WWE

[Andre91]

55 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

Interestingly it could be argued that Mania this year is the biggest night of Kevin Owens career and he doesn't even have a match.

It’s absolutely his biggest night. I also think it will be a match on the night. 6-8 mins. Mania Night 1 closes with Austin hitting the stunner on KO for the win and smashing a load of beers. 

[The Nal]

I really hope its not a proper match. Just an initial few kicks from KO, then Austin up, mudhold stomp, Loiu Thesz, Stunner, beers. 

[DareToDibble]

On 3/31/2022 at 11:13 AM, The Nal said:

I really hope its not a proper match. Just an initial few kicks from KO, then Austin up, mudhold stomp, Loiu Thesz, Stunner, beers. 

I said this but my friend pointed out that Austin hardly had loads of moves anyway so don’t think he would show up as rusty etc too badly in a match when he only has to do a few moves.

Having said that, what you’ve said there is probably pretty much bang on what will happen. 

[DareToDibble]

Well that Austin match was better than I ever imagined. The Seth match (left the spoiler out just incase anyone doesn’t know) was fantastic too!

[jump]

13 hours ago, DareToDibble said:

Well that Austin match was better than I ever imagined. The Seth match (left the spoiler out just incase anyone doesn’t know) was fantastic too!

I thought the Austin match was fine but take Austin out and no one would give a fuck, I was expecting more from the KO Show promo bit. At least it's better than the shit Austin and Vince did on nigh two.

Becky Lynch vs Bianca Belair was the best match and to be honest Pat McAfee was probably the wrestler I came away the most impressed with over 'mania.

 

[Andre91]

Not staying spoilers like above but Seth’s opponent was the biggest and best part of Mania. It was stunning. 

[pink_triangle]

On 4/4/2022 at 10:20 AM, jump said:

I thought the Austin match was fine but take Austin out and no one would give a fuck.

 

Isn't that the whole point in getting Austin in. The segment is probably only going on last if it's Austin or Rock. The question is will KO be elevated, I have my doubts.

[DareToDibble]

I think the biggest question now is who can they bring in to feud with Roman that will actually seem believable? I also genuinely have no clue who he will eventually end up dropping the belt to.

Cody would be my best guess but even that seems a little far fetched. Maybe he holds onto it until Royal Rumble or WM 2023 and has a couple of matches with The Rock? He could lose it at RR and win it back at WM. Only requires a few months of occasional tv appearances for The Rock. Genuinely not a clue.

[jump]

1 hour ago, pink_triangle said:

Isn't that the whole point in getting Austin in. The segment is probably only going on last if it's Austin or Rock. The question is will KO be elevated, I have my doubts.

What point? I was commenting on the actual match.

[pink_triangle]

4 minutes ago, jump said:

What point? I was commenting on the actual match.

The point of the match was surely to bring Austin in so people did give a fuck. I have seen only clips, but Owens looked like he was having the time of his life. He probably got a good pay day, wrestled a hero and the crowd enjoyed it. Short term seems a success, long term have my doubts it will make much difference.

[jump]

2 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

The point of the match was surely to bring Austin in so people did give a fuck. I have seen only clips, but Owens looked like he was having the time of his life. He probably got a good pay day, wrestled a hero and the crowd enjoyed it. Short term seems a success, long term have my doubts it will make much difference.

But if even an old timer like you who yearns for 80/90s WWF rasslin when Andre The Giant just standing about was considered an attraction can't be pulled back in for Austin's return then was it actually a success? 😜 

[pink_triangle]

30 minutes ago, jump said:

But if even an old timer like you who yearns for 80/90s WWF rasslin when Andre The Giant just standing about was considered an attraction can't be pulled back in for Austin's return then was it actually a success? 😜 

Depends how much he cost I guess. Austin seemed happy, KO seemed happy and the crowd enjoyed it, so may be worth the short term investment. I remember before I stopped watching the crowd were completely dead from the 5-6 hour marathon, so this seems an improvement.

[Ingobernable]

I watched four matches from this year's Wrestlemania and enjoyed them all so I guess I've found my long-term solution to finding eight hours of WWE Too Much. 

I think it's really hard to quantify what long-term success mean for the WWE. The deal they've got with Saudi Arabia means that their bottom line is looked after so there's no real financial drivers for them any more. The two TV networks they have deals with (plus Peacock) have just re-upped so they're clearly happy with the ratings, even if they *look* low compared to their peak twenty years ago. 

