Professional Wrestling (WWE, TNA, ROH, etc)

[[Q]]

Yeah I don't think it's really worked either. Plus it does kinda suck to actually go to a show and not see the champion, but everyone is there to see Cena anyways lol

[Ofek99]

im a Huge Wrestling fan..even was a wrestler but for only 3 weeks..injured not once also..
but i think of Returning to wrestling..


anyway, what your opinions on the Card of wrestlemania 31 ?

my : great Card !
i for years iv'e been waiting for Sting vs Triple H. gotta be Incredible match
Taker vs Wyatt,Good Storyline.the WWE found the right guy to be the ' Next Undertaker '.
Orton Vs Rollins, The Rivalry needed to start even earlier. i mean since like.the survivor Series,but it didn't. but it is a Great Rivalry. and Great Match-up.
Reigns vs lesnar...Don't know yet...
IC Title Ladder Match : Fine, no more...
Cena Vs Rusev,Good Rivalry,one of those Patriot vs Foreign rivalries..

[[Q]]

Hideo finally did it: https://twitter.com/solomonster/status/581691684611739648

[TBM]

Completely disagree with everything you've said, Andrew. Brock is the most over wrestler in the company. He's the best thing in all of pro wrestling right now, and it's partially because he isn't there every week.

Not to mention, Reigns clearly isn't the guy, and I think everyone but Vince sees it. The fans wanted Danielson vs. Brock, and they didn't get it, and Danielson is much less over for it because the fans have just given up on the idea of getting the spot, because Vince clearly had no intention of ever giving him that spot. And when someone is as luke-warm as Reigns is, having him beat the most over guy on the show isn't a good idea at all. Reigns is pretty obviously going to win though.

The only possible hope is that we get a double turn.

[Andrew]

Well, I in turn would completely disagree with that. Honestly, I don't see any evidence of him being the most over wrestler in the company, and in my view, having the champion show up 10 times a year makes him one of the worst things going in professional wrestling right now. Alright, that's maybe a stretch, but the best? Everyone's mileage may vary of course, but I just don't think he's been good for the company as a champion.

At the end of the day...I'm bored with it, I don't think what they've tried to sell has really worked (you can't look dominant or be a consistent draw if you only show up every now and again), and I'm ready for something new. It's like The Authority angle; it's run too long for my tastes, I want them to move on with new angles.

I do kind of agree as far as Reigns is concerned. I don't think they've built him up particularly well, and the rocket pack push hasn't come off well as a result. I'm just ready for a new champion...I wouldn't mind a Rollins cash in to that end. He's a full-time performer, he's over, he can really work. It's time to build some new stars, and they're not going to accomplish that with Lesnar sitting at home with the belt.

[Andrew]

I'm predicting we'll see Wyatt do his Exorcist flip/walk to stare at a downed Taker, only for Taker to sit up and look him right back in the eye, which would be a pretty cool moment/visual.

Called it.

[TBM]

Fun show. Not at the level of last year, but still a good show. Highlight was Rousey by far.

[JaoSming]

Well, that was an awesome experience! No one near me was sitting for the kickoff matches and things didn't really go dead/calm until after the concert. Most of the crowd in my area watched the huge screens behind us more than watching the matches in front of us....but whatever, better view for me. Hoooly crap were they "smarky" though. Not even the kinds of smarks you'd expect (like me?). Kids, women, people who were really really into it...but just smarky with their chants, boos, and cheers. What surprised me more was all the cheers Roman got mid-way through the main event....he was boo'd throughout the night whenever his picture would show up on the screens, and yet everyone cheered during his final comeback...and it wasn't piped in either.

The food cost too much, my seat didn't actually exist so I had to move midway through when people claimed their seats (same general area, ushers told me to just find empty seats), and the sweeping camera was stationed right if front of us for much of the night. Other than it was fantastic. Had a nice view of the ring from basically the floor, and being tall helped.

Marking out for the entrances was so much fun with that entire stadium above/behind me, it was so friggin loud. On that note, they pipe out a mat microphone so the entire stadium can hear the counts and bumps....it was weird hearing that but not the ladders or stairs. But yeah, Bray had a very distinctly different sound bumping than everyone else....heh.

