March 31, 2014
Live from Washington, D.C.
Your hosts are JBL, Jerry Lawler, and Michael Cole
The show starts with the Undertaker walking out to the ring very, very slowly. After he almost tripped on the steps, he finally got into the ring. They aired a video package of what he did to Brock Lesnar on RAW then he talked about how he was 21-0 at WrestleMania. He then tried to get inside of Lesnar's head by asking him how he intends to break his streak. Taker then talks up Brock and says that it is inevitable the streak will be broken but said people believe in three things: "death, taxes, and the streak." Lesnar's music hits and he comes out with Paul Heyman. A "CM Punk" chant broke out as Heyman tells Taker that all it takes is a three seconds after an F-5 to end his streak. Lesnar then teases a confrontation in the ring a few times but retreats then he and Heyman circle the ring until Heyman plops into a chair, which allows Lesnar to slide into the ring. Taker attacks him at first but walks into a clothesline then Lesnar hits him with an F5. Lesnar did a good job with his intensity at the end and he desperately needed to get the upper hand in a segment to at least build up some intrigue that he could end the streak but they are a few weeks late and a million dollars short of that goal. There was nothing wrong with the segment itself but this feud has been ice cold and no one at all is buying Lesnar in this match.
Alberto Del Rio d Big E (10:28) **1/4.
Del Rio pinned the IC Champ with a standing sidekick. Big E had a couple of nice power spots, including lifting up Del Rio, who had him in an armbar, and slamming him down, but he has been a dud as the champ. The crowd was not really into him, either. Del Rio has been okay in the ring recently but his stock has dropped a lot.
Wyatt Family promo. Bray said that everyone will forget about John Cena when he is done with him after WrestleMania and see him for what he is, which is a monster. More or less the same promo that he has been cutting throughout this feud.
Clip from "Total Diva's" of Summer Rae slapping Natalya. This appeared to be about 99.9%.
Summer Rae d. Natalya (2:20) DUD.
Vicki Guerrero came out to announce that the "Vicki Guerrero Invitational" will be a one-fall match. That is a bathroom break match if there ever was one. This match tonight was horrendous. Natalya blew a spot badly in this match, when she fell down as she attempted a sharpshooter. If she is the woman on the roster who is supposed to be teaching and helping the new diva's in the ring, then it's time to look elsewhere as she botches far too many moves for that role and doesnt bring enough to the table to be a major player.
HHH and Stephanie come out. HHH says how the fans have no loyalty just want to be a part of something, like the flavor of the day, and how they move on to something else, like they did with Fandango. They mock the Fandango dance as HHH tells the crowd how he is a B+ player, possibly an A, but they ruined him. Steph then led the crowd into a "Yes" chant and after it became successful, she mocked them by saying how anyone can get people to chant. HHH then tells everyone who thinks he got to where he is today because he "married well" says that he got to the top because of his dominance in the ring. They then proceed to show us a video package of all the people that HHH dominated (Booker T, Goldberg, Jeff Hardy, Scott Steiner, Chris Jericho) with Steph doing the voice-over. That video was glorious in a variety of ways. That ends as HHH talks about beating Bryan and walking out of Mania as the champ when Batista interrupts. He tells HHH that he noticed he was not in this video because he never lost to him then told HHH to focus on Daniel Bryan first. Randy Orton comes out next and sucks up to HHH, who calls him out on it, then tells him to take himself out of the three-way at Mania, because he respects him. HHH tells Orton that unless he can find the "Viper," he will lose his title. HHH then ends the segment by making the Orton vs. Batista match tonight a No DQ match. The video was something else but this segment was too long overall. At least they have some intrigue regarding the title match though.
Los Matadores & The Usos d. Real Americans & Ryback & Curtis Axel (14:00) *1/2
This match was super-sloppy with no flow but the fans still dug it a lot, for some reason. They are giving these guys some time to shine before the title match at WrestleMania, which will air on the preshow. The finish saw Los Matadores use the switcheroo on Swagger as they roll him up in a small package for the win. Seems like they are trying to build up the Matadores a little bit with this finish.
Cody Rhodes & Goldust d. Fandango & Damien Sandow (4:08) *
The crowd was dead for this match. The finish saw Goldust put away Sandow with the Final Cut. Poor Cody always busts his ass out there but he and his brother have been stuck in neutral since dropping the tag belts. Poor Sandow looks defeated out there and Fandango is overshadowed by his valet. Those two have seen their stock drop dramatically over the past year.
Backstage, the Shield make fun of Kane and the New Age Outlaws for being old then talks about how they are not to be messed with.
Bray Wyatt d. R Truth (4:36) *1/2
Good showing for Bray tonight and I thought that R-Truth did well at selling for him. Bray put him away with the Sister Abigail then took out Xavier Woods, who accompanied Truth to the ring. After the Wyatt's pose, someone wearing a sheep mask enters behind them and reveals themselves as John Cena and he clears the ring of the Wyatt's. I thought the ending of this segment was clever and Cena showed a lot of intensity and anger, which was appropriate for the situation unlike some of his other segments.
