WrestleMania 38 *Spoilers*

J. Marston

https://gfycat.com/idleanxioushylaeosaurus

McAfee is the man. The backflip/hop up superplex may have been the spot of the weekend.

callaway92

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118878784#Comment_118878784

Funnily enough I thought the opposite looking at some of the lads. It was refreshing to see Seth Rollins for example with a belly

callaway92

That was probably my first viewing of Pro Westling in a year+

Really enjoyed bits of it

Aside from the performances, how good was Bianca Belairs' entrance with the big band. Thought it was great.

Pentecost

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118878848#Comment_118878848

Married with a kid now, full Dad bod incoming. On the other hand Becky is in tremendous shape.

PTH2009

I'd love to be as out of shape as Seth Rollins

Rumours of Roman suffering an injury last night and that was the reason for the flat finish

callaway92

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118879001#Comment_118879001

Don't think anybody mentioned him being out of shape

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118878854#Comment_118878854

The annoying braid swinging aside, Belair has been consistently the best thing about the WWE women's division since last year's Rumble. She's excellent in the ring, rarely has a bad match. Like compare her matches with Doudrop to that stinker Becks had with her at the Rumble. And the KOD is a great finisher.

Pentecost

I must rewatch the Becky v Bianca match. I liked it at the time but I was falling asleep at that stage so I'll probably enjoy it more on a rewatch. Agree about Bianca she's excellent.

Lord TSC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118878637#Comment_118878637

I don't know if it's a philosophy change within WWE, but you can tell Bunny and McAfee were massive wrestling fans who busted their ass, Paul worked hard and obviously fell in love with the whole heel thing, and Knoxville is such a natural fit.

It's not shoe horning in celebs promoting stuff but not caring at all about wrestling. It's guys who've likely grown up respecting the medium to some extent and are showing respect in their preformances.

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118879415#Comment_118879415

McAfee retired from football and bought himself a wrestling ring for his house! He's been training for a few years now, you can tell from his commentary and last night he is just living his dream.

Necro

Seems Reigns was legit hurt in the main event....

https://twitter.com/WrestlingNewsCo/status/1510855050175909890?t=4VAX5xzpfw8sSM6QzZkcvg&s=19

PTH2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118879658#Comment_118879658

Let's hope its not much of a lay off i

Reigns is a strong character and could easily still appear at events without competing

The Nal

Lensar went a little hard with the kimura?

TheLocalMan95

Roman is beyond stale. An inury would do him the world of good in that sense. Freshens him up for his return.

The White Wolf

Theory gave Ziggler a run for his money with how he sold that Stunner. Gas.

Deeper Blue

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118879965#Comment_118879965

Santino was another great one back in the day, I burst out laughing at Theory's, great stuff

orecir

Hopefully Reigns injury is not too bad.

The guy is pure money. The biggest star in the business today and his current run is legendary stuff.

JP Liz V1

No F5 from Lesnar to Heyman

hynesie08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118878480#Comment_118878480

And other than buying a massive plot of land to house the podcast and a massive mancave, he's giving most of it away through his foundation, seems a genuinely good dude.

LineOfBeauty

So what we got was 2 nights of Wrestlemania that highlighted some the positives, negatives and strange intricacies that make up modern WWE all rolled into a sprawling 8 hour package.

Big picture thoughts: These are horribly paced shows. Video packages that are too long, video packages for matches that do not need them, recap videos which can only be aimed at those suffering from severe amnesia, an eye watering amount of advertisements, advertisements built into matches (Usos tag & Stone Cold main event on Saturday night) all to the point where it led one match being moved to the 2nd night. WWE gets a pass on this because we've come to expect it but anything close to that level of filler and fluff on another show and the company would be dragged over coals.

The crowds on both nights were incredibly hot. To the point where I cannot remember a recent Wrestlemania, particularly since they become outdoor stadium shows, with a crowd that got near how hot these crowds were on back to back nights. I do say that knowing there is the caveat of sweetened crowd noise post pandemic but even so, the reactions were visible on screen.

The bar by which the hardcore WWE fanbase judge the product is the lowest it has ever been. Low to the point of laughable. But worse than their hardcore fanbase judging it with little to no objectivity is paid wrestling media handling it with kid gloves. The money in pro wrestling journalism is to appeal to the masses, they know the graft and the graft is do not go hard on WWE no matter what.

The worked crowd numbers were a bit embarrassing though, when such information is pretty much widely available these days, what's even the point in claiming such numbers?

It's telling where WWE's priorities lie that they can do Austin's return match after 19 years, Vince McMahon wrestling in a match and Cody Rhodes have his big return and not announce any of it prior to the show. Live attendance is a drop in the bucket for this company, and in the era of PPV buys this would never have happened.

