WRESTLEMANIA 34 Pre-Show/Live Show Thread (Spoilers)

Lithium93_

Pre-show, Aiden English had hair, main show he had no hair, anyone else notice that? :pac:

Itssoeasy

DM_7 wrote: »

NXT is great but it is a small part of their product and would not work stretched out to 3 hours Monday and Two hours Thursday.

The thing I used to admire about WWE was they had the variety, focus on differant things and come January the Mania road kicked in.

Everything tightened up and was more focused on creating stories. They made sure Mania, despite its variety appeal had something huge to end the night, that they built towards something memorable and satisfactory. Maybe they will move back to that but it will never be tight and focused whole year round.

no I agree and that wasn't what I'm saying. Im not saying turn raw and smackdown into nxt copies.I'm saying to use the philosophies used in nxt such how the show is booked.

Lithium93_

One of the best parts of Mania, well for me anyways

Itssoeasy

Lithium93_ wrote: »

One of the best parts of Mania, well for me anyways

Yeah Nita makes most things better.

Lithium93_

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Yeah Nita makes most things better.

I was kinda hoping Coop himself would make an appearance as well for a song or 2, but hey we got Nita playing Shinsuke to the ring. the guitar really compliments the violins.. I'm hoping WWE recorded a studio version with the guitar... And she seemed entirely grateful for the experience.

I’ve played a lot of big shows in my life but I’ll say this right now- NOTHING is like WRESTLEMANIA!!!!!!!!! @ShinsukeN is one of my all time favorite wrestlers on the roster and to get the opportunity to play him down to the ring was absolutely mind blowing and a huge honor. I am so grateful to Shinsuke, @tripleh, @stephaniemcmahon, @VinceMcMahon, Neil, CFO$, @MichaelPSHayes1, @RealMickFoley, @liliangarcia and all at @WWE for having me!!!

magnumbud

Loughc wrote: »

For anyone that cares Rollins is now a grand slam champion.

But it’s hard to care about anything after 7 hours of Vince-a-Mania.

They said that alright but hes still not held the universal. Championship

Loughc

magnumbud wrote: »

They said that alright but hes still not held the universal. Championship

That’s a part time championship. The WWE championship is the big one. Despite what vinny’s boy is chasing.

Lithium93_

SlickRic wrote: »

What annoys me, is that Vince and Hunter know how to book properly. That's the thing. They know what they're doing. They just choose not to for the main shows, because of some bizarre notion that they're this 'entertainment company', so they have to have surprises, comedy, shock value, be some sort of soap opera etc etc etc, even when it's not warranted.

They're just fúcking bipolar with their decisions and booking.

It was a good Wrestlemania. The wrestling was great for the most part, and there is no surprise in that.

But some of the booking and finishes were downright abysmal, and took the shine off things. The length of the show is also absolutely ridiculous. Of course the crowd gets tired.

Just a few of my main thoughts:

The GOOD:
Great opener. No complaints. Would've had Finn win, but meh.

Rousey/Angle v HHH/Steph was better than it ever should've been. Ronda looked fúcking awesome. my only issue is her selling for Steph. should've never happened. wrestlers selling for Shane McMahon is bad enough, but Steph? No thank you. Particularly Ronda who should be eating her alive.

Taker winning in 4 minutes was perfect. Cena isn't hurt by it, and everyone got their moment without it stinking up the place.

The reaction to Daniel Bryan. Perfect. I'll get to the match...

THE MEH:
Asuka losing the streak. Fúck right fúcking off you bunch of loathsome smartasses, who hate the fans having anything to enjoy or invest themselves in. And not only that, you hand the streak to the one fúcking person who doesn't fúcking need it. Just fúck off.

Awesome to see Daniel Bryan wrestle again, but they fúcked up the booking. the anticipation for his return had already been built. to try to tease it even more was moronic and killed the crowd stone fúcking dead. When Austin (i'm not saying Bryan is his level, obviously) came back against Bischoff at No Way Out '03, what happened? He came in, in a singles match, and destroyed. no messing about. just give the people what they've paid for, and stop trying to be smart. they did the same with Jerry Lawler v Michael Cole years ago. at no point should Cole have been on offence. the heat had been built. just have Jerry come in and beat the shít out of him. Give the people what they paid for.

Brock v Roman was painful. Just painful. I can only assume that Vince decided to swerve in one last attempt to get sympathy on Roman. It's not going to happen. You've gone this far on something you unfortunately fúcked up 3 years ago because of your treatment of Bryan. Just turn the guy heel, and see what happens. you've nothing to lose at this stage. or just make him champion. don't pretend you're listening to the fans by leaving the title off him, when all you're doing is trying to fool them into cheering him. this coronation has been building for 3 years now. either go with him or don't. if you haven't found the right time to coronate Reigns and give him a proper face run yet, then maybe it's just not something you should even be teasing anymore. it's boring, and it's pointless.

and Brock as a part time champion for a while longer? fúck off.

