We’re home and exhausted from a VERY long show, which was an absolute blast live. I’ll have a more in depth discussion of the show tomorrow but here are some highlights in no order.

1. The floor was literally shaking for Rock. I’ve never felt that before.

2. Reigns went from villain to hero(ish) by spearing Stephanie. Who knew it was that simple?

3. The video screen was WEIRD. The big screen that most people watched on (the 80 yard long one) kept going to three mini screens and then did things like starting a WOO whenever Charlotte went for the Figure Eight and keeping a count of Brock’s suplexes (picture coming later).

4. That stadium is one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen. It really has to be seen to be believed.

5. Really fun show live, though I don’t think it topped XXX.

6. Austin’s pop was amazing and I had to hold my wife back when Shawn came out.

7. I’d love to hear their explanation for the show going so long. It couldn’t have been planned to last that long, or at least not that I heard.

8. I was genuinely scared for Shane when he was on top of that Cell. I don’t like feeling like that and I shouldn’t at a wrestling show.

I’ll be at the show tonight so use this to discuss the show if you like.  I’ll be back tonight (hopefully not too late) with a post about anything major that happens.  Full reviews of Smackdown (yeah I know), NXT, Wrestlemania and then Raw later this week, probably once we get home.

KB

And it was roughly a 1938% improvement.We’re about to get ready for Wrestlemania so this is going to be quick.

Met New Day and they’re every bit as funny as they are on TV.  They kept people laughing the whole way through, Big E. did his funny voices, Kofi is made for the live crowd (as he kept pointing and smiling at fans) and Woods is just entertaining in general.

Met Hillbilly Jim and Gene Okerlund.  Both of them were very nice and talked to me about being from Kentucky.  I mentioned that we were on our honeymoon and Okerlund looked at her and said he could see why.  So Okerlund thinks my wife is attractive.  I think I can live with this.

Then it was off to the Shawn Michaels line which took awhile but was more than worth it.  Shawn couldn’t have been nicer and smiled when I said he was the only person to ever make me jump out of my chair.  On top of that he hugged my wife as she was crying over meeting him.  That’s easily the highlight of the weekend for her, if not of her life.

Also saw the Bellas, Eva Marie, Emma and Sharmell at various points.  The camera doesn’t do Emma justice.

FAR better experience overall today with multiple people at most booths, better names in the second section (New Day was there for an hour, were replaced by Sami Zayn for the second hour and then it was Ted DiBiase and Gerald Brisco for the second half.  NXT had Samoa Joe instead of the low level women.) and far fewer people.  That was the major problem yesterday: too big of a crowd with not a lot they wanted to do.  Great day here and the Axxess that I loved from a few years back.

And false hope.

Overall, Wrestlemania is going to be…….interesting. The problems that we’ve been going over for months are still around and the double main event has the potential to be anywhere from a pleasant surprise to an all time mess. This is a show that is being held together by super glue and duct tape at this point and there’s a very real chance that it’s all going to come falling apart at the seams from the moment the show starts. I’m not sure what all we can expect from it though there’s certainly potential for this to be good.

That being said, I don’t think they can pull off last year all over again. Last year was a borderline miracle with WWE pulling off one of the biggest surprises of all time with a great show that looked horrible on paper. I don’t think this one is quite that bad but it certainly could fall apart if they don’t treat things properly.

At the end of the day though, it’s Wrestlemania. There’s going to be something good and memorable (probably New Day’s entrance) and we’re getting Undertaker in the Cell, possibly in his last match. I don’t think we’re going to see the greatest show of all time but that attendance record (which you know is coming down) is going to be something special to see. I’m still excited to go again and I’m going to have a good time no matter what because, no matter how bad it might look, this is Wrestlemania. That makes it a big deal and there’s no way it’s not going to be fun.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of the Intercontinental Title at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D4D3EGQ

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

And yes it’s really likely the main event.

That leaves us with one main event in the form of Undertaker vs. Shane McMahon inside the Cell with Undertaker future vs. control of Raw on the line. Let me repeat this: the Undertaker vs. Shane McMahon inside the Cell is at worst the co-main event of Wrestlemania XXXII. I understand that the injuries had a lot to do with this but that’s a main event that only has limited potential. Given that this was going to be Undertaker vs. John Cena I could understand the idea, but maybe that was enough of a reason to change the plan up.

The big question here isn’t what happens or who wins but rather who interferes. You can almost guarantee Vince and the Authority, but the big question is about the surprises. There’s a rumored name that I won’t mention here (if you’ve heard the rumor you know who it is) but I don’t quite buy him as a big surprise for Wrestlemania. I mean, he would be a surprise but it’s not something I expect to actually happen.

I see the big problem here that most people see: how in the world is this supposed to fill in thirty to forty minutes? Shane is old and hasn’t wrestled in years while Undertaker is old and only wrestles a handful of times a year. This feels like the match that’s going to be gimmicked to death (and it should be) but I’m not sure that’s something you can use to close the biggest show of the year.

At the end of the day though, I think Shane somehow pulls it off. I don’t want him to as I have a major problem with Shane McMahon being the second person to knock off Undertaker at Wrestlemania, especially a year after Undertaker beat Bray Wyatt up so badly. There’s a chance this match could be fun but there’s also a strong chance that this could be a lot of sitting around begging for it to finally wrap up as we wait for anything interesting to happen because Shane is so blown up that he can’t move five minutes in. Either way, it’s going to be interesting.  Scary but interesting.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of the Intercontinental Title at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D4D3EGQ

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Not the main event.

