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[DarthSkywalker]

I largely agree although I don't think moves make a great worker, what makes Seth great is he can do the spectacular stuff but he has good psychology, he knows when to do the moves, when to sell, when to engage the crowd, when to let the last big move breathe, it's what set Shawn and AJ apart from other super athletic workers, and Seth has it too, most guys who can do what Seth does athletically rely totally on highspots and all blend into each other. I'd say right now he's the best all round performer in the business.

I honestly feel like Seth has terrible psychology and he does a lot of overacting and he no sells like he's the Ultimate Warrior. Seth has a lot of Ospreay where he will sell a leg and then back flip on it.

 

[AndrewGilkison]

The best spot of the main event was the GTS into a spear into a curb stomp and everyone is down spot.

And you can't argue that Roman didn't have it coming. He abused Heyman and his Bloodline for years, basically left Heyman to the Bloodline wolves for months in 2024 to where Heyman got powerbombed in MSG in front of his kids, all so he could sulk at home because Cody beat him.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Hmmm, everybody is thinking Becky will be the partner for Lyra but maybe there's something bigger in the works





Speaking of which, how did Bayley not see who attacked her? The booking here has really done her dirty.

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Lobo]

Let's give props to Knight and Fatu. They work great together. And that moonsault into a BFT reversal was incredible. On a different night or maybe at a different event LA Knight might have gone over with that. But Jacob winning was the right call, he's still a monster and Knight still looked good even in losing.

Edit

Dragon Lee needs to turn on Rey when he returns. Last year he got replaced by Andrade in his Wrestlemania match. He could have had one this year but was overlooked for Fenix. Besides everyone turns on Rey eventually so it's time lol

 

[Spider-Fan]

My night 1 review:

Jey vs Gunther - It's a Jey match. Crowd loves him, but he ain't a main event level worker. Also Gunther tapped way too quickly to the sleeper. Jey winning was predictable, but ultimately the right call so we can move on with our lives. I can't imagine his reign will last that long.

New Day vs Viking Raiders - Great match for the 2nd hour of Smackdown. Not Mania worthy.

Jade vs Naomi - Star maker for Jade. Great match and some of the power moves they pulled off here were jaw dropping. That electric chair power bomb made me pop huge

Jacob vs LA Knight - Great main event for Smackdown with 1 or 2 Mania quality moBrawl.

El Grande Americano vs Rey - I like this story. The trope of masked wrestler we obviously know is someone else but they're acting like they're not is a trope I like and find fun. So I like the gimmick. The match itself....outside that 540 moonsault by El Grande, which was a jaw dropper, again...good match for the 2nd hour of Raw.

Tiffany vs Charlotte - Sloppy at times, but it had a big fight feel to it and I knew Tiffany was winning this the entire time when this match was announced. She needed this to cement her status in the Women's Division. So good call there, this will help elevate Tiffany

Punk vs Roman vs Seth - Solid main event. Had all the drama we know and love from recent Bloodline era booking. I could see Paul betraying both of them from a mile away though. I wish they didn't aggressively telegraph it the passed 2 weeks. Cause while it was the right call, it didn't have that Red Wedding feel I think they wanted cause anyone closely paying attention should have easily seen it coming. Still, right result for a solid brawl.

All in all, decent Night 1. But half the show felt like an episode of Raw/Smackdown and not even main events of those shows. We had what was maybe 3 matches that felt like WrestleMania matches here from start to finish. Well, 4 cause Jey vs Gunther is a PLE match....it just wasn't a great quality one.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Also, my pitch for Summerslam this year: have Naomi win MITB, and at SummerSlam have Bianca vs Jade and build it around Jade being mad that Bianca didn't have her back and betrayed her for Naomi. Then during the match, Naomi cash in and she walks out as champion.

 

[Lobo]

I wonder if Roman losing two Mania's in a row will cause The Rock to take back the ula fala from him?

Loved the Barbie Tiffy entrance

 

[Hunter Rider]

Let's give props to Knight and Fatu. They work great together. And that moonsault into a BFT reversal was incredible. On a different night or maybe at a different event LA Knight might have gone over with that. But Jacob winning was the right call, he's still a monster and Knight still looked good even in losing.

