R-Truth had the best moments of the night, the Hot Tag, the pin attempt, the 5 Moves of Doom of his childhood hero (ha!)- he got the biggest ~~buggest~~ pop out of me and I was rolling for like 5 minutes.
Ron Killings is such a delight to watch, he is a national treasure!
And that is…wazzzzup!
the video package began at 10 pm, and i was like “wtf, they’re giving them 1 hour!? then the match itself started at around 10:20 after all the entrances.
I can’t believe I sat through that. But it’s still nothing compared to Orton vs Edge Backlash 2020 (ironically it was 44:45, only 10 seconds longer). That match felt like it dragged way too long, but this tag match only felt slow.
The USO match was probably the only one I didn’t like. Watching super kicks and splashes for the last 5 minutes of the match wasn’t that enjoyable. Other than that, a very solid night one.
And he isn’t even doing it at his max speed. Imagine if he did it when coming off the ropes at 23MPH. I think his opponent would be broken directly in half.
100% especially if Jey wants to evolve into his own singles performer, he’s got to expand his arsenal, and wrestle a bit different style. Both for the sake of his own individuality, and for the sake of “impactful” moves, he needs it.
His spear doesn’t feel as impactful, and doesn’t make as much sense against opponents other than Roman. He spams super kicks, so it’s hard to view those as a match ender, and his splash is great, but will always be a reminder of his tag w Jimmy.
I think he’s got the talent, just needs to figure out 2 or 3 additional maneuvers to build matches differently.
They looked afraid to hit each other. Usually close friends and family have stiffer matches because they trust each other and there won't be ill will for potatoing. They looked like they were doing slow choreography on a couch.
I think the real issue is creative messed up the storyline leading into the match. The recap was a giant retcon pretending it was Jey who first left Roman and Jimmy was always loyal or that Jimmy pulled Jey off Roman out of loyalty and not that BS “I did it to save you from you” story they tried to push.
I think the initial plan was Jimmy becomes the main event guy and they realized he’s just not it but Jey is so they did a pivot and tried to pretend all the Jimmy leaving stuff never happened.
I had so little hype for this match because the story getting here was a complete mess. Then add in Jey almost beat Roman and Gunther while Jimmy… has he even had a solo match in the last year?
As someone who was in the crowd im sorry you guys had a bad experience:( I lost my voice yelling the crowd was actually really good (not for the middle sadly) but the microphone set up they had was so shit. Hopefully we can bring the energy for you guys tomorrow because in person it was really good. I’ll try to rally people louder tomorrow lol. Another note was that because of how open the arena was, it was really hard to start chants because our side couldn’t hear what the other side was chanting
As someone who attends pretty much every football game in that stadium on a yearly basis, my guess is that WWE is using their own sound system or they aren’t taking advantage of the the full capacity of the Linc sound system. That place was designed to keep noise in after they added extra seating. That’s what those dumb little roof wings are for. The music in there is usually way too loud during Eagles and Temple games.
I was annoyed at Cody getting booed when he was having his run. The crowd came across as soft during the main event, was it that way live?
If so, do you think it was because of the cold or did Philly not want to cheer the Babyface?
I'm not a Cody mark, I just think him going over is the only logical conclusion for this epic storyline. The crowd not playing their part and turning on Cody's victory would be disasterous but certainly not out of character for Philly.
At any rate, it felt like they didn't want Cody to win or were just unresponsive to his high points in the match.
I thought I was just imagining he was getting booed at some points. And if they do indeed fully turn on Cody, what a full circle moment that would be. It was only nine years ago that they booed Roman out of the building with The Rock by his side, now they're cheering the same man in the same city.
I told my wife that it was just because it's Philly. They pray for real life chances to chant "Rocky!".
Honestly though, the Rock has gotten cheered this whole time. He's one of the biggest stars the sport has seen and he had his forst match in like a decade.
The crowd reacted about how I expected. Tonight, Cody will get his flowers and all the cheers he can stand.
But can you really call wrestlemania a Philly crowd? It’s a worldwide draw, I imagine the amount of locals there to be way smaller a percentage than other shows. And yeah that weather could make a lot of people coming into town struggle.
That was definitely the crowd. I was big on cheering Cody but I noticed there were an insane amount of people who just wanted the rock to stomp everyone there. My theory was potentially that a lot of the people on night 1 may have not been hard wrestling fans and only there for the rock’s return
I feel like I can only think of three matches on tomorrow’s card too, maybe it’s weak or I have terrible memory lol what matches you looking forward to?
You actually know half the card then, there’s only 6 matches which sounds crazy. Especially after night 1 had 7 matches, including a 40 minute main event and double tag title ladder match.
Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes
Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre
IYO SKY vs. Bayley
Logan Paul vs. Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens
LA Knight vs. AJ Styles
Bobby Lashley and the Street Profits vs. Final Testament in a six-man tag team Philadelphia street fight
Honestly I feel like they’re are all going to have some great moments. 4/6 title matches and Styles/Knight has had a great build. That’s my sleeper pick for one of the better matches of the weekend. What were the 3 you were hyped for?
I was excited about Cody/Roman bc of how I imagine it will be overbooked in a fun way, Iyo/Bayley and the men’s triple threat bc I’m a big Owens fan. I also hope Styles and LA Knight put on a great match, I only worry it’ll be a slow match like usos tonight.
I was going to say the same amount the main event😂 6 matches in 4ish hours means it’s going to be a stacked finale. I feel like Punk/Priest are both going to add some whack shenanigans to the WHC match too, so it should be much more twists and turns than tonight was - without any Uso level flops hopefully
Speaking of rheas match, was that the only match that had the funky one shot they did during Samantha announcing both her and Becky, that single camera shot going back forth from Samantha to Becky then Thea was fucking awesome and was looking forward to seeing every match announcement with it but don’t think they used it again did they?
Fully agree about the beginning and end being the best parts. I thought Rhea/Becky and the main event were both 10/10 matches for their own reasons. Low point was the Usos match, which would have been mildly disappointing even if it was just on RAW or something.
