Wrestlemania 30 was a very good show. It wasn't the best, there was very little bad, and all in all entertaining. But first, all the credit in the world has to go the WWE Network and MLB for having a near-flawless showing tonight when everyone thought the worst would occur. I personally only had two problems, one involving the feed rewinding before the Cena-Wyatt match and the PS3's Network App crashing on me when I tried to reload the feed because it fell behind after said match. This year's Wrestlemania had two signature moments, although there were a few other quality ones as well, but in the end, the moment we're all talking about now isn't the one we thought we'd talk about going in.
Pre-Show Tag Team Title Match
The Usos retained in a very good match. The crowd got into it, ended in a fine way and started the show off with a bang. Maybe not the biggest bang but a bang nonetheless. Cesaro turning face and swinging Swagger was what it needed, and that's what we got, so all in all a good match.
Daniel Bryan vs. HHH
After 38 minutes of talking, we finally had some Wrestling. HHH's introduction was amazing, crazy and outlandish, reminding me of Skeletor from Masters of the Universe. This match may not have been Owen v. Bret at Wrestlemania 10, but it was pretty damn good. No real botches to speak of, Bryan winning clean and HHH hitting Bryan's injured shoulder with a chair gave caution for the rest of the night. I thought overall, the post-match portion was the weakest part here, as it left Bryan able to wrestle from the get-go in the Main Event, but left little room for the imagination.
Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale
This match was boring until the last 8-10 guys were in the Ring where you could finally have room to do some cool moves. In the end, Cesaro picking up Big Show and tossing him over the Top Rope for the win paid homage to the end of Wrestlemania 3 when Hogan slammed Andre. It was a perfect ending and the people were happy for it.
John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt
This match had very good psychology and storytelling to it. It was sort of slow, and perhaps needed to be faster. Cena was playing the obvious heel and Bray the face, though the crowd was somewhat muted during it. This match felt like it was in Bray Wyatt's head until the end, particularly with moments where Cena went for the Five Knuckle Shuffle, getting booed and Michael Cole saying 'this is the type of reaction John Cena is used to getting.' Perhaps it was unintentional, but it worked, especially with Cena trying to hold back his inner demons and destroy Wyatt, which he wanted to do. But in the end, Cena resisted those urges and won, which was pretty disappointing.
Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker
In a match with a poor build that people thought would turn out to at least be okay...didn't. This match was bad. It was slow, it was sloppy and overall uninteresting, as people were really just waiting for The Undertaker to win the match. It wasn't Brock Lesnar's fault either...it was The Undertaker, and for that, he lost. That's right, 21-1 happened. This is the moment of complete shock and awe that encapsulated the show for the rest of the night, resulting in a delayed announcement and music for Lesnar, as well as a 21-1 graphic on screen. As the crowd shots occurred, everyone, and I mean EVERYONE was in shock, including myself. Was it the right decision? The Undertaker wasn't physically prepared for this match, Brock was. So in that sense, he deserved to lose. Given the moment, where no one thought Brock could win versus letting it go on forever...they pulled it out from under us, just as the Undertaker stumbles to his feet. While Taker looked disappointed afterwards and hobbled off to applause, you could tell that he was done. But to Brock Lesnar? I'm not against it, but this moment was bad and Undertaker didn't deserve to go out like this.
Divas Invitational
AJ Lee won. The crowd didn't care. They were still trying to comprehend Undertaker losing.
Daniel Bryan vs. Batista vs. Randy Orton
Until Daniel Bryan came out the crowd was completely dead. I feared the worst, and Bryan only got a halfway decent pop when he came out. You could tell when he came back halfway in the match that he was giving it his all, and so were the other 2 guys, but the crowd just wasn't into it until Stephanie and HHH came in. THEN the crowd turned it up a notch. A couple of nearfalls happened when Orton hit an RKO on Batista and the crowd nearly died at this. Perhaps the Undertaker's loss helped this out, for me...yeah, it certainly played a role in me thinking it was over. Next Bryan hit a flying knee and Batista threw out Bryan to get a cover, and the crowd almost died here too, but thankfully didn't. Bryan eventually got the YES lock on Batista and he tapped, giving Bryan the Championship he so rightfully deserved. This match was pretty good with interesting spots, and it pushed this card to a top 10 Wrestlemania, perhaps even top 5.
While Bryan won...no one's talking about it, which is disappointing. It was his night to shine and unfortunately The Undertaker losing cost him a lot of talk. I'm not sure how late the decision to have Taker lose came, but I'm sure it came before the match started, with the burning of Lesnar's casket, as if it were unnecessary. That's unfortunately where I stand on this. Taker's loss puts a stain on the whole Daniel Bryan victory party, because fans aren't talking about him, but the Streak ending. It's unfortunate and I feel bad for him. It took everyone involved in that storyline to get that crowd into the Main Event when it really shouldn't have been necessary. I recommend this show to people who want to watch it, but hopefully you won't get a bad taste in your mouth afterwards.