Edit

Dragon Lee needs to turn on Rey when he returns. Last year he got replaced by Andrade in his Wrestlemania match. He could have had one this year but was overlooked for Fenix. Besides everyone turns on Rey eventually so it's time lol

Rey is the Sting of Luchadores!

 

[Hunter Rider]

I see a few digs at Triple H as a booker in here, and I gave criticisms myself, especially as regards the midcard build for Mania and the overall lack of good feuds in the women's division that aren't about a title. However I think he does a lot of good stuff and the vibe is certainly much more positive, there isn't any malicious booking like we'd see under Vince, where someone he didn't like or who got over without his blessing, would get embarrassed or made to look inept to get his rocks off.

I also thought last night's World title match summed up the predicament he's in, look at his comments on the post show;

"Jey vs Gunther was what it needed to be, Gunther showed how great he is even in losing, and Jey had the great entrance with the Yeeting and all that."

I'm paraphrasing but that was pretty close to it, he knows that match sucked and he knows Jey isn't very good, say what you like about Trips, he built his career on in-ring work, and he values match quality, but he's still booking WWE and it's a fanbase that has often latched onto poor wrestlers, hell it was built on Hulk Hogan, a guy who was a smart worker but not exactly an in-ring maestro bar the psychology aspect. There's a big chunk of WWE fans who don't care about whether the matches are good, they just want to interact with the latest participation fad, and like it or not it's a large enough chunk of the fanbase that Triple H has to cater to them as a booker, I mean this is an audience that chants "you can't wrestle" at Cena while cheering Jey Uso like crazy.

As a side note, people comparing the YES! gimmick to the YEET gimmick are creating the biggest false equivalency ever, yes they have the same catchy crowd participation factor, and both guys seem like genuinely good dudes, but Daniel Bryan is one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all time to go with the gimmick, don't get it twisted.

 

[Dr. Evil]

I figured.

You know Trips doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing.

His predecessor didn't know either, but Triple H has done things better than Vince. One of the things he does so much better is call backs. Look at Drew vs. Priest. Drew has not forgotten Priest cashing in on him last year. Another example was when Damage CTRL brought back Kairi Sane. Under Vince, Bayley would have accepted her no questions asked, but under Triple H, Bayley was hesitant to accept Kairi as part of Damage CTRL because she remembered what she did to Kairi the last time, and they even showed what happened last time and Kairi forgave her. Last year, every time Bianca was on screen with Bayley, Bianca refused to work with Bayley, remembering all of the times that Bayley messed with her when Bayley was on Damage CTRL.

And remember when Pete Dunne was Butch? Triple H did a whole angle where Butch and Pete Dunne were the same person, and Dunne even feuded with Sheamus over that, recalling their time as the Brawling Brutes.

If there's a storyline from years ago that Triple H wants to go back to that he figures will be good to revisit but with a bit of a different spin to it, he will do it. That is what he does so much better with than Vince. Vince would have just ignored it.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

His predecessor didn't know either.

Yeah his predecessor went senile and that was it. Far from his glory days.

I still say the product would be better if TKO let HBK and maybe Bruce Pritchard run the show.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Yeah his predecessor went senile and that was it. Far from his glory days.

I still say the product would be better if TKO let HBK and maybe Bruce Pritchard run the show.

I have edited my post, to say that Triple H is really good at calling back old storylines for new feuds and new storylines, with examples.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

His predecessor didn't know either, but Triple H has done things better than Vince. One of the things he does so much better is call backs. Look at Drew vs. Priest. Drew has not forgotten Priest cashing in on him last year. Another example was when Damage CTRL brought back Kairi Sane. Under Vince, Bayley would have accepted her no questions asked, but under Triple H, Bayley was hesitant to accept Kairi as part of Damage CTRL because she remembered what she did to Kairi the last time, and they even showed what happened last time and Kairi forgave her. Last year, every time Bianca was on screen with Bayley, Bianca refused to work with Bayley, remembering all of the times that Bayley messed with her when Bayley was on Damage CTRL.

