Jimmy Redman

I think in comparing it to Bryan, it's worth noting that Bryan initially got over with the casual audience (to call them that) by being booked quite strongly in mid-2013, being the first guy to beat the Shield, submitting Orton on Raw and then pinning Cena clean at Summerslam to win the title. It was only after that that the 'he's being held down" stuff began, after it was established that it wasn't his fault, not only to smarky smarks but also to the parts of the crowd that wouldn't have bought him on that level otherwise. You debut AJ and right out of the gate he's looking inferior to Jericho and losing at Mania, and you're telling all of the people who don't already love AJ - the casual section - that he's just another guy in the midcard. The meta burial push doesn't work unless you push them properly first, because without showing that he's special and worthy of the push he's being denied, those people just see him as some guy who can't win and don't see the big deal about him. And it's those people you have to get onside. Smarks already love AJ, and we'll be away from Mania crowds next week. Booking has never been more ass backwards, and there's merit in the idea that pushing someone too strongly cools them off, but at the same time, you can't pretend like it doesn't matter completely. AJ would look like more of a title contender if he was winning, and not losing, major grudge matches at Wrestlemania.

Should have fit "SNAPSHOT OF OUR WRESTLING VIEWING AS IT IS IN 2016" on there.

Tell me about it!

I guess Arn. He just seems like the most universal non-#1 candidate.

Well, it's been a fun weekend guys. The main thing I've enjoyed more than anything else was the crowds. Mania weekend crowds are great. NOT because of a smarky, "let's watch them hijack the show!" kind of rebellious thing. I mean I've felt that at times, we all have, but the hijacking is really the least interesting and cool part of it. (And subsequent crowds have tried to ape the original Mania crowds by taking the most surface level part - the hijacking and "J-B-L!" type chants - and running it into the ground, without understanding everything else that went into making it special. Just like indy geeks aping AJPW by throwing bomb after bomb.) The best part about these crowds is simply that they care. They really, really, REALLY care. Not always, and not always for the guys that WWE wants them to care about. But the things that they do care about...they really, truly care. And for WWE crowds, it's so damn refreshing. I think my favourite single moment of the entire weekend was Sasha Banks' entrance. Not because of the song or Snoop Dogg or Eddie or whatever else, but for the POP when she came out. The insane, passionate, superstar-level pop. And the look on her face when she heard it. You could sort of tell by the look on her face, even as she was in character, that she was blown away and was thinking about how her dreams had come true and how she's never been as high as she was right then. I loved that. I could watch her come out at Mania a thousand times and never get bored of feeling that. It's like that. My second most emotional moment of the entire weekend was Sami Zayn's entrance. Both at Mania and Raw. People EXPLODED for him. And hundreds of thousands of people were singing along to every note of his theme tune. It doesn't even have words, but people sang along to every single note. El Generico getting 100,000 people to sing along to his music unprompted at Wrestlemania. Yes fucking please. That kind of response for someone who both deserves it and appreciates it is awesome to watch. To experience. In a weird way it's like we're experiencing it with them. It creates a connection between us and the wrestlers, an intangible bond of mutual appreciation. For all of the dead crowds, indifferent crowds, for all of the apathy brought upon by WWE's shitty booking and oversaturation and endless meaningless TV matches and their insistence on not pushing anyone new properly...here are 100,000 people who just fucking love you to death. Who will cheer their hearts out for you. Who will create the backdrop for the Wrestlemania Moment that you can treasure for the rest of your life. Zack Ryder has been dudded over again and again for years now. But when he's 60 years old looking back on his career, he can think about the moment when he won the IC TItle in a ladder match at the biggest Wrestlemania ever and 100,000 people went absolutely bonkers for him. He'll always have that. No matter what Sasha Banks accomplishes from here on out, she will always have the memory of walking out for her first Mania and hearing that fucking pop. No matter if Sami Zayn ends up swallowed by the midcard abyss or not, he will always have the memory of walking out at his first Wrestlemania and hearing that fucking pop. Hearing them all sing his song. No matter what Enzo and Cass end up doing, they will always have the memory of debuting on Raw and the people going fucking apeshit and chanting along to every fucking word. I'm getting a bit preachy and WWEish now but my point isn't to commend WWE at all. I'm just thinking about the wrestlers. They must love these crowds, not because they're all smarky and cute, but because if they're one of the lucky ones whom they truly care about (and oftentimes they're the ones that might not be cared about by other crowds, through no fault of their own) they will get reactions that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. And for me, it's really fucking awesome to watch.

No way Bret is one of those guys.

Thought that went without saying really.

I also don't mind them moving onto Charlotte vs Nattie as a "first defense" feud. Give Sasha (and Becky I guess, but mainly Sasha) another feud where she can get some wins and look good, and maybe build her back up for Charlotte vs Sasha in Brooklyn or something. In Brooklyn Sasha wins the belt and Bayley gets her call up. Sasha defends against Charlotte, Becky, Emma, whoever is around. Bayley is Bayley against whatever mean girls are around. In the new year Bayley becomes the #1 contender and Sasha turns heel like a motherfucker on her, Sasha vs Bayley for the title at WM33, Bayley wins, confetti flies, girls cry, men hug each other, snowflakes rain down, peace on earth, love is eternal. Give me the book Vince.

All of that. Still, super fun match. Cesaro rules. The endless uppercuts were awesome.

In 15 seconds of AJ vs Cesaro AJ looked more like AJ Styles than he has in this entire Jericho feud. Fuck Jericho is slow. And bad. Perfectly happy to let Jericho face Roman if it means we get AJ vs Cesaro on PPV.

CESARO~!!!

Please be Cena hahaha!

Unless the mystery guy is someone nuts, the crowd is going to kill this match chanting for Sami. Really bad to tease him in the match and take him away in front of this kind of crowd.

YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS GAGA!

I'm glad they looked at Mania and thought "Damn, you know what we didn't do enough? Put old guys over the current roster!"

Nakamura chants and the Gable and Jordan song. Fun times.

Becky done got fucked up last night. Wonder when. I love how the crowd being too excited about women's wrestling ended up ruining a segment meant to trumpet women's wrestling. Charlotte kind of got it together in the end there, but she's still rough around the edges. Seeing her slowly get it from week to week is actually really enjoyable. I missed that vignette, was that the Colons coming back?

MARYSE~!!!!!!

Shane is higher though, so Shane is the better wrestler!!!!! Shut up shut up! And yeah, Kofi Kingston being the 558th best wrestler in the world sounds oddly right for this board.

I honestly think it's just that they don't give a shit about Zack. Him winning the title was a nice moment, but the next day when it involves Zack being on TV, cutting promos and defending the IC Title... God love him, but this came from absolutely nowhere as a pure Lifetime Achievement Award thing. Whether he makes it out of this match or not, it's not going to last much longer.

I feel at least a little better that Shane only got one vote. And less votes than Vince.

Holy shit. Nobody cares about Zack even for one day. OK spoke too soon. They're being nice.

My mother: "Why are they booing Roman? I've never heard him get booed before!" Ho boy. I use my mother as the casual fan barometer to see what gets through or not. She couldn't tell that he got booed last night because they muted the crowd so much. So I guess they've semi-successfully hid the backlash from a certain section. Until now.

Now Corbin, there's a guy who really didn't need a call up. He comes off a lot better as the big fish in a small pond doing an indy-hating gimmick, than he will being a tall skinny-fat guy in the land of monsters without that same hook.

Beautiful.