Post by Ayen on Apr 7, 2016 0:31:07 GMT
That's right, I have a day off from my usual work, and I'm gonna take advantage of it by reviewing a wrestling pay-per-view. The reason I'm making a new thread for this (besides wanting to have my name in the title because I'm an egomaniac) is because I wanted to keep the other WM thread spoilers free. This one will be spoilers heavy, so if you haven't seen the show yet, click back now.
A couple of things to keep in mind before we begin:
1.) I tuned in at the last match of the pre-show, so I don't have much to say there.
2.) I watched this for free on the WWE Network due to their one month free trial (because screw making money!) and had absolutely NO expectations going in because I'm well aware that WWE these days suck. Now, let's begin.
The part of the pre-show I caught had the Dudley Boys against the Usos. Not a lot to say. It was typical Bubba being an asshole and doing a Scary Movie reference with D-Von that hasn't been relevant for two decades.
The Ladder match for the IC title was a good opener and had a legitimately surprising finish I don't think anyone could have seen coming. Zack Ryder becoming the Intercontinental Champion and getting his own WrestleMania moment. I would've thought Kevin Ownes or Sami Zayn would win. And I'm sure this will lead to a push for Ryder and a lengthy IC title rei--
Annnnnnnnnnnd he loses it 24 hours later on RAW. Making this finish...
Absolutely pointless.
Chris Jericho and AJ Styles was a great match, I mean just look who's in it, and we got another surprising finish with Jericho going over Styles. Now it's somewhat surprising, but at the same time not so much. Styles already had one victory over Jericho, so in some way, it makes sense that Jericho would win this time to bring them up to 1/1, especially if there's more to the story. Honestly, I think it would've been better to have waited until Mania for this match to take place and have Styles debut against somebody else on RAW. Going into Mania Jericho didn't look threatening at all because he was already beaten by AJ Styles, and it would've made him look worse if he loss again.
The League of Nations takes on The New Day (New Day entrance was awesome) The League of Nations go over...
Only to be buried by three former WWE Superstars past their prime.
So... what was even the point of having them win a match if you were just going to bury them all soon after? I once heard Austin say on his podcast the reason he didn't Stun Rock and Hogan at WM30 was because they would get no comeback and have to do 'the job'. Is he going to return to let the League get a comeback, or does this rule only apply for faces? I -- just why?
Brock Lesnar versus Dean Ambrose. This match could have been so much better, but it was ridiculously short and the finish was bullshit. Number one, it should have been longer. Number two, Ambrose should have gone over. Lesnar doesn't need the win, and now Ambrose looks weak coming out of WrestleMania. And the barb wire bat tease. Come on. Why hype up a weapon you're not even going to get to use? I don't expect blood, but you could have let him hit him in the gut or something.
Horrible, horrible match.
Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and Sasha Banks for the NEW WWE Women's Title. Can I just say how much I love the Women's title? I didn't mind the Diva's belt when it was a secondary title, but as the main belt for the Women's Division? It was awful. If you don't like the WWE World title design, you won't like this one much better, but I get what they're trying to do by having it on par with their Heavyweight Division. The triple threat was good, and I half expected Banks to win because of her relation to Snoop Dog (I don't know why, WWE have done weirder things), but Charlotte winning is fine with me.
Undertaker/Shane McMahon. This honestly should have been the Main Event as it was so much better than HHH/Reigns, more on that later. The two played off each other really well, and Shane trying to play it up like a MMA deal was a nice touch. The spot off the top of the cage was great, and something I didn't expect given the PG era and all the precautions they take. Great match, but somewhat predictable ending with Taker going over, but WWE really backed themselves in a corner with this one. No matter who won, somebody was going to be upset.
Also, Shane can still do the Coast to Coast. Awesome.
But again, the whole point of the match was to get control of RAW (which means control of the whole company for some reason) and the next night Vince puts him in charge of RAW anyway, making this entire match and the build...
Absolutely pointless.
The 20-Man Battle Royal for the Andre the Giant Memorial Trophy. It was a typical battle royal, with the exception of Shaq appearing and doing typical giant powerhouse stuff against The Big Show, but it put a new guy over in Baron Cobin. According to what I've seen on the internet they buried him the next night on RAW, so once again I say...
Absolutely pointless.
The Rock comes out for 'reasons', does a segment with the Wyatts for 'reasons' and then has a six seconds match for 'reasons' followed by Cena coming back to help fend off the Wyatts. Can I just say how f**king stupid this segment was?
1.) There's no point for Rock being there other than... he's The Rock. I like him as much as the next guy, but this is starting to become routine.
2.) Bray Wyatt is doing a lot of talking and no action. If you're going to take out The People's Champ to make a statement, here's what you do. Let the lights go out, jump the ring when it's dark, and f**king three on one the guy! Then Cena coming out to make the save would've actually meant something! But no, it's just talk, talk, talk, six seconds match, Cena. Of course, I can assume the reason they didn't even touch him was because he's making a movie and the studio doesn't want any harm to come to him. So, once again, why even have him?
Oh, right, nostalgia.
Finally, the Main Event. The only memorable thing about this match is Stephanie coming out in a dominatrix costume talking about owning us. Baby, you can own me in the bedroom anytime--! I mean, focus!
The match was slow, boring, and not worthy of being the Main Event at their biggest show. Roman Reigns was booed out of the building and the only time he received any kind of a 'pop' was when he accidentally Speared Stephanie, and that's less to do with him, and more to do with the crowd hating Stephanie. Whether it's official or not, Roman Reigns is the number one heel in the company and all he has to do to get heat is show up.
