It was a very good trip (despite falling and possibly breaking my thumb on the concrete as I left Smackdown) and I had a blast. Some of the people I got to meet blew my mind and I can’t believe it actually happened. I’ll be back at full speed tomorrow and catching up on the long list of shows I’ve missed, starting with Takeover.
Thanks for your patience.
KB
You know the drill by now I’m sure. I’ll have live thoughts when I get back to the hotel.
Still in New Orleans so still behind on doing the reviews, but still able to do some live reports. This time around we had the big event show with everything going at a hundred miles an hour and a ridiculous amount of returns, debuts and surprises. That can make for a fun show and I had a pretty good time. Let’s get to it.
Since there’s so much to cover, this is chronological instead of in any order of importance or interest.
Also, the sellout line was COMPLETELY bogus as there was a good chunk of empty seats on the hard camera side. I was opposite the hard camera in the upper deck an at least four seats in the row in front of me stayed empty all night. There were also empty floor seats easily seen.
Stephanie McMahon opened the show and egads this was great. I can live with Stephanie being all stuck up when she comes across as in on the joke and that’s what we got here. Rousey coming out and going from smile to death stare was outstanding and I wanted to see her break the other arm. This was EXACTLY what it needed to be and should get rid of Stephanie, at least for the time being.
Ember Moon debuted in a pretty expected move. It’s the right way to go about things with her as there’s nothing left for her in NXT. The Eclipse is still an outstanding finisher and pinning Alexa Bliss, who was Women’s Champion 24 hours earlier, was a promising start. I’m not sure why she and Nia are now friends, but Ember coming up is a good thing.
Now we go down the other road with Braun Strowman and Nicholas vacating the Tag Team Titles. Why? Because Nicholas is in fourth grade of course! That got a great laugh and so did Nicholas promising to come back to give someone THESE HANDS when he’s done with school. However, it seems that the whole point of this is to crown new champions in Saudi Arabia and if we just have to do the title change one night and vacate it the next, so be it. This got on my nerves far more than Nicholas appearing in the first place and comes off like WAY too much work for what they got out of it.
No Way Jose debuted and won a match in about thirty seconds with a conga line before and after the match. I’ve always been a fan of the guy and he’s the perfect house show opener for years to come.
The Bar is getting their shot at the Tag Team Titles in Saudi Arabia and their opponents are being determined with a mini tournament. The Revival made the finals by beating the Good Brothers and that’s all there is to say here. It’s the right call and hopefully the Revival can pick up some steam. I mean, they won’t, but it’s nice for a week.
Seth Rollins came out and got a great reaction to BURN IT DOWN. Finn Balor interrupted and asked for a title shot, which Rollins granted at a future date. It was Miz’s turn as he came out and said he wanted his rematch at Backlash. Rollins said it was on and a handicap match was teased but Jeff Hardy returned to even things up. That’s a VERY good idea as there’s no need to have him do the Broken stuff. You don’t know how long he has left so put him out there and see what he can do in a last singles run. The six man is set for later.
Sasha Banks and Bayley are still arguing and have a match next week. There’s no much to this but I think Bayley turns.
In a great moment, Paige announced her retirement from in-ring competition due to her injuries. You had to know this was coming but it was very fitting that she did it in the same arena and on the same show that she made her main roster debut. I was there for both moments and it was sad to see her go, but this needs to be done. She got a THIS IS YOUR HOUSE chant and left her t-shirt in the ring for one of the better retirement speeches I’ve seen in a good while.
Elias came out for a song, got an insanely positive reaction, insulted the crowd, and was then mauled by a returning Bobby Lashley. This was another expected debut and one that was also very effective, even if his big move was a delayed suplex. Lashley still looks like a million bucks and he’s learned the character stuff in his time away. He could be a big deal for a few years and that’s always a positive.
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens tried to get jobs but Angle says he’s not just giving it out. In the line of the weekend, Angle said he’s heard TNA is hiring. If TNA has ever been mentioned on the main shows, the moment escapes me. Anyway they can wrestle each other tonight and the winner gets a contract.
