http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/blog.php?10836-Mr_Wrestlemania Wrestling News and Discussion - eWrestlingNews.com Community en Mon, 20 May 2013 11:55:34 GMT vBulletin 10 http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/blog.php?10836-Mr_Wrestlemania http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?41376-The-SmackDown-Question Sun, 08 Apr 2012 11:47:32 GMT Hi Guys! This blog isn't really a review of SmackDown this week, as such, but more of a general rant/discussion about the show itself.

Now I don't tend to watch SmackDown but this week I thought I would. Then I remembered why. SmackDown seems to be in an absolute state these days and is nowhere as near as good as the days when it was formed as part of the Brand Extension scheme/story. Back when there was the rivalry between the two brands WWE really pushed the boat out for both the shows. That was showed by how strong the rosters for both the shows were! Admittedly there was a lot more stars in the WWE back then with Hogan still making appearances every now and then, The Rock was still around weekly on SmackDown, Triple H was regularly on Raw, Kurt Angle was still in WWE etc. But today all the big stars are on Raw. Orton, Sheamus, (technically) Undertaker are all on SmackDown and who I would consider stars, but if you compare that with Raw who has Punk, Jehricho, Cena, The Rock, Triple H and Rey Mysterio! How can they compare?!?! SmackDown are borrowing stars like Kane to run feuds!

It is safe to say that SmackDown is in an absolute state if we compare it to the quality of the shows back in the Brand Extension days. So what can the WWE do to rectify this? Well one is a suggestion that I read on here a few days ago (I am sorry I don't know their name so I can't properly give them the credit for this, sorry if you are the person). This is combine the two shows into one three hour Raw a week! In my opinion is would make sense as you see no end of SmackDown stars on Raw, and vis a versa. The obvious downside to this is that new talent wouldn't be able to be pushed as often as they do now due to SmackDown turning into the building ground of new talent (apart from Superstars, but I don't watch that ever so I am only guessing that new talent is shown on there). Is this the way forward? Well I'll let you decide that.

Another solution that I would like to see is a good Draft this year, which happens two weeks tomorrow. If they do a good draft to spread the actual stars out between the two brands we could have a lifeline for SmackDown. I would also like to see the brand rivalry that we used to see again, admittedly it has already been done, but was it not really not a really good and compelling period? The obvious limitations to this is that the roster for the WWE as a whole is not as strong as it used to be, which is evident with the latest fad of bringing back the old legends (The Rock, 'Taker for is anual Wrestlemania match, Triple H who is getting on a bit, and the latest rumours of Ric Flair next year and Batista even sooner). So splitting the big names between Raw and SD would leave the Rosters a little thin on the ground. However, on the plus side to this it would give the WWE chance to create the new big names! Again I am going to leave it up to you to decide what should be done with SmackDown...that's assuming you agree that there is something wrong with the show.

That's all for now. I was going to write about the actual episode of SmackDown itself but this is long enough and I don't want to bore you even more.

Thanks for reading and I will write my thoughts of Raw Tuesday (ish)!! ]]> Mr_Wrestlemania http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?41376-The-SmackDown-Question http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?41310-WWE-Raw-Wrestlemania-Fallout Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:03:11 GMT So the big news is that Brock Lesnar is back in the WWE! But I will deal with that later. The first thing I want to talk about is The Rock. He came... So the big news is that Brock Lesnar is back in the WWE! But I will deal with that later. The first thing I want to talk about is The Rock. He came out celebrating his victory against Cena at Sundays Wrestlemania and told us that he had a "vision" of him with the WWE Championship. In my opinion that would be pretty epic and would love to see him at the top again. However, he is a movie star now, and any logical person will know that we won't be seeing The Rock week in and week out on Raw. For a start I think I read he is going to be filming a new movie pretty soon, so we have to take this "vision" as a teaser for the coming year in the WWE and that it was farewell, for now, from The Rock. I don't think we will be seeing much of him for a while now. Maybe he will come back in August for Summerslam as I believe he is under contract to wrestle at 3 or 4 PPV's over the year.

Moving on to the Jericho Punk feud. When I saw the "Johnny" had put Punk in a match with Mark Henry I instantly thought "Great, we are going to have a feud between Punk and Henry for the title and WWE writers have completely ditched the Jericho story". "Great" being used in a sarcastic way as I really do not rate Mark Henry and find in rather boring in the ring. To my surprise, Jericho popped up after Punk had taken the "worlds strongest slam" on the outside of the ring. Pouring the booze all over Punk and continuing the rivalry was a brilliant continuation of the story for me and I hope that they can keep the good work up. I think it could be interesting with the promise of more title matches for Punk to defend from our best buddy "Johnny".