Monday, April 7, 2014
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Wrestlemania 30 Predictions
It's been a long time since I cared enough about Wrestling to watch a Wrestlemania. Because the company cleaned up their act from the Attitude Era, along with the WWE Network to allow people to catch up on classic wrestling libraries that the company owns, I took the plunge on the Network in order to watch this year's event. Given that I write here from time to time, I thought I'd provide my predictions for tonight's card.
Pre-Show Match: Tag Team Championship Fatal Four-Way
The Usos (C) vs. Los Matadores vs. Rybaxel vs. The Real Americans
It's disappointing to think about how good this division was a couple of months ago to now be pre-showed at Wrestlemania. You have the Usos, who are hard workers and okay champions, basically getting buried at the top of the division. It's also disappointing when you realize that Wrestlemania is four hours long, but only has 7 matches. To put things in perspective, Wrestlemania 12 was three hours long, had six matches, but one of them was an iron man match. Also, Wrestlemania 17, perceived to be one of, if not the best Wrestlemania, had 11 matches on the main card in a four hour time frame. But I digress, there's not much competition for the Champions here, and I expect them to retain their titles.
Winners: The Usos
Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale
30 Participants, some currently unknown
There are too many competitors to name here, but so far, the names that come to mind are simple. The Big Show has the strongest push going into the match, getting the upper hand at every opportunity. The Miz is being pushed as a big heel here, getting the short end of the stick every time out. There's also Rusev, who hasn't appeared much on TV and hasn't been seen in a long time. Obviously, I think Rusev will win this match if he's in the match, since it will be the start of a push he gets as some kind of monster-like heel. Otherwise, I'll go with the Miz since they're going to try and get him over again.
Winner: Rusev
Divas Championship Invitational
AJ Lee (C) defends against 13 others
Some explanation is required here. This is a 14 woman match that is 1 fall for the Women's Title. Considering the skill that some women have in this division, this is a low blow for the division, because it's obviously going to have a low bar of quality. This match was made by Vickie Guerrero in hopes of having AJ Lee lose her title. So the choice here is simply AJ versus the Field. I think the field wins here, particularly Summer Rae, since she's on Total Divas, and is being played up as a heel and apparently is hated by a fair number of people in the locker room. It's a surprise win, but it does carry a lot of weight, including the continued burying of Fandango.
Winner: Summer Rae, New Champion
Six-Man Tag Team Match
The Shield vs. Kane and the New Age Outlaws
Unless they plan on turning any of the Shield members heel during this match, this should be an easy prediction, as the Shield should win this match. I don't have much interest in this match, as it feels like a 'get the Shield in a match that's not the Battle Royale' match, which is fine, but ultimately lacks a lot of punch. I think it will be an okay match, but The Shield's opponents aren't very interesting.
Winner: The Shield
Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker
If the buildup to this match was supposed to lead us to believe that The Undertaker had no chance in beating the monster that is Brock Lesnar, the WWE has completely failed. With the exception of a weak clothesline and F5 on the last Monday Night Raw, Lesnar has been physically and mentally neutered by The Undertaker. While Paul Heyman has cut fantastic promos like he always does, he is not Lesnar. If he was, I'd pick him to win this match 10 times out of 10, because Paul is that good. I think this will be a solid match, and might surprise people, even though the buildup has hurt it from being something greater. But since he's not, the Streak marches onto 22-0.
Winner: The Undertaker
John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt
The buildup for this match has been absolutely fantastic. When the angle started at the Royal Rumble, I wondered if the company had gone insane by having their top face go against an up and coming heel that could be destroyed in an instant. However, I think they've proven everyone wrong here, and going in is my most anticipated match. I think the important thing here is how it will finish. Bray Wyatt in order to prove his point doesn't have to win clean, but simply prove that John Cena isn't as clean or great as he says he is. Any other way, and the character of Bray Wyatt is tarnished forever. I think Cena wins the match, because the company protects him most of the time, but I don't think he does it clean.
Winner: John Cena
Daniel Bryan vs. HHH
This is arguably the main event of the evening, despite it not being the last match. It's clear that the winner here goes onto win the Title, no questions asked. What's important here is where it's placed on the card, which is right before the Title Match to close out the show. This leads me to believe that Daniel Bryan is going to win, since I don't think HHH can physically last for an hour plus in the ring nowadays. This will obviously make the Title Match more dramatic as it will probably leave Bryan in a weakened state and possibly out of that match at the beginning.
Winner: Daniel Bryan
WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match
Randy Orton (C) vs. Batista vs. Daniel Bryan
Batista came back, the fans didn't care. Batista won the Royal Rumble, and the fans turned on him and the company because Daniel Bryan wasn't in the Rumble. CM Punk left the company, which is why Daniel Bryan took his place. The fans essentially caused this match, and they're going to get what they want or they're going to riot, which in some alternate reality happens and is crazy. But not here. Daniel Bryan wins the Title, pins Orton clean, and leads the crowd of 70,000+ in "YES!" chants to go off the air. Hopefully he keeps the Title for more than a day this time.
