There is hardly a more pure competitive gaming genre than the fighting game. Two players in one on one combat (sometimes two on two), battle to determine who is the best competitor. Wrestling is arguably the best form of sports entertainment. Well, to some. Wrestling games have been around since the original Nintendo and over the years, I've played most of them. As a wrestling fan (sometimes fanatic) I'm an even bigger fan of wrestling video games. I've played every wrestling game I can get my hands on, to the big retail releases, all the way to the obscure fan made Internet games. For the last two years I have played a wrestling game at least 360 of the 365 days of the year. I wish I could say that was an exaggeration. I have become so absorbed in the Universe mode in the WWE games (starting with 11 and moving to 2K14) that I have lost days to those games. Well with all my time playing wrestling games I thought it was about time I talk about my time with them. Why I play them, what I like about all of them, and what I'm looking for in a good wrestling game.
First I should talk about my favorites. I'll start with the current generation of wrestling games. While WWE'2K14 is easily the most polished and well made wrestling game in recent years, packed with loads of nostalgic hooks and some if the best match mechanics, WWE'13 is easily my favorite wrestling game. It's not that far behind 2K14 in terms of quality, and the roster is by far the best as it represents the best nostalgic era of the WWE, the Attitude era.
While the modern day roster has some obvious gaps, this game is loaded with so many great wrestlers that a lot of the B tier characters that are neglected aren't missed. The only one up that 2K14 has on WWE'13 is the rivalry system which really steps up the universe mode. Looking back to the inception of the PS3 and XBox 360, Smackdown vs Raw 2007 was the first split gen wrestling title (though only on 360 and PS2) and was a phenomenal game. The general manager mode is one of my favorite additions to any wrestling game and the roster was amazing. The gameplay was fast, the hits felt hard, and had an addicting Road to Wrestlemania mode that I played multiple times. Now if we step back a generation to the Playstation 2, Smackdown here comes the pain is easily my favorite game of that era.
Like most of these games for me, it all comes down to the roster and replay ability which Here Comes the Pain has both of. The career mode is a lot of fun with different ways to play to keep it fresh every time you jump in. Now a lot of people hold the old Aki games close to their hearts and I'm no different. I've probably played Wrestlemania 2000 and WCW/NWO Revenge more than any other wrestling game and these are still two of my favorites. No Mercy is also a game worth hours of time. The Nintendo 64 was one of the best eras for wrestling games and will always be where some of my fondest memories remain.
While I spent days of my life with the Aki games, my earliest and fondest memories of really losing myself to wrestling games was WWF Warzone. While I had encountered wrestling games before with the Super Nintendo WWF games, I wasn't an addict until Warzone. While nothing about this game would be considered good by any of today's standards, its multiplayer was enough to bring me and my best friend Danny to the same couch everyday after school just to pick our favorite wrestlers (or create our own favorites) and beat each other senseless. When we weren't playing Warzone we were wrestling on his trampoline with our friends. It was the time of the attitude era and wrestling was our everything.
While eventually Smackdown would come out and be the best wrestling game on the PlayStation, there was less success with the WCW games. When I was watching wrestling as a kid I was watching WCW. I loved Sting and the angle with the NWO so when I was looking at wrestling games, naturally I wanted to play a WCW game. Unfortunately when it comes to PlayStation (which was what I was playing at the time) there were only a handful of bad to mediocre WCW games. I played a lot of WCW Nitro and Thunder even though they were both pretty terrible. However my friends and I found solace in WCW vs The World. A game for PlayStation the combine the big main members of the WCW roster and some Japanese wrestlers. I remember late nights with this game as Danny's older brother consistently stomped me into the ground with this game. I remember WCW vs The World fondly but I recently revisited the game.
Incredibly stiff and bare bones compared to wrestling games today, WCW vs The World is a game that relies on its nostalgia and doesn't hold up well over time but is probably the best WCW game on the PlayStation but really the Aki games are where it's at. I choose to ignore WCW Mayhem and Backstage Assault and you should too. So now we live in the modern age and have our first next gen wrestling game out with WWE 2k15. The WWE games are the only noteworthy wrestling games being released anymore ( I enjoyed TNA Impact but I doubt we will see another outside of mobile) and if you are looking for something different you have to look to the past or to obscure Internet games which is where I found two shining gems. Two wrestling mobile games that have hooked me like any other mobile game has before. The first is called Wrestling Manager by a company called Serious Parody. This is a game similar to the general manager mode in the Smackdown vs Raw series where you are buying and trading wrestlers and trying to put together the best shows you can. Each show gets a rating and review and you can look at each match on your card to see what matches were better than others. The entire game is played trough menus and the wrestlers are represented by what look like playing cards. All of the characters are parodies of real wrestlersbut there are a lot of original made up wrestelrs as well. You can bid on or buy new wrestlers, match types, and arenas and you try to put together the best shows you can.
You can choose the winners or just let the matches play out, only represented by watching bars rise and fall. After the show you get a raiting and profit, or loss. Honestly all the game amounts to is buying the better wrestlers and bigger arenas and putting together as many matches as you can until you build up enough money. You do have different tiers of challenges that add a lot of playability to the game and keep you coming back. It's fun and addicting. You want to keep completing your challenges but beware because as soon as you finish the challenges the game has little to offer. Now the one game I HAVE to mention, and also half the reason I wanted to write this, Is Wrestling Revolution for phones and PC. This game is essentially the most pure and earnest wrestling game. Now the art style is kind of like flash meets construction paper and colored with MS paint. It controls very weird but once you get the hang of it, it's easily the best playing phone game that has buttons on the screen that I've ever played. If that's an issue for you then you can download a PC version which works better. It's not exactly the gameplay that makes this game so much fun though. Yes when you figure it out it is fun to play, however the lifestyle aspect is the draw here. So you start out in wrestling school and you can be contracted by different wrestling promotions that are all parodies of existing wrestling promotions. The wrestlers are also parody. Cm Punk equals Mc Puke and Colt Cabana is Kute Kavana. That sort of thing. So when you finish an event you get a recap of the week between all of the promotions. You see who leaves, who wins titles, who resigns a contract, and even who died of an overdose. That's right wrestlers will die and then you have to wrestle charity events.
