I thought WM30 was pretty good. None of the matches were spectacular MotY candidates, but there was plenty of good wrestling on display.
I have no problem with somebody breaking the streak and I have no problem with Brock being the guy to do it, but the WWE shot themselves in the foot with how they've used Brock up to this point. He came in as a monster and generated a ton of interest, and then... Cena beat him in his first match. That did a lot of damage to him, but the final nail in the coffin was his loss to Triple H at last year's WrestleMania. He's just not a big deal any more, and
now he's going to break the streak? I don't know, I just think the WWE is going to have to spend a lot of time rebuilding him if he's going to take over Taker's position as 'the final boss' of the WWE.
Aside from that, I think Brock could actually be a great choice to break the streak. They don't have to worry about him burning out and quitting again, nor do they have to worry about injuries because he only works a few times a year. What I would do is build Brock as an unstoppable monster that runs through every star in company until a new guy comes along that has the potential to break out as a top star - somebody who could really benefit from finally slaying Brock (Roman Reigns, for example). So I think this could work as long as the WWE does everything in their power to protect Brock.
My match ratings & comments:
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The Usos vs. Los Matadores vs. Rybaxel vs. The Real Americans: ***3/4 - Really good match, especially once it came down to The Real Americans and The Usos.
Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H: ****1/4 -The WWE's MotN for me.
The Shield vs. NAO & Kane: 1/2* - Short squash, but The Shield looked good.
John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt: **3/4 - Not bad, but nothing about it was particularly good. Cena winning here was also completely unnecessary. I know that they're probably going to have a rematch at the next PPV and Bray's going to win that one, but nobody cares. The WrestleMania match is always 10x more important, and the wrong guy won.
Andre Battle Royal: *** - Started out dull with quick eliminations left and right, but there were several cool spots throughout the match. Cesaro winning by bodyslamming The Big Show over the top rope an awesome finish, too.
The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar: *** - The match itself was pretty bad, honestly. I'm only giving it a good rating for the unforgettable finish.
Divas Invitational: ** - Not a good match, but it was much better than it probably should have been considering the participants.
Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton vs. Batista: **** - I need to rewatch this, but I thought it was a great match. Bryan finally gets his big win at the biggest show of the year and everybody's happy. Except for Randy Orton, who nearly Shawn Michaels'd himself on a monitor. Hopefully he can still walk tomorrow.
NJPW also had a PPV this weekend - Invasion Attack. I thought it was just as good as WM30, if not slightly better.
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Prince Devitt's probably on his way to the WWE to play Sheamus' little cousin Fergie McDivitt and AJ Styles came in as his replacement. Not a bad trade if you ask me.
Tanahashi also lost the IC championship to Nakamura, which really surprised me. Having Nakamura choose to go after the IC champion instead of Okada's IWGP championship was the perfect way to plant the seeds for their inevitable match, which I thought would happen at the Yokohama show in May. But I guess they're going to put that on hold for a while now that Nakamura has regained the IC championship. Tanahashi's IC title run was also a missed opportunity, in my opinion. Sure, he had a few great matches with Nakamura, but they could've had him run through the roster and help some other guys get over. I mean, he could have had great, meaningful matches with Goto, Ishii, AJ, Shibata, Suzuki, and Naito before dropping the title to any one of them, but they kinda blew it. Oh well, I'm still really interested in seeing where he goes from here. As good as the Nakamura and Okada matches were, I'd like to see something a little more fresh.
As for the show, it was typical NJPW with a meh undercard and a great second half:
The Young Bucks vs. Kota Ibushi & El Desperado: ***1/4 - Fun opener. I love the Bucks' kliq shenanigans and Kota Ibushi is just absolutely awesome, so I knew I'd like this going in.
Jax Dane & Rob Conway vs. Ten-Koji: ** - The NWA wrestlers are so boring and Kojima & Tenzan are too old and beaten up to carry them through an exciting match. Bruce Tharpe will always be awesome, though.
Takashi Iizuka & Toru Yano vs. Daniel & Rolles Gracie: DUD - All of these guys suck. I like how Iizuka harasses Nogami at every show and Yano's antics can be fun, but their matches are never any good. Add the Gracies to the mix and you have a recipe for the worst tag match of the year!
Prince Devitt vs. Ryusuke Taguchi: ***1/2 - Pretty good, but nothing special. The highlight of the match was one of the announcers shouting, "YOUNGU BUCKS, PLEASE GO HOMU!"
Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga vs. Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASH: **3/4 - Meh
Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito: ****1/2 - Not as good as their match from 2/11 (which is still my MotY), but I'd say this was best match of weekend. Naito and Ishii just work extremely well together.
Bullet Club (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) (c) vs. Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata: ***3/4 - Pretty good match up until the ending sequence, which was fantastic. I'm a big Shibata fan so I was a little disappointed to see him lose here. Hopefully he and Goto will win the belts somewhere down the line.
Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura: ****1/2 - Tanahashi is the best in the world and Nakamura isn't far behind. I love how all three of their matches have been completely different from one another, yet all were great in their own way. I didn't enjoy this quite as much as their second match (from 2/9), but I do think that it was just as good.
So yeah, I'd say this has been a good weekend for wrasslin.
