker is just there for the entrance now, nothing more. He did look 10x better than last year but fans should understand by now that he is not retiring at all. I don't think Vince can let him go. It's going to be really sad in a few years. Shawn Michaels goes out like Johnny Carson and Undertaker will go out like Bob Hope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cap Posted April 12, 2018 Report Share Posted April 12, 2018 Just rewatched this. It was a fun little segment, but it was just that... a segment in match form. Taker really did look pretty bad. Everything looked very soft. I have no objection to the match as they did it, but it wasn't what I would consider a "a good match". Fortunately, there is more to wresting than good matches so thumbs up as a nifty little segment that let everyone see another grand Taker entrance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boss Rock Posted April 14, 2018 Report Share Posted April 14, 2018 As a match? Yeah this wasn't anything special. As an angle? I loved it. Cena talks shit about the Undertaker for weeks, BEGGING him for a match at Mania. And when he finally gets it, he realizes "Oh shit, I didn't prepare for this at all!" Ultimate example of a dog catching a car. Some of the offense was pretty embarrassing (the aforementioned big boot in particular), but Taker getting his shit in and looking all sorts of dominant was actually kind of cool (then again I've always been a huge fan). In a way, I think Cena deserved better for a Wrestlemania match and this will no doubt lead to a rematch that is long and bad, but I still strangely loved this 2:45 minute "Be careful what you wish for" story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WrestlingFan Posted April 26, 2018 Report Share Posted April 26, 2018 I like it.I'm not disturbed by the length because it avoids the faults that could have taken place as the mediocrity of Undertaker's physical performance due to his age or those we don't even think of.Cena sells badly the big boot, as the others usagers said. I'm glad that Taker squashes Cena.*** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Enthusiast Posted April 26, 2018 Report Share Posted April 26, 2018 As a match? Yeah this wasn't anything special. As an angle? I loved it. Cena talks shit about the Undertaker for weeks, BEGGING him for a match at Mania. And when he finally gets it, he realizes "Oh shit, I didn't prepare for this at all!" Ultimate example of a dog catching a car. Some of the offense was pretty embarrassing (the aforementioned big boot in particular), but Taker getting his shit in and looking all sorts of dominant was actually kind of cool (then again I've always been a huge fan). In a way, I think Cena deserved better for a Wrestlemania match and this will no doubt lead to a rematch that is long and bad, but I still strangely loved this 2:45 minute "Be careful what you wish for" story. I think Wai Ting said it best during their post-Mania podcast when he said that the build was actually the majority of the match in this case. That was the way I felt about it, too, so I loved it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peachchaos Posted April 27, 2018 Report Share Posted April 27, 2018 It's tragic to see how far both Cena and Taker have fallen in terms of performance. With Undertaker, it was to be expected due to age, but Cena clearly has several years left and should be at the top of his game. So instead of the classic successor to the Michaels-Undertaker series, after all these years the dream match became a dream angle by pure necessity. The buildup was certainly nothing to write home about, with a babyface Cena calling out the legend for weeks on end to no avail. This would have been perfect schtick for ANY heel on the roster and instead they go back to the well of Tweener Cena. The trouble is, the bloom is off the rose and Cena has worked passed the smarky crowds and earned their respect. But none of that matters because Undertaker appears after a 20 minute segment and squashes Cena in 4 minutes. The work doesn't look all that impressive (not that it needed to) and there is never any doubt who will win. Undertaker gets all his shit in and we're home. DUD A better approach would have been to program a heel Kurt Angle (who can't move anyway) with Taker and have Cena fill what should have been The Rock's role in the Rousey program. Angle certainly didn't add a whole lot in the build or in the ring to the Rousey program, while I think Cena would have both made a lot of sense and brought his A-game in an already classic match. Angle's whole heel act could have gone down in a blaze of glory one last time and no one would have expected anything close to an even fight. Personally, I enjoyed the Elias part of the segment a lot more, which was better than it had any right to be. But none of this belonged on an already over-long and excessive card presented as the biggest show of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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