WrestleMania in the Rear View: Axxess

The “R.A.W.” show (as in “Raw-After-WrestleMania) has, over the past few years, become a show almost as hotly anticipated as WrestleMania itself. In fact, as I wrote about earlier, WWE might want to seriously consider booking the WrestleMania hosting-stadium for two nights, and spread out the festivities across Sunday and Monday nights.

Raw debuted in January of 1993: Not exactly the hottest time in the history of the company. WrestleMania IX, which aired a few months later, was panned by fans and critics, and remains one of the worst WrestleMania events the WWF/E has hosted. The Raw that followed the show was nothing special either. Jerry Lawler made his Raw-wrestling debut in a win against nobody Jim Powers, but overall the show was not any different than any other cheesy early 90’s WWF Raw show.

The 1994 edition of the show was even less significant, relative to the big show the night before. New champion Bret Hart had an in-ring interview and the seeds were planted for the feud with Owen, but unless you think a Jeff Jarrett vs Koko B Ware main event is the best way to kick off the post-WrestleMania X era.

In 1995 things heated up a tad as some of the actual stars of WrestleMania XI appeared on the show and an actual effort to give some kind of a “fallout” was made for the first time in three years. In terms of matches, the best on the show a match between Bull Nakano and Alundra Blayze. The champ, Diesel, had an in-ring interview much the way Bret Hart had a year prior and HBK and Sid closed the show by planting the seeds for a feud between each of them and between Sid and Diesel. Overall, this was the best post-WrestleMania show to date, but that’s not saying much.

1996’s Raw-after-WrestleMania was better only because the company had some sense of urgency to the show. The now-traditional in-ring interview with McMahon happened once again, with HBK setting up a title match with Jerry Lawler, but the show also featured more star power than previous “fallout” shows. It still was a just a really solid episode of Raw, and nothing was done to make it special, but things were a lot better here than they were in 1993.

1997 once again had an in-ring interview with the WWF Champion. This time the interview closed the show and featured a standoff with champion Undertaker and Mankind. The show also set in motion the unique Bret Hart heel turn, where he only turned on American fans and pledged his loyalty to Canada, Europe and rest of the non-USA world. This was the first R.A.W. to really feel like “Raw After WrestleMania.” It dealt with the big events that happened the previous night and put in motion the stories that would drive things forward over the next several months. It lacked big surprises the show would become known for, but it was a step in the right direction.

Finally, in 1998, R.A.W. felt like a big event. The WWF “scratch logo” was officially made the formal branding of the company, totally replacing the old “new generation” logo that had been in use in the years’ past. New champion Austin was presented with a newly designed WWF Championship, and as a thank-you, he stunned Vince McMahon and was escorted out of the arena in handcuffs. Not only that, but Triple H took it upon himself to bring back Sean Waltman from WCW, kick out HBK and declare himself the new leader of DX. Elsewhere on the show Rock became “The Rock” and split from the Nation of Domination, begin his turn that would led him to becoming one of the biggest wrestling stars ever. This was the show that created the template for what the night after WrestleMania should be.

But 1999 and 2000 failed to live up to it. 1999 set up an angle where the evil WWF Corporation played keep away with Austin’s personalized Smoking Skull belt. 2000 saw newly crowned European Champion Chris Jericho lose the title in his first defense, against Eddie Guerrero. Rock set his sights on winning the WWF title by winning a main-event match against…Shane McMahon. The crowds were hot and there were a couple special moments, but neither year failed to live up to 1998’s edition of the show.

2001, however, saw a return of big surprises. The Rock and Stone Cold rematched in a steel cage, in an show closing spectacle that saw, of all people, Triple H side with Austin to help him retain the gold. The formation of the two-man power trip and Vince McMahon’s subsequent firing of The Rock were certainly shocks worthy of R.A.W.

