WWE Wrestlemania 36 - Firefly Funhouse Match - John Cena vs Bray Wyatt
This was something like we've never seen before in wrestling. This was a moment in wrestling history that is going to be remembered for a long time to come. With this and the Taker/AJ match, wrestling likely changed forever this weekend.
But at what price?
You can't run this in front of a live crowd. You can't take this on a house show tour. You can probably do a sequel with Bray/Cena, but after that? And if random WWE midcarders thought it was hard to get over before, just wait until they try and follow this. How do you even go back to WWE wrestling, yet alone something more sports based after this? How do you even attempt to explain this?
A lot of people called this a series finale and if anything felt like a jumping the shark moment, this was definitely it. Whatever was left to expose in wrestling was exposed over these last two nights in many different ways.
Sunday, April 5, 2020
Saturday, April 4, 2020
WWE Wrestlemania 36 - Boneyard Match - AJ Styles vs The Undertaker
WWE Wrestlemania 36 - Boneyard Match - AJ Styles vs The Undertaker
I was bored and not interested by the rest of the show, but I did catch this.
I've always been a fan of wrestling matches outside of the ring. I loved the Austin/Booker T supermarket fight. I was intrigued by DDT's attempt at it in an office building and I liked some of their matches at camp sites as well. While DDT got a lot sillier with it than I would have, it's a neat concept. I've written up matches like that myself for fun.
What differed here was that it wasn't done live and really had movie-style production done for it. The match could have been done live and really wouldn't have lost anything had it been done that way, but it was done this way to cover Taker's physical issues.
I really enjoyed it. Both guys played up to their characters. They did things you would expect them to do and we probably got a better match/segment than we would have gotten live. The match/segment also was believable for the most part, atleast in a wrestling sense, minus the teleporting. I didn't see the need for that.
Already, I am seeing a lot of people call for more of these and for these to become the norm. That's a bad idea. This same match wouldn't have worked with a Dolph Ziggler or a Kofi Kingston. This match needed a really strong character/gimmick to work. The match also benefited from still being fresh. As we talked about above, there were similar things done, but, few people saw them. Everyone saw this tonight.
It was hard for me to watch this and not think this was the future of wrestling or at the very least was a lifeboat for something that declined and gotten very stale. But like anything else, the more its done, the less special it will be and the less effect it will have.
I was bored and not interested by the rest of the show, but I did catch this.
I've always been a fan of wrestling matches outside of the ring. I loved the Austin/Booker T supermarket fight. I was intrigued by DDT's attempt at it in an office building and I liked some of their matches at camp sites as well. While DDT got a lot sillier with it than I would have, it's a neat concept. I've written up matches like that myself for fun.
What differed here was that it wasn't done live and really had movie-style production done for it. The match could have been done live and really wouldn't have lost anything had it been done that way, but it was done this way to cover Taker's physical issues.
I really enjoyed it. Both guys played up to their characters. They did things you would expect them to do and we probably got a better match/segment than we would have gotten live. The match/segment also was believable for the most part, atleast in a wrestling sense, minus the teleporting. I didn't see the need for that.
Already, I am seeing a lot of people call for more of these and for these to become the norm. That's a bad idea. This same match wouldn't have worked with a Dolph Ziggler or a Kofi Kingston. This match needed a really strong character/gimmick to work. The match also benefited from still being fresh. As we talked about above, there were similar things done, but, few people saw them. Everyone saw this tonight.
It was hard for me to watch this and not think this was the future of wrestling or at the very least was a lifeboat for something that declined and gotten very stale. But like anything else, the more its done, the less special it will be and the less effect it will have.