The Year in PPV- 2015, Part IV

Let's start the conclusion to 2015 by heading to the world's most famous arena...


13. Live from Madison Square Garden

Essentially a house show from MSG that they broadcast live on the WWE Network, the selling point for this show was another match between Brock Lesnar and Big Show. I'll give you a guess at who won the match. All kidding aside, this match was what you'd expect between these two. Short, yet athletically impressive given their size. So what else was worth noting on WWE's return to MSG? Well, the MSG crowd is always a lively sort, so that's a big plus when you're doing a show that is mostly matches you would find on an episode of Monday Night RAW.

For the matches they throw at us, there's a few standouts. Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler facing Sheamus and Rusev made for a hot tag team opener, Kevin Owens defended the Intercontinental Championship in a great matchup with Chris Jericho, The New Day had another good WWE Tag Team Championship match against the Dudley Boyz, and John Cena had a really good United States Championship defense in a Steel Cage match against Seth Rollins. Not a bad show if you're watching for the superstars and the crowd reactions, but if you're looking for some substance storytelling, this formula would work more on an episode of RAW than a broadcast house show.

Mild Recommendation


14. Hell in a Cell

Boy, talk about a show that really improved over a second viewing. This show originally put me to sleep when I watched it live, but after sitting through it all, I'm tremendously surprised by the quality that exists on the show. Sure, there's a few filler matches and rematches from Night of Champions, but we've a good number of surprises thrown our way with the bigger matches on the show. Surprise #1, Alberto Del Rio returned to challenge John Cena for the United States Championship. We were all very happy to see him return, and then he got in the ring and I was reminded why he wasn't sorely missed. I'm sorry, but the dude transcends no amount of charisma in the ring. Surprise #2, Seth Rollins was able to get a decent match out of Kane for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Is it perfect? No. In fact, it's very by the numbers and some of the spots are sloppy. But it proved why Seth Rollins was the best worker in the company and it was the most effort I've seen from Kane in a while, so that counts for something. I mean, I was expecting that match to be an absolute disaster when it was first announced, so I'm pleasantly surprised with the ending result.

But the real selling point for whether this show works or not is the quality of the Hell in a Cell matches. And this show delivered two absolute classics. The first ended the rivalry between Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt. They really busted out the weapons and high spots for this one and it payed off really well. I was pretty "meh" on this feud, but they really knew how to bring it to a close with their Cell match. The main event promised the last encounter between Brock Lesnar and the Undertaker. I thought they'd have a tough time being the match of the night but man was I wrong. This match is absolute insanity. Near fall after near fall. Finisher after finisher. Blood. And they tore up the ring. That's about as real as it gets with storytelling. Plus, the aftermath of the match proved to be a very haunting conclusion to the event that had fans wondering what was going to happen next. And that's how you do it. Make us want to sit through a 3 hour RAW the next night to pay off the conclusion of your PPV.

Highly Recommended


15. Survivor Series

This was a fine show to watch. Certainly a good Survivor Series considering how much of a disaster show it's become in recent history, but it felt like paint by numbers. It was a good show because of a lot of the match quality, but it was so lacking in any surprise factor that it can come off as transparent. You know, beginning to end, how every match is going to go down. Heck, they announced the Survivor Series tag match without even announcing a participant and I accurately predicted 7 of the participants involved. What the heck guys? Can you honestly be THAT predictable for one of your biggest shows of the year? Shake the foundation a little.

But there was a huge gimmick heading in: celebrating 25 years of the Undertaker's career. He and Kane teamed to take on The Wyatt Family. The match is nothing to write home about, but it was a nice tribute to the most legendary WWE superstar ever. And another gimmick for the PPV was to see who would be the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion. After a tragic injury that will keep Seth Rollins sidelined for quite some time, the title was vacated and held up in a tournament for Survivor Series. Alberto Del Rio would fight Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose would fight Kevin Owens. The winners of those two matches would fight in the main event to crown the champion. Right off the bat, you know who's going in the finals, but you'd probably expect a nice surprise like at the end of the Deadly Game tournament at Survivor Series '98, but you don't get that. They're friends going into the match, and friends coming out of the match. Jeez, dropping the ball a little in my opinion. But they did set things in motion for the build to WrestleMania 32 by having the Authority do something to mess with the winner. But again, that was predictable too. Not a bad show, but way to darn predictable.

