The WWE™ - Page 5

I gotta tell ya, if it was any PPV but Wrestlemania, I don't think I'd be getting it. One thing about the WWF though, no matter how bad RAW/Smackdown have been, they've not had a bad PPV for a while. There's always bad matches every now and then, but usually the PPV is okay. I'm still not excited about Hulk/Rock, though.

Wow! That was one of the best Wrestlemanias I have seen.

Hogan and Rock was absolutely terrific. I know many weren't looking forward to it, but it surpassed my high expectations. The crowd reaction in that match was incredible, unlike anything I have ever seen. Hogan wrestled the match with a rib injury, which was evident, and did the best he could. I never liked Hogan, but I found myself marking out during his trademark moves. It should've been the last match on the card.

Flair and Undertaker had the best match of the night. I was disappointed that Flair lost though.

There were a few things I didn't like about the show: the Hall vs. Austin and tag team title matches were nothing more than okay, and the music performances were unecessary.

~T

Hogan/Rock was suprisingly good and fun

I found the rest of the card to be mediocre, except for maybe Flair/Undertaker

I think it is pretty funny how the reactions of the live crowd can color our reactions to matches. I still don't think the Hogan-Rock match was anything special as a wrestling match, even though Hogan did his damnedest (not something you'll often hear from me), but the crowd reacting to every single move made that match. On the other hand, the crowd was obviously just not into the main event after Rock-Hogan, even though I thought it was a great match with wonderful psychology and limited screeching from her highness. At least they finally payed off on all the teasing Triple H has been doing with possibly pedigreeing Stephanie.
Before the show started, I wanted Jericho/HHH as the last match. But looking back, Hogan/Rock probably should have been the main.
Match of the night: Flair/Undertaker. Great payoff match. I'm glad Flair didn't win, because let's be honest, there is no way a 50+ year old guy should be beating an active wrestler. Flair is still the man, though!
My only serious complaint of the night is about JR, who I usually love. Who exactly did he think he was kidding by saying the crowd was mixed in the Rock/Hogan match. That was just a flat-out lie! It was at least 90% Hogan. Is that mixed?

Is it possible that the creative producers used old audio of 'Rocky sucks' laid in to make Hogan look good? That would go a long way to make Hogan look good, and set up a new angle with Hogan vs NWO.

Anybody who was there able to verify this?

I'm in agreement with you guy's assessment of the Hogan/Rock match. It was surprisingly entertaining as hell and I really got a kick out of it. Everytime Hogan threw the Rock around and everybody erupted in cheers, even I was doing a little cheering and I absolutely hate Hogan. It really will be one of the most memorable matches in Wrestlemania history even if the match itself wasn't anything special.

Undertaker and Ric Flair: How in god's name did these two have such a great match! I know Flair is one of the best but he's in his mid 50's now, waaaaayyyy past his prime and shouldn't even be anywhere near the ring. Then we have Taker: Big and lumbering and nuff said. But I'll be damned if those two didn't put on a show for everyone watching. It was tremendous. And I can't believe they allowed a Super-superplex(both guys on the very top rope) on Ric. Then Arn came out and gave Undertaker the "REAL SPINEBUSTER" and absolutely made my night. Great stuff for sure.

Triple H and Chris Jericho. [sigggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh}] God I hate Stephanie and wish something would happen where she has to be nowhere near the wrestling product. Backstage and on television. She ruined what could've been a straight up one on one battle of the titans for the belts. First with this horrible storyline that makes her the center of attention and makes Jericho just look like a big goof and some jobber lackey. And then the match itself could've been easily deprived of Stephanie but nooooo, they have her running around screeching and getting in the way. Jericho and Trips could've easily had one of the best matches of both men's career if it wasn't for the fact they kept focusing everything on her. Real dissapointed. But hey, at least Jericho can finally say "I wrestled the main event of Wrestlemania".

All around it was a great Wrestlemania, despite how boring the matches sounded on paper.

Sorry, but that doesn't make sense to me. Ross and Lawler didn't seem to know what to make of the reactions Hogan was getting. Ross was trying to sell it as mixed and chalking it up to nostalgia, which it obviously wasn't. This is just one of the few times when the WWF didn't anticipate the fans reaction. If you ask me, the bit where Hall and Nash came out at the end seemed almost a reaction to the crowd's support of Hogan, but I could be wrong.

