Ok, so I signed up for the WWE Network a few nights ago in preparation of watching my first live Wrestlemania since IX. With the girl out of the house, I had originally set out to watch a "classic" Wrestlemania while cooking/eating dinner, but when I filtered down the search results I seen Hogan in the caption for XXX and curiosity got the best of me. I ended up watching it in its entirety in two sittings and holy shit... it's fucking hype!
-Crowd was nuts from the start and they added a ton to the show, and holy shit at this production! Everything is just so grandiose and it feels like I'm watching a movie. Intro with Hogan messing up and Austin/Rock breaking his balls was super entertaining. The bit with Piper later on was awesome too. That guy was a brilliant entertainer. (RIP)
-I've heard of Daniel Bryan before but I've never seen any of his matches. (it popped up in my Team Stream that he recently retired due to injury which is a shame after watching this) It was awesome seeing a crowd so unanimously behind someone. The "overcoming all odds" storyline is a simple one but it was clearly effective because even I wanted to see him win in both his matches... but damn if I wasn't just a bit distracted by Steph's legs.
-Cesaro is a megastar. Let me back that up, I rolled my eyes the second I heard the words "battle royal." From my time watching wrestling as a kid they always sucked. No actual moves ever happened until the end and it's a whole bunch of teasing with a handful of guys almost getting eliminated over and over. Royal Rumble was different because the ring was rarely overflowing with dudes just flailing aimlessly. But overall, this one was actually pretty good. I was honestly entertained by some of the spots they had. (ex. when the dude saved himself from elimination by keeping his feet on the steps) But from the get go, Cesaro stuck out to me as just a really unique looking dude. Then sure enough he had cool offense. Uppercut spots were cool and that giant swing had me cracking up. And then when he picked up Big Show and body slammed him over the top... holy shit! He looked like a strong dude but that was beastly. It was the only time in the show that I actually rewound it to watch it again. Unique looking dude who's strong as fuck with cool offense... I don't know how he is on the mic, but if he sucks get him a manger and push him to the fucking moon. Dude is hype and should be in championship matches. Looked him up immediately after watching and was disappointed to see that he was injured and wouldn't be at the show tonight.
-Bray Wyatt is a megastar. His weird cult leader horror movie-ish character is fucking awesome and it was amazing seeing the crowd buying into it so hard and cheering when he was clearly supposed to be heel. Dude has charisma for days and it feels like the gimmick would be a total failure if it weren't for him making it work. But then there's John Cena... lol. Even I'm familiar with him, but don't think I've actually seen him wrestle since that ECW reunion show where he lost to RVD. Straight up: dude looked so out of place. Next to such a cool character, he looks like a clown and a lot of the stuff he did just looked clumsy. I laughed out loud at the whole character shift between smiling babyface and snarling badass. When he had the chair and the ref was shouting "don't do it, John! That isn't you!"... holy shit I was dead. What a disparity between the infectiously awesome character and the unintentionally hilarious lameass character, but hell if I didn't find it entertaining so well done all around.
-Of course I already knew that Brock Lesnar killed the streak. I remember people who didn't even identify themselves as wrestling fans talking about it the next day. Still, I hadn't really seen Brock outside of MMA until now so I was definitely interested in watching it. Brock looked like a monster and Undertaker looked like he was just an old man hanging on for dear life much of the time. It was cool seeing one of my childhood heroes again, but I couldn't help but question if him participating in the match was seriously going to fuck him up despite it being a fake fight. (I fully acknowledge that these guys put their bodies through hell) It was honestly a bit tough to watch and I didn't enjoy it much, but it was totally worth getting through for the ending. That crowd reaction of genuine disbelief... even if this wasn't for me that really spoke to how these guys captivated their audience. And then came the boos because it wasn't the finish they expected/wanted and that then transitioned to applause/appreciation for the performers. It was amazing to watch a crowd collectively sort through their emotions like that and it was brilliant to hold off on the theme music to put the spotlight squarely on that reaction. But fuck that guy who shouted "you suck" at Undertaker when he was trying to stand up.
-Err... that women's match sure was something.
