by The Legend » Apr 08, '19, 8:24 am
So, I was at a gathering with friends, so I couldn't keep up with live discussion of the show, but wanted to put my thoughts down here after the fact anyhow. Hopefully, they'll be shorter than the length of the show.
First, it was amazing how much you could divide this show into thirds (talking main show stuff here): The first four matches were all fantastic and very entertaining. The second four were decent and average. The last four sucked the entire air out of the show.
Rollins vs Lesnar in a lot of ways was completely perfectly booked. I loved Heyman and Lesnar throwing a fit about not being the main event and demanding being first. The attack before the match was played out perfect and while seeing Rollins beat Lesnar in a cleaner fashion would have also been good, I thought him going to desperate lengths and then just running roughshod over the match was good. I was glad they didn't go with some false finishes that dragged the match on longer.
Styles vs Orton was everything I needed it to be, just a nice solid wrestling match after that quick start with the title match.
The fourway tag title match was incredible, there was just so much talent in that ring and the action never slowed down. They did a great job.
I realize that this match isn't going to be for everyone, but I loved Miz vs Shane almost completely. It started a little slow and the stuff with George Mizanin could have done in a quicker, more efficient manner that would have moved the show along better. I'm not even mad about the finish of the match, especially if they play it off right. This match wasn't about winning to Miz it was exacting revenge, which he did in spades. I'd have him point that out on SmackDown. Have Shane brag about winning and then Miz show a picture of Shane laid out and ask him how that winning felt.
The women's tag match was exactly as bad as I figured it would be and having the IIconics win at Mania was a truly terrible decision. The IIconics should have been the first champs and Bayley and Sasha chased the belts to win them at Mania, not the other way around.
The disappointment of the tag match recovered nicely with the fantastic storytelling of the match of the night. Kofi and Bryan tore the house down to me and seeing Kofi actually win the big one was terrific. Credit to all involved for this one.
Rey got squashed at Mania and you know what I'm OK with it. This wasn't so much about Rey as it was about Joe and just how dangerous his Coquina Clutch is. It's well on its way to the most feared move in WWE, which is fantastic. I don't remember the last finisher that was actually treated this way and the fact that it's a submission move is even better.
Reigns vs McIntyre was what it was. I wish they had booked this entire feud a little differently and they could have had McIntyre win at Mania, but he was so dominant through out the feud that I knew this was coming and it was at least done well.
HHH vs Batista, that match needed to be half the time, HHH working as the babyface needed to not be such a sadistic ass, there needed to be far less crawling around and killing time. And it would have been good if we didn't see the finish coming from a mile away as soon as HHH showed there were two sledgehammers under the ring right about the start of the match.
WTF was Corbin vs Angle? I mean really, Baron Corbin won? Here's my list of guys that didn't even get a match at Mania (Andre battle royal doesn't count), that deserved the rub of beating Angle in his final match more than Corbin: Mustafa Ali, Andrade Almas, Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt, Dolph Ziggler, Elias, Johnny Gargano, KEVIN OWENS, Sami Zayn, Shelton Benjamin.
Balor vs Lashley could have been a better match. They deserved better and more time. However, by 12:20 am, I was damn well glad that this was a quick match.
OK, I'll make this simple, most of this match was good, the three women performed really well and were entertaining. However, Becky Lynch is the hottest thing in wrestling right now, she's still crazy over and this is an epic match with major fallout and repricussions. Becky is a face, she does things cleanly. How hard is this to book: Charlotte hits a big move on Ronda, Becky hits the Becksploder Suplex on Charlotte, Becky makes Ronda tap out cleanly to the disarmher?
Credit to Tim/Everlong for this awesome sig