The Official WWE / NXT Discussion Thread *May Contain Spoilers*

[Hyde Hill]

Lol Lazor I know about the peaks and valleys etc but you put the worst of those valleys after the first peak not as the third to last.

[ampulator]

On the Divas match, though, they need a better bathroom break match. It could be sufficiently said that match "lowered the crowd's mood".

[lazorbeak]

Lol Lazor I know about the peaks and valleys etc but you put the worst of those valleys after the first peak not as the third to last.

 

 

Apparently you don't because you complained about it. It was exactly where it needed to be, regardless of quality. Matches like it give the crowd a break and make Cena/Batista seem like a bigger deal. Complaining about it is just nitpicky negative whining.

[RingofHonorGuard]

i can not DISAGREE more with you here. respectfully of course.

 

Taker IS the streak. it will go down in WWE history as one of their big spectacles and stories. it is of legendary status. It just retired HBK. nuff said.

 

taker is Joe Montana of wrestling. Very good career, but his legacy is defined by his performance on the biggest stage and being undefeated, much like montana and the super bowl

 

Yeah, I get that... And part of me -is- glad that Taker won... But I'm saying in terms of business, WWE really could have used a big twist with HBK winning. The biggest downside to pro wrestling these days is the predictability of it. Everyone pretty much expected/knew Undertaker was going to keep the streak, so watching the match was kind of meh... The lack of surprise is driving away the older wrestling fans... Who wants to tune in week in and week out when nothing interesting is happening? Instead of mixing it up and trying to build their product, they're taking the easy way out and regressing back to the mid 90s for a bit of kiddie time. It won't be long until we start seeing Evan Bourne dressed in a chicken outfit.

[Candyman]

1. National Anthem: Crapptastic 1

2. Opening promo: Kinda flat meh 4.5

3. Tag Bout: This as opener and not MITB? too short, lacked flow. 5

4. three way: same old crap but better flow. 5.5

5. Female promo + Slim Jim: CRAAAP 1.5 ( +0.5 for the joke and cameos)

6. MITB: underwhelming and I like spotfests 6.5

7. Extreme rules promos: why waste time on this? 3

8. Hall of fame recapping: Took too long and is Gorgeous George or his wife inducted? 5

9. Sheamus vs Trips: same old crap with more time and some nice moves by Sheamus 5.75

10. Slim Jim commercial: A full on commercial at WM??? 1

11. Punk vs Rey: finally something good but too short 7

12. Bret vs Vince: took way too long making you almost sympathize for VKM and fell flat. Other matches needed this time 4

13. Atlanta promo: Again why waste time especially for something a year away? 2

14. Edge vs Jericho : Pretty good second best of the night but not super special, Striker ruined the start with his bs. 7.25

15. Divas: No place this high up the card and botchamania 1

16. Cena vs Batista: Could have been worse 6.25

17. Michales vs Taker: Not as good as last year as expected, still good 8

18. Michaels farewell: Pretty well done but he will be back 7.5

 

So overall meh. Flat crowd as well. Didn't have that true mania feel for me somehow even 25 felt more wresltemania isch. Hope next year will be better.

 

Favorite fan signs: HHH fears Divorce, I Hope a Canadian wins ( Edge vs Jericho), McMahon: The richest there is, the most evil there was and the biggest loser there will be.

 

That wasn't the National Anthem, it was America the Beautiful...they've done this before and I have no effing idea why. SING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM YOU MORONS! And find a better singer than one of the bad American Idol winners, for Christ's sake. Youtube Carrie Underwood singing the Star Spangled Banner and tell me that wouldn't be a better opening. I digress...

 

Just a quick FYI, Gorgeous George has been dead for almost 50 years, so...yeah, can't really have him there. Same reason the Hart family was there in place of Stu Hart.

 

Take a point or two off MITB, it wasn't that good, and add it to...actually, don't add it to anything. Take a point off the tag bout and three way while you're at it.

