Hello reader,
I’ve been writing a blog on here called Random Thoughts & Opinions (R, T & O) for a few months; as is the norm with those posts I encourage discussion on what I am about to write. Please feel free to take part; I look forward to the exchange of views.
This article was planned to be an in depth review of what happened in the Superdome last night; but as the show went on I found myself getting more and more disgruntled with it. I really haven’t been that disappointed with the match quality of a WWE PPV for some time; even shows that have been bashed to death by this community, such as last years Battleground and this years Royal Rumble, I found more enjoyable than last nights show of shows; it was so bad it sapped my will to drink my beer (as a proud Londoner with Irish roots that’s no small feat). With a few exceptions; it felt off from the top to near the end.
After the go home Raw I was worried; but the optimist in me felt that WWE wouldn’t let a show of this significance fail. How wrong I was.
The show opened strongly for me with the Hogan, Austin & Rock promo. For someone who’s been thinking a lot about how wrestling offers little to mark out about anymore; I am unashamed to say this nearly got that response from me. But it was also indicative of some of the problems that would dog the show; firstly with Michael Cole claims that Wrestlemania had been around for the better part of four decades (technically true I guess; but, mathematically, that statement only applies from ‘Mania 35 onwards) then Hogan, usually so reliable on the mike, forgetting which dome he was in. At least this was a segment with three stars who could play about and have fun with Hogans mistake; but that saddened me a little about the scripted nature of the regular WWE product. Austin was on fire and, to quote JBL, “Talk about a moment in time”; sadly, the rest of the show struggled to hit the high that was this segment.
Backtracking a little to the pre-show match; I thought WWE was trying to reemphasize the tag team division. So why the hell was this on the pre-show? Add in the fact that the only team that was really credible was The Usos and that the match only got going once it was down to them versus The Real Americans and it seemed counterproductive to that idea. It also underlined the whole stop/start push era for me; Los Matadores (having more or less disappeared after a few weeks on TV) went out first and Jack Swagger, having fought for the World title last year, continuing his downward trend by being on the pre-show (though I have to say I’m glad Rybaxel have finally found their level). But by the ending I was willing to give this match a solid 6 out of 10.
The main card opened with Triple H versus Daniel Bryan; a match I had high hopes for. Getting a chuckle out of the return of Triple H’s Gonad the Barbarian persona; I thought the contrast in their entrance styles worked nicely. Triple H all pomp and circumstance and Daniel Bryan’s simple walk to the ring in a t-shirt caught the zeitgeist of the situation on the nose; and it made sense, despite my surprise at this jerking the curtain, to have this on first due to the stipulation. But the match. like many on the card, suffered from pacing issues and a subdued crowd; the amount of hold spots began to bug me and the match never really got going. The right man won and the post match beat down served it’s purpose in adding extra tension to Bryan’s situation and his character arc as the ultimate underdog; but the match, for me, was bland and unremarkable.
I’m a big fan of The Shield and have written before about how I’m pleased they’ve held off on the split to give them a face run as a unit; so the next match did nothing to boost my mood. While I initially thought it was a nice touch having The Shield cut off The New Age Outlaws; I couldn’t help having the nagging feeling that this was due to timing issues already. What followed didn’t help; while the opening minuets had more action than the entire previous match the pacing was rushed. There was no story to the match and they rushed through spot after spot until they hit a premature ending with the stupid power bomb spot. No one shone through or had time to except Roman Reigns; and even he didn’t shine because of the rushed pacing. It was a Raw match, plain and simple and a waste of the talent involved.
The Andre Memorial Battle Royal was a mess; I’ve written before how this match served no purpose but to pay lip service to those of us disgruntled about part-timers pushing the regular crew off of the card each year. The booking of the match beggared belief; the moment you noticed that 3MB were working well as a unit they were dumped out by Mark Henry. Miz, a headliner a few years ago, was eliminated by the Cobra and Big E, reportedly someone WWE has big plans for, was eliminated by Fandango only to see Fandango dumped out seconds later. The match improved when the field thinned and there were some good points; Ziggler putting on a show, Cesaro’s elimination of Rey Mysterio, Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio eliminating each other and another Kofi Kingston miracle escape; leading the commentators to talk about how Kofi has been building himself a reputation in Battle Royals with these spots. In my humble opinion he has to, you know, win a couple for that to really be true; but off you go Cole, spout what you want. The highlight of the match was undoubtedly Cesaro body slamming Big Show out for the win; but the match overall, to this writer, was a mess and the low point of the evening.
I made a note at this point; this show had better pick up sometime soon or we’ve got a real turkey on our hands. I was hoping the night would pick up; willing the Gods of Pro-Wrestling to intervene and right the ship. Sadly it never happened.
Can I just ask; was anyone else screaming at the screen whenever Michael Cole spoke? I personally have nothing against him as a commentator; but last night he seemed to just spout crap. “There have been French announce teams before, Cole;” I said, exasperated. “No, you carry on blindly spouting nonsense; it’s not like it’s the biggest show of the year and a significant milestone of a show at the same time.”
