Ed. Posted April 4, 2022 Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 52 minutes ago, Blehschmidt said: So after several years of sacrificing everyone on the roster to build to "The Biggest Wrestlemania Match of All Time" (a title which Hogan/Andre, Hogan/Warrior, and Rock/Austin scoff at) we now have heel Roman Reigns as the top guy holding both world titles.... and the only guy coming out of the show with any babyface momentum that seems to be on the level to realistically challenge him... is 57 year old, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin who despite being retired for 19 years was hands down the biggest star of the weekend, both in the eyes of the fans, and was treated as such by the company. It never ceases to amaze that the company who spent the better part of it's existence with the hero babyface on top is now totally and utterly incapable of creating a single babyface that the fans are willing to get behind long term. I don’t disagree with the sentiment at all that they’ve sacrificed a lot to get heel Roman on top, but Cody Rhodes did come out of Saturday feeling like one of the biggest babyfaces in the company. His promo tonight is probably the big hook to the post mania raw. I believe he’s even done interview since the re-debut stating his aim is to win the WWE Championship, something that eluded his dad, so I think they’re definitely setting up for him to be a main event player in the coming months. Drew did win his match, but it was all very midcard. I don’t believe he’s faced Roman for the title in Roman’s long reign, so that’s another possibility but I’d be stretching it to say Drew has momentum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted April 4, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 Drew is a dude who has built enough cred as a top face a while ago, so my guess is that they don't need much to establish him as a legit face challenger. Lash also was positioned as the face, so he counts too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted April 4, 2022 Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 9 minutes ago, Ed. said: Cody Rhodes did come out of Saturday feeling like one of the biggest babyfaces in the company. Mania pop. Fresh out of AEW. See ya in 6 months after usual WWE booking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbo Slice Posted April 4, 2022 Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 Yeah, but it’s the same folks over and over again at this point. They keep running the same programs, they all seem interchangeable in a ton of ways. Neither Drew nor Lashley inspire confidence for actual compelling challenges. That’s part of the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmare007 Posted April 4, 2022 Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 Was about to post the same. From the outside, it feels Roman, Brock, Lashley and Drew are the new Cena, HHH, Batista, Orton and Edge of the mid 00s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted April 4, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 I would hope this Edge/Damien Priest duo ends up paying off. If we get a Bron Breakker call up and Gable Stevenson (yuck) ends up being good, things immediatly change. Of course, Austin Theory also is someone who VKM himself chose, so it seems like it's a matter of time before he's inserted in the title picture. I miss Jason Jordan, man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbo Slice Posted April 4, 2022 Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 Is there something that happened with Stevenson that I missed? I’m not on social and haven’t been keeping track as much lately so if there was something shady with him, not sure what it could have been. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJRogers Posted April 4, 2022 Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 4 minutes ago, Timbo Slice said: Is there something that happened with Stevenson that I missed? I’m not on social and haven’t been keeping track as much lately so if there was something shady with him, not sure what it could have been. https://cultaholic.com/posts/gable-steveson-issues-statement-on-2019-sexual-misconduct-investigation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted April 4, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 Just now, Timbo Slice said: Is there something that happened with Stevenson that I missed? I’m not on social and haven’t been keeping track as much lately so if there was something shady with him, not sure what it could have been. A pretty good summary of what happened Basically he faced no sexual assault charges due to a loophole in the Minnesota legal system. It was changed in 2021, and the whole thing took place from 2019 to 2020. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted April 4, 2022 Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 Maybe he can tag with Matt Riddle *wink wink nudge nudge*. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted April 4, 2022 Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 WWE putting him onscreen with RIddle and Orton (who has been alleged to wave his wanger at the writing team) was quite a choice by WWE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyin' Brian Posted April 4, 2022 Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 3 hours ago, Blehschmidt said: So after several years of sacrificing everyone on the roster to build to "The Biggest Wrestlemania Match of All Time" (a title which Hogan/Andre, Hogan/Warrior, and Rock/Austin scoff at) we now have heel Roman Reigns as the top guy holding both world titles.... and the only guy coming out of the show with any babyface momentum that seems to be on the level to realistically challenge him... is 57 year old, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin who despite being retired for 19 years was hands down the biggest star of the weekend, both in the eyes of the fans, and was treated as such by the company. It never ceases to amaze that the company who spent the better part of it's existence with the hero babyface on top is now totally and utterly incapable of creating a single babyface that the fans are willing to get behind long term. It's not that they are incapable, it's that they won't. Unless they can get someone that is a company man and they know will be a WWE lifer and not go work for another company, they are not going to build up anyone that could possibly become a big star in wrestling outside of WWE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyin' Brian Posted April 4, 2022 Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 2 hours ago, Jmare007 said: Was about to post the same. From the outside, it feels Roman, Brock, Lashley and Drew are the new Cena, HHH, Batista, Orton and Edge of the mid 00s. Just curious though, isn't this true of any era? At any one time has there ever been more than a handful of guys that felt deserving of main event status or that you could see being champion? It would be nice to see more variety in having a one month challenger for a B show PPV but honestly there are only a few guys that are believable in that role. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RingoPlaysDrums Posted April 4, 2022 Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 Had a blast again watching night two, although it wasn't quite on the level of night one. Very unlikely I'll carry on watching but for a modern Wrestlemania, they nailed it imo. Bloody good America the Beautiful performance. Hunter welcoming everyone to the show and leaving his boots in the ring was a really nice touch. Opener was just what you want. Really fun match to open the show with big spots for most of the participants. I was hoping Gable would get into it with Gable during the match so I was happy to see them interact after. Clearly in line for a huge push and with his accomplishments it's obvious why. Lashley worked hard and got something more than watchable out of Omos. Guessing that suplex is the most someone has been able to lift him so far. Don't think you physically can do a huge amount more with him. What can you say about Zayn/Knoxville? Completely bonkers. Bags of fun. Lots of silliness but pretty much everything worked. Happy for Sami. Big match/moment for him. Popped big for Sasha & Naomi winning the tag titles. Pretty fun match. Mixed feelings on AJ/Edge. There was some stuff I didn't like. A few occasions where it felt like they were trying to force a wrestling epic and not really succeeding. But then there were bits where it felt like I was watching some really great wrestling. Of all the matches on this weekend they probably had the highest expectations so for the most part I think they still delivered. Pretty incredible that a match like this is considered boring by some nowadays. This felt like it had a faster pace and more big spots than plenty of big beloved WWE matches from years gone by. But I guess times have changed. Glad to see Edge change his character up. I can't stand old babyface Rated R-Superstar Edge. Good new entrance and I was happy to see Priest joining the new stable. They look a good fit together. New Day/Sheamus & Ridge was the worst thing here but I liked the Big E tribute gear and they really do have a hell of a story there when Big E eventually does make his return. McAfee has to be the biggest babyface in the company. After Stone Cold anyway. The crowd was so behind him. Entrance was brilliant, match was great fun. Although I think I'd have had Austin come out a bit earlier. Vince mistook Theory's music for Austin's and kind of gave the game away but we knew it was coming at that point. Austin & Vince in the ring again. Great moment. Stunners all round, Vince may have just beaten his wife's record for worst stunner sell of all time. Austin & McAfee toasting and the shot of Pat on the floor drinking. Delightful. I decided to watch the previous Reigns/Lesnar matches before this. Ended up quite excited for it but it was pretty disappointing. Crowd was super into much of it but there wasn't really anything fresh or interesting about it. I was hoping they'd mix it up just a little bit with the huge billing and the fact that Brock's a babyface now. Very abrupt ending. Seems like there was an injury. Glad Reigns won. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RingoPlaysDrums Posted April 4, 2022 Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 13 hours ago, iamthedoctor said: Watching the hall of fame speech Taker mentioned he roughed up a jobber I mean enhancement talent on a tv match. Any ideas when this match was or who was his opponent? He said it was in Rochester, NY I believe. Cagematch lists two matches against jobbers on TV in his early WWE career in Rochester. One vs. Mario Mancini on Superstars on November 19th 1990 and another vs. Bill Pierce on August 19th 1991. I'd imagine it's one of those two! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbo Slice Posted April 4, 2022 Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 Fucked up about what Stevenson did, especially with the loophole. The rocket will be strapped to him, though. Because of course it will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmare007 Posted April 4, 2022 Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 1 hour ago, Flyin' Brian said: Just curious though, isn't this true of any era? At any one time has there ever been more than a handful of guys that felt deserving of main event status or that you could see being champion? It would be nice to see more variety in having a one month challenger for a B show PPV but honestly there are only a few guys that are believable in that role. WWE is different though because they not only have 1 PPV main title defense a month (on average). They have (well, had) TWO main titles. So when you combine all the content they have to book each week with the same 4-5 people rotating over the two belts, it gets repetitive way faster. And this company tends to stretch this cycle way more than others because they are financially secure so when a new guy is pushed, it's either for a transitional reign or to give a little break from the core 4-5 wrestlers so they can build to the shows "that actually matter". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boss Rock Posted April 4, 2022 Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 Finally watched Knoxville-Zayn and loved every bit of it. Hilarious spectacle and the best match of both shows that wasn't Becky-Bianca. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strobogo Posted April 4, 2022 Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 Just saying, the 6 months of the original Undisputed Championship run was the last time the main event scene in WWE was booked well and with a clear plan and foresight for every defense and title change. Personally I think everyone would benefit from going back to single band PPVs, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted April 4, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 Roman Reigns, one thousand days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovert Posted April 6, 2022 Report Share Posted April 6, 2022 On 4/4/2022 at 10:06 PM, Timbo Slice said: Fucked up about what Stevenson did, especially with the loophole. The rocket will be strapped to him, though. Because of course it will. But he genuinely has zero charisma between his on-screen appearance at Wrestlemania, backstage interview below and from what I've been told by people outside of Pro Wrestling that have worked with him. On the latter, he's just so boring. You are waiting for the conversation to end as soon as it starts. A lot of young people get recruited into amateur Wrestling and do that solely in their formative years instead of building any social skills. And he seems to be one of those cases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted April 6, 2022 Report Share Posted April 6, 2022 10 hours ago, rovert said: But he genuinely has zero charisma between his on-screen appearance at Wrestlemania, backstage interview below and from what I've been told by people outside of Pro Wrestling that have worked with him. On the latter, he's just so boring. You are waiting for the conversation to end as soon as it starts. A lot of young people get recruited into amateur Wrestling and do that solely in their formative years instead of building any social skills. And he seems to be one of those cases. This is exactly why Malcolm Bivens was placed on Earth, no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamthedoctor Posted April 17, 2022 Report Share Posted April 17, 2022 On 4/4/2022 at 10:04 PM, RingoPlaysDrums said: He said it was in Rochester, NY I believe. Cagematch lists two matches against jobbers on TV in his early WWE career in Rochester. One vs. Mario Mancini on Superstars on November 19th 1990 and another vs. Bill Pierce on August 19th 1991. I'd imagine it's one of those two! I can't see it being Mancini as he had been doing jobs for WWE I think since 84 so he had a pretty lengthy stay, and was Takers debut opponent. Im wondering if the Pierce match was edited as didn't look like he went old school on him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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