WrestleMania post show discussion

[CurryAngel]

I'm not what you'd call a wrestling fan but the Rock/Cena interaction the last few weeks attracted my attention so much that I decided to watch the last few Raws and Wrestlemania and have to say that from what I have seen The Miz is the worst champion I have ever seen. The guy looks about 6 years old, is shockingly boring on the mic, his in ring ability isn't great and was completely out of his depth in a WM main event.

 

The show was dull and unless I see a proper Cena - Rock feud I think I'm done with wrestling.

[Trout Stain]

Positives:

Edge's elbow drop onto a car that made him look like a massive spastic

Michael Cole's wonderful wrestling attire

It wasn't my turn this year to pay

[Brother Mouzone]

I enjoyed the fact that they're trying to gain a bigger mexican audience yet after 2 matches it was USA 2 - Mexico 0.

 

Well, Edge is Canadian and Rey was wearing a Captain America suit. But yeah, USA! and all that.

 

 

As a whole the show was pretty dire. Which is a massive shame as Raw has been hot for months now.

 

Impressed with Snooki, which shows I'm clutching at straws.

 

Taker/HHH felt awful, but I will definitely rewatch it soon, they seemed to take the easy route of faux-epic rather than actual epic, which they both have the stature to do.

 

I really wanted a Cena/Rock staredown and a proper confrontation, a cheap Rock Bottom from behind means (in my view) they're tied at 1-1 rather than having a definitive conclusion.

 

It made me really excited for Raw tonight, but that's really not the point of 'Mania.

[the_original]

for me, this event was full of 'Buzz Killington' moments.

 

The Rock starting speech:

took far too long, it's not a Raw. Plus ended up doing terrible stuff, repetitive rubbish that is used at your kids birthday parties to get the atmosphere pumped up. Or not.

 

Albert on 1st - way to protect your titles & the whole of the Royal Rumble, put him on first?

 

Edge & Christian having a go at Rio's car. For me this made them look like tw@ts, not 'fan favourites'.

 

Lawler-Cole: twice as long as it needed to be - could have been more intense & shorter. And a crap finish. Not bothered about reversal on the night, a shit thing to do as it's blatantly going to drag it out for the whole summer. I thought WM was to end feuds, not start them.

 

Undertakers long shit music - another total atmosphere sucker outer, took a while for anything to come back.

 

On the plus side, I thought Miz did very well, considering.

[RJ Impact]

what was the deal with taker after the match, was he selling or really messed up? if its selling it was convincing and what good has it done to the character and why drag it for so long?

[Trout Stain]

Any chance of posting the results anyone please?

 

It was so memorable that I will no doubt forget something, but here goes:

 

Edge beat Del Rio with a spear, and then him and Christian proceeded to smash up a rather nice Rolls while poor Alberto cried

Rhodes beat Mysterio after smashing him in the face with a knee brace

The Corre got squashed in about a minute by Big Show, Kane, Santino and Coffee

Orton beat Punk with a pretty menacing RKO

Lawler beat Michael Cole, but the Raw GM awarded the match to Cole due to Austin's interference

Undertaker beat Triple H with Hells Gate after Triple H had basically slapped him silly

Morrison, Trish and that troll from Jersey Shore beat Ziggler and LayCool after the said troll got the pin

Cena and Miz was a double count out, The Rock restarted the match, Rock Bottomed Cena and Miz got the pin. The Rock then gave Miz the peoples elbow to close the show

 

Throw in what felt like 2,497 unfunny sketches and a load of buggering about, and it makes for one of the worst WrestleMania's I can recall

[Supremo]

A complete mess of a show; if you're one of those deluded goons who was banging on about how this was a, "transitional," Wrestlemania where new stars would be given the rub and made into legitimate headliners I hope you've learnt your lesson. Wade Barrett, Sheamus, The Miz and Alberto Del Rio should all be big stars by this point but none of them are and this show did absolutely nothing to rectify that.

