Wrestlemania - More often 'miss' than 'hit'?

[iMPACt!]

Wrestlemania 24 was great and I'm not just saying that because I was actually at the event.

 

Since then every Wrestlemania has had a let down feel to them (apart from the fantastic Undertaker matches).

 

Here's hoping 28 will be awesome. The crowd reaction to Cena v Rock should hopefully be on a Hogan-Rock level. Half the reason I decided to go to Mania again.

[Bosco Blick]

17 and 24 are the best of recent times.

[The Natural]

17 and 24 are the best of recent times.

 

Ditto for me with WrestleMania XIX in third place.

[Max Power]

17 and 24 are the best of recent times.

 

Its frightening really that 17 was ten years ago. If you think of that event and compare the business today to that of ten years ago, the difference is startling.

[patiirc]

This will probably come as being arse over tit, but the main reason I feel that WM lacks, is the forcing of 'moments' Yes, its the biggy of the year in terms of PPV, but when the WWE go out of their way to force it to be good no matter what quality each moment has, then this is where it fails.

 

Ive watched the last 4 mania's live as it were, and I cant remember anything particularly that stands out in any of them. Yes there have been retirements and 'shock moments' but I cant run down all the matches without looking them up, heck I cant even remember some of them full stop. For the biggest event of the year that is woeful.

 

A less contrived obsession with trying to force it to be great, and let the thing evolve naturally rather than playing up to its weaknesses in poorly manufacture moments could see it return to a former glory.

[The King of Old School]

I think people's expectations of Wrestlemania don't help either, they are so high that 9 times out of 10 they are going to feel let down.

 

This years has been slated for example, but i really enjoyed it. We had a hot opener, one that will go down as a "forgotten classic" in Punk/Orton, a true mania mega match in HHH/Taker, and the intrigue of The Rocks part in the WWE Title match between The Miz & Cena.

 

Sure there was filler, but every Wrestling card is going to have filler, weather its Wrestlemania or Cyber Sunday.

 

I also think the stadium size arena's dont help, look at the difference in atmospheres between Mania 22 & Mania 27, although i fully understand why they have them in such places.

[Reznor]

What I don't understand is just why Wrestlemania XX gets slated so much, I love it.

 

The main event was one of the best matches of the decade, Eddy/Angle was inevitably great, as was The Rock and Foleys return vs Evolution. Christian/Jericho was class too. We got the return of the Deadman and Paul Bearer, the divas roaming around in next-to-nothing, Austin going over in the Goldberg/Brock match, a new Star in Cena being established, and some Wrestlemania-worthy moments from the cruiserweight open

 

Surely a couple of filler fourways that would've been more suited to Heat, Goldberg/Brock being a bit shit and the cruiserweight match being too cluttered and silly doesn't detract from the fact there was tonnes of cool shit throughout those 4hrs?

 

----

 

I do think the original point's valid to an extent, but it's probably only a disappointment because we have such high hopes for all of the matches. Most years, the big ones at Wrestlemania do deliver, but lower down the card, it's often the case that the matches are no better or more spectacular than a good RAW match, and often worse than midcard matches on more 'lowly' PPVs. Granted, that's probably by design in some cases - they can be sure that nothing will outshine the matches they want to focus on, but it doesn't make for a well balanced card, and you feel a bit let down as you're expecting sometihng above and beyond the standard fare.

[King Pitcos]

This will probably come as being arse over tit, but the main reason I feel that WM lacks, is the forcing of 'moments' Yes, its the biggy of the year in terms of PPV, but when the WWE go out of their way to force it to be good no matter what quality each moment has, then this is where it fails.

 

Ive watched the last 4 mania's live as it were, and I cant remember anything particularly that stands out in any of them. Yes there have been retirements and 'shock moments' but I cant run down all the matches without looking them up, heck I cant even remember some of them full stop. For the biggest event of the year that is woeful.

Which WrestleManias can you remember the whole card for without looking it up? I remember when I was a kid, someone went on a gameshow where they watched clips of wrestling and had to say which event it was and the result, or something like that. And at the time, I thought that was easy. But looking back now, I can't remember the Survivor Series '91 card off the top of my head, or probably any of the full WrestleMania cards. I'm gonna have a look on Sporcle and test myself.

[AndyUK]

I think people have been spoilt by the last decade of Wrestlemania's, so much so that there are such huge expectations for it now. I mean, people have expected completely stacked cards from the show ever since Wrestlemania 17, whereas before that, the PPV's were mostly sold on their main events.

[patiirc]

Which WrestleManias can you remember the whole card for without looking it up? I remember when I was a kid, someone went on a gameshow where they watched clips of wrestling and had to say which event it was and the result, or something like that. And at the time, I thought that was easy. But looking back now, I can't remember the Survivor Series '91 card off the top of my head, or probably any of the full WrestleMania cards. I'm gonna have a look on Sporcle and test myself.

 

That was You Bet iirc

 

Some of the earlier ones that Ive seen a zillion times. Like 6 for example. My point was more to do with there being is a lot of filler ( not filler, erm what's the bloody word) that is shoehorned in to supposedly making great WM moments. When in reality it isnt as great as it thinks it is and suffers from it as a result.

 

Memories from the last 4 manias are limited to Jericho vs The oldies Piper, Steamboat, Snuka, Taker vs Michaels 1/2. The abortion that was HHH vs Orton, Edge Elbow dropping a Car, Big Show vs Mayweather and before that the Akebono match which is sometime ago now may even be 5/6 WM's ago. Cena's entrance with all the Cena's and then with the soldiers. Er, and that's about it. Not amazing is it. for something that is meant to be the biggest and best event going ( To be fair my method of watching the show, cut out for the Flair/Michaels match and if Im honest I wasnt that interested in it either).

 

Its not something that is talked about for weeks or even years afterwards, particularly and these days even the build up is last minute to some extent, though with the new booking plan this could change into something more long term with Rock Cena for example

[timmydub]

I'm with a lot of others here as I also don't recall most Manias of recent years. Matches that stand out for me when I think of mania are HHH/Taker, HBK/Taker, Rock/Hogan, Hogan/Vince, Rock/Austin, HBK/Brett Hart... The list goes on as it gets older.

 

That being said, I think 2012 has the potential to be one of the best ever. Already making matches, *hopefully* already building up storylines, and giving us lots of time to look forward to eg. Daniel Bryan cashing in the briefcase is a great way to get us invested. And if they keep that going then the matches will mean a lot more and I guess that should translate to great matches. Also in recent years the matches have been almost thrown together at the last minute and unless there's a compelling story behind it, it has to take something like HBK/Taker to save the show.

 

For 2012 I'd like to see the Vince storyline still going. Maybe he recruits Taker in some kind of ministry-style angle and we get HHH/Taker pt3 with ownership on the line.

[The King Of Swing]

Count me amongst those who don't get the hate for WMXX it's a pretty solid show imo and being held in MSG gives it a nice nostalgic(sp?) feel.