Seth Rollins cashes in
Money in the Bank during the main event of Wrestlemania,
pins Roman Reigns to become champion. Brock Lesnar assaults Rollins on Raw,
gives an F5 to Michael Cole. Stephane McMahon suspends Lesnar indefinitely.
Well, that’s one way to book yourself out of a corner.
Actually, it must be said that the Brock Lesnar/Roman Reigns match
was not bad at all. It was the match of the night, in my opinion. They built up
a lot of sympathy for Reigns (at least in my mind), and established that he is
indeed a Samoan Bad Ass. But at the end of the day, Brock Lesnar was the crowd
favorite. WWE clearly knew that going in, and booked accordingly. They told a
similar story to the one they did with Lesnar and John Cena at Summerslam, but then threw the twist
with Rollins in.
Truth be told, if there’s one guy on the roster that deserved that
crowning moment, it was Seth Rollins. He’s turned in consistently good, often
great work since his heel turn last year. And whether you’re a Roman Reigns fan
or not, this loss at Wrestlemania
does two very important things for him. First, it gives him more big match
experience. Second, it gives him a little more time to cook before they put the
title on him.
There was no way they were going to have Brock wrestle on Raw. I knew that thing was a sham from
the get-go. What I didn’t see coming was what happened to Michael Cole. If
Brock wasn’t a babyface before, he certainly is now. And let’s give credit
where credit is due: Cole took that F5 like a man. I’ve got to wonder who
pitched THAT to him…
One thing I will say in critique of that Raw segment…JBL and Booker T. couldn’t have been that hurt by an overturned table, could
they?
Triple H def. Sting. This one shocked me. After 14 years,
Sting finally makes his WWE debut…just to lose to Triple H? That’s pretty lame
if you ask me. Still, one would hope that’s not the last time we’ll see Sting
in a WWE ring.
The general direction this match took also surprised me. Instead of
it boiling down to Sting and Hunter they turned it into an nWo vs. DX thing. It
all became a giant Attitude Era throwback. It was fun, I guess. But I thought
this was supposed to be about Sting coming to WWE to face the tyrannical leader
of The Authority? It seemed like an odd choice to me. But it was Wrestlemania-worthy, to be sure.
By the way, that Triple H/Terminator
entrance? Really stupid.
The Undertaker def. Bray
Wyatt. The Undertaker
looked as good as he ever has at Wrestlemania.
But it seemed like he was definitely feeling it physically. Then again, maybe
he was just selling really well. But after the match, he did indeed look up to
the rafters and mouth “Thank you.” My instincts tell me he’s got maybe one or
two left in him. But then again, people have been saying that for years. Only
The Undertaker can tell us for sure. One thing’s for sure, seeing him for the
first time in a year was a hell of a Wrestlemania
moment.
The Rock and Ronda Rousey
wind up in an in-ring confrontation with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon at Wrestlemania. This seemed like a set up for one hell
of a mixed tag match. Summerslam,
maybe?
John Cena def. Rusev at Wrestlemania for the United States
Championship, defeats Dean Ambrose in title defense on Raw. Not
exactly a surprise that Rusev lost to John Cena. Though as I’d said previously,
I’d have loved to have seen Rusev’s streak continue.
Dean Ambrose deserves a hell of a lot of credit for the 48 hours he
had between Wrestlemania and Raw. Between the bumps he took in the
ladder match, and the match he had with Cena on Raw, he deserves as much respect as anybody on that roster. There’s
so much money on this guy, and he’s so unique. I just hope WWE knows what
they’ve got with him…
Daniel Bryan wins
Intercontinental Championship in multi-man Wrestlemania
Ladder Match. Bryan wins a title match against Dolph Ziggler on Raw. After all the complaining the internet wrestling community did
(myself included) about Daniel Bryan’s demotion on the Wrestlemania card, it’s tough to deny they put him over pretty
well. It would have been easy for him to simply get lost in the shuffle in terms
of that ladder match. But he came out on top, and had another great Wrestlemania moment. Let’s not kid
ourselves, it wasn’t as good as the one he got last year. But it was still
pretty good.
In terms of the ladder match itself…meh. I hate to seem so jaded,
especially considering some of the bumps those guys took. But we’ve just seen
this match so many times over the last decade. At the end of the day, there are
only so many things you can do with a ladder. So I left this match feeling a
bit less satisfied than perhaps I should have been. The ending with Bryan and
Dolph Ziggler butting heads over and over again was pretty ridiculous too.
As for the match Bryan and Ziggler had on Raw, it’s tough to not enjoy these guys going one-on-one. They make
a point to show you things you don’t see in other matches, and it’s a real
treat.
Sheamus returns after
Bryan/Ziggler match to fend off Bad News Barrett, ends up heeling on Bryan. I like Sheamus’ tweaked image, although
apparently the crowd didn’t agree (“You look stupid!”). I most certainly like
his new direction. A Sheamus heel turn has is long overdue. If I had my way,
we’d see Bryan vs. Barrett for the title at Extreme
Rules, and Sheamus vs. Ziggler, with the winner getting a title shot.
Adrian Neville (as billed
as just “Neville”) and The Lucha Dragons (Sin Cara & Kalisto) make their Raw debut. So the rumor flying around was that WWE
was going to give NXT star Adrian Neville a Mighty Mouse-type persona. It looks
like they kinda/sorta went that direction, but thankfully left out the inherent
cheeseball elements. We’ve definitely seen wrestlers wear worse things out
there than a cape. Great exhibition from Neville. Let’s see where he goes from
here.
In that same vein, we saw a hell of a showing from Sin Cara, and
especially Kalisto. He had that crowd in the palm of his hand. I want to see
more, that’s for damn sure. And hey! Who knew you could have a colorful,
marketable Hispanic tag team without turning them into a couple of damn cartoon
characters! Does this mean we can finally drop the Los Matadores gimmick?
The Big Show wins the
Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the Wrestlemania pre-show. I’m guessing this match got bumped to the pre-show so we could have
the Rock/Ronda Rousey segment. I’m wondering, had it been on the actual show,
if Big Show would have won. This match seemed like the perfect opportunity for
Damien Sandow to have his big moment. And indeed, he did have a big moment when
he eliminated Miz. But for that to be followed by his elimination by Big Show
almost waters the whole thing down. Once it was decided the match would be on
the pre-show, I wonder if they just said: “Meh. If Sandow can’t win it at Wrestlemania, let’s just give it to
Show.”
And what does The Big Show actually gain from winning the Andre
battle royal? Nothing really. At least Cesaro got a push (albeit a failed one)
out of the deal. Show’s already a top guy, and he’s aligned with the new WWE
Heavyweight Champion. So they basically spun their wheels with this one.
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