Wrestlemania 35: The KawadaSmile tribute thread

[Johnny Sorrow]

I just rewatched Kofi vs Bryan to experience it again. I never do that. My all time favorite match list just got a new member. 

And I watched it as it happened surrounded by friends and family, most of whom? Not wrestling fans by any means, and two 8 year olds who were all into it and celebrating for Kofi. 

It was wonderful.

[flyonthewall2983]

https://www.nj.com/sports/2019/04/no-train-we-riot-a-journey-through-nj-transits-hellish-post-wrestlemania-35-meltdown.html?outputType=amp&__twitter_impression=true

[Zoo Enthusiast]

1 hour ago, flyonthewall2983 said:

https://www.nj.com/sports/2019/04/no-train-we-riot-a-journey-through-nj-transits-hellish-post-wrestlemania-35-meltdown.html?outputType=amp&__twitter_impression=true

Really glad I didn’t go to this Mania weekend.  It looked like a nightmare to begin with.

[Ricky Jackson]

I loved Bryan vs Kofi. Great, great match. Show is getting a lot of love and it was probably one of the better Mania's of the decade I guess, but that awful stretch of heatless matches in between the WWE title match and the main event was just brutal. I was dead by the main. I know I watched it but was barely conscious and no longer capable of caring. Next year I'm going to go out for a walk and enjoy the day and just cherry pick stuff later. Never again 

[FMKK]

24 minutes ago, Zoo Enthusiast said:

Really glad I didn’t go to this Mania weekend.  It looked like a nightmare to begin with.

Apparently there was info online that you could take a train or a bus so lots of people must have missed that to be queuing up for Ubers.

Dave is reporting that Ronda suffered a "severely broken hand" in that main event last night.

[Matt D]

I don't regret going to sleep. Best part of the main was Ronda's trash talking. That crowd was exhausted. 

[KB8]

I was pretty much dead on my arse by the end, but somehow the show didn't feel like as much of a slog as last year's. I had more beer this year, tbf. 

I liked how all the luchadors got eliminated from the battle royal in the hurtiest ways possible. I liked Lesnar throwing Rollins around like a sack of carrots and Rollins getting all welted up. I liked the Shane McMahon match way more than I expected and that bump where he scooted clean off the top of a golf buggy into a flat back concrete bump was ludicrous. I liked Bryan/Kofi a bunch and pretty much everything about it was the perfect payoff. I liked Drew's bagpipes entrance. I liked Cena's midlife crisis lame ass Thuganomics goofiness and how he clearly knew it was lame as fuck and went all the way with it anyhow. I liked Helmsley yanking Batista's nose ring out with a pair of pliers. I liked Batista taking a bunch of nutty bumps that he absolutely doesn't need to take now that he's an actual movie star people take seriously. I liked Alexa Bliss, although I did NOT like how I felt closer to the hardcore Alexa Bliss creepers than I ever would've wanted. I liked Charlotte getting the motherfucking helicopter entrance. I liked Rousey shit-talking and pretty much everything else she did but especially the "you chop like a BITCH" and "tables are for BITCHES" parts. 

I probably will never watch any of it ever again. 

[Captain Redneck]

16 hours ago, WingedEagle said:

The baby is bathed, changed, fed and now in mom's hands for the rest of the night.  I've begun consuming what will hopefully be an absurd amount of bad calories.  Soda is cold and in supply.  

LET'S DO THIS, PEOPLE.  Doesn't sound like the CW opener or women's battle royal were anything all that special, and Revival/Job Squad thus far feels right out of Main Event.

I'm counting on everyone to get me through these next 6?  7?  8?  hours.

I hate that fucking phase.

[BigBadMick]

3 minutes ago, Captain Redneck said:

I hate that fucking phase.

Seriously, you thought it was worth telling us that?

[BigBadMick]

Just finished watching, 3.55 in afternoon here. 

 

Really enjoyed first half, and Hhh Batista wasn't bad, and the main was good but poor ending.

 

Took a day off to do this and I'm exhausted too!

[KawadaSmile]

I went to Lollapalooza and I am fucking SPENT. I can't imagine wanting an event like Wrestlemania to last two days, really. 

I'll get to watch this thing today/tomorrow, as I really need a refresher.

[Shrike02]

4 hours ago, Ricky Jackson said:

I loved Bryan vs Kofi. Great, great match. Show is getting a lot of love and it was probably one of the better Mania's of the decade I guess, but that awful stretch of heatless matches in between the WWE title match and the main event was just brutal. I was dead by the main. I know I watched it but was barely conscious and no longer capable of caring. Next year I'm going to go out for a walk and enjoy the day and just cherry pick stuff later. Never again 

I'm pretty sure you were still breathing but I was likewise nearly comatose.

[Stiva]

Stray thoughts as I go.

