The Smackdown Top 10 for February

After the events of Elimination Chamber, the stars of Smackdown Live edge closer to the lineup for Wrestlemania. With no matches official yet for the biggest show of the year, everything seems up in the air with the men and women of the blue brand. But even with as many questions as answers left, The Wrestling Weekday takes a look at the top ten superstars or teams of the brand.

Just a reminder about the numbers at the end of each entry. The first number is the wrestler's rank from the last list. The second is the number of months they have been ranked on the list.

Image credit: WWE.com. 

1. American Alpha: I've got to be honest; I wish I could rank the Smackdown Tag Team Champions a lot higher than the number ten spot. But while Chad Gable and Jason Jordan are infinitely talented, their booking has been one of the weakest part of Smackdown Live. A feud with The Usos looks to be in the cards, but already this team seems hungry for new challengers. (10/5)
2. Dolph Ziggler: His heel turn came about a year too late, nor will a feud with Apollo Crews or Kalisto really help him move up the ladder. An entourage would actually be a great thing for him right now, but WWE seems unlikely to make that happen. For now it seems Dolph is destined to play the perennial midcard talent until the end of time. (7/3)
3. Dean Ambrose: Dean's push has faltered post-WWE title reign quite a bit. As Intercontinental Champion, he feels like he's mostly treading water, even as he seems destined to be thrown into the annual seven way ladder match for that belt at Wrestlemania. It's a far cry from the solid and steady booking of Reigns and Rollins, which is a true shame for (IMHO) the most talented of the former Shield members. (8/12)
4. Alexa Bliss: The former Women's Champion took a tough loss at Elimination Chamber. But even though she lost her belt, it is hard to argue that Alexa has had one of the fastest rises on the main roster of any star post-draft. Even without the title, she is still arguably the top dog of the women's division, with battles with Becky Lynch and Naomi to continue in the future. (4/3)
5. Baron Corbin: The Lone Wolf has cemented himself as a dominant force on the WWE main roster post-Survivor Series. With a series of strong wins and a pair of near misses for the WWE title, he seems clearly poised to enter the main event scene post-Wrestlemania. I still suspect he lost his position for that show to Orton, but even if his push has been slowed, he clearly will be one of WWE's top stars in the years to come. (9/2)
6. John Cena: The face that runs the place won his record tying sixteenth world title, only to drop it two weeks later. Going into Wrestlemania, his future seems unclear but with his time divided between Hollywood and WWE, he will likely pop on and off this list frequently. (U/1)
7. AJ Styles: The former WWE champion has made a huge splash in his year with WWE. Though he's lost the title and seems clearly out of that picture for Wrestlemania, he clearly has a strong future on the blue brand in the coming months. (1/2)
8. Randy Orton: His push from Survivor Series to Royal Rumble has been astronomical, but the fan reaction to his sudden rise to the top of the card has been less than stellar. Though he could be destined for a stellar match at Wrestlemania, the situation between him and the current WWE champion is far from clear as of this writing. (3/2)
9. Naomi: Few wrestlers have deserved a major run with the women's title as Naomi. She is a natural talent and showed great promise back to her earliest days in FCW, but the Funkadactyls gimmick hampered her rise in WWE's women's division. After her last push was halted by the arrival of Paige, she floundered until recent weeks when the writers saw fit to move her to the top of the Smackdown women's division. Hopefully she can retain a presence there, but with a multi-woman match at Wrestlemania likely in her future, she could face more contenders than she could handle very soon. (U/1)
10. Bray Wyatt: In the last few months, Bray Wyatt has won his first two titles in his four years as a WWE star. Now as WWE champion, he's finally arrived at the pinnacle of the blue brand. The position is well deserved, but whether or not he will hold on to it for more than a few weeks remains to be seen. But with Wyatt as champion, it seems clear he will have the fans eating from his hand for some time to come. (3/2)

Image credit: WWE.com.

Tommy's Take on Backlash 2016

Hey everyone, let me introduce myself real quick: My name is Tommy Brownell, and I am a writer, editor, blogger, forklift driver and retired pro wrestler (I never did anything of note and you never heard of me). I was musing recently about blogging about wrestling and my buddy Nicholas Ahlhelm offered to let me contribute here instead of starting a whole new blog, so here I am.

With that out of the way, I just wanted to share a few thoughts on Backlash 2016, the first single-brand PPV since the brand split. This is not an exhaustive play by play recap. You can find those all over the internet. So, to that end, I assume that you have either seen the show or you read the recap of your choice already.

