Wrestlemania 31 Review

Hello! Its the big one, its the Wrestlemania Review. I've made no secret of my feeling toward the build of this WrestleMania, but I was still pretty excited for it in all honesty- because, It's Wrestlemania dammit. Anyway, let's kick off this review before I start rambling- I mean I'm gonna be rambling anyway, but its rambling with intent.

Pre-Show: KiddSaro v The Usos v The New Day v Los Matadores
This match trod a fine line between being exciting and being a cluster. One word could have made this match infinitely better- and that word is "Elimination". They booked themselves into a corner with this one because they tried to pack 4 Teams into the Tag Match, and then they gave them about 10 Minutes which just wasn't enough time to get a proper match going. That said I did like it to an extent because of how chaotic it all was, and we did get some cool spots contained within the 10 Minutes (approx) they were given. It did seem like they were rushing to pack everything they wanted to pack in into such a short amount of time and you either like that frenetic style of match or you don't- I personally didn't.

Pre-Show: Andre Battle Royal
MY BATTLE ROYAL WAS BETTER DAMMIT.  I Rarely criticise matches for being too long, but I just felt given the story they were trying to tell the amount of time it took to get there was unnecessary- and while I'm not exactly sure I'd guess they have around double the amount of time the Tag Match had some of which was a bit unnecessary. I didn't even massively like the "AxelMania" stuff because I think it would have been so much better if he'd gone after Big Show, and especially with the way the Battle Royal played out I think they should have had Miz go back in and eliminate Mizdow leaving Axel & Show in the ring and Axel will hilariously fail to bodyslam him and be eliminated. I just felt the crescendo was a bit overlong as well- I get the whole telling a story type thing, but when Mizdow wasn't even winning why couldn't Miz come back in give him a SCF & then Big Show eliminates him? It would set up the feud a lot better and the Heel Big Show wouldn't have earned his win- or is that something heels do now?

IC Title Ladder Match
In my "Match Ranking, Before" Blog I said the only thing two things that'd hold this match back were time constraints and the weight of expectation on the match. Both of which I think came in to play in all honesty. There were some cool moments, but there were hardly any spots that I'd call WrestleMania worthy- which I do understand to an extent because this was the opening match and you don't want to wear the crowd out; but when you open with a Ladder Match, especially with the guys that were involved I kind of expected more.

Randy Orton v Seth Rollins
As with the IC Title Match, I felt this match was a bit rushed. Orton in particular is one of the best in the ring psychology wise; so when they don't have an awful lot of time to tell the story it makes the match suffer quite a bit. That said given the time constraints they did have I thought this match was pretty good- and of course the RKO was amazing. I've seen some people saying "Best RKO Ever", and I guess it's all down to personal preference at the end of the day- but I still prefer the Evan Bourne one.

Triple H v Sting
While I predicted Sting in my Predictions, I also conditioned it with Triple H could well be going over because Vince hates anything vaguely remembering WCW- but I thought it would just be a 1 v 1 match with Triple H going over. Instead we essentially got WWF (E) v WCW with DX against the nWo being the side story- and as soon as saw that tangent happening I knew Triple H was going over. This match was overbooked as hell, the actual "wrestling" in the match was pretty bad in all honesty- and worked at a painfully slow pace; BUT I LOVED IT. Everything from the initial DX run-in to the nWo actually taking bumps to Shawn Superkicking Sting- I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT.

Daniel Bryan Backstage Promo
This was a really good rub for Bryan with all of the legends "endorsing" him- and I'm hoping this combined with the events of the US Title Match means they're finally elevating the "Secondary" Titles.

Paige & AJ v The Bellas
I actually liked this match, there have been endless questions over how much longer AJ is going to stay with the company- and while there probably isn't anything set in stone the fact Paige wrestled the majority of the match was good, and probably puts her in the position to wrestle for the Title soon; and they could of course go the "I Did all the Work" line for a mini Paige/AJ Feud for the #1 Contender Spot.

The HOF Stuff
This was as always a feel-good moment- I'm still not sold on Nash being the headliner- but it's not worth getting hung up on.