 

Agree with you about the crowd. I understand what they're trying to do by taking it to places like Phoenix and Orlando, but I wouldn't mind if they stuck to New York, Philly, Detroit, Chicago, etc...places you know you'll get a hot crowd. Atlanta should be interesting - especially if the rumored WCW theme for the Hall of Fames happens.

[Candyman]

Yeah, I get that... And part of me -is- glad that Taker won... But I'm saying in terms of business, WWE really could have used a big twist with HBK winning. The biggest downside to pro wrestling these days is the predictability of it. Everyone pretty much expected/knew Undertaker was going to keep the streak, so watching the match was kind of meh... The lack of surprise is driving away the older wrestling fans... Who wants to tune in week in and week out when nothing interesting is happening? Instead of mixing it up and trying to build their product, they're taking the easy way out and regressing back to the mid 90s for a bit of kiddie time. It won't be long until we start seeing Evan Bourne dressed in a chicken outfit.

 

I think the whole predictability thing is overblown...yeah, the internet wrestling community knows everything that's going to happen, but this is the minority. And the WWE ignores that minority completely. For the average fan, the guy that doesn't read the dirt sheets or go to message board, I think there's still plenty of surprises.

 

But I have to disagree with you completely on the Undertaker match...I don't think it would be good business to have HBK win. Let's assume HBK is willing to commit to another match next year, and they have an amazing rubber match at Wrestlemania 27...then what? Who does Undertaker fight at Wrestlemania 28? Does anymore care? I don't. Once Undertaker's undefeated streak ends, you can't bring it back. That draw is gone forever. Having him lose is kind of like saying the WWE title can't be defended at Wrestlemania anymore. That's how big his streak is. In terms of business, they need to make that last as long as possible - meaning IF he ever loses, it damn well better be in his last Wrestlemania match.

 

If you wanted to take the whole rubber match approach, they could've had them fight at SummerSlam and HBK take the win to prove he can beat him, then set up the third at this Wrestlemania...but they both took off too much time for that to happen.

[justtxyank]

Wow. I hated it. All of it.

 

The crowd was horrible and it sucked the life out of the matches.

 

I'm not going to talk about every match, but let me talk about 2 in particular:

 

1) Bret vs Vince. So poorly put together. All the crap with the Hart family...really? Why would that even make sense? Diana Hart, Bruce Hart, etc. are going to sell out Bret? For what? I mean if it had just been 2.0 that was brought down I could see it, but it is ridiculous logic to think Vince would be dumb enough to hire Bruce Hart as a referee and the entire Hart family as lumberjacks and then pay them up front. Just plain dumb.

 

As for the match itself...blah. I actually didn't think Bret looked all that bad, but it was just awkward watching him beat up Vince without Vince ever getting back to his feet. It actually made me feel...sorry?...for Vince I guess. Just bad all around. The crowd basically humming to themselves until Bret would go for the sharpshooter made it 10x worse.

 

2) Taker vs HBK. Not a good match. Not even memorable really. Taker is spent. Very disappointed that this match was so lame feeling. There were a few good spots but all in all it did not feel epic.

 

On another note, the WWE camera work was unusually bad last night. Woof. And the announcers were god awful. Jim Ross meant so much to the credibility of the E.

[Hyde Hill]

Apparently you don't because you complained about it. It was exactly where it needed to be, regardless of quality. Matches like it give the crowd a break and make Cena/Batista seem like a bigger deal. Complaining about it is just nitpicky negative whining.

 

Look sure you need to give them a break but give them the tag title match or the three way not the freaking diva cluster. Also don't be so damn serious.lolz

[Hyde Hill]

That wasn't the National Anthem, it was America the Beautiful...they've done this before and I have no effing idea why. SING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM YOU MORONS! And find a better singer than one of the bad American Idol winners, for Christ's sake. Youtube Carrie Underwood singing the Star Spangled Banner and tell me that wouldn't be a better opening. I digress...

 

Just a quick FYI, Gorgeous George has been dead for almost 50 years, so...yeah, can't really have him there. Same reason the Hart family was there in place of Stu Hart.

 

Take a point or two off MITB, it wasn't that good, and add it to...actually, don't add it to anything. Take a point off the tag bout and three way while you're at it.

