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WWE: GDT: Wrestlemania 41

Only positive other than a few good matches is seeing what they do with a huge reset in champs. New heavyweight champs, new tag champs, new US, new IC… hopefully they decide to really elevate the titles
 
Overall Night 2 blew Night 1 out of the water.

Rhea/Io/Bianca was great.

Some legitimate nice surprises. Enjoyed Dirty Dom stealing the IC belt. Becky's return and Austin's appearance (hopefully that fan is OK). Never expected to Slayer's Kerry King. And the best surprise of them all, Joe Hendry!

I get people being disappointed in the main event. John Cena looked rusty, which is to be somewhat expected given how little he's worked over the past few years. And people expected The Rock to show up and all they got was Travis Scott. I get that he's a big music star, but there is a solid portion of the fanbase that don't give a shit about him and aren't familiar with his music or persona. When he was named to be at the 'Chamber I had to google him to see who he was. They overrate his cross-over appeal. I guess we'll see where the story goes. I do think it makes sense to tie this into Rollins and Heyman, Heyman can be a mouthpiece for the group when Rock/Cena/Scott aren't around. Maybe add a few more players to the mix (Bianca? Becky? Gunther?).
 
Blitzkrug said:
Having followed, but not watched a lot since their move to Netflix, tonight felt like them crossing the rubicon in a way that's not good for the business.

Corporate/celebrity influence has always sorta been a thing within WWE, but over the last year or so it's slowly gotten worse. First it started with sponsors on the ring mat, then it slowly found its way into more and more spots. Bringing influencers in that a vast majority of the fanbase couldn't give a shit about, more hamfisted shit like that totally not at all forced Doom: The Dark Ages ad in the form of Drew's entrance, more forced ad reads/placement.

They tried to use Travis Scott to elevate that ending but all he did is put the focus on him and completely kill what little heat a match that was very much not great had. Compare that to something like bringing in Mike Tyson and actually using him a way that made Austin look better, bleh. That's easily a top 3 worst WM finish next to 9, and probably 16.

Triple H's rhetoric leading up to this weekend becoming a bit more anti-IWC also gave me a bad feeling.

"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss"

Edit: Rock can go f*** himself too. Build this up as Cena selling his soul to you and your selfish ass can't be bothered to show up tonight, or for anything else.
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You can call it a bad show, but Triple H is light years ahead of Vince and it's not close.

Go back and watch some 2019 WWE if you can't see the difference.
 
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One of the things that’s also awkward about it is that Cena’s story arc does not align with Wrestlemania in a tine sense. Obviously now it would’ve been best if he turned here and ideally, he would be going to next Wrestlemania before retiring.

But if the crowds think Dwayne f***ed this up, they won’t turn on Cody.
 
Dennis Rodman was 6ft6, 220lbs live wire on the basketball court, erratic personality and badass off the court. There was a legit unpredictability about him, Travis Scott is 110lbs soaking wet and nobody on this planet is intimidated by this guy who looks like a child next to these wrestlers. He's a rap star with a following, great, use him elsewhere on the card.

His appearance was awkward (again) and ruined any immersion. Feels like HHH trying to guess what young people like and chalking it up to "online critics are idiots" when creative are met with rightful criticism.
 
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Travis Scott is a little underwhelming either way, but it still could have worked if he was just there to promote his song or whatever, wasn't aligned with the Cena the entire time, and swerved everyone by coming out to help Cena.

Instead, a 90 pound rapper does an Undertaker entrance and Cody is booked to have the "he's seen a ghost" reaction like Travis Scott has pinned him three times.
 