Michael Cole. nuff said. ruins everything.

The AJ/Nak match was ok. the crowd didn't help at all. Nak is doing as little as possible really in the ring, and the NJPW style (or version of it) that we saw in this match, did not get over 5 hours in. the turn was brilliant though and badly needed. Angry dhead foreign rock superstar could be all kinds of epic. WWE will probably fúck it up though.

Rusev pinned. How fúcking dare you get over on your own. You're supposed to be an unlikable foreigner, you fúcking idiot. Vince will show you. Pinned by Jinder, the shíttiest, blandest, most 1980s stereotypical fúcking heel you could ever hope to imagine. who could ever take him seriously? I swear Vince did that just to fúck the smarks.

----

Anyway, RAW tonight will likely be entertaining, but pointless, as they'll ignore all reactions for the night.

Nail on head stuff as usual.

Was gonna fly through it all in an hour or but 5 hours and 10 minutes? FFS!
I'll just edit this post as I watch to avoid spoilers :P

Jojo does a good Lilian Garcia impersonation :pac:

EDIT: Finn booked strongly. Opening match started really well, doesn't have that over-polished perfectness of a spot match but very nice. Also are WWE following the late 90s-early 00s thing of Irish people all being gay? :P

EDIT: Why are they showing Cena there? Hmmmm.

EDIT: Bit **** to have Cena run through the ladies' aftermath.
Skipped the US title match, really don't care. Mahal looked comparatively huge next to Rusev though.

EDIT: Oh the first few movements from Angle not great. Dunno if he's wrestled at all lately but he looks like he's maybe focussed too much on physique. Ah for all the giving out he's still good. Suppose it just looks like his legs are gone. Both ladies looking lovely. Rousey may not be a wrestler (her apron bump looked good but not something to be done regularly) but her athleticism compared to the rest of them is hilarious tbh.

EDIT: Jesus lads, it's the Spanish announce table you're meant to **** up. :P

EDIT: If that's the best Angle has then I could've done without him getting in the ring. At the same time it was as good as it could've been, better than a 30 minute match against AJ or something. :P Rousey could have a good Pro Wrestling career, very, very impressed with her, though she really should have straightened on that arm-bar on HHH. :P Angle's legs gone alas. Ronda just needs to ease back on the bumps and change her music and she could easily be the face of the company for the next half decade.

EDIT: Cena/Taker, the **** was the point of that? I assume there are GIFs of the "Big boot"

EDIT: Lot of skipping there. Will watch AJ and Nakamura. The bits of the women's match I caught already looked awful compared to Ronda. :L

EDIT: Skipped through that, seemed a bit meh. Barely arsed with the last match at this stage, dunno how yous managed it. :P

EDIT: Main event is awful, crowd having none of it and Lesnar actually giving it socks for once. :P

chatticusfinch

That was a very middling Mania- AGAIN.

What was once the highlight of the year is now a slog where we see where Vince is going to piss on the fans. Breaking Asuka's streak like that, and chumping her out with a "You da real empress Charlotte" was as dumb as can be. She didn't even put up a fight in the Figure 8, just tapped" So much for making this absolute monster of a character and unbroken winning streak look stupid.

Rusev not winning is illogical in the extreme. What did Rusev do to you Vince? Seriously, he is your most over guy not called Daniel Bryan right now, and you bitch him out to Jinder Mahal. Piss on that.

Not the biggest fan of Braun burying the tag division with a kid in tow, but it was entertaining. Still feel he should have been the Universal champ this year though.

That main event though, what a barrel of donkey ****e that was; a turgid awful match that was an mix of spam moves and a severe lack of psychology. Both guys coasted, and if it wasn't for the botched gig job, the crowd may have **** on it more. That's the 4th Reigns main event in a row, and they are middling to terrible at best. Stop. Doing. This. To. Us. Vince.

Now onto the good. The Triple Threat IC title match was fun; always rooting for Finn, but Rollins has been rejuvenated since he got his Stomp back, and I'm delighted to see it.

Ronda Rousey was excellent, and was perfomer of the night for me. I'm amazed at her speed and her smoothness in the ring. She has bona fide prodigy look about her, and her roll throw to toss HHH was a legit Mania moment for me. She needs work on the mic, but that comes, her ring game is elite, and reminds me a bit of a young Kurt Angle. Was really really impressed by her.

