The Smackers Thread

[Supremo]

Ages like milk.

[The King of Old School]

Can someone let me know when that tag team segment is done so can see what Seth, Reigns and Punk have to say.

Cheers

[d-d-d-dAz]

55 minutes ago, air_raid said:

I just realized, with the gradual watering down of PLEs, inclusion of huge amounts of filler and running the fewest number of matches possible, there’s a chance this years 2-night Mania will have fewer matches than some of the traditional one night affairs.

Stupendous.

Half the number of matches, but twice the number of wrestlers. Quite the feat.

[TheScarlettChad]

Really makes you think the good from last year's build and the year before that was just pure dumb luck. 

[air_raid]

16 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

Half the number of matches, but twice the number of wrestlers.

1.5 times. Triple Threat Mania.

[RedTwoster]

10 minutes ago, TheScarlettChad said:

Really makes you think the good from last year's build and the year before that was just pure dumb luck. 

I mean, I wouldn’t go that far. They were consistently good for quite a long time - it’s only really the ‘Mania build in which everything has become boring. I think we probably will get Reigns/Punk as a feud spinning out of Wrestlemania, it’ll be good and we’ll all question why they didn’t do that in the first place. I also suspect Cena’s heel turn will bring some really exciting moments - heel Cena vs babyface Punk? Yes please.

It’s bad build towards one PPV - nothing more, nothing less. It’s just unfortunate that it’s towards their biggest show of the year. There’s no point saying the sky is falling until it actually does. 

[DavidB6937]

14 minutes ago, TheScarlettChad said:

Really makes you think the good from last year's build and the year before that was just pure dumb luck. 

I mean it obviously wasn't. Most of it was well planned. The only thing you could probably suggest was luck was how they pulled everything together after the Rock stuff last year.

[d-d-d-dAz]

Yeah, I mean, like all creative works.. some are good, some are shit. No one has a 100% hit rate.

Going into last Mania they had the Bloodline and Cody as hot as hell, and that wasn't luck; that was good writing coupled with solid performances and top talent.

This year (if you take out my loathing of Rock, Rollins and Triple Threat matches for a second), their real issue is they've had to build their top matches from scratch within the Mania build itself. I think it's a lot more difficult to build hot matches within 6 weeks from essentially a standing start.

Yes, Rollins and Punk and Roman had been each other's orbit but not really, and there was no natural path here. And Cody v Cena is out of thin air.

Just feels like we've been spoilt for a few years by existing within the context of the Bloodline and all the layers that came with that, and years of story.

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, Supremo said:

Ages like milk.

Jeys not doing great either.

[Supremo]

We had it all. Oh, Smackers. I barely recognise you.

First Wrestlemania build in a few years that doesn’t feature Sami Zayn. First Wrestlemania build in a few years that is complete rubbish. Not a coincidence. He’s the one. This boom belongs to him. I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.

[FLips]

It’s cooled off so much that we’re weeks away from Mania, it‘s on at a regular UK time and easier to access than ever and I’ve tuned out so much I’m not even bothering with it this week.

I think when it’s bad after a boom period it always feels twice as bad because you think back to what we had and now it’s gone.

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

Yes, Rollins and Punk and Roman had been each other's orbit but not really, and there was no natural path here.

Roman and Rollins have unresolved enmity going back to before Mania 40. Roman and Punk have a story, mistrust and dislike going back to Survivors. Punk and Rollins’ long term feud could have been considered over on 4/1 Raw, but they happened to run into each other and crossed three way paths with Roman in the Rumble, with his issue with either unresolved. When he came back, he prevented a decisive ending to their renewed rivalry. If I ignore that as a match I hate triple threats, I don’t think the story is that bad, hampered though it’s been by Roman only showing up 4 shows in 2025. It’s not sparkled like Punk vs Hunk, but what does?

1 hour ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

1 hour ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

And Cody v Cena is out of thin air.

Accidental inception quote!

I don’t mind this either. Yes, it’s as simple as “Cena wants one last title. He won the Chamber. Cody’s the champ unencumbered by a Rumble challenger. Lightly garnished with a turn and some emotions from both. When you map out everything too far in advance or too clearly, it’s the death of unpredictability for the journey. Remember Elimination Chamber 2010? No, not the one where we were all distracted by wondering if its was Stings chin or Sables fanny hiding inside, as it turned out, Undertakers potting shed. The year before. Every single one of us knew that since Edge had won the Rumble, Jericho would leave the Chamber with the belt because that’s where the story was. And HBK would interfere on Taker so they could fight at Mania. At least year we had “Will Cena win? Will Punk win? Will Reigns show up? What will happen to Cody?” and a spot of intrigue. True, with the luxury of two titles they could have put some longer build into the other defence but… they didn’t.

Friendly reminder ; we’re only two years removed from loads of people convincing themselves Zayn would win the title in the Chamber, which also would have landed us with a title match for Mania out of thin air.

 

[d-d-d-dAz]

7 minutes ago, air_raid said:

 

Friendly reminder ; we’re only two years removed from loads of people convincing themselves Zayn would win the title in the Chamber, which also would have landed us with a title match for Mania out of thin air.

 

Those people were wrong then, and anyone defending the triple threat is wrong now.

I sort of take your point about the triple threat, but I'd say there's been loose threads between the three that they've decided to pull together in the run up to Mania. It hasn't been a long build to a triple threat, and presumably the real juice will come post Mania when one of the three moves on to a title match and the other two move into a singles feud together.

I don't fully buy the idea the boom is over. I think they're in a creative lull for sure, but the underlying business will still be booming. The mass audience won't have cottoned on yet that something has turned. It'll be how WWE respond to the creative dip, or if they're even able to see beyond the good numbers, that'll determine whether this is the start of long term decline.

They've got lots of things in their favour that the attitude era didn't, though. Their Champion probably has quite a bit of time left in his legs, they've got Cena for the rest of the year, Punk is presumably going to retire either end of 26 or the Mania of 27. They've just got the new deal, they've got lots of talent 

They've got time, but this Mania build definitely isn't good or promising.

Edited March 22, 2025 by d-d-d-dAz

[RedTwoster]

1 hour ago, Supremo said:

First Wrestlemania build in a few years that doesn’t feature Sami Zayn. First Wrestlemania build in a few years that is complete rubbish. Not a coincidence. He’s the one. This boom belongs to him. I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.

Shunt him in the Gunther/Jey match and make it a triple threat. Everyone else is doing it, and it’s a rare case in which it would actually make sense. Sami has a long-established relationship with Jey, and plenty of history with Gunther, including a win over the guy at Wrestlemania. It would make the match better, and probably improve the story surrounding it too. 

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Extending the show has killed it, it never needed to be 3 hours. Handing the book to the D O double G may well be another mistake

The brawl was good, Braun and Jacob Fatu had another fun scrap and Orton’s promo on KO was decent but that’s about it. They could have easily cut out the Zelina/Piper, Profits/Los Garza and either the Jade/Liv or the opener tag match and it’d be a passable 2 hour show. They didn’t really need the nepo baby burying Tiffy either