-Back to the main event, holy shit when Daniel Bryan got put through the table and Randy Orton's (of "RKO out of nowhere!" fame) lower back landed right on one of those monitors. I know that shit was a mistake and I seriously thought he was injured. I was horrified when I seen how dented in it was and the replay showed how he started writhing in pain the second he landed. That was really scary... what a tough SOB for continuing. I can't lie... I kind of wanted to see him win after that. Batista also had a "I fucked up" look on his face. I didn't rewind it because I'm not watching that shit again, but I'm pretty sure I remember him throwing one of the monitors behind the table instead of away from it. Fuck that dude and his carny ass Jordans.
Really good show overall and I found myself way more invested than I thought I would be. I was so entertained in fact that I decided to check out the latest event on the WWE Network: the NXT Takeover. The girl had her Syracuse basketball game (fun sport to play but I hate watching it) so I put it on the Surface with some headphones. Again... holy shit it was hype!
-Everyone on the show was treated like a damn hero by the crowd. I haven't seen anything like it since PRIDE. The wrestlers seemed to feed off it too because much of the card felt like I was watching it in fast forward. Just really well paced and exciting. The crowd helped me buy into it early because the two tag teams that kicked off the show didn't have a look that drew me into their characters, but they worked really well together and I gained an appreciation for them. They made wrestling look more like an art form than any match I'd seen on the Wrestlemania card and I ended up having a lot of fun watching it.
-Whoa... that Sami Zayn and Nakamura match. (I admittedly, and shamefully, had to look up their names to get them right) Those dudes seemed like they were legitimately hitting each other. There were several points in the match where I questioned what was planned and what was them letting their adrenaline get the best of them. Super entertaining and totally unexpected. As a fight fan, the lack of the usual choreography helped draw me in. Still, I did appreciate how Nakamura kept adding his charismatic little touches to help anchor the bout in entertainment throughout. They talk about wrestling once in a while on the Friendcast and I remember Matt gushing about "the King of Strong Style" and now I know why. Really unique character, but I quite liked both these guys.
-It's hilarious to me seeing Scott Hall and X-Pac together since I recall 123 Kid unexpectedly pinning Razor Ramon on Raw to launch his career. It was supposed to be just another jobber vs star match, but then some pimple faced kid caught Razor with a moonsault and pinned him. Was a cool moment, but enough of the walk down memory lane. Steph dropping her heel persona just to be part of the crowd... lol how weird. She's smoking hot, though.
-The women's match was a lot better than the one that was on the Wrestlemania card. Crowd is super hot for it too. I was laughing my ass off at the crowd singing in unison. Again, it was cool to see some of the offense grounded in reality. (even if they obviously weren't cranking the submissions) I was apprehensive going in, but much respect to these women. They had a really entertaining match.
-Are doctor stoppages a part of wrestling now because them checking on Joe's cut seemed weird. The video package sold the dude as a badass and I thought it was great when they were trying to wipe the blood but he was just shoving them away. Really added to his character and the drama, but then when he finally agreed to stand there and let them tend to the cut it just seemed.... wrong. But damn, that dude can move for being such a big dude. Also, it seems like Baylor has a cool character but I couldn't quite figure it out. Does he have a sort of duality about him? Like, is he a normal ass wrestler who unleashes the "demon" when pushed by his opponent? Because it seemed like that's where they were going with his character but it never completely got there during the match. Good look though... just seemed like they needed to refine/better define him, though. Was interesting seeing such a highly gimmicked guy vs a no-nonsense badass.
General note: there's a whole lot of MMA in wrestling and it's kind of awesome. Between seeing a Gracie jiu jitsu logo on Batista and Asuka (had to look up this name too... shame) hitting the pads with Seth Petruzelli I was marking out. I was genuinely surprised to see things like triangles, arm bars, and chokes too and it was really cool seeing the slick pro wrestling style transitions into them. I wouldn't think they would play in wrestling, but the performers really made some of the stuff believable and oddly exciting. Some of the strikes some wrestlers were throwing out were really cool to watch too -- much more interesting than the punch-stomp that I was used to. I really liked how the women's match was stopped the second someone was unconscious instead of doing the ref dropping the arm three times bit too. This kind of stuff has me genuinely curious to watch more...
...and if Wrestlemania tonight is as hype as these cards were then I definitely will. Super entertaining stuff! I doubt that they can get me back to the point that I'm watching weekly, but I'm super on board with giving it a look more often. Very unique entertainment.
Sorry for the long post, but I figured the neophyte perspective may be entertaining for someone. Ya'll are good people, WrassleGAF!