Image credit: WWE.com

A different kind of SummerSlam

SummerSlam is the big money show of the weekend, but this honestly feels like one of the strangest iterations of the event. None of the "main events" really feel like a main event to me, although I suppose Raw's offering is probably the strongest of the three. But with a double digit number of matches on the card, it promises to offer some interesting battles. And if Battleground was any indication last month, the more varied matches with smaller pre-match packages actually worked really well. Here's a rundown of the card.

Image credit: WWE.com.

• Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins: I'm not sure this will actually main event, but the crowning of a Universal champion is momentous, even if the title's name is painful. I suspect this will be Rollins to win, although it does feel foolish to debut the Demon King in action and have him lose in his first outing. But it was even more foolish to have the Demon King appear days before the pay-per-view. Still it would take a momentous shift in WWE booking to have Balor win the title a month into his run as a member of the main roster.
  
• Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler: Ziggler's push to main event status still doesn't quite feel cemented, which makes this feel like the weakest of the three big matches. Still, I suspect it will have strong storyline potential. I suspect a heel turn for Ziggler is in the future and with the right booking, he could be a strong new heel main eventer on the brand, not unlike Shawn Michaels in the early 90s. But it remains to be seen if WWE will really pull the trigger on Ziggler.

Belated Battleground thoughts

Here's a few thoughts I had on WWE Battleground from Sunday night, presented in handy bullet point format.

• Dean Ambrose proved his worth to the main event scene with a victory in a great main event. The Shield three-way should have main evented Wrestlemania, but all three men proved they should be contenders. 
• Randy Orton was on the top of his game with his mike work. He looked more alive and energized than he has in a very long time. Orton has the potential to look like a fresh character in 2016, something he hasn't been for years. 
• Natalya and Becky Lynch feel like two women that need more to their feud. They got shorted TV time due to the draft, so hopefully they will get more time to develop their storyline on Smackdown Live. 
• Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn lived up to the pressure another match between the two men meant. Zayn finally got a big win on the main roster while Owens did the job for his long time friend. Both should come out of the night looking like a million bucks. 
• Darren Young's new gimmick is gold and his wrestling style has seriously improved with the addition of some Backlund moves and mannerisms. 
• Zack Ryder looked great against Rusev. Teaming with Mojo Rawley on Smackdown Live almost feels like a demotion for him after the match.
• The New Day versus the Wyatt Family served no purpose, but the match was solid. It will be interesting to see how Bray is booked as part of the strangely designed Smackdown Live roster.
• Bayley is awesome. Her debut is everything wrestling should be. Her and Sasha put on a great match to kick off the show and her full time main roster spot can only be considered highly anticipated now. 

Image credit: WWE.com.

The best modern Wrestlemania match... and predictions for this year's show!

With a clean sweep in the final voting, it seems that Daniel Bryan's huge victory ranks as the finest Wrestlemania moment of the 2010s. It destroyed Undertaker and Shawn Michaels in the finals, perhaps a sign of how much fans really wanted to see more of Bryan in WWE's main event.

Image credit: WWE.

The show kicks off as I type this. Kalisto unsurprisingly beat Ryback seconds ago. But that is only one of many matches tonight.

Here's my predictions for the night:

• BAD & Blonde take the win over the Total Divas when Eva Marie betrays them. 
• The Usos turn the Dudleys table against them for the win. 
• The League of Nations get a win over The New Day in the non-title confrontation.
• AJ Styles ends his feud with Chris Jericho and sends Y2J packing until SummerSlam.
• Cesaro will surprise everyone and take the Andre the Giant Battle Royal.
• Kevin Owens pulls out the win in the IC match. 
• Sasha Banks steals the show and wins the Divas title, only to turn it back to the Women's belt.
• Dean Ambrose pulls out a win over Brock Lesnar in a match that goes all over the ring. 
• Roman Reigns takes the win over Triple H, but turns heel in his own rate. I'm guessing either Bullet Club or Wyatt Family interference. 
• Shane beats Undertaker in the main event, after Sting helps screw over Shane's team. 

There it is. Let's see how I did. In the mean time, enjoy the rest of the show! 

The finals are here! What is the best modern Wrestlemania match?

On Monday 48 entered. Today, two survive. On Sunday morning, the winner will be revealed and the greatest Wrestlemania match of the 2010s will be revealed.

Two main events survive and both of them are true greats. But only one can be the winner.

Image credit: WWE.

