WWE WrestleMania 34 - Official Discussion Thread [SPOILERS ONGOING]

[nufan]

Don't know about retiring, but there has been plenty of speculation he is injured

Also the new Raw tag team champion is the son of a referee

Obvious a plant kid, I was actually thinking he does a duplex city thing and gets a different kid from the crowd whenever the titles get defended, but I’m a mark.

Dave Schilling says he has the same injury in his neck the Edge head but was said in passing

 

[Chops18]

Not really a big poster on this board but I thought Mania was great.

Can anyone confirm the rumour I heard in a podcast the Sheamus is injured to the point where he may retire soon? Hence the squash and lack of participation recently

From the things I've heard it's similar to the same injury that forced Edge to retire. Hope it's not the case though, wouldn't wish injuries let alone career ending injuries on anyone.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

I think I liked TakeOver more than this. Not just because the matches were better but the football stadium is ******* massive and you lose the intimacy. Looking forward to going back to the basketball stadium tomorrow (today). Will be hitting the alcohol now the 'serious' stuff is over.

 

[Cleavy]

so overall thumbs in the middle leaning up? 6/10?

Am I too generous?

 

[Bomberboyokay]

so overall thumbs in the middle leaning up? 6/10?

Am I too generous?

Only read the posts from the main event on but sounds like most of you hated it!

 

[Sippa]

Vince needs to * off this mania had so much potential and started so well and he just botched it

Some of the most bizarre bookings I’ve ever seen

 

[Cleavy]

no Kid Rock performance and no Kid Rock for the live HOF segment. Did he go and get liquored up with Alberto Del Rio?

 

[Ry009]

Only read the posts from the main event on but sounds like most of you hated it!

First half was decent and then after the mixed tag just became hot garbage with typical nonsensical booking.

 

[Selim]

ok so Brock has beaten Joe, Braun, Kane, Roman who the hell does he go against next and can they win the title on Raw tomoz cause i dont like Brock

is it really going to be Lashley

 

[Freight Train]

Well, here's my take on the event.

• The 'Dre - It was what it was. Not bad, but only so much you can do with every man in the ring at once. Matt Hardy winning was a decent call, interesting to see how the Bray thing transpires. 5/10.

• Alexander vs. Ali - Decent match for the time given, but could have been a lot more with more time, which they could have had given it was the preshow. 7/10.

• Not The First Ever WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal - Ehhhhhhh. Only thing that's interesting is that Bayley may have turned heel. Would have liked to see Becky, or one of the NXT women take it out. Not that it matters, it'll all be forgotten about in a week or two. 4/10.

• Balor vs. Miz vs. Rollins - Very high quality match. Very well worked by all three guys, and I enjoyed the story of Miz actually not needing the Miztourage tonight, despite losing. Seth's entrance was pretty dope too. 8/10.

• Charlotte vs. Asuka - Another very solid match. Was pretty much what I expected, definitely lived up to the billing. I'm actually a fan of Charlotte breaking the streak, in the sense that there's mystery behind Asuka's weekly matches now. Like, Asuka's not gonna drop the streak to a cheeky roll up from Dana Brooke on Raw on some s**t and lose the streak, but not it's an anything-can-happen sorta thing. Charlotte is a machine, and probably the best female wrestler in the history of the WWE. 8.5/10

• Orton vs. Rusev vs. Jinder vs. Roode - Passable match. No one really got a chance to steal the show in such a short match, and from a biased point of view I just don't like Jinder and I love Rusev so the finish soured on me. Did like the moment towards the end of Rusev soaking in the crowd, I hope he gets his moment in the sun soon. Overall though, a pass mark. 6/10.

• Angle/Rousey vs. Triple H/Steph - A surprisingly fun and enjoyable match. I didn't mind that the rulebook went out the window because the story was told well by Hunter that basically, he owned the referee. Ronda holds her own well in a ring, which didn't surprise me. Steph did a great job of playing the chickenshit heel, and Angle/HHH was a nice throwback. Best part was HHH wincing at Ronda's strikes though, that cracked me up. I look forward to seeing more of Ronda. 8/10.

• SmackDown Tag Team Match - Disappointing, but at no fault of any of the men in the match. It was a five minute clusterf**k, which did nothing really to showcase the talents of any of those involved, especially the Usos who have been absolute all-stars since their heel turn. 4.5/10.

