Just watched it, what an absolute clusterfuck of an episode. The Pancake Patterson thing with the PTP was cringeworthy, did nothing to build up the main-event of 'mania. Then you had Ryback taken out of the 6 man tag match and replaced with Big Show, like we all knew he would be. What was the point of putting him in there in the first place? Just looked like amateurish booking.
Great Khali and Fandango thing was pointless again, Khali is just useless. What on earth was that with Sandow and Truth? A count out, seriously? What's the point of putting the guys into a match on Raw if you have absolutely no idea what to do with them.
HHH vs Lesnar stipulation is a disappointment. Retire? Retire from what exactly? It's not like he's a central part of the roster. Disappointed it wasn't Heyman for GM or giving him some kind of immunity from being fired. No holds barred? Meh. Was always going to be something along those lines.
Only plus points were; a) Punk segment where he generated some good heat despite being left with the urn macguffin to work with b) Swagger's attack on ADR and Ricardo which was nicely worked c) the IC match which I thought was excellent. Hopefully be Barrett vs Miz at WM.
Next week's show really needs to be massively improved.
I already named a stip that would be better which was the control of the company being on the line. Vince has been fucking with Paul ever since he has cameback and of course in reality put Paul out of business so what better way to get the ultimate payback than to take the company away from Vince, HHH and Steph? A retirement match with someone who basically was retired anyways just doesn't make sense no matter if it is IWC fans, casual fans, whatever. It is silly no matter what side of the spectrum you look at it from that the stip is HHH playing with house money basically in the biggest show of the year. Also the notion that only casual fans buy stuff is not true at all and doesn't make sense. The diehard fans who watch every week buying WWE merch and so on and so fourth are the main fans putting money in the company. Good amount of people on this forum have went to WWE shows, bought merch and things of that nature so don't know why it is assumed all fans of wrestling who happen to be on a wrestling forum in the internet age don't spend a dime on WWE related stuff therefore it is okay for WWE to have a stip that doesn't make sense.Really a holding pattern show tonight. Taker could easily bring more interest by "breaking kayfabe" and do some worked shoots on Punk. Talk about his career and why people in the locker room respect him and why noone will ever respect Punk....y'know something along those lines.
And Trips putting his career on the line is fine with me, I don't know what other stipulation, anyone would want. Pretty ultimate in the eyes of casuals. Wrestlemania isn't for us, it's for the other million people who are going to buy this PPV who don't read dirtsheets or discuss wrestling everyday. It's for those people who actually Tout for Raw.
No Holds Barred is an OK gimmick, Trips can show clips of his last No Hold Barred match with HBK and tell Heyman and Brock this is my bestfriend and look what I did to him. Imagine what I'm going to do to you at Mania...so on and so forth.
One segment with Cena? Don't like it, liked Titus tho, give that man more mic time. Could be a giant black version of WCW Jericho.
I don't think the crowd could be any worse than it was this week, next week's crowd should be so much better. At least they get The Rock back next week because you know that he will always get a big reaction.
I already named a stip that would be better which was the control of the company being on the line. Vince has been fucking with Paul ever since he has cameback and of course in reality put Paul out of business so what better way to get the ultimate payback than to take the company away from Vince, HHH and Steph? A retirement match with someone who basically was retired anyways just doesn't make sense no matter if it is IWC fans, casual fans, whatever. It is silly no matter what side of the spectrum you look at it from that the stip is HHH playing with house money basically in the biggest show of the year. Also the notion that only casual fans buy stuff is not true at all and doesn't make sense. The diehard fans who watch every week buying WWE merch and so on and so fourth are the main fans putting money in the company. Good amount of people on this forum have went to WWE shows, bought merch and things of that nature so don't know why it is assumed all fans of wrestling who happen to be on a wrestling forum in the internet age don't spend a dime on WWE related stuff therefore it is okay for WWE to have a stip that doesn't make sense.
Obviously didn't mean oh a few people on this forum pay for stuff and no one else in the IWC. My point was casual fans who do just that watch casually aren't the main fanbase of WWE's let alone the main ones pumping money into the product like you're making it out to be when it is actually the diehard fans whether they happen to be on a wrestling forum or not. And I'm pretty sure the retirement match at mania has been done before not once but twice in the last handful of years so it isn't exactly innovative either so not getting your point on dismissing my idea because it was done before.Naming a group of 5 people out 100 in an audience of millions is like saying one needle is worth a bail of hay.
Also, stockholders are stupid, they panicked when Donald Trump was kayfabe owner of Raw, a storyline based on the riunning of the company only worked in 98 with Steve Austin when the company was private, Also, been done before. Why does all solutions around here always have to be something that has alreaady been done?
Obviously didn't mean oh a few people on this forum pay for stuff and no one else in the IWC. My point was casual fans who do just that watch casually aren't the main fanbase of WWE's let alone the main ones pumping money into the product like you're making it out to be when it is actually the diehard fans whether they happen to be on a wrestling forum or not. And I'm pretty sure the retirement match at mania has been done before not once but twice in the last handful of years so it isn't exactly innovative either so not getting your point on dismissing my idea because it was done before.
Never said it would bomb just said it is silly. The stockholder thing I guess is a fair reasoning but thought that worry only happened last time cause it was trump who plausibly could own WWE all things considering.
When you put on a lackluster show, that came off as something you'd see in WCW's heyday, of course the crowd reaction wouldn't be very good. As Fallen stated I feel like this Mania is just a mess. The undercard is changing constantly. The Main Event feuds are stale. Minus Swagger and Del Rio, but with Swagger's DUI we all know how that will end. Your main main event, you don't even have the champion on TV. (Another reason I hate the Rock). In the end it just isn't worth it and I can tell you right now I will not be watching Wrestlemania.