A Review of the First Quarter of 2015

Before I begin this article, I want to apologize for the long hiatus that I have been on recently. I have been doing a lot of travelling lately for my job, and this has been the first time that I have had a chance to write an article. The Piledriver Report is back for this week, and next week. After that, the column will be on hiatus again for another two weeks. By the end of April it appears that my column will be back on a weekly basis.

Since the middle of January, a lot has happened in the wrestling world. There was the Royal Rumble, the Road to WrestleMania, an up and coming wrestler wins his first singles title, Brock Lesnar resigned, and WrestleMania happened. As busy as I have been, the wrestling industry has been just as busy.

A PROUD BROTHER

Over the last year and a half, I have become a huge fan of the Monster Factory wrestling school, and their Monster Factory wrestling promotion. If you follow my Twitter account @snoopronnyron, you know that I attend Monster Factory shows regularly. The Monster Factory is loaded with talented students like Clutch Adams, Luis Martinez, Billy Damiana, and Nick Commoroto, along with wrestlers like QT Marshall who work the shows every two weeks. The Monster Factory trainers include Danny Cage and former ECW stars Belvis Wesley and the Blue Meanie. Danny Cage has been doing a tremendous job with the Monster Factory since ownership was transferred to him from the founder Larry Sharpe. To see the action that I am talking about, subscribe to the Monster Factory’s channel on YouTube. There you will find full length matches from the shows, as well as a new reality series called Monster Factory TV that gives you a behind the scenes look at the training sessions of the Monster Factory.

Why am I singing the praises of the Monster Factory? Well, I am biased. My brother is Clutch Adams. Last November, his tag team partner broke his forearm, and forced the team to drop the tag titles. With his partner, Mike Spanos, on the shelf, my brother was given the first singles push of his short career. Each show, his matches got better and better. In January, he won a tournament to become the number one contender to the Monster Factory championship. This resulted in a three match war against Luis Martinez that resulted in Clutch Adams capturing the title on March 14th in a tremendous no disqualification match (see Monster Factory’s YouTube site to watch the Adams-Martinez series). Sure, I may be biased, but I can’t be prouder of him. He has come a long way since taking his first bump during his October 2013 tryout. Congratulations Clutch. Hopefully, a stint in NXT will not be far behind.

THE RISE AND FALL OF ROMAN REIGNS

Early last year, the rumors started to circulate that at this year’s WrestleMania, Roman Reigns would capture the WWE World title in the main event of the biggest show of the year. At the time, Roman Reigns appeared to be on the road to becoming the newest superstar in the WWE. At the time, I felt that he was two years away from being able to handle being put in that position. As the months passed, more and more fans started to feel the same way. By the time the Royal Rumble rolled around, the fans were deadest against Reigns becoming the new face of the WWE at this year’s WrestleMania.

Once Daniel Bryan was eliminated from the Rumble, the fans predictably turns on the match. They buried Reigns with boos throughout the match. After getting turned on by the crowd at the Rumble, I thought that the WWE caught a MAJOR break the next night. With Monday Night RAW scheduled to take place in Connecticut, I expected the fans to pick up where the Philadelphia crowd left off. Enter a stroke of luck. Due to a major snowstorm in the Northeast, RAW was cancelled and instead the WWE replayed two matches from the pay per view, and also ran an in studio show from their headquarters in Stamford, CT.

I thought that the break between the Royal Rumble and now the next week’s RAW would give the WWE enough time for the fans’ wrath to die down. While Reigns still heard boos when RAW returned in front of a live audience, it wasn’t as hostile as it could have been a week earlier. The WWE caved to the fans, and entered Daniel Bryan into the title picture with a match at Fast Lane against Reigns. A funny thing happened leading up to their #1 Contender’s match. Daniel Bryan also received some boos as well. While the fans preferred Bryan over Reigns, the WWE stuck with their original plan, and Roman Reigns was heading to the main event of WrestleMania XXXI.

It didn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that Reigns would go into the match as the faces de facto heel, with Brock Lesnar representing the fans as their hero. There were rumblings that the fans would shit all over their WrestleMania match with Lesnar walking out the door two days after Mania. I never felt that way. I always thought that they would always turn on Reigns, but not Lesnar. The reason why the fans turned on the Lesnar/Goldberg WrestleMania XX match is because Lesnar and Goldberg were both leaving. They both felt the wrath of the fans. In the Lesnar case, what has changed was the reasoning for leaving this time. At WrestleMania XX, Brock Lesnar was in the early stages of a long term contract with the WWE that he walked out on. This time, if he left, it was due to his contract expiring, and not being able to come to an agreement. That’s a big difference.

Not only was Reigns still being vilified by the fans, but Lesnar become an even bigger face to the fans as he resigned with the WWE six days before WrestleMania. Lesnar resigning threw a monkey wrench into what was perceived to be the WWE’s long term plan. Where it was inevitable that Roman Reigns would end up winning the WWE World title, now it wasn’t so cut and dry.

BROCK SMASH=BROCK CASH

Brock Lesnar caused quite a stir in the wrestling world when he walked out prior to Monday Night RAW on February 23rd following a dispute with Vince McMahon regarding a contract extension. While he came back two weeks later, he shocked many fans by showing up in the front row of UFC 184 only five days after the walk out. This created more buzz, as people were now speculating if Brock Lesnar was indeed done with the WWE following WrestleMania, and headed back to the Octagon instead.

Just as surprising as Brock Lesnar’s UFC appearance was Lesnar making an announcement on the March 24th 6pm edition of SportsCenter where he announced that he resigned with the WWE the night before. I always thought that Brock Lesnar would resign with the WWE. However, I expected him to wait until AFTER his contract ran out. This way, Brock would have become an official free agent, and Lesnar could compete all companies against one another after their offers came in.

