WWE Wrestlemania 37- April 10th and 11th (Contains Spoilers)

Having Uso involved already is a negative for me

Triple threat matches being de-facto No DQ matches is one of the most bizarre rules in wrestling.

Almost miss a moment cause they’re cutting wide to talk about Snickers, midmatch, in a ppv...

Edge's withered face sort of reminds me of Dog the Bounty Hunter

Great match. Roman gets another Mania crowning moment.

The crazy eyes on Edge haha

All that chair stuff shouldn't be in the mania main event

Last night and tonight felt like two bang average PPV’s nothing more.

WrestleMania excitement as we knew from 1-35 is gone now with these two night PPV’s

The right guy won. Reigns is the guy at the moment and shouldnt be beaten until the next guy comes along.

Edge isnt the guy, nor is Bryan.

I enjoyed the main event. Full on bollox....but I enjoyed it

LineOfBeauty wrote: »

Main event I'll think through star rating wise.

Please don't leave us hanging too long.

Necro wrote: »

Big E is the next guy imo, move him on from the IC scene now in the next month or so and build him up for Summerslam.

Other option is Cesaro, both acceptable but I don't think they will pull the trigger on him

Im not sure of either are the next top guy. I enjoy them a lot, but I dunno if they are main event material. Both have big weaknesses IMO despite their talent in other areas.

But I agree, Big E in particular needs to hit the next level and see how he goes.

2 poor nights full of useless filler matches. Here's how my 1 night version would have looked

Bobby Lashley vs Drew McIntyre
Cesaro vs Seth Rollins
Braun Strowman vs Shane McMahon
AJ & Omos vs New Day
Rhea Ripley vs Asuka
Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn
Sheamus vs Riddle
Bianca Belair vs Sasha Banks
Roman Reigns vs Edge vs Daniel Bryan

How long until Bad Bunny and Logan Paul are in the hall of fame?

I knew they wouldn't let me down with the Fiend's antics. He truly is the gold standard for wrestlecrap.

So My take-aways from Mania.

Fans being back was a big deal, so great to here a few chants and see teh spectacle that is a Mania.

That said, it felt really half assed from a presentation POV. Its Mania, they usually go all out..... it felt half assed from WWE, they surely could have gone that bit further with OTT entrances and such. Beyond the stupid 3D graphics (which we get on Raw and Smackdown, which looks cheap BTW), some extra fireworks and some live performers, it just wasnt impressed by the spectacle this year, which is a shame because they should have went all out.

What the fcuk did Titus and Hogan do? what was the point of them? Pointless.

Piped in cheers? This is the answer ? It shows how little confidence they have in the talent to get reactions.

But thats all a by-product of how the product is. These fans wanted to cheer, they wanted to be vocal, but its hard for a fan to enjoy it when the product is in the toilet. I was watching Takeover Brooklyn and the crowd were so hot .... because they cared. And why dont the fans care? Because the stories they have been telling are gick. Asuka vs Rhea just because, Sheamus vs Riddle over a scooter, Zayn vs Owens over a dumb ficticous movie..... its all tripe. Poor build equals less fans investment..... which means no matter how good the match is, fans wont care. The reason why the SD main event was so enjoyable was because I had some reason to care.

Lashley vs Drew was ok. Both men worked hard, but the build was so weak and last minute, its hard to fully care. Had it had a better build, it may have come off better. Felt the finish was the wrong one.... Id have had MVP interfer more obviously to protect Drew in defeat......like a cane shot when the ref was distracted....have Drew pass out sucked and made him look weak and Drew deserved more....he carried teh company during the worst period of 2020 and he may be now negatively associated with the pandemic by Vince. He deserved better.

Raw Tag team match was weird....Omos and AJ were booked like a face team...why? another feud that suffered from a poor build.

Shane v Strowman....a match no one wanted, was just meh. No interest in the obligatory Shane death bump in 2021, esp in a feud built around the word stupid against a man whos so damaged as a character, Ive lost all interest. Couldnt care.

Rollins v Cesaro was fun, one of the better feuds (a low bar right). I liked Seths corkscrew splash and Cesaros counter to the stomp. A fun match, nothing crazy though.

Tag turmoil match was gick.....WWE need to cull the womens divison. Brooke, Tamina, Nattie, Rose (what a fall from grace a year prior), Lana, Naomi, Billie Kay (who cant wrestle) ..all should go. All stale. Whos idea was it to showcase Tamina Snuka on 2 nights in 2021.

Belair vs Sasha was fine. Dodnt feel like a main event though. Both women have star potential, no doubt, and they worked hard, but teh build again was poor and the match didnt have enough heat or juice to make me care much despite each womens best efforts.

Night 2 was better by default.

Fiend vs Orton has been the the best build outside of the Main Event..... let that sink in......It was all types of awful and Ive no idea why they persist with this bollox. It entertains no one. What even was the finish about... answers on a post card.