Mild Recommendation


16. TLC: Tables, Ladders, & Chairs

TLC is a gimmick show that can usually bolster some quality matches here and there, and this show is no exception. A little more filler heavy than I'm used to, but they at least gave us a tables match, a ladder match, a chairs match, and a tables, ladders, and chairs match. There was actually a really good standard wrestling match on the card for the Intercontinental Championship. Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose had a match that did what many had thought had been impossible for years: restore main event level credibility to the IC title.

But now, onto the gimmick matches. The tables match was an eight-man elimination match that saw the entire Wyatt Family take on the team of The Dudley Boyz, Tommy Dreamer, and Rhyno. It's a good match, but I think it proves that there's a time when a match like this can be too one-sided. The chairs match for the United States Championship match between Alberto Del Rio and Jack Swagger was ok, but I think their formula worked best when they feuded a few years earlier. The ladder match for the WWE Tag Team Championship stole the whole show. The New Day, The Usos, and The Lucha Dragons proved that there was a tag team revolution in full effect and they won't be ignored. The main event TLC match wasn't half bad either. Sheamus defended the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Roman Reigns. This felt like a proper TLC match because of how much of a rugged, smash mouth style brawl it was. Very good considering how rushed and lackluster the feud was actually booked. Plus, the post-match moment left the show on a high note and proved to be just the thing to finally get Roman Reigns to that spot WWE has wanted him at for a while now. He finally did something that made fans say "ok...maybe we can get behind you."

Recommended


Final Thoughts: The year ended on a pretty good note, in my opinion. It definitely left the door wide open for 2016 to pick up where it left off, which is something I've felt was lacking in the last couple of years. TLC actually ended on a cliffhanger that kept people watching on RAW to see Roman Reigns chase the WWE Championship. That's smart booking on their part. It was bittersweet to see Rollins' title reign come to an end, but he was losing a lot of credibility with the crowd based on how he was booked. We knew he was better than what they were giving him, and hopefully, he'll give us an anti-hero reaction when he's all healed up. Some very good stuff with 2015 and I think it properly left the ball in 2016's court to make something of the momentum.


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The Year in PPV- 2015, Part III

Let's head to Japan for WWE Network Exclusive...


9. The Beast in the East

For the first time ever, the WWE had a PPV event in Japan and it was broadcast exclusively on the WWE Network. The big selling point for the show was that Brock Lesnar was going to wrestle his first match since WrestleMania. When you got to the PPV and saw that he was facing Kofi Kingston, you knew it was going to be bad day for the New Day. Still,as fun as the squash match was, that can't be the main event of a successful show and the WWE knew that when they put the match in the middle of the card. There was still room for a Divas match, an awesome opener with Neville and Chris Jericho and a main event tag team match with King Barrett and Kane taking on Dolph Ziggler and John Cena. Everything seemed solid enough to work on the show.

And then came what in my mind was the REAL main event of the night. Kevin Owens put his NXT Championship on the line against Finn Balor, in the country where Balor made a name for himself. The Japanese fans loved Balor when he was known as Prince Devitt, so this was a great homecoming of sorts and a big push in the right direction of getting Balor that mainstream exposure with the WWE fans that weren't familiar with the NXT superstars. It was a great show with good quality and a great crowd. I'd definitely be on board to see them return to Japan for another PPV if they turned out like this one.

Highly Recommended


10. Battleground

This show was decent. We had a solid opener from Randy Orton and Sheamus, in Orton's hometown of St. Louis, no less. We had a good match for the WWE Tag Team Championships. We had a lot of buzz surrounding the Divas thanks to the recent debuts of Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and Sasha Banks. Granted, I didn't agree with the team selections for the Triple Threat match. Charlotte and Sasha Banks were great choices, but Brie Bella representing her team was something no one wanted to see. We had the conclusion to the John Cena and Kevin Owens trilogy. With both having a victory over the other, the rubber match was for the United States Championship. A goof finale of sorts, but I think they lost a lot of steam after that first match at Elimination Chamber. The match between Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns was also a feud that had a lot of intrigue surrounding it. But when we got to the match, I was pretty deflated by the result. They picked up more traction the more they fought, but this first match was pretty slow. The only thing I really hated on the show was the segment with The Miz and Big Show before the main event. It was to make up for a cancelled Triple Threat match that eventually happened at SummerSlam, but this didn't belong the show.

