Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
Your reaction to Mania?
This poll is closed.
Brilliant! Vince has still got it! 24 8.48%
A disaster! Vince has lost it! 11 3.89%
Eh. 85 30.04%
When does Uncle Paul take over? 92 32.51%
....what's wrong with Ol' Yeller? :ohdear: 71 25.09%
Total: 283 votes
[Edit Poll (moderators only)]

 
  • Locked thread
Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?



____________________________

:siren: SIGN UP TO THE GREATEST ROYAL RUMBLE ROULETTE :siren:
____________________________

NXT Takeover New Orleans
  • Johnny Gargano defeated Tomaso Ciampa in an Unsanctioned Match to regain his job in NXT
  • Aleister Black defeated Andrade "Cien" Almas to become the new NXT Champion
  • The Undisputed Era defeated The Authors of Pain and Roderick Strong/Pete Dunne to retain the NXT Tag Team Championship and win the Dusty Classic Trophy. Roderick Strong betrayed Pete Dunne and joined Undisputed Era.
  • Shayna Baszler defeated Ember Moon to win the NXT Women's Championship
  • Adam Cole defeated EC3, Killian Dain, Lars Sullivan, Ricochet and Velveteen Dream in a Ladder Match to become the inaugural NXT North American Champion

Wrestlemania
  • Brock Lesnar (C) successfully defended his Universal Championship against Roman Reigns.
  • Braun Strowman and a small child called Nicholas from the crowd won the Raw Tag Team Championship from The Bar.
  • AJ Styles (C) successfully defended his WWE Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura. Shinsuke turned heel post-match.
  • Nia Jax defeated Alexa Bliss (C) to become the Raw Women's Champion.
  • Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon defeated Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. Sami submitted to Bryan's Yes Lock.
  • The Undertaker DESTROYED John Cena in a sub-5 minute match.
  • The Bludgeon Brothers won the Smackdown Tag Titles in a match against The Usos (C) and The New Day.
  • Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle defeated Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. Stephanie tapped out to Ronda's armbar.
  • Jinder Mahal won the US Title in a Fatal Fourway against Randy Orton (C), Bobby Roode and Rusev.
  • Charlotte (C) successfully defended her Smackdown Women's title against Asuka, ending her streak.
  • Seth Rollins defeated The Miz (C) and Finn Balor to win the Intercontinental Championship
  • Naomi won the Women's Battle Royal, eliminating Bayley last.
  • Cedric Alexander defeated Mustafa Ali to become the new Cruiserweight Champion
  • Matt Hardy won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, assisted by Bray Wyatt who returned apparently in Matt's service.
____________________________

