Originally posted on ProSportsExtra.
Thanks for joining me. There’s so much more wrestling to watch than a few years ago, and I can’t possibly write about and scrutinise it all!
So, let’s be smarter with our time.
I am a huge proponent of balance. It’s all too easy to let the online world remove the grey areas and middle-grounds that offer us perspectives other than the two extremes. I wouldn’t want the internet to become a platform for me to purely rant or rave about something I loved or hated respectively. So here I am, mixing it up by appraising something I enjoyed and something I didn’t care much for this week in the wrestling world.
#GWvsBW – Good Wrestling vs Bad Wrestling.
Thanks to the lack of a live crowd, #WrestleMOANIA left many a neighbour wondering just what the hell folk next door were watching. The Last Man Standing match sounded like 40 minutes of utter filth!
This also left me attempting to watch WrestleMania 36 without saying “this would be so much better with a crowd” during every match/contest/segment. I failed for all but two instances, only one of which I actually enjoyed.
The Buffy The Vampire Slayer Boneyard Match between AJ Styles and The Undertaker had potential, but they went and spoiled it by burying AJ. More from me on The Undertaker not putting folk over. Exceptions were initially made for this and for the Firefly Fun House match, seeing as we’re dealing with “unique circumstances” and I’m open to trying something different while there’s no live element.
I said last week that I don’t think the show should have gone ahead at all. This was because of the limitations set and the risk to the people that were able to be there. WWE went ahead anyway and had a go with the remaining tools they had at their disposal and we got what we got.
Anyway, hats off to those there and working over the weekend, your efforts will be acknowledged…kind of.
Bad Wrestling: Not-so-good Charlotte
It’s been a couple of years since I discussed The Women’s Rumbled Revolution and how Charlotte Flair had already peaked as a wrestler/tribute act. I’m not going to harp on too much about this element today, but I will highlight that it’s a shame that we’re taking large steps backwards.
NXT was doing fine before other people started moving their goalposts around. When the competing All Elite Wrestling opened their doors for business, WWE shoved their 3rd/developmental brand into the arena against the new challenger. With this responsibility came an additional hour to fill each week, The Vultures of Television chiming in with their demands, and all whilst continuing to feed the other two shows with new talent.
I had planned to praise the NXT women on here before all of this empty arena nonsense began. Despite all the issues that NXT has stumbled upon in the last 6 months or so, their women’s division seemed capable of weathering the storm. My mind was changed about this at WrestleMania, and I’m a little upset with the loss.
NXT doesn’t need Charlotte Flair!
Charlotte Flair needs NXT. She needs to learn how to not sound like a robot, and she needs to train, get better, and stop stumbling about like a drunk baby with two left feet
.
Bringing Charlotte back isn’t the solution to getting NXT’s ratings up. This is just admitting that you believe your current roster isn’t up to the task. See also: Shayna Baszler getting laughed out of the building by Becky Lynch and all the old-timers that return to flatten current talent.
Speaking of Shayna Baszler, taking the belt off of her seems like a daft idea now, as does sending her off to Raw. She wasn’t alone either. Bianca Belair has left the black and gold brand too; thinning their ranks in yet another attempt to quick-fix a problem with the main roster and their bad wrestling.
Good Wrestling: Firefly Fun House
This dimension-jumping, psyche-swimming head-fuck between Bray Wyatt and John Cena was all that managed to lure me into staying up late for night two of WrestleMania. It was also the only match I couldn’t stop myself having any expectations for…
I was not disappointed!
Now, I knew going into it that we weren’t going to get a straight-up wrestling match between the two. I know many people are pissed at that and they didn’t enjoy this one little bit, which is a shame.
I assumed Bray and John’s initial encounter from WrestleMania 30 would be referenced. I wasn’t expecting such great detail or the eerie re-enactment of it. They revisited and played out moments from other crossroads in John Cena’s life. Bray even took shots at Cena’s failures and mocked him by seductively singing the Nikki Bella theme song.
They journeyed through claims of Cena being all muscle and no talent, getting over by being a bully and shining a light on others’ insecurities, and also how he refused to listen to the crowd at WrestleMania 30. The crowd that was blatantly high as kites on Bray Wyatt at the time.
Cena’s words from a couple of weeks ago came back to haunt him too. He’d claimed that this WrestleMania was going to allow him to correct WrestleMania 30 and unequivocally put an end to the most over-hyped, over-valued, and over-privileged superstar in history. These words were heard before Cena was finished off by The Fiend and regular Bray Wyatt made the 3-count. Cena’s body vanished and The Fiend was the lone survivor in the ring.
As well as being entertaining to us, the audience, I got the impression that everyone involved was fully immersed in what they were doing. Parts of the Firefly Fun House permeated similar vibes to Southpaw Regional Wrestling. If a performer of any kind is enjoying their work, and they’re doing it with conviction, it generally helps me enjoy things. Things like good wrestling.
Digest and discuss! Feel free to do so below, and/or get in touch on Twitter @BluntDamage!
#GWvsBW