I actually found it quite enjoyable overall, the only result I would have preferred was Bray retaining but I suppose that wasn't going to happen :( I do like Orton though and I applaud the join them/screw em angle.

 

In fact whoever has been writing smackdown's story lines... Please do so with raw too. Would be great thanks!

 

The Smackdown women's match was rushed as well, some good spots despite everything but would have loved it to have gone a bit more smoothly throughout.

 

The kick off match between Aries & Neville was sensational, really gutting it was bumped to that spot now as it looked fabulous from the pub I was watching from for the first hour or so.

 

Poor Ambrose too, his match with Corbin was decent as well. Just can't believe Taker has retired, we knew it was coming someday but it still feels surreal.

 

Superstar shakeup sounds interesting, hopefully not too many leave Smackdown as it has been the far superior show since the split. Aj going to raw is a definite though.

 

Oh gosh forgot about the HARDY'S, YES YES YES YES YES Best thing about the event. So happy they are back *.*

HOLY f***ING YES.

 

YES! YES! YES! YES!!!!!!

 

FUUUUCKKK!!!!!!!!

 

 

THE GREATEST MANIA MOMENT IN A LONG TIME FOR ME! AHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO, SO HAPPY! :cry: :cry:

 

I shall write a review some point in the next couple of days, I wanna catch up with RAW & SD too (I know what happens on those though for the most part, so I know the debuts and things!) those ones are always my favourite shows of the year! I've seen the first 2 hours or so of RAW, just gonna catch up with the rest!

ALL CAUGHT UP!

 

Pre-Show:

It was alright. A bit long winded and the matches all seemed to be in the last hour or so of the show anyway? Surely they should've had Match 1, build up, match 2, build up, match 3, build up before the main show?

 

The Neville and Aries match I found a bit under whelming, however, I find Aries a bit hard to take to. I mean he's talented, but I feel he works better fighting people who are bigger than him. I think he needs out of the Cruiserweight division tbh. Really peeved that f***ing MOJO RAWLEY f***ING WON. Way to bury the Andre The Giant Battle Royale 3 years after it started... Should've had Sami or Braun win, imo! Set them up for a great push, like what happened with Corbin last year. Ambrose vs. Corbin was a slight disappointment for me, too! Could've been much better than what it was and I am 100% certain that Corbin would've won had it not been moved to the pre-show. Thankfully their match on Smackdown following WM, was superior and was more like what I was expecting.

---

Wrestlemania:

THE STAGING IS PHENOMENAL. SO, SO, SO BEAUTIFUL! That runway though! *_* Tinashe was so nervous singing the national anthem though! Bless her. :wub:

 

AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon:

- A very solid opening match and a good match to keep the crowd invested and intrigued. However, it was FAR from either participants best ever matches.

 

Chris Jericho (ch) vs. Kevin Owens:

- A very good match and I think that was partly down to the story and the emotion of this rivalry! They work very well together and Owens winning was a nice way to help get him over even more.

 

Bayley (ch) vs. Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte vs. Nia Jaxx:

- The biggest disappointment of the night and it's only because it was booked incredibly stupidly and WRONG! It also seemed really short for the caliber of match it should've been! The only positive I have is that Nia look a billion dollars. She's a MONSTER and they got her elimination and her execution overall SPOT ON, imo. Then, soon after, we have Sasha eliminated. In such a shit and quick way... AGAIN. Just like they had her do at Survivor Series. Then after that I lost ALL interest and I don't think I've been so pissed off at a booking before. WTF are they doing with Sasha?!

 

Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson (ch) vs. Enzo & Cass vs. Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Hardy Boyz:

- I really want to watch this again because I was just on such a high from seeing the Hardy Boyz returning, that I don't know if I was just saying it, but this was my favourite match of the night. But the ladder matches always nearly are for me, so throw in the Hardyz and well... instant winner haha! Jeff looked so HEALTHY and it was SO good seeing him look that way instead of being high all the time. Really happy they seem to be keeping the whole "broken" thing too as Matt is definitely the most sought after Superstar in the world right now due to that gimmick. I also heard WWE are gonna be helping them in their lawsuit against TNA to keep that gimmick!

