I cannot believe some of the things I'm reading on here and on Reddit. People are saying this show was better than 30, that Reigns earned respect, and that Wrestlemania 31 was a great show.
There was literally not a single legitimate MOTY candidate or even a 4 star match for that matter on the whole show. People have to be suffering from low expectations not being met. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be either, and I know it's all based on opinions but I have no reason to believe I sat through 4 hours of greatness last night.
I can accept good, even though I hardly saw it being above average, but great? Was Reigns smiling through an ass whooping really a star making performance? Was Sting shaking Triple H's hand really the way that feud should have ended? Was Undertaker and Bray moving in slow motion for 15 minutes really greatness?
Rousey and Rock was fun, the curb stomp into an RKO was insane, and Seth's cash-in was exciting, but I just don't see what everyone else is seeing.
Wrestling wise, the show was eh. The parts that made the show great was the moments that it involved. My favorite match was the Orton/Rollins match. But it was a fun show with a lot of great moments to look back at. Don't need to be so negative, I thoroughly enjoyed this Mania more than last year even with Bryan's moment.
Wrestling wise, the show was eh. The parts that made the show great was the moments that it involved. My favorite match was the Orton/Rollins match. But it was a fun show with a lot of great moments to look back at. Don't need to be so negative, I thoroughly enjoyed this Mania more than last year even with Bryan's moment.
That's a very great and concise way to put it. When you think about the stuff you take away from this 'mania, it's been isolated things to make those 'moments' they love to talk about. The Ambrose spot in the ladder match, Orton's curbstomp RKO etc. Then the stuff like Mizdow turning on Miz, the Ronda Rousey beatdown, the cash-in etc. It was all mark-worthy stuff. It didn't translate into any wrestling clinics, but that's perfectly fine IMO.
Also I might be in the minority, but I personally never go into Wrestlemanias expecting all time great matches, or even MOTYCs. I more expect what was delivered yesterday night.
The whole PPV was fine, I really don't know what people are expecting these days or why everyone is so fucking miserable and negative all the damn time
Sometimes people watch events that aren't WWE and see that things don't have to be this terrible.
Fuck, even WWE does produce great stuff (see the main event) sometimes, but then they return to type and give 3+ hours of terrible matches to build up to it. Most of the card wouldn't have been fit to main event RAW, it was laughably bad.
Brock/Reigns was **** minimum for me. I thought the story telling, especially considering it involved someone as green as Reigns. Blood helped it a lot. You just didn't know how it would end. We all thought Reigns would come back and win and we were waiting for the incoming shit storm then suddenly Rollins comes and cashes in. Thought it was the perfect end.
Wrestling for me isn't all about a great match but rather great moments. I'd take moments like Sting wrestling in a WWE ring at WrestleMania over some four star match. Rollins cashing in during the main event will be a moment that's talked about for years and that's much more exciting than a four star match.
People are just high on Reigns not winning and Brock not losing.
I totally agree on that front, but I also agree that there were no 4+ star matches.
The Curb-stomp-RKO finish, Rusev's entrance, Brock's performance, and Rollins' cash in certainly helped make up for some of the bad bits. But yeah, can't say it was a great WM, and I still liked last year's more.
I don't know how you can call it a 3 star match when it had the entire wrestling world buzzing on the edge of their seats watching every single second of the most legit in ring action we've had in a WM main event arguably ever. And tonnes of unpredictability.
Low expectations going into the show and Reigns not walking out with the title is why the PPV is being overrated by many.
It was a 6/10 show at best overall, just not enough "Wrestlemania" quality wrestling for it to be rated any higher. No new stars were born, Rusev loses his streak in a really cheesy Lana spot to Cena who doesn't need it, Wyatt jobs after carrying the feud. (Why feed a young guy to Taker?) Big Show wins the Battle Royale for god knows what reason, Rollins gets owned by Orton again only to walk out the biggest winner of the night, Sting jobs in some kind of wacky WWE v WCW feud (this was Vince clearly stroking his ego and pulling a swifty on Sting) eventhough Sting said he was putting HHH in his place for flagrant abuse of power. I mean christ Sting saved a WWE born & bred Randy Orton a few weeks ago, cut the WCW v WWE horseshit.