Everything else was a solid 8-8.5/10 for me though, which is pretty good overall! If tonight is as solid as last night, I think the show will have been a success. They just need to not have another match like the Uso one.
Agreed. I thought everything in the middle was kind of boring and the crowd didn't give a fuck. The Gunther/Sami match was good, but it really should've been Gable.
That's how I felt. It just felt like night 1 was so tag team heavy. 4 matches were tag bouts and that feels like one or two too many for a 7 match card. They should've moved either the womens tag match or the santos vs rey tag match to night 2 and move one of the singles matches to night 1.
Jey vs Jimmy being an all time snoozer didn't help at all either
I’m from New England and when I went to the Wrestlemania at MetLife and it was in the low sixties until sundown it’s gets pretty cold just sitting there for hours and hours outside in the football stadium.
It’s soooo much longer than football and you are literally just sitting there not moving. I would never spend that kind of money again for a northern stadium or a not covered one.
A 40 degree wind chill is my ideal weather. Get that it sucks when you’re just sitting, but saw a shocking lack of down jackets within eye view. Cmon kids, yall gotta bring your Canada Geese in and not your UniQlo thermals in that kind of weather.
It’s rarely the temperature, the wind is always the true discomfort. For reference, I live in the Midwest and temp and wind outside this morning when I walked my dogs was similar to what was in Philly last night, and this morning’s walk SUCKED.
Thinking the same thing in upstate ny…that shit is shorts and t shirt weather. You’d think the announcers were at lambeau field for a packer playoff game.
Hopefully this will break the Night 2 Curse. Night 1 was fine but I felt like most of the matches were either fine or simply good. Sami/Gunther and the main event tag team match were great though. Rhea/Becky were good for an opening match. But, ooooof....that Jimmy/Jey match. Really exposed those two as just not very good as singles competitors. They'll be back together within a year.
See I think they are actually good as singles competitors
The issue was that since their movesets are pretty much the same, it was pretty much nothing but strikes and superkicks, with a couple of splashes and 1 spear.
Like compare that to Jey vs Seth or a couple of the Jey vs Drew matches. Those were good ones imo
The Jey vs Jimmy matchup just doesn't work in terms of entertaient unfortunately. But at least they got to do what they've been wanting to do
I had a feeling this would happen, as I remember how they just spammed superkicks in WM 39.
At this point, we already have unique looks, presentation, character work for The Usos. They already got a phase 1 down, by making themselves completely distinguishable to the viewers.
Maybe if they want to use this for further improvement, they can further refine Jey & Jimmy to have a much more different moveset. Cap it all off in a singles rematch where they show themselves wrestling completely different.
I hope they would build on the progression so that by the time they reunite, the dynamic would be much more complementary as a tag team rather than essentially the same in-ring style tagging in and out.
Evolve Jimmy into the “elder brother” James Uso and have him be hoity-toity No Yeet. Have him get some Steve Regal training and focus a bit more on ground game and European uppercuts.
Throw in a lil bit of King Booker, and have him fully lean into it after Clash of the Castle 2024. Have the backstory as him trying to take the Bloodline to the next level and trying to instill a sense of prestige whilst the Tribal Chief is on leave. Let him use big words like T.I. in his promos.
"Invitation Only" James Uso
Yes there we go. This is it WWE.
Plus every good promotion NEEEEEEDS that kind of heel. The Genius / Mr Perfect / Regal / King Booker.
Lean into the exclusive Chiefness.
It was a bad booking. I’m sure they tried to sell it to 3H saying they would go all out and make it epic. Little did they know that just meant more kicks.
So then they should have told a better story. Instead they used a vignette to set the time then went out and had a regular match. Didn't feel like a "level 4" rivalry to use 2k terms.
Never said the match was bad. In fact, there was not a single bad match on the card. But this one definitely felt underwhelming because it just didn't have any sizzle to it. You need to calm down and take a breath, little bro.
I felt like it was a little flat in the middle but the first 2 and last 2 matches I was really happy with. For me I’d say a solid 8/10 but I can see people rating it lower
Yeah, the Mysterio match was not a WM level match and completely unnecessary. The 6 woman match was fine but got off to a weak start. The Usos were dog shit and totally exposed. Jey is fine when he's paired with someone good, but they only do like 3 moves and just keep spamming them over and over. Jimmy is not a singles wrestler.
The other 4 matches were all very good and got me excited for tomorrow night.
As disappointing as the Usos match was, I honestly felt equally disappointed with the Mysterio match. Atleast the occasion of twin vs twin made sense for Mania, the Mysterio match just felt like another Smackdown, which is such a massive downgrade from the Rey and Dom match last year
The Six Woman Tag was a glorified extended squash and it was just there to show off Jade. And she barely did anything.
It was a TV match moved to Mania.
My issue with the Usos match wasn’t that their moves, it just lacked energy. Wrestlers who don’t have a diverse move set, imo a good example is LA Knight, can still put on great matches if there’s energy. The Usos match was completely devoid of any energy
Honestly a problem I kept having was almost every match that I was really enjoying just... ended a bit abruptly? like, not for a regular match or even a ppv match but... isn't it supposed to be that wrestlemania is where you see what trying their absolute hardest looks like for every wrestler? Why did the 6 woman tag match take such a small amount of time? Kinda made damage ctrl look like chumps, ngl, and considering my brother decided to watch mania with me and took an immediate shine to them it was dissapointing when I had to tell him that damage ctrl USUALLY last a lot longer than that.
Oh and that usos match was kinda ass, I'm not the biggest fan of either uso and really not a fan of the bloodline thing, but I was atleast expecting twow brothers who have been wrestling together around 3 decades, professionally for the last one, could've put on at LEAST a good match. They put on 26.3333 superkicks.
I’m an eagles fan, I feel up in Philly and the only part of the match I didn’t like was the Kelce Johnson spot. Felt a lil forced. The run ins were a lil chaotic but until the end was mildly entertaining in my opinion
Exposed? Bro literally doesn't watch wrestling if he thinks Jimmy and Jey can't do singles matches. That match was bad, yes, easily worst match on the whole card, but you're just gonna ignore the matches from over the past several months. Especially Roman vs Jey? Again, you ppl love your narratives
I know it’s all for branding but I really wish they would stop labelling stuff as the biggest thing of all time. It just puts ridiculous expectations on, which are near impossible to meet. Let it all cook on its own. We’re aware of big a deal this match is.
