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[The Strokes]

Watching the replay, Jericho vs Owens is a lot of fun. The first half of this Mania is gonna be buried by the shit second half, undeservedly so.

The pop up powerbomb reversed into the code breaker was cool, and the finish, although rushed, serves to elevate that powerbomb onto the ring apron as a legit match finisher, which leads me to believe it will come into play in Owen's next feud.

 

[ReiGun]

Oh

Nakamura would probably mesh well with Brock. He can bump like crazy for Brock to look Beastly, and his strike based offense would look realistic against Brock.

It might happen down the line, but first Finn is coming for the title he never lost.

 

[Hex]

I think it was better than it had a right to be.

Aries/Neville
Shane/AJ (thank you AJ)
Raw women's 4 way
Trips/Rollins
Tag teams (best moment of the night of course)


Battle Royal was something rare...they took something that was complete shit and somehow made it even worse.

Dean/Corbin...I think Corbin should have gone over, I am starting to side with those tired of Deans in ring moveset.
Love him outside of the ring though.

Smackdown Women's just was rushed, they deserved better and fucking A Becky Lynch deserves her moment and run.

Mr and Ms Miz vs Mr and Ms Cena ..I am just fucking tired of the WWE's version of Beyonce and Jay Z. Match was great up until the very abrupt ...fuck this hurts to even say it ...double whatever and then double finisher into ...double pin.
Cena really does just get to do and say whatever and then go over.

Brock v Goldberg. Fuck Brock, Fuck Goldberg. Tired of both of them. Oh look THAT suplex out of all the others finally hurt I guess. Suplex suplex suplex suplex kickout F5.
Can someone hit him in the colon again or something so he has to go away?

Reigns vs Taker...trainwreck, but what else could it be? You have person a who has limited skills and limited moves and no leadership or iniative and the other person with no knees and half of a hip .

Oh Bray v Orton....oh no do not let the RGB bugs on the plastic screen get me....ooooooo spooky..... just ...I have no words.

 

[Sweeney Tom]

makes more sense than kenny omega main eventing the dome

Given the choice between Omega main eventing again and Tana main eventing again, the right choice occurred. I love Naito, but the Tanahashi ship sailed. As long as they're in New Japan, some combination of Okada/Naito/Kenny should be closing WK for the next few years until they build another star (I'm good with anyone except maybe Shibata currently, he needs more time)

 

[Caspel]

With Hardys now on Raw, I hope that means Revival goes to Smackdown.

Fantasy "trades" that I wish would happen

Smackdown Trades
1. Kalisto (goes to 205 Live)

2. Apollo Crews (dude needs a reset; if Raw can get over Braun, maybe Apollo can thrive on Raw)

3. Natalya (womens division on both rosters need some refresh)

4. Vaudevillains (give them one last chance with a move to Raw, plus Revival's gimmick of old school makes Vaudevillains obsolete on Smackdown)

Raw Trades
1. Titus (needs a restart. He can go feud in matches with Mojo to get some spotlight)

2. Zayn (With Mick gone, Zayn requests a trade. He's a much better character than Apollo, but Stephanie thinks "low" of him so getting him to Smackdown for a reset and room for him at the top would be great. Zayn vs. Styles/Orton/Ziggler/Wyatt/Nakamura/Ambrose/etc.)

3. Dana Brooke (With Naomi champ, she will need more heel women to wrestle not named Alexa Bliss, so Dana would be a nice addition until Asuka and Ember get called up to either brand later this year)

4. Goldust/R-Truth (Jobber tag-team, but I think they would be much better on Smackdown giving character to the show compared to the Vaudevillains who have never done much since the draft, plus both are vets and I think they have more value to the younger talent at Smackdown compared to the established tag teams on Raw)

NXT CALL-UPS

Raw
Dillinger (raw will need more mid-carders since it's competitive at the main event)
Liv Morgan (last I knew, she was already traveling with Raw on and off)
No Way Jose (maybe too early, but if each get 3 "picks, then he would be the third)

Smackdown
Nakamura (Smackdown needs more talent at the main event level)
Revival
Elias Samson

Returns:
Raw see the return of Finn, Emma, and Summer Rae (move her to 205 Live to help breathe "character" into the show like Alicia Fox has been).

Smackdown has the returns of Shelton Benjamin, Erick Rowan, and Tamina.

 

[Heroman]

Given the choice between Omega main eventing again and Tana main eventing again, the right choice occurred. I love Naito, but the Tanahashi ship sailed. As long as they're in New Japan, some combination of Okada/Naito/Kenny should be closing WK for the next few years until they build another star (I'm good with anyone except maybe Shibata currently, he needs more time)

More time? Shibata is like 37.