Not real enough for you? You can also injure/get injured during a match, which is signified by a scream and your character having trouble manuvering after. Sometimes however after someone get's injured you might find out afterwards that they went to the hospital and died from their injury. It's easily the most earnest wrestling game and doesn't shy away from the darker aspects. This game even has ten man matches that are pure mayhem and it's incredibly fun in just how much of a mess it can be. It's easily one of my favorite wrestling games currently out and I would love to see this game make it to a Vita or 3DS or something. It's worth checking out and you can tell it's a wrestling game made by a wrestling fan for wrestling fans. There's also a new 3D version out but I haven't had the chance to play much of that yet.
There are so many more wrestling games out there but these are some of the ones I feel deserve some attention or are worth remincising about. While I may have fallen off of actual wrestling for a long time I never stopped loving the games and I will continue to play all of the ones that come out. So what are you favorite wrestling games? Do you know any that a lot of others may not have heard of? Feel free to share it.
So recently the WWE held their annual Royal Rumble match in Philadelphia, which aired on a live stream on the WWE's Netflix like service, the WWE Network, and on Pay Per View (from this point on referred to as PPV.) The show was met with such negative backlash, that the story was picked up by Time and other major news outlets. This may cross the non-wrestling fan's attention and they may be wondering, "Why is everyone so angry?" This exact situation happened to me so I thought that I would try to write my thoughts about the situation to appeal to the average person who doesn't watch or know much about wrestling.
The first part of trying to explain any special interest to a newcomer is a point of reference. For this I will go back to 1999. Not for any specific reason, but this is the time when wrestling was at it's most main stream appeal, and this man was at the top of the mountain, Stone Cold Steve Austin.
You may recognize him as not only is he a wrestler but he's a movie and television star. Now Stone Cold was one of the most popular wrestlers of all time and one of the four people who have been the face of the WWE (Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold, The Rock, and John Cena), which was then the WWF. Steve Austin rose to the spotlight after a Wrestlemania match with Bret The Hitman Hart, and gained a catchphrase with his promo (when they talk on the mic) when he said "Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!" And BOOM! Steve Austin was the biggest bad asses on your TV. He had found his character. Steve Austin raised to the height of his fame when he started feuding with the evil boss of the WWE, Vince McMahon, who was leading the stable (team of wrestlers) known as The Corporation. The Corporation's sole job was to throw a wrench in anyone's plans and to control the WWE Championship (that gold belt they all fight over. This one had an eagle on it.) Steve was quite a nuisance to The Corporation, who didn't want him to be champion, but Steve was "one tough SOB" (son of a bitch for you more PG folk) and he rose above all and became a fighting champion multiple times. And he was the hottest thing in the industry, sold more merchandise than any other wrestler, and the fans loved him!
Cut to 2006. The WWE decided to revive ECW (a former wrestling company known as Extreme Championship Wrestling that went out of business and was purchased by the WWE) as a new branded show and with that came an indie darling (an independent wrestler that is well loved in the independent wrestling scene) from Chicago named Cm Punk. Punk was a straight edge (punk rocker, no drinking, no drugs) wrestler and one of the best wrestlers and talkers in the business. Now there's a whole other article we could have on Cm Punk but for this purpose we are going to jump to 2009. Enter Daniel Bryan, another indie darling (remember from before.) Daniel Bryan and Cm Punk, friends in real life, are two amazing wrestling talents. They traveled the world on the independent circuit and are now working for the WWE, the end all be all and biggest wrestling company in the world. Now we jump again (stay with me!) to 2011.
Cm Punk is fed up with his creative (the stories the writers write for the wrestlers) path in WWE. His contract is going to expire on the night of the PPV known as Money in the Bank. At this point Cm Punk had become popular enough that Vince McMahon knew he was a draw (what they say when a wrestler pulls in a lot of money via ticket sales and merchandise) and offered Cm Punk a contract that was too good to pass up. Cm Punk cut a promo known as a worked shoot. A work is a wrestling term that means predetermined and a shoot means real, or honest. So basically Cm Punk was told to go out and tell the crowd how he really felt to advance his story. What follows is the historic promo known as the pipe bomb.
This sky rocketed Cm Punk's already growing stardom and it came down to a match at Money in the Bank where Cm Punk defeated John Cena for the WWE Championship (this one spins like a spinner rim on a car) and he ran out of the arena "quitting" the company. Now Cm Punk would go on to lose the title when he returned the next month but would win it back at a later PPV and go on to have the longest title reign in the modern era of the WWE. During that time he would be screwed over time and time again by the people running the company and booking the matches. This is a shoot (remember from earlier?) not just a storyline, although they used it for that too. You see, Cm Punk and Daniel Bryan didn't match the normal professional wrestler. They were smaller and faster wrestlers versus the people with big ol' muscles like John Cena, but they are better and more entertaining wrestlers than any of those big men were. More importantly, the fans loved them! And you see something else happened at the Money in the Bank PPV.
