It's Wrestlemania Season

[SuperBacon]

10 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Shocked at how bad their physiques are considering they’re supposed to be top level athletes

One has just retired, the other is a defensive tackle, so that's generally how they look.

[Weezenal]

Paul Heyman saying he got cancelled loads of times in his HOF speech made him sound like a nonce, rather than just getting fired from his job.

[DavidB6937]

Well after all the support I gave the Usos for them being a worthy Mania match, they certainly did their best to prove me wrong, Awful match. Whoever booked that and did the agent role should be fired. Shite.

Happy tears for Sami.

Surprisingly decent showing from The Rock but definitely too long.

Not much nostalgia or surprises so hoping we'll get some tonight.

[Loki]

It was really touching seeing how emotional The Miz was for Ron Killings getting his first win at Wrestlemania.  Good old R Truth, he was possibly the most over person in the whole PPV and seems universally loved.

Let's hope he doesn't do anything stupid to undermine that.

Oh.

[Dr. Alan Grant]

19 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Well after all the support I gave the Usos for them being a worthy Mania match, they certainly did their best to prove me wrong, Awful match. Whoever booked that and did the agent role should be fired. Shite.

Jason Jordan apparently. Can’t fire him though, his dad is a Hall Of Famer.

[Arch Stanton]

24 minutes ago, Loki said:

It was really touching seeing how emotional The Miz was for Ron Killings getting his first win at Wrestlemania.  Good old R Truth, he was possibly the most over person in the whole PPV and seems universally loved.

Let's hope he doesn't do anything stupid to undermine that.

Oh.

I mean, maybe he's just posting in gimmick there? 😕

[SpykeDudlei1]

7 hours ago, Loki said:

In the minority again around here, but I really like Samantha Irvin's announcing - I love the energy and drama she adds to everything and she looked stunning out there.  In the context of Wrestlemania and 74,000 people it made every event feel big.

Just text a very similar message to a mate of mine. I completely agree.

[Senior Perfecto]

3 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

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.

This pretty much sums up my exact thoughts and feelings, right down to being a lapsed fan and watching with my little lad.

Uso match aside, I found the whole show engaging and kept my interest far longer than I expected.

Also quite surprised to read so much hate for Samantha. She's great (and incredibly fit)!

[SpykeDudlei1]

9 hours ago, TheScarlettChad said:

Wonder if Seth turns heel on The Codester tonight. 

Monday night for me rather than tonight. Said something about this a few weeks ago on here and just said it to a mate (same one I messaged about Samantha Irvin)…

The knee ‘injury’ last night leaves Rollins open to Drew taking the title off him.

Cody wins Roman's title.

On Raw, Rollins comes out seemingly to congratulate Cody and ends up turning on him with the reasoning that by trying to help Cody out it cost him his own title.

It's a credible, high profile and competent first challenger for Cody and with him having won their previous PPV meetings it will give fans a thought that maybe Rollins is due one but ultimately fail again.

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

It shows how high WWE are on Samantha that she’s been given the sole ring announcing duty for both nights rather than being split with Mike Rome

I usually love Pat on commentary but good Lord by the end he was really starting to grate on me, they should have really had Barrett there instead of having him at NXT for a calmer voice 

[Hannibal Scorch]

You have to put your money where your mouth is 

[OzExile]

Oh my word, that was the best main event I've ever seen. Roman stepped it up several notches from anything I've seen from him in ages, maybe ever. 

[JLM]

Wrestlemania Night 1

Motionless in White are rubbish a but I still thought Rhea's entrance entrance was incredible. She looked like a mega star. 
Very good match to start the show. Some great little counters and sequences, they got the crowd on board as it went on and Rhea is just so over. Heroic performance from Becky if she was ill going into this. Only thing really hurting this for me is that there was zero doubt in my mind about the result, so it took away a lot of potential drama. 

Ladder match had some nutty high spots as you'd expect. It was OK. For all the table and ladder smashing, the Kofi Trust Fall to take out the field and let Woods take a run at the belts was my favourite high spot. Truth has more than earned his Wrestlemania win, so was sincerely chuffed for him at the end. The tag titles feel utterly worthless.

Rey/Dom etc. was a standard TV tag match. It was fine. The crossbody on the shoulders spot was the best bit. 

Jey vs Jimmy is just too far past the point of being interesting at all to me. The crowd was still hot for it but I had no investment and the match didn't do anything to bring me in. 

Bianca, Jade and Naomi on the giant podium was glorious. Absolutely glorious. Pure Wrestlemania razzmatazz, they looked like gods. Bianca's hot tag was spectacular but this was the Jade Cargill show. Boy does she look right at home on this stage, I loved every second of it, as did the live crowd. Everything WWE has done with Jade so far has been note perfect. 

Sami and Gunther was brilliant. These two are the ideal opponents for each other, both in-ring and as characters, and I knew before the show this would be one of the best matches of the weekend. Sami's entrance was perfect. Gunther's character work has improved so much since his main roster call up, particularly in the most recent feuds with Miz and Sami. He was already one of my favourite wrestlers but he's only getting better. Definitely time to move him up to the world title picture after this excellent reign. 

The main event was largely tonnes of fun. Toy Belt and Big Pants be damned, The Rock's entrance was still fucking magnificent. I actually laughed out loud when I realised it was a giant flaming Bull. Wonderful. As much as I enjoy Seth Rollins getting beaten down, the extended bit with the heat on him was a bit of a drag. However, the initial buzz of them all facing off was great, and the final third was classic WWE Main event excess at its finest. The melodrama, the big moments, the twists and turns. The reaction to Cody springing up during The People's elbow, Cody rock bottoming The Rock through a table, Reigns spearing The Rock. Lots of great holy shit moments and they had the crowd red hot by the end. Really enjoyed it. 

Decent night one. The Wrestlemania production is always a joy to behold. Ladder match/Rey and Dom/Usos matches were all entirely forgettable, but the stuff I was looking forward to delivered. Sami/Gunther, Becky/Rhea, Jade Cargill looking like a million bucks, the main event and some tremendous entrances. 

[SuperBacon]

That main event was absolutely fantastic. Everything I wanted from it, and if you didn't enjoy it, I genuinely feel sorry for you

A genuinely amazing moment, and the rest of the card was great too. Cannot wait to show my 11yo the Logan Paul match.

[FUM]

What a different style ending with the scenes, getting on the mic etc. but all for it. Real emotion being shared, felt like a genuine achievement and mountain climbed for Cody.

Jimmy and Jey putting on a better match in that main event than their WrestleMania match.