Wrestlemania 31- Pointless?

[The Samoan Heritage]

So here's a review of Wrestlemania 31: With the matches and Outcomes (w/= winner)
1. Andre The Giant Battle Royal - w/Big Show
2. IC championship ladder match - w/Daniel Bryan
3. Randy Orton vs Seth Rollins - w/Orton
4. AJ & Paige vs The Bellas - w/AJ & Paige
5. John Cena vs Rusev - w/John Cena
6. Undertaker vs Bray Wyatt - w/Undertaker
7. Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar - w/Seth Rollins due to MITB cash in
8. Sting vs Triple H - w/ Triple H

So something has been bothering me for a while now when it comes to Wrestlemania 31.
WM 31 out did everyone's expectations which wasn't hard considering most went into it with low expectations to begin with. But what I don't understand is how wwe has basically treated it as if it were just another PPV.
Couple examples:
-Big Show won the ATGBR and it was mention for maybe 3 Raws and that's it. I would have love to have seen Show gloat about being the best Giant in History only for a new giant(Harper?) to come out and protest. OR BETTER YET SOMEONE YOUNG SHOULDVE WON IN THE FIRST PLACE.
-Wyatt faced Undertaker and hasn't done anything of importance since. Honestly I don't even remember a promo by Wyatt on what happen at WM 31.
- Triple H beat Sting- with no mention of Sting since and no mention of why the interference from the other DX and NWO members.
-Bryan(IC title) - this one I wouldn't put completely on wwe because its something that is out of their control. But...then again Wwe had to know Bryan wasn't 100% ready enough to be in a ladder match. And be the fighting champion that they wanted him to be as IC champion.
-AJ Lee's final match -No mention of AJ. And wwe made Paige fight for a title shot in a Battle Royal even though she should've been given one since her and AJ beat the Bellas at WM 31.

The only continuation we got from WM 31 was Cena as U.S champion (and the Rusev feud) and the Wwe World Heavyweight championship scene. Were Orton was given a chance at Rollins because he beat him at WM and Reigns was given a chance because he was screwed at WM.


So what are your thought? Do you think Wwe could've handled the backlash of WM a lot more? Or do you think Wwe has handled it very well so far?

 

[King Patrick Star]

I agree with you for the most part. The “Backlash” (pun intended) should have been a portrayed better at Extreme Rules, but in this day and age, it just isn’t anymore. Usually, or should I say, a few years back, the Pay Per View that followed WrestleMania were usually rematches with added stipulations. I understand why the WWE did what they did, but I do agree that things should have been done differently.

My Extreme Rules 2015 card would have been this.

Over The Top Challenge match (you have to throw your opponent over the top rope to win)
Big Show vs. Damien Mizdow

Tornado Tag Team match
The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt and Eric Rowan) vs. The Corporate Brothers Of Destruction (Corporate Undertaker and Corporate Kane)

8-Man No Disqualification Tag Team match (after the match recreate the MSG incident with all 10 Legends)
D-Generation X (Triple H, X-Pac, Road Dogg Jesse James, and Bad @$$ Billy Gunn) with Shawn Michaels vs. New World Order (Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sting (in nWo Wolfpac attire)) with Ric Flair

Diavs Championship Triple Threat Title match
Nikki Bella vs. Brie Bella vs. Paige

WWE World Tag Team Championship Turmoil Title match
The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Big E) with Xavier Woods vs. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro with Natalya vs. Los Matadores (Diego and Fernando) with El Torito vs. The Usos (Jimmy and Jey) with Naomi

United States Championship Russian Chain Title match
John Cena vs. Rusev with Lana

Intercontinental Championship Ladder Title match (if Daniel Bryan had just forfeited the Intercontinental Championship Title before Extreme Rules)
R-Truth vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Bad News Barrett vs. Luke Harper vs. Stardust

WWE World Heavyweight Championship Fatal Four Way Title match
Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton

Now that’s a WrestleMania Fallout card!!

