Yes, I know this isn't exactly a year on- sue me. Hello! Its another Mania Week Blog, ya sick of 'em yet? Well imagine how I feel writing all of them. Surprisingly not so bad, I really love writing about Wrestling until I pass out through exhaustion.
This Blog is one looking at Wrestlemania 30, and the long-term impact it's had on the guys and girls involved in the Wrestlemania 30 Card. In short, did Wrestlemania 30 have any type of impact at all beyond the immediate aftermath.
Pre-Show: The Usos v The Real Americans v RybAxel v Los Matadores
I think the similarities between some of the participants in this match to the tag match we have lined up for this years Mania says all you need to about WWE's Current Tag Division. The Usos were in the middle of an overdue run as Tag Champs after they'd dethroned the New Aged Outlaws and despite my general indifference to them now they did deserve a run with the belts because they were the most consistent team in the division- and barring the Rhodes Brothers probably the best Tag-Team we'd had of the last year at Mania 30. Heading into Wrestlemania 31 The Usos are basically exactly the same, except they've added Naomi- who really should be wrestling more (more later), the same lack of change can be said for Los Matadores who simply aren't entertaining whatsoever in my opinion- which is a shame because I really liked Epico & Primo when they were just Epico and Primo (with Rosa). This was the last night we ever saw The Real Americans team together, thankfully. I thought The Real Americans, much in the same way as Team Rhodes Scholars were a team who could have held the belts- but they missed the boat on them. RybAxel were a weird team, but now we've got AxelMania its clear they guy who's come out best from this match is.
AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA.
Daniel Bryan v Triple H
There'll be a lot more on Bryan later on in this, but I'll focus on Triple H for this section. Surprisingly given how Triple H usually saved himself for the supposed "big" PPVs we had quite a few HHH in-ring appearances in comparison to what we used to get. That was of course because he was part of a reformed Evolution- and coming off the back of Mania we had along a two PPV long feud with The Shield. The thing with this match was, it was all about Bryan- in terms of in-ring quality this was definitely Triple H's best singles match in a while, but with these Part-Timers there's usually very little long-term impact such is the nature of the beast.
The Shield v The New Aged Outlaws & Kane
Yes, this match did happen. After this, the New Aged Outlaws disappeared to Belize for roughly 10 Months before they inexplicably turned up on a throwback RAW to start a mini-feud with The Ascension. Kane has gone on to interfere in exactly 196 Matches since last years Mania, but he has also given us a moment of absolute gold when he tripped over Orton roughly half a year ago now. But I think more noteworthy is the path the three Shield members have taken. They of course had the two month feud with Evolution as I've already referred to, but the more interesting way is what's happened with them since they split shortly after. Roman Reigns' rise to Main Eventer at Mania and hate figure among the large majority of the "IWC", but rise to the Main Event he has- and I discussed it a lot in my "Who Should be Main Eventing" Blog yesterday. Ambrose is someone who could be a lot higher on the card than he is- had his feud with Wyatt not been ridiculously overdrawn. Rollins has made the most of his heel-turn, and in my opinion has been the best from a watch perspective since The Shield ended.
Andre the Giant Battle Royal
The first annual Andre Battle Royal- and it's one of the matches that should have meant a lot more than it ended up did. Cesaro winning the Battle Royal could have been a slow build toward Cesaro potentially having Main Event level programs. When he was paired with Heyman it seemed he was well on the way- but unfortunately it didn't happen and he fell off the rails pretty quickly, the pairing with Heyman completely derailed all of Cesaro's momentum and he's only just gotten back on track as a Team with Kidd and you could argue that even this is a step back from where he was at Mania 30.
John Cena v Bray Wyatt
Wyatt is the guy who's made the most progress from this match, but that's more to do with Cena effectively being the ceiling for guys- and its incredibly rare for anyone to get past him on the pecking order. Cena had a pretty forgettable run as Champion, but I don't blame him for that because he was never supposed to get the belt and he was probably the best guy to become a transitional champion for Brock. Cena's on course with Rusev for this years Mania, so it seems his role for Mania's while he's still around will be to give the rub to the "new guy" of the year. Wyatt is on course with Taker- which unless you were unaware I love- and although I didn't like the outcome of the match I do understand in hindsight why they did it, I have more of an annoyance with the match Wyatt won in a perverse way.
Brock Lesnar v Undertaker
Lesnar whether you like him or not has had one hell of a year since he beat the streak. Despite his limited appearance he's had arguably the most impact of anyone in the last year- along with Heyman he's been one of the best built stars we've had recently, and his run as Champion is far from shambolic as some people would have predicted when he won the belt at Summerslam. Taker on the other hand hasn't been seen since- which wasn't unexpected, but he is coming back for Bray Wyatt which I love (in case you were unaware) which although I do love from a Wyatt mark perspective, Taker should only have come back for a Main Event in my opinion.
Vickie Guerrero Invitational
The way I see it, This was a Divas cluster- but the two people that mattered in the match were A.J. and Naomi so I'll focus on them. A.J. has had a sketchy year, she vanished after dropping the belt to Paige to get married to a Walking Dead Enthusiast who shall remain nameless, then came back won the belt- dropped the belt to that Bella who's not as good- but is banging Cena; then she vanished again for a while before coming back for a meaningless Tag Match at Mania. Then we've got Naomi who vanished off the face of the earth- even Total Divas lost interest in her- despite her being one of the most talented females on the roster; and deserving of a proper in-ring run.
Daniel Bryan v Randy Orton v Batista
Batista has his Evolution run and then disappeared to become a part of one of the biggest box office successes ever, get a part in a Bond Film among other new projects and more- he must really wish he's back to getting booed because of other people's booking decisions. Orton had a frustrating year, along with Batista he was a part of Evolution- then he went on to feud with Reigns for a while, before he was half in a feud with Rollins but he had to go away to film a movie so he got killed by Rollins and went missing from TV for 6 Months despite being on House Shows long before that. Orton has become entertaining as a babyface since his return, which is perhaps the biggest shock of the year. Bryan has had the most frustrating run or rather lack thereof since Mania 30 has been the biggest disappointment of the last year with his only Title Defence being against Kane- before departing for Neck Surgery and not coming back into a WWE Ring since the build for the Rumble where he got rid of somewhere in the middle before he was half-halfheartedly put in in the Main Event of Fast Lane and then thrown into the IC Title Ladder Match as an afterthought.
Thanks for reading as ever, it is weird to look back and see how much a year does make a difference in WWE- and the landscape of it. I'll direct people who are acting as though Roman Reigns is going to Main Event every PPV between now and the Qatar World Cup. Anyway thanks again for reading, and its another part of Mania Week done- so feel free to look back on any of the one's I've done so far to see if one piques your interest, and stay tuned for future ones.
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