WrestleMania 34 Review

Ladies and gentlemen, entering the podcast ring

at this time, with a combined weight of 860 pounds,

are the new Tag Team Champions, the Super Size

Guys. First, representing this week in games,

and hailing from parts unknown, he is Mike, the

Birdman, Dodd, and his podcasting partner, Representing

the GeekCast radio network. And hailing from

the outer reaches of your mind, he is TFG1 Mike

Blanchard. These two podcasting giants have joined

forces in the World Podcasting Federation. This

is Mayhem Mikes. And now, let's get ready to

podcast. Hello and welcome to mayhem mics This

is episode 34 on the geek cast radio network

and this weekend geek. I am of course TF2 and

Mike We were supposed to have this super giant

guest blowout folks, but now we're going old

school We're going back to 2015 and it's just

me and Mike the Birdman Dodd and his epic return

to the show. Hello, sir That's right. Once again,

I've returned to the city of Newark And I'm back

guys and this is about all the energy that I

can muster as I'm getting over some kind of a

cold or something so don't worry folks the energy

will pick up Mike's gonna carry most of the show

much like say John Cena carrying the Undertaker

which we'll talk about a little bit later in

the podcast yeah that's a pile driver that nobody

wants so how the hell have you been the last

time you were on the show was actually episode

20 which was I think Two years ago, I forget

when that was a year ago. It was the John Cena

spotlight. Yeah, it has been a while. I mean,

I guess for those of you that just listened to

the wrestling podcast and not anything else on

the network, I spent a couple months in hospital,

lost my left leg, but that's okay. I've kind

of gotten used to the handicap life such as it

is. In fact, got some good news today, getting

my power wheelchair hopefully sometime soon so

i'll be able to get out into the world and enjoy

avengers infinity war in just a little over ten

days and actually get back to w w e house shows

that's my big thing this summer i'm gonna try

and go to a couple um yeah other than that i'm

doing a okay especially now that my boy daniel

bryan's finally back in the ring i guess that's

kind of prophetic now that he's back in wrestling

i kind of give a shit again so uh yeah it's uh

It has certainly been an adventure over the last

last little while since I haven't been on the

show. I'm actually watching SmackDown and Raw

because I found a way to stream them online.

Not entirely through legal means, but hey, I

would pay for it if I could. Shh, don't tell

anybody he lives in Canada. They don't allow

WWE in Canada unless it's a house show. They

do because there was backlash and although it's

been a while since we've had a named event up

here And I think it was roadblock. That's it.

Yeah roadblock. Yep, which was interesting. I

saw that live that was pretty cool, but That

was the last house show that I was at was roadblock

Yeah, I was looking into Money in the bank is

gonna be here at the Allstate Arena, which is

Just a little ways away from where I am currently

because I am now living in Chicago. No, I have

not run into CM Punk yet. But it's one of those

things where I'm looking, I was looking into

this year's money in the bank and I'm like, oh

my God, I had no idea. Tickets are between two

and $600 each. Now what would the $200? I don't

even know. It's probably nosebleeds, but I don't

know. honestly do not know at that point it's

not really worth it now for a $200 ticket at

a house show you get some really good seats then

yeah oh absolutely yeah but if I'm going because

I haven't been to a WWE event since it was way

back when when it was still the WWF in the 80s

like that was the last time I went was like I

think it was The main part of the card that I

remember was junkyard dog was either facing off

against Hulk Hogan or Roddy Piper And this was

like in the I was like eight or nine years old.

This is 88 89 So it's been year It's been over

30 years since I've been to a WWE event and if

I'm going I'm not going for a house show I'm

going for one of the if I'm going to an event

I'm going for one of the pay -per -views like

because I don't go like I'm not like I just don't

go to the events. I watch the stuff on the network

and Hulu and all that, which, why doesn't Hulu

like Canada? Like, that's what I don't get. Like,

we get Raw and SmackDown cut down versions. We

get like two hours of SmackDown or an hour and

a half of SmackDown and like, they condense Raw

to the point where it's actually watchable from

three hours to like an hour and 40 minutes. Well,

we do get it up in Canada. We do get it on a

channel called Sportsnet 360, and they air it

continuously during the week, like you get the

live broadcast. on monday and tuesday then you

had a couple repeats during the week usually

on friday or saturday but uh because of other

sports such as baseball or hockey or football

they have to sometimes preempt it in fact as

we record tonight's episode smackdown is not

airing live they're going to air it later due

to a playoff hockey game and it basically comes

down to who wants to pay the most money to the

broadcaster and as to why hulu doesn't work in

Well, you can thank all the lovely cable networks

up here for all the different distribution rights

for all the different shows That's why up in

Canada. There's three or four different streaming

services Like we have a service called crave

TV. We have Netflix up here as well uh... each

individual cable provider has their own streaming

service so it's a whole mess of who owns what

and yeah it's a giant complicated legal mass

yeah i commented to my wife the other night when

we were going to record this originally uh...

last week or whatever and i said Moving to Canada

free health care, but no Hulu to hell with that

Geo blocking because I used to have a subscription

to Hulu which was infinitely useful for me catching

up on old TV shows I could do it through my computer,

but you know what it's way too much work for

five six bucks a month when I can just use my

Android box and do it that way because I cut

the cord about two years ago when I moved here

so it's kind of annoying it's kind of a pain

in the ass but you know what it's 200 bucks a

month I don't have to spend on cable so you know

what I'm happy with it there you go All right,

WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans this year. Generally,

I don't watch the pre -shows for the WWE pay

-per -views. After this, folks, they're going

back to one pay -per -view a month. I guess technically

not, though, because we have WWE The Greatest

Royal Rumble coming up on April 27th, which we

just had WrestleMania on April... eight or six

or whatever so yeah so that's two pay -per -views

right there in one month um... and then i think

next month is backlash i'll pull up the list

at the end of the show kind of thing but basically

they're not doing the the individually branded

raw exclusive pay -per -view smackdowns exclusive

pay -per -views anymore they're going back to

everything is together um... which is kind of

whatever. So generally I don't watch the pre

-shows and I was actually with WrestleMania I

was going to because it's WrestleMania how can

you not? Last year Ryan and I said you know seven

hours too long too long and I didn't get to watch

the pre -show when I wanted to this year because

after like I watched WrestleMania the day after

it aired and the WWE Network only had WrestleMania

up first. They did not have the pre -show up

at all. And the pre -show, there are three matches,

and the rest of it is all commentary from Renee

Young, Booker T, JBL, anybody you can think of.