So the concept of Money in the Bank is a 6 man (sometimes more) ladder match where the winner is the one who pulls down the Briefcase suspended above the ring. What's in that briefcase? A contract for a championship title match that can be redeemed at any time, 24/7. Usually this occurs after a champion has had a grueling match and is barely able to stand after. Then the person with the briefcase comes out, hands it to the ref, the match starts, and 1 . 2 . 3 . The tired champ loses the match because he can't beat the fresh challenger. Well at Money in the Bank Daniel Bryan won the ladder match and would go on to win the secondary World Heavyweight Title (they had two at the time, this one was a big gold belt.) Now we jump to April 1st 2012, to Wrestlemania 28. Before we go too in depth here I first need to explain something about wrestling fans. In the business, huge wrestling fans are known as marks. Now there is a split in the wrestling fan base, the casual fans, and the internet fans (IWC Internet Wrestling Community.) Now a wrestling mark that is just a little too smart to the business is called a smark. Basically a wrestling fan that will let it's opinion be heard in a snarky way, usually by complaining on the internet.
Now we come to the topic of part time wrestlers. What is a part time wrestler? A perfect example is The Rock. The Rock was a huge wrestling star and went onto mainstream success in the movie industry and is now one of the biggest action stars of our generation. However he still likes to dip his toe back into wrestling from time to time. This is a part time wrestler. Now don't get me wrong, wrestling fans LOVE The Rock. We grew up watching him on TV and he earned the ability to become a part time wrestler. Same thing with another wrestler like Chris Jericho, who comes and goes from time to time. The difference between Jericho and The Rock is Jericho will work the house shows (non televised wrestling shows that take place during the days between wrestling events) as well as all of the television tapings and PPVs. The Rock will only do select television episodes and the PPVs. Granted it's hard to argue that The Rock hasn't earned this position (another wrestler who has this schedule is Brock Lesnar, current WWE champion) but a problem with these part time wrestlers, is they are generally veterans who have been in the business for a long time, and are stealing the spots that could be used for the younger talent. These kind of moves make it seem like the WWE has no faith in their younger talent, and have to keep bringing back the older wrestlers to sell shows. This is something that smarks (and also the younger wrestlers) aren't too fond of.
So now we go back to Wresltemania 28. The Rock is stealing the main event with John Cena, Cm Punk is delegated to earlier in the show in a match with Chris Jericho, while Daniel Bryan is opening the show in a title match in which he loses in 18 seconds.
That's right, 18 seconds. Now this is where this extremely long story kicks into over drive and I'm going to try to move through this as quickly (but thoroughly) as possible. The story of Daniel Bryan goes like this, the girl he kissed in that video was AJ Lee, and Daniel Bryan blamed his loss on her and she was playing an unhinged character at the time. She caused Daniel Bryan to become increasingly angry and he was eventually sent to anger management with another wrestler named Kane in a series of hilariously odd video segments. These two eventually hashed out their differences and became a tag team called Team Hell No, but not before Daniel Bryan was dubbed as The Goat, because he was growing a long beard and looked like a hairy goat. Even though a great wrestler was trapped in this goofy gimmick, he became insanely popular, especially with children, which the WWE makes their bread and butter on nowadays. Bryan also had a chant that was super fun and easy. He simply raised his hands and chanted YES! And everyone loved doing it. Oh and by the way, Cm Punk lost his championship to The Rock.
We jump to 2013. The Royal Rumble is the first PPV of the year and it's at this PPV that Cm Punk lost his championship to The Rock. John Cena also wins the Royal Rumble match ,a 30 man battle royale where if you are thrown out of the ring and both feet touch the ground you are eliminated. The last one standing gets a main event title match at Wrestlemania. So now we are approaching Wrestlemania 29. The Rock is once again in the main event as champion against John Cena and Cm Punk is facing the Undertaker. The Undertaker has been undefeated at Wrestlemania and every year someone tries to beat the streak, this year it was Cm Punk (who lost) and this match was the show stealer and the one every wrestling fan actually wanted to see. While he did steal the show, Cm Punk wasn't happy about it. Why? Because it's always been his dream to main event Wrestlemania and this was just another year where he should have been there and was shoved aside for something else. You could imagine the frustration.
Now we jump to August 18th 2013 to Summerslam. The show the WWE considers to be their mini Wrestlemania. Punk once again steals the show in a match with the part timer spectacle known as Brock Lesnar (mentioned before) and Daniel Bryan was given a title match by the champion John Cena himself. The entire PPV impressed and ended with the underdog Daniel Bryan finally capturing the WWE championship (no longer a spinning belt) only to immediately be betrayed by the future owner of the company and also wrestling legend, Triple H. Daniel Bryan was robbed of the title when Randy Orton cashed in his Money in the Bank contract (remember from before) and with the help of Triple H stole the title from Bryan. This started the story line of The Authority. So you remember a while back when I was talking about Stone Cold and The Corporation? Picture that exact situation except with a shorter hairier wrestler in the Stone Cold role. What proceeded was a half year long struggle for Daniel Bryan to try and win back his championship and being consistently interrupted by The Authority who referred to him as a B+ player, despite being the most popular wrestler on the roster among the fans. Now you're probably saying to yourself "This is all just a wrestling story right?" Well sort of. It was definitely part of a story, but there was also some truth to what was happening.
You see the ones running WWE (Vince McMahon) seem to be very stubborn from a fan's perspective. The booking of Daniel Bryan through this period really showed that Vince really didn't see Daniel Bryan as the new IT guy and they constantly tried to force him out of the story line much to the fans' dismay. Bryan was constantly the best match of any show and the fans were very vocal about their love of his talent and their wish to see him succeed ever since he was robbed of his title after Summerslam. Bryan (and Cm Punk) were constantly being pushed away from the championship title and put into story lines that went no where and just frustrated fans, the paying customers, and now we skip ahead to 2014. Once again we are about to lead into the Royal Rumble, but first the WWE had to frustrate us some more with Bryan. Bryan was forced into the heel (Heel is wrestling talk for bad guy, the good guys are called baby face or just face) faction known as the Wyatt Family. A cult like cast of characters. This angered fans because it was once again taking Bryan into a dead end story line and turning him into a Heel made no sense since he was the most popular Baby Face in the company. And then the most incredible thing I've ever seen in wrestling happened. Remember that YES chant I mentioned before? It really became popular with the people that were fans of Daniel Bryan.