 

And what the fuck was that ending? I didn't comment on the Cena/Rock confrontation from last Monday's RAW because I didn't really know what to make of it at the time. But in retrospect I'd feel pretty fucking ripped off if I'd paid over the odds to see The Rock give Cena one Rock Bottom when we got so much more for free six days earlier. To give this show any type of a Wrestlemania moment they should've saved that whole angle for the beginning of this show. At least that way it would've felt like we had to pay to see something important, Cena and The Rock finally coming face to face, as well as giving it a bit of a show-long storyline where Cena hits the Rock with an F-U to start with, then The Rock returns at the end for revenge.

 

Still, you've got to laugh at Triple H, who has the worst luck ever when it comes to deciding where to place himself on the card based on what type of match he thinks he's going to have. With both Jericho at 18 and Orton at 25 he went on last and stunk the joint up, then the one time he has the best match on the show and they incorrectly put it in the middle! Now watch; they'll do a re-match next year, put themselves on last, but then the curse will strike again and they'll have a complete DUD.

 

Anyway, that bit where The Rock bumped into Austin was cool, as was The Miz's entrance. And I thought Michael Cole did a fantastic job too.

[Trout Stain]

what was the deal with taker after the match, was he selling or really messed up? if its selling it was convincing and what good has it done to the character and why drag it for so long?

 

It went on for ages, and it was a shame as that was actually a pretty good match but having him lie on the ground for fifteen minutes at the end killed any atmosphere or momentum it could have generated. Not sure where they will go with that, but hey, it made Triple H look as good as he could do without actually winning after damn-near killing him

[Paul]

Yeah I'm in the "I don't get it" camp I'm afraid. There were no definable Wrestlemania moments, no big surprises or shocks. The only time that I might have actually leapt from my chair (difficult when you're disabled) is if Triple H had actually beaten the Undertaker after that Tombstone. I think the point was that The Rock taking Cena out was supposed to make me want to watch RAW tonight to find out what happens next but even that felt pretty meh and certainly not the iconic moment for this years big event that I think it was meant to be.

 

I felt for Del Rio in the opener, this should have been his Wrestlemania and I thought it was a guarantee that he'd win. While Edge retaining was a surprise, I thought Del Rio's momentum had been pretty much ruined by it. The end of match nonsense with the car left me pretty cold and I'd have been happier with a Christian heel turn to cost Edge and at least breah some new life into Christian's character and stint in the WWE.

 

The Rhodes-Mysterio match gave me some hope for the event as I feared a Mysterio win and was relieved to find otherwise. I have no problem with Rey, I really don't, I appreciate everything he's given the business and he fascinated me on his arrival to WCW. For me, he brought my attention to Mexican wrestling and I've enjoyed it ever since. However now, he's simply a children's attraction due to his age, health and WWE marketing machine. It was right to put Rhodes over on this one and I can see him being the next contender to Edge's gold which interests me. The match was decent and comjpletely inoffensive, other than the God awful Captain America tribute gimp suit that they put on Rey.

 

I decided to use the 8 Man Tag Match for a toilet break and I didn't even get the chance to finish up before it was over. The removal of Bryan-Sheamus makes this even more irritating because that could have far more worthwhile than this utter farce. This smacked of what to do with 8 people that we have no direction for, which is criminal from the point of Wade Barrett alone, as well as Big Show, Kofi and Kane. To me this demonstrates something that worries me greatly about the WWE creative team, you really cannot find something to do with these guys as individuals, really? Barrett was one of the most entertaining heels of the modern day when he was Nexus Leader, now look at him and I do wonder how many of the Corre will be left on the roster by this time next year.

 

CM Punk-Randy Orton was decent, I thought it was well paced and Punk's facial expressions and actions were very entertaining. I was in a pro-Orton house last night, so my mates came away happy, although I suppose it now leads to Orton-Miz, if Cena is otherwise occupied with The Rock. I don't see what happens to Punk now and that bothers me as I think he was by far the most entertaining part of this feud. I'm not just saying this because I'm a Punk fanboy, well actually I probably am, but CM deserves to be at the top of the game and entertains me compared to Orton who I'm starting to find dull in this face role of his.

