BRM Reviews WWE WrestleMania XXXI

[Big Red Machine]

WWE WrestleMania XXXI (3/29/2015)- Santa Clara, CA


PRE-SHOW:
FATAL FOUR WAY MATCH FOR THE WWE WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES: Tyson Kidd & Cesaro(c) (w/Natalya) vs. The New Day (w/Xavier Woods) vs. Los Matadores (w/El Torito) vs. The Usos (w/Naomi)- 6/10
Biggest pop of the four by far for the Upper-Cats.
I don’t know how to describe what it is that Nattie is wearing, but it makes her breasts look fantastic.
About three seconds in and the injured Uso takes a bump off the apron and is being helped to the back. The announcers are pushing that he won’t be able to return, which of course means that the Usos are winning. Oh. Okay. I guess not.

Lots of good action as you’d expect in cluster-f*cky set-up like this. I just wish they could have kept track of who was legal and who wasn’t. Nattie putting Torito in a sharpshooter got a big pop from the live crown, but the thing that made me pop the most was that flapjack into a European Uppercut, but that’s mostly because I thought they were about to do a Dudley Death Drop. Naomi getting involved with Nattie was good, but it would have been if they had managed to set up Jimmy and Naomi diving together in a way that drew more attention to it.

#ASK LITA- Not bad, but not interesting in any way. She actually did manage to come across like she was actually giving her own opinions rather than spouting the company line. Also, I did appreciate that before she made a WWE appearance, she made sure that her hair at least resembled the color it was when she was an active wrestler (yes, I am still annoyed with Trish for not dying her hair back blonde for her hall of fame induction). Lots of push for a Trish & Lita vs. Bellas match, and I’m sure we can agree that if Trish and Lita were to come back for one match, that would be a HUGE f*cking waste.

ANDRE THE GIANT MEMORIAL BATTLE ROYALE- 4/10, but what a terrible finish!
Axel out right away. Yeah. That was worth two months of this AxelMania stupidity.
Mirror-Universe Bo Dallas eliminates himself.
Itami got almost no time to shine and easily eliminated by Big Shoe early on. That sucked. I wonder how many Network subscriptions from Japan that will cost them.
Ryback’s elimination of Titus was crazy and scary.
The people like Cesaro, Ryback, Miz-Dow, and Itami. That was it.
So we’re down to Big Show, Miz, and Miz-Dow…
WHAT THE F*CK ARE THEY DOING?! Why have the break-up with Show still in the ring? Just have them team up to eliminate Big Show, then have Miz order Miz-Dow to eliminate himself, Miz-Dow refuses, then Miz slaps him, so Miz-Dow fires up and fights back and eventually eliminates Miz. It’s THAT F*CKING SIMPLE!
But no. Instead they had Miz-Dow get do his big turn… and then lose. F*CKING IDIOTS!

JBL is talking about how Show has never won a battle royale in his career. If that’s the angle, then why was it never even mentioned before there were just two men left in this match? Why not talk about it BEFORE THE SHOW?! And why are we doing that sort of babyfae story with the heel Big Show? This whole thing made this whole thing a big waste because Miz-Dow got buried.

COMMERCIAL FOR RAW- yes, really. They actually took time out of the WrestleMania pre-show to tell us to tune in to Raw to find out who wins the main event. WE’RE ALREADY WATCHING WRESTLE-F*CKING-MANIA!

MAIN SHOW:
LADDER MATCH FOR THE WWE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE: Wade Barrett(c) vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Dean Ambrose vs. R-Truth vs. Luke Harper vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Stardust- 7.75/10
HUGE pop for Bryan. Ambrose and Ziggler also got big pops. Barrett is introduced second out of seven, because it’s not like he’s the champion or anything. Stardust didn’t even get halfway down the ramp before they switched to playing Harper’s music.
Stardust brought his own bedazzled ladder with a stupid name, just to make sure everyone knows that Cody Rhodes’ career is dead.
They did stuff. There were some brutal spots, but nothing aside from Harper powerbombing Ambrose through a ladder bridge sticks out to me now that the match is over. Bryan won, but I really hope he and Dolph didn’t get concussed from those headbutts because they looked brutal and Bryan’s forehead was all red at the end.



RANDY ORTON vs. SETH ROLLINS (w/Jamie Noble & Joey Mercury)- 7.5/10
HOLY F*CK WHAT FINISH! Also, I think this was the first time anyone has ever kicked out of the curb stomp, all anyone will ever remember from this match was that F*CKING AMAZING FINISH!