 

Agree with you about the crowd. I understand what they're trying to do by taking it to places like Phoenix and Orlando, but I wouldn't mind if they stuck to New York, Philly, Detroit, Chicago, etc...places you know you'll get a hot crowd. Atlanta should be interesting - especially if the rumored WCW theme for the Hall of Fames happens.

 

Yeah sorry about that had forgotten the name of the song.

 

On George know he was dead but the way it was announced it was like she got in. With the harts it was representing with George it was she is in the hall.

[Self]

I concur with the average reviews. Wasn't blown away. Bit bored by the time Edge/Jericho started. Random thoughts...

 

- I didn't like Miz' ring jacket. Too similar to Edge, Heel Matt Hardy, and a bunch of other guys who've slipped my mind. It's also a bit too 'bad ass' for The Miz, who's more of a douchey character. Swagger's ring jacket looked incredibly cheap.

- Raven says that the two most important things for a babyface are Sympathy and Fire. We had trouble with these tonight. Until they worked the ankle, Edge had no sympathy. He's got fire, but he's an unsympathetic character. On the other end of the scale, Randy Orton had little fire. Garvin Stomps. Awkward clotheslines. Being double-teamed gave him sympathy, but the fire was lacking.

- I liked the Diva match in some respects. I love Layla & Michelle McCool as a team, and their friendship with Vickie warms my heart. The finish was, as said, botchtacula (stop posing girls) but I really loved Vickie's frog splash. Despite the landing, seeing her up there, doing the Eddie thing, I loved it.

- Less is more, Bret. Less is more. One volley of punches. One roll outside. One Hart Dynasty spot. 5-moves-of-Doom. One chair shot. Sharpshooter. Less is more. I quite liked the family thing, but the execution could have been better.

- Not my sentiment, but it's true; Shawn is a great bumper, but has no offense. I have been against Shawn taking the streak since last year, so I was cheering 'Taker the whole time (rare for me, not a fan) Good stuff. Great finish.

- To me, there wasn't enough FLASH on this show. They had plenty of pyro, but they've had pyro for decades. What I liked last year were the grand entrances. Triple H shattering the glass. Shawn's angelic thing. The Cena clones. It made it special. I wish this Wrestlemania had more of this type of thing. Cena, Trips & 'Taker had little bits, but for the most part it was run-of-the-mill.

 

That wasn't the National Anthem, it was America the Beautiful...they've done this before and I have no effing idea why. SING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM YOU MORONS! And find a better singer than one of the bad American Idol winners, for Christ's sake. Youtube Carrie Underwood singing the Star Spangled Banner and tell me that wouldn't be a better opening. I digress...

 

Isn't it "World" Wrestling Federation? It's cool to sing the US National anthem at house shows in the states, but it's a bit obnoxious at an event you're promoting as a worldwide experience. America the Beautiful isn't much better, but... It's slightly better to me. Not sure why.

[lazorbeak]

Look sure you need to give them a break but give them the tag title match or the three way not the freaking diva cluster. Also don't be so damn serious.lolz

 

I'm the one being too serious? I'm not the one whining about the card position of a completely meaningless match. You're being a negative whiny smark, and since in the TNA thread you're constantly saying how terrible it is that everyone in the IWC is such a negative whiny smark, I thought maybe you'd like to be told when your comedically obvious bias was showing. It's a totally stupid smark complaint for a match that was exactly where it needed to be. I mean it'd be nice if it wasn't garbage, but it's a garbage match separating the main event from the other big matches. Really only the tag match is another option and since it has little or no effect on things, I really don't see the problem.

[Hyde Hill]

Meh difference of opinion. I think it killed the crowd instead of cooling it off and it being Wrestlemania you can actually have a couple of good matches after one another at the end.

