The actual proper Wrestlemania 29 Thread

[Callum1993]

Match Timings:

 

10:35 Shield vs. Orton/Sheamus/Show

8:03 Henry vs. Ryback

7:19 Hell No vs. Ziggler/Langston

9:13 Fandango vs. Jericho

10:30 Del Rio vs. Swagger

22:08 Taker vs. Punk

24:00 Triple H vs. Lesnar

24:00 Cena vs. Rock

 

= 115 minutes 48 seconds of wrestling on a 4 hour show. So the rest of the 2 hours was Entrances, Diddy, HOF and Adverts/Promos. Pretty ridiculous really that they had to cut out the 8 person tag.

[DJM]

Anyway, pinched by someone from WO, tonight's Raw sounds like one of those wild car crash episodes.

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According to wrestlingobserver.com, there is panic backstage at Raw right now. The show was scheduled to build to a segment where Brock Lesnar beat up Rock to set up next year's WrestleMania main event. The problem: Rock is not there and has reportedly gone home. Vince McMahon, the writers and producers are in the process of redoing the show, evidently believing the angle has been nixed. Nobody knows any details as to what happened past that. As of this time, the belief is that Rock is not appearing.

 

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Surely WWE would have checked with Rock to see if he was going to be appearing on the show tonight? It does make me laugh to see that WWE seems to be falling apart at the moment with the problems at 'Mania, the iPPV stuff and now this.

 

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[GalaxyV.2]

Just rewatched Punk/Taker. It is better the second time. It really has some cool moments, and the crowd are so into it. Like him or not, Punk gets reactions. Taker is a phenomenom how he manages to pull these quality matches out each year. Great storytelling, and Punk came out looking brilliant as well.

[Arch Stanton]

Yeah, it was a great effort from both men. I thought it fell short of last year's and the HBK matches, but then I think that was to be expected, with Taker's physical condition diminishing as the years go by and nobody buying Punk as the winner.

 

This was easily my favourite moment from the match, a cracking visual:

 

[Baz Windham]

I had written a fairly big post but my computer decided to be a twat so here's the condensed version

 

- Agree with most of the gripes about order/missing touches/quiet crowd on TV etc taking the shine off it, but still really enjoyed it, as I normally do.

- Undercard was fine but suffered from not being around the big matches, Ryback/Henry was the only dissapointment, no-one won that.

- Punk/Taker was tremendous. Made me warm to Punk even more and appreciate even more what a pro The Undertaker is, thought he looked great.

- Rock/Cena went into overkill but was very good overall and had some great touches, perhaps a little dissaponted with it overall though.

- No doubt HHH/Brock suffered from the crowd but I thought it was top, miles better than Summerslam, Brock was a nutter and it was a good brawl.

 

Overall though it wasn't in the top 1000 Wrestlemania's. 4/10.

 

[LaGoosh]

Well that was a very bland show. The opener was fine, Fandango/Jericho was good (Fandango really shined) and Undertaker/Punk was fun. The rest was incredibly forgettable. It didn't really have a special Wrestlemania feel at all.

 

And the Ryback/Henry match was a fucking abomination. Both of them came out of it looking like shit. Whoever booked that match should of been hung from the Brooklyn Bridge replica on the stage.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

It might be in bad taste considering a few of them are dead (like that would stop them), but next year they should do the same zombie entrance for Undertaker, but use their editing department to superimpose the faces of the streak losers on the undead characters, complete with moaning and sound effects. Boss Man in his leather gloves and flack jacket with a red rash around his neck reaching for his boots and Ric Flair with his forehead pissing blood. Probably a bit much, but still.

[JNLister]

Why are people moaning about the results being predictable? Shouldn't they be celebrating all the money they won by betting on those results they were so certain of?

[Arch Stanton]

Because Mark Henry fucked every single accumulator that was placed yesterday. I had Newcastle, Chelsea, a QPR draw, Crewe, Ryback.

[LaGoosh]

The good thing from this is that the crapper the Wrestlemania usually means the better the Extreme Rules/Backlash.

[UK Kat Von D]

Because Mark Henry fucked every single accumulator that was placed yesterday.