Overall, I found it enjoyable until I really thought about the finish of several of the matches, and I find myself less impressed than I was at the end of Sunday evening, but once again, I got to watch it for free so I can't complain too much. And a couple of matches on the card was a lot of fun to watch.
It is what it is.
Try it
A couple of things to keep in mind before we begin:
1.) I tuned in at the last match of the pre-show, so I don't have much to say there.
2.) I watched this for free on the WWE Network due to their one month free trial (because screw making money!) and had absolutely NO expectations going in because I'm well aware that WWE these days suck. Now, let's begin.
The part of the pre-show I caught had the Dudley Boys against the Usos. Not a lot to say. It was typical Bubba being an asshole and doing a Scary Movie reference with D-Von that hasn't been relevant for two decades.
The Ladder match for the IC title was a good opener and had a legitimately surprising finish I don't think anyone could have seen coming. Zack Ryder becoming the Intercontinental Champion and getting his own WrestleMania moment. I would've thought Kevin Ownes or Sami Zayn would win. And I'm sure this will lead to a push for Ryder and a lengthy IC title rei--
Annnnnnnnnnnd he loses it 24 hours later on RAW. Making this finish...
Absolutely pointless.
Chris Jericho and AJ Styles was a great match, I mean just look who's in it, and we got another surprising finish with Jericho going over Styles. Now it's somewhat surprising, but at the same time not so much. Styles already had one victory over Jericho, so in some way, it makes sense that Jericho would win this time to bring them up to 1/1, especially if there's more to the story. Honestly, I think it would've been better to have waited until Mania for this match to take place and have Styles debut against somebody else on RAW. Going into Mania Jericho didn't look threatening at all because he was already beaten by AJ Styles, and it would've made him look worse if he loss again.
The League of Nations takes on The New Day (New Day entrance was awesome) The League of Nations go over...
Only to be buried by three former WWE Superstars past their prime.
So... what was even the point of having them win a match if you were just going to bury them all soon after? I once heard Austin say on his podcast the reason he didn't Stun Rock and Hogan at WM30 was because they would get no comeback and have to do 'the job'. Is he going to return to let the League get a comeback, or does this rule only apply for faces? I -- just why?
Brock Lesnar versus Dean Ambrose. This match could have been so much better, but it was ridiculously short and the finish was bullshit. Number one, it should have been longer. Number two, Ambrose should have gone over. Lesnar doesn't need the win, and now Ambrose looks weak coming out of WrestleMania. And the barb wire bat tease. Come on. Why hype up a weapon you're not even going to get to use? I don't expect blood, but you could have let him hit him in the gut or something.
Horrible, horrible match.
Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and Sasha Banks for the NEW WWE Women's Title. Can I just say how much I love the Women's title? I didn't mind the Diva's belt when it was a secondary title, but as the main belt for the Women's Division? It was awful. If you don't like the WWE World title design, you won't like this one much better, but I get what they're trying to do by having it on par with their Heavyweight Division. The triple threat was good, and I half expected Banks to win because of her relation to Snoop Dog (I don't know why, WWE have done weirder things), but Charlotte winning is fine with me.
Undertaker/Shane McMahon. This honestly should have been the Main Event as it was so much better than HHH/Reigns, more on that later. The two played off each other really well, and Shane trying to play it up like a MMA deal was a nice touch. The spot off the top of the cage was great, and something I didn't expect given the PG era and all the precautions they take. Great match, but somewhat predictable ending with Taker going over, but WWE really backed themselves in a corner with this one. No matter who won, somebody was going to be upset.
Also, Shane can still do the Coast to Coast. Awesome.
But again, the whole point of the match was to get control of RAW (which means control of the whole company for some reason) and the next night Vince puts him in charge of RAW anyway, making this entire match and the build...
Absolutely pointless.
The 20-Man Battle Royal for the Andre the Giant Memorial Trophy. It was a typical battle royal, with the exception of Shaq appearing and doing typical giant powerhouse stuff against The Big Show, but it put a new guy over in Baron Cobin. According to what I've seen on the internet they buried him the next night on RAW, so once again I say...
Absolutely pointless.
The Rock comes out for 'reasons', does a segment with the Wyatts for 'reasons' and then has a six seconds match for 'reasons' followed by Cena coming back to help fend off the Wyatts. Can I just say how f**king stupid this segment was?
1.) There's no point for Rock being there other than... he's The Rock. I like him as much as the next guy, but this is starting to become routine.
2.) Bray Wyatt is doing a lot of talking and no action. If you're going to take out The People's Champ to make a statement, here's what you do. Let the lights go out, jump the ring when it's dark, and f**king three on one the guy! Then Cena coming out to make the save would've actually meant something! But no, it's just talk, talk, talk, six seconds match, Cena. Of course, I can assume the reason they didn't even touch him was because he's making a movie and the studio doesn't want any harm to come to him. So, once again, why even have him?
Oh, right, nostalgia.
Finally, the Main Event. The only memorable thing about this match is Stephanie coming out in a dominatrix costume talking about owning us. Baby, you can own me in the bedroom anytime--! I mean, focus!
The match was slow, boring, and not worthy of being the Main Event at their biggest show. Roman Reigns was booed out of the building and the only time he received any kind of a 'pop' was when he accidentally Speared Stephanie, and that's less to do with him, and more to do with the crowd hating Stephanie. Whether it's official or not, Roman Reigns is the number one heel in the company and all he has to do to get heat is show up.
Overall, I found it enjoyable until I really thought about the finish of several of the matches, and I find myself less impressed than I was at the end of Sunday evening, but once again, I got to watch it for free so I can't complain too much. And a couple of matches on the card was a lot of fun to watch.
It is what it is.
Try it