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Post by cordless2016 on Sept 7, 2023 15:37:46 GMT -5
Wrestlemania 30 is seen by many as one of the better shows put on by the WWE, largely for Daniel Bryan finally getting his moment to shine on the biggest stage of them all. But anyone wonder how things would have gone over had the WWE gone with their original plans…
- WWE Championship: Randy Orton vs Batista
- CM Punk vs HHH
- Sheamus vs Daniel Bryan
It blows my mind with how popular Bryan was that the WWE was dead set on giving us the above card even weeks before the show (minus Punk/HHH). And once Punk was gone, it seemed like HHH was being set setup to be added to the main event, with the WWE still trying to downplay Bryan’s success.
Anyone wish we had gotten the original card? Anyone actually want to see Batista run with the belt in 2014 like Vince had planned? I’m as big of a Batista fan as anyone, but even I admit that everything they did with him from winning the rumble up to his heel turn a few months later was pure crap (I enjoyed his 2014 run as soon as he turned heel).
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Post by ASR (therockisback) on Sept 7, 2023 16:20:23 GMT -5
WM30 was one of the shows ever... the original card would have sucked hard.
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Post by theoutlaw1999 on Sept 7, 2023 17:28:17 GMT -5
If Orton & Batista closed the show, the fans would've either hijacked the entire match or walked out. It would've been a humiliating situation for both men.
Bryan was the hottest thing since Austin and fans were craving for him to win so there is no way they would've accepted the original main event.
I do feel sorry for Batista, he knew that the scenario was not going to work but Vince insisted in putting him in an embarrassing position that made fans hate him.
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Post by TKO Propagandist on Sept 8, 2023 2:17:21 GMT -5
I think this card would've been the worst Wrestlemania of all time. That main event would have seen RAW after Mania levels of hijacking
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Sept 8, 2023 2:25:18 GMT -5
The fact that the WWE had the most over guy in the company at the time in Daniel Bryan and was just trying to sabotage his WWE career at the time is mind boggling.
Does the WWE not want to make money?? It would be like in 1998 with Vince putting Ken Shamrock vs. HBK for the WWE Title and having Steve Austin vs. Marc Mero at the event.
It's like once WCW died, Vince felt it didn't matter what the fans wanted because the competition was dead so he would give the fans what they should want. I remember the 2014 Royal Rumble being a clustering of boos after number 30 came in as Rey Mysterio. How did the WWE not see what they had with Daniel Bryan at the time is ridiculous.
Thank God they wised up weeks before Wrestlemania and came to their senses to put the belts on Bryan.
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Post by Kill Em' All on Sept 8, 2023 2:52:47 GMT -5
Punk and HHH I think could have been very good. If Punk in this world was invested.
Sheamus and Bryan may have had this show stealing match
Batista - Orton just would have been so flat. Just the concept sounds so flat and weird for 2014 WWE. The fans would also help ruin it.
Would’ve of been maybe viewed as terrible Mania due to its main event getting trampled
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Post by TKO Propagandist on Sept 8, 2023 6:35:55 GMT -5
The fact that the WWE had the most over guy in the company at the time in Daniel Bryan and was just trying to sabotage his WWE career at the time is mind boggling. Does the WWE not want to make money?? It would be like in 1998 with Vince putting Ken Shamrock vs. HBK for the WWE Title and having Steve Austin vs. Marc Mero at the event. It's like once WCW died, Vince felt it didn't matter what the fans wanted because the competition was dead so he would give the fans what they should want. I remember the 2014 Royal Rumble being a clustering of boos after number 30 came in as Rey Mysterio. How did the WWE not see what they had with Daniel Bryan at the time is ridiculous. Thank God they wised up weeks before Wrestlemania and came to their senses to put the belts on Bryan. Vince began to lose his mojo after the Benoit incident. The storylines that proceeded that were dogsh*t. Vince illegimate son, Hornswoggle all over the product etc. At some point he stopped caring. It became let's just put anything on TV because we have to finish writing the show & it's already 4pm Monday afternoon. |
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Post by rkmo: 9 Month Warning on Sept 8, 2023 8:10:07 GMT -5
If only CM Punk's contract expired closer to WrestleMania season...
Daniel Bryan did, in fact, make this Mania special. Which is kinda odd considering you also had Cesaro going over big in the Andre Battle Royal and other popular names on the card like the Shield and Bray Wyatt (RIP). But because he had the story told throughout the show to actually emphasize his crowd support, Bryan was finally given the spotlight. Lots of flux in the card with Punk leaving and the Shield trio remaining a thing. Isn't an easy thing to make the major pieces fit in a cohesive manner.
No amount of the retconning people attempt where "Vince knew what he was doing" about Bryan's injury or working to keep Bryan hot can be allowed to stand.
