My Take On 4.17.13: The Top 10 Disappointments From The WrestleMania 29 Weekend

WELCOME!
Welcome back to another edition of My Take On! Last week I presented my Top 10 Matches From The WrestleMania 29 Weekend, which highlighted the positives. This week, we shall look at the most disappointing things from that weekend. This is different from the usual worst column, as most of these are things I had hopes for but underachieved, or were things that were part of something that was going well and then tanked. Now obviously this is a list that we all won’t agree on which is fine, but if you disagree make sure to share what disappointed you over the weekend.

AND NOW….

My Top 10 Disappointments From The WrestleMania 29 Weekend

#10. Antonio Cesaro: Couldn’t Even Get on The Pre-Show

This one should come as no surprise to you, but yes, I am still upset that Antonio Cesaro couldn’t get on WrestleMania, at all. The only thing worse than his booking heading into the big event was the fact that WWE produced the above video, claiming that he was preparing for WrestleMania. I know that there were supposedly issues that kept him off of the card (Sin Cara’s injury, Vince nixing creative’s double ladder match idea) but that video must have been like a kick in the nuts when they decided to publish it. But I have to say that besides he fact that he was kept off of the biggest show f the year, I cannot believe that they could not find a place for him on the pre-show at the very least. If they were dead set on not adding a second match to the show, then why not have Cesaro as part of the pre-show team? Cesaro is the US Champion, is educated and well spoken when given the chance, and considering Kofi Kingston was on the show, it would have made sense. They booked the two on a match on Smackdown, and this could have been a way to book that match. Then they booked the title change on Monday. They easily could have started the feud on the pre-show and made it worth it to those guys. Instead, the US Champion and a guy that has been working hard and looking great each and every time out (as well as working with a hurt hand for the better part of six-months) was shunned and placed on the sidelines, like the odd man out in a pick up game at the playground. I am a big fan of the guy, and really wanted to see him get a spot on the biggest show of the year. Better luck next year Antonio, unless he’s too busy with yodeling lessons.

#9. Kazushi Sakuraba Dislocates Elbow on iPPV

Much like Antonio Cesaro, I am a big fan of Kazushi Sakuraba. I loved watching his MMA fights, but the facts was that he needed to spot fighting in MMA, because he was past his prime and was taking horrible beatings. I am all for fighting spirit and all, but I don’t want to see a man die in a fight. But then, the best thing happened, he was brought into NJPW, and ever since coming in he has been delivering on a regular basis. This made me happy, as the world of pro wrestling will be easier on him and I also still get to see him “fight” in a way. On the April 7th New Japan Invasion Attack PPV, Yuji Nagata & Hirooki Goto battled Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata. The match was designed to set up a singles match between Nagata and Sakuraba, but during the match (which was really great and headed towards the upper tier of my MOTY rankings), Nagata gave Sakuraba an overhead throw and Sakuraba landed badly, with his elbow dislocating. It made you think about Sakuraba dislocating Renzo Gracie’s elbow many years ago. The match had to be stopped, but Sakuraba stayed around to set up the singles match with Nagata. After the match, Sakuraba had the elbow popped back into place and even returned to the arena later in the evening. This was disappointing because 1) I hate to see people get legit injured, 2) This was a really good match that most will forget due to the unfortunate injury, 3) Sakuraba has been so good since coming back to wrestling, and I hope that this doesn’t derail what has been a great return. Not the best of endings for Kazushi Sakuraba, but he’ll be back and I’ll be watching.