2002 may have lacked big surprises but it did feature the Raw-debut of Brock Lesnar and had a main-event of Rock and Hogan teaming up against Hall and Nash. Big debuts and star-studded show-closers are really all the fans expect with R.A.W.

Speaking of big debuts, the 2003 R.A.W. saw Austin “fired” by Eric Bischoff, and when Rock came out to gloat, out came Goldberg to make his Raw-debut. This was the first post-WrestleMania show of the brand-split era, so the stories and surprises would be split between the two shows from now until 2012. Despite that, Smackdown’s post-WrestleMania fallout show never developed the big moments that its sister-show did.

In 2004, New champion Chris Benoit teams with HBK to take on Evolution in a star-studded mainevent. An assist by Mick Foley was fun, but overall the show was not quite as special as in years past.

The next year saw Batista take on former-evolution teammate Randy Orton and Steve Austin made a surprise appearance too.

2006 featured a lively crowd as the Raw-after show emanated for the first time from the same venue that hosted WrestleMania. The crowd loudly booed Cena, despite his loss in a 2-on-1 handicap match to Edge and Triple H. It was the first post-Atittude Era crowd that really captured the spirit of days gone by; it was the kind of crowd that would become the norm for the night after WrestleMania.

2007 also lacked a lot of the post-Mania fireworks, although it did feature HBK finally betraying his partnership to John Cena (something he said he would not do during the run-up to WrestleMania). Other than that, the show was just another Raw.

2008 however is when R.A.W. found it’s groove. The night after Ric Flair’s retirement match loss saw the show end with a memorable tribute to the sixteen time champion. Legends past and present were on hand to celebrate the career of Nature Boy. The night ended with copy of the Big Gold belt being draped over his shoulders while he was carried around the ring like a hero.

In 2009, the night after WrestleMania saw a big return and a special attraction match; two staples of R.A.W. Randy Orton took on Vince McMahon himself in the main event, and just when things looked bad for Vince, the Animal Batista returned to attack Randy Orton.

In 2010 it was time for Shawn Michaels to say goodbye. Clips of HBK’s career were played throughout the night. Triple H came out to pour out his heart for his best friend, but before he could he was attacked by Sheamus, continuing the feud between the two of them. HBK closed the show with a moving speech, with thanks given to friends and former enemies. The show may have lacked action but it packed in a lot of memories.

2011 was memorable for one reason: The kick-off to the year-long feud between Rock and Cena. Rock, as a host the night before, had attacked Cena and cost him the WWE Championship. A collision seemed sure to happened the next night but instead was promised a year away (much to the chagrin of the audience). The duo did fight off an attack by Wade Barrett and his posse but the real highlight of the night was simply a tease for the year following (which is fitting considering that’s all that WrestleMania XXVII felt like).

After a very bad year prior, 2012 looked to be a much better one for WWE. WrestleMania XXVIII had been a big success, new stars looked ready to emerge and the show had much more energy than in 2011. This was the show that had “YES” become a thing. It featured the return of Brock Lesnar to WWE. Many fans knew about his “secret” re-signing with the company, but they nevertheless cheered like maniacs when he returned in the flesh. Also the Rock announced his follow-up act after beating Cena would be to (eventually) go after the WWE Championship. Mark Henry and CM Punk electrified the crowd with a better-than-it-should-have-been non-title contest. And then Brock Lesnar interrupted John Cena’s show-closing promo, kicked his stupid green hat out of the ring and ushered in his next reign of terror.

A year later, in 2013, WWE gave us one of the best Money in the Bank cash-ins, a shocking Ryback heel turn, and without a doubt, what very likely was the hottest crowd in the history of Raw. Ryback turning wasn’t a monumental as Lesnar returning, but the intensity of the crowd made it a night to remember.

