Wrestlemania 30… that was some show. Whether it was for the right or wrong reasons, it was memorable. So memorable, it will stick with us forever. I’m not going to lie, I’m still a little bit in shock at the whole Undertaker situation. The plan for this article is to put down some random thoughts about the event as a whole, but I’m saving most of the Undertaker discussion for a separate article. I feel like I need to do it justice, and so trying to keep it brief here wouldn’t be a good idea. Let’s see how it goes…
Daniel who?
I feel so sorry for Daniel Bryan. This was supposed to be his night. His moment. His Wrestlemania. We’ve been building to this for at least 7 months. And then Lesnar goes and ends the streak. Considering all the excitement going into Mania was about Bryan finally reaching the pinnacle of the WWE, it’s a shame that all anyone can talk about afterwards is Taker. Bryan was still the star of the night, it’s tough not to be when you’re as good as he is and in two 20+ minute matches, but he’s not the biggest talking point. To shine some light on it though, I was surprised how much the crowd got on side with him during the main event. I thought they would still be totally shell-shocked, and some of them were, but they responded well to Bryan – especially when Triple H and Stephanie attempted to interfere. That is a mark of just how popular Bryan is that he could turn their night round after the silence that followed the Lesnar-Taker match.
The Shield
Something must have massively overran in the first hour, because there’s no way this was always intended to get 3 minutes. That’s what it was. 3 minutes. I even thought the entrances were rushed, so they were definitely trying to make up time. Again, it’s a shame that three guys as talented as The Shield, after arguably being the best thing in the company over the last year, weren’t given more of a showing on the grandest stage of them all. To put things into perspective, they got well under half the time the Divas match did…
Cena-Wyatt
I liked the story of this match. It felt a bit slow at times, but the message they were trying to get across was excellent. Cena sold his self-doubt well, and Wyatt plays his role to perfection every time he is in a big match. The early going was clearly about Wyatt trying to get Cena to beat himself. Cena showed some un-Cena-like aggression, which of course had me stupidly thinking of a heel turn. I also want to give a mention to Harper and Rowan – I like that Bray isn’t using them all the time. And I love that they fight on the outside when Bray is in trouble in the ring – Rowan wants to get involved and help, while Harper holds him back, following the orders they have. It adds some subtle depth to their characters: Harper seems to be the more intelligent, and even somewhat of a leader since he can control Rowan, whereas Rowan is the more volatile, the more aggressive – and therefore theoretically the one to be feared more.
Best Wrestlemania in years?
It probably was in terms of quality. I don’t know if it was the reduced quality from my stream online, or if it was my persistence with interacting with people that meant I was distracted, but the actual in ring quality of everything felt underwhelming. There wasn’t a bad match (that went over 7 minutes), but there wasn’t anything spectacular either as far as I was concerned. Nothing came close to the Wyatt-Bryan encounter from the Rumble, or the Wyatts vs The Shield at the Chamber as match of the year candidates. On the plus side though, this Mania has got people talking more than possibly any other Mania ever. So in terms of memorability, it’s right up there.
Eras combine
Hogan. Rock. Austin. One ring. Wrestlemania 30. Even a couple of weeks ago that thought seemed unlikely. The pops they got were huge. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder. It was a crowd pleasing segment to open the show, but it made sense – it made the show feel all the more special. Just think, on one show we saw Hogan, Warrior, Bret Hart, Stone Cold, The Rock, Triple H, The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, John Cena – all men who have defined eras in the WWE – as well as the future: Daniel Bryan, Bray Wyatt, Cesaro, The Shield. That is what Wrestlemania is all about.
A New Era
This is something that happens every 10 years, new stars are created, and the more technical wrestlers are given a chance to shine. At Wrestlemania 10, Owen Hart beat Bret, you had that famous Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match between two Hall of Famers: Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon, and Bret Hart defeated Yokozuna for the WWE Championship. At Wrestlemania 20, John Cena won his first title, on his Wrestlemania debut, Evolution beat The Rock and Mick Foley, and your World Champions were Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit. This year, at Wrestlemania 30, Cesaro had a breakthrough moment, Bray Wyatt put in an excellent showing, and Daniel Bryan walked out as WWE World Heavyweight Champion. And if you want to talk about new eras, we now live in a world without a streak…
On that note I’ll wrap this up. There’s still so much to say about Wrestlemania – mainly about the Undertaker situation. But I left him out of here because this is going over 1000 words as it is, and I want to give Taker my full attention without worrying if I’m going on too long. I’ll write that up and post it later today.
On a different note, yesterday was the most successful day this blog has ever had! That’s what Wrestlemania season does I suppose. To everybody who visited for the first time thank you, to those who returned to the site thank you even more. And to everybody, keep sharing! And of course, as always, if you want to get in touch with thoughts or even subject requests for me to write about, never hesitate to get in touch by commenting, or the various means below.
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