Raw Results
  • Stephanie opened the show, calling the fans stinky foreigners with no class for mocking the beating she took. She brought out Ronda Rousey and attempted to gladhand her, saying the two could work together to their mutual benefit. They embraced and the crowd booed, but then Ronda put Stephanie in the armbar to a giant pop. Steph sold the poo poo out of this, screaming and begging and pleading. Afterwards the crowd chanted,"YOU DESERVE IT!" and then sang the goodbye song to her as she was helped from the ring. The ring announcer asked the crowd to please show her some respect, which got exactly the reaction expected.
  • The commentators noted that this "non-traditional" crowd will sometimes boo who crowds normally cheer. This was said directly after Stephanie McMahon got booed :confused:
  • Nia came out to a strong reaction. Alexa and Mickie came out and tried to continue mocking her but she shut them down and introduced her tag team partner as Ember Moon.
  • Nia and Ember defeated Alexa and Mickie, with Ember hitting the Eclipse on Alexa.
  • Backstage, Kurt was on the phone discussing Ember joining the Raw roster when Braun Strowman showed up with a child called Nicholas. Braun relinquished the Raw titles due to Nicholas' scheduling conflict (he's in the 4th grade) but promised once he graduated, they would be back for the titles.
  • No Way Jose is now a member of the Raw roster. He debuted with an accompanying group of dancers ala Adam Rose, and quickly defeated the local jobber he was up again.
  • Kurt Angle was watching backstage when he was joined by The Bar, who asked when Kurt was going to give their tag titles back. He told them the tag titles would be decided at the Greatest Royal Rumble, and their opponents would be decided over a series of qualifying matches called the Tag Team Eliminator.
  • The Revival defeated the Good Brothers, advancing to the next round in the Tag Team Eliminator.
  • Seth Rollins came out to celebrate his IC Title win making him the third of the Shield to become a Grand Slam Champion. Finn Balor came out and congratulated Seth but reminded him that Seth pinned Miz but didn't pin Balor. Balor wanted to be the first to challenge him for the IC Belt. Seth accepted, but then The Miz
  • Miz complained that he had to change his normal strategy (use Miztourage to cheat) to avoid Seth or Finn complaining when he won, which was why he lost! He claimed his baby cried when he lost, which made Maryse cry, which made Miz cry too. Seth mocked him and said if he wanted his rematch then they could do it right now. Miz fired up the crowd and then refused to invoke his rematch clause, saying he would face Seth for the title at Backlash.
  • Miz offered Fin and Seth a match right now, The Miztourage and himself against the two of them. They were going to accept when Jeff Hardy returned to even things up. Both sides squared up, but then Miz and the Miztourage took off.
  • Sasha lost to Mandy Rose, thanks to Bayley trying to get involved and accidentally hitting Sasha instead. Afterwards, Bayley looked upset but walked off without apologizing, and Sasha stormed after her.
  • Paige got on the mic and informed everybody that her neck issues meant she had no choice but to retire. This was extremely depressing and the crowd got fully behind her and chanted that this was her house. She noted the support she'd had from Daniel Bryan and Edge who had suffered similar career-ending injuries, and that she took hope from Bryan's return but also the way Edge has built an entirely new life for himself. For now though, she is retired, and needs to find some other new goal in life. She is only 25 years old.
  • Elias was doing a concert (and the crowd loved him) when Bobby Lashley interupted to a massive pop from the crowd. Lashley demolished Elias, including an impressive one-armed delayed vertical suplex.
  • Kurt was talking about Lashley on the phone backstage when Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn showed up in suits with hangdog expressions, asking if Kurt had heard about their "management issues" in Smackdown. Kurt said he'd heard TNA was hiring, and the two immediately turned on each other insisting that he only needed to hire one of them. Kurt took them up on that, they could have a match tonight and the winner and ONLY the winner could have a spot on the roster.
  • Heath Slater and Rhyno are not in the Tag Team Eliminator, so Heath demanded ANY tag team come out to face them. The Authors of Pain answered the challenge. They destroyed Heath and Rhyno didn't even get in. As they left the ring, they told Paul Ellering to remain behind, declaring they no longer needed him.
  • Roman Reigns will get another shot at the Universal Championship when he faces Brock at The Greatest Royal Rumble in a Steel Cage match.
  • Roman came out and made a kinda bizarre promo making what seemed to be allusions to the idea that the finish had been changed due to contract negotiations or something? He complained he learned about his match at The Greatest Royal Rumble on the Internet, but insisted that if they keep putting him up against Brock, eventually he will win the title.
  • Samoa Joe came out and called him a failure who talked big and then couldn't deliver. Crowd was going crazy for Joe. He said when all is said and done, Joe will be waiting at Backlash.
  • Titus and Apollo waited for their opponents, revealed to be the team of Woken Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt, acting in total concert. Both guys have taken on the mannerisms of the other, worked well together, and won the match.
  • Sami and Kevin had a really good match but it went to a No Contest, meaning neither man won and therefore neither would be joining the Raw roster. The crowd was upset and they cut away without really getting to see much of Kevin or Sami's reaction.
  • Woken Matt met with Jeff backstage, and Matt introduced Jeff to Bray Wyatt. Jeff took on all the typical Broken mannerisms, hugged Bray and watched them leave together. Seth and Finn gave Jeff :stare: faces and he replied with a happy shrug since apparently he just plays along with whatever his brother is doing at any given time v:shobon:v
  • Seth Rollins, Finn Balor and Jeff Hardy defeated The Miz and The Miztourage in a six-man tag. Seth hit the Curb Stomp and got the pin on Miz. Afterwards they took turns hitting their finishers on Bo and Axel, which had an odd but fun House Show/Dark Match ending feel to it.
  • Next week is the Superstar Shakeup to mix up the rosters between Raw and Smackdown.
____________________________