And remember when Pete Dunne was Butch? Triple H did a whole angle where Butch and Pete Dunne were the same person, and Dunne even feuded with Sheamus over that, recalling their time as the Brawling Brutes.

If there's a storyline from years ago that Triple H wants to go back to that he figures will be good to revisit but with a bit of a different spin to it, he will do it. That is what he does so much better with than Vince. Vince would have just ignored it.

Call backs is one of his specialities, I'll give Hunter that, but overall I think he's a bit of a mess and I'm starting to see that he goes for the sizzle and not the steak.

For all the talent and heavy hitters that he's got on his roster, he still has no idea how to manage everyone and then it's also like he forgot how to build. Or when a star or faction gets some momentum, they steadily cool down. Look at LA Knight, New Day, Street Profits and Wyatt Sicks, all of them had some momentum and then afterwards, there's hardly any follow up.

Then you introduce all these midcard belts for the women and then you don't even put Chelsea Green on the Mania card to defend it. And then what happened to Nia Jax after the stellar improvement she made last year?

Just a bunch of choices that Trips makes that is questionable IMO.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Expecting a major return tonight, and I am not talking about Randy Orton's opponent:



Why remove Bayley otherwise if its not her?

 

[TheFuture]

I see a few digs at Triple H as a booker in here, and I gave criticisms myself, especially as regards the midcard build for Mania and the overall lack of good feuds in the women's division that aren't about a title. However I think he does a lot of good stuff and the vibe is certainly much more positive, there isn't any malicious booking like we'd see under Vince, where someone he didn't like or who got over without his blessing, would get embarrassed or made to look inept to get his rocks off.

I also thought last night's World title match summed up the predicament he's in, look at his comments on the post show;

"Jey vs Gunther was what it needed to be, Gunther showed how great he is even in losing, and Jey had the great entrance with the Yeeting and all that."

I'm paraphrasing but that was pretty close to it, he knows that match sucked and he knows Jey isn't very good, say what you like about Trips, he built his career on in-ring work, and he values match quality, but he's still booking WWE and it's a fanbase that has often latched onto poor wrestlers, hell it was built on Hulk Hogan, a guy who was a smart worker but not exactly an in-ring maestro bar the psychology aspect. There's a big chunk of WWE fans who don't care about whether the matches are good, they just want to interact with the latest participation fad, and like it or not it's a large enough chunk of the fanbase that Triple H has to cater to them as a booker, I mean this is an audience that chants "you can't wrestle" at Cena while cheering Jey Uso like crazy.

As a side note, people comparing the YES! gimmick to the YEET gimmick are creating the biggest false equivalency ever, yes they have the same catchy crowd participation factor, and both guys seem like genuinely good dudes, but Daniel Bryan is one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all time to go with the gimmick, don't get it twisted.

I don't think WWE can win on social media. Had they not embraced Jey's clear popularity they would have been criticised for not doing it.

Just like the same people complaining about night one would be complaining if there was no night one, and the likes of Jade, Naomi, New Day and Liv Morgan tonight didn't get on the card.

Night one was a success to me because of the people that needed showcasing on the biggest stage received it, even the ones who lost their matches. Jade, Naomi, Gable, Fenix, Fatu, Stratton, Knight and New Day all put on stellar shows. I'd rather have the 2 nights because of this than not have it, and it will be the same tonight.

 

[Spider-Fan]

WWE is going to push whoever sells the merch first and foremost. We can all complain about Jey not putting on Meltzer 5 star matches(and for the record, Jey is not even close to being a wrestler I love watching), but the fact is that he is over and moves merch. That's why he won the title. I don't expect Jey to have it for long. I think eventually either Seth or Drew is getting that belt. But never the less, it made business sense to do it.

I think Triple H is an amazing booker....for the feuds he is most interested in. Just looking at last night, the triple threat and the Jade vs Naomi match had amazing builds. But half the card just felt like matches cause guys needed a match. When you have like 10 ongoing stories, I don't expect all of them to be Shakespeare. But I would like SOME heat. Jacob vs LA Knight had a decent match for example, but there was no heat to the feud at all. Like I said before, it felt like a segment on Smackdown.

