DrVenkman PhD

Not everyone knows Cherry is older than the average Diva, though. I don't think any of the three are on the chopping block, but Cherry's stock has risen while Deuce and Domino's has dropped way off. I don't think Big Daddy V will be around much longer, but the same is often said about Mark Henry. They gave him the monster push then did nothing with it and though I don't care for him, Henry is more capable in the ring than V and can play the same role.

I don't want to be "that guy" who harps about how tacky the spinner belt looks for people who aren't John Cena, but a Post Mania Raw after successfully defending against Cena and HHH seems like the perfect time for Orton to have some grandiose heel ceremony where he gets a new belt (and then HHH attacks him to set up Backlash or something).

Like TCD said, the opening moments of Flair / Michaels with the Old Yeller, slap, and first blood comments was great. I liked how those lines were picked up so clearly for TV AND because of the outdoor setting, you could see Shawn's hair blowing in the wind on the close up. Very cinematic.

As promised, a lazy C&P of what I wrote in as Observer feedback: Big thumbs up. Best: Flair vs. Michaels for storytelling and pure emotion. Worst: The women tried so let's go with Umaga vs. Batista The tone of your report seems to suggest you were not a big fan of the unique atmosphere of the show, or maybe even the show itself, but I loved it. As someone who was at Ford Field last year and found the crowd quite loud from inside, only to find we were called "not that hot" due to building acoustics, I was happy to be able to hear the noise of this outdoor crowd. JBL vs. Finlay was a fun bout - will it be well remembered? No, but it was still a fun opening bout to the show. I enjoyed the 4th Money in the Bank a great deal and would even rank it above the second one, not call it the weakest ladder match in Mania history. It was cool to see Punk win and those spots were both incredible and inventive. Umaga vs. Batista was one of the shows let downs, but it was no worse than the actual wrestling from Lashley vs. Umaga last year. Even though it was sloppy, it was still a sight to see Batista powerbomb Umaga. Kane vs. Chavo - I enjoy a good squash to put someone over from time to time. Good for Kane. Flair vs. Michaels - Good stuff and a great Mania moment. Michaels doing a moonsault into the announce table with no one there to catch him was absolutely insane on his part. I don't know if t was high definition sound or what have you, but the crowd reaction sounded loud enough on my end (though it could have been louder, it's not like they were dead). The story of Michaels being hesitant, ending with the "I'm sorry, I love you" spot was excellent. Bunnymania was what it was. I like Beth and Maria seems to be trying harder each week. Lawler got a laugh out of me with his "Did the Undertaker show up?" comment during the power outage. The triple threat was a fun match and while I wouldn't have opposed to either Cena or HHH winning, I had a big smile on my face when Orton retained. He's come a long way. I wasn't into Show / Mayweather as much as you were, but there's no denying it was an entertaining spectacle that worked the way it was designed to. Edge / Undertaker started out out slow and just a bit sloppy, but built into quite the excellent main event which, even though the final match placement with Orton already winning seemed to guarantee a Taker win, had me believing more than once the win may have been Edge's. I was happy to see Edge get the final match spot and Undertaker certainly deserved it after not getting it last year and working his ass off with Batista. I also thought Edge's promo earlier in the show about Hogan losing at Mania VI crushing his spirit as a kid and he was going to now crush the dreams of other kids by defeating Undertaker was a nice character touch.

No serious injuries. And they got it from http://www.wftv.com/news/15748647/detail.html

Hey does anybody have a stream for Mania? PM me!

In fairness, Manias 17-23 (maybe not 18) have been good - great so I guess people want the best. I heard a lot of backlash about 23 last year too. But the people comparing it to Mania IX (I'm guessing purely because it was outdoors) are a funny bunch. Also, what's is goldgreek's deal? Is he actually from Greece and new to the English language?

Show is now an impressive 1-6. Lucky for him they split Carlito and Masters up / decided to have The Spirit Squad win them on Raw because I thought for sure they were winning the belts at Mania 22.

Though she didn't do anything tonight, Mickie James still has that 1-0 record going for her.

No, it's the internet.

It's also of note that by having Cena take the pin, his Mania streak is over and they won't be tempted to have him copy Takers. If HHH had won by pinning Orton, he would of at least had the Edge "never been pinned" streak (which is over too, obviously).

The set appeared to have some of its lights back for Show / Mayweather and everything appeared fully operational by Edge / Taker. I already dissected goldengreek's post, Choken. Except for Finlay jobbing, I was totally satisfied with the match. Both guys beat the shit out of each other, and took some crazy bumps. That's all you ask for in a brawl. It's the opening match, you can't do five alarm gig jobs. JBL throwing the garbage can from the ring to the floor at Hornswoggle was hilarious.

Well there's the crowd that legit thinks it would have been a good moment, and the crowd that thinks it would have been darkly funny to have two zombie characters doing the Benoit / Guerrero moment.

Yeah, it was a great ending. I also loved the ECW squash - I enjoy the rare squash, don't care much about the ECW title or Chavo, and had no interest in a competitive match between those two. Too bad we didn't get Kane / Undertaker at the end of the show. I think a bunch of people are going to suggest that should have happened thinking they're first (mentioned a few times here already, another friend just told me that on facebook too).

Re: Triple Threat finish. The move that ended the match - as in, put Cena down so Orton could pin him - was a Pedigree, not a head kick. The punt just got HHH out of the way. But if it was a headkick, that would have been fine too since it's an established signature move of Orton's. Is "Beetlejuice" a new word filter or did greek actually type that?

Well I guess everyone that posted between 10:12 and 12:03 got hosed. Anyway, I loved the show. There seems to be a lot of debate about the volume of the crowd - I thought it sounded fine and I loved the atmosphere, but someone reading Meltzer's recap would think they couldn't be heard due to the terrible atmosphere. Flair vs. Michaels stole the show and was a tremendous piece of business. "I'm sorry, I love you". Great. I'm not going to lie, I was 'getting soft' at the end visual of Flair and Michaels crying. I liked Edge's character motivation for wanting to end Taker's streak, they should have done the "I was crushed at Mania VI so today's kids can go to hell and be crushed too" angle on TV. I'll probably be lazy and C&P the thoughts I sent to Meltz when he posts them.

I quite enjoyed the show. MITB was crazy, I loved the atmosphere, and I was really into Flair / HBK.

It looked sunny too (though that was a very small vid window on WWE.com), so that's good for now. Anyhow, the TV I'm watching this on isn't here so hope the show is good and see ya in 4 hours.

Well played, bob.

Yeah I didn't see Dreamer go either. I was hoping he would pull a Regal.

Awesome spot by Noble.

No ECW title match for Festus.

I don't like that Khali got a full bio intro... doesn't bode well for the result.

Here we go! Go Duggan!

That's neither very Christian or HD of you, friend. So, think we'll get any wacky entrances this year? I don't think they'll go to Mania 22 levels of wackiness but maybe something like last year's Cena entrance.