WrestleMania 31

Before all the moaners turn up, that was a bloody good show.

Wow.

Incredible stuff. Everyone turned up. Especially the McMahon ego.

Loved THAT rko. Mcmahon ending was a bit poor imo. Rest though was really good

Still confused by unnecessary defeats that Sting and Bray Wyatt took, but that main event and ending was easily one of the best main events or endings in WrestleMania history. Just hope WWE capitalise on it.

my review of WM 31:

Pre show:

Fatal 4 way tag. Excellent match even though it was a bit of a cluster**** at the end, sharpshooter on the bull was a bit unexpected but then I remember that 11 years ago 2 fatal 4 way tag matches were on the card and I become sad that this wasn't on the main card. It deserved to be. 3.5/5

Andre the Giant battle royal: It took 29 men to eliminate Axelmania but I expect it to be dead now. Mizdow was stupid in the final 3 as he shoulda tried to eliminate Show with Miz, only to have Miz try and throw him out and THEN do the breakup. Big Show winning was likely a final gift to him for years of service. Bo eliminating himself was funny :P 2.75/5

Wrestlemania itself:

Ladder match: Great opener, had a lot of good spots but then Dean's head missing the ladder bridge hurt. People were saying this weakens Bryan but imo if the follow up feud to this is bad THEN Bryan is weakened. 4/5

Orton v Rollins: A great match, loved the punt kick tease and the RKO out of the curb stomp. Great chemistry and J + J were perfectly allocated in the match. This was a dark horse for MOTN and it deserves a rematch at Extreme Rules. 4/5

Bellas v AJ and Paige: This surprised me with telling the story. I admit I barely followed the divas stuff in the prior few months but this was a good quality match. Paige basically going "screw you" and throwing a bella hard into the steps was fun. 3/5

HHH v Sting: Oh boy... HHH's bruise on his leg drew most of our attention but the match quality was solid. DX and the NWO coming out...well imo that was "Why?" considering the build up to this was trying to steer away from WCW v WWE and the end of this match turned into it. Did I enjoy seeing them out there? Yes. The respect handshake was also odd for this imo but I can understand it. Stings music was an odd choice and HHH looked like Sir Daniel Fortescue in his terminator getup ( look up Medieval on PS1 ( I think ps2 as well) / PSP) 3/5

Cena v Rusev: Cena refuses to lose to Rusevs tank... I'm sorry but this match BORED me because it was a very typical cena match, the only new thing I enjoyed was that springboard stunner which was great. Cena winning maybe elevates the US Title but Rusev beating Cena clean would have elevated himself and the title more imo. The way Cena won imo did not put Rusev over as much as he should have. Crowd dumping on Cenas entrance MUST continue! 2.75 / 5

Music: Female was good, male was DUD, went too long imo.

HOF: Nash getting intro music and the centre spot? Screw you and stick either Conner or Savage in the centre spot. Nash's stuff was all Diesel based and showed how much effort WWE gave once Nash insisted on being Nash.

Taker v Bray: This was a standard taker match imo, it had mystery, intrigue, the situp breaking the crab walk was great as well as the final sister abigail counter but Taker looked like a dead man walking at the end and that's not great to see. I missed most of the scarecrow entrance for bray but they looked great. 3/5

Rock segment: VERY slow start and I thought this was just a time waster at first but I'm excited to see that mixed tag match at some point in the future. 3/5

Reigns v Lesnar: Why was Roman smiling all the time? He was getting beat from pillar to post but I don't get why he was smiling. The match itself was flipping great and showcased them beautifully. Rollins cash in was perfect and deserved after his stellar match with Orton. 4.5 / 5

Commentary: JBL is a robot...

The strangest wrestlemania for at least 20 years, possibly ever. Such an odd show. They did a couple of key things right but generally the problems that have increasingly plagued WWE for years were there in abundance.

