So, WrestleMania 41, huh. As per my previous post, I wasn't particularly excited for Mania in general, but I also really wasn't excited for this day. The card was filled with matches with either no build, negative build, or confused build, and I really wasn't excited to watch Gunther drop the title to Yeetman, but hey, that main event! I'm sure that'll be good! I watched this with my good friend Hobobloke, so at the very least, we'd get to enjoy each other's company while we sob over what is one of the worst handled title reigns in modern WWE.
First of all, I really hate how commercialised the ring is now. Almost the entire thing covered in advertisements, plus ads on the sides, really just pained me. "Oh, but Paris!" The WWE twitter marks yell, "NJPW also has ads on the mat!" Yeah, and I don't like that either. I also hate the constant cuts in between matches to 'hey, check out this celebrity who's here!'. WWE's done that for a very long time, but I feel like before Netflix, they felt less directly like advertisements. 'Wow, look, this actor who JUST HAPPENS TO BE IN AN UPCOMING NETFLIX SHOW!'. That still pales in comparison to 'HEY CHECK OUT THIS SAUDI PRINCE IN THE AUDIENCE!' followed by a bizarre Fatal Fury promo.
Secondly, McAfee's commentary was absolutely terrible this event. I'm normally a defender of his, because generally he tends to not try and commentate, and mostly just mark out. It feels like this time, he decided he was actually a commentator, and kept trying to interject with 'observations' like getting people's names wrong. Thankfully, I believe Wade Barrett is the best commentator in the business right now, and we got to hear him. Michael Cole is relatively neutral.
Match 1:
Gunther (c) vs Jey Uso
World Heavyweight Championship
I can't believe how poorly they've used this belt on Gunther. Fantastic IC run, drops the belt in a solid match to Sami, wins the King of the Ring against Orton to set up the title match, and then he only really wins the belt off Priest due to interference from the treacherous Finn Balor. Bit odd, but I'm sure he'll get some good, strong, clean wins soon. I did like Gunther vs Orton runback, but then its mostly just a bunch of hodge podge. More interference wins from someone feuding with the other guy, a loss to Cody, some Alpha Academy squashes. Do they want this to feel like a midcard belt? Is this really how Gunther's run is going to end?
I am very much not a big Jey Uso fan, either. I do recognise that he is incredibly over with people who don't really care about in ring skill (weirdly a lot of the WWE audience, it seems), so I recognise he probably deserves a belt. Did it just have to be this one? A world title run for a guy who's singles moveset is about 6 moves deep and not even consistently executed? I'd had enough time to prep for this that I was mostly resigned to Gunther's fate by the day, but still wasn't exactly happy about it.
I also think the long lead in time led to the story being a bit confused. There was the Jey botch into the worked Jey botch to go 'ooo, Gunther's in his head, he can't execute', but then that got dropped without Jey really getting a confidence boost, then Jimmy died (which was fantastic, actually, great moment), and so we've got blood feud Jey going for revenge, and he's standing proud over Gunther, and then next week we're back to him not being sure. I think the story they decided to stick with going into this was the rage Jey, given him pushing through the pain of things like Gunther chops, but I'm not quite sure still. I'd sorta expect him to be a bit angrier after what happened to Jimmy, but since Jimmy is fine today, maybe he's over it.
As you'd expect, Gunther's offense and selling was well executed, and except for when Jey did a terrible looking Spear, made him look pretty good, but man, 16 minutes or so is too long for this. Jey starting to pull out a couple of moves from Gunther's moveset was neat, albeit a bit odd once you realise that the 'Gunther's moveset' stuff was just a German suplex and such, but I guess that's the benefit of doing 1500 superkicks the year before, anything looks cool and new. The trading blows spot was also pretty good, one of the better moments of making Jey look furious and determined.
This also isn't a hot take, but god, the finish. I would really like WWE to make submissions, particularly sleepers, look more impressive, so in a vacuum, I could maybe be okay with Gunther tapping in (I counted) 7 seconds. He's smart, he knows chokes can do serious damage and are hard to break, only a fool goes out unconscious. That's a cool angle to do. That's not what they did, though, given earlier in the match Gunther had Jey in a choke for 47 seconds, and Jey was completely fine enough to win the match. 47 seconds! From the choke master! Who then goes out in 7 seconds, to a man who has never done a submission hold in his life! Absolutely ridiculous, though I will say at least Gunther immediately murdering McAfee on the Raw after has gone a good way to saving his reputation.