Now for the John Laurainitis story and the "era of the people" or what ever bull he came out with this week. I hope to see Teddy Long coming back and challenging for General Manager of both brands or somehow becoming General Manager of at least SmackDown again before the Draft. As the Draft is either next week or the week after I don't think this is likely but I can hope. The reason I say this is because surely the writers realise how boring, useless and hopeless on the mic "Johnny" is! He stumbles through his lines most weeks which annoys me A LOT, and just seems to have no presence in the ring when he speaks. Suffice to say, I am not a fan of this story and the outcome from 'Mania and it will probably become as annoying as the Anonymous General Manager story that seemed to go on for a millennium!

Another part of Raw I found annoying was the "debut" of Lord Tensai, or better known as Albert or the A Train. Don't get me wrong, he is a decent enough wrestler, but the fact that Cole and King were talking as if they had never seen him wrestle before and he was some knew talent really grated on me. They had to do it, I know, as A Train returning is hardly a huge return, especially with the return of Lesnar later on in the show. It was just a match that grated on me, that's all. I can't see "Lord Tensai" becoming a key superstar but it was nice to see an old face back.

Now for the big one...Lesnar's return to the WWE. When that music hit I literally got goosebumps and a shiver down my spine! It took me back to the good days, especially the epic match between him and Kurt Angle. Added to this "shock" of him coming back was the crowds reaction! They were absolutely phenomenal last night when Lesnar walked out from behind that curtain! In fact throughout that whole night I think it was one of the best crowds I have seen for months on Raw! The only downside that I felt was that everyone in the crowd and I should expect everyone at home (including me) knew that he had re-signed for WWE. The chanting of "we want Lesnar" also kind of spoiled the "surprise" that his return was supposed to be. In a way though, it was highly unlikely that WWE were ever going to hide it from the public before the event.

So what are they going to do with Brock? Well they evidently are going to start a Cena feud for an upcoming PPV, whether it will come to a head a Extreme Rules, that is debatable. I think his in ring return deserves a bigger PPV than Extreme Rules, but that is my opinion. I read on here earlier that with The Rock saying he wants the WWE Championship and Lesnar being back, they reckon that a Rock vs. Brock match at Wrestlemania 29 could be on the cards. If that's the case that would be pretty epic, but they won't announce that for many months yet so we best hold fire on that idea.

Anyway I am pleased that Lesnar is back as I was a big fan of his back in the day. Welcome back Brock! ]]> Mr_Wrestlemania http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?41310-WWE-Raw-Wrestlemania-Fallout http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?41293-Wrestlemania-XXVIII-Thoughts-and-Review Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:09:35 GMT So we've had the build up, the expectation, the excitement and the actual event. It's now time to get views on what we all thought about the whole extravaganza! So here are mine...

World Heavyweight Championship match: Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus
Well what can I say! I was looking forward to that match and was completely shocked when I saw Sheamus walk out...opening the show! The match had so much promise to be entertaining, but, if you watched it, it turned out to be a complete joke. I understand that WWE wanted it to break the record of Wrestlemania's shortest ever match which stands at 8 seconds. By the end of this match it still stood at 8 seconds. So to me I feel it was a waste of a good opportunity for a really entertaining match.

Moaning aside, I was happy that Sheamus won the title. I have been feeling the past few weeks that the gimmick of Bryan being the champion, rubbing everyone's noses in it was getting tiresome. So a change of champion was a good move in my eyes.

Overall, I would give this match a 2/10. And it only gets the 2 because the title changed hands.


Kane vs. Randy Orton
This match, despite the "boring" chants from the crowd, was a good warm up match and should have probably been on before the Sheamus match (if the Sheamus match was to be a proper match). It wasn't the most entertaining match that I have ever seen but it was by no means a poor one. I don't think it went on too long and was a good foundation to build on.

I would give this match a 5/10.


Intercontinental Title Match, Cody Rhodes vs. Big Show
Again, as the like the previous match, it wasn't a bad match but was distinctively average and a typical David vs Goliath match (apart from David doesn't win in this one). The normal "go for the legs" tactic was in force like usual when facing the Big Show, which gave it a very average feel to it. I think it would have been more interesting if we were to see Rhodes win. It would have been a bit of a feat for him to do and would fit in with the twists and turns we come to expect from Wrestlemania. In addition to this, maybe a smaller opponent for Rhodes would have produced a better match with more physicality.

