WrestleMania 36

[kas]

1 hour ago, flyonthewall2983 said:

Steph/Hunter vs. Ronda/Kurt

Becky vs Charlotte vs Sasha

[C.S.]

Charlotte vs. Asuka was a genuinely good match, and the best of the night up until that point, but no one gives it credit because of the shock finish.

[KawadaSmile]

I think the post match was more annoying than the finish. It did lead to the Nakamura bait and switch, though.

[DMJ]

On the 1st page, I mentioned how whittling this show down to just 5 matches would be ideal. Then it became a 2-night deal and I thought, well, maybe 7 matches would be okay. But I hear they're still doing a SmackDown Women's Championship match? There's still gonna be a RAW Tag Team Title match and maybe a SmackDown one? Why? Why on Earth would the WWE waste their time doing this? Is it just the public service of having people check to make sure the fast forward function works on their remotes? I thought that was what Owens/Rollins was for.

I can kinda understand when you've got 40,000 people coming out that you want to provide lots of "bang for your buck" and you need 10 matches to fill a 6-hour show.

But this is not that anymore.

This is a 2-night TV show that, based on AJ's promo about his match against Taker being a "Boneyard Match" and what I'm expecting out of Wyatt/Cena and Edge/Orton, isn't really going to be very heavy on traditional wrestling wrestling. I'm expecting AJ/Taker to be almost like the Broken Matt Hardy match at his compound, Wyatt/Cena to be very similiar to the Boiler Room Brawl match, and Edge/Orton be a Empty Arena brawl that starts in the ring but finishes somewhere else entirely. 

On the typical show, having 3 of these type of matches on the same card would be ridiculous and too much...but on this particular show, its the opposite, its the "normal" matches that are going to feel weird and kinda like a dress rehearsal. And, even when SNL films their dress rehearsal, they do it in front of a live audience. I've seen a few empty arena matches over the past few weeks, on that one episode of SmackDown and on Dynamite, and once the novelty and uniqueness of it wear off, its just hard to see it as something one would want to watch for any real length of time - especially when the stakes are as meaningless and lame as the current WWE Tag Team Title scene or Smackdown Women's Championship.

[C.S.]

Wrestling Inc. posted this:

"WWE Superstars Dana Brooke and Rey Mysterio are currently in quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio."

Did Meltzer actually say this? If so, holy shit...

Shouldn't everyone Rey and Dana Brooke wrestled against or interacted with also get tested? Makes no sense to me that Andrade and Garza are still on the show teaming against the Street Profits. 

I assume Ryan Satin won't have a word to say about any of this though. 

[Tim Evans]

Orange county which is part of orlando is doing a stay at home order. If they are taping mania. They need to finish by Thursday at 11pm.

[SirEdger]

Yikes.

[Johnny Sorrow]

If they do tape this and put it out it'll probably be the first Mania since 9 that I don't watch. I just can't watch these shows with no audience, be it WWE or AEW. 

[The Thread Killer]

15 hours ago, Johnny Sorrow said:

If they do tape this and put it out it'll probably be the first Mania since 9 that I don't watch. I just can't watch these shows with no audience, be it WWE or AEW. 

Why did you skip WM9?  That was the one in Vegas, right? 

I hear you, though.  I was a 15 year old fan at the time of the first Wrestlemania, but had no way to watch it...I had to wait until it came out on video and rent it, although as I remember they did a great job of getting it into Video Stores quickly.  I saw 2, 3, 4 and 5 on closed circuit and then since then I've seen every other one on PPV.  Even at times my fandom had waned to the point of not watching WWF TV anymore, I still always watched Wrestlemania, for sentimental reasons if nothing else. I sometimes regretted it but I always made sure to catch Wrestlemania, no matter the circumstances.

But this year, I dunno.  I don't like the empty area stuff at all.  I don't blame them for doing it, because they have no choice...but I am not at all excited about it.  Then again, I'll probably be stuck in the house and will end up watching it out of boredom and a lack of anything better to do.  If nothing else, the watch along threads here at PWO are sometimes as entertaining as the shows themselves.

[Johnny Sorrow]

I saw Mania 1 and 2 on closed circuit and Mania 3 on PPV. Then I kinda lost interest for awhile, watched 8 on PPV then the next was 10. I haven't missed one since.

[NintendoLogic]

This just keeps getting better.

 

[WingedEagle]

That is great to hear.  I'm glad Roman is paying attention to what's going on and/or relying on sound medical advice.  Good for him!

[Strummer]

Good for Roman!

