Irrelevant But Awesome

With Money in the Bank in our rear view mirror, we now look at the aftermath of Dean Ambrose cashing in and we wonder would it have even happened if Roman Reigns hadn't gotten himself suspended. Also, is there such a thing as too much wrestling? Joel explores this ideas as we might be finding out in a couple of months.

Joel:  Honestly I hadn’t gone back and watched WrestleMania 31 straight through after watching it live about a year ago. Having seen this particular WrestleMania so recently, I can remember that my initial reaction to the show was that it was really quite, good and surprisingly good considering how bad it looked like it was going to be going into the show. So, on this rewatch, I was looking forward to closing out the whole thing with two really strong WrestleManias back to back. However, upon actually sitting down to watch WrestleMania 31 I realized that “surprisingly good” only works when you’re expecting it to be really bad. I don’t think WrestleMania 31 is terrible exactly, but rewatching it now doesn’t hold up to watching it live as much as I thought it would. For example, the ladder match that opens up the show is still one of the best matches on the card, but it doesn’t mark the triumphant return for Daniel Bryan anymore. Another example is the exciting “surprise” app...

Joel:  Unfortunately, there’s not much on this card to make up for the frustration of Twice in a Lifetime. I don’t know what it is about Brock Lesnar and Triple H, but these are two talented guys who just do not work well together. As bad as this match was, it pains me to remember this was one of the best matches that these guys put on together during this particular feud. I remember at the time also being surprised that Fandango’s debut landed with such a thud since they were obviously high on the guy, putting his debut match on WrestleMania, against Chris Jericho no less. Well now, seeing where Fandango’s career has gone, that thud is even louder rewatching the show. Honestly, CM Punk vs. The Undertaker is the only match I feel like praising here. It’s a strong match between the two of them, and has some nice spots, but I think both guys had a stronger showing the previous year. On a technical level it’s a great match, but the emotion for this match isn’t there the way it ...

Joel:  I remember really enjoying this WrestleMania when I was watching it live, but rewatching it this time around I spent the first hour or so of the show wondering how I could have possibly liked any of this. The Daniel Bryan match with Sheamus bothered me a little bit watching it live, but it frustrates me so much more now, knowing that Bryan will only ever have two singles matches at WrestleMania and this is one of them. Honestly there are only three really good matches on the card, and they’re good enough to make this a good WrestleMania on a “thumbs up/thumbs down” scale, but  these three matches are all in the last four matches on the show. Undertaker and Triple H more than make up for their so-so match from WrestleMania 27 with this Hell in a Cell match. It’s nice to see the end of this era go out with Undertaker standing tall rather than having to be carted away like he was the previous year. And I feel like bringing Shawn Michaels in as the referee nicely t...

Joel:  This WrestleMania was not good and it’s The Rock’s fault. I don’t know if there’s another time where the failure of an entire WrestleMania can so clearly be attributed to a single wrestler. But there’s no way around it, having The Rock on this show made the whole thing worse. The problem came with the fact that we were never really clear what the “host” of WrestleMania was supposed to do. He came out to hype up the crowd, but we all knew at that point that he was going to confront Cena at some point here, that’s what we were all waiting for. And so, Rock hangs like a shadow over the whole show as we wait for the final match of the night. Even watching it again, knowing how everything is going to end The Rock hosting never works quite right on this show, and makes everything that isn’t a match feel a little bit more awkward. Not that the matches on this card are anything impressive. I only ended up liking one match and that was the Orton vs. CM Punk match, which is...

Joel:  I really enjoy this WrestleMania, but I’ll admit I have a soft spot for this one because it’s the event that brought me back to watching wrestling on a consistent basis. Rewatching it though, I can easily see why others might not be so high on this show as I am. The Diva’s match is a big problem, and I think this may have been the weakest Money in the Bank match to date. I don’t think the World Heavyweight Championship match was terrible, but I think both Chris Jericho and Edge are capable of having a better match than the one they have here. And I know we have to address the Bret Hart issue. Let me say, hearing that Bret Hart was back in a WWE ring, that’s what got me to watch more than anything else. Seeing him face off with McMahon to address a story that started over a decade earlier, that’s what I was really looking forward to. And I’m glad it happened, and when it was live I think I enjoyed the fact that I was watching the match, more that actually enjoying the ...