And I'm like, oh, that's why I don't watch the

pre -show, because it's three matches and a lot

of talk that I don't care about. Yeah, I mean

that's the thing. I mean a lot of the pre -show

It's a lot of recap and it's a lot of packages

and this year they had the Andre the giant battle

royale They also had the women's battle royale

the first ever women's battle royal and they

had the cruiserweight championship Which I think

was a lot better than it deserved But that was

also whatever now for a two -hour pre -show each

battle royale was relatively short. Yeah, that's

been like less than half an hour each. With with

outgoing in the too much detail the Battle Royale

for the men this year was kind of eh. However,

the winner surprised me. I didn't see this coming.

It was woken Matt Hardy who's probably outside

of Daniel Bryan, my favorite guy in the company

right now. He won it with assistance from Bray

Wyatt. Yeah, because they're taking Bray in this

hole, like he's now a disciple of Woken Matt

Hardy and he's not his own. They're trying to

change up Bray's character, which is great because

after two, three, four years of the same shtick

and getting new Wyatt family members, I'm like,

do something with this guy already. He has the

athletic ability and all that. Just get him a

different gimmick because holy crap, I've never

enjoyed the Wyatt thing. I think the Wyatt family

or the Wyatt gimmick is cool because the character

is interesting. It's just he's never been given

anything to write. He hasn't been given anything

written. that's been good in the last little

while now watching him and matt hearty go off

on each other was quite good with the final deletion

yeah and then now they're known as the deleter

of worlds which i think is a really clever play

on words well yeah it's basically taking the

deletion and taking eater of worlds and basically

combining it and that's that is very cool So

yeah, the women's battle royal I wanted to watch

it, but I only saw highlights Naomi won Which

I'm very happy for because and it's a good thing

you're here and Ryan's not here because Ryan

would roll his eyes when I say this back when

you know, I still cared and when it was new and

fresh and Kind of like, Oh, I get to kind of

see behind the scenes with WWE. I used to watch

Total Divas. And I remember Naomi in like season

one, two, three, and four of that show, like

always wanting shots and always wanting this

and wanting to be. And now she has been champion.

She got the championship strip from her because

of injury. And then now she's back. And so I

like that Naomi won this. I think that's. the

best way that that could have gone. Yeah. Although

there was a pretty cool moment where we thought

it was going to be Bailey was the winner and

her and Sasha were going to shake hands. Then

Bailey whips her out of the ring going, ha ha,

I win. And then Naomi ends up throwing her out.

Um, that's the thing though, the thing about

the women's battle Royale and it's nothing against

the women cause the women is typically what I

care to watch actually with WWE. I can't recall

a single memorable spot outside of the Bailey

Sasha thing with and then with Naomi winning.

I remember nothing. Yeah. Which is unfortunate.

Yeah, and as much as I like Bailey and Sasha

individually this whole best friend worst enemy

thing that story like Ryan and I have talked

about this for the last year and a half or so

when storylines get Gone on too long. This whole

thing is got like they're like, oh Bailey you

need to be harder Oh Bailey you need to go up

against Alexa in your hometown to win the championship

and she just punks out because that was it like

a TLC or an extreme rules or what? ever last

year whatever the hell it was and it's like Bailey's

too much of a baby face to do anything like she's

not she's not gonna be a Sasha Banks where she'll

come up to you all sweet and everything else

and then turn on you you know in a heartbeat

she's just not that kid it's not what that character

is so this whole best friend worst enemy thing

is getting old I wish they'd hurry up and whatever

the outcome is gonna be just do it yeah Alright,

so WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans. We started

off with Seth Rollins Finn Balor and I just got

to talk about the entrance of the 205 live guys

It was Cedric Alexander and Mustafa whose name

I can't remember Mustafa Ali I thought their

entrances like coming down the ramp was cool.

Like literally had this techno sub -zero Mortal

Kombat vibe going on And then the other guy,

I can't remember his entrance for the life of

me, but I remember the electronic face mask.

Because it reminded me of Watch Dogs 2 as well.

But that match, it wasn't, as Mike kind of, more

or less without saying it, it was good, but it

wasn't memorable. I don't care about Cruiserweight

stuff. Like the Cruiserweight stuff, 205 Live,

I don't watch any of that. I just don't. Ryan

and I went back and reviewed NXT Brooklyn 3 because

I had watched that back when it Originally premiered

and I was like, oh, this is really cool I really

like the NXT stuff and we will be covering more

NXT stuff as mayhem Mike's goes along stay tuned

to the end of the show to hear more on that but

Like the cruiserweight stuff. I've never cared

about it. It sucks though because there's such

talent there. The problem is You don't give a

shit Yeah, because, well, I think the reason

why I didn't give a shit, and I kind of should

have, because the kind of colors for Cruiserweight

Division is like one of my favorite colors, which

is purple, but I really don't give a shit, because

it's just more, like, at first - There's no plan!

Yeah, well, yeah, that, but like, before they

put it onto, before they made a show for it,

called it 205 Live, it was part of RAW, and I'm

like, RAW is three hours already, it does not

need to be three and a half hours, get this Cruiserweight

crap out of the way! or if you're going to make

the cruiser weights a thing make them interesting

give them something you know exciting and as

much as it as much as all the crap with it and

so more it was a thing you got to admit the guy

was interesting sadly he turned out to be a creep

yeah uh... is it said that i still want his and

big cast is fun cool pop characters if you're

a completionist you never know I still have an

Enzo and cast cup from 7 -eleven although the

day he came out as a creep I was in I was still

in the hospital and I threw out my certified

G t -shirt you know what you're a creep Cups

a cup and I like water. So Anyway, but yeah moving

on to the Seth Rollins intercontinental match

I love how he came out looking like a white walker

from Game of Thrones. That was really cool for

him The was the Kingslayer Seth Rollins. Yeah,

that was neat Although I was listening to the

Stephen Larson podcast because Seth Rollins Randy

Orton was in this match too, wasn't he? uh...

