'Mania weekend. Who won?

[Mozenrath]

As we have come to expect every 'Mania nowadays, a lot of wrestling companies put out their efforts to try to capture some of the ambient wrestling spirit. But, who won out?

Takeover was excellent.

NJPW's portion of the supercard was very good, and ROH's was, well, it wasn't for me, but it was fuel for a lot of discussion, the most ROH has garnered in a long time.

But for all its length, I think WM 35 still won for me. It had the right people winning, it had a shitload of actual, eventful events happening, with angles coming to fruition while still leaving a ton of meat on the bone for the future. I am excited about WWE's future in a way that makes me think, god, why can't it always be like this? Definitely needed, and definitely the best one since 30.

But, what do you think?

[Mozenrath]

Wonder what the vote for Other would mean here. Like, what else big happened? Is it a tie?

[Yamashita Enforcement Division]

Orange Cassidy is Doing Something or Whatever Who Knows???, The Joey Janela shows were also great, and DDT is Coming to America had a really well booked Main Event/title change to heel but still send the fans home happy. Really, the Deathmatch/Out there concept wrestling portions of the weekend were killer.

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

Apr 8, 2019 2:46:06 GMT -5 Yamashita Enforcement Division said:

Orange Cassidy is Doing Something or Whatever Who Knows???, The Joey Janela shows were also great, and DDT is Coming to America had a really well booked Main Event/title change to heel but still send the fans home happy. Really, the Deathmatch/Out there concept wrestling portions of the weekend were killer.

Yeah, I think GCW in general is starting to emerge as a big part of Mania weekend. Spring Break was already established, but Orange Cassidy's show didn't even exist a month ago, and everything I've heard says it was one of the best shows of the weekend. Bloodsport was also highly acclaimed as well, from what I heard.

[AwamoriRock]

Apr 8, 2019 2:16:19 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Wonder what the vote for Other would mean here. Like, what else big happened? Is it a tie?

I picked the DDT: Coming to America as the show I enjoyed purely the most. I think there were higher highs on different shows but also some hard to ignore lows.

[honsou]

I was actually going to do a whole "lessons from Mania weekend" kind of thread but this is a pretty good place to put what I was going to write anyway

The biggest winners were the companies that were doing something dramatically different, which includes the comedy shows, Bloodsport, DDT and Stardom. If you looked at all of the events, basically anyone doing the regular old "super indie show" didn't sell out and the it doesn't seem to generate a lot of buzz. Whereas shows that focused on the different really came out with a lot of buzz. People were signing up for DDT Universe and Stardom World as they were leaving the shows and people were just really excited about those promotions on Twitter after the shows. The Comedy shows were the big standouts because it was proof that style can really work here. I think we're getting to the point where the really wacky stuff we saw this weekend is just the new normal and its going to be a more regular thing, similar to how it is in Japan. Bloodsport showed there is a place for shoot wrestling and Stardom just showed how good women's wrestling can really be.

If I had to choose a specific show its certainly the DDT show because good lord was that show an amazing and authentic experience.

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

Apr 8, 2019 3:07:54 GMT -5 honsou said:

I was actually going to do a whole "lessons from Mania weekend" kind of thread but this is a pretty good place to put what I was going to write anyway

The biggest winners were the companies that were doing something dramatically different, which includes the comedy shows, Bloodsport, DDT and Stardom. If you looked at all of the events, basically anyone doing the regular old "super indie show" didn't sell out and the it doesn't seem to generate a lot of buzz. Whereas shows that focused on the different really came out with a lot of buzz. People were signing up for DDT Universe and Stardom World as they were leaving the shows and people were just really excited about those promotions on Twitter after the shows. The Comedy shows were the big standouts because it was proof that style can really work here. I think we're getting to the point where the really wacky stuff we saw this weekend is just the new normal and its going to be a more regular thing, similar to how it is in Japan. Bloodsport showed there is a place for shoot wrestling and Stardom just showed how good women's wrestling can really be.

If I had to choose a specific show its certainly the DDT show because good lord was that show an amazing and authentic experience.

