we're two weeks away from Wrestlemania 32 and NXT Dallas. We now have a full card of the main show, some stuff is actually somewhat unpredictable, which is a good thing.

2 weeks shy of WM, are you excited?

Honestly... no. Here is a copy+paste of the last paragraph of my review of tonight's Raw, which I think sums up my feelings well:

WrestleMania is thirteen days away… and I just don’t give a sh*t. It doesn’t feel any more important than any other PPV, and honestly feels less important than Royal Rumble, Summer Slam, or even Survivor Series did. I know Brock vs. Ambrose will be awesome. I know that AJ vs. Jericho and the Divas Title match will be awesome if they give them the time to be so. I’m sure Hunter will pull something great out of Roman and I’m sure the IC Title match will at least be fun… but I just don’t give a sh*t about the results of almost any of those matches, and for most of them that I do care about, it is for reasons like “I think it would be a big business mistake to take the belt off of Owens” rather than for reasons like “I really want to see Becky win the title.”


I'm actually least excited for Mania of all of the WM weekend stuff from promotions I follow. I'm much more excited for both nights of Supercard of Honor, both nights of EVOLVE/WWN showcase, and NXT Takeover. My excitement level for Mania is a little bit above my excitement level for Invasion Attack, and that's a show that only has four matches against and most of the big names haven't been announced in matches yet.

For once, the match on the card I am the most excited about features Brock Lesnar. That never happens.

I want Dean to make ground beef out of him. Besides that, I don't care about any of it. Unless they can somehow make the fans cheer Roman when he wins, I don't even care about the title match either.

Serujuunin wrote:For once, the match on the card I am the most excited about features Brock Lesnar. That never happens.

I want Dean to make ground beef out of him. Besides that, I don't care about any of it. Unless they can somehow make the fans cheer Roman when he wins, I don't even care about the title match either.

well, he's bringing a chainsaw to the match, you may get your wish granted

cero2k wrote:

Serujuunin wrote:For once, the match on the card I am the most excited about features Brock Lesnar. That never happens.

I want Dean to make ground beef out of him. Besides that, I don't care about any of it. Unless they can somehow make the fans cheer Roman when he wins, I don't even care about the title match either.

well, he's bringing a chainsaw to the match, you may get your wish granted

LOL I forgot about that

Not really, but I'll watch it anyway because it's Wrestlemania.

I think this year's mania is going to surprise. It's a tough sell, I just can't get stoked about a Triple H main event in 2016, and I think Taker/Shane is going to be a horrible horrible shit show.

That said, the undercard has mind blowing potential. I'm excited to see every other match for one reason or another.

Bob-O wrote:I think this year's mania is going to surprise. It's a tough sell, I just can't get stoked about a Triple H main event in 2016, and I think Taker/Shane is going to be a horrible horrible shit show.

That said, the undercard has mind blowing potential. I'm excited to see every other match for one reason or another.

It's not that the undercard will be bad or anything, but it feels like it could be SOOOO much better if the following simple, obvious things were done:
1. Owens vs. Zayn should be a singles match
1.b. If you actually want to do something with the Mizes and Dolphs and Kanes and Big Shows of the world other than just put them in the Andre Battle Royale, actually give them an angle as opposed to throwing them into someone else's angle)
2. The needless 6/8/10 woman tag should be cut. (Both of these two stem as a desire of WWE trying to be nice and put a lot of people on the show so they can get a Mania payoff, but if you're going to do that, you should take the time to build things up into something people will actually give a sh*t about.)
3. If New Day aren't defending the titles, there is no reason the titles shouldn't be in the Usos vs. Dudleys feud... or even in some sort of makeshift feud involving Kane, Big Show, Miz, Dolph, or whoever. In fact... how about Miz and Tyler Breeze teaming up? They seem like a natural fit.
4. Find something for the Wyatts to do!
5. If we're going to invest this much time in Goldust & Truth, shouldn't something have happened with them by now to determine their spot at Mania? Either they should have agreed to team together and thus should win an undercard (perhaps pre-show) tag match in their first match as a team, or they should have had Goldust agree to team with Truth only to turn heel on him and savagely beat him, leading to a match at Mania (or I guess you could do the turn at Mania, too).

