The Wrestling Thread: WWE WrestleMania 31 [NSFW]

[Banjo]

Had a great time, watching at the Walkabout in town. Good sized crowd, all eager to chant and be active, really eager to carry over some of the staler moments. But that main event. The very worst thing about it is that all the coolest parts (the countering and nods to their past match) had been done better no less than a month ago in the Punk/Cena match on Raw, and that had the added bonus of surprise powerbombs and piledrivers. What a whimper of a main event.

Also, and there was a chorus of boos like I never thought imaginable when this happened, Sky Box Office froze just as Punk signalled for the Tombstone. Over a whole minute of profanity and maybe a couple tears ( ) and it revives to the sight of Undertaker's music playing. And then it starts jumping when they recap the finish.

Other than that (and Dolph not reigning over all) I realy enjoyed this 'Mania. Much moreso than last years.

[CuriousOyster]

That was one of the worst manias of recent times.

The show didn't even feel like a Wrestlemania. No skits, hardly any variety, and everyone knew the winners to most matches before they even began. I counted two really good matches, but the winners were never in doubt to the vast majority of people.

All in all it was a watchable event, but it fell far below the quality such an expensive event should deliver.

I was hoping this event would rekindle my wrestling interest, but with Cena back as the champion... I think I'll only watch it very occassionaly until WM30. If that looks bad when it comes, I might drift away altogether.

So youd have a movie star as champ twice a year instead?You sound like you didnt watch any build up to the matches either.

[captain red dog]

Well that was such a disappointing show. I saw the finish of Brock/HHH as soon as the steps went into the ring. Taker/Punk was easily the best on the card and Taker's entrance is an awesome spectacle in person. Brock/HHH was shite and Rock/Cena was extremely boring until the comically OTT finish and the ridiculous respect angle which was hated. A guy next to us actually fell asleep during the main event. What probably wasn't shown on TV were the droves of fans flooding out of the stadium as soon as Cena won. Literally nobody was cheering the ending so it will be interesting to see how it played out on TV.

My other observations was that NJ in April is bloody stupid to hold an open air Mania and I think the cold was responsible for some really flat reactions in places. WWE also pissed off a load of people for the main event. Everyone in the stadium expected the Brodus piss break match after HHH/Brock match and it caused a mad rush back into the stadium when Cena's music came on.

[YouSmellOfWee]

That 'main event' should be prescribed as a cure for insomnia. The Rock has had two years to prepare, and he managed to forget about cardio for that entire time period

At least when Brock was gassed it was because he'd been chucking HHH around the ring for about 5 minutes.

There was a time when I used to look forward to The Rock's segments on RAW/Smackdown and his matches were the highlight of the show... Sadly that was a long time ago.


And more importantly... Replacing the 'Hall of Fame' music with 'The Script'?

[captain red dog]

I blame Cena for the main event. Time and again when it is down to him to carry someone he just can't do it. You have to compare what Cena did tonight with what Rock did against Hogan. Rock could carry Hogan to an iconic match (HHH produced a snooze fest the following month) yet Cena has done three crap Mania events in a row.

The non-stop finishers were strawberry floating terrible too.

[YouSmellOfWee]

I blame Cena for the main event. Time and again when it is down to him to carry someone he just can't do it. You have to compare what Cena did tonight with what Rock did against Hogan. Rock could carry Hogan to an iconic match (HHH produced a snooze fest the following month) yet Cena has done three crap Mania events in a row.

The non-stop finishers were strawberry floating terrible too.

The Rock was exactly the same against Punk. Constantly in a rest hold or doing rest spots. This match suffered from the same thing. The match last year suffered from the same thing. And you raise a good point about the Hogan match. If it was that Rock in the ring with Cena, it would have been a great match. That Rock Vs Punk would have been an unforgettable match. Instead, we've had three utter snoozefests because he simply can't be arsed.

But it's a valid point about Cena, he can't carry shite opponents. And it's a damn shame, because when he's in the ring with someone like Punk it's like he's a totally different wrestler. He basically has a completely different moveset and looks like he can actually wrestle.

I agree about the finishers too. Cena basically no-selling all those Rock Bottoms made me laugh. If Matrix was here, he'd laugh too.

[gaminglegend]

I blame Cena for the main event. Time and again when it is down to him to carry someone he just can't do it. You have to compare what Cena did tonight with what Rock did against Hogan. Rock could carry Hogan to an iconic match (HHH produced a snooze fest the following month) yet Cena has done three crap Mania events in a row.

The non-stop finishers were strawberry floating terrible too.

