Batson's Blog

Sports-entertainment's biggest day arrived. At this point, with NXT TakeOver and the Hall of Fame, it really is pro wrestling's biggest weekend of festivities. How did it measure up? The WWE Hall of Fame was okay, but felt a little lackluster. I enjoyed some of the previous speeches more than the ones delivered this year. NXT TakeOver: Orlando was great, however! It was a great show from start to finish. Now, onto Wrestlemania 33. Considering it was supposed to be a 4 hour show, it ended up being closer to 5 hours -- and that's not including the pre-show and kick-off. I didn't end up seeing Neville vs. Austin Aries, the Andre the Giant battle royal or the Intercontinental Title match. I read, however, that Neville retained (good choice), that Mojo Rawley won the battle royal (awful choice! poor Braun sure is slipping down the ladder, isn't he?), and that Dean Ambrose retained (again, wrong choice). As for the main part of the show, it kicked off ...

It's a big night for WWE. First off, it's Wrestlemania. That's their biggest show of the entire year. Second, it's the 30th anniversary of Wrestlemania. A lot of questions will be answered tonight. Who will retain their titles? Who will win their matches? What kind of surprise appearances can we expect? WWE have mended their rocky relationships with Bruno Sammartino, The Warrior and Hulk Hogan in recent years. We know 2/3 of those men will be appearing. WWE has apparently reached out to a variety of other big names to appear. Steve Austin, The Rock and RVD are all in New Orleans. Then there's speculation about Sting. It certainly seems like a lock that he'll be there tonight. I'm a fan of TNA as much as the next guy, but it's about time Sting showed up in WWE! Taker vs. Sting has been too long in the making. The surprise appearances is something that will make Wrestlemania more exciting to watch, but it's not one of the pivot...

Two months ago, just after the Royal Rumble, I made a list of some 'should be' Wrestlemania matches. A lot of wrestling fans have been debating how the current Wrestlemania card stacks up to Wrestlemania events of the past. To be honest, on paper, it looks kind of lame. That being said, it could turn out to be an awesome event. The big matches will likely deliver, if nothing else. Still, after reviewing some of my 'should be' matches, I think Wrestlemania could be better. My match: Tag Team Title match between The Usos, Cesaro and Swagger, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, and The New Age Outlaws Actual match: The Usos vs. Cesaro and Jack Swagger vs. Los Matadores vs. Ryback and Curtis Axel Better booking: They're, more or less, the same, but I'm going with mine. I had The New Age Outlaws walking into the match as Tag Team Champions and The Usos winning the match, giving them a nice Wrestlemania moment. WWE has The New Age Outlaws in an entirely d...

It's been widely speculated for months now that Jeff Jarrett's big announcement (coming in about 48 hours according to his Twitter account ) is that he is partnering with Toby Keith to start a new wrestling promotion. Anytime there's the mention of the slightest bit of competition for WWE I immediately get visions of a new era of the Monday Night Wars. I became a wrestling fan in the middle of that era -- in 1997, when Monday Night Raw was losing the ratings war to Monday Night Nitro . To Dixie Carter's credit, she hasn't killed off TNA . It's a company that's over 10 years old now. It's not a threat to WWE's global empire though. IF Jeff Jarrett is starting a new promotion and IF that's his big announcement, I'll have to remind myself that it's going to take a while before (or, more appropriately "if") it's going to be competition to WWE. Success won't come overnight. I'm optimistic, however, because ...

Let me say, first off, that I want CM Punk to beat The Undertaker this year and end the streak. I think he's a great candidate to do so. He's young enough to still have several good years left in WWE, he's a big enough name to make the win shocking, yet not unrealistic. He'd also get even more heat as a heel than he previously has. That being said, with Wrestlemania 30 next year, I don't see it happening. I think CM Punk is destined to suffer a couple of tombstone piledrivers and taking a pinfall. I'm alright with that too. After all, next year is Wrestlemania 30. It would be a nice, round number to have a culmination. For that very reason, I think it would be epicly cool to have CM Punk pull out a win at MetLife Stadium. I'm not optimistic about it happening, but I'd mark out if it did. Assuming Taker does defeat Punk on Sunday and assuming he does wrestle another match, that means he'll have another opponent for next year. I know ...

Man, do I ever remember the build up for the first Wrestlania I ever watched: Wrestlemania 14. As a young child and new fan of wrestling at that point, I didn't realize how big of a deal Wrestlemania was. It seemed like another pay-per-view at that point, but I quickly realized that it was WWE's biggest show of the year. It truly has become wrestling's version of the Super Bowl, even beating attendance records the NFL had previously held. It probably is half nostalgia, but it truly did seem better and more exciting than any Wrestlemania that has happened in the last 10 years. Much like everything else about WWE's product, the last several Wrestlemania events seemed overproduced yet also neglected. There doesn't seem to be much effort in building story lines anymore - at least not entertaining ones. Granted, Wrestlemania 14 had a few thrown together matches, like the tag team battle royal that kicked off the show. Aguila vs. Taka Michinaku didn't get ...