To be fair, last year Night 1 I didn't think was amazing, but Night 2 was an all timer. Maybe same will hold true this year. We shall see

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

WWE is going to push whoever sells the merch first and foremost. We can all complain about Jey not putting on Meltzer 5 star matches(and for the record, Jey is not even close to being a wrestler I love watching), but the fact is that he is over and moves merch. That's why he won the title. I don't expect Jey to have it for long. I think eventually either Seth or Drew is getting that belt. But never the less, it made business sense to do it.

I think Triple H is an amazing booker....for the feuds he is most interested in. Just looking at last night, the triple threat and the Jade vs Naomi match had amazing builds. But half the card just felt like matches cause guys needed a match. When you have like 10 ongoing stories, I don't expect all of them to be Shakespeare. But I would like SOME heat. Jacob vs LA Knight had a decent match for example, but there was no heat to the feud at all. Like I said before, it felt like a segment on Smackdown.

To be fair, last year Night 1 I didn't think was amazing, but Night 2 was an all timer. Maybe same will hold true this year. We shall see

Absolutely.

When you have thousands of people losing their minds going "YEET" and "ITS JUST ME UCE" to the top of their lungs wherever you go and pushing the merch that Jey pushes, you'd be a fool to not give him the belt. It's no different than what they did with Ultimate Warrior and Sable.

But it's on Jey to improve in the ring and do what he can so he won't be this flash in the pan.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Call backs is one of his specialities, I'll give Hunter that, but overall I think he's a bit of a mess and I'm starting to see that he goes for the sizzle and not the steak.

For all the talent and heavy hitters that he's got on his roster, he still has no idea how to manage everyone and then it's also like he forgot how to build. Or when a star or faction gets some momentum, they steadily cool down. Look at LA Knight, New Day, Street Profits and Wyatt Sicks, all of them had some momentum and then afterwards, there's hardly any follow up.

Then you introduce all these midcard belts for the women and then you don't even put Chelsea Green on the Mania card to defend it. And then what happened to Nia Jax after the stellar improvement she made last year?

Just a bunch of choices that Trips makes that is questionable IMO.

I can't really speak on the Street Profits as I'm guessing you're talking about something from a while ago? But New Day is certainly a recent example of no follow up despite the angle getting massive heat, they've been on the show plenty but aren't doing anything that matters, it's like Chad Gable, he was arguably the 2nd most over heel after Drew, last year when he turned on Zayn, yet instead of capitalising on an incredible talent, he got jobbed into oblivion after signing his new contract.

LA Knight is a more fundamentally solid Jey Uso, basically not good enough to put the top belts on and he isn't part of the Anoa’i family, so no pressure on Trips, just s**t outta look for him.....Yeah!

Apparently none of the top guys want to work with the Wyatt 6 as it's goofy and they don't want to sell that nonsense, plus Bo Dallas got injured.

Agreed on the women's midcard titles, Chelsea not being on a 14 match, 2 night event, is ridiculous, but no matter who was Champion, the moment they decided to introduce the titles they should have had a plan in place for them to be defended at Wrestlemania. The Nia situation might be something personal for her I think.

I don't think WWE can win on social media. Had they not embraced Jey's clear popularity they would have been criticised for not doing it.

Just like the same people complaining about night one would be complaining if there was no night one, and the likes of Jade, Naomi, New Day and Liv Morgan tonight didn't get on the card.

Night one was a success to me because of the people that needed showcasing on the biggest stage received it, even the ones who lost their matches. Jade, Naomi, Gable, Fenix, Fatu, Stratton, Knight and New Day all put on stellar shows. I'd rather have the 2 nights because of this than not have it, and it will be the same tonight.

I thought Night One was a mixed bag in terms of match quality, but I agree on there being important momentum for several talents, hopefully it's built on after Wrestlemania.

