The Wrestling Thread: WWE WrestleMania 31 [NSFW]

[KK]

Just caught the tail end of NXT. I see they've changed the ring canvas to black. If it wasn't for the change to yellow ropes, it'd be like an old nWo show. Stark contrast to other WWE shows which are so colourful.

[Return_of_the_STAR]

Shock and horror it's triple h to save his daddy in law.

[Codename 47]

Shock and horror it's triple h to save his daddy in law.

I knew it would lead to their feud starting up again but part of me still hoped for Undertaker and Lesnar for 'Mania. That said, this brawl has probably already topped their Summerslam match

[Return_of_the_STAR]

Jesus Brock is busted open bad.

Brock Looks in better shape though than his more recent appearances.

[KK]

How damn hard did Lesnar hit the ring post.

[Psychic]

That Miz fight scene looked terrible.

[KK]

The return of Old School RAW and the RAW IS WAR set next week!

[Codename 47]

I don't think i've ever seen a Raw with so many movie trailers in it. Oscar weekend or not.

[KK]

Can't believe they've decided to bring back Tout.

[Codename 47]

I have a sort of feeling it might be Taker against the Shield.

Just for a minute when they said "is there anyone else?" I thought the lights were gonna go out and Undertaker would come down to confront them after you mentioned that. I don't get Sheamus, is he feuding with The Shield or Barrett?

[KK]

You'll know if Undertaker is coming out as there's usually a carpet placed on the ramp for his entrance.

[Codename 47]

Pretty awesome main event to be fair. Those two have such a good chemistry together, dare I say a Punk/Cena match for the title would have been more than worthy of main eventing Mania. Here's hoping Rock vs Cena can be as close to being as good as this match was.

[KK]

Location: Dallas, Texas
Attendance: 17,000
Commentators: Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler

Hour 1

Vince McMahon, looking better than he has in years, made his way down to the ring on crutches to kick off RAW. He demanded Paul Heyman come out. Heyman, wearing a black tracksuit, made his way out and confronted Vince in the ring. Heyman told Vince that he has as much chance of beating him tonight as Tony Romo has of leading the Dallas Cowboys to the Super Bowl. Crowd booed. Heyman then said he wants to send him a message, before suddenly tackling Vince to the mat and nailing him with a crutch to the knee. Vince managed to get back to his feet. As Heyman was about to hit him once more, Vince grabbed the crutch and took it off Heyman. As Vince began to lay waste to Paul Heyman with one of his crutches, Brock Lesnar's music filled the arena. Before Lesnar was seemingly about to attack Vince once more in the ring, Triple H's music hit and he slowly made his way down to the ring to confront Lesnar. Brock left the ring and met Triple H in the aisleway. Both men brawled around ringside, before Lesnar was posted extremely hard into the ring post, splitting him wide open. As the camera did its best to avoid filming Brock's head, Triple H sent Lesnar over the barricade into the timekeepers bell table. Lesnar fought back and slammed HHH onto the announce table. Brock tossed Triple H back into the ring, and grabbed a steel chair. HHH countered and hit a Spinebuster on Brock, before grabbing the chair and proceeding to waylay him in the back. Lesnar exited the ring, as Triple H stood tall in the ring, and an extremely bloodied Lesnar smiled in the aisle.

Back from commercial, Michael Cole asked fans to Tout their thoughts on the prior segment.

Match 1: Ryback pinned Dolph Ziggler (w/Big E Langston and AJ Lee) with Shell Shocked despite repeated interference from AJ Lee and Big E. The "Goldberg" chant once again reared its head.

They aired a trailer for upcoming WWE Studios film The Call staring Halle Berry.

CM Punk made his way to the ring as we headed to break.

CM Punk cut a promo proclaiming he was God, and that tonight wasn't about Cena, The Rock, WrestleMania or even the WWE Championship, but rather it was all about CM Punk.