Anyway onto the shows!

Usos vs Nakamura/Boogs - It was utterly OK up until the Boogs injury and they brought it home shortly thereafter. Didn't love the first match of the 2 night show having a commercial tie in for Nakamura's entrance. **

McIntyre vs Corbin - Another nothing match, Mad Cap Moss seems to be the 1 out of this trio that they are high on. The sword nonsense can get in the bin, pure trash. The match was that really slow WWE style, Corbin has never managed to advance beyond punch/kick/slam and we were not off to the best start on Wrestlemania Saturday. **

Miz/Logan Paul vs Mysterios - Ooof, Logan Paul obviously is obviously more charismatic than Dominik, that hardly needs to be said, but he also looked like a better worker than Dominik which, given that Dominik is a full time member of the roster, is ridiculous. Paul came across great here, proper heel and the right kind of heat. Miz got a big pop for the post match attack on Paul. ***

Bianca vs Lynch - Here we go, the first thing on this show that felt truly Wrestlemania worthy. They had an excellent match, the crowd were totally into it, Bianca came across like a megastar in the entrance and the crowd did react to her as such despite the booking woes she's endured for the last year. They worked super hard, and the crowd seemed to accept this Bianca crowning moment 2.0. Were there some issues in this? Sure, but if the match has intensity, if the crowd are into it then you can overlook some technical mis-steps. All of this being said, Becky is just in the wrong role, like Sami Zayn or Bayley, she's a natural face that's been miscast as a heel. ****

Cody vs Rollins - Cody came across like a megastar, the presentation was perfect because it was identical to his AEW presentation. I have my doubts about his this run is going to go (if I were a betting man I'd say he'll be in the Rollins, Owens, upper mid card spot within 9 months) but on this night it all worked. The match was excellent, the crowd reaction to him was perfect, it felt like a defining moment in that this was the first AEW to WWE jump. He was treated like a returning hero, the irony given what really got him over in his time away from WWE was to antagonize the fanbase now proclaiming him the saviour of WWE TV was not lost on me, but time will tell how this will play out. My expectations are low. ****1/4

Charlotte/Ronda - This struck me instantly as a match where a big star already has 1 foot out the door. This was practically forgotten mere moments after they left the ring, you'll probably never think about this match again. Clunky and awkward with an odd atmosphere around it, a face/heel dynamic that did not work given how unlikable both participants are, complete with a nonsense finish. **1/2

Austin vs Owens - Fair play, they did a match, Owen's bumped like a crazy person, Austin did not embarrass himself and actually looked alright out there and it was a blast in the post match. Was the Austin beer tie-in a bit too on the nose? Yes it certainly was, but hey if he wants to make a buck and if the company let him do that then that's on the company and not him. A lot of fun, a feel good close to the show. ***

And then there was Sunday.

Raw Tag Title match - Fun spot-fest opener. Lots of action, Montez Ford looked great, you could count on one hand how many bumps Orton took (that hand could even have been missing some fingers). Finish was a bit odd as the camera never picked up who Chad Gable was trying to jump on. ***1/4 The post match should set alarm bells ringing though, Gable Steveson's look is not good, and worse any charisma he may have does not seem to translate to the screen. They're gonna try hard with this guy clearly, but I think they'll lose patience with him very quickly.

Lashley vs Omos - Omos is bad, maybe one of the worst guys they've ever had under contract. No charisma whatsoever, and quite clumsy here as he smashed Lashley's head off the ring post. *1/2

Knoxville vs Zayn - I'm probably the low man on this given I'm not a huge comedy match guy. It had it's moments but I dunno, everyone was so ready to throw roses at Zayn and Owens this weekend, and I'm sure they both had a blast, but bumping like maniacs for two non-wrestling opponents 50+ doesn't do it for me. **1/2

Women's tag title match - Everyone's makeup is awful except for Sasha. This roster is like wafer thin, bad workers abound with silly presentation to boot. This was poorly worked, little to no flow and Sasha certainly deserved more. **1/4

Edge vs Styles - No act in WWE is as divisive as Edge, WWE hardcores love him. Normal people hate him. I fall under the latter. The promos are the height of cringe. The facial expressions in match are cringe. He is wrestling like he's got invisible sandbags attached to him. The entrance was a nonsense. His storylines are dirt. He reminds me of the drama professor in Community, everything is ridiculously over the top. This was in the dream match spot on the card. Both guys never had a chance of delivering, even though Styles tried his body is shot, and Edge wrestling at a glacial pace does not a dream match make. People tried to give it the "2 pros having a professional match" treatment, it lost the very hot crowd (compare the reaction to this to what McAfee got mere minutes later), a bore with a dumb distraction finish on their biggest show of the year. *** which is generous, in a spot and with the time (24 minutes) this should have had a base expectation of at least 4 stars.