 

[FlairFan2003]

Not sure what the plan is for Sting.....it would make sense with this year's Mania basically being about HHH & Company asserting their dominance, Rollins stealing the World Title, beating Sting, and both defeating and suspending Lesnar, if Sting re emerged sometime this summer to cause problems, leading to Lesnar's return which one assumes will be for SummerSlam, especially with the return of D. Bryan being so short & anti climatic due to his most recent injury. We'll see

I think they have kept Wyatt mum so as not to take away from Taker's win....also, when he does re emerge in top level program (which should be soon with S-Slam ramp up about to begin) he'll be a bit removed from his failure vs Taker and fresh.

Bryan's injury obviously ruined what were major plans to bring both his character and the IC Title back to prominence. That isn't a WWE storytelling problem, it's a D. Bryan problem.

Cena-Russev has continued and Russev has had some great TV moments and more PPV bouts vs Cena, who in between has been a high profile US Champion. This one definitely has had implications (positive) for WWE going forward.

Even if Sting never re appears (and I hope he does, he should get a re match with HHH and beat him, preferably at the July PPV with Lesnar's reinstatement on the line) you can still bring back Lesnar and continue the Authority Conquers Storyline that basically was the theme of this Mania.

As for the rest, honestly they were filler matches to begin with, most big shows have a handful of top tier matches that either are settled once & for all or lead to new, long term storylines moving forward, the rest are time fillers and stop gaps. At least Big Show, who has been horribly booked the last few years, got a nice win.

 

[Navi]

So here's a review of Wrestlemania 31: With the matches and Outcomes (w/= winner)
1. Andre The Giant Battle Royal - w/Big Show
2. IC championship ladder match - w/Daniel Bryan
3. Randy Orton vs Seth Rollins - w/Orton
4. AJ & Paige vs The Bellas - w/AJ & Paige
5. John Cena vs Rusev - w/John Cena
6. Undertaker vs Bray Wyatt - w/Undertaker
7. Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar - w/Seth Rollins due to MITB cash in
8. Sting vs Triple H - w/ Triple H

In all fairness to the WWE, a few things have happened that they couldn't have foreseen. They didn't know that it was going to be AJ's last match, her retirement was announced later. And that the injury to Bryan would flare up again causing him to have to give up the IC title.

So in saying that we'll take your points one at a time.

1. The Andre the Giant Battle Royal is meaningless, just ask Cesaro. It's a way to get the rest of the roster on stage and get a Mania paycheck. The trophy doesn't carry a title shot opportunity, just bragging rights. No one wants bragging rights to a trophy that means nothing, so that's why we never hear about it again. No one really cares who wins.

2. The IC title has already been explained. Bryan won, got re-injured and now Ryback holds it. Maybe he'll be able to add the same prestige that Cena is managing to do with the US title.

3. Orton and Rollins had an axe to grind with each other, and it was a decent match. I didn't expect a long feud between the two of them anyway.

4. No one knew AJ would retire right afterwards. I believe I read somewhere they were planning a heel turn for her, but with her leaving it went to Naomi instead. Paige going to film a movie didn't help the division either. They desperately need some call ups from NXT to round it out.

5. Cena's going strong with the US title, and will drop it when he needs too. The open challenge is working very well right now. Unfortunately Rusev is injured but hopefully they will have something for him when he returns as well. I'm surprised this feud went over 3 PPV's. To me it was 1 PPV too long.

6. Yea I don't get why this even happened at all. My only guess is that Wyatt needed a feud and he wanted Taker's place. He basically built the feud up by himself and while I kind of expected Taker to win, I did expect something else afterwards. But with all Wyatt feuds, it's a big fat zero.

7. Lesnar is due back soon, Rollins still has the title, and Reigns in the hunt for it. So this has worked out well for everyone. Throw Ambrose into the mix and it's a bonus all round.

8 I didn't expect to see much of Sting, but yea not even bothering to mention him is a bit strange. Mind you if they did mention him he would have to make an appearance, no? I have no idea what they have planned for him in the future, I guess we'll find out.

