Wrestlemania 32 Thoughts

WWE finally broke their own all time attendance record packing nearly 100,000 fans into the impressive AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas but sadly Wrestlemania was a really underwhelming ho-hum show. That's not to say there were no big moments or good matches but this show fell far short of what a Wrestlemania should be. Fortunately for WWE the name "Wrestlemania" is almost enough for a sell out these days but how long that will continue to be the case is questionable after what the company have produced recently. Here are my positives and negatives from the big event...


+ Positives
Lita's announcement on the pre-show that the "Divas" name and championship were being scrapped was very welcome. The ladies will once again compete for the Women's Championship and like their male counterparts will be referred to as "Superstars". The awful Divas title belt was replaced by one that looks similar to the WWE World Heavyweight Title... Brie Bella was allowed to leave WWE on her own terms and even got her hand raised in the process. A pleasant surprise... The Intercontinental Title ladder match was the best match of the night. Lots of cool and crazy spots and plenty of excitement... AJ Styles versus Chris Jericho was a really good bout that was built well and the crowd appreciated it more as it went on... I liked the New Day's entrance. It was certainly unique... Steve Austin's appearance along with Shawn Michaels and Mick Foley was a great moment of nostalgia that the crowd ate up. Austin's entrance brought the biggest pop of the night. Michaels looked in a great shape... Brock Lesnar had a solid street fight match with Dean Ambrose... The Women's Title match was very good and although it seemed the right time to give Sasha Banks the belt I'm not too disappointed as I think it would benefit her more to have a longer feud with Charlotte and defeat her in a one-on-one situation... Shane McMahon's leap of the top of a very tall Hell In A Cell cage was insane. Yes there was something underneath the announce desk to help cushion his fall but it was still an incredible risk. His Coast To Coast (Van Terminator) manoeuvre was also well executed... The Rock's appearance was another cool moment and I don't think his surprise six second victory over Erick Rowan did any harm. John Cena's return was nicely timed and by and large got the desired reaction from the crowd. Rock looked and sounded as great as ever... Speaking of looking great Triple H's physique was ripped and he had obviously gotten himself into tremendous shape for the big show (either naturally or otherwise). He didn't look anything like as good as this at Royal Rumble.