now that now this is this later this is this

later this is set thin is for the icy title the

triple threat the thin baler entrance where he

came out of all the members of the lgbtq community

and yet in new orleans i don't know what thin

balers politics are i don't care but i think

that's so cool how he's getting these people

involved if rainbow baler becomes a thing and

he's like i'm mr lgbtq i am on board for that

because the baller club with the rainbow thing

looks so cool yeah i totally sold on that yeah

um what i liked about the ic title match is that

Miz was out there by himself for once. Miz hasn't

been by himself since he entered WWE. He's always

pulling the, you know, the underhandedness and

this, that, and the other thing, but he basically

sent... Oh god, I almost hit sand out. Curtis

Axel and Bo Dallas. Bo, thank you. Bo Dallas,

I couldn't think of that one. Yeah, he sent the

misters back in the back and I figured, oh, this

is going to be, you know, the upstanding Miz,

which there really isn't one of those, but the

Miz is really good, not only on the microphone,

but with his, like, this is a guy, folks, that

I first saw on the real world from MTV, where

he was like, yeah, I'm going to be a WWE superstar

one day. Goddamn now he is like he's a champion.

He's this he's that and say what you will about

his character and all that but These three guys

put on one hell of a startup match for WrestleMania.

This match was awesome Yeah, it it was the match

that you needed to kick off the show. I mean

what you can I mean the 205 live match got people

Interested but they didn't care if that makes

any kind of sense This was the match you needed

to kick off the show. It was a title match. It

was exciting. There was a lot of good back and

forth. You saw some really cool curb stomps from

Seth Rollins. And overall, the energy in the

match was great. And seeing Seth Rollins win

was good. I'm glad he won. I think he's a great

champion in and of itself. He's great on the

mic. Where this feud goes with the other two

guys, we'll see what happens. But I'm excited

for it and I was generally invested in this.

Yeah, absolutely. I was too. This is one hell

of a way to kick off WrestleMania, you know,

the main show. Absolutely loved it. I thought

it was great. All three of these guys basically

gave their all. They all had their chances to

show off each of their moves. And yes, absolutely

loved it. Next matchup was Charlotte versus Asuka

for the Smackdown Women's Championship. This

was basically the championship versus the streak

because Asuka has had this two -year undefeated

streak. Well, that didn't last too long. Well,

you see, I think this was... This was a hard.

I like the match. I don't like the outcome, but

I see why anybody was going to defeat Oscar.

It had to be Charlotte because you needed a believable

athlete to defeat her. It couldn't be someone

like Sasha Banks or it couldn't be someone like

Bailey. It couldn't be anybody. It couldn't be

maybe Nia Jax. Charlotte Flair is a dedicated

athlete. She's one of the best technical wrestlers

in the women's side. And she's the only one who

is a believable threat to Oscar. You're not going

to believe someone like, say, Alexa Bliss. Are

you kidding me? No. but you have someone like

Charlotte Flair, there's some good reversal,

some good back and forth here. There was a great

story being told in that ring for the duration

of this. And the only way Asuka could lose is

at WrestleMania. You're not gonna have her lose

at Backlash or whatever. Maybe SummerSlam, but

no, this was a mania moment where she had to

lose the streak. And as cool as it would have

been to see her win the belt, I'm glad it was

the Charlotte flair. So hopefully this will continue

something on over the next couple of months.

We'll see this proceed in the summer slam and

all this that and the other thing survivor series

later on this year. Yeah, I mean, like I said,

there was some great technical performances here,

though to see Oscar tap out didn't make me happy.

I would have much rather see her get pinned than

see Oscar tap. Ask Oscar tapping doesn't seem

like the type to me right yeah yeah no um but

what I loved about it was at the end she's like

Charlotte was ready for Oscar like I love that

they because well I love Oscar and I know next

time I talk to him Ryan's gonna smite me for

saying this like her you're not ready for me

thing it was Getting on my nerves after a while

and she's only been on main roster for a short

time at this point So I love how they reversed

it when when Charlotte did win to retain up next

This is the US title match. This is rude Rusev

gender and Randy So this is the match where Randy

was around for the US title Now, go back and

watch this match at some point. And I want you

to pay attention to Randy's face. He could not

have given less of a shit. No. He was like, well,

someone's going to pin me and I don't care. Yeah.

And that sucks because Randy Orton usually comes

out in his hoodie. He's got that cool Viper thing

going down the ramp entrance with them before

it was like, yep, I'm Randy Orton. Where's my

paycheck? Yeah. this match to me was the go take

a piss match yeah and the US title should not

be that match it should not like and I think

the wrong guy went over here I really do I mean

well they said they set it up for story dude

and we'll talk about this later obviously but

they set it up for story Is what they did with

this they had gender retain or they had gender

win it from basically bobby because i think wasn't

bobby the champion at the time He had lost it

and gender was holding it. That's right That's

right. That's right. So gender was holding it

and I don't know if you've seen this week's this

current week's raw like wow That I didn't see

coming But I love it It was good. It was so good,

and we'll talk about it at the end, but that's

why that match happened, I think, and that's

why Jinder retained, because that person that

we're gonna talk about later, between Randy,

Bobby, and Rusev, like, Jinder was the best person

for him to take it off of. See, I was really

hoping Bobby Roode would win it to get his WrestleMania

moment. Right. just because I'm a big, rude fan

boy. I am too. Now that I, you know, now that

I've seen him in NXT and he's now on main roster,

I absolutely love Bobby and I, you know, him

doing the open challenge again, I thought that

was great. Um, so yeah, but like the way that

WWE planned that just the whole thing. I'm like,

that works so well. It just sucks to have a,

a take a piss match ends up being a title match.

Yeah. Because but then again when you have seven

hours of wrestling It can't be intense and you're

trying to follow up Oscar and Charlotte Mm -hmm.

Something's got to give somewhere and this had

to be that match. Yeah I would almost say I would

almost say that this just for me this match and

the final match of the pay -per -view could have

been switched cuz that final match we'll talk

about it at the end of the show folks cuz oh

god so here's where the the pay -per -view pretty

much you know reached its i don't want to say

climax but basically the top of the mountain

for most people yeah it's height for most people

was the mixed tag match between ronda and ronda

and and uh... curt with and versus the authority

i'm just gonna call me authority and not stephanie

and triple h because uh... hello they're basically

in the authority storyline character thing here

uh... She's got a great performance to her. She

knows how to tell a story in the ring. Now, admittedly,

some of Stephanie's moves against her, I didn't

believe, but she sold it. Yeah, as best as she

could. I mean, she's still a rookie, but I know

she's training with Natalia a shit ton. She's

gonna be a great WWE superstar given the time

to mature. She's getting better on microphone

all the time. And she's so much different, so

much more different than any of the other women

in the women's division because she has that

MMA UFC fighting style background because that's

where she came from. There is one woman, I think

her name is Sarah, not Sarah Logan, but there's

Sonya something or other. Oh, Sonya Deville.