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Post by cordless2016 on Sept 8, 2023 9:07:00 GMT -5
If only CM Punk's contract expired closer to WrestleMania season... Daniel Bryan did, in fact, make this Mania special. Which is kinda odd considering you also had Cesaro going over big in the Andre Battle Royal and other popular names on the card like the Shield and Bray Wyatt (RIP). But because he had the story told throughout the show to actually emphasize his crowd support, Bryan was finally given the spotlight. Lots of flux in the card with Punk leaving and the Shield trio remaining a thing. Isn't an easy thing to make the major pieces fit in a cohesive manner. No amount of the retconning people attempt where "Vince knew what he was doing" about Bryan's injury or working to keep Bryan hot can be allowed to stand. Anytime someone claims the WWE planned Bryan going over all along, I point them to his book. He specifically notes that he was scheduled to face Sheamus in the middle of the event. |
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Post by cordless2016 on Sept 8, 2023 9:10:27 GMT -5
The fact that the WWE had the most over guy in the company at the time in Daniel Bryan and was just trying to sabotage his WWE career at the time is mind boggling. Does the WWE not want to make money?? It would be like in 1998 with Vince putting Ken Shamrock vs. HBK for the WWE Title and having Steve Austin vs. Marc Mero at the event. It's like once WCW died, Vince felt it didn't matter what the fans wanted because the competition was dead so he would give the fans what they should want. I remember the 2014 Royal Rumble being a clustering of boos after number 30 came in as Rey Mysterio. How did the WWE not see what they had with Daniel Bryan at the time is ridiculous. Thank God they wised up weeks before Wrestlemania and came to their senses to put the belts on Bryan. I remember starting to think something was up around Survivor Series 2013 when Orton was randomly feuding with Big Show of all people. Normally id see it as a filler-feud, but when they started having him legit steal the “YES” chants during the buildup, it started to become clear that they were trying to pivot away from Bryan in the main event. Then the Batista return-promos began and we all know how that went. |
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Post by theoutlaw1999 on Sept 8, 2023 17:15:42 GMT -5
If only CM Punk's contract expired closer to WrestleMania season... Daniel Bryan did, in fact, make this Mania special. Which is kinda odd considering you also had Cesaro going over big in the Andre Battle Royal and other popular names on the card like the Shield and Bray Wyatt (RIP). But because he had the story told throughout the show to actually emphasize his crowd support, Bryan was finally given the spotlight. Lots of flux in the card with Punk leaving and the Shield trio remaining a thing. Isn't an easy thing to make the major pieces fit in a cohesive manner. No amount of the retconning people attempt where "Vince knew what he was doing" about Bryan's injury or working to keep Bryan hot can be allowed to stand. Anytime someone claims the WWE planned Bryan going over all along, I point them to his book. He specifically notes that he was scheduled to face Sheamus in the middle of the event. The Bryan Vs The Authority arch started Summerslam 2013 and if your a new fan looking back you would assume that Bryan going over at WM 30 was the long term plan. Following the whole thing at the time, it was obvious that Vince was trying to eliminate him from the main event scene. Big Show who no one cared about was shoehorned into the World title picture and then Batista is brought back and booked to win the rumble lol. One thing does confuse me. Both Sheamus & Bryan were faces so if they were scheduled for WM 30 would one have turned heel? |
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JimRiga
Superstar
Joined on: Feb 15, 2017 16:46:49 GMT -5
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Post by JimRiga on Sept 8, 2023 19:20:52 GMT -5
As much as I love Daniel Bryan and wanted him to do well, it felt a bit flat to me as it became too obvious by the time the show started that he was just going to easily beat all the odds and win simply because WWE were in danger of facing their biggest fear - fans ‘hijacking’ the shows. That’s the only reason Wrestlemania 30 turned out that way. They had to rewrite their plans not to make us happy, but to stop us getting angrier. We all know Vince McMahon doesn’t like being made to do something, he’s Vince McMahon dammit, so he can’t have liked changing his show for other people’s sakes, he likes to shove everything down our throats and we have to like it, but the fact they left it so late before realising what trouble they could be in meant they had to hastily cram his sudden rise back up the card into one night rather than being able to stretch out the story a bit more and make it seem a bit more organic. In the end it just looked like the desperate act that it was, a rare u-turn of their plans, which is completely their own fault and the nearest we’ll ever get to an acknowledgment that what they were trying to do wasn’t popular at all.
This meant that they had to give the fans what they wanted as they felt they were in danger of losing some of us and it made the result so obvious I could have bet the Earth on it.
What also ruined it for me was that moments earlier we had witnessed the end of Undertaker’s undefeated Wrestlemania streak and while I feel it was the right decision in the long run, I was actually in shock over it!! It meant I wasn’t able to build up enough anticipation for the main event at all, I just felt weird.
Despite everything, it was better than what their original plans were. Punk and HHH would have been ok, but just Orton and Batista in 2014!? Plus Sheamus and Bryan, again!?
Cesaro picking up Big Show and dumping him over the top to win the first Andre battle royal was good though.
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Post by ASR (therockisback) on Sept 10, 2023 10:33:32 GMT -5
I’m so happy with the way it all turned out… Bryan vs HHH was a classic and Bryan vs Orton vs Batista was also a classic… great stuff.
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Post by ASR (therockisback) on Oct 11, 2023 22:45:19 GMT -5
Punk and HHH I think could have been very good. If Punk in this world was invested. Sheamus and Bryan may have had this show stealing match Batista - Orton just would have been so flat. Just the concept sounds so flat and weird for 2014 WWE. The fans would also help ruin it. Would’ve of been maybe viewed as terrible Mania due to its main event getting trampled Batista vs Orton would have been the worst WM main event ever... if it happened before WM30 or after WM30 then I'd say it would be a great main event tbh but WM30 was all about Daniel Bryan for sure. |
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Hogan VS Flair