WWE announced that Donald Trump would be a "Celebrity Honouree" into the Hall of Fame class 2013.

Match 2: In a quick and hard hitting bout, Mark Henry defeated The Great Khali with the World's Strongest Slam.

They aired a clip from DVD and Blu Ray exclusive The Marine 3 staring The Miz. Coming to a petrol station near you soon.

The Miz made his way out for MizTV.

Hour 2

They aired a Fandango. Go. Go. Go. vignette, with an announcement that'll he'll finally be débuting on Social Media SmackDown Friday.

Miz, Zeb Colter, Jack Swagger, Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo were in the ring for MizTV. Long segment played completely straight. There was initially a problem with the microphones, which resulted in a rather prolonged silence as they faffed about replacing it with one that worked. Zeb Colter went on a tirade about illegal and "criminal" Mexican immigrants crossing the border. He said many Mexicans see Del Rio on TV but have no hopes of reaching the same level of success. But instead of leaving and going back home when they've failed, they conveniently forget to leave America. Del Rio said Zeb Colter and Jack Swagger were nothing but bullies who hide behind the Constitution, and there's nothing he hates more than bullies. Del Rio said if they want him to leave, then why don't they do something about it right now. Swagger grabbed the microphone and said they will...at WrestleMania. He closed out by saying "We The People". Crowd were mildly more into this than in previous weeks.

They showed what happened during the break on WWE Active. Zeb Colter confronted The Miz on the ramp and said he didn't like the biased way he had conducted the interview. Miz was then blind-sided by Jack Swagger.

Match 3: In a non-title match Randy Orton defeated United States Champion Antonio Cesaro with an RKO as Cesaro was coming off the turnbuckle.

With JBL being away, it was announced Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole would be on a special 'Live' SMS SmackDown.

They announced the return of WWE: Old School RAW for next week.

Kane and Bryan were watching on backstage. Bryan said why don't they try and get along from now on. Bryan said Kane should stay in the corner tonight, and that he could beat their opponents blind folded. Kane retorted Bryan should stay in the corner and that he could beat their opponents with one arm tied behind his back. Vickie Guerrero and Brad The Mad Ox arrived and said they'd like to see exactly that. Brad called them "Team Brickie", and they announced Kane and Bryan would face the Prime Time Players later tonight.

They re-aired the John Cena and JBL movie trailer spoof from WrestleMania 21.

Sheamus, wearing a tuxedo, made his way out to present Oscar Snubs. They said they'd overlooked a great actor last night in Wade Barrett. In the third movie plug of the night, Sheamus aired a trailer for Dead Man Down. Sheamus said it was a great movie. Sheamus said he wanted to show another clip from the film. This was all at the expense of Wade Barrett, who has a blink-and-you'll-miss-him part in the film. Wade Barrett interrupted, laughing his head off. He said it's well known that the Irish love the colour green, and that it was clearly evident Sheamus was green with envy. In the ring Wade tried to cheap shot Sheamus, but Sheamus ducked and was about to hit the Brogue Kick when Wade made his escape.

Damien Sandow was on commentary as they re-aired R-Truth attacking him last week.

Match 4: R-Truth defeated Cody Rhodes. After the match, Sandow attempted to get the jump on Truth, but was quickly dispatched.

They aired a video from Zeb Colter and Jack Swagger's YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/wethepeoplezeb on the subject of Jobs. This was funny as they were using a fan to make it look like they were doing this outside in front of a shed or something, rather than in front of a green screen indoors.

Match 5: In a non-title comedy bout, a blindfolded Daniel Bryan (who had a bag on his head) and a one armed Kane defeated The Prime Time Players when Kane Chokeslammed Darren Young for the win.

Hour 3

They re-aired highlights of the opening segment. WWE once again asked fans to Tout their thoughts on it.