 

[Tagyhag]

Idk if wrasslegaf is growing bigger or louder but we smashed last year's Wrestlemania OT post count

 

[Hex]

makes more sense than kenny omega main eventing the dome

HEY!!
There will be none of that.
Besmirch the cleaner and you will get a one way ticket to MY yard.

 

[Pikma]

Shibata time is now

 

[Data West]

Shibata's time was 7 years ago

he literally can not get more time. his second time was 2 years ago. at this point hes never and nothing further than that.

sanada is going to take his spot

 

[Officerrob]

So, they already made Roman hit Vince, be the champ, win the Rumble, have a Rumble that was everyone against him, have his Mania moment winning the belt, main event Mania for 3 years on a row, destroy a monster and now retire Taker

After he finally beat Brock clean at Summer or Mania, what would be the next thing for Roman? Retire Cena? Beat his cousin Rock? Be on both Smackdown and Raw at the same time?

He also got to spear Steph

 

[LiQuid!]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=233258362&postcount=1989

Thank you. Mirrored my thoughts. It was probably the best booked match of the night. I don't know why the crowd was sitting on their hands for it, but I think a lot of that apathy rubbed off in the Mania thread and I saw almost nothing but derision for it. I felt like I was watching the climax of an epic struggle the entire time.

 

[Hidden One]

Bray Wyatt should just quit WWE tbh. It's clear they will never let him be the monster he should.

He should have beaten Orton 100% clean. Orton gains nothing from the win.

Now Bray will get his rematch and lose and then be stuck in dumb feuds where they built him up only for him to lose where it maters yet again like it's been the last 4 years. Fuckin 0-4 at mania. That has to be the worst record for someone who's seen as an upper midcard to maineventer.

 

[Syder]

So, they already made Roman hit Vince, be the champ, win the Rumble, have a Rumble that was everyone against him, have his Mania moment winning the belt, main event Mania for 3 years on a row, destroy a monster and now retire Taker

After he finally beat Brock clean at Summer or Mania, what would be the next thing for Roman? Retire Cena? Beat his cousin Rock? Be on both Smackdown and Raw at the same time?

Cena and Rock are definitely on the horizon.

 

[Caspel]

Bray Wyatt should just quit WWE tbh. It's clear they will never let him be the monster he should.

He should have beaten Orton 100% clean. Orton gains nothing from the win.

Now Bray will get his rematch and lose and then be stuck in dumb feuds where the built him up only for him to lose where it maters yet again like it's been the last 4 years. Fuckin 0-4 at mania. That has to be the worst record for someone who's seen as an upper midcard to maineventer.

Orton gets to headline house shows for Smackdown while John Cena and Nikki Bella take a break. Hopefully in a year from now, WWE will have Styles and Nakamura selling more merch than Orton so they can begin to count on them to lead Smackdown while Cena continues to be part-time.

 

[Syder]

Bray Wyatt should just quit WWE tbh. It's clear they will never let him be the monster he should.

He should have beaten Orton 100% clean. Orton gains nothing from the win.

Now Bray will get his rematch and lose and then be stuck in dumb feuds where the built him up only for him to lose where it maters yet again like it's been the last 4 years. Fuckin 0-4 at mania. That has to be the worst record for someone who's seen as an upper midcard to maineventer.

WWE has shown that it can't do factions right. Bray should be a faction leader. The Club should be a faction.

If I were a member of Sanity I'd be thinking about how they're going to completely botch them when they move up to the main roster.

 

[Sweeney Tom]

More time? Shibata is like 37.

More time in the main event scene I mean. He's been tied up in either NEVER title or tag title scene for the entirety of the last 3 years, it's going to take at least a bit more than one month for me to think he would be a great main eventer in the friggin Dome

 

[Brian_FETO]

In some weird turn of events I think Jericho/KO was the biggest disappointment of the night

The match was...fine? For a feud as well built and personal as it was you'd think the work would reflect it. Felt like a standard throwaway PPV match

On the flipside, I really enjoyed Seth/HHH for what it was. Actually felt like a Mania match.

HHH/Seth, Raw Tag, Goldberg/Brock, and Styles/Shane were the only matches with any big fight feel (and even Styles/Shane is a stretch, despite being probably the best match). Taker's entrance was great but...uh......yeah.....

Raw Women's should've been better (aka no Nia Jax) and Smackdown Women's deserved more time. Basically they should have had the time to do everything they did, but make it not feel rushed as all hell

I do think it's a bit pathetic that Nia has been defeated in singles competition but suddenly in this one match it takes 3 women to knock her down

Bray/Orton was a waste of time. So stupid. What is the point of the Wyatt character if you clearly don't value it

 

[BobTheFork]

HHH's match was longer than the two main title matches combined.

 

[Hidden One]

Cena and Rock are definitely on the horizon.