[MrOnu]

Seems to me the event was a hit or a miss with fans. I personnaly didn't watch it nor do I plan to (card looked not very interesting to me and very predictable on top of that), so I can't comment on the actual entertainement value of the show. Results are pretty much what I expected, which is a shame in some regards as I like it when they have a big build up for Wrestlemania and they end big rivalries that night. Did they settle anything last night ? Not really, they only put an end to a rivalry between the owner and a retired wrestler and between one-soon-to-retired guy and an already semi-active wrestler; every other story will simply go on, pretty much a run-of-the-mill event like Self said.

 

As much as I like Jack Swagger and think he has all the tools to be a major player down the road, his MITB victory was unexpected. He barely had a spot on RAW lately !

[MattitudeV2]

On a side note he is how the WWE Main Event looks now.

Cena

Batista

Edge

Jericho

HHH

Taker

Orton

and now......

Swagger!!!

[jesterx7769]

He barely had a spot on RAW lately !

 

That's why he was one of the ones I said would win, he hasn't done much then they interview him during Kofi's match, we all knew Christian wouldn't win despite most picking him b/c WWE has not put him in the Main Event scene before and probably won't. Everyone is surprised but seriously else was a legit threat? No one stood head and shoulders above the others.

 

Do I see Swagger winning the title? No, I think one of two things will happen.

 

- He challenges Cena after a match, Cena being Mr. WWE beats him weak and all showing how great he is.

 

- Mr. Anderson situation where Swagger loses the MITB to someone after getting ****y (possibly Orton now that the legacy feud may be done?)

[crownsy]

I was expecting a little more than that...

 

you and i have different expectations for an elderly gentleman and a guy who had a major stroke and is himself no spring chicken then.

 

It was what it was. I thought it was fine.

 

PPV overall was very good, highlights were punk v rey and shameus vs trips from the under card.

 

All three M/E's were great, like jericho retaining (would have been to much belt swapping to give both edge and cena wins over one month champs

 

and cena v batista and HBK v Taker were awesome, like the finsh of both matches as well.

 

Great PPV, good end to the year for WWE.

[Wrestling Century]

Very good show IMO. I personally think that this has been the best PPV so far in 2010 and better than the tail end of 2009.

 

All in all, I think that WM26 was way better than WM25

 

Also Wrestling Century read your review and then think again if it was an awesome show? See how many decent and bad you had in there?

 

I didn't say that it was an awesome show. I didn't think that it felt like WM, but it was still a very good show compared to how I liked some of the other WWE PPVs.

[crownsy]

....Christ it was just as lackluster as Wrestlemania 25, only this time Taker/HBK didn't steal the show (even though it was the only match I remotely got into emotionally)

 

the MITB was blown spot after blown spot and one of the logical two winners didn't win.

 

yet if Christan had won, people would cry that it was terrible because it was so predictable.

 

The WWE and TNA can't win with the Smart marks, no matter what they do. Swagger will most likely be the first guy to cash in the MITB and lose, that's been overdue to happen storywise for about two years.

 

Christan will probably win the MITB PPV shot, and get to actually use it. Swagger is going to cash in like an idiot and lose to cena.

 

WWE is always predictable, to a point on PPV's. and that's not always a bad thing, despite what some people think is good storytelling.

 

See our TNA thread discussion, TNA will be much, much better off once they start telling good stories, rather than booking the swerve for the sake of the swerve and to try to appease the IWC (who hates on them anyway, for of course, not telling a story well enough).

 

I'm sure the IWC will immediately label them as "predictable crap" too once they start doing what the crowd wants too though.

 

Good, but not great WM. Much, much better than some of the posts in this thread give it credit for. Some times the expectations of the IWC amuse the hell out of me. If wrestling was half as epic as they claim every match should be, it would be the #1 pass time in the world

[PeterHilton]

Isn't it "World" Wrestling Federation? It's cool to sing the US National anthem at house shows in the states, but it's a bit obnoxious at an event you're promoting as a worldwide experience. America the Beautiful isn't much better, but... It's slightly better to me. Not sure why.

 

That's ridiculous. It's tradition at sporting events to play the national anthem. The Super Bowl and World Series are telecast world wide; they both start with the national anthem.

 

If the venue is in the states it's not 'obnoxious' it's what makes sense in terms of the other major 'sports' events in this country.

