I have a slight booking qualm to start things off with the Free For All Battle Royal. I know it’s more of a traditional Battle Royal, and not the staggered entrance approach, but I just wish this stuck to 15-20 people. Feel like 30 entrants is just to Royal Rumble like, and should be saved for that event and that event only. That out of the way, in terms of the booking of the match, perfect. Can’t argue with a final two of Flash and Awesome, but of course, Awesome had to win this. Guy is being built super well and just HAD to win to not undo your hard work. Great call. Just want to comment on the fact that I noticed The New Rockers Honkey Tonk Man stuff, and The Sultan further angering his managers all being further played out during the match, as well as The Gunn’s stuff I guess. So overall, I don’t like the match type for what it was, but I think you still executed well and had this match do everything it needed to for individual characters.
Love the way you include stuff like the Westin Hotel stuff. You really take the reader right into the era you’re booking which is awesome. I think I’ve mentioned this before when it comes to your weekly news and notes post, but I enjoy it with this type of stuff in the actual shows to.
Austin promo hyping his match with Shamrock later was solid enough. I’ll provide more thoughts on this one later on.
Similar to above, promo from Ahmed, D’Lo and Rocky provided adequate hype for later tonight.
Eh, I’m not huge on WrestleMania kicking off with a backstage interview. Understand this was relatively short and sharp, and everything the Bulldog said was okay, but would much prefer we just get straight into the action with the hot crowd.
I do think opening the show with Bulldog/Owen was the right call, and it seemed like the two put on a good match. I do want to take a moment to compliment you on the booking of this one. Following through with this feud, unlike in real life, but also keeping them as champs as tensions begin to grow has been a fascinating read. Considering the build for the match, I thought Owen hesitating and thinking about whether to use the bell was an awesome way to basically cost him the match. I think you made the right call in Bulldog going over as well. Really good stuff here.
In terms of the aftermath, I’m a little more split. Owen finally snapping and cracking because now he’s the loser works well. His turn here on Bulldog probably has more impact if he leaves Bulldog laying, so wasn’t the biggest fan of Bulldog getting the better of him again. What I am really intrigued about is how you move forward with them, considering they’re still the tag champs.
Promo from Bearer, Mankind and Vader was solid, with all three men getting over their points well regarding the LOD. Admittedly, the comment Bearer made about LOD being in hiding for years because they aren’t the most dominant team was a bit of a weird one to make considering Mankind/Vader haven’t been teaming very long. This still did what it needed to though.
Thought the booking of LOD vs. Mankind and Vader was very good, and the match did what it needed to. Based on the way the teams were going in the build up, this match did exactly what it needed to. LOD win their first big match back, and Mankind and Vader split, as they’ve been having issues for a while. I like the way you built issues throughout the match before Vader finally decided to abandon Mankind, and I marked for the Hawk no sell spot as well. Good stuff.
Okay, so it seems like maybe you’ll be pulling the plug on an Owen/Bulldog feud, and going down The Hart Foundation path? At least that’s what I gather from this segment with Bret trying to talk down the Bulldog.
Shamrock promo was solid enough to hype his match with Austin.
Lol at Shawn Michaels squinting at the screen. Nice touch for sure.
Six man was pretty solid, and I really enjoyed the use of PG 13 throughout. Obviously Ahmed had some really big moments in here with some spots to which was good. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the ending of this one, which is a good thing. Faarooq getting the win in the end thanks to Clarence Mason is fine. Ahmed joining The Nation in real life was awful, but I have faith you can put your spin on it and make it work. Ahmed being defiant and deciding to lay out The Nation and then quit is definitely an interesting start. You’ve got me more interested in this then I was when I thought about Ahmed joining The Nation before WrestleMania, so good job.
Nice little promo from Perfect and Triple H to hype the IC Title match. Chyna not speaking is smart because it keeps her mysterious. Not actual feedback but I did cringe a little at Perfect using the term ‘learning tree’, and I think most would understand why lol.
