The Wrestling Thread: WWE WrestleMania 31 [NSFW]

[Dark Ritual]

So, the question is...is the feud going to be pure Cena/Rock? Or will Miz get involved for a bit?

(And if he doesn't, who on earth does he feud with?)

[KK]

Dave Meltzer on the finish:

Weak main event. Not much heat until the last few minutes, then a crappy double count out finish as Cena clotheslined Miz over the barricade and neither could get up.

Rock came out and then the G.M. dinged. Rock said it doesn't matter what the GM says, threw down the computer and ordered the match to continue, no DQ, no count out and no time limit. It only went a few seconds and Cena got Miz up for the Attitude Adjustment, but Rock gave Cena a Rock bottom, left and Miz pinned Cena. Crowd was real confused about that one.

After Miz celebrated, Rock went in and punched him around and gave him a people's elbow.

Undertaker vs. HHH stole the show. Without it, there really wasn't anything memorable, although they got their clips with Rock and Snooki for tomorrow's pub.

[Corazon de Leon]

Punk vs Orton was the match of the night for me. Taker/HHH was atrocious, I can't believe anyone actually enjoyed that pish.

I thought it did it's job rather well. Obviously from a wrestling standpoint the last two years of Undertaker/Michaels piss all over it but I thought they did a good job of making Taker look like he might lose, as well as setting up a big final showdown between a broken Taker and whoever next year. Possibly The Miz or someone like that.

I always thought the best way for the Undertaker to leave would be for him to be in the main event for the title at Wrestlemania, then win it and vacate it immediately by having the lights dim and vanish from WWE programming forever, leaving the belt in the ring. It would be awesome.

[Skippy]

I'd say either Orton/Punk or HHH/Taker was MOTN. I definitely need to watch it again without the booze

[Mafro]

So, the question is...is the feud going to be pure Cena/Rock? Or will Miz get involved for a bit?

(And if he doesn't, who on earth does he feud with?)

Probably Orton again (yawn)

[Dark Ritual]

Not sure how you can call HHH/Taker atrocious. Technically, it was just spot, some punching, spot...but in terms of psychology and emotion, It was brilliant. The fact they actually managed to get most of the crowd thinking HHH might win was some feat. And to be honest, give me a emotionally superb match with poor wrestling over a great wrestling match with no soul any day of the week.

[E-Man]

Overall it felt a bit flat to me. My highlights;

Cole's banta
Cody v Rey was highly enjoyable
JR commentating
HHH and Taker doing a great job, they had me suckered in that Trips may actually win
The video package before Miz came out
Miz retaining

[Dark Ritual]

So, the question is...is the feud going to be pure Cena/Rock? Or will Miz get involved for a bit?

(And if he doesn't, who on earth does he feud with?)

Probably Orton again (yawn)

I hope not. Otherwise I can't think of any high-level faces on Raw. (Cena tied up, Orton's been done, HHH will probably be off TV for a while...)

I suppose there's the draft soon.

[Jay Adama]

Dave Meltzer on the finish:

Undertaker vs. HHH stole the show.

What match was he watching? Am I totally on my own in thinking it was terrible?

I like the idea of it but it was soooooo sloooooow and poorly executed. Taker didn't even lock in his triangle choke properly which made the 15 minutes of HHH thrashing around just uncomfortable.

[Dark Ritual]

Dave Meltzer on the finish:

Undertaker vs. HHH stole the show.

What match was he watching? Am I totally on my own in thinking it was terrible?

I think you may of been the only person who's posted that in the thread. Each to their own, in the end.

[Mafro]

So, the question is...is the feud going to be pure Cena/Rock? Or will Miz get involved for a bit?

(And if he doesn't, who on earth does he feud with?)

Probably Orton again (yawn)

I hope not. Otherwise I can't think of any high-level faces on Raw. (Cena tied up, Orton's been done, HHH will probably be off TV for a while...)

I suppose there's the draft soon.

I'd love to see him feud with Punk, to be honest.

[Dark Ritual]

So, the question is...is the feud going to be pure Cena/Rock? Or will Miz get involved for a bit?

(And if he doesn't, who on earth does he feud with?)

Probably Orton again (yawn)

I hope not. Otherwise I can't think of any high-level faces on Raw. (Cena tied up, Orton's been done, HHH will probably be off TV for a while...)

