Universal Wrestling Topic

[DexMacLeod 1,200]

Who's gonna beat Lesnar now?

Nicholas, obviously.

 

Seriously, though... Daniel Bryan?

[NumberNineLarge 35]

 

So you're going to make a further mockery of your tag team division? People on social media are already mentioning Arquette. Don't forget Medusa and Oklahoma winning the cruiserweight title, not to mention Vince Russo with the Big Gold Belt.

Unreal. Is Braun a comedy character now?

I think that's a make a wish kid and it was prescripted.

Now more and more children will ask their parents to go to wwe events.

Genius business idea by vince.

If he's a Make A Wish kid, I feel for him and his family. Again, I'm not faulting him and he has an awesome story for life but there are some things in this business that are just bad ideas and make the titles and the whole business look like a joke.

[Is this The Guy? 5,700]

I like that Rollins won. I also like that that IC match was one of only two matches of the night that I watched in its entirety

[Jack Lupino 639]

 

Who's gonna beat Lesnar now?

Nicholas, obviously.

 

Seriously, though... Daniel Bryan?

Different brands. But they could do a draft and put bryan on raw.

but seriously does bryan really need a win over Lesnar?

Let any young guy do it like Samoa Joe,Braun or heck even Finn Balor.

[NumberNineLarge 35]

There are many reasons I don't watch anymore. Reading about tonight only adds to the list of reasons why.

 

I'm thinking about some great Wrestlemanias, Mania 17, 20, 21 that I saw. I've watched old, classic matches. Owen vs. Bret, Steamboat vs. Savage, and WWE gives their fans this? Whatever competition they've had has made mistakes over the years, whether it's the AWA not putting the belt on Hogan, WCW and the countless mistakes they made and I absolutely loved WCW with all my heart when I was a little kid or TNA just dropping the ball on seemingly everything, especially during the Hogan/Bischoff era.

 

I miss the Attitude Era, I miss the Ruthless Aggression Era. Heck, I even miss 2009-2012 WWE because that had some great moments I loved.. I stopped watching when CM Punk's podcast interview with Colt Cabana came out.

[DexMacLeod 1,200]

Yeah, I highly doubt Vince is gonna let the most over wrestler in the company stay on Smackdown for too long. Brian will get moved sooner than later. The benefit of him as the champ is it gives them the opportunity to build up a new heel. Whoever takes the title from Brian is gonna be the most hated person in the company.

[Corndawg93 1,042]

Well that was friggin pointless

Edited April 9, 2018 by Corndawg93

[NumberNineLarge 35]

Yeah, I highly doubt Vince is gonna let the most over wrestler in the company stay on Smackdown for too long. Brian will get moved sooner than later. The benefit of him as the champ is it gives them the opportunity to build up a new heel. Whoever takes the title from Brian is gonna be the most hated person in the company.

Vince putting the belt on the most over wrestler in the company? What year is this?

[DexMacLeod 1,200]

AJ's got thee belt so it's not inpossible. Plus, Daniel Bryan and the "Yes Movement" are mainstream over. I could see Bryan versus Brock at Summer Slam.

[Corndawg93 1,042]

So appriantly Nicholas is Referee John Cone's son

[reform 2,286]

IC match was solid, Charlotte/Asuka was also solid work-wise but booked poorly, and the Ronda match was probably the most fun thin on the entire show. I thought AJ/Nak was solid, but when it's AJ/Nak, "solid" isn't really good enough, but the turn was cool.

 

 

Nothing was a patch on Takeover though.

[Shenmue18 1,994]

Felt Wrestlemania was better than what I expected (I was expecting a garbage show, however) but similar to last year, it took a dive during the second half that'll leave a sour taste in people's mouths, despite the show overall being far from terrible.