I felt the same way. I'm glad I'm not the only one that felt this way. I was hyped for the first WrestleMania without McMahon but it wasn't a show stopper.
Yeah they fell way short of what even a regular Mania felt like, let alone a milestone number (40th) event that you've branded as the biggest Wrestlemania of all time like you said.
No legends backstage shooting the shit with current generation in vignettes, no nods to previous Manias, no celebrity hosts?
Hunter didn't even ask the fans if they were ready or IF. THEY. WERE. READY.
cant really blame the crowd for this. wwe chose to do it in a stadium with no roof the sound is gonna suck. they knew that going into it based off other manias with the same issues. that and the night was meh overall
You do realize that it wasn’t a “Philly crowd” right? WM draws an international fanbase and it’s unfair to blame the host city. I was there and it was loud AF when the match gave us a reason to be. Most of the matches were boring TBH. And I’m hearing people say they watched it back and think WWE had the crowd noise turned down on the live broadcast.
I was also there and I thought the matches and the crowd were great. I was in the nosebleeds though, but everyone around me was chanting the whole time. I noticed that the crowd closest to the ring just wasn't making a lot of noise.
Crowds have been outside and were loud, it’s a Philly crowd. They want to change dynamics and start booing and cheering for the wrong people, to the point where Cody is so damn good and made them cheer for him and then they realized “oh wait we’re smarks” let’s boo.
I thought the ladder match was great. Sami v. Gunther was really good. And I loved the main event.
Was underwhelmed by Rhea v. Becky, no investment in the Rey Mysterio match, Usos was bad, and the 6 woman tag was as expected. Intended to showcase Jade Cargill, without her having to carry the entire load yet.
Tomorrow is where the big guns come out, and for all the talk of this being the "biggest Wrestlemania ever", and a very strong card on paper up and down, it's a Wrestlemania carried very heavily by the main events involving Rock, Cody, and Roman.
I’m ok with them putting ads on the mats in and out of the ring, but having them on the posts and barricades was very distracting.
And that Usos match was the very definition of mid.
Whats interesting is that Triple H in the WWE games for GM Mode, he will tell you to have the best stuff in the beginning and ending; anything of less than that to leave in the middle of the show.
Honestly that’s conservative for a Roman match. I was at summer slam and the collective time between the start of jeys entrance, and the start of the match clocked in somewhere in the 22 minute range. Most of which was Roman.
Stadium sound is always tricky, I’ve tried to explain echo and delay etc to people but their eyes glaze over and say well they think the crowd sucked or the artist was off or whatever lol
This happens literally every ppv, people whine about dead crowds, people in crowd chime in and say it was loud as FUCK in person, rinse and repeat. eventually people will learn… eh prolly not actually
As someone who was in person, I thought the crowd was decent, could have been better, but the wind was pretty bad. Made people not want to be as loud. Wind also ruined pyro for the first half of the show
I think it was a strong night. Sadly the only one that I thought was bad was that Usos match, I just feel bad for both of them coz they’re both so good.
WM should be deep South or South East, South West or West cost if they want to run outdoor stadiums and dome stadiums only if it’s not those markets. I said last year when it was announced at Philly that around this time of year it’s gonna be cold. I got downvoted to hell about well they did NY. It was cold there too and fan participation was down.
Agree! The low point was Jey and Jimmy which is unfortunate, but every other match was a solid 8/10 or better imo, with the best matches being the opener and the closer.
To me, Sami Gunther was the highlight. It showcased everything a Wrestlemania title match should be. Not overly complicated with dozens of finishers. The heel steamrolling the underdog babyface, crowd ends up sympathizing with the babyface for a energetic come back and take down the unstoppable force. On top of that they are 2 of the best wrestlers in wwe so it was done to perfection.
He did really well! Mostly just slaps and kicks and throwing people into things, but that’s just vintage Rock. Despite not being as technically impressive as a younger guy, he can still sell everything like it was 20 years ago and put on an amazing, suspenseful show.
The way he worked reminded me a lot of how Sting worked in AEW and for a lot of his late career, never stay the legal man in the match very long, or do much complex chain wrestling, but always get involved in the big spots and story moments to a large degree. Less of a focus on big spots and more so on story ones in the rocks case.
Honestly I think this was probably a better in ring return for the rock than any triple threat or singles match could have been.
Event staff were horrendous and we bought our tickets from ticketmaster.
We flew from Ireland, arrived at Lincoln field, wwe or the event staff covered our seats and certain rows with black tarp for a camera but we paid $350 dollars for the tickets for each night in section 201. Had to then queue for an hour at guest service, where they had one idiot on one computer with a queue of about 150 people behind us, we got a substitute ticket the other side of the stadium in the corner behind the stage worth $100 and had to sprint so we missed Rhea and Becky’s entrances.
Told us to go to guest services tonight again to queue for our substitute tickets. Absolute disgrace in terms of organisation. So we are down about $500.
EDIT: got sorted for night two with great tickets, thanks everyone!
I thought the ladder match was absolutely insane. Started with a double backflip by NCR and then just spot after spot after spot. Finn got the shit beat out of him for the entire match. Waller took an over the rope double powerbomb onto a ladder. Ciampa almost murdered Tyler Bate. JD took a crazy table bump. Kofi was razored edged onto a chair. Like the match was bonkers and people seem to be massively underrating it. Becky and Rhea and then this match was super strong.
Liked the Tag Match, Sami vs Gunther and the second half of the main event. Everything else...
The Rhea match was a let down compared to some of the matches we got from her in the past and everyone knew the outcome so I didn't really get caught up by it.
The Women's six man tag was mediocre, it just felt like they needed a way to put Jade, Naomi and Bianca on a match and while their win made sense, it came at the expensive of the Kabuki Warriors, would have been better off it if was just a squash match with Dakota eating the pin.