 

John Cena & Nikki Bella vs. The Miz & Maryse:

- WTF at the little to no airtime for Nikki or Maryse... It was decent enough, but I wanted to see more Maryse!

 

Seth Rollins vs. Triple H (w/ Stephanie):

- Great match, as I expected between these two. Loved the back and forth action and it was great to see Triple H actually lose, although I expected him to, because that means it's one of his "own" going over him! He'll do the reverse to what he does to WCW stars and let every NXT superstar he faces against, go over him (he always gets the big win over WCW stars!) Had just the right amount of spots and thrills, even if Stephanie going through the table ended up being predictable! :lol:

 

Bray Wyatt (ch) vs. Randy Orton:

- Definitely the most uninterested I've been in a "main event" Mania match. Not even Orton kept me hooked. Like, it wasn't terrible or anything, I just wasn't into it. Probs down to Wyatt. I really dislike him. Although, he most DEFINITELY should've won and got the big win over Orton on this one.

 

Goldberg (ch) vs. Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman):

- A match of two moves. Excellent. :zzz: (Although it provided me with my favourite match moment of the night, with that spear out of nowhere!)

 

Alexa Bliss (ch) vs. Naomi vs. Natalya vs. Carmella vs. Becky Lynch vs. Mickie James:

- 5 minutes. 5 minutes is all these women got. f*** THAT SHIT. Not nearly enough time to let all these women show what they're truly capable of at the grandest stage of them all. 2nd most disappointing match of the night for me, but as I mentioned before about her, I'm happy for Naomi, because she seems SO genuine and lovely in reality, but as a performer, she really isn't doing it for me.

 

The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns:

- I really wanted this match to end about half way through. I was just getting sad at Taker just looking worse and worse with each bump he went to take. I am not MAD at Reigns beating him, but I really wanted Brock to be the ONLY one to have beaten Taker at WM. But that was ruined for me, coz I wanted him to retire with the streak in the first place... Not the worst WM match in Takers career, that goes to the Brock match for me, but definitely down in the bottom 3! Reigns really should've done what HBK did to Flair and actually said/mouthed something like "Thank you" before giving him one final Superman punch or something.

 

Takers Send Off:

Well, I am incredibly upset that it's come to this, but it was only ever a matter of time, wasn't it? What a legacy though! Definitely one of my all time favourites. Top 5 with Team Xtreme and Jericho for sure. Gonna be so weird knowing he's not going to be around and potentially not be involved in WM at all next year. Do we think he's inducted next year? He deserves to have his own induction.

 

---

 

RAW & SD:

So good seeing The Hardyz back and at the top. Something Dudleyz tried to do but failed... BALOR IS BACK! EMMA IS BACK! ANGLE IS RAW GM! Strowman vs. Brock will be really good if booked correctly! Reigns doing what he did at the start of RAW was brilliant. Nia attacking Charlotte was great! Emma looked incredible and will be a top heel very soon, I reckon!

 

SHINSUKE NAKAMURA!!!! SHINSUKE NAKAMURA!!!! He's on SD! f*** YEAHHH! Although I think this almost, more or less confirms that AJ is getting moved to RAW tonight </3 Dream match right there! Ty Dillinger is something special to. I hope WWE don't drop the ball with him like they did with Breeze or Fandango! Miz and Maryse continue to be highlights too. He really needs another championship run! (And to STAY on SD!)

Ideal Draft Swaps

 

Raw

Becky Lynch / Mickie James

John Cena

Dolph Ziggler

Dean Ambrose

American Alpha

 

Smackdown

Sasha Banks / Charlotte

The Club

Ceasaro

Seth Rollins

Rusev / Kevin Owens

I'm thinking:

 

To RAW:

- AJ Styles

- Alexa Bliss

- American Alpha

- Dolph Ziggler

---

To SD:

- Roman Reigns > Separates him and Brock for a bit, if it's true about the road they're planning... <

- Sasha Banks > I think Sasha will benefit a lot more from being on Smackdown, than Charlotte. <

- Enzo & Cass

- Sami Zayn

 

They're the ones I think will happen. I can't see Cesaro being moved when him and Sheamus have a title shot against The Hardyz!