The Rock was exactly the same against Punk. Constantly in a rest hold or doing rest spots. This match suffered from the same thing. The match last year suffered from the same thing. And you raise a good point about the Hogan match. If it was that Rock in the ring with Cena, it would have been a great match. That Rock Vs Punk would have been an unforgettable match. Instead, we've had three utter snoozefests because he simply can't be arsed.

But it's a valid point about Cena, he can't carry shite opponents. And it's a damn shame, because when he's in the ring with someone like Punk it's like he's a totally different wrestler. He basically has a completely different moveset and looks like he can actually wrestle.

I agree about the finishers too. Cena basically no-selling all those Rock Bottoms made me laugh. If Matrix was here, he'd laugh too.

For half the match Rock was standing tall over Cena as well no-selling half of Cena's gooseberry fool which looked horrific in my eyes.

Punk and Rock was a much better set of matches, perhaps the outdoor crowds are killing WM main events in terms of atmosphere? Although they were loud enough in Punk vs Taker which once again showed Punk is the man in WWE/

What the hell happened to Ziggler cashing in? Isn't his MITB out of date now?

Worst Wrestlemania I've seen in a long time.

[Rog]

Well I maffed out during HHH/Lesnar but by the sounds of it I didn't miss much. Once I can grab a download of WM and do the timing for Diddy and watch the last two matches I'll mark GRAPL.

[blackoutHERO]

Does anyone have anywhere I can stream the show today? I would download it but my net is so slow that downloading 2GB+ is a real hassle. If there were links to separate matches that would be great. PM me if you can help please.

[Rog]

Drumstick was right. Diddy segment lasted 7 minutes and 13 seconds.

[Dante]

What the hell happened to Ziggler cashing in? Isn't his MITB out of date now?

Nope he won it at MitB, so has to MitB to cash in (which is july I think)

[Zombitedesade]

What the hell happened to Ziggler cashing in? Isn't his MITB out of date now?

Nope he won it at MitB, so has to MitB to cash in (which is july I think)

He could cash it in on raw against cena I suppose... That might actualy be an ok match.

Taker and punk easilly the best match all night, though I do think taker is getting pretty old for this gooseberry fool now, didn't even do the classic fly out of the ring move he's famed for. I also felt, despite being a good match, for all the talk of 'you'll never live to talk about it, I'm gonna hurt you' stuff, taker was a bit mild in that match. I guess there's only so much you can do in a straight up rules match though.

Second best match would prob be the sheild one. I really like those guys, they move around that ring with fantastic speed and agility. I'm really glad wwe had them win that, I really thought they'd lose. A TLC match with those guys would be awesome I think.

Fandango was pretty poor. I get they were setting him up for a pasting by Jericho for an easy y2j win, but he should have done more. Right now he's still a bit of a 'one move' guy...

Hhh vs Lesnar wasn't too bad. It wasn't as extreme as I expected though, we've all seen both those guys do more. I dunno, maybe it could have been hell in a cell instead, might have gone over a bit more ecw which is kinda what I wanted from that. Still a decent match all the same.

Rock vs cena was dull as strawberry float. They didn't even leave the ring, once. Holds, rest, holds, no sell finishers... Really poor stuff from rock.

[captain red dog]

Another thing that really hit the atmosphere was the predictability. Amazingly Punk and Taker got around that but generally the crowd seemed disinterested in HHH/Brock and Cena/Rock as we were waiting for the inevitable (and generally least liked) result.

[Rog]

WWE Wrestlemania 29
Drumstick 24
Caped Chameleon 22
Prototype 22
Sykes 22
Dangerblade 21
Teh Bork 21
J.Vengeance 21
Homeless Jim 21
Captain Red Dog 21
Tomvek 21
1cmanny1 21
Dark Ritual 20
IronMaiden 20
KKLEIN 20
Cosmo 20
Reavus 20
Hank Scorpio 20
Lucien 20
JMJ 19
A J Styles 19
GM 19
1337grind 19
Skippy 19
Jeffery 18
Mockmaster 18
JChalmers 18
Johnny Ryall 18
Balloon Sod 17
Zellery 17
Dig Dug 17
Kanbei 17
Slimgrady 16
ROTS 16
Banjo 16
Codename47 15
SimonM_89 14
Dante 10
Braith Gwirod 9
E-man 7
Miguel007 DQ

Drumstick takes Wrestlemania but will any of this made any difference to the top three?