With Brock back in play in the WWE for the next three years, it was time for WWrestleMania.

WRESTLEMANIA XXXI

Heading into WrestleMania, I can honestly say that I was NOT happy with the build up to my favorite yearly event. The promotion of WrestleMania XXXI was so bad, for the first time since the supercard was created, I was not looking forward to WrestleMania. The only matches that interested me were the Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton bout, and the Intercontinental Ladder match. Since I had zero expectations going in, the show easily outperformed my vision of how the show would transpire.

The pre-show got kicked off with a tag team title match in a four way contest featuring the champions Cesaro/Tyson Kidd against the Usos, Los Matadores, and the New Day. The 9 minute 58 second contest was the second shortest of the show. However, it was action-packed, even if it felt like everyone was get trying to get their stuff in before they ran out of time. The Andre the Giant battle royal was what was expected. It was a good match for a battle royal, but nothing memorable past The Miz and Mizdow breaking up.

When the official show started, the Ladder Match opened things up. The WWE did the right thing by putting the belt on Daniel Bryan. If you want to build up the belt, the WWE needs to start putting the title on main event level star until the belt is strong again. While this looked like a good match, I need to rewatch the match, because the Network froze several times during this match.

I was surprised to see Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins as the second match on the show. This was another good match, that gave us our first WrestleMania moment when Randy Orton turned a jumping curb stomp into an RKO out of nowhere. Great finish. Before the show, I predicted that if Orton won, Seth Rollins would cash the Money in the Bank contract. If Rollins won, then no cash in. Looking back the right decision was made.

The next match was one that I had very little faith in being good. That was the Sting vs. Triple H match. Man, was I wrong. Even before we went down nostalgia lane, the Sting vs. Triple H match exceeded my expectations. Then came the run-ins. Normally, I’m not a fan of numerous run ins in one match. However, this was not the case. First, came DeGeneration X. Then, the New World Order entered the fray. Finally, Shawn Michaels shocked the crowd by super kicking Sting. It was the WWF vs. WCW. This was what the Invasion angle should have been. The nostalgia took this match from an enjoyable match, and turned it into a memorable match.

The women were next as AJ Lee and Paige beat the Bella Twins. While they only received xix minutes and 42 seconds, the divas made the most of their time and put on an enjoyable match.
John Cena and Rusev faced off in the United States title match. While I thought that their match at Fast Lane was better, this match was pretty good as well. For me, the highlight was the Rusev entrance. It definitely gave the match a big match feel to it. I actually like the idea of John Cena holding the United States championship and Daniel Bryan winning the Intercontinental title. It accomplishes something that the WWE has been lacking for over a decade; the secondary belts being more meaningful.

After the US title match was the segment that was guaranteed to put the WWE on every major media and sports outlet on Monday morning. This was the promo between Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, The Rock, and Rhonda Rousey. This segment was longer than any match on the card. While I thought that they were stalling at times, because I thought they were trying to get the stadium dark for the Undertaker’s entrance, the segment never dragged. When The Rock brought Rhonda Rousey into the ring, the first thought to come into my mind was that the WWE was teasing a mixed tag match between the four at next year’s WrestleMania. If they thought this segment generated publicity, if Rousey fights next year, the WWE will generate the most publicity for the event since Mike Tyson appeared at WrestleMania XIV. I just can’t believe that Dana White OKed Rousey to wrestle in the WWE for a match, if that is indeed the way the angle is heading.

The Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt match was next. While the sunlight did hurt their entrances, the match was better than I thought it would be. The big question that I had following the match was “Where the hell did the Undertaker find the fountain of youth?” This was the best he looked physically in about five years. That being said, I think we have seen the last great Undertaker match of his career. This wasn’t that match. I’m talking about his match two years ago against CM Punk. That’s OK though, because the match with Bray was more than passible.

The main event between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns closed out the show. I can’t remember the last WrestleMania main event that had the ending in question like this one did. This was another match that I wasn’t sure how good it would be. This match wasn’t good. It was great!!!! Brock did his usual ass kicking beast mode monster act. Roman Reigns proved that he was tough as he stood nose to nose with Paul Heyman’s client. The sight of Brock Lesnar bleeding added another layer of drama to the match. While I don’t think the WWE needs to have blood bath after blood bath, the use of blood in this match proved it could be an effective tool when used in the right situation. The one negative that I couldn’t get past in this match was when Roman Reigns was smiling while getting his ass kicked. I don’t know if he was trying to sell, and that’s his selling face, or if they wanted him to smile to show that he likes the pain. Either way, it didn’t seem like the appropriate reaction at that time in the match. This match was booked fantastically. The ending with Seth Rollins cashing in was great. It adds another element to the Money in the Bank cash in. Not only can you cash it in after a match, but you can do it DURING a match as well.

When WrestleMania XXXI was over, I left with a couple of thoughts. First, this show ranks right up there with the best WrestleManias of all-time. I still give the nod to WrestleMania X-7, because there was not one match on the XXXI card that could be considered an all-time classic match. The second thing that I left feeling was that by losing, Roman Reigns actually won in the long run. The fans were not ready to accept Roman Reigns as the face of the company yet. This loss allows Reigns more time for the fans to accept him as the company’s top star. Even though the crowd vilified him at both WrestleMania and the following night’s RAW, I believe that years from now when you look back at the career of Roman Reigns, you will see his WrestleMania XXXI loss as the turning point for his career.

With WrestleMania in the books, the immediate future looks bright for the company. Hopefully, the WWE will ride this momentum all the way to Dallas, Texas and 100,000 fans at WrestleMania XXXII.