"Dramatically different" is what I want out my indie show during Mania weekend. WWE already has Takeover and ROH/NJPW has Supercard. Anything that's getting by with pure workrate isn't going to stand out. But I'll go out of my way to watch something that's got a hook, and that's where the comedy shows and gimmicks like Bloodspot work so well.

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

Apr 8, 2019 2:49:40 GMT -5 Oh Cry Me a Screwball said:

Apr 8, 2019 2:46:06 GMT -5 Yamashita Enforcement Division said:

Orange Cassidy is Doing Something or Whatever Who Knows???, The Joey Janela shows were also great, and DDT is Coming to America had a really well booked Main Event/title change to heel but still send the fans home happy. Really, the Deathmatch/Out there concept wrestling portions of the weekend were killer.

Yeah, I think GCW in general is starting to emerge as a big part of Mania weekend. Spring Break was already established, but Orange Cassidy's show didn't even exist a month ago, and everything I've heard says it was one of the best shows of the weekend. Bloodsport was also highly acclaimed as well, from what I heard.

Bloodsport was fantastic. I wouldn’t watch that every week, but once or twice a year and I’m so on board. GCW killed it this weekend

[markymark]

WM35 and Takeover, NJPW couldve been there but ROH prevented it...

[Ben Wyatt]

I never would have expected it to, but 'Mania by a pretty wide margin.

[EyeofTyr]

For me, it really is a toss-up. GCW, DDT, STARDOM, Bloodsport, Kaiju Big Battel, ISW, Blackcraft and so many of "The Collective" killed it this weekend. Wrestlemania was arguably the best one of the modern era and in a long time. About the only people that didn't do amazing were ROH.

I'd lean towards "The Collective" just for the sheer amount of content they gave everyone this weekend, the quality of it, and the variety of it. It was one of the most ambitious things done in wrestling in a long time.

[salz4life]

Apr 8, 2019 9:01:34 GMT -5 Ben Wyatt said:

I never would have expected it to, but 'Mania by a pretty wide margin.

Yeah... the fact that Mania, this year, was on par with Takeover led me to vote for Mania. Generally, every Takeover outshines that WWE PPV for me. They both were tremendous this time, IMO.

[AdamAFL was sooooo wrong]

I thought everything I watched delivered this weekend. G1 Supercard was thoroughly enjoyable, and I know it's the in thing right now to bury ROH but I thought they held up their end of the bargain. Mania was way better than I expected. But as expected it was the weakest show of the weekend just because people started to lose interest in the last couple of hours because the show was just too long. But the winner for me was Takeover. I'm not being hyperbolic when I say it's one of the best wrestling shows I've ever seen.

[Alice Syndrome]

Takeover was great, Mania also had an equally good 3 to 4 hours or so, marred by taking an entire day out of everyone's life.

NJPW put on a good show that got murdered by association

[HMARK Center]

GCW is the big winner for me: that brand is growing every year, and this year was an emphatic statement accomplished through sheer variety and creativity in The Collective. I'm thrilled it was done so close to my house, but bummed I could only get to three of the shows, though at least I've got the Spring Break cards and Cassidy's show waiting for me on FITE. Bloodsport may have been my favorite top-to-bottom card of the weekend, at least of those I saw in person.

DDT came out smelling like roses: their own card is getting rave reviews (also got that on FITE, can't wait to watch it), they crossed over with Kaiju Big Battel, and even their work at Joey Ryan's Penis Party was a spectacle I'm so happy to have seen in person. I'm certain a whole lot of DDT Universe subscriptions went through in the past 72 hours.

Stardom did very well: given the lack of reaction for Mayu during the ROH card (God, she deserved better), Stardom running their own successful card has the potential to serve as a big moment to raise awareness of joshi wrestling in the West, as she (and many others) looked like a star there. I'm hopeful they gain more of a foothold, along with the other key women's promotions in Japan.

