The state of the WWE after Wrestlemania.

[Navi]

Wrestlemania is done and dusted and in the record books. Attendance was at an all time high out in San Francisco, 76k to be exact, and by all accounts the show went off without a hitch.

Now it's time for the WWE to take stock because let's face it this is the start of their new year. Now they always do a RAW in September saying it's their "Season Premiere" but it's isn't really. At Mania feuds get resolved, new stars are created and story lines begin. So what do we have going forward into this new year.

Seth Rollins, finally got to cash in that horrible gaudy suitcase and emerged the WWE Champion. In a match that was supposed to see Brock Lesnar drop the title to Roman Reigns, Rollins again stabbed his former Shield brother in the back and stole the title out from underneath him. Rollins rise from the high flyer of the Shield, to the best chickenshit heel on the roster today has been nothing short of amazing. As long as they keep booking him, which has been perfect so far, he'll have a good reign and I can't wait for Lesnar to get his hands on him again.

John Cena the new US Champ. Now I wasn't a fan of giving Cena a mid card title, simply because he's not a mid card player. This guy has carried the WWE on his back for the last 10 years, and is a 15 time World Champion, but to my surprise he has done a good job so far. I love the way he is throwing out these open challenges, and giving wrestlers who normally wouldn't, a chance to get into the ring with him. All he really has to do is keep making this title relevant so when he finally drops it, it will mean something again.

Daniel Bryan, IC Title. Again I was pissed when he won. Mainly cause I wanted Ambrose too, but that's another story for another time. Now though I understand why he has the title, and if he performs the same duties as Cena does, both mid card titles should again become relevant. Plus it eliminates the bottleneck of main event challengers that are waiting to get their hands on Rollins.

Diva's Title - Nikki Bella. Now normally I don't even watch the Bella's cause their crap. But she's had a good run as a heel with it, I'll give her that. With AJ Lee suddenly announcing her retirement though, it leaves one hell of a hole in the division. Paige and Nattie are going to be the ones who will have to hold it together wrestling wise. Naomi just isn't there yet, and she's been thrown in with her husband and his brother so much, it's hard to take her seriously right now. I think with AJ leaving they will call up Charlotte and maybe Sasha Banks sooner rather than later. Hopefully they will stay off that Total Diva's show when they do get up to the main roster.

Cesaro and Kidd, Tag Team Titles. This is a team that is getting over in spite of themselves. I put it down to the fact that the rest of the division sucks so much. New Day is just terrible, The Ascension - well God only knows what happened to them and Los Matadores, comedy act, not. Thank goodness the Lucha Dragons are there, but they need more to keep this division going. It's the weakest I've seen it in years.

So after the horrible build to Wrestlemania, things have worked out pretty well for the WWE. The Network is cruising along, doesn't have as many subscribers as they want, but maybe if they deliver a better product going forward they might get more traffic. The champions that were crowned at Mania are getting the right reaction from the fans, and what more can you ask for. They have a great group of wrestlers just waiting to come up from NXT that will only make the roster that much better. I was a bit worried about the WWE before Mania, but I think they made the right decisions and am looking forward to see what happens this year. Thoughts?

 

[Soulblazed]

Yea, Navi, the state of WWE post-Wrestlemania 31 is gonna be interesting...I was at Wrestlemania 31 which was held in Santa Clara(it's a city roughly 50 miles south of San Francisco) and I also didn't want Cena to beat Rusev..Despite the fact that I was up in the nosebleeds, it was fun yelling phrases out in Russian to encourage Rusev, so that he'd beat Cena and get shitloads of heat..I'm still surprised that WWE didn't bring Nikolai Volkoff out with Lana and Rusev to carry the Russian flag into the ring and also to sing the Russian national anthem before the US Title match started..The crowd would've reviled them for that!! All in all, it was one of the best Wrestlemanias yet that I've been to.

Though I do agree with you about Cena helping to turn the US Title into something respectable again..I'll give him credit on that, so we'll see where Cena's "American Crusade" leads to in the end.

Far as Bryan winning the IC Title and pretty much doing what Cena's doing with the US Title, like I said with Cena, it'll be interesting to see where this ends up. I just hope the booking's consistent(obviously that's asking for a helluva lot, being that it's "WWE Creative" I'm placing my faith in) but it could always lead to something really great.

I was dumbfounded that the Diva's Title wasn't even on the line at Wrestlemania 31, though..I mean, they could've booked it either as a Fatal 4 way match for the title or kept it as a tag match, but if Paige/AJ pin Nikki, they win not only the match but the Diva's Title as well. At least that would've meant something..Oh well..

As I already stated in the tag team thread, I definitely agree with you about the tag team division or lack of one. It's long overdue for real tag teams to return to the WWE..Only time'll tell if that'll happen at all this year but I'll stay optimistic.

Though, speaking of the wrestler in your sig, I see really good things happening for Ambrose in 2015..He could revive his Rollins feud, or if not that, have great matches against Bryan, Barrett, Ziggler, Sheamus, etc..Hell, maybe even Ambrose and Cena could have some type of feud going on later this year..I'd definitely like to see that, seeing as how Ambrose and Cena had a really good US Title match on the Raw after Wrestlemania 31, maybe WWE could reprise that.