Yup I see Reigns vs Cena as the main event of Mania 35 tbh. That could possibly be Cena's last match before he calls it on his career. Of course Reigns wins. Cena probably will focus on his movie roles. Roman Vs Rock at mania 36? You know Vince will have roman beat all the greats thats left over.

 

[Ithil]

I don't normally run through the card because I would only give brief words on them but hey

Aries/Neville - Good match, should have been on the main card

ARMBAR - Poo

Corbin/Ambrose - TV match. In fact I will see it on TV on SD, I have no doubt.

Shane/AJ - Way better than it had any right to be. Shane worked his ass off despite his limitations and AJ is simply the best.

Jericho/KO - A good but not amazing match, it felt like it would have benefited from being No DQ given the build.

Women's Four Way - Decent but short. It felt shortchanged outside of the entrances.

Tag Ladder match - Delightful! Really it was an average match as far as WWE ladder matches go but it was all about the Hardys, it was the highlight of the show.

Miz/Cena tag - Absolutely nothing match. Enjoy the vacations, Cena and other person.

HHH/Seth - The most HHH of HHH matches, including the tricycle entrance. It was fine but the crowd was dying by this point and hurt the remainder of the show.

Bray/Orton - Project some ZZZs on the ring mat.

Goldberg/Lesnar - Five stars, one for every minute.

SD women's match - Should have stuck to the preshow

Yard Sale - They sold some junk.


An ok WM overall.

 

[The Strokes]

Yup I see Reigns vs Cena as the main event of Mania 35 tbh. That could possibly be Cena's last match before he calls it on his career. Of course Reigns wins. Cena probably will focus on his movie roles. Roman Vs Rock at mania 36? You know Vince will have roman beat all the greats thats left over.

Roman's done by then. Today's disaster was the worst booking mistake of his career, it just completely pushed him off the edge.

I'm gonna be surprised if the Mania 34 main event isn't changed.

 

[ReiGun]

WWE has shown that it can't do factions right. Bray should be a faction leader. The Club should be a faction.

If I were a member of Sanity I'd be thinking about how they're going to completely botch them when they move up to the main roster.

Eric Young and Nikki Cross will probably be fine.

Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain though? You know they're looking at Luke Harper like "God no...."

 

[Sweeney Tom]

Roman Vs Rock at mania 36? You know Vince will have roman beat all the greats thats left over.

I need this

Wouldn't this be around the time they're building the end of the Fast and Furious series? Dwayne gets two big endings in one year

 

[Hidden One]

Roman's done by then. Today's disaster was the worst booking mistake of his career, it just completely pushed him off the edge.

I'm gonna be surprised if the Mania 34 main event isn't changed.

Nah. Roman will never be done because it doesn't matter how much people boo him he'll always be the main storyline because Vince.

 

[Roland_Gunner]

More time in the main event scene I mean. He's been tied up in either NEVER title or tag title scene for the entirety of the last 3 years, it's going to take at least a bit more than one month for me to think he would be a great main eventer in the friggin Dome

Omega went from being the jr champ to main eventing the dome in one year. Shibata is way closer that than. Plus he just won the New Japan Cup. Putting him in one of the top two matches at WK12 isn't a stretch.

 

[Pikma]

How did I miss this

 

[Anth0ny]

Roman's done by then. Today's disaster was the worst booking mistake of his career, it just completely pushed him off the edge.

I'm gonna be surprised if the Mania 34 main event isn't changed.

wwe will die before the roman push ends

the ratings keep going down, down, down. network subs have plateaued and they've resorted to begging people to watch by giving out free months.

 

[Ithil]

Nah. Roman will never be done because it doesn't matter how much people boo him he'll always be the main storyline because Vince.

They got his name wrong, it's not Roman, it's Greek

 

[Brian_FETO]

If y'all think Nak America has been phoning it in on NXT just wait for Smackdown

2 hours and marginally better booking is not going to give him interesting matchups (assuming AJ is going to Raw)

Nak/Ambrose, Nak/Corbin, Nak/Orton, Nak/Wyatt

Nak/Miz is the only feud worth watching and I bet it'd be full of dumb goofy shit

Nak/Ziggler is a dream match of course

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

I had a dream last night that I was some super billionaire that decided to put billions of dollars into creating a new territory system with each region having its own promotion that was only available in its territory where talent would get a downside guarantee from the main body that I was running but with opportunities to make more in the various territories they could work for. Each territory having a general manager who was legitimately running it as the promoter with all the staff it required and each territory with their regional singles and tag champions with traveling champions, probably more that I'm forgetting. Basically like a modern version of the NWA but with actual money behind it and treated like a pro-sports league I guess.