SINGLES MATCH THAT CAN ONLY BE WON BY PINFALL OR SUBMISSION: Triple H vs. Sting- 5/10
When was this “can only be won by pinfall or submission” stip added?
Sting’s entrance is really lame. It’s a lot of Chinese music. Not sure what that has to do with Sting. It would have been much cooler if they had gotten the orchestra from the video game commercial. Sting’s pop rivaled Bryan’s.
Triple H’s entrance was a Terminator reference mixed with the “armor” from last year (though no BFF or Alexa Bliss! to strip it off of him). They even have Arnold on the Tron. That was pretty stupid. Hunter is back to using “The Game” instead of “Bow Down to the King.” Isn’t “The Game” his babyface music?
The announcers seem to be completely ignoring Sting’s promo from Raw and are pushing Hunter’s view that this was a WWE vs. WCW thing. Lots of burials of WCW from both JBL and Cole, of course. That was evident from the fact that this match overbooked to all hell.
First we got a D-X run-in. In 2015. Could this possibly get any more ridiculously overbooked?
WHY DID I HAVE TO ASK?!


We got an nWo run-in. In 2015. WHY?! What’s next? A Montreal finish?
Not quite, but we did get Shawn Michaels interfering because… um…
To make all of this worse, JBL missed the most obvious and perfect line in the world. When the nWo came out, he asked “but who are they coming for?” If he had said “yeah, but whose side are they on?” it would have almost justified this idiocy, but we couldn’t even have that.
Anyway two of Triple H’s best friends have turned on him. What are the odds that this never gets brought up?
D-X and the nWo brawl at ringside and HOLY SH*T Hogan took a bump (kind of)! Meanwhile, Hunter’s been in the Scorpion Deathlock for at least ninety seconds. Way to kill that move.
Sting breaking the sledgehammer with his bat was nowhere near as cool as when he broke Jeff Jarrett’s guitar with his bat at Genesis 2006.
Hunter wins after a sledgehammer shot. Why? Who does this help? Now we’ve got both factions doing a post-match staredown… and now Hunter is offering Sting a handshake? HOW THE F*CK DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE?!




LEGENDS CONGRATULATE BRYAN- aside from Pat Patterson, they all came off as totally phony and scripted. I know they were all sincere, but it just came off so phony. Oh look. Here’s Ron Simmons to turn it into a comedy segment.

THE BELLA TWINS vs. AJ LEE & PAIGE- 0.75/10
They have four hours for only seven matches, and they couldn’t even give the Divas five minutes. SO much for their promise to #GiveDivasAChance.
One forearm on off the apron and AJ is just lying dead on the floor. Now she’s back up… and now she eats one kicked she’s back down. I think she has sold more than Hunter and Sting did combined, off of only two moves. And now that she gets the hot tag, she’s perfectly fine. That sucked. Now they do some stuff and AJ gets the win. A bad match that felt as completely pointless after it was done as it did during the terrible build. AJ made the Divas Champion tap out clean in the middle of the ring, but none of the three announcers mentioned that.

HALL OF FAME VIDEO PACKAGE- apparently last night Alundra Blayze took the old Women’s Title out of a garbage can. You know what would have been a good idea? To have the Divas Title help up and then have a match to crown a new champion and have Alundra present the new champ with the title belt? That would have been SOOOO MUCH BETTER than what we got.

PRESENTATION OF THE HALL OF FAME CLASS- Arnold got a bigger pop than Fujinami. Part of me died inside. Also, Nash gets his own music playing while everyone else has to use the generic Hall of Fame music? That’s dumb. Also, they should have ended it with Lanny coming out on behalf of Savage so we could get the obligatory and appropriate stadium-wide “RANDY SAVAGE!” chant that would have made for a real WrestleMania moment.

WWE UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH: Rusev(c) (w/Lana) vs. John Cena- 6.75/10
http://54.88.31.224/thewrestlingrevolut ... 524#p83522
I AM A F*CKING PROPHET!
Rusev’s entrance was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!
The “AMERICA IS AWESOME!” video package before Cena’s entrance was great.
There is a fan in the second row waving a Russian flag. This person is my new favorite fan.