I thought the entrance for HHH made no sense but was pretty cool! (I know he is in the new film but what did it have to do with Sting?)

Sting looked marked up on his shoulder blade too.

I thought the Bray entrance was the best of the night and Stings was just rubbish to be honest. Liked that Hall took a bump - didnt think we would see that again.

~Best entrance was Bray Wyatt. Really surprised they didnt do a bigger Taker entrance. Rusev entrance was also good.

Loved the ending to the show.

Seems like this is a decent show. I shall torrent when i get home.

gcBlues wrote:Seems like this is a decent show. I shall torrent when i get home.

Its worth 9.99

And I have to remind myself I paid 9.99 for that and the NXT shows this month.  Which makes that the best value WM event in history.  I'll accept what crippledtart says about the WWE problems.  But I'll also echo what Adam and others are saying about this being a spectacle (though it would have been even better in the dark) and the title match was very good.

I've a big problem with the ladder match.  The winner was right.  But 7 men were too many and this was mostly just a spot-fest with too little story-telling.  I really disagree with the bump that Ambrose took.  I thought it was completely unnecessary and IMO did little to advance the story.  I do think it could have been worked into the match.  Let us say that he wouldn't stay down and kept getting nearer and nearer to the strap, then this might have been the only way to keep him down.  But an unprotected powerbomb to the floor from the ring through a ladder, I dunno for me its just not necessary. On the other hand, I thought the superplex that Cody took fitted the match and huge props to him for that spot.  If Ziggler ever gives up wrestling, he should become a window cleaner, with the speed he can climb ladders he'd be the fastest one in town.

EDIT: I've just thought that if WWE ever uses Ambrose's bump as a reason why he did not stop Rollins cashing in, then I will 100% roll back on the above.

My favourite bit of the whole PPV was when Nash got taken down at ringside and grabbed his Quad.

Genuinely made me lol!

Really enjoyed Mania this year. Thought both Rusev, and in particular Reigns looked fantastic in losing efforts. Suspect we'll have a triple threat at Extreme Rules with Rollins taking on Roman and Orton.

Superb mania. In my opinion the best since 21

Prometheus wrote:

gcBlues wrote:Seems like this is a decent show. I shall torrent when i get home.

Its worth 9.99

And I have to remind myself I paid 9.99 for that and the NXT shows this month.  Which makes that the best value WM event in history.  I'll accept what crippledtart says about the WWE problems.  But I'll also echo what Adam and others are saying about this being a spectacle (though it would have been even better in the dark) and the title match was very good.

I've a big problem with the ladder match.  The winner was right.  But 7 men were too many and this was mostly just a spot-fest with too little story-telling.  I really disagree with the bump that Ambrose took.  I thought it was completely unnecessary and IMO did little to advance the story.  I do think it could have been worked into the match.  Let us say that he wouldn't stay down and kept getting nearer and nearer to the strap, then this might have been the only way to keep him down.  But an unprotected powerbomb to the floor from the ring through a ladder, I dunno for me its just not necessary. On the other hand, I thought the superplex that Cody took fitted the match and huge props to him for that spot.  If Ziggler ever gives up wrestling, he should become a window cleaner, with the speed he can climb ladders he'd be the fastest one in town.

EDIT: I've just thought that if WWE ever uses Ambrose's bump as a reason why he did not stop Rollins cashing in, then I will 100% roll back on the above.

I think I may have found a loophole with WWE Network. They don't charge you upfront and let you cancel with no issue. I've had it on and off since before the Royal Rumble and haven't paid a penny.

whats this about mcmahon at the end??

Uryu Ishida wrote:my review of WM 31:

HHH v Sting: Oh boy... HHH's bruise on his leg drew most of our attention but the match quality was solid. DX and the NWO coming out...well imo that was "Why?" considering the build up to this was trying to steer away from WCW v WWE and the end of this match turned into it. Did I enjoy seeing them out there? Yes. The respect handshake was also odd for this imo but I can understand it. Stings music was an odd choice and HHH looked like Sir Daniel Fortescue in his terminator getup ( look up Medieval on PS1 ( I think ps2 as well) / PSP)  3/5

I had zero expectations for this bout and zero interest seeing Sting wrestle.