I give this match a 5/10 again.


Beth Phoenix & Eve Torres vs. Kelly Kelly & Maria Menounos
This match was a good divas match in my opinion. It was given a good slot and a decent amount of time compared to some divas matches that we see both in PPV's and on the weekly shows. There was some pretty good moves on show in this match as well. Overall a very entertaining match for a divas match.

6-7/10


End of an Era, Hell in a Cell Match
Triple H vs. Undertaker w/ Shawn Michaels special guest referee
The match that I was looking forward to the most! Did it disappoint? Not at all!! This match was a truly exceptional match that I think I will remember for many years to come! It had everything, drama, twists, great moves, chairs, sledgehammers...not forgetting the 20 foot cell they were locked in. The addition of HBK to the match as the ref added a great story and twist to the match. Also added was JR who called the match, reportedly at the Undertakers request. This was brilliant and I found myself a bit disappointed after the match when they cut to the annoucers desk and JR was gone and we were stuck with Cole.

It was a match that got me, literally, on the edge of my seat. I found myself living the match and willing Triple H to win, of course he didn't. However, deep down I knew the writers were going to get 'Taker to win as they wouldn't be so cruel as to stop him from getting to 20-0.

The hug at the end of the match between the three of them was very respectful and shows how much performing on the "Grandest Stage of them all" means to the performers (even if Triple H looked practically unconscious).

This match truly was a spectacle and one of the best matches I have seen for a long time! Therefore it earns a 9/10, a very well deserved 9 at that. It would have got a ten if there was such thing as a perfect match!


Team Johnny vs. Team Teddy
This was a match that I wasn't really looking forward to, and as Team Johnny made their way down the ramp to the ring I was thinking to myself "how are they going to top the last match". My answer came very quickly after the bell rung. It was "they aren't". The concept of the match was good, but the stars taking part were not my favourite and in my eyes some are second rate (I'm not going to name names). I found the match tedious and boring. My only thought as to why they put so many superstars in the match was to "make history" as the biggest tag match in Wrestlemania.

A boring match that should have been earlier in the show. 4/10.


WWE Championship Match, CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho
A feud that has had very good build up, much like the "End of an Era" and "Once in a Lifetime" matches, which didn't disappoint. The stipulation that was added by John Laurinatis in the backstage segment before Punk walked out (if he gets DQed he loses the title) seemed pretty pointless to me as it never really added much to the match. The pinning Jericho in the corner and the near count to 5 was too staged for my liking and the match really came alive when they just got on with the wrestling!

Great wrestling by two excellent performers, this match was great! 7.5/10


Brodus Clay segment...
I admit, I'm not a massive fan of the Funkasaurous and this ridiculous segemnt sealed the deal for me. It seemed pointless and lasted too long. It seemed, and probably was, just a reason to fill the sizable gap that there was between the Punk match and the Cena Rock match. Which, coinsidently, wouldn't have been there if they had done something serious with the Heavyweight title match!!


Once in a Lifetime, The Rock vs. John Cena
The final match of this years Wrestlemania, the match with the biggest hype that I can remember. Did it live up to the expectations? In my opinion, it wasn't as good as it could have been...which is an opinion that many will probably disagree with. It was very entertaining, don't get me wrong, and I really enjoyed watching it, but it was no Rock vs. Hulk Hogan of the Wrestlemania ten years previous. I found the "End of an Era" match the better of the mojorly hyped matches. The Rock did look a little rusty at times, but hey! He is the most electrifying sports entertainer on the planet, I think we can let him off as he really did put on a good show and pleased the crowd.

Rock winning definitely opens up next year for a re-match as I can see Cena being tormented by this loss and challenging The Rock for a re-match in New York next year. However this is very close to the Triple H and 'Taker story of this year...so it probably won't happen that way. Personally, I don't want to see a re-match. It's over. The Rock has proven himself.

I will give this match the same as the Punk Jericho match, 7.5/10.



So there we have it. Another year, another Wrestlemania gone and we wind down the road towards New York for Wrestlemania 29! Rumour has it WWE want to announce the headline for next year pretty soon to give it massive hype like this years main event so I am looking forward to what's in store for us!

In reguard to the overall show, this year was better than last years 'mania with 3 very good matches as opposed to only a couple (that I can remember) from last year. Triple H and Undertaker really set the bar for 'Takers next opponent on the "Grandest Stage of the all"...if there is one! ]]> Mr_Wrestlemania http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?41293-Wrestlemania-XXVIII-Thoughts-and-Review