The main event gave the fans something they had been waiting since WrestleMania to see: Brock Lesnar get his hands on Seth Rollins. Rollins defended his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Lesnar in a match that was predicted to be very one sided. I was really intrigued heading into the match, and the ending doesn't necessarily bother me, but it wasn't really what I had in mind. I would've liked to see what would have happened if the match could've had a clean finish.

Mild Recommendation


11. SummerSlam

For the first time ever, we were given a 4-hour SummerSlam. That added a big, epic feel to the show. Watching it live, I wasn't fully prepared for how long the show was and got bored a number of times. However, re-watching it 5 months later actually helped me ease into the 4-hour grind. Not every match fires on all cylinders, and I could easily shave this down to 3 hours, if we eliminated the gimmicky celebrity match (Neville and Stephen Amell vs. Stardust and King Barrett), the Intercontinental Championship match (Ryback vs. The Miz vs. Big Show), and the match between Dolph Ziggler and Rusev.

Still, what's good on this show is really good. Sheamus and Randy Orton had another fine opener. The WWE Tag Team Championship match showed why The New Day was one of the best things in the WWE in 2015. Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose had a fun little tag match against Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper. John Cena and Seth Rollins had a match that would unify the United States and WWE World Heavyweight Championships, proving why the two were champions in the first place. Both men brought their A game to give the New York crowd a match they wouldn't forget, while also teasing that this match could give Cena his 16th world championship, which would tie with Ric Flair's record. Would he be able to do it? Or would Rollins prove he's a worthy champion by winning the United States Championship? That's the beauty of this match and its storytelling. The Divas Revolution continued the storyline while it was still fresh with an elimination tag team match pitting Team PCB, Team BAD, and Team Bella against each other in a battle for team and Diva supremacy. Cesaro and Kevin Owens had a great gem of a match before the main event. The main event saw the rematch the world waited over a year to see: Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker. Despite a controversial finish, this match was an amazing brawl from beginning to end that was a much better match than their WrestleMania XXX encounter. Overall, it's a great show that suffers from a little too much filler that could easily be trimmed to give a much more coherent show.

Highly Recommended


12. Night of Champions

The midcard championship matches at Night of Champions were fine, but nothing spectacular. Ryback defended the Intercontinental Championship against Kevin Owens, and they did well as the opener to get the crowd going. The New Day defended the WWE Tag Team Championships against the returning Dudley Boyz and had a good match, until the ending. Nikki Bella defended her Divas Championship against Charlotte, in a pretty good match, but didn't have the emotion and intensity of the match they had the week before on RAW. I could've done without the entire Rusev/Dolph Ziggler/Summer Rae/Lana storyline in hindsight, but their match wasn't half bad to watch. And the six-man tag pitting the Wyatt Family (with the recently debuted Braun Strowman) against Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and a mystery partner definitely gave the fans something to cheer about.

The big moment of the night was the challenge that Seth Rollins had, defending two titles in two matches in one night. First, he was going to have to defend the United States Championship against John Cena. And immediately after, he would have to defend his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Sting. This is a concept that really helped validate Rollins as the top worker in the company at the time. It's pretty telling how much the company was backing this guy. These aren't just any regular two opponents. This is Sting and John Cena. And both matches were fine to watch, so it was a pretty good payoff. After the two matches, complete chaos ensues. I mean, it's just rapid fire what happens. And it's a tad disappointing, as it takes away from the two championship matches we just saw. Almost as to say "these two matches weren't important. Here's what Rollins' next feud will be. And while we're at it, throw in a Money in the Bank tease so the fans don't forget why Sheamus is relevant." Just seemed a strange way to finish the night.

