WWE Wrestlemania 38 the Mania of Wrestling

[Tetsujin]

Becky/Bianca was really good. Charlotte/Ronda was a bit of a mess with an awful finish, but still watchable if you want to give it a try.

Oh and it's super charming to look at how excited Byron Saxton was to receive a Stone Cold Stunner.

[El-P]

Meanwhile :

Funny mofos. 

[RingoPlaysDrums]

6 hours ago, Dav'oh said:

Imagine being a knackered 57 year-old who hasn't wrestled in two decades and not putting the younger, current guy over. That's some ego. And some A-Grade bullshit. 

Fuck this gerontocracy. (No, I was not expecting KO to win, because I don't expect logic.)

[Matt D]

I'm glad you guys survived the night and that things over-delivered. In glancing I caught the Cody entrance (but not the match) and the Austin match, though without sound. I'm not sure if anything drastic had changed, but he could have done that once a year for the last fifteen years and we would have been better off for it. Pretty amazing Owens performance as he made Austin look incredibly strong without it seeming absurd or unbelievable. With all the Bret vs Shawn talk, it makes me wonder what wrestling would look like now if we had five more years of Austin in the early 00s. At 40 now, it's a little crazy to think his big run was when he was 33-38 or so and he was done when he was younger than I am.

[RingoPlaysDrums]

The show was a blast. They knocked it out the park, pretty much. The two night format is working well again. The crowd's response is so important to the success of these big shows and when they're asked to sit through 7 hours of wrestling it's just not going to work. This was four hours and there was noise pretty much everything.  

Country Rockers doing America the Beautiful, delightful. Mark Wahlberg's introduction, bit shit. 

Nakamura & Boogs' entrance is a great way to start off the show. Match wasn't much. Boogs getting legitimately injured being a big part of the reason why. But yeah, fine. 

Corbin & McIntyre worked hard and delivered a better than expected match. Last couple of minutes were really enjoyable. Drew trying to murder Moss post-match is silly but it's a moment.  

Logan Paul looked right at home in the ring and the match was loads of fun. Proper Wrestlemania match. Miz/Paul set up. We’ll definitely be seeing Paul again next year, if not before. 

Lynch/Belair. Wow. Incredible effort from both. They started off hot, teasing the quick finish as a call back to their Summerslam bout and from there the pace barely let up for 20 minutes. Yes, there was some sloppy execution but it was a match packed with great moments. Another big win for Belair. She’s knocked off Banks & Lynch in back to back Wrestlemanias now. I wonder if it’ll be Belair/Flair in LA next year. 

Cody’s entrance was a big moment with a big reaction. Even though Seth’s angle was dumb this whole thing ended up working out well. The deal with Cody was obviously done at the right time. The fact that we didn’t see Cody at all until the show made the whole thing feel fresher and more special. Where Cody goes from here in WWE I’m not sure but this was great. Match ended up being really good as well, although I think I preferred the match before. 

Flair/Rousey started off slow and I thought this was destined to be the “big Wrestlemania match that completely loses the crowd” of this year but to their credit they seemed to get most invested again. Delivered a good if unspectacular match. Abrupt and strange ending. Feels like Rousey has lost some of the mystique that defined her first run. This was not as good as their first match at Survivor Series but I didn’t dislike it. 

Saw most of these video packages for the first time on Smackdown but I didn’t mind seeing a lot of them again. Mostly very good. Gable Steveson given the big Stephanie introduction. Looking forward to seeing him in there. You start planting the seeds for Steveson/Lesnar imo. 

I watched the Hall of Fame and it was a fantastic watch. The last two or three, without the roster watching on, have lacked the charm of the previous HOF ceremonies. So having them back out there on the stage was very welcome. Scotty Steiner’s story about Savage and the cows was just what the doctor ordered. Booker’s introduction and Sharmell’s speech were actually very touching. Shad Gaspard’s induction even more so. I’m a huge Vader fan so was good to see him go in but one wishes they’d done it whilst he was still alive. He really wanted it by all accounts. Taker’s speech was just phenomenal. The standing ovation must have gone on for over 5 minutes. And the speech over half an hour. Very few could talk for so long and not lose the audience at some point. Being able to address the likes of Godfather, Kane, HBK & HHH directly was cool. Nods to BSK and Crush. Foley probably the most notable exclusion. Back to Wrestlemania! Another big moment when he made his entrance to a loud reaction. 

Entire final segment was just perfect. I figured they just might turn it into an official match when it was announced as going on last. And then Austin came out in wrestling gear (well, his street fight type gear rather than the long jeans and trainers that he’ll often come out in). Good talking bit. Great fighting bit. Post-match celebration. Just a joy. 

[Matt D]

Oh I feel bad for New Day to get bumped, especially after the Big E injury. I'm sure they had some special sort of into planned.

