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Reviewers call WrestleMania 31 the greatest of all time

10K views 126 replies 101 participants last post by  Cobalt 
#1 ·
The event received positive reviews from fans and critics alike. John Powell of Canadian Online Explorer gave the event a perfect 10 out of 10 star rating, calling it "the best Mania ever", with the main event between Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins rated 8.5 stars out of 10. Sting vs Triple H received the highest rating, 9 stars, and Undertaker vs Bray Wyatt got 8 stars.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter described the event as "one of the best shows I've ever seen. Several great matches, a killer angle and very little that wasn't good". He also praised the involvement of Ronda Rousey.

Chris Graham of the Augusta Free Press also called the event the "Best. WrestleMania. Of. All. Time." He praised the ending of the main event, calling it "unpredictable", and said, "Helluva show. For a night, wrestling was unpredictably fun again."

Jack De Menezes of The Independent said, "It will go down as one of, if not the greatest WrestleMania of all time. From NWO's reunion, to The Rock teaming up with Ronda Rousey and Randy Orton's incredible 'RKO outta nowhere', nearly every match delivered a spectacle fitting of the Grandest Stage of Them All".
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_31#Reception

Mad, I believe it was a pretty good 'Mania, but some calling it the best ever? Madness! Thoughts?
 
#29 ·
Agreed 100%.

People went in expecting disappointment, and they wound up getting a decent show which was what they paid for.

I will admit however that this Mania came together really well as a complete package.
 
#9 ·
From an in-ring quality standpoint, maybe it was not the best,,or even better than last year's, but from an entertaining standpoint, WM 31 was brilliant
 
#10 ·
It was the best one I've seen for sure so it's the best one of the last 10 years. Everything delivered, a few great matches and two killer angles. And Rusev's entrance of course. None of the previous WM's have had a grizzly bear looking bulgarian waving the russian flag on top of a tank while his beautiful manager brings his title to the ring accompanied by the military so for that alone it's in the top 5.
 
#11 · (Edited)
The card was utterly stacked but the show was completely average for me. I found myself bored damn near the whole time and was never engrossed by anything. I actually fell asleep after Sting/HHH (which I thought was a stupid match) and didn't bother watching Taker/Wyatt (Taker needs to retire) or Rusev/Cena (Damn near every Cena rematch is the same match as the first).

The ladder match was just another generic MITB style ladder match that once again reuses all of the same tired spots EVERY ladder match has.

Rollins/Orton was good but didn't feel like a big match. The Main Event was enjoyable but I've already seen Lesnar squash somebody. Watching him squash someone again is boring. If I hadn't already been spoiled by the Cena squash I'm sure I'd have seen this match in a better light.

Maybe as an entertainment spectacle it was a great show from top to bottom. But as a wrestling show and as a very critical fan of wrestling matches who thinks about everything from pacing, psychology, match structure, it completely under delivered for me and literally put me to sleep.
 
#76 · (Edited)
Aaaand this is why Vince Mcmahon laughs at the internet. I guarantee if Rusev, Wyatt, and Sting all won, you would cream your pants over the show. Predictable as fuck. They throw ya a curveball and have HHH go over, have a killer angle with Rousey that no one saw coming, and had your number 1 enemy take the fall in the main event after getting destroyed, and all you can say is it.."Put you to sleep." Fucking fuck off. You know why so many are praising this show? Because it DESERVES IT. There was not one bad match on the card, and the ending was incredible. You people are such masochists it's almost funny. Wahhhhh Undertaker and Cena went over at a fucking Mania wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I've only been watching that happen for a decade and am still watching Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
 
#47 ·
The disparity between this forum's reactions and the general public's doesn't surprise me at all. There is little to no correlation between what hardcore fans and casuals find entertaining from professional wrestling.

Case and point: The Sting v Triple H. Casuals loved that fight, because even though it wasn't a good match technically, it was fun as hell.

Add to that a good ladder match, The Rock and Ronda's segment, and an awesome cash, and you have the recipe for a well received event. Personally, I enjoyed it.
 
#49 ·
So did I. Too many people on here looking for reasons to bitch about EVERYTHING.

Sting/HHH was just a classic over the top Attitude Era throwback match. Who went over doesn't matter.

Sting isn't going to be around for the next few months and HHH is a prominent heel who can always put over a babyface at some point in the future.

The whole show was well booked imo and i enjoyed MUCH more than i was expecting to.
 