Yeah, she's got the MMA background too, but with

Mark Browsie, you know she was known as the most

dangerous woman in the world. She has that fighting

stance like Brock Lesnar, but she's got a finesse

and an agility to it. Right, and to see, not

trying to be sexist or anything, but to see a

woman's style. what her style is like throwing

the punches the way she throws them as a fighter

more so than a wrestling you know kind of a Kind

of a wrestling move kind of thing that is so

refreshing to me seeing her style versus the

traditional wrestler move grapple thing Absolutely

love that and I am so glad they won. I'm so glad

Curtin Ronda won Mean it was great seeing Ron

to do some moves against Triple H like she did

a couple of Samoan drops on him She was giving

them hard strikes hard punches and whatnot There

was even some great stuff from Kurt Angle putting

the ankle lock on like Triple H. Yeah Stephanie

managed to get out of the arm bar from Rousey

a few times which No, but that's okay. I mean,

Rousey is going to be great to see her mature

over the next year or two. Now, my dream match

is Rousey versus Oscar, striker versus striker,

or to have Charlotte Flair versus Rousey and

just see what happens. Put them in a steel cage.

and let them go at each other. I think that'd

be great because Rousey has the ability to go

the distance athletically. Charlotte can carry

the mask if she has to. But I think you'll get

a great story out of those two. Like I said,

give Rousey some time. I think she's gonna be

really fantastic. And in terms of the people

that were quote unquote celebrity that have transitioned

into WWE, I think she's got the best potential.

Oh, absolutely. Yeah, because here's the thing.

Ryan and I were worried about it all this time

we were doing between the time we were doing

the Mae Young classic and all the other episodes

we've done up to this point of Mayhem mics this

year and the last year beginning of this year

was is Ronda gonna be ready by WrestleMania and

goddamn if she wasn't yeah she still has a lot

to learn and one of the biggest things for us

was she's got to learn how to do her facial expressions

a little better because she gets to like slayings

and she even though she she can sell the switch

when she's like we'll talk about this later but

the raw after mania when she gave stephanie the

second arm barred the the switch between the

smile and the the glare stare thing, she's got

that down. But the over excitement of being there

at WrestleMania, the smiling thing was just a

little too over the top. It was like Cheshire

Cat over the top. And I think once she controls

that a little more, she'll be fine on all aspects

of WWE. Yeah, once she's used to this type of

spotlight, which is different from UFC, she'll

be - Right, yep, absolutely. Up next, we had

the Smackdown Tag Team Championship Triple Threat

Match. This was the Bludgeon Brothers defeating

the Usos and the New Day. Okay, so the Bludgeon

Brothers, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, the leftover

members of the Wyatt family. I actually love

that they've done this with these two. I like

the idea, but the gimmick is stupid, and here's

why. They're like, those hammers weigh 30 or

40 pounds. Those are foam and it's the way that

they carry them. You can't tell and they sell

it so terribly The best part about this match

is when xavier woods came out Played the dragon

zord theme and summoned pancakes Which I was

like did I just hear the dragon zord theme like

I looked up because I was doing something else

Yeah, and I was like, okay, that's pretty cool.

But this match was yet another go take a piss

match however, that being said the right people

won this. Oh, absolutely. Having the Bludgeon

Brothers go over is probably a good idea because

Luke Harper and Eric Rowan, they are talented.

