The WWE Thread

[astoph]

After 22 years ending The Streak is is bigger than the World Title. Brock could easily retire on the basis that he's done everything now.

[ROHFanAnthony]

Undertaker may as well retire now that his streak is over. He is banged up and pushing 50 anyway.

[Northwoods_Nightmare]

I really enjoyed the show. On a whole I liked it better than the last few years for sure. Some of the stuff in the middle had me scratching my head at the booking (Cena win and Lesnar win) but no real complaints.

I thought HHH/Bryan was match of the night; quite excellent. The main event was very good from a story standpoint and exciting throughout the entire thing. Bryan seemed the obvious choice to win, but every one was plausible and I was on the edge of my seat.

As for Lesnar/Undertaker, I'm of the opinion that the streak should have never ended, but I'm not upset about it at all. Honestly, this is the first time in forever that I've been legitimately shocked by a match finish, so that was kind of fun. Plus, look at it this way. Bryan was winning the title at WM, and there's no way he could believably beat 'Taker. Brock can, and did, end the streak in a believable way. He's nearly unstoppable now. Former WWE and UFC champ. Wins over Cena, Triple H, and ending the streak since his return. When Bryan faces him, and if he beats Lesnar, it will be a massive win.

[DXvsNWO1994]

Here's my quick review of the show:

WWE WrestleMania XXX
New Orleans, Louisiana 4/6/14

Pre-Show

1.) WWE Tag Team Titles - Four-Way Elimination Match - The Usos vs. The Real Americans vs. RybAxel vs. Los Matadores: ***1/2

Main Show

1.) Winner Advances To The Main Event - Triple H (with Stephanie McMahon) vs. Daniel Bryan: ****1/2

2.) Six-Man Tag - The Shield vs. Kane & The New Age Outlaws: **

3.) Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal: ***1/4

4.) John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt (with The Wyatt Family): ***1/2

5.) The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman): **3/4

6.) WWE Diva's Title - The Vickie Guerrero Divas Invitational: **1/2

7.) WWE World Heavyweight Title Match - Randy Orton vs. Batista vs. Daniel Bryan: ****1/4

Overall: 8.75/10

[jordidebaas]

I'm a bit undecided on this WM, it was good at least, and probably more than that, but I just don't know...
If you're looking purely at the wrestling, almost every match underdelivered IMO, but that's mostly because all the big matches were so focused on the storytelling.
The tag title match was really great, though the beginning didn't really click. Purely looking at the wrestling, this was the MOTN.
Opening segment was cool, but I'd rather have seen some of the time go to the six man tag, which was an absolute joke. They could've given us an awesome threeway there, but for some reason they went with a three minute squash.
Bryan vs. HHH was great, but the ending felt a little bit anticlimactic.
The Battle royal was great for a battle royal, and it was awesome to see Cesaro win.'
Cena vs Wyatt was meh, the pace was way too low in the beginning. Wyatt did some cool mindgames stuff, but it really dragged initially, and the second half wasn't good enough to make up for it. Besides that, the story here was just stupid. Wyatt wanted Cena to become a monster, so he put an anrgy look on his face and hit a few moves so he could save his legacy. Wyatt is yet to really impress me in a big singles match.
Lesnar vs Taker could've been better if they had worked at a slightly higher pace, but it was a great match nonetheless. The ending, however, was probably the worst booking decision of this century. What the hell does Lesnar gain from this????? First they have him job to Cena and get beaten by HHH (and score the dirtiest win possible in their rubber match), then they have to waste one of his matches on him squashing the Big Show because of it, and now they make him beat the streak? Why not have him beat Cena, skip the second and third HHH match and the Big Show match, and have him beat someone like Sheamus, who would've gotten had a great match with him (not saying his matches against HHH weren't great) and who would've benefitted from coming close to beating Lesnar, and leave the streak intact until you can make someone who would get a rub from it convincingly end it. I'll never understand WWE creative, those guys have got to be some of the biggest retards walking this earth.
The divas match was surprisingly good, but I think this should've been given a little bit more time too, especially since thay had 14 divas in there, and about half of them didn't spend a minute in the ring. The tower of doom spot was cool to see in a divas match, but they should've tried to do one with like ten people or so, that would've really made it unique. Also, why the hell did they make Naomi tap? There were at least ten better candidates, another stupid decision here.
The main event was great again, I was afraid they would ruin it with too much interference, but it probably only made the match better. The nearfall when Batista pinned Orton after the running knee was perfect, I really thought that was going to be the end, perfectly done. It will be interesting to see where they go from here. A rematch between HHH and Bryan at ER seems obvious, but where would that leave Batista and Orton?
Screw what I said in the beginning, WM was great

[Fidel Costco]

Epic Paul Heyman promo.

[DXvsNWO1994]

So many things on RAW tonight....

Daniel Bryan being massively over
Bray Wyatt being beloved by the crowd
Paul Heyman being a FUCKING BOSS!!
RVD comes back
Bad News Barrett actually wrestles...and wins!
Paige wins the Diva's Title from AJ in her debut!
Cesaro is a Paul Heyman guy!

Finally....that ending!! The Shield is now on Bryan's side!!