The Authors of Pain debuted and slaughtered Heath Slater and Rhyno. After the match they walked away from Paul Ellering, which doesn’t surprise me. Unless he’s going to come back with another team (not sure who that could be), he might just not want to be on the road every week. We’ll see if he’s back but it’s not like they really need him.
A solemn Roman Reigns came out and talked about taking a beating last night. In what sounded like he was accusing Lesnar of shooting on him or at least going off script, Reigns said that no one would look at him when he got to the building yesterday and Lesnar shocked everyone by re-signing with WWE. It didn’t make a lot of sense and came out of left field to say something like that and I’m not sure I want to know where it’s going. Anyway, Samoa Joe returned, called Reigns out for losing again, and promised to choke him out at Backlash. Joe was great here, showing off the serious emotion that he does so well.
Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt won the other semifinal match over Titus Worldwide and will face the Revival for the title shot next week. Again, not much to say here as it was exactly what it should have been.
Sami and Owens went to a double countout when neither could get to their feet after a superplex. Therefore, no one gets the contract. Now this one interests me as they’re either going to go barnstorming on both shows until someone hires them or do something else. I’d love to see them even go to NXT for a month or two, just to see what happens.
In a funny moment, the Hardys and Wyatt talked in the Woken style about what they’ve been up to with Bray saying that he feels WONDERFUL since Sister Abigail was vanquished. Aside from there being a reason for his face turn, the highlight was the camera panning over to a confused Balor and Rollins. That’s the kind of comedy that works in wrestling: pointing out that while what is being said makes sense in the wrestling world, to an outsider, these are crazy people talking about crazy things. See also Dr. Shelby with Kane and Daniel Bryan.
The trio of midcard superheroes defeated the Miztourage in a match that was everything you would have expected it to be. Post match it was a parade of finishers to end the show. There was no dark match but Rollins called for the fans to throw their beach balls into the ring and a mini party broke out.
Overall, tonight’s show felt like a post Wrestlemania show, but it also felt like they were rushing to get through it. How much stuff tonight was just a way to set up the Saudi Arabia show and Backlash? I know you have to do some of those things, but this felt like they were trying to move as fast as they could, likely so the fans couldn’t take over the show again.
That being said, this show was PACKED with stuff happening, including returns, debuts and matches being set up all over the place. I did like what we got, but there was so much of it that it’s going to take some time to process. On top of all that, there’s the Superstar Shakeup next week, meaning all of this could be completely meaningless. It’s still a fun night though and while there wasn’t one big moment, there were several important moments, making it feel like a special night.
I think something might happen tonight. Talk about it here and I’ll be back with some thoughts after the show.
Well that was….eventful. There was a lot to be seen at this year’s Wrestlemania and for the most part, I thought the good more than outweighed the bad. There were some major, major surprises and I was shouting at a lot of things, albeit mostly in a shocked way rather than an angry way. Since it might take me a few days to get the review up, here are some live thoughts from throughout the evening.
My seat was looking mostly straight at the ring post on the right hand side of the ring on the opposite side of the hard camera. Of note: when I was at Wrestlemania XXX, I was in row 27, seat 15. This time, I was in row 27, seat 15.
After a VERY long delay at WrestleCon (Totally worth it this time around. Again, report to come I promise.), I got to the stadium, got inside, bought an overpriced Sprite and got into my seat as the entrants were coming to the ring for the Andre Battle Royal. I like Matt winning, though I was worried Bray would steal it from him. This was Bray’s LONG awaited face turn and hopefully it sticks this time around. He could certainly use it. Nothing to see here, including any major callups.
I’m glad Cedric won the Cruiserweight Title. The guy is that good and the match was entertaining. Ali can get it later, though hopefully not after a heel turn as he’s that good. It was around this time that I started getting into the show, partially because I got some food in between matches to wake me up a bit.
The women’s battle royal….erg. My issue isn’t with Naomi winning but rather Bayley having it won and WWE deciding to go with the surprise. Bayley and Sasha have been in a good feud as of late while Naomi has been doing absolutely nothing. Bayley winning and advancing their feud made sense while Naomi winning felt like pulling a name out of a hat. That got on my nerves, which was better than how uninterested I was throughout the match. Peyton Royce was a nice appearance, but then again when isn’t she?