They can be useful. Having them together makes

sense. Give them a chance to shine again. Now

that they're away from Bray and doing their own

apocalyptic evil thing, whatever, we'll see what

happens with it. see this kind of a thing I absolutely

love because it was different it was interesting

and Bray was different too when he started he

was his character was very it was not like anything

we had ever really seen at that time and these

guys now are like Bray and and Matt are doing

their own thing the Bludgeon's are doing their

own thing and I love it that the tag team division

has its own quote -unquote monster team So that

was very, very cool. All right, we have the tag

team match. Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon versus

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. I was excited to see

Daniel Bryan come back. That arena popped. like

something fierce when he came out and the yes

chance started. That arena exploded. Oh yeah,

because the last time they had seen Daniel Bryan

was WrestleMania 30 where he beat Batista, Randy

Orton and Triple H. That was amazing the fact

that he came back to the same place that he was

more or less retired in to come back and that

was pretty cool. This match overall some great

back and forth. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, you

can very rarely accuse them of putting on a bad

match. It very rarely happens. Shane McMahon,

I don't know how that guy keeps up with all these

younger wrestlers that are in way better shape

than him, but somehow it happens. I've seen WWE

do training videos or shown training videos with

him and how he trains and he might be up there

in age compared to most everybody else but like

he gets it done like him and his dad are in retarded

good shape for their age vince can i say that

word probably not okay they're in stupid good

shape for their age yeah vince is um like i said

this on when uh when ryan and i did uh... as

writers uh... alex effort we did the w w e twenty

-four wrestlemania which is the original series

on the network w w twenty -four and i was right

i did the three sixty -five kevin owens when

ryan and i did three sixty -five kevin owens

i genuinely said in that episode of the show

i'd like holy shit it's vince mcmahon at raw

or whatever because it was the it was last year

was last year you know from summer slam to whatever

you know a year in the life of kevin owens and

the whole thing of you know hit of them that

you know this not being impressed with what the

job kevin had done and showing how you know down

kevin was because he didn't give his boss what

the boss wanted just seeing the fact that that

this is Backstage at raw like I figured he would

be I don't think he's gonna be sitting at home

that might be storyline kind of a thing But showing

that like wow mm -hmm absolutely love that, but

yeah Vince and Shane they're They're just yeah

but yeah the the the Shane and Bryan versus the

KO Zane I love that and Again storyline because

you know, we'll talk about it next week actually

with the superstar shakeup and all that but Yeah,

I mean I was glad I saw yes kicks. I saw missile

drop kicks. I saw Pop -up power bombs. I saw

all the spots that I wanted to yeah I was glad

I didn't see a lot I don't remember a lot of

what Shane did and that's probably for the best

This was Daniel Bryan's match oh yeah they basically

took shane out i mean they took him out early

and basically had daniel run the gambit which

is what was supposed to happen anyway in my in

my opinion because while shane is in great shape

and shane can do these things like shane should

only be not really but you know jumping out one

came to wrestlemania for shane mcmahon yeah i

know well maybe that one guy in the back yeah

that one guy in the back uh... we actually missed

a match um... the return of the undertaker so

for anyone that doesn't know has been following

this first of all why haven't you been following

this if you're listening to the show For the

last since they started the road to WrestleMania

this year John Cena has been calling out the

Undertaker because he's had all these opportunities

and all this and all that to get to WrestleMania

and they have this whole storyline going of how

is he going to have his WrestleMania moment this

year because last year's WrestleMania moment

was him was a personal moment because he proposed

to Brie or not Brie Nikki damn it fucking Bella's

so What was John gonna do this year? How is he

gonna get to WrestleMania? He had all these matches

He had all these chances and because John is

free agent John Cena he can go between both shows

and get opportunities at either end There at

one point there was one raw where he was like

they've told me not to do it I'm not supposed

to do this, but I'm gonna do it anyway. I want

a match with the Undertaker Go ahead. And the

whole thing, the buildup, the buildup, the buildup,

you would think that the Undertaker would show

up by now. And especially when John called him

out saying like, I've seen you on your wife's

Instagram with workout videos. I'm like, oh my

God, he called out Michelle McCool's Instagram.

Holy shit. Oh God, it's just the buildup for

this was so fun. One of the ways I'll say that

WWE did this is they trolled us something fierce.

Oh, yes, they did. They gave us Elias. I'm like,

you're kidding me. Really? We're gonna get Elias

instead of The Undertaker? And then they're like,

oh, by the way, boom, boom, boom. Here he is

in the ring and his ring gear and all this crap.

Yeah. Which I will say, I like the fact The Undertaker

came back for one more match. Yeah. But I think

they should have left it at last year. Because

that was such an emotional moment having his

gear in the ring. Yes, it shouldn't have been

Roman Reigns to retire him. And it's obviously

not John Cena that's gonna retire. Is this his

last WrestleMania? Christ, I hope not. But the

fact that he's wrestling Rusev in like a week

for the greatest Royal Rumble in the middle of

the Saudi Arabia or something wherever they are.

Yeah, I Don't know how I feel about this now

the match itself was obviously a squash match.

Oh, yeah Taker was going over there is no way

Yeah, although absolutely someone made a really

funny joke on this is how the uh... john cedar

did that you can't see anything to uh... better

take a one point the undertaker sits up and john

cena scrambles back to the i love that moment

that is my favorite moment of the match because

it's not often that you see john scrambling for

anything and the mean was one of the undertaker

super natural abilities is the ability to see

john cedar that okay that's pretty clever But

I was just like, okay, and then he did the tombstone

pile driver put John's hands over his chest and

that's all show we got all Ride from hell. We

got a tombstone pile drivers some Pretty light

back and forth the match was over in less than

five minutes, but you know what you didn't need

much No, because the whole point of this whole

thing that they did this year with John and WrestleMania

was oh I don't mind going as a fan and he went

as a fan He sat in the front row as a fan whether

whether WWE was paying his salary at that point

or not when he was not in the ring I don't care.

I don't give a shit about the the particulars

of whatever for john's time and all of that but

just the fact that the storyline was because

i don't have a match i'm going to be at wrestlemania

i'm going to be john cena who i've been for the

last 15 17 whatever it is years since 2002 2001

2002 and i'm going to be with the fed there's

a video uh... i don't i don't think it was make

-a -wish it might have been but i forget there

was basically a video where he was coming in

to do some sort of promotional work and All these

people I think it was make -a -wish all these

people that had either been granted wishes or

wanted to be granted wishes had come in and Surprised

like it was basically a reversal of him being

surprised versus him surprising one of the make

-a -wish kids And it was just so damn good, and

that's what he is. That's what John has become

over the years. He's not Doctor of thuganomics

anymore or any of the other gimmicks he had in

the beginning. He is, you know, John Cena super

hero to everybody and the fact that he was gonna

come in and just be a fan at WrestleMania that

was the coolest part of the storyline and If

he got a match if he didn't get a match whatever

obviously he did but like you said It's pretty

much a five -minute match the Undertaker goes

over and that's fine because it's not gonna hurt

Joe There's nobody else they could have put in

that position because anybody else the Undertaker

destroying them like that would have put them

like take a bobby rude take a uh... uh... uh...

uh... what whatever take any guy from nxt that

hasn't come up yet their career would have been

destroyed by the time the undertaker got a hold

of them absolutely yeah so john can take that

hit it's not really a hit on his career cuz hello

look at his career so yeah uh... alright after

that so after that and after the uh... after

the brian shane ko match we had the raw women's

championship match naya jacks versus alexa bliss

this was good i thought this was good i thought

uh... There was some good back and forth here.

It was kind of cool watching a Naya Jax annihilate

Bliss. Bliss got in some good hits, although

you saw Bliss taking advantage of Naya's size.

There was one moment where I think there was

a fuck off hit where Bliss had hit Naya too hard

and Naya had literally punched. bliss in the

face sort of like back off, you're actually hurting

me. Yeah, sort of thing. And I think that was

a botch, but I'm not 100 % sure on that. Right.

But no, this was great. I was glad to see Naya

win. Yeah, it was just it. It was good. I expected

it to be maybe a little bit shorter than than

than what it was. We got a good 10, 10 minutes

out of this. Yeah. But I think I expected an

extra five Yeah, I this could have gone on a

little longer Because both of the women both

of these women like facing off against each other

like I mean Naya is a tank. She is a bulldozer

in WWE and that's great, you know, you know the

whole thing of of you know any woman can do this

kind of a thing it doesn't matter who you are

doesn't matter what you look like yada yada yada

it doesn't matter so you know size doesn't matter

kind of a thing that's great i love that message

and all that uh... i don't necessarily enjoy

the story line that they're trying to do between

the two of them but that's a thought for another

time uh... it's the size difference the fact

that the idea is literally this juggernaut to

bliss who's this little pixie type thing Mean,

I believe that bliss picking on her knees and

her extremities is a valid strategy Yeah, Naya

can read all her. Oh, yeah Naya just has to pick

her up with her pinky and ragdollers. She doesn't

even need to pick her up with her whole hand

But you know Naya Jax is champion Absolutely.