Funny how it was 4-on-4 there at the end. Triple H also said at the end, "You just started a war". Plus, I don't think it's a coincidence that Extreme Rules is the next PPV. Think about it for a second.....we might actually get WAR GAMES!!!!!!!

[DieHard]

The product right now is just unreal. Evolution vs Shield? Genius. I love WWE so much.

[ROHFan25]

I thought it last night, and tonight confirmed it. The New Era is officially here. This is an unreal fucking time right now. What a Raw...speechless over the past 48 hours.

[boourns]

Really strong RAW, which I feel was only missing one strong, long match to make it perfect. The 6-man was good though.

Glad AJ's boring run is finally over.

BO-LIEVE!!!

Anybody not watching WWE right now is missing out.

[Ladrao12]

Anybody not watching WWE right now is missing out.

Ehh, I read about it, I didn't feel like I missed out on much. Sounds decent, but nothing that's making me go insane.

[donkitrk99]

I didnt love RAW but it was certainly a good show and what it lacked in stand alone entertainment it made up for with storyline advancement.
And please. War Games. Brock didn't move into the title picture, and picking one contender from The Evolution of Evolution doesn't make a ton of sense either.

[JigsawVs.Jason]

Glad I managed to stay spoiler free for WM.
Wm was a pretty mixed bag, anything with Bryan was phenomenal, just perfectly booked and I am so happy for that guy, nobody deserves it more than him.
The rest of the show (apart from the awesome opening) was pretty mediocre and the booking was really terrible in the midcard (Cena vs Wyatt) and the co main event (Taker vs Lesnar). I do not have a problem with the fact that they have ended the streak, IMO it is best for business, because you can capitalize from it, at least in theory. With Brock Lesnar it just doesn't make sense at all, the guy is 36 and is only around half a dozen times throughout the year. More importantly, it is just sad that his streak was ended in the worst Taker WM Match since WM 22, it was just downright atrocious, which was evidenced by the total lack of crowd creactions for the first 10 minutes, nobody cared for that match.
If Taker was willing to get his streak beaten, last year would have been the perfect opportunity.

Ratings:
Pre-Show

1.) WWE Tag Team Titles - Four-Way Elimination Match - The Usos vs. The Real Americans vs. RybAxel vs. Los Matadores: ***

Main Show

1.) Winner Advances To The Main Event - Triple H (with Stephanie McMahon) vs. Daniel Bryan: ****1/2

2.) Six-Man Tag - The Shield vs. Kane & The New Age Outlaws: **

3.) Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal: ** 1/2

4.) John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt (with The Wyatt Family): ** 3/4

5.) The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman): ***

6.) WWE Diva's Title - The Vickie Guerrero Divas Invitational: **1/4

7.) WWE World Heavyweight Title Match - Randy Orton vs. Batista vs. Daniel Bryan: ****

[DXvsNWO1994]

If anyone's wondering, Daniel Bryan's furry kick-pads at WrestleMania were a tribute to Bruiser Brody.

[Hellfont93]

If anyone's wondering, Daniel Bryan's furry kick-pads at WrestleMania were a tribute to Bruiser Brody.

That's very cool of him, he looked sorta Jimmy Jacobs-eqsue from what I've seen.

[JTCole]

Some are speculating he wore those fur pads as a "fuck you" to Carlos Colon.

[Nigel LikesGuinness]

The product right now is just unreal. Evolution vs Shield? Genius. I love WWE so much.

I have been down on WWE for a long time, I agree with the above statement and also agree anyone not watching is missing out. First time in forever I watched raw on a Monday

[Fidel Costco]

Glad to see Adam Rose's gimmick taking off as it has. The guys got a freaky mix of agility and strength. Add a Russel Brand gimmick, and maybe it'll pan out for him.

Bo Dallas' vignettes are completely insufferable and I love them. "I'm possible." I about lost my eyes I rolled them so hard.

Paige winning the Divas title...I like, but I like Paige, so I'm biased. Wish they built it up more, though. AJ and Paige had no right to be in a match that short.

First RAW in a long time I actually cared about watching, as opposed to doing other things with it in the background waiting for Punk, or Bryan, or Taker, or Cesaro, etc..

Paul Heyman is a freakin' boss on the microphone.

One of my favorite parts was Bad News Barrett relishing the crowd reaction. I hope this new gimmick gets him over. The guy deserves.

As for Bryan's kick pads: I hope they were a big fuck you to Carlos Colon. When I heard Colon was being inducted into the HOF I was bit surprised. Guess WWE really wants access to the WWC video collection.

All together, much like last year, Rawaftermania was a solid show, save for some dragass bits like Rusev.

[ROHFanAnthony]

Paul Heyman is gold on the mic!

[Tim]

As good as the product is now it's only gonna get better once Generico, Pac, Del Sol, Callihan, and Adam Rose hit the main roster. WWE is the best wrestling company on the planet right now (no disrespect to New Japan, PWG, or ROH). They are doing everything right, more emphasis on in ring work, great stories, great crowds who are becoming more knowlegable (I know that's not really something they control), the tag division is improved, hell, I couldn't be more excited about the divas division right now.