Hey we have pyro again. It’s about time and I can go with not having it every week, but not having it at pay per views is dumb. AT LEAST for the big shows.
The two women singing America the Beautiful are “the future of music” and they’re doing a cover? Be original people.
The opener was rather strong and I had a good time with it, though I’m not sure what the point was in Balor’s entrance. I’m sure Miz will get it back soon enough and move up the ladder towards the most days as champion. The match was a good choice for an opener as the fans have something to cheer and it’s a nice way to go about things.
Asuka tapping out shocked the heck out of me and I screamed at the finish. I like the choice here as Asuka gets knocked off and makes her eventual title defenses have more of a point. I know the rumored match was Rousey vs. Asuka for the title at Wrestlemania next year, but now you don’t have to worry about being bored because “she has to keep the title until Wrestlemania to protect the streak”. Not so much now, and I like that a lot.
And then we have the big middle finger to the fans. Rusev is one of the hottest things in the company (there was a 12 month RUSEV DAY calendar for sale at the Superstore) and he takes the pin from Jinder to give Mahal the title. Mahal winning is bad enough (though I guessed it because it would be the dumbest winner they could choose) but this was WWE saying “you will not cheer someone we don’t want you to cheer so sit down and bask in what we know is greatness”. People, including me, were ticked off here.
That brings us to the mixed tag and I’m not sure where to start. Let’s get this out of the way: Rousey looked great and my love of her is fully restored (not that it ever really went away). She’s still rough around the edges and needs ring time, but the fire was there and she looked like a killer, which is exactly what she was supposed to do. Other than that you have the proper ending, but you know where I’m going next.
Yes they really did have Stephanie go toe to toe with Rousey and even get the upper hand multiple times, including blocking the armbar. We’re supposed to take this seriously and just roll with Rousey manhandling HHH but STEPHANIE MCMAHON can hold her own. This was at least mostly negated by the ending, but my goodness I was nearly laughing at how ridiculous this was. The match was a lot of fun overall, though it did go one save of a submission too long.
The Bludgeon Brothers winning was fine, though I’m not sure how much of an impact it had. This felt like it was over before it started and while it got its job done, it wasn’t exactly what I was hoping to see. Not bad or anything and the Usos looked good, but I’d have preferred this to be two on two.
I’m not sure what Undertaker vs. Cena means, what it was, or what it was supposed to be. I think I liked it (DEFINITELY liked it more than a 20 minute match) but that’s what we get after all these weeks? Undertaker is awesome and Cena should watch his mouth? It was a bad story and a more confusing match than anything else, but what we got was certainly shocking. Oh and no Undertaker doesn’t still have it, at least not based off of that. We saw him in a three minute sparring session, not a regular match.
On a side note: I know I don’t think much of Undertaker coming back again and again, but that entrance will never stop being the most mesmerizing thing you’ll see at a wrestling show. Oh and one more thing (which I can’t take credit for): Undertaker went from main eventing Wrestlemania to beating up a fan.
Bryan is back….and there isn’t much more to say about this. Shane took a beating, Bryan got the hot tag, the fans loved it, he kicked them both a lot, shrugged off both finishers, and gave Sami his two finishers to win. What else is there to say about this one? See you Monday Sami and Kevin.
I really didn’t like Nia beating Alexa that way. As I said (along with many others), this should have been about a minute long and a complete squash. Alexa is going to get crushed in the end, so let Nia look impressive in the process. At least Nia FINALLY wins a title though, and that’s more than she’s ever managed to do before.
Styles vs. Nakamura was underwhelming, but completely acceptable. The biggest problem though is the post match heel turn. WHY DIDN’T YOU DO THIS AT FASTLANE??? OR ANY TIME BEFORE THE MATCH??? Nakamura was defeated 100% clean in the middle of the ring and now we have a likely rematch (assuming WWE doesn’t put them on different brands and waste another angle) where Nakamura will probably win. Have this be a DQ or something and then do the rematch, or do the heel turn first. Don’t have AJ win and then set up the rematch. Think this through people.