Mild Recommendation


Thoughts: There was some really good stuff in this group of PPVs. NXT was able to get a good showcase at Beast in the East, we had 3 shows in a row that utilized Lesnar's talents, a show that proved Rollins was good enough to work 2 matches in a row against the likes of Cena and Sting, and the early signs of change coming to the tag team and Divas divisions. And that's just to name a few. Hopefully, the WWE can keep bringing the positive vibes heading out of 2015.

Concluded in Part IV...


All rights and images are copyrighted and owned by World Wrestling Entertainment

The Year in PPV- 2015, Part II

Let's continue 2015 by seeing how the WWE would restore life to the King of the Ring Tournament...


5. King of the Ring

STOP IT! Stop it RIGHT NOW! WWE, what is WRONG WITH YOU!?!? After a 5 year absence, the King of the Ring Tournament was brought back for a one-hour special on the WWE Network. It took place 2 days after Extreme Rules and the qualification matches occurred on Monday Night RAW the night before. Let's stop right there. That's a bad call. A one hour special? This prestigious tournament is brought back unceremoniously, barely announced at a PPV that took place 2 days before, and is only given 1 hour of thought on a WWE Network special? Make it a full PPV. Give it at least 2 hours to work off of, put some higher profile stars in the tournament. Make winning the tournament seem important to the superstars and to the fans. They didn't do that. AT ALL!

I was fine with the match between Sheamus and Neville, which did good things for getting Neville over as a new talent and continued the rivalry between Sheamus and Dolph Ziggler. Bad News Barrett fought R-Truth. In what universe is R-Truth relevant in 2015? He won a number of Pre-Show matches throughout the year, started off the Royal Rumble match, competed at WrestleMania, and was in the semi-finals of the King of the Ring Tournament. HUH!?!? Anyways, it came down to Neville and Barrett, and I was heading in being ok with either of them winning. 7 months removed and I know they made the wrong call. Neville has since become a regular midcarder with no real momentum heading forward, and Barrett has gone on to become what many wrestling fans consider the worst King of the Ring ever. What makes him stand out with other King of the Ring failures like Mabel and Billy Gunn is the flow of momentum given to him after winning the tournament. Barrett loses. A LOT. In fact, he was given an almost jobber-like status for a number of months, while also suffering a handful of minor injuries during his 2015 run as the King of Bad News. My goodness, guys like Stone Cold Steve Austin and Bret Hart won this tournament. They need to handle this show better if they decide to bring it back in 2016.

Skip It


6. Payback

Now we have the opposite response to a show like Extreme Rules with Payback. When I can care about the main events and NOT the midcard, it makes for a show that's solid, but could be better. I didn't care about the Divas tag match, Neville vs. King Barrett, or the thrown together feud between Ryback and Bray Wyatt. I couldn't have cared less about those matches. However, the opening match between Sheamus and Dolph Ziggler really helped get me eased into the show. That match had great storytelling that felt like a proper payoff for their bitter and personal feud. Following that match with a 2 out of 3 falls match for the WWE Tag Team Championship was another good call. I was just getting into really liking The New Day gimmick heading into this match, and was already onboard with Tyson Kidd and Cesaro, so this match did a great job of tag team storytelling.

The John Cena and Rusev rivalry came to an end in an "I Quit" match for the United States Championship. I'm sure EVERYONE knows who's winning this one, but these guys still have great chemistry together, and the there's some good moments and spots throughout the match. The main event saw Seth Rollins finally put up or shut up against his existing rivalries with Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, and Dean Ambrose. In a Fatal 4-Way match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, they provided non-stop action and chaos that made this a very fun match to end the PPV with. It also featured one of the biggest pops of the year when the SHIELD reunited for a minute. That moment alone is worth the watch and it's attached to a good main event, so that's a plus.

