Today's News

WrestleMania 30 results and report:

Was it the worst Mania ever... was that the WWE goal, if so they had a good go at it, if not... Woops...

Pre Show - The Uso's retained their Tag Titles, beating The Real Americans, RybAxel and Los Matadores in a fatal four way elimination match...

This match was far too good to be dumped on the pre show, the stars in it deserved better than the curtain jerker spot, I was very glad to see The Uso's retain, they could be a great team if given the chance to show it.

That match could have actually easily fit on the card, it lasted around 25 minutes, 5 minutes less than the opening segment of WrestleMania and first match vignette.

The show opened with Hulk Hogan, repeatedly botching his intro, he said the wrong venue multiple times, causing a ''You F***ed Up'' chant, he was then joined by Stone Cold Steve Austin, who threatened to stun the Hulkster, but ended up thanking him for being an icon, they were then joined by The Rock, who put both men over, as well as himself, and the too long love in came to an end.

The opener saw Daniel Bryan take on Triple H, in the main event qualifier, it was easily the best match of a poor show, with Daniel Bryan finally getting his payback over the Authority, who have blighted his career for the past 8 months.

Match 2 was a mess, The Shield beat the veteran team of Kane and The New Age Outlaws in less than 3 minutes in a very scruffy match, that was over before it began.

Billy Gunn was injured in the finish of the bout, landing badly off a double powerbomb, causing him to cough up blood.

Match 3 was the Andre The Giant Battle Royal.

This was botched before it started, the three spots left for guest entrants to be announced at the show were given to 4 people, someone clearly forgot that Brad Maddox gave himself a spot on Raw earlier this week. The guests turned out to be whoever was left in the back...

* David Otunga...

* Yoshi Tatsu...

* Tyson Kidd...

* Xavier Woods...

This meant the 30 man Battle Royal, in fact became a 31 man match.

Christian could not compete due to injury, and was replaced by Cesaro.

I asked WWE, but received no reply, as to why Tatsu, who has not been on TV for over a year, was given a spot in the match, while Wade Barrett was completely snubbed.

The match was won by the sub Cesaro, who achieved a great Mania moment, when he picked Big Show up and walked to the ropes before throwing him out all by himself.

John Cena vs Bray Wyatt was match 4, and despite an incredible acting performance from Wyatt, and being at home, was completely devoid of any crowd interaction, the match was stale, lasted too long, and had the wrong result. Cena won.

The Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar, match 5.

Oh where do I start with this abhorrence?...

The streak is gone, Lesnar pinned The Undertaker clean after a third F-5, with no fanfare, or music, only a delirious Paul Heyman's voice carrying them back to the locker room, after making history, and ending a 23 year legacy.

This was wrong, it absolutely should not have happened, and certainly not to this guy. The ending of the streak should have meant something, a passing of the torch, something the man that ended the run could take on with them as a stepping stone to making their own history and legacy, while Taker quietly retires, after passing it on.

Brock Lesnar is not that man. He is a part time wrestler, that has, when it suits him, been around for 12 years, he did not need it, and will not use it. What are they going to do?, he and Heyman will be out on Raw tonight to gloat about the win, then he will be back on his farm for the next 4 months, he won't be on TV building on this epic achievement, we might see him back at SummerSlam, but by then everyone will have moved on. This was a waste.

Also to give it to a man that is only back for the money, and by his own admission does not care about match results, and also shat on WWE from a great height in the past after they made him a superstar, baffles me...

I fumed last night, and really thought about quitting, (Still am as a matter of fact), and took some grief for it, but for the biggest promotion in the sport to have no care for their fans, their performers, or their own history, makes me wonder what the point is, why spend so much of my free time running fan pages, when the major company cares so little for us?

OK moving on...

The Undertaker was injured very early into the match, a concussion and damage to the neck after a spot where Lesnar tripped him on the floor, this did not affect the planned result. Also some sites are reporting that the ending was botched, that Taker's concussion caused him to miss the count, and forget to kick, again not the case, the result happened as planned. Taker was taken straight to hospital after the match, Vince at his side, and spent the night being observed by doctors.