Lana threw her shoe into the ring… and the ref wasn’t distracted by it at all. That was great.
DIVING HEADBUTT BY RUSEV! SPRINGBOARD STUNNER BY CENA! They trade signature submissions. Then LANA takes a bump and Cena winds up winning. I guess Lana and Rusev are breaking up, which is sad.
The kick-off panel is now showing us highlights of the tag titles match. Now they’re recapping the Andre The Giant Memorial Clustf*ck. Why are we wasting time on the main show recapping the pre-show?
There is a VERY loud chant going on (loudest of the night so far) which I believe is “NXT!”

HUNTER & STEPH, THE ROCK, & RONDA ROUSEY SEGMENT- A waste of time that buried most of the roster.
First Hunter & Steph announce a new attendance record. What do you think the odds are that this is legit?
Then they cut self-aggrandizing heel promos, saying that they own everything, including the wrestlers and the fans. Did they do this same exact promo with Daniel Bryan last year?
This brings out The Rock. His pop was bigger than Sting’s, but not by much. He says his stuff. He and Steph and Hunter go back and forth, and I’m honestly completely bored. This feels like a Raw segment, but Rocky’s ego demands that it has to happen at WrestleMania.
This dull stuff resulted in Steph slapping Rock and daring him to hit her back. The people are cheering or Ronda Rousey, and holy f*ck would that be a pointless, stupid idea. It won’t make any MMA fans into wrestling fans, and it doesn’t benefit anyone in the company… so of course that’s exactly what they do.
Oh. And Ronda was about a million times more over than AJ, Paige, and the Bellas (and about sixty percent of the roster) all put together, so this just made every look second rate.
Steph brings up a good point. Ronda jumped the guardrail. She’s lucky she hasn’t been kicked out of the building for this. If some other fan did this, they would be arrested, but not Ronda because celebrities are apparently above the law.
The Rock says that Ronda will “reach down your throat, pull your insides out, and play jump-rope with your fallopian tubes.” So I guess he’s never seen a Ronda Rousey match before.
“I’ve had it with this whole friggin’ thing right now.” I feel you, Hunter. The Rock sucker-punches Hunter like a douchebag. Then Ronda attacks Hunter to make it two-on-one like a bunch of heels. Then Ronda almost put Steph in an armbar but decided not to. Then Rock buried everyone on the roster by declaring this to be the biggest WrestleMania moment of the night.



BRAY WYATT vs. THE UNDERTAKER- 7.25/10
Bray’s entrance was very cool, but became a lot less cool once Jerry Lawler explained to us what was happening.
Taker’s entrance was… just him walking. And I think that was perfect for the build to this match. Is the Undertaker the same after losing to Brock?
I can see some people not liking this match at all and feeling that it is the end of The Undertaker’s mystique, but I disagree. If anything, this showed just what a versatile performer he is. This was nothing like any other Undertaker match we’ve seen, and it wasn’t supposed to be. This was the story of a man who had something to prove: that he wasn’t done. That Brock Lesnar breaking The Streak and sending him to the hospital wasn’t the end of his career.
To sell the idea that it might be, Taker had to sell, and sell a lot… but he went above and beyond that. With his selling and his facial expressions, he created this amazing feeling that he was almost transitioning back and forth between The Undertaker and Mark Callaway. When he was selling, he was Mark Callaway, a fifty year-old man who might well have jumped into water that is too deep for him to swim in safely anymore… and then he would reach deep down inside himself and he would instantly become The Phenom, the Deadman, the Undertaker, and do some signature spot… and then something would happen, either Bray would cut him off or kick out of his biggest moves, and his face would fill with disbelief and despair, and he would become Mark Callaway again. A great match, but a masterful performance.

WWE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Brock Lesnar(c) (w/Paul Heyman) vs. Roman Reigns- 8.75/10 (for the total of the whole thing.
HUGE pop for Brock. Roman’s wasn’t even close. Hell… Roman’s wasn’t even as big as Bryan’s or Orton’s.
“Suplex City, b*tch,” indeed.
Brock and Roman put on an awesome match, with Roman playing a great babyface, to the point where you could feel the crowd start to warm up to him… then Seth Rollins came out and cashed in MITB, making this a triple threat match, which consisted of only about three or four spots, but they were all awesome, ending with Rollins winning the WWE World Heavyweight Title!

Overall, a GREAT show from WWE. Yes, there were two bad matches one really bad segment, but the rest of the matches were great, and the main event was awesome, and will almost certainly be seen as a huge turning point in the career of Roman Reigns, also possibly as the beginning of the IC and US Titles regaining their rightful prestige (assuming WWE can book them right, which I will admit is a stretch).