BUTCH! They've called him Butch and they've given him an Oliver Twist gettup. Pretty hilarious.

McAfee vs Theory - McAfee has a natural charisma, charm and likability that the crowd were 100% into, great shout on the Seven Nation Army theme too. The crowd were into all of this, the match, the match vs McMahon, the Austin stuff, all winners. Logically you might say McAfee who got a super hot reaction being buried by the Octogenarian was probably a bad shout, but at the end of the day he's an announcer that they are never gonna use full time so whatever. McMahon reaction to Theory's theme song like it was Austin's cracked me up, and of course the stunner had me in stitches. Pure chaos and a tonne of fun, the best thing on Wrestlemania Sunday.

Brock vs Reigns - This did not work. The same match both have had numerous times. This formula worked for a while because it was fresh, but now it has become predictable. The other issue of course is if your entire match is built around finisher kick outs, when the finish does come, and this was super abrupt, it's always going to fall flat. The Heyman stuff is the height of wrestle-cringe "Rise up my Tribal Chief!!" it was farcical, the over-egging, the Reigns promo, the WWE harcore's love this stuff, I think it's the hokiest mainstream act in pro wrestling, on top of that his matches NEVER deliver. They've sacrificed a lot of acts at the alter of Roman Reigns, 7 years in and I'm not sure at all that it's been worth it. **1/4

I'll say it again, I've seen some people talking about this Wrestlemania in the same breath as the true classics but that's where we are now in this era of online discourse. Anything that WWE that's even mildly OK (see Wrestlemania Saturday, Cody's Raw promo, ect.) is praised to high heavens because 1. the AEW online rivalry has fried some brains and 2. paid wrestling media encourage such nonsense because that is their graft to make money. On the WWE curve, Saturday was a good show and Sunday was fun. In reality, Saturday was an OK show with a couple of excellent matches and major timing issues, and Sunday was a pretty dreadful affair.

recap videos which can only be aimed at those suffering from severe amnesia

WWE is aimed at a mainstream audience. They want the casual viewer up to date with what has been going on. It's something AEW desperately needs if they want to attract new viewers as they assume everyone watching is keeping abreast of everything they do online.

hynesie08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118883264#Comment_118883264

Great, but why do I need a recap of a match that happened 3 minutes ago as they're walking up the ramp?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118883319#Comment_118883319

Ah, OK, that's fair enough.

LineOfBeauty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118883264#Comment_118883264

If you flick on a ppv from say 15 years ago I can assure you not every match got a pre match video promo. If you wanna slap a stopwatch on the length these video packages are they've nearly doubled on length too. WWE has always been aimed at a mainstream audience. On a 4 hour show, less than 50% of that being wrestling appeals to nobody and minute by minute weekly show data pretty much backs that up. Having long recap videos for practically every match that happened only the night before serves to benefit absolutely nobody.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118883425#Comment_118883425

Fair enough, I get what you're saying.

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118883425#Comment_118883425

It's not just during the shows either, they have to ram the same shite down our throats for a 2 hour pre show on each fuckin night. I don't give a **** how Baron/King/Happy Corbin and Drew "I've got a sword" McIntyre came about because it's been going on for MONTHS already. Put the Andre Battle Royale there, or give New Day VS Peaky Sheamus more than 5 mins there, or hell use the prop titles formerly known as US and Intercontinental as a warm up instead of us having to listen to Jerry Lawler pretend argue with Booker T for 2 hours in between the same bloody video packages they're going to show during the show anyways!

nazmoalex

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118883425#Comment_118883425

I'd agree with this. I think one thing it helped with was giving the live crowd a break between matches, that's about it.

Deeper Blue

Was there a single backstage interview/skit on either night? I can't recall one

Could've had a few of those instead of the lashley/banks video packages for example. Even a 24/7 title bit with a few legends involved or something.

Lord TSC

I read something that a lot of the video promo packages were to cover for the fact the PPV on some version of the Peacock streaming app actually had ad breaks. So when they were to a break, we got a video package. Also hence why they didn’t vary it up with backstage segments; people with ads would have missed them.

LineOfBeauty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118884475#Comment_118884475

Ye the American feed seemed to be getting mostly adverts during the video packages. Again, I get it from a commercial point of view but the balance they've struck is wrong, it's complete overkill. In the old days of PPV it simply wouldn't have been accepted, but they've managed to slowly break it down to the point it is now normalised.