I actually like the Nicholas (who is referee John Cone’s son in case you were wondering whose kid he was) idea as it’s the closest thing they can have to Strowman winning by himself while still having a partner. To those people who say this is burying the belts or whatever other complaints you might have, please stop and think about this for a second. Strowman won them by himself because he’s one of the top stars in the company and needs something to do. This was intentionally being silly, not acting like it’s some brilliant idea. It’s not that bad and it’s not going to last long.
The main event is a case of waiting and seeing, though unfortunately it’s likely going to be waiting and seeing Reigns winning the title next year. I’m sure something is going to happen tomorrow night (maybe a surprise title change or an announcement of another match, but I REALLY hope they don’t just vacate it) but above all else, I like what they did here. Reigns simply wasn’t right to be champion at the moment and while I’m sure we’ll get ANOTHER year long build to his title win (NEXT TIME FOR SURE!), this wasn’t the right time. Lesnar winning is more headscratching than anything else, but I’d like to see what they do tomorrow.
Overall I liked the show, but again it’s too long. Cue the Raw Women’s Title match down to a minute, don’t do the US Title, have Nicholas be in the front row and drop a few minutes off of Rousey’s match and the show is that much better. It’s not a classic by any means, but it was a good show and had a ton of memorable moments. I had a good time and the set looked INCREDIBLE.
A few quite notes:
Beach balls made their return in the main event, along with the Wave. A fan shouted that if the people hate wrestling this much, go somewhere else because there are people who want to see it. He was given a DELETE chant because wrestling fans are stupid.
The small screens in the farther away sections have a bit of a time lapse so if you’re watching them instead of the ring, it’s rather confusing.
Rusev and Bryan were the most over all night by a wide margin.
The shorter ramp is great and needs to be the norm.
I won’t be going to New York as the idea of being in that city makes me break out in hives. There is however another potential big show on my radar, though it’s WAY too early to be for sure if I’m going to I won’t say which one.
It was a good night overall and Raw/Smackdown should certainly be interesting.
Ask away with any questions you may have.
Obviously there won’t be any review up tonight but I’ll have some live thoughts when I get back to the hotel tonight. Until then, use this post to talk about the show and head over to Steel Cage Forums for the live discussion thread!
https://steelcageforums.com/showthread.php/265-WrestleMania-34-LD-The-House-of-the-Rising-Sun
And…..yeah I should be used to this by now.
So as you probably know (or may not), I’m down in New Orleans for the annual Wrestlemania weekend festivities (hence why the reviews are all late, though I’ll get them up ASAP as I have a lot of Saturday free). I’ve got a full week scheduled and first up was the opening session of Axxess.
Now before we even get anywhere, it starts off as a mess. I’m in the central time zone at the moment, meaning it’s an hour before eastern time. Things were supposed to get started at 6pm CST and that was all well and good. I checked the WWE App to make sure everything was fine…and it says 5 CST. Therefore I rush over, only to find out that the WWE is wrong about THEIR OWN PRESENTATION so I’m an hour early. Well done indeed guys.
I park, I go in, I show my ticket, I look for a line….and I’m alone on the Axxess floor as they’ve sent me to the wrong room. That’s quite the visual but then I went to the right room and saw a decent sized line. Since it’s so early, I hit the Superstore and picked up JR’s BBQ sauce, ketchup and mustard, along with a shot glass and Shawn Michaels POP. Expensive, but it’s worth it one time.
Then of course it’s time for the long line of sitting, which has become a custom of these things. After another hour and a half in line, it was time to go in for….more waiting in line! Since it’s a total guess as to who you might get, I jumped in the Elimination Chamber line and met Tye Dillinger and Mike Kanellis (Who got there about ten minutes after the session started, just like everyone else. How hard could it be to have them ready?). Not much to this one, though I mentioned watching Tye in OVW, which seemed to impress Mike more than Tye. Also congratulated Mike on becoming a father, which got a genuine smile.