Smackdown Results
  • Shane McMahon opened the show (boo!) where he thanked the fans for a great Wrestlemania, and congratulated Daniel Bryan for his return and acknowledged that as a full time wrestler once more, he was accepting Bryan's resignation as Smackdown General Manager. The new GM is... Paige!
  • Paige's first official act was to book Daniel Bryan vs AJ Styles :hellyeah:
  • The Usos defeated The New Day in a real good match (better than the Mania 3-way) to get the title shot against the Bludgeon Brothers.
  • In a pre-taped segment, Nattie cut off Naomi as she was being interviewed about winning the Women's Battle Royal. Naomi took her insults as a challenge to a match.
  • Naomi (eventually) defeated Nattie in a singles match.
  • Renee Young (in an amazing jacket) interviewed Shinsuke Nakamura about punching AJ Styles on the dick at Wrestlemania, where he gave a beautifully sarcastic apology and then insisted "no speak English" when Renee inquired further.
  • Charlotte came out and thanked Asuka for taking her to the limit at Wrestlemania. She celebrated having retained her title and asked who was next, and the answer turned out to be Peyton Royce and Billie Kay from NXT who debuted together. They said Charlotte's match was "pretty good, not great", mocked her habit of thanking everybody, and said she needed to stop focusing on the past and look to the future, which was them. Charlotte tried to fight them but they outnumbered and were able to deliver a beating.
  • After Peyton and Billie left, Carmella rushed down and cashed in her MITB briefcase. After a gigantically long delay by the ref and timekeeper, they finally rang the bell and Carmella superkicked Charlotte, pinned her and became the new Women's Champion.
  • Randy Orton defeated Bobby Roode and Rusev in a triple threat to decide Jinder Mahal's Backlash opponent. Crowd was super into Rusev the entire match but he wasn't involved in the finish at all.
  • Carmella gave a tearful backstage promo where she gave thanks where it was due.... to herself!
  • Daniel Bryan defeated AJ Styles by DQ when Shinsuke Nakamura jumped into the ring and hit Bryan with the Kinshasa. Afterwards he lowblowed AJ Styles again, then did it AGAIN! The crowd was furious and there was even a "YOU SUCK!" chant directed at Nakamura who looked to be having the time of his life.

Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 07:10 on Apr 11, 2018

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Vince looks at Daniel Bryan and finally realizes,"Oh poo poo, HE is my new Bret.... :aaa:"

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

I always wondered if there was a match whose participants were so talented and beloved that even Shane McMahon inserting himself into their match couldn't detract from it.

After watching Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn vs DANIEL BRYAN IN HIS FIRST MATCH BACK and Shane McMahon at Wrestlemania... my quest continues.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Benne posted:

So Roman is done, right? Like, Vince spent a whole year building to this moment where he kicks out of the F5, then ... the spot barely gets mentioned and Roman gets pinned clean in the middle.

Grabbed this from the other thread. Just want to point out that the commentators would not shut up about this spot and kept desperately trying to make out what a big deal that Roman kept kicking out of F5s, but the crowd just absolutely did not give even the slightest poo poo about it and it was loving hilarious.

They genuinely thought they'd done a great job of making people believe one F5 would beat anybody, and that this spot was going to blow people's minds. To the point they ended up doing it like 6-7 times in one match, including an F5 through a table :lol:

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Seams posted:

nxt takeover was really good :)

Legit one of the best wrestling shows I've ever seen. It was so great.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Zyla posted:

i never expected to care about tommaso ciampa this much

In ROH he was the guy we made dumb name-puns about.... now just hearing his name fills me with a righteous fury and desire to heat up coins with a lighter and throw them at him.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

FullMetalJackoff posted:

That was me (Austin!). Just seemed an odd throwaway line that could be taken as her talking either matter-of-factually or an emotionally exhausted worker getting her thoughts mixed up in the moment. Pretty awesome if the former, would make Asuka quite the master of kayfabe.


