No Sting for WM then.

Don't see it ever happening now. Resent WWE for this, because they had a chance 13 years ago when they bought WCW to do the biggest storyline in wrestling history, but at face value were too tight to spend the money. At the same time they wasted £50million on a flop football league.
Sting is probably too old now anyway, but will always wonder what dream matches he could have had with Taker, HBK, Rock etc if WWE had done what they do now with Lesnar and Batista - made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
Speaking of Batista, I recently read his 2008 WWE autobiography and in parts he comes across as a nice guy, but when you come back at 45 for huge money and get pushed instantly as a main eventer despite so far poor efforts, don't be surprised to get booed out of the building. His match against Orton will be interesting, but maybe not in a good way.

WWE. It only counts if you did it while working for them. Anything done elsewhere, regardless of what it was, how many tickets you sold or whatever else, does not count.

And it's so good to see Batista doing John Cena's "I'm here for the fans even if they boo me or cheer me" rubbish. The fans are against him PLUS his character has always worked better as a heel. So, you've got this guy who the fans are legitimately booing and this guy who, not only wrestling fans in arenas but people in the wider world are chanting for, why on earth would you pi$$ those buyrates away by sticking with a "putting the boss' son in laws mates in main events" stance?

Because they honestly think they know best.
So far they have tried burying Bryan over and over again and it didn't work then they have tried aligning him with a heel faction only for the crowds to say 'nah were still going to cheer him' so much so that they had to quickly hurry the conclusion/change tactic when it became clear it wasn't going to work. They honestly don't get that doing what they are doing just helps push him more.
Then they have the stupid idea to gift a wrestlemania spot to HHH's mate as you say whilst not even giving a RR spot to THE guy ATM.

Has anyone else made the connection between the crowd reaction whilst DB was fighting against the 'family' and the problems the family's latest target has with the fans. Do the WWE backroom think the fans are that dumb?

Well, they've turned Boretista heel. Which means that currently it's heel vs heel at WM.

Guess we need Super Cena to save the day again

Thankfully creative got creative last night and that was one of the best segments for a while.
SMH playedit perfectly as did both HHH and DB.

WWE didn't have much choice due to the WWE universe

pretty much telling Boorista to get the F out though.

But you know they're going to screw it up come WM. Either they'll book HHH as an unstoppable monster and squash DB or he'll[DB will only just squeak a win and get screwed over in the main event

The ending of Raw was a lovely throwback.
Some have complained about the chair shot though. It seems they really have no clue about what extreme wrestling is.

It wasn't even a real chair shot as it hit the corner post unlike the now famous Mankind Vs Rock bout when IIRC Mick Foley took 13 chair shots to the head.

I genuinely don't know what to think right now after WM. Probably need to watch it again tomorrow to work out how I'm supposed to feel.

WOW just WOW.

spoilers below highlighted

=#FFFFFFHHH v Bryan - brilliant
Shield v Outlaws - bit unnecessary, surely they could have found a better use for the Shield
Battle Royal - a typical snoozefest but the dying stages were good and ending was a superb wm moment. Fitting winner.
Taker v Lesnar. Sorry if spoiling guys but that's the most shocking thing EVER in wrestling. Moreso than the Montreal screwjob.
Divas. glad with the ending.
Title triple threat - best title match in recent memory. It was so good that they managed to rescue the atmosphere after the Taker match. I do feel that Bryan's moment was slightly dampened by Lesnar v Taker though, but maybe thats paranoia, hell he won two matches at the biggest event in history and walked away with the belt - so I guess the yes movement can't be too greedy!

I'm with you cm punk - I need to watch it again. I can only assume that Lesnar is going to have a more steady run, albeit if just for a few months, in WWE and take the strap soon. Why else would they let him break it? I kinda wish it was CM Punk who did it now.

Best Mania in a few years regardless. At least since WM25 or 26. 28 was OK but 27 (Which I attended) and 29 sucked.