I wouldn't say that Mania was pointless, it usually never is. We've got a couple of good things still happening, but when you bring in part timers like Taker and Sting, what do you expect? Those feuds will never last past Mania but they need to put asses in the seats, and these guys draw.

 

[AustinHartLesnarHBKTaz80]

I dont know what the OP is complaining about, but i was at WM 31 and it was one of THE greatest events in pro wrestling history.

The suprise appearances from the NWO, DX, The Rock, Rhonda Rousey----HOLY S*** i thought my head was gonna explode! WOW.

Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns was easily one of the best WM main events of all time. So glad to have witnessed that match live. WOW. Just WOW.

Obviously, the biggest takeaway from the event was the historic MITB cash in by Seth Rollins becoming the new WWE champion.

Rollins as champion will be the main storytelling focal point throughout this summer, and headline many PPVs this year-----so NO, this was not a pointless event. Come on bro.

 

[The Samoan Heritage]

I wouldn't say that Mania was pointless, it usually never is. We've got a couple of good things still happening, but when you bring in part timers like Taker and Sting, what do you expect? Those feuds will never last past Mania but they need to put asses in the seats, and these guys draw.

I wouldn't say WM was completely pointless, it was a lack of a better word at the time. But I did expect a better aftermatch.
I know when Taker's involved in a feud there's little wwe can do now but I expected Wyatt to mention WM at least once. Also I expected Wyatt to start being used better after single handidly building a feud with Taker. (and not mostly being M.I.A for the past couple months)
Sting- I just don't understand...But now that I think about it, I guess the hand shake was wwe ending things between Sting and Triple H. But wwe not explaining the hand shake and not mentioning Sting since just seemed odd.

 

[Navi]

I wouldn't say WM was completely pointless, it was a lack of a better word at the time. But I did expect a better aftermatch.
I know when Taker's involved in a feud there's little wwe can do now but I expected Wyatt to mention WM at least once. Also I expected Wyatt to start being used better after single handidly building a feud with Taker. (and not mostly being M.I.A for the past couple months)
Sting- I just don't understand...But now that I think about it, I guess the hand shake was wwe ending things between Sting and Triple H. But wwe not explaining the hand shake and not mentioning Sting since just seemed odd.

I think we all expect different things from Mania. With the retirement of AJ, Bryan's injury all unexpected and the use of part timers, I'm not surprised.

Not a fan of Wyatt's at all, but even I can see they have just nothing for this guy to do. Sting will pop his head up soon enough.

 

[The Samoan Heritage]

I dont know what the OP is complaining about, but i was at WM 31 and it was one of THE greatest events in pro wrestling history.

The suprise appearances from the NWO, DX, The Rock, Rhonda Rousey----HOLY S*** i thought my head was gonna explode! WOW.

Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns was easily one of the best WM main events of all time. So glad to have witnessed that match live. WOW. Just WOW.

Obviously, the biggest takeaway from the event was the historic MITB cash in by Seth Rollins becoming the new WWE champion.

Rollins as champion will be the main storytelling focal point throughout this summer, and headline many PPVs this year-----so NO, this was not a pointless event. Come on bro.

Im not complaining about Wrestlemania itself. I actually enjoyed Wrestlemania and was one of the few that was intrigued by the main event of Reigns vs Lesnar happening. What I'm basically saying is that the past couple of months has made Wrestlemania 31 ???forgettable??? Besides from the U.S championship and Main Event.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

I can see where you are coming from. The show itself was very good despite a very crap build, but the only truly lasting effect from the biggest show of the year is that Rollins is still champ.

Cena is still US champ, but his battle with Rusev is over, and it remains to be seen if the US Open Challenge will continue during his feud with Owens. So there is that still hanging around, sort of.

Taker/Bray did nothing for either man.

Triple H/Sting did nothing, though in fairness I'm not sure what long term ramifications this match could have had.