Daniel Bryan was guaranteed a spot in the finals as his twin Wrestlemania XXX matches faced off in the last round. His rousing title victory over Randy Orton and Batista won, probably as much for this image as for quality of matches as both were amazing encounters.

Image credit: WWE.

The career versus streak match between Undertaker and Shawn Michaels was in my opinion not quite as good as their previous encounter, but that one falls out of the purview of this survey. Still their contest was an epic one and Shawn Michaels' retirement is still felt in WWE today.

Two epic matches. Both arguably changed the face of WWE. But which one was best? You decide!




Voting closes Sunday morning at 5 a.m. Central time. To make things even more interesting, voters can place a vote today and on Saturday. Let your opinion be heard! And we will see you on Sunday for a special Wrestlemania preview post!

Welcome to the opening round of March Mania!

March Mania is running wild!

Tournament brackets are a grand March tradition. You can find them pretty much anywhere, but I know for a fact that tournaments and professional wrestling go hand in hand. With that in mind, The Wrestling Weekday is proud to launch its first ever March Mania tournament!

Each year we will debut a new tournament in the lead up to Wrestlemania. This time around we will look at the first half of the 2010s as we determine the best modern Wrestlemania match. Forty-eight matches enter the tournament today, but come this weekend, only one will survive. And the best part of it all is you get to vote!

The first round features 16 three way knockout votes. Tomorrow will bring the 16 match round, followed by 8, 4 and the final two. A special Sunday pre-Mania post will reveal the winner of the whole affair!

A few words on Mr. Anderson

It came out yesterday through the internet release of a profanity laced promo at the UK based ICW that Ken Anderson, better known to most as either Mr. Anderson or Mr. Kennedy, has left TNA. Apparently, Anderson was released from his contract following the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania tapings in late January. It is a sign of how poor his push had been in recent months that no one even noticed he wasn't around for the last several weeks.


In the wake of his promo, a lot of rumors have spread on the internet about his release. His contract was apparently terminated, but we really don't know anything more than that. Supposedly he had an attitude problem backstage at those tapings, while other sites have conjectured he might have drug or alcohol abuse problems.

Too much of that sounds like damage control for TNA, a company that has ate up and bled away talents for the last several years. Multiple stars have left TNA on extremely negative terms since AJ Styles started the trend in late 2013. In recent weeks, TNA has tried damage control due to recent news stories about the company, up to and including the release of details of contract negotiations between the company, AJ Styles, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson.

Mr. Anderson may have all kinds of problems. I have no clue and neither do you. But in a company that pushes top talents away, perhaps it is best to give him and not TNA the benefit of the doubt. This is the company that hired Anderson as a hot free agent only to book him in storylines that made a mess of his gimmick and killed all the momentum he had coming out of a WWE firing that seemed mostly geared towards keeping Randy Orton happy. His only main event feud for the company came against Jeff Hardy at the height of the Immortal storyline, where Jeff was known to often be in a drugged out stupor while champion.

And he had to carry around that awful purple belt as
champion. Image credit: Dennis Gates Jr.

Maybe Anderson did have an attitude problem. I would probably have one too after working for a company that did nothing to help my career for the past several years. And hey, they built his entire gimmick around him being an asshole for years. But again, we don't really know the story.

Sometimes it's best not to believe the rumors. I personally hope Mr. Anderson continues to find success as he enters the world of independent wrestling.

WWE comes Live From Madison Square Garden this weekend

WWE seems ready to continue its counter programming to other company's big weekends as just hours before Bound For Glory they will put on Live From Madison Square Garden as a WWE Network exclusive. And while the card isn't as deep as many WWE pay-per-views of late, it certainly has plenty of talent to offer a good show on a different night than WWE's usually Sunday shots.

The big match is of course the kick-off of Brock Lesnar's "Go To Hell Tour" as he takes on The Big Show. While Show has knocked off several stars to show off his power building up to the match, I don't see their battle being much more than an extended squash by Lesnar. Lesnar has moved well past the threat of even a giant and it makes no sense for him to have an extended battle with Big Show just a few days before he takes on Undertaker inside Hell in a Cell.

Wrestlemania 31 and the Art of Losing

I recently read somewhere that Triple H has the most losses at Wrestlemania, which I think currently stands at 10. If I'd have known that before Wrestlemania 31, I probably wouldn't have been so surprised by Sting's loss. One of the talents that makes Triple H a legend, one of his greatest skills, is the ability to lose strategically.