After that it was a tossup between DDP and Lana/Dana Brooke and since I could feel the glare from the wife, it was off to Page. That meant a lot of standing in line, but this time around I could watch the NXT matches on the big screen. I caught the very tail end (as in the last thirty seconds) of Keith Lee beating Kassius Ohno, most of Mustache Mountain over Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss (seemed like a nice comedy match, more on Bate and Seven later) and parts of Lio Rush (Fan in line with me: They hired him back?) defeating Buddy Murphy in a surprise.
Anyway Page left at the halfway point (when they switch it out) but did take a selfie with us while also telling us an email address for a free month of DDP Yoga. Nothing wrong with free, but next up was seeing who would be the next guests. That would be Teddy Long (more on him tomorrow) and Jimmy Hart, both of whom I’ve met before so I left and jumped into Apollo’s line (which was next door and the shortest all night) before he left and was replaced by…..Carmella and Alundra Blayze. Eh not the worst. Carmella was one of the most charismatic people I’ve seen at one of these things while Blayze was calm but cool. I did get to touch the briefcase, but with only one finger.
After that I didn’t have time to get in any more lines because of the WrestleCon SuperShow starting with half an hour left in my session, so it was off to the memorabilia section. This is my favorite part of Axxess with a great look at each Hall of Famer and a TON of old stuff, from costumes to belts to ring worn gear. There was also a women’s evolution section and a Hall of Legends, featuring a WWWF World Title from the 60s and a pair of Andre’s boots. I could look through that kind of thing for days.
Overall, this was one of the weaker Axxess sessions I’ve been to, but that’s pretty much to be expected. You can never guess what you’ll get with these things and while it’s annoying, that’s just how they work. It all depends on which guests you get, but since the lines take so long you’re not going to get many people anyway. Not the worst, but Axxess is reaching the top of the list of things I’d cut next time I go to Wrestlemania.
Did I forget to tell you that I was doing Wrestlemania weekend again this year? At the moment:
Axxess
WrestleCon Supershow (Some guy named Omega is wrestling)
WrestleCon Friday and Sunday (with various pictures with guests already purchased)
Rev Pro (With Tana….Tana…..that air guitar guy)
Maybe Impact vs. Lucha Underground (depends on how tired I am as there’s a long wait between shows)
Wrestling Revolver
Takeover
Wrestlemania
Raw
Smackdown
And anything else I find time to do. Already in the hotel, which I can do because of all of you. Thank you again, as always.
If you’re in another country with its own Amazon page or want the e-book, just search “KB Grab Bag” and it should be the first thing to come up.
Also you can still get any of my previous books on the WWE Championship, the Intercontinental Championship, Monday Night Raw from 1997, 1998 and 2001, Monday Nitro from 1995-1998, In Your House, Summerslam, Starrcade, ECW Pay Per Views, Royal Rumble, Saturday Night’s Main Event, the WWF and WCW pay per views from 1998, Wrestlemania, NXT and Clash of the Champions at my author’s page here.
I hope you like it and shoot me any questions you might have.
KB
Once every so often, a personality steps between the ropes of the squared circle and transcends the wrestling business.
Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, John Cena and Dave Batista; every era and generation has a select few who became notable to the wider world for more than just lacing up a pair of boots.
They are living legends – WWE Hall of Famers or sure-fire bets to one day take their place among the pantheon of wrestling greats. It is easy to quantify their in-ring legacies through championships amassed, Royal Rumble wins or other accomplishments and pay-per-views headlined. Consider this though; there wouldn’t be a WWE Hall of Fame without Andre the Giant.
Nicknamed “The Eighth Wonder of the World” and billed from Grenoble in the French Alps, he was actually born and raised in Coulommiers – a commune 60 kilometers east of Paris. A postwar farm boy and school dropout who suffered from gigantism from an early age became one of the most popular wrestlers on the planet. Andre the Giant notably competed in Europe and Africa, the Far East and Down Under, and throughout the Americas.
For all that globetrotting, Andre’s actual accolades in wrestling are modest by modern standards. He was no 16-time world champion like Flair or Cena, winning the old WWF title once before quickly surrendering it to Ted DiBiase. Andre’s was a gimmick – the gargantuan monster – that didn’t need a run with the belt to enhance it. The only other notable example like him in this respect is The Undertaker.