Joel:  I gotta say, these WrestleManias were not meant to be watched back to back to back like this. I mean we’re currently in the longest streak of quality WrestleManias that there is, and I’m enjoying all of the shows, but I really don’t care to see another montage clip show of how great the institution of WrestleMania is. Once a year, I get it, but two or more in a week and they start to get really repetitive.  Anyway on to the specific show of WrestleMania 23, we finally get Money in the Bank as the show opener, really a great place for that match as it crams a lot of exciting moments into the first match and sets the tone of WrestleMania as a “big deal.” Of course the very next match was Kane vs. The Great Khali, but I think the fact that I was still excited about the rest of the show after that says a lot about how vital an exciting kickoff match can be to a good show. While WrestleMania XXII was a show with a lackluster main event after several stellar mid ca...

Joel:  This WrestleMania marks the fifth time in a row that Triple H has been in a championship match. And in four of these past five WrestleManias, he was in the final match on the card. Even without watching all of the other Pay Per Views in these five years (not to mention Raws and Smackdowns) it’s easy to see where Triple H gets the burying reputation from. And that’s not to say that Triple H’s matches haven’t been good, or that he hasn’t been good in them, (his match here with Cena may have been his best WrestleMania match yet) but still, that’s been a lot of Triple H. All in all though it was a really strong show. Like Triple H, Vince McMahon has his best WrestleMania match to day, though it helps that he’s in the ring with Shawn Michaels here. The triple threat for the Heavyweight title was impressive as well. But the match of the night has to go to Mick Foley and Edge. This for the most part is Foley’s swan song when it comes to real, all out, full intensity hardcore...

Joel:  The whole WrestleMania goes Hollywood theme of the evening gets a little closer to the feel of WrestleMania IX than I would like but it never quite makes it to the level that the whole Roman Toga Party got to on that one. It doesn’t really add anything to the show, and makes the whole thing feel a bit more silly and less grandiose than it should, but I’m willing to let it off with a warning here. It doesn’t hurt that XXI has a much better card than IX did. We get some pretty fantastic matches here starting right out of the gate with Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio. It’s kind of a bummer that Eddie went from winning a championship title last WrestleMania to being on the opening match for this one, especially since this will be his final WrestleMania appearance, but it’s a fantastic match, and really a good example of using a big match to get things started in a big way.  We also get our first ever Money in the Bank ladder match which, it’s nice to see, was a gre...

Joel and Chris are back this week with The Classy Ring Attire Podcast #166: "Our Way Too Early Predictions for Wrestlemania 32." Subscribe now on iTunes to have every episode delivered straight to you or head over to their site  and listen to all your favorite episodes.

We've been keeping up with it for the past couple of weeks so we really should see this out through the end. In what may end up being his last night ever on Monday Night Raw, Punk delivered not one but two great promos to both open and close the show. You can find the both of them below so that you too can understand why WWE needs to keep this man employed. 1st video: CM Punk opening the show with a promo and the aid of a megaphone. Videos 2 and 3: Punk and Vince McMahon have a live contract negotiation in the ring, to end the show.

For those keeping up with the CM Punk storyline right now, Punk was suspended after his amazing promo (monologue) at the end of the show last week. This week continued the drama with Cena demanding an explanation from the Chairman of WWE, Vince McMahon. A lot of the minor stories were also touched on throughout the night, but for those who really just care about the Punk story, here is the final segment of last night's show where McMahon came out to address the audience.

Welcome back, my sticky Ragers, to everyone's favorites somewhat weekly random thoughts of Monday Night Raw: VD edition. This edition of Raw has a major surprise, as referred to in the last Rager entry, but more on that later. Lets roll: 1. The opening shindig between John Cena and CM Punk was alright, the Nexus interference by supplying the wrench felt a little campy (ooo a mysterious arm with Nexus band extends from under the ring slowly with a wrench). I'm ready to see these two fight without outside interference, its long overdue and I'm hoping we get that soon after the feud between Punk and Orton is done (which I almost forgot completely about because Punk has been facing Cena so much). 2. They're still continuing Smackdown stories on Raw now? Really? I mean, I get that they're trying to convince people to watch a non-sci-fi show on a channel thats dedicated to the genre, especially the big 600th episode thats so big that it'll feature Raw superstars bec...