Before I start the Review it's time for some Public Service Announcements;
- I'm aiming for a few extra Posts this week on top of the Reviews, Predictions etc. So keep an eye out for those throughout this week.
- The next season of the Fantasy WWE thing I run is starting after Mania Week, if you want to sign up for it let me know on Twitter so I can put your name down
- Armbar
- TAKEOVER: DALLAS STARTS AT 3 FUCKING AM UK TIME. JOKE.
- New Day Rocks
I'm happy to see Shane back, don't get me wrong. But this build has been all over the place, and at times awful for me. Between Shane, Vince and Taker trading the word "Bitch", massive continuity errors and just plain weird segments it's not been nearly as good as it could- and should have been for me. With all that said, I did really like the segment last night. It's not exactly a secret that Taker is lacking somewhat in the Mic department, but Taker knows how to work a crowd like few others- and that compensates a lot for the lack of Mic skills. It was a pretty generic Promo given what's already been said, but his delivery and general aura got it over. The back and forth was decent, we got the mandatory "Bitch" thrown in there- and then we got to the brawl.
I'm in two minds as to whether I liked the Elbow Drop through the Table. I do get the argument that "Well, they're inside a Cell so they won't use the Announce Desks". I'm not entirely sure they're going to stay in the Cell on Sunday. I don't know how, but I genuinely think Shane's either getting thrown off the Top/Side of the Cell through the Announce Desk- or he's jumping off the side/top through Taker on the Announce Desk. Even with that said, Shane's whole "thing" is doing fucking crazy stuff. That includes but is not limited to jumping off things and being put through/putting others through various things. So why give one could argue Shane's main offensive manoeuvre away on Free TV less than a week before Mania. It was without a doubt a cool spot, I'm not disputing that- however the Go-Home show shouldn't really be the place for cool spots in my opinion.
Zack Ryder v Chris Jericho
THE WWE ARE LEARNING, GUYS! After last weeks disaster, the WWE realised that if the Babyface in the feud is distracting the Heel in a match- the Heel had better actually lose. I suppose that detail could pretty accurately sum up the Mania build in general, with them completely missing the mark- and then trying to fix it when it's too late.
If you're discussing what's been the best built match for Mania, it's between the Styles/Jericho match and the Divas Triple Threat without a doubt- and depending on how much time it's given AJ/Jericho could properly steal the show on Sunday. Also, ZACK RYDER WON! HE'S GONNA WIN THE IC TITLE! WOO! WOO! WOO! YOU KNOW IT, BRO.
Charlotte v Becky Lynch
As I said a moment ago, AJ/Jericho and the Divas Triple Threat have been the two best built matches for Mania. I think everyone agrees with that, however what I don't agree with is having Sasha win the Title at Mania. Feel free to disagree with me on this, and I suspect a lot of you will; in-terms of the story that's been told in the build to this Mania- Becky Lynch winning makes so much more sense. I haven't read the Smackdown Spoilers, but if this is the last action for this feud before Mania I really hope by the usual logic of looking strong/weak on the Go-Home being an indicator as to whether you're winning or losing at a PPV.
I love Sasha, but the whole thing with Becky has been that she's been overshadowed by Charlotte since they arrived as the Submission Sorority- and Charlotte's wanted to keep her down. Sasha's time will come, but Sunday at least should be Becky Lynch's moment in my opinion. The actual match last night wasn't much, as it should have been given they're wrestling together on Sunday as well- and that fact goes back to my misgivings with the Shane Elbow Drop.
Shane & Vince Backstage Promo
This was a pretty good Promo from Shane, it was a really good (most likely) final Promo that they can take clips of for the Match's Video Package because it detailed the feud pretty well, threw in some personal stuff with Shane & Vince- chuck a (non Flo Rida) track over it and boom.
