Professional Wrestling

[Piko]

The rumor is/was Sting/Taker at WM31. Judging from tonight, I'm not sure if that's going to happen or not. Tonight felt like a finale for him. But, i'm gonna guess that either next year will be his last against Sting, or this is it, and he's done. Hopefully we get some answers tomorrow night.

[Kid Charlemagne]

I'm not upset at Lesnar honestly. It had come out that he offered the streak to him in 2008, but he refused. They seemed to have patched things up from their last confrontation at that one UFC PPV, and Lesnar deserved it with how poorly booked he was coming into this. Undertaker is my favorite wrestler of all time, but he can't do it forever and I've always had a soft spot for Lesnar. Say what you want about his part time status, but he's a tough son of a bitch who left to pursue the NFL and UFC, that alone deserves a pass, plus, he's a legit great athlete and credible threat. This win would also make him attain the monster heel status, seriously, he broke the streak, people will hate him so much, and that's how it should be.

That paved the way for Daniel Bryan winning. Obviously the crowd needed to go home happy, so after the streak, we got the no-brainer ending. It was a good match. Batista has steadily improved, Orton has secretly been great over this course and Bryan sold it and made it believable that the injury would hamper him and that he couldn't win, until he made Batista tap out. The last 10 minutes of that match were flawless storytelling.

Only complaints were The Shield match which had no rhythm and ended early. I had no idea if it was a squash or if there were time constraints, but three of the hottest guys on the roster deserved more than that six minute match. Also, the Cena booking decision sucked. There was no reason for him to win, this was a chance to put Bray over and despite the fans loving it, it was a standard Cena match and honestly, it sort of sucked. Bray is capable of much better, but the match had too slow of a pace and Cena didn't sell anything, what could've been an awesome storyline in showing a vulnerable Cena (this is when he's at his best) and an unstoppable evil in Bray (which is necessary) turned out to be a longer version of a standard Raw match.

Other than that, we'll see how it ages, but this may be a top five WrestleMania. For sure, it's been the best of the modern era, the best since WM 20. Oh and biggest surprise? The Rock looking in better shape this time around and cutting the best promo he's had since he left in 2003.

[Piko]

I disagree about Cena/Wyatt. Cena came to play tonight. Really played into the mind games of Wyatt and sold it extremely well. Enjoyed the match. And even though I was hoping Wyatt would go over, I can't really complain. I have a feeling there's going to be more to come between those two, and Wyatt will go over.

[henryeatscereal]

I bet Taker will appear at WM XXXI VS Sting, i mean it's the only logical step (retirement match for both of them, anyone?)

[LaneSax]

'nuff said...

Even that Brock Lesnar fan was like WTF!

anyways, Steph was super hot today!

[henryeatscereal]

[Kid Charlemagne]

I disagree about Cena/Wyatt. Cena came to play tonight. Really played into the mind games of Wyatt and sold it extremely well. Enjoyed the match. And even though I was hoping Wyatt would go over, I can't really complain. I have a feeling there's going to be more to come between those two, and Wyatt will go over.

It's probably a decent match, but I had the same reaction to HHH/Lesnar from WM 29. They put on a "good" match, but there could have been so much more, and the crowd sounded deflated by the end. Cena needs to put him over, we need a monster heel and I felt this was a bad booking decision and huge missed opportunity.

[thevoid99]

Steph did look hot. Damn, she looked nice. The Shield vs. Kane/Outlaws match was alright though I think the Shield could've had better opponents. Yet, I heard Billy Gunn did get legitimately injured from that powerbomb. There were some good spots in the Divas match from the Bellas, Emma, Natalya, Naomi, Tamina, and AJ as they seemed to be the only ones to really care about putting something worth watching in an otherwise terrible match. Still, I had fun watching it as my favorite moment was Cesaro slamming the Big Show out of the ring and Bryan's win at the end at 2nd.

[Tums206_BFY]

Man I can't believe Takers streak came to an end!

Pretty good WM!

-Vickie calling AJ out before the whole Divas thing sorta told me AJ wasn't losing. Guess rumors have it Vicky is leaving WWE soon.
-Glad Cesaro won the the Battle Royale.
-Wish Wyatt would have won but once Cena started on his whole legacy bullshit I knew there was no chance he would lose.
-Man did Orton land awkwardly on that monitor. That must have fucking stung! Good match,
-DB won! Good year so far for us here in the Northwest lol

-Hope Sting comes tomorrow on Raw
-Hope we hear from the Taker. I hope this wasn't it!

[heavenly_bearded]

Mixed opinions... Like Lesner but not vs taker. I just really really hope after the thousands of great matches, taker won't let that be his last. Agreed, time to hang em up, but to go out like that? Chimowna.

[SM Rollinger]

This will be my first and probably last post in this thread, because wtf? I know the streak had to end sometime but to just give it to a part timer seems like such a wasted opportunity. (it could have been used to really put someone over the top). Should have gone to Punk last year, at least that match had some good creative build up to it.

edit: Hey yo, did Scott Hall show up for the HoF induction?

