The Wrestling Thread: WWE WrestleMania XL - 6/7 April 2024

[captain red dog]

Watching night 2 now. How they managed to top the sheer shite of Bray's previously matches, and this feud in general is beyond me, but by god they did it. Shite without comparison!

Didn't look like Bray in the Fiend costume though, so I wonder if the rumours of Bo Dallas playing him is true.

[Corazon de Leon]

I thought the main event was great. The rest of the night was fairly average with a couple of decent matches and one very good one(women's title match).

[Prototype]

The good things about Mania week:

Bianca
Rhea
Cesaro
Ciampa/Walter (and most of Takeover tbf)

[captain red dog]

Just seen the women's tag. It got a bit of hate but didn't seem to be a bad match to me. One thing I noticed is that Bazsler seems really awkward running the ropes, almost like she has dodgy knees now or something.

Jax also seems incredibly slow. I don't like to comment on weight when it comes to the women's division, but she definitely seems larger than before and it doesn't seem she can really move much. Reminds me of the difference in Big Show when he was at a heavier weight.

Still a bit baffled that people are calling the main event a classic. It was a good match no doubt, but to me it was just a decent triple threat. There wasn't really anything new or exciting in it, or many memorable spots. Nothing went wrong, and like I say it was a good match, but it didn't have me on the edge of my seat.

[tomvek]

Well managed to get through the second night, first was definitely better. Main event was decent (especially in comparison to the rest of the card) and enjoyed the Owens/Zayn match. They did their best to ruin it for me with their cuts to Logan Paul hamming it up, but at least they did the right thing and got him to eat the stunner to get some value out of him.

Considering night 2 featured 5 title matches, it was a massive let down (not that I was expecting much from this era of WWE).

[captain red dog]

All done with night 2 now. As everyone says, night 1 was better, although night 2 wasn't bad. They should really have switched the main events though as it would have been better to end with Bianca winning.

Theyve injected a lot of talent in the women's division, but they are still going to quickly burn through any compelling feuds. I guess that's the nature of having to pump out so much content.

[tomvek]

Reducing the amount of content they put out would be a massive positive for me. If it was just a 2 hour Raw, NXT and a PPV every 2 months or so, then I'd be more than happy. Never going to happen though especially with Nick Khan recently saying they're more of a media company than a wrestling one. Putting out this much TV with their current deals just makes them too much money.

[KK]

Neither WWE or AEW seem to subscribe to the mantra of less is more. For the majority of people it then becomes increasingly difficult to keep up with all the storylines and character developments.

AEW now has 2 hours of Dynamite, 2 hours of Dark and another 2 hours of Dark Evolution (both of which regularly go longer), with another weekly TNT show on the way (surely one of the supplemental shows will then be dumped). AEW's viewing figures and overall quality have been on the slide for a while now and I wouldn't be surprised if it's because they've hired too much talent and are creating around 6-7 hours of first-run every week.

The amount of programming WWE has had this week alone must test even the most diehard of their fan base.

[teh bork]

Neither WWE or AEW seem to subscribe to the mantra of less is more. For the majority of people it then becomes increasingly difficult to keep up with all the storylines and character developments.

AEW now has 2 hours of Dynamite, 2 hours of Dark and another 2 hours of Dark Evolution (both of which regularly go longer), with another weekly TNT show on the way (surely one of the supplemental shows will then be dumped). AEW's viewing figures and overall quality have been on the slide for a while now and I wouldn't be surprised if it's because they've hired too much talent and are creating around 6-7 hours of first-run every week.

The amount of programming WWE has had this week alone must test even the most diehard of their fan base.

Not to mention the whole AEW and TNA situation.

Both companies are going overkill with their products and it’s not going to get any better.

[KK]

Just realised I've gone and done a Big Show, the show is called Elevation not Evolution.

Something tells me that the new lead RAW commentator won't be the lead RAW commentator by the end of 2021...

[captain red dog]

Yeah there was a part of the commentary where the new guy stopped mid-sentence in the first match, and covered by saying MVP was talking to him. It was obviously Vince in his ear.

I don't know why they just don't have Cole do Raw and Smackdown. Whilst he isn't exactly a legendary commentator, he is the only one who can do what Vince requires of him.

I remember in the late 90s, you'd be dying for a whole week to see the next episode of Raw. But with NXT, Smackdown, AEW and all their secondary shows, there is just too much content to sustain interest.

AEW started well and built some nice hype for the following week. But it has been quickly diluted and it feels like despite having a large roster, they seem to have burned through all the interesting feuds. Also doesn't help that they get a new talent and job them out straight away.

[KK]

“Oh my goodness!” took me back to 1999 where Michael Cole couldn’t stop saying “wait a minute!”.

McMahon tried forever to replace Jim Ross. Couldn’t do it. Kept bringing him back. Now they’re trying to replace Michael Cole. Can’t do it. They either get announcers that are fine such as Joey Styles but don’t commentate in the style Vince likes so they get dumped. Or people that are so diabolically God-awful like Mike Adamle it’s painfully obvious they won’t last 5 minutes.

Has to be the worst post WrestleMania RAW since...I dunno. Maybe Mania 9.

[captain red dog]

Amazingly they did pretty good on the ratings so they have probably turned a fair few 100,000 off until next Mania.

It's a tough spot as I can imagine they would normally bring a few people back or bring up some NXT talent on the post Mania Raw, but they aren't really going to want to do that until they have fans back.

[Return_of_the_STAR]

Amazingly they did pretty good on the ratings so they have probably turned a fair few 100,000 off until next Mania.

It's a tough spot as I can imagine they would normally bring a few people back or bring up some NXT talent on the post Mania Raw, but they aren't really going to want to do that until they have fans back.

Indeed, that’s the problem. It was never going to be a raw of any note due to covid.

[Slimgrady]

Canceled the network after the incredible drop in enjoyment levels from ‘Mania to Raw, seems to be back to the same old monotonous repeated matches and I have zero interest in Backlash. If things are back to normal for summer slam and there’s a good card, say Lashley/Lesnar, I might reconsider. That being said I subscribe to BT Sports so I’m sure I can’t avoid the Fed full time

[Prototype]

Samoa Joe
Chelsea Green
Tucker
Kalisto
Wesley Blake
Billie Kay
Bo Dallas
Mickie James

All released.

[Mafro]

Green is nailed-on AEW.

[Prototype]

Green is nailed-on AEW.

So is Joe, surely?

[CuriousOyster]

Billie Kay (suprised) and Mickie James (seen this coming, seemed pissed off) as well

[Mafro]

Peyton Royce gone too.