Big Show & Kane v The Social Outcasts
This was a pretty bad, but definitely necessary segment. They needed to establish who was in the Battle Royal simply put. I didn't count everyone in the ring, but purely from my first impression it didn't look like there was 20 Guys in the ring- which is a good thing because I can't see any of the guys we saw in the ring last night winning the thing. I also needed this segment because I need to know who's in the Battle Royal for a Booking Blog that I'll hopefully get to do this week.
The Unbookables Wrestlemania
Here's a link to last years, basically I took everyone either off the card or in the Battle Royal and made a full card out of it. Just on a personal level I really liked this one.
Triple H & Stephanie Promo
For the first time, I think in history- I actually feel sorry for Triple H. He tried his absolute best to get the crowd last night to boo him. He insulted people's hopes, dreams, called their whole lives meaningless, he played up how much bigger he is, how much richer he is, outright said he's better than everyone and yet still when Roman came out for their brawl Roman was getting booed. A lot can be said about Triple H and how he's gotten to where he currently is in WWE- however in this case Triple H is the one trying to push the deadweight up the Hill. The deadweight isn't even Roman, it's just this current incarnation of Roman that's been murdered by Creative and in turn the Fans.
Kofi Kingston v Alberto Del Rio
There was so much stuff to talk about here. Firstly, how fucking over New Day were last night. Unless I've messed up the dates a bit, this time last year New Day had all of the "New Day Sucks" chants and were just generally buried by the crowd. Now, as I'll discuss a bit later- they were the ones being chanted for during the burial of another match. It's a testament to just how good New Day have been in the last year, and given what Meltzer's said with regard to plans for New Day at Mania I hope they- above pretty much everyone else get their deserved reward at Mania.
Second, Alberto Del Rio's squared collar on his T-Shirt was something else. The match itself was quite fun, but I think that's expected with these two. Without a doubt the highlight was Xavier's "La Cucaracha", and it made me realise that Xavier's getting too fucking good on the Trombone now. He either needs to play badly or upgrade to a Tuba. He can get paid to follow Fat People around.
The stuff with Byron Sa- I mean Coachman after was just bizarre. I mean, I get they had to make the announcement of all the ESPN stuff. However, the whole segment just fell a bit flat for me. I can only assume because of Coach's dance moves. It was good to see him however.
Roman Reigns, The Dudleys, Triple H Backstage Attack
Going back to them doing everything possible to try and get some cheers for Roman- they then moved on to the numbers game part of being a Heel. I'm not exactly sure how we were meant to think The Dudleys could take Roman when unless I'm mistaken he killed them both on Smackdown- but Triple H stepped in pretty quickly at least. Did this segment get any heat? Nope. Just silence.
Kalisto v Konnor
This segment was similar to the Ambrose/Strowman match last week, in that on paper the whole "proving they can kill a monster" type angle is good heading into a match with Ryback. However, I believe this was Konnor's first ever singles match on the Main Roster- and I genuinely can't remember the last time The Ascension won. The Ryback face-off wasn't bad, it's just with absolutely no heat on the feud because of such a bad/non-existent build it just didn't really mean much.
It's a shame for Kalisto as well, because I thought he'd end up in either a Mask vs Mask match with Sin Cara or a Mask vs Hair match with Del Rio. While it wouldn't have been one of the primary focuses of Mania- it would have at least kept some interest on Kalisto as opposed to where he is now.
Paul Heyman, Brock Lesnar, Dean Ambrose Segment
This was just quite weird. On paper, I think the idea of having Ambrose load up on Weapons (because they're weapons, let's not be politically correct) in front of Brock heading into Mania was a good idea. The execution however was horrible. Within kayfabe Ambrose had already been given the Barbed Wire Bat and the Chainsaw. So, how in the fuck did they end up underneath the ring. I can only assume Ambrose hid them there- only to re-take them out later. HE'S A LUNATIC, MAGGLE.
Heyman's Promo was great as usual, and I'm looking forward to Brock bringing his own weapon on Sunday- which is of course Zach Gowan's Prosthetic Leg.