I thought it was excellent. Was it overbooked? Yes. Did it make any sense? No. But I enjoyed the hell out of it. And I think it just showed how much money WWE left on the table when they bought WCW for pennies, but then didn't bring any of the big players over. 15 years on and I'm lapping it up. If WWE had had the stance of doing what was best for business back then, rather than just wanting to dance on the grave of WCW they'd have been making money off that invasion angle over and over.

And having said I had no interest in seeing Sting in a ring 25 years on from when I first watched him as Surfer Sting, he was awesome. He looked in great shape, he told a story and he took a leap from the top of the turnbuckle.

Just goes to show never judge a book by its cover huh. On paper I wasn’t at all inspired by the card, the build up didn’t invest me thus I decided not to watch the PPV. But Mania is Mania isn’t it? I wake up this morning, read the results and garnered the general consensus online and it appears to have exceeded all expectations. I hope not many others made the same mistake I did.

I’ve since watched the main event and nobody can convince me otherwise that Brock Lesnar is THEE best in the world today. Maybe not from a pure wrestling standpoint but in terms of all round package the guy is untouchable and that new contract is worth its weight in gold. Every match he has is legitimate, feels real, invests the live crowd, he just makes you take notice. I’m also really pleased for Reigns. For all of the doubts and turbulence on his road to Mania he played his part in pulling it out the bag, good for him.

Going to watch the rest later, mainly just to see Lana….

Mr H wrote:
Going to watch the rest later, mainly just to see Lana….

This is one of the results that I still just don't get. We will see where it goes, but:
- Cena will draw / sell with our without a belt. Indeed it will always be Cena first and belt second, so I think it actually could cheapen the US title on him
- There were enough results at Mania to give the fans what they wanted without Cena winning a strap
- Defeating Rusev IMO weakens the guy they could / should continue to build as a monster heel

I think the least they could have done would be to have Rusev "injured" and out for a month. Why take Lana away? WWE movies don't make money, its a waste and as WWE have now stripped Rusev of the winning streak, belt and Lana he's some bad booking away from being the next Big E.

Personally I kind of get why Cena won and don't mind it. Rusev had to lose at some point and losing to Cena at Wrestlemania is the way to do it. I'd much rather that than have him lose at a B PPV. Rusev still has a massive future though, I don't think he'll regain the tile at Extreme Rules but I also don't think he's going to be buried anytime soon.

You can't have usa vs the foreign menace and the foreign menace wins!

The whole point of the angle was for somebody to beat him. Should it have been cena? That's arguable, mainly because he's such an unpopular babyface that he can't even get patriotic cheers. But once they'd made that decision, they had to have the face win at WrestleMania.

I hate the patriotic stuff, it does nothing for me. I'm British because it happens to be the  place where my dad banged my mum. But the story they told is a wrestling trope.

I'm sure if you're into vince russo you wanted to see cena lose and then turn heel on the United States. But that also means you don't understand wrestling.

Patriotic babyface beats foreign menace at the big event. That's what you do.

You are both clearly right.  Even though I really think it was the wrong thing to do.  It feels to me like a corner that WWE booked themselves into without there being a winner.  And for all the Rusev coming in a tank, speeches from American Presidents before the match, this really didn't seem to have the crowd.

Firstly, it feels like a really desperate attempt to give Cena a shot in the arm.  But, I still think fans will be chanting Cena sucks when he comes out to the ring in a week's time.  

I don't think the belt on Cena will promote it.  But right now that's just a personal opinion, so let's see what happens.

I do hope that they rebuild Rusev, but given WWE's history of handling talent I'm not convinced that he won't end up very quickly a mid-carder who starts to have as many in the loses as wins column.

