Wow. So that may have been the most infuriating/ disappointing/ awful moment in Wrestlemania history for me. Daniel Bryan’s squash match, the first match on the card, was 18 seconds long! I wasn’t going to be upset if he lost; I mentally prepared myself for that. But to be squashed right out of the gate like that? I mean it does no favors for Sheamus, makes everyone that Bryan’s beat so far look bad, makes Bryan himself look AWFUL… And there were so many better candidates for a squash match too, like Cody Rhodes vs. Big Show. And the whole crowd with the “YES!” signs and the chanting… Ugh. And, as the comic for today shows, it strongly affected the rest of my Wrestlemania viewing experience for everything after that.
I know there’s a mentality in wrestling that if something gets a reaction it’s a good thing, regardless if people are happy or not. Well I hope WWE gets something out of it, so the whole thing’s not a complete waste. And, as much as I hate to admit it, the kid at the Wrestlemania party I was at marked out hard for Sheamus winning with only a kick to the face, so I know not everyone was as crushed as I was.
What bothers me about this whole thing, is that they only did it to break their own imaginary, scripted record for shortest Wrestlemania championship match… AND THEY DIDN’T EVEN SUCCEED!
I agree with everything in this comic… the opening match should set the tone for the rest of the show… and this one did, it left me with a really bad taste in my mouth, which tainted the rest of the show.
Before the show started, I found myself wishing I was as excited as most people were and wondered if I should check it out even though I haven’t watched WWE for months. And then the “Biggest wrestling show of the year” kicked off with an 18 second title match and I asked myself why I had ever been so silly to even consider throwing $65 out the window.
WWE just loves to stick it to core wrestling fans, us internet smarks if you will. It’s like what CM Punk said many times before, something along the lines of, “WWE punishes you for being a wrestling fan.” I know, I know, I’m still gonna watch, but I’m sick of this crap.
I said during the podcast last week that I feel like the WWE hates their fans. Everybody who was rooting for Bryan probably feels the same now. Especially since Team Johnny won, which is why I made that point in the first place. I don’t know if you listened to our post-game last night, but I echoed the “at least Orton lost” sentiment.
I actually thought about you saying that line during the show last night, Joe. I haven’t listened to any podcasts or anything yet about Wrestlemania, I kind of needed a moment to get over it and be able to say “alright, it happened, he was squashed, time to move on.”
If Bryan was your only reason for watching Wrestlemania then you’re bound to be annoyed but a lot of people are sounding worse than the 10-year old kids who were crying when Cena lost. Orton lost and clown shoes won and CM Punk had an amazing match. Bryan will have his rematch at extreme rules in Chicago where the fans will be smarkier and maybe he’ll even win. Cena lost as well and who knows maybe he’ll be a heel before tonight is over with, that’s the fun of being a wrestling fan, the unpredictability.
Holy shit
If that dude had black hair
And was bigger then I would
Swear it was me.
Amazing stuff right here.
I don’t care if he lost, I’m still gonna take my new WHC belt and start shouting YES somewhere. Forget Ortoning and Tebowing, D-Bryaning is where it’s at!
Now you need to draw “The Effect of Daniel Bryan’s Squash Match on the Rest of WWE”. :p
I think everyone agrees that match could have only made sense if it was the Show/Cody match due to the context of the buildup to that match being embarrassing Wrestlemania matches. There has to be a bigger reason for this.
What is all this “At least Orton lost” mentality? As an Orton fan, I can say that I think people who complain about his invincibility are lacking perspective. Orton loses. A LOT. And he sells moves. Really well. ‘Kay, thanks, just putting that out there. (And if I was Seth Rollins or Dean Ambrose I’d be really worried right about now.)
Since you placed one of the female perfomers, anyone has any idea of who was the red haired girl?
YES! YES! YES!
Daniel Bryan! Clap, clap, clap clap clap!
Great comic, Hornsby. Hope to catch you on the show again sometime soon. The post game podcast was difficult to record… Thank goodness RAW was epic.
At least Bryan got an AMAZING reaction on RAW. Even in Spanish
I was in attendance that night, and I was looking forward to Bryan v Sheamus the most.
And you know what?
I see NOTHING wrong with this.
Think about it for a second, people. Cowardly heel squeaks by in every title defense by jumping on the first opportunity he finds to keep his title. It’s so appropriate then, that a babyface beats him by jumping on the first chance he gets to boot his face off.
If it were anyone else losing, nobody would complain.
Anonimo, her name is Skylar Grey.
Our problem wasn’t Bryan losing in 18 seconds, it’s that we paid to see wrestling, and there was 25 or more minutes dedicated to all that crap.
I agree with JeremyGrave. As for Bryan’s match I thought it gave into the whole “Anything can happen” Mystique. I mean I got up to grab a bowl of chips and had to rewind because I missed the match. It made me stay glued to my seat for the rest of the show, which is what i think the idea of it all.
Plus that will give more to Bryan’s rematch, he can go with the whle “i wasn’t ready” thing.
I agree with 90% of this commentary, and this comic strip is effing brilliant, hah!
But…I VEHEMENTLY DISAGREE with one piece; it’s actually a huge pet peeve when people say “it makes everyone else he beat so far look bad”. I’ve just never seen that be the case in any wrestling environment. It’s NEVER been true.
But it’s something people say anyway even though it’s constantly proven to be false. Sheamus beating Bryan in 18 seconds makes the two of them look bad, and that’s it. It has NO effect whatsoever on Big Show or Mark Henry for example. None at ALL. I just don’t get that line of thinking, especially when it’s consistently disproven over the years.
I mean, does The Rock’s win make Kane look bad? Did Earthquake’s squash of Adam Bomb at Wrestlemania 10 make Crush look bad? Come on, man…
Not sure how you think it makes everyone look bad. It was a fluke victory, it put over how one power/impact move can really end a match if you’re not careful. It also puts over how Bryan’s character has become so cocky lately to the point of arrogance and over-confidence, he went from being the loveable underdog to the dick who believed that he couldn’t fail and this was the apex of that transition.
This kind of thing happens in real life sports often enough.
Sure as a fan it’s disappointing to not see the match but it fits into the storyline perfectly well and has given them the building block to create something better down the line. I’d have preferred it happened somewhere other than Mania but that’s all the schedules allowed.
One of the worst WMs in recent times.
It’s basically just like the 2011 one – Some nice stuff, but all in all, a lot of letdowns, disappointments and just plain horrible booking and moronic decisions.