Emma v Paige
There's moments in wrestling that are simply timeless. Hogan bodyslamming Andre, Hogan joining the nWo, Austin 3:16, Daniel Bryan at Mania 30- to name just four examples of many. What we witnessed in this segment may well go down as the best segment in wrestling history.
Firstly, I don't really give a fuck about the match- as is the case with, well everyone. However it gets Summer and Emma on Mania- and on RAW last night, so I'll happily take what I can get. The actual match was just nothing, which is such a shame because these two legitimately kickstarted the whole NXT Women "era".
Right, nobody gives a fuck about that stuff, EVA MARIE'S BACK! AND IT WAS GLORIOUS. Last Night wasn't enough however, I now can't wait for Sunday where Eva can get her Wrestlemania moment in front of 100,000 Eva-Maniacs. I thought this match was going to be used as a means to give Brie a Wrestlemania moment to retire on, and while I think that's still the most likely outcome- most likely as the end for the series finale of Total Divas- there's now a chance the Total Divas turn on Eva leaving her on her own to be killed by Lana's educated feet.
But yeah, BEST. SEGMENT. EVER.
Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler & Sin Cara v Kevin Owens, The Miz & Stardust
From the best segment ever, to one of the worst I can remember in quite a while. The match on its own wasn't actually that bad- it was just such a nothing match. Which considering we had Ziggler, Owens, Miz and Zayn involved is criminal on the WWE's part. Actually I lied when I said it wasn't that bad, it was decent for a while- and then it just went on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on. The pay-off was decent in regard to Owens being left on his own and Zayn pinning him- but I can't help but feel like Zayn pinning Owens should've happened at Mania.
and on.
The Final RAW Segment before Wrestlemania
I'll get this out of the way right off the bat, I don't usually like crowds who just shit on everything- but the "You still suck" chants after Roman's dive were absolutely hilarious.
Going back to Triple H trying his best to get some sort of heat on himself and cheers for Roman, after this segment he literally did everything short of stealing Roman's Wife to get heat on himself. None of it worked. All of it built up to an ending, that wasn't as bad as last years- but it wasn't far off. But Jack Swagger was in the final segment of RAW before Wrestlemania. We The People folks.
Well, that's that done for the build to Wrestlemania then. I can't say it's been a great one, but at the same time with the number of injuries there's been- while that's not an excuse it's perhaps understandable. However, as I said last week- if someone says there's not been anything good in this Mania build they're trying too hard to be smarky.
Anyway, we've got a lot to look forward to this week, whether it's the 3AM START TIME TAKEOVER, Mania itself, the Hall of Fame, Night after Mania RAW and a lot more. So I hope you keep coming back here for the various Posts this week. As I said last week, I'm aiming to get these Posts back to being regular again and I couldn't have picked a better time to do it.
Thanks for reading as always, I'll leave you with some Predictions for Mania Week right off the bat;
If you're discussing what's been the best built match for Mania, it's between the Styles/Jericho match and the Divas Triple Threat without a doubt- and depending on how much time it's given AJ/Jericho could properly steal the show on Sunday. Also, ZACK RYDER WON! HE'S GONNA WIN THE IC TITLE! WOO! WOO! WOO! YOU KNOW IT, BRO.
Charlotte v Becky Lynch
As I said a moment ago, AJ/Jericho and the Divas Triple Threat have been the two best built matches for Mania. I think everyone agrees with that, however what I don't agree with is having Sasha win the Title at Mania. Feel free to disagree with me on this, and I suspect a lot of you will; in-terms of the story that's been told in the build to this Mania- Becky Lynch winning makes so much more sense. I haven't read the Smackdown Spoilers, but if this is the last action for this feud before Mania I really hope by the usual logic of looking strong/weak on the Go-Home being an indicator as to whether you're winning or losing at a PPV.
