First off, this was not a particularly good show; as a matter of fact, I thought this was quite bad and gave it a low 3/10. Granted, it’s a pretty low score and some may consider it too harsh of a grade however this is fucking Wrestlemania season and I for one am a very demanding customer that expects a lot more when it comes to the build of the biggest event of the calendar year.
On to a few thoughts, obviously one of the main talking points coming out of this show was Kurt Angle’s announcement in regards to his final opponent of his illustrious career at Wrestlemania and the backlash it has rightfully received. Now, the easiest thing would be to note how stupid WWE can be (I mean, it’s a proven fact already) however this case has “swerve” written all over it and, all due respect, I don’t need me the Meltzers of the world or any other podcaster to tell me so. This is one of the greatest of all time we are talking about and with all respect to Baron Corbin, he ain’t going to be Kurt Angle’s final opponent and unlike them “experts”, I’m not even speculating about it. No “perhaps”, no “maybe” and no question marks just to leave things up in the air and then cover my ass if nothing changes eventually. You simply don’t send off a guy of the caliber of a Kurt Angle in a match with a mid-carder; you just don’t. It would be like, I don’t know, having Goldust (no offense to Goldy) ending Ric Flair’s career instead of HBK. It just doesn’t make any sense, which is why I am very certain that either next week or on the go home show they will eventually play it out in a way that John Cena gets involved and eventually replaces Baron Corbin in the Mania match. It’s what makes sense, it’s the story that basically writes itself and it would obviously be the proper way for Kurt Angle to go out, whether he wins or loses.
The Brock Lesnar appearance was your “same shit, different day” stuff, the Batista interview was very interesting and one of the very few things I enjoyed on this show alongside the angle with Ronda Rousey and her husband.
Lastly…hmm..lastly…Lashley. Apparently there’s a theory that Balor will come out to face Lashley as the Demon for the IC title at Mania. Now, while it’s always cool to see the Demon and all and while I’m definitely game with the idea, isn’t it at least awkward that Balor would choose to bring out the Demon now against Lashley for the IC strap and not against Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble for the top belt of the company? It’s more of a rhetorical question and while I understand the reasoning behind it, in my book this still qualifies as story line stupidity.
On a final note, I found it quite interesting that Elias specifically noted how he won’t be interrupted during his performance at the grandest stage. This tells me exactly the opposite (no surprise there of course) and the way I see this, this goes down in one of two ways: either Honky Tonk joins him and they heel up the joint (would certainly work for a nice Wrestlemania moment to have these two do their thing) or the Rock will show up for a perhaps even bigger/better moment. Kind of leaning towards option B, though I’ll save these type of predictions for when the time comes…
On to a few thoughts, obviously one of the main talking points coming out of this show was Kurt Angle’s announcement in regards to his final opponent of his illustrious career at Wrestlemania and the backlash it has rightfully received. Now, the easiest thing would be to note how stupid WWE can be (I mean, it’s a proven fact already) however this case has “swerve” written all over it and, all due respect, I don’t need me the Meltzers of the world or any other podcaster to tell me so. This is one of the greatest of all time we are talking about and with all respect to Baron Corbin, he ain’t going to be Kurt Angle’s final opponent and unlike them “experts”, I’m not even speculating about it. No “perhaps”, no “maybe” and no question marks just to leave things up in the air and then cover my ass if nothing changes eventually. You simply don’t send off a guy of the caliber of a Kurt Angle in a match with a mid-carder; you just don’t. It would be like, I don’t know, having Goldust (no offense to Goldy) ending Ric Flair’s career instead of HBK. It just doesn’t make any sense, which is why I am very certain that either next week or on the go home show they will eventually play it out in a way that John Cena gets involved and eventually replaces Baron Corbin in the Mania match. It’s what makes sense, it’s the story that basically writes itself and it would obviously be the proper way for Kurt Angle to go out, whether he wins or loses.
The Brock Lesnar appearance was your “same shit, different day” stuff, the Batista interview was very interesting and one of the very few things I enjoyed on this show alongside the angle with Ronda Rousey and her husband.
Lastly…hmm..lastly…Lashley. Apparently there’s a theory that Balor will come out to face Lashley as the Demon for the IC title at Mania. Now, while it’s always cool to see the Demon and all and while I’m definitely game with the idea, isn’t it at least awkward that Balor would choose to bring out the Demon now against Lashley for the IC strap and not against Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble for the top belt of the company? It’s more of a rhetorical question and while I understand the reasoning behind it, in my book this still qualifies as story line stupidity.
On a final note, I found it quite interesting that Elias specifically noted how he won’t be interrupted during his performance at the grandest stage. This tells me exactly the opposite (no surprise there of course) and the way I see this, this goes down in one of two ways: either Honky Tonk joins him and they heel up the joint (would certainly work for a nice Wrestlemania moment to have these two do their thing) or the Rock will show up for a perhaps even bigger/better moment. Kind of leaning towards option B, though I’ll save these type of predictions for when the time comes…