Who "won" WrestleMania weekend?

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

There were about a dozen pay-per-views and iPPV available this past weekend, from WrestleMania to Ring of Honor's "Supercard of Honor" - I believe New Japan also had an event, although I haven't been able to even look into it, let alone watch it. Lots of good wrestling across the spectrum, for pretty much any fan in any state of their fandom. Easy question: which company, in your opinion, "won" WrestleMania weekend?

Here are the choices, and feel free to add your own if I missed any smaller companies.

WWE WrestleMania XXIX
Notable matches: John Cena vs. The Rock II, Undertaker vs. CM Punk, Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar

ROH Supercard of Honor VII
Notable matches: Kevin Steen vs. Jay Briscoe, Michael Elgin vs. Jay Lethal, American Wolves vs. ReDRagon

TNA "One Night Only" X-Travaganza
Notable matches: Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe, Ultimate X 4-Way, Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn

CZW at WrestleCon
Notable matches: Masada vs. Jun Kasai, Sami Calahan vs. Brian Kendrick, Greg Excellent vs. Colt Cabana

NJPW Invasion Attack
Notable matches: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okaka, ???

 

[The Dragon Saga]

NJPW also featured Alex Shelley versus Prince Devitt in the Jr. Heavyweight Main Event for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship, it was also the most publicized match on the card which is interesting as Shelley continues going from strength-to-strength in Japan.

In-terms of personal enjoyment for me it was Supercard of Honor. Opening was pretty crap but due to Charlie Haas' retirement you felt they had to bide some time somewhere so they gave RD Evans who is one of the better mic workers on the indies a chance to speak and he failed miserably. But from the second match - Shelton Benjamin vs. Mike Bennett whose sticking with Ring of Honor it seems - the show was very good. I don't always agree with Dave Meltzer but hes spot on, Michael Elgin vs. Jay Lethal was the match of the weekend, they put on a clinic, Wolves vs. reDRagon was very good but the ending was shit.

DGUSA's Open The Ultimate Gate on Saturday was also very good despite the numerous iPPV issues Gabe had to deal with. Ricochet vs. Tozawa was awesome as was Gargano vs. Shingo but the card was poorly put together. Gabe overbooks damn near everything and the crowd live were burnt out as was I having watched three iPPV's by the time it has rolled around on Saturday night.

Obviously the winner is always going to be WrestleMania though. It's what people are in town for, its what gets the most exposure, it's the spectacle and I still attest that it was a damn good show - nothing surprising but good nonetheless. It also set-up the following nights Raw perfectly which sans The Rock was still highly enjoyable, mostly due to the crowd - gotta love Europeans, we don't sit on our hands.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

There were about a dozen pay-per-views and iPPV available this past weekend, from WrestleMania to Ring of Honor's "Supercard of Honor" - I believe New Japan also had an event, although I haven't been able to even look into it, let alone watch it. Lots of good wrestling across the spectrum, for pretty much any fan in any state of their fandom. Easy question: which company, in your opinion, "won" WrestleMania weekend?

Here are the choices, and feel free to add your own if I missed any smaller companies.

WWE WrestleMania XXIX
Notable matches: John Cena vs. The Rock II, Undertaker vs. CM Punk, Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar

ROH Supercard of Honor VII
Notable matches: Kevin Steen vs. Jay Briscoe, Michael Elgin vs. Jay Lethal, American Wolves vs. ReDRagon

TNA "One Night Only" X-Travaganza
Notable matches: Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe, Ultimate X 4-Way, Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn

CZW at WrestleCon
Notable matches: Masada vs. Jun Kasai, Sami Calahan vs. Brian Kendrick, Greg Excellent vs. Colt Cabana

NJPW Invasion Attack
Notable matches: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okaka, ???

Depends on what you mean by "winning". The primary reason why so many companies run ppvs on WM weekend is in the hopes of being able to piggy back off WM. During WM weekend, overall interest in wrestling is probably higher than it is at any other time of the year. Mainstream media is all over covering the show, which means media outlets can possibly hear about these other promotions running ppvs, thereby generating publicity & buys for their shows.

If you go by sheer star power, WrestleMania is obviously the clear winner. The X Division themed ppv was a throwaway show founded almost entirely on nostalgia that wasn't even given any hype or advertisement on TNA television. I didn't even know the show was happening during WM weekend and, in another few days, I'll have forgotten all about it, probably like most others who did bother to order it. Same with CZW I'd expect. I never order iPPV shows because they're a crap shoot, especially with Ring of Honor. You never really know if they're going to connect or not or if technical difficulties pop up right in the middle of things.

As to which show was better, I couldn't say since I haven't watched all of them. Some will say ROH did, some will say WM did, some will say that TNA did simply because their personal preference is for the companies hosting those events. WrestleMania wasn't a grand epic, but it certainly wasn't an awful show in my estimation.

However, when it comes to the bottom line, and by that I mean interest, media attention, interest from the wrestling world and, of course money, WrestleMania clearly came out on top. If the attendance figure is accurate, WM 29 is the second most attended event in WWE history, behind WM III and ahead of SummerSlam '92 by about 300 fans. I've read that WM drew somewhere in the neighborhood of $12 million at the gate and I'll be surprised if the show didn't draw somewhere in the neighborhood of at least 1 million ppv buys. Any other wrestling company in the world from TNA to ROH to New Japan to everyone else in between would be ecstatic to generate those kinds of numbers. Wrestling is a business like any other, and the goal is to make money. Whether you thought WM was good, bad or somewhere in the middle, it brought in major bank for WWE.

