While I don’t see any massive positive changes, I can certainly say that Wrestlemania 31 was a step in the right direction. There were certainly some issues, no doubt, but it was nowhere near as horrendous as some commentators were saying/hoping. I had a lot of fun despite the problems, so without further delays, here’s a review of Wrestlemania 31. Enjoy?
Wrestlemania Pre-Show
“Four Way Tag Team Championship”
- Prediction: Tyson Kidd & Cesaro or The Uso Brothers
- Actual Winner: Tyson Kidd & Cesaro
We being Wrestlemania with this first pre-show match, and you know it’s not going to go well when there’s barely any story involved, and it’s on the pre-show. Regardless, there were 4 tag teams involved: Tyson Kidd & Cesaro (The defending champions), The Uso Brothers, Los Matadores (Why?), and The New Day (Dear God Why!?). I thought this match was a mess, with all of the teams being all over the place. Los Matadores were underwhelming as always, The New Day were booed pretty hardcore, enough to the point where chants of “New Day Sucks” could be plainly heard. The Usos were cheered like they normally were, but the team got knocked out early. Jay Uso had a shoulder injury a few weeks back, and it came back after I believe he got thrown out of the ring. From this point Jimmy Uso carried the match by himself, and to his credit he was good. Sadly, when Cesaro got his time, that was it. He brought back the “Cesaro Swing”, and the crowd went nuts. By the time the swing came around, it was apparent to me that Tyson Kidd & Cesaro were going to win, and sure enough they did.
Overall, the Tag Team Championship match was alright. Weaker of the two pre-show match, but I enjoyed it a little. It was confusing at times, maybe to the point of messy, but it was fun, and it managed to have a suspenseful moment or two.
“Andre the Giant Battle Royal”
- Prediction: Damien Mizdow
- Actual Winner: The Big Show
Of the two pre-show matches they had, I enjoyed this match much more than the Tag Team Championship match. The crowd was behind it more (There wasn’t much crowd input in the previous match), it felt like there was something more at stake, and a story finally reached a conclusion of sorts. However, there were some issues:
- 1) Curtis Axel was the first to get eliminated. For the past couple weeks, he’s been in this “Axelmania” sketch, and when he was showing off at the beginning, actually got some cheers. Sadly, he got eliminated, and all cheering for him stopped almost immediately.
- 2) Like the Tag Team Championship, this battle royal was a mess. To this match’s credit, as people were getting eliminated, it was getting smoother & clearer.
- 3) Hideo Itami. One of the rising stars of NXT, Hideo won the NXT tournament during Wrestlemania Access for the right to be in the battle royal, and he was actually getting behind the crowd somewhat when he started to get into motion. However, once he got taken out like Curtis Axel, any momentum stopped, and their was actually some boos I heard.
- 4) All throughout the battle royal, the crowd was right behind Damien Mizdow. He wasn’t getting lots of people over the rope (That “Honor” goes to Ryback, Big Show, and Kane), but his character has always been something that fan can get behind. Coupled with what seems to be rising tensions with The Miz in recent weeks, you can actually feel some sympathy for him. Right by the end, Miz was trying to convince him to go after Big Show, but that was the breaking point, and Mizdow threw him over, although it was a hallow victory (More on this in the “Raw” portion of the review). He threw Miz over, and for about 1 or 2 minutes, Mizdow & Big Show fought. To their credit, it almost seemed liked Mizdow was going to win. This wasn’t meant to be, as Big Show practically manhandled him, and won the Andre the Giant title.
- 5) I didn’t put this in my notes, but what I found most odd about the Andre the Giant Battle Royal was that it was on the pre-show. Last year it was actually one of the bigger events at Wrestlemania, but due to time constraints (From what I’ve heard at least) it was moved to the pre-show, reducing a fair amount of it’s “importance”.
Main Show
“Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match” (1st Match)
- Prediction: Daniel Bryan or Dean Ambrose
- Actual Winner: Daniel Bryan
Now we begin Wrestlemania proper!
This was a fun match, and was easily one of my favorites! Despite all of the ladders & wrestlers in the ring, the chaos in this match was much more controlled than what was in the pre-show. There were a lot of wild moments, but the insanity was contained for the most part. The selection of wrestlers in question was relatively even, enough to the point where the cheers & boos seemed to be equally distributed. All of the combatants also had moments where they had time to shine (Positively and/or Negatively). Dean Ambrose had a particularly brutal moment where he fell right onto a ladder that was setup on the ring & security wall, and practically broke it in half. He wasn’t moving afterwards, and was pretty much out of the match. By the end of the match, Daniel Bryan & Dolph Ziggler were fighting upon a ladder set underneath the belt, and in a moment that I can only describe as pure lunacy, the two begin a head-butting fest. Considering the fact that he had neck surgery a few months back, I’m surprised that Bryan decided to go this route. Regardless, he managed to knock Ziggler down, and win the title.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Bryan now. Considering the reputation of the Intercontinental Championship, it might not have been a win that Bryan wanted.
