Official WrestleMania 36 Thread - 4/4-5/2020

Honestly I wasn’t a fan of the Graveyard match because it was too much like I was watching a movie fight and not a real fight. And the Funhouse match while very corny and funny it wasn’t something I wanted to see as a wrestling match. When I watch wrestling I want to be entertained by something the resembles a wrestling match or fight...not some parody/SNL skit. They want to do something like that for the Edge & Christian Show it would have been perfect but not as a match at WrestleMania.

But I did really enjoy the last man standing match that was more like a believable fight.

One thing I loved about there being no crowd was all of the chants the audience always do.

While it was forced by circumstances, I was so happy this show was cut into two nights. Mania has become an absolute chore to sit through over the years. After night 1, I felt good and was interested to watch part 2. Just a few of my thoughts,

Night 1
- Thought Sami and Bryan put on a really good match. From an in ring perspective, this was the best wrestling on the entire show. Kudos to those guys.
- Ladder Match stip was odd but a nice fun match. JoMo in a Ladder match is always fun to watch. Interesting ending, not the biggest fan but I guess it fits Miz/Morrison right now.
- KO and Rollins was good. Nothing special. That elbow drop spot was tough to watch.
- Goldberg and Braun= Yawn. Your two World Championship matches were less than 7 minutes long. COMBINED. I'll get more into it as it pertains to Brock Lesnar.
- Undertaker/AJ took the cake for me. This was, no pun intended, phenomenal. Exactly what it should have been. The cinematic style, the realism in majority of match and the trash talking. For a feud that really served no purpose, THIS is how a match where two guys who hate each other should go. This was a war and obviously it comes off fake given the editing, you were invested and entertained. This match had no right being this good. Great job to everybody involved.

Night 2
-Not digging Rhea losing to Charlotte. Thought it would have bee a huge moment for Ripley and NXT for her to retain against the top womens wrestler in the company.
-Edge and Orton just didnt do it for me. I just couldnt get into it from the get go. Edge should have had a one on one singles match against Rollins IMO. Rollins would be able to carry Edge to a good return match as Edge shakes the cobwebs out after 9 years. I just couldnt sit there and believe the story they were telling. The match was slow paced, mostly striking and slamming the others head into an object. Idk what the deal was with the commentary but it was outright horrible and they should have gotten ripped for it afterwards. They were actually whispering and acting as if we were witnessing the most inhumane acts of violence that they couldnt utter a single sentence. Didnt like the ending either. Dont climb up on a trailer at WrestleMania if somebody isnt going off it, not that I expected either man to.
-Fiend and Cena was entertaining and thats it. Wish there was more action but thats what it was. I felt like they never really got going and it was leading to something bigger, more of a payoff if you will. But with that said, I commend them for the creativity and everything that they tied into it. If you go back and break it down it really was genius story telling. I popped hard at ITS SUCH GOOD SH*T, like almost crapped myself.

Then to the main event. Yikes. Normally Im okay when Brock does his shtick because the other title match is usually excellent. But when the other title match is Goldberg, you just cant have the exact same match and expect fans to be happy with it. Brock is more than capable of putting on a really good match. The whole idea of kicking out of three F5s (or spears) is just mind boggling to me. That one year where Brock was champ and beat Joe, Strowman and AJ with one F5 as he was going into Mania to Vs Roman. They tried to make the F5 seem so devastating for that time only for Roman to kick out of FOUR F5s on the show. To me, you book the match where Reigns keeps reversing out of the F5, trying to avoid it until Brock finally hits it. Roman kicks out of one to make for the big pop and that keeps all the other guys at a level. But after the second, you go home. Roman looks strong in defeat and the F5 still keeps its value. Drew and Lesnar was more of the same. How am I supposed to buy anybody beating Drew after he kicked out of three F5s? How am I supposed to believe AJ Styles, Rollins, Joe, anybody else on RAW is going to beat Drew after that?