Triple Threat match for the IC Title was some nice chaos. Plenty of involvement from each competitor’s managers or bodyguards as expected. I think the booking here is quite good, with this coming full circle, and I’ve no issues with Mero getting the win back. As Sable continues to blow up, it made sense for her to look ballsy against Chyna here as well. Good stuff, and nice to see Mero FINALLY get his revenge.
Really good promo from the Extremists to promote their match later. I thought the call made by Heyman on Candido wanting to keep an eye on what Sunny is doing was good. Promo took a massive step up once Funk got speaking. Really good, passionate stuff. Easily the most enjoyable promo of the night so far.
The Austin/Shamrock stuff has just hasn’t quite hit the mark for me, to be honest. I just feel like Shamrock wasn’t a big enough name in 1997 like say Tyson was in 1998, so it just doesn’t feel as big of a deal as it should. It feels more like we’re trying to force this into being a big deal when it’s not. In turn, because of this, the idea of Austin winning the crowd over during the match doesn’t feel the same as it did with Hart in real life, because there’s not really a reason for the crowd to be overly invested in Shamrock to begin with. I appreciate you tried to take a similar path with a different opponent, but for me personally, it felt like a bit of a miss. The one thing I did appreciate were the moments Austin caught Shamrock off guard by performing stuff that wouldn’t happen in the UFC. That was a nice touch for sure. I definitely think you made the right decision in Austin getting the win though, because he’s certainly still one of your hottest characters in here, if not the hottest.
I wasn’t overly big on the handshake here either. Felt very un Austin like, especially at this time when he’s still very much a full blown heel.
Solid promo from Sid, although surprised there was no random yelling to go with the under the breath whispering.
The booking of Undertaker/Sid has been solid enough, although similar to in real life, I don’t know if it’s had that ‘big time’ ‘Mania feud feel. I don’t have a lot to say about this match in all honesty. Nothing wrong with the writing, the match seemed solid enough and I’ve no issues with The Undertaker winning. Completely solid stuff.
RVD as the third man for Team WWF was an inspired choice for sure, love that. I also like that you gave these guys the street fight gimmick, instead of The Nation match, the right decision for sure considering they are ECW and all. A little surprised to see ECW get the win at WrestleMania of all freaking places but I’m okay with.
Whilst I kind of made some comments about the booking and the matches not feeling as big for the last few matches, I need to reverse that and give you credit for the main event. The booking of Michaels/Hart has been great and has truly felt worthy of a ‘Mania main event, 12 months on from their last one. I’m not completely sold on the ladder match stipulation though. These two have really put over their hatred for each other recently, so it feels like No DQ, Street Fight, steel cage, something where they can let out some real aggression would be better than having to climb up a ladder and retrieve a belt. Just doesn’t quite match the feud for me.
With that out of the way, I LOVE what you’ve done here. Awesome booking. I admittedly was a little disturbed earlier with the fact that it seemed Bulldog/Owen would just end, and we’d get The Hart Foundation like we did in real life. And whilst that might still happen, the way you’ve executed here has turned it around. These two costing Shawn the match, cementing Bret’s heel turn completely on the biggest stage of them all is awesome. And don’t think I’ve forgotten that Austin has basically just been forced face to, for a readymade title feud. Surely Michaels isn’t going to be happy either so really intrigued to see how this will all shape up, but this was a such a big turn, on the biggest match, on the biggest show of the year, a really strong finish.
I’d say this was a good PPV, and maybe a solid at best WrestleMania, until the main event. Show became super memorable in that moment alone, and you likely created a highlight that will be shown forever. I was critical of a few things, but I haven’t commented in a while, so was kind of commenting on a lot of stuff regarding build up, and not necessarily just this show. Don’t want any comments to take away the gloss of how much of an achievement it is to actually reach and write a WrestleMania, fantastic effort there, and this remains an enjoyable project with some interesting avenues to take, especially in the main event scene, post ‘Mania. Well done.