“Seth Rollins vs Randy Orton” (2nd Match)
- Prediction: Randy Orton
- Actual Winner: Randy Orton
In what may be my favorite match on the card, Seth Rollins vs Randy Orton was a good one. If I had any complaint, it would be twofold: Randy Orton had already beaten the hell out of Rollins a few weeks prior, and that was a brutal beating! Because of said beating, it basically makes this match pointless. On top of that, it almost looked like there was going to be a screwjob style finish, thanks to J & J Security (Seth’s goons). Despite these two issues, this match was fun! Seth was appropriately booed (Pretty loudly, might I add), while Randy was appropriately cheered. Both competitors seemed to be equal in terms of moments, but Randy Orton seemed to have more of an edge in some way.
This match probably didn’t need to happen, but I thought it was fun regardless. Definitely one to watch!
“Sting vs Triple H” (3rd Match)
- Prediction: Sting
- Actual Winner: Triple H
I’m conflicted on this match. On the one hand, it was the first time Sting was in a WWE ring. I never watched WCW back in the day, so seeing him here was cool for me. Not only that, but for being 56 years old, he actually looked really good, and was moving good too! Since this was his first WWE match, the crowd (Many of which are probably Sting fans from the WCW days) was cheering pretty loudly. Adding onto the fact that he seemed to dominate 75% of the match, it looked like he was going to win. So what happened?
Now I’m probably going into conspiracy mode, but I’m under the firm belief that the reason Sting lost was because of Vince McMahon’s ego. Even if you’ve payed only casual attention to wrestling in the 90s (Or wrestling in general), you know about Vince’s opinion towards one of his biggest rivals. Sting’s loss was perhaps the final nail in the coffin for the Monday Night Wars. The most iconic wrestler of WCW, defeated by one of his own, probably filled him with glee.
There’s some other things to talk about as well: the entrances of the two were certainly spectacles. Sting came out to Japanese Taiko drumming, which was a weird move. It didn’t fit with his theme, and it didn’t even fit with Sting’s theme music. Triple H, meanwhile, had a Terminator theme. Considering he had a “Scratch My Back/I’ll Scratch Yours” deal with Arnold, It’s not all that surprising. Even H’s getup looked like something out of the Terminator movies, complete with chrome & such. His intro was cheesy as hell, but I admit it was the fun kind of cheesy. Not only that, but DX and the NWO came out to help their respective side (This was a no disqualification match.....we were told this right as the match was announced). So to end this match, Shawn Michaels came in, and delivered Sweet Chin Music straight to Sting’s face. Triple H came over to Sting’s body. Covered him, then won. Absolutely pathetic! The handshake they had, though, was definitely an interesting move.
As you can tell, this was conflicting for me. It was probably conflicting for a bunch of you as well, so let me know what you think in the comments below.
“The Bella Twins vs AJ Lee & Paige” (4th Match)
- Prediction: The Bella Twins
- Actual Winner: AJ Lee & Paige
This match was better than it had every right to be. I think we can all agree that Diva matches are horrendous, with only a scant few times that there were good. That said, this had a higher quality than essentially most other Diva matches of 2014, and the beginning. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but this was watchable. It was also semi-predictable: you knew who was going to get booed (Bellas), who was getting cheered (AJ Lee & Paige), etc. Two things stuck out for me: for what seemed like 75% of the match, the Bellas were wiping the floor with AJ Lee & Paige. Everytime AJ tried to tag in, the Bellas practically mauled her until she was unconscious, then went to work on Paige. You really didn’t see much offense from AJ when she got into the ring, but even then it didn’t last. Even weirder, I could have sworn I heard one of the Bellas shout out “Do the Dew” halfway through the match during a setup for a move. If anyone else heard this, let me know. I hope I’m not the only one hallucinating!
A Diva’s match that’s certainly a cut above the rest, but one you can ignore & you wouldn’t miss a thing.