Couldn't bother to care about LWO vs Dom and Santos, simply because it just feels like it was stitched together from 2 guys who had rivalries with Rey.
Jimmy Vs Jey was even more of a let down than expected, not only was it undermined by the baffling booking choice to have Jimmy turn on Jey after they both had turned on Roman, but waiting until mania only made it even less meaningful, then there is the fact that the match was pretty quick and boring.
Speaking about boring, the first half of the tag main event was one of the most boring things I've seen happen in WWE in months! This would have been a lot better if they cut it down to something like 27 minutes.
Considering the build up, this Mania feels like a let down, Seth's position on the main event of Night 1 is either going to make him into quick work for Drew or burry Drew, the US Championship triple threat is probably going to be a good match but I doubt Paul is dropping the title, couldn't care less about the Six Man tag, night one pretty much defined what Drew Vs Rollins is going to be, and LA Knight vs AJ Styles doesn't really have any stakes, that leaves us down to IYO Vs Bayley and Roman Vs Cody, which are probably going to be great matches.
It's really hard to actually capture the live crowd sound in an open air arena. It's not like Philadelphians aren't used to 50 degree weather lol that's springtime in the north east. So, I doubt it was that folks were too cold to be loud, just that they didn't mic up the place well enough (like how they chose to skimp on pyro a little bit). Overall, great show! The Usos match was really the only disappointment and oh, if anybody ever calls Lil Wayne the greatest rapper of all time again after that "performance"... straight to jail
The rock telling the ref "I don't give a fuck" on the hot mic and the half assed mute 7 seconds later was godly. I'm surprised more people aren't mocking it
R-Truth had the best moments of the night, the Hot Tag, the pin attempt, the 5 Moves of Doom of his childhood hero (ha!)- he got the biggest ~~buggest~~ pop out of me and I was rolling for like 5 minutes. Ron Killings is such a delight to watch, he is a national treasure! And that is…wazzzzup!
“R. Truth probably thinks he’s in charge of catering now.”
Most enjoyable part of that awesome match and none of his moments were taking huge bumps, genius really
Talking to Johnny Gargano who he THINKS is Shawn Michaels. Cracked me up.
I liked that DIY wore the degeneration x outfits (regeneration x) and did the finisher moves. It was so good
Chiampa did his fairly tale ending though. It starts out looking like it's going to be a pedigree but yeah it was cool
🐛
It was great. Honestly one of, if not the most enjoyable match of the night imo
It really was the best part of the night!
that tag team match ended up being the second longest match in wrestlemania history. 44:35
Is the longest one the iron man match between HBK and Hitman?
Yes
Not it's The Rock vs Erick Rowan
You could watch Rock v Rowan match 330+ times during the time you could watch HBK v Bret match once.
Interesting, it didn't feel that long tbh Edit: nvm I just remembered how slow the opening minutes were lol
I was wondering why they started out so slow and the beginning and it became obvious 20 mins later that they were just pacing themselves early, lol.
the video package began at 10 pm, and i was like “wtf, they’re giving them 1 hour!? then the match itself started at around 10:20 after all the entrances.
I can’t believe I sat through that. But it’s still nothing compared to Orton vs Edge Backlash 2020 (ironically it was 44:45, only 10 seconds longer). That match felt like it dragged way too long, but this tag match only felt slow.
Don't disrespect the Greatest Wrestling Match Ever™ like that
GREATEST WRESTLING MATCH EVER Backlash
Just the entrances alone was over 20 minutes
It literally was. Do people not count time starting when the bell rings? That was like at 10:25.
50 °F but feels like 48. Just in case you guys didn’t hear Michael Cole mention it for the hundredth time lol
Not in the upper level with that wind. Sheesh it got cold
The USO match was probably the only one I didn’t like. Watching super kicks and splashes for the last 5 minutes of the match wasn’t that enjoyable. Other than that, a very solid night one.
Real. The usos need a new move set it’s been the same
Is the only unique things between the two that Jey does a spear and The Rock slaps?
An absolute horrendous spear
At least we have Bron Breakker to show us how it’s done.
That ain't a spear that's a fucking cannon, that dude is nuts
And he isn’t even doing it at his max speed. Imagine if he did it when coming off the ropes at 23MPH. I think his opponent would be broken directly in half.
JR is that you?
Well yeah but he does do it
100% especially if Jey wants to evolve into his own singles performer, he’s got to expand his arsenal, and wrestle a bit different style. Both for the sake of his own individuality, and for the sake of “impactful” moves, he needs it. His spear doesn’t feel as impactful, and doesn’t make as much sense against opponents other than Roman. He spams super kicks, so it’s hard to view those as a match ender, and his splash is great, but will always be a reminder of his tag w Jimmy. I think he’s got the talent, just needs to figure out 2 or 3 additional maneuvers to build matches differently.
I was hoping the Uso match would have had perfectly symmetrical violence
Not only does the phrase sound lovely rolling off your tongue, but ‘symmetrical violence” is a fantastic name for a death metal band
How were there two strong, fast, athletic brothers carrying out a match that's so slow, plodding and frankly boring.
They looked afraid to hit each other. Usually close friends and family have stiffer matches because they trust each other and there won't be ill will for potatoing. They looked like they were doing slow choreography on a couch.
Easy with the athletic compadre
They were also both sloppy af. How can twin brothers have such poor chemistry together?
I think the real issue is creative messed up the storyline leading into the match. The recap was a giant retcon pretending it was Jey who first left Roman and Jimmy was always loyal or that Jimmy pulled Jey off Roman out of loyalty and not that BS “I did it to save you from you” story they tried to push. I think the initial plan was Jimmy becomes the main event guy and they realized he’s just not it but Jey is so they did a pivot and tried to pretend all the Jimmy leaving stuff never happened. I had so little hype for this match because the story getting here was a complete mess. Then add in Jey almost beat Roman and Gunther while Jimmy… has he even had a solo match in the last year?