I love Sasha, but the whole thing with Becky has been that she's been overshadowed by Charlotte since they arrived as the Submission Sorority- and Charlotte's wanted to keep her down. Sasha's time will come, but Sunday at least should be Becky Lynch's moment in my opinion. The actual match last night wasn't much, as it should have been given they're wrestling together on Sunday as well- and that fact goes back to my misgivings with the Shane Elbow Drop.
Shane & Vince Backstage Promo
This was a pretty good Promo from Shane, it was a really good (most likely) final Promo that they can take clips of for the Match's Video Package because it detailed the feud pretty well, threw in some personal stuff with Shane & Vince- chuck a (non Flo Rida) track over it and boom.
Big Show & Kane v The Social Outcasts
This was a pretty bad, but definitely necessary segment. They needed to establish who was in the Battle Royal simply put. I didn't count everyone in the ring, but purely from my first impression it didn't look like there was 20 Guys in the ring- which is a good thing because I can't see any of the guys we saw in the ring last night winning the thing. I also needed this segment because I need to know who's in the Battle Royal for a Booking Blog that I'll hopefully get to do this week.
The Unbookables Wrestlemania
Here's a link to last years, basically I took everyone either off the card or in the Battle Royal and made a full card out of it. Just on a personal level I really liked this one.
Triple H & Stephanie Promo
For the first time, I think in history- I actually feel sorry for Triple H. He tried his absolute best to get the crowd last night to boo him. He insulted people's hopes, dreams, called their whole lives meaningless, he played up how much bigger he is, how much richer he is, outright said he's better than everyone and yet still when Roman came out for their brawl Roman was getting booed. A lot can be said about Triple H and how he's gotten to where he currently is in WWE- however in this case Triple H is the one trying to push the deadweight up the Hill. The deadweight isn't even Roman, it's just this current incarnation of Roman that's been murdered by Creative and in turn the Fans.
Kofi Kingston v Alberto Del Rio
There was so much stuff to talk about here. Firstly, how fucking over New Day were last night. Unless I've messed up the dates a bit, this time last year New Day had all of the "New Day Sucks" chants and were just generally buried by the crowd. Now, as I'll discuss a bit later- they were the ones being chanted for during the burial of another match. It's a testament to just how good New Day have been in the last year, and given what Meltzer's said with regard to plans for New Day at Mania I hope they- above pretty much everyone else get their deserved reward at Mania.
Second, Alberto Del Rio's squared collar on his T-Shirt was something else. The match itself was quite fun, but I think that's expected with these two. Without a doubt the highlight was Xavier's "La Cucaracha", and it made me realise that Xavier's getting too fucking good on the Trombone now. He either needs to play badly or upgrade to a Tuba. He can get paid to follow Fat People around.
The stuff with Byron Sa- I mean Coachman after was just bizarre. I mean, I get they had to make the announcement of all the ESPN stuff. However, the whole segment just fell a bit flat for me. I can only assume because of Coach's dance moves. It was good to see him however.
Roman Reigns, The Dudleys, Triple H Backstage Attack
Going back to them doing everything possible to try and get some cheers for Roman- they then moved on to the numbers game part of being a Heel. I'm not exactly sure how we were meant to think The Dudleys could take Roman when unless I'm mistaken he killed them both on Smackdown- but Triple H stepped in pretty quickly at least. Did this segment get any heat? Nope. Just silence.
Kalisto v Konnor
This segment was similar to the Ambrose/Strowman match last week, in that on paper the whole "proving they can kill a monster" type angle is good heading into a match with Ryback. However, I believe this was Konnor's first ever singles match on the Main Roster- and I genuinely can't remember the last time The Ascension won. The Ryback face-off wasn't bad, it's just with absolutely no heat on the feud because of such a bad/non-existent build it just didn't really mean much.
It's a shame for Kalisto as well, because I thought he'd end up in either a Mask vs Mask match with Sin Cara or a Mask vs Hair match with Del Rio. While it wouldn't have been one of the primary focuses of Mania- it would have at least kept some interest on Kalisto as opposed to where he is now.
