Wrestlemania Thread

[Cory]

Amazing opener.....

bullshit.

[Gary]

So apart from the travesty that was the WHC match, I have to say it was a very enjoyable Mania. The Taker vs HHH match beyond epic, Jericho vs Punk was technically brilliant, and Rock vs Cena brought the entertainment match that lived up to the hype. Very good PPV and best Mania in a while.

[Cory]

No Lesnar really sucked for me.  Taker/HHH was awesome....I usually enjoy a good technical match but I wasnt really impressed with Y2J/Punk, but it wasnt a bad match by any means, and HHH/Cena was really what I expected.

[The Laughing Man]

20 boots to asses from the best in the world!

[undergroundwa]

What they did to the WHC match was crap! How the Brodus Clay segment, the Ron Simmons Segmetn the Heath Slater Segment and the Divas match made it on there and the WHC match got cut I will never know. They could even have cut some time from the Rock Cena as Rocky was blowing out his arse! It is supposed to be a World title, it should have some sort of prestige and honour, not the openin match at the biggest show in Wrestling and last 4 seconds. From the first 12 minutes of the show we have 4seconds of a match! Bullshit!

Apart from that a lot of the matches were ok, wasn't really too fussed about them. Taker Triple H was methoidical more than anything else, Takers back looks done in and it provided my moment of the night
Taker Sitting up and Tirple H jumping back shitting himself was awesome.
CM Punk Vs Jericho was another match that made WrestleMania worth the money, out with they two I wouldn't say the rest merited the fee.

Was it just me or did Rock Vs Cena bore everyone? The Rock's Ego is clearly too big, that should have been the passing of the torch like Hogan did for him but clearly the Rock has other plans as he now fucks off back to Hollywood! Cena will still be there and as much as I hate the guy it is a bit crap he had to do the job like that.

[Gary]

Um maybe it was Vince's call to have Rock win.. I don't know he is the owner after all.

[Mike Powers]

It's still real to him dammit!

[Snap]

While the Rock/Cena promo to end Raw was awesome, they should've ended it in a brawl.

Late reply, but... no, no no! I'm glad they didn't have them get physical before WrestleMania since the whole selling point is to see Rock and Cena fight. If they give it away free on TV, even if it's just a meaningless brawl, you've already got the satisfaction of seeing them beat the hell out of each other.

Was it just me or did Rock Vs Cena bore everyone? The Rock's Ego is clearly too big, that should have been the passing of the torch like Hogan did for him but clearly the Rock has other plans as he now fucks off back to Hollywood! Cena will still be there and as much as I hate the guy it is a bit crap he had to do the job like that.

Where was it ever officially built up to be a "passing of the torch" type of match? The build has been a grudge match, pure and simple. Cena took shots at The Rock for years, so Rock comes back and takes shots of his own. Cena then cut boring and repetitive promos while Rock cut boring and repetitive promos and the whole idea that someone MUST win because they are there all the time is ludicrous.

Hell, Vince will probably make it up to Cena with a dozen more title reigns.

All in all, it wasn't a bad WrestleMania, though I could have done without the Brodus Clay bit and had an actual match for the WHC but if UFC can charge however much they charge for fights which typically last a couple minutes, WWE can be excused for the occasional squash but it would have been better if it was the Divas match instead of the World Heavyweight championship.

[Russ]

I actually quite enjoyed 'Mania: I think at times people quickly forget that WWE has never, and will never, promote and present itself as a purely wrestling show. It says it's entertainment for a reason and every year you get concerts, dancing segments, and cheesy backstage skits. That's what happens on Wrestlemania, that's what's happened on the past 5 Wrestlemanias that I've seen, and that's what will happen on the next 5. It does astound me how people can get angry at the same things every year when they've never actually changed.