Unfortunately for Bryan he was injured and they were never able to capitalize on his momentum.

So yeah, I can definitely see where you are coming from. You expect the biggest show of the year to have a few more long lasting ramifications.

 

[Headman]

Wrestllemania is the blow off not the build. That's the short answer. Of course there are some feuds continued, but the reality is that WM doesn't set up the events of the year, the events of the year set up Wrestlemania. If Seth Rollins lost the title the very next night it still wouldn't be pointless because they got the Wrestlemania moment they were going for. Now if WM31 was a stinker of a show and lost a ton of money yeah, maybe it would be a waste of time. But that was not the case.

 

[d_henderson1810]

So here's a review of Wrestlemania 31: With the matches and Outcomes (w/= winner)
1. Andre The Giant Battle Royal - w/Big Show
2. IC championship ladder match - w/Daniel Bryan
3. Randy Orton vs Seth Rollins - w/Orton
4. AJ & Paige vs The Bellas - w/AJ & Paige
5. John Cena vs Rusev - w/John Cena
6. Undertaker vs Bray Wyatt - w/Undertaker
7. Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar - w/Seth Rollins due to MITB cash in
8. Sting vs Triple H - w/ Triple H

So something has been bothering me for a while now when it comes to Wrestlemania 31.
WM 31 out did everyone's expectations which wasn't hard considering most went into it with low expectations to begin with. But what I don't understand is how wwe has basically treated it as if it were just another PPV.
Couple examples:
-Big Show won the ATGBR and it was mention for maybe 3 Raws and that's it. I would have love to have seen Show gloat about being the best Giant in History only for a new giant(Harper?) to come out and protest. OR BETTER YET SOMEONE YOUNG SHOULDVE WON IN THE FIRST PLACE.
-Wyatt faced Undertaker and hasn't done anything of importance since. Honestly I don't even remember a promo by Wyatt on what happen at WM 31.
- Triple H beat Sting- with no mention of Sting since and no mention of why the interference from the other DX and NWO members.
-Bryan(IC title) - this one I wouldn't put completely on wwe because its something that is out of their control. But...then again Wwe had to know Bryan wasn't 100% ready enough to be in a ladder match. And be the fighting champion that they wanted him to be as IC champion.
-AJ Lee's final match -No mention of AJ. And wwe made Paige fight for a title shot in a Battle Royal even though she should've been given one since her and AJ beat the Bellas at WM 31.

The only continuation we got from WM 31 was Cena as U.S champion (and the Rusev feud) and the Wwe World Heavyweight championship scene. Were Orton was given a chance at Rollins because he beat him at WM and Reigns was given a chance because he was screwed at WM.


So what are your thought? Do you think Wwe could've handled the backlash of WM a lot more? Or do you think Wwe has handled it very well so far?

1. Agree with the Battle Royal. I personally thought that the Miz and Mizdow should have been the last two, and Mizdow throws out the Miz to win the Battle Royal. It would have pushed him further. Mind you, it didn't help Cesaro, so Mizdow may still have ended up as a "Macho Man" rip-off.

I have always thought that the winner should get a future title shot, so that the Royal means something (other than "the rest of the roster that we had to include at WM, so that they get a huge payday, to supplement not getting PPV buy rates anymore").

2. Once Bryan wasn't main-eventing Mania, I knew he would win the IC belt. The WWE didn't want a further backlash by having Bryan miss out on the IC title.

Having Cena and Bryan carrying the secondary belts to give them prominence was a good idea, but, unfortunately, Bryan got hurt again.

3. Wyatt should have beaten Taker, to take over the "fear" gimmick (passing of the torch).

Also, Sting should have beaten Triple H, become GM, and then punish the Authority with his own form of "authority".

 

[TJ Matics]

I get what you're saying, but like others have said some of your points couldn't be avoided. All things considered though I think there was a decent enough fallout from WM, if everyone was still singing the same tune of 2 months ago that'd be a problem as well.