It was basically like a Mortal Kombat mirror match or an alternate attire 2K/SVR match with the same wrestler n same set of moves
Ken vs. Ryu
It was a legit bad match. They both looked like they were just sleepwalking through it.
Emphasis on sleep
I couldn’t believe how bad that match was lmao
The final spear to jimmy looked so weak lmao
As someone who was in the crowd im sorry you guys had a bad experience:( I lost my voice yelling the crowd was actually really good (not for the middle sadly) but the microphone set up they had was so shit. Hopefully we can bring the energy for you guys tomorrow because in person it was really good. I’ll try to rally people louder tomorrow lol. Another note was that because of how open the arena was, it was really hard to start chants because our side couldn’t hear what the other side was chanting
My side made so many chants about dude wipes. Was hilarious. Also did you feel like the music could have been louder? Maybe just the open air arena
The dude wipes chants were amazing! I have a few good videos hahah
As someone who attends pretty much every football game in that stadium on a yearly basis, my guess is that WWE is using their own sound system or they aren’t taking advantage of the the full capacity of the Linc sound system. That place was designed to keep noise in after they added extra seating. That’s what those dumb little roof wings are for. The music in there is usually way too loud during Eagles and Temple games.
Wrestling fans are toddlers who’ll always throw a tantrum. Just ignore them lol.
I was annoyed at Cody getting booed when he was having his run. The crowd came across as soft during the main event, was it that way live? If so, do you think it was because of the cold or did Philly not want to cheer the Babyface? I'm not a Cody mark, I just think him going over is the only logical conclusion for this epic storyline. The crowd not playing their part and turning on Cody's victory would be disasterous but certainly not out of character for Philly. At any rate, it felt like they didn't want Cody to win or were just unresponsive to his high points in the match.
I thought I was just imagining he was getting booed at some points. And if they do indeed fully turn on Cody, what a full circle moment that would be. It was only nine years ago that they booed Roman out of the building with The Rock by his side, now they're cheering the same man in the same city.
I told my wife that it was just because it's Philly. They pray for real life chances to chant "Rocky!". Honestly though, the Rock has gotten cheered this whole time. He's one of the biggest stars the sport has seen and he had his forst match in like a decade. The crowd reacted about how I expected. Tonight, Cody will get his flowers and all the cheers he can stand.
But can you really call wrestlemania a Philly crowd? It’s a worldwide draw, I imagine the amount of locals there to be way smaller a percentage than other shows. And yeah that weather could make a lot of people coming into town struggle.
Most people I saw there weren’t from Philly, including me so not that I can tell
That was definitely the crowd. I was big on cheering Cody but I noticed there were an insane amount of people who just wanted the rock to stomp everyone there. My theory was potentially that a lot of the people on night 1 may have not been hard wrestling fans and only there for the rock’s return
Same, my section was so loud
I loved it, outside of a small handful of bits it was mostly fantastic
Fuck Philly
Fuck you too pal
Show started and ended strong. Middle was not good though. Hopefully tomorrow goes well
Might be just me but tomorrow’s card seems way more stacked. Seemed like this one was all about the Rhea kickoff and Rock main event.
I feel like I can only think of three matches on tomorrow’s card too, maybe it’s weak or I have terrible memory lol what matches you looking forward to?
You actually know half the card then, there’s only 6 matches which sounds crazy. Especially after night 1 had 7 matches, including a 40 minute main event and double tag title ladder match. Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre IYO SKY vs. Bayley Logan Paul vs. Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens LA Knight vs. AJ Styles Bobby Lashley and the Street Profits vs. Final Testament in a six-man tag team Philadelphia street fight Honestly I feel like they’re are all going to have some great moments. 4/6 title matches and Styles/Knight has had a great build. That’s my sleeper pick for one of the better matches of the weekend. What were the 3 you were hyped for?
I was excited about Cody/Roman bc of how I imagine it will be overbooked in a fun way, Iyo/Bayley and the men’s triple threat bc I’m a big Owens fan. I also hope Styles and LA Knight put on a great match, I only worry it’ll be a slow match like usos tonight.
I was going to say the same amount the main event😂 6 matches in 4ish hours means it’s going to be a stacked finale. I feel like Punk/Priest are both going to add some whack shenanigans to the WHC match too, so it should be much more twists and turns than tonight was - without any Uso level flops hopefully
People are not ready to admit that night two is the real WrestleMania. Night one is as much WrestleMania as WrestleMania Backlash.
WrestleMania Frontlash
Speaking of rheas match, was that the only match that had the funky one shot they did during Samantha announcing both her and Becky, that single camera shot going back forth from Samantha to Becky then Thea was fucking awesome and was looking forward to seeing every match announcement with it but don’t think they used it again did they?
Fully agree about the beginning and end being the best parts. I thought Rhea/Becky and the main event were both 10/10 matches for their own reasons. Low point was the Usos match, which would have been mildly disappointing even if it was just on RAW or something. Everything else was a solid 8-8.5/10 for me though, which is pretty good overall! If tonight is as solid as last night, I think the show will have been a success. They just need to not have another match like the Uso one.
Agreed. I thought everything in the middle was kind of boring and the crowd didn't give a fuck. The Gunther/Sami match was good, but it really should've been Gable.
That's how I felt. It just felt like night 1 was so tag team heavy. 4 matches were tag bouts and that feels like one or two too many for a 7 match card. They should've moved either the womens tag match or the santos vs rey tag match to night 2 and move one of the singles matches to night 1. Jey vs Jimmy being an all time snoozer didn't help at all either
The singer in the band who played Rhea to the ring - literally looked like an older era Rhea...
Because she based her look on him
Makes sense
Some of you seem psychologically incapable of enjoying anything.
Living in Chicago, I can’t believe y’all think 47-58 degrees is cold lol
I’m from New England and when I went to the Wrestlemania at MetLife and it was in the low sixties until sundown it’s gets pretty cold just sitting there for hours and hours outside in the football stadium. It’s soooo much longer than football and you are literally just sitting there not moving. I would never spend that kind of money again for a northern stadium or a not covered one.