Mild Recommendation


7. Elimination Chamber

For those who were disappointed in Fastlane replacing the Elimination Chamber as the February PPV, have no fear. The Chamber makes a return to PPV in another WWE Network exclusive. After Daniel Bryan was deemed (yet again) too injured to compete, we were given a traditional Elimination Chamber match for the vacant Intercontinental Championship. Dolph Ziggler, R-Truth, King Barrett, Sheamus, Ryback, and Mark Henry all battled in your standard Chamber match. Not to say that the match was bad, but nothing was added to the Chamber that we haven't seen before. And for the first time ever, we had a Chamber match that featured six tag teams. The New Day defended their WWE Tag Team Championships against Los Matedores, The Ascension, The Prime Time Players, The Lucha Dragons, and Cesaro and Tyson Kidd. This match was the better of the two Chamber matches, but that's not saying a lot. Some eliminations happened too quickly, the remaining three teams were a bit too slow to keep the audience riveted, and tag team dynamics almost felt thrown away in favor of some heavily telegraphed spots. On this night, the Chamber played second fiddle, as two matches were able to outshine the gimmick match that inspired the show.

The first match that stole the show was the epic first encounter between John Cena and Kevin Owens. I love NXT, and having the NXT Champion debut against the United States Champion (and a 15 time World Champion) is the best way to go. Let them go at it and tear the house down for 20 minutes, give the fans an ending they never saw coming, and tease a rematch by the end of the show? I'm all for it. One of the best matches of the year. Fantastic. And the action doesn't stop there. In possibly the most underrated main event feud of the year, Dean Ambrose proved how much star power he actually has in the main event by challenging Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. I'm not a fan of the finish, at all, but the 20 minutes of non-stop action showed me that in this current generation of wrestling, I would have no issues with Ambrose and Rollins wrestling each other every night.

Recommended


8. Money in the Bank

I'll start off by saying that it was in very good taste on WWE's part to dedicate this show in memory of Dusty Rhodes, who passed away a few days before the event. The entire company was affected by the loss, and the show served as a good tribute to the life and legacy that Dusty left on the world of professional wrestling. That being said, there's a lot of filler on this show. The midcard felt like nothing special to watch, and the conclusion to the Divas Championship match between Nikki Bella and Paige seemed like a confusing match to involve a dedication to Dusty. If you're gonna dedicate a match to someone, it's probably best that you let that person win the match. Just saying.

Sadly, the match that the whole PPV is focused on, the Money in the Bank ladder match, was just kind of there. I didn't mind the participants: Randy Orton, Neville, Sheamus, Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, Kane, and Roman Reigns. There are a few good spots, but nothing really wowed me about this one. It just didn't click. There was another great match between John Cena and Kevin Owens, but it didn't have that impact that their match at Elimination Chamber had. Still, an amazing match. You should check it out. Just a minor nitpick. The main event had a proper payoff for the Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose feud with a Ladder match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Remember what I said about Rollins and Ambrose fighting every night? This match further proved my point. Add to the fact that they're fighting in my favorite gimmick match, and you have a match that had me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. Fantastic effort on their part. I just wish the show that this match, as well as Cena/Owens II, was featured on was a better overall show.

Mild Recommendation


Thoughts: Some of these shows were rough, but there were some highlights. The Cena/Owens feud and the Ambrose/Rollins feud led to 2 great matches each in this block of PPVs. Not much else to write home about with this block. Go see those matches that I praised, skip what I verbally destroyed, and hopefully we get some better stuff on the road to SummerSlam.

Continued in Part III...


All rights and images are copyrighted and owned by World Wrestling Entertainment

The Year in PPV- 2015, Part I

It's been a while since I've reviewed a wrestling year in terms of its PPV shows. I'm here to talk about the most recent year, 2015. This year had a ton of highs and lows, gave a lot of new superstars mainstream exposure, resurrected the tag team division, attempted to resurrect the Divas division, and tried its hardest to give us one the year that defines the modern era. Did they succeed? That's what I'm here to find out.

Let's head to one of the WWE's biggest blunders of 2015, the Royal Rumble...


