WrestleMania Lockdown

Actually enjoyed that. It’s weird without a crowd, but it was mostly good and they have gone with matches of actual length.

Ladder match was outstanding and would have been a classic in front of a Mania crowd.
Rollins vs Owens was good and that spot was excellent.
I really enjoyed the Boneyard match. Maybe I shouldn’t have, maybe it was just a break from having silence and Michael Cole, but I thought it worked for what it was and was done right.

Was disappointed that they didn’t have a Bryan/Zane clinic.

Goldberg vs Braun was as sigh inducing as one would expect. There are very few other active wrestlers that wouldn’t have been a better choice than Braun, for me. Seemed to be Braun for as much as “Goldberg can’t lift him.” But I appreciate it wasn’t the easiest for WWE to sort.

Don’t like Becky winning, even if the finish is their standard way to protect Shayna. Doesn’t make sense in the story, so wonder if they wanted a positive result because of the situation. Shayna should have won, she’s incredible and Becky’s story was of arrogance that would weaken her. She should have at least got DQ’d to keep the belt.

Overall, considering how weird it is, I enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to Night Two a lot

Pretty much agree with you. It took a couple of matches to get used to there being no crowd but by the IC title match I didnt notice.

I almost switched off and gave up on it during the opening match. The Kabuki Warriors screaming in Japanese is just cringe inducing with no crowd. The second half of the show really picked up though.

I was actually surprised Braun won but then I realised there was no chance Goldberg was keeping the title post-Mania so it makes sense. I dont mind it as much though, his next big feud will be with Roman once all this blows over and those two have a great history together, and Im pleased the big man finally gets a world title, even if it is about 18 months too late.

I didnt know what to expect from the Boneyard Match but I really enjoyed it. It felt like the final fight scene of an 80's action movie, like Mel Gibson vs Gary Busey at the end of Lethal Weapon if they were given 20 minutes. I cant wait to see what they do for the Firefly Funhouse Match tonight.

I wasnt excited or expecting much but huge kudos to them for putting together a decently enjoyable show.

I think the Boneyard match was incredible. The more I think about it, the more I love it.

I was excited for the Funhouse match anyway, but they’ve shown they can do this kinda stuff now. Gonna be hard to match, AJ and Taker were so perfect for what they did. AJ main evented Mania, the Good Brothers were in a main event of Mania.

It was a really good way to hide Takers limitations, although AJ is so damn good I think they would have managed fine in a tradiontial match. If thats going to be Takers last 'match' then its good way to go out, defending his wifes honour and then he rides away on his bike into the sunset.

Only problem I had with the boneyard match, was that taker basically beat them up. AJ actually got very little offence in. But as an event, loved it and thought like Samo it was an excellent way to hide undertakers limitations.

Otherwise thought the women's tag title match was good. Both Gulak/Cesaro and Zayn/Bryan would have been excellent matches if they had 5 more minutes.
But the tag title 3 way, and Rollins/Owens were outstanding, and would have been matches of the night in s normal mania never mind this one.


Otherwise it was pretty meh, the Goldberg & Lynch matches were rubbish.

I loved Goldberg v Strowman. I know there were literally two moves (both x4), but the brief story of Strowman surviving the Goldberg early onslaught that many others failed to do, then essentially doing what Brock did to Goldberg at WM33 was exactly what was needed. Dragging it out for longer with rest holds etc would have made zero difference to the perception of it.

Reigns will win the title, only he'll win it from Strowman instead of Goldberg. Strowman will be a fine transitional champion who actually shows up every week.

I'm glad WWE didnt throw away The Fiend v Strowman in the scenario that might have played out if Goldberg didn't take the title, that wont be a technical masterpiece by any means but it will be brilliantly done if they're given the platform to do the feud properly.

Only thing that would have been cool in the empty arena would have been Strowman doing his lap of the ring shtick only to be speared through the barricade!

Firefly Funhouse

I loved the show but that's all I can even comprehend.

Fair play to wwe, given the restrictions thought they managed to put out an okay to good mania.

Drew winning, was about the result didn't care less about how he got there.
Tea/Charlotte was a great match, ruined by the result.
Edge/Orton, I enjoyed the intensity, buy thought it went on 15 minutes to long.

And the firefly funhouse, I know it's getting alot of hate, but I enjoyed it. Production wise was outstanding, and the way they did it was great.

it was entertaining enough, with enough winks to the smarks to get over.

not sure anyone really benefited from it, but not sure that was the point

NXT UK Tag Team Champions - Scottish
NXT UK Womens Champion - Scottish
One half of the WWE Womens Tag Champions - Scottish
And now... WWE Champion - Scottish.

We run this Poopie. Alba gu bràth.

Overall I really enjoyed it, you could see everyone was invested into making the event entertaining, even where some of the matches weren't the most meaningful...

Positives:
- Boneyard Match was phenomenal (pun lol)
- Fun House Match was weird but gripping and both simultaneously otherworldly and grounded in "real" storylines
- Drew won in a really strong way and they didn't hold off for an event with an audience
- Flair/Ripley was the best traditional match of both nights. They worked their asses off to make the full 20 mins enjoyable. Also no issue with the title change. Rhea feels like she lost steam since the title win. Chasing Flair and regaining at a future Takeover will be great
- KO is wonderful, Seth is a wonderful B'stard
- SD women's storytelling was really intriguing
- The fat guy didn't get embarrassed (yet)
- Miz/Morrison find more fun, cheap ways to retain
- Edge/Orton ending was great...

Negatives:
- Edge/Orton up to the ending was about 15 mins too long
- Lynch/Baszler wasn't great and it felt like a title change was needed unless Rousey is coming back
- Women's tag felt a bit long and combined with the Elias/Corbin match the start felt like SD, not Mania
- Raw Tag match was fun, but really showed the poor division quality. Was there no-one else that could be added to that? I would have also for sure taken a six man mixed tag instead, it would at least have made the result more uncertain
- Braun winning... urgh

Samo wrote:NXT UK Tag Team Champions - Scottish
NXT UK Womens Champion - Scottish
One half of the WWE Womens Tag Champions - Scottish
And now... WWE Champion - Scottish.

We run this Poopie. Alba gu bràth.

You've misspelled British several times there Samo. Although counting NXT UK titles, you might as well have gone "ICW Champion, Scottish"

I misspelled nothing. Cant take this one away from me, no matter how hard you try.

Samo wrote:NXT UK Tag Team Champions - Scottish
NXT UK Womens Champion - Scottish
One half of the WWE Womens Tag Champions - Scottish
And now... WWE Champion - Scottish.

We run this Poopie. Alba gu bràth.

How have we gone from hee haw champs to this many?

I actually feel a bit bad for Drew as he's waited so long for that title and no matter how you cut it, getting it without any crowd reaction is a bit meh. Someone willing the title back with no crowd wouldnt be so bad, but to win your first ever top title and not have a crowd there to cheer it is a bit of a shame. Could they have had the yawnfest of lesnar hold the title until the lockdown ended? Gave Drew the title win at Summerslam or the like instead?