Aj and Nakamura had a good match despite pacing that was slow at times; I liked the call back to the Bomaye to the back of the head that put AJ away in the Tokyo Dome, and I think the heel turn works very well. The King of Strong Style can be a bastard now, and that's for the best.

Delighted to see Daniel Bryan back, and not missing a step. I think a Nakamura Daniel Bryan feud is on the cards going into the Summer, and I have a feeling it could be fantastic.

When the booking makes sense, it's fun, but Vince did a vince again, and ****e on the fans. It's getting tedious now. Not a patch on Takeover, but it's apples and oranges in terms of execution. NXT has logical consistent booking though, and WWE programming is crying out for that.

I'm glad I only had to pay for the Network last night. I'd have hated to pay all that money to travel to see 12 German suplexes, and a neverending mix of Superman punches and spears.

JP Liz V1

I would have preferred if Cena stayed in the crowd watching than his quick squash match with Taker

Good to see Nia finally get a title reign

I was surprised both RR winners lost

SlickRic

Don't pretend you're surprised.

https://twitter.com/Metatronja/status/983198794866184192?s=19

J. Marston

SlickRic wrote: »

Don't pretend you're surprised.

https://twitter.com/Metatronja/status/983198794866184192?s=19

sky88

In fairness 3 of them were the best matches on the cards

PTH2009

Taker was in very good shape and might have 1/2 short matches still in him

CastorTroy

Page 31...Page 32... aaaand caught up. Phew.
Now I can finally go and watch Mania.

See? I told you Braun's partner would be Nicholas

CastorTroy wrote: »

I'm guessing we'll get a surprise debut from Nicholas as Braun's partner

When I saw him in the crowd that Braun walked past, I thought he was going to pick No Way Jose.

Some strange decisions throughout the night. I wonder if the Nak/AJ bit at the end was planned as a reflection of Asuka and Charlotte showing respect to each other. Now if only they had Cena run up the ramp while Nakamura was leaving.

Speaking of Cena, why didn't he go back to his seat. I'm sure getting a good seat like that the week before Mania can't be cheap.
And looked like Nikki was with Brie.

When Roman went to his family it looked like they had the entire family except The Rock there.

Oh and is the Gargano/Ciampa ref (Drake Wuertz) NXT's head ref and HHH's guy because it can't be a coincidence that he's the one who reffed the HHH match here.

ERG89

Nakamura vs Styles was very flat, very disappointing. Hated the dumbass fans at ringside clapping when Nakamura turned heel. I'd never turn anyone at Mania or the TV tapings as the fans will ruin the moment anyway.
Braun Mememan or Strowmeme winning the tag titles is just a further layer off the "Monster Among Memes" character. He's basically like a face Big Show. Just a goofy, happy giant.

Monokne

All fans love heel turns now, it's 2018. The reaction is not "oh that dastard", but "Oh cool, we get to see the big angle".

bot43

It amazing how much more I enjoy wrestling since I stopped reading forums all year round and only watch 3-4 PPVs a year.

Thought it was a pretty great show overall. IC title, mixed tag, SD womens, AJ Nak (despite a dead crowd - burned out?), Danielsons return.

My only real gripe was the show was too long, and even at that I skipped the 2 tag title matches and US title match.

Ronda looked incredible and her eventual heel turn will be gold.

Herself and Charlotte will headline Mania next year.

bot43

ERG89 wrote: »

Hated the dumbass fans at ringside clapping when Nakamura turned heel. I'd never turn anyone at Mania or the TV tapings as the fans will ruin the moment anyway.

There was a time when a Mania turn was an annual event. Kind of stopped (as a regular thing) after 17 I think.

colmufc

Itssoeasy wrote: »

An example of triple H and his direction is the fact the ref in the main event at takeover didn't wear a referee shirt but an nxt shirt. It's a little detail but one that is important.

Was that not because it was an unsanctioned match

Scavenger XIII

colmufc wrote: »

Was that not because it was an unsanctioned match

Isn't that what he's getting at, the attention to detail?

2ndcoming

My take on it all -

IC match - good opener, Miz almost hinting a face turn he played it so clean. Thought Balor might win but happy with Rollins either.

Smackdown Women's - Great match from realistically two of the best workers on the whole roster, but the ending makes little sense. Not the end of the world for Asuka but they need to get a strap on her asap or they risk botching the character altogether. I suppose the fact anyone gives a sh1t about the stupid booking shows how far the women's matches have come in a pretty short space of time.

US Championship - Rusev winning would have been a crowd pleaser but I don't mind Juicer winning as he gets a lot more heat than most from live audiences at least. Not sure why they bothered taking it off Roode in the first place. Pretty meh match.

