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WWE in 2026

Hawk 34 said:
she’s still pregnant and her finger injury was very severe but go on then
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That only proves that the pregnancy and the rehab have overlapped and what I said was that she hasn't been rehabbing the finger this whole time. Do I have that wrong?
 
Mania has a 2.29 rating on Cagematch right now. Seems like the only thing anyone (on Cagematch or else where) taht anyone liked at all was Seth/Gunther.
 
I tuned in on and off through out the night out of curiosity. Feels like a real nadir for the company. The number of things that would have to change for me to watch are almost innumerable.
 
Might sound dramatic and repetitive, but a wrestling show with barely any wrestling is a hard no from me. AEW packs every show and PPV with matches from start to finish. Not all of it hits but I much prefer that type of pacing to these shows nowadays.
 
Tino Standard said:
I saw a stat that there was 1 hour, 24 minutes of total wrestling, bell to bell. On a 4-hour show, that is abysmal.
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the first hour was on free tv, so you’d sort of understand if that was padded with more ad time for that period but it actually wasn’t the case compared to the rest of the show.

nothing on this show content wise was egregiously bad, just there. they couldn’t even give us the decency of something truly terrible. Gunther/Seth was a solid match that was headed to really good until they just finished it up and the finish ignored that Gunther even existed. Bron ran fast, cool?

Orton/Cody was confusing because the crowd couldn’t decide who they wanted so Cody worked as a heel and i appreciate they each ran the blade to give this match some heft but closing a show with a kinda heel but really a babyface doing the dreaded punt of death to the kinda babyface but really a heel and he just stands there expressionless in blood and the crowd just murmers “so we head back to the hotel now?”

didn’t even bother in all the ad times they devoted to Applebees and snickers to at least have interesting entrances, they just had some mannequins for Cody and a bunch of kids for AJ Lee.
 
I don't have much opinion on the quality of the matches, I was watching at a friend's place and spent most of the time doing a crossword puzzle on my phone. I was pretty surprised at how quick the women's title match ended, though.

There was nothing remotely interesting on the show, though. Was there even any backstage segments?

This was the first WWE show I've watched in almost a year, basically, and they couldn't even be bothered to play video packages for anything besides the last match as far as I can remember.

I did get a kick out of the ads Netflix played, telling us to buy tickets for the Hall of Fame show that's already happened.
 
I didn't watch the show (made the wise decision to watch "Hard Boiled" instead), but I know at one point John Cena basically admitted the build up to it has been weak. Way to show confidence guys!
 
Pretty forgettable opening night outside of "moments" really (the announce table spot in the 1st post-match, Paige's return, the AJ Lee entrance, the Cody/Orton end). For a WrestleMania this was completely underwhelming in almost all facets with no video packages for any casual viewers just tuning in for WM (aka me), the entrances felt very safe and lackluster outside of a couple as Hawk mentioned, and the two solid matches in Gunther/Seth and Cody/Orton felt rushed and more to build up the post-match stuff.

The lack of actual wrestling time definitely hurt but it also felt like they didn't want to do a full WM treatment until Night 2. No video packages, no backstage interviews or even segments that I can recall, nothing in the way of making this feel any different from a Raw or Smackdown or 3rd Tier PPV.
 
Roman Reigns on Carmelo Hayes: "He’s had a different route than the other guys. I’ve really liked the resiliency that he’s shown, and he’s torn it up on SmackDown for a while now. So I’m looking for big things from him."

https://www.sescoops.com/article/roman-reigns-praises-young-star

Lmao, he called him Carmelo Anthony earlier in the interview and that line could be about anyone on the roster. Maybe it's finding out he's a Trump supporter, but Roman's personality seems so fake and performative these days. Maybe he was once a cool nice guy, but he irritates the shit out of me lately. He reminds me a lot of HHH both in personality and ring work over the last 5 years or so with his glacially slow, overrated, and boring "CINEMA" matches. I don't see him making it in Hollywood because he looks so similar to Jason Momoa and has none of his on screen charisma, but I could see him politicking himself to a big spot in upper management someday.
 
cobainwasmurdered said:
Mania has a 2.29 rating on Cagematch right now. Seems like the only thing anyone (on Cagematch or else where) taht anyone liked at all was Seth/Gunther.
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Is that out of five? Most stuff I see online says the show was bad as well, and it sounds like they’d be better off condensing it into one night. The genie is never going back in that bottle though.

I will say the shorter match length times doesn’t bother me so much, as I feel like too many long matches hurts the flow of a card and some matches should be short. With that being said, seeing almost an hour’s worth of ads on a mania show feels like sacrilege.

It feels like these big entertainment companies will never change though because they are so huge and will make money no matter what so they don’t have to care about doing things for fans. The rights deals the WWE has are so lucrative and unaffected by fan interest that they don’t have to care at this point. The companies that pay for these rights never get their money’s worth and eventually end up pissed off, but someone else is always willing to step in. Plus, these media buying companies don’t even learn from their mistakes. ESPN was bitter about losing money with the UFC and they went right into losing money with the WWE. It is what it is.
 