EDIT: I've rewatched the bout. I was probably getting tired at the time when I saw it first time round.

I now think that the way they ended this gives opportunity for Rusev to come back even stronger in the future and can add some depth to his character.

To be fair, the reason for the American Presidents thing not impacting the crowd too much is that the crowd was made up of people from all over the world. On a standard Raw or PPV it's mostly US citizens and the crowd would be all over it.

I also think its worth pointing out re: Cena/Rusev, Wrestlemania crowds are majority European, so the whole USA is the greatest shtick wont work, hence the Rusev chants and zero interest in Cena.

Re: Sting/ HHH - there is alot of backlash on forums about HHH going over stating it was Vinces way of burying the main guy from WCW finially, its hard not to think that way when you have JBL shouting we win again at the end, unless this leads to something down the line, but that doesnt look likely since the handshake that made no sense to the story at the end of the match.

Sorry Marky, you best me to it!

It was the right choice. It had to end one day and it ended to the biggest star they have there on a day to day basis. And in a way it's also the one person people will forgive a monster losing to because they'll blame "typical Cena" booking.

The pub I was in was full of guys calling "bulls**t" but all that did was show they're aren't very smart

If anyone was to moan about wrestle mania 31. They shouldn't be watching wrestling end off.

I thought it was very enjoyable live, but might not stand up to scrutiny on re-watches. I really enjoyed watching it last night, there were several mark out moments, but in the cold light of day I'm not sure if it'll hold up well. 

As far as the matches go, only the main event was actually a good match. It was absolutely brutal, more brutal than any of the Lesnar/Cena matches and the way they booked Reigns was perfect, I was annoyed that people continued to boo him because he was playing the part perfect and looked great. But I'm not sure that for now, as a face that Reigns is done. I thought he would get a lot less boos than he did and it's going to be hard to recover from that without going heel first because it's become a part of the draw of seeing Reigns now is to boo him it seems. Lesnar was absolutely fantastic yet again.

Other than that I thought the ladder match as disappointing, considering the calibre of participants, the track-record of multi-man ladder matches and it being Wrestlemania I think I expected more. The powerbomb to Ambrose and the suplex from the top of the ladder stood out but there was very little narrative or structure and the spots weren't good enough to make up for that. Marked out for Bryan winning but not sure if it's a good sign for his career. He has won every title in WWE he could have done in just 5 years though which is mightily impressive.

The Orton/Rollins match was dull, it might have needed more time I don't know. Obviously the RKO was great but it just didn't flow very well in my opinion. I thought this underwhelmed.

Sting and Triple H's entrances were both bad, not sure what they were going for with Sting, but Triple H's just was silly I thought. The arms on the costume were so ridiculous. The match was bad but the fact that they went in the direction they did is much better than any standard singles matches they could have had. Thought for a bit Shawn Michaels wasn't going to come out. As for Triple H winning, it does seem more likely that it is the only match Sting will have. Also setting up Rock v Triple H next year I guess.

That segment was okay, it dragged on far too long though. It could have been done in half the time. I was furious that they had an Authority promo in the middle of the show, a Rock interruption made up for it but I thought he was below par. He didn't seem to have anything to say really and just seemed a bit lazy. The Rousey stuff was cool but it just went so slowly the intensity of it was lost a bit. I also cannot stand Stephanie McMahon and why has Triple H started selling really weird? He did it with Sting and now did it with Rock and Rousey.

Wyatt/Undertaker was just bad, Wyatt's entrance was fantastic, Undertaker's weirdly muted. I know it's hard to do it great when it's not dark but they could have been a bit more creative. Wyatt looked a bit odd all through the match, putting in barely any offence and Undertaker was just going through the motions. He looked healthier than last year but I do just feel sad watching him wrestle. For me he's the first I can remember seeing them at their best and then watching them become so poor. The others who have retired whilst I've been watching have either gone out near their best like Michaels and Edge or I never saw them at their best like Flair. So to see the contrast with The Undertaker is just sad.