“Rusev vs John Cena” (5th Match)
- Prediction: John Cena
- Actual Winner: John Cena
To poorly quote Noah “The Spoony One” Antwiler: This is the Ivan Drago match. Rusev was promoted as this unstoppable Russian juggernaut, while Cena is the All-American hero. This definitely reflected in their respective intros: Rusev had Russian soliders with flag & artillery pieces (That fired off at the high point), and the national song of Russia was playing loudly & proudly. Hell, Rusev came in on a tank, and he looked badass! Cena’s intro had video footage of various American presidents, businessmen, and stereotypical patriotic imagery. Despite that, Cena didn’t really having anything special with his intro. No marines, no fireworks (That I recall), etc. All he had was a towel. No joke!
Apart from that, this match was fun to watch. Cena came in to the usual mix of boos & cheers, while Rusev came in with boos at first, but gained a host of cheers a little bit of the way in. Rusev was a beast of a fighter, as he batted Cena around for 75% of the match, and was cheered because of mauling on Cena like a bear. Even Lana, Rusev’s spokesman, was getting audibly loud cheers & praise from the crowd, although it’s more because of her looks. If there was any one thing that I could say was bad was how the match finished. Right as Rusev is charging Cena, Cena dodges, and Rusev slams right into Lana. She falls to the ground, Rusev looks at her in a state of shock, then Cena uses it as an opportunity to roll him up for a distraction finish, winning the United States Championship.
Yeah, I thought the ending sucked, but otherwise a decent match to watch.
“Undertaker vs Bray Wyatt” (6th Match)
- Prediction: Undertaker
- Actual Winner: Undertaker
Considering that he got beat by Brock Lesnar in last year’s Wrestlemania, people were worried about Undertaker’s return. Considering that Bray Wyatt is now a loner crazy guy without followers, who was partially rehashing a “Stolen Urn” story (CM Punk did this with Undertaker back in 2013), felt a little bit weak. That’s said, this was my favorite match of the entire show! For one night at least, the magic of the Undertaker came back. He looked so much better this year than he did last year: he looked built, he got some hair back, he was moving around better, and he came out in the old getup rather than his warlock outfit. Hell, he was even able to walk the ropes at least once.
Both of their intros were pretty fun as well. Undertaker came in with his standard thunder & fog (Something I’ll never get sick of), while Bray Wyatt came down with Scarecrows. The scarecrows were actually pretty creepy, as they were moving around very disjointedly, and their getups gave me goosebumps for a second. The match itself was a blast: despite getting tired a couple times, Undertaker managed to dominate 80% of the match. However, when Bray Wyatt got some time in, he really got time in. Bray’s biggest moment was about halfway through the match (I assume it was halfway), and decided to a crab walk. It was pretty creepy, and it looked like it was a scene from The Exorcist.
Ultimately, Bray Wyatt couldn’t take the mantle of the “New Face of Fear” from the Deadman, and the Undertaker triumphed over his only Wrestlemania loss. Once again, my favorite match!
“Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns” (Final Match)
- Prediction: Brock Lesnar
- Actual Winner: Seth Rollins (More on this below)
No other match on Wrestlemania 31's card generated as much controversy as Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns. Considering his win & reception at the Royal Rumble earlier this year, you’d expect people in the crowd to have torches, pitchforks, and maybe a molotov cocktail or two. The fact that he was practically handpicked (As opposed to Daniel Bryan, who was picked by the fans essentially), shoved into our faces like John Cena (That was coming from someone who likes Cena), and given promos that are just pathetic, show that WWE has really lost it in recent years.
This really poured over into the match. When Lesnar came out, he was cheered through the roof! Reigns on the other hand, had a mix of boos & cheers at first, but got heavy boos when he was getting even a pinch of offense. This was Lesnar’s match: much like Summerslam from last year when he was against Cena, Lesnar made Reigns his bitch. He was suplexing him all over the ring, and if I counted right, did the move about 10 to 12 times. After one suplex, Lesnar flatout shouted “Suplex City Bitch!”, and this results in the crowd at Raw chanting this when Lesnar & Paul Heyman were in the opening (More on this in the Raw). He was also mauling Reigns with his hands, as the punches were coming in like lightning. Ozone was practically burning during this entire match: everytime Lesnar & Reigns stared at each other, you could feel it. It was that intense!
Then Seth Rollins comes in. I hate this man. Even since the breakup of The Shield in June of 2014, this guy has somehow been given everything, maybe even more so than Reigns! He’s always been the little turd that runs away from everything, and when he actually does decide to fight, he’s always got some scumbag by his side to “Help” out so to speak. What makes his win all the more baffling is that he lost to Randy Orton. He lost! Why did he need this win. Why? Is WWE so hellbent on pushing the Authority angle, that they want to trample on people’s hopes? Given what happened on Raw, it’s all the more infuriating.