#8. CHIKARA Opts to Not Run on iPPV

WrestleMania has become so big that other companies have started to run events during the WrestleMania weekend. Some call it piggybacking; I call it smart business. While there were shows in years back, this year, WrestleMania caused the creation of WrestleCon. WrestleCon was a mix of regular convention style things like gimmick tables and autograph signings, but it also saw EVOLVE-DGUSA, SHIMMER, CZW, CHIKARA and more come together to run events from the same venue. Sharing cost of the venue and maximizing profit, which is of course the American way. EVOLVE was to crown a new champion iPPV, DGUSA has two cards set for iPPV, CZW was on iPPV, even SHIMMER was set to make their iPPV debut. But then the bad news dropped, CHIKARA opted out of the iPPV parade. Now, I know why they did so. They had an iPPV scheduled for June, and at this time they seem to be perfectly running twp iPPV events a year. Also, the weekend was going to be over saturated that weekend with wrestling PPV: WWE, TNA, EVOLVE-DGUSA, SHIMMER, CZW, ROH, Big Battel, PWS and possibly more. Add onto the fact that they had done a big advance (which turned into their biggest live crowd ever) and they made the right call. But this was disappointing because I had to break the news to Hana (my 11-year old daughter and Jr. Colony member) that we wouldn’t be watching CHIKARA that weekend, since there was no iPPV. Again, this was the right business decision for CHIKARA to make, I am not mad that they did what they did, I am just disappointed because CHIKARA has created good times and great memories for the Csonka family, and we didn’t get to watch the show that weekend. Oh yeah, and I missed Lightening and Thunder tagging together, (Quackenbush and Liger) that didn’t make me happy.

#7. Jim Ross – Underutilized at WrestleMania

I have been a fan of Jim Ross for a long time, going back to the mid-south days. While Ross certainly improved over the years, he is just a guy that I think of when I think of a great wrestling match, because he has been on the call for so many of them. But WWE doesn’t see him that way, they see him as the southern fried announcer that isn’t good looking in this pretty TV generation, and they have worked very hard over the years to finally get him off of their TV and behind the scenes. But there have been times that they bring out Jim Ross for an appearance or to call a match, and that time of year SHOULD be WrestleMania. I know it is 2013, and I know that it is cool for the young kids to shit all over Jim Ross these days, but the simple fact is that no one calls the big match or sells the big moment like Jim Ross. But instead of using Ross for the thing that he does the best, they crowded him onto the WrestleMania pre-show, where he barely got to speak, let alone sell the PPV. I am not calling for Ross to return to TV each and every week, but the facts are that he does do his job well, and there are times when he could be utilized to better sell a match or moment for the company. But Kevin Dunn is too concerned about the announcers looking pretty, which is funny when you consider the current announcers and the fact that Dunn looks like Bucky the Beaver’s cousin. Jim Ross could have been used much better at the WrestleMania 29 event, especially on a show that had “three main events” that were relying heavy on storytelling.

#6. WWE: King of Wrestling PPV – Fails on Timing

Now this statement is nothing ground breaking, but I think we can all agree on this. In terms of the business, WWE is the king of wrestling PPV. There are no ifs, ands, buts or debates. They put on PPV, they make money and they are the best at the production of a wrestling show. I have many times praised the production values WWE uses, their great video packages and other little things that set them on top of the pack. And that is why I am always surprised when they have timing issues on their biggest show of the year. At WrestleMania 29, they cut America the Beautiful (Vince’s FAVORITE by the way), the eight-person tag, numerous videos and the big intros for Rock vs. Cena. And why did they do that? Because they didn’t have thing properly planned heading into the day of the show, and then when they got there, they had to change plans. The biggest wrestling company in the world simply fucked up. They had to cut out things, they had to change the format of the show, the lack of a buffer before Triple H and Lesnar hurt that match and overall the one thing that WWE does well, put on big shows, they had legit issues with this year. For as many things as the company does right (and they do a lot right even if I always seem hard on them) the issues like this happening on the biggest show of the year are alarming to ay the least.

