WrestleMania 31 is in the books and despite at times having a lackluster build, the show (to me at least) more than delivered.
The amount of serious tweets I’m seeing about Wrestlemania is disturbing. Please come back, football.
— Robert Klemko (@RobertKlemko) March 30, 2015
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1. Why Care? As Robert Littal mentioned on twitter (and another great article)
If you don’t like Wrestling, that’s fine. Cost you nothing, pay us no mind http://t.co/sRKxjveDtD — Robert Littal (@BSO) March 30, 2015
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Wrestling is fun and entertaining to me and has been a part of my life for 28+ years. I also enjoy watching movies, sports and television without denigrating any of them for the sake of another. So sure, I’m looking forward to the Bills’ season to come and NFL/College football in general. But guess what – if there’s a clunker on Monday Night Football, I’m watching Raw. If it’s a good game, I’ll dvr Raw and watch it later. There’s no Sophie’s Choice when it comes to interests in our tech-driven society. Shoot, one of the foremost authorities on concussions that helped start the “does the NFL have a concussion problem” was an ex-WWE wrestler that played football at Harvard, Chris Nowinski. BOTH ARE COOL.
Geez, you wouldn’t think in 2015 that would be a thing, but here we are.
2. Wrestling was summed up effectively for me by a friend yesterday…that doesn’t watch wrestling:
@RDotDeuce @BuffaloWins So Black Swan meets Conan?
— Scott Michalak (@ScottyMCSS) March 29, 2015
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsAt it’s worst, wrestling is a poorly-timed, loathsome slog through getting through the end of the match/interview/segment. When it’s on though, it’s the best of an action movie mixed with the beauty and grace of ballet in terms of physically telling a story where words will fail you. And you’re playing with house money when a character compel you pre-match to support him and see him wrestle, such as when Dusty Rhodes talked about “Hard Times” in 1985. You can put that in a chat with someone in 2015 and they’ll nod. I still get excited listening to it 30 years later:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9py4aMK3aIU]If at it’s best you’re all-in, and you don’t care that this 300 pound man is the smoothest guy in the company and the good looking, limo riding, jet flying guy is a jerk for costing him a chance to provide for his family, guess what? That’s as effective as any episode of Breaking Bad. Do you think that Walter White is secretly going to turn into Tim Whatley? And again, it’s okay to like em both. And the physicality of men and women competing for something, even if scripted, is still compelling to me. But I digress. I wanted to set the stage so to speak, because when I’m writing about wrestling for Buffalo Wins, I’m sticking purely to the storyline appeal and matchups. I can save the insider-y stuff for folk like Wade Keller and Dave Meltzer, who are far far FAR FAR FAR more qualified to drop knowledge on it. I just wanna enjoy my matches and share with you my thoughts.
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Brock vs Roman Reigns (w/a fun run in by Seth Rollins) for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship:
Brock was what I wanted him to be in this match – just a force of nature, hell-bent on destroying Roman Reigns and making Roman realize that he couldn’t beat Lesnar. Brock’s “suplex city” line needs to be a shirt that sells out instantaneously. And if he came up with that just in the heat of things? I cannot be happier that he’s going to be on my screen for the next three years minimum.
Roman Reigns to me did a good job of fighting the good fight and proving he deserved to be in that main event. Him laughing in Brock’s face and even spitting at him after being brought to the Suplex City Limits was definitely a site to see. Also, I think the fans (myself included) started to root for Roman the more the match continued because he showed heart and wouldn’t just lay down, even if his body might’ve wanted him to. Once Brock got busted open, the spaghetti-legged shots Roman gave Lesnar were just crazy visuals. And right when I thought Roman was going to accomplish his WrestleMania mission….
Seth comes in and steals the win via his Money in The Bank cash-in ability. Running up the ramp after the job was done and swinging the belt like a maniac was quite enjoyable to me. To go from Ring of Honor, to becoming the first NXT Champion to now winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship is an awesome feat for him and I
So now we’re going to be treated to INTROSPECTIVE RAGE FILLED BROCK:
Match-wise I am excited with the opportunities leading into Summer Slam to see:
Brock vs EVERYONE
Seth on the run from Brock
Seth being challenged by Orton
Seth vs Bryan in Champ vs Champ matches
Seth vs Cena in Champ vs Champ matches
Seth being a jerk and going to The Daily Show or NXT or his grocer or his barber or his Cross-Fit team and constantly reminding them he won
Seth and Reigns
Given the fact that Brock never lost the Belt, Reigns never got his shot* and Orton never beating Seth, perhaps as my guy Dpalm on twitter suggested, it’s a four-way at Extreme Rules (also, note the time stamp – he nailed it!):
Orton over Rollins. Rollins cash in. Four way for the belt at Payback. You’re welcome WWE.
— DPalm (@dpalm66) March 29, 2015
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsJohn Cena vs Rusev (w/Lana)
I love Cena as much as the next guy, but how do you boo a man IN A TANK? I say you cannot. Unless he accidentally injures his valet, leading to his defeat. I’ll spare you the blow-by-blow of the match, but seeing Lana possibly become the Miss Elizabeth for this generation of wrestlers with the jerk boyfriend is a missed niche. Cena springboard Ace Crusher = my face melting. Good one John. And of course:
— John Cena (@JohnCena) March 30, 2015
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Thanks John. ‘MERICA!
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Other Thoughts:
With all the NXT talent being showcased over the entire card, I’m really excited to see who are the next wrestlers to make it to the main WWE roster. We just had a WrestleMania that featured some of the former stars of Ring of Honor (Bryan, Rollins), Pro Wrestling NOAH (Itami), CZW (Ambrose) and some of their “home-grown” guys (Rusev, Reigns) and established WWE stars. That’s a great start, but in future years there are only so many “dream matches” left, so it’s going to take the relatively new wrestlers to steer the ship in years going forward.
I’m going to leave the Sting / Triple H and Rock / Triple H / Steph / Ronda Rousey for others on the site, as I have a Sting fandom that cannot see through the fact that he got cheated by DX and a sledgehammer and the Terminator and not having Lex Luger to help/turn on him.
Finally, Daniel Bryan as the standard bearer for the Intercontinental Title can be, if he has the right opponents a great way for Daniel to show some of the youngins the prestige the IC title held prior to it being something stolen and chased after to the tune of Benny Hill music.
All in all I enjoyed the show from top to bottom and look forward to see where the next few months go for all involved!
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