Although only 4 - 6 people knew about the result, someone leaked it. Betting on the match changed drastically from Taker to Brock during the show.

I thought at the time that WWE were taking the streak away to make next years match vs Sting a straight up match where anything can happen. Get rid of the streak, and let these two greats end their careers on a level par next year, that may not be the case. More on Taker later.

AJ Lee retained the Diva's belt in the ridiculous invitational.

Cameron had to roll under the ring to hide her modesty after her top ripped during a spot with Emma.

Then the main event, Randy Orton vs Batista vs Daniel Bryan, a match spoilt by the amount of interference, and outside the ring nonsense, did have a couple of good moments and big spots, and ended with the right result... Daniel Bryan is the new champion. He made Batista tap to get the win.

This was the only decision WWE could make, the fans were already red hot for Daniel, and would not stand another screw job over the guy, however, for me, even the end of an epic long road to the gold for D-Bry could not save the show.

Brie Bella was not allowed to go to the ring to join the celebrations after the match.

Other notes...

* WWE did set the attendance record for New Orleans...

* CM Punk did not attend, he was at an NHL game in Chicago.

* WWE posted backstge footage of the legends preparing to open the show.

* Triple H gave three NXT stars a Mania moment, Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss were the women involved in his entrance.

* There were issues with fans as they entered, it was a chaotic experience getting in, with some fans pushing and shoving and yelling, as they tried to get to their seats early.

* Jim Ross did not go to Mania, because he was not invited.

* There was some minor issues with the WWE Network stream.

My final take...

WWE need to change the way they produce WrestleMania. They need to trust the talent they have now, not keep bringing back PT stars, they need to get back to basics, there is nothing wrong with having a couple of great workers having great matches on a card to build up to the big events later in a show. I love seeing the old guys come back, I loved the gimmick battle royal from Mania 17. Have another, hell have one every year, give it a theme, attitude era gimmick, WCW gimmick, ECW gimmick, whatever, but these stars should not be coming back and going into the main event, winning Rumbles and getting title shots, and should certainly not be ending the streak.

WWE, credit your fans with some intelligence, WrestleMania is not just your cash cow, it is the biggest show for us too, give us something back...

Sting:

On the day it is rumoured Sting will make his WWE debut, TNA have removed his profile from their site.

WWE Network:

WWE have announced that 667,287 people have subscribed to their Network.

Raw:

Official tease...

* How will Daniel Bryan address the WWE Universe?

* Do Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar plan on speaking after ending The Streak?

* Is one victory enough for John Cena to rid himself of The Wyatt Family?

* What's next for Cesaro?

* What lies ahead for The Shield?

Rob Van Dam is expected to return on Raw tonight.

The Undertaker:

So after yesterday, what is the future of The Undertaker?. Word coming out of WWE is Taker decided that he wanted to drop the streak, and told WWE at the event, that he was done.

What that means for the long anticipated match against Sting, and the final hoorah against John Cena is now not known, but with the streak gone what would his motivation be to return, he has lived for the streak, and the streak alone for the past few years, only coming back for Mania, and then leaving again, now that is no more, does he need it?, will he want it?. This may very well mean we have seen the last of the greatest star of the PPV era.

Jeff Jarrett:

Jeff Jarrett has launched Global Force Wrestling today, with this statement, and a logo .

"[WWE] have built a brand over the last 50, 60 years. And truly, [WrestleMania] weekend is the perfect example of just how global their brand is. Professional wrestling has been around since the advent of television. There is definitely room, space for a brand new promotion to come on the scene. And we're going to put out the very best product that we can. Our mission statement is going to be, right at the very top, that we are going to put out a professional wrestling product that listens to the fans, engages the fans. We are going to immerse ourselves with the wrestling fan and that is going to be first and foremost."

WrestleMania 31:

WWE have released a promo for next year's Mania.

Former champ leaves WWE:

Ezekiel Jackson, who has been long term injured left WWE yesterday at the end of his contract. He held the IC and ECW titles during his time with the promotion.

Christian:

No word on when Christian will be back from his latest injury, but there is a lot of talk, that he may not come back, his status with WWE is up in the air right now.