Last year’s crowd was likewise very hot, and the WWE gave the fans a show worth enjoying. Daniel Bryan’s title victory was celebrated by an adoring crowd, after one of the very best video packages WWE has ever done (and they have done some amazing ones over the years). Paige made her Raw-debut to end AJ’s record breaking Divas title reign. Randy Orton & Batista formally teamed up, teasing the Evolution reunion that would occur later in the night when Triple H challenged Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship. That match never really happened but the evening ended with Daniel Bryan and The Shield fending off the Authority’s attack, giving fans what we thought would be the dawning of a new era.

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Which takes us to 2015.

At this point, do I need to tell you “if you can go, go” anymore? Isn’t it obvious?! Look at the great seats I got thanks to ordering the silver package!

It took a few years before WWF realized they could do something extra special with R.A.W, and it took even longer for them to find the winning formula, but once they found it it’s been almost impossible to screw up. The crowd at this point knows to bring their A-game, because they know WWE will bring theirs. As long as fans see a few surprises, are treated to some big matches and have a killer show-closing hook, they’ll be happy.

This year they allllmost pulled it off. They just forgot about one critical part: sending the fans home happy.

To start with the line around the San Jose SAP Center was staggering. The doors were scheduled to open at 3:30, with a start time at 4:00. My wife and I arrived at 2:45 to a sea of people: One line stretched down the block and out of the parking lot. Another line (ours) circled around the building twice over. It was the longest line I’ve ever seen. All 20,000 people had apparently reached the same idea my wife and I had, which was to arrive early and beat the line. Nope. Not only that but the doors did not open when they were scheduled to, leading to some very passionate wrestling fans to become very disgruntled.

This was the scene not long before Superstars was filmed. Yikes.

By the time we got in and sat down it was 1 minute until the start of Superstars. The building was not even one-tenth of the way full. I don’t know if the WWE or the SAP Center staff was to blame for the delay but whatever it was it set things off on the wrong foot.

I had great seats all week, but I loved these corner seats next to one of the hard-cameras.

Things slowly started filling up by the end of the Superstars taping and once I was in my seat with a bottle of water in my hand I was far less cranky. Especially when I looked down and saw who was secretly watching the goings-on.

Hideo got a nice little pop and chant from my section. He turned and smiled at us, and then laughed that we were being too loud and would get him into trouble!

As Raw was ready to go live the atmosphere started to liven up. Fans had been treated to one of the best WrestleMania events of all time, despite most having low expectations going in, so the mood was very happy, especially since R.A.W. had developed such a great reputation over the past few years. This crowd wanted to be remembered, and (arguably for some wrong reasons) it will be.

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The first two thirds of the show were a dream come true. It had everything you want. There were big matches (even if Lesnar vs Rollins was only teased, it was still wonderful to see the whole spectacle of it), exciting debuts (Kalisto and Neville) and great wrestling (Cena vs Ambrose was a real crowd pleaser, and Bryan vs Ziggler couldn’t have been better).

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On the disappointment side, I can tell you that a lot of people were bummed about no Bray Wyatt and no Undertaker. Those were the two whose entrances were hindered by the sunlight at WrestleMania and many were excited to see them in the arena. My phone’s flashlight was ready, as were so many others, but it ultimately went unused.

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As for the chanting. I will defend two of the three more controversial moments of the night. First, the crowd was well within its right to tell the Bellas they suck, when using “suck” as a general insult and not a specific sexual act. The Bellas, to the crowd, represented the past. AJ, Paige, and all the great women “down” on NXT (which most consider the superior show anyway) are seen as the future. Telling the has-beens their time is up with a simple “you suck” chant is totally fine and acceptable. I was right there with them.

Also, the wave and the boos and all the negative chants happening during the main event were also totally acceptable. I’ll get back to the main event in a bit.

But what I won’t condone was the “you suck Cena/Bryan/Uso/Tyson” chants directed at almost all the Divas in the aforementioned match. Someone put two and two together and took the generic “you suck” chant one step too far and things got out of hand. It’s a shame, not only because it’s offensive to reduce those women to being objects defined by their relationships, but also because it ruined the entire purpose for the earlier boos. It took the focus away from the audiences desire to see the NXT ladies get called up.