Paul Heyman, Brock Lesnar, Dean Ambrose Segment
This was just quite weird. On paper, I think the idea of having Ambrose load up on Weapons (because they're weapons, let's not be politically correct) in front of Brock heading into Mania was a good idea. The execution however was horrible. Within kayfabe Ambrose had already been given the Barbed Wire Bat and the Chainsaw. So, how in the fuck did they end up underneath the ring. I can only assume Ambrose hid them there- only to re-take them out later. HE'S A LUNATIC, MAGGLE.
Heyman's Promo was great as usual, and I'm looking forward to Brock bringing his own weapon on Sunday- which is of course Zach Gowan's Prosthetic Leg.
Emma v Paige
There's moments in wrestling that are simply timeless. Hogan bodyslamming Andre, Hogan joining the nWo, Austin 3:16, Daniel Bryan at Mania 30- to name just four examples of many. What we witnessed in this segment may well go down as the best segment in wrestling history.
Firstly, I don't really give a fuck about the match- as is the case with, well everyone. However it gets Summer and Emma on Mania- and on RAW last night, so I'll happily take what I can get. The actual match was just nothing, which is such a shame because these two legitimately kickstarted the whole NXT Women "era".
Right, nobody gives a fuck about that stuff, EVA MARIE'S BACK! AND IT WAS GLORIOUS. Last Night wasn't enough however, I now can't wait for Sunday where Eva can get her Wrestlemania moment in front of 100,000 Eva-Maniacs. I thought this match was going to be used as a means to give Brie a Wrestlemania moment to retire on, and while I think that's still the most likely outcome- most likely as the end for the series finale of Total Divas- there's now a chance the Total Divas turn on Eva leaving her on her own to be killed by Lana's educated feet.
But yeah, BEST. SEGMENT. EVER.
Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler & Sin Cara v Kevin Owens, The Miz & Stardust
From the best segment ever, to one of the worst I can remember in quite a while. The match on its own wasn't actually that bad- it was just such a nothing match. Which considering we had Ziggler, Owens, Miz and Zayn involved is criminal on the WWE's part. Actually I lied when I said it wasn't that bad, it was decent for a while- and then it just went on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on. The pay-off was decent in regard to Owens being left on his own and Zayn pinning him- but I can't help but feel like Zayn pinning Owens should've happened at Mania.
and on.
The Final RAW Segment before Wrestlemania
I'll get this out of the way right off the bat, I don't usually like crowds who just shit on everything- but the "You still suck" chants after Roman's dive were absolutely hilarious.
Going back to Triple H trying his best to get some sort of heat on himself and cheers for Roman, after this segment he literally did everything short of stealing Roman's Wife to get heat on himself. None of it worked. All of it built up to an ending, that wasn't as bad as last years- but it wasn't far off. But Jack Swagger was in the final segment of RAW before Wrestlemania. We The People folks.
Well, that's that done for the build to Wrestlemania then. I can't say it's been a great one, but at the same time with the number of injuries there's been- while that's not an excuse it's perhaps understandable. However, as I said last week- if someone says there's not been anything good in this Mania build they're trying too hard to be smarky.
Anyway, we've got a lot to look forward to this week, whether it's the 3AM START TIME TAKEOVER, Mania itself, the Hall of Fame, Night after Mania RAW and a lot more. So I hope you keep coming back here for the various Posts this week. As I said last week, I'm aiming to get these Posts back to being regular again and I couldn't have picked a better time to do it.
Thanks for reading as always, I'll leave you with some Predictions for Mania Week right off the bat;
- Balor Club debuts and helps Finn beat Joe
- Joe debuts on the Night after Mania
- Enzo & Cass debut on the Night after Mania
- New Day's Entrance will be one of, if not the highlight of Wrestlemania
- Asuka beats Bayley
- The WWE Title feud after this Mania week will be Ambrose/Roman
- The only singles champion currently, who'll still have their Title after Mania is Kalisto
- Roman/Triple H will be a lot better than people think it'll be
No comments:
Post a Comment