More thoughts on Mania and Raw
When I turned in my column on WrestleMania that ran in Tuesday’s paper, I literally wrote it after Mania at about 1 a.m., CST.
After having a few days to give the show more thought, and after being backstage at Raw, it is time to share more thoughts.
Mania attendance legit?
The WWE reported the attendance as being 101,763.
Is that the actual number?
Noted wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer reported the attendance at being just under 94,000 fans.
Regardless, it is the biggest crowd in WWE history and unless you have been to AT&T Stadium, you have no clue how big the venue truly is.
What could have been
This Mania will go down in history as the “What If” Mania.
So many big matches were planned, and none came to fruition because of injuries.
Undertaker vs. John Cena, Brock Lesnar vs. Bray Wyatt, and a triple threat between members of the Shield were all mentioned.
Those were three matches that were considered but then injuries crashed the party.
Cena, Seth Rollins, Daniel Bryan, and Randy Orton would have all played prominent roles had they not been sidelined.
Regardless, the show still delivered to the liking of some fans.
“I thought WrestleMania was awesome,” said Belle Vernon native Jason Marchewka, who now resides in the Los Angeles area.
Mark Henry of Bradford, PA is an online reader and shared his views.
“I thought the show was pretty good overall,” he said. “But overall, it was too long.”
Undertaker done?
As the Undertaker began to leave the ring after his victory over Shane McMahon, he took off his gloves and dropped them by Shane.
Is this a sign of respect from Taker, as if it is his goodbye?
Post-Mania Raw crowd
For years now, the crowd at the Raw the night after Mania has been loud and at times off the charts.
It was the loudest wrestling crowd, in terms on consistency, I have ever been in.
In talking with a few WWE employees after the show, they said that the crowd is like an international crowd.
What happens is that fans from other countries buy travel packages for Mania week and it includes tickets to Axxess, NXT, Mania and Raw among other events.
It is estimated that half of the fans at Raw were from other countries and they bring a unique energy to the crowd.
However, it is ridiculous that fans try to hijack a show and make it about them.
When fans are chanting “We are awesome” during a match instead of paying attention, it is downright wrong.
Cena to donate brain?
Thursday, word came out that Cena would be the latest pro wrestler to donate his brain for concussion research after his eventual death.
He joins Mick Foley, Jeff Hardy, Rob Van Dam, and Kevin Nash in making the pledge.
More wrestlers debuting soon?
On top of all of the debuts made on Raw, more are on their way.
Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, Finn Balor and Bayley will be up soon.
Gallows and Anderson were backstage at Mania and at Raw and could be paired with A.J. Styles or Finn Balor in a WWE version of the Bullet Club.
And if you have not seen Bayley in action, just wait.
Her match with Sasha Banks at NXT Takeover the night before SummerSlam is the best women’s match I have ever seen and I recommend going to the WWE Network to watch it.
Bayley, Banks, Charlotte and Becky Lynch are known as the Four Horsewomen behind the scenes and I will not be surprised to see the four of them face off in a four-way at Mania 33.
WWE Hall of Famer passes away
Blackjack Mulligan, the grandfather of current WWE wrestlers Bray Wyatt and Bo Dallas, passed away earlier this week after a battle with health issues.
Mulligan is the father of Barry Windham and the father-in-law of Mike Rotunda, also known in the mid-1990s as Irwin R. Shyster.
Next week
In next week’s column, we will take a look at several records that the WWE broke at Mania as well as the updated numbers of the WWE Network.