Sheamus vs. Bryan, ok, yes it was disappointing, but in retrospect... c'mon, Bryan is OVER as a heel, Sheamus is OVER as a face, Bryan's gimmick is OVER. Nobody would remember that match above the other three big matches so why the hell not make it memorable by having Sheamus win it in one move. It wasn't a squash match because Sheamus took advantage of Bryan being cocky, so Bryan's lost NO momentum off of that, and now he gets to be an even bigger douche to AJ and whinge and cry until he gets the title back. Sounds like a good way to get him even more over as a heel...

Orton vs. Kane was pretty slow, but I won £50 out of it, so fuck it, WOOOHOOOOO!

Diva's Match was better than expected. Maria Menounos ain't too bad in there and with a bit of training would make a pretty good Diva, shame it's not Kelly that's off to present a TV show instead really. It's a shame Beth was the one that had to get pinned but I can kind of understand it with Eve's involvement later on.

Rhodes vs. Big Show was exactly what it needed to be. Rhodes has that title since forever and Big Show winning it off him and giving him his comeuppance was a nice feel-good moment for the show. Big Show does a lot to put people over at the end of the day, and for a monster to be believable he has to win when it matters!

Hell in a Cell... WHAT. A. MATCH. Jesus those three made that fucking AWESOME. I loved HBK's role in being really torn and just wanting the match over, loved the mirror image of HHH doing exactly what HBK did before eating a tombstone, and finally with all three of them as that generation leaving together. Standing ovation kind of a performance and story-telling there, that's why we love wrestling.

Johnny vs. Teddy was decent enough, nice that Miz got the win in the end and looking forward to the Johnny era. Not sure if this is leading to Teddy's retirement seeing as he is like, 65 or something now. Either way Johnny's been awesome these past few months so nice to see him all over the product.

Punk vs. Jericho was perhaps one of the few disappointments of the night. Don't know if I was just burnt out after 3 hours of show or whether I was expecting too much, but I just didn't feel the kind of magic that I was looking for there. In retrospect perhaps a 20 minute technical masterpiece between those two would have been a good opener, and then have Sheamus beat Bryan in 20 seconds just before the main event to wake everyone up again for the big one.

Rock vs. Cena was good. No two ways about it. The match kept me marking out at points and wondering who was going to win, even if it wasn't technically sound or really all that brilliant compared to the other wrestling on the show. At first I was annoyed at Rock winning, but in retrospect it's perfect. Rock's probably going away, and if not, he'll probably only be there every other month for a special appearence before maybe a re-match. If Cena wins and Rock goes away, all that happens is its reaffirmed that Cena's the best... great... but he could beat Jericho, Punk, Sheamus, Orton etc. to prove that. If Rock wins and Rock goes away... 1) FINALLY there is someone out there that can beat Cena, it FINALLY makes him less of the Superman he is and now we know he CAN be beaten clean... 2) Character development. Now it's not Cena standing tall from his win, now it's him coping with the fact he trash talked Rock for a year and couldn't back it up, now it's him dealing with the loss and the fact he got cocky and ended up with his tail between his legs. It's awesome!

Overall 'Mania was good, it delivered on the most part and really guys... have a beer... lighten up... it's Wrestlemania, it's meant to be goofy and fun and weird, that's WWE!

[! JDM The Professional !]

I actually quite enjoyed 'Mania: I think at times people quickly forget that WWE has never, and will never, promote and present itself as a purely wrestling show. It says it's entertainment for a reason and every year you get concerts, dancing segments, and cheesy backstage skits. That's what happens on Wrestlemania, that's what's happened on the past 5 Wrestlemanias that I've seen, and that's what will happen on the next 5. It does astound me how people can get angry at the same things every year when they've never actually changed.

Sheamus vs. Bryan, ok, yes it was disappointing, but in retrospect... c'mon, Bryan is OVER as a heel, Sheamus is OVER as a face, Bryan's gimmick is OVER. Nobody would remember that match above the other three big matches so why the hell not make it memorable by having Sheamus win it in one move. It wasn't a squash match because Sheamus took advantage of Bryan being cocky, so Bryan's lost NO momentum off of that, and now he gets to be an even bigger douche to AJ and whinge and cry until he gets the title back. Sounds like a good way to get him even more over as a heel...