Pre-Show Match: Tag Team Championship Fatal Four-Way
The Usos (C) vs. Los Matadores vs. Rybaxel vs. The Real Americans
It's disappointing to think about how good this division was a couple of months ago to now be pre-showed at Wrestlemania. You have the Usos, who are hard workers and okay champions, basically getting buried at the top of the division. It's also disappointing when you realize that Wrestlemania is four hours long, but only has 7 matches. To put things in perspective, Wrestlemania 12 was three hours long, had six matches, but one of them was an iron man match. Also, Wrestlemania 17, perceived to be one of, if not the best Wrestlemania, had 11 matches on the main card in a four hour time frame. But I digress, there's not much competition for the Champions here, and I expect them to retain their titles.
Winners: The Usos
Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale
30 Participants, some currently unknown
There are too many competitors to name here, but so far, the names that come to mind are simple. The Big Show has the strongest push going into the match, getting the upper hand at every opportunity. The Miz is being pushed as a big heel here, getting the short end of the stick every time out. There's also Rusev, who hasn't appeared much on TV and hasn't been seen in a long time. Obviously, I think Rusev will win this match if he's in the match, since it will be the start of a push he gets as some kind of monster-like heel. Otherwise, I'll go with the Miz since they're going to try and get him over again.
Winner: Rusev
Divas Championship Invitational
AJ Lee (C) defends against 13 others
Some explanation is required here. This is a 14 woman match that is 1 fall for the Women's Title. Considering the skill that some women have in this division, this is a low blow for the division, because it's obviously going to have a low bar of quality. This match was made by Vickie Guerrero in hopes of having AJ Lee lose her title. So the choice here is simply AJ versus the Field. I think the field wins here, particularly Summer Rae, since she's on Total Divas, and is being played up as a heel and apparently is hated by a fair number of people in the locker room. It's a surprise win, but it does carry a lot of weight, including the continued burying of Fandango.
Winner: Summer Rae, New Champion
Six-Man Tag Team Match
The Shield vs. Kane and the New Age Outlaws
Unless they plan on turning any of the Shield members heel during this match, this should be an easy prediction, as the Shield should win this match. I don't have much interest in this match, as it feels like a 'get the Shield in a match that's not the Battle Royale' match, which is fine, but ultimately lacks a lot of punch. I think it will be an okay match, but The Shield's opponents aren't very interesting.
Winner: The Shield
Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker
If the buildup to this match was supposed to lead us to believe that The Undertaker had no chance in beating the monster that is Brock Lesnar, the WWE has completely failed. With the exception of a weak clothesline and F5 on the last Monday Night Raw, Lesnar has been physically and mentally neutered by The Undertaker. While Paul Heyman has cut fantastic promos like he always does, he is not Lesnar. If he was, I'd pick him to win this match 10 times out of 10, because Paul is that good. I think this will be a solid match, and might surprise people, even though the buildup has hurt it from being something greater. But since he's not, the Streak marches onto 22-0.
Winner: The Undertaker
John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt
The buildup for this match has been absolutely fantastic. When the angle started at the Royal Rumble, I wondered if the company had gone insane by having their top face go against an up and coming heel that could be destroyed in an instant. However, I think they've proven everyone wrong here, and going in is my most anticipated match. I think the important thing here is how it will finish. Bray Wyatt in order to prove his point doesn't have to win clean, but simply prove that John Cena isn't as clean or great as he says he is. Any other way, and the character of Bray Wyatt is tarnished forever. I think Cena wins the match, because the company protects him most of the time, but I don't think he does it clean.
Winner: John Cena
Daniel Bryan vs. HHH
This is arguably the main event of the evening, despite it not being the last match. It's clear that the winner here goes onto win the Title, no questions asked. What's important here is where it's placed on the card, which is right before the Title Match to close out the show. This leads me to believe that Daniel Bryan is going to win, since I don't think HHH can physically last for an hour plus in the ring nowadays. This will obviously make the Title Match more dramatic as it will probably leave Bryan in a weakened state and possibly out of that match at the beginning.
Winner: Daniel Bryan
WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match
Randy Orton (C) vs. Batista vs. Daniel Bryan
Batista came back, the fans didn't care. Batista won the Royal Rumble, and the fans turned on him and the company because Daniel Bryan wasn't in the Rumble. CM Punk left the company, which is why Daniel Bryan took his place. The fans essentially caused this match, and they're going to get what they want or they're going to riot, which in some alternate reality happens and is crazy. But not here. Daniel Bryan wins the Title, pins Orton clean, and leads the crowd of 70,000+ in "YES!" chants to go off the air. Hopefully he keeps the Title for more than a day this time.
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