Also, in a wacky history note, by virtue of sitting next to Ronda, her fellow horsewoman Shayna Baszler became the first person to appear on an ROH PPV and a WWE PPV in the same month, and she is an employee of neither company.

[badnewzxl]

1. Big Show won WW3 in 96, so I was arguing with them every time they said he'd never won one.

2. The Divas definitely got more than 5 minutes, but with both Bellas being on one side, they absolutely couldn't give them ten. Should've made it a fatal four way so AJ and Paige could have some good wrestling exchanges instead of the Bellas making face so bad they don't even need to say anything to be bad actresses

[badnewzxl]

Also, the video package before Cena came out was the dumbest thing I've ever seen. And the fact that he was facing Rusev after it just made it seem horrendously out of touch; this ain't Rocky IV and the cold war was over 25 years ago. WTF

[Big Red Machine]

Also, the video package before Cena came out was the dumbest thing I've ever seen. And the fact that he was facing Rusev after it just made it seem horrendously out of touch; this ain't Rocky IV and the cold war was over 25 years ago. WTF

I thought it was fun. Yes the Cold War ended 25 years ago, but did you not pay attention to world politics last year? There is some real stuff there.

[badnewzxl]

Also, the video package before Cena came out was the dumbest thing I've ever seen. And the fact that he was facing Rusev after it just made it seem horrendously out of touch; this ain't Rocky IV and the cold war was over 25 years ago. WTF

I thought it was fun. Yes the Cold War ended 25 years ago, but did you not pay attention to world politics last year? There is some real stuff there.

Not anything that requires footage of Dwight friggin Eisenhower! That was an absolute propaganda video with no purpose and very little relevance. Yeah, a few things happened involving Russia in the last year, but not anything that warrants a video package that only says "America." It didn't even show anything awesome about the country; just a bunch of associated images. Seemed corny to me.

[Big Red Machine]

Also, the video package before Cena came out was the dumbest thing I've ever seen. And the fact that he was facing Rusev after it just made it seem horrendously out of touch; this ain't Rocky IV and the cold war was over 25 years ago. WTF

I thought it was fun. Yes the Cold War ended 25 years ago, but did you not pay attention to world politics last year? There is some real stuff there.

Not anything that requires footage of Dwight friggin Eisenhower! That was an absolute propaganda video with no purpose and very little relevance. Yeah, a few things happened involving Russia in the last year, but not anything that warrants a video package that only says "America." It didn't even show anything awesome about the country; just a bunch of associated images. Seemed corny to me.

I understand where you're coming from, but I think that I bit of corniness is part of this angle. It's an American hero vs. an evil Russian! It was played out and tired by the early eighties.

[Big Red Machine]

2. The Divas definitely got more than 5 minutes, but with both Bellas being on one side, they absolutely couldn't give them ten. Should've made it a fatal four way so AJ and Paige could have some good wrestling exchanges instead of the Bellas making face so bad they don't even need to say anything to be bad actresses

Wikipedia says it went 6:42, which is still silly on a four hour show. I think the Bellas could work in a ten minute match individually, but as a tag team, it just doesn't work.
Personally, I think the right thing to do form the get-go would have been to take the title from Nikki and put it on Naomi, then do a six person tag for both the Divas Title and the tag titles (although I guess Jey's injury means that there way worked out better). Your fatal four way idea would have been great if they hadn't turned Brie heel/

[badnewzxl]

2. The Divas definitely got more than 5 minutes, but with both Bellas being on one side, they absolutely couldn't give them ten. Should've made it a fatal four way so AJ and Paige could have some good wrestling exchanges instead of the Bellas making face so bad they don't even need to say anything to be bad actresses

Wikipedia says it went 6:42, which is still silly on a four hour show. I think the Bellas could work in a ten minute match individually, but as a tag team, it just doesn't work.
Personally, I think the right thing to do form the get-go would have been to take the title from Nikki and put it on Naomi, then do a six person tag for both the Divas Title and the tag titles (although I guess Jey's injury means that there way worked out better). Your fatal four way idea would have been great if they hadn't turned Brie heel/

Damn. It seemed longer at the time, Prolly bc AJ laid out on the floor for so long. They were selling shit as if they'd been wrestling for twice as long.

