Holy Sh*t!!!!

My favorite wrestler is back. Hope it is not short term and he stays healthy.

Will be interesting how things play out on SD tonight with him being the GM.

Yeah, he’s kicking of the show tonight.

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That was awesome. Smackdown needed a boost and boy did they get it! And Shane leaving is probably a good thing. Now if they can just get rid of Stephanie...

What do you all think? Shane is back now, will he double-cross Daniel Bryan after their big hug?

My money is on the stage 2 Sasha vs Bayley kicking off during the battle royale

Should AJ vs Shinsuke be the final match? It will be for me, I have no interest in seeing Brock 2002 again. LOLRomanWins. Hope it’s not UnderBiker vs Cena

Haha I was actually hoping for the Bryan heal turn leading to the victory for Owens and Zayn and they form some sort of trio to terrorize smackdown for awhile. I'm at work today for 5.5 more hours and then hitting the road with some friends to drive down to the show. We have about a 14 hour trip. I can't wait for the food and culture of the city on top of it being filled with so much great wrestling all weekend! I'm pretty much useless at work for the day due to my excitement to get out of here.

I’m not a wrestling fan but my BF’s nephew is Flip Gordon who wrestles for ROH. Good kid.

Flip Gordon is awesome. Super Talented IMHO.

Yeah totally makes sense, but he could also be an Austin like character in a heel that sells a shit ton of stuff. I think no matter what he is going to be money. Him turning heel would be too fun though and vince wouldn't like that I assume, he only seems to want to crush what fans want. Regardless very cool to see him again. After being at last years mania and saying goodbye to the undertaker I was really hoping he wouldn't be back, but I think the return of the biker gimmick is inevitable at this point. Should be fun regardless.

I was thinking about Taker’s return, and I bet Cena pushed for it backstage, wanting to add one more notch to Taker’s belt. I can’t see Vince wanting Biker taker over Deadman, but Kid Rock is going into the HOF (whyyyy????) so it does seem most likely. I’d mark out for the gong. Perhaps the Raw 30 thing was him retiring the Deadman gimmick but not himself entirely? Not sure if that’s a good move.

Anyway, that would be an awesome closer.

No way in the world is DB going to turn heel. They barely have any true babyfaces right now - everybody’s a tweeter. I always thought PG-era should be cut and dry who’s a heel and who’s a face. But everybody wants to be the Outsiders. Even frickin’ Roman! To me, he comes off selfish, with the “this is my yard now”. That’s not what works as a babyface, because there’s no underdog. he needs some more humanity (run in and save Seth from a beat down) so people get behind him.

That just reminded me about Dean - hope he makes an appearance, his injury should be just about up

Is Dean gonna be Braun's partner?

That would be cool. I have heard rumors it is going to be Rey Mysterio. Not sure that is true though. Big Cass should be coming back soon too.

Probably Big Show...

I really hope they just let him win the titles alone, it would be something fresh at least.

No, Rey is still hurt. Torn bicep, I think. He had to drop out of a NJPW show, so it appears to be legit.

Even though it makes no sense, I would be all for Braun somehow tagging himself in as “Brains” Strowman during the match. That was funny as hell.

My money’s on Big Show. “The New Twin Towers!”

Hope Cass can hang now that his little remora Enzo is gone. I suspect he may get lost in the shuffle. Hopefully they repackage him or something.

Yeah for sure. I grew up with his dad too. Been friends with the family as long as I can remember. We’ve hung out quite a bit. I remember his first professional match and he came on vacation with me a couple of years back.

Hoping Roman becomes a Heyman guy and we get the heel turn.

Road trip has started! 11 hours to go!

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But buries the entire division

Have fun Tommy. Wish I was going this year.

I’m hoping a rebooted Bray Wyatt fresh from the lake of reincarnation will be Braun’s partner.

The Mower of Lawns!!

Anyone want some hall of fame ceremony tickets?

Ibushi was a wee bit tipsy outside our hotel when we came rolling off bourbon street around 5AM. Dude was super nice.

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Lol southpaw shirt. Cool pic!

Got to meet Toni Storm made my weekend complete. Nxt stole the whole weekend.

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I would love to see Braun getting on a school bus and going with Nicholas to school today to show off the new straps (oops, sorry Vince, Championship Titles). Braun holding the titles going down the slide. Braun playing a mean game of dodgeball. The possibilities are endless. Is this going to be a new kid every week? Kids love a giant, this guy is going to go over HUUUUUGE.

The we want Nicholaus cheers during the horrible main event were awesome.