• Undertaker vs. Cena - I personally enjoyed how this all unfolded. It's no secret I'm a huge Undertaker fan, and goddamn Elias coming out was brilliant. Very, very well played. I'll admit there's a sense of disappointment about the whole thing though, half of which is my own fault for building up the idea that Taker should return as the ABA. The hat and coat in the ring bit was... interesting to say the least. The match itself was sorely lacking, and not because it was a three minute squash. I'd be okay with a three minute squash, but it didn't feel like there was enough offence to justify it. Felt more like when Hulk Hogan used to come out and beat up on guys by no selling punches and hitting the leg drop. Whole thing seemed to be more about a WrestleMania Moment than a match, which I understand, but I'd have liked to see a decent 10-15min match, especially after all the build over the last month. Something to me feels like this isn't Taker riding off into the sunset, which is what I guess I was hoping for. Still, 5/10.

• Bryan/Shane vs. KO/SZ - Yay, it's time for the annual "let's make Shane look like a credible threat in the ring" match! Despite having to look past the fact Shane who isn't a trained wrestler was holding off two of the best wrestlers in the industry by himself for a good length of time, the match wasn't bad. Told a decent story, and of course seeing Daniel Bryan back, and looking as if he hasn't missed a beat was great. 7/10.

• Nia Jax vs. Alexa - A match that went for ten minutes that needed to go for two. Nia should have squashed Alexa and that be that, the match wasn't anything special, in fact I enjoyed seeing Nia kill Mickie more than the match itself. Take 8 minutes from this and give it to Taker/Cena or any of the other underchanged matches. Hell, this could have sat on the pre-show. 3/10.

• Styles vs. Nakamura - I don't know what it was... but I just didn't enjoy the match. I love both guys and I love their work and I love their match in Japan... but there was something wrong with this match and I can't put my finger on it. Whether it was just exhaustion from such a long card, or whether something just wasn't clicking, or the lack of any sort of build other than hyping it as a dream match, idk. May as well have turned Nakamura heel after the Rumble if this was the direction to go in, and actually give it a decent build instead of knee-to-face taunts and patting each other on the head. Can't say it didn't get enough time to deliver, but the match fell flat, and so did the finish. The only thing that perked me up was Nakamura turning heel, which I would be more excited for if I didn't feel like it will be handled poorly. It wasn't a bad match by any means, but when you know these two can pull off a 10/10, it makes anything less feel like a 2/10. Still, 6.5/10.

• Braun & Nicholas vs. The Bar - A bit of fun I suppose, and assuming the kid isn't just a paid child actor, that's a cool moment he will have for the rest of his life. As far as I'm aware, if the title reign stands as legitimate, Nicholas will be the youngest WWE title-holder in history I believe. The match was okay for what it was, which is a glorified, manufactured WrestleMania Moment, but it sucks for Sheamus and Cesaro who have killed it the past year, to get squashed by Braun. Not a good night to be a tag team champion. 5/10.

• Lesnar vs. Reigns - What a steaming pile of dogshit. Like, Taker/Reigns last year was bad, but f**k me this was abysmal. I think five moves were used betweeen the two of them, Reigns kicked out of like 5 F5's, and the only interesting part was Brock not giving a f**k and busting Reigns open like a faucet. I'm glad Reigns didn't win, but I'm also pissed off that he didn't because the title has been held hostage for a year so we can have the WM31 coronation that we never got. Instead, Brock still has the title and guys like Braun, Balor, Rollins, Miz, Joe etc. are left without any chance of winning a world title any time soon. 2/10.

Other noteworthy points of the night

• Not sure what the story with the audio was, but it was very weird. Saw it in the cinemas so could really notice all the gating and gain changes, especially when commentators were talking, like they were trying to drain BG noise or something. Very weird.
• CGI entrances were horrible. The technology was s**t in the 90s, and it's still s**t now. Only one it worked for was the New Day.
• Sad reacts only to no Demon King Balor.
• If the ref coming up to Cena, and Cena sprinting backstage doesn't become a two-panel meme of the month, life is not worth living.
• Charlotte's entrance was a nice throwback to WrestleMania XXX. Very nice.
• Huge opportunity missed to use Asukas masks as the main graphic for her entrance. Also, it was surprisingly lacklustre.
• Triple H must have a good deal on these hired motorcycles.
  
• Shinsuke's entrance was siiiiiiiick.
• Shinsuke turning heel is siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick.
• Positive point with no silly backstage comedy segments or 15-min Kid Rock concert.
  
• Cannot believe the show still closed to Reigns walking up the ramp to his music. Well, actually, I can.

Overall, the card on paper could have been one of the best ever, in the same conversation as X-Seven and XIX. Which from the opening few matches, it really had the potential to be. But, it's the WWE, and it's Vince. So, of course it went to s**t. Overall, a 6/10 and that's being somewhat generous.

 

[Chops18]

Some questionable decisions but the one that actually irked me was KO and Sami losing.