As you can see, that would be everybody. Bryan turned on the Wyatt family after only a week or two, and the explanation simply seems to be because the WWE realized their mistake by turning Daniel Bryan Heel. And now we enter the Royal Rumble yet again. Daniel Bryan opened the show in a match against Bray Wyatt, the leader of the Wyatt Family. Daniel Bryan lost, but they put on an amazing match (a five star match to wrestling fans) but most fans were okay with the loss because Bray Wyatt was also becoming popular and later in the night was the Royal Rumble match (remember the winner goes to the main even of Wrestlemania) and we were all sure that the WWE had finally heard the voice of the fans and surely Daniel Bryan would win and go on to Wrestlemania and become the WWE champion again and there would be confetti and cheers and history would be made. Enter Batista. Former full time wrestler who was now a part time wrestler, and the actor best known as Drax the Destroyer in the Marvel smash hit Guardians of the Galaxy (although the movie released after this) returned to the WWE, and not only did HE win the Royal Rumble match, but Daniel Bryan wasn't even in the match!! Naturally, fans were upset.
Then we come to the day after the Royal Rumble. Word spread very quickly that Cm Punk had quit, and by quit I mean he walked into Vince McMahon's office and told him he was going home. Now we didn't know what happened for about ten months but the story finally came out when Punk did a fellow wrestler's (and his personal friend) podcast and told his whole story. His story gave some insight to the backstage of the WWE life and shed some light how guys like he and Daniel Bryan were viewed. This is required listening.
So now we go to the next month's PPV known as Elimination Chamber. The main event consists of six wrestlers in a steel cage with four pods at each corner post of the ring. The match works like this, two wrestlers start in the ring, the other four wait in the pods. The four wrestlers are slowly released into the match after a set amount of time and when one of them get pinned or submit they are eliminated. The last one standing wins the belt. Naturally Daniel Bryan was one of the competitors in the match. Along with another big fan favorite known as Cesaro. And guess who won?! Not either one of these two. So again fans were enraged. Now we are coming to Wrestlemania. Not just any Wrestlemania but Wrestlemania 30 (XXX since they use roman numerals) and there were some issues. With Cm Punk gone the WWE was down one major star and the show had to be saved. Well a long story short, Cm Punk was supposed to face Triple H and since he was gone they decided to put Daniel Bryan in that match instead. Not only that, they decided to kill two birds with one stone and FINALLY make the fans happy. Who ever won the match between Triple H and Daniel Bryan would be added into the main event championship match, making it a triple threat match, which is just a fancy way to say three wrestlers. So Daniel Bryan beat Triple H in the first match of the show, which was an amazing match. Then he went on to win in the main event and FINALLY become the WWE Champion fair and square, and the fans celebrated. Then tragedy struck, but first a little happiness.
Daniel Bryan married his fiance (and fellow wrestler) Brie Bella after Wrestlemania. Then shortly after the wedding, his father sadly passed away. Unfortunately, as with the hectic life of a wrestler, the show must go on and Bryan was quickly back to work. He defended his title at the next PPV (called Extreme Rules) against his former Team Hell No partner Kane, but the bad news kept on coming. After winning the match it was announced that Daniel Bryan needed neck surgery. So he stepped away to have his surgery and recover. Fortunately the WWE didn't strip him of his title as was expected. He had his surgery. . . but he didn't come back for the rest of the year. There were complications with his recovery and despite the WWE willing to wait out his recovery, they were forced to strip Daniel Bryan of the title anyway. Daniel Bryan was out of serious competition until 2015. And that brings us to the 2015's Royal Rumble.
The fans were no doubt excited to have Daniel back and if you remember last year, Bryan wasn't even in the Rumble match and the fans were calling for riots. Well this year Bryan was actually in the rumble and fans were hoping the WWE would do the right thing and have him go all the way this year and win to rightfully reclaim his title at Wrestlemania again. Before we move on we need to discuss the time in which Bryan was out. During that time there were three superstars who rose to prominence. They were once a tag team known as The Shield. Their names are Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins. Together they were three of the most popular wrestlers in the company. They achieved so much success that the only option was to split them up into singles wrestlers. So they did. Now Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins soared in popularity. However Roman Reigns struggled to find the same success as a singles competitor but there was an even bigger problem. Roman Reigns fits the profile of that big muscle man that the WWE loves. He has a great look, but his talking and wrestling skills just weren't on par. For months it was rumored that the WWE wanted to have Roman Reigns win the Royal Rumble and go on to beat the WWE champion (currently Brock Lesnar: See part timers) and hope that the fans would love it but the smarks were leaning more in favor of Ambrose and Rollins. Also they still really hoped Daniel Bryan would be better by then and come back to win. However if that wasn't the case there were a handful of other options that the fans might have been okay with. Dolph Ziggler, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Cesaro, but we all REALLY wanted Daniel Bryan to be there! Luckily for us he was, unlucky for us however . . .