Wrestlemania 31 was the greatest wrestling pay-per-view I've ever seen. The main event match between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns was one of the most realistic matches I can recall since the days of Mick Foley. It was as rough a match as your going to get from the PG era of wrestling and it worked so well because of who lost, not who won. We all know wrestling is fake, the entertainment for us old fans is in seeing who puts over the other guy best. Wrestlers play characters, usually characters with big egos, so seeing which wrestler is going to swallow his pride and take the loss is part of the entertainment. Before I watched Wrestlemania 31, I went back and watched 30, the year of Daniel Bryan and I knew once I'd finished it that Roman Reigns was not going to win the title. Wrestlemania 30 was the year of the underdog, the chances that the WWE would repeat the same type of story the following year was very slim.
Strangely, I'd never actually seen anyone cash in a Money in the Bank case. As much as I hated the idea, I felt it was going to happen. What other possibility was there? Once Brock Lesnar announced he was going to stay with the WWE, Roman's chances went up in smoke. That's not a bad thing, a lot of people felt he wasn't ready for it, I personally think his in-ring moves need a bit of work but I genuinely like the guy. It was painful to watch him give so much of himself in his match against Brock only to lose it all in the last couple of minutes. But that is what wrestling is all about, not just the art of combat but the art of losing as well. I'm sure it was a lot easier for Brock Lesnar to lose, with his new contract locked up tight, but Roman was so close to the ultimate prize and opportunities like that, even in a sport with a fixed winner, is a rare thing. Which brings me back to Triple H and the history of losing at Wrestlemania.

Great matches are made of up two things: A winner and a loser. But it is a precarious perch to be on; win too much and you put yourself out of the game, lose too much and you lose the support of the fans. That is why every match needs to be a good story and why every match needs to be the most important match of a  wrestler's career; because you can never tell for certain when you might get another one. The reason WCW fell apart was because nobody wanted to lose, everybody joined the NWO and there was no one left to put the NWO over. Any time they had a big competition, every time two giants met in a WCW ring, somehow there was never a clear winner or loser. They would pull out every angle they could to avoid a clear 1,2,3, victory. Nobody would put anyone else over and so young talent never got a chance to develop. Vince McMahon always had the brains to think ahead and Triple H is an even better creative director than Vince because Triple H understands better than Vince how to build a champion. Vince McMahon knows how to build superstars, but he doesn't know how to maintain them over time, at least not as well as Triple H.

Which brings us to Wrestlemania 31. Every match was exceptional and in every match, a story was told. Cena finally triumphed over Rusev, Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar fought a hard match and a new Intercontinental Champion was crowned. In fact the only person who didn't shine at WM31 was Dean Ambrose, who took a bad slam through a ladder and left the six man IC title match. Nice to see Dean is back on track and fighting it out for the WWE World Championship.

Triple H holds the record for Wrestlemania losses. Big Show has never won a Wrestlemania match. Yet both men are titans of the sport, mainly because of the fact they aren't scared to take one for the team. When Triple H loses, its always in a grueling, physical competition where both men give all they have to conquer the other. Same applies to Big Show, when he is beaten it is to make his opponent look stronger, to give the other wrestler and edge and a future. If no one is willing to take a loss, then no one can win a victory. Every time Triple H lost, it was for the fans, every time any wrestler takes a loss it is for us, the viewer, the audience, the WWE universe.

Wrestlemania 31 was a grandiose spectacle that hit all the right notes and gave fans everything they asked for. The title match was one of the most entertaining matches I've ever seen and even though both Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar were forced to take a loss to Seth Rollins, they still gave it everything they had. That right there is what defines a champion. Roman's got time for another shot, so does Brock. This is Seth Rollins era and both men put him over, and continue to put him over, every week because that is the story that WWE thinks we'll enjoy the most. But here is something to think about:

What if the Triple H is setting himself and the Authority up for a loss at Payback? What if Seth Rollins has been lying this whole time and Payback sees the reformation of The Shield? If the Shield reforms and takes out Randy Orton, they will have every WWE superstar on the roster after that title. Now that would be one hell of a swerve, wouldn't it? It's been a long time since anyone screwed the people in charge, its been a long time since we saw a Stone Cold style rebellion, maybe Triple H is taking the ultimate fall to put over not one, but three superstars?

Can't wait to see what happens this Sunday at Payback.

Next week I'll be posting a Payback run-down with some thoughts on Extreme Rules and my thoughts on Daniel Bryan. Cheers!

(EDIT): I am currently pushing a social media campaign to have Daniel Bryan as the manager for the Bella Twins! Use the hashtag #maledivas and let the WWE know that even if he can't wrestle, he can still be a force in the WWE, helping his wife Brie Bella take out those damn Amazons!