Another thing I find funny is that sports fans are complaining about WWE being incorporated into highlights shows and interviews with their talking heads. They hate the presentation of WWE as being something legitimate to cover as news that takes time away from the big four leagues. I find it hilarious though and wish I was still watching so I could appreciate and get hyped by it. Oh well.
 
Shorter match time hurts when they spent a combined 30 minutes on clips for a Hogan documentary, and the top feud in the Women's division that had an interesting and violent build only went 6 minutes (Liv vs Stephanie Vacquer). Could you imagine if like Wrestlemania 14 kept cutting away from the show to have clips of a Bruno documentary lmao.

I'd be nervous for the future of the women in WWE with the way they were booked last night. Iyo not being on the show is still insane to me. I think all three women's matches combined were less time than the Charlotte vs Rhea Ripley match from Wrestlemania 39. It's clear that no matter how much harder they work than the top guys, they won't be seen on the level of Orton, Cody, Punk, or Roman by TKO. And with Saudi getting the next Mania, who knows how many women's matches will even be on the show. The women have been carrying WWE for years imo, and it's so shitty how they are booked at times.
 
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Cody had to cancel his scheduled meet and greets today and meltzer says it’s a legit head injury sustained during the match.

edit: it’s an eye injury
 
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This would've been better booking and actually would help to elevate a person that isn't a part timer or celebrity. I know Black is a tad past his prime, but I think he would've done well with this angle.

That said personally, I would've been fine with no Orton vs Cody match in general. I get that they have history with Legacy and their fathers feuding and stuff, I just don't think they are good for each others styles. They did have a great No DQ match on Smackdown 15 years ago, but 2011 might of been one of the last years that I thought Orton was good in the ring. 2026 Orton is such a slog, and their match in 2024 at the King Of The Ring wasn't very memorable or interesting. I'm actually much more positive on Randy than most on this board, but it's crazy to see how idolized Randy is by the younger fans. Like they see 2009 Orton on the same level as 1998 Austin, and I just remember 2009 Orton selling those hilariously bad Shane McMahon punches, getting beaten down at his house by HHH, having one of the worst WM main events with HHH, having a boring series of matches with Cena, and talking about having IED.
 
I get a kick out of how they've gaslit modern fans into thinking Orton isn't terrible. Like I get it, skinny bald Orton with the music and dead eyes and all that punting people. But man he's not had a good match since the Obama administration, at least.

I dig that Black idea, actually. It's not reinventing the wheel or anything but it's exactly what they should be doing. At least a new 40 year old is a step.
 
The NBA playoffs started this weekend and Stephen A. Smith is at WrestleMania but will still come back to First Take with think pieces as if he watched all the games
 
Mickey Massuco said:
Is that out of five? Most stuff I see online says the show was bad as well, and it sounds like they’d be better off condensing it into one night. The genie is never going back in that bottle though.

I will say the shorter match length times doesn’t bother me so much, as I feel like too many long matches hurts the flow of a card and some matches should be short. With that being said, seeing almost an hour’s worth of ads on a mania show feels like sacrilege.

It feels like these big entertainment companies will never change though because they are so huge and will make money no matter what so they don’t have to care about doing things for fans. The rights deals the WWE has are so lucrative and unaffected by fan interest that they don’t have to care at this point. The companies that pay for these rights never get their money’s worth and eventually end up pissed off, but someone else is always willing to step in. Plus, these media buying companies don’t even learn from their mistakes. ESPN was bitter about losing money with the UFC and they went right into losing money with the WWE. It is what it is.
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out of 10.
 
Mickey Massuco said:
Another thing I find funny is that sports fans are complaining about WWE being incorporated into highlights shows and interviews with their talking heads. They hate the presentation of WWE as being something legitimate to cover as news that takes time away from the big four leagues. I find it hilarious though and wish I was still watching so I could appreciate and get hyped by it. Oh well.
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Tbh it's not cool, I had it on ESPN once and Orton was on there talking about breaking kayfabe. I didn't watch the show so I had no idea what he was referring to. It's like the lamest thing you could possibly imagine.
 
a chance on espn to make Oba Femi a star and they didn’t fuck it up. a rare non fucking up from the company.

letting brock get a hero’s farewell is gonna get some expected blowback but i’m not sure people were expecting him to end it tonight. naturally, Heyman makes it great as he hilariously bawls.
 
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Oba rocking Lesnar js exactly what needed to happen. Made man right there.

Evans would have been a great moment but I don't hate Penta winning. One of my favorites from the Past decade.

Two matches in and already way better than last night.
 
I scanned twitter for stuff. I hate Danhausen, I'm sorry. I think it's lame and just the same thing he's been doing forever. It was vaguely amusing 6-7 years ago when I saw a couple non-wrestling videos online but I haven't liked anything he's done in wrestling.

Dom and Punk had cool entrances. I didn't watch any of the actual wrestling. Sounds like it was a much better night although ending with Roman as champ is just a return to more of the same.
 
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