- Negatives
The United States Title match taking place in front of a virtually empty stadium. Apparently fans had trouble getting into the arena due to an electronic error with tickets... Lita proclaiming that the winner of the Charlotte/Sasha Banks/Becky Lynch match would be the "first ever WWE Women's Champion" conveniently forgetting the title previously existed for over 50 years... Bizarre choice of winner in the Intercontinental Title match. Zack Ryder's victory was a huge moment for him personally but came out of nowhere and made little sense. Coupled with what happened the next night on Raw, what was the point? Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn surely should have been the focus here rather than an afterthought... Another strange choice of winner in the Styles/Jericho match. It's bad enough that they'd already wrestled three times this year but newcomer Styles should never have lost the big match at Wrestlemania as it's the one people will remember. Jericho did not need the win here and considering Styles was to be the next contender for the World Title made this booking decision even more stupid. Not to mention the fact that he went down fairly clean also... The New Day are one of WWE's most over acts and they were placed in a nothing match and lost all so the League of Nations could get beaten up by Steve Austin, Mick Foley and Shawn Michaels. This made the League look like complete jobbers and the New Day worse for being beaten by them... Dean Ambrose's role of nearly man was cemented in his loss to Brock Lesnar. Even with weapons at his disposal Ambrose could not slay "The Beast" and spent most of the match on the defensive before being beaten... Shane McMahon taking Undertaker to a 30 minute Hell In A Cell match was simply not believable. A 46 year old non-wrestler who only took part in matches on special occasions in his prime years should not be allowed to be Undertaker's equal. And what of the "huge" stipulations in this match? They were barely even mentioned during or after the match so what was the point? Regardless of believability the match was poor and only became intriguing when they left the cage. This match appeared to be designed just to show how tough Shane is. Well he is a McMahon after all... The Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal was rubbish. Just a bunch of nobodies in a filler match that meant nothing. Shaquille O'Neal's appearance was a surprise but amounted to nothing. Shaq has gotten so big he looks bigger than Big Show these days... I don't think The Rock and John Cena beating up the Wyatt's was as bad as what the League suffered (Cena is a current top star and Rock has been active in recent years) but it was another case of sacrificing talent at the hands of the real stars... The main event was a big letdown. Too long, boring, predictable and the fans just weren't into it. Reigns got the expected boos but not as bad as it could have been. Triple H dominated with methodical offense which wouldn't have been as bad if the crowd were rallying behind the babyface, but of course they weren't. At the end of the match Reigns' music was turned up extra loud to cover any boos... Stephanie McMahon was sure enough given a big role in the main event from her well delivered but cringe worthy declaration to being very prominent at ringside and involved in a big spot in the match. The McMahon family are the stars you know... At nearly five hours (seven including the pre-show) the show was far too long. Perhaps the main event might've got a better reaction at the end of a four hour show with ten minutes cut from it? ... This came across as a show to put the hardcore fans in their place. Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, AJ Styles, New Day, Sasha Banks, Dean Ambrose all lost despite being big favourites with the fans. Shane McMahon's loss means the never ending heel authority angle will continue and we have a number one babyface/world champion who is less popular with the masses than the polarising John Cena... Crowd cues; WWE decided to use the giant screens to try and control what the crowd chanted including "New Day Rocks", the suplex count in the Lesnar/Ambrose match and strangely "Woooo!" for Charlotte who was the heel. I've also heard many reports of WWE tampering with crowd noise levels such as turning down the mics in areas of the stadium where fans were booing Roman Reigns...  That attendance record; As is common knowledge the 93,173 indoor attendance record at Wrestlemania III was make-belief. The real number in the Silver Dome was a still very impressive 78,000. That number was beaten at Wembley Stadium for Summerslam in 1992 with 80,355 but they couldn't announce it as a new record because it didn't beat the fictitious one from 1987! So this year it would all be put to rest anyway and a new attendance record would be set at Wrestlemania 32 so they wouldn't have to lie anymore, right? Well, sort of. WWE did legitimately break their real and pretend all time attendance record on 3rd April 2016 with 93,730 fans packed into the AT&T Stadium but the number of 101,763 was not true (there were actually 97,769 in the building but that includes all staff and personnel). After proclaiming all year that they would break 100,000 for the show WWE were never going to admit to 'failing' by announcing a number under 100k. All that has happened is a new lie has replaced an old one.


Overall
A very long show that will be remembered for the attendance, Shane McMahon's crazy stunt and cameos from the big stars of the past. Bizarre and perhaps spiteful booking made an underwhelming card going in turn out to be as disappointing as expected. The matches on this show would've been fine for a Network Special but for a Wrestlemania in front of their largest crowd ever this was not good enough.

Q&A #1

Wrestling's Past Q&A #1

Thanks to everyone who tweeted questions for the Q&A. We aim to make it a regular thing. Hope you enjoy.

Jack C Winsley @winsleytowers: Probably get asked a lot but best match of all time? Split between HHH vs Cactus Jack or Mankind vs Undertaker.

Very difficult question. I’ve thought about it a lot and having watched a ridiculous amount of matches over the last 25 years I can’t think of one that was better than Shawn Michaels versus The Undertaker at Wrestlemania 25 so I’ll go with that.

Boris @bogga100:  Giant Gonzales. Greatest big man ever? Discuss.

I have to say if I was making a shortlist of worst wrestlers of all time, Giant Gonzalez/El Gigante would definitely be on the list. He was very impressive to look at but was unable to do very much in the ring at all. Depending on your definition of “big man” I would say The Undertaker as he was over 300lbs and 6’10”. Going up another level in size you have Bam Bam Bigelow, Vader, The Big Show/The Giant or Andre The Giant when he was more agile in the 70s and early 80s.

Boris @bogga100: How old were you when you finally accepted it's just a show? Be honest!

Not sure exactly. It wasn’t an instant thing but more of a gradual realisation. I remember talking with my friends at school after watching a particular show and saying things like, “I know some of it is fake but that bit was real!” 14 years old maybe?

Aidan Cronin @aidancronin4: Is there anywhere u can watch the old fights? Or is it just YouTube?

Well the obvious first and that is buying the DVDs. Tagged Classic DVDs are the best way of seeing the older WWF PPVs for example. Places like You Tube are good as you say. The WWE Network is rumoured to be coming to the UK soon and that will feature a load of vintage shows also.