Daniel Bryan entered into the Rumble at position number ten and was eliminated after only ten minutes. Fans started to boo, and they didn't stop until the show was over. There were a few glimmers of hope however. When one of the names mentioned above entered there were some cheers. However the WWE made sure to quickly eliminate all of the fan favorites, and in a way that felt like it was rubbing it in the fan's faces. They were literally picked up like rag dolls and thrown lazily over the ropes. They might as well have pointed in our faces and said "Ha ha." Then Roman Reigns went on to win in what was a mediocre display of action. The fans had had enough. The boos were almost deafening. This was the second year in a row that the debut PPV of the year was one of the worst shows imaginable. Both years only had one single match that was amazing, and the rest of the shows, especially the two rumble matches, were beyond a disappointment. Now I'm sure a lot of people are wondering, why would this matter? It's just people being babies that their favorite wrestler didn't win a pre-determined match. Well I'll tell you why it matters.
First there's the obvious, the fans are paying customers. The WWE is seeming to go out of it's way to anger their paying customers. It's entertainment, and Vince McMahon himself always says that the WWE is not wrestling, it's sports entertainment which already angers a lot of fans who like the WWE because they like wrestling. There is also the fact that the WWE is a publicly traded company. When you're a publicly traded company, and also an entertainment company, it's pretty important to make sure your fans are happy, since that's what your business is based on. Then there's the factor of the WWE Network. The WWE launched their Netflix like service in early 2014 and offers the ability to watch the PPVs live on their network which is only $9.99 a month. On top of the live PPVs you get the entire back catalog of all of their past PPVs as well as PPVs from other wrestling companies that they own (ECW and WCW) and a lot of original programming. It's really a great deal for the fans but apparently it's been an issue for the WWE. The network has really under-performed compared to their expectations and it's unclear on if they are losing money with the whole deal. So the WWE obviously wants to sell as many subscriptions to their network as possible. How do they do this? By reminding us every three minutes on their television shows (RAW and Smackdown!) about the benefits of the network and how awesome it is and that its all for a low low price of how much? $9.99. The price actually became so much of a joke that there is a $9.99 shirt. This is not a joke. Guess how much the shirt cost?
Now I don't think that everyone is necessarily angry that Roman Reigns won the Royal Rumble. I personally don't think he was ready this year to win and go become the champion (assuming that's still the plan) but everyone wanted their underdog story with Daniel Bryan since his first title reign was cut short. Now the fans just feel betrayed and cheated and like the WWE doesn't care about their fan base so why should the fans care? Then the day after the Rumble a hash tag was trending on Twitter. #CancelWWENetwork. That's right, the fans were so mad that they decided to do something better than just complain online. They spoke with their wallets, and they spoke loudly. So loud that they actually crashed the cancellation page for the network. Now for a publicly traded company that has already struggled to gain network subscriptions, this is actually a big hit to their public image. Now let's be honest. I'm sure not enough people canceled to put network under, but enough cancelled or even mentioned it to make a statement, and that statement cost them some stock points. Will this fix anything? No, the WWE will do what they think is best whether it is or not. For example, here's an interview with Vince McMahon where he buries some of the fans favorite talent and claims he's not out of touch, while making himself sound most certainly out of touch.
Wrestling fans often think "Man, if I was running the WWE (or any wrestling company) things would be so much better!"and this is the first time where I really feel like the fans actually do have a better grasp of what would make a better show than the people in charge. Leading into Wrestlemania is always a critical time for the WWE and wrestling fans alike because everyone wants it to be the best show it can be since it's the biggest wrestling event in the world every year and honestly, the WWE should be kissing the asses of their fans just a little bit. Obviously they don't have to do everything the fans want because hey, the fans aren't the ones running the show, but they should be able to anticipate what the fans want and sense who they like (I mean we are only cheering for our favorites every week) and maybe not give us the obvious choice, but they know who we like enough to be able to still surprise us. So yes, wrestling fans should be mad, and sending a message with their dollars is an effective way of getting the WWE's attention. So in case you weren't a wrestling fan and interested in this story I hope I was able to explain it clearly enough for you. I know it was a long explanation but to tell a wrestling story you often have to go back to the beginning and this was a long tale of attrition.
Well I haven't watched a lot of WWE television lately but I never miss the Pay Per Views (hereby referred to as PPVs) and Money in the Bank (hereby referred to as MITB) is usually one of my favorite shows of the year. As we started out the year with one of the most disappointing events in recent years, they slowly got better until Extreme Rules (another favorite of mine that disappointing) and I was holding on to hope that MITB (see like I said before) would change the whole game. There was a lot riding on this PPV (see that's what I meant) with Daniel Bryan having to forfeit the titles and there also being a suitcase match. This was the night for WWE to push some new amazing talent. Unfortunately we got exactly what we didn't want. John Cena is a 15 time champion and Rollins holds the MITB case, which that second part isn't a bad thing.
So Rollins holds MITB which is nice but honestly I was pulling for Ambrose just for an upset. The first ladder match was the highlight of the whole show, which is disappointing considering there was an even bigger ladder match where a new champ would be crowned. MITB opened strong and lead me to believe to could be a great show. The tag team title match was pretty good with some decent spots for both the Usos' and The Wyatt Family. I was happy to see the Uso brothers retain. I think they have a lot going for them and haven't had many chances to show it yet but with their role in Payback where they really shined by taking some massive bumps, and now beating the Wyatts is a step in the right direction for them. I know they will eventually drop the titles but I hope they out on a good show in the process. Well the tag match was one of my favorites and next we had the first Diva match. Now I heard a lot of people complain, "Two Diva matches?!" But you know what, the first one was good. Paige and Naomi are both great workers who can wrestle very well. The second diva match actually was a waste of time, not that they can't wrestle, it was just bad booking. Just like the Adam Rose match. Or his entire character since coming to Raw. Adam Rose could be a fun gimmick, and maybe they should find something else for him to do besides wrestle for a while, especially against Damian Sandow who is just getting embarrassed every night for no reason. Did we all forget that Dandow was the same guy who cashed in last year's MITB case and had an amazing match with Cena? Here we are a year later and he's Paul Revere battling a dancing Brit. Sad indeed.