FINALLY! The Raven Has Come Back to Wrestling!

WWE FASTLANE REVIEW

Okay, I know you all are wondering why my first wrestling blog post is about a pay-per-view back in February. Well it's because I've come back to wrestling after a long time away and I thought you all might like to see it the way I saw it. After this post I'll move onto Wrestlemania, until we're caught up to date with the shows. Sound good?

In February, simply out of boredom and nostalgia, I decided to check out WWE FASTLANE, the first wrestling pay-per-view I'd seen since... I don't even know. It's been at least 10 years, perhaps even more than 15, since I'd last watched wrestling. Once I'd moved out of my parent's house, I no longer could afford expensive cable packages that included wrestling, which used to be on TSN on Monday nights. In Canada a basic cable package only gives you channel 2 to 30, you have to pay extra for channels 30 to 50. I really couldn't afford it and there really wasn't anywhere to watch it online in the days before YouTube and torrents. Most of my focus at the time was on learning the ins and outs of the comic business and so wrestling became another part of my childhood I left behind for adult things.

There were only two wrestlers on the card that I recognized: John Cena and Randy Orton. Both men had started their careers right when I'd stopped watching, but I'd seen enough of them over the years to know who the both were. It was interesting to see how the two wrestlers had evolved; John Cena was no longer a rapper, but more of a Hulk Hogan-esque All-American, whereas Orton had cemented his reputation as the viper, the eternal heel, the one you can never trust and must always keep an eye on.

Here's what I knew about wrestling before I watched Fastlane: Brock Lesnar had come back a few years earlier and was probably going to leave again. Sting was set to make his appearance at his first ever WWE event. I think it was Sting's appearance that piqued my curiosity. I was never a Sting fan, but I'd been a WCW fan for many years, up until Vince Russo made himself a character on the show. I respected Sting, I knew he had a lot of in-ring talent, even if his "Crow" gimmick was a little too 90s grunge for my taste. I kind of hoped he'd return to his old look for his big WWE return, but of course the Crow look sells more merchandise. Can't argue with the coolness of a big black bird.

I am calling this the "Authority Era", the first era of pro wrestling without Vince McMahon in charge, starting with Brock Lesnar's return to the WWE and the completion of the training center. I still played the video games so I knew most of the names on the roster. I knew that the company had gone public. They now had shareholders to answer to so I had low expectations, because I knew this was a very corporate company putting out a very specific product. I count the performance center as the beginning of a new era because it radically changes the landscape of professional wrestling. We're seeing those changes now with NXT and talent like Neville, who might never have been able to showcase his talents on the road shows.

The first thing that surprised me in the new Authority Era were the beards. Beards everywhere. Sandow, Lee Harper, Bray Wyatt, Daniel Bryan, Erick Rowan, Seth Rollins... I am sure there are more. I know there was a tradition of goatees in wrestling, but very few legends of the sport were bearded. I don't count Hollywood Hogan's black paint as a beard. These bearded guys weren't c-list goons or comic relief, they were top star contenders! I guess somebody at the WWE stopped enforcing the shaving rule (although ironically many of these guys seem to have NO body hair!) Other than the legendary Macho Man Randy Savage, I can't think of any bearded champions.

Feel free to post some in the comments section if you know of any.

FASTLANE RESULTS

Seth Rollins, Big Show and Kane vs Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan. 

Obviously Ryback stands out, just the sheer size of the dude means you'll remember him. I didn't like Dolph Ziggler much, he reminded me of Billy Gunn. Big Show was the same guy I remembered, just with much less hair. It was strange to see Kane stripped of all the gimmicks, but I was impressed with his physique, he looked good considering how long he's been playing that character.

Goldust vs Stardust

Of all the matches on the card, this was the one I was most looking forward to. I'd always liked watching Goldust's antics in the ring and young Cody Rhodes had a great gimmick in the freaky Stardust. One of my favorite matches was Goldust VS Ahmed Johnson, in which Goldust sexually assaulted a big black dude so bad that the guy's reputation never recovered. I have no idea what happened to Ahmed.