The pre-show was quite good I thought, the tag match was good and fun and the right team won. The Battle Royal also did well, quite a few little stories going on in there. No problem with Big Show winning, it makes sense that he would win one of these and would rather it be now than later. Nice touch with Miz pointing out that Alex Riley is what Mizdow may become. Mizdow turn was really well done, Miz is a fantastic heel. Cesaro teasing repeating last year was also good. The Axel bit at the beginning was good, so overall no complaints. The use of Itami shows why it was him who was put in the match I guess rather than say Finn Balor.

Rusev/Cena was okay, the match wasn't stand out but Rusev's entrance was fantastic. Rusev needed to lose sometime and losing to Cena at Wrestlemania in a not entirely clean fashion is a decent way to lose.

The main event was fantastic, probably the most brutal and realistic match I've seen at a Wrestlemania. Reigns looked really good whilst not being superman, if I had any criticism it's that he perhaps needed to sell more when he started hitting all his finishers. Lesnar looked an absolute beast and that's where my problem lied. The cash in whilst a great swerve and shock moment really meant that Lesnar's story hasn't had a proper solution. I know he might be beaten at a later point but for me it had to be for the title. If they didn't want Reigns as champion, then Lesnar should have kept the belt. If they wanted the champion on TV, just create a new belt like they did when Punk left, say that Lesnar ripped his contract up and has left with the title. I just think the way they built Lesnar up, they needed somebody to conquer him and now it has less the story with a proper send off.

I'm not looking forward to Rollins as champion simply because I feel it means more Authority and I just don't like them. Not as in they are good heels, but they just suck my enthusiasm away from the product. I feel like we're back to where we were before Wrestlemania 30 but instead of Orton as champion it's now Rollins. Their traditional way of booking heel champions and Money in the Bank cash in champions does not give me hope for Rollins looking good in this title reign.

The best thing about having little to no expectation about WrestleMania this year was it had the ability to pleasently surprise me - 

It wasn't flawless by any stretch of the imagination and perhaps a good ending can often cloud our judgement on what went on before hand, the Ladder match was good, it was what it was but its strange,  the IC Title is such an albatross now that I found myself rooting for the guy with the least potential in it to win it, it does Bryan no favours what so ever but it gave them a good little "we start this year how we ended last year" quote - that bump Ambrose took was sick, the bad sick, that was just dangerous

The Orton/Rollins match delivered big time, you could blindfold these guys and they'd smash it, their timing is as near perfection as you could possibly hope, fantastic match and fantastic finish.

The Sting/HHH match was horrendous, from the entrances to the actual match, it was a disaster, a complete clusterfluffyduck, part of me thinks its a rib on WCW but who the hell would give a damn about WCW in 2015? The Twin Towers were still standing when McMahon bought that company so I'm guessing my initial thoughts about it being a rib are completely wrong. Hopefully thats the last we see of Sting, can't believe the WWE have genuinely great talent that they throw into nothing matches just so HHH gets a "marquee" match, ironically, thiz proved to be  anything but.

I loved Rusev's entrance,  the best of the night in my opinion, thought the match was decent too, the hard work with Rusev starts now, they've built him expertly and he didn't look weak in losing to Cena, now he needs to move on to more winnable fueds again

Taker/Bray - thought it was OK, Undertaker looked in a lot better physical shape this year than last, it showed, Bray is brilliant, he just gets it, heard a bit of criticism for him on a few message boards but he is a guy that has mastered ring psychology down to a fine art, I don't think this loss will hurt him like the loss to Cena did last year.