Vince: *rings up Goldberg* Hey, Bill! I've got a MULE of a problem, if you catch my drift.. *wink*
Bill: I'm sorry?
Vince: Oh, my apologies.. I'm literally KICKING myself.. "WINK!"

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Zyla posted:

holy poo poo thats hosed up hahahaha

Apparently they used to do this in Puerto Rico.

They also would try to stab people or throw urine on them so, you know, the ol' hot coin maybe wasn't the worst thing that might happen.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?


:vince:

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

I genuinely, legimately loved every second of the Taker/Cena match. Just this pissed off old undead cowboy soul reaper hauling his grumpy ol' rear end down to Wrestlemania and beating the poo poo out of this rear end in a top hat who was talking poo poo when he wasn't around, then promptly leaving.

On the flipside, I was bitterly disappointed by Shinsuke/AJ. I dug the heel turn at the end but both guys are capable of so much more and I've personally been there live when they did have an absolutely incredible match against each other. This was the match I was most excited about seeing at Wrestlemania long, long, long before it was even announced as happening.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Neodoomium posted:

http://www.wwe.com/videos/charlotte-flairs-family-hardships-didnt-derail-her-against-asuka-wwecom-exclusive-april-8

This is a wonderful interview and if they can find a way to harness this side of her, it'd go a long way toward making people care about Charlotte.

Seriously great interview here

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Cabbit posted:

holy poo poo this event is too loving long.

Seriously. They have gone so far into the idea of Mania as an "event" that I think it is unlikely they're going to back away from these 5+ hour shows but they definitely have a severe negative impact on the crowd and the viewer at home.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Quid posted:

I expected this Wrestlemania to be a wet fart. It sounds like they let it rip and shat the bed. Confirm/Deny?

It was an overall good and fun show up to roughly the point where the Daniel/Shane vs Kevin/Sami match happened, at which point apart from a brief uptick for the Braun match, the show just felt like it had completely run out of steam.

The baffling main event has also left many viewers just kinda half-confused, half-laughing.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?


Talk poo poo, get dicked

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Cornwind Evil posted:

Wait, what? How the hell does THAT work?

:capitalism:

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

FullMetalJackoff posted:

An old form of full-time casual employment, that only required 8 hours max notice either for employer or employee. You could say I was an.. independent (sub)contractor :razz:

poo poo, I worked on a rolling temp contract for a couple of years when I was much younger and it was absolute dogshit (but I needed the money and experience). When I got proper full-time work, the old place was upset that I'd taken the job even though they'd kept insisting there was no way they could make my role permanent. Well too loving bad for them :colbert:

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

GrimGypsy posted:

Roman's story this whole past month was saying "Brock is a loving no-show bitch" and then getting his rear end kicked by Brock, but always with just enough BS that the idea was he'd win in a fair, real fight


then he gets his fair, real fight and Brock beats the loving piss out of him hahahahahahahahah

Plus both Heyman and VINCE straight up said,"Yeah you're good but you don't have that extra level of special that Brock has to justify his privileges" and then he goes to Wrestlemania and Brock proves them right, hahaha

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

I still really, really like Charlotte/Asuka. I wanted Asuka to win but the match ruled, Charlotte more than held up her end, and that was about the best way for Asuka's streak to end without some dumb bullshit.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

FullMetalJackoff posted:

There, a finish that would've led to the same conclusion but without making Asuka look like a choke artist.

I honestly can't see how the ending made her look like a choke artist, short of hyperbole. After a long match where both of them kicked the poo poo out of each other, Charlotte was able to - with a struggle - lock Asuka into her established deadly submission right in the middle of the ring, and even then Asuka held on for a good length of time before finally tapping.