So match-by-match thoughts;

• Tag match - Amazing, everyone was excited and it being a spotfest helped.
• ARMBAR - I want to hate Big Show dominating it, but it's about time he acts as an actual threat in Royal Rumble-esk matches.
• Ladder match - Again, amazing spotfest, amazing Yes chants
• Randy vs Seth - Energy started to die down during this, but the flippy shit ending was almost perfect (they should have Evan Bourne'd it).
• HHH vs Sting - From the start I felt like it was going to be a bad match, they saved it with the big jump from Sting and the nostalgic interferences, even if Sting's felt....weird, because WCW. The weapon stuff was corny, but the whole thing was. Once I realized it was going to fun rather than a serious match, I let go and enjoyed. Hell even Hogan bumped.
• Divas Tag - This was when I was being shuffled around.
• Cena Rusev - Fiiiiiiine.... I disagree with a lot with Rusev lately, going for pinfalls, Lana stuff, but I'm ok with Cena having the title to elevate the mid card with Bryan. I would have rathered the rumored Lana throwing in the towel idea than the clean fall.
• Undertaker vs Bray - This was my meh of the night....it was too light for both entrances (the skit didn't last long enough) and the match seemed like a "typical" 'taker match with a very untypical Wyatt. Memorable for the situp vs crab, but Bray should have won....now its 22-1 and that doesn't rhyme well enough for Heyman.
• Lesnar vs Reigns - Tore the place down. Everyone was into it with every suplex, no-sell punch, blood, cash-in, stomps, and just plain awesome through and through.

In the end....probably not going to another show or PPV unless my daughters get into it. I missed relaxing on the couch watching, pausing, fast forwarding, getting food without spending a shitton, and being able to be active online during it. I got Twitter working fine in the stadium (with some live-Tweet action!) but screw juggling PWI, /r/SC, here, and Twitter on a phone I needed to keep alive to get me home.

Nothing too great in terms of pictures, but I got some neat high speed again with my potato quality. So here is The Rock and a smiling selfie as I was leaving.




And I'll check the Network and try to find me.

[shadowgrin]

[Ofek99]

great wrestlemania
Sting Vs HHH : WoW what a match! loved the Terminator entrance of Triple h . that was awesome
the NWO vs DX part. that was great, the post-match Hand shake,,Huge Moment,Exciting for me as a longtime wrestling fan
Undertaker Vs. Wyatt..Great match. not the best but really great,
Reigns vs Brock..Great one of a match. really Shocked that in the end Seth Cashed in ..
Ladder Match : Incredible match,
Rusev Vs Cena..Good Match , nice way to end the Streak of Rusev.
Ronda and Rock Segment
Rest of the Show = Incredible

Best Move i saw of the show : that RKO by randy on seth...that was Sick !

[koberulz]

Well that sucked.

Big Show needs wins in 2015 like I need a hole in the head.
I'm assuming they got this far, realised that Seth had the briefcase, and they hadn't jobbed him out pointlessly yet, and that they weren't going to get another opportunity? Okay, it's Mania, and the babyface goes over, but...
Triple H wins lol. In a match that was never going to do anything for anyone, why not at least put the babyface over? THIS IS NOT HARD. Also, Ric Flair was in the building, but not this match.
And of course Cena wins, because who could possibly have more to gain from ending Rusev's career? Without Lana, and without the undefeated streak, he's done. Plus, as someone who is not American, or particularly concerned with which part of the planet I happened to be born in, this entire feud has less than zero appeal to me.
The good thing about watching PPVs instead of Raw: no half-hour Authority promos. Oh, wait...
Rock, claiming to be from Miami his entire life, now claims to be from San Francisco. The crowd buys this. I swear Rock could come out and make fart noises for twenty minutes and people would insist it was a good promo. Sure, at least it's not the misogyny and transphobia he normally deals in, but he's just horrendously overrated on the mic at this point.
At least Rousey's there to finally have Steph get her comeuppance after she'd been burying people constantly for years with no consequence. In that she had her arm held for a bit. Joy.
I look forward to Undertaker capitalising on the momentum from that win, to springboard himself into the main event. Wyatt didn't need it, as he's on Mount Perpetually Over at this point and only shows up once a year anyway.
We can now categorically state that Undertaker's streak was wasted, given that he survived to wrestle another year and nobody beat Brock.

And just looking at it from a wrestling standpoint...was there a good match on the card? The ladder match wasn't bad, but with that many guys and that many ladders it has to be pretty offensive to be bad in the first place. I'm not counting the tag match, because it was on the Network-exclusive pre-show...but if you've bought the Network for the pre-show, you've already paid for WrestleMania, so I'm not seeing the distinction. Like the King of the Ring qualifying matches they had a few years back, which were really just round one of the tournament itself.

They do realise the point of the pre-show is to get people to buy the show, right? Why are we advertising to people who have already made the purchase?

The only younger, up-and-coming guy to go over the entire night was Rollins, and that was only in a cash-in. So I guess if you were looking for positives, they haven't given us all that false hope they gave us last year.

[JaoSming]

hah, I was in the opening shots, 5:13 on the Network

[bigh0rt]

Thoughts...