On Undertaker, you book around his limitations. Roman should've "killed" him near the end with a chair and whatever else he could get his hands on especially after they announced it as being a "no holds barred" match but Vince is so hell bent on whatever it is he thinks he's doing that it just wouldn't happen, he's been trying for over three years now to skip steps 2-4 with Roman and go right to step five and barring some screw up on Roman's part it was made abundantly clear tonight that shit ain't changing.



I think after this Monday's Raw I'm going to finally start full on skipping it, it's taken a long, long time but they've finally broke me. I might eventually give up on Smackdown and NXT too... But then fuck there's the upcoming Women's Tournament, goddammit.


fuckyouwegotyourmoney.gif

 

[GunBR]

I just remembered now that Mojo won the Royale
...why? That's don't make any sense

 

[Hidden One]

The only way Roman Reigns goes away is if he gets offered a role that he takes in a movie and it does well and he decides he wants to become a movie star lol.

 

[Pikma]

I just remembered now that Mojo won the Royale
...why? That's don't make any sense

Nobody cares about that Andre The Giant thing so, really, who cares

 

[Sweeney Tom]

That gif of Reigns failing to reverse the tombstone was rough, I don't know why they thought that'd be a good spot for either of them to do

 

[Hex]

WWE has shown that it can't do factions right. Bray should be a faction leader. The Club should be a faction.

If I were a member of Sanity I'd be thinking about how they're going to completely botch them when they move up to the main roster.

Vince hates factions

 

[Officerrob]

I just remembered now that Mojo won the Royale
...why? That's don't make any sense

He won because Gronk was willing to be involved, plain and simple

 

[Syder]

Eric Young and Nikki Cross will probably be fine.

Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain though? You know they're looking at Luke Harper like "God no...."

Thing is with factions is there always has to be a hierarchy; for every Kenny Omega there's a Yujiro Takahashi but it doesn't matter as long as the faction get over, look strong and create interesting storylines.

Bray being booked as a strong Champion and Harper & Rowan being dominant tag team Champs is an example of one scenario WWE could have pulled the trigger on at some point in the last few years but didn't.

AJ and Gallows & Anderson were booked like stars in Japan and then found themselves getting jobbed out to Roman and The Usos.

 

[Brian_FETO]

Wait Mojo actually won that shit? Are you fucking kidding me?

 

[Future Foundation]

Post-Mania is my favorite time of the year here on GAF.

 

[The Strokes]

Nah. Roman will never be done because it doesn't matter how much people boo him he'll always be the main storyline because Vince.

wwe will die before the roman push ends

the ratings keep going down, down, down. network subs have plateaued and they've resorted to begging people to watch by giving out free months.

They only way to redeem him is to pull the trigger on the heel turn and make him go berserk on every part-timer there's still available. Make him retire them all.

He'll be a fucking hero.

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

Who cares about booking strong champions? Titles don't mean anything anymore (or well haven't really in almost 20 years) and WWE makes no effort to convince us otherwise.

I just remembered now that Mojo won the Royale
...why? That's don't make any sense

Gronk and WWE always desperately chasing that mainstream media attention.

 

[Ithil]

That gif of Reigns failing to reverse the tombstone was rough, I don't know why they thought that'd be a good spot for either of them to do

Vince wants to pretend he's Brock or Cena

 

[GunBR]

The only way Roman Reigns goes away is if he gets offered a role that he takes in a movie and it does well and he decides he wants to become a movie star lol.

He could get some jobs as the poor man's version of Jason Momoa

 

[ReiGun]

Thing is with factions is there always has to be a hierarchy; for every Kenny Omega there's a Yujiro Takahashi but it doesn't matter as long as the faction get over, look strong and create interesting storylines.

Bray being booked as a strong Champion and Harper & Rowan being dominant tag team Champs is an example of one scenario WWE could have pulled the trigger on at some point in the last few years but didn't.

AJ and Gallows & Anderson were booked like stars in Japan and then found themselves getting jobbed out to Roman and The Usos.

Exactly right. Problem is, modern WWE thinks that if groups of people work together, they should be a tag team. And if the current tag division is any indication, they don't give too much of a shit about tag teams.

Sanity, when they come up, will be a tag team. Nikki Cross will be allowed to break off into the women's division, but the other three? Tag team working the midcard until their poorly booked break up happens.

 

[Bronx-Man]

Well.

That was a show that happened.

 

[ElRenoRaven]

Man only 2 matches down and Midnight After Mania has been awesome so far.

 

[Hidden One]

Vince wants to pretend he's Brock or Cena

I hate how Roman is booked as a powerhouse. Dude is definitely more of a high flying brawler. He almost always struggles to lift anyone thats more than 15 pounds heavier than he is.

 

[HashtagLapsed]

I dont think Reigns will recover from this one. Doubtful even his fans wanted to see him win and retire Taker and he barely had a reason to be there in the first place.

 

[Heroman]

Well.

That was a show that happened.

7 hours long!!