[El-P]

Funny (not really, actually predictable) how Mania thus far has been very well received while there is exactly zero hype about NXT's show. Remember a few years ago when the Takeover before Mania was always the peak of the week-end and everybody was going crazy about it ? Of course it was also before AEW existed, but still.

[Dav'oh]

1 hour ago, RingoPlaysDrums said:

I know, right?! 

Owens cant even beat an old retired cunt who wears fucking calipers!

[strobogo]

Upon some reflection, Steve Austin is such a better fit for the grizzled old gunslinger raising hell one last time than what Taker has tried to do and been billed as for the past decade or more. In terms of character, personality, match style, and execution. Now hopefully he didn't get the itch to come back and ruin what was a very special moment for a whole lot of people. 

[NotJayTabb]

41 minutes ago, El-P said:

Funny (not really, actually predictable) how Mania thus far has been very well received while there is exactly zero hype about NXT's show. Remember a few years ago when the Takeover before Mania was always the peak of the week-end and everybody was going crazy about it ? Of course it was also before AEW existed, but still.

I think part of it is that Takeover used to be the night before Mania, rather than the same day. Hard to get that hype when it's hours before a bigger show. It was still a plenty good show though. Cameron Grimes has been, at worst, a top 3 worker in NXT since the day he arrived, glad to see him finally get a belt

[Downend2005]

46 minutes ago, El-P said:

Funny (not really, actually predictable) how Mania thus far has been very well received while there is exactly zero hype about NXT's show. Remember a few years ago when the Takeover before Mania was always the peak of the week-end and everybody was going crazy about it ? Of course it was also before AEW existed, but still.

I’m not really sure what point you are trying to make here really, other than trying to shoehorn in ‘don’t forget how great AEW is’.

To add to what NotJayTabb said, the drastic change in personnel and booking philosophy in NXT back to a developmental obviously tempers hype and expectations somewhat. 

Considering you had ‘zero hopes’ for Mania earlier in the thread, it probably wasn’t all that predictable that night 1 would be so well received. Shouldn’t the fact that the big show is the one that has been widely praised actually be seen as a positive?

[El-P]

9 minutes ago, Downend2005 said:

I’m not really sure what point you are trying to make here really, other than trying to shoehorn in ‘don’t forget how great AEW is’.

Actually, it's just a matter of context. 5-6 years ago, NXT was the hot product in the US pro-wrestling landscape. Of course AEW has changed the perception since there was no other alternative back then, and WWE had produced its own alternative of sorts (which was great).

9 minutes ago, Downend2005 said:

Considering you had ‘zero hopes’ for Mania earlier in the thread, it probably wasn’t all that predictable that night 1 would be so well received. Shouldn’t the fact that the big show is the one that has been widely praised actually be seen as a positive?

Sure it is. Especially after the last few years. It's just interesting how after years of Mania being perceived as this slog of a show and NXT was the hot shit, this year's Mania was very well received (although let's be honest, it's been talked about as a 3 matches show, and that's including the Austin stuff which is strictly nostalgia). But, NXT on the other hand went from a hot brand name to an after thought (putting it on the same day pretty much tells the whole story too). And yeah, I know they have changed the philosophy behind it, but they also have lost the hype that used to go along.

[Flyin' Brian]

40 minutes ago, strobogo said:

Upon some reflection, Steve Austin is such a better fit for the grizzled old gunslinger raising hell one last time than what Taker has tried to do and been billed as for the past decade or more. In terms of character, personality, match style, and execution. Now hopefully he didn't get the itch to come back and ruin what was a very special moment for a whole lot of people. 

The only match like this that I’d still like to see is Austin vs Cena if they decided to do one more. 

[BruiserBrody]

This felt more like Hogan vs Orton to me instead of Hogan/Shawn or Hogan/Rock. Not just due to star magnitude, but also in overall build.

Austin doing one 2 min promo to build to a return match partially over Texas' honor didn't really build to any emotional release.
They tried to book the comeuppance spot with Owens being hauled off by cowboy hat wearing lawmen, but that wasn't exactly the Linda McMahon standing up to kick Vince in the balls type of moment they were sort of building to.

I had a fantasy booking laid out in my head for Austin/Owens that would revolve around a worked knee surgery for Austin in December, a custom made wood carved rattle snake cane, and Owens re-injuring Austin to play up the fact that (as Owens mentioned last night) Austin has bum knees, a bum neck and overall has no business IN THIS VERY RING. So Austin has to go all Rocky 6 and do the old man training to prepare to open that one last can of whoop ass.

[SteveJRogers]

1 hour ago, strobogo said:

Upon some reflection, Steve Austin is such a better fit for the grizzled old gunslinger raising hell one last time than what Taker has tried to do and been billed as for the past decade or more. In terms of character, personality, match style, and execution. Now hopefully he didn't get the itch to come back and ruin what was a very special moment for a whole lot of people. 