[RJK]

So a guy who does a flying head butt wins a triple threat at a WrestleMania that you can divide by 10 with a submission......

[henryeatscereal]

WM Match Thoughts:

- HHH vs Daniel Bryan: Great match, great pacing between the two, Everyone knows i'm not the biggest HHH fan, yet he did put a decent match and i appreciated the submission moves and the match psychology, great opener

- Shield vs Outlaws/Kane: Worst match of the night by far, mostly because there was no time given, lots of botched spots and a meaningless victory by The Shield, it's time to break up the Shield

- Battle Royal: Surprisingly good! loved all the high spots (Cesaro throwing Kofi outside the ring, Sheamus and Del Rio elimination, Ziggler's elimination, Cesaro carrying The Big Show), i was cheering The Big Show but i'm glad Cesaro won!

- John Cena vs Bray Wyatt: Not a terrible match but not great either, mostly a standard Cena match with good psychology by Wyatt (when Cena was about to attack Wyatt and he got scared it was priceless), did not care much for it, still i wasn't disgusted

- Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar: Good match but not great, Taker was clearly out of shape, but he gave everything he could, most of botched spots came mostly from Taker (his tombstone looked weak as hell...), Lesnar did a great job, sold the match and in the end got the best of Taker, i'm not happy with him breaking the streak but at least he isn't Cena...

- Divas match: Very limited match, but at least i wasn't long and i'm glad AJ won

- Randy Orton vs Bootista vs Daniel Bryan: Great match, it went very slow from the start but it got better and fun, when Orton fell in the monitor because the botched RKO it looked PAINFUL, Batista was by far the worst wrestler of the night and i'm glad he did not won the title, Bryan showed not only resilience and heart but also performed like the greats and is one of the most deserving champs in WWE's history.

Best Wrestlemania in 10 years, really happy with most matches, for the first time in a long time i don't feel ripped off, i hope Sting appears on RAW today so he can challenge Taker for a match at WM XXXI (or maybe Summerslam...)

[Kid Charlemagne]

I haven't watched WWE in years because, let's face it, Vince and his traveling circus are a fucking joke. But I usually tune in around WM to watch The Streak match.

And personally, I'm glad they had him lose to Lesnar. Hopefully this will mean a full-time return for Lesnar, because he's the only legitimate superstar right now, save for Brian Danielson and the fast-rising Antonio Claudio Castignolli Cesaro.

Taker is just too old to keep going. He should have stopped at 20 wins, even if the second encounter with Michaels and the two with HHH were fillers. CM Punk, as great as he is, was severely underbooked as a viable threat to the streak last year. Taker has NEVER beat Lesnar. He got destroyed numerous times in their feud back in 2002, and everyone and their mother would have hated to see him go 22 or 23 straight wins only to drop it to Cena the Golden Boy.

Taker looked like shit in this match. He's simply too old. And Lesnar winning isn't nearly as bad as the WWE bringing back some movie star to beat CM Punk for the title, only to hand it back to Cena at WM last year. THAT was fucking bullshit. Fuck Cena and fuck the Rock.

Lesnar is the only suitable guy to end the Streak. And hopefully now Taker will retire and Vince will stop relying on 40+ year old stars of yester-decade to get his fledgling product over.

I agree with everything except for CM Punk not being a viable threat last year. He was booked pretty good going in and since he was shit hot, I and many other people thought that he could be the one to do it since I had the blessing of the locker room and Mark loves him, they had great chemistry and put on the match of the night last year and Punk almost won.

Lesnar though had horrible booking since he came back, losing to HHH and Cena, when it was complete bullshit to do so, is laughable. He should've been undefeated going in to tonight's match since he came back. Plus, the stints on Raw were weak as hell with Taker getting the upper hand and Brock looking confused. That's what makes this match so great, because it's so unexpected and well deserved on Lesnar's part. Him and Heyman did a fantastic job of selling the fact that they won. He's a world beater now, any time Brock steps inside the ring from now until he hangs the boots up, you can believe he can beat anyone, because he took the last sacred item from the WWE.

[Space Suicide]

I agree with everything except for CM Punk not being a viable threat last year. He was booked pretty good going in and since he was shit hot, I and many other people thought that he could be the one to do it since I had the blessing of the locker room and Mark loves him, they had great chemistry and put on the match of the night last year and Punk almost won.

Lesnar though had horrible booking since he came back, losing to HHH and Cena, when it was complete bullshit to do so, is laughable. He should've been undefeated going in to tonight's match since he came back. Plus, the stints on Raw were weak as hell with Taker getting the upper hand and Brock looking confused. That's what makes this match so great, because it's so unexpected and well deserved on Lesnar's part. Him and Heyman did a fantastic job of selling the fact that they won. He's a world beater now, any time Brock steps inside the ring from now until he hangs the boots up, you can believe he can beat anyone, because he took the last sacred item from the WWE.

