Improvements for WM 28.

[Raja Lion]

After a relatively lackluster Mania (IMO), its not too early to think of ways to improve the show for next year. We know its Miami on April 1, 2012, and that's absolutely all we know for right now.

Based on what you saw tonight, what would be some immediate and logical changes you'd make to ensure 28 is better?

Mine:

1. Bring Back MITB - I think the loss of this match greatly hurt WM 27. While only a staple in recent years, it gave a lot of guys time to showcase what they can do. People like JoMo who was brilliant in the Elimination Chamber, reduced to basically nothing alongside Snooki. They're going to run the MITB PPV again this year, but after that, I'd bring back MITB to Mania.

2. Taker must be Main Event - Its pretty likely after the way he was carried out that we will not be seeing "The Last Outlaw" (lol) for a while. Next year, provided his injuries don't force an early retirement, means that he will be shooting for 20-0. This will likely be his last go and unless they book him against Santino, this match should probably be the main. Its three years in a row now that Taker has been involved in the best match on the show.

3. No Host/GM garbage - I love The Rock. You ask me to name one guy I want in their primes to start a company with and I can have anyone, I'm taking the great one circa 1999-2002. However, tonight's actions pretty much buried their #1 money maker and the current champion. They're still going to be here a month from now, I'm not betting that on Rock. The GM garbage will hopefully be long over by next year, but I do not like the idea of storyline coming into play so heavily at Mania. These should be feud cappers not feud extenders.

4. Defend more belts - It's a travesty that championships mean so little anymore. At the very least there should be one undercard title defended and the Divas deserve at least one showcase match that isn't an entire throwaway.

5. JR must be on commentary - The man did not miss a beat tonight and I think thats one positive not getting mentioned, but then again, it should never be about the announcers. He's been out of the booth for how long? It felt like he never left, which is awesome. He's the greatest announcer in the history of the business, still has all his faculties, and makes matches seem much more important. Its fine to have the rest of the guys involved, but it should be JRs to call until he can't anymore.

[hoganhallnash]

And maybe never, ever having a double countout finish at any Mania, let alone the main event.

But those are 5 good starting points.

[The Ichi]

Spoony, your thoughts?



Well said.

[BorneAgain]

Try to figure out a good sense of timing at least a week before the show starts. If you can't have 9 matches, don't book 9 matches. Do a pro/con for every backstage segment to decide if its worth keeping. Don't do a 15 minute in ring introduction to a PPV when its not necessary. Talk to the cable people about going ten minutes long if need be.

[Deleted]

Whoever wrote Rhodes / Mysterio and put together the match there? Put them in charge. That was the only match with a great story heading in that also actually delivered.

Well, Taker / Trips and Orton / Punk had great last weeks, but before that those storylines blew.

[Bang Bang Bart]

- If you're going to have a match where it's pretty much set in stone that an insufferable heel gets his comeuppance in more ways than one, make the focal point of the match just that.

[Raul]

BUILD. UP. THE. PPV.
WHY IS IT SO HARD TO DO THIS NOW

[Slingshot Suplay]

Morrison, Ziggler, Rey, Cody, Punk and Christian need to be in non-celebrity matches because they are workhorses and can give a good match with almost anybody. Sin Cara and Evan bourne need to be in an opening match, possibly in a tag team match that would get the crowd hot. Del Rio was just fine, keep him that way. Kofi needs a match too. A solid undercard can salvage a bad ppv. MITB could have helped this ppv.

Matches need more time than they'd get if they were on regular tv. That includes multi-man matches.

No freakin' RAW style guest spots. No one cares, let alone wants to pay 55 dollars to see Pee Wee chew up ppv time.

Celebrities shouldn't overshadow the actual wrestlers in matches. Celebs shouldn't pin actual wrestlers.

[saintpat]

Bring back Snooki.

[rrm15]

If they have more championship matches people will just complain that there are too many belts and THAT devalues them. The titles being "devalued" is a made-up complaint with vague explanations.

[Raja Lion]

Apr 4, 2011 1:58:03 GMT -5 @rrm15 said:

If they have more championship matches people will just complain that there are too many belts and THAT devalues them. The titles being "devalued" is a made-up complaint with vague explanations.