 

Cole-Lawler was as bad as Hart-McMahon from last year with an equally silly ending. I accepted the buildup was always going to be better than the execution, however to give Cole THAT much offense AND to have him win the match was ridiculous. The fans wanted to see Cole get battered and Lawler take the win, simple as that. What they got was Michael Cole doing something that was alleged to resemble wrestling and then the fans get short changed with a bullshit GM ruling. I actually wanted to leave my house, go all the way to the Georgia Dome and twat whoever booked this stupidity. The idea of Cole flapping his gums for weeks about how he owned The King REALLY does not make me want to watch RAW ever again.

 

Undertaker-Triple H was the best match of the night for me, sure it was slow at times but let's be fair to both, they've had intense careers and there's only so much the body can allow them to give these days. Psychologically it was well put together and it was probably the only match on the card that had us all engaged in my house, without us drifting off to other chatter. We believed for a brief moment that Trips was going to do it and in that respect, it was better than HBK-Taker because you knew the outcome of that already. These two guys show why they are two of the best and what bothered me most is that none of the 'new' generation engaged any of the six of us as much as these veterans did. It was brutal but we did raise our eyebrows at the Hells Gate finish, Trips passing out would have been preferrable to actually tapping out in our view. So who is next to go for the streak?

 

The mixed tag match was generally forgetable, although I think Snooki deserves credit. I'm a Jersey Shore fan admittedly but the boos were harsh, particularly when she actually offered more than some of the pathetically poor Diva's that currently inhabit the WWE. One question, where is Kong?

 

I'd switched off mentally by the time Cena and Miz came along. The match was dull, Cena bores the hell out of me anyway so to combine that with tiredness and coming down off the HHH-Undertaker match, this 'Main Event' didn't have much chance of engaging me. The double count out was crap and the ending was utterly meh. I bought the PPV off the back of Rock's involvement and for the most it was rather anti-climatic. The beginning in-ring segment was boring after about two minutes and after that we barely saw him. I'm slightly interested in the potential Cena-Rock feud but nowhere near as much as I think I was meant to be?

 

Overall, this didn't feel like Mania to me and was more like an extended RAW with some Smackdown roster members chucked in.

[King Pitcos]

I was absolutely knackered when the show started, and went to pop my head under a cold shower about five times during the show to stay awake. Virgin Media didn't allow recording it this year, so I was determined to stay up.

 

I enjoyed it, but it was far from perfect. Mostly it just felt flat and odd for a WrestleMania.

 

But it was always going to be Rock hitting one move at the end to decide the finish? Surely someone who has written about wrestling for as many years as you have could see that coming?

For me the ending was a massive disappointment because we've already seen Rock do his trademark moves on Raw last week. Costing Cena a match that Cena's not really shown any interest in anyway doesn't even add much to their feud. If Rock hadn't appeared on Raw last Monday and scrapped with Miz and Cena, I think the ending (and Rock's role on the show in general) would've seemed far bigger. As it was, it just felt like an ending to Raw.

 

The show was largely dependent on The Rock knocking it out of the park as the host, and I don't think he got anywhere near doing so. By the time he came down at the end, I don't think I'd have been satisfied with anything less than him doing a WrestleMania 9. Which is probably unreasonable on my part, but that was my feeling. His opening promo was pretty worthless, too.

 

Cena's entrance was awful as well. Miz' entrance was alright -- the video was good, but I didn't think much of the marshmallow "AWESOME!" The match never got going, which is probably as much down to the show runners' time management as anything the wrestlers themselves did. They should've at least booked a big stunt or something in there.

 

Triple H vs Undertaker was special. Absolutely lived up to the hype, which I hadn't really bought into but they sold me last Monday and in the match itself. Great, great stuff. Undertaker on the backfoot like that was gripping. Reminiscent of the WM20 triple threat, and the Taker/Edge and HBK/Flair matches from 24.

