WrestleMania 30 Reactions

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.

No Risk No Reward

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.

Elimination Chamber and Why the WWE Hates You

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.

Royal Rumble, Cm Punk, and Best For Business

Well now. Things have sure gotten interesting haven't they? The Royal Rumble just happened and between the creative decisions and crowd reactions it was pretty intense, though no where near as bombastic as to what happened with Cm Punk on Monday but we'll get there. So let's just cut to the chase. The Royal Rumble happened and exploded right at the beginning (ignoring that preshow blunder) after Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt tore the house down! This match was brutal, and artistic, and just all around incredible! The Yes Movement is real and its time for the WWE to acknowledge this! As you'll notice I'm using a lot of exclamation points because its hard to not talk about the last week without extreme vigor. So let's just skip over the other stuff, (it was boring) and get to the title match. Now the real travesty here is that the match was actually good. Not great but good. But this was the beginning of the hijack. I'll be the first to admit, I'm tired of Cena and Orton too (though less with Orton) and it would have been nice to see Daniel Bryan in the match but I'm starting to feel like the WWE Universe just wants Daniel Bryan in EVERY match. I mean what's gonna happen when the people get what they want and Bryan becomes champion? Does it suddenly become boring? Eventually he will have to lose and will that start the cycle over? Its a dangerous road that I don't think anyone is thinking about.

So then comes the Royal Rumble. Batista won, like we all knew he would, and Daniel Bryan was nowhere to be seen. Now I already knew Bryan wouldn't be in the Rumble, mostly because that was the word on the streets, but Rey Mysterio really got the short end of the stick when he entered at the number 30 spot. This wasn't Rey's fault. He's a talented wrestler and this is where I have my issues with the WWE Universe. I love Daniel Bryan just like everyone else and I want to see him as champion, but I'm willing to wait for that special moment to finally come. I don't need it happening tomorrow. If he's not in the Rumble I always assumed he would be in the Ellimination Chamber anyway, which he is. Wether that's because of the Rumble response or not I don't know, that's the real question, but the fact is that he's there. So Batista won the Rumble, flipped off the fans (great baby face) and the show ended. The Road to Wrestlemania has officially begun. Then a bombshell was dropped. Cm Punk walked out of Raw, telling people that he was going home. This isn't a work, this isn't part of some elaborate story, Cm Punk quit the WWE. 

So there's a lot of mixed reports out there so I'll go on record in saying that not all of this may turn out to be true, but the fact is that Cm Punk finally became frustrated enough with his position in the company and just said screw it. Now his contract was expiring in July and he has been pretty open about not planning on resigning, but friends of his have said that they would be surprised if he made it to July and they were right. Punk has been saying for a while that the only thing he has left to accomplish in his career is to headline Wrestlemania and he has earned it many times over. At Wrestlemania 28 Punk was the champion and didn't even get to headline because of The Rock and Cena. I can completely understand his frustration about "part time wrestlers." The Rock headlines two years in a row and wrestles a total of 3 matches in those two years, and Batista returns after being gone for over four years and wins the Rumble for the main event spot. The WWE (like I have mentioned before) loves to bring in the older big names, and big guys, for their main event spot and continuously shove their younger talent to the side. Skipping ahead, Triple H feels insulted by Punk walking out, now skipping back I totally understand why Punk did what he did. Why stick around when you've earned that spot multiple times and you keep getting looked over. The same is said for Daniel Bryan.

At this point the big question is what happens next? The fans are clearly irritated and demanding a better product. However do the fans really know what makes a better product? Let's face it, the Internet has made wrestling fans extremely cocky because we have access to a lot of inside information, but regardless fans know what the want to see and that does fall onto the WWE. The WWE just announced their own network and are trying to sell it to their fan base. They may think they know what's best for the story and the company, but if you want people to buy your network you need to be kissing their ass until everyone has bought in! Now a lot of people are talking about boycotting the network, they won't, but I'm sure a lot of people are feeling the same way I am. Yes I'm getting the network, but I'm less inclined to be getting it right away which is when they need the numbers. So what does everyone else think? Did you enjoy the Rumble? Were you booing your television? Will you miss Punk? Who wouldn't? Sound off in the comments, share with your friends, and as always you can find me on Twitter @advent_crash.

Other Bests of 2013

These are just some other topics of not that I don't have a whole lot to say about so these are simply just numbered lists. So without further adue here are my other bests of 2013.

Best Pay Per View

5. Extreme Rules

4. ROH 11th Anniversary 

3. Royal Rumble

2. Slammiversary

1. Summerslam

Best Tag Teams

5. Bad Influence

4. Team Hell No

3. Aces & Eights

2. The Shield

1. Rhodes Brotherhood

Best Moment

Ziggler cashes in Money in the Bank

Best Come Back

Chris Jericho at Royal Rumble

Best Fued

Daniel Bryan vs The Authority

Best Promo

Rock and Cm Punk spit game.

So there's just some extra lists to wrap up my thoughts on 2013. As always comment below and let me know what your thoughts are or what your tops of the year are. You can find me on Twitter @advent_crash. Tweet me up if you have some thoughts.