Naomi d. AJ Lee in a Lumberjill Match (4:05) 3/4*
The story of the match was that none of the other girls wanted to touch Naomi when she got tossed outside but would all swarm AJ when she was out of the ring. Even though it would make sense for the girls to rough up the champ before she defends the title, the champion does not have to be pinned in order to lose the match so it came off as a giant waste of time. This was a mini-preview of the Diva's WrestleMania match.
Renee Young is backstage with John Cena, who cuts a very good promo that was filled with intensity and anger. He ends by saying that he will shove his foot up Bray's ass. Cena cut a better promo than Bray this week.
Kane vs Roman Reigns Ended in a No-Contest (3:08) *.
Reigns won with a whopping 80% of the vote over his other two stable mates. That should tell everyone who the most over member of the Shield is at the moment. Reigns looked decent out here in the short match that ended with the NAO coming out and getting attacked from behind by Ambrose & Rollins. After that, they surround Kane, who gets pulled away by the NAO. This was designed to push their match at Mania and it did an okay job of making me look forward to their bout.
Piper's Pit is next. Roddy looks older than dirt and sounded tanked, even if he was sober. Anyway, he got interrupted by Miz, Sheamus, Titus O'Neill, and Ziggler as Piper rammed Miz into the corner and they brawled as several other competitors of the Mania Battle Royal run out and join them. Rey Mysterio comes out and hits a few high-flying moves then the Big Show comes out and this ends with him press-slamming Rey out to the floor onto everyone. At least they are trying to make the Battle Royal come off as a big match but this segment was a mess.
Randy Orton vs. Batista No Disqualification Match Ends in a No Contest (9:00) *1/2
The match itself wasnt much and they put in a lot of gimmick spots to hide Batista's lack of ring shape but the big story here was Daniel Bryan running in to attack HHH, who was sitting in on commentary. Bryan beat HHH all over the ring side area and even hit Batista and Orton with his finisher. The crowd went nuts for him as he ended the show standing tall inside of the ring as a beaten-up and angry HHH was held back by his wife on the ramp, soaking in all of the "Yes" chants. HHH sold like a champ in this segment and bumped all over the place.
Final Thoughts: Not a terrible show but this really dragged at times and the overall momentum for WrestleMania is slow right now. The undercard matches are as uninteresting as it ever has been for a WrestleMania, with everyone seemingly slapped together in a multi-person match, and besides Cena/Wyatt and the World Title Picture, there is nothing else that feels like a must-see match. Mania has been advertised like a four match show and one of those matches has been horribly built (Lesnar vs. Taker). It seems like most of the focus of the WWE has been on the network itself and not WrestleMania.
Live from Washington, D.C.
Your hosts are JBL, Jerry Lawler, and Michael Cole
The show starts with the Undertaker walking out to the ring very, very slowly. After he almost tripped on the steps, he finally got into the ring. They aired a video package of what he did to Brock Lesnar on RAW then he talked about how he was 21-0 at WrestleMania. He then tried to get inside of Lesnar's head by asking him how he intends to break his streak. Taker then talks up Brock and says that it is inevitable the streak will be broken but said people believe in three things: "death, taxes, and the streak." Lesnar's music hits and he comes out with Paul Heyman. A "CM Punk" chant broke out as Heyman tells Taker that all it takes is a three seconds after an F-5 to end his streak. Lesnar then teases a confrontation in the ring a few times but retreats then he and Heyman circle the ring until Heyman plops into a chair, which allows Lesnar to slide into the ring. Taker attacks him at first but walks into a clothesline then Lesnar hits him with an F5. Lesnar did a good job with his intensity at the end and he desperately needed to get the upper hand in a segment to at least build up some intrigue that he could end the streak but they are a few weeks late and a million dollars short of that goal. There was nothing wrong with the segment itself but this feud has been ice cold and no one at all is buying Lesnar in this match.
Alberto Del Rio d Big E (10:28) **1/4.
Del Rio pinned the IC Champ with a standing sidekick. Big E had a couple of nice power spots, including lifting up Del Rio, who had him in an armbar, and slamming him down, but he has been a dud as the champ. The crowd was not really into him, either. Del Rio has been okay in the ring recently but his stock has dropped a lot.
Wyatt Family promo. Bray said that everyone will forget about John Cena when he is done with him after WrestleMania and see him for what he is, which is a monster. More or less the same promo that he has been cutting throughout this feud.
Clip from "Total Diva's" of Summer Rae slapping Natalya. This appeared to be about 99.9%.
Summer Rae d. Natalya (2:20) DUD.
Vicki Guerrero came out to announce that the "Vicki Guerrero Invitational" will be a one-fall match. That is a bathroom break match if there ever was one. This match tonight was horrendous. Natalya blew a spot badly in this match, when she fell down as she attempted a sharpshooter. If she is the woman on the roster who is supposed to be teaching and helping the new diva's in the ring, then it's time to look elsewhere as she botches far too many moves for that role and doesnt bring enough to the table to be a major player.