 

Rollins vs Miz vs Balor was a well put together opener that got things off to a hot start and had lots of good false finishes and all 3 guys put in work, Seth and Balor brought the athletic spots to the table, while Miz really upped his game to keep up with the two of them. The right guy won here as well. 4/5

 

Charlotte vs Asuka was incredibly well worked with Charlotte specifically feeling like she was going all out, busting her ass off by pulling out new moves (Spanish Fly, anyone?) and both ladies delivering good spots and counters to really make the match feel big time, which is a glaring contrast to how WWE booked the finish, with a garbage anti-climatic ending to such a nice effort. 4/5

 

Orton vs Roode vs Rusev vs Mahal took things down a notch, with a fairly ho-hum and bland 4-way match, it had its moments like Orton's RKOs and Rusev's shining moments like his sick dropkick and spinning back suplex, but Mahal winning felt rather drab. 2.5/5

 

Ronda and Kurt vs Steph and Triple H delivered way past expectations, they did a good job hiding any problem Ronda might have as a worker in her debut, but Rousey also appears to be just really natural in the ring. Stephanie's heel work was great with her doing well at making the fans want to see her get her comeuppance throughout the match, the spot with Rousey and Triple H fighting was surprising as was Kurt putting Stephanie in the Ankle Lock, since we don't see stuff like that in modern WWE. 4/5.

 

Bludgeon Brothers vs Usos vs New Day just seemed to serve as a throwaway squash to help establish the Bludgeon Brothers as a dominant tag team, for what it was, it worked, but nothing exciting. 2/5.

 

The Undertaker vs John Cena was a fun segment that was probably the best way to have Undertaker wrestle a match coming off his hip surgery that wasn't slow and plodding, instead of killing the crowd with a 20 minute match from a 53 year old Taker, they had him squash Cena to the delight of the fans and as a way to right the wrongs of the past few Mania matches that he's had. Not good on a technical level, but its purpose was fulfilled. 2/5.

 

Shane and Bryan vs Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn was a little weird, with Bryan getting taken out early and Shane working most the match despite obviously being in some pain due to his health issues, the typical Shane spots were fine, despite things being a tad sloppy at times, it never fell off the rails and Bryan's limited involvement seems to be a way to test the waters before he works full matches. It was becoming very apparent here that the crowd was starting to be drained by the length of the show. 3/5.

 

Nia Jax vs Alexa Bliss I really didn't care about and paid almost no attention to, so I won't bother rating it.

 

AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura was a finely technical match with good story telling and some solid spots, the high expectations and the dead crowd seems to be hampering the ratings that it's received, but the counters they used and the psychology of the opening moments fit in with the build of the match, things picked up near the end with some bigger highlights and the ending stretch was pretty great, but the crowd no-sold even its best moments until after the match when Shinsuke turned which really sucked (The no-selling of the match, not the turn). Since this feud isn't over and they'll still have multiple matches after this one, they clearly held back a bit, which I have mixed feelings about since this is Mania and it really should be where the feuds culminate in the highest quality matches, but in the Network era, things are a bit different as Mania's big time feel isn't as special since a larger portion of your audience watches most PPVs instead of just the biggest ones. 3.75/5.

 

Braun Strowman and Nicholas vs The Bar was one of the funnier moments in recent WWE, I see some people raging about this, but since it's 2018 and everyone's in on the joke that wrestling isn't a real fight, comedy moments like this are fine when they're done right and in an entertaining fashion. The match itself was meh but I feel Braun's one of the better things going on WWE TV and it helps when they get creative with what they have him do. 2/5.