- Pre-Show Tag Match was fun. Spotfest, like Jon said. Enjoyable to watch without having anything invested in it. A good way to start the evening.
- Was really pulling for Mizdow even before the Battle Royal, and thought he should've won. Was nice to see him make it to the Final 2, and hopefully he's able to have a good feud with Miz, but after that he's a character that I like who I think should/could be involved with some mid-cart title shots, etc.
- Orton v. Rollins - I really like both these guys, and don't mind seeing either in the title mix. Loved the visual of the final spot, and just love the RKO in general. This was entertaining enough.
- HHH v. Sting - Two guys who don't need to be in a wrestling ring anymore. Fun for nostalgia purposes, but this would've been much more fun to watch 15 years ago. Sting's bald spot would've stolen the show had Scott Hall not taken a legit bump. I thought he was going to die before the match ended. Seriously, though, don't ever let anyone who was ringside for this match wrestle again.
- Taker v. Bray - Taker falls into the same category as everyone listed in the previous match. I never want to see him wrestle again. It's over. Wrap it up. This should have been a passing the torch match, with Bray burying Taker for good. Instead it was underwhelming, because Undertaker is old and can't work anymore. It is no longer entertaining to watch him do his 5 moves and throw punches. Let's end it.
- Lesnar v. Reigns - Interestingly enough, the match that people (myself included) seemed to be most down about heading into the event was maybe the most entertaining. I'm constantly in awe of how easily Brock is able to just ragdoll even massive men like Reigns. I know he's a stiff worker, but he's maybe the only guy who really genuinely comes across as if he's legitimately trying to injure his opponent. Reigns sold all the suplexes and domination well too. I enjoyed seeing Rollins cash in, and am excited to see what he's able to do as champion. Figure he'll probably be able to get away with carrying it a little while, winning with some interference from J&J, Kane, HHH, and whomever, to continue to build heel heat. I imagine they'll try and set up a feud with Reigns, but I still don't think Reigns is over enough to be a Main Event face.

[[Q]]

I was a bit disappointed by the ladder match, as I thought it would be a bit better. Seems like they put the belt on Bryan to make up for fucking up his run last year.

HHH is so full of himself to book himself the winner over the guy who they said hasn't wrestled in like 15 years. nostalgia was the only redeeming quality of the match. Those entrances were lame as fuck. Look at this tough guy who spits water who married the boss's daughter to get to the top.

In hindsight, Ending takers streak was a waste. Booking him in this match was a waste.

I'm actually curious where the rusev/cena storyline will go.

Preshow was the best part of the show. Tyson& Cesaro are easily my favorite wrestlers to watch at this point. I wanted to see hideo last longer in the battle royal

[bigh0rt]

Neville is electric but has the worst name in history. That name will hold him back, silly as that may sound.

[Andrew]

I'm biased because Taker is my all-time favourite, but I thought that match was fine. Not an all-time classic, don't get me wrong, but fine. Taker looked a lot better than he did last year - certainly helps that he wasn't concussed this time around - and Wyatt didn't exactly look weak, kicking out of the tombstone and getting a lot of offense in. Whether he was elevated in the loss (a la Steve Austin in 1997) is certainly questionable, but I don't think he was buried. He's no worse off than before.

I agree that Sting should've gone over. It was a bit over-booked with the run-ins, but the match itself was alright. Having HHH go over...yeah, that's stroking his ego, and Vince McMahon's, the final nail in the coffin of WCW and all that. At least Sting worked a match in WWE, I suppose.

Rusev/Cena...well, Rusev had to lose at some point, and he already has a win over Cena. It depends how they book him moving forward, but one loss does not bury him. They have run the old USA vs. Russia thing into the ground at this point, so let's see what they do with him from here on out.

Divas match was what it was. I guess Stephanie didn't like being called out by AJ on Twitter, or perhaps her neck still isn't 100%.

I'm fine with the outcome of Orton/Rollins, it was a competitive match with an awesome spot for the finish. Rollins cashing in at the end of the night made up for it and propelled him into the main event scene, after his good showing at the Rumble. I'm glad they found a new RKO counter, as the one off the top rope is almost always telegraphed these days. It still looks awesome, but the counter to the Curb Stomp was original and looked amazing.

I'd like to see Daniel Bryan back in the main event, but if he can have a bit of a reign with the IC title and restore some of its prestige with good matches (and being a former world champion holding it), it'll be worth it. Really good match to open the show, too.

The segment with The Authority, Rock, and Rousey did run a bit too long. I'm over The Authority at this point, but at least they didn't get the last laugh here. There's been too much of that in their angles these past couple of years.