Zayn vs Owens was fun, but short. Owens is proof the fans want to get behind someone passionate, he whipped the fans into a frenzy for the first time. Happy to see Paul take a stunner too.

Riddle vs Sheamus nearly stole the show. Loved their match. Forget the awful build and you can see these guys have the ability to be fantastic. they eventually won the fans over, but it was over by then.

Big E vs Apollo was rushed. Felt like it was over by the time it got going. I love how no one knew who the "mystery man " was..... WWE gotta insult the viewer.

Main Event was very enjoyable, and the right man won IMO. I shall look forward to debating this with LOB. A fun, 99 esque WWE main event.

Over all, poor build, poor story telling, poor presentation some poor booking ruined this PPV. It could have been great, but it fell short on what it could have been.

AEW cant deliver this spectacle but it has soul and rewards the viewer. WWE does plenty right, but the wrongs massively out weigh the positives.

WWE needs crowds back so fans can react live to the product, but WWE is going further away from that as evidenced by the piped in crowd noise.....things are getting worse, not better.

Lord TSC wrote: »

I'm happy Roman won. He's the final boss now, and as much as I love Edge and Bryan, neither gets the level of rub off beating him that a Big E, for example, would. A heel of that level should be used to elevate a babyface to a new level.

The women's division created new stars this weekend in Bianca and Rhea. A new generation coming in, by beating the older one.

Roman losing should do the same imo. Bryan and Edge are not those people.

The Bray stuff is the type of stuff I enjoy but it feels like the idea on paper was ok, but the execution was poor. Randy in particular was an afterthought in his own feud.

I agree that Roman is the guy... for me the company should have its top guy as champion and Edge and Bryan arent the top guy. Roman is and by pinning both Edge and Bryan, hes even bigger. Right call for me.

I disagree that Belair and Ripley are made stars yet. Both wins for me were hollow due to the awful builds. Belair has been kept strong and is closer to getting their by main eventing and her Rumble win, but neither have had the glass ceiling smasher moment yet . Ripley is way off. Hes not hot enough yet.... beating Asuka hasnt meant much because Asukas reign was never presented as much. They are trying to make them stars but the execution is falling short.

I really can't see Ripley lasting long as a champion. Raw has Flair and she'll take that title off her at some point, and if not, it'll be a returning Becky. I'd say new champion by Summerslam at the least. Bianca could go on a longer run though, as neither Sasha or Bayley really need the title, I'd imagine Bayley will be her next feud surely. For Asuka, I'm kind of thinking that with Io Shirai losing, she'll come up to Raw and maybe join Asuka in a tag team in a rehash for Asuka and Kairi Sane.

On the mens side, I think Roman holds til at least Summerslam, with maybe a title defense against Cesaro at one of the in between feuds and Edge and Bryan can face each other. How long he holds it after that, i don't know, I kind of feel like someone has to beat him in front of a giant audience to get the full moment and rub from that. The head of the table gimmick will stretch so far, particularly once Jimmy Uso returns, but I feel like they need The Rock to return to face him at WM next year to get the perfect end result for that. Maybe Edge even wins MITB and can cash it on on Raw if they want to give him a title. I'm sort of expecting a face champion there at Summerslam as I really don't think they'll hold Kross in NXT for long and he's in a title push once he debuts most likely (or should be anyway). Raw seems more talent deficient on their side (probably cos their booking is crap) but face wise, you're only really looking at Drew as a credible threat atm. Maybe Keith Lee comes back and they push him right but it's slim pickings there.

titan18 wrote: »

I really can't see Ripley lasting long as a champion. Raw has Flair and she'll take that title off her at some point, and if not, it'll be a returning Becky. I'd say new champion by Summerslam at the least. Bianca could go on a longer run though, as neither Sasha or Bayley really need the title, I'd imagine Bayley will be her next feud surely. For Asuka, I'm kind of thinking that with Io Shirai losing, she'll come up to Raw and maybe join Asuka in a tag team in a rehash for Asuka and Kairi Sane.
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Rhea hasnt had the best of starts to the main roster, but she can recover if booked smart. Whether that happens is another thing.

Her problem right now is that shes not connecting yet, Ive no reason to care. She had all the momentum last year and they missed the boat, and it damaged her as a result. Shes done little in the year besides the Rumble, which again she feel short. Then she winds up and Raw and is in a rushed feud with Asuka.

With no real build, the match fell flat despite the best efforts of both women. But it happened and shes now champion. Shes not a star yet but with some character development/rehab, she can be a star. But lets look at her playing field.

Nia Jax, Baszler, Asuka, Lacey, Peyton, Dana Brooke, Mandy rose.....the talent she can face beyond Baszler and Asuka is limited. A feud with Charlotte would be her best bet, but she needs to go over.

Do not slap leg when kicking!