The voodoo dance scene lead me to get a little more pissed about The Shield’s match being rushed; but it was followed by my highlight of the night thus far; Mark Crozer and The Rels playing ‘Broken Out in Love’ live.
I have to say at this point that I was always worried about the quality of Cena versus Wyatt from the time it was first rumored; Wyatt has had good matches but with more experienced and technically sound opponents like Bryan. He was clearly the fan favorite going in despite being the heel; and the overwhelmingly negative crowd reaction to Cena had me screaming “FOR GOD’S SAKE; JUST TURN HEEL ALREADY!!!” Again, a match filled with holds and rest spots; leading me to question whether I was watching Wrestlemania or Holdamania; the match had some story at least but it didn’t come naturally. Rather it was spoon fed to us by the commentators; and there was another kayfabe killing comment, this time from The King, when Bray shot up into his spider walk pose from the ground. King acted like he’d never seen that before; despite Bray having done it multiple times before. Despite a nice spot where Bray countered Cena’s top rope leg drop into a power bomb this match was bland and predictable; Cena kicked out after Sister Abagail’s Kiss, the frankly overused spear through the barricade spot was trotted out yet again and the crowd seemed more into dancing and singing “He’s got the whole world in his hands” than watching the match. Then WWE dropped the ball by having Cena win; it did nothing for him in the long run, hurt Wyatt and more or less killed an interesting feud dead.
Undertaker vs Lesnar. I’ll state now I’m a die hard Undertaker fan; in the last few years I’ve waited with baited breath for The Dead Man to return and have the match of the night at Wrestlemania. For whatever reason (with reports that he was hospitalized after the match filtering through this morning) the match was a dud; again it suffered from pacing issues and was hardly the evenly matched spectacle we’ve come to expect from a Streak defense. Did I believe The Streak should be broken? Probably; but it should have been broken by an up and comer to boost them into a superstar. While I understand the logic behind Lesnar being the one to break it from his character’s point of view; it just smacks of a wasted opportunity to me. But, all things said, it was a shocking moment; I was stunned and clearly so was the crowd. Though not a great match it did leave us with a real moment; it’s just a shame that the match didn’t live up to the momentously significant occasion that it was.
This was followed by a minor miracle; a Divas match that, on paper, looked like it could be a real car crash that wasn’t. Though memorable in no way; it wasn’t the unmitigated disaster we all thought it could be and was actually quite enjoyable. There was none of the pacing problems that dogged nearly every match on the card; and the right person won. But I have to ask; where is there left for AJ Lee to go as champion? She has beaten the entire division in one match; while clearly the best in ring Diva on the main roster this match leaves her with little credible opposition and it would be anticlimactic if she drops the strap to one of the other Divas featured in the match. Hopefully this means we will soon see Paige on the main roster with a serious push into contention for the title; because there is little all else they can do at the moment.
Finally we have the main event; the best match on the card by a country mile. This didn’t suffer from the pacing problems that had dogged the rest of the card, it was exciting and had clear story running through it. The injured underdog Daniel Bryan had to not only fight Batista and Orton but The Authority who did their best to throw more obstacles at the ultimate underdog; stretchered out at one point after a wicked table spot to valiantly get off the stretcher and battle back to not be denied. Yes there was a momentary lull after the table spot where Batista looked like a deer in the headlights; unsure what to do due to Orton’s crash onto the monitor (nasty bump). But the match was the only one that came close to living up to the prestige of the night; and WWE didn’t drop the ball and sent the crowd home happy.
But that, to me, didn’t make up for the poor overall show; I don’t know what was wrong last night but rest holds and pacing problems seemed to be the theme of the night. We only got two true Wrestlemania moments (the end of The Streak and Bryan’s title win) and it felt to this writer like an overall dull show; I’ve seen more exciting and entertaining Raws in the last few months. I apologize if I’m coming over as overly negative in this article but I have to be honest with myself and this is how I truly feel about last nights show; it was a dull, lifeless show on the whole and didn’t live up to the hype with a few exceptions.
So onto tonight’s Raw and the annual rest button press that WWE does every year. I predict that Lesnar will parlay his win into a title shot; probably not immediately but it’s the logical next step. It also makes sense to Bryan’s ultimate underdog story that he be the title holder when that title match happens; but I see his immediate future being a run with Orton (based on him not being involved in the decision last night) via a fatal four way at extreme rules featuring Triple H as the fourth. It’s hard to call the rest of the plans based on last nights show; Cesaro will probably feud with Swagger and they’ll try to extend the Wyatt Family versus Cena despite my feeling that Cena’s win killed it a little. But WWE really needs to hit one out of the park based on last night; and the real positive on that seems to be that they really have a clean slate to work with, this year more than ever.
Please feel free to take part in this conversation; take me to task if you will. But the fact is this is my opinion; and while I didn’t want it to be negative it unfortunately was. Hopefully WWE can right the ship a bit tonight; but it won’t make up for what I thought was the worst Wrestlemania for a long time.
Until next time
JJKH