#5. WWE Refuses to Get With The Times – Hall of Fame Remains Off The Grid

Every year the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony is something that people are excited to see. I know people that only buy the WrestleMania DVD and or Blu-ray because they want to see the ceremony that bad, and Mania is just the “extras” to them. Every year I get emails asking me, “Csonka, is WWE streaming the Hall of Fame ceremony online?” and I have to tell them no. And that is something that I think WWE is missing the boat on. It seems as if there is a lot of interest in the hall of fame ceremony, and I do not understand why they wouldn’t offer it as a live iPPV through WWE.com on that night. I know that we can watch it now, and that is all well and good, but there are people, myself included, that want to watch it live as it happens. I don’t like watching the Tuesday clip version, because I don’t want the Reader’s Digest version, I want the unabridged version of the show. Maybe once they get the WWE Network up and running they will make this a part of the programming each and every year, but for now, many fans were disappointed that they couldn’t watch live, this fan included.

#4. EVOLVE Needed a Homerun – Hit Into a Game Ending Double Play Instead

Heading into the WrestleMania 29 weekend, the EVOLVE 19 iPPV was one of the shows I was really looking forward too. The company had put on good shows, they have good talent, and they were about to crown their first ever champion in a one-night tournament. While I love a good tournament, wrestling ones tend to be booked poorly a lot of the time, but I had some faith here. Unfortunately this show was doomed from the get go. First of all it was filled with iPPV issues, which upset a large portion of the audience. While the promotion did offer make good offers; that simply did nothing for the people that wanted to experience the full show on that night. And then there was the booking of the show. You had a DQ in one of the matches, the top seeds that got byes were eliminated in their first bouts, and then there was the whole Sami Callihan angle. When Callihan came out for his second match of the night, he did his usual spring into the ring entrance, and “tweaked his knee/ankle”. This did the opposite of make him sympathetic, it made him look like a dumb ass. The man was in a six-man match in the first round, we couldn’t book the injury there and then play the drama card as to whether he would make the second match or not? Seriously, the guy got hurt getting into the ring, how does this make me feel sorry for him? It made me laugh. And then, before the main event, the guy you are supposed to feel sorry for cut a promo about being hurt, the crowd sucking and not caring about the wrestlers. The logic, I have no clue where it is. EVOLVE needed to hit one out of the park with the 19th show, instead they hit into a game ending double play, and the crowd went mild.

#3. Johnny Gargano Turns Heel aka Overbooking Hurts Possible Classic Match

One of Dragon Gate USA’s most heavily hyped matches of the weekend was Johnny Gargano defending the Open the Freedom Gate Title against Shingo. DGUSA fans were very excited for this match, one because Shingo was returning after a two year absence from the promotion, and two because Gargano had held the title for over 500 days. If Gargano were to win the match, it would further cement his status in the company and add to his impressive title run. They did an excellent job of building the story, which was that Shingo may be the guy that could survive everything the champion, and that Gargano was throwing everything at him, but just couldn’t put the challenger away. There are matches that you feel “work too hard” to be epic instead of letting things happen organically, but this match, this match felt special. This match was going so well, the crowd was so into it, and I thought that we were looking at an instant classic; a match that the promotion could easily hype as one of the best of the year and in the history of the company. Unfortunately, the booking got in the way. The promotion decided to pull the trigger on a Johnny Gargano heel turn. Some times bookers need to know when enough is enough, and sometimes they need to know when to just let wrestling be wrestling. After this absolute war in the ring, the story was that Gargano had thrown everything at Shingo, so when the ref was bumped, Gargano kicked Shingo in the balls and choked him out with a rope for the anticlimactic victory. For the record, I don’t think the Gargano heel turn is a bad idea, it just ended up being the worst time to pull the trigger. Some are comparing this to the Austin heel turn at WM 17, albeit on a smaller scale, but that isn’t a compliment in my opinion. Most consider the Austin heel turn at WM 17 a creative and financial mistake. Hopefully it works out well for the company, but I felt that it ended up hurting the match.

#2. Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar – What Could Have Been

The Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar match at WrestleMania 29 was one of the matches I was looking forward too. While it wasn’t great, I liked their first match more than most. I figured with the big stage of WrestleMania, Brock being Brock, Heyman & HBK at ringside, and the fact that being a Triple H match they would have the use of all f the smoke and mirrors they needed; yeah I thought that this could be match of the night. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. First of all, as has been mentioned several times, going on after Punk vs. Taker, it needed some kind of buffer. Whether it was the eight-person tag or rolling out the hall of fame class, which would have helped and gave the crowd the break needed. But that is a major thing because the beginning of the match was really dead crowd wise. If you just read a detailed recap of the work, you’d think it was a great match; but when you add in the lack of reaction it really hurts the match. Also, the match never really brought you into the story like Punk vs. Taker did. As I wrote in the top matches from the WM 29 weekend column last week, “we knew that Taker was winning, that Triple H was 99% winning and that Cena was 99% winning. That isn’t what bothered me at all, because if the story and work to get there is good then the predictable outcome doesn’t really matter to me. Punk and Undertaker took you on an adventure; they worked a match that invited you to be a part of the story, it had drama, emotion, a good story in the ring, the right ending and it all worked better than I had hoped for.” Lesnar vs. Triple H was working the right style, but I never got connected to the story, I never got into the match all that much until the end, and instead of a really good or even great match, it was average to most. I liked it a bit more than most did, but even then, it came off as a big disappointment. And that was a running theme for the big show, it wasn’t bad, but with the average under card and this match not delivering like I had hoped, it hurt the overall enjoyment of the show. Lambert had a lot of fun joking with me afterwards since I thought that this would be the match of the night.

#1. The Internet in New Jersey Sucked; Seriously, Out of 8.6 Million People Living In The State No One Could Properly Set Up a Network?

Overall I think that the biggest disappointment of the WrestleMania 29 weekend was that nobody in the state of New Jersey on that weekend could properly set up an operating network for iPPV. On the biggest money weekend of the year for not only WWE, but also several independent companies, the Internet issues left a bad taste in the mouths of many consumers. It started with EVOLVE 19, the biggest show in the company’s history, and it was a disaster. The show was delayed 33-minutes, and fans got to see almost none of the opening match due to the connection issues. Things improved on the show, but then in one of the most hyped matches on the card (Young Bucks vs. Super Smash Brothers) the issues returned, cutting out about half of the match. They offered make good deals for customers, but many fans were upset. The problems continued later that night for another promotion, as ROH delivered their iPPV, and during the MAIN EVENT, where they pulled a huge title change, people got robbed of the final moments. ROH made good with a $5 coupon to all customers, but the damage was done to a company that did NOT need anymore iPPV issues after last year. On Saturday night, during the Dragon Gate USA Open The Ultimate Gate 2013 iPPV, iPPV issues ruined the opener, but they were thankfully fixed for the rest of the show. But these issues did not strictly stay with the independent companies, because WWE had them as well. The WrestleMania 29 PPV, you know, the whole reason for the big weekend, shit the bed on WWE.com. It just shit out and finally at two hours in you could watch the show, from the beginning. That didn’t help anyone out. WWE also had issues with the Internet at the stadium. They had reportedly set up a special network for the stadium to hype the WWE App and fan participation, and that crashed as well. All of these companies knew that the product would be in demand, they knew that they would likely be doing huge or record numbers, but apparently no one knew how to properly set up a network to support it al. Or the Internet in New Jersey simply sucks, either way, for me it was the biggest disappointment of the weekend.

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BONUS COVERAGE

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Larry Csonka is a Pisces and enjoys rolling at jiu jitsu class with Hotty McBrownbelt, cooking, long walks on the beach, Slingo and the occasional trip to Jack in the Box. He is married to a soulless ginger and has two beautiful daughters who are thankfully not soulless gingers; and is legally allowed to marry people in 35 states. He has been a wrestling fan since 1982 and has been writing for 411 since May 24th, 2004; contributing over 3,000 columns, TV reports and video reviews to the site.