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WrestleMania 32 |OT| OHHH! Written in the Stars! A Million Miles Awaaaaaay........

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D

Dazzler

Member
Last night left me feeling incredibly pessimistic about the future of WWE. The guy in creative control is stubborn as hell and it's overwhelmingly clear he doesn't give a shit about what his audience want

So many of the creative decisions last night were utterly baffling..

Ryder winning was nice and I'm genuinely happy for the guy, but if he walks out of Raw tonight as champion I'll be surprised. I have no faith they have a plan for him

Ric Flair interfering in the women's match took the shine off what was an amazing showcase for the three wrestlers involved. All three deserved better

Jericho going over Styles was such a Vince move. Can't have one of those TNA guys going over. Why pay that much to bring Styles in and have him job to dad-bod Jericho?

I'd be happy if I never got to see a legend (or in this case a trio of legends) burying talent again. New Day's entrance was pretty great tho

Shane vs Undertaker was a chore to sit through. Ending maintains the status quo in the most depressing way possible

Maint event - The entire crowd made it patently clear they don't like and don't want Roman but one old man does, so deal with it. The commentary team not referencing the boos ONCE and the mics getting turned down on the crowd were both gross
 
I

imBask

Banned
Dazzler said:
Last night left me feeling incredibly pessimistic about the future of WWE. The guy in creative control is stubborn as hell and it's overwhelmingly clear he doesn't give a shit about what his audience want

So many of the creative decisions last night were utterly baffling..

Ryder winning was nice and I'm genuinely happy for the guy, but if he walks out of Raw tonight as champion I'll be surprised. I have no faith they have a plan for him

Ric Flair interfering in the women's match took the shine off what was an amazing showcase for the three wrestlers involved. All three deserved better

Jericho going over Styles was such a Vince move. Can't have one of those TNA guys going over. Why pay that much to bring Styles in and have him job to dad-bod Jericho?

I'd be happy if I never got to see a legend (or in this case a trio of legends) burying talent again. New Day's entrance was pretty great tho

Shane vs Undertaker was a chore to sit through. Ending maintains the status quo in the most depressing way possible

Maint event - The entire crowd made it patently clear they don't like and don't want Roman but one old man does, so deal with it. The commentary team not referencing the boos ONCE and the mics getting turned down on the crowd were both gross
Click to expand...

we'll get a couple of debuts tonight, reddit will say the company is saved, WrassleGAF will resubscribe to the network

this is just the cycle
 
S

Sephzilla

Member
Listen, The Rock is awesome but someone really needs to tell him to speed things up when he makes an appearance at WrestleMania. Him being here was cool and the flamethrow thing was pretty neat, but at the same time I was like

giphy.gif


Because he was milking that shit out way too long. When you're entrance is longer than Undertakers you have a problem. He did a similar thing last year where he took a fucking year to get to the ring.
 
S

sora87

Member
MisterR said:
Yep, WrestleMania is a spectacle, not an indy wrestling showcase.
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It should be a bit of both, you can have the spectacle while still having some 20-30 minute matches that show why these guys and women deserve to be at the biggest event in wrestling. Vince and Dunn must think that an actual wrestling match going long and allowing performers to put on a showcase would just bore people.
 
T

TimeEffect

Member
Merriweather said:
I found the show to be very disappointing. Very watchable. Not terrible. Just sort of blah.

For all the build up for the Shane/Undertaker match the storytelling was crap. What was the point of having Shane's kids come out to do his goofy dance with him and then get deposited with Grandma Linda (who wasn't really acknowledged but must be okay with this family blood feud) and then do nothing with them. No crying when Undertaker threw Shane through the cage or anything else.

I expected Vince to come out and get involved, even if it was just screaming "kill him" at the Undertaker or something like that. It would have made the jump off the cage spot more meaningful if Vince was out there and started pleading with Shane to not do it, only to see him do it anyway and then Vince could stand there stunned like "what have I done."

The complete lack of emotional payoff just made it seem like the stipulations on the match were absolutely pointless. Maybe Raw will prove me wrong tonight.

