The bigger problem with the WM main event

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

I'm not even sure what's worse. The fact that it was at the end of such a long card, or the fact that it was past midnight. Probably would have at least been somewhat digestible if it was on a West Coast Mania going on at 9PM, though the crowd would still definitely be tired.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

The late start, for sure. That crowd gave everything they had left to TRY and get into the match. It wasn't a crowd that was dead because they didn't care, but because they were f***ing tired after a big, long night of wrestling that had already given them so much emotional release.

[chazraps]

I was there live and the crowd was still super into it. The issue is that MetLife Stadium isn't great at capturing crowd noises except for the most massive of pops, which still wind up sounding significantly watered down on screen.

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

The start time. It was the last match of a 32 hour show, fans of course were going to be tired.

Apr 14, 2019 12:52:30 GMT -5 Friday Night SmackOwn said:

The match being on after 7 hours of wrestling (including pre-show) didn't help matters. The Triple Threat stipulation got reinvigorated with the wild brawl segment on go-home Raw.

Who would have thunk that a segment which was pretty much "All 3 want to kill each other", would breathe life into the feud? It can't be that simple, fans couldn't have wanted that to begin with.

[Deleted]

Apr 15, 2019 3:40:58 GMT -5 chazraps said:

I was there live and the crowd was still super into it. The issue is that MetLife Stadium isn't great at capturing crowd noises except for the most massive of pops, which still wind up sounding significantly watered down on screen.

Seems to be what a lot of people who were there live are saying. The crowd was into the main event, it just didn't come across that way on TV.

I just find it amazing that the crowd was even HOTTER for Bryan vs. Kofi than they were on TV.

[Mozenrath]

The time, and one participant having a broken hand. Charlotte being there is the only reason it wasn't a total mess.

[nisidhe]

The single biggest timesaver would be to eliminate the panel discussions. If you're going to have guest commentators, throw them onto the announce table (not literally - monitors), and have them say their pieces there. Goodness knows you might get some better commentators

I've said before that it's possible to have that many matches at Wrestlemania, but the matches need to be shorter overall, particularly at the beginning. There is a lot of fat around the steak, though, that can stand to be trimmed and the panel discussions are a _huge_ amount of it.

Oh, and to improve the quality of the commentary? Michael Cole and Vince McMahon might want to look up Peter Mansbridge, a news anchor who knew when the shut the hell up and let the moment tell its own story. If you're not going to call a match like you're on radio, you might as well let television do its job properly.

[Prince Petty]

Apr 14, 2019 16:25:01 GMT -5 @dax said:

Apr 14, 2019 13:27:07 GMT -5 theironyuppie said:

I suspect they were trying to follow that feel with so much of the match being all three rather than the usual ‘one rolls out while the other two fight’ formula. Ronda breaking her hand mid-match couldn’t have helped either. That said, it’s still a good match that improves on rewatch, even if the botched pin ending is a shame.

Not a great match by any stretch, but in watching it back last night, I found that it really started picking up in the last ten minutes or so and was starting to get really good before they went to the finish. Goddamn was that finish a mess, though. From the table not breaking on the cool double hip toss spot -> botched pin -> Cole's confused call -> Becky's really short celebration, it was terrible.

I've been saying that the match needed five more minutes. From the moment Charlotte went through the table, she was effectively out (and also apparently injured), which left Becky and Ronda to go for five minutes of slugging it out before the finish.

The table not breaking doesn't bother me, because I expect it not to break for the women, and the hiptoss into the table in the corner still looked good. But I don't know why they went almost immediately into the finish, because it's not like running long was a concern at that point. And it's not like Ronda wouldn't have been able to run through a one-on-one sequence after the triple threat element.

That Piper's Pit/crucifix pin spot should have been a near fall, followed by Ronda almost getting the win with her armbar, before Becky prevailed. But this goes back to a point I've been making - Becky really needs an impact finisher, and they should have spent some time during the Mania build to establish one for her (some sort of knee strike/shining wizard would do the trick). Especially if they were undecided about whether to have Ronda submit or not. Crazy that they didn't, and I think they belatedly realised that at the last minute, and decided on a reversal rather than have her win with a Bexploder or something.

[Deleted]

I was actually looking at my phone during the main event, and not because I wasn't interested in it. I just was antsy from sitting there for so long. It wouldn't have mattered how good the match was. The show was too damn long.

