It's Wrestlemania Season

[wandshogun09]

OK this is gonna be TL;DR for most so apologies. And excuse me for being completely clueless on current wrestling. But I actually watched this. First time in forever. Barely knew who anyone was or what was going on but I stuck with it.

My nephews love their wrestling and they’ve had the Network set up at mine for ages so they can just log in when they stay over. The younger one (7) stopped at ours last night and him and my boy had WrestleMania on earlier. My son can’t sit still for too long so the novelty wore off quick for him. He dipped in and out but fully tapped out after the Rey tag. I think he only stuck around that long because of the masks and colourful outfits. I ended up sat with my nephew watching the rest and I’ve gotta admit, I really enjoyed it. Don’t know if that was mostly because I’ve been away from it for so long or what. But it felt big time, it felt fresh and it mostly held my attention and entertained me. I think watching with my nephew definitely helped though because he was so enthusiastic about everything that it was infectious. It mightn’t have kept my interest as much if I was watching on my own. I enjoyed it enough that I’m considering watching Night 2 after work tomorrow. Can’t remember the last time I came out of a wrestling show wanting to watch the next one. So there’s that.

I know it’s technically only half a WrestleMania but it’s the first full show I’ve watched in years and years. I think the last thing I watched off a WrestleMania would’ve been Steve Austin’s return match against Kevin Owens a couple of years ago. But even then it was literally just that match. Before that? I’m probably going back to that Angle/Rousey vs Triple H/Stephanie match whatever year that was. I remember watching Sting vs Triple H as well but, yeah, it’s literally just been certain, specific stand-alone matches that have piqued my interest and pulled me in. Racking my brain trying to think what the last full Mania show I watched was and I can’t even remember. Honestly think it might’ve been in the 20s!

Few thoughts from a very lapsed fan returning for one night only (maybe two)…

Rhea Ripley absolutely oozes star quality. Not news to any of you but this was my first time properly seeing her, outside of horny sods posting her arse all over Twitter. I’ve seen her bumcheeks that much I didn’t even know she had a face until recently! I’ve caught just enough talk of her on here to know she’s a big deal but never actually watched her in action. Thought her and Becky had a really good match. Fair play to Becky for putting in a shift like that despite being sick. Thought Rhea was ace though. She looks different and unique enough to the other women to really set herself apart. Not usually into comparisons but my first impression was that it’s almost like she’s taken all the best elements of Sensational Sherri and Chyna, mixed them, updated it, but combined it with more athleticism and actual wrestling.

The old multi-man ladder match is still a thing at Mania then? Have they actually done this every year since those MITB matches started! Genuinely didn’t know who most of this lot were. Obviously I knew R-Truth and Miz and was aware of New Day but that was it. I couldn’t even tell you most of these guys names now but it doesn’t matter. It served its purpose. Particularly enjoyed the aeroplane spin spot with the ladder. Nice to see Truth come out on top. And not just because he’s one of the only ones I recognised.

Can’t believe Rey Mysterio is still at it! Great to see and he still looks good. Had to look up his age, he turns 50 in December! When he signed with WWE in 2002 he’d already had so many knee injuries and surgeries I thought it’d be optimistic to think he had even a 5 year run left in him. To see him still going 22 years later is insane. Given his style, his longevity is incredible. Who’d have guessed his career would last long enough that he’d be wrestling his son at WrestleMania? I’d never seen any of the others wrestle before, just Rey, but I thought this was alright. Nothing amazing but decent enough. Oh and Dom looks like such a sleazy, punchable little prick. A far cry from the innocent little chubby kid from when Eddie was claiming to be his Papi. Heard Cole say Rey beat Dom at last year’s Mania as well. How long has this feud being going?

The Uso vs Uso match was shite, wasn’t it? I thought I might be missing something and that maybe it was one of those matches where you really needed to follow the storyline going in for context. But looking at a few comments on here, seems I’m not alone in thinking this was the worst thing on the show.

That Six Woman Tag - I didn’t have a fucking clue what was going on watching the entrances 🤣 the two Japanese women looked ridiculously cartoonish. The one with the bright purple hair dancing about was the best though. Right team defintely won here. I knew Jade Cargill must be a big deal because she’s somehow made her way onto my Twitter timeline a fair bit recently despite me not really following any wrestling accounts. It was clear as day she was THE star in this match. The crowd reaction when she finally tagged in was great. Really liked Bianca as well.

I don’t know if it’s even realistic, whether it’s already happened, whether they’re on the same brand (is the brand split even still a thing in 2024?) or what, but I feel like Rhea Ripley vs Jade Cargill is the match to make for next year’s Mania. That’s coming from someone who never watches obviously but that just feels like the one. Let them both just bulldoze the opposition for the next 12 months and make it your female Brock vs Goldberg or something in 2025.