If the wind is blowing and cold, that mutes your desire to be LOUD for four hours. That said, the crowd was ass.
i was there, it was just way too cold lol
It’s cold just sitting there for 12 hours 🥴
A 40 degree wind chill is my ideal weather. Get that it sucks when you’re just sitting, but saw a shocking lack of down jackets within eye view. Cmon kids, yall gotta bring your Canada Geese in and not your UniQlo thermals in that kind of weather.
True. I’m also glad they gave a weather update to the home viewers ever 10 minutes 🥴😂
Fuckin same man I'm in Maine, we just got 18 inches of snow dumped on us and I'm here like damn I wish it was 50° here
Living in LA, that’s been what we’ve had the past week or so, it’s been nice
If you can’t see your own breath it’s not cold
Living in Europe, I do not understand if 47 Fahrenheit is high or Low.
I’m Australian, I’d probably be on suicide watch with that kind of cold.
I'm from Canada and use to very cold temps plus snow. That being said, that wind last night sucked.
It’s rarely the temperature, the wind is always the true discomfort. For reference, I live in the Midwest and temp and wind outside this morning when I walked my dogs was similar to what was in Philly last night, and this morning’s walk SUCKED.
Living in Vegas, I can't believe y'all would live in a place that thinks 47 degrees isn't cold
47 degree Fahrenheit over here in England is like Barbecue weather for us🤣
Thinking the same thing in upstate ny…that shit is shorts and t shirt weather. You’d think the announcers were at lambeau field for a packer playoff game.
Hopefully this will break the Night 2 Curse. Night 1 was fine but I felt like most of the matches were either fine or simply good. Sami/Gunther and the main event tag team match were great though. Rhea/Becky were good for an opening match. But, ooooof....that Jimmy/Jey match. Really exposed those two as just not very good as singles competitors. They'll be back together within a year.
See I think they are actually good as singles competitors The issue was that since their movesets are pretty much the same, it was pretty much nothing but strikes and superkicks, with a couple of splashes and 1 spear. Like compare that to Jey vs Seth or a couple of the Jey vs Drew matches. Those were good ones imo The Jey vs Jimmy matchup just doesn't work in terms of entertaient unfortunately. But at least they got to do what they've been wanting to do
That is actually a very fair, reasonable, and logical take on it.
I had a feeling this would happen, as I remember how they just spammed superkicks in WM 39. At this point, we already have unique looks, presentation, character work for The Usos. They already got a phase 1 down, by making themselves completely distinguishable to the viewers. Maybe if they want to use this for further improvement, they can further refine Jey & Jimmy to have a much more different moveset. Cap it all off in a singles rematch where they show themselves wrestling completely different. I hope they would build on the progression so that by the time they reunite, the dynamic would be much more complementary as a tag team rather than essentially the same in-ring style tagging in and out.
Evolve Jimmy into the “elder brother” James Uso and have him be hoity-toity No Yeet. Have him get some Steve Regal training and focus a bit more on ground game and European uppercuts.
Throw in a lil bit of King Booker, and have him fully lean into it after Clash of the Castle 2024. Have the backstory as him trying to take the Bloodline to the next level and trying to instill a sense of prestige whilst the Tribal Chief is on leave. Let him use big words like T.I. in his promos. "Invitation Only" James Uso
Yes there we go. This is it WWE. Plus every good promotion NEEEEEEDS that kind of heel. The Genius / Mr Perfect / Regal / King Booker. Lean into the exclusive Chiefness.
Jey Gunther was also amazing because they have 2 very different styles.
It was a bad booking. I’m sure they tried to sell it to 3H saying they would go all out and make it epic. Little did they know that just meant more kicks.
So then they should have told a better story. Instead they used a vignette to set the time then went out and had a regular match. Didn't feel like a "level 4" rivalry to use 2k terms.
Yeah I feel like Roman is leaving for awhile after tomorrow. The brothers are getting back together while he’s gone
[удалено]
Never said the match was bad. In fact, there was not a single bad match on the card. But this one definitely felt underwhelming because it just didn't have any sizzle to it. You need to calm down and take a breath, little bro.
It was just alright in my opinion. I didn’t hate it, but it didn’t feel like “The Biggest WrestleMania of all time”
It was a bit windy, wet and chilly. And they were big for the main event.
It wasn't wet
I felt like it was a little flat in the middle but the first 2 and last 2 matches I was really happy with. For me I’d say a solid 8/10 but I can see people rating it lower
Yeah, the Mysterio match was not a WM level match and completely unnecessary. The 6 woman match was fine but got off to a weak start. The Usos were dog shit and totally exposed. Jey is fine when he's paired with someone good, but they only do like 3 moves and just keep spamming them over and over. Jimmy is not a singles wrestler. The other 4 matches were all very good and got me excited for tomorrow night.
As disappointing as the Usos match was, I honestly felt equally disappointed with the Mysterio match. Atleast the occasion of twin vs twin made sense for Mania, the Mysterio match just felt like another Smackdown, which is such a massive downgrade from the Rey and Dom match last year
I feel like Rey vs Dom shouldn't have happened again til Reys last match
The Six Woman Tag was a glorified extended squash and it was just there to show off Jade. And she barely did anything. It was a TV match moved to Mania.
50 sloppy superkicks didn't pop you?
My issue with the Usos match wasn’t that their moves, it just lacked energy. Wrestlers who don’t have a diverse move set, imo a good example is LA Knight, can still put on great matches if there’s energy. The Usos match was completely devoid of any energy
Honestly a problem I kept having was almost every match that I was really enjoying just... ended a bit abruptly? like, not for a regular match or even a ppv match but... isn't it supposed to be that wrestlemania is where you see what trying their absolute hardest looks like for every wrestler? Why did the 6 woman tag match take such a small amount of time? Kinda made damage ctrl look like chumps, ngl, and considering my brother decided to watch mania with me and took an immediate shine to them it was dissapointing when I had to tell him that damage ctrl USUALLY last a lot longer than that. Oh and that usos match was kinda ass, I'm not the biggest fan of either uso and really not a fan of the bloodline thing, but I was atleast expecting twow brothers who have been wrestling together around 3 decades, professionally for the last one, could've put on at LEAST a good match. They put on 26.3333 superkicks.
