Mania 17 vs today

Evening all.

In the wake of Mania I would like to get people's views on WMXVII.

Tomorrow night we will see The Rock face off against John Cena in a Face vs Face matchup were many people on this forum are screaming for a Cena heel turn.

What I want to know is what we're people thinking in the build up to WMXVII were we were kind of in the same situation.

We're people expecting an Austin heel turn?

a Rock heel turn?

Who did you think would win?

Did we expect a McMahon intervention?

At the time I was in my mid teens and a huge Rock fan. I remember being so peeved that Rock didn't win at the previous Mania and the fact that Stone Cold had gone over in their previous meeting at Mania that this was a banker for Rock to retain.

Could the WWE throw a massive curve ball and have The Rock go over this year? Will Cena turn heel and if so how would/should it move forward from there?

I did see the Austin heel turn coming, because of the last few seconds of the episode of Smackdown prior to Wrestlemania. I remember he gave a back stage interview at the end of the show where he said he needed to become champion at Mania, and he shot a glance to someone off screen as the show ended, which hinted that he'd get some help in the main event.

I hope there's a few shocks in there. For example last year I genuinely thought cena would win so when rock won I genuinely marked out.

Same in the taker/triple h match. When HBK hit sweet chin music into a pedigree I really thought the streak was over, I thought it was such a shock for it to happen that way and even though it didn't, it was still a shock moment for me.

I still think itd be a success but I would love to see at least one shock just to add something to the event.

I think The Rock would have won at Wrestlemania 17 had he not been off to Hollywood straight after. The Rock had leap frogged Stone Cold in popularity at that time, and it would of made more sense for him to win.

As it happened because The Rock wanted to go to Hollywood for a few months, it made no sense for him to still be champion. They didnt want Stone Cold to win clean though, so they were kind of forced into turning him heel, so he could cheat to win. I also heard Stone Cold had been asking to turn heel for a while, as he was getting bored playing the good guy.

I don't think you will ever truly recapture the magic of the likes of Mania 17 and 21 because the WWE are much more limited in the things that they can do...

As much as some people argue otherwise...you need certain match types, spots, blood etc to take a simply good event and make it memorable and great.

You also need the shock and surprise factor which captures Mania moments and for as long as Cena is around I don't think you will ever get it. Lets be honest, if Randy Orton was to turn heel tonight it would be good......would it be memorable? The simple answer is no!!

It's the same with the matches. Brock v Triple H I think will have all the ingrediants to be a fantastic match....of course they will not have a wrestling clinic but it should be intense, physical and brutal. Will it live long in the memory? No...and the reason why....it will be a No Holds Barred match which, without some freak accident, will not involve blood....and will have limited 'weapon' moments.

Instead of the use of MITB to help get some of the middle card some spotlight we are now subjected to more 'backstage' skits and pointless matches.

Just think, if the WWE didn't get rid of MITB so they could milk it as a PPV event in it's own right we could have had the likes of Fandango, Cody Rhodes, Damien Sandow, The Miz, Dolph Ziggler etc in that instead. It at least would have given them some proper time to shine.

It's the same with Swagger vs Del Rio....both had a bit of momentum which has died down again. If the WWE want to get them over then they need to do something a bit different. Whilst a standard match may give a little chance to show off.....why not use the fact both are great technicians and submission wrestlers and make it a 2/3 falls or just a submission hold match?!

For me the lack of risk and the lack of foresight amongst current writers means Wrestlemania just doesnt capture my imagination in the way in which it used. Feuds are no longer bubbling away 3 months in advance...instead they are thrown together seemingly on a whim. Big matches are no different to what we are subjected to each and every week...I mean you have 6 of the biggest stars of the past 20 years competiting tonight and the only one with a special stipulation is Brock v HHH which as I said, will not actually make use of the stipulation anyway.

Of course this won't matter to Vince and the rest of the board because the simple fact of the matter is....the attendances that the event gets now (80,000 almost every year) alongside the boom in the number of homes with PPV capablities (not to mention the price in this modern era) all means that the event will be a financial success....and that if were being honest is all that matters.....

Everything else is now sadly and afterthought.....a bad event in terms of quality of matches and moments may harm the product but it wont really matter because for the next 2/3 months the WWE's pockets will be riding the wave which Wrestlemania has brought them.