The Shield came out from the crowd to cut a promo. They said things have got to get worse before they get better. And that things are going to get a lot worse. They said they're hear to take people out of their comfort zone, and that nobody is going to stop them from fighting and winning every single time. They said at TLC they solved the "John Cena problem". They did? They called Chris Jericho a washed up rockstar. Everyone that's stepped in front of them, they've defeated. Sheamus' music hit and he made his way onto the ramp. He said if they wanted a fight they could come up there and face him. The Shield obliged. As the other two were about to contend with Sheamus on the stage, Randy Orton snuck up on Rollins in the ring and delivered an RKO, before scarpering back through the crowd.

Match 6: Jack Swagger (w/Zeb Colter) tapped out The Miz with the Patriot Lock submission.

Michael Cole said there's a video of him attempting to get an interview with Glen Beck earlier today on YouTube.

Jerry Lawler was eating Sonic's new popcorn chicken at the announce table. I guess he gave up waiting for the Domino's Pizza to arrive from last time.

They re-aired highlights of last week when The Rock unveiled the new WWE Championship.

They aired Triple H sending a Tout - his first ever - to Brock Lesnar.

They re-aired the opening brawl between Lesnar and HHH again.

They aired various fan Touts.

Josh Mathews interviewed Mr Jollities John Cena backstage. Basically a drawn out promo in which John Cena vowed victory.

They aired a video promoting Chris Jericho's Robot Combat League on SyFy tomorrow night.

They aired yet another movie trailer, once again for Dead Man Down.

They aired a fan video (re-uploaded by WWE as a Tout) of the Undertaker returning at a Live Event over the weekend.

Main Event: John Cena vs. CM Punk. Long match which went through 2 commercial breaks. Lots of near falls, with both men repeatedly kicking out of and reversing each others finishers. Biggest shock was CM Punk hitting a Piledriver. Finish saw John Cena perform a Hurricanrana, and then the Attitude Adjustment on Punk to retain his position as Number 1 Contender to face WWE Champion The Rock at WrestleMania.

WWE From The Vault: The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio, RAW July 2011

[captain red dog]

Odd they are holding off on Taker. 5 weeks seems quite short but I guess they figure most people see Taker as a dead cert to be at Mania so no need to go too long on an angle.

[Skippy]

Looks like Taker/Punk then. HHH/Brock will be a street fight probably.

It's not a bad card, these are all either matches with great potential or that have happened before and were good matches. It's just a bit uninspired and obvious. Still, Sheamus/Barrett and Del Rio/Swagger is a great start to an undercard, so hopefully they keep that going.

[Johnny Ryall]

The return of Old School RAW and the RAW IS WAR set next week!

The scaffolding titan tron?

[KK]

The scaffolding titan tron?

[Codename 47]

Pretty awesome main event to be fair. Those two have such a good chemistry together, dare I say a Punk/Cena match for the title would have been more than worthy of main eventing Mania. Here's hoping Rock vs Cena can be as close to being as good as this match was.

The match was really good. Doubt Cena/Rock will match up to that sadly.

You're probably right unfortunately. You have to say Cena vs Punk was far better than Punk vs Rock's last couple of matches. Whether Cena is capable of carrying the Rock to a good match at 'Mania i'm not sure to be honest. Rock used to be about quick bursts and a lot of fast paced action and if he doesn't have the cardio for that then it can leave his matches looking a little labored. One thing that did shock me about the Cena/Punk match is that we saw a piledriver for like the first time in years.

And I have to hold my hands up and say I am kinda looking forward to Lesnar/HHH now. They have to make it a last man standing match or something. I can't remember if the SS match was a street fight or not, but that 5 minute brawl was probably better than their entire SS match put together.

[KK]

Wrestling Observer Radio is free today:

http://www.f4wonline.com/component/cont ... -tons-more

Apparently the Piledriver in the main event wasn't cleared with Vince McMahon.

[Johnny Ryall]

The scaffolding titan tron?

I was hoping for the one a few years along (ok when I started watching again).