Loved the Sami Zayn vs Gunther match. Considering I’d seen literally sod all of either of these two in WWE, it was a bit strange at first seeing this match given such high billing. To me anyway. I genuinely only knew Zayn from his El Generico days on the indies, obviously I knew he was in WWE and who he was and stuff but it’s a bit of a headfuck to me seeing him in such a prominent position at WrestleMania when my points of reference to him are of him wearing a cheap looking mask and getting chucked about in CZW or whatever in the TWC days. He’s done alright for himself. And Gunther? I’d heard the name and knew of him, but…

That’s what I knew him from. That’s it. A meme. Usually seen in response to Rhea Ripley arse tweets funnily enough. He’s lost some timber since that pic! But yeah, this match was right up my alley. Loved the contrast in styles and I think if I was gonna start watching more regularly again, Gunther would quickly become one of my favourites. What a shithouse, mouthing off at Sami’s wife in between stomping his head in. The bastard. Did him and Samoa Joe ever have a match? If not, why not? If so, when and where? I need to see it. Match of the night for me. The type of match that makes me remember why I used to love this shit.

Main event was a bit too long for my liking. I liked it but it felt like they could’ve accomplished the same thing in half the time and the match probably would’ve been better for it. It felt odd to me a tag match headlining Mania but I had to keep reminding myself this was only Night 1. Love seeing how popular and how big of a star Cody has become. Again, stuck record but I’ve been out of the loop so long and I only know how big he’s gotten through reading bits and pieces on here. But the last time I used to dip in and out of WWE semi-regularly, Cody was teaming with Ted Dibiase Jr! I think the last time I properly watched him wrestle was that bloodbath he had against Dustin in AEW years ago. The snippets I do catch of him, he always seems a good egg. Similarly, my memories of Roman Reigns are from the Shield days. Thought he was class back then so it was cool seeing him again. And even Rock, I found him so much more entertaining here as a heel than I expected to. But yeah, 40-odd minutes was a bit much for me. The bad guys winning and the way it affects the stips for Roman vs Cody tonight was a nice touch. Adds a little twist and actually made me wanna see what happens next, which is the whole point isn’t it? Job done. Cody’s gotta win against the odds tonight now surely? 


My rekindled love of wrestling almost certainly won’t last beyond this week but whatever. It’s been fun.

[Daaaaaad!]

I find it somewhat ironic that, in a feud where a major point has been that people couldn't tell them apart for a long time, the Usos decided to have a match which openly shows that they pretty much wrestle exactly the same as each other. It felt like a game of Tekken where you both pick the same character and only know how to do two or three moves. Dull as ditchwater, with all the worst parts of Bloodline 'cinema' on display.

[RedRooster]

8 minutes ago, Daaaaaad! said:

I find it somewhat ironic that, in a feud where a major point has been that people couldn't tell them apart for a long time, the Usos decided to have a match which openly shows that they pretty much wrestle exactly the same as each other. It felt like a game of Tekken where you both pick the same character and only know how to do two or three moves. Dull as ditchwater, with all the worst parts of Bloodline 'cinema' on display.

I dunno, for me the split has only demonstrated that Jey is the better wrestler. Jimmy hasn’t impressed in any context - no stand-out singles matches and his character work hasn’t been particularly good either. Jey has been good to the point there were people who wanted to see him beat Roman before Summerslam happened. 

[d-d-d-dAz]

If either one of them has the gall to try and pass one of their superkicks off again as effective offense, they can get in the bin.

In kayfabe terms, the one thing that came out of that Uso match is that neither can possibly throw an effective superkick as they threw so many and they had close to zero impact.

[SuperBacon]

24 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

horny sods posting her arse all over Twitter

Just @ me you coward!

[FUM]

It probably didn’t help the match that Jimmy decided he wanted to look every bit the guy who used to do the haka. Samoans naturally need to do a little more work to stay in shape and it was clear only Jey was arsed about that.

[wandshogun09]

1 minute ago, SuperBacon said:

Just @ me you coward!

Hey, I wasn’t complaining. 

[Merzbow]

I like Samantha, too, but I think a lot of that is how she reminds me of the woman who did the introductions in PRIDE FC.. where's she these days?

Overall it was an ok night but aside from the main event and the general ace production of the show nothing felt big time, the matches were all there and did a decent job but not even Sami beating the 666 day champ felt like something truly special, this was all about The Rock.

Oh and I'd rather have seen a BTE Trigger than those pair of poo Pedigrees.

Edited April 7 by Merzbow

[TildeGuy~!]

25 minutes ago, Merzbow said:

I like Samantha, too, but I think a lot of that is how she reminds me of the woman who did the introductions in PRIDE FC.. where's she these days?

She did the introductions for all the characters for Tekken 8 recently.

[Dr. Alan Grant]

The pedigree on Rock reminded me of a video I saw a few years ago of a bodybuilder struggling to remove a sticker someone has put on his back. Arms are too big for any kind of flexibility to move his arms that way.

[Arch Stanton]

Never seen a less convincing false finish in my life than that double Pedigree! 😅 Never in a million years was the Rock going to do the job to that move.

[d-d-d-dAz]

Just now, Arch Stanton said:

Never seen a less convincing false finish in my life than that double Pedigree! 😅 Never in a million years was the Rock going to do the job to that move.

This sounds like you're putting the blame on to Cody for that pedigree, where I think the blame probably needs to sit squarely on The Rock's absurdly muscly, massively inflexible shoulders. That was as far back as the fuckers arms would go.