[PeterHilton]

I concur. What's funny is, I watched it at a friend's house (the man's such a huge WWE mark, his wife BANS WWE merch from the house....so the garage is like a shrine to VKM). Sure, $55 isn't much but I'd rather spend that on a bottle of wine or lapdances or something I'm sure to enjoy. He spent the whole broadcast yelling "What the [censored] was that [censored]?". Hilarious! Taker-HBK was on point but that basically left it as $55 for one match (to him). The bad thing about that is, he had to pass on the UFC 111, 112, 113 package to get Wrestlemania so he's feelin' really salty right about now.

 

I'm willing to deal with negative hyperbole from other people but c'mon Remi...how many lapdances are you REALLY getting for $55? One? One and a half? lol

 

Good, but not great WM. Much, much better than some of the posts in this thread give it credit for. Some times the expectations of the IWC amuse the hell out of me. If wrestling was half as epic as they claim every match should be, it would be the #1 pass time in the world

 

I'm with crownsy. My only niggling complaints would be that giving all that time to HBKs farewell could've been better spent giving a few more minutes here and there to Rey/Punk, the tag title match, and HHH/SHeamus.

 

But truthfully, that was probably one of those deals where everyone on the card was given the heads up to not go long to make sure the main event had plenty of time. So with everyone being careful, you end up with too much time at the end. Meh.

 

Also, am i the only one who thinks that Bret going too long with his beatdown on Vince could set up for a heel run? I mean, towards the end he was not the guy I was rooting for in that match. Heel Bret as a GM on Raw?

[FlameSnoopy]

2) Taker vs HBK. Not a good match. Not even memorable really. Taker is spent. Very disappointed that this match was so lame feeling. There were a few good spots but all in all it did not feel epic.

 

Wow man.. You gotta be kidding me. That might have just been (and probably is) the best match I have seen in my life. No, not your Kobashi vs. Misawa, not your Japanese Wrestler #1 vs. Japanese Wrestler #2 matches, but Taker vs. HBK. Epic. Just. Epic.

[Self]

That's ridiculous. It's tradition at sporting events to play the national anthem. The Super Bowl and World Series are telecast world wide; they both start with the national anthem.

 

If the venue is in the states it's not 'obnoxious' it's what makes sense in terms of the other major 'sports' events in this country.

 

Super Bowl is for American Football. The World Series is for Baseball (right?). Two sports very few outside of the US cares about. Their entire identities are rooted in Americana, therefore the American national anthem is very appropriate. WWE on the other hand... I dunno, maybe they're going for the same American-heavy vibe, but I figured they were trying to project a more global image.

 

Then again, World Cup games all begin with the national anthems, adding to the fervour of National Pride... It's a shame we can't get anthems for all of the guys. Sheamus. McIntyre. The Canadians.

 

I will however agree that my reaction on here went a little overboard. Watching it, it didn't bother me that much. I thought "Huh, that's kinda weird." and went on making my bacon roll. Typing magnifies my misgivings.

[UkWrestleFan]

Maybe they won't have Swagger cash it for a while. He's got a whole year. Since MITB started, I've wanted somebody to hang onto the case for a while before cashing in. Maybe that'll be Swagger.

 

Or, maybe somebody will challenge Swagger for the case. He thinks he's so fantastic and can beat anybody but he loses.

[The Masked Orange]

I want Swagger to win the World Title. The title's aren't as prestigous as they used to be and many people have a problem witht that. I think it's actually really good business sense, with the 2 brands and using it as a device to build stars as they hold it rather than when they win it.

 

In Giant Redwood's profile it talks about how USPW made less money while he was chmpion. In the WWE they have nearly eliminated that problem.

[FlameSnoopy]

Maybe they won't have Swagger cash it for a while. He's got a whole year. Since MITB started, I've wanted somebody to hang onto the case for a while before cashing in. Maybe that'll be Swagger.

 

Or, maybe somebody will challenge Swagger for the case. He thinks he's so fantastic and can beat anybody but he loses.

 

Edge?