WrestleMania 31 Pre Show Thread March 29 2015 *Potential Spoilers*

the groutch

having your entrance music performed live is a curse as well, only 5 out of 15 have won.

Stereomaniac

They should have a band perform the music for the main event every year I think, with Johnston.

rovert

Randy Orton attempting to make sense of WWE storylines

jaykhunter

moved betting talk to the betting thread.

Stereomaniac

I think I'll make my bets early this year then. It helps me get caught up in the kayfabe more.

JP Liz V1

Andre Battle Royal entrants so far:-

Mark Henry
Goldust
Kane
Big Show
Darren Young
Titus O’Neil
Jack Swagger
The Miz
Ryback
Curtis Axel
Fandango
Adam Rose
Zack Ryder
Erick Rowan
Sin Cara
Heath Slater

Ken Shamrock

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Andre Battle Royal entrants so far:-

Mark Henry
Goldust
Kane
Big Show
Darren Young
Titus O’Neil
Jack Swagger
The Miz
Ryback
Curtis Axel
Fandango
Adam Rose
Zack Ryder
Erick Rowan
Sin Cara
Heath Slater

Look's poxy, A sheamus return and Win or a pointless win for either Henry,Kane or Show looks most likely.

Would love to see Goldust win because hey, the man deserves some recognition for his efforts over the past 2 years or a win for Axelmania

Stereomaniac

I put a few pence on Sheamus to win it earlier on. Hopefully he actually ends up being in the thing now. I think that would be better than any of the names listed about getting the win.

CSF

Can't see it being Sheamus. If theyve plans for him they're gonna throw him into something bigger. Mizdow or Ryback IMO.

Lithium93_

Final line up for this year's Hall Of Fame.

http://nodq.com/wwe/428706744.shtml

the groutch

would make sense for Sandow, having him and Miz as the last two.

looking forward to seeing the heat Laurinaitis gets at the HOF.

Stereomaniac

They don't seem to be doing anything with Sheamus at the moment anyway, so I remain hopeful.

Lord TSC

Should be Mizdow; the crowd will go nuts if it comes down to Miz vs Mizdow, Mizdow teases eliminating himself, only to finally turn on Miz, eliminate him and win. It's a feel good Mania Moment.

Ken Shamrock

What's the craic with Bubba Ray? I though he was back full time now no?

beakerjoe

As usual I will watch Wrestlemania this year, as Ive done for the last 21 years. I may very well be disappointed as I think the booking in not only recent months but years has been mostly awful with a few great bits here or there.

This year I look Ive watched every Raw Since the new year (some live, some recorded and fast forwarded most to about 40/50 mins). The majority of shows have been poor from a wide range of problems. Poor booking of angles, poor use of characters, no real story progression or lazy story progression in most cases. Over the years WWEs product has become nearly unwatchable at times. But its Wrestlemania time now, and they usually build up a decent show, which in fairness they did a greats how last year.

But this year its been awful.

The Main Event isn’t as bad as people think to be fair. Could it be booked better? Yes, of course. Not having Brock on every show has hurt it a bit in my opinion. Reigns has been improving each week and hasn’t been booked as bad in recent weeks. Again he could be booked much better though. The rest of the card is what I have an issue with.

The IC Title match : while ill be happy to watch it, Id rather stars like Ambrose, Bryan, Ziggler and Barrett be ring booked better. The build up to this match hasn’t been great and it just seems all thrown together and because of this I wont care as much even though Im sure this match will steal the show.

Bray v Taker – Couldnt care less. A broken down deadman shouldn’t be wrestling, hes past it and should call it a day. Brays character hasn’t progressed at all. His feuds have all been the same whether its against Ambrose, Bryan or Cena. Nothing really comes of them whether he wins or loses. This feud hasn’t even really begun, We haven’t seen Taker, we have seen similar promos each week by Bray towards taker and these have done nothing to make me care. Ill most likely not enjoy this match at all as I have no reason storyline wise to care and I believe the two, with takers age and limitations, wont have a good in ring match anyway.

Sting V Triple H – a Lazy feud, one where until last week I didn’t care for. Sting should have been speaking and cutting promos weeks ago. I believe these two will work a good match and Sting looks like he can still go, which I wasn’t sure about til Monday but I may be proved wrong. Stings first WWE match is all this feud really has for me.

Rusev v Cena – If I was booking this, Id have Cena be totally crushed by Rusev. But it wont happen. Either way i believe Cena needs to at least lose clean, something he should have done last year with Bray. Rusev needs go over huge, anything else will be a failure and another missed opportunity for decent booking.

Paige / AJ V Bellas – No real build up, hence why I don’t care. Next!

Tag Team Titles – same as above.