Apollo Crews is the first one to move to Raw and he didn't even get announced officially live on the main show :rofl:

 

Anyway my predictions

 

Raw

Aj Styles

Alexa Bliss

Dolph Ziggler

Dean Ambrose

The Ascension

The Miz & Maryse

Kalisto (just for the cruiserweight stuff)

 

Smackdown

The New Day

Seth Rollins

Charlotte

Big Show

Sami Zayn

Rusev

4 right for Raw with Miz, Maryse, Kalisto & Dean Ambrose!

 

I think the best trade despite being a big loss to Smackdown is Alexa. Completely showed up Bayley and Sasha in that segment last night *.*

Alexa really controls the crowd perfectly. She does what Charlotte fails to do. She capitalises on the crowds reaction. Charlotte seems to be quite overwhelmed each time.

 

I am LOVING what they're doing with Nia. In fact, I'd be happy to see her beat Bayley for the championship, have a good run up until Summerslam, where she drops the belt to Asuka!

So sad to hear about Rosey. Only 47 & Michael Cole mentioned Umaga during Jeff Hardys match against Cesaro last night how bizarre. I guess Roman won't be on Raw next week for another week (or he might).

Orton v Jinder for the WWE Title :mellow:

 

Eh I guess it's someone new in the title scene...

Orton v Jinder for the WWE Title :mellow:

 

Eh I guess it's someone new in the title scene...

Jinder Mahal doesn't stand a chance in this match. It looks like Raw is better than Smackdown now after the draft.

Not Alexa Bliss actually beating Bayley in Bayley's hometown and beating Charlotte to the race as the first ever woman to hold the RAW and SD Women's Championships *.*

The House Of Horrors match between Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt was weird and quite funny :lol:, Payback as a whole was average at best which is what I expected it to be prior to the Pay-Per-View.

Alexa is perhaps the only essential Woman out of both brands right now (ladies wise I mean). So glad they had kept on with pushing her as I'd thought she'd be knocked down with Bayley, Sasha & Nia overshadowing everyone.

 

From her coronation she did seem to track a mix of Trish & AJ Lee which sets up to be one of the best in recent times at least on the mic although her in ring work has improved a lot too!

 

Also liking the heel women's faction on Smackdown. I think we can assume Owens v AJ Styles, Zayn v Corbin & Shinsuke v Ziggler will be the other main matches at Backlash. All potentially great matchups!

Jinder Mahal doesn't stand a chance in this match. It looks like Raw is better than Smackdown now after the draft.

Eating your words as we speak. I don't know how I feel about this. Certainly a wtf moment, kudos to them though they have built Jinder up brilliantly this last month as much as I don't want to admit it.

 

Shinsuke v Ziggler, Zayn v Corbin & Styles v Owens were all top notch & the Harper/Rowan match was decent too. The tag match was very odd though :mellow:

 

P.s. Becky's hair looked nice tonight *.*

The ending to the Womens MITB match was absolutely horrendous. None of the women got their "moment". It was such an awful way for Carmella to get the briefcase. Obviously Ellsworth was gonna get involved, but he really shouldve had a less prominent role on grabbing the briefcase. He should've held Becky down or something and let Carmella grab the case for her moment. Literally fuming. (It was a great match too!)

 

Tamina was the real MVP though! She really deserves a shot ffs!

Lana really impressed me in the woman's match against Naomi!

 

The way Carmella won was shit let's be honest lmao!

Tamina shone!

 

HATED the ending but it's done the job it's generated heat for Ellsworth/Carmella.

 

Lana is :wub: I could watch her all day.

Lana reminded me so much of early Trish! Not perfect, but decent enough. She has a lot of charisma, passion and personality which is needed for that type of gimmick! Eva flopped in those 3 departments. :(

Is Paige set to come back soon and join the raw heels? Seems odd to have 4 faces feuding with 3 heels.