Hello and welcome to another edition of the WrestleBlog!
I'm as surprised to be writing this as you probably are to be reading it. WM 31 got my fires reignited a bit for the future of the company. That paired with my extreme love of NXT has turned my tide so to speak.
Onto the review....
IC Ladder Match
This was one of those crazy spot fests that would be hard to review as a whole. It would be like trying to review a SNL sketch vs. the entire movie that would be a normal match. I will say it was rather enjoyable like many of the MitB matches. Ambrose took some especially nasty bumps and falls. The powerbomb through the ringside ladder was especially brutal looking at home. The finish with Daniel Bryan hoisting gold was the bookend to a year of extreme highs and lows for him. I would've liked to see him in the ME, but it looks like they know that he will elevate the IC title to the level we have seen in the past.
Randy Orton d. Seth Rollins
This was a solid one-on-one throw down. While past mania's have put Orton in a bad position with opponents like Kane, HHH, or Batista/Bryan this was a solid meshing of styles and abilities that made for a rather entertaining match. The sheer athleticism of the finishing sequence was AMAZING with Orton reversing a curb stomp to hurl Rollins high into the air and then delivering the RKO. At first Orton going over did not make much sense to me, but as you will see Rollins had bigger fish to fry by night's end.
Triple H d. Sting
That is no typo. The Game defeated the Stinger in what may be his only WWE match ever. The match itself wasn't bad considering Sting's age and limitations. It was really quite cool to see the DX/NWO showdown, HBK-Sting altercation, and the novelty of Sting at Mania. I think some Flair intervention would've been appropriate, but I digress. At the end of the day it was extremely overbooked, but none of that would've bothered me if Sting had got the victory.
AJ Lee & Paige d. The Bella Twins
Knowing now that AJ Lee literally just came back for a Mania paycheck it makes it even more humorous that WWE Divas Champion Nikki Bella did the honors on this one. It wasn't a terrible match by any means but I think unfortunately the resulting AJ Lee retirement may have made #givedivasachance DOA. A lot of the problem that Vince has with going all the way with divas is that they have left him in the past. I could rattle off a plethora of names here, but I'm sure there are already others floating around in your head so I'll let you make your own. Point being it was a good match with some good tag psychology, and it was better than we've come to expect from the divas on any show not called NXT.
John Cena d. Rusev w/ Lana
I have vocally and prominently defended John Cena in the past; however, I have to say his act is starting to get old with me as well. I think he did a great justice to the business by taking an absolute wrecking at the hands of Brock Lesnar at Summerslam, but he has undercut that good with his actions in the months since the SS beat down. With Goldberg (and THE STREAK) as an outlier I think undefeated streaks in wrestling are horseshit. Nonetheless Rusev was riding a nice never-been-pinned streak coming into this tilt with Cena. It was a solid match overall with Cena even pulling out a springboard Stunner, but the result was never in question. This makes two years in a row where Cena could've done the right thing for the business and got his win back at ER one month later. Undercutting the credibility of what-could-be mega heels Wyatt and Rusev hurts the ability for any other faces to make money with them.
The Undertaker d. Bray Wyatt
This was a pretty entertaining match! I really enjoyed what I saw of the buildup with Bray carrying the entire load by himself, and to Taker's credit he looked a helluva lot better this go round than at WMXXX. A lot of great psychology at play in this one with Bray trying to take the mantle as the new face of fear and Taker just being his normal bad ass paranormal self. I was hoping to see Bray go over as the streak doesn't matter anymore, but it appears as if WWE is setting Taker up for his last ride at WM 32 in Dallas, Texas.
Seth Rollins d. Roman Reigns & Brock Lesnar
This was probably my favorite match of the night. I really liked both guys going in, but I wasn't sure if they could piece together a good match. I was very happy that my skepticism was wrong, because they told a really compelling story in the ring with Lesnar delivering an absolute beating and Reigns taking it with a sadomasochistic smile like he was Tyler Durden in "Fight Club". Then after the big babyface rally we get another F-5 from Lesnar which queued Rollins to come down to cash in. Two curb stomps later he walks out WWE World Heavyweight Champion. I absolutely loved the swerve in this match as it's something we haven't got at Mania in awhile in the main event at least. The last I could think of was SCSA teaming with Mr. McMahon at the conclusion of WM 17.
The Rock-Rousey-TripleNippleH segment could've been about 10 mins shorter, but it was a nice little Mania moment as well.
As a whole show I enjoyed this Mania more than WM XXX. I won't give it a score, but I will say that it gets a thumbs up in my book. To tell how good it really is we will have to see how WWE follows it up. Does Rollins continue the sad lineage of heel champions that become absolute chickenshit cowards as soon as they get the strap? Can Lesnar go on a sustained face run while only working 4 events a year? Do the divas get a chance? I think there was a great deal of good done with this show, but I think WWE still has a long way to go to improving their product.
No comments:
Post a Comment