 

Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns was a wreck, this match of finisher spamming, lifeless kickouts, generic brawling, and lack of memorable moments was a total dud. The match was just 15 minutes of them doing what amounts to a basic go-home stretch of finishers and some incredibly average brawling on the outside. There was no structure or build throughout the match, they go straight into finishers and then do nothing interesting the rest of the way. If this was directly Vince's idea, he should leave the task of structuring matches to agents and bookers. Brock busting Roman open was the only spot worth remembering in the whole ordeal which even that failed to draw any sympathy for Roman and the crowd wasn't even invested enough to cheer Roman getting beaten up, the only noticeable pop was when Brock got the three count and even that was pretty light. The crowd being heavily against the match's existence didn't help, but neither guy did much of anything to try and win them back. This was a match that shouldn't have even happened, much less have been the main event. 1/5

 

Despite the awful main event and a few matches on the second half not being great on a wrestling standpoint, I felt it was overall fairly entertaining enough to make it a good WrestleMania, but didn't have enough memorable moments to make it a great WrestleMania. 7/10.

Edited April 9, 2018 by Shenmue18

[bigraj 544]

Largely enjoyable matches for the most part. The tag title matches were meh. The U.S. Title match had a good pace, but JINDER? He's getting another push? Really? Ronda was surprisingly pretty good, but it's really painful to watch Kurt try to do anything remotely athletic. AJ vs Nak was pretty good, which of course pales in comparison to their NJPW stuff from a few years ago. Hopefully the heel turn will help Shinsuke pick up his game. Didn't mind Charlotte ending Asuka's streak, though it did shock the hell out of me. At least it didn't take outside interference and a cattle prod to do it.

 

Not sure why we needed a beat up Shane 'O Mac playing Ricky Morton for 10 minutes to build up the hot tag. That match should have gone 8 minutes max, with Shane brawling outside and DB kicking people's faces off in the ring. Like most folks, I was completely expecting Roman to (once again) get his coronation, so I was very shocked to see that Brock has apparently resigned, and that maybe the Reigns experiment has ended. Way too bloated of a show. I miss the days when making the card at WM was a special thing. Now, everyone gets an appearance, like it's a participation trophy, and it's almost impossible to stay awake for the entire 7+ hour ordeal.

 

Keep the IC title match, the mixed tag, Charlotte/Asuka, The Smackdown Authority vs The Unemployed, the WWE Title match, along with Cena and Reigns getting killed in under 3 hrs, and it's a top-5 WM.

[Corndawg93 1,042]

So I'm guessing reports that Bork Laser has re-signed and will face Roman Reigns at the Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia inside a steel cage

Edited April 9, 2018 by Corndawg93

[Crokey 10,252]

So I'm guessing reports that Bork Laser has resigned...

Normally I'd call that out for the lack of a hyphen, but... by f*ck I wish he would resign.

 

I've usually managed to get the few days off work after Mania for the past few years (timezones being a bugger), but someone got there before me. To be honest, from reading up on the gig, I'm kinda glad I saved my holiday allowance.

[Shenmue18 1,994]

Largely enjoyable matches for the most part. The tag title matches were meh. The U.S. Title match had a good pace, but JINDER? He's getting another push? Really? Ronda was surprisingly pretty good, but it's really painful to watch Kurt try to do anything remotely athletic. AJ vs Nak was pretty good, which of course pales in comparison to their NJPW stuff from a few years ago. Hopefully the heel turn will help Shinsuke pick up his game. Didn't mind Charlotte ending Asuka's streak, though it did shock the hell out of me. At least it didn't take outside interference and a cattle prod to do it.

 

Not sure why we needed a beat up Shane 'O Mac playing Ricky Morton for 10 minutes to build up the hot tag. That match should have gone 8 minutes max, with Shane brawling outside and DB kicking people's faces off in the ring. Like most folks, I was completely expecting Roman to (once again) get his coronation, so I was very shocked to see that Brock has apparently resigned, and that maybe the Reigns experiment has ended. Way too bloated of a show. I miss the days when making the card at WM was a special thing. Now, everyone gets an appearance, like it's a participation trophy, and it's almost impossible to stay awake for the entire 7+ hour ordeal.

 

Keep the IC title match, the mixed tag, Charlotte/Asuka, The Smackdown Authority vs The Unemployed, the WWE Title match, along with Cena and Reigns getting killed in under 3 hrs, and it's a top-5 WM.