[hammerva]

Even with use Dr. Fauci's and I believe the Tampa politicians belief of places only allowed up to 50 max, there is no way even with two night they were only putting 50 or less people in that Performance Center for a Wrestlemania show.   Even if he has recovered from the leukemia he still have a weakened system and just checking their temperature isn't enough

I haven't really followed how the situation in the Tampa area is getting but it seems like Florida may start to spread a lot faster because of how relaxed they seem to be on warning 

[C.S.]

If it were me, I'd have Samoa Joe come in as a surprise and destroy Goldy for the belt (and I haven't always been the biggest Joe fan).

Bryan or Joe are realistically their best options.

Instead, we'll probably get Bray regaining it in a stinker.

[Strummer]

Apparently according to the newest Observer, Lashley is off the show as well. Or might be quarantined as of now

just knowing  how wwe works I'd guess Braun gets the shot against Goldberg. Yeah even after the dumbass things he said last week

[NintendoLogic]

Word on the street is that Braun is replacing Roman. Barf.

[sek69]

15 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

Word on the street is that Braun is replacing Roman. Barf.

Probably his reward for telling the poors to suck it on social media.

[rovert]

I learned about Roman late Wednesday night.

Expect other pullouts of the men with young families variety.

But there's a boarder theme and consideration though that's more interesting than wrestlers finally doing the right thing for once and not being macho or brand whores. I can't emphasise this enough Vince has lost SO much respect, the fear factor etc over the last while. Creative, personal conduct, business acumen wise it is all completely shot. 

If/when WWE comes back in front of live crowds and normalcy expect WCW levels of phoning it and dead behind the eyes. So much of WWE's success was based on impressing the great Vince McMahon and "Vince wouldn't ask talent to do something he would do on TV" (Vince famously pissed his pants in a segment with Steve Austin). But that's largely gone now. 

[flyonthewall2983]

It feels like we might be seeing the crumbling of an empire before our very eyes. What I thought would happen to WWE after the markets crashing in 2008 feels more tangibly real now. Between this and the Saudi deal potentially crumbling, they could be in trouble. I'm not expert but it can't be good when the stock goes down as it did recently, even to bounce back up again. It's like one of those crash diets that end up making you as fat or worse. 

[rovert]

30 minutes ago, flyonthewall2983 said:

 

 

3 minutes ago, flyonthewall2983 said:

It feels like we might be seeing the crumbling of an empire before our very eyes. What I thought would happen to WWE after the markets crashing in 2008 feels more tangibly real now. Between this and the Saudi deal potentially crumbling, they could be in trouble. I'm not expert but it can't be good when the stock goes down as it did recently, even to bounce back up again. It's like one of those crash diets that end up making you as fat or worse. 

It has been and will be a death by a thousand cuts.

Even before the Coronavirus emerged. Effectively eliminating live events, not keeping wrestlers busy and non-thinking, paying some mid to low card silly money to stay for another 5 years and thus not linking performance to pay anymore was a recipe for a disaster. 

Then you have got the knock-on effect that creates log jam for an already deeply overstuffed NXT roster when it comes to call ups. The very recent trend of using NXT talent as enhancement talent on Raw and Smackdown hasn't gone down well morale wise. A lot of really passionate wrestlers who really bought into the dream from childhood are being left with little choice but to retrain their brain to just collect the money and stop caring about pride at this point.

But this time off has allowed the entire roster top to bottom and every brand to reflect on what a shitty system WWE has, there is life outside of Wrestling, sniff the roses and admire the birds on their back porch, realise they actually like spending time with their partner and children, ponder an exit strategy and all that stuff. 

[MoS]

Assuming Braun beats Goldberg, when all this is over, does Roman get to beat Braun or do they shaft him yet again, this time for the horrible crime of having a compromised immune system because of cancer.

[Migs]

1 hour ago, MoS said:

Assuming Braun beats Goldberg, when all this is over, does Roman get to beat Braun or do they shaft him yet again, this time for the horrible crime of having a compromised immune system because of cancer.

I'd actually assume Goldberg wins and Roman beats him at the first PPV with people. If Braun takes the title, Roman beats him there.

[RingoPlaysDrums]

Been preoccupied with other things lately and obviously the status of an annual wrestling show pails in comparison to all the other shit going on around the world but as this draws closer I find myself tempted to get into the Wrestlemania spirit by watching some old shows and so on. As for this one, I think everything's been said already and it's crazy that it is still going ahead in one form or another. Good on Roman for pulling out. No idea whether to expect much at all in the way of entertainment from it but I'll watch out of curiosity and because I'll have plenty of free time on my hands. It'll be something, that's for sure. 

 

[Slasher]

Braun definitely devalued himself the past year or more, both in character on the shows and in real life. However, I am stoked to see what Braun as champion would look like. That said, I don't think that whoever replaces Roman would automatically be put over Goldberg. Its likely they have Braun eat the pin and try the Reigns/Goldy match again later.