After after thoughts, Lesnar as the streak defeater is actually a good way to duck out with it. As @NYRexall stated, Lesnar has always beat the Undertaker in every high stakes match they have had (HIAC at N Mercy 2002, Biker Chain on a Pole at No Mercy 2003, etc.) so it makes sense but as you said, the booking makes this look awkward. He's lost shittier matches in this run, mainly his first against Cena.

However, I have a love/hate relationship with Brock Lesnar as he had it all and threw it away for failure. I was a fan of him in his initial 2002-2004 run and he was prepped bigtime to truly be "The Next Big Thing" but he threw it away with a what-if football career which tanked in under half a year afterwards. To this very day, I still firmly believe 100% that the WWE Product we have today wouldn't be what it is if Lesnar wouldn't have left. I still think that event shaped the product to be Cena centric for 2005-2009 tenure.

He has talent but as as I said, he doesn't "live wrestling" as he walked away from it all and only returned due to finishing his UFC career.

[henryeatscereal]

Good read...

http://tjrwrestling.com/articles/5-r...lemania-streak

[Conan The Barbarian]

That article sure does have very interesting points. I still feel weird saying Undertaker is no longer defeated at Wrestlemania.


If Undertaker still plans to wrestle, I hope he gets in shape in and out of the ring. I heard he got injured pretty near the beginning of his match so that might have been a direct result of the slow and sloppy like wrestling that we are not accustomed to seeing him do.

I have to agree though, this has been a pretty good Wrestlemania in a while.

[Piko]

Triple H/Bryan title match tonight. Expecting something major to happen in that. A return?

[Kid Charlemagne]

#brayisgonnakillyou

[all3n_y]

The tag match with the Wyatts vs Cena, Sheamus, and Big E was awesome. I liked how into the Wyatts the crowd was. Glad they won.

[RJK]

Wow they're calling everyone up from NXT. Adam Rose, Paige wins the Divas title, Rusev and Bo Dallas. Talk about an injection of talent.

[Piko]

Rusev has been there, sorta. Good for them though. Hopefully they don't get screwed by booking. Paige, the new divas champion!

[theburningreptile]

Shield vs Wyatts 3 tomorrow on Main Event. Yay. Also Paige winning the championship was awesome. Can't wait to see the Scorpion Crosslock vs the Black Widow.

[Piko]

Should be a good divas rematch at extreme rules. And it sounds like another good Main Event. Gonna have to check that out. Can't go wrong with Shield/Wyatts.

[thevoid99]

Man, that was a good RAW tonight. Paul Heyman giving the crowd the finger and just owning them. Cesaro dumping Zeb Colter and becoming the new Paul Heyman guy... I'm gay for him now. Paige making her WWE RAW debut and win the Diva's title. I hope it means that a new Trish-Lita rivarly will emerge from these two. An appearance from the Warrior. The Wyatts getting more people to follow them including me. Alexander Rusev's debut was great... and so is that Lana... BTW, did anyone see that sign "Hey Rusev, how much for Lana?" I wanna tap that.

I had hoped Bryan would have taunted Triple H in the opening segment as an act of retribution just to piss him off and say "Aw Twiple H... you got embawwased... oh dear... boo-hoo..." Yet, that final segment was great. WAR just fucking begun. Bryan & the Shield vs. Evolution & Kane. The creative team better not fuck this up. And I really, really, really, really hope that the Shield and Bryan give Boo-Tista a quadruple power-bomb so they can his overrated, gassed-up, sorry ass back to fucking Hollywood.

[Piko]

great raw. Looks like they might go into a new direction. Bringing Dallas and Rose up from NXT. Paige winning the divas title. That could be a very good feud. Didn't like how weak they made Paige seem at first though. She'll do good though. And their feud should be fun to watch.

Heels are more over than their babyfaces. Mysterio gets booed while Barrett finally gets some love from the crowd. The Wyatts were more over than Big E, Cena, and Sheamus. Heyman, over, as always.

Looks like the sky's the limjt with cesaro. Overall, it was a very good raw. Very curious to see how everything comes together. Seems like they're definitely laying down the foundation for a new era. Time for the new blood to rise up.

[thevoid99]

The crowd was amazing. I loved the way the fans waved their arms for the Wyatts. Cheering for Barrett and Cesaro. It's clear that they want some change.

It's amazing now looking back at that first season of NXT where of the eight guys in that first season. Daniel Bryan is the one who is now the WWE World Heavyweight Champion while Wade Barrett is starting to get over with his Bad News Barrett gimmick. Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater, and Darren Young are lucky to have jobs and be in matches. Yet, there's also the failures. David Otunga had all of the physique and was decent on the mic but couldn't wrestle to save his life. Michael Tarver was just terrible and Crybotch became a fucking joke.

[Piko]

I have a feeling since they're bringing up talent from NXT, that there's probably going to be some roster cuts in the not so distant future. Gonna have to make room for them if they're willing to give them a fair shot.

[thevoid99]

Any idea on who should be cut from the roster? I already heard Ezekiel Jackson just got released. I think Evan Bourne is on his way out. Where has he been?

[onthewall2983]

It won't happen but I think they should cut Miz loose. Guy has been of absolutely no use to them for a long time.