This whole thing was a spot fest. More big spots/moments than any WM I remember. Cody getting suplexed off the top of the ladder and Dean being thrown thru and breaking a ladder outside the ring were impressive. Randy catching Seth with an RKO out of a curb stomp was nice. Cena's backward stunner off the second rope. Rousey tossing HHH. The Rock beating HHH. DX and NWO showing up. The cash in. Reigns drawing blood outta Brock. Heck even the pre show tag match had some good spots. And there were a bunch more.
The only draw back here was all of the entrances in the daylight. Night or indoors would have been a lot better.
A PPV can absolutely be considered great without having 4 star matches or MOTYCs on it.
It is the complete package. How did you feel after the show? Are you excited for more? Did the show flow well and have a nice pace.
One of my favorite PPVs from 1998 was Survivor Series. I would say there were No MOTYCs on it and if I used star ratings, there would probably be nothing beyond 3 or 3 and a half stars or so. That said, the complete storyline of the tournament made for a night of twists and turns that was overall entertaining and gave us an ending that was legitimately shocking and one of the best executed heel turns ever.
I'd call that a great show.
To me, there isn't some star rating quota that a show has to achieve. It just has to be good at what it does whether it is being entertaining, telling great stories, providing great payoffs, having those MOTYCs or whatever. There isn't an equation to balance or anything.
That said, to sum up Mania 31. I agree that to me, there were no MOTYCs or anything. I wouldn't say it was a great show...but it was good and solid overall, and any issues or praises I have with it has nothing to do with star ratings.
Doesn't this prove that you don't need 5 star matches to make an entertaining product? It was FUN! HHH/Sting was overbook piece of shit, but it was fun and great for a lowercard match to get the crowd invested. The Divas match was an actual match an not a dumb battle royal to put bodies on the show.
Last year's beside the opening and Daniel Bryan, it was pretty meh. The Taker/Lesnar match had a shocking ending but the match itself wasn't that good. If you preferred last year's product, you prefer the Cena type booking all these years of only one guy in the spotlight. Sorry that's the truth.
I rather watch a 5-4 soccer match of slightly inferior quality than a dull 1-0 match of '5 star' tactics.
I cannot believe some of the things I'm reading on here and on Reddit. People are saying this show was better than 30, that Reigns earned respect, and that Wrestlemania 31 was a great show.
I'll agree that it exceeded expectations but after that pothole-filed Road to Mania, it wasnt difficult. Much like the THIS IS Awesome chant, the term GREAT is bandied about much too freely. I liked the show, but it did not rise to the level of greatness.
I guess it comes down to what you want/like out of a big wrestling/sports entertainment show.
To me it's not a mathematical equation: I don't rate every match and count up the numbers and say "WM 5 is better than WM 30 because I have it a total of 54 3/4 stars and WM30 only had 52 2/3 stars."
That's not how it works for me. It's entertainment. I rate it on how much I was entertained, not on the "in a vacuum this was a better display of technical proficiency" factor.
I've looked at a lot of "you MUST see this" Japanese matches on Youtube that, to me, come across as spotfests ... maybe because without commentary I don't know the characters or their history as well and don't quite get the story they are getting across. It may be 5 stars to someone on a mythical rating system, but it didn't entertain me as much as, say, the Sting-HHH match with all of the nostalgia pops and twists and turns.
It truly comes down to emotional impact. How much does it make me care? How much does it draw me in? How much am I literally reacting to the changes of fortune and the surprise move or turn in fortune in the match?
A couple of examples of matches that would not rate high on the star scale that I'd rather watch and enjoyed more than someone else's technical masterpiece: Jericho beating Shawn within an inch of his life and winning by ref stoppage ... then Shawn beating and whipping Jericho like a scalded dog and Jericho crawling into the ring to win the Scramble Match for the title while Batista is taking his "victory lap" and celebrating.
The Brock-Roman match told a story that drew me in and I was genuinely excited over "how will this end, who's going to win" factor ... and then Seth cashes in and to me that's 5-star entertainment.
For me, WM30 and 31 both had the "it" factor in that they made me care, made me remember why I enjoy wrestling so much, drew me in and most of all, entertained me for several hours. I wouldn't trade it for some string of matches that rate 4-plus stars on the scale but don't add up to an emotional impact.