As much as I want to give this a 0 for the booking decisions, I can't really hold this match solely responsible for Gunther's title reign being terrible, and ultimately, the match was just Fine. It wasn't particularly sloppy, there weren't any botches I noticed, the finish was terrible, but the match is just sorta whatever.
2 out of 5 stars
Match 2
War Raiders (c) vs New Day
World Tag Team Championship
I have barely any notes for this match. It was really just a pretty nothing match. I like Ivar, I think he moves pretty well for someone of his build, but Erik is just kinda whatever. The New Day were pretty stock standard for them, too. The pre-match video package trying to pretend this match had a huge build, filled with blood and fury, was pretty funny, though really just made me sad the Smackdown Tag TLC wasn't here. Like, MCMG, DIY and Street Profits are great teams putting out great work, and had a lot of build going into it for months, and they missed out. Their match did end up being fantastic in the end anyway, but man. Also I miss Pretty Deadly.
Anyway, pretty okay Raw filler match that happened to be at Mania.
2 out of 5 stars
Match 3
Jade Cargill vs Naomi
I have been a pretty infamous Jade Cargill hater, albeit a lot of it due to her holding back Bianca and keeping her stuck in a tag division that WWE clearly forget they even have, so I somewhat related to Naomi here. Jade's offense is getting better, I think, though she ultimately looks worse overall here because she's not put in such a dominant monster position. Her power spots were really cool, I loved the Jackhammer (which Cole called a 'powerslam' before Barrett corrected the call), and the finishing sequence with the electric chair powerbomb into Jaded was incredible. But god, she still can't sell, and any spot where she gets countered, dodged or reversed, she looks so clunky. Like, I know its a niche complaint I have, that many wrestlers are way too obvious when they're climbing the turnbuckle to get countered, but she's like that for every single spot! I really hope she improves at it, because you can't really book a woman like Goldberg in a division this stacked, and I do like her strength.
Naomi its hard to say much about, since her job here was just to make Jade look strong, which she did a good job of, just Jade didn't give her a lot back. I liked her outfit and entrance, with the police caution tape, though I'm generally a fan of her outfits. Conversely, I'll also say Jade's entrance was dumb as hell. Corny ass local weather guy 'storm is coming!' for a blood feud? Read the room, WWE, especially when you wrote the damn room.
2 out of 5 stars again.
Match 4
LA Knight (c) vs Jacob Fatu
United States Championship
Finally, a match I was looking forward to. Jacob Fatu is one of my favourite in ring talents in any promotion right now, and he even delivers fantastic promos when WWE has decided to let him. It's pretty funny that Solo has been downgraded into Fatu's manager, but he does do it pretty well. Silent, edgelord assassin Solo I hated as a character, but slimeball, heel jokester Solo in a suit I actually enjoy as a character, and if he's managing, I don't have to see him wrestle, and instead get to see Fatu! Props all around.
LA Knight, on the other hand, is someone I have no strong feelings towards. I don't dislike him, don't particularly like him. I saw someone say 'its weird they did nothing with this title run', which I thought was an odd comment because I liked the Andrade and Carmelo stuff, thought those really carried Smackdown. Then I remembered he dropped the belt to Shinsuke for a bit, who then did nothing with it, then won it back, and has done nothing with it. Real weird.
I think the in-ring storytelling was pretty good with this match. LA Knight trying to wrestle like normal, with Fatu just powering through, making Knight have to get a bit tricky with it. Fatu's Samoan Drop is ridiculous, by far the best looking version of a move that has been done well quite a few times. He makes it look so effortlessly and so painful. LA Knight's facial acting was also good, he looked really frustrated at Fatu's kick outs in a believable way, like 'fuck me, that didn't keep him down?'. Countering the Moonsault into a BFT was sick, I normally don't like the BFT as a finisher but as that counter it looked real impressive. The rope break nearfall helped LA Knight still seem strong, and again, his frustration came across really well. Fatu's moonsault is always beautiful, so getting to see two for the finish just to show he could do it twice right away was fun. Enjoyed this match a fair bit!
