Shinmaru007

Burning through 2013, just finished WrestleMania. I thought it was a decent show; I had more fun watching it than expected. The biggest surprise to me was the Shield vs. Orton/Sheamus/Big Show match. It told the story of the latter team's distrust in a surprisingly subtle way for WWE. Big Show actually wanted to do the right thing and team up with Orton and Sheamus, but they not only distrusted him but also actively showed him up with their tags and whatnot. He eventually realizes that they don't give a shit about him at all, so he says "fuck it" and lets The Shield get the win without bothering to break up the pin. Why should he stick his neck out for two dudes who clearly don't care about him at all? And the match got that story across without resorting to anything super obvious. Also, I laughed my ass off at Show knocking Orton and Sheamus out after the match. Fuck those guys.

I'm sad it seemed like the crowd wasn't totally behind Alberto Del Rio as a good guy, because I actually like him in the role and thought WWE did a good job for the most part of presenting him as a good guy people could get behind. I enjoyed his feud with Big Show and his feud with Jack Swagger. Del Rio had fun, energetic matches, and his friendship with Ricardo was something I could get behind. The only thing I didn't like was the extreme America pandering, mostly because he had to crap on Mexico a bit to LOVE AMERICA or whatever. He could be proud of being both a Mexican and an American citizen! Anyway, I liked the Del Rio/Swagger match. These two work well together. And now I finally know the origin of the angry Zeb Colter gif!

Really loved Punk/Taker. One of my absolute favorite things in wrestling is heels stealing Undertaker's moves and mocking his mannerisms. It always makes me both laugh and want to see 'Taker IMMEDIATELY WRECK THEM. The best is still Orton trying to Tombstone 'Taker for no reason except to be the biggest asshole ever during their WrestleMania match, but the totality of Punk's shittiness here is beautiful. Definitely my favorite match of the night.

I was a little surprised at how dead the crowd was for Lesnar/Triple H. It's sort of understandable given how much energy they spent during Punk/Taker, but you'd think there would be a little noise, but nope. Absolutely nothing until the Kimura Lock stuff at the end. The lack of excitement in the crowd made most of the match pretty boring, though I did enjoy Lesnar throwing Triple H around everywhere. At least Triple H had to practically beat Brock to death to get the win. Way more effort than John Cena had to put in, even though he had THE WORST YEAR EVER OH NO.

Rock/Cena II, whatever. 2014 Cena and seeing Super Cena throughout 2012 and 2013 has put me firmly on the side of the Cena haters. He can still have entertaining matches, but the underdog bullshit just makes me want to shut him out. Like, Cena's video package for this feud is basically Cena propaganda. The highlights of his "worst year ever": getting F5ed by Brock Lesnar (and leaving out that he beat Lesnar at Extreme Rules), getting punched by the Big Show (and leaving out that he beat Big Show at No Way Out) and getting beat by CM Punk (even though those losses had shenanigans of some sort attached to them both times). Man, worst year ever, that Cena sure is out of it! By the way, he can take like 50 Rock Bottoms and still win. Poop, I say! Poop!

Anyway, apologies for the giant word dump, that show just provoked more reactions from me than expected.

Sasha Banks is awesome. I feel like whenever I see her, she's doing something different in the ring. Really loved her feud with Bayley because each match was so different from the others rather than them doing the same things with precious little variance. Their match in the first round of the women's title tournament was their best yet, and I think they can still put together something better. I still don't trust WWE enough to think the women's division will be treated THAT seriously, but I hope Sasha and Bayley and the like get as much an opportunity as Paige to show what they can do.

Yeah, I wasn't actually watching at the time, but the lack of the Nexus does strike me as a rather large oversight, especially since it has been on other episodes of WWE Countdown. I would have The Outsiders, Jericho, and Kane as my top 3, probably in that order.

They're usually OK (it's especially hilarious that it's like half-assed kayfabe the whole time), I think, but yeah, this one was pretty bad. Definitely struck me as ordering the list based on who the wrestlers are now rather than how audiences felt at their debuts.

For those who actually care:

This definitely helped me the most. I was a TERRIBLE driver when I started, and I even got in a small accident like the OP when I first tried. A driving instructor will generally be very patient and push you along at a reasonable speed. It really helped me get comfortable behind the wheel, and I'm an OK driver now!

Having a set route to practice on after you get a bit more comfortable helps, too. I still get a bit wary when I'm in an unfamiliar area.

The Matrix Reloaded. I think that was the second Matrix movie? High school me definitely wanted to be anywhere but that theater when Neo and Trinity were having sex, haha.

La Puente, California, United States

Going through 2013 WWE now, just finished the episode of Raw with the long Cena/Punk match to be the No. 1 contender for the WWE title at WrestleMania. Even though the prospect of Rock/Cena II makes me gag, that match was ridiculous. I knew Cena would win, and those two still got me into the drama. The pile driver in particular totally got me.

Oh, Prince Devitt.

@hansolol: Yeah, it just took a while to get going because the crowd clearly didn't want to boo Punk at first. Once he got more specific with his gripes and less "I'VE BEEN THE WWE CHAMPION FOR [X] DAYS" and "I DEMAND RESPECT" and nothing else each week, that got much better. Really looking forward to Punk feuding with The Rock, even though I know the end result will make me sad.