I suppose there's the draft soon.

I'd love to see him feud with Punk, to be honest.

Not sure how that'd work without one of them turning.

It's only just struck me though, he has feuds with both Morrison and Bryan that are ready-made with a storyline. Even if it's just for a month, he can go over and get a boost and whoever he goes against gets a boost by getting a title match on PPV.

[Jay Adama]

Dave Meltzer on the finish:

Undertaker vs. HHH stole the show.

What match was he watching? Am I totally on my own in thinking it was terrible?

I think you may of been the only person who's posted that in the thread. Each to their own, in the end.

Yeah, totally. If people liked it then fair play, I'm not trolling or anything, I thought the beginning was decent and the whole 'how do I defeat the Undertaker/I've thrown everything at him etc.' thing was a good idea but they both seemed to get really tired really quickly and I was just waiting for stuff to happen. And I had to wait a while... it was like it was missing a brutal middle section that would justify how knackered they were.

I'm not sure where I stand on the storytelling matches vs technical matches. I think the best matches have to have both. For me though, a match with barely any wrestling isn't a match.

[Dark Ritual]

I do see where you're coming from. I'm not sure if you were reading along during the match, but the general consensus we had is that Taker got completely strawberry floated in one of the spots and that may of contributed to the slow ending...and possible ad-libbed finish.

Still think the unprotected chair shot was strawberry floating stupid though. He seemed out of it from that point onward, part selling, part hardway.

[Balloon Sod]

What an excellent episode of Raw.

[Powers]

When HHH did dat tombstone, I was sure it was over. The room of people I was in went wild when he kicked out.

Still, didn't feel like a very good PPV, especially for a Wrestlemania. I had a great time because of the atmosphere of a pub full of people, but the matches were generally very poor.

[YouSmellOfWee]

I do see where you're coming from. I'm not sure if you were reading along during the match, but the general consensus we had is that Taker got completely strawberry floated in one of the spots and that may of contributed to the slow ending...and possible ad-libbed finish.

Still think the unprotected chair shot was strawberry floating stupid though. He seemed out of it from that point onward, part selling, part hardway.

The only massive chairshot I recall was when where he did get his hands in the way. I can't recall a major unprotected chair shot, but I was bored out of my brain by that point, so I may have legitimately missed it.

I too thought the match was pants. Granted, I think it all went south after HHH failed to catch Undertaker during a high spot. It looked as though both of them did some serious damage to themselves at that point.


Overall though, Wrestlemania was bloody terrible. Started off with a godawful attempt at an intro by The Rock which put the crowd to bed. And then he kept popping up to make sure the crowd were well and truly asleep with some more shockingly poor attempts at humour. And really, what's with the retarded smacking himself in the chest?!

Opening the event with a major title match
Edge kicking a car door OH NOEZ!
Del Rio crying at his car

A TEN MINUTE segment of Undertaker lying down after his match whilst some idiot kept checking he was alive... BY COVERING HIS LEFT EYE REPEATEDLY, and then checking his pulse WHILST HE WAS MOVING

Cutting the audio repeatedly because of the words 'damn' and 'bullshit'

Some of JRs commentary: "HIS INTERNAL ORGANS MAY BE... SHATTERED!"

Pretty much every single bit of every single backstage scene

Some of the camera work was truly shocking as well.


Highlights...

Michael Cole's pre-match promo was comedy gold
Zak Ryder or whatever his name is singing Friday
Piper



That's about it really.

[CuriousOyster]

When HHH did dat tombstone, I was sure it was over. The room of people I was in went wild when he kicked out.

Still, didn't feel like a very good PPV, especially for a Wrestlemania. I had a great time because of the atmosphere of a pub full of people, but the matches were generally very poor.

Not going to lie, thought it was the best best WM in a few years. Was in Walkabout Glasgow, they refused entry from 11 onwards so shows you how busy it got. Unbelieveable atmosphere.

[Dark Ritual]

Just some musings, the more I think about it:

- When was the last time no title changed hands at WM?
- Must be the first time a title match opened.
- First time in a long time a heel has won in the main event.
- The last four Royal Rumble winners has lost their title match.

[systematic]

Still think the unprotected chair shot was strawberry floating stupid though. He seemed out of it from that point onward, part selling, part hardway.

Looks like he managed to protect himself in time.