I only lurk in this thread and even then, rarely, just to observe, but it's been interesting to read y'all reactions to this (apparently) strange event. No crowd at a wrestling gig does sound odd. Glad there was fun to be had
I’m pleased strowman has finally won the belt properly but I feel sorry for him that it wasn’t infront of a crowd.
Taker and AJ was like a film
He could've just said they came from another planet but seems keen to convince people with his bullshit pseudoscience that he knows stuff. I wouldn't trust him with my lunch. - SG
Aye, on the whole it was a good effort by the WWE. The wrestlers all worked their asses off, they shot it tight and tried to keep the pace of the matches up, and by and large that worked.
I'd have to say I've seen worse Wrestlemania's with a crowd, and overall it was largely enjoyable.
They lose points for bullshit endings without a crowd though. They cannot get away with that. Disqualifications, surprise roll-ups and suchlike just don't work in an empty building, and they should have realised that over the last few weeks.
It was nice that Strowman won a title, but with zero build and a brief squash match, it made for piss tier viewing, and you know he's not going to keep the belt passed the speculated post Raw shutdown this Monday. His inclusion in the match was obviously under awkward circumstances, but they could have made something of it.
The Taker/Styles clash was great fun and made for a great end to proceedings. I laughed out loud when Taker appeared behind Styles on the bulldozer, so it was clearly doing something right, and I presume Cena vs The Fiend will get similar treatment tonight, so there's that to look forward to.
Feel sorry for people like Drew McIntyre and Edge looking forward to tonight's conclusion. Both are great stories that would get massive pops with a stadium crowd, and the participants (Edge in particular), have had such great journeys to get there. It's a crying shame that they've been robbed of their audience.
I had a look at the Goldberg match online. Quality aside (it was always a match that needed a hot crowd) the overall feel was like a normal Smackdown or raw show - and I mean with the crowd. I haven't watched a huge amount of wrestling in the last year but one thing nxt and aew have had that the main fed stuff hasn't is a crowd reaction. Hope when they get crowds back they get rid of that useless blue and red lighting shit.
Card for tonight for those who havent been watching the pre-show.
Liv Morgan defeated Natalya Singles match 6:25
Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Charlotte Flair Singles match for the NXT Women's Championship
Brock Lesnar (c) (with Paul Heyman) vs. Drew McIntyre Singles match for the WWE Championship
John Cena vs. "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt Firefly Fun House match
Bayley (c) vs. Lacey Evans vs. Naomi vs. Sasha Banks vs. Tamina Fatal 5-Way Elimination match for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship
The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) (c) vs. Austin Theory and Angel Garza (with Zelina Vega) Tag team match for the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship
Aleister Black vs. Bobby Lashley (with Lana) Singles match
Edge vs. Randy Orton Last Man Standing match
Otis (with Tucker) vs. Dolph Ziggler (with Mandy Rose) Singles match