 

Finally it makes sense. The bookies obviously payed off Vince for that match to go down like that

[Mr. Seven]

I liked the show. Three out of five. The main matches delivered. Triple H/Brock suffered from not having a buffer match which is a shame as it really built well and the kimura stuff was great. I was hoping Brock would tap just to see the MMA fans weep. I think people have bizarre expectations when it comes to Wrestlemania and the next day always sees the Internet besieged by people who have apparently been raped. People like this fucking idiot:

 

From The Fans: A letter to WWE regarding John Cena and Wrestlemania 29

 

'From The Fans' are columns & opinion pieces submitted by Wrestling Observer/Figure Four Online members and readers on current day wrestling & MMA topics. They do not reflect the opinions of Wrestling Observer/Figure Four Online staff. Submit your columns to josh@wrestlingobserver.com for consideration.

 

Submitted by Jacob MontenegroI’d like to think I’m not the embodiment or manifestation of a typical Internet wrestling fan. The types of fans that feel they’re completely ignored by World Wrestling Entertainment, the types of fans that pack most of the Wrestlemania and other major pay-per-view crowds. You know: the types of fans that wonder why Antonio Cesaro & Daniel Bryan aren’t pushed. I honestly didn’t really know much about those guys as, over the year, it’s been consistently more difficult for me to follow the independent scene.

 

I’m a 35 year old married male with a child on the way who owns a small home in suburbia, Anytown USA. I’m a regional account manager for a publishing firm. I like to woodwork, I play fantasy football and I have a German shepherd. I lead a pretty simple, average American life. I’ve also been a lifelong WWE fan. Not just one who watches on TV and doesn’t contribute financially to the company, either. My father was a traveling sportswear salesman in the 70’s and 80’s and I was fortunate and blessed enough to attend Wrestlemania IV, V, VII, X, XII and XV with my siblings.

 

 

I also grew up going to NWA shows and followed ECW on television through my teens, even attending their penultimate pay per view. Into my early adulthood, I paid my own way to attend Wrestlemania X-Seven, XX, XXI, XXII, XXIII, XXIV and, most recently, XXVII. Not to mention the countless Armageddon, Money in the Bank, Hell in a Cell, Summerslam, Royal Rumble, RAW, Smackdown, ECW and NXT events I’ve attended. Needless to say, my favorite form of sports and entertainment is professional wrestling.

 

 

An avid MLB and NFL fan to boot, I don’t spend nearly as much time and money on those forms of entertainment as I do with wrestling. Over the past 5 or 6 years, life has brought on all sorts of more responsibilities keeping me from exploring the other non-televised realm of pro-wrestling in America yet I still remain a loyal fan of WWE. I spend thousands of dollars a year on PPVs, live events and merchandise.

 

Although I’d like to think I’m not the embodiment or manifestation of a typical Internet wrestling fan, I share in the absolute dismay and heavy criticism about last night’s pay-per-view offering from WWE, Wrestlemania 29. I should digress here and say I enjoyed the show and had a small gathering at my home. However, the ending of the show left me wondering – for the first time – if I should even continue supporting WWE’s current stale, product and either explore other forms of pro-wrestling entertainment (there’s only one other that’s broadcast nationally) or find another program or form of entertainment to invest in mentally and financially.

 

Over the years, I’ve read countless stories about the absolute refusal of WWE’s creative brain trust to augment or change the character of John Cena. I’ve read claims that the company is so overprotective of a character directed at a demographic 20 years my junior that they’ve refunded customers whose children were upset at a loss or have gone out of their way to financially reimburse parental units of children who don’t understand the product is scripted.

 

 

I cannot understand how WWE officials and announcers claim Cena receives a “mixed reaction” yet was jeered by 90% of MetLife stadium yesterday evening. I do not know why WWE wastes its time on the temporary cash cow of people they aren’t even sure will be wrestling/sports entertainment fans 5 or 10 years from now. You’re reading a letter from a male in his mid 30’s, there’s little chance that I just “started watching” the product.