Another weird hang up, the women's match. I know they made this big deal about changing the name of the title from Divas to Womens because it's more about wrestling now than "puppies" and such. But I couldn't help but notice that pretty much every time Charlotte took any kind of bump she would immediately adjust her top. I like gratuitous cleavage as much as the next guy, but it took me out of the match a bit because neither Lynch or Banks had the same issue. Certainly not as often. It just reminded me of late WCW women's matches where they were desperately trying to match WWF's women, but Turner's family friendly policies meant that the women had to immediately clutch their chest to make sure they didn't have a nip slip any time they did anything.
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It was definitely weird not to have vince out. Another example of half hearted storytelling
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Well, I gave it a night to think about it and here's my review:

daMCvp9.png
 
S

Spider from Mars

tap that thorax
Styles and Jericho didn't do anything interesting? I know that Jericho is past it now, but Styles was the performer of the year last year in my mind and I figured they could put something worthwhile together for Mania.
 
H

Hasney

Member
Spider from Mars said:
Styles and Jericho didn't do anything interesting? I know that Jericho is past it now, but Styles was the performer of the year last year in my mind and I figured they could put something worthwhile together for Mania.
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I liked it. I thought it was a good match, but nothing special and nothing we haven't already seen before with how many times they've fought before this.
 
S

sora87

Member
I still can't get over that ambrose/lesnar shit fest. It reminded me of lesnar/goldberg, both of them just not giving a crap and wanting to leave wwe as fast as possible.

Why build him up as indestructible to fall to one F'5 hahaha, last night's booking shows they honestly have no idea what they're doing.
 
L

Liu Kang Baking A Pie

Member
sora87 said:
I still can't get over that ambrose/lesnar shit fest. It reminded me of lesnar/goldberg, both of them just not giving a crap and wanting to leave wwe as fast as possible.

Why build him up as indestructible to fall to one F'5 hahaha, last night's booking shows they honestly have no idea what they're doing.
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Yeah this match was incredibly disappointing. I was looking forward to a war.
 
Atomic Odin

Atomic Odin

Member
Spider from Mars said:
What match(es) were worth watching, friends?
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Definitely watch the Women's title match. Inspite of Flair's shenanigans it was entertaining stuff. Rest ranges from average to straight up horse shit especially the Lesnar/Ambrose & Shane/Taker (that amazing show of balls from Shane aside) matchups. Vince is thicker than a pig in a mudhole.

I'm still kinda iffy at Taker not laying himself down after what Shane did, it was the right thing to do but Taker being Taker...
 
H

Hot Coldman

Banned
What's crazier than Shane doing that drop of the cage is that he'd do it for seemingly no reward or reason

it doesn't look like he'll be sticking around and being a major player, he doesn't need the money, it doesn't look like he'll be doing anything besides the scenes...

that motherfucker really just wanted to do one last crazy stunt
 
R

Ric Flair

Banned
Heroman said:
God, the more I think about it that Shane/ Taker was pure garbage.
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I don't think it was that bad for what it was. Shane isn't a wrestler and Taker has no reason for being in that ring anymore. It was about as good a match as it could have been. Shane has my respect for putting his body on the line like he always has.
 
Atomic Odin

Atomic Odin

Member
Hot Coldman said:
What's crazier than Shane doing that drop of the cage is that he'd do it for seemingly no reward or reason

it doesn't look like he'll be sticking around and being a major player, he doesn't need the money, it doesn't look like he'll be doing anything besides the scenes...

that motherfucker really just wanted to do one last crazy stunt
Click to expand...

It was shitty to chicken out from that on Taker's part. A minute later he outdid himself by tapping Shane's cheek & laying the tombstone
 
R

Ravensmash

Member
joeposh said:
... but they are weird geeks, so why is that a problem? I mean clearly they came up with those costumes and entrance, so if you have a problem with that approach at WM, you have a problem with the New Day.

Austin stuns everyone, it's what he does. I bet you Xavier loved every second of that and will get mileage out of it tonight on Raw.

