2009 Running Pro Wrestling Thread

WFW. I bought the PPV for HBK-Taker, but I thought Orton-HHH would be good too. It really wasn't.

 

Link for the replay, if anyone came in late
http://www.justin.tv/tba_live

 

MITB is on the replay now, and Benjamin just did his dive off the ladder. I didn't realize the first time how close he came to pulling a Don Beebe and just pogoing off his head. Most of the guys on the outside weren't really in a great position to catch him.
And the crowd offered up a healthy "Holy shit! Holy shit!" chant afterward.

 

Notes:
-Didn't care for Money in the Bank leading off. They did it two years ago, so it felt a little stale. Still, the match was quite good and there some innovative spots built in. Love the match gimmick itself and don't mind Punk winning.

-Kid Rock's performance...ugh. Didn't go over well for me. He just reeks of 10 years ago, despite the success of his new material.

-Divas match was a huge letdown considering there was buildup to see the former divas. It was only given a little over 6 minutes with no ring introductions. Don't understand why they were even brought in. Still, Santino made it worth the while.

-Jericho did a great job with the legends. Steamboat really brought his A-game, looking quite good in there and I was marking out. Flair/Rourke confronting Jericho after the win was the logical and 100% correct ending.

-Good, not great, but very good match between The Hardyz. Would have liked to see it given 5 or 10 more minutes, but I think I say that about at least one match at every PPV.

-Rey vs. JBL was a letdown but it had virtually no buildup so it's hard to stay mad. Plus it was sandwiched between two very enjoyable matches and JBL's gone!

-What more can be said about HBK and Undertaker? Absolutely breathtaking to watch these two artists in the ring, two of the best professional wrestlers who ever lived holding the crowd in their hands. They stole the show in a half hour instant classic and strong contender for match of 2009.

-Cena vs. Edge vs. Big Show obviously wasn't spectacular, but it definitely exceeded most expectations and was as good or better as many of the second-tier title matches of the last few years. All three put in inspired effort and there were some nice spots involved

-HHH vs. Orton was a letdown - Orton should have won as he is the hottest star in the industry right now. And let's face it, Triple H is getting up there in age and I don't want to see him main-eventing for too many more years. The wrestling itself was solid - not as good as the buildup would indicate, but a passable main event. Still irks me that HHH won though.

Overall, I liked the show a lot. There were none of the fun, light-hearted backstage antics that I always enjoy though.

 

It's hard for me to rank the MITB matches because they all have their own individual spectacular spots. Where would you put this one?

 

Ok, just caught up on this thread.

Here are my thoughts:

This was a good PPV but a shitty WrestleMania. And as far as being the 25th WrestleMania, wow, did WWE drop the ball.

Don't get me wrong, MITB was pretty entertaining (though there were a lot of blown moves off the ladders), the Hardys match was a pleasant surprise and Taker-HBK is the clear cut MOTY winner, but all in all, it was kind of a letdown.

To hype HHH-Orton that much and have that big a lackluster finish, especially as the finale to the night, is bull.

Maybe I'll feel better about this in three-five years, but right now I'm glad I only ordered it on PPV and didn't go live.

 

Think of HBK-Undertaker as the main event and the show gets much better.

I do agree that WWE REALLY dropped the ball with HHH-Orton. It was a textbook Trips match - I actually felt like I've seen it before. Still solid stuff though - it's not bad wrestling, just uninspired for such a hot feud. And the finish sends the fans home happy, but it doesn't do much else. For a company that's "trying" to build up young stars, that mission certainly fell flat in the main event tonight.

I've seen every WrestleMania (most multiple times). I think I would rank this show somewhere around 10-15.

 

The Divas thing confused me, too. I really want to believe Kid Rock ran about 10 minutes too long and that led to the lack of introductions.

 

I can't imagine the bookers take crowd reaction into account when building a pay-per-view. This thing was so out of order it was almost painful.