I think it's difficult serving 2 masters, you have a chunk of the WWE fanbase who love Jey, and I chunk who don't think he's good enough in the ring, but conversely the in-ring fans (I'm one) love Gunther, but ive seen plentybof casuals say he's boring. Trying to keep such a divided fanbase happy isn't easy.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Chelsea definitely should have been on the card. I would have booked her over say, El Grande Americano vs Rey. As much as I enjoyed that match, that's a match you can do on Raw. Your Women's mid card belts needed more attention on the grand stage.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

I can't really speak on the Street Profits as I'm guessing you're talking about something from a while ago? But New Day is certainly a recent example of no follow up despite the angle getting massive heat, they've been on the show plenty but aren't doing anything that matters, it's like Chad Gable, he was arguably the 2nd most over heel after Drew, last year when he turned on Zayn, yet instead of capitalising on an incredible talent, he got jobbed into oblivion after signing his new contract.

LA Knight is a more fundamentally solid Jey Uso, basically not good enough to put the top belts on and he isn't part of the Anoa’i family, so no pressure on Trips, just s**t outta look for him.....Yeah!

Apparently none of the top guys want to work with the Wyatt 6 as it's goofy and they don't want to sell that nonsense, plus Bo Dallas got injured.

Agreed on the women's midcard titles, Chelsea not being on a 14 match, 2 night event, is ridiculous, but no matter who was Champion, the moment they decided to introduce the titles they should have had a plan in place for them to be defended at Wrestlemania. The Nia situation might be something personal for her I think.




I thought Night One was a mixed bag in terms of match quality, but I agree on there being important momentum for several talents, hopefully it's built on after Wrestlemania.

I think it's difficult serving 2 masters, you have a chunk of the WWE fanbase who love Jey, and I chunk who don't think he's good enough in the ring, but conversely the in-ring fans (I'm one) love Gunther, but ive seen plentybof casuals say he's boring. Trying to keep such a divided fanbase happy isn't easy.

What I mean with the Street Profits, they easily could've added that TLC match that they're supposed to have next week on SmackDown to tonight on Mania. Especially coming off that high in Italy when they won the belts, but Trips leaves them off? SMH.

Totally agree with you on everything else. LA Knight's case just makes me sad because like you said he's a solid talent but he's also a bit older so he has but so much time.

But yeah, it's alot going on with the WWE roster.

 

[Dr. Evil]

WWE is going to push whoever sells the merch first and foremost. We can all complain about Jey not putting on Meltzer 5 star matches(and for the record, Jey is not even close to being a wrestler I love watching), but the fact is that he is over and moves merch. That's why he won the title. I don't expect Jey to have it for long. I think eventually either Seth or Drew is getting that belt. But never the less, it made business sense to do it.

I think Triple H is an amazing booker....for the feuds he is most interested in. Just looking at last night, the triple threat and the Jade vs Naomi match had amazing builds. But half the card just felt like matches cause guys needed a match. When you have like 10 ongoing stories, I don't expect all of them to be Shakespeare. But I would like SOME heat. Jacob vs LA Knight had a decent match for example, but there was no heat to the feud at all. Like I said before, it felt like a segment on Smackdown.

To be fair, last year Night 1 I didn't think was amazing, but Night 2 was an all timer. Maybe same will hold true this year. We shall see

Night 2 has Logan Paul, so his match automatically sucks right away.

But Becky is probably coming back and it's going to be Rusev Day once more, so maybe it will be better.

 

[Hunter Rider]

What I mean with the Street Profits, they easily could've added that TLC match that they're supposed to have next week on SmackDown to tonight on Mania. Especially coming off that high in Italy when they won the belts, but Trips leaves them off? SMH.

Totally agree with you on everything else. LA Knight's case just makes me sad because like you said he's a solid talent but he's also a bit older so he has but so much time.

But yeah, it's alot going on with the WWE roster.

Ah right, I'm with you now, it felt like they were dawdling over which tag titles to put on the show and went with the wrong one, as the TLC match would have been more of a spectacle, and the 3 teams have been feuding since the Rumble.

LA Knight has Busted hus ass to get to this point so I wouldn't begrudge him a short World title run now they've given Jey one.

 

[Hunter Rider]