Mr Spud @MrSpud1: 80s The Sheep Herders did they exist? If so what happened to them?

They did exist. The Sheepherders (or The Kiwi Sheepherders) was the former name of The Bushwackers, Luke Williams and Butch Miller. Jonathan Boyd and Rip Morgan also wrestled as the New Sheepherders in the 80s, and Williams and Boyd teamed under the Sheepherder name in the absence of Miller. In contrast to the comedic value of The Bushwackers, The Sheepherders were a much more serious team. The Bushwackers are now retired. Morgan lives in New Zealand and Boyd passed away in 1999.

Paul @fasteddiefalco: Why isn't Haku given more recognition?

Well we gave him a shout out on his birthday, does that count? Haku, real name Tonga 'Uli'uli Fifita was, according to many of his peers, legitimately one of the toughest men in the industry. He started in the WWF as King Tonga before becoming one half of “The Islanders” with Tama. He also wrestled as Meng in WCW.

Dbroda doubleking @cog_doubleking: Pls what is going wit CM Punk? I wanna see him in d ring
Haider Farooq @haider82uk:  Where is CM Punk?? And when is he coming bk??

Well CM Punk walked out on WWE the night after this year’s Royal Rumble. According to who you listen to he either walked out because he was upset with the direction of his character, didn’t want to face Triple H at Wrestlemania, was unhappy with the WWE Network and how it would affect his PPV bonuses, or he was simply burned out. Nobody knows the full story and it’s being kept very quiet. Chances are something will be worked out and he’ll be back in a WWE ring again soon. Then again, maybe he’ll never return.

Jason Dunn @dunny8376:  Where is the Doctor of Style, Slick, nowadays???

I believe he is a Church Minister. He has made a few special appearances back in WWE such as Raw 1000 in 2012 when he played the part of the Reverend in Daniel Bryan and AJ Lee’s wedding. I thought he was brilliant by the way.

Ben Devonshire @Devstheoriginal: Greatest WWF tag team?

Difficult one. My personal favourites are the British Bulldogs, the Hart Foundation and The Rockers.

Dan Brown @eeezagood: What happened to Texas Tornado? 1 of my old favourites.

Kerry Von Erich passed away on February 18 1993. He died as a result of a self inflicted gunshot to the chest aged 33. Kerry had recently gone through a divorce and was about to be arrested on a drugs charge. He was already on 10 year’s probation for another drug conviction and this time he was likely going to be jailed with a lengthy sentence. According to his father he suffered with an addition to pain killers after having his foot amputated in 1986 and never recovered. The fact that he wrestled with a prosthetic foot was kept a secret from most until his death in 1993.

Joe Poulton @PublicspeechJoe: Who has more wwe wwf championship belt wins Hulk Hogan or John Cena?

John Cena has had more WWE Championship reigns with 11 to Hogan’s 6. However Cena’s total days as WWE Champion amounts to 1191 compared with Hogan’s 2185.

KH @slimshandy808: Do you think certain wrestlers (Cena, cough cough) having certain creative control ruins events/storylines.

I don’t believe John Cena does have creative control in his contract. Even if he did he wouldn’t need to use it. For better or worse, as the WWE’s main star he is always favourably treated.

Jake Walsh @JakeWalsh95: What is your all time favourite #WrestleMania?

For me it’s a toss up between Wrestlemania 17 and Wrestlemania 19.

Dale Clements @Mr__Dale:  What are your top 5 royal rumble moments?

Difficult to pick out individual moments so I'll give you my top five Royal Rumbles. In no particular order, 1990 won by Hulk Hogan, 1992 won by Ric Flair, 1997 won by Steve Austin, 2002 won by Triple H, 2007 won by The Undertaker.

Oviedo Baby @gary_1980:  Austin or The Rock ?

I was a big fan of both. Stone Cold Steve Austin was the bigger star in the wrestling world, but The Rock became a bigger star in the mainstream. Personally I had a slight preference for The Rock.

Ricki187 @ricki187187:  Was Tatanka really of traditional Indian heritage?

Yes. Tatanka, real name Chris Chavis, is legitimately of Native American descent. He was born in Pembroke, North Carolina the home of the Lumbee Native American Tribe.

Bryan Horswell @BHorswell: What is your favourite Undertaker match from Wrestlemania?

