Paid Members air_raid Posted April 8 Paid Members Share Posted April 8 Totally off on a tangent, but a real attention-to-detail bit I loved was the cherry blossom scattering during the Damage CTRL entrance on Night 1. Peak for cherry blossom/Sakura in Japan is early April and it's very symbolic of life, death and rebirth - New Japan call their big April show(s) "Sakura Genesis" for this reason and it was a nice little production effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitsky's back acne Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 2 hours ago, Chili said: Apparently a good show but it was full of people who paraded about who protected and voted a known sexual offender to the board of directors so yeah probably a no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 Something that did surprise me was there is no kick off hour or whatever anymore. I lazily had on whatever Punk and them were doing, but not really paying attention. So night 1 I expected 12-1am to be an hour of bollocks, and then 1am onwards main card. I was obviously pleasantly surprised when the whole thing kicked off at 12, but it did mess up my snacks/coffee schedule. Pooing wise, I chose a vignette on Night 1, and the LA Knight match on Night 2, you'll all be pleased to hear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Statto Posted April 8 Paid Members Share Posted April 8 (edited) I don't really have much to add about a fantastic night two that hasn't already been said, except that AJ Styles is so massive right now it's like Zac Efron is playing TNA AJ Styles in a movie. Edit: genuine edit to reply to Bacon without double posting - there is a 2hour kick-off show for Mania, but they no longer put any matches on it (last time they did was the empty arena covid one). I usually sit through them out of a sense of duty and they used to be right chores of JBL, Lawler & Pete Rosenberg prattling endlessly, but this year's were actually rather good. Lots of nice pre-tape sit down interviews etc, and a fun panel in Cole, Mcafee, Punk & Big E. Edited April 8 by Statto Pre-show Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaitoRyo Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 Seth Drew was a good, energetic way to kick off night two. I'm a bit tired of the finisher spam sprint tbh but this was one of the better ones. The post-match with Punk and the Priest cash-in was good, too. Don't think too many expected that. The six-man street fight was a bit shite and didn't really add much to the show. A few noticeable blown spots and it had Karrion Kross in it, so it had a lot going for it. Funny to see Alex Jones in there as the special referee. That guy must be willing to do anything for money after the Sandy Hook parents took him to the cleaners! I liked Styles/Knight a lot more than I thought I would. Just a really solid wrestling match with plenty of intensity. Nice of AJ (46) to put over the young up-and-comer (41), too. The triple threat US Title match was a lot of fun! Orton is class. Owens is very good. Paul is annoyingly great at this. They worked well together. SKY/Bayley was really good and felt like both women's best performances for ages. The right call to make the switch, too. The main event was tremendous, particularly that mental final five minutes. A minor thing, but I would have liked it a whole lot more if glass had shattered, rather than the lights turn out. Austin coming out to take out The Rock would have been amazing, but it not happening didn't take anything away from a really good WrestleMania main event. Overall, night two was noticeably better than night one. Part of me would like to see 'Mania go back to one night and have them just cut a lot of the shite off the bill, but two nights seems to be working and there was a lot more good than bad across the weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted April 8 Paid Members Share Posted April 8 30 minutes ago, tiger_rick said: That's more reason to have Cody do it, surely? Fuck, am I Jim Cornette? You will never be Jim Cornette, you are far too nice a person. I haven't explained myself properly. It's not in Roman's character to a straight up one on one wrestling match. Cody overcomes the odds, that's in his character, Roman relies on underlings, that's in his. If anything not having more people coming in to help Roman was the biggest surprise. That match showcased what both men are about perfectly. I understand the desire to see a one on one battle but it wouldn't be appropriate really Tiger_Jim 😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted April 8 Paid Members Share Posted April 8 Reigns suddenly doing the "I got this on my own" act wouldn't have made any sense at all. The whole Bloodline saga has been about family and it being bigger than one person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted April 8 Paid Members Share Posted April 8 3 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said: Reigns suddenly doing the "I got this on my own" act wouldn't have made any sense at all. The whole Bloodline saga has been about family and it being bigger than one person. You don't have him decide. Make it the stip for the tag match and do all the shenanigans in there, as said. Then the babyfaces win and choose the one on one. Plus as a knock-on, Rollins doesn't look like as big of a loser as he ended up, and you sow some seeds for Rock and Roman after you've done the Rock/Cody match you've built over the last few weeks. That's what I'd have done anyway. Though as we've said many time, they can make billions without booking anything well so it's not like any of it matters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 32 minutes ago, Statto said: Edit: genuine edit to reply to Bacon without double posting - there is a 2hour kick-off show