 

Cole vs Lawler was a waste of time after they got out of the box. Got way too Bret-Vincey. I love that Cole picked up the reverse-decision win, though. Josh Matthews will look a cunt now though if he's still a pro-Lawler babyface commentator after the sore losers gave him a kicking for nothing.

 

The tag matches were just filler, only noteworthy for Trish being better than atrocious (and showing a bit of crack?) and Snooki pulling off a smart handspring attack thing.

 

I really liked Edge vs Del Rio and don't have a problem with Edge winning, but I didn't like the car thing. I used to hate wrestling's obsession with vehicles in the attitude era as well.

 

Orton-Punk was fine for what it was. Rhodes vs Rey was good, but not stand-out impressive.

 

WWE has officially thought "fuck the wrestling, heres' a celebrity to make you watch"

Yeah, they'd never have had that attitude at WrestleMania 1.

[Mr Posh]

I am not saying it was a bad show, but I would certainly consider myself to be somewhat disappointed this morning.

 

I cringed at the opening by the Rock, and I feel that very much set the tone for his performance for the rest of the evening. I don

[buba3d]

was it just me or did taker and hhh really show signs of oldness, taker was puffed out after a couple of mins and hhh looked like he was done in after a few mins too, however the match was brilliant and i'm glad we didn't see run ins because that would have ruined the match

 

snooki busting out a handspring elbow (wow) i just didn't expect that at all, ryder and that friday song, mitb was sadly missed.

[SSJLogan]

I enjoyed the fact that they're trying to gain a bigger mexican audience yet after 2 matches it was USA 2 - Mexico 0.

 

Well, Edge is Canadian and Rey was wearing a Captain America suit. But yeah, USA! and all that.

 

 

 

Easily fella, was just a comment, ha. Ok, The edge thing i was wrong about. But Rey quite clearly had an M on his mask (obviously standing for Mysterio) but for the sake of this argument im going with the fact that he was Captain Mexico.

 

Even better, North America 2 - South America 0..............i feel better now.

[M-Dudz]

The sooner people get that Manias just aren't what they once were, the more pallatable WM27 may become. That's not to say I enjoyed it though, not by any stretch. Like every other Mania I was wishing and hoping they'd pull it out of the bag, but it was just a very good Raw with an awesome stage and a stellar HHH/Taker match.

 

Rocks opening in a TRACKSUIT really annoyed me. He looked stupid.

 

I'd called they'd open with the World title match, but hoped I'd be wrong. Then was expecting an awesome match, but really only got half a good match. Edge winning with the spear? What happened to kicking out of everyones finisher at Mania? Plus he no-sold his shoulder afterward, the same shoulder that had been a large premise to the feud following multiple attacks. Weird finish. Weird post match segment too.

 

I'm pleased Cody / Rey hasn't gone unnoticed. Not a huge Rey fan but he does always have great matches and to think looking back on this one, people will realise it was really quite good. Rey as Capt. America though? Sure his Mexican fanbase will love that...

 

A mention again to the stage which looked awesome!

 

Really enjoyed Orton vs. Punk, great finish. Orton is silly over bit I have no idea why.

 

Backstage segments were all cringe worthy. Rock / Austin confrontation had to happen at some point. I'm undecided if it were right to play it down like they did or make a bigger scene of it.

 

Cole / Lawler was everything it shouldve been but too long. Very entertaining though if nothing else. It had to be for all the TV time it had had leading up to mania.

 

8-man...weird. And the word 'weird' to describe the show had cropped up too often.

 

Never thought I'd see Abdullah the Butcher at Wrestlemania...mustve totally missed him being announced into the HOF.

 

I'd only bought Mania for HHH / Taker and I bought it for the feellings it gave me toward the end. It was always going to be about the finishers here but it felt incredibley rushed to get to that point. No build up, straight to the outside, balls to the wall stuff which in turn needed long rest periods from both men. But the longer it went on, the more interesting it got. I actually thought on several different occasions that both were hurt, but I guess that's exactly what they wanted you to think!