[willywonka666]

The time-I knew two months ago it’d be a three way-I just thought Charlotte would be the one pinned, so Ronda would technically remain unbeaten

[The Legend of Groose]

The worst part about the late runtime is the next Mania is also on the east coast, so they are likely doomed to repeat the same problem again next year.

["Trickster Dogg" James Jesse]

Minus the pre-show, the main card still had too many matches that didn't need to be at Wrestlemania. You don't need two grudge matches: either pick Styles/Orton or Miz/McMahon. While WWE was hot to get Reigns on the card because of his return story, I don't think he was needed that night (nor McIntyre). Because Rollins/Lesnar was booked to be a short match, I don't know if both the U.S. and Intercontinental title matches had to be featured; choose the match that had the better storyline going into the show and omit the other one. Angle's match at last year's Wrestlemania would have been the better match on which to go out, so I'd scrap his match with Corbin. Finally, Triple H/Batista, because it was the longest match and very much a vanity match between two part-timers, I'd also cut. Hell, you cut this match, then maybe you don't need to get rid of both the U.S. and IC matches.

Make the brutal choices of whether this match/feud is absolutely Wrestlemania-worthy, then you have more time to showcase the main event earlier in the evening.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

I'm not sure any match exists that could have gone main event length in that spot that could keep a crowd hot after a show that long.

A show of that length, if it's good or bad, will just wear a crowd out.

[sunnytaker]

coming soon- breakfast at wrestlemania where the preshow starts at 8AA, kickoff show starts at 9:30AM then the REAL mania starts at noontime- still ends just before midnight and HHH still has the longest match on the card.

[mcstoklasa]

Apr 14, 2019 16:02:06 GMT -5 Prince Petty said:

The show was too long. Simple as that. No matter if it was just Ronda vs Becky, or if Ronda kept her shoulders down for the pin, or anything else. It was at the end of seven hours of wrestling. The fact that the crowd was still there and still reacting at all was testament to how invested they were in the match.

Ideally, it would be at the end of a maximum of five hours, and it would have had five more minutes at the end, to build to a real crescendo before Becky got the pin (also, ideally, she would have a pin finisher)/

If the main event was prime hogan vs prime Austin vs prime rock the crowd still would have been tired.

[cabbageboy]

It was at the end of an insanely long show. I do think the 3 way aspect did dampen interest here though. Before you had a situation with Becky vs. Ronda and virtually everyone was crazy for Becky to win. But then you add Charlotte and the more people you add to a match, the less interest the crowd has in one particular outcome. By the time the match actually happened I had stopped caring who even won this and was more interested in the Kofi/Bryan feud since that one had a clear face/heel and a desired outcome.

I also hate to say it but at the end of the day even with adding the SD women's title to the mix it's still just....women's belts. The women's title just doesn't have any real long term value to fans the way the WWE title would. Imagine at Summerslam last year if they did a unification and had Alexa vs. Carmella on the card. Anyone think that crap would main event?

[chazraps]

Apr 15, 2019 6:54:57 GMT -5 @dax said:

Apr 15, 2019 3:40:58 GMT -5 chazraps said:

I was there live and the crowd was still super into it. The issue is that MetLife Stadium isn't great at capturing crowd noises except for the most massive of pops, which still wind up sounding significantly watered down on screen.

Seems to be what a lot of people who were there live are saying. The crowd was into the main event, it just didn't come across that way on TV.

I just find it amazing that the crowd was even HOTTER for Bryan vs. Kofi than they were on TV.

They absolutely were. That was perhaps the most emotional three count I've ever witnessed. Generations of fans were hugging and openly sobbing. I can't put into words exactly what that exact moment was like. Beyond deafening. Just sheer unbridled zeal.

Also, how did the Hawking-Ryder vs Revival match translate to TV? I watched that one from the super high nosebleed section and - I'm not being hyperbolic when I say this, the crowds cheering from top to bottom for Hawkins were louder than any of the chants at Mania 29. People really wanted him to win and the streak to be broken. That pop was outrageously loud and was just an absolutely crystal cheer chanting - something near impossible due to the aforementioned shape and wind within the stadium.

[Citizen Snips]

Apr 15, 2019 3:40:58 GMT -5 chazraps said:

I was there live and the crowd was still super into it. The issue is that MetLife Stadium isn't great at capturing crowd noises except for the most massive of pops, which still wind up sounding significantly watered down on screen.

That's down to WWE, not the stadium. Watch a Giants game and marvel at how less people suddenly sound a whole lot louder. It's because the NFL actually mic's the crowd properly and/or doesn't try to dictate crowd response.