1. Royal Rumble

This show is a disaster. Plain and simple. The first hour had absolutely nothing going for it. Everything had worn its welcome by the time it got to the Philadelphia crowd. More on that in a bit, but when your opening match is a tag team squash match between The New Age Outlaws and The Ascension (an NXT tag team that was DOA once they made the call up to the main roster), you have a good idea of what else is to be expected for the show. After two tag matches that no fan will genuinely not care about, we're actually given the biggest surprise of the night: a fantastic match. Brock Lesnar defended the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a triple threat against John Cena and Seth Rollins. This match was an adrenaline rush from beginning to end and really did a lot for Lesnar and Rollins as far as performances go. It validated what Lesnar brings to the table as a part timer and it validated how Rollins was a superstar to watch out for in the near future. The only problem I have with the match is that it didn't close the show. If it had, the recommendation would be much stronger.

But then we get to the Rumble match. The awful Rumble match. The worst Rumble match I think that there's been since Mr. McMahon won in 1999. This thing just sucked the life out of everything. Every mistake you could possibly make happened. Eliminating Daniel Bryan early, when the entire Philadelphia crowd was rooting for him to win. Having Kane and Big Show dominate the end of the Rumble and eliminate favorites like Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, and Bray Wyatt. Having Roman Reigns, the obvious winner, win the match in a lackluster fashion. Not having Randy Orton return, when he was primed and ready to do so. Recycling the false finish to the 2011 Rumble by having Rusev show up at the end without being eliminated just so Reigns can eliminate him and stake his "dominance" by putting an emphatic stamp on the victory. Having The Rock return just so you can get some cheap pops on having him help Reigns. And guess what, that part STILL DIDN'T WORK! The fans were all over this match, booing more than they had at the 2014 Rumble. That hostile crowd interaction for one of the worst Rumble matches ever, mixed with an amazing triple threat that should have closed the show is enough for me to say that they completely dropped the ball on this show. You should check out Lesnar/Cena/Rollins while avoiding everything else on this card.

Skip It


2. Fastlane

In what seemed like an idiotic idea to scrap the Elimination Chamber (or so we thought) event, the WWE incorporated a new PPV concept called Fastlane (or as I call it, the reboot of Over the Limit). As far as the final stop before WrestleMania goes, this show wasn't all that bad. I think it honestly deserves another look from fans, because there's a number of gems that helped with the landscape at the time heading into WrestleMania 31. There's a midsection of about 2 or 3 matches I could've done without, but there is a lot of fun matches attached. There's an entertaining six-man tag that opens the show, we get the return of a popular superstar following that match, there's an interesting feud between Goldust and Stardust that unfolds on the PPV, there's a really good WWE Tag Team Championship match between The Usos and the new duo of Tyson Kidd and Cesaro. We get a pretty solid United States Championship match that saw Rusev defend against John Cena. We even get an in-ring segment featuring Triple H (no surprise) going face to face with Sting that ultimately leads to the announcement that they're gonna fight at WrestleMania. What a lot of this is doing is bridging the gap between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania. By the end of the show, you have a general idea of about half the matches that are being teased for Mania. And that's the point of the February PPV, so it's doing its job well.

The main event definitely drew a lot of intrigue as Roman Reigns put his WrestleMania main event spot on the line in a match with the guy the fans wanted to main event Mania, Daniel Bryan. While not an absolutely amazing match, the match does its job in validating why Reigns "deserved" his spot in the main event. It also showed that Bryan was still capable of delivering main event level match quality since being back from injury. I remember not being too into the match when I saw it live because it was painfully obvious that they weren't going to pull a switcheroo and have Bryan win, but after a year of reflection, the re-watch helped me realize how unfairly I treated the match because of my skepticism. Way to go WWE. You were right and I was wrong. Don't get used to it. The year is young and you still have plenty of time to mess it up...

Mild Recommendation


3. WrestleMania 31

If you're a regular here on my blog, you'll know that I reviewed WrestleMania 31 in full last year. This is the first time I've ever revisited a PPV for reviewing purposes, so the tone I'll be using in this review is how the PPV holds up a year after it aired. Right off the bat, I can already name 3 things that didn't age well after a year has passed: Daniel Bryan winning the Intercontinental Championship, the Undertaker squashing Bray Wyatt, and Triple H burying Sting in that nostalgic spotfest. Also, as of writing this post, nothing has come from The Rock and Ronda Rousey teaming up to attack Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. Who knows, maybe something could happen come WrestleMania 32, but I won't hold my breath on it.