Paige looked awesome, btw. Not as good as Nattie, but pretty damn good

[SONICdopeFRESH]

STING vs. HHH only a 5 out of 10?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Yes. I logged in to comment this. I'd say the match was a SOLID 7.5. I think what REALLY HURT the match, was the DIRTY finish. Firstly, didn't Sting DESTROY the NWO? That was no doubt cool to see, but made no sense. However, if you looked, the match itself was GOOD. Sting actually STILL HAS IT (which I was scared for because I didnt want him looking like Bret hart did a few years back). I was amazed when he flew from the top rope to the floor, that was very Surfer-esque. I thought the finish destroyed the match. Had they of let the match end clean, and maybe a Stinger win (oh idk, because wasnt this to END the authority, the angle thats dry as hell now), with how they worked & it's build up, I would have given it a 9. But the clustercunt of a finish and interferrence, put it to a 7.5. I mean come on, Sting put on a really good match and who wouldve thought he'd EVER be in Mania?

I DEF think The Brock vs. Reigns match was lower than am 8.5. I'd give it a 6.5. Best part was Seth cashing in, but any fan with a pea brain knew it was coming. You can't give that match a higher rating than Orton vs. Rollins (IMO that was the best match of the evening). I'd say that match was an 8.5. a 7.5 a good match, but plus one just for the sickest RKO I have ever seen & didnt expect.

Also, Taker vs. Bray was good. I'd say 7.00 is just. Would've rather have seen the match be FOR that same streak I loved to see broken. Nothing was technically amazing about the match, as you'd expect, but Taker really was in much better shape than the last 3 years which is good. I didn't feel the story in the match until we had the moment of the spiderwalk/sit up. It may have been because he came out with that halfass 2004 attire, that told me he was the unpassionate deadman (thats exactly what it was). Maybe the mystique of his character wore off without the streak, but I didn't feel this was the memorable match it should have or could have been. He should've either returned full out deadman (maybe even have retroe'd it with the 1990-94 attire, or go Ministry of Darkness), or switched it up & played the angle of Deadman Walking/Big Evil & let us know somehow that this is still his yard. That the dead is gone but his yard remains. Idk, just wasn't memorable for me. Especially with Bray AGAIN losing at Mania in a perfect spot/time to put him over.

HHH puts over Rhonda Rousey, but not Sting?!?!?!?!?!? What & HOW is she relevant to the WWE? Segment gets a 1.

The ladder match gets a 6. One thing that irked me was rushing of the entrances. Another, was Bryan winning. I like the fact both Cena & him hold the titles, to maybe bring the prestige back to them where they could headline PPVs for those straps, however I felt the ladder match was the PERFECT place to put either Ambros or Harper over. I feel it's Dolph's time & he needs to be chasing that World title in 4-5 months, w/ hopefully a heel turn. Bryan is & always will be overrated, but he's still accomplished so I dont see how he may have benefitted from this. I can see how the WWE does though. But Ambrose is just too hot right now, and I don't want him to get lost in the midcard/lowcard while former Shield members get pushed to the moon. I say Harper because I'm biased (my favorite wrestler besides STING) but this would have been PERFECT time to make him relevant again. He's a GREAT wrestler & can work the mic. It would make that IC title reign he had look less random, PLUS they seemed to have him the focal point of the chaos around the title for the past 3 weeks leading up to Mania. That ALSO could have set up some GREAT champion vs champion matches with him v Cena typical heel vs face. Missed call with giving it to Bryan for the pop. But I can see why they did it.

[Big Red Machine]

STING vs. HHH only a 5 out of 10?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Yes. I logged in to comment this. I'd say the match was a SOLID 7.5. I think what REALLY HURT the match, was the DIRTY finish. Firstly, didn't Sting DESTROY the NWO? That was no doubt cool to see, but made no sense. However, if you looked, the match itself was GOOD. Sting actually STILL HAS IT (which I was scared for because I didnt want him looking like Bret hart did a few years back). I was amazed when he flew from the top rope to the floor, that was very Surfer-esque. I thought the finish destroyed the match. Had they of let the match end clean, and maybe a Stinger win (oh idk, because wasnt this to END the authority, the angle thats dry as hell now), with how they worked & it's build up, I would have given it a 9. But the clustercunt of a finish and interferrence, put it to a 7.5. I mean come on, Sting put on a really good match and who wouldve thought he'd EVER be in Mania?