I think there's a larger debate here about what Wrestlemania should be.

It's clear that since around Wrestlemania 28 when The Rock came back that Vince and Co view it as a chance to use old legends and celebs to maybe rope in some new viewers and generate press coverage. It's the spectacle above all else. People here would largely like it to be like NXT Takeover, a showcase for the in-ring work and a chance to elevate and reward talent.

I get that tension -- but you also see every year people pop into these threads and say "haven't watched wrestling in forever, but it was great to see Stone Cold (or some other WWE legend) out there again". That's who they're after, because you and I were going to watch regardless. I'm not saying that makes for a better product, I'm just saying that's what WM is at this point.
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I think I agree with this.

Not necessarily bad either, sometimes it's fun to have that huge spectacle.

And yep, I'd bet that New Day/LoN were absolutely loving it. A chance to work with three absolute modern icons of their company, in front of 100,000 people at the biggest event of the year?

Sounds awesome.
 
T

Trojan X

Banned
Dirtyshubb said:
AJ may not be a spring chicken but in the 'WWE Universe' he is fresh and has the potential to be used in limitless ways. While wins and losses may not ultimately mean anything in a pre-determined show, it does still have an effect on how the audience perceives him and buys into him.

What if because a wrestler is handled badly when they arrive the audience doesn’t get behind them or loses interest? WWE have done this plenty of times under the belief that 'wins and losses don’t matter' yet they kill any interest the audience may have and 'burry' the star.

For years now people have complained that WWE doesn’t push enough fresh talent and relies too much on established stars yet you argue that its fine for a new star to go through a programme with a legend who is only around to enhance other talent, having so many matches people are bored with the story only to 'finish' it off at Wrestlemania by having the new person lose? Yes they will probably continue the story but at this point does anyone really care?

To dismiss people's concerns as 'they are just salty their fave wrestler didn’t win' is rather disingenuous and doesn’t take into consideration WWE's history of doing things that are 'best for business' which actually ends up creating hatred or even worse apathy amongst the audience.
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Perfect. Couldn't have said it better.
 
S

SpideySenses

Member
The weirdest thing with the Legends segments to me is that they seem backwards in terms of tone, it would have fit better if Rock and Cena had helped New Day against the evil foreigners and if Wyatt's had interrupted Stone Cold and then had backup from Shawn, Mick and maybe even Terry Funk, who would have been perfect in that scenerio.
 
R

RightChandMan

Member
Here is my Wrestlemania review. I saw it in person and I have been a wrestling fan since I was a child. I stopped watching from 2004-2011 (I only watched the mania's at this point and started to watch again once I heard about CM Punk pipe bomb)

Total Divas Match: Didn't see

Kalisto vs Ryback: Didn't see

Dudleys vs Usos: C-. Below average match that meant nothing. Usos were booed during the table spot. Forgettable.

IC Ladder Match: B+ A fun spot fest. Ryder winning was a nice and unexpected surprise.

Styles vs Jericho: B Their weakest match to date, but still enjoyable. I have no idea why Y2J won.

New Day vs LON: I need to break this grade down into 3 separate parts.
Entrance: A+ (Giant box of Booty Os + their costumes). Actual match: C. Average at best. Post match segment with 3 legends: A-. It was fun to see the 3 legends,but SCSA should not have stunned woods. They should have helped put New Day over. I know they are over with the crowd, but having just lost the match. It made no sense.

Ambrose vs Brock: B- I enjoyed this match. I thought it was GOOD. However, I was expecting great or maybe even match of the night. It wasn't as brutal as I thought it would be and it was way too short. Why does Ambrose kick out of ONE F5 while Roman can kick out of 3+? In that sense, it was disappointing that I only found it good.

Women's Title: B+ A match I liked more than I thought I did. Didn't really like what Flair did at the end though.

Shane vs Taker: B. Super slow start, but the spots were nice. Shane jumping off the cage was my favorite moment of the night. Not the worst taker match, but nowhere near the best.