Battle Royal – After the booking of Cesaro last year, I don’t care as much about this match. It should be used as a steping stone for a guy to get from the mid card to upper mid card, somewhere Cesaro should be now. Mark Henry is already being booked as the Big Show was last year which is just lazy. Sheamus may win but I don’t care as his character will most likely still be stale as a 10 pint of milk. Kofi’s usual spot and Mizdow v Miz during it may help keep my interest though.

MY INTEREST ISNT HIGH, YET i WILL STILL WATCH!

Tugboats

beakerjoe wrote: »

Rusev v Cena – If I was booking this, Id have Cena be totally crushed by Rusev. But it wont happen!

No you wouldn't. If you were booking this you would have a vested interest in WWE and would be milking the WWE cash cow...

Professional Griefer

Pls be Balor

https://twitter.com/WrestleMania/status/579014169984409602

rovert

Mostly likely Neville.

Neville wasn't part of the last NXT taping. People in attendence assumed he is being called up.

Lord TSC

would not want Balor's debut wasted on a throwaway battle royal...

A Primal Nut

Yeah I'd much prefer Balor make a grand entrance the day after wrestlemania and shoot a big angle.

ShagNastii

Yeah it always surprises the huge percentage of fans that oblivious to anything outside of RAW.

Whenever a FCW/OVW/NXT guy have popped up on PPV without any hype it's generally an anti-climax.

Be honest did anyone give a crap about Rusev when he turned up in the rumble.

Looper007

ShagNastii wrote: »

Be honest did anyone give a crap about Rusev when he turned up in the rumble.

Was Rusev that much of a big deal when he was in NXT to be honest? I was surprised he was pushed so hard.

I got to say after watching Smackdown, the IC ladder match is looking like the best thing going into WM after I was down on it, the wrestlers have won me over making me believe the title means something. The matches on Smackdown in the gauntlet run especially between Bryan/Harper and Bryan/Ziggler were excellent. I would love to see a singles match between Bryan/Ziggler at Extreme Rules for the IC title. It will steal the show. That's if either of them win it.

Looper007

A Primal Nut wrote: »

Yeah I'd much prefer Balor make a grand entrance the day after wrestlemania and shoot a big angle.

I doubt he get a big angle when he debuts, he beat a few jobbers then after a month or two and when the crowd gets to know him. He feud for the US title or IC title.

Its going to be interesting (probably more scary) to see what Vince does with Balor. I think going in with low expectations and hoping he's used to the best of his abilities, but anyone under 6ft and not cut in the mould of what Vince loves who can't go in with big grand dreams.

Balor should get over, he's got a good gimmick with the paint and he's a good looking guy. But unless he pulls a "Bryan" I don't think he make it past mid card status, no matter how great he is in the ring.

ShagNastii

Bit off topic but the theme this year is a cracker.

Hashtag_HEEL

ShagNastii wrote: »

Bit off topic but the theme this year is a cracker.

Usually hate their theme choices as of late but Rise is quite good!

Rjd2

Tugboats wrote: »

No you wouldn't. If you were booking this you would have a vested interest in WWE and would be milking the WWE cash cow...

Cena at this stage could lose to Aj Lee and it would do him no harm. Cena stands to gain very little by beating Rusev while it would make Rusev if he was to win.

irish_stevo815

Does anyone know if anywhere in Limerick is gonna be showing this live???

Palo Alto

Your laptop!

irish_stevo815

Palo Alto wrote: »

Your laptop!

Well I have the network and will be having a few friends over but if there was somewhere showing it, like Showtime cinema 2 years ago it'd be even better

rovert

Observer:

According to a schedule update last night for the WWE Network, the pre-show match will be the tag team title match that will feature Tyson Kidd & Cesaro vs. Los Matadores vs. The New Day vs. Usos (if Jey is able to perform).

LeeJM

I kinda understand having that as the pre-show match. Like if they are gonna have a 2 hour pre-show leading into a 4 hour ppv you gotta offer a decent match. Adam Rose v Zach Ryder or The Ascension v PrimeTime Players wouldnt really cut it for WMs pre-show match. And from the wrestlers pov they will still get a WM payday even as a pre-show match. And from a match standard maybe they'll get 12-15 mins on the pre-show compared to 6 with entrances on the ppv itself.

veganrun

The Rock to run interference at WM, costing Lesnar the title and helping his cousin win, setting up Rock v Lesnar for WM32?

SureYWouldntYa

veganrun wrote: »

The Rock to run interference at WM, costing Lesnar the title and helping his cousin win, setting up Rock v Lesnar for WM32?

Please no, how many boos do they want

Looper007

veganrun wrote: »

The Rock to run interference at WM, costing Lesnar the title and helping his cousin win, setting up Rock v Lesnar for WM32?

The Rock should have learned after RR not to go anywhere near Reigns, he would turn heel just for helping Reigns. Could you imagine the heat that would get.