I watched Wrestlmania with my S.O. and son, and we enjoyed it. That hardcore match was weak until Spike ran out and started the circus going! Molly popping the Hurricane with that skillet was hilarious!

I didn't know what was going on during the Rock/Hogan match. People actually booing the Rock!?!? Man, I haven't heard that in a long, long time. It was a great match, though. I hope Hogan is alright. He said he was ok when the Rock asked him while they were going up the ramp, but he looked a little worse for wear. We'll see tonight. And as far as the main event, I was glad that Tripple H won. I've had enough of Y2J being the champ. And they need to get one belt. Design a brand new one instead of walking around with two ...

Freddy C.

What was really surprising about the anti-Rock reception is that the Canadian crowd really loves him.

Do you guys think we can see him turn NWO tonight or in the near future? I know some of you would like to see him go heel. It seemed to me like he was being too friendly with Hogan, who was the man that drove the truck into the ambulance (yes, I know not to expect continuity in WWF).

~T

I think there's a simpler answer to that. I don't think you were seeing "The Rock" but Dwayne Johnson. I think both of them, once Hall & Nash were cleared out of the ring, were pretty much just being themselves. Rock seemed seriously moved by the whole thing, and so did Hogan.

he Rock/Hogan reminded me about Sting's last match on WCW, against Rick Flair, I think. It was a good match. A really good match. I remember at the end of the match they embraced, and you could see that it wasn't about story lines or anything, just good wrestling. Damn, I miss Sting ...




Freddy C.

Doesn't totally surprise me. People have shown on a few occasions in the past that they're willing to boo Rock. I remember "Rocky sucks!" chants slowly becoming more prevalent in the buildup to last year's Wrestlemania too.


I would have liked for Jericho to go over since babyface Triple H bores the hell out of me and I think Jericho needed that win, but it was kind of irrelevant either way in light of Stephanie hijacking the feud.

As for the belt, might as well keep both of them since they're splitting the promotion soon...

I'm still hoping that now that Hogan is out of the NWO they'll ditch the NWO gimmick and reform the Kliq. Call 'em DX or just the Kliq, and have Triple H turn heel NOW. He's one of my favorite wrestlers right now, but you're right, he is SOOOOO boring as a good guy.
I still wish Stephanie would just go away. She is so unbelieveably bad. Doesn't Vince know about the infamous "go away heat"? Just because you get booed doesn't mean the fans love to hate you. It is possible they actually hate you (in-ring character...I'm sure Stephanie is a fine person outside of wrestling.) Vince has good heel heat, despite some people not liking him. Stephanie, not so much. I don't tune in to watch Stephanie get her comeuppance, I tune out when she shows up. That's BAD heel heat.
I don't know about Jericho needing that win. He lasted as champion a hell of a lot longer than I thought he would. I just hope he doesn't find a trap door has opened underneath him all of sudden, and he doesn't go directly to mid-card hell like Angle. Hopefully Angle's trek to mid-card-land was just a visit, and not a permanent stay.

Also known as the "X-Pac" heat.

~T

I was there last night. Got lots of pictures too from up in the nosebleeds.

The "Rocky Sucks" chants were real. The cheering for Hogan was also real.

Live, the Rock/Hogan match was the only good one... I found the rest of them to suck bigtime. I didn't find this "event" to be any different than any of the other Raw/Smackdown taping that I've attended. I mean, where in the hell were the celebs? The singers to sing the national anthems? It was just kind of missing. Like a 3 hour RAW.

On the whole, I felt very much ripped off, and that was the general concensus of many people who attended Wrestlemania. It was lame... sort of fizzled and died before it started.

Moe.

Edit: Before anyone tells me that "Wrestlemania isn't for celebrities and singers, etc", try and understand that I'm trying to refer to the whole "grand atmosphere" that is supposed to distinguish Wrestlemania from every other PPV.

Moe, I'd like to see your pictures if you can share them.

I think McMahon decided to get rid of the celebrities because he wanted his own wrestlers to be the celebrities.

