Step into the Ring

Sunday 5 April 2015

FATEFUL DECISIONS



I didn’t quite know what to write for this week’s blog and then I decided to make it about the decisions that were made in the world of wrestling over the last week and yes, that means at WrestleMania as well. You see, last week’s NXT Report was the last NXT Report on this blog because I am no longer a subscriber of the WWE Network. I was having so much trouble loading the Network on my Xbox One that I almost missed WrestleMania and didn’t get to see the pre-show. I informed WWE of this problem before Fastlane and they assured me they were getting the app on the Xbox fixed. But lo and behold, come the end of March and they still hadn’t bothered.

I’m not going to continue to pay for a service which I cannot access and haven’t been able to in at least three weeks. The morons at Network services don’t seem to be able to comprehend the problem when you ring them and think that if you leave it alone it will get better on its own. News flash, it won’t. The disappearance of the NXT Report is just one of the reasons behind a major announcement later in this blog. For now, let’s take a fleeting look at WrestleMania and the wrong decisions made at the best WrestleMania in many years.

Firstly, the event was excellent. I think we can all agree on that, almost every match had something worthy in it with the exception of John Cena vs Rusev and I was mightily impressed with Sting even though he lost. And that is where we will begin. Up to Triple H vs Sting, the night was flowing smoothly. Yes, Seth Rollins should have defeated Randy Orton in order to put him in a better place to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the end of the show but that is a minor gripe and we will take a look at where Seth Rollins can now go in our Extreme Rules preview later this month. But it was Sting’s match which really hammered home the differences in what long time fans and new fans expect. You see, new fans, who maybe weren’t aware of what Sting was in professional wrestling didn’t really understand his aura or hype. Whilst those who have been watching sting for thirty years know better.

I really expected Sting to beat Triple H at WrestleMania, after all it was his first match in WWE and his first of two appearances at WrestleMania before he retires next year. I understand the need for WWE to set up another Sting vs Triple H match at SummerSlam, but surely it would have been better for Triple H to lose, be unable to let go of the loss and challenge Sting to a rematch in August. That is the role of a heel after all. For me, a face coming back to bitch and moan about his loss on the biggest night of the year is just pathetic. I believe WWE got this decision wrong on the night and should have reversed it. Whether it was Triple H’s ego that got the better of him or not, WWE should have planned for the future here.

And that brings me to the second wrong decision of WrestleMania and that was John Cena’s now pointless victory over Rusev. Why pointless you may ask, well if you haven’t kept up to date with WWE this week, then John Cena vs Rusev has already been announced for Extreme Rules which makes his victory over Rusev at WrestleMania an ego boost rather something which was best for business. Knowing that the pair would clash again a month after the event, WWE should have bitten the bullet and booked Cena to lose at WrestleMania in order to preserve Rusev’s character and aura. Because now he’s lost once, what is left for Rusev to do in WWE? His whole character and purpose was the man who couldn’t be beaten and that should have been amplified at WrestleMania.

Not just for John Cena to lose, but because it would have helped WWE draw a massive number for Extreme Rules if WWE had booked it as John Cena’s last shot. Just think how much better it would have been to see John Cena lose to Rusev at WrestleMania and Fastlane and then either lose to John Cena at Extreme Rules of carry on his undefeated streak. That is what would have been best for business. Hell, WWE were onto such a good thing with Rusev that he could have carried on for another year. Fans loved him, and he didn’t really need to be beaten until it was time for him to lose the WWE World Heavyweight Championship which he would have been in a position to win later this year had he beat John Cena at WrestleMania.

Bray Wyatt vs The Undertaker was the last real wrong decision WWE made at WrestleMania and like Rusev, had Bray Wyatt won then he would have been immediately catapulted into the main event. But that isn’t what happened and what we got was an okay match in which The Undertaker looked old. Even more so at the end than when he came into the bout. Putting that decision behind us, I truly believe that The Undertaker’s time is done in WWE and as a wrestler. Last year was bad, this year was worse. I don’t recall ever being so uncomfortable watching someone wrestle as I was at WrestleMania. Every time he fell it was touch and go if he was going to get back up and I believe Taker should have bowed out last year rather than put himself through this again.

As The Undertaker made his way to the ring, Michael Cole commented on what type of Undertaker this was. Was it an Undertaker coming back to rule the yard or an Undertaker coming back so he could bow out on his own terms. I don’t think anyone watching this was in two minds that the latter was true. The decision to come back this year was a plan by Mark Calloway to go out on his own terms. He will be back next year but for his retirement match. As WrestleMania 32 will be held in Texas, Taker’s home town, I can think of no better place to bow out and put an end to an unforgettable career. It’s better to be remembered for what you did and go out on one final, stunning performance rather than have another five or ten mediocre performances and destroy your legacy completely. WrestleMania 32 will be The Undertaker’s last ride and it should be a more than fitting ending.

Though it may not be obvious to some, WWE’s final wrong decision at WrestleMania was to push Roman Reigns. Now, I know that he was booked to be destroyed by Brock Lesnar on the night and that isn’t what I’m talking about. I’m talking about his blatant laziness and unprofessionalism in the ring. Knowing he would eventually be bested by Seth Rollins, Reigns just didn’t bother and was sloppy when he did. Within ten seconds he’d cut Brock Lesnar by mistake with careless right hands. Following that he bust Lesnar’s lip with careless knees which weren’t placed where they should have been and then he cracked Lesnar’s skull open by shoving him carelessly into the camera wire taped to the ring post. They walked through this match before hand, Reigns knew where the wire was and yet aimed Lesnar for the wire anyway.

On a PG rated product, there’s no was Vince would have sanctioned the use of blood, especially since the company will now have to show this match in black and white when recapping in the future. And on top of all that, Roman Reigns had the cheek to laugh his way through the punishment. He looked ridiculous doing so and not even John Cena showed Brock Lesnar this amount of disrespect. All of this only went to affirm what everyone had been saying all this time. Roman Reigns wasn’t ready and now he should be dropped to the mid-card in order to start again. What an idiot.

With all that said, I would now like to direct you to the new background we have on this blog. For those of you who haven’t been reading properly, the cover is of the book which is due out soon by a reader of this blog. It’s the book I have been reviewing for a while and it’s worth every penny and cent for over a thousand pages of sheer entertainment and brilliance. This is the book I’ve been calling the most anticipated wrestling book of the last decade and it will not disappoint. There is no release date for it yet, but take a good look at the cover because you’re missing out if you don’t buy it. There will be a special interview with the author in the coming weeks followed by a one off Review Corner of the book once I receive a release date.

Finally, at the beginning of this blog I promised you a special announcement and here it is. For a while now I’ve been thinking of shutting this blog down. Those long time readers will know that this has been a decision I’ve been toying with for nearly a year. I’ve made my decision and whilst the blog isn’t going anywhere in the next month or two because of a promise I made, I have made the fateful decision to close this blog once my obligations are fulfilled. I won’t go into the reasons now because I will do so in a special farewell blog to my minions down the road. But we’re not even nearly done yet, there’s a lot more to come before the end so keep reading. I won’t just disappear, I will inform you of our end when it comes. But it is coming. For now, we’ll carry on as we have been. Heading towards a fitting finale.

Onwards and upwards.