Orton vs. Kane was pretty slow, but I won £50 out of it, so fuck it, WOOOHOOOOO!

Diva's Match was better than expected. Maria Menounos ain't too bad in there and with a bit of training would make a pretty good Diva, shame it's not Kelly that's off to present a TV show instead really. It's a shame Beth was the one that had to get pinned but I can kind of understand it with Eve's involvement later on.

Rhodes vs. Big Show was exactly what it needed to be. Rhodes has that title since forever and Big Show winning it off him and giving him his comeuppance was a nice feel-good moment for the show. Big Show does a lot to put people over at the end of the day, and for a monster to be believable he has to win when it matters!

Hell in a Cell... WHAT. A. MATCH. Jesus those three made that fucking AWESOME. I loved HBK's role in being really torn and just wanting the match over, loved the mirror image of HHH doing exactly what HBK did before eating a tombstone, and finally with all three of them as that generation leaving together. Standing ovation kind of a performance and story-telling there, that's why we love wrestling.

Johnny vs. Teddy was decent enough, nice that Miz got the win in the end and looking forward to the Johnny era. Not sure if this is leading to Teddy's retirement seeing as he is like, 65 or something now. Either way Johnny's been awesome these past few months so nice to see him all over the product.

Punk vs. Jericho was perhaps one of the few disappointments of the night. Don't know if I was just burnt out after 3 hours of show or whether I was expecting too much, but I just didn't feel the kind of magic that I was looking for there. In retrospect perhaps a 20 minute technical masterpiece between those two would have been a good opener, and then have Sheamus beat Bryan in 20 seconds just before the main event to wake everyone up again for the big one.

Rock vs. Cena was good. No two ways about it. The match kept me marking out at points and wondering who was going to win, even if it wasn't technically sound or really all that brilliant compared to the other wrestling on the show. At first I was annoyed at Rock winning, but in retrospect it's perfect. Rock's probably going away, and if not, he'll probably only be there every other month for a special appearence before maybe a re-match. If Cena wins and Rock goes away, all that happens is its reaffirmed that Cena's the best... great... but he could beat Jericho, Punk, Sheamus, Orton etc. to prove that. If Rock wins and Rock goes away... 1) FINALLY there is someone out there that can beat Cena, it FINALLY makes him less of the Superman he is and now we know he CAN be beaten clean... 2) Character development. Now it's not Cena standing tall from his win, now it's him coping with the fact he trash talked Rock for a year and couldn't back it up, now it's him dealing with the loss and the fact he got cocky and ended up with his tail between his legs. It's awesome!

Overall 'Mania was good, it delivered on the most part and really guys... have a beer... lighten up... it's Wrestlemania, it's meant to be goofy and fun and weird, that's WWE!

Quoted for fucking truth man!

I'm glad rock won.

I'm pissed over the WHC match though... god damn it!

[Snap]

Rock vs. Cena was good. No two ways about it. The match kept me marking out at points and wondering who was going to win, even if it wasn't technically sound or really all that brilliant compared to the other wrestling on the show. At first I was annoyed at Rock winning, but in retrospect it's perfect. Rock's probably going away, and if not, he'll probably only be there every other month for a special appearence before maybe a re-match. If Cena wins and Rock goes away, all that happens is its reaffirmed that Cena's the best... great... but he could beat Jericho, Punk, Sheamus, Orton etc. to prove that. If Rock wins and Rock goes away... 1) FINALLY there is someone out there that can beat Cena, it FINALLY makes him less of the Superman he is and now we know he CAN be beaten clean... 2) Character development. Now it's not Cena standing tall from his win, now it's him coping with the fact he trash talked Rock for a year and couldn't back it up, now it's him dealing with the loss and the fact he got cocky and ended up with his tail between his legs. It's awesome!

Obviously, I have no issues with Rock winning (I've been sporting "Team BRING IT!" at VWF for how long now?) but this just illustrates why it was the best outcome: logical booking.