~T

Thi,

Sure - as soon as I develop them and scan them in, I'll post for all to see. They're probably not going to be that great though, considering that we were up in the nosebleeds and the view was kind of crappy.

My gripe is not that there were no celebrities. My gripe is more that very little (if anything) was done to distinguish Wrestlemania from any other PPV event. The matches were so-so, kinda thrown together last minute, and I didn't feel that they had any significance, other than the Rock/Hogan and HHH/Jericho feud.

I mean, even the bands they had. Mucus? Pus? Phlegm? Bile? WTF?!?!? WHO!?!??!?! And no national anthem? Why, 'cause it's Canada?

I felt like I was at a house-show or a raw taping. It did not look or feel grand.

Wrestlemania is supposed to be distinguishable from all other PPV's. Tell me how this was any different then say, any In Your House PPV?

Moe.

Hey Moe, glad to hear that the verbal abuse was real, and not 'piped in'. I never wanted to imply that there was an air of phoniness to the card, but I agree that the match between Hulk Hogan (not Hollywood) and Dwayne Johnson (not The Rock) was the highlight, and should have capped the show. Actually I thought that it was such a big finish that I the Y2J/HHH match had been axed from the show.

I was just waiting for the broadcast of 'Real American', The Hulkster's classic good-guy theme.

Ric Flair and Taker was better than I expected, and very entertaining. Other than that, it was a pretty mediocre show, and the live band stuff was crap. At least X8 set a new Skydome attendace record. How was the drive home?

I too thought this year's Wrestlemania was very average. The Austin/Hall match was at times boring and very uneventful, even with having Nash at ringside. What was about bands? My God they were bad. Even on HHH's entrance, they used some poor cover of Motormouth's "The Game" and it just didn't feel right. The whole Steph/Jericho thing really took away from the final match up. What was she even doing there? Anyone catch Stacey and the Dudley's awful dancing before they went to the ring? What was that in aid of?

As everyone has said it, the Hogan/Rock match was awesome and beyond the scope of what was imagined. An excellent performance that probably saved this year's Wrestlemania and was worthy of the final match up.

Moe I to attended Wrestlemania last night too and couldn't agree with you more...what was worse was how poorly the skydome event staff had planned for the event...I started to line up to get into the building at 6pm and did not get into the arena till after 8pm just as the fireworks were going on...and there was still hundreds of people behind me...so I wouldn't have even have had a chance to hear the national anthem...this got me seriosly pissed I even wrote skydome a letter today complaining...not that it makes any difference...I too was also sitting in the 500 level right across from the jumbotron 17 rows up...i swear the wrestlers looked like tiny figurines from that far away I spent most of the time watching the big screen tv's they had set up...I went to RAW when it first came to the skydome like 2 years ago and sat in the 100's and it made such a difference you feel so much closer to the action...but in general the crowd was pretty dull last night and we had many reasons for it...compared to last years wrestlemania this didnt even come close except for you know what...the match line up going in to the event seemed weak and mismatched but I assumed they would make up for it with big spots and excellent wrestling...what we got was like you said 3.5 hours of RAW...nothing I saw last night I havn't seen on their weekly TV shows...Where was my Table, Ladders and Chairs match!...where was my underTaker throwing HHH of that huge platform like last year...why wasn't the ladies match a bra and panties match! even the wrestling was sloppy i.e the end to the Kane and Angle match...I was also dissapointed with the HHH and Jericho match I thought this was going to be the match of the night...here was their chance to prove they were in the same league as the Likes of Rock and Hogan and they messed it up with a rather plain match...they should should have been wrestling inside the ring outside the ring in the crowd...up the ramp etc etc...I wont even get into my thougts on how Austin got the butt end of the deal on this wrestlemania...they did however do one thing right...but was that really them or was it us the toronto crowd...what if we hadn't cheered Hogan do you think they still would have had Hall and Nash run in and beat Hogan and then have rock run back in...I heard JR and the King were completely confused on what to say...I must say the whole match was quite magical and it showed how powerfull an audience can be...anyways are you planning to get tickets for the up coming RAW...Im really undecided right know...I think I had my fill of live wrestling for the year

I didn't catch Wrestlemania, but I caught Hogan on Raw, and I must say, he looked pathetic. He looks like he's 60 years old, and he's even slower and more wretched looking in the ring than he was in WCW. If they keep throwing Hogan in there looking that bad, there's going to be a lot of bad matches.