The stuff Sting and Hunter did themselves was good. The problem was that most of the match wasn't about that. It was about D-X vs. the nWo completely out of nowhere and about WCW vs. WWE, even though in his much-hyped first promo ever on Raw a few days earlier, Sting had point blank told us that it wasn't about that because that would be ridiculous. All of that detracted from the solid (though nowhere near great) work that Sting and Hunter did.
The reason for Sting losing was that they didn't want Hunter to lose if they planning on doing Hunter vs. Rock next year, and that it might be Sting's last match, but I don't think that either of those justifies Sting losing.

I DEF think The Brock vs. Reigns match was lower than am 8.5. I'd give it a 6.5. Best part was Seth cashing in, but any fan with a pea brain knew it was coming. You can't give that match a higher rating than Orton vs. Rollins (IMO that was the best match of the evening). I'd say that match was an 8.5. a 7.5 a good match, but plus one just for the sickest RKO I have ever seen & didnt expect.

Well... I honestly didn't see the cash-in coming mid-match, and I thought the match was awesome. They had a couple of very well-planned out spots and they made the most of it, and Roman's reaction to taking the beating as compared to Cena's back at Summer Slam did a great job of getting Roman over as tough.

Also, Taker vs. Bray was good. I'd say 7.00 is just. Would've rather have seen the match be FOR that same streak I loved to see broken. Nothing was technically amazing about the match, as you'd expect, but Taker really was in much better shape than the last 3 years which is good. I didn't feel the story in the match until we had the moment of the spiderwalk/sit up. It may have been because he came out with that halfass 2004 attire, that told me he was the unpassionate deadman (thats exactly what it was). Maybe the mystique of his character wore off without the streak, but I didn't feel this was the memorable match it should have or could have been. He should've either returned full out deadman (maybe even have retroe'd it with the 1990-94 attire, or go Ministry of Darkness), or switched it up & played the angle of Deadman Walking/Big Evil & let us know somehow that this is still his yard. That the dead is gone but his yard remains. Idk, just wasn't memorable for me. Especially with Bray AGAIN losing at Mania in a perfect spot/time to put him over.

See, all of the reasons you listed are why I thought the story of the match worked. It felt like it wasn't "The Undertaker" in there the whole time. It felt like Mark Callaway trying to reach deep down inside him and become The Undertaker once again.

HHH puts over Rhonda Rousey, but not Sting?!?!?!?!?!? What & HOW is she relevant to the WWE? Segment gets a 1.

Totally agree on this. It might get them publicity, but it's not going to get them new fans, and just kills Steph's heat for no benefit. The same thing applies (though to a slightly lesser degree) for Rock beating Triple H. I honestly don't care at all about that match.

The ladder match gets a 6. One thing that irked me was rushing of the entrances. Another, was Bryan winning. I like the fact both Cena & him hold the titles, to maybe bring the prestige back to them where they could headline PPVs for those straps, however I felt the ladder match was the PERFECT place to put either Ambros or Harper over. I feel it's Dolph's time & he needs to be chasing that World title in 4-5 months, w/ hopefully a heel turn. Bryan is & always will be overrated, but he's still accomplished so I dont see how he may have benefitted from this. I can see how the WWE does though. But Ambrose is just too hot right now, and I don't want him to get lost in the midcard/lowcard while former Shield members get pushed to the moon. I say Harper because I'm biased (my favorite wrestler besides STING) but this would have been PERFECT time to make him relevant again. He's a GREAT wrestler & can work the mic. It would make that IC title reign he had look less random, PLUS they seemed to have him the focal point of the chaos around the title for the past 3 weeks leading up to Mania. That ALSO could have set up some GREAT champion vs champion matches with him v Cena typical heel vs face. Missed call with giving it to Bryan for the pop. But I can see why they did it.

If Ambrose was going to win, he should have beaten Barrett one-on-one. They also should have done Bryan vs. Ziggler, which would be a great way to turn Ziggler heel if you have him wrestle cleanly the whole time, then cheat to beat Bryan at Mania (which I think would have been the best scenario).
Bryan benefits from this by being positioned on the same level as Cena. The point of this was not to make Harper or Ambrose,and it wasn't either to benefit Bryan or to just give Bryan the belt for the pop. It was to use two guys who are already made (Cena & Bryan) to remake the midcard titles.
I will never understand your dislike of Bryan with all of the amazing matches and moments he has had everywhere he has worked, (or how you can care so much about Harper with the way he has been booked since the Wyatt split), but to each his own, I guess