Too many people throw around the "passing the torch" thing for the match and point to Rock vs. Hogan at WM18, but Rock vs. Hogan 2.0 was never anything more than "You want some? Come get some!" and "Just bring it!" Cena has been wanting to face Rock at WrestleMania for how long now, taking shots whenever possible but if these matches are supposed to be about who is the best, well I think Cena's face told the story after Rock's initial bit of offense.

The biggest pop of the show at the theatre I went to to see WM was when Rock got the three count on Cena. Believe it or not, but most of the kids who were there cheered the loudest when Cena lost.

I think everybody also expects to see Rock on a less frequent basis and when Rock said he was "never going to leave" when he returned last year, I don't think anybody (except for Cena) expected that to mean we'd see see him every week. By that logic, Taker shouldn't have won because he was only there in the build to WrestleMania.

And since when has Cena been "the underdog"? (for those who haven't seen WM, it's how MGK described Cena) For how many years now has Cena been dominant, whether he's has the strap or not? I think, regardless of which one you like or hate, Cena and Rock are both at the same level. Rock's just a better at looking good in the ring than Cena.

It does astound me how people can get angry at the same things every year when they've never actually changed.

I think it's more that a match for a World Heavyweight championship was booked as it was, where either other matches or video packages could have been trimmed so the other stuff could have their time. Of course neither Sheamus nor Bryan are affected by such booking but what people would have been interested in with the match is if or how Bryan would weasel his way into retaining the title. Instead, according to reports, WWE wanted (yet failed) to set a record for the fastest title change at WrestleMania. Sheamus/Bryan was 18 seconds, whereas Kane/Chavo at WM24 was 8 seconds.

[Hondo]

I don't get this "Rock should have passed the torch to Cena" argument. Why does Cena need the torch? The dude's already had it for the past six or seven years. This match was built for a year as The Rock coming back to give Cena a receipt, not as a "I was the best, you're the best now, let's see who wins" kind of match. Not to mention the mainstream rub it got, which makes Vince moist.

In regards to the WHC match, I didn't care at all that Bryan lost. Heck, I expected it, and it was the right move. The heel needed to lose to the face on the big stage, no questions asked. But come on, one shot and the pin? That just cheapens the belt. It makes the former champion look unworthy to hold the belt. I explained in the SB that I felt the same way about the Backlund/Diesel 8-Second Title Change in 1994. They spent all that time building Backlund up as a disjointed, crazy heel, then immediately killed it.

But hey, it is what it is, and as someone said in the SB (Jag? Gary? Russ? I don't remember), Vince is the ultimate internet troll, and troll he did.

Overall it was a pretty good Wrestlemania, a LOT better than last year's.

[Russ]

My argument on Bryan vs. Sheamus is that a long, sound match between those two at Mania would get epically lost in the shuffle amongst Punk and Jericho, HIAC and the Main Event. At the next PPV they can have a fucking good rematch that will be 2nd or 3rd top match on the card depending how else they book, and that match we can all enjoy and it'll have its pride of place there. I do agree that it somewhat cheapens the belt (especially as Sheamus is the first rumble winner to win it at 'Mania since Undertaker in 2007), but I don't think in the long run it will do all that much harm. Bryan can be incredible out of it, Sheamus is a worthy world champion, we've got people like Rhodes snapping at the belt now too probably... viva la 20 second match! Haha.

[Doug E Fresh]

Overall solid show.

Hated how short the WHC match was
Hated Slater
Hated the rap songs
Hated the Santino/Foley crap

Liked the rest of it. Huge props to the celebrity chick for being hurt and not only wrestling but staying in the ring quite a long time. Had a stain on her ass couldn't stop staring at it lol.

Hell in a cell was awesome. Punk/Jericho was awesome. And Rock/Cena lived up to expectation if you base it off a guy who hasn't worked other than a dumb tag match in eight years. The crowd was really hot the entire match.

[Gary]

Boy cant handle John Cena losing to Rock Wrestle Mania