I was at Mania, and had a really good time, and so did all the people around me. I do think that wrestling fans are getting more and more difficult to please and more demanding. The show has to appeal to smarks, and casual fans. People who are 65, 35, 15, and 6.

Also, now every time a person who you wanted to win doesn't, it's OMG ATROCIOUS BOOKING. I would agree that Jericho over Styles is likely pretty dumb, given lots of other factors (although they succeeded in making Styles' win the next night all the more shocking, and no one is now thinking 'gee I dunno if he can beat Roman, he lost to Jericho'). But several posts in this thread are OMG HOW DOES CHARLOTTE WIN?? Charlotte is doing a good job as champ, and they want to keep her strapped for now. Longer title reigns helps make titles more important.

But if the preferred person DOES win, then it is OMG SO PREDICTABLE. Do you really not see that if the only two outcomes of a match are OMG I KNEW THEY WOULD WIN MEH or OMG THE BOOKERS ARE ******ED in your mind, you are not going to enjoy the show.

The screen probably had 3 total minutes of 'catchphrase' display during the entire 6 hour show. It wasn't just constantly showing stuff. I only remember the New Day one, Charlotte's WOOOO, and the Lesnar Suplex Counter.

It obviously wasn't an all-time classic, but I can't see any way it is was one of the five worst WrestleManias ever either.

These are not mutually exclusive. In fact, far too frequently WWE has done both simultaneously.

Also I disagreed with Charlotte's win (and still do), but that doesn't even rank in the top 100 of my problems with the event.

I have some sympathy for the booking view in an individual context -- but I think the issue is that it seems like the sole reason for a lot of surprise winners is solely to BE a "surprise" on a given night, and not as a part of the plan.

I don't think anyone really has a huge problem with Charlotte winning, for instance, other than they really think Sasha Banks is amazing and that "Ric Flair interfering every damn time" is the exact opposite way of making a longer title reign feel important.

A lot of people had a problem with Zack Ryder winning (I didn't; those matches are exactly the ones where "fluky" results make the best sense) because having Zack Ryder listed in the listed of IC champions diminishes the title (if that's even possible any more) and because there was clearly zero plan for Zack Ryder to ever be anything at all.

The larger problem is that there is zero hierarchy or grand plan whatsoever, and Ryder personifies that. He beat Jericho (who of course just beat AJ Styles, who is your #1 Contender, all of which happened in the last 10 days) on March 28; before that his last WWE Raw singles win was

.

And of course then he loses via the distraction-finisher (guaranteed 5000% more effective than the actual finisher, while building the winner 5000% less effectively) to The Miz, who if you wanted him to have the Intercontinental Title just give it to him in the ladder match ffs.

So why should we care, if the people running the show don't?

nope

I get what you are saying with regards to the IC title. But take a step back and look at the bigger picture for a second. They obviously wanted to reintroduce Maryse into the fold by having her with her real life husband. The best way to do that and keep Miz a heel is to have her cause a distraction which gets The Miz a win. This obviously would not work well in a ladder match. So do it the following night in a singles match where it will have maximum impact.

Now if you are going to do that, who are they going to have him go over? Well it obviously has to be someone the crowd likes and cares about, and won't damage someone they have long term plans for. Zack Ryder fits that bill to a tee. I also think it would have been Neville had he not get hurt earlier. So they let Ryder go over at Mania, and then they can start their new story with The Miz the next night. And on top of everything else, they give Ryder that "Wrestlemania moment" they love shoving down our throats.

1) I, and most people give zero ****s about "Wrestlemania Moments" when they are clearly cheap and hollow and a shill attempt to give someone a "Wrestlemania Moment", and it is a waste of a perfectly good opportunity to do something useful; this is something you should be strongly against.

2) What's more important, the Intercontinental Title or MARYSE of all people returning? Spoiler: Like, let's be clear, you're talking about using what is allegedly your second most important title to promote the return of the less important of the two ****ty Divas to return in the last two weeks (thanks, Eva Marie). This is exactly ass-backwards.

1) I assumed by the fact that I saved it until the very last sentence, and worded it the way I did, that I think those are just as stupid as everyone else does. I guess I was wrong. I was looking at it from the POV of the writers.

2) If doing those Mania write ups have taught me one thing, it's that the WWE has long thought both the IC and US titles are nothing but a prop, so to say that having Ryder's name on the list of champs diminishes it is a bit overstated. I simply stated that what they did to get to the point they are now is a lot better than just having The Miz win on Sunday.

I agree they think they're props; that's part of the reason people think the booking sucks. Saying "well that's how they think about things so it's ok" glosses over that no it's not OK and this is WHY.

Saying "well this is better than an even ****tier alternative" does not help.

Wrestling fans that were at Mania XV, IV, II etc. probably enjoyed themselves too and wouldn't consider that they had just seen a poor Mania. It is a different perspective live in person.

saw this and <3

I think this fan made video is pretty well done all things considered:

They throw better strikes than Shane^

Who doesn't, other than Ambrose

They must not have seen the "Don't try this at home" warnings WWE posts.