Wrestlemania 41 Discussion Thread

[air_raid]

Forget to add… if you told me one of the matches from this show would feature the wrestlers recreate (or even attempt) the Kidman/Rey spot from 99, Jade vs Naomi would have probably been my fourth guess or maybe lower still!

[Statto]

2 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

I wonder if they were worried, because of MAGA, the international audience would boo the anthem or America the Beautiful, so ditched it completely to avoid this becoming a news story.

 

 

Jelly Roll performed God Bless America (all 45 seconds of it) at the tail end of the pre-show. I assume either he or another artist will get a big wedge to do the more traditional America the Beautiful at the tail end of tonight's one.

[gmoney]

This was a pretty enjoyable show overall. Certainly nothing bad on it, though the tag match was probably the least engaging. There was nothing blow away either. Thought the main event was very good, Jade v Naomi had some excellent bits, Fenix vs Gable was satisfying and Tiff v Charlotte was scrappy fun. Hopefully night 2 will have something transcendent after the mild build these last few weeks.

Stray thoughts:

HBK looked like he'd been bobbing for apples in soup. 

Did Tiffany fuck up her teeth? 

I think I'm able to tune Pat out, as he didn't bother me much and I also can barely remember a think he said. 

Edited April 20, 2025 by gmoney

[d-d-d-dAz]

It's strange how youthful Rollins seemed in that main event, given how long he's been knocking about.

I'm willing to give him a 53rd chance to prove he's not a shitehawk, as if anyone can get something out of him you have to assume it's Heyman. In leaving with Heyman (who looks more and more like he's going to have a massive coronary on TV) he certainly seemed like more of a proper star than he has before.

I look forward to being disappointed by him. Again.

If this does end up being some mad New Twats Order with Rock, Heyman, Cena and Rollins though? No bueno.

Edited April 20, 2025 by d-d-d-dAz

[thevestofdeanambrose]

Not much more to add than what has already been said except 

I FUCKING LOVE JACOB FATU

Give me Kevin Owens Vs Big Jacob

[garynysmon]

2 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Great point. Like I said I thought the set, the entrances and the presentation of it all was superb, and really added to my enjoyment of it all.

The presentation still comes across as grand but nowhere near as annoying as it felt to me just before the pandemic with over use of holograms and nothing but screens everywhere.

I’m a very infrequent viewer now but wasn’t anywhere near as grating as I remember.

 

[Devon Malcolm]

I watched half of it live and the rest this morning.

Jey Uso vs Gunther caught a bit of fire near the end but Gunther had to do some seriously heavily lifting to make this watchable. Jey's never been a good singles wrestler but he seems to be operating at about 50% the last couple of months, like he's carrying an extra 100lbs of invisible weight. The ending was a surprise. What was with Jey's arm early on as well? I thought he might have fucked it up yeeting or something but he seemed ok after about 5 minutes. Weird.

The tag match was decent enough as I like the War Raiders. They didn't cash in quick enough on The New Day's initial heat for this to work as well as it could have done. But it was alright.

Jade Cargill vs Naomi was very decent as well. Cargill's never going to get all the ring instincts, I guess some do and some don't. She was out of position a couple of times. But she executes her power moves brilliantly and she's just got more star quality than almost anyone else in the business. Naomi channelling Owen Hart's post-Bretxit gear was a nice touch. She might make a good heel, who knew.

Jacob Fatu vs LA Knight was the match of the night. Knight didn't balls anything up and Jacob was an absolute nutter. And a Haku appearance! Lovely to see the old fella. I enjoyed this a lot although maybe Fatu would have benefited more from making it more of a squash.

Rey Fenix is already 16 times better than Penta and I've only seen him in one match. Chad Gable is brilliant. You can give him anything and he'll make it work. One of the best around. He's got the loaded mask over in 2025. Unbelievable. Enjoyed this.

Shawn Michaels came out to tell us the attendance. Thanks for coming.

Tiffany Stratton vs Charlotte Flair was about as good as could reasonably be expected of it, especially towards the end. Some really good spots and the right result. Funny to hear the commentators questioning cash-in wins now. Well stop fucking doing them then.

CM Punk's entrance video was fantastic work. Chuckled that they omitted his pork chop era though. The match itself was gloriously overblown nonsense that they've perfected in Wrestlemania main events now. Terrific am-dram acting from all involved. Enjoyed it a lot. If they think this turns Rollins heel though then the crowd's reaction should tell them otherwise.

The commentary was bad all night and I don't normally mind them too much. I think maybe they've become too cosy with not having McMahon bellowing in their ears all the time. The crowd were quite shit. Overall it was a solid, consistent night lacking that blowaway match or angle. Maybe tonight, I don't know.

[air_raid]

23 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

If they think this turns Rollins heel though then the crowd's reaction should tell them otherwise.

Trying to figure out if Rollins is a face or heel on 99% of the shows has been the most interesting thing about him for about 95% of the last 3 years.

[Guest]

I think it was meant to be a Rollins and Heyman heel turn, for sure, but it didn't work because a) the crowd actually loves Heyman b) they're mostly interested in seeing moments rather than because they want a particular storyline direction but also c) Heyman had just turned on Punk, with Roman thrilled with it, and then beating a prone Punk with a chair. It's not a guy that engenders a lot of sympathy when he immediately gets turned on.