Lesnar/Reigns - Loved this match, it was so one sided and brutal, you could see the gulf in competition between these two, it was a nice touch to see Reigns make a fight of it but overall he l just looked like a glorìfied jobber for Lesnar to bounce around, I did want to see Lesnar walk out as Champ but felt Rollins cashing in was a certainty this year, the way he won it was also a nice touch, no need for either Reigns or Lesnar to best each other just to lose it instantly to Rollins so that was a unique way to go with the MitB.

Now Rollins has Orton and Reigns to feud with over the Summer

Kay Fabe wrote:
It wasn't flawless by any stretch of the imagination and perhaps a good ending can often cloud our judgement on what went on before hand, the Ladder match was good, it was what it was but its strange,  the IC Title is such an albatross now that I found myself rooting for the guy with the least potential in it to win it, it does Bryan no favours what so ever but it gave them a good little "we start this year how we ended last year" quote - that bump Ambrose took was sick, the bad sick, that was just dangerous

It will be interesting to see what Hero thinks about the bump, as he was so quick to condemn the upside down table spot that Hardy took against the Wolves and Dudleys.

Adam D wrote:

Kay Fabe wrote:
It wasn't flawless by any stretch of the imagination and perhaps a good ending can often cloud our judgement on what went on before hand, the Ladder match was good, it was what it was but its strange,  the IC Title is such an albatross now that I found myself rooting for the guy with the least potential in it to win it, it does Bryan no favours what so ever but it gave them a good little "we start this year how we ended last year" quote - that bump Ambrose took was sick, the bad sick, that was just dangerous

It will be interesting to see what Hero thinks about the bump, as he was so quick to condemn the upside down table spot that Hardy took against the Wolves and Dudleys.

I was very anti the spot. But, do you think there is an argument that this may have been what Dean Ambrose wanted to do?

He's not going to win the belt. So, at least this has us talking about him the next day. His case might be "hey, I would be doing this in an indy promotion in front of a hall of people, why not at Mania in front of 70,000".

Again, I'd not agree with this. I think WWE uses and then spits wrestlers out like this who put their bodies on the line and often don't get the reward for that. But maybe Ambrose thinks this is his best chance to get noticed and get a spot at the top of the card.

I think Wyatt needs a good run now. He needs to built up strongly because I really think he's a superb performer. Great brawler, great ring pyschology and i think has done well to prevent his character from becoming stale. I think on paper, a loss to taker at mania doesn't harm him but when you see how far taker has fallen, I think it does. Which is why he needs to be booked strongly in the next few months. Not sure who he could feud with tbh.

Lesnar retains - Damn, we hate a part timer as champion.
Reigns wins - Damn, he isn't ready.
Rollins wins - Damn, he's a boring heel champ.

There is a reason Vince doesn't take notice of the internet.

Rollins 100% massively deserves it. Best heel in the business for the last year.

Liam wrote:I think Wyatt needs a good run now. He needs to built up strongly because I really think he's a superb performer. Great brawler, great ring pyschology and i think has done well to prevent his character from becoming stale. I think on paper, a loss to taker at mania doesn't harm him but when you see how far taker has fallen, I think it does. Which is why he needs to be booked strongly in the next few months. Not sure who he could feud with tbh.

When was the last feud that Wyatt actually won?

I think he is brilliant but how many losses can one man take before the 'image' is irretrievably damaged?

#SuplexCityBitch

Mr H wrote:Lesnar retains - Damn, we hate a part timer as champion.
Reigns wins - Damn, he isn't ready.
Rollins wins - Damn, he's a boring heel champ.

There is a reason Vince doesn't take notice of the internet.

Rollins 100% massively deserves it. Best heel in the business for the last year.

Do people actually think Rollins is boring? I'd bet they're in the minority

Paul Mac 6CW wrote:

Liam wrote:I think Wyatt needs a good run now. He needs to built up strongly because I really think he's a superb performer. Great brawler, great ring pyschology and i think has done well to prevent his character from becoming stale. I think on paper, a loss to taker at mania doesn't harm him but when you see how far taker has fallen, I think it does. Which is why he needs to be booked strongly in the next few months. Not sure who he could feud with tbh.