Trying to rehab Racist Hulk Hogan as a bumbling idiot who doesn't know the name of any arena in the country is a bold move.

Lesnar/Rollins was a much better match when they did it with Balor and Bryan and I really don't buy three curb stomps as enough to put Brock down, even if he did sell them like death. Balor's stomps and Bryan's kicks looked like better killshots and they didn't put him down. Kind of felt like Brock jobbing out of the territory but I'm sure they'll throw more money at him for a rematch in Saudi Arabia.

Orton stretching out a 7 hour show by taking twice as long to walk down a huge ramp is some of his finest heel work ever. But man, the match was a snorefest. We've seen everything Orton has to give at this point, especially as a quasi-top guy and Styles is in dire need of a shift to Raw to freshen up his work. The crowd clearly didn't have the attention span to stick with the slow pace, even if the work wasn't sub-par, they'd have been chanting and singing like assholes and quite why King gets trotted out when he clearly doesn't watch the TV is beyond me. I think a rematch with a gimmick could be a lot better but other than a few neat moments (Orton committing himself to the RKO fake-out was fun, the superplex was great), this seemed to drag on and on.

Rusev and Lana remain the most underutilised double act they have, the whole look is complete money. It's halfway depressing that even the Mania crowd can't be bothered to sing along to Nakamura's music anymore. Black and Ricochet felt like big deals with their entrances and a long series with The Usos would be great considering I I find Ricochet's actual work far more digestible in tags. Cesaro is such an incredible base, holy shit. The spot with Sheamus smashing everyone on the ring apron while Cesaro swung Ricochet around about 75 times was a great use of limited time and felt like the first real memorable spot on the card. If they're actually serious about focusing on tag wrestling, any combo of these guys should get given plenty of time on TV.

I actually dig heel Shane (as a character) whereas badass, walking tall babyface Miz is still as miscast as he was in The Marine. Shane's strikes look like the ones you'd throw when play-wrestling as a kid, Jesus, even if his general heel work is actually really solid. Papa Miz stepping in to throw down was great, I think he's my favourite pro-wrestling dad. The brawl into the crowd was kind of there but Shane's willingness to throw himself about onto concrete helps improve things and running down the foreign announce tables and hearing all the different languages shouting over each other led it an oddly convincing air of chaos. Shane could have an easy office job and spend time with his family, there's no need for him to go full-Foley but thank God he did because it actually made this really enjoyable, even if the actual execution of the brawling wasn't great. The pop when Papa Miz gets his shot in on Shane is going to be huge.

The inflatable tube men refusing to work made me laugh more than it should have. Thought this whole thing was largely dull, Nia being out of it so long actually hurt it since her presence would have offered something halfway different. IIconics are strong personalities and will be fun heels for The Sky Pirates to squash for the belts.

An all-timer of a video package for Kofi/Bryan and an awesome response for Kofi himself. Between Kofi and Becky, it's night and day how much more interesting and organic these matches are than the forced Rollins push. I dug the slow start with Bryan heeling it up with some nasty face scrubs and strikes with Kofi's spots getting peppered in here and there and man, what a bump to switch to Bryan in control, damn. Kofi just went full force into the table, that had to absolutely suck to take. Bryan getting to work as a heel wrestling machine in WWE is so great and the Boston Crab counter was an incredible spot. The whole heat segment feels like it could end at any point, simply because Bryan is being presented as a total world class pro wrestler. He's so good that he's counteracting for Kofi's general lack of credible singles offense by making all of it look fantastic and spacing it out perfectly. An absolutely incredible performance. Woods and Big E getting their big moment helping their boy was a great spot and the near fall on the kick was on-par with the one Bryan hit on Lesnar. It didn't feel like Bryan vs Kofi, it felt like Bryan vs an entire stadium. Like he was fighting against the tides of fate itself and he almost pulled it out. Great moment and the babyfaces cheering was an awesome touch. I hesitate to call it a carry job from Bryan but it really was a GOAT-level performance. Woods bawling like a baby watching his buddy win the big one is more evidence that The New Day can never ever break up.

I need to take it in two parts since this show is so long and I'll be amazed if anything matches Kofi winning the belt for a sheer emotional response

[Downend2005]

I think they missed a trick with the main event finish. I’m reading elsewhere that the crucifix was the planned finish, but it came out of nowhere and even the crowd were caught out. If they wanted Becky to catch one on Ronda, I’d have personally preferred Charlotte having Ronda in the figure eight and Becky runs in and steals a pin whilst Ronda is trapped.

That way you play up Charlotte possibly winning, but Ronda doesn’t tap out and Becky wins by outsmarting them both. 

The match was good, but the finish hurt it. Kofi/Bryan felt more like the main event.