 

[Papa Pillman]

If it wasn't for the IPPV troubles interfering with most viewers' chance to see the historic moment of Jay Briscoe finally winning the ROH World Title, I would have easily gone with ROH. They sold out the Hammerstein, put on a very solid show, and then moved upstairs to the Grand Ballroom the next night to put on what from all reports was an excellent TV taping from the same venue that held the first ever Raw.

As it was though, ROH regressed back to their IPPV struggles and nearly ruined what should have been a great moment for its fan. While in combo WWE saved itself after producing a very disappointing and lackluster Mania by following it up with a spectacularly fun weekend making edition of Monday Night Raw. The Jersey crowd from Raw really were the "winners" of Mania weekend, preserving WWE's spot as the standout of the Mania festivities.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

What about the nacho cheese industry?

I am guessing WWE is the winner since you called it Wrestlemania weekend.

But I am sure the nacho cheese industry is putting up huge numbers this quarter.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

I haven't seen NJPW or DragonGate, because honestly I just don't have the fucking money to be buying all these shows. I do try and support the indies by not streaming or torrenting them - wouldn't matter, they're not up yet anyways.

I have watched WWE, TNA and ROH and out of those three Ring of Honor had the better match card. If you've read my WrestleMania review you probably disagree with my rating of the WWE title match, but I loved it the second time. Thought they told a fucking awesome story. Taker/Punk was probably match of the weekend for me. Trips/Brock was good, but not really a show-stealing performance.

TNA was disappointing. Some good matches later on, but nothing rose above ROH "Supercard of Honor VII". I honestly feel every match on the card was worth watching. Even some of the more convoluted things like the TV title 3-way, which was WAY too over-booked with distractions, managerial involvement, etc. Still entertaining.

For the money, ROH was the best buy. WrestleMania put on a good show, the second time I watched it. Easily the biggest spectacle.

 

[Nikeo]

Who won?

The guys that made millions, upon million, upon millions.

As someone else noted, Wrestlemania was the very reason all of these shows were in town. Who "won" is quite different from who produced the show that appeals to you and your fan demographic.

Strictly speaking, it's hard to say ROH "beat" WWE in terms of show quality. Imo. They might have appealed to you, as a fan of that style, but the bottom line will always show the VAST differences between the two companies.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

Who won?

The guys that made millions, upon million, upon millions.

As someone else noted, Wrestlemania was the very reason all of these shows were in town. Who "won" is quite different from who produced the show that appeals to you and your fan demographic.

Strictly speaking, it's hard to say ROH "beat" WWE in terms of show quality. Imo. They might have appealed to you, as a fan of that style, but the bottom line will always show the VAST differences between the two companies.

No, it's not. All your doing is saying your subjective interpretation of a word is more objective than my subjective interpretation of a word. That's why it's a thread - to have a discussion.

Personally, I don't give a damn who made the most money. Neither company's bottom dollar makes an ounce of difference to me. Doesn't effect the way I watched it, the matches, the quality of the stories being told. It literally makes zero difference. There's no debate WWE made the most money. Congrats to them. Unless you have their stock, who gives a shit? Even then, you're just trying to prove WWE's superiority by bringing up the beyond obvious point that they have more money. So? The Rock has more money than Bruno Sammartino probably ever would from all his MSG main events combined - does that make Dwayne a better wrestler? Does he "win" because he's the most loaded? No. Because that's stupid.

If you absolutely need me to break it down for you, then just assume the question was "who had the best show last weekend".

I spent four hours watching WrestleMania, and was mildly entertained by two or three matches.

I spent 3.5 hours (and $55 less) watching Ring of Honor, and was entertained by at least five matches. Not only that, but they bothered to tell an overarching story throughout the majority of the card. Their World title match had substance, because the champ has wrestled every week for almost a year, and the challenger had been around busting his ass for eleven. Well, at least WWE had ONE of those factors going for them... The ROH undercard meant something, because it was all working towards one big story. And even if they didn't, the match quality was far superior to all but two or three matches at WrestleMania. I guess you could say it was about liking a certain "style" or "method" of wrestling. But I'm NOT a huge Ring of Honor fan, and I DO watch WWE religiously, for about ten hours every week. So...I guess while my opinion that ROH put on the better show is definitely subjective, my points at least have some root in objective reasoning.

 

[ABMorales787]

Who won? Wrestlemania had the Brooklyn Bridge and Statue Of Liberty inside their venue. Kind of silly to try and argue that something else came remotely close. New Japan is Japanese (duh), CZW shouldn't even be called "wrestling", TNA's show was done purely out of contractual obligations and ROH's show blacked out during it's main event.

 

[HBsam31]

Yeah Wrestlemaina is Wrestlemania. I am sure some of the other shows were enjoyable, but the whole reason they were going on was because of Wrestlemania. It may not have been the best show from start to finish this year, but it is still The Show.

 

[ChrisHelms]

Show wise....ROH.

I haven't seen the NJPW show yet but plan on it rather soon.

Was a very historic and proud moment for me to see Briscoe get crowned.

Money wise...WWE but what a lackluster show. It harkens back to the days of Wrestlemania 15 for me and was much much worse than 27. The Taker/CM Punk match was really the only match that I would even rate 3 1/2 stars. Glad I didn't have to pay for that debacle.