goodhelmet

Daniel Bryan vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Luke Harper vs. R Truth vs. Stardust vs. Wade Barrett - Early on, fun dive sequence - Fun ladder spots but nothing we haven’t seen before - It never gets old but it looks nasty… the powerbomb through the ringside ladder - Holy fuck… headbutt battle!!!!! - Greatest final 20 seconds in ladder match history

I don't mind Big Show getting the lifetime achievement award but the crowd was hot for Mizdow. I guess we can settle for him throwing out Miz. Once Mark Henry was out, I didn't care anymore.

4 Way Fatal Four Tag Team Title match - Man complete spotfest that reminded me of one of the good ROH scramble matches. It was fun, action packed, got the crowd into it and never slowed down. Plus, Cesaro & Kidd were over huge for the not-full crowd. Thumbs up so far.

Charles makes a great point. It doesn't matter if you had a hot, young heel. You still don't beat him. You beat him when the ticket and merch sales are dying, not when they are at their peak. The loss combined with the finger poke was a one two combo of suck.

This sounds fascinating. I expect a full report after the show to hear all of the "interesting" interactions.

Which 12? I counted 2. The two Michaels matches. And the second one was a commercial disappointment according to Meltzer. Maybe the Edge match but was that really a one man focus when Floyd Freaking Mayweather was on the card? The Atlanta show you went to was all about the Rock hosting the show. Hell, Lawler vs. Cole seemed more relevant. The next two were all about Rock vs. Cena. Last year was all about Daniel Bryan. The Batista match was great but was that a one man show when you have WWE's Mr. Mania going against Cena????

is here. Consider this the live thread for Mania. No predictions, nitpicking at booking (we have plenty of threads for that) or arguing semantics until we get to the show proper. For now, what are you guys doing today leading up to the show? I'm mowing my lawn, shopping for groceries, doing the dishes and grading papers i.e. just a normal Sunday. Still, after doing 8 freaking podcasts this week, I have built myself up to get excited about the show. I think the awesome Hall of Fame helped my enthusiasm. Pre-show: Andre the Giant Battle Royal Cesaro & Kidd vs. The Usos vs. The Matadores vs. New Day (Tag Titles) Show Proper: Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper vs. Wade Barrett vs. R-Truth vs. Stardust (Ladder match for the Intercontinental Title) AJ Lee & Paige vs. The Bella Twins John Cena vs. Rusev (US Title) Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton Bray Wyatt vs. Undertaker Sting vs. HHH Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns

That said, if we are taking everything into account I have to go with John Cena. The knock on him is that a lot of his big matches at Mania weren't good, and in many cases weren't even positioned that well on the cards. Having said that John Cena's became the most important "wrestler" in modern wrestling history and so central to WrestleMania that it was almost an impediment. There is a reason his Rock matches were such a massive success. Going further still I think Cena's rise as the man is to a large degree the reason we have the current Mania model (large stadium shows, built around matches involving part time "attractions"). We can argue about whether or not that is a good thing, and correlation isn't causation, but I don't think the changes starting right around the time he became champ are a coincidence.

From Parv's link, here are some examples of wins and losses meaning something... Goldberg vs. Nash HHH vs. Booker T Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe (TNA) Vader vs. HBK Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior Bob Backlund vs. Diesel CM Punk vs. Randy Orton feud Steve Austin vs. Big Show Ricky Steamboat vs. Honkytonk Man Lex Luger vs. Yokozuna Lex Luger vs. Barry Windham GAB 91 Road Warriors vs. Arn & Tully Daniel Bryan vs. John Cena (Summerslam) + Randy Orton cash in

Yeah, I think enough time has passed that the statute of limitations has expired on that thread. Shocking to see Parv dropping the old threads when I am used to jdw doing that gimmick

Me, Scott and Johnny Sorrow react to the Hall of Fame. http://placetobenation.com/2015-hall-of-fame-reaction-show/

Not under the Good Will banner but a killer show to reflect on the HoF last night and kill time before Mania. Me, Scott and Johnny Sorrow react to the Hall of Fame. http://placetobenation.com/2015-hall-of-fame-reaction-show/

After shoe's problems on KOTI NIght One, combined with the over-pricing for day-of shows, I passed on all of the products. I had planned on picking up one or two of the shows to kill time (and maybe do a podcast reaction or two) but I don't want to watch a VOD later. My schedule this weekend absolutely prevented me from watching a complete show on time. Bummer.

These are the names we examined during the show just in case there was a dark horse candidate.... Hulk Hogan Shawn Michaels John Cena Undertaker Steve Austin HHH Kurt Angle Chris Jericho Randy Savage The Rock Edge Randy Orton CM Punk Bret Hart Kane Big Show

In case anyone can't get enough Mania predictions, this is the GWW podcast we did on the topic... http://placetobenation.com/good-will-wrestling-wrestlemania-31-preview/

After the recent dust-up from the Main Event podcast this past week, do wins and losses matter to you? Should it matter if a guy eats pinfalls? I'd love to hear the explanations from you guys on why they do or don't matter. I was originally going to create a poll but thought that the answers wouldn't be as simple as yes or no.

OK, the podcasts this week have inspired me to create some discussion threads. It will also help us kill time waiting and anticipating the big show) One of the topics we discussed was Mr. WrestleMania (http://placetobenation.com/good-will-wrestling-mister-wrestlemania) In your mind, who is Mr. wrestleMania? Is it HBK like the WWE would have you believe? Is it somebody like Cena who has broken records over recent years? Is it Hogan for paving the way? Is it Savage for having classic moments? Have fun!

Nah, I'll talk wrestling with that guy again. If people didn't know Phil Schneider around these parts, there would be negative reactions to his approach as well. He gets a pass because most of us have grown up around Phil. Aubrey comes from another part of the pro wrestling fandom machine and most of us don't bother to see how the other half lives, so to speak. Having said that.... in addition to the Mai nEvent show, there are 7 shows for you to dig into .... The WrestleMania Dream Card with Steven and Pete The Bad Booking Decisions Part 1 & 2 with Pete, Johnny P and Dave Musgrave WrestleMania vs. Starrcade with Kris, Pete and Parv Wrestlemania Preview Show with Pete, Kris and Johnny Mr. WrestleMania with Johnny Sorrow and Matt Denton 2015 Hall of Fame Reaction Show with Johnny Sorrow and Scott C (coming soon) I hope everyone enjoyed listening to the Mania Week pods as much as I had making them.

We will have one more show with Scott and Johnny sorrow coming tomorrow.

Agreed. this one has been the best HoF I have seen so far. Everything has been on point.

My stream froze up... did they let the little brother speak?

OK... I thought DB was about to shit on the fans for cheering him.

Shit, Madusa may have the best speech in HOF history,

That was awesome. I was driving when that happened or I would have made the exact same post.

I talked to Justin about this the other day when the shit was going down. There are wrestling fans and there are WWE fans. I don't root for promotions anymore.