His match with Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 25.

It’s MY Arsenal Opinion @ARSENALDvbrisG: Favourite Wrestlemania Main Event? Mine are Hogan/Mr T tag match, Ironman Match Brett v HBK, and Undertaker v HBK.

If we determine “Main Event” as the match that goes on last then I would go with The Rock versus Stone Cold Steve Austin from Wrestlemania 17, Triple H versus Chris Benoit versus Shawn Michaels from Wrestlemania 20 and Undertaker versus Shawn Michaels from Wrestlemania 26.

Ghostface  @GhostFace150:  Did Lex Luger really have a steel plate in his arm?

Yes. He was involved in a motorcycle accident and had a steel plate inserted during surgery. For storyline purposes it was used as the reason why he was able to knock out opponents so easily.

Chris Georgiou @thegeospur: Know where I can purchase some of Ravishing Rick Rude's trousers? They were boss.

If you mean his in-ring gear, then no. I do know that he had them specially designed so unless his family auction them off at some point then you're out of luck.

Luca @boomer_blink182:  Is Vampiro from WCW in a rock band? And who r they?

For a short time he was a member of a hip-hop group called Dark Lotus. I can’t say I’ve ever heard any of their music. On another semi-related note he was once a bodyguard for pop group Milli Vanilli.

Dean Rabson @deanorab1981:  Whatever happened to Paul Bearer’s urn?

The original urn disappeared (not literally) after its "power" escaped during The Undertaker’s casket match with Yokozuna at the Royal Rumble in 1994. Paul Bearer returned with a new jumbo sized urn at Summerslam of the same year. That one was then stolen by Kama and melted down into a chain which Kama wore. Bearer then had another urn after that and I think he had yet another when he returned in 2004.

Ghostface @GhostFace150:  How many different snakes did Jake use during his time in WWF/WWE?

Officially four I believe. Pythons Damien and Lucifer, the cobra used in the angle with Randy Savage and Revelation, the bright yellow snake from his run in 1996.

Stuart Akister @StuartAkister:  Will Stone Cold Steve Austin ever return?

Ryan Shepherd @shepaldinho Will Stone Cold ever return?

As a wrestler? Extremely unlikely. By all accounts Austin is very happy with his life away from professional wrestling. There is always talk around Wrestlemania time that he may return for one more match, but as the years go by the likelihood of that ever decreases. He retired in 2003 due to the condition of his neck so the chances of him making a return to the ring eleven years later are pretty much nonexistent. If you need a dose of Stone Cold check out his podcast, it’s great.

Donnie Lucente @donlucente:  What is the best behind the scenes real feud fans know little about?

I could probably write a book on just the ones that I know about! Here’s a few you can look up off the top of my head… Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels, Iron Shiek/B. Brian Blair, Mr.T/Rowdy Roddy Piper, Matt Hardy/Edge, Jeff Jarrett/Kurt Angle, Bruno Sammartino/Vince McMahon, Ric Flair/Bret Hart, Ric Flair/Mick Foley, Hulk Hogan/Randy Savage, Arn Anderson/Sid Vicious, Ric Flair/Eric Bischoff, Jim Cornette/Vince Russo, Bret Hart/Vince McMahon. One of the most tragic ones was the death of Bruiser Brody which you should also look up. There are countless others.

Robert Mehew @robertmehew:  Injuries aside in 1991, should Mr Perfect have won the WWF championship?

He was never scheduled to as far as I’m aware. Perfect had a feud with Hulk Hogan in later 1989/early 1990 over the WWF Championship but that was as close as he came. As a big fan of Curt Hennig I would have loved to see him as WWF Champion but the truth is, at that time there were better candidates who were bigger draws. If he didn’t suffer a serious back injury in 1991 then who knows what would’ve happened. Hennig was a first class worker and an amazing athlete but sadly he was never the same after the injury.

Faizul Islam @FaizanFaizul:  Why Rey Mysterio was wearing mask?

The mask is a very important part of a Mexican wrestler’s identity and is a big part of the tradition of Mexican wrestling or Lucha Libre. Mysterio removed the mask for the first time in his career in February 1999 in WCW and continued to wrestle unmasked until he signed for WWE in 2002. His decision to wear the mask again angered a lot of fans in Mexico as it went against the Lucha Libre tradition.

 

@wrestlingspast