Fitting that you mention struggling to stay awake during Mania, even though I enjoyed the show, I ended up dozing off twice during it and having to rewind when I missed stuff I wanted to see in full.

Edited April 9, 2018 by Shenmue18

[Is this The Guy? 5,700]

Seth Rollins finisher has gone through a lot in such a short period of time.

 

First it’s the curbstomp, then it’s banned, then it’s the pedigree, then it’s a knee, then they bring it back and call it the blackout, then they start calling it the blackout curbstomp, now it’s just simply the stomp.

[PaeganLoveSong 801]

wow one of the worst manias I've ever seen.

...how old are you? This was in the upper half of WMs, questionable booking aside. Nothing was Austin/Bret great or even Michaels/Jericho borderline great, but nothing was even close to being as bad as WM15 (save for the ME), WM27, the entirety of WM9, most of WM13, or even last year.

asuka loses streak and reigns loses so reign of terror continues smh.

Who's gonna beat Lesnar now?

Brock's been signed to an extension and Roman/Brock III is a cage match at the Greatest Rumble event.

 

Relax, dude. It's WWE. If you want good booking you're looking in the wrong place and, outside of a few spurts, always have.

Edited April 10, 2018 by PaeganLoveSong

[Is this The Guy? 5,700]

Mr. Robert Lashley is back

Edited April 10, 2018 by Is this The Guy?

[Dbzk1999 258]

I think you mean Mr. Black Lesnar XD

[Corndawg93 1,042]

Kurt Angle's dig at TNA last night was the single greatest thing Kurt has ever said

"My tag division is full, but I hear TNA are hiring"

Edited April 10, 2018 by Corndawg93

[Korpi 1,063]

I for one hoped that Nakamura would've won and become the first ever Japanese WWE champ.

 

Oh well, there's always another day.

Edited April 11, 2018 by Korpi

[Shenmue18 1,994]

I'd bet that Nakamura will win the belt as a heel in his feud with AJ down the line.

 

As for Lashley, he improved as a worker a LOT during his time in TNA, so don't be surprised if some of his matches over deliver past what people who've only seen him in WWE would expect from him.

[Corndawg93 1,042]

Nakamura is great as a heel, when asked why he attacked AJ he said

 

"Sorry, No speaky english"

 

Also it's about damn time the Iconic Duo of Peyton Royce and Billy Kay dabuted, made a giant impact as well, they murdered Charlotte which caused Carmella to cash in and win the SD Live Womens Title

Edited April 11, 2018 by Corndawg93

[Is this The Guy? 5,700]

Yeah I never seen any of the matches but I heard that Lashley improved a lot in TNA and in mma after he left wwe. Im interested in seeing what happens with him now that hes back

 

So I didnt know that Alberto del Rio el Patron was released from Impact wrestling (TNA). I remember he f*cked up a pay per view for them a while back because of his sh*t at the airport with Paige but just recently he no showed the Impact vs Lucha Underground show and they released him.

Edited April 13, 2018 by Is this The Guy?

[Corndawg93 1,042]

Holy f*ck knuckle, big Davey Boy Meltzer has given The 6 man North American Ladder match AND Gargano/Ciampa 5 f*cking stars each, holy sh*t

[Is this The Guy? 5,700]

Wow so Johnathon Cena and Nikki Bella have called it splitsville.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Is this The Guy?

[Corndawg93 1,042]

Wow so Jonathon Cena and Nikki Bella have called it splitsville.

Hahahahhaha, what a waste of a Mania moment Edited April 16, 2018 by Corndawg93

[Jack Lupino 639]

Wow so Johnathon Cena and Nikki Bella have called it splitsville.

Just throwing a wild guess for the sake of it: She cheated on him with her DWTS partner

Edited April 16, 2018 by Jack Lupino

[Is this The Guy? 5,700]

I don’t know what’s in Cenas future but as far as Nikki goes...