 

Loved the match, had a fleeting thought they'd do Undertaker 'dying' in the ring and somehow vanishing or some of those minions come and take him away. I was also expecting a sit up at some point that we never got. I was dissapointed we didn't get one of those two happenings, you decide which one!

 

No love for the 6man. Enjoyed JoMo's split leg and was surprised at Snookis athleticism! Came out of nowhere.

 

Least said about the main event, the better. Terrible. Miz at times looked out of his depth, then seemed to pull it back, Cena was definately off his game. A lot of it toward the end just didn't seem to make great sense. Hollywood 1 WWE 0

 

Also DMX at Mania? AND Nas? Abdullah the Butcher, Nas, DMX, Snoop Dogg all at Mania? Never thought I'd see it! But if having them on meant we didn't get out usual highlight video at the end, you couldve kept them!

 

Even though the show was ok, I have no desire to rush and watch Raw tonight. I felt it certainly missed a MiTB.

[sgmilne]

The thing is, the mark inside you was probably thinking 'Wow, the Undertaker looks pretty beaten up'. A couple of the guys who were watching with me were showing a bit of concern.

 

Of course, the smart inside you then thinks 'Oh wait, he's fine', because his wife comes out moments later for her match without a care in the world.

 

And I know, that's a pretty pernickity thing to moan about, but still...

 

I commented on it all last night, but having slept on it, I'd say...

 

Edge v del Rio: At this point I was more concerned about whether or not the Daniel Bryan match was off so it didn't have my attenion for the first part of it. The match just didn't seem all that important, but Edge winning telegraphed a Miz victory later in the night for me. del Rio will probably win the best in the next few weeks thanks to a Christian Heel Turn.

 

Rhodes v Mysterio: I don't really watch Smackdown so I hadn't seen Rhodes's tron before. It's very 'Marvel Supervillain'. I like it. As a character, I've never really got Mysterio, because he acts like a cunt. And he did so again tonight, trying to break Rhodes's nose again. Justice was done and he got the victory. Decent match.

 

8 Man Tag: Total waste of time. 3 people were tagged in the whole match. Pathetic payoff.

 

Orton v Punk: Despite Punk putting on a great show, you just knew how the match would end. Because of that, I thought it was a good match, but not one befitting Wrestlemania.

 

Cole v Lawler: Horrendous. I used to like Heel Cole, but he's testing my patience now. He's annoying. That's what he's trying to be I suppose, but he should not have won. But if he was going to win, it should have been without having ANY offence in and the GM reversing the decision ala Lawler v Hart at Summerslam 93. Cole was also rotten on commentary all night.

 

The Steve Austin stuff was fun if totally predictable. I also enjoyed how he repeatedly swore on camera. Oh, and another thing, did anyone notice how he started doing his middle finger salute while on the turnbuckles, then realising that wasn't PG and instead just raising his arms. Pathetic.

 

Triple H v Undertaker: Superb match. Everyone knew Undertaker was going to win going in, but the fact that they made me (and I'm guessing a lot of others) believe that he could lose was genius. A great - if predictable - ending as well. Personally, I'd have liked to have seen Triple H help him to the back himself.

 

6 Man Tag: See 8 man tag. McCool never even got to tag out. And all this Snooki praise - she did a backflip/handspring or whatever you call it. I urge you to go to any airport departure lounge in the world and you will see bored pre-teen girls doing cartwheels ad-nauseum. Plus there was a video of her doing the rounds in recent weeks of her doing a series of backflips far more impressive than that.

 

Miz v Cena: Not wanting to be a Fin Martin type, but Cena really is rotten without someone to carry him. Miz isn't that good either in the ring, but you can bet within 3 or 4 years of wrestling top line matches he'll improve.

 

I enjoyed the finish to the match, but hated the finish to the PPV. Rock should not have beaten up the Miz. It devalued the entire product.