Overall I think it was a good show and they really tried to make light of a really bad situation. Still, some bad and typical WWE decisions were made. Its hard to say where they go next as I believe they just wanted to get through Mania and take everything else day by day.

I'm working my way through a re-watch of WM, match by match, and out of the three I've gotten through so far (Boneyard, Funhouse, and Dolph/Otis), these are my thoughts.

Undertaker vs AJ Styles

The Boneyard was one of the best things I've ever seen. Was it a wrestling match? Hell no. But was it entertaining? Absolutely. I never thought I would appreciate the addition of a soundtrack to a "wrestling match" this much before, but I couldn't help but feel like that's what made it so special. Between the cinematography and the soundtrack, it was epic.

Although, gotta love the genre-blindness of AJ thinking that throwing the Deadman in a grave would somehow stop him. I know that's how you win the match, but it made me think very specifically of when Shane threw Kane into a dumpster fire. Same premise, IMO. I legit laughed while watching this and said "Silly AJ. You can't kill what is already dead." Great stuff.

Bray Wyatt vs John Cena

The Firefly Funhouse Segment was that. A segment. I really don't think you can call it a match in any universe. However, what it was, was a wonderful bit of storytelling about John Cena and who he has become since he started. How many times have we complained about him needing to "Put down your shovel, John". And for him to finally get it thrown in his face like that was so wonderful. I have a million thoughts on the deeper implications an nuances of that segment, but I'll save them for Tumblr. In the meantime, I was very entertained.

Also, Demon!Vince saying "This is good sh*t!" Made me lose my ish laughing. I loved it.

Otis vs Dolph Ziggler

Finally, Dolph/Otis. Well, it wasn't the most elegant match. I will say that watching Dolph against Otis really highlights how much of an athlete Dolph is. But sorry, Zigs, my heart belongs to Otis. I wish, as a woman, I could explain just how despicable the actions of "Nice Guy Ziggler" are, but I really can't. I can't put it into words, but trust me when I say that every woman on the planet has encountered their fair share of "Nice Guys". And they make our skin crawl every single time. Also, as a.. um... person of heft... I wanted to reach through my monitor and strangle JBL. I get that he's the heel commentator, but tone it down a notch, will ya. Some of that was just uncalled for. The ease with which some of those comments left his lips really lends credence for the stories of him being a backstage bully. It's one thing to be a heel. It's another thing to compare a human being to a farm animal. Repeatedly. Someone on the writing team wrote those lines, and it's NOT OK. Wrestling should make me hate the heels and root for the babyface... it shouldn't make me feel an overwhelming sense of self-loathing because the person on TV who looks like me is being thrown PETA comments. NOT GOOD.

All that said, I really wish that there had been a crowd for that kiss. Otis getting the girl would have been so much better if there'd been 85K fans screaming when they kissed.

Just finished watching it. Not sure what to say ... the boneyard movie was fun -- that firefly show thing was not. I enjoyed Becky's match and Drew's the most. I noticed the editing of that Street Profits match was all over the place. Gonna get slagged for this but I don't understand the fans love of Edge, honestly. I wasn't watching when he was on top. Anyway, his match was boring as hell and I didn't care.

I have a friend who I sometimes discuss WWE with, and I called him to rave about the Boneyard match. He cut me off saying "If someone made me watch that I'd have to put a bullet in their head."

I commented that he could at least try to be supportive of my interests, but he replied "You should know better than that. Wrestling died when the territories did."

I don't understand some people. People who think that only "Pure" wrestling matters. Well, guess what. It was still scripted, even then. The big difference between then and now is that there's a story attached to it. If you want to watch a sport, go watch boxing. 

Sorry, I'm in a really bad mood right now. Don't mind me.

Kinda makes me think of that one interview Vince did about a phone call he received from Ted Turner.

Ted: Hey McMahon! Guess what! I'm in the Wrasslin' business now!
Vince: That's nice, Ted. I'm in the Sports Entertainment business. 

Or something like that. I can't remember exactly, I saw that interview decades ago, but I do remember it making me laugh.