NJPW came out guns blazing and gave me my the biggest wrestling buzz/high of the weekend, and I think this weekend proved that NJPW could've sold out MSG on its own if it had wanted to pay for the venue. Despite the negative reaction toward ROH's part of the card (like I've said I find some of those reactions a little over the top, but I don't blame people for feeling like there was a big gap between the two promotions) the actual crowd atmosphere for the NJPW matches made for the best live crowd experience I've probably ever had at a wrestling show. I'm not hopeful for their chances to sell big in Dallas this July, but I'll bet their portion of the card got some more people to start looking up travel package prices for July 4 weekend.

WWE clearly has more positive feelings around it than it did earlier in the year, but to me their overall (not purely financial) success is always going to be limited until they show for good and all that they can take a positive vibe and carry it for more than a few weeks. With Fox on the horizon, the time to show they can do that is now.

Overall, though, I agree with what a lot of people are saying: this weekend showed that the greatest potential in the US scene right now might be the ability to get creative with what you're presenting. Something like the GCW shows likely won't ever fully break through in a mainstream sense, but they can generate a whole lot of underground and niche buzz and make a lot of money by presenting a wide array of styles, gimmicks, and other types of hooks beyond "we got these big names". I think it shows the scene is evolving, that people want more than just a big card and want something with a real vision, identity, and creative vision in mind.

[The Captain]

I think WWE overall (including NXT) and NJPW came out looking fantastic. ROH looked like crap and blew the biggest opportunity they had. Really liked hearing what I did about the smaller promotions having good shows like DDT and GCW.

But the true winner was Joey Ryan and his wang you could pre-order to touch.

[Gawk Rivers]

Bloodsport and Spring Break were my favorite shows of the week by far. Just so much fun in a way that the others weren't.


(also they weren't 10 f***ing years long)

[mattyc]

I don't think any promotion lost this weekend, but for my personal enjoyment value...WWE won the weekend.

My interest going into this Wrestlemania was at a personal low point. So if you'd have asked me to predict the winner of these three going into the weekend. I would've confidently said that Wrestlemania would be my least favourite, with either NJPW/ROH or NXT being my #1.

It's a good job i'm not a betting man, because Wrestlemania was a pleasant surprise. It had the Mania magic that has been lacking in recent events. Other than the abrupt finish to the Main Event, I found it a great Wrestlemania from start to finish. Even Batista/Triple H, which I felt had one of the worst builds for a big time Mania match ever, totally delivered on the night.

From pacing to all around match quality, NXT Takeover was perfection. NXT always delivers, so this didn't shock me as much as Mania did.

The G1 Supershow wasn't a bad show, it was very strong in places, but it was dragged down by some pacing issues and strange booking choices from the ROH side. The slight disappointment of this show comes from knowing how good NJPW is, it's the promotion that gives me the most consistent enjoyment in wrestling these days . NJPW/ROH could've easily had the show of the weekend if the stars had aligned slightly different, but it wasn't to be.

Other shows I checked out coming from New York over the weekend...

Stardom: The live stream on Fite had some technical issues, but it didn't stop this show from being a decent introduction to many people on the roster for me. I've been considering getting a Stardom World subscription lately and this show didn't put me off that idea. I'm glad this card served as my introduction to Mayu Iwatani and not the G1 Supershow.

Joey Ryan's Penis Party: Like all things associated with Joey Ryan, this won't be for everyone. Personally, I found this to be a highly entertaining event. Some great combinations of modern talent and legends that will most likely never happen again. Fun times!

[King Devitt: What Plants Crave]

Apr 8, 2019 11:48:09 GMT -5 AdamAFL was sooooo wrong said:

I thought everything I watched delivered this weekend. G1 Supercard was thoroughly enjoyable, and I know it's the in thing right now to bury ROH but I thought they held up their end of the bargain. Mania was way better than I expected. But as expected it was the weakest show of the weekend just because people started to lose interest in the last couple of hours because the show was just too long. But the winner for me was Takeover. I'm not being hyperbolic when I say it's one of the best wrestling shows I've ever seen.

I agree with every single word.
I still think it might be the best Takeover from top to bottom I've seen.

[Crappler El 0 M]

DDT Coming to America