What ppv were you watching OP, I thought dang near the entire show was 4 star matches. This is one of the best WM I've seen, and I've seen all of them. AMAZING SHOW!!
Another thought on the "like" vs. better" line of thinking.
There are several bands that I enjoy listening to more than bands that I would admit are, on a strictly musican scale, "better."
Same with movies. Shawshank Redemption is probably a "better" movie than Rocky IV, but if they are both on at the same time I will more likely watch Rocky IV because I "like" it more.
At WM 18 you had Rock vs Hogan. One of the greatest matches of all time. You know what the rest of the show is known for? I doubt it. That's because in ring wise that was a pretty forgettable show including said match. HHH vs Jericho in the main event that wasn't the true main event. There was also a 4- corner tag title match, DDP getting a win. A burnt out Austin stunning Hall and Nash, a brilliantly pointless Kurt Angle vs Kane match....need I say more?
That show is remembered fondly because of simply 1 major, major moment/match.
This show (31) had Mizdown finally break free with a crowd solidly behind him (Big Show winning adds major credibility to the Trophy and also gives other big guys in the future an actual reason to look like a threat, because a big guy threat actually won this once.) Bryan winning his final eluded title. Orton/Rollins putting on 3 stars with a 5 star ending.
DX vs NWO war with the crowd eating it all up (Handshake was lame but rewatching that in 20 years, the handshake will be poetic) We got the Rock making a surprise and we got HHH Rock confirmed and Ronda vs Steph maybe if they cut a deal (Summerlsam mixed tag anyone?). Undertaker looked to have sucked up a soul or two and looks better than a year ago.
And the ME, wow. Didn't expect the Cena Summerslam booking but I loved it to death. Reigns laughing after the slaps toward the end made him look like a star (Brad Pitt in fight club rings a bell) Going in I was booing Reigns hard and when Rollins got in there I marked hard. The dude really did put on a show. All three did. This main event essentially blew each and every expectation out of the water. Most thought dud or MAYBE a "Reings vs Orton Summerslam" decent match where Roman looked strong.
They knew we thought Reigns was too early for that win. They booked him as a guy who wasn't ready and got wooped. He would not stay down which made him look great. If Reigns "over came the odds" It would not have worked. This booking was perfect. Give us a REASON to sympathize other than he has Samoan blood so "cheer damnit". This can and will work to take his catch phrase.
Show gets an 8/10 ONE of the greatest Manias. Not THE, just likely in my top 10
I was at 30 and 31 so I'm in a good spot to judge and I'd say 31 was the better show because as an overall show it kept you excited throughout and had some very high spots that got you hyped
Ambrose going through the ladder
Bryan/Ziggler headbutting each other
Sting
HHH entrance
DX interference
NWO come back
HBK appears
D-Bry segment with legends
Rocks interuption
Ronda Rousey
Rusev entrance
Wyatt/Taker crab & sit-up
Rollins cash in
I may have forgotten some but it was a class night!
The main event was incredible I thought, a literal five star match and that was all down to Lesnar absolutely killing. It was a wonderful match in terms of psychology, storytelling, execution, everything.
The rest was horseshit, it as 2-3/10 up until the main event, lifted to a 4 by that match alone.
I think most people were just drunk off their faces and can only remember the few high spots (that RKO, Russev Tank, etc) and not just how terrible all of those matches were, even disregarding the bad finishes. Even the ladder match was probably the worst WM ladder match in history.
The main event was incredible I thought, a literal five star match and that was all down to Lesnar absolutely killing. It was a wonderful match in terms of psychology, storytelling, execution, everything.
I don't understand this. We already saw that match with Cena. Plus watching only one guy go on the offensive for most of the match is absolutely boring which is why I found the Cena match greatly overrated. These glorified squash matches are great sleep aid though....
You're 100% right, the thing is we got the best pay off in the end. I don't think Reigns earned any respect. He's still undeserving and didn't do shit the entire match. It was superman bullshit all over again... With Rollin's crushing his skull in it just made the night damn near perfect. Sure. the matches weren't great. We got the best result out of the worst of scenarios.
It was kinda like an old school Mania. None of the matches were amazing but there were alot of big memorable moments. Although none of the matches were bad except Cena/Rusev which I thought was booked quite poor.
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