 

[Chops18]

ok so Brock has beaten Joe, Braun, Kane, Roman who the hell does he go against next and can they win the title on Raw tomoz cause i dont like Brock

is it really going to be Lashley

If not Lashley I'd guess Batista.

 

[Cleavy]

ok so Brock has beaten Joe, Braun, Kane, Roman who the hell does he go against next and can they win the title on Raw tomoz cause i dont like Brock

is it really going to be Lashley

Daniel Bryan

 

[eddiesmith]

Whilst everyone is blaming Vince, maybe the show turned to s**t after the Rousey match because HHH was no longer focused on his match and was ******* up the show...

 

[Cleavy]

so Nicholas is the son of referee John Cone. I liked it better when I thought/assumed he was a "make a wish" kid.

 

[eddiesmith]

so overall thumbs in the middle leaning up? 6/10?

Am I too generous?

About right, nothing great but nothing that makes you absolutely hate the show

 

[eDPS]

Daniel Bryan

Have Nakamura beat him and get Heyman to align with him, something different and fresh would be nice.

 

[AFDogs]

Overall, the card on paper could have been one of the best ever, in the same conversation as X-Seven and XIX. Which from the opening few matches, it really had the potential to be. But, it's the WWE, and it's Vince. So, of course it went to s**t. Overall, a 6/10 and that's being somewhat generous.

Gone to s**t = a 6/10?

I like your analysis but your comments don't really reflect a 6/10 rating. It seems like your expectations were (unreasonably) high.

Not really questioning your thoughts on the show, though.

 

[Freight Train]

Whilst everyone is blaming Vince, maybe the show turned to s**t after the Rousey match because HHH was no longer focused on his match and was ******* up the show...

AFAIK, Vince still calls the shots with the main roster. Hunter only does NXT.

 

[Freight Train]

Gone to s**t = a 6/10?

I like your analysis but your comments don't really reflect a 6/10 rating. It seems like your expectations were (unreasonably) high.

Not really questioning your thoughts on the show, though.

I'll admit I had high expectations - but I think 6/10 is fair given the quality of the first half of the show. End of the day, my rating system is no Meltzer system, like, it's basically how much I enjoyed watching it.

 

[Sippa]

Usos have been the best tag team by the length of Flemington the last 12 months.. they get in the ring with the new day and tear the absolute house down.. so Vince logic give them a 5 minute head * and drop titles...

First 2 matches were unreal and I was super pumped the rest of the show would deliver... how you can have Rusev eat a pin to Jinder when he is as over nearly as Bryan was is beyond me..

Mixed tag was decent but went too long and I was getting frustrated with them trying to make Steph look so strong as if she could block those submissions... hats off to hhh for taking so much and to Ronda in that match

Styles nakamura was ok but I was a bit let down it kind of felt like they held back ... heel turn was a good move

Raw woman’s match should have been on kickoff was a waste of time.. should have done Carmella cash in

Raw tag was a joke I just can’t get behind that angle they s**t on the bar’s whole last 18 months .. they had an opportunity to form an awesome tag team somewhere and they botched it... I can’t get around a kid winning the title at mania to a team so highly credentialed like the bar it was a joke st least do it with someone like Ellsworth or slater

Universal what can I say biggest joke the match no one wanted to see.. crowd chanting this is awful .. those 2 had no ability to string a match together it was just signature after signature and even in defeat Vince is trying to get Roman over by continuing to fight and be resilient

Oh and taker squash is a joke .. cena kicks out of 3 finishes on a normal night of raw and gets squashed in 3 minutes by an old looking taker.... they missed an opportunity by not doing aba character... why leave takers hat in the ring last year and have his speech st raw 25 to just do the same thing again .....

I’m so mad I’m done let me know when hhh takes over

 

[AFDogs]

I'll admit I had high expectations - but I think 6/10 is fair given the quality of the first half of the show. End of the day, my rating system is no Meltzer system, like, it's basically how much I enjoyed watching it.

I guess it's hard to sustain an entertaining show from start to finish on such a long program. First half of the show was ace though.

I must admit though, apart from Nia/Bliss and at moments during Nakamura/AJ Styles I never really looked away and was absolutely engrossed in the show. And that's all I can really ask for as a guy who used to watch WWE religiously.

 

[timtamWB]

As a side note, shinsuke's entrance to me wasn't great because that guitarist's playing was suuuuuuuper average. I know she's a great guitarist but tonight was pretty bad from her.

 

[Selim]

If not Lashley I'd guess Batista.

id be down for Batista tbh but like i would need him to win the title asap i cant do another 6 months of Brock as champ ffs

 

[TradeDraft]

That last bit with Roman slowly walking to the back and then fade to credits makes me think even more they changed the ending.l

Why you think that?