Battle Royale: C. They need to get rid of this, or actually push whoever wins. Maybe guarantee a title shot or something.

The Rock segment: A- Look, I know The Rock gets a lot of hate on GAF, but I have always liked the rock growing up. I find him entertaining and I've enjoyed a lot of his matches. The intro with the pyro was cool. I liked how he announced the attendance record. He did give praise to Bray. I wish the match lasted longer. Cena coming out was a fun surprise. Let's be frank. The Wyatts have been buried for a long time. They come out to some random wrestler, talk some shit, then usually lose. It's happened far too long. And I thought The Wyatts were left off the card completely, so I was happy to see them in some form.

Reigns vs HHH: C- I'm not a RR hater at all. Hell, I'm sort of rooting for him. Something needs to change. He was getting way more boos than cheers. Roman has had better matches (vs DB and Ambrose), and so has HHH. Maybe it was the fatigue in me since I was there for over 5 hours, but this was a chore to watch. The ending was predictable.
The spear spot was nice, and spearing Steph was unexpected.

Overall a B-. It's not as good as 30 or 31, but way better than 27 28 and 29.
 
T

Trojan X

Banned
Spider from Mars said:
Styles and Jericho didn't do anything interesting? I know that Jericho is past it now, but Styles was the performer of the year last year in my mind and I figured they could put something worthwhile together for Mania.
Click to expand...

AJ Styles was moving at Jerichos pace and can go much faster but if that happen then Jericho won't be able to keep up. Also, AJ was selling Jericho a plenty all within Jericho's capability. So basically the match was solid but not good enough for AJ Styles. He need someone better like Nevile and Kevin Owens.
 
S

ScribbleD

Member
Heroman said:
Shane wasnt carry anything, out of the coast of coast which meh everything he did was terrible.
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If anyone was carrying that match, it was the commentary team. I'm shocked to be saying that, but they were bizarrely on point. I'm not just talking about the "for the love of Mankind," call either. There were some really good calls peppered throughout. Like at one point Shane was doing his shitty punches to Taker's mid-section, and Cole pointed out that Shane wasn't doing any real damage, but he was going to have to keep going to the body to force Taker to take sharper shorter breaths and bring in less air so that Shane could maybe just out-endure him. That's the most salient call Cole has made in his entire career as a commentator. It was really odd how alright the commentary was for just that one match. Shame it was wasted on such a slog.
 
S

sora87

Member
Trojan X said:
AJ Styles was moving at Jerichos pace and can go much faster but if that happen then Jericho won't be able to keep up. Also, AJ was selling Jericho a plenty all within Jericho's capability. So basically the match was solid but not good enough for AJ Styles. He need someone better like Nevile and Kevin Owens.
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I hope we get AJ vs Rollins sometime during his wwe run
 
J

joeposh

Member
My biggest problem with this show is that it largely disregarded everything that came before it and acted like it was occurring in a vacuum. It was likely much more enjoyable if you hadn't watched the product in months, which is completely insane.
 
O

orioto

Good Art™
joeposh said:
My biggest problem with this show is that it largely disregarded everything that came before it and acted like it was occurring in a vacuum. It was likely much more enjoyable if you hadn't watched the product in months, which is completely insane.
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Precisely.

It exactly sound like the ones booking are vaguely trying to make sense all year (only vaguely) and for WM, Vince comes out and books everything himself without any regard to any sene whatsoever. Thus Corbin.

I can see the scene:

Vince: So who's this guy, he seems tall.
Hunter: Well he's been jobbing for some weeks in NXT. He's now a mean he..
Vince: Anyway, he's tall i like him, let have him win the Battle Royal.
Hunter: Hmmm
Vince: And who's this emo punk with a horrible haircut there ?
Hunter: Ho he's actually really good and really over, we..
Vince: No way he beats Jericho ok. Jericho is a star and i don't know who's this guy
Hunter: But that's actually their 4th match and..
Vince: Next, those New days against the League of Nation, it's too small, let's put true stars in there!
 
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