GRAPL Leaderboard
Caped Chameleon 195
Dark Ritual 185
Drumstick 184
IronMaiden 180
Slimgrady 176
Balloon Sod 173
ROTS 173
Prototype 172
KKLEIN 171
Dangerblade 170
Cosmo 170
Zellery 170
JMJ 169
A J Styles 168
Reavus 167
Teh Bork 166
Jeffery 166
Dig Dug 166
Sykes 163
GM 162
Mockmaster 160
Hank Scorpio 159
Banjo 151
Codename47 151
Dante 151
J.Vengeance 150
Kanbei 150
Braith Gwirod 148
Homeless Jim 146
E-man 143
Lucien 142
1337grind 135
Captain Red Dog 123
JChalmers 119
Tomvek 117
1cmanny1 98
SimonM_89 94
Damage Inc 92
Miguel007 83
Pontius Pilate 81
Cattanomics 46
Barley 38
Corazon 38
Skippy 34
CaptCalcium 34
Johnny Ryall 32
Adam Pollard 27
Mafro 27
Jay Mysterio 13
Sandycoin 12
Gaminglegend 9
Lonestar 5

Yes it does! Drumstick catapults himself into third place. Top two are unchanged. Ritual only just manages to hold his second place though.

So our winner this year is CAPED CHAMELEON. He joins the Hall of Champions with such names as Zellery, REDACTED, Skippy and Mockmaster. Prizes for the top three will be sorted out sometime next week.

GRAPL will return fresh at the next PPV. I really want to inject some life into it so if anyone has any suggestions/complaints please put them forward.

GRAPL 2012-2013
1st. Caped Chameleon
2nd. Dark Donk Ritual
3rd. Drumstick

[Drumstick]

Round of applause for Rog in recognition of another successful year of GRAPL competition.

[Banjo]

Given the circumstances of both of his losses since his return, I'm eagerly anticipating the eventual Brock Lesnar/Steel Steps feud.

[Irene Demova]

What probably wasn't shown on TV were the droves of fans flooding out of the stadium as soon as Cena won.

That actually was in a shot, they cut to the crowd just as several people got up and left, right after Cena winning

[KK]

Dave Meltzer seemed to think Rock vs. Cena was a "very good match". Starting to wonder if Rock isn't one of Dave's sources of info...

Even the most ardent Rock supporter would have to agree the speed of which that match was taking place was appalling. The match wasn't a gripping encounter at all. By today's standards of a main event, on the biggest event of them all no less, it just wasn't good enough. Unlike Triple H vs. Undertaker it didn't tell much of a story either. There was no point in the match where I needed to pause and take it all in. At no point was I buying into the false finishes, of which there was a ridiculous amount. The commentary wasn't helping either, as they almost seemed dragged down by the pace and muted crowd.

Bet CM Punk is smug as strawberry float.

[Prototype]

Great final showing for my GRAPL. Finishing 8th this year is a bit of a disappointment after last year's 5th place but don't worry #ProtoPredicts will rise again to win next year's GRAPL comp.

Thanks again for all the effort you put into it Rog.

To the event itself. Mostly predictable and safe booking I think. Hopefully we don't have to watch a 3rd Cena/Rock match ever again. Card most definitely peaked with Taker and Punk.

I really fear for WWE when Taker, Punk, Cena, Brock, HHH et al can no longer go. Failure to build and take gambles on new talent, combined with the fact they (WWE) have no real competition scares me. No competition and steady ratings explains the straight-forward overly-logical booking.

I enjoyed the Henry/Ryback finish. Both guys look strong, but why is Mark Henry still being built as a monster? Are they heading for another world title run?

Enjoyed Fandango winning, definite star potential with that guy. Fair play to Jericho for taking the hit at mania, proves once again that he does, in fact, know what's good for business.

Less said about HHH/Lesnar the better. Seen this match a million and one times. HHH constantly needing to bring himself out. Hope Punk and Taker told him he had zero chance of following their match. Crowd was strawberry floated after the Taker match.

Shame that workhorses like Cody Rhodes, Michael McGillicutty and Damien Sandow didn't get on the card. Would've been nice to have seen Brodus as well.

Show was OK at best. Safe. As many people online have already said, the timing of the show was all over the place. Going from Taker Punk straight into Lesnar/HHH was hellish. Not even a small backstage segment to break it up.

[KK]

WWE had an absolute mare technically last night. The type of thing that puts Halloween Havoc 98 into perspective. Ring of Honor on a bumper scale. iPPV feeds not working at all, PPV customers missing the first hour. Could seriously impact the buyrate with the amount of refunds. Especially when a lot of people will have paid $60+ to watch.

Lot of people in the building - thousands - that were complaining about an obstructed view because of the 4 pillars around the ring. Quite a few people were moved to better positions in the building. Coupled with the cold, it's certainly an issue with these outdoor events.

Things that were cut because they timed the show so poorly:

- America The Beautiful
- Backstage celebrity skits
- Jack Swagger's entrance
- The Funkadactyls, Sweet T and Brodus Clay vs. Rhodes Scholars and The Bella Twins