Mixed tag - Agree with others, Steph offering any offence / resistance was a step too far on the believability scale but once you get past that, the match itself was excellent, thanks in no small part to Triple H playing in-ring choreographer. One Rousey GTS away from being a classic for me. Very positive beginning for her, will be interesting to see where they take her from here.

Smackdown tag - The Pancake People was one of the more ridiculous things I've seen in some time. Thankfully short.

Cena v Taker - only really there to treat the live audience to the Taker entrance as there surely won't be many more. Grand. I see Vince punished Elias for getting too good a reaction on Raw the next night. Whatever...

DB/SMac v KO/SZ - too much Shane in the match for me, fair play to him and all but not sure why they felt he had to (or believably could) carry the first 10 minutes solo against two guys who nearly killed him a few weeks ago. Obviously huge reaction for DB, hard to see how they can keep him out of the main event picture for any time. Have they learned their lesson? Probably not.

Raw Women's - Meh. Michael Cole "Nia's tossing mickey all over the place" line the unintentional highlight.

WWE champ - good match, didn't really live up to the hype but probably couldn't. A few lovely spots, but could have benefitted hugely from a few faster paced flurries of action in between. Crowd didn't help, although I did enjoy the few at ringside chanting Knee To Face at the end.

Raw tag - joke shop. Big Braun "Show"man. They will finish him off turning him into a goofy loveable giant. Kid looked petrified.

Main event - laughable really. 437 finishers, 436 kickouts. Did nothing for anyone as no one is going to give Roman the sympathy vote love they were going for. I don't hate him but by god he needs to update that character stat. A heel turn a la Corporate Rock could do him wonders although not sure how much that could work anymore with Vince's very limited presence on Raw nowadays. Maybe if Shane could play that role but I doubt he would do it as he only seems to be there to look cool in front of his kids. They need to do something anyway!


Overall it seems Mania is a letdown more often than not the past few years, swerves for the sake of being shocking regardless of what it does to the storyline they've been building, and then it's all reset as if none of it happened over the next couple of months anyway.

bot43

One thing I meant to add, when Ronda was about to cinch in the arm lock, Steph sold it magnificently. Her screaming and begging and apologising was beautiful.

Krooshma

if this has been discussed elsewhere then please delete. reports of a Vince Brock altercation after the main event at Mania; 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2769447-report-brock-lesnar-vince-mcmahon-had-heated-altercation-after-wrestlemania

SlickRic

2ndcoming wrote: »

Main event - laughable really. 437 finishers, 436 kickouts. Did nothing for anyone as no one is going to give Roman the sympathy vote love they were going for. I don't hate him but by god he needs to update that character stat. A heel turn a la Corporate Rock could do him wonders although not sure how much that could work anymore with Vince's very limited presence on Raw nowadays. Maybe if Shane could play that role but I doubt he would do it as he only seems to be there to look cool in front of his kids. They need to do something anyway!

Vince isn't needed.

all Roman needs to say is 'y'all know I'm the chosen one', and Vince can almost be an invisible character.

don't attach HHH or Steph to him.
don't put anyone with him.

just have him acknowledge that he's everything the fans think he is, and you have it. don't fight perception. it's stupid. just go with it.

sky88

SlickRic wrote: »

Vince isn't needed.

all Roman needs to say is 'y'all know I'm the chosen one', and Vince can almost be an invisible character.

don't attach HHH or Steph to him.
don't put anyone with him.

just have him acknowledge that he's everything the fans think he is, and you have it. don't fight perception. it's stupid. just go with it.

even bitter heel roman would work talk about how he did everything for the fans and they still rejected him.

Deeper Blue

I've seen a lot of people complaining about the crowd reaction to Reigns/Lesnar. I personally am delighted they **** on the match, nobody wanted to see it and the fans made their feelings known. I wish crowds would do it more often tbh.

Scavenger XIII

all Roman needs to say is 'y'all know I'm the chosen one', and Vince can almost be an invisible character.

don't attach HHH or Steph to him.
don't put anyone with him.

just have him acknowledge that he's everything the fans think he is, and you have it. don't fight perception. it's stupid. just go with it.

Then have McIntyre return and warn Roman of the cursed chalice of being the chosen one, takes hard work, good look at yourself, etc. Ready made feud there.

lol j/k that would make some degree of sense.:pac:

py2006

I haven't watched wrestling in years apart from the odd clip that popped up in Youtube. However, out of curiosity I watched the Rhonda Rousey performance and I have to say I was really impressed with her. I really enjoyed her punching the lights of of HHH and lifting him up. It would have been amazing if she threw him to the canvas too.

She sold it well.