for Mania, but they no longer put any matches on it (last time they did was the empty arena covid one). I usually sit through them out of a sense of duty and they used to be right chores of JBL, Lawler & Pete Rosenberg prattling endlessly, but this year's were actually rather good. Lots of nice pre-tape sit down interviews etc, and a fun panel in Cole, Mcafee, Punk & Big E. My man. And yeah that makes sense, and I'm an idiot as I was sat there thinking "Rhea vs Becky is on the kick off show, that can't be right?" before realising what was going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 8 Paid Members Share Posted April 8 4 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said: Reigns suddenly doing the "I got this on my own" act wouldn't have made any sense at all. It definitely wouldn’t have, although there’s a case that arrogance being his undoing could have been a catalyst for a split/the rest kicking him out/turning him babyface. Many a baddie has fucked themselves by throwing a well-planned-out, umm, plan out the window right at the key moment. Might have been a good excuse to Starscream him. As it is…. well, the new champion dropped a fall to “The Final Boss” on Saturday night. Probably reason enough for him to supplant his fake cousin if that’s the route they want to go down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted April 8 Paid Members Share Posted April 8 Just now, tiger_rick said: . Though as we've said many time, they can make billions without booking anything well so it's not like any of it matters. This. I had a chat with someone at Rev Pro last week (HE APPROACHED ME, I’m not a chatty person). His first live event was All In, he’s got the bug. But he said he didn’t buy All In tickets this year yet because he’s waiting for announcements. WrestleMania sold over 100k tickets (granted, 2 night combos for the most part) in its first few days. You’re going because it’s Mania, the card being matches you really want is a cherry on top. That’s why Glastonbury sells out before a single artist is announced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted April 8 Paid Members Share Posted April 8 4 minutes ago, tiger_rick said: You don't have him decide. Make it the stip for the tag match and do all the shenanigans in there, as said. Then the babyfaces win and choose the one on one. They can't do that anymore. The Rock is on the board. He's in charge. He can just veto that suggestion. It wouldn't make any sense. 4 minutes ago, tiger_rick said: Plus as a knock-on, Rollins doesn't look like as big of a loser as he ended up, and you sow some seeds for Rock and Roman after you've done the Rock/Cody match you've built over the last few weeks. I don't think Rollins looks a loser. The build-up to this has had a lot in it about Rollins stating that taking down the Bloodline is bigger than anything else going on. He sacrificed his personal gain for the bigger story. It's rare for wrestling to actually tell that story and follow through with it and I thought they did this side of things superbly. Rollins still comes out of this hugely popular. He's still busy the other side of it. He's got potential stories with Rhodes and Punk and even McIntyre to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d-d-d-dAz Posted April 8 Author Share Posted April 8 Please let's not retrospectively pretend last night was anything but well booked. It may not have been to your tastes, but you have to at least be self aware enough to see you're in the minority. It was perfect. The Bloodline went on so long, they'd made so many enemies, that the scales finally tipped the other way and they were outmanned and outgunned. That was the story. Roman was a Champion because he'd built a wall around him that kept him that way, but over the years the resistance grew strong enough that they could scale the wall. A straight one on one would have been great, but it wouldn't have been the point as Roman would leave just as strong as he went in, and the favourite for a rematch when he could find a way to regroup and get the Bloodline involved. Now, not only is Roman beaten, but the Evil Empire know they're not enough, they've been vanquished as a force. It's good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator Frankie Crisp Posted April 8 Awards Moderator Share Posted April 8 (edited) I too was hoping for the glass to shatter so we’d get one more Rock/Austin face-off and the former doing one big last stupid oversell to a stunner. When the gong hit, I was a bit deflated thinking that, after all the build, the Final Boss should never be taken out by someone so much older than him. I looked it up and Steve Austin is older than ‘Taker. Wrestling, hey? Absolutely brilliant show, all-in-all. Randy barking at that YouTube berk had me in tucks, Logan Paul should have done this years ago and the whole Drew/Punk thing is going to make for a wonderful feud. Fair play to Becky for going hard after being so unwell, but that outfit with a paragraph on it was horrendous. I assume hers and her fella’s costume designer is David Blunkett. Good for Cody, too. I’d never bought into him until the lead-up to this show and that third slap of the mat made me realise how much he’s won me over. Proper, gorgeous, emotional wrestling and when this industry gets it right, it can’t be touched. Also, if it hadn’t been for the main main, Sami Zayn would have been involved in the best match of Mania for three years on the bounce. Edited April 8 by Frankie Crisp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 3 minutes ago, Frankie Crisp said: I assume hers and her fella’s costume designer is David Blunkett. I do appreciate an incredibly outdated reference. Bravo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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