I'm just, I'm just in shock by it all. It's absolutely ridiculous.

WWE pull out the biggest swerve in wrestling history. Brock will have some intense heat tonight on Raw.

Given that Sting has now signed with WWE and is telling people "31", hes obviously going to be fighting Taker at WM 31, but would have been better if Taker was still undefeated.

RAW was awesome last night!

Regards

King James

The Warrior has passed away. He looked so healthy at HOF, WM and Raw. Another reminder of how sudden and precious life can really be.

He's only just patched things up with the WWE and then tragically passes away. RIP Warrior.

I find it really bizarre that after all the years he had with his issues, 48 hours after being inducted into the HOF he passes away.

Shocking.

Terrible news for his family.

He didn't look the best on Raw, maybe he knew something was up, hence patching things up with a lot of people.

RIP Warrior

His promo does feel a little eery now. But by all accounts this is an absolute shock - my mate who went to Mania was sat just a couple of rows down from him on a plane that morning and he was posing for photos with fans he said. Apparently he collapsed with his wife by his side outside a hotel. Really sad.

Well I think we can now confirm the PG-era is over.

I see this threads been quiet.

If anyone gets chance, got to a certain video sharing site and search "Connor crusher wwe" it's a 5 min vid that will move anyone.

Wwe gets a lot of stick, and much of it justified. But you have to respect them for things like this.

Bryan's neck injury.
Real or a work?

I wish it would go back to the Attitude era.

Anyone watched Battleground then? The gorgeous Lana's promo has caused a stir in the media.

I watched bits of it, seemed pretty poor. I worry the Reigns push has come too soon?
I haven't really watched since Mania though.

What was the Lana promo?

Yeah I agree Richard, my friend and I went halves and watched it live. Not a bad event, but they can do so much better, and you couldn't help but sense that everyone (from writers to the wrestlers) were probably saving themselves for SummerSlam. The Ambrose v Rollins thing was a disgrace IMO. I understand that they sometimes want feuds to run as long as possible, but don't advertise a match on PPV if you're not going to deliver it.

Re Reigns definitely, but unfortunately it's something WWE has done so much over the last ten years, and it drives me insane. I'm very old-school with wrestling pushes, and feel that a guy should (when going single) work his way up from the very bottom, say NXTm Superstars, then SmackDown or Raw. Same with the belts, start with say the NXT belt, then US or IC, then the World. Bubba Ray Dudley put it so right in a shoot interview when he said that when it comes to winning belts, the chase is always better than the catch. WWE however throws titles at people, sometimes on their very first night (e.g. Paige on her first Raw, Santino on his first Raw etc), but when you do that, where do you go from there? I firmly believe that is the main reason Paige has struggled a bit on Raw since her debut. If you win the belt on your first night, what reason do the fans have to support you? You've already achieved your goal! It's so crazy. I hope they don't stick the belt on Reigns, he needs plenty of time for sure.

The Lana promo seemed like the usual Anti-American, pro-Russian thing she's been doing. The problem is she mentioned something like "recent events" or "recent incidents". She blamed America rather than Russia, and praised Putin (this was all how I saw it). Whilst she didn't specifically mention MH17 it seemed clear that this was the reference. Many of the media have taken it the same way and slated WWE for using the tragedy to get cheap heat. As usual though some of the media have been completely dumb, e.g. this from the Daily Mail:

"Blonde WWE star slammed for using MH17 tragedy as tasteless storyline in grudge match between Russian and American wrestlers"

IMO this is ridiculous - she's a performer delivering a script. She doesn't deserve stick because she was simply doing her job. It's like slamming an actor for a line in a film - he or she didn't (in most cases) write the damn thing! From what Lana said it was a Vince McMahon script, e.g. she pointed at the crowd and said "...each and every one of you!" which according to Lance Storm is a Vince line he likes his stars to use.