3.5 out of 5 stars
The lead up to the next match reminded me that I forgot to mention WWE's purchase of Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide in my grievances post. I've seen people excited for this, and it really confuses me. I do love wrestling promotions getting to crossover. Forbidden Door is a lot of fun, Sareee-ism is great (although a lot of that is due to Sareee herself in fairness), it really makes the kayfabe world feel alive. What I do not love is the formation of monopolies. WWE is not buying AAA to support wrestling in Mexico, they are buying AAA so they can flood them with money, overpower other promotions, destabilise the local market, and take over. And once they're done there, I have no doubt they have their eyes on NOAH, Marigold, who knows what else.
I think the only salvation is that right now, globally, American sentiment is at an all time low. It's possible CMLL may be able to stop WWE winning even with increased salaries and 'hey look, its Penta' just by people going 'ew, America'. Feels ridiculous that right now the main things keeping my faith up in the survival of professional wrestling are anti-American hate and a billionaire who seemingly just wants to play with his favourite action figures.
Also, they showed Dana White proudly and the crowd booed. I booed.
Match 5
El Grande Americano vs Rey Fenix
So, I am a massive fan of Chad Gable, and have been desperately posting on social media for a push for him for ages. I am...not particularly a big fan of this gimmick, and I was sorta expecting him to lose here to Rey Mysterio and get demasked, but maybe the injury on Mysterio forced them to change that? Who books a 50 year old to work multiple matches the week of Mania, anyway? If this is what's needed for them to give Gable a push...I guess so be it. Generally 'idiot American' isn't a gimmick leading to a push, and the rest of American Made is treated as disposable Raw filler, despite also being fantastic in-ring, so I think this is going to just be a forgotten arc of WWE history.
Nevertheless, I did really enjoy this match. I think Gable does a lot of lucha-esque moves really well, and his frame fits the gimmick. That, mixed with his traditional style of Olympic wrestling, creates a really unique style. WWE doesn't really have anyone who can do something like that reverse 540 flip (which looked like hell to take for everyone involved, but I guess that's Mania), plus his great looking delay German suplexes, so I do enjoy it. I just wish it didn't have to come attached with the doofus gimmick.
Rey Fenix also looked fantastic, moving incredibly fast and smooth, and every step of his offense looking wildly different from the previous bits. Its a bit easier to keep it fresh in a short match, only coming in at 8 minutes, but that was all used spectacularly. I feel a bit bad for him that he had to lose his first Mania match, so soon after signing with WWE, and it was to a doofus gimmick, but they did at least both look great. I would prefer to never see a flying headbutt again, though. Its notorious if you fuck it up, and I don't think it looks particularly impressive even when it hits. Even when it shoot hits!
Also depressing that this is seemingly setting up a Gable vs Vikingo match in the WWE/AAA show.
3 out of 5 stars
Match 6
Tiffany Stratton (c) vs Charlotte Flair
WWE Women's Championship
God, now this was a match I was not looking forward to. The build had been absolutely awful. First of all, the typical Flair comes back, immediately in title picture, sucked, and she barely even did anything to win the Rumble in the first place. Then Flair does her usual 'go off script, make the newbie look bad' nonsense, and Tiffy panics, and it had me real scared because I like Tiffy a lot, and have high hopes for her. Then came the maybe-worked shoot promo, which I'm willing to believe was shoot because I don't think Charlotte is that good of an actor, and I was a bit more invested if only because Tiffy got to fire some shots before she loses the belt. But hey, Charlotte always puts her best working boots on for Mania, right? So it'll at least be a good match for Tiffy to drop in?