This is genius. Braun is the next Roman (edit: I mean he’s next on top and the big kid magnet), and he should be. He’s way more fun, has a GREAT sense of humor (Brains Strowman, plus all the appearances he did on Instagram riding roller coasters, his podcast with Jericho and Gallows/Anderson. Now there’s a great stable for ya)

My son had to go to bed before the Nicholas match but I can’t wait to show him

Them relinquishing the titles on Raw last night was hilarious.

The sadness that Braun delivered that line with was great.

Also the cheers for Nicholaus during the main event, I get it, a bit rude when two dudes are out there busting their butts, but man I really hope Vince took note of just how badly people do not want to see Reigns and Lesnar anymore. And Joe's promos on Raw destroying Roman was great and made me want to see him destroy him in the ring.

It’s been conventional wisdom that Braun is the next big thing, but this seals the deal. He’s believably tough, can take a mean punch (Brock’s receipt) and FUNNY. How do you not like him? If you’re funny and a little guy, you’re a “comedy character” (Santino). If you’re big and funny when appropriate - you’re printing money. The smarks like him because he still puts on good matches, the kids like him because DUH, and he still cracks a smile so he’s not a impenetrably dark. I assume all this means the writers are actually writing him this way, which is by a mile the main reason he’s next.

I still think they can get Roman over by having him lose -more- His promo on Raw was going the right way - he almost moved on, he was upset, that was great.

THEN they tried to pull the “I don’t know what’s going on huh Brock re-signed?!?! I didn’t know I didn’t know. I’ll still beat him guys. “. Ugggggghhhh... he must still sell a lot of shirts otherwise this makes no business sense as well as story sense.

I really feel like that wasn’t helped by the length of the show. 7 hours?! The arena is waaay dead by hour 4. Just because Vince doesn’t sleep doesn’t mean crowds don’t get tired. They were quiet for most of AJ/Shinsuke which shocked me. Draft next.

Yeah I think there was genuine disappointment Shinske and AJ weren't going on last, and then they did the slower paced almost Strong Style match, my guess is they did that though with the heel turn because they are building a series instead of a one off, I'm hoping we see the match 2 more times culminating at Summer Slam, at least then it makes sense to me how they put the Mania match together.

Tommy how did you think WM34 co pared to going to WM33 with regards to the event/Matches. Which was better?

Hmmmm...I would probably say 33 was a little better overall. Perhaps because it was my first in person. Hard to top the crowd feel of Daniel Bryan coming back at this one, but we also had what we thought was the Undertaker's last ride at 33 so they are very comparable moments as far as the feel goes. The Superdome was amazing for its size, and the stage and screen setups were really cool, but the stadium was a disaster in the concourse area, they ran out of water in my area for the last 4 hours of the show, also most food and sodas as well, lines for restrooms were insane and just getting to and from your seats was awful. I missed the entire Usos/Bludgeon/New Day match waiting in line for a restroom. It was like the arena was completely unprepared which makes no sense to them hosting just 4 years ago. I had a much better time at the stadium last year and even at NXT the night before. Speaking of which NXT killed Mania by far, I don't think any of the Mania matches outside of maybe Flair v. Asuka came close to matching them at all. I did go with a few more friends this year, and being in the city of New Orleans was awesome, I hadn't been back since the year before Katrina hit. Also the crowd's pure displeasure with that main event really left a bitter taste in your mouth on the way out, oh and the Jinder victory when all I heard all weekend everywhere I went from Independent shows to Bourbon Street to NXT, to Mania was Rusev Day chants.....most over thing of the weekend for sure and Vince just seems to hate the guy for cutting his hair...it makes no sense. So again overall probably give the slight advantage to 33 for me. Already decided we aren't going to next year's Mania, but we are going to do NXT, it is simply that much better of a product right now.

Also, a huge shout out to Joey Janela's Spring Break 2 as an awesome and fun Independent show that we checked out on Friday night and it didn't end until almost 4 AM.

Yeah, it certainly does get a bit tiring. I was glad they didn't have any music acts in the middle of the show this year.

So does anyone know why they are doing another Royal Rumble?

Special event paid for by the Saudi Arabian royal family, which they will brand as a Network Exclusive . Kinda makes sense ... not sure if this will finally be the end for Brock or what.. 50 guys though. How do you book that?!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining.

They need all the guys they can get... since by law no women are allowed to perform. Savages.

I’m really curious how much wwe is making in that show.

I'm sure it's going to be big $$. I just read in Jericho's 3rd book how they did a short tour in China and most of the dates the arenas only had a few fans, because the government bought up all the tickets and only doled them out to a few people. They made serious $$ on those shows. This one they get to do the live thing in a big arena, sell tickets, AND put it on the network as an exclusive. I assume more subscribers is the idea. More subscribers = more $$$