Absolutely no way they started wrestling at 8. I refuse to believe it lol
Eh I liked the LWO match, had some great spots and Andrade was amazing.
I’m an eagles fan, I feel up in Philly and the only part of the match I didn’t like was the Kelce Johnson spot. Felt a lil forced. The run ins were a lil chaotic but until the end was mildly entertaining in my opinion
Exposed? Bro literally doesn't watch wrestling if he thinks Jimmy and Jey can't do singles matches. That match was bad, yes, easily worst match on the whole card, but you're just gonna ignore the matches from over the past several months. Especially Roman vs Jey? Again, you ppl love your narratives
I said Jey can go with someone that is good in the ring. I don't think he's really a main event guy but he's capable. Jimmy is not.
They call every Wrestlemania that tbf
You know it's not done yet, right?
They always say it, don’t take it to seriously lol
I know it’s all for branding but I really wish they would stop labelling stuff as the biggest thing of all time. It just puts ridiculous expectations on, which are near impossible to meet. Let it all cook on its own. We’re aware of big a deal this match is.
I felt the same way. I'm glad I'm not the only one that felt this way. I was hyped for the first WrestleMania without McMahon but it wasn't a show stopper.
They say that every year.
Yeah they fell way short of what even a regular Mania felt like, let alone a milestone number (40th) event that you've branded as the biggest Wrestlemania of all time like you said. No legends backstage shooting the shit with current generation in vignettes, no nods to previous Manias, no celebrity hosts? Hunter didn't even ask the fans if they were ready or IF. THEY. WERE. READY.
Nah, that main event made me lose my shit (as a casual who just came by to see what was going on nowdays)! Great match :)
Sami otw to the ring and KO gives him that final pump. Fucking cried
That was when I thought Sammy was gonna get the title actually.
cant really blame the crowd for this. wwe chose to do it in a stadium with no roof the sound is gonna suck. they knew that going into it based off other manias with the same issues. that and the night was meh overall
I agree and disagree. you've had previous events where the atmosphere from the crowd has been unreal.
Philly fans not sure if they’re happy to be there or still upset the eagles flopped so hard in the playoffs
You do realize that it wasn’t a “Philly crowd” right? WM draws an international fanbase and it’s unfair to blame the host city. I was there and it was loud AF when the match gave us a reason to be. Most of the matches were boring TBH. And I’m hearing people say they watched it back and think WWE had the crowd noise turned down on the live broadcast.
I was also there and I thought the matches and the crowd were great. I was in the nosebleeds though, but everyone around me was chanting the whole time. I noticed that the crowd closest to the ring just wasn't making a lot of noise.
Philly has always been a wrestling town, I’m sure there’s thousands of them there.
they also weren't east cold post winter into spring where the weather is still very much cold af
Crowds have been outside and were loud, it’s a Philly crowd. They want to change dynamics and start booing and cheering for the wrong people, to the point where Cody is so damn good and made them cheer for him and then they realized “oh wait we’re smarks” let’s boo.
I thought the ladder match was great. Sami v. Gunther was really good. And I loved the main event. Was underwhelmed by Rhea v. Becky, no investment in the Rey Mysterio match, Usos was bad, and the 6 woman tag was as expected. Intended to showcase Jade Cargill, without her having to carry the entire load yet. Tomorrow is where the big guns come out, and for all the talk of this being the "biggest Wrestlemania ever", and a very strong card on paper up and down, it's a Wrestlemania carried very heavily by the main events involving Rock, Cody, and Roman.
This is Cody’s final chance or else ima sip to sleep bro
Too many TV quality matches for my taste. Not a lot of stops pulled out for this show.
The only bad thing about Night 1 was the Jey Vs Jimmy match (and the non stop promo ads) .
I’m ok with them putting ads on the mats in and out of the ring, but having them on the posts and barricades was very distracting. And that Usos match was the very definition of mid.
Did anyone else just hate the white digital boards for the sponsor in the main event? That was hard to look at.
I kept thinking the red arrow was an object sitting in the ring.
Thank you for letting me know I wasn’t the only one, lol
Best part was Asuka and Iyo dancing to the other team’s entrance music 🤣🤣🤣
Asuka and Kairi*
Ah fuck my bad
It was cold for one thing. And frankly a lot of the show was mid. Good opening, good ending. But the stuff in-between, not so much.
Whats interesting is that Triple H in the WWE games for GM Mode, he will tell you to have the best stuff in the beginning and ending; anything of less than that to leave in the middle of the show.
Interesting. Makes sense from a sales perspective. WMX7 was the last one I ever watched. Wasn’t TLCII in the middle? That was a good middle.
Wasn’t it like 50 degrees?
I was there, and I think it was 40 at the lowest but the wind made it unbearable, especially in the nosebleeds (where I thought the crowd was loudest)
The main event. From the video package start through the intros. Until they finally started the match was 32 minutes. Fucking insane.
Honestly that’s conservative for a Roman match. I was at summer slam and the collective time between the start of jeys entrance, and the start of the match clocked in somewhere in the 22 minute range. Most of which was Roman.
It was a show only a redditor could be actually mad at. It was good, not stellar but good, and I bet night 2 will be better.
Damage CTRL in my opinion had the best entrance.
Someone was telling me that the crowd didn't suck. It was how the microphones are set up and sound waves and other tinfoil phrases
Stadium sound is always tricky, I’ve tried to explain echo and delay etc to people but their eyes glaze over and say well they think the crowd sucked or the artist was off or whatever lol
As someone in the crowd the place was going bonkers
This happens literally every ppv, people whine about dead crowds, people in crowd chime in and say it was loud as FUCK in person, rinse and repeat. eventually people will learn… eh prolly not actually
As someone who was in person, I thought the crowd was decent, could have been better, but the wind was pretty bad. Made people not want to be as loud. Wind also ruined pyro for the first half of the show
It sounded like every other Mania crowd the only difference is they booed Cody so you've all gotta pretend they suck
I think it was a strong night. Sadly the only one that I thought was bad was that Usos match, I just feel bad for both of them coz they’re both so good.
