BLOG: WrestleMania Reaction
By: Tim Grzecki
@tjetski971
My opinion of WrestleMania has changed in the hours following its finish last night. Perhaps it was the overall off experience I had viewing it that made me think the biggest event of the American Pro Wrestling year was a huge hunk of stinky garbage. I did miss the first two matches of the night trying to get the connection from the wireless device we were using to stream off The WWE Network to my brother's TV to work. Once we did get it to "work" the signal was never fantastic. Then the internet, the device, or the network took a crap right before the big ending of the show causing us to miss the biggest moment of the night. Now that I've had some time, and I've gone back and rewatched portions of the show, I no longer am of the opinion that it was a huge hunk of stinky garbage…just that it was garbage. An opinion that I apparently stand alone on as all I read on Twitter and Facebook last night were positive things. So why did I find the event to be so bad? Well….
First of all the Sting vs HHH match should have been the highlight of the evening and instead it sucked. Sorry, it flat sucked. The involvement of The NWO and DX served no purpose and completely ruined what until that point was a good match. Not only did it serve no purpose it made ZERO SENSE. The DX guys were still able to run to the ring, meanwhile The NWO looked like they needed walkers. Were we supposed to forget that X Pac was a member of both DX as well as The NWO? Were we also supposed to forget that HHH, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall are infamously best friends? So why were Hall and Nash against their best friend? Not to mention Sting was always a thorn in the side of Hulk Hogan's NWO…so why were they there to back Sting up? The whole thing was convoluted and stupid. Not to mention Sting losing the match is an embarrassment. HHH did not need to get over. WWE did not need to get over. The fans NEEDED their moment with Sting at WrestleMania. Sting DESERVED his moment at WrestleMania. But it didn't happen. Hell unless I missed it both times I watched that part of the show, Lillian Garcia never even introduced Sting for crying out loud. Huge hunk of stinky garbage.
Secondly, the promo segment with The Authority, The Rock and Rona Rousey was arduous at best. It took FOR…EV…ER and the payoff in my mind was not worth it. Yes there were some entertaining one-liners from The Rock. Yes the thought of Rousey whooping the hell out of Stephanie McMahon makes me smile. But that's never going to happen…not legitimately at least. The "arm bar" was weak. So what was the purpose of it all? Oh yeah, put over The Authority, put over the WWE. Heaven forbid a match takes up that time and they actually put over some talent. Again, huge hunk of stinky garbage.
Next, stop trying to force Roman Reigns. Look we'll get to how good the match was in a bit, but the way it was booked to continue to try get Reigns over with the crowd was just ridiculous. It's not working!!! Memo to the WWE, the guy you are trying to make a top baby face was BOOED when he kicked out of Brock Lesnar's F5. He was BOOED. The attempt to book Reigns as this guy who just wouldn't give up didn't work…because he's not over. The people do not like him. Turn him heel or cool him off and try again later. I read someone say that the WWE made Reigns last night. Correction, they TRIED to make Reigns last night. From what I saw it didn't take.
Finally, the amount of time that was actually spent wrestling is just too short. That's a general complaint about these events as of late but it was glaring last night. Now I didn't actually time out the wrestling, however I did read something written by someone who had and based on their numbers come out to roughly 85 minutes of actual wrestling. So out of a four hour show, there was action for an hour and 25 minutes of it. That's a damn disgrace. There's no reason the average match time at the biggest event of the year should be about 12 minutes. It's time to trim out the garbage of these events and get back to what is supposed to be the core of the product, the action in the ring. What's that line I've been beating like a dead horse? Oh yeah, huge hunk of stinky garbage.
Like I said, though my opinion of the show overall has improved. The ladder match that opened the show was solid. Had a few good spots like when Dean Ambrose was piledrived through the ladder on the outside, or when Stardust was suplexed off the top of the ladder. Randy Orton vs Seth Rollins was as good as I expected. The Divas match, while not the greatest from a technical execution standpoint, told a good story and proved that when the ladies are given "time" and the opportunity to just wrestle they are more than capable. Hell, even though I found their match to be pointless in the grand scheme of things, Undertaker looked great and he and Bray Wyatt put on a good performance.
The highlight of the evening however, and the main reason I have eased up on my opinion of the night was the main event. Lesnar dominated Reigns in a fashion that only Lesnar has been allowed to do in recent memory. The perceived and actual force and power behind Lesnar's moves make the action almost believable. The story the match tried to tell was good, despite my opinion that it fell short. Both men did the little things right. Reigns expressions were on point. Lesnar taking his gloves off was a nice touch. When Lesnar appeared to be legitimately injured I actually thought the WWE was going to go through with putting the title on Reigns.
Then the crowning moment, Rollins comes to the ring and cashes in his Money in Bank contract. The match becomes a Triple Threat, Rollins hits a couple curb stomps on Lesnar, hits a couple on Reigns, pins Reigns and becomes the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion and the crowd goes crazy. It made sense. It was surprising. It set the table for the upcoming months of booking. After a huge hunk of stinky garbage of a show the WWE pulled off the perfect ending, effectively removing the "huge hunk of stinky" portion of my thoughts on the show.