 

Yet WWE’s continued ignorance toward a much more loyal demographic leads me to believe you don’t want me watching your product. I’m not clamoring from a mountain top to turn Cena heel but I’m wondering if you, at all, listen to your core audience. Change him up a little, make him a little more than one-dimensional, add something new to him, hell change his theme music. I’m so sick of the character that if you turned him heel, I’d buy front row tickets to your next 5 Wrestlemania offerings. Your core audience aren’t the parents of children who buy so much Cena merchandise that they can’t afford to attend or even watch a PPV, your core audience are those of us who have stuck with the product no matter what.

 

 

I've stuck with you through the post-Attitude Era downturn, through the Chris Benoit tragedy, through the mainstream onset of MMA. I feel a kinship and a brotherhood with every one over the age of 18 who is upset and sick of your product. I find myself not wanting to spend another dime on anything WWE-related until things change. This includes elevating stars to the same level as Cena, rethinking your business strategy about where “PG era” has taken you or changing Cena’s character into a more realistic human being and not a Superman who somehow ignores the jeers and cat calls of WWE’s devotees at their biggest event of the year.

 

Your website claims you don’t take suggestions for storylines yet I’ve seen the comments on your website and the actions of fans at your shows: you bend over backwards when your 8-14 year old demographic is upset yet completely ignore your older, more devoted demographic because you simply think we’ll “keep watching and complaining.” With a child on the way, I’m not so sure I’d expose him or her to John Cena as he is not a realistic role model at all.

 

 

In fact, I’d do my best to sit them down at the proper age and explain the ins and outs of pro-wrestling and how John Cena has become an irritating, unrealistic, unflappable parody of what professional wrestling should not represent. Hulk Hogan’s character didn’t even this stale this long.

 

Obviously your company has chosen to cast me off as another “Internet darling” who “won’t be satisfied until Daniel Bryan is pushed as far as John Cena” but this notion, perpetrated by many Cena supports on the Internet, is completely false. I’m someone who was even a former stockholder in your company until I could plainly see that you no longer listen to anyone old enough to purchase alcohol, carry a driver’s license or vote in a U.S. election. I’m not even asking for a $70 refund, I’m simply asking you and your creative team to stop and listen to the fans. You can get an 8 year old kid to cheer for Damien Sandow if you tried hard enough, don’t worry about “losing merchandise money.” Worry about those you are completely turning off from your product.

 

 

Until this letter is addressed by an official from WWE, I absolutely refuse to purchase any further PPVs, live event tickets, merchandise, DVDs or anything else the WWE is selling. I know that a thousand dollars or so is a drop in the bucket to a multi-billion dollar company, but maybe others should follow suit. Maybe if things don’t change with your writing and creative team and development of characters, the next step is a boycott. I don’t know.

 

 

All I know is that I’m frustrated, annoyed and completely turned off from continuing my 30+ years as a devoted, loyal-no-matter-what WWE fan.

 

Embarrassing.

[Fox Piss]

Just felt like some real bad decision making. I ain't watched much in a while so i could be off.

 

- Was that another Big Show turn?

 

- Last thing Ryback - Menry needed was bear hugs.

 

- Ziggler getting pinned.

 

- Kind of botched finish for Jerry-Fandango. Don't think i'd of liked it if it went smooth. Fandango face/body look is awesome. How loud was Jerichos pop?

 

- I liked Swagger V Del Rio wouldn't of minded it going a few more minutes.

 

- Really enjoyed Punk V Undertaker. Punk walks a fine line with his facial expressions though. Some last night were on Shawn Michaels level of hammy.

 

- What the fuck did Shawn have on his feet?

 

- I'm really going off Michaels.

 

- Some really good stuff in the in the Cena/Rock match. Mainly Cena pondering and making me think. Who backstage thought post match would be a good idea? Unless it's a seed for something.

 

- JBL is so shit.

[AshC]

We watched the show at the Walkabout in Cardiff on massive fuck-off screens. It was fantastic - the atmosphere was tremendous. Only one hitch - the feed died about a minute before the end of Taker vs Punk, leading to some massively pissed off dudes! That aside though, great fun. Some guy in a 'Best in the World' shirt losing his rag when Fandango pinned Jericho was hilarious. As was the trolling of the Cena haters during the main event. There were people kicking off big time against Cena. Yet they'll be back next year for more. WRESTLING IS FUN.

[Arch Stanton]

From The Fans: A letter to WWE regarding John Cena and Wrestlemania 29

With a child on the way, I