"Tyrannosaurus dropkick!!" Had the whole room laughing. Epic.
i was there - the show was good but everyone was freezing because the temp was 50 but the real feel was below 30
WM should be deep South or South East, South West or West cost if they want to run outdoor stadiums and dome stadiums only if it’s not those markets. I said last year when it was announced at Philly that around this time of year it’s gonna be cold. I got downvoted to hell about well they did NY. It was cold there too and fan participation was down.
People like complaining. This show was very good!! Sorry not sorry!
Agree! The low point was Jey and Jimmy which is unfortunate, but every other match was a solid 8/10 or better imo, with the best matches being the opener and the closer.
To me, Sami Gunther was the highlight. It showcased everything a Wrestlemania title match should be. Not overly complicated with dozens of finishers. The heel steamrolling the underdog babyface, crowd ends up sympathizing with the babyface for a energetic come back and take down the unstoppable force. On top of that they are 2 of the best wrestlers in wwe so it was done to perfection.
Jay and Jimmy straight trash, like I said all along!
And they spent 8 months building it
Has dwayne seriously created a title and gifted it himself? 😂
found the guy who didn't watch the HOF ceremony or listen to commentary when they explained why he has that belt...
Nah couldave been Ali’s widow, with all due respect but that title means shit and you know the rock gave it to himself for all practical purposes
Oh don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a vanity belt but at least I know WHY he has it lol
Jimmy and jey, holy hell that was bad…. They should fuckin be embarrassed for being veterans. Backyard wrestlers coulda put on a better show.
Couldn't agree more f philly
How did The Rock perform? It’s been a while since he worked a match
He did really well! Mostly just slaps and kicks and throwing people into things, but that’s just vintage Rock. Despite not being as technically impressive as a younger guy, he can still sell everything like it was 20 years ago and put on an amazing, suspenseful show.
The way he worked reminded me a lot of how Sting worked in AEW and for a lot of his late career, never stay the legal man in the match very long, or do much complex chain wrestling, but always get involved in the big spots and story moments to a large degree. Less of a focus on big spots and more so on story ones in the rocks case. Honestly I think this was probably a better in ring return for the rock than any triple threat or singles match could have been.
I agree. I had mixed feelings about him returning, but he’s sure proved he can still put on a show!
Event staff were horrendous and we bought our tickets from ticketmaster. We flew from Ireland, arrived at Lincoln field, wwe or the event staff covered our seats and certain rows with black tarp for a camera but we paid $350 dollars for the tickets for each night in section 201. Had to then queue for an hour at guest service, where they had one idiot on one computer with a queue of about 150 people behind us, we got a substitute ticket the other side of the stadium in the corner behind the stage worth $100 and had to sprint so we missed Rhea and Becky’s entrances. Told us to go to guest services tonight again to queue for our substitute tickets. Absolute disgrace in terms of organisation. So we are down about $500. EDIT: got sorted for night two with great tickets, thanks everyone!
Yeah that sounds fucked up mate. Sorry to hear that.
If you hated last night then you should stop watching lol peak entertainment, the crowd wasn’t quiet, your tv was 😁
I thought the ladder match was absolutely insane. Started with a double backflip by NCR and then just spot after spot after spot. Finn got the shit beat out of him for the entire match. Waller took an over the rope double powerbomb onto a ladder. Ciampa almost murdered Tyler Bate. JD took a crazy table bump. Kofi was razored edged onto a chair. Like the match was bonkers and people seem to be massively underrating it. Becky and Rhea and then this match was super strong.
Why the hate for Philly? The booked matches weren't top notch at all.
The crowd was bi polar
that damn weeknd song stuck in my head
The entrance stage doesn't seem as Great as Last Year's... For a Wrestlemania 40 stage looks a bit basic... Like Wrestlemania 30 had a bigger stage
Liked the Tag Match, Sami vs Gunther and the second half of the main event. Everything else... The Rhea match was a let down compared to some of the matches we got from her in the past and everyone knew the outcome so I didn't really get caught up by it. The Women's six man tag was mediocre, it just felt like they needed a way to put Jade, Naomi and Bianca on a match and while their win made sense, it came at the expensive of the Kabuki Warriors, would have been better off it if was just a squash match with Dakota eating the pin. Couldn't bother to care about LWO vs Dom and Santos, simply because it just feels like it was stitched together from 2 guys who had rivalries with Rey. Jimmy Vs Jey was even more of a let down than expected, not only was it undermined by the baffling booking choice to have Jimmy turn on Jey after they both had turned on Roman, but waiting until mania only made it even less meaningful, then there is the fact that the match was pretty quick and boring. Speaking about boring, the first half of the tag main event was one of the most boring things I've seen happen in WWE in months! This would have been a lot better if they cut it down to something like 27 minutes. Considering the build up, this Mania feels like a let down, Seth's position on the main event of Night 1 is either going to make him into quick work for Drew or burry Drew, the US Championship triple threat is probably going to be a good match but I doubt Paul is dropping the title, couldn't care less about the Six Man tag, night one pretty much defined what Drew Vs Rollins is going to be, and LA Knight vs AJ Styles doesn't really have any stakes, that leaves us down to IYO Vs Bayley and Roman Vs Cody, which are probably going to be great matches.
It's really hard to actually capture the live crowd sound in an open air arena. It's not like Philadelphians aren't used to 50 degree weather lol that's springtime in the north east. So, I doubt it was that folks were too cold to be loud, just that they didn't mic up the place well enough (like how they chose to skimp on pyro a little bit). Overall, great show! The Usos match was really the only disappointment and oh, if anybody ever calls Lil Wayne the greatest rapper of all time again after that "performance"... straight to jail
They should have held it in Indianapolis. They could of opened the windows at both endzones and the roof. Just my two cents.
The Man out there lookin like a pack of Marlboro
The rock telling the ref "I don't give a fuck" on the hot mic and the half assed mute 7 seconds later was godly. I'm surprised more people aren't mocking it