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Triple-threat match: Seth Rollins def. Roman Reigns and CM Punk

WWE Women's Championship: Tiffany Stratton (c) def. Charlotte Flair

El Grande Americano def. Rey Fenix

United States Championship: Jacob Fatu def. LA Knight (c)

Jade Cargill def. Naomi

World Tag Team Championship: The New Day def. War Raiders (c)

World Heavyweight Championship: Jey Uso def. Gunther (c)

Undisputed WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. John Cena

WWE Women's World Championship (triple-threat): Iyo Sky (c) vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Bianca Belair

Women's Tag Team Championship: Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez (c) vs. Lyra Valkyria & TBD

Intercontinental Championship (fatal four-way): Bron Breakker (c) vs. Dominik Mysterio vs. Penta vs. Finn Bálor

Sin City Street Fight: Damian Priest vs. Drew McIntyre

AJ Styles vs. Logan Paul

Randy Orton vs. TBD

There's your one-night Wrestlemania. Put your midcard titles on televsion. Logan Paul being obnoxious could have been a segment.
 
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Thought night 2 started great with three really good to great matches. I didn't really care for the rest but it was cool to see Becky back and Hendry/Orton was fun.
 
Machinehead said:
Triple-threat match: Seth Rollins def. Roman Reigns and CM Punk

WWE Women's Championship: Tiffany Stratton (c) def. Charlotte Flair

El Grande Americano def. Rey Fenix

United States Championship: Jacob Fatu def. LA Knight (c)

Jade Cargill def. Naomi

World Tag Team Championship: The New Day def. War Raiders (c)

World Heavyweight Championship: Jey Uso def. Gunther (c)

Undisputed WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. John Cena

WWE Women's World Championship (triple-threat): Iyo Sky (c) vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Bianca Belair

Women's Tag Team Championship: Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez (c) vs. Lyra Valkyria & TBD

Intercontinental Championship (fatal four-way): Bron Breakker (c) vs. Dominik Mysterio vs. Penta vs. Finn Bálor

Sin City Street Fight: Damian Priest vs. Drew McIntyre

AJ Styles vs. Logan Paul

Randy Orton vs. TBD

There's your one-night Wrestlemania. Put your midcard titles on televsion. Logan Paul being obnoxious could have been a segment.
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Disagree. All the titles need to be elevated. They did a great job making the IC belt mean more when it was on Gunther. Since, not really. Tag titles haven't meant much in a while. Neither has the US belt. Leaving them off the biggest PPV of the year makes them worth squat.
 
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AtlantaWhaler said:
Disagree. All the titles need to be elevated. They did a great job making the IC belt mean more when it was on Gunther. Since, not really. Tag titles haven't meant much in a while. Neither has the US belt. Leaving them off the biggest PPV of the year makes them worth squat.
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Historically, the best way to elevate midcard titles is to have them on tv and have them defended frequently. The IC belt never meant more than when it was the workhorse title.

Dom's next defense is going to be at Summerslam. That's not elevating the belt.
 
AtlantaWhaler said:
Disagree. All the titles need to be elevated. They did a great job making the IC belt mean more when it was on Gunther. Since, not really. Tag titles haven't meant much in a while. Neither has the US belt. Leaving them off the biggest PPV of the year makes them worth squat.
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The existence of the WHC has devalued the two secondary titles.

The WHC is basically what the old school 1990s IC title was. The championship for the guys they are trying to get to the real main event scene. It is in effect the secondary championship to the WWE title whether WWE wants to come out and say it or not. And now the US and IC are tertiary championships more along the lines of the TV title.
 
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Commentary:

Thought Michael Cole was way off his game, I know he has expressed he's loving the freedom on commentary now but maybe he needs to stick to a bit of a script. Lots of errors over the two nights. Someone really needs to tell McAfee to tone it down, he is becoming a distraction. Barrett was solid, kept things on track and didn't overdo it.
 
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BruinDust said:
The existence of the WHC has devalued the two secondary titles.

The WHC is basically what the old school 1990s IC title was. The championship for the guys they are trying to get to the real main event scene. It is in effect the secondary championship to the WWE title whether WWE wants to come out and say it or not. And now the US and IC are tertiary championships more along the lines of the TV title.
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They can't have two world titles unless they adhere more strictly to the brand split, which they never do. That's literally the only reason to have two.

As it stands, it is just the top midcard belt, which devalues your actual midcard belts.

And all of the lower belts just feel like lower belts if they don't have some sort of different presentation.