John Cena v Rusev
This was pretty much the formulaic USA triumphs match I thought it'd be with Rusev giving Cena all his best shots and the overwhelming supp- 35/65 Split Support for Cena would come through and he'd do it for the people, even though most of them were booing him. That said I did think it was an alright match, I stand by my Fast Lane Review where I said they didn't have much chemistry- while this match was better than the one at Fast Lane it was far from outstanding which I thought it would be given the way the Fast Lane match ended. I think Rusev crashing into Lana was so she could go back off to film with Edge and the teased tension should be a good angle provided they book it right. I've seen a lot of people worried about where Rusev is going now he's lost his undefeated streak, but he was built properly in the build to this match so I'm not overly concerned (for now) over Rusev's future.

The Authority, The Rock, Ronda Rousey stuff
I had someone lay into me for being a "smark" because I slated this thing for going on too long and that this would get the mainstream media exposure etc. and I do understand why they did it- but I thought this was a way too long segment for a pretty bad payoff. I do get they're most likely setting up Rock v HHH at 32, but I don't see why they had to have this thing at Mania when they wouldn't have got any extra PPV buys from an unannounced Rock cameo, and while I'm not ruling it out I highly doubt Steph will face Rousey- especially judging by the lack of anything that vaguely resembled something painful when Rousey and Steph tangled. I don't see why they couldn't have done this on RAW like they did with Rock & Cena a few years back.

The Undertaker v Bray Wyatt
I'm not sure what I expected from this match in all honesty, I've made no secret of my affection towards Bray and his character so I was perhaps looking at this through rose tinted glasses but I did really like this match. It was never going to be an up-tempo match, but I thought the story they told was a good one. The main criticism I'd have is that it felt a bit too condensed at times like they were just moving from spot to spot but I did still love it and the Undertaker kip-up, Bray Spiderwalk picture is a Mania moment that'll last forever.

Brock Lesnar v Roman Reigns
I said in one of my blogs in the build to this, I genuinely can't remember which one that I thought this match would be better than the Bryan match at Fast Lane because Roman would just have to sell for the majority of the match- and I inadvertently called the whole thing to a T, so you're welcome. I thought they did a good job in all honesty of building Roman in this match- I fundamentally disagreed with Roman kicking out of 3 F5s because of the Undertaker permutations but that's the way they wanted to go so more power to them.

Seth Rollins v Brock Lesnar v Roman Reigns
Sometimes you do have to give credit to WWE, they managed to win a no-win situation with the end of this Mania. I'm not exactly a hardened smark but I do criticise WWE quite a lot- but sometimes you do have to credit them and they got it right last night. I did call it on Twitter 3 Weeks ago, which I was very proud of- but Rollins cashing in during a match was perfect booking- and it's what I thought they should have done with Orton at Summerslam with Bryan and Cena because it shields both guys to an extent. Seth pinning Roman keeps Brock looking strong while heading into some time off- and it gives Roman the Rematch at Extreme Rules because it looked like the tide was turning in Romans favour. I've seen some people say Roman being pinned means it's the end of his push (for now) as a Main Eventer, and while I can't say for definite I highly, highly doubt this is the end of Roman's push- and it's not going to surprise me if Roman is Champion before Summerslam- or is at least still in the hunt.

The build for this Mania was atrocious, I think in hindsight even Vince would probably admit to himself that it was atrocious- that said this Mania was pretty good, I'm not going to say great just because the way it was all booked I'm not sure after tonights RAW what the landscape of WWE will like with so many people headed off into the sunset. That said Bryan, Cena and Rollins who are probably the three biggest workhorses (for different reasons) in the company gives me a lot of hope for a good build to Summerslam.

Thanks for reading as ever, we're now headed into the home stretch of Mania Week- in case you weren't already aware I'm doing 31 Blogs for Mania Week which I started with a RAW Review last Tuesday and I'm ending tomorrow with a RAW Review so stay tuned for the one's I've got still to come and if you see any of the one's I've done and it catches your eye nobodies gonna stop you from reading it. Thanks again, stay tuned for my blogs coming up later on today and why dontcha join me on Twitter for RAW- it'll be a fun one.