Well, I sure got that wrong. Tiffy retains in a real bad match. Both of them looked really sloppy. There was massive gaps in between nearly every spot, where I'm not sure if one of them was gassed or if they'd just forgotten what to do next. You could see Flair calling spots nearly constantly, which makes sense given she's the vet and Tiffy is a fresh call up, but then why were they so lost all the time too? There were moments like Flair struggling to get Tiffy up for a power bomb, with Wade Barrett trying to cover with 'Tiffy tried to reverse', even though you could see Tiffy doing nothing, multiple really slow and sloppy reversals,
My best guess is that maybe Flair isn't able to as easily work the style she did when younger, since she hasn't wrestled a singles match in a little while now, but was trying to anyway? I don't really know. My friend MajinBeng often makes fun of me for saying 'I like Charlotte more than the average redditor but less than WWE does', calling her 'Inappropriately Rated Flair', due to being both underrated and overrated, so even though I dislike her for a bunch of reasons, I still thought she'd put on a good show here. Could also just be a one off bad moment? Who knows. All that matters is, this match wouldn't have happened if I'd booked Mania, because she'd be interfering in Cody vs Cena to try and protect 16, which would give her a good tweener push.
If you fantasy book on the internet long enough, you eventually start to think 'hey, actually, that really is a good idea' and it becomes clear why Bischoff is how he is.
1 out of 5 stars
Main Event
Roman Reigns vs CM Punk vs Seth Rollins
I don't know if I'd have bothered watching this day if this match wasn't here, to be honest. It's kinda wild to think about, since Roman Reigns is what killed my interest in wrestling for so many years. Really gotta hand it to him, he's turned it around. If we include their whole body of work, he's still my least favourite of the Shield, because you can never clean that slate entirely, but in this current window, he might be my favourite!
The entrances for this match were extravagant, with Seth Rollins having a flamethrower and a costume change during a light dim, and Punk getting Living Color to perform Cult of Personality live, escorted by his good friend Paul Heyman. Meanwhile Roman just walked to the ring, alone, at a reasonable pace, massive change from his other intros (notable enough that I even wrote it down!). Roman's facial expressions in the pre-match ring moments were also fun, with him looking sad and betrayed while staring at Heyman, when I'm used to him only showing stoic and nose-twitch. The first time the Tribal Chief has been alone in a long time.
This match used the Triple Threat format really well. It started out with the classic pairing off style, one resting, to keep the action running constantly, but about half way in they started just doing constant three man spots in the ring. It was surprising, I actually had to check the run time for this match, because it's almost 33 minutes but has such continuous, impactful action that I never really felt like it was going that long. Punk and Seth's brawl through the crowd was fun, and I appreciate that WWE put some fake junk besides just paper inside one of the prop bins for once, and Roman's leap over into the crowd nearly jump scared me, and seemingly also some of the people nearby.
A lot of the three man spots were really visually impressive, too, but it never really felt like a spot-fest, they all looked believable as part of a cohesive match. The Doomsday Device stretched belief a little bit, because getting that done in a triple threat is a little silly, but it looked fantastic. The Spear countered into a Pedigree always gets a pop from me, too. The set up for the finish, with Punk hitting a GTS on Seth, before being Speared by Roman, with Seth staggering back into the ropes and getting enough momentum off the bounce to Stomp Roman, is really easy to look off, but Seth's staggered selling really brought it together.
The finish, of course, slowed the match down a lot, but the atmosphere of 'Who's side is Heyman on?' was entirely worth it. I thought he'd picked Punk, and then I was sure he'd picked Roman, and even though I'd predicted Seth to win, I still didn't see it coming in the moment. Heyman's weird little 'grind it in' low blow on Roman looked particularly devious. Presumably playing such a piece of shit comes easily to Heyman, due to being a piece of shit. Glad for Seth to be getting the big heel push, and I hope he takes Jey's belt soon.
My main complaint about the match is that I think there was a bit too much kicking out. There was a lot of big moves being thrown around, and the easy way to protect them in a Triple Threat is to have the other person interfere, or lose too much time to stopping them, or some such. I can excuse some big move kick outs because this is a really heated rivalry, I'd just have preferred a bit more drive from the person not in the pin. Ultimately, though, this was a fantastic match, and one of my favourite triple threats ever.
4.5 out of 5 stars.
Overall, a pretty middling event. We had three whatever matches, one really bad match, two good matches, albeit one being a shorter card filler, and a fantastic main event. I was pretty sure the next day would be better, at least due to Iyo vs Bianca vs Rhea, but this hadn't inspired me with confidence. I wouldn't really recommend this 'event' as is, though it feels weird to call a day of Mania an event. It is, though, isn't it? If you have to buy separate tickets, its an event. Especially with the amount WWE charges.