Overall this was a great show to take in live. It was my nephew's first experience with pro-graps, and he certainly wasn't disappointed. Random thoughts:

-Crowd was generally hot throughout, really except for the Divas match and Curtis Axel/Miz. Miz's career trajectory has been unfortunate, to say the least. When you need to remind everybody how "must see" you are every 20 seconds, then chances are the converse is true. It was actually kind of dead through 2/3 of the excellent tag team title match, but picked up considerably as some of the better spots were performed.

-I know the 2nd ladder match got generally panned itt, but it was terrific live. RVD splash off the top of the ladder was really sick. Heyman double-crossing Punk went over well. It is INSANE how over Daniel Bryan is--he was clearly the favorite. Lots of boos for Sheamus. After Orton left (and about a 1/3 of the crowd had exited), RVD did a few victory laps in front of the city that made him famous. I hope he can sustain this kind of energy moving forward, as he had looked old/slow/disinterested during his TNA run.

-I love how the blue briefcase is being used to give some excellent mid-carders a shot at the main event. Daniel Bryan excelled, and Dolph Ziggler's trajectory was strong until his concussion. I'm excited to see what they have in store for Sandow. I think he's being rewarded for his strong work in his feud with Sheamus. FWIW, his opening promo seemed to foreshadow his win, as his was mike cut off with the Zeb/JS/AC entrance before he could say Cody Rhodes' name.

-I knew the outcome was a foregone conclusion, but Super Cena (again) disappointed nonetheless. I'm pretty sure now that the chances of Mark Henry ever winning the WWE title, even for a short time, are close to zero. He'll likely join Booker T and Ron Simmons in the group of outstanding black performers who never got to hold the company's top title. Which is incredibly frustrating given that a guy like Alberto Del Rio has had the belt twice already.

I know the perspective is obviously different watching through via creek, but this event definitely delivered live. It's probably only second to the post-WM New Jersey Raw among shows I've seen in person. Definitely didn't regret making the drive for this one.

To be fair, Mark Henry has been good for two out of about 20 years. He's awesome now, but I guess I just don't feel that bad about him not getting a lifetime achievement award.

I think back to how excited we all were here when he got his first real push with the Hall of Pain. It was like, wow, this is what this insanely talented/freakishly strong performer can do when used properly. His incredible longevity with the company is a testament to his dogged persistence and willingness to do everything asked of him (Mae Young/rubber hand ldo); ironically Mark Henry is the real-life "Never Give Up" character in the WWE, as many lesser performers willingly packed their bags when they felt they weren't being used properly. MH swallowed his pride, and yeah it took 18 years, but his current awesomeness would not have been possible without his amazing patience and complete devotion to teamwork.

I suppose. I mean it's obvious that everything he's doing now is stuff he could have been doing all along and that he's been incredibly misused, but that's true for a lot of wrestlers. Of course I was hoping against hope that he would win last night too, but I guess I'm just saying that I won't categorize him in the who's who of wrestlers who were awesome and who shouldn't have ever gone a whole career without the big belt.

Mark Henry wasn't a guy with a dream who worked hard on his craft on the indy-scene with the dream of one day making it to the WWE and get the belt. He was a power lifter who got a huge contract (1 mill a year for 10 years) to come to the WWE to learn the craft and become a wrestler. Who knows how much the title even means to him.

Being paid a million a year would motivate most people to accept a lot worse working conditions than Henry found himself in, and I doubt that he could find another job where he would be compensated nearly as well and getting more glory than he got as a mid carder in the biggest wrestling company in the world.

What i thought was interesting, is that if you just watched the pre-match promo and based the entire feud on it, Henry was the plucky, hard working veteran underdog who wants to do anything to win the championship, and Cena was the cowardly, boisterous loudmouth champ who takes what he has for granted.

Somehow that led to Henry heel/Cena face. I just don't understand sometimes.

And yet it's Henry who taps...

http://deadspin.com/a-redditor-has-b...nths-787445495

awesome

came here to post that deadspin thing, this is probably why we never had a problem with betting odds being put in the thread untill recently. Elimination chamber jack swagger was the first one ruined for me.

Theres' just no way someone could fluke 38 ppv results in a row. Especially ones that include Swag main eventing WM and Orton winning last night.

rough that this didn't drop, say, after the last PPV and we could just back the truck up on Randy and Sandow

I honestly feel as if 5dime stole from me after reading this article:
http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/2752...mes-for-months

finish watching this and some thoughts:
Smackdown MitB: Cesaro on top of Swagger's shoulders was ridiculous even by pro wrestling standards. Rhodes superstar had a superstar performance and it was awesome. I love Sandow so I don't mind him winning but I don't see him as a WHC and Cesaro was a more logical choice.
Henry vs Cena: way to kill everything after the announce table spot and then headtoss....then chinlock for a lame reversal spot? come on. Cena's selling is top notch, seriously top notch until busting out the AA a minute after collapsing. I thought Henry would lose here but would never ever in a million ****ing years think they have Mark ****ing Henry tap the **** out to his bull**** step overtoehold without a chinlock. i feel like i should never watch wwe again. that was the most ******ed piece of **** booking/ending i could think even for a john cena match.
Ziggler vs ADR: surprisingly good but with a lame albeit LOGICAL ending. last time i saw Ziggy i thought he was an overrated wrestler because he could bounce which imo doesn't equate good selling. i'd like to see more Ziggy.
RAW MitB: this match was fine. not great or anything. the ending killed it for me, just way overbooked. Axel comes down and helps Punk, Heyman chastises Axel for helping Punk? :fpalm Axel interference was so unneeded. While most people knobslob for Heyman's over the top talking, I don't like it...I don't hate it but it's just so ott. Even Punk should've known what was up as a veteran. It's just as illogical as the Cesaro/Swagger bs if not more. Orton winning. LOLOLOLOL.

if you can look past a couple botches, bad booking, and illogical ****, it was a REALLY ****ING ENTERTAINING show. if you can look past those things, i salute you. i'd never watch it again.

Wrasslor Monkey's gif recap...

http://wrestlingwithtext.com/my-brie...k-2013-page-1#

hhh and hbk did the same thing for the tag titles

amazing