Now the WWE often adds unannounced matches to the PPV card but the Rhodes brothers vs Rybaxel was just a clumsy match. We all know that Cody and Goldust can work great together but everyone just seemed off here. No spots stodd out, the chemistry was off, and the finish was just flat. The crowd was silent almost the entire match and the whole thing felt boring. While Cody and Goldust had an amazing run as tag team champions I'd hate to see them fall to the wayside and I know Rybaxel could become great performers but they are still pretty green, mostly on the end of Curtis Axel. He has potential, he just hasn't found it yet. And am I the only one tired of watching Rusev or what? This felt like the hundredth time we've watched him beat Big E and none of these matches have made an impact on me at all. Rusev just feels like a dud. I'd rather see him go back to NXT until they really find out what to do with him.
The show stealer was the first MITB ladder match with some amazing numbs taken by Rollins. Honestly this guy went through hell in this match and I think the intent was "If we are going to give him the case he has to take the pain along with it and that will make the grab that much more spectacular" but it was ruined by having Kane interfere with the match. Kane's recent role has been questionable at best and while I get what they are going for with Kane as an unstoppable monster with. Shakes alliance, but it really isn't doing anything for me. Is feud with Daniel Bryan was understandably cut short but they should have just immediately found him a feud with someone else and maybe kept him off TV until there was a new champion. Or maybe even turn him into a face and have him attack Triple H for not being given the title stripped from Bryan. Regardless him interfering in the match was a bad move and interfered with what could have been a big moment for Rollins. I would have liked to have seen Ambrose grab the case in an upset but then the upcoming feud with Rollins probably wouldn't be as great as it hopefully will be. I'll also add that Kofi had the most convincing false finish by very convincingly almost grabbing the case. For a second I thought he might be the surprise winner. Bravo Kofi. Bravo.
And so we have a second ladder match where (shocker) John Cena becomes a 15 time world champion. Let's face it, facts are facts and despite everyone claiming that Daniel Bryan or (formerly) Cm Punk are more popular, John Cena sells the most merchandise and brings in the most money. When they need to fill a championship role he's their go to guy. Now I don't have a problem with Cena. He's a fine wrestler. We've just all seen it before. Its time for someone new to take the reigns (cough cough, hint hint!) now Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns were definitely the fan favorites to win, but honestly I don't think these guys have seen enough singles action to warrant a title run just yet. While Reigns and Wyatt are guaranteed future world champions, they should still have to earn a little more prestige. There's rumors going around that Wrestlemania 31 will have Reigns going over on Brock Lesnar (the one in the 21 and one) for the title which would be PERFECT. Imagine having a year to build up Reigns and then he beats the one who beat the streak. He could be the Rock of our generation, but first he was in a ladder match that was good but overshadowed by a previous, better ladder match.
Overall MITB was kind of weak. This felt more like a set up for Battleground than it did a career changing PPV like it has the potential to be. While there were a couple solid matches, the PPV as a whole was rather disappointing. Hopefully with the set up from this show, we will lead into an amazing Battleground but that remains to be seen. So what did you think of MITB? Personally I rank it a 2 out of 5. Did you love it or hate it? Sound off in the comments below.
Without a doubt, WrestleMania 30 will go down in history as one of the most surprising WrestleMania's in history. This event will always have a love hate relationship and was the first time in a long time that I was left with my mouth gaped open in shock. So it's only right that I write some of my reactions. Now I missed the preshow so I'll just start off and say that I'm glad the Usos retained and I hope to see more from them in the future. Now let's look at the matches.
Daniel Bryan vs Triple H
-As a huge Mortal Kombat fan I was a big supporter of Triple H entering as Shao Kahn. This is a match, however, that I need to rewatch. It was solid but it didn't really blow me away so I think a rewatch will do me good. Triple H definitely felt out of practice and at this point I prefer him in a suit, but still a solid match and an explosive win that left me excited for the main event.
The Shield vs Kane and the New Age Outlaws
- This match was incredibly abrupt and therefore pointless, especially since everyone knew The Shield was going to win anyway. However te Shield always gives 110% so even though the match was short, their domination was well performed.
Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale
- I love a good over the top rope match. If not entertaining it's always a good oppurtunity for Kofi Kingston to perform a miraculous save and this one was pretty epic and looked incredibly painful. A launch over the rope onto the steps with a foot save, nice job! Now was there any doubt Cesaro was going to win? Cesaro is amazing and deserved the win but I didn't see him body slamming Big Show coming at all and that was just as legendary as when Hogan did it to Andre. That mans strength is impressive!
John Cena vs Bray Wyatt
- You know, if the WWE really wants to surprise us then John Cena should lose at Wrestlemania. I think everyone wanted to see Bray take this one. The match was good but predictable. Bray is definitely a highlight among the new roster and I hope to see him continue his great gimmick.
Brock Lesnar vs The Undertaker
- I will probably write a whole post in this at some point, but there is no way that ANYONE saw this coming. 21-1 (while sounding really lame) is never something I expected to see. I was always on the side of Undertaker should retire undefeated but it's the kind of situation where after it's happened you dwell on it until you realize its okay. This will easily go down in history as one of the most shocking moments in wrestling history, and we will forever have one of the greatest reaction memes of all time.