What a big letdown this match was. It seemed like Stardust was barely getting started when the match was over. Goldust looked old and tired. This should have been a passing of the torch match, where the older Goldust helps put over his younger brother, but instead it was boring. A match with two guys in face paint should never be boring. There was no flash, the crowd was bored and the match failed to live up to expectations. Not surprised they dropped it soon after, although I am still waiting for Stardust to get his big push. Guys like him are needed to give the rising and falling stars someone to bounce off of. Guys like Goldust, or the Undertaker, or Bray Wyatt, are what I call "The Dues", the guys you have to beat to take that step from the b list to the big time. It took ten years for Undertaker to move up to a title bout, because he was so damn good as a "gatekeeper". This is the role Stardust needs to fill.

\

Cesaro/Kidd vs The Usos

Having just come back to wrestling, I really had no interest in this match. At least the Usos had a theme, but all I kept thinking was "both these guys look just like the Rock".

Nikki Bella vs Paige

Nice to see how the divas have evolved. No more hair-pulling and rolling around, these girls know how to wrestle! Paige looked like an albino out there, but once I learned she was English it made perfect sense. I like the Bella twins, both as a team as a singles wrestlers.

Sting Appears

Well his appearance wasn't worth the price of admission, but I guess if you are going to announce a once in a lifetime match for Wrestlemania, the pay-per-view is the place to do it. Sting looking old made me feel old.

Bad News Barrett vs Dean Ambrose

Okay,  I know NOW that Ambrose is a fan favorite, but at the time I thought someone let the road crew wrestle. He reminded me of all those greasy WCW wrestlers from Raven's Flock in the 90's. Decent enough match, no complaints, but since I didn't know either wrestler I wasn't really cheering for either of them. Nice to see an English wrestler who wasn't a "regal". You can never have too many tough guys from the UK.

So the Undertaker is coming back. Didn't realize he left. I knew Brock broke the streak, but I didn't know Brock broke the Undertaker too. Bray Wyatt didn't impress me here, it was a classic bait-and-switch, the kind that drives fans nuts. As my wife said when we watched it together the second time: "Why wheel the guy down to the ring if he isn't going to wrestle? He could have talked from the stage and the audience behind the coffin lid could see him."

Rusev vs John Cena

This was as classic, old-school wrestling match, with John Cena as the All-American and Rusev as the latest in a long line of hated European heels. John Cena's face was showing some mileage, but who isn't? Unlike those big mean Soviet machines of the bygone era, Rusev is surprisingly agile and rounded as a wrestler. I was expecting some kind of slow mean thug, not a in-ring specialist that reminded me of the Iron Sheik. It was a perfectly executed match with a surprise ending I didn't see coming. I'd love to see Rusev tackle some other opponents; Bray Wyatt or Stardust for example, maybe I missed them as Rusev rose to the top?

Roman Reigns vs Daniel Bryan

Thanks to other wrestling fans, mainly Nick's posts, I've kept up to day on some of the wrestling news of the last 15 years. I knew Roman was the new golden boy and fans hated it, and that Daniel Bryan was the fan favorite. It was an impressive match but neither competitor dominated.A wrestling match is like watching two surfers, as the big waves come in they take turns riding it and when two veteran wrestlers have a match, and they hit the waves, you get a legendary match. What Daniel Bryan and Roman are missing is the ability to ride the waves, to generate the pops as they switch roles. Both men have tremendous in-ring talent, but they need to learn how to re-up when the momentum changes; its not just about switching moves, but riding the crest of the way all the way into the beach. I was glad to see Roman win because at the time I couldn't honestly see Bryan facing a man like Lesnar. Mainly because I'd never seen Wrestlemania 30.

Overall I had a nice experience watching the pay-per-view. The next day I asked my wife is she wanted to watch Raw and I discovered that she used to be a wrestling fan, so now we watch it together. I ended up watching Fast Lane again just before Extreme Rules so she could see it, so now we've got the whole family involved!

SOME OF THE CHANGES I NOTICED

There was a lot more real contact, you can see the MMA influence in a lot of moves and holds now.

A lot less sexuality. I think this is for the better. I hated the ham-fisted way they used to use sex.

Very few gimmicks. It seemed everybody was just trying to be exaggerated versions of themselves, but other than the Rhodes brothers, there were no dentists, rabbits or roosters.

It was a nice welcome back and a nice warm up to Wrestlemania. Unfortunately like many things these days, I have to avoid the internet because people spoil shit with their rumors and complaints. I downloaded Daniel Bryan's Ring of Honor work a week or two after watching it as well as the Road To Wrestlemania documentary he did. Bryan still needs some work in-ring, but his skills are the best I've ever seen since Bret Hart and Mr. Perfect.

Come back in a week or so for the next post, where I share my first Wrestlemania experience since... well somewhere around Wrestlemania 18.