To me, Asuka looked as good as always and Charlotte stepped it up to a level we haven't really seen from her since the NXT days which was extremely welcome.

Where they go from here I have no idea, and it might be bad, but on the night I thought the match was great and I didn't have any problem with the finish at all.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

21 Hoot Salute posted:

This is one of my favorite developments from WM. Please don't gently caress it up too badly, WWE.



Hardy tweeted that now they were going to "Burn and Delete" which sounds pretty loving great

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Heavy Metal posted:

Hell yes! It's like when those two guys who didn't get along teamed up in LA Confidential! Always glorious. Together they're unstoppable.

gently caress that movie was good.

"I guess good cop/bad cop changed since his day..."

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

FullMetalJackoff posted:

I'm mad on the internet about a scripted event, okay! :mad:

It's pro-wrestling, we all do that far more often than we'd like to admit :)

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Well I'd like to see the Japanese do better!
hushed whispering
...I withdraw my objection....

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Hako posted:

Please explain why I should care

You shouldn't, if you don't like the guy then you don't like him. That's okay :)

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Soothing Vapors posted:

Thats cool man. While we're baring our souls: I don't care for popular wrestler Roman Reigns

What changed your mind, Mr. McMahon?

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Also, Jesus Christ look at this:



I still can't believe they thought he was only "chant" over and thought they could transfer that chant to any other wrestler, like Big Show, and it would be just as effective.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

God it's kinda crazy to remember how good he was as a paranoid rear end in a top hat heel who shouted NO! NO! NO! all the time.

His shirt with STOP IT! on the back always cracks me up whenever I think of it :)

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Roger Explosion posted:

In all fairness, it's a really easy chant to get over.

True. Nobody gets it over as well as Bryan though, and man WWE really, really tried to do so.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Balor apparently has a long history of being a strong and vocal supporter of the LGBTIQ community. Good for him :)

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

OP updated with Raw results.

Fun Raw! Too long, but fun!

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

The Bee posted:

That Raw had Roman whine like a little bitch about getting another title shop, and then have Samoa Joe basically eviscerate him verbally.

Joe's promo was absolutely incredible, it's a must-watch

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Ronda just absolutely clowning Stephanie who just groveled and cried and got hosed up anyway was absolutely perfect and long, long overdue.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Cabbit posted:

Specifically, I think it's supposed to be him complaining nobody told him the change of plans until the audible.

Yeah that was so weird, I know it's an oft-overused and frequently wrong comparison, but that did feel like the kind of dumb poo poo WCW would do.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

IcePhoenix posted:

https://streamable.com/96scy

I don't think it counts as a reference when you just say "TNA" though

A few years ago this would have got a slight TNA! chant, now it just gets everybody going,"OOOOOOHHHH!" at the idea of being so down on your luck that the only option is TNA :lol:

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Wise Fwom Yo Gwave posted:

Am I hearing someone say “I’m too old ... poo poo!” at the end of this clip?

It sounds like "Too old for me..." so I guess it was Marty Scurll finding out Paige is only 25?

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Yeah but can money buy happiness? :smug:

What's that? Oh it can. Easily? Oh okay.

:sigh:

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Jack Anderson posted:

This. Suits don't give a flying gently caress about if something is "Good" or not, only "Is this making money? No? Well then we ain't changing poo poo."

This isn't entirely true, you know. Sometimes they get angry that they didn't make ENOUGH more money than the previous year!

Stockholders are the worst :smith:

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Mel Mudkiper posted:

I always assumed all the wwe stockholders were marks with more money than sense

I'm sure there are a number of those, but I'd pick the majority are people who were told,"Here's a monopoly with high dividend payouts" and that was all they needed to hear, let alone know the name of the actual company or what they do.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

OP updated with graphics and Smackdown results - it was a pretty eventful show!

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Benne posted:

Feud of the Year: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. AJ Styles' Dick and Balls

Veto: AJ's dick and balls have left the promotion forever.

  • Locked thread