#12 ·
Curious as to why so many people think 30>31.

- The Batista hate was way worse than the Reigns hate.
- Matches involving superstars who already wrestled.
- No returning legends participating in matches or getting physical.
- Worse HOF class.
- Worse Undertaker performance.
- The streak ending.
- Aside from the above, very very predictable finishes.

Lets face it, the only reason anyone would rate 30 over 31 is if you believe wrestling starts and ends with Daniel Bryan.
 
#21 · (Edited)
I would maybe say it is Top 5, but LOL at best ever.

17 gets all the credit and praise for a reason. 17 has 2 timeless matches with Rock/Austin and TLC 2. I would say that there are probably 5 matches on 17 that are arguably better than 31's best match.

Let's compare each shows equivalent matches:

Rock/Austin >>>> Reigns/Lesnar
TLC 2 >>>>>>>>>>>> IC Ladder Match
Undertaker/HHH >>> Undertaker/Wyatt
Benoit/Angle >> Orton/Rollins
Vince/Shane = HHH/Sting
Rusev/Cena > Jericho/Regal
4 Team Tag Match >>>>>>>>>>>> 6 Man Tag Match
Divas Tag Match >>>>>>>>>>>> Chyna/Ivory
Andre Battle Royal = Gimmick Battle Royal

That is still leaving out a very fun Kane/Big Show/Raven and a meh Eddie Guerrero/Test match.

17 was built up to be the GOAT show and it delivered. 31 came in with no expectations and over delivered.

I honestly don't know if there is show that exists that can match Rock/Austin, TLC 2, Angle/Benoit, Vince/Shane, and HHH/Taker on one card. Those are 4 4-Star+ matches and 2 GOAT matches. This years Tokyo Dome show was close with 2 GOAT matches and a great Styles/Naito match, but the rest was okay. When World's Collide is a great show as well, but I prefer 17.
 
#33 ·
Sting vs Triple H received the highest rating, 9 stars, and Undertaker vs Bray Wyatt got 8 stars.
LMAO the guy who gave that review should be declared mentally insane.
 
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#36 ·
No no no.

It was fucking awesome, seriously I loved it. A lot of great parts to it but the matches were not good enough, quality wise. Inevitable winners to add to that does not help it's cause.

Sting vs HHH was far from great, so to Taker vs Wyatt but it was better then I was expecting but also had a very obvious winner, the mainevent was an absolute demolition job by Brock on Reigns, the ending was out of this fucking world though.

Rock and Rousey was awesome too, but like I said it was missing a match that I can clearly say "wow, that will be hard to top this year" and I think Mania should have that.

It exceeded my expectations and is definitely one of the better Mania's I have watched recently but definitely not GOAT.
 
#38 ·
It was an 8/10 show at best no where near GOAT status but deserves to be praised.

Ladder match 4/5 there wasn't a lot of spots and I felt that Ambrose got screwed considering he's the one that carried the feud. But Bryan won so I'm happy since Bryan was my 2nd pick after Ambrose.

Sting Vs HHH 4.5/5 they should've kept DX and NWO out just have HBK instead. While it was indeed a mark out moment I felt that it was unnecessary to have NWO and DX out there. And the finish sucked sledge hammer to the head and then hand shake? Wtf? Sting should've sold that like he was unconscious and be stretchered out the arena to write him off.

Rollins Vs Randy Orton 5/5 awesome match that RKO Orton delivered was amazing.

Divas match meh 2/5

Cena and Rusev 3/5 the match was average at best Rusev had a goat entrance tho.

Taker Vs Bray 4/5 Bray carried the whole match with an injured ankle while the undertaker was gassed the match itself was average nothing out of the ordinary.

Lesnar Vs Reigns 5/5 awesome match Lesnar made Reigns his bitch in the ring and Rollins cashing in made that match more sweeter I marked out when Rollins got the 3 count. Seriously I had a huge smile on my face when I heard his shitty theme play because I knew he was going to win.

Miscellaneous

Kid ink 1/5
Skyler Grey 4/5
Blink drummer 4/5

The Rock and Rousey 5/5 I legit marked the fuck out when Rousey got in that ring I wanted her so bad to beat the living shit out of Steph.

Preshow

Battle Royal 4/5 But I feel it should've been Mizdow and Miz as the final two with Miz asking Sandow to get out the ring and Sandow finally giving the miz the asswhopping of a life time and winning the trophy

Tag match 4/5 I liked it except Naomi and Torito getting involved. Seriously why didn't they get a DQ?
 