It feels like WWE has thrown so much focus onto Roman vs. Hunter and Shane vs. Taker that they have just 100% skipped trying to book an undercard, and the only matches that are going to rock on the undercard (Dean/Lesnar, AJ/Jericho, Divas Title) are going to do so more because of the wrestlers involved than anything creative has tried to do. I mean... obviously you should focus on your main events, but when you have a flimsy story like Shane vs. Taker or a not-over babyface who comes across like a heel like Roman does, focusing so much on those matches only calls attention to their creative flaws. (But why spend time on good creative when we can do Social Outcasts promos on every show, right? And don't forget to devote time to letting everyone know that Dwayne the Actor will be attending the show but not wrestling, because that's what people pay to see).

The product just feels so stale right now. What has changed since the Rumble? Jericho is a heel, Ryback is a heel who hasn't really done anything heelish, New Day are apparently babyfaces now even though they still act like heels and are cutting the same promos, Truth & Goldust are kind of a thing (but they're comedy dorks)... yeah, Sami Zayn is on the main roster, but them making this a multi-man match instead of ZAYN VS. OWENS AT WRESTLEMANIA has already made him feel like just another midcarder.

Other than that, it feels like I've been watching the same thing for months- or in the case of guys like Big Show and Dolph, YEARS. Dolph needs to go heel and join the Authority. The League of Nations needs to go their separate ways. Ric Flair needs to go away. Stardust needs to disappear. They need to start actually using Damien Sandow and Jack Swagger. Maybe bring Darren Young back as an angry heel who feels abandoned by his partner and the fans. All of these injuries have created this massive opportunity for WWE to actually do something with some guys who could have been main eventers by now (Owens, Rusev, Del Rio), but they haven't done sh*t with anyone. Everyone is still in the exact same position they were back in the Summer, with the exceptions of Kalisto and the Dudleys (and how much do you want to bet that Bubba and Devon are playing a big part in booking their own angle? Notice how they always escape with their heat? That's because they know what they're doing!)

Anyway... rant over. Mania feels no different than any other show because the product is so damn stale.

Big Red Machine wrote: The needless 6/8/10 woman tag should be cut.

I'll be mind blown if that and the battle royal make the main show.

Big Red Machine wrote:Owens vs. Zayn should be a singles match

Of course it should, but I love a good spot fest, and Owens is going to kill someone. Sammi Zayn is going to be murdered live on the WWE Network, and Zack Ryder is going to try to upstage that for the sake of being noticed. Stay Hyped!

Big Red Machine wrote:New Day aren't defending the titles

I'm trying not to think about that... a non-title match taking place at Wrestlemania... Mid feud... No. No. I said I wasn't going to think about that...

Big Red Machine wrote:Other than that, it feels like I've been watching the same thing for months- or in the case of guys like Big Show and Dolph, YEARS.

Haha, seems like the last few years I've only been watching the main roster from Rumble through Summerslam, and I'm a way happier fan. Plenty of nxt and indies to keep me busy. Case in point, and don't make fun, but I know Rollins is out, but where's Cena and Orton!? I missed something... (if you decide to make something up, make it good, I'll believe you. I would also do the same thing.)

Orton and Cena are in jail.

Bob-O wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote: The needless 6/8/10 woman tag should be cut.

I'll be mind blown if that and the battle royal make the main show.

hopefully, but they already announced Usos vs Dudleyz and the battle royal for the pre show. Maybe they'll make the pre-show two hours now

cero2k wrote:

Bob-O wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote: The needless 6/8/10 woman tag should be cut.

I'll be mind blown if that and the battle royal make the main show.

hopefully, but they already announced Usos vs Dudleyz and the battle royal for the pre show. Maybe they'll make the pre-show two hours now

It was two hours last year, but I've heard that it's going to be on USA this year.

Putting Dudleys vs. Usos on the pre-show is criminal.