They've gone more old school with the world title recently, only having it defended here and there. Ok, if you're gonna do that, put the other titles out there frequently.

Bron Breakker defended the IC title seven times in 181 days. You're just treating it as a lesser world title.
 
Machinehead said:
Historically, the best way to elevate midcard titles is to have them on tv and have them defended frequently. The IC belt never meant more than when it was the workhorse title.

Dom's next defense is going to be at Summerslam. That's not elevating the belt.
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Leaving off any title from most PPV's just completely devalues them. I do agree that they need to be defended more, both on TV AND the PPV's.
BruinDust said:
The existence of the WHC has devalued the two secondary titles.

The WHC is basically what the old school 1990s IC title was. The championship for the guys they are trying to get to the real main event scene. It is in effect the secondary championship to the WWE title whether WWE wants to come out and say it or not. And now the US and IC are tertiary championships more along the lines of the TV title.
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What has killed off any value for all the titles not named the WHC is lack of good story telling/feuds. Bron hasn't had one meaningful feud since winning. LA had something going with the Bloodline, but that faded quickly. Tag titles haven't had any good story since last Mania.
 
papa H needs to hold his head in shame what a terrible wrestlemania lol. triple threat was okay but the ending to night 2 lmao travis scott no thanks
 
AtlantaWhaler said:
Leaving off any title from most PPV's just completely devalues them. I do agree that they need to be defended more, both on TV AND the PPV's.
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They have six men's titles and five women's titles. Either you make every PPV two nights, not every belt makes it to the PPV, or just don't have that many!

And out of those choices I certainly don't like the two-night PPV's. It's a bunch of glut fueled by matches that aren't important enough to main event Smackdown.

At least the first couple times they did a two-night Mania, they took a four-hour show and made them nice and trim. It has quickly devolved into two four-hour shows.
 
Machinehead said:
Triple-threat match: Seth Rollins def. Roman Reigns and CM Punk

WWE Women's Championship: Tiffany Stratton (c) def. Charlotte Flair

El Grande Americano def. Rey Fenix

United States Championship: Jacob Fatu def. LA Knight (c)

Jade Cargill def. Naomi

World Tag Team Championship: The New Day def. War Raiders (c)

World Heavyweight Championship: Jey Uso def. Gunther (c)

Undisputed WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. John Cena

WWE Women's World Championship (triple-threat): Iyo Sky (c) vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Bianca Belair

Women's Tag Team Championship: Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez (c) vs. Lyra Valkyria & TBD

Intercontinental Championship (fatal four-way): Bron Breakker (c) vs. Dominik Mysterio vs. Penta vs. Finn Bálor

Sin City Street Fight: Damian Priest vs. Drew McIntyre

AJ Styles vs. Logan Paul

Randy Orton vs. TBD

There's your one-night Wrestlemania. Put your midcard titles on televsion. Logan Paul being obnoxious could have been a segment.
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I mean, even when they had Wrestlemania on one night, they would still cram all this shit in and just make it a 5+ hour show.

Realistically, they do it because they can sell 60K tickets twice, and get a couple more tens of millions from the broadcast rights holder for 2 nights of content versus one.
 
Cena and Rhodes was dead on arrival. It never made any sense or had any narrative weight to it.

It was thrown together to do that one swerve. That one moment did numbers on social media so they got all they wanted.
 
FriendlyGhost92 said:
I mean, even when they had Wrestlemania on one night, they would still cram all this shit in and just make it a 5+ hour show.

Realistically, they do it because they can sell 60K tickets twice, and get a couple more tens of millions from the broadcast rights holder for 2 nights of content versus one.
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Yeah, it got to the point where the one-night Mania's were bad also for similar reasons.

But I would argue that these shows aren't any trimmer. They've just used the extra time to cram more ads in. In total, it was still close to seven hours of content and between the ads and the tv matches, I cared about like 10% of it.

I get the capitalist aspect of it, and don't get me started, but I just wish somebody cared about putting on a decent wrestling PPV without excess.

Tony Khan does the same shit with his one-night 19-match cards. Put some of the excess on television. It would make your tv watchable.
 
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