It's funny reading people's comments about the quality of Mania before and after the main event result. People were shitting on most of the booking on other forums, but the main event (which was awesome) has them saying how great the entire PPV was all of a sudden.
Breaking it down:
- Ladder match was good, but I won't remember it in a few months time. Bryan winning made fans happy and there were a few okay spots, but nothing I'd be racing out to watch again.
- Diva match was just there.
- Orton v Rollins was mostly good for the Curb Stomp/RKO out of nowhere double. Decent enough, but for such a blood feud it was lacking oomph.
- Sting v Triple H was an overbooked, fun match. Not sure why Triple H went over and especially not sure why he'd do a handshake and then cut a promo making light of beating Sting an hour or so later. Out of character for him to offer the handshake, and weird that Sting would accept it given he's supposed to hate Triple H and lost to shenanigans.
- Undertaker v Wyatt was decent. Wyatt looked good. Not sure what to make of the result. If you have Taker go over, he should at least put Wyatt over in the fallout - either verbally, with a hand raise, or by taking a beating.
- Cena v Rusev: Great match. Rusev can go. Cena busted out his first new move in what seems like an eternity. Not sure why he had to win, aside from 'MERICA!
- Main event was awesome. Lesnar dominated and gave fans what they wanted, but Reigns not giving up protected him. Rollins coming out and stealing the title under triple threat rules was infinitely preferable to Reigns winning it (even with a string of finishers), and gives Lesnar plenty of cause to demand a rematch.
All told - a good, but not great event in my eyes. Two (maybe three) very good matches work-rate wise, a few less than awesome booking decisions, and some duds. Tag title match would have been better on the main card than the diva match or arguably Rollins v Orton.