#45 ·
Woow, no.

It was a good WrestleMania (if we consider the main show), I was entertained throughout the show quite honestly. Some matches were good (IC title ladder match, Orton vs. Rollins), some were there (Sting vs. Triple H, Lesnar vs. Reigns but the ending was GOAT, Taker vs. Wyatt because the wrong guy went over), some I didn't watch (you can figure it out which) the only match that I didn't enjoy was the US Title Match.

But to say it was the greatest WM of all time is beyond overreacting IMO, I mean, the Authority cut a promo, a 20 min promo :lmao in the middle of the event :maury
 
#57 ·
It was a very good show, but I'd put 17, 19, 21, 23, 24, 26, 28, and 30 all above it. It was pretty consistent throughout, and the main event was an excellent match (even if it does seem to be getting a bit overrated along with the show), but there wasn't really a classic match... in fact there's nothing on the card that I'd say is a "must-see" again outside of maybe the main event.
 
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#59 ·
From what I remember from not baking in the California sun, yeah, it was a bang up show. I'll have to watch it back to get the full experience, but nothing dragged this year. In fact, my gf and I thought the show felt shorter than usual -- even with the pre-show stuff. Must have been the west coast time difference kicking in, as the sun didn't set until the main event (which is where it started to look and feel like Mania, unfortunately).

I was surprised at the positive feedback, however. Seems like this board was doing nothing but shitting on it the entire time leading up to it. Granted, it was warranted as the promotion for the event from a booking stand point was diarrhea. It made me "disconnect" while I was over there because I didn't want to be soured on something I paid for before it happened. I just lived in the moment and, to me, it delivered.

Wrestling's more fun when you stop obsessing over every 2 words in a promo, stop over analyzing the meta details, and just WATCH IT. Not saying to do that all the time, because in this internet age it's hard to, but sometimes you need to do so before a big show.

Excited to watch it back tonight for the first time.
 
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#61 ·
From what I remember from not baking in the California sun, yeah, it was a bang up show. I'll have to watch it back to get the full experience, but nothing dragged this year. In fact, my gf and I thought the show felt shorter than usual -- even with the pre-show stuff. Must have been the west coast time difference kicking in, as the sun didn't set until the main event (which is where it started to look and feel like Mania, unfortunately).

I was surprised at the positive feedback, however. Seems like this board was doing nothing but shitting on it the entire time leading up to it. Granted, it was warranted as the promotion for the event from a booking stand point was diarrhea. It made me "disconnect" while I was over there because I didn't want to be soured on something I paid for before it happened. I just lived in the moment and, to me, it delivered.

Wrestling's more fun when you stop obsessing over every 2 words in a promo, stop over analyzing the meta details, and just WATCH IT. Not saying to do that all the time, because in this internet age it's hard to, but sometimes you need to do so before a big show.

Excited to watch it back tonight for the first time.
Great, great post but I wanted to respond to the bold which is 100% truth my friend.

I think it's hard for some people to do but I just dumb down my brain to watch Raw, Smackdown, etc & it's 20x better for me. I feel so entertained when I'm not talking it so seriously, I don't focus on the little details, it's fun & I feel just like I was when I was a kid.

Obviously there are times when you're like "Okay, what the fuck was that Vince?" but overall just live in the moment like you said & just take the product for what it is & you'll like it better.
 
#60 ·
Enjoyed it a lot. A solid card throughout with no bad matches (divas tag was passable). 19 & 17 are my 2 favourite Manias and I think I will have to wait a few months to see where it ranks exactly. I may put it inside the top ten and I think it's probably the 3rd best from the last 10 years behind WM30 & wm24.

A good opening ladder match which flowed better than they usually have done recently, enjoyed the Sting/HHH match, Ronda was used brilliantly and look forward to see more of her with WWE, glad Undertaker won but he probably should retire next year and an excellent main event and swerve with the right man winning. 8/10
 
#95 ·
Very good. Started well, ended well. That's what you want, and that's what we got. Best show for a rather long time.
 
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#4 · (Edited)
That's ridiculous really. I think it barely cracked top 5.

There was just so much filler, the Rock/Rousey/Authority segment ran on far too long and the pointless live performance was bullshit. HHH/Sting was decent but way over booked and since when was it no DQ?

I thought it was an 8.5/10, last year's was 9.5.

With that said, it was probably the most surprisingly good Mania of all time...
 
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