2012 Pro Wrestling Thread

Okay then. Can we just leave it at that and not do the rematch next year?

 

So now where does this leave Cena?

 

I already can't wait for Raw tomorrow. Something big is going down.

Cena comes out, snaps on somebody. Turns heel, challenges Punk.

 

Insists that he got the Rock down for 3 and should have won. They spend a month setting up next year's rematch, then he floats along in random feuds like Kane for the rest of the year.

 

Nahh, Cena comes out, talks about how he got too cocky, and how he has to rise above the hate and then shakes Rock's hand.

Zzzzzzzz

 

They announce the rematch for WM 29, and we get 52 weekly specials on their lives. Flo Rida and that douchebag from Cleveland create a theme song for both guys, and it plays as we see footage of them waking up ... eating breakfast ... running on the treadmill ... eating lunch ...

 

My thoughts:

1. I'm totally fine with Sheamus-Bryan ending that quickly. That was hilarious, and it's not like we were destined to remember that match anyway with the crowded card.

2. I'm interested to see where they go with Cena now, and I'm relieved Rock-Cena is over, at least temporarily.

3. Punk-Jericho was great, even if the crowd wasn't.

4. I thought Cena was great tonight. Did everything he could to make that special.

5. Undertaker-Trips-Shawn Michaels was fantastic.

 

The Bryan-Sheamus thing ruined the whole show for me. Sorry, there's no justifying that for me. This is a Wrestlemania that was centered on the old guard and the one match that had two of the rising superstars in it gets made to be a joke. That's unacceptable. I can't be convinced otherwise.

HIAC stole the show. I liked Jericho-Punk too but Undertaker, Trips and HBK just told a hell of a story. One nitpick - the best spot in the whole show was the Sweet Chin Music right into the Pedigree. It was the first time I've ever said out loud "Holy shit, he's going to lose." When Taker kicked out, you knew for sure there was no way he was losing which is why I would have liked to see it come later in the match. Either way, amazing work for the old fellas.

I hope there's some sort of great payoff to Cena losing because right now it just doesn't make much sense to me.

While I was disappointed in Rhodes-Show, it makes sense to me to take the strap off Rhodes so he can pursue SHeamus. I hope that's where they take them.

 

On another forum I read, someone literally predicted *ding* *kick* *ding* a week before 'Mania. Didn't piss me off any less seeing it happen, though.

 

So, I just finished my Mania party and read through all the replies here.

Holy shit.

I can not believe Rock won that match.

Unless this leads to a complex analysis on Cena as a character and, eventually, leads to him either turning heel or spending the whole year trying to get back at Rock, I just don't see any possible justification in letting a part-timer who has wrestled one match in seven years go over the guy who's the heart and soul of your company.

I just don't get it.

That being said, overall I think the show really suffered from that bullshit 18-second match with Bryan and Sheamus. That crowd was HOT for Bryan and that BS just killed it.

The rest of the first hour was forgettable, at best, and really got the show off to a blah kind of start. For a while I had to remind myself I was actually watching Mania and not just an extended episode of Smackdown.

Luckily, the Hell in the Cell match was FANTASTIC. Easily one of the best stories I've ever seen told in a ring. I won't say it was a five-star match as that implies it was perfect and I still feel as if the match itself could have been a little better but that story was amazing. Amazing. Going to be hard to get a better match of the year.

Punk-Jericho was great. A classic wrestling bout with an exceptional string at the end. Didn't live up to what I thought it would be but it was still the best pure-wrestling match of the night.

Cena-Rock sucked. They spent half the time building the bout with needless intros and performances and tried to manufacture the big-match vibe instead of letting the guys in the ring do it themselves.

I kept comparing this match in my head to WM18. On paper, it should have been just as good as it was almost the exact same concept (Old Vet, Top Star) but this just didn't have it. The guys seemed out of sync the whole bout and apart from a great, surprise ending (That, as I said, I don't quite understand), this just didn't justify the year we were force fed it.

All in all, this Mania was a pretty big disappointment for me. I'd give it a B- strictly because of the HITC.

 

Between the 18 second match between the two young stars, the constant references to "end of an era" and Rock winning cleanly, I kind of felt like the message tonight was: Remember how awesome we were 12 years ago?

Maybe it'll make more sense tomorrow night, but right now I cannot understand the logic behind having Cena lose cleanly.

 

Thinking about it now:

1. Like I've said, Bryan/Sheamus was ridiculous. I get the "hey, surprise, the match ended like that" philosophy, I really do. But save it for a lesser PPV, not WM, or have a lesser match end that way. Shit, they could have manufactured Brodus Clay into a minor feud in three weeks with someone like Regal, and then squash him in 18 seconds, instead of him doing some stupid dance.

And it wasn't right that they did it with these two guys, who a lot of fans last year wanted to see, only to find out they got bumped to the dark match.

2. Except for the Divas, every match ended with someone's finisher. There was only one screwjob, and that was the 12-man, and even that ended in the Skull-Crushing Finale. If they want to surprise people, have someone win with a small-package or a rollup, or one of those back-suplex, lift-the-shoulder-up deals. Punk-Jericho would have been good for that.

3. HITC, as noted, fantastic storytelling, and as someone else pointed out, they should have saved the Michaels SCM/Trips Pedigree for the end. And kudos for bringing JR out to call the match.

4. Punk/Jericho started slow, then built up nicely. Both guys did a solid job, with a great finishing sequence. I did think they should have done a little more with the No-DQ rule, with maybe Jericho pulling an Eddy Guerrero, and Punk almost getting caught.

5. I wasn't that surprised with Rock/Cena, since they were in Miami. I don't think Rock was prepared to go 30 minutes though, because he looked like he was sucking wind a few times. Considering he had only one other match in 8 years, he did pretty well. But it needed something extra, like a brawl on the ramp or something. The big question now is what will happen with Cena, since he's talked about how he needed to win this match. Tomorrow night might be very interesting.

6. Enough with all the music breaks. If I want music, I'll watch a concert.

7. At least the Divas looked pretty.

8. Good to see Kane with a match cleanly. And they need to turn Orton, because he's just not very interesting anymore.