No its not. Its a completely legitimate gripe. The WWE has long had 5 Championships and they've never meant less than they do right now. The Tag Team, IC, US, and Divas belts mean absolutely nothing when the holders dont even appear on Mania. The WHC match curtain jerked the show. In essence, the only one that carried any weight was the WWE, but that was completely forgotten about since the build surrounding Miz/Cena was almost completely centered on The Rock with Miz being an afterthought for the most part.

One or two more championship matches would not water it down, but help build those belts back up to meaning for the midcard. The midcard isnt worth a damn anymore at any level.

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

Apr 4, 2011 1:25:04 GMT -5 Bang Bang Bart said:

- If you're going to have a match where it's pretty much set in stone that an insufferable heel gets his comeuppance in more ways than one, make the focal point of the match just that.

Exactly, and if that same heel has had interaction with other wrestlers pissing them off, those people should come down for revenge.

[Cronant]

Probably shouldn't ever do the double countout spot for a main event. Ever again.

[Raja Lion]

Apr 4, 2011 9:25:07 GMT -5 Cronant said:

Probably shouldn't ever do the double countout spot for a main event. Ever again.

This falls into "GM garbage". It really ruins the big match. Storylines should only get us to matches, not have that much significance on the outcome.

The closest Mania main event ending like this is WM 2000. Its fine to end the show like that on any other PPV IMO. Not Mania.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

Gotta agree with a lot of this. MORE TITLE matches. How we loss the US title match his beyond me. It's WM why only two title matches. And No other match had really anything one the line.

The timing on this show was all wrong. The Rock shouldn't gotten that long of promo time to start WM. Then the time wasted in the MEed for him to restart the match. The get no point backstage stagements.

Now heres one. John Cena special entrance. Have it be good. Every year Cena special entrance comes off either cheesy or lame. Honestly Marching bands and choirs? They don't fit with is character. The Marines? Yeah I respect the hell out of him but it was kind lame for an entrance. It been better if they did that act at the begining of the American the Beutiful. But not for a John Cena entrance.

[Deleted]

At mania 28, EVERYONE gets a unique pet monkey that accompanies them to the ring for their match.

[Back to being Cenanuff]

Apr 4, 2011 9:56:25 GMT -5 Can you afford to pay me, Gah said:

Gotta agree with a lot of this. MORE TITLE matches. How we loss the US title match his beyond me. It's WM why only two title matches. And No other match had really anything one the line.

The timing on this show was all wrong. The Rock shouldn't gotten that long of promo time to start WM. Then the time wasted in the MEed for him to restart the match. The get no point backstage stagements.

Now heres one. John Cena special entrance. Have it be good. Every year Cena special entrance comes off either cheesy or lame. Honestly Marching bands and choirs? They don't fit with is character. The Marines? Yeah I respect the hell out of him but it was kind lame for an entrance. It been better if they did that act at the begining of the American the Beutiful. But not for a John Cena entrance.

I think Cena's best entrance was the one in Detroit, driving the car through the window. As far as set pieces go, I think they do an incredible job every year. The Ziggurat last year was just impressive. The cube and the giant screen this year did really well, too, and I think they repurposed the ring scaffolding from Miami pretty well.

Incidentally, didn't they just do Miami? I was hoping for Indy in the next couple of years.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

I think you're thinking of Orlando. But yeah, still Florida.

I was there in Detroit, straight across from the stage up in arena, and you couldn't see the damn thing. I thought the whole thing was pretty cheesy, with the driving video before the crash through the window.

[Bo Rida]

Everything can be improved with Druids, even if they are just driving the stretcher buggy.

[Ryback on a Pole!]

Cut down on the overly long entrances.

Cut down on the length of the video packages

Get rid of pointless celebrity backstage segments

Don't do another "special event" type match since the last two (Brett vs Vince and King vs Cole) have completely bombed and if they do, give us what the fans want which is a quick beatdown on the heel. Cole should have been beaten to within an inch of his life by King in about 5 minutes with Swagger eating a stunner. That would have pleased everyone. We didn't need to see their match drag on for around 15 minutes.

Just basically use the time better. It's 'Mania. They don't need to kill time with worthless filler segments and overly long entrances.