Still, there's a lot that's still great to watch. Even if I disagree with the winner of the Intercontinental Championship ladder match, the match is still a heck of a lot of fun. The Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins match is a fantastic gem that was match of the night for a good amount of the PPV. John Cena winning the United States Championship led to him bringing a lot of fun and prestige to the title while he held onto it. Although, I could've done without the complete burial of Rusev that came out of that. AJ Lee retired shortly after Mania, so her teaming with Paige to take on the Bella Twins is a fun way to have a final WrestleMania match.

The main event is still brilliant. And I'm not even talking about Rollins cashing in at the end. I'm talking about the match that is purely Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. I'm still happy with how it ended, but I'd definitely be open to another match between Lesnar and Reigns to see who would have won if Rollins wouldn't have capitalized. We're on the Road to WrestleMania 32 now, so maybe I'll get my wish this year. Only time can tell, but I can safely say that WrestleMania 31 has aged very well in a year.

Highly Recommended


4. Extreme Rules

Heading into a 7 match PPV, I didn't care about 3 of the matches that were happening. With 2 of them being main event matches, that is not a good thing. Even worse is knowing that those 3 matches are 3 of the final 4 matches. That means with this edition of Extreme Rules, I didn't care about the second half of the show. That is not good. That's not good at all. Why didn't I care? We had a Divas Championship match between Nikki Bella and Naomi that essentially had two heels fighting, which isn't a good formula when they should have built it originally as a triple threat also featuring Paige. Get a babyface in there so the fans can care. Another match that suffered to get anything out of me was the United States Championship match. I'm all for another match between John Cena and Rusev, but I've never been a fan of strap matches, so making it a Russian Chain match didn't do a lot for me. Besides, we knew who was winning anyways, so why care for a match stipulation I already don't care for? The main event could have been booked nicely. It was a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match between Seth Rollins and Randy Orton. Well, I liked their match at WrestleMania. It's a Steel Cage match, and I like those. Ok. So far, so good. The RKO is banned. Well, that's really one of the only reasons to keep Randy Orton relevant in 2015, so that's a bad call. And a crucial point of the match booking was seeing what Kane was going to do in the match, who really shouldn't be relevant in the main event of a 2015 PPV. See how this match derailed all momentum on arrival? And people wonder why the championship reign of Seth Rollins was considered a disappointment. But we've just started on that.

If you can get through those mediocre ideas, the midcard isn't that bad. The show opens with a very interesting Chicago Street Fight with Luke Harper and Dean Ambrose. They call back to the Goldust/Roddy Piper match from WrestleMania XII and drive away from the arena for a little while, then resume the match later on in the show. Something about that with these two guys really worked. I'm actually a bit disappointed that Luke Harper's singles career was derailed shortly after this match, as I really liked what he was able to do in matches with guys like Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler. This PPV also featured a WWE Tag Team Championship match between the team of Tyson Kidd and Cesaro and The New Day. This is a year when the tag team division has been on fire, and a lot of that can surprisingly be credited to The New Day, which could arguably been kicked off thanks to this match. Dolph Ziggler and Sheamus have a pretty solid match with each other, although the "Kiss Me Arse" gimmick is a bit goofy and doesn't go anywhere. And the Last Man Standing match with Big Show and Roman Reigns was a lot better than it had any right to be. It had good spots, tension, and good character moments for Reigns. It was a match where the fans were like "we still don't want him as our top babyface, but we'll give him props for not messing this match up." It's a start.

Mild Recommendation


Initial Thoughts: So let's see. The Roman Reigns experiment didn't work as well as they would've hoped. But, he did get some matches under his belt that got the attention of a lot of his skeptics. Rollins was getting some great traction, but then that match at Extreme Rules reminded me of how rocky his WWE World Heavyweight Championship actually was in 2015. The Rumble was a complete bomb, there was some good stuff at Fastlane and Extreme Rules, and WrestleMania 31 was a fantastic show. So, for now, the momentum is average. Hopefully, it'll get better as the year progresses. I mean, how bad can they mess it up, right? RIGHT?!?! I've got a bad feeling about this.

Continued in Part II...


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