When was the last feud that Wyatt actually won?

I think he is brilliant but how many losses can one man take before the 'image' is irretrievably damaged?

He had what felt like a never ending feud with Dean Ambrose that he won, Dean Ambrose, now theres a guy who doesn't win feuds

For Wyatt's character, wins and loses shouldn't matter.

I respect that they have totally screwed up that character. But if you were to rewind to him being a cult leader and having others follow him, then that is potentially not aligned with a professional wrestling win / loss percentage.

I'm not sure how WWE put Wyatt back onto that path. What you do get the feeling of is because of how and where on the card he's been booked they still have hopes for him. I'd like those hopes to be plans. If Taker turns up at Raw tonight, that might give Wyatt chance to be something more than the guy who Taker beat at Mania after the streak ended.

I thought the matches all delivered, even Sting/HHH. The logic was entirely lacking, but theres something to be had for calling on WWE v WCW at Mania. However, for him to shake HHH's hand then get buried by HHH in the promo later on was an insult and its so clear that Vince and HHH called the shots in that. McMahon ego is a disease.

Taker/Wyatt was fascinating and I think the storytelling was brilliant. Taker played his part to perfection and Wyatt delivered too. The psychology was great from both. I personally think Taker had more to give physically but the point was playing on his age and from what I could hear the commentators did help that along.

Big Show winning was weird but I loved the Miz/Mizdow moment and I loved how they teased the crowd with Mizdow having a chance. And giving it a good amount of time as a 1 on 1.

IC match was interesting and very entertaining. Hopefully Bryan can do wonders for it, especially on the ever improving Smackdown. I'd like to see him take on every man in that match one by one for the title.

Tag match was really good and that sly tag by Cesaro was beautiful.

Orton/Rollins to me delivered the whole time. The end spot was fantastic but the whole thing was really well wrestled. Don't mind Orton winning, even with the Rollins cash in later. Hope they get to go again, maybe in a multi-man match though.

Cena/Rusev was also very good and ended with the right result. Everything Rusev did, or they used him for, was perfect. The entrance, Lana and her shoes, the demand to be announced first. Pure gold.

The main event was brilliant. I loved everything Lesnar and Reigns did. The smiling when he was battered then changing to fear when he got lifted again from Reigns was perfect. The blood added but wasn't blading so I can accept it. The Reigns comeback was brilliant because they didnt just have him do a couple moves then stop, he kept battering him down but Lesnar wouldnt give in after all the resistance Reigns had put up before.

Then the cash in. A moment of booking genius. Does it damage Reigns that they didnt pull the trigger? I don't think so, I think losing to Lesnar would have been damaging, but this way he's been cheated to some extent, looked good, the fans should be happy. They got a main event performance from Reigns (that they won't acknowledge), Lesnar kept very strong and Rollins rewarded for his hard and stellar work.

Is Reigns the new Luger? No, they saved that. His journey from now on will be fascinating. He needs to fight and beat either Cena or HHH. I think he could do with beating a heel Sheamus too. Hopefully there will be a Rollins v Reigns v Lesnar and/or Orton match soon. Does he go one on one with Lesnar again? Would that be a huge Summerslam match?

And I hope Rollins being champ gives Ambrose the lift up that we have heard towards Summerslam.

I worry for Ziggles. And I worry about the main event heel situation. I also hope we have a huge influx of NXT graduates because there's Charlotte, Adrian, the Lucha Dragons all ready now, and Balor, Owens n Zayn are not far off. Itami also deserved better and could be interesting, whilst Banks is incredible.