One of the two main continuations would obviously be Cena winning the US title. This of course has led to the open challenge that has become to some posters (and other viewers as well I'm sure) one of the more enjoyable parts of RAW for many reasons:

1. A great way to debut new talent from NXT and given them their fist match on the main roster against a 15x world champ.

2. It's risen the value of the US championship dramatically, we'll just act like KO didn't step on it (bastard. ) Seriously though whoever takes it off of him is going to get a huge reaction and rub that'll last.

3. This might be a little smarky, but: Cena's no longer in the World Title picture. You could say I'm a Cena fan...comparatively, and even I'm glad he's not going back and forth with The Authority, every night. I've also seen more than just a few Cena haters forced to tip their hats to him as of late as well

So yes, this is one of only two major continuations from WM, but it's a very valuable one.

The other major continuation being Rollins as champ of course. I know people are souring quickly on The Authority's...I mean Rollin's title reign, but I'm enjoying it. My only problem being that every member of the Authority has to get involved in his matches. As far as WM is concerned, Rollins and Orton had already built up that feud and the match was a payoff. Orton also received a rematch. Rollin's heel run and title reign has now has taken him farther than I ever thought he'd make it, I mean exactly how many Shield supporters called for Rollins to be the "breakout" star of the group? First, at least. This will only continue when he eventually enters a feud with HHH (if Trips allows him to go over of course).

So again, just one of two major continuations, but still very valuable.

No way they would have cleared AJ and Paige to defeat the Bellas if they new AJ would be leaving, so this lack of continuation couldn't have been foreseen since they had to of known they wanted Paige in a movie all the plans were for AJ going forward.

The lack of continuation for Bryan and the IC title stems from Bryan's injury. If you want to call it a lack of continuation, that is. This did lead to the vacated strap being competed for in the Elimination Chamber, and though I thought the match was underwhelming it had a good result and was treated like a big deal.

I agree about Trips/Sting, to be one of the few matches with a good build there wasn't so much as a whisper after HHH verbally trampled there handshake in the ring later that night with Stephanie.

Undertaker shows up once a year, so there was little to nothing that could be done with Wyatt losing. He was ready to pick up the scraps that Lesnar left behind and be the new "face of fear", and he failed. Like the delusional maniac he's supposed to be, presto! It never happened in his mind and we know Taker is well enough to compete at another Mania if he chooses.

ATGBR. I agree, a young guy should have won, but would he be doing so much better or any more relevant than the Big Show is now? I doubt it. Like another poster said, it gave a lot of guys some Mania dollars so cool whatever.

Last but certainly not least, it's pretty well known that Lesnar works a limited schedule. They were smart to write him off (and the way they did it was great) and save him for Summerslam.

Also, this:

Wrestllemania is the blow off not the build. That's the short answer. Of course there are some feuds continued, but the reality is that WM doesn't set up the events of the year, the events of the year set up Wrestlemania.

 

[bjarvis]

Tornado Tag Team match
The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt and Eric Rowan) vs. The Corporate Brothers Of Destruction (Corporate Undertaker and Corporate Kane)

What? Why? How?

Undertaker is a once a year wrestler firstly, secondly he has NO reason to become Corporate Undertaker. Sorry, your card is ok. This match though is just a dumb idea.

 

[Messiah]

2 things made WrestleMania a great show, Seth Rollins cashing-in and AJ's last match.. Finally AJ is gone and it's about time Rollins is champ.. Hopefully Rollins is champ for a long time and AJ never returns to wrestling, ever.

 

[Aquaman6686]

With the exception of the horrid Lesnar/Reigns match, which was only saved from surpassing Bigelow/Taylor as the worst closing match in WrestleMania history by Rollins' cash-in, everything else on WrestleMania 31 was great. Every match was as good or better than expected, and the right guy won every match in my book. There was no reason Big Show shouldn't have been given that victory, and I'll never understand why so many people blindly despise him. Other than Lesnar/Reigns being a complete snoozefest and an unworthy ending to such a great event, I have no issues with WrestleMania 31.