I have a lot of mixed emotion about WM33. I thought mid show it was really delivering, but some big creative gaffs ended up sullying the show for me. I think I can give it a B based on some of
the really good things I saw, but in the end for the third year in a row we don’t
get the happy ending. Instead of doing a
straight review I’m going to rank the matches from best to worst.
#1 AJ vs. Shane
I thought this match vindicated the fans upset that AJ was
down the card and not in a title match.
He delivered a great match. Shane
held up his end of the deal, but the bottom line is it could have been a blow-up
doll in there. AJ is up there in age and
his great work is wasted in the opener that was by far the best in ring match
of the night.
#2 Raw Tag Titles
The Hardy’s returned paying off the best angle TNA has ever
done. Kudos to Matt and Jeff for ending
up in that spot. What a long strange
trip. The match was really stiff and had
plenty of good spots. The pop when they
came out was amazing. Clearly the DELETE
thing is over. It’s the feel good moment
of the night. Total redemption of Matt and Jeff. This again proves everything is stupid until it's not.
#3 Goldberg Vs. Lesnar
This match could have been booked for a little better
finish. Perhaps maybe Goldberg kicking
out of that F5 and them going for a little bit more of a creative finish, but
that being said I have mad respect for Goldberg and Brock after this.
Goldberg was soundly booed when he came out, but unlike WM20 he turned the crowd. He did this by moving like a speedball recovering from those first few German's and then putting Lesnar through that wall. The crowd started chanting Goldberg again. That’s a really tough thing to do. Lesnar’s leap was amazing and the German’s were cool. I felt they could have done something a little more creative on the end, but this was far better than I thought it would be.
#4 Raw Women’s title match
I think the turnbuckle thing was a little bit of a reach
considering Charlotte didn’t fully remove the pad.
Also, people missed the spot on the end where Charlotte hit it. This hurt the finish, but that was an awesome
elbow and this match was actually really good.
It didn’t feel like a women’s match and that’s the biggest compliment
you can pay any women’s match. This was
wrestling. A great effort put in by all four women.
#5 HHH vs. Seth
Seth didn’t capture the crowd last week in his final promo and you could tell
he was fighting for their respect the entire match. When you hit a corkscrew moonsault and barely
get a reaction considering his knee is really hurt that’s telling you all you
need to know. I think the entire thing
turned when HHH hit Steph. Fans finally
got to see her bump in a match with a real face. That turned the crowd and saved what was a
flat match. If WWE is smart it’s time to
create some issues on screen between HHH and Steph. I say turn HHH face, so him running NXT makes
sense. That would be something fresh
instead of the same old same old.
#6 Jericho Vs. Owens
With this match I think we are now getting into the flawed
matches on the card. This match was
flat. When Owens lost the Universal
title all the heat went out of this angle.
They worked hard, but there just wasn’t much there. The right guy wins in the end. Time to move on from this feud, but I fear we
are getting one more match.
#7 SD Women’s Title Match
This wasn’t a terrible match, but it had that old Divas feel
because of the lack of time it was given.
There was just not enough length to tell a good story and there wasn't much of a story going in. It felt like a pre-show
match. Naomi deserved the moment, but
she needs to follow this up with a compelling angle.
#8 John Cena/Nikki vs. The Miz/Maryse
This was the best built story on the show, but it was pretty
clear that the WWE was going for this engagement angle. That really hurt my desire to see this
because I knew all the work the Miz put in was going to be wasted. What was worse was the booking of the
match. Cena got beat up for the entirety
of it and then they do one tag to a cheeseball finish. This was an example of WWE not really hearing
their audience. Why not give this five more minutes and have Miz look a lot better so he can take something out of this.
#9 Roman Vs. Taker
The crowd was censored for this match. The WWE cut the wide mics and protected Roman
even during his entrance. So, yes, they
clearly don’t want you to boo him. The
match started ok, but then got really bad with numerous botches. Roman looked liked a guy that was not
polished enough to be in there with an Undertaker. Taker needed someone that could protect him given his age and physical limitations.
The really bad part was the transition into the finish,
which given the past of the Taker didn’t feel right. He went from dominating with a chair to
suddenly worthless. The Undertaker character
would have shown way more fight. It’s
not so much a complaint on Taker losing, but the fact that he was made to look
so bad to a guy few fans respect. It
felt like overkill.
The Undertaker had to end at some point, but this wasn’t the
best guy for the job. Cena should have
been in this spot or AJ who could have saved the match by bumping around. Also, people wouldn’t have minded AJ getting
the rub. If you are going to end the
Taker you just have to be way more mindful of the fans and at least give them
something they can respect.
His exit was pretty well done. The only downside is it sealed the third straight
mania with no happy ending, but the moment was the only thing keeping this off
the bottom. The Undertaker earned the big exit for all he has given to this business.
#10 Bray and Randy WWE title
So people were upset because Bray and Randy were feuding for
the title and AJ was out of the picture.
This match combined with AJ’s effort earlier proved the fans were 100%
right. The imagery was cool, but lead to
nothing and the finish was booked with no thought for match flow at all. Orton didn’t even go for the fast cover.
What a total waste of a decent story.
What a waste of a title match. What a waste of Bray Wyatt who sealed his
fate as the character the WWE most missed the mark on. The only silver lining is AJ vs. Randy now.
One last thought on the show. The WWE needs to handle the length issue for
next year. The main show was 5
hours. That combined with a 2 hour
pre-show was just too much. Also, if you’re
going to go five hours then start the main show an hour earlier. Even the NBA does that for the during the finals.
They could have saved 30 minutes by cutting
down the video packages they showed for nearly every match. The WWE does great packages, but many matches
did not need them. I think about 3
matches were worthy of them. The rest
they could have been skipped saving a lot of time.
Also, they need to scale down some of the entrances. Did we really need HHH driving down on a bike
for a middle of the card match? I get
that is his thing, but just spit some water and let’s go. It’s not the main event for a major
title. This just added to a show that got
so long I was zoning out for the a few matches.
WM32 was a bad show.
WM33 was not a bad show and was saved by some smart moments. That being said how do they book the Taker
and WWE title match to end like that?
Who booked those finishes and thought they were worthy of the biggest
show of the year? It continues to be
lazy booking and bad creative that holds down the WWE from delivering the best
show of the year. This was an
improvement, but with as much talent as WWE has how is this not the best show
of the year every year? I don’t think
this one will be.
I want to end on a positive note. I absolutely loved the stage. That was first class stuff. It gave the show a big feel. The wind was also an interesting factor. I like watching a PPV that feels totally
different from what we normally see and the week to week shows. So big kudos to them on that.
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