I will praise the crowd in one area, and that was their shutting down a “CM PUNK!” chant and replacing it with an arena-wide “AJ LEE” chant. No one knew it was AJ’s final match or her last with WWE, so the chant was purely out of love with no “thanks for the memories” attached to it. It had to feel good for AJ, who leaves as one of WWE’s most charismatic divas ever.

As for the main event, to be blunt: People were furious. For most of the people it was their first time at a Raw-after-WrestleMania, and they felt really short changed with what the company gave them as a show-closer. There was no big return, no big swerve, no big angle.

Instead we got Big Show and Kane taking part in a six-man tag main event. We had the fabricated drama of who Randy Orton’s mystery partner would be, when everyone with one brain cell know it would be Roman Reigns. The match sucked and the crowd let them know it. Big Show and Kane are in no condition anymore to elevate a feud, a show, or performer, a title…anything. Those two, certain Hall of Famers (and rightfully so) have become albatrosses to the main-event scene. The fault lies with WWE Creative for failing to develop credible heels who can work the main event scene on occasions such as this.

What’s worse is how easily the perception of the show could have improved had only minor changes been made. Simply move Orton/Ryback vs Big Show/Kane to the middle of the show, and put the Lesnar vs Rollins tease (and subsequent fallout) to the end of the show. No one would have complained if the final image of R.A.W. 2015 had been Lesnar F5ing Michael Cole out of his shoes and wreaking havoc on the world.

One minor change would have made all the difference.

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Despite the show ending with a whimper and not a bang, overall the show was a blast to be a part of. This might sound crazy, but here’s a crazy idea: Next year, run WrestleMania AND Raw from AT&T Stadium in Dallas. Also, run the first Takeover of the year from the American Airlines Center (the venue that traditionally hosts Raw).

Again, maybe I’m crazy, and maybe a 100,000 seat venue isn’t the place to first try this, but having gone this year I really think they could have packed almost as many people in Levi’s Stadium for Raw as they did for WrestleMania.

And I KNOW they could have ran that NXT show from the San Jose SAP Center (the site of Raw) and it would have sold out.

I mean WrestleMania has already been cut to a 7 or 8 match show. This year there were 7 matches and NONE of them even hit the 20 minute mark. Next year you know they’re going to try and get every big name from the past they can to work the show, either in matches or in skits the way they used Rock/Rousey this year and Hogan/Austin/Rock last year. They’re already talking about Rock vs Triple H AND Stephanie vs Rousey in two separate matches. Even if Rousey wins in 10 seconds you still have the pre and post match hoopla taking up time. Throw in a few title matches and Undertaker vs Sting and you’ve pretty much used up the whole card. Will there be room for big singles matches for Bray Wyatt, Finn Balor (hopefully), and any of Cena, Bryan, Reigns, Rollins, Ambrose, Orton that are not in a title match?

Why not make WrestleMania a two-night affair? Book a big card for Sunday and another big card for Monday. Run it commercial free on USA. You can still do all the Mania-fallout stuff, but you give the matches that wouldn’t make the Sunday-cut (like this year’s excellent Bryan vs Ziggler match) a chance to impress on a massive stage, albeit on the next night.

Again, it’s a crazy idea, I know, but if things continue to progress it may not sound crazy in the future. Imagine an NXT TakeOver being held on WrestleMania week in front of 20,000, while both Mania and Raw happen in front of 70,000-100,000.

As long as WWE brings the goods on WrestleMania week, the fans will continue to flock to whatever city plays host, in whatever venue they run. If you are even close to THINKING about MAYBE going next year, trust me: You won’t regret it!

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Look at my beautiful wife having the time of her life.

If you can go, go!

WWE WrestleMania 31 Trip Diary

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