When I've been watching WWE shows in the last 6-12 months, even the stuff I've not enjoyed, I've found myself thinking "well that crowd seems to be having a great time, so I'm tempted to go" - which is especially impressive as they can't have fully recovered from the black market organ selling they'd have to do to afford the tickets - but I just didn't feel that from this show. The crowd had bits they liked, but lots that they didn't and they sat quietly for.

Edited April 20, 2025 by Duke

[d-d-d-dAz]

9 minutes ago, Duke said:

 b) they're mostly interested in seeing moments

Completely, totally, 100% this.

If you book a wrestling company around Instagram Reels, this is the audience you get.

They like the big stars, and will cheer and boo all sides of the same segment within 5 minutes.

I think, if I was to sit and think about it properly and not just vomit words about hating Rollins on here, I could make an argument that the lack of emotional connection between audience and talent is possibly WWE's biggest issue.

Edited April 20, 2025 by d-d-d-dAz

[RedTwoster]

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

Completely, totally, 100% this.

If you book a wrestling company around Instagram Reels, this is the audience you get.

They like the big stars, and will cheer and boo all sides of the same segment within 5 minutes.

I think, if I was to sit and think about it properly and not just vomit words about hating Rollins on here, I could make an argument that the lack of emotional connection between audience and talent is possibly WWE's biggest issue.

I’m not sure that’s true - Cody ‘finishing his story’ was all based around an emotional connection, and Jey Uso’s rise to the World title is similar. Then you have Drew/Punk as another emotionally-charged feud, along with the Rhea/Liv/Dominik story. Kevin Owens also did a superb job at inviting a negative reaction, in spite of the audience being naturally inclined to support him. 

Rollins has a tendency to do heelish things, but act like a babyface after he’s done them anyway - take the brutal beatdown of Roman Reigns, for example. I can understand why an audience might look at last night’s match and treat it as Rollins outsmarting everyone, and not necessarily a heel turn. It’s what he does next that matters as far as the reaction he gets is concerned.

[DavidB6937]

Rollins has often suffered from not particularly having a definitive character which I assume is why a lot of people struggle to get emotionally invested in him. He's got so many nicknames and so many different parts to him but nothing solid for anyone to hold onto beyond his theme music. 

Dare I say it, he's probably the male equivalent of Mercedes Mone to me in that I always enjoy his matches but on a shallow level which keeps them from moving up my favourites list because the top talents are ones I can enjoy the matches AND be emotionally invested in. Hogan, Bret, Shawn, Austin etc etc.

If this can be a storyline that Seth can sink his teeth into and become a stronger character then I'm all for it because it rarely happens for him.

[gmoney]

I forgot Salvatore Ganacci was there for Jey Uso's entrance. He's responsible for one of my favourite music videos. 

They should have had him punch Gha-Cha-Ping (I won't call him Walter or Gunther). 

[d-d-d-dAz]

31 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

I’m not sure that’s true - Cody ‘finishing his story’ was all based around an emotional connection, and Jey Uso’s rise to the World title is similar. Then you have Drew/Punk as another emotionally-charged feud, along with the Rhea/Liv/Dominik story. Kevin Owens also did a superb job at inviting a negative reaction, in spite of the audience being naturally inclined to support him. 

Rollins has a tendency to do heelish things, but act like a babyface after he’s done them anyway - take the brutal beatdown of Roman Reigns, for example. I can understand why an audience might look at last night’s match and treat it as Rollins outsmarting everyone, and not necessarily a heel turn. It’s what he does next that matters as far as the reaction he gets is concerned.

Agree with Cody, but I think this is something manifesting over the last year as they've prioritised the 'big moment' over anything else.

I'd say Jey Uso is actually a bad argument, as when he tries to get the audience crying they're all yelling 'yeet' at him.

And to circle back to Cody, this years audience were all happy to boo him out the building like he was Dominick Mysterio until he made a funny Sting joke, and then they cheered him and booed Cena. Which was on my mind when I wrote that.

It was like at the London show, it stood out to me when Orton was pasting McIntyre and suplexing him on the announce table and everyone was chanting 'one more time'. As soon as Drew reversed and started pasting Orton, they started chanting the same only with the opposite intention. 

I just find the audience a very fickle audience, who don't really have deep connections with anyone and will just respond to big stars and big moments. It's not necessarily bad... it's just different.

[RedTwoster]

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

I'd say Jey Uso is actually a bad argument, as when he tries to get the audience crying they're all yelling 'yeet' at him.

The connection is clearly there, though - I’m not a fan of Uso, but he’s over beyond the Yeet. 

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

I just find the audience a very fickle audience, who don't really have deep connections with anyone and will just respond to big stars and big moments. It's not necessarily bad... it's just different.

I’d point to Sami Zayn as another example - but the WWE roster is full of wrestlers who the fans are connected with. The behaviour you’re describing isn’t unique to WWE - look at MJF in AEW just this week, sleazily trying to worm his way into the Hurt Syndicate as a heel, to chants of ‘he’s our scumbag’. Similarly, Swerve was a reprehensible heel, yet in spite of that was cheered quite roundly. 

Personally, I don’t think it’s illustrative of a lack of connection, it’s just how modern fans behave, for better or worse.