Despite what I consider to be a shit finish, Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns was actually a good match. It’s certainly one to seek out, even if the end was irritating!
Overall Opinion & Rating
I was going into Wrestlemania 31 very pessimistically. With what’s been going on with WWE since last year, you can understand why people would have negative thoughts. By the time the show was done, I was pleasantly surprised. Make no mistake, this show still had some issues (Big & Small), but there was enough good stuff on here that I was surprised by how entertained I was. This might not be the best Wrestlemania the company has put out, but it’s far less of an abomination that some people say it is.
Wrestlemania 31 gets a 7.5 out of 10.
As for Raw...
Raw After Wrestlemania
“1st Hour”
Part 1: Raw opened up with Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman match, and boy were they rightfully pissed! Lesnar, complete with the cuts on his face from his match with Reigns the night before, stood there in his intimidating & silent stance, while Heyman cut one of his usual awesome promos. While he was talking, the entire crowd was completely into it. They were cheering, they were chanting “Suplex City”, etc. Yeah, everybody was into it, until Stephanie McMahon came out. Once her theme music started, the boos were coming down hard (As Spoony once said, thundershits!), and when she started talking the booing got even worse, with the hate getting to a fevered pitch when she was talking about Seth Rollins not being in the arena at that moment in time (I’ll cover more of this in the 2nd hour).
Part 2: First match of the night was Daniel Bryan vs Dolph Zigger, and this was awesome! Both wrestlers got cheers, both were highly flexible, and they both seemed to work well together. Ziggler seemed to be a little angry, but this was more than likely due to him losing in the ladder match. Bryan seemed to be on his A-game in this match, and had some particularly wild moves, which is surprising given his neck issues. In the end, Bryan won, but what was surprising to pretty much everybody was the return of Shaemus. He came into the ring, and for a second it seemed like he was revisiting friends, but almost immediately attacked Bryan & Zigger, thus labeling him as a hell. All the while chants of “You Look Stupid” were coming down, due to his new mohawk & beard.
Part 3: The end of the 1st hour started off with a recap of the 2015 Hall of Fame, which was nice for those who didn’t watch it (Ironic, given that the Hall of Fame aired after Raw ended). After that was an 8-Man Tag Team. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro (Woo!) with The Ascension (Shoot them!) went up against New Day (Why!?) & Lucha Dragons (First of two NXT appearances, and a damn good one), and this was a damn good match. Much like the Ladder Match from Wrestlemania, there was a “Controlled Chaos’ vibe going on, perhaps even more so in this bout! Everybody had time during this match, but some guys had more of a presence than others. In particular, the Lucha Dragons had a majority of the cheers, as well as the NXT chanting going on. This was the first time I actually watched them, and they were great! They reminded me a lot of Rey Mysterio, with the Lucha Libre moves & flexibility. In the end, the Lucha Dragons & New Day won. I think it’s the first time that the New Day were cheered for anything, even if they weren’t the one to land the pin. It’s quite a shock!
“2nd Hour”
Part 4: When the 2nd hour of Raw started, a match between Brock Lesnar & Seth Rollins was on! To my surprise, there was even more cheering for Lesnar & Heyman as they were walking out to the ring. Also to my surprise, there was some cheers for Seth Rollins when he came out, but that probably shouldn’t happen. In a typical “Chicken Shit” heel move, he basically screwed Lesnar out of the match, citing that he was tired, and his foot was hurt (From curbstomping their heads in, as he said). He tried to walk away, but walking away from Lesnar immediately signs your death warrent. He rampaged all over the ring, tore up J & J security, and even took his rage out on the announce crew. JBL & Booker T were knocked out when Lesnar slammed the table against them. Stephanie came back out to stop Brock, and for a few seconds, actually sounded logical when speaking. When Lesnar F5'd Michael Cole (He was holding him while Stephanie spoke), that logic was thrown out with the bathwater, causing Stephanie to suspend Brock indefinitely. The whole arena immediately started booing, and I was shocked that a riot didn’t happen.
Part 5: After the commercial break, the carnage was still present for all to see. The table was still tipped over, JBL & Booker T were gone, and Michael Cole was carted off by the medical staff. Replacing the announce team was Byron Saxton of NXT (Who’s role on Raw was.....Meh at best), and later Jerry Lawler came out. Once the carnage was done being shown, we were taken to the back, and there was a quick interview with Stephanie. I’m amazed that I haven’t figured out a way to stick my hands through the TV, and strangle people. She is acting too much like her father Vince (Character wise, at least), and for a villain, she is far too obvious in how evil she is. Luckily, this was the last time she would appear, so there’s that at least.