Vickie Guerrero Diva Invitational
- I love a good mess of a match where there are too many people in the ring at once. This one was actually decently worked. There are really only two standout moments for me. When AJ and Tamina got pused to the center and surrounded and when the Bella twins faced off against each other. Other than that I was just mostly surprised AJ won but losing to Paige on RAW the next night was so much sweeter!
Batista vs Randy Orton vs Daniel Bryan
- An amazing main event that lead to the end of one of the greatest underdog stories in wrestling history. Daniel Bryan HAD to win this match, especially after Taker lost. It was a great match and that Batista Bomb to RKO through the table was epic. This will be a moment to rewatch for years to come and ended one of the most influential WrestleMania's ever. Love it or hate, WrestleMania 30 made history and was one hell of a show.
Post Wrestlemania RAW
- We are clearly in a new era. Adam Rose, Bo Dallas, Rusev, and Paige all making their debuts, a young and worth champion, and The Shield standing against the authority (surrounding Triple H was amazing) proves that the WWE is heading in a new direction and I'm behind it 100%. So what did you think of WrestleMania and the post RAW? Leave your thoughts in the comments and as always you can find me on Twitter @advent_crash.
So since I've gotten back into wrestling its always felt different and it's been hard to put my finger on why. I checked out around 2000 just before WCW went under. As mainly a WCW fan I lost interest after the company was absorbed into the WWF and formed the WWE. Well skip to 2011 and I turn on wrestling to seriously watch it for the first time in eleven years and I was sucked back in. I love wrestling all over again but it just feels like a completely different beast now. Like a lot of people, I have pined for the days of the Attitude Era but it wasn't until recently that I found out what I missed from modern wrestling. There's no sense of risk or danger anymore. Take out the fact that wrestling is way more PG now than it was before with the exception of indies. I also give TNA a lot of credit for still going bloody and edgy when they need to. That Storm vs Roode match last year was one of the bloodiest I had ever seen. TNA keeps me coming back for these reasons. Aside from the great roster it feels like TNA's struggle is leading to entertainment. You just want to tune in and see if it succeeds or fails. With WWE you always know what you're going to get.
Back in the 90's wrestling was at its highest peak and we had two giant companies that were direct rivals. We saw WWF and WCW superstars appearing on each other's shows, throwing away titles, calling out their respective leaders, it was like the Wild West and felt like war. Well like most wars there was an eventual winner and loser and the WWE was born. This the Attitude Era ended and we entered the era of Ruthless Aggression. This is probably where a lot of people checked out (myself included) but going back and looking at it in retrospective this was a pretty great era in WWE. We saw the rise of unconventional champions and the entrance of nobodies that are now today's superstars. I remember saying to myself "who's this Cm Punk guy? He's no Stone Cold or Rock!" Now I really believe he's the best in the world. Who would have thought a smaller guy like Rey Mysterio could ever be a world champion? These are moves of innovation that we really don't see anymore.
The WWE has become comfortable. We've seen John Cena and Randy Orton over and over, we've seen John Cena win the championship over and over, and we've seen a number of young, talented, and well deserving stars pushed aside over and over. We all know The WWE is in the John Cena business. He's been the number one guy for years. And I won't deny he's earned that spot back when there were other superstars to compete with but now Cena is the only superstar. The WWE has done a poor job of building up other performers to be just as big a star as Cena, so when a lot of the wrestlers we know and loved started to retire, we now have a much narrower playing field that has only recently started to widen but the ones in charge still love to throw objects into the cogs of a well oiled machine. Ziggler, Bryan, Cesaro, Sandow, are all examples of of wrestlers that have had short burst pushes that were shut down. Instead the WWE would rather concentrate on a "sure thing" rather than push what they have. There are some lights in the darkness, looking at the Shield and Wyatt family, but there are so many stars the WWE could trust as top guys if they only took more risks!
With out the need to compete with other wrestling companies (TNA is an alternative, not a competitor) the WWE has become lazy and comfortable at the expense of their talent. Why take a risk and put over a young talented wrestler when you can keep bringing in retired wrestlers or John Cena every chance you get? This is not what wrestling fans want, is to see the same matchups over and over. The WWE is a billion dollar company and they aren't going anywhere, and they know that. The only incentive for them to take any risk is to please the fans, which they haven't been in the business of lately. Guys like Daniel Bryan and Cm Punk have clawed their way to the top through shear talent and charisma and the WWE has failed to recognize the smart moves throughout the way. Hopefully in the future the WWE will see through their recent blunders and take some bigger risks to keep the wrestling business interesting. In the meantime TNA is putting on the biggest events they've ever done before in New York City and taking an exciting risk so I know where I'll be keeping my attention. So what do you think? Is there enough risk in today's wrestling or is everyone just too complacent? As always feel free to share your thoughts in the comments and you can find me on Twitter @advent_crash.
So Wrestlemania 30 is this Sunday and I thought I'd run down some quick predictions for each match on the card. Not a lot of talk here, just some quick predictions.
The Tag Team Title match
- This match was moved to the preshow which is a bummer but I think/hope the Usos retain their titles. They're a great and entertaining tag team and with their presence as part of Total Divas (or at least one of them) I think they will want to keep the attention on the Usos for a little longer.
The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royale
- This is a 30 man match with only 27 announced spots so I think we will have some surprise entrants (probably at least 1 legend) and one of the surprise entrants will probably take it. No I don't think Cm Punk will be one of them!
Diva's Championship Invitational
- I think we are all curious as to what this match will actually be but I'm betting AJ Lee will lose the title to one of the Total Divas. My money is on Brie Bella but if not then I would say Snooka's daughter since she's been AJ's muscle.
The Shield vs Kane and the New Age Outlaws
- The Shield, win or lose, will begin their split here. It's been teased for months and something will happen during this match to officially plant that seed. However I could see Reigns pulling out the win despite any mishaps.
Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar
- 22-0.
Triple H vs Daniel Bryan
- If Daniel Bryan loses this match then the WWE should probably lock all of the doors to keep the rioting as contained as possible. The audience can't burn down the building they are trapped inside! This may be the show stealer match.
John Cena vs Bray Wyatt
- Oh how I want Cena to lose this match! Cena has won a lot of times in his career. Just once I'd like to see him put someone else over for once. Unfortunately I think Cena will win.
Randy Orton vs Batista vs TBD
- Bryan will be in this match, hands down. Do I think he will win? Absolutely not. Do I think he should win? Absolutely. The Yes Movement is very powerful. The WWE would be foolish to miss a chance to have thousands of people cheering their most popular superstar at a landmark Wrestlemania. Unfortunately I have a sick feeling that Batista will win since he originally came in as a face and was probably planned to win from the start. The WWE rearranged their plans to get Bryan in the event, but I'm. It sure they will change their planned outcome. It would be a great surprise if they did though. Either way, Orton is losing.
So those are my predictions. Do you share my opinions or feel another way? Sound off your thoughts in the comments and don't forget to follow me on Twitter @advent_crash.
Elimination Chamber was doomed to catch heat after the Royal Rumble. The Royal Rumble was a cluster of short sided ideas and just multiple backhands from corporate to the fans. Batista is back and catching heat for being a face and that is entirely the WWE's fault. They should have turned Batista heel the day after the Royal Rumble but then Wrestlemania would be a heel vs heel main event which is never good. With that being said, Elimination Chamber was their chance to rectify their mistake. Of course they didn't. In fact they made it worse. Orton is still champion and Batista is still going to the main event at Wrestlemania. I don't know what Vince McMahon is thinking, maybe that we will come around and see things his way, but Wrestlemania is going to have a main event that is booed from beginning to end. Probably sprinkled with some "Yes" and "Cm Punk" chants. When that happens will the WWE finally take notice? It's hard to bounce back afterwards. Especially because its most likely a lock that Batista will win. Are we expected to cheer for Boo-Tista's victory? Enough said.
That being said, Elimination Chamber was actually a decent PPV that was hindered by the fan reactions. Going in they knew what matches they wanted to see and were surprised by very little. The opening match was a big surprise as Big E (the artist formerly known as Langston) successfully defended his Intercontinental title against Jack Swagger. This match was a solid opener and actually had some impressive spots. I was mostly bummed that we had an Intercontinental title match at all because I'm ready to unify that belt with the US title already. With the unification of the WWE and World Heavyweight titles I don't know what the US and Intercontinental title are supposed to mean anymore. This should have been their time to unify them but it was a lost opportunity.
Speaking of lost opportunity, the Usos had a decent match against the New Age Outlaws, who are only exciting during their entrance, but the match just had an extremely dull ending with a roll-up pin for another NAO victory. The Usos have been a great tag team and have a lot going for them and I was hoping to see them take the titles instead of a bunch of old timers who's day is long past. The Usos will have their time I'm sure, it just should have been this PPV. Titus O'Niel and Darren Young was a match the fans clearly didn't care about, but these two are another example of underrated talent. Breaking up the Prime Time Players was a terrible idea, one because the WWE is lacking on good tag teams, and two because I don't feel that these two are ready to identify as their own wrestler yet. These two are very talented together and no one seems to see it. Hopefully as singles wrestlers they will be able to make themselves stand out.
And now the match that should probably be the real main event at Wrestlemania, the Wyatt Family dominated The Shield in a match that started slow and then exploded into a show stealer. We are clearly seeing the split of The Shield coming up, and there is a lot of push behind Roman Reigns as the stand out member of the group. I'll be sad to see them split because the Shield never lived up to the hounds of justice gimmick that they debuted as, but they are a dominate force for sure. The popularity of The Wyatt family and The Shield is so strong that the stare down before the match got "This is awesome" chants. Let it be known that this match alone is worth watching the PPV for.
So was there any doubt that Orton wouldn't win the chamber match? Was there any doubt that there would be interference? I'll admit I knew the Wyatt interference was coming to set up Cena vs Bray at Wrestlemania but Kane getting involved was a little too much, but even with the interference this match was awesome! Last year's chamber match was a complete dud, mostly because it was just a number one contenders match, but this year we had solid contestants who gave it their all and each had great moments. It's kind of sad that Christian is kind of taking a back seat now days but I was happy to see him get an elimination and he had some of my favorite moments in the match. Overall this was a match worth watching and a solid PPV that I would watch again, which is more than I can say for more recent Elimination Chamber shows.
So now we can see the path to Wrestlemania 30 and it's a pretty dark road. I don't care how many Hulk Hogan or Undertakers' you have there will be no way to counteract the reaction of the fans. They know what they want (and Hogan's time in TNA shows that it's not him anymore) and while the rest of the Wrestlemania card might turn out amazing, that main event is going to have people turning off the show or booing the entire time. One thing that seems strange to me is that no one is even talking about the post Wrestlemania plans, almost as if it's all coming down to this one show. Daniel Bryan will probably win the title before the year is over, that's almost a given, but the fans want it at Wrestlemania and the WWE has shown how stubborn they really are to their own plans. There's one other thing that no one is thinking about, Batista is probably going to win the title. How are people going to react to that? Honestly I'd rather see Orton win to go on and face another opponent opponent that's not John Cena or Batista. If it's not Daniel Bryan it's time to give out a push to someone else like Cesaro who has more than proved himself in the last few months.
So what do you think of Elimination Chamber and going into Wrestlemania 30? Sound off in the comments and as always you can find me on Twitter @advent_crash.
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