HHH and Stephanie come out. HHH says how the fans have no loyalty just want to be a part of something, like the flavor of the day, and how they move on to something else, like they did with Fandango. They mock the Fandango dance as HHH tells the crowd how he is a B+ player, possibly an A, but they ruined him. Steph then led the crowd into a "Yes" chant and after it became successful, she mocked them by saying how anyone can get people to chant. HHH then tells everyone who thinks he got to where he is today because he "married well" says that he got to the top because of his dominance in the ring. They then proceed to show us a video package of all the people that HHH dominated (Booker T, Goldberg, Jeff Hardy, Scott Steiner, Chris Jericho) with Steph doing the voice-over. That video was glorious in a variety of ways. That ends as HHH talks about beating Bryan and walking out of Mania as the champ when Batista interrupts. He tells HHH that he noticed he was not in this video because he never lost to him then told HHH to focus on Daniel Bryan first. Randy Orton comes out next and sucks up to HHH, who calls him out on it, then tells him to take himself out of the three-way at Mania, because he respects him. HHH tells Orton that unless he can find the "Viper," he will lose his title. HHH then ends the segment by making the Orton vs. Batista match tonight a No DQ match. The video was something else but this segment was too long overall. At least they have some intrigue regarding the title match though.
Los Matadores & The Usos d. Real Americans & Ryback & Curtis Axel (14:00) *1/2
This match was super-sloppy with no flow but the fans still dug it a lot, for some reason. They are giving these guys some time to shine before the title match at WrestleMania, which will air on the preshow. The finish saw Los Matadores use the switcheroo on Swagger as they roll him up in a small package for the win. Seems like they are trying to build up the Matadores a little bit with this finish.
Cody Rhodes & Goldust d. Fandango & Damien Sandow (4:08) *
The crowd was dead for this match. The finish saw Goldust put away Sandow with the Final Cut. Poor Cody always busts his ass out there but he and his brother have been stuck in neutral since dropping the tag belts. Poor Sandow looks defeated out there and Fandango is overshadowed by his valet. Those two have seen their stock drop dramatically over the past year.
Backstage, the Shield make fun of Kane and the New Age Outlaws for being old then talks about how they are not to be messed with.
Bray Wyatt d. R Truth (4:36) *1/2
Good showing for Bray tonight and I thought that R-Truth did well at selling for him. Bray put him away with the Sister Abigail then took out Xavier Woods, who accompanied Truth to the ring. After the Wyatt's pose, someone wearing a sheep mask enters behind them and reveals themselves as John Cena and he clears the ring of the Wyatt's. I thought the ending of this segment was clever and Cena showed a lot of intensity and anger, which was appropriate for the situation unlike some of his other segments.
Naomi d. AJ Lee in a Lumberjill Match (4:05) 3/4*
The story of the match was that none of the other girls wanted to touch Naomi when she got tossed outside but would all swarm AJ when she was out of the ring. Even though it would make sense for the girls to rough up the champ before she defends the title, the champion does not have to be pinned in order to lose the match so it came off as a giant waste of time. This was a mini-preview of the Diva's WrestleMania match.
Renee Young is backstage with John Cena, who cuts a very good promo that was filled with intensity and anger. He ends by saying that he will shove his foot up Bray's ass. Cena cut a better promo than Bray this week.
Kane vs Roman Reigns Ended in a No-Contest (3:08) *.
Reigns won with a whopping 80% of the vote over his other two stable mates. That should tell everyone who the most over member of the Shield is at the moment. Reigns looked decent out here in the short match that ended with the NAO coming out and getting attacked from behind by Ambrose & Rollins. After that, they surround Kane, who gets pulled away by the NAO. This was designed to push their match at Mania and it did an okay job of making me look forward to their bout.
Piper's Pit is next. Roddy looks older than dirt and sounded tanked, even if he was sober. Anyway, he got interrupted by Miz, Sheamus, Titus O'Neill, and Ziggler as Piper rammed Miz into the corner and they brawled as several other competitors of the Mania Battle Royal run out and join them. Rey Mysterio comes out and hits a few high-flying moves then the Big Show comes out and this ends with him press-slamming Rey out to the floor onto everyone. At least they are trying to make the Battle Royal come off as a big match but this segment was a mess.
Randy Orton vs. Batista No Disqualification Match Ends in a No Contest (9:00) *1/2
The match itself wasnt much and they put in a lot of gimmick spots to hide Batista's lack of ring shape but the big story here was Daniel Bryan running in to attack HHH, who was sitting in on commentary. Bryan beat HHH all over the ring side area and even hit Batista and Orton with his finisher. The crowd went nuts for him as he ended the show standing tall inside of the ring as a beaten-up and angry HHH was held back by his wife on the ramp, soaking in all of the "Yes" chants. HHH sold like a champ in this segment and bumped all over the place.
Final Thoughts: Not a terrible show but this really dragged at times and the overall momentum for WrestleMania is slow right now. The undercard matches are as uninteresting as it ever has been for a WrestleMania, with everyone seemingly slapped together in a multi-person match, and besides Cena/Wyatt and the World Title Picture, there is nothing else that feels like a must-see match. Mania has been advertised like a four match show and one of those matches has been horribly built (Lesnar vs. Taker). It seems like most of the focus of the WWE has been on the network itself and not WrestleMania.