Austin probably sucked some casual fans back in for one night at least, got them some extra mainstream coverage, and gave Kevin Owens a big thank-you for sticking around instead of signing with AEW last year. It was probably worth it. 

I think I overall prefer the two-night format to the seven-hour marathon Wrestlemania had become but they clearly have a problem building fourteen matches that are all meangingful in some way. That's more of an issue with the writers than the format though because they've certainly got a deep enough roster and enough TV time to work with. 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Ingobernable

[pink_triangle]

1 hour ago, Ingobernable said:

 

I think I overall prefer the two-night format to the seven-hour marathon Wrestlemania had become but they clearly have a problem building fourteen matches that are all meangingful in some way. That's more of an issue with the writers than the format though because they've certainly got a deep enough roster and enough TV time to work with. 

Two night clearly better than 7 hours, but 1 night of 4 hours would be better still. I suspect if I looked back the cards have always had some element of filler.

[Ingobernable]

I absolutely agree with that - the last Wrestlemania I remember enjoying from top-to-bottom without any lulls was 30 and that was a nice four hours. You can get away with a filler-match or two when they feel like they're there to help pace the show rather than to drag it out. I also suppose we'll all have slightly different definitions of filler. 

[Andre91]

Cody will be WWE Champion by the end of SummerSlam. I’d put money on it. He’s come in right at the top (and rightly so). 
 

Night 1 of Mania was fantastic. Night 2, not so much. 

[pink_triangle]

4 hours ago, Ingobernable said:

I absolutely agree with that - the last Wrestlemania I remember enjoying from top-to-bottom without any lulls was 30 and that was a nice four hours. You can get away with a filler-match or two when they feel like they're there to help pace the show rather than to drag it out. I also suppose we'll all have slightly different definitions of filler. 

Wrestlemania x7 often considered best ever had right to censor v APA and Taz.

[DareToDibble]

I know it had been rumoured for a while but this is great news!

 

[jump]

1 hour ago, DareToDibble said:

I know it had been rumoured for a while but this is great news!

 

At least it's not Milton Keynes!

I'm in two minds about going, the last few WWE shows I went to the crowds were fucking dead and the roster is shit at the moment.

[DareToDibble]

2 hours ago, jump said:

At least it's not Milton Keynes!

I'm in two minds about going, the last few WWE shows I went to the crowds were fucking dead and the roster is shit at the moment.

I know what you mean but I’d like to think the atmosphere will be a lot better with it being a PPV/main event.

I’m intrigued to see the ticket prices. I imagine it’ll be obscenely expensive anywhere near the ring.

[Padjeq]

If this was 5 years ago I'd be there. Now I'm only tempted cuz I want to feel what wrestling in a stadium is like. I'd be getting tickets in the stands.

They've got 4 months to bring back Mason Ryan as the Welsh Bulldog for the main event.

[jump]

On 4/13/2022 at 11:32 AM, Padjeq said:

If this was 5 years ago I'd be there. Now I'm only tempted cuz I want to feel what wrestling in a stadium is like. I'd be getting tickets in the stands.

They've got 4 months to bring back Mason Ryan as the Welsh Bulldog for the main event.

They probably thought Wales is a part of Scotland and this was meant to be Drew winning the title in front of is hometown crowd.

[Padjeq]

25 minutes ago, jump said:

They probably thought Wales is a part of Scotland and this was meant to be Drew winning the title in front of is hometown crowd.

urgh. I wonder what they've got planned other than Lesnar and Ronda appearances. Maybe that's enough. Maybe we get Tyson Fury back. It's a whole month after Summerslam, so should be built to, and feel legitimate.

Decided if I can get a big green coach to it, I'll go with a few mates.

[Andre91]

I want to go just to see Cody. 

[DareToDibble]

On 4/14/2022 at 3:48 PM, Padjeq said:

urgh. I wonder what they've got planned other than Lesnar and Ronda appearances. Maybe that's enough. Maybe we get Tyson Fury back. 

You make a good point I hadn't considered. You'd like to think they'll pack in some surprises for the first UK PPV in 30+ years. Regal would have been the obvious one before he jumped to AEW. 

All aboard the Mason Ryan bandwagon then.