So it’s off to the main events and we’ll start with the match I actually think won’t close the show. This is a really hard one to get into and the story continues to plague everything they’re trying to do. Thankfully that seems to be one of the general consensuses: it’s been the story they’re telling and not the people themselves.

Here’s the thing: Roman Reigns is going to get booed and he’s going to get booed loudly. It doesn’t matter what he does here but he’s going to get booed out of the building. The match could be Steamboat vs. Savage II and the fans just will not accept it or care. They do not want Roman Reigns to be the main star of the company no matter what he does, even though he’s done some better stuff in the last few months. HHH on the other hand has done some great mic work of his own to help set up this feud and I’m really buying the story they’re going with.

The problem is I don’t think they’ve done enough to make up for all the months of horrible and worthless stuff that Reigns has done. I know Reigns is a two time World Champion but I don’t buy him in this spot at the moment. The story makes sense and almost everything has been good but it’s not the conclusion I want out of this. Having this not go on last would be a huge help but it’s not going to fix the underlying problem: people don’t like Reigns.

As for the winner, I just can’t picture Reigns losing, at least not if the match goes on last. HHH winning and then setting up a title match with someone else (maybe Dean) for the next pay per view could work, especially if Shane wins control of Raw and turns the tables on HHH as champion. If this goes on last though, Reigns wins with probably the fourth spear and 100,000 people boo very, very loudly. I’m not sure WWE is smart enough to realize that’s going to happen but if they do, this isn’t closing the show.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of the Intercontinental Title at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D4D3EGQ

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

The FREAKING OW match.

This is the “let’s beat each other up really, really badly” match and no one wants it to be anything else. Lesnar is going to win and I don’t think that’s much of a secret, but sweet Repo Man on a pole this is going to be fun. It’s going to be straight out of the Punk vs. Lesnar playbook with Dean getting one false finish after another but taking the beating of a lifetime. As dominant as Lesnar is there’s always a way to slow him down (usually in the form of a low blow) and I’m sure Dean is going to find that.

As sure as I am that Brock wins, there’s always a need for Dean to win something. I know I’ve been saying it for a long time but there reaches a point where you can’t keep losing every big match you’re in. This is going to be a blast though and I don’t think it needs much more of an explanation than that. Just let two guys beat each other up for twenty minutes and everyone is going to be happy.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of the Intercontinental Title at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D4D3EGQ

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

In case you needed a match to throw in a bunch of midcarders to get them on the card.

Battle royals are really hard to predict. Like really hard to predict. However that’s not the case here as this should be one of the easiest battle royals to call in a long time. Simply put, there aren’t a lot of people who could win. Based on the currently listed entrants, the only major threats are going to be Big Show, Kane and……dang that’s really it isn’t it? You can almost bet the Wyatts will be involved so you can throw Strowman on there too, which is kind of necessary to avoid me going insane.

Of course there’s always the chance that someone could be added to the match as a big surprise (Cesaro is rumored) but unless they’re going to win the thing, save that for the next night on Raw. Barring a surprise winner, I think we’ll get Strowman here, even though Bray winning would make so much more sense. Even if Strowman clears the ring and then Bray orders him out ala Ted DiBiase or something, but Bray needs this way more than anyone else. I know he’s banged up but it’s a battle royal. He can work the whole match without taking any major bumps so just give it to him so he can actually win something for once.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of the Intercontinental Title at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D4D3EGQ

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

I can’t stand this match.

If anyone has been following my stuff recently, you know I can’t stand this story. I have yet to see any reason for this match to take place but we’re getting this disaster of a mess because it’s Wrestlemania and therefore we’re getting a seven man ladder match. We have seven guys in this thing and most of them have almost no reason to be in there.

This should be all about Zayn vs. Owens (and preferably without ladders) so I’m not even going to bother talking about the other five guys (Stardust, The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, Sin Cara and Zack Ryder in case you’re reading this in thirty years). They’re not going to win and I’m not going to pretend otherwise.

So yeah it’s all about those two but the question is who wins. I think they’re going with Owens, likely to set up something with Zayn one on one in a month. Owens winning doesn’t make sense in a regular match but him surviving in a big mess is straight out of AJ Lee surviving everyone at Wrestlemania XXX. It’s stupid but just go with it.

I’m sure there will be enough high spots for everyone and we’ll get people laying around for ten minutes after a bump they would get up from in five seconds otherwise but IT’S A BIG LADDER MATCH!!! That means it’s cool right? Or at least Stephanie thinks so because she gave it to us and knows everything that’s best for business. It’s not like there’s another match where you could throw people into the ring to get them on the card and have them do nothing. No instead let’s have a ladder match where no one gets to shine in a title match. Just get it over with already and move on from this illogical nonsense.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of the Intercontinental Title at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D4D3EGQ

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Yeah this is something that is happening too.

Let’s get this one out of the way. Simply put, people don’t care about this stuff and there’s no real reason to. Most of these women either aren’t any good or they aren’t interesting enough to mean anything on the main roster. As is the case with any big cluster of a match like this, no one is going to get any time and it’s probably going to be about getting Eva over because that’s a thing that still exists.

I’ll take the Total Divas to win because that’s a thing that still exists as well. No one is going to get to show off much of anything here, but it’s a good sign that we seem to be getting an unofficial brand split in the women’s division. You have the title match with with actual wrestling and then the Divas doing this nonsense. I have little desire to watch this match, though to be fair I said the same thing about the fourteen Divas mess two years ago and that turned out to be somewhat fun. Nothing to see here though and everyone knows why this is happening.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of the Intercontinental Title at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D4D3EGQ

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6