Yup.  While just as broken down as Taker has been since the late 1990s, being a smaller guy makes Austin more believable as an older ass kicker.

Probably why the expectation was that this was going to be the same as just about every occasional spot segment Austin has done for the company since WM 19 rather than a very scaled down version of the Austin brawl style match that he’s done since SummerSlam ‘97.

[SteveJRogers]

10 hours ago, strobogo said:

This is a joke post right? If not, lmao.

Should be noted that Owens is roughly the same age as Austin was back in 2003, and has been with the company for nearly a decade now.  

Not exactly still a “spring chicken” that needed to go over in order to keep his relevancy with the company.

[Dale Wolfe]

That Bianca v Becky match is going to be hard to top this weekend. Really surprised how good it was. 

[PhilTLL]

Brief thoughts on night 1 ("the sober night") in ranking form:

1. Belair vs Lynch - the praise for this match is already abundant and it's all true. Easy top 2-3 WWE women's match. A few rough edges away from perfection; fantastic pacing and selling. Every bit of 4.5-4.75*.

2. Miz/Paul vs. Mysterios - a pleasant surprise from douchebag Logan Paul, who fits like a glove doing the Miz's heel act and is competent or better in the ring, with a nice physical presence (although he benefits from the surroundings). And of course the great pro work we expect from Miz and Rey, doing heel/face work and a classic tag format that they could do in their sleep.

3. Austin vs. Owens - like the previous, this gains a lot from exceeding expectations. And yes, from the sheer goofy emotions of the moment. Ever since they announced, all my old lapsed Attitude friends wanted was some Stunners and beer, and boy they got it, plus 14 minutes of classic... okay, classic-reminiscent chaos brawling and old-man bumps.

4. Flair vs. Rousey - not actively bad, but it lived *down* to expectations instead. I enjoyed the old school finish with a ref bump and a simple shock blow instead of 21 finishers, both as a Flair fan and in the sense that it's fine booking for still-green occasional wrestler Rousey to lose like that. Out of booking, of course, she still has major working problems. But this amused me more than...

5. Rhodes vs. Rollins - speaking of living down to expectations and not actively bad, I just can't believe this was the longest match on the damn card--I suppose the closing segment was longer, but this was still 21(!) of match and 30 with packages and intros. And this was probably the least interesting overall. Not a great acquittal work-wise for Cody, Rollins is Rollins, and I had never actually seen the neck tattoo, so I couldn't stop laughing for the first 2 minutes of the match.

6. MacIntyre vs. Corbin - both guys are fine and I like Happy Corbin the character, but this got short shaft on the booking totem and was just kind of there. The rope slaying was neat.

NR. Smackdown tag titles match - I was running late and didn't see this, but based on the description and the length I imagine the previous note also fits here.

[Jmare007]

8 hours ago, Dav'oh said:

"Blistering"?

Last time they beat Austin in Texas did horrible for business. Wouldn't have shocked me if less people showed up for Night 2

[Jmare007]

Checked Bianca vs Becky after all the praise it's gotten here and although it was a very good match I didn't think it was that special. Sasha vs Bianca was better.

[PhilTLL]

I'm happy to rewatch that one, I just felt like this was a little more well-rounded. And Bianca was noticeably better this year. It is a shame Sasha is stuck in the multi-tag this time around.

[strobogo]

Are there any pics of Bianca's face after the match? The accidental top rope koppo kick had to fuck her up.

[Matt D]

Given how WWE operates, last night was the start of a 2-3 month program between Cody and Rollins, right?

[Dale Wolfe]

Haven't really paid attention to the card much till this weekend, why Omos v Lashley? I thought they were trying to protect Omos and build him up, surely Lashley going over makes him lose a bit of steam 

Or does Lashley take the hit? WWE booking is so weird sometimes

[Lukeless]

15 hours ago, PhilTLL said:

Cody is a secret agent sent to infect the WWE locker room with AEW's trademark sloppiness. He shouldn't leave his feet if that's how he's going to execute dives.

Wasn't sure if this was a joke or not.

1 hour ago, PhilTLL said:

Rhodes vs. Rollins - speaking of living down to expectations and not actively bad, I just can't believe this was the longest match on the damn card--I suppose the closing segment was longer, but this was still 21(!) of match and 30 with packages and intros. And this was probably the least interesting overall. Not a great acquittal work-wise for Cody, Rollins is Rollins, and I had never actually seen the neck tattoo, so I couldn't stop laughing for the first 2 minutes of the match.

But then I saw this.  Why do you feel the need to disparage something you obviously don't watch?  Seems a bit odd to me.

 

But yea Mania was pretty great.  Stone Cold was my favorite wrestler for a long time and it was so cool to watch his match.