Far as Lesnar goes, my feeling is that he'll return just before Summerslam, possibly beating Rollins in a WWE Title rematch. As much shit as Lesnar gets from fans, I've been a fan of his since 2002 and I'm glad he'll be sticking around for a few more years.

 

[kumarjtk]

after this year wm wwe officially move onto next gen stars. they build Rollins as their top heel. at extreme rules randy put over Rollins. roman definitely their next face. wwe has lots of young wrestlers waiting at nxt wwe has bright future.

 

[Max Headroom]

The state of WWE right before & right after WM is quite a thing to behold. Leading up to WM, including the final RAW, everyone was quite disappointed it seemed. The build was horrendous for the vast majority of the show, and everyone expected WM to bomb, yet it *greatly* exceeded most peoples expectations. The RAW the next day was another spectacle. Probably better than the four RAWS leading up to WM combined. Great wrestling matches, debuts of Neville & The LuchaDragons, new champions all around for the most part. All they have to do now is keep it up.

Rollins is great at being a cowardly heel, whom also can do some damage if need be. He should keep the title for a while, constantly finding ways to keep a hold on it, no matter who he faces. On that note, both Bryan and Cena should also keep their titles for a while. None of these three guys should lose a match (via pin/submission) at all until at least SummerSlam.

The tag and divas divisions seem to be attempting something, too. Cesaro/Kidd are doing great as a team, and with the LuchaDragons making it on the scene, they'll finally have a good new tag team to face. Hopefully some more good, legitimate tag teams make their way up in the near future. As for the women, it seems AJ leaving threw a slight wrench into things, but they can rebound. Paige is still great, and they do have the ability to call up NXT women, provided they treat them properly. As for Naomi, I can't get behind her until she frigs off with the arse-to-face as a finisher. Give her some sick kick or something.

It really does seem like WM was the indication that the future is now. Hell, the "future" is holding the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. We have the most over face, and THE face, holding the two mid-card championships as well, which just makes everything seem more important. They also seemed to be more wrestling heavy on RAW since WM ended. Hopefully they can keep all of this up.

 

[Mustang Sally]

They have a great group of wrestlers just waiting to come up from NXT that will only make the roster that much better.

This past Monday, when Seth Rollins was ordered to fight a match and Neville stepped onstage, I wondered what the company could possibly be up to. Plainly, Neville is going to be something special, so I figured he couldn't lose this early in his WWE tenure. Isn't it the way of the company for guys getting a push to never freakin' lose until they reach main event status? Isn't that the way they handled the undefeated streak of Rusev, which went on so long that many folks on this forum were complaining that losing to John Cena (of all people) would cancel Rusev's push?

At the same time, you knew Seth Rollins wasn't going to be cleanly defeated by a rookie, right? I thought it was inspired to have Neville lose cleanly.... with minimal interference from J & J Security....because I still believe Neville will be heavily pushed. It's an indication WWE is willing to handle some things differently than in the past.....which is exciting to see.

Of course, the other big change going forward is having main event performers holding midcard titles. I think Cena and Bryan will definitely raise the status of those belts to where they were in the past. Hopefully, by the time John & Danny are ready to vacate the belts, being the IC or US champion will be worth greater esteem than in many years.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I agree in general, though this isn't the weakest I've seen the tag team division, not by a long shot. Hell, it's only been within the past few years that WWE has really even had anything you could call a tag team division. It's not as strong as it was about this time last year, but it's been FAR weaker than it is now.

Cena & Bryan are the two best choices for the mid-card title picture when it comes to elevating the titles. As I've said in the past, if there's one man in WWE who will not be booked to look like a chump when he's carrying a strap, it's John Cena. Daniel Bryan's the most universally over babyface WWE has had in a very long time and given the sorry state that's comprised the existence of the Intercontinental Championship over the past couple of years, that popularity and interest from fans makes him the best choice to bring some glory back to it. It all depends on the booking, of course, but I think even Vince has to realize that even if he doesn't want Bryan as the "face" of WWE, he's still FAR too valuable of a commodity to waste.

As for the Divas Championship, I think Nikki's been a good heel champion overall. That might not be saying much considering the overall history of Diva relevance and that WWE has had the Divas playing a couple of snobbish, mean high school girls for most of their time as heels. But, I have to give Nikki & Brie credit for the improvements they've both shown inside the ring since their return to the company.

Rollins as WWE WHC due to cashing in at WrestleMania immediately generated buzz and there's nobody who can genuinely say that Rollins doesn't the ability, experience, personality, etc. Orton as a first opponent works for me as Rollins needs someone with a lot of credibility for his first title defense.

The debuts of the Lucha Dragons and Neville have been well received. Even though it's only been a few weeks, fans are really responding to Kalisto's high energy style and Neville looked like a star last Monday against Seth Rollins. If anything, he got a better response last Monday than he did from the post WrestleMania crowd.

There are still some problems but, all in all, WWE looks much healthier in the post WrestleMania season than it did heading into and during WrestleMania season itself in my eyes.