Part 6: Around this point was the 2nd match of the night. That’s right, this is the 2nd match of Raw tonight. Gotta get in all of that talking that’s oh-so necessary! Stardust & the newly freed Damien Mizdow (For some reason he still has the Mizdow name & entrance) was the next fight on the card, and it was a good one. The two of them went back & forth the entire time, and their talent & skill complemented each other nicely. In the end, Mizdow won, and the crowd was rooting for the guy. Sadly, this moment of glory was ruined, as The Miz came in and ambushed the guy. To me, this trashed Mizdow’s recent victory at Wrestlemania, and the newly won match. WWE, can you give this guy a break!?
Part 7: Possibly the quickest match of the night, next up was Curtis Axel (In his “Axelmania” getup), and Adrian Neville from NXT (Who was simply named Neville on this show, and came out with a purple cape), who got massive pops from the crowd. If you have any doubts as to how good WWE can actually be, watch an episode or two of NXT. You can see how good the talent is over there, and once Neville won, you can see the potential of everybody that’s over in development.
Part 8: Next up was John Cena, who issues a United States Open Invitational, stating that he would be a fighting champion. You would expect Rusev to be the first guy to come out, but you would be mistaken. Instead, Dean Ambrose was the first guy to show up. This was surprising, given that brutal bump he had during the ladder match, you think he would have been at the local hospital healing up. Nope, he’s on Raw, and didn’t seem any worse for the wear. Cena got his typical dose of boos & cheers (There was a musical version of “John Cena Sucks” during his intro), but Ambrose got his fair share of cheering from the crowd. Cena seemed to dominate throughout the match, but Ambrose looked like he was the more flexible wrestler. There were close calls on both sides, but in the end Cena won the match, and this was definitely a favorite of mine! You know a match is good when it starts in the 2nd hour of the show, and goes into the 3rd hour.
“3rd Hour”
Part 9: After Cena’s United States Open Invitational, we got a promo from Seth Rollins. It was pretty much the typical promo from the guy: slimy, smarmy, weasly, etc. There was a tiny bit of cheering for him, but there was a universal torrent of booing directed towards him. Fortunately, Randy Orton came right in, and trash talked the guy. This setup the main event of the show, as Big Show & Kane came to Rollins’s side, then Orton went off to find two teammates of his own.
Part 10: We got a 6 Diva Tag Team Match for our next bout, with the Bellas & Natalya on one side, and AJ Lee, Paige, and Naomi on the other. This was actually a decent sized match, as it was longer than a typical Diva match. Not only that, but there was a pretty good crowd reaction throughout the whole thing. If there were complaints I have, it would be that the match kept going through commercials, and there were the Bellas on my TV screen. The right women (AJ Lee, Paige, and Naomi) won this match.
Part 11: Here we have perhaps the most baffling & quickest match of the card. It was Goldust, and the newly dethroned Rusev. He came out without Lana, and while he waved the Russian flag like he normally did, it was fast. Rusev practically dominated Goldust, who had little to no offense in the match. After beating the hell out of him, Rusev won the match, and it was probably the right choice.
Part 12: Now we come to the main event. Seth Rollins, Big Show, and Kane, vs Randy Orton, Ryback, and Roman Reigns. Just to rub it into the arena’s face, Show had the Andre The Giant Battle Royal trophy right at ringside, and posed with it before the match started. The bad guys were particularly evil tonight, as their actions throughout the match were despicable. There was cheering for pretty much all of the good guys in the ring, with Randy Orton getting a majority of it. Reigns actually got some cheers as well, although people had more of a cool reaction to him.
Perhaps the funniest thing about this match was that there was an arena-wide wave going on at I believe the halfway point. It was so obviously noted, that even the commentators said something about it at least once or twice. There was also some chanting from the crowd, but it was so loud I couldn’t tell what it was. In the end, Randy Orton, Ryback, and Roman Reigns won the match, and the show end with the three standing tall in the ring.
Raw get a 7.7 out of 10
So this was Wrestlemania 31 & Raw. Come back in a day or two, where the next Metal Overview will finally reveal itself! See you soon!
***
The only reason why I actually did this review was for fun. I’ll almost never step away from Anime & Heavy Metal reviews, but this was a “Once in a blue moon’s Blue Moon” kind of thing! Sorry if you were expecting more of these kind of reviews.
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