The Silver Report: March 2019

WrestleMania is just around the corner and if you looked below, I have a whole lot to talk about. Maybe a little too much, but WrestleMania season really gets me in the mood to rant. And to be honest, I'd rather write my frustrations here than screaming at my TV.

Who am I kidding? I'll scream at the TV regardless.

The State of WrestleMania

Maybe it was rose-tinted glasses or a lack of exposure to wrestling outside of WWE, but WrestleMania was the be-all-end-all for the formative years of my fandom. Although shows, matches, and storylines could surpass the Grandest Stage of Them All throughout the year, I always looked to WrestleMania to consistently be the best that wrestling had to offer.A decade ago that idea slowly started to be chipped away with WrestleMania 25.

Despite having arguably the greatest match of all time in Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels on the