Awesome. Love that Then we had the WWE Championship

match AJ Styles versus Shinsuke Nakamura the

dream match why they're Terming this the dream

match. I don't know and that ending was just

really After watching it, I would have to say

this is probably one of the get -up -and -go

-to -the -bathroom matches for me. Both guys

are amazing. Their athletic ability and all that

and all the moves they got in the ring were great

in this match until the ending. Mm -hmm. Like...

Are they turning Shinsuke like full on heel?

He hasn't really been a heel or a face He's kind

of been in the middle since he's been in WWE

now, so I'm not really sure where they're going

with him Yeah, I mean there is some good back

and forth here I mean you didn't really see a

Kenshasa right until the very end you saw like

a Styles clash Which was okay? But I really expected

more from this I wanted more. I was expecting

this to be on like the new Japan level. I was

expecting just more. This match left me wanting

and I was like, I should be really excited for

AJ Styles versus Shinsuke Nakamura. I should

be bloody beyond hyped. Like I should be Daniel

Bryan levels of excited. And in the end I was

like, oh, that was okay. That was that was all

right nothing, you know, I mean that was a match

I mean, I guess him kick or hit them in in the

balls was something but Turning shinsuke heel.

It's a risk because people love that guy Yeah,

I believe AJ styles more as a heel. But then

again, this is the same guy who has his kids

names tattooed on his side Yeah, it's not super

believable. Then again having two baby faces

Don't know it's kind of hard to say either way

It's a mixed bag of what the hell do you do kind

of a thing or you know have shinsuke go up against

anybody else like if Which I don't think this

is going to happen since it didn't happen right

now And we'll talk about this next week as I

said, but so far as I know shinsuke is still

on smackdown so like or you know do something

have him face somebody else have him face a Randy

Orton or bobby ruder just somebody else not because

i've seen uh... shinsuke and a j like almost

all year at this point like this was just a match

for me this was the only this had no repercussions

this had no outcome this had no real consequences

or rewards for either guy other than the fact

that a j retained the championship that's another

thing to both of the japanese people lost Having

Oscar lose made sense having shinsuke lose Didn't

make any sense. Yeah, like put the belt on I

mean even if you take it off on that like money

in the bank or summer slam or something Let him

have it for a month or two. Yeah, make it WrestleMania

moment out of it. Where was the WrestleMania

moment in this match? He hit him in the balls.

Really? That's it. Yeah, that's ridiculous that's

ridiculous we then had this is like i think this

is the most creative wwe has been in a long ass

time like i've been watching wwe since wrestlemania

23 2006 2007 at this point so almost 11 12 years

uh... regularly before that i had watched since

i was a kid the kind of a thing uh... this is

the most creative i think they've been in a long

time the w w e raw tag team championship match

bron strowman versus the bar with finding out

who strowman's partner is and just like the uh...

Just like the Undertaker match, this match was

done, this whole build up to this was done great.

I absolutely love this. This is so fun. This

is a true WrestleMania moment for me. And Braun

comes out, he's like, my partner is gonna be

one of you. Yeah, this was ridiculous in all

the right ways. I mean, this reminds me of classic

WWF. In terms of just okay. We're just gonna

swing for the fences of stupid and see what sticks

Um, and I was okay with it. Just the fact this

little kid comes out This little ten -year -old

kid named Nicholas and he's like, oh golly gee,

what are we gonna do? Mr. Strowman And they beat

obviously Strowman gives them these hands. Yeah,

they win. Um It was a fun match to watch and

just seeing this little kid quake in fear because

i think this kid was afraid and because he was

in front of like over like 78 000 people or some

ridiculous number um just kind of like oh god

um but i think overall this was fun having stroman

win the tag team titles by himself was kind of

fun obviously the next night on raw he had to

relinquish it but yeah And that was funny. Again,

that was a funny climax. Nicholas has school.

He still has, you know, stuff in his young life

he has to learn and things like that. That was

hilarious. One of the other things that I saw

about this is Nicholas has been suspended for

30 days due to a homeless policy violation or

stuff like that. I just thought that was clever.

Yeah. The crazy thing is I looked into it. He's

one of the referee's kids. So it's not like it

was like, okay, yeah, it was kind of a random

kid, but it was one of WWE's employee. Like they're

not going to go out and pick a 10 year old. Yeah.

well you know if you see who is this kid does

like does like anybody know yeah he's one of

the rest kids he's one of the referees children

uh... john somebody or other i forget it's it's

one of the rest i thought he was some make -a

-wish foundation no he's not it no he's not he's

not a make -a -wish kid he's uh... he's uh...

he's uh... I forget the company in thing yeah

it was a company in thing because it kind of

had to be a company in thing because I really

don't like John Cena granting wishes or Roman

Reigns granting wishes or whomever granting wishes

like outside of the ring I think is great I don't

think they would take a make -a -wish kid and

bring him up to the ring apron and have him stay

in there or even have him get in the ring with

surprised it would be Work like that. I mean,

honestly, I think it'd be cooler if it was a

make -a -wish kid because then yeah Actually,

you know who you know who it should have been

that kid from the Hall of Fame the night before.

Oh, yeah Yeah JJ Yeah, so and then we have the

end of the event with the same old same old thing

we saw a couple years ago Brock versus Roman

Oh my god, this needs to stop being a thing It's

not going to stop because they're now gonna be

in a steel cage match at the greatest royal rumble.

So it's Sadly, it's not gonna stop But yeah,

it needs to stop Brock versus wrote like I said

it before when it was When Braun was going up

against Roman, I said, what needs to happen,

it needs to be Brock versus Braun. Like that's

what I want. Like for me to have a dream match

right now in WWE, Brock Lesnar, Braun Strowman,

do it. Just fucking do it already. Yeah, exactly.