I don't want Lesnar vs The Rock, the Rock can barely go anymore In the ring and I rather have the memory if their great match Summerslam match from 2002. Give me Bryan vs Lesnar and we get a classic.

Tugboats

LeeJM wrote: »

I kinda understand having that as the pre-show match. Like if they are gonna have a 2 hour pre-show leading into a 4 hour ppv you gotta offer a decent match. Adam Rose v Zach Ryder or The Ascension v PrimeTime Players wouldnt really cut it for WMs pre-show match. And from the wrestlers pov they will still get a WM payday even as a pre-show match. And from a match standard maybe they'll get 12-15 mins on the pre-show compared to 6 with entrances on the ppv itself.

I dont. The tag team titles should be defended at Wrestlemania and it should mean something. Theres plenty of crap you can put on a pre show like the Andre the Giant battle Royal

LeeJM

Tugboats wrote: »

I dont. The tag team titles should be defended at Wrestlemania and it should mean something. Theres plenty of crap you can put on a pre show like the Andre the Giant battle Royal

Battle Royale is never gonna be the pre-show as there is much bigger stars in the Battle Royale.

Lord TSC

LeeJM wrote: »

Battle Royale is never gonna be the pre-show as there is much bigger stars in the Battle Royale.

Its also likely going to be a payoff for a feud that's been building for months (Miz/Mizdow).

Tugboats

LeeJM wrote: »

Battle Royale is never gonna be the pre-show as there is much bigger stars in the Battle Royale.

The battle Royal is for Jobbers that the WWE have no real plan for. The tag team champions should be above them

A Brad Maddox Guy

Tugboats wrote: »

The battle Royal is for Jobbers that the WWE have no real plan for. The tag team champions should be above them

Not when the tag team champions are fighting Los Matadores & New Day. That match had pre show written all over it

Tugboats

A Brad Maddox Guy wrote: »

Not when the tag team champions are fighting Los Matadores & New Day. That match had pre show written all over it

They shouldn't be fighting them that's obvious. Wrestlemania should have important title matches

Omackeral

Tugboats wrote: »

They shouldn't be fighting them that's obvious. Wrestlemania should have important title matches

I think a tag team turmoil should have been held involving Los Matadores, New Day, The Uso's, Primetime Players and Kidd/Cesaro. I think then you could debut the Ascension as surprise entrants instead of the lame run they got. Either that or do a 5 team turmoil with a post-Mania raw debut of Ascension. Always a good time for an arrival.

Also, Stardust doesn't fit into the ladder match. Goldust and him should have been awarded a short match on Mania. Very much a shame IMO.

Furious-Red

I would have thought it would be better having the NXT fatal 4 way on the pre show

rovert

Pure Sports Build:

Preparing for war: Rusev's WrestleMania workout | WWE.com http://www.wwe.com/videos/preparing-for-war-rusevs-wrestlemania-workout-27209451

Excited for a week of amazing hype videos that they probably won't put on TV for some reason.

Ridley

rovert wrote: »

Mostly likely Neville.

Neville wasn't part of the last NXT taping. People in attendence assumed he is being called up.

He would be the most suited for it.

If it came down to Neville and Miz - for example - then Neville does his flippy-dips (before losing) he'd be making an impression. You can deal with that accent later.

Itssoeasy

Is it weird that this time next week mania will be nearly started and i have no usual wrestlemania feeling ? I mean compared to last year it's not even close. Anyone else the same ?

Diabhal Beag

I know it'll be a fun show and I have wrestling fans to watch with for the first time proper so I'm looking forward to it but the only match I can't wait for is Cena-Rusev. Even the ladder match is meh.

Tugboats

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Is it weird that this time next week mania will be nearly started and i have no usual wrestlemania feeling ? I mean compared to last year it's not even close. Anyone else the same ?

Ya the excitement isn't there. It was always going to be a struggle for me this year as I only got back into wrestling last year when the Network launched. Previously only watched Mania for the streak. I think a year of watching it full time again has not helped. I have zero interest in Lesnar or Reigns and with the streak gone even seeing Taker(fav wrestler since childhood) won't really be the same. It's looking like a watch on Monday for me.

Titus Andronicus

Yep,another Monday watcher here too.
I only ever watch PPV's anymore & I actually check for ratings before I commit to watching them.
The excessive padding with the long entrances & rest holds to prolong matches really annoy me so I need that FF button.
Cuts it down to a 2 hour show with a bottle of vino, lovely.
Just need to stay off the internet in work on Friday to avoid spoilers.

rovert

People always talk about not feeling it at this time. Talk to me Sunday evening.

MitchKoobski

Wasn't feeling it until this morning.

Now I'm dying to see some new promo/hype videos and watch old matches all week.

They should be aiming to top Bryan's amazingly edited "Monster" one from last year.