 

 

[Migs]

19 minutes ago, Downend2005 said:

I think they missed a trick with the main event finish. I’m reading elsewhere that the crucifix was the planned finish, but it came out of nowhere and even the crowd were caught out. If they wanted Becky to catch one on Ronda, I’d have personally preferred Charlotte having Ronda in the figure eight and Becky runs in and steals a pin whilst Ronda is trapped.

That way you play up Charlotte possibly winning, but Ronda doesn’t tap out and Becky wins by outsmarting them both. 

The match was good, but the finish hurt it. Kofi/Bryan felt more like the main event.

 

 

Yeah, not sure if the idea for the finish was a problem so much as they hadn't quite built up the sense that things were about to end. You don't want to catch 80k people off guard. That's why it was so quiet at first - the pop came when people realized it was the finish.

[sek69]

I don't know if I've ever seen a crowd want someone to win as badly as they did for Kofi. 

 

[hammerva]

8 hours ago, Zoo Enthusiast said:

Really glad I didn’t go to this Mania weekend.  It looked like a nightmare to begin with.

I am sure I will offend every New Yorker and most New Jersey people when I saw I don't want WM in that area for a long ass time.  Guys should be extra in your paychecks dealing with that transmit mess.  Especially those in the Jersey City and New York at night.  

As being there live I gave the show a B.  Kofi vs Bryan was incredible and had all of the emotions you could possibly want.  You get the feeling that Kofi winning was special for so many people than "he is a good guy".  Especially wrestlers.  There was a video showing MVP and Shad Gaspard watching the finish at a bar and they couldn't control themselves in the emotions they were so happy.   Yeah it was a WORKRATE MOVEZ classic but story was perfect.   

I liked Reigns vs Drew a lot more than everyone else did.  It is amazing that it only took a month before fans started booing him again.   Hell I thought the non battle royal pre show matches were really good.  I am sure that the Revival are winning back the belts tonight but like Zach Ryder a couple years ago it was his moment to enjoy.    Between that win and the IIconics winning Meltzer was more grumpy that usual.    Triple H vs Batista was just terrible.  Lashley vs Balor was fine but at the 7 hour mark nobody wanted to see it.   Yeah seeing a 50 year Cena doing WORD LIFE is odd but man that crowd lost its shit for it. 

The story behind the finish is getting more and more nutty.  First it was "the ref fucked up the finish and becky was supposed to beat Charlotte" to "that was the finish but Rousey fucked up raising the shoulder" to "Rousey lifted her shoulder on purpose to screw with Becky's finish cause they have HEAT" or some shit like that.  It seems like the story of Rousey not wanting to job to Becky got way more attention then it should have.

 

[FMKK]

Meltzer seemed to be hinting (imo reading between the lines) that the finish was at least partially due to some Heyman fuckery, lobbying that Ronda shouldn't tap. The same sort of blurring the lines shit they've done with Brock a few times in the last few years.

[sek69]

Yeah it seemed pretty clear he was referring to Heyman as the one adamant that Ronda shouldn't tap, which I actually agree with. She's obviously the type that would rather get KTFO than tap in a real fight, so her tapping in pro wrestling wouldn't make sense. The story of "she never had to deal with pins in Judo or MMA so she could get caught in a flash pin situation in wrestling" works better, that is until what happened.  Whatever the real details are, when it happened my first thought was Becky just got Sting'd by Ronda's Hulk Hogan. 

[FMKK]

15 minutes ago, sek69 said:

Yeah it seemed pretty clear he was referring to Heyman as the one adamant that Ronda shouldn't tap, which I actually agree with. She's obviously the type that would rather get KTFO than tap in a real fight, so her tapping in pro wrestling wouldn't make sense. The story of "she never had to deal with pins in Judo or MMA so she could get caught in a flash pin situation in wrestling" works better, that is until what happened.  Whatever the real details are, when it happened my first thought was Becky just got Sting'd by Ronda's Hulk Hogan. 

We'll find out the real truth on a Bruce podcast in about ten years lol

[hammerva]

Now the new story is that the shoulders were supposed to be up and it is setting up for Becky vs Rousey at next year's WM.   Or as it will probably end up being Becky vs Rousey vs Charlotte part 2

[sek69]

Just imagine if Shawn's shoulders were up when Austin beat him at Mania to set up a rematch with someone with no set return date. Which come to think about it, is amazing that it didn't happen that way considering Shawn's views on losing cleanly. 

[KawadaSmile]

Now that Ronda's had a full debut year, is it fair to think she's the best rookie in wrestling history?

[donsem43]

Cool fun fact: Kofi's win came a day before the 45th anniversary of Hank Aaron passing Babe Ruth's total for career home runs.

[SirEdger]

15 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

Now that Ronda's had a full debut year, is it fair to think she's the best rookie in wrestling history?

I would definitely have to make that argument. Some might say that Goldberg's rookie year was more phenomenal but considering Ronda really was starting from scratch, that was extraordinary.