Just be, just be done with it. I mean, this was

a match. Me and Blair looked at each other, because

me and Blair had watched pretty much the entire

day's worth of wrestling. This was almost a working

day's worth of wrestling. Yeah, it was. And we're

like, oh my god, can this just stop? Now, the

match got interesting once Roman got cut, which

is a terrible thing to say. Terrible, because

no one wants to see anybody get hurt or bladed

or whatever. But there's one look. just before

Roman gets cut, where Roman's punching Brock,

and Brock just looks at him, he's like, why are

you hitting me, you insignificant gnat? You've

made me angry now. And then seeing Roman covered

in blood, I don't know whether that was legit

or not, because a lot of, then again, when you

get cut in the head, you tend to bleed. And guys

came out with gloves and everything pretty quick.

The match was over pretty quickly once he got

cut. And a lot of us were surprised when Brock

won because we all thought Brock was leaving

for the UFC. I think even at one point there

was a shot of Dana White in the crowd. So we

all thought, okay, Brock's gonna lose. Roman's

gonna go over. We can finally be done with this

thing. But oh my God, it just doesn't stop. No.

You know what, Roman, you've gotten better. Roman,

you've earned your place finally. But I don't

care. I still don't care. It's nothing against

you. But quit pushing this as your main event

at WrestleMania for the last three or four years.

Yeah. People are going to tune out. That crowd

was dead. Yeah, I mean, I don't recall anything.

And you know how I know things were were kind

of messed up in this when they went to that video

package for so long? Yeah, that video something

went wrong. Yeah. See, here's the thing. Roman

on his own. He's improved a lot. And that's great.

Sadly, Dean is still injured if Dean hadn't been

injured. I would have wanted the shield versus

Brock Lesnar or something like I'm a huge like

ever since they debuted I have been a huge fan

of the shield the three of them I didn't like

Dean so much in the beginning as I've said in

the past episode of the podcast but I like him

now and I like all three of them now where they

are and when they came back and reformed as the

shield but because Dean's currently injured which

is you know horrible it sucks but like I love

where Seth's going with his thing Roman is just

kind of stuck and like what are we gonna do what

are what can they do to get Roman unstuck get

Roman off this Brock Lesnar is a part -time yada

yada yada and maybe at greatest royal rumble

maybe that which they probably won't but here's

the thing like I get it. They just re -signed

Brock, and Brock needs whatever Brock needs,

whatever his deal is, whatever Heyman wants,

yada yada yada. Like, seriously, it wouldn't

be that bad for Brock Lesnar to lose the Universal

Championship, at least for a month. You know?

And... Something. Do something! Well, that's

the thing. I mean, Brock holding the title, it's

not interesting anymore. It's just expected.

Yeah, and it's big. Hey, man, hype him up on

the mic all you like. But he's still a part time

guy. He shows up for pay per views. He shows

up to the odd raw kicks the crap out of whoever.

I am Brock Lesnar. I am war here. Fuck off. Yeah,

just I'm just I am so done. And that's the thing.

I like Brock Lesnar, but I'm done. Whether it

was going to be AJ or Shinsuke, it wouldn't have

mattered. Both of those guys would have been

fighting WWE champions. We need a fighting universal

champion. Like have Finn come in and say, oh,

I can take Brock Lesnar. I'll go back to being

the Demon King for this one match and I'll...

defeat brought have set come in and do it has

somebody have kevin can always come back and

and get it again or something just have something

new with the universal championship not just

this that's one of the reasons why john kinda

he's not necessarily in the championship picture

of this i think one of the reasons why they've

put off the him uh... defeating or not defeating

or overcoming rickley he's tied with rick flair

right now for w w e championship But I think

that's why they haven't made him 17 -time champion

yet, because he's part -timer. I mean, John would

absolutely be there all the time if he was the

champion, and he's done that on all the other

championships he's held. But no, do something

different with Brock Lesnar. Overall, WrestleMania

34, I really dug most of it. There were a few

matches here and there that were not that great.

It was entertaining for the most part. This is

the most entertaining WrestleMania I've seen

in a number of years. I mean, there were some

uneven parts to it. I'd say in terms of WrestleMania,

if I had to give it a rating out of 10, I'd give

it a seven and a half. Some very great moments,

especially with the women, especially with Ronda

Rousey, with Oscar versus Charlotte for the men's,

the under Continental was really good. John Cena's

match was entertaining with the Undertaker. The

Bludgeon Brothers going over. And I mean, overall,

fairly, fairly good. Better than last year's

because you what happened that last year's WrestleMania.

I couldn't tell you I couldn't tell you either.

It was seven hours. It was too long This year

I can recall specific spots. Yeah, I can recall

specific matches and I had a good time with it

and that's something I haven't been able to say

about a WrestleMania since WrestleMania 30 Yeah,

I'll give it a solid eight out of ten You know,

it was really, really good, but like we said,

there were a few go -to -sleep matches. The Raw,

the Raw after Mania, obviously Ronda confronts

Stephanie again. So there's that. Nia and Ember

Moon made her debut. Nia and Ember defeated Alexa

and Mickey. Braun Strowman relinquishes titles,

obviously. No Way Jose. Dave appeared debuts

and defeats someone named jobber. Yeah. Oh That's

what it says Yeah The bar confronts Kurt Angle

so there is that revival defeating Anderson and

gallows for the tag team elimination semi -final

the coolest thing Jeff Hardy returns. Yep. And

at one point, Bray Wyatt even calls him Brother

Nero. Yep. I was like, oh shit. Yeah. Absolutely

the whole Matt Matt Bray and Jeff meet up kind

of yeah Matt Hardy Jeff Hardy and Bray Wyatt

meet up as Jeff Hardy was walking with Baller

and Rollins he came across Matt and expressed

his pride in the Andre the Giant battle royal

performance switching briefly into his brother

Nero persona so absolutely love that I think

that's great you had Bobby Lashley's return okay

so So Bobby Lashley's back. Can we get the president

on Monday Night Raw, please, and have him shave

his head? Please, come on! Like, honestly, like,

I know who Bobby Lashley is. I've seen him perform

several times, but the only thing I remember

about Bobby Lashley is the Battle of the Billionaires,

Vince versus Trump, and whose head is gonna get

shaved. That's all I remember of Bobby Lashley.