[Doog]

I mentioned the other day I was fascinated by what the reaction would be to Cody and, unfortunately, it's gone the way I expected. Out of the four of them in the match he received the most boos and it was constant throug his big spots.

It's so frustrating, it finally felt like we had a genuine baby face the fans had united behind and it was so fun, I'm hoping its just because Rock was in the match and if he isn't involved as much tonight then we'll still get that great crowd reaction crowning Cody.

As it is, I suspect it'll be a half and half split between him and Roman and they'll have to mask the boos with crowd sweetening/fireworks/music at the end and just pray the crowd stick with him when we get past WrestleMania next week.

Or they just have Austin come out to help him and the crowd will be going batshit crazy and we can pretend it's all down to Cody.

[Supremo]

Triple H’s dick must be aching for how much it’s been sucked this weekend. Gargano and Ciampa’s cosplay tipped it over the edge for me. What a pair of fucking losers. Forty years of Wrestlemania and I can’t think of anyone who looked as lame as those two, coming out earnestly dressed as Hunter and Shawn. Like Make-A-Wish kids or competition winners. As if they weren’t dead in the water on a weekly basis already. Pair of whoppers. Hope you enjoyed your Mania moment. Can’t imagine they’ll ever get one again. Worthless chumps.

Also, fair play to everyone licking Hunter’s bum, I get it, it’s all about the game and how you play it. But surely it must be in the back of your mind that at any moment a report could come out that implicates him and makes those publicly noshing him off look extremely stupid.

Anyway, it was an okay show. Nothing massively offensive bar the Usos match, but very little that stood out as above average, either. Probably one of the worst Night One shows we’ve had. They usually peak on Night One and then fizzle out on Night Two. Hopefully that’s not the case here.

The only thing I’ll likely remember or watch back from this show will be Zayn vs. Gunther, which was fantastic. Amazing entrance from Sami, great story told, Gunther looked incredible, and then a finish that got me teary eyed with a lump in my throat. Proper pro-wrestling, that. Babyface you love making the big, impossible comeback. Love it.

Other quick thoughts…

Crowd were a bit shit. Maybe it was the weather. Did they mention if it was cold?

Opener was fine. My wife sat down and watched it. At one point she asked why - if the women are now treated equally - they still wear outfits that ride up their arse, which isn’t the case for the men. I didn’t have an answer.

Ladder match was mindless fun. I was happy to see Truth win. Saw people complaining about A Town Down Under, but I don’t get that at all. They’ve turned into a fun, entertaining pair of idiots. Happy to see them featured even more. Best thing Theory has ever done. Just admit it.

My heart goes out to all those tribal maniacs who’ve forever claimed that The Usos are better than The Young Bucks, always arguing that the only move The Bucks have is a Superkick, which they spam to death. It was like this garbage Brother vs. Brother match existed exclusively to make those people look dumb. Dreadful. Endless Superkicks, interspersed with bad amateur dramatics. SHOUTING THE PLOT. Total shite. Probably even worse than Matt and Jeff at Mania 25.

Hate when they use NFL players. Don’t know who these men are. Don’t care. Shocked at how bad their physiques are considering they’re supposed to be top level athletes.

Jade, Bianca and Naomi looked the absolute business together. Most telegenic group of all time. Gargano and Ciampa should just quit the industry after watching that entrance.

When I saw how long was left of this show after Sami and Gunther, I assumed there was another match before the main event. When the main event started, I assumed the post-show press conference must be tacked on to the end. Couldn’t believe my eyes when they managed to fill nearly an hour of time! Fair play though. It took a while to get going, but ended up being a perfect Attitude Era scrap at the end. Set things up nicely for tonight.

Rock’s entrance was great, but whoever was directing it should be shot into the sun. Half of it we couldn’t even see what was happening because of that long focus on the fire, as if Gangrel was gonna pop up with some Cheese and Onion.

For a minute, I thought The Rock was going to wrestle in his flairs. Would have been more criminal than when Punk came back in those long tights against Darby.

Rock looked good. Think being in a tag helped things, but he still looked great considering his age and how long he’s been out. Maybe there’s at least one or two big singles matches still to come. There’s no denying the huge reaction when Roman accidentally Speared him. You could smell the money.

Cody needs to hire Chad Gable as his coach. Maybe Chad can advise against Cody doing the triple Cross Roads, aimlessly stepping backwards after the second, before hitting the third. Cost you again, you muppet! Lose a Mania match once that way, shame on me, do it again, shame on you!

Don’t know if it was a new product or the weather (did they mention it was cold?), but either way Roman’s hair looked majestic by the end! Like a sexy lion! Aslan from Narnia!

Looking forward to tonight. More convinced than ever they’ll do the right thing and crown Cody in a huge crescendo. Will be punching the air if they do. Will die laughing if they don’t.

Edited April 7 by Supremo

[d-d-d-dAz]

I can't shake Roman's press conference from my mind. The man is still on oral chemotherapy and still doing this shit?

Maybe he should win.

Edited April 7 by d-d-d-dAz