Adam D wrote:

Kay Fabe wrote:
It wasn't flawless by any stretch of the imagination and perhaps a good ending can often cloud our judgement on what went on before hand, the Ladder match was good, it was what it was but its strange,  the IC Title is such an albatross now that I found myself rooting for the guy with the least potential in it to win it, it does Bryan no favours what so ever but it gave them a good little "we start this year how we ended last year" quote - that bump Ambrose took was sick, the bad sick, that was just dangerous

It will be interesting to see what Hero thinks about the bump, as he was so quick to condemn the upside down table spot that Hardy took against the Wolves and Dudleys.

It was a silly spot, even with a weakened ladder with wooden breaks there's the risk that you don't know how the ladder then comes apart, how it then folds in on the person and secondary bumps etc.

In defence of Ambrose in comparison to Hardy though...Ambrose is on the up, he's vying for a bigger slice of the pie on the biggest show of them all. Hardy meanwhile has been at the very top, he no longer needs to put his body on the line like that for a cheap pop for an audience of 300 people.

I would like to see the rules of the cash in. He cashed in for a match with Brock Lesnar and pinned Roman Reigns. In theory his match is still going with Lesnar.

And my oh my that ref missed some DQ opportunities in the HHH/Sting match. Really poor stuff and I do hope he gets fired.

Dave Meltzer "This was one of the best shows I've ever seen. Several great matches, a killer angle and very little that wasn't good."

I don't think the the HHH/Sting match delivered at all, that was one match I thought you could bank on to be a solid 3 star just because HHH is an expert and Sting has been around long enough but it sucked, as for WWE vs WCW at Mania, sorry, not my bag, some might pop at it but who are they? Fornl a bit of historical prespective I'd be willing to bet most Wrestling fans hadn't even heard of Osama Bin Ladan the last time WCW was on air and there was no such thing as WWE when WCW were in business

I think its far far overplayed and severely overestimated in 2015

It's the best PPV I've seen since I started watching again in 2011. Thoroughly enjoyable.

And half of the guys on the chat box are pervs who talk about nailing chicks a lot, eh, Nando!

For me the HHH v Sting match was the worst on the show, god awful entrances with one purely for advertising the new Terminator film followed by a trip down nostalgia avenue with a number of guys that were cool 20 years ago trying one more time to turn back time and failing badly.
Didn't really help that to anyone who remembers WCW knows fully well that Nash and Hall are bestest buds with their Kliq mates.

I'm probably in the minority in liking the HHH/Sting bout and thought it was better than I thought it would be.

I was grinning from ear to ear the moment logic went out of the window and DX stormed the ring. Logic and sense is overrated, this was entertaining. For me, anyway.

I do agree that the burial in the promo later in the night was a bit daft and unneeded.

The logic was appalling, but the biggest pops of the night according to many there were for the NWO and DX entrances. Nostalgia sells, and if you havent realised that by now I worry for you!

It delivered as a spectacle. It was a spectacle of Mania standards

The HHH Sting match was made no DQ Dolph

They got a main event performance from Reigns (that they won't acknowledge)

Seriously?  So anyone who disagrees with you must be lying? 

I didn't think Reigns gave "a main event performance" at all, he is the same size as Brock and is only about a stone and a half lighter but Brock was throwing him around for about 10 minutes, he didn't look anywhere near a threat,  the only way he began to look like a genuine threat was when Brock was bleeding and even that I assume wasn't planned, if Brock wasn't pouring with blood no-one would have believed Roman had a chance of beating him IMO

I suppose it strengths the argument that blood does play a major role in the psychology of a match/fight

And they announced that Seth Rollins cashing in made it a triple threat.

Did you listen Dolph?

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:The logic was appalling, but the biggest pops of the night according to many there were for the NWO and DX entrances. Nostalgia sells, and if you havent realised that by now I worry for you!

It delivered as a spectacle. It was a spectacle of Mania standards

Nostalgia is a big thing in Wrestling but when does Nostaglia stop being Nostalgic? How often do you see DX or the NWO blah blah blah...its not a special attraction anymore, if people think it is then I'd  seruously worry for them!

It wasn't a spectacle. It wasn't "Mania Standard"