 

Just got back from watching it at a friend's house and I'm glad I didn't fork out money for that garbage. I'm sorry, but the 25th anniversary (well actually 24th anniversary, but who's counting) and that's what they give us? Not one single surprise? Not one single interference? Not one "swerve"?

MITB match was decent, but I didn't like it being the first match. Would have worked better as the third or fourth match. Lots of good spots in that match, was a well-worked, albeit sloppy, match. Don't really care for CM Punk winning it (again), but we'll see where they take it. I'm just not a big CM Punk fan and I was looking for either Shelton Benjamin to get a push or Christian to begin his rise back to the top.

Kid Rock performance is when everybody got up and went piss, refresh their drinks, grab some food. Went about 10 minutes too long.

Divas Battle Royal -- can't say it was a disappointment, because I wasn't expecting much. What ticked me off is that the three stooges (JR, King, Coles) didn't mention Santino until about three minutes into the match (it lasted 6 minutes total) and then they acted like they didn't know who it was. Seriously? Do you honestly think your viewers are that dumb?

Jericho vs. Legends match went better than expected. Steamboat looked fantastic. I'm glad they limited Snuka to only two moves and then let him make an early exit. Piper tried to get into old Piper, but looked bad. That dropkick was atrocious. Like I said, Steamboat saved the actual match for me. The whole Mickey Rourke thing, I didn't like. I know why they did it, to come full circle and finish the story, but it's just stupid and looked horrible. I'm an old-school wrasslin' fan and when I grew up, movie stars couldn't knock out wrestlers with one punch.

JBL vs. Mysterio: WTF? The referee really blew the whole thing with his awkward stalling at the beginning, then going and asking Mysterio "Do you want to start the match?" I think everybody and their momma knew JBL was retiring, it's been all over the message boards for a month now. I was expecting a better sendoff, but I guess that suits his character.

Taker vs. HBK is definitely match of the night and one of the best WM matches I've seen. Great action, great pacing, great visuals. Ending was predictable, but they worked it very well.

Triple Threat match was OK, but nothing great. Vickie taking the spear looked like it happened in slo-motion. Was impressed with Cena's strength to lift Edge and Show up for the FU (err Attitude Adjustment). Not surprised Cena won, but was surprised that Vickie didn't play a bigger part in the match. I was thinking she'd somehow distract Edge or Show and allow Cena to win.

HHH vs. Orton was a big letdown. The whole DQ thing just really threw it off and it was funny how they could pick and choose what qualified as a DQ. I was waiting for some twist, for some McMahon to come in and have a hand in the match, and for it to end clean was a big disappointment.

Now, I know some people will disagree with me, and that's cool. To each his/her own, but I like the little surprises/twists that WWE used to be so good at throwing. Now, every thing is clean, nothing surprises anyone. It's like they're getting away from keeping people guessing and they're going with the easy storylines.

 

StaggerLee

I saw it much the same and thought many of the same things. Good, but not great. Considering it was WM25, it was too much "ok" and not nearly enough "wow."

 

If you were to make Taker-HBK the main event, then this wouldn't be a bad PPV overall, but still a disappointment.

Considering the buildup for H3-Orton, that match fell flat. In fact, I think it might be one of the biggest letdowns I've seen in this era of wrestling. They built it up with strong, no---great, storytelling and it was dark-match quality.

Just seemed like everyone was a bit off tonight. Maybe too much pressure? Too many people in the crowd? I don't know.

Oh, and after tonight they should just eliminate tag team matches and ECW as a whole. What's the point of being a fan of tag team action when there isn't a single one on the card at the biggest event of the year? Oh, and the same thing goes for ECW. The ECW champ can't even get a match? Really? Why have the belt then?

I think what pisses me off the most about this event is the disappointment of the H3-Orton match and the total failure that was the Diva BR. Why not just put the Kid Rock performance after HBK-Taker? Why not introduce the Divas separately? Can anyone even tell me who the participants were? I heard Molly Holly was there, the rest I have no idea.

Oh, and what a slap to the face of the women of the company when they travel with the men all year and not one woman has a match on the card. And the one match featuring Divas is won by a man. Really?