Irrelevant But Awesome

Joel:  Now that five hours has become the new standard for a WrestleMania, it becomes something of a trial of endurance to rewatch one of these things. There’s just so much to this WrestleMania. It feels like I didn’t remember half of these matches existed until the video packages for them started. That may be, at least in part, because of how inconsequential this show ended up being in terms of long term storytelling for the company. If you think about it, of the seven men to walk into WrestleMania as champion are all not even on the card this year. Neville -Cruiserweight, Dean Ambrose - IC Champion, Chris Jericho - United States Champion, Bray Wyatt - WWE Champion, Goldberg - Universal Champion, Gallows and Anderson - Tag Team Champions (It’s worth noting that both female champions from last year’s WrestleMania are on the card this year, though Bayley has been sent to the battle royal). In fact the only match that feels like it was designed to incorporate a long term vision ...

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:   In rewatching this WrestleMania, I am honestly a little bit in awe of it. This may be as close to perfect as WrestleMania is ever going to get. Everything just seemed to click. Daniel Bryan is the big story here, having two matches, to both open and close the show. Either one of those matches could be a contender for match of the year, and together, along with the video packages, told one of the best underdog stories to ever come out of this company. The “Monster” video they played, telling the background of this story is one of the best video packages that the WWE editors have ever put together. Even if the rest of the show had been nothing more than subpart, the strength of the Daniel Bryan material is enough to pull the overall quality into good territory. But that’s not the case, as almost every other spot of WrestleMania is great. I enjoyed the opener of Hogan, The Rock and Stone Cold just coming out and having fun for a little bit. It worked to celebrate the mil...

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:  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:  At this point, WWE has pretty consistently delivered good WrestleManias since WrestleMania 17, maybe before that depending on how you feel about the earlier Attitude Era WrestleManias. So it’s kind of strange that their first real misstep in almost a decade is WrestleMania 25, on they should have been pulling out all the stops for. But apparently somebody back there thought that “all the stops” meant Kid Rock. This whole show feels messy, which isn’t a way that I would have described any of the last ten or so WrestleManias. But this one felt a lot more haphazard, and sloppy. I know that there had to be buildup to these matches because I saw video packages, but the entire first half of the show felt like after each match the just grabbed whoever was closest to the entrance and sent them out there to take up some time. Seriously, I can’t think of anything worth watching that went on before the Undertaker match. But then we get Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels. This match...