I didn't much care for a lot of the WWE World Championship match at first, because I'm tired of Lesnar. It's impressive the way he throws his opponents around like ragdolls and all, but it's basically the same match we've seen since Summerslam last year. Reigns took a hell of a beating and kept coming back for more, then got in some good shots on Lesnar. The longer the match went on, the more it turned into an old school, bloody brawl, the more I liked it. That was different. I think they timed the cash in very well, and it works for everyone moving forward. Lesnar still has value as a special attraction, because he wasn't involved in the final pinfall. Reigns isn't buried, because he weathered a hell of a beating before taking the pinfall, and Rollins looks like the conniving, chickenshit heel he's meant to be. We know he can work, and it sets up a feud with Reigns moving forward, which means two full-time workers (and fresher names at that) will be feuding over the belt.

So I actually enjoyed Wrestlemania 31. Maybe the lack of build set my expectations low, but whatever. I liked it.

[TBM]

The post-Mania RAW, aside from Lesnar, Cena/Ambrose, and Danielson/Ziggler, was so bad.

[koberulz]

Whether he was elevated in the loss (a la Steve Austin in 1997) is certainly questionable, but I don't think he was buried. He's no worse off than before.

He's worse off than he could and should have been. There's no value in Undertaker winning anymore, nor is there really all that much to gain from almost beating him, or kicking out of the tombstone. Everyone does that now.

I agree that Sting should've gone over. It was a bit over-booked with the run-ins, but the match itself was alright. Having HHH go over...yeah, that's stroking his ego, and Vince McMahon's, the final nail in the coffin of WCW and all that. At least Sting worked a match in WWE, I suppose.

Not to mention Sting shaking Triple H's hand for absolutely no conceivable reason, and Cole and JBL thoroughly burying Sting on commentary. The only good part of that match was Kevin Nash taking a bump and immediately reaching for his quad.

Rusev/Cena...well, Rusev had to lose at some point, and he already has a win over Cena.

There are plenty of people who would have gained more from being the one to beat Rusev.

It depends how they book him moving forward, but one loss does not bury him.

It actually does have a tendency to do that to undefeated monster heels, because they suddenly don't have a gimmick. If they split him from Lana as well, which it looks like they are, he's done.

I'm fine with the outcome of Orton/Rollins

This is the one that bothers me least from the entire night, but it's hard not to be bothered by Orton going over Rollins when Big Show, Triple H, Undertaker, and John Cena all pick up wins on the same night, and The Rock comes out to interrupt a Triple H promo. In 2015.

The segment with The Authority, Rock, and Rousey did run a bit too long. I'm over The Authority at this point, but at least they didn't get the last laugh here.

Neither did anyone else get the last laugh, though, everyone just left. I'm guessing it dragged because they were trying to wait out the daylight for Wyatt/Taker. Certainly seemed like they were trying to make it go as long as possible, and when it was dragging to begin with...why could we not have had at least one of the pre-show matches instead? Or given the divas an extra five or ten minutes?

So I actually enjoyed Wrestlemania 31. Maybe the lack of build set my expectations low, but whatever. I liked it.

If you look at each of the matches in a vacuum, it's enjoyable. Nothing on the card was bad. But nothing on the card was great, either, all the wrong guys went over, the musical performance and Authority promo completely killed the show...

[Andrew]

That's what I dislike about JBL's work on commentary. He's the heel - when he remembers to be - but instead of making the faces look sympathetic and being funny, a la Classic Jerry Lawler, Bobby Heenan, or Jesse Ventura, he just runs them down and buries them.

[koberulz]

It wasn't just JBL with Sting, though, it was also Cole. The entire thing was designed to bury Sting.

And seriously, why is the nWo helping Sting? WCW was before my time, and even I know that makes no sense. Even worse with the Kliq becoming an on-screen thing of late.

[Kevin]

Just watched Wrestlemania 31 and holy shit the nostalgia hit me hard. I almost cried when I heard John Cena's song (No, I am not a fan boy nor a Cena fan) and when I saw Randy Orton do the thing with his arms.

[formx]

I lol'd at George Bush putting over John Cena and that whole 'Murica video package before Cena's entrance.

[koberulz]

Neville is electric but has the worst name in history. That name will hold him back, silly as that may sound.

Yeah, this tendency for guys to lose their first names between NXT and Raw is just weird. Cesaro and Rusev can survive, but Neville is just ridiculous.

The post-Mania RAW, aside from Lesnar, Cena/Ambrose, and Danielson/Ziggler, was so bad.

You must have been watching a different show. I'm a little over half way through, and it's all been good thus far.

[[Q]]

Watching WM made me realize what I hate most about how much JBL sucks at what he does: he repeats the same shit for the same wrestlers like a fucking video game ("It's not the spin, but the sudden stop!") and also his constant need to reference other sports and world news ("What is he Luis Suarez?"). I mean, I am pretty knowledgeable and I get his references every time, but I'm guessing your average American [redneck] won't understand a Suarez reference.

[Ofek99]

the heel turn of sheamus from this recent raw...that was Awesome..never saw that coming