Andre enjoyed greater success in terms of championships in tag team wrestling, holding a couple of belts in the NWA with “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes. He also earned notoriety in Japan when partnering Giant Baba and won the WWF tag titles with Haku, who, in his own way, was a trailblazer for current wrestling stars with Pacific Island heritage like The Usos and Roman Reigns.
And the critics? It seems Andre the Giant divided opinion or at least drew different responses at various stages of his career. He won awards for most popular (1977 and 1982), hated (1988) and embarrassing (1989) wrestler of the year. Twice involved in Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s match of the year (1981 and 1988), Andre also received the less desirable honor of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s worst worked bouts (1987 and 1989). They also named him worst wrestler of the year on three occasions.
The 25th anniversary of Andre’s death came in January – coincidentally, one day before this year’s Royal Rumble event – and that milestone is reason enough to ask what his legacy is.
First, who can forget the “Andre the Giant has a posse” stickers designed by renowned street artist Shepard Fairey? He also starred as Fezzik (a giant, no less) in the cult 1987 film The Princess Bride. There is now possibly a biopic and definitely a documentary in development too, as WWE and HBO team up to tell the story of his life.
Andre has also been immortalized in more than a dozen WWE computer games as a playable character. The wrestler routinely appears in the annual WWE 2K series of games and has a starring role in the much older WWE All Stars for the PSP. A variety of online game types feature Andre as the running theme, and he’s listed as “The Irresistible Force” in the Android and iOS app WWE Champions, a title that melds signature grappling moves with modern match-three gameplay.
And the tangible things just keep on coming. There are countless action figures in his image and the annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal that has featured on the WrestleMania undercard for the last four years. Wrestlers not otherwise engaged in a program at “The Showcase of the Immortals” compete for an eponymous trophy of Andre in his signature arms folded pose.
The Big Show is a previous winner of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and that is where his legacy starts to enter the ether. Paul Wight resembles Andre in size and stature, even suffering from gigantism during his youth too. When debuting in WCW more than two years after Andre’s death, Wight played his kayfabe son and was simply called The Giant.
In WWE’s main rival creating this character and putting Show straight into a feud with his storyline father’s old nemesis Hulk Hogan, Andre was the basis upon which an entire storyline was founded. That shows not only how respected he was, but how much he was missed as a monster attraction and crowd draw.
If you haven’t seen that iconic wrestling moment with The Hulkster taking Andre off his feet with the body slam from WrestleMania III, then watch it and you’ll realize that spot is a gift that keeps on giving. Cesaro directly invoked the spirit of it and paid homage to Andre when doing the very same move to Big Show in the inaugural Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXX.
There had been big wrestlers before Andre the Giant. Big wrestlers who had got over too. Without him, though, would there have ever been a Big Show? The storyline son angle is something WWE is still using today too, with Monday Night RAW general manager Kurt Angle and Jason Jordan.
Another comparison besides Paul Wight, and arguably a better one in other ways, is The Great Khali – a foreign wrestler coming to the USA from abroad as Andre did and making it big by winning a world title. India is a market the WWE has belatedly tried to cultivate properly through Jinder Mahal’s near six-month WWE Championship reign in 2017 and an end-of-year tour of the Subcontinent.
Whether Andre the Giant really was a trailblazer for massive athletes becoming wrestlers or just one of many that paved the way, so that today we have “The Monster Among Men” Braun Strowman on a seemingly never-ending push doesn’t matter. The similarities are there and the debate is one for internet forums. Strowman’s own in-ring performance is nothing flashy, his moveset limited, but it’s believable his basic offense – just like Andre’s before him – hurts opponents.
It seems apt to end this in-depth look at Andre the Giant and his legacy with where it began; the WWE Hall of Fame. He was so beloved that it was created for him as the initial inductee. Over 100 wrestlers have followed Andre into it since, including former tag partner Hillbilly Jim for the class of 2018.
Now, it is very easy to downplay this. Popular sports in America all have a hall of fame. It’s easy to say Andre’s death was just a convenient time for the then WWF to establish theirs, but that doesn’t change the fact his passing was the catalyst for recognizing wrestlers – living or otherwise. Nothing else highlights the Giant’s legacy quite like it.