g.man wrote:

Yup, pretty much. I hope Dante managed to get back to New York after the show. Apparently it was a public transport clusterfuck.

Got back to the hotel at twenty past two. I got lucky as well. Clusterfuck is being kind.

I thought lesnar vs Rollins was too short. And the outcome was too obvious from the start.

Dante did the women’s match pop? Sound wise watching it the mood seems low. Was it just crowd tiredness or bad filming?

At one point Charlotte has Becky next to the table and you can clearly here directions on the recording

Need more big intros like hhh

Four man or woman tag matches don’t really do it for me.

There's plenty of fan footage.

He got a hiding from wrestlers and Travis Browne, and then while being walked out by a group of people, another wrestler straight up sucker punched him and knocked him to the ground.

Deserves everything he got. Absolute scum to attack a man with two bad knees, who has had a stroke, and recently had cancer.

mk64 wrote:

Dante did the women’s match pop? Sound wise watching it the mood seems low. Was it just crowd tiredness or bad filming?

It was both. People were knackered so there wasnt as much energy, but there was a definate buzz.

I think part of the problem was no one really believed Becky wasnt walking out the winner, so there was less tension than the Kofi match.

Yea should’ve been a clean win.

Thought Ronda had a great match.

Anyone know what the motive was from the weirdo fan attack?

Dogfingers wrote:

Good show on TV up until after Kofi Bryan then it died. Underwhelmed by the main event to be honest. If you're a Becky fan I don't get why you'd be happy with that. She gets her arse beat for 20 minutes, gets out performed by the other 2 and then scores a win with a roll up where Rhondas shoulders are up. Yeah. The Man. This was no Benoit at WM20 where they made him look great, she looked like she lucked out.

It didnt come across like that live tbh. Pretty sure no one could see the shoulder issue except on TV.

I think Becky winning with a cheeky win keeps the feud alive a bit longer and keeps in mind a) Lynch was crocked just before the match b) makes her to be a stone coldesque chancer c) keeps their best athlete looking like the best (and prob best paid) athlete.

Why can’t ronda Tap our? Too soon? She will one day

Diluted Dante wrote:

You can't have her lose her first match by tapping out.

This is a promotion that had Stef block an arm bar. She had a better defense than all of Rouseys legit competition. Of course they could have her tap out.

Sounded like the 'escape the park's game they scheduled at the end was a real winner.

No, Becky had to beat Ronda. That was the whole point of the story.

In that situation as well, you either have co-champions, or the match continues as they can't determine who she's submitting to. Ronda is still unbeaten 1v1 as well. Her two losses are a tag match that Natalya tapped out in, and this Triple Threat.

Kurt Angle, and Brock Lesnar would be the only other two with a similar first year. (on the main roster)

She's had to do it with no developmental, which is insane.

but no competition really till then either (not in WWE)

mistercrayon wrote:

Asuka was undefeated until WM.

Asukas been wrestling since 2010

Even Lesnar and angel had time in development. I could be wrong but Rouseys first match in front of a crowd is mania 34. And she nailed it.

I do think angle could have achieved more but the head liners at the time were some of the best.

mk64 wrote:

dante what was the best part of WM? And would you go again? Any advice if I get to go next year?

This is a tough one. It's all quite enjoyable. As for would I go again, yes. This was my second one.

Mania itself is fun, but you need to be prepared for just how long it is. It's one thing sat on your sofa, when you can escape to your toilet at a moments notice, and even pause it if you need to. Google shows I arrived at the Metlife at 15:40pm, and left at 1:05am. Now some of that was getting in and out of the stadium, but it's a very long time to be in one place. By the end of the night I was exhausted. Post Kofi match I was pretty much drained.

The arena stuff is mush shorter. Takeover is an absolute blast. Raw/Smackdown are good, but the burnout can be real at this point. I had a lot of fun, but I know people who will either skip them, or only do Raw. I'd recommend doing both your first time.

The real YMMV is the Hall of Fame. I love it, and I think it would be right up your street. Last time I took a suit, this time I didn't have one, and due to touristy stuff didn't get chance to buy one over there, so just went in jeans/t-shirt. I deffo enjoyed it more with the dressing up, so if I went again I'd do that. I think if you just fully buy into the pomp and ceremony you have a better time.

The other thing you get with the package is Axxess. The highlight of this is the live wrestling stuff. Last time it was much smaller scale. NXT wasn't as much of a thing, so you had random NXT people wrestling throughout the day, interspersed with interviews/Q&A's. This time, there were TV tapings for NXT UK, and their Worlds Collide thing. I'm not sure how much of what I saw was just for Axxess, and how much they are putting on the Network.

As well as the live stuff there are superstar signings (the lines for this are LONG!), a record your own entrance thing, usually with a range of Superstars to pick from, various photo opportunities (The New Day Chocobo cart from last years Mania was there, with the giant bootios thing, the car Strowman destroyed, a WWE Championship you could pose with and some other stuff I can't quite remember. This year they had a commentary booth as well that you could pick from a few matches and record your own commentary on. I didn't do this due to lines and picking sessions right before Takeover/HOF, but it looked a blast. There is also a big shop, with is probably the best place to buy your merch, as the stands at the arenas don't have everything.

You can buy tickets individually for everything. I did the package both times. There are varied ones, I did the Gold each time. I think that gives the best value/experiance tradeoff. You get a seat on the side hard cam shows, which is a pretty good view, better in the arena than Mania itself though. You get Mania, Hall of Fame, Takeover, Raw, SMackdown, 2 Axxess sessions and 5 nights accommodation. Best value is a group of 4, but you have to be willing to share beds.You usually get something else too, This one gave you a 7 day Metrocard for the subway, and train tickets to get to Mania. New Orleans transport wasn't an issue, so we got a gift card for food/drink at a pub.

There is probably more, if I think of anything I'll post, if you have any questions let me know.