As for Wrestlemania, I heard it was subpar. I guess everyone has different opinions. The Hogan match with Rock I heard was exciting becuase it was the first time for Hogan wrestling Rock, and being in the WWF in a long time. But other than that, I heard Rock couldn't carry Hogan to a decent match. How was the Flair/ Taker match?

Terrel, did you even hear the reaction Hogan got? It doesn't matter what he looks like, what he wrestles like, or even if you like him. The fans in the audience respond to him in a way that I have seen only a handful of times. The only person who would have gotten louder cheers out of the Molson Centre tonight would have been Bret Hart.
Hogan did a good job at Wrestlemania for a 50+ year old man. He is still one of the all-time best at getting a crowd into a match, and making them react the way he wants.
Personally, I think Hogan will wear out his welcome with me fairly quickly. But as long as the fans in attendance love him it doesn't matter what I think. I still can't believe that when Rock was opposing Hogan, Rock was getting roundly booed.
Man that crowd tonight was PUMPED!
Wrestlemania was not supbar in any respect in my opinion. I have minor complaints, but they are very minor. Great show and Hogan, Rock, Undertaker and Flair should all be commended for putting on outstanding matches.
Tonight's RAW was great, until the no-finish main event. For a minute there I was having WCW flashbacks.

In fairness to Hogan, who is indeed old and ought to retire sooner than later , he's working right now with a rib injury, which is why he's been moving around so ackwardly and looked extra pathetic in the ring tonight.

I for one actually liked wrestlemania. Hogan/Rock was excellent and so was flair/Taker. When Arn came down and spinebusted the taker was a highlight. I remember watching Arn during his TV title matches against Z-man. Some of the greatest fights ever.

As for hogan. Yes he is getting older. He wrestled one match in the WWF before the PPV and he only wrestled one other match for another promotion before that. So 2 matches in a few years will slow ya down until you get back into things. For only 2 matches in a few years They put on a hell of a show at wrestlemania .Even triple HHH's first couple of matches back werent terrific. He looked really sloppy the first couple.

Then Flair/Taker was also very good. Not bad for the oldest two guys in wrestling having the best matches at the PPV

The third match i enjoyed was Edge/Booker. Edge should have been IC champ going into the PPV. I can not wait for a EDGE /RVD feud

capt

I don't want to see the red and yellow Hogan this soon. It's only good for nostalgia and should be done near the end of his career. He returned to the red and yellow in WCW, and I thought it got old quickly. It was great to hear "Voodoo Child."

The hardcore 24/7 was overdone in the past. They handled it very well at Wrestlemania, but I don't want to see it again.

Brock Lesnar is impressive. He looks like a mixture of Scott Steiner, Goldberg, and Awesome. Is it true that he can do the shooting star press? I liked the return of Heyman in that it seems he will be the manager, a role that I miss from wrestling.

I am also anticipating the draft next week. If done correctly, it should be a great part of the show. I hope it's not just some short segment wherein Flair and McMahon choose from a list of wrestlers. I'd like to see at least an hour-long draft in which all wrestlers are present and walk up to the respective owner as they are picked.

~T

Is it too much to hope that Triple H will actually pin Stephanie and GET HER OFF MY FREAKING TELEVISION!
Did you guys hear the rumors that Austin went home right after Wrestlemania and wasn't at RAW and won't be at Smackdown?
Austin Rumors at Pro Wrestling Torch
More Austin Rumors
I hope they aren't true. You always have to take those rumors with a grain of salt.
I really hope they do something to differentiate the two programs. I think it would be nice if one show focused a little more on wrestling. Flair's show would seem a good fit for that and Vince's show could be more entertainment.

A month ago, I posted that Rock/Hogan would suck... I was wrong. It was one of the best matches I have ever seen. I have watched wrestling for almost 20 years and I put it in the top three matches I have ever seen. The crowd reaction was amazing. I was in shock when I started hearing the boos for Rocky. I haven't seen Raw yet except the first half hour.
Suddenly Hulkamania is running wilder than ever... I hope Austin turns bad and whips Hogan's ass.
Anyway, I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents.


dan

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