Yeah, that's the only I think I think Alex has

shown me that like clip before so yeah, absolutely

So yeah, so raw there's that on raw all of that

happened for smackdown Naomi defeats Natalia

the Usas defeat the new day Smackdown women's

championship match. I hated this I was like,

okay, so why wasn't Carmella at WrestleMania?

How come Carmella isn't doing this? And I get

it, it was Charlotte versus Asuka. But the fact

that, God, that Carmella is now the SmackDown

Live Women's Champion. God. Yeah, so although

I would pay good money to watch Asuka beat the

ever -living Christ out of Carmella. Yep. Yeah.

uh... with the superstars shake up the fourth

thing in the night uh... the the u .s. championship

contender triple threat match was pretty much

uh... mute at this point it was randy defeating

bobby ruud and rusev because uh... genders now

on raw we'll talk about this next time on the

superstars shakeup but basically genders on raw

and he got stripped he got badly defeated oh

boy hell of a good match though Yeah, absolutely

So then it was Brian and not not championship

with Daniel Bryan versus AJ Styles and of course

Shinsuke has to get in there again and ruin it

and a whole new low blow and I'm like really

Come on Yeah, that was just That was just bad.

It was cringy. Yeah, very much. Very much cringy

moment. But yeah, overall very, very cool. Absolutely

love it. What are you thinking about the landscape

right now for WWE? You know what? It has the

potential to be exciting. And that's something

I haven't been able to say in years. Mind you,

is it the post mania glow? Maybe. We'll see what

happens at Backlash, cause I'm watching Raw and

SmackDown now. And I haven't been bored yet.

Yeah, I haven't yet either. Like now that they're

doing the whole superstar shakeup and moving

things around and doing this, you know, this

whole thing of, you know, going towards Backlash.

Um, which we can't really forget about the greatest

Royal rumble event either, even though it's,

it's a weird event. It's a Friday night event.

I get it because it's over in, um, Saudi in Saudi

Arabia. I understand that, but just having a

WWE pay -per -view event on a Friday night, that's

kind of weird. Yeah. And I think it starts at

noon. Yeah, I don't know it's some weird time

because of obviously the time difference between

here and there Yeah, but we'll see what happens.

I mean you got you got Rusev and the Undertaker

and a casket match Haven't seen one of those

in forever So it'll be entertaining to see how

once again how this all shakes out Yeah, and

the other thing from raw that I forgot to mention

was Paige retires And becomes the new GM for

SmackDown. Yeah. Well, not terrible. Not at all.

The movie looks entertaining. Yeah. So, yeah,

we've got Great Israel Rumble, April 27th. We've

got Backlash and then Money in the Bank. So,

May 6th is Backlash, June 17th is Money in the

Bank. uh... july fifteenth is extreme rules august

nineteenth is summer slam september is helen

a cell october is tlc november is survivor series

obviously in the december is clash of champions

what a weird way to do the paper views this year

I don't mind it because it's one a month. We

don't have to sit here and do two pay -per -view.

We don't have to do two pay -per -view episodes

per month anymore and this has actually led me

to actually expanding the show even more because

oh boy folks have I got this show planned from

episode 35 to 50 already. So as I was watching

WrestleMania I was taking notes on what ads they

were playing for what specials or what events

is going to be happening on the network that

are not pay -per -view uh wwe 365 aj styles so

they're going to do another 365 this time on

aj um let's see we've got uh i'm excited for

a new season to camp wwe because i thought that

shit was hilarious really weird thing the voice

of mark henry on that show always responds to

me on twitter The second I mentioned Camp WWE,

he's right there. He's like, hey, Mike. I'm like,

what the? That's awesome. So yeah, we've got

three WWE 24s that we're going to cover over

the next throughout this year. We're going to

cover Ronda Rousey. We're going to cover the

Hardys Woken. And then we're going to cover WWE

24 on Raw 25. So the behind the scenes for all

the Raw 25 stuff. obviously money in the bank

and all that all the pay -per -view stuff will

be done too and there's there's huge changes

coming to the show so we're still going to keep

the same content that we've been doing with the

pay -per -views but we're going to expand it

a little bit more and you know looking to other

things on the w w e network uh... next week in

episode thirty five is going to be the superstar

shakeup after that it's going to be i don't know

who is going to be with me but i'm going to be

reviewing the under the giant hb o documentary

because i watched that the other day it's really

good yeah i want to see it i haven't seen the

trailer and the ads for it i yeah i want to see

it absolutely so Yeah, so that's gonna be the

next two episodes Mike what's going on with you,

dude? You got twig in a whole new direction now

revitalization. Yeah Twig is going to its normal

weekly format. We've been doing things a little

bit lighter We just called the show twig as opposed

to this week in geek now and it's been a lot

of fun We've been reformatting playing with elements

Our new theme song is done by Ori Falconer, who

is the composer for Way of the Passive Fist,

which you can get on Xbox One, PS4, and PC right

now. There's gonna be more, we're actually gonna

be recording some commentary soon. In terms of

Terrible Warriors, I should be coming back to

the show full time very soon. We're still recording

the Cambridge Chronicles, which is our D &D fifth

edition game. I think we're 40 episodes in or

at least 30 at this point of our ongoing adventure.

What happens next? You'll have to stay tuned

to find out. Might be doing some battle tech

or some other RPGs that I'm looking at right

now. I've been doing a lot of writing over the

past month or so. So we'll see how that kind

of goes out. more stupidity as time goes on.

We got a lot of companies sending us a lot of

review products. So Alex has launched his new

show, Tour de Treasure, and look forward to more.

That's all I have to say. There's more stuff

coming. Very cool. As for us over at GeekCast

Radio Network, oh boy, what is going on? There's

tons of stuff. Optimus Solo and I are still trudging

through the new adventures of He -Man, the worst

He -Man cartoon ever. Let's see, I've got the

pull bag still going on. Right now we're in the

middle of our IDW Back to the Future coverage.

We're going to be covering Hadrian's Wall from

Image. We're going to be talking Free Comic Book

Day. There's a whole bunch of stuff that's coming

out over at geekcastradio .com as well. So there's

that. And of course the stuff is coming on Mayhem

Mikes. Hope everyone is listening and is interested

and hopefully you enjoyed this episode. Yeah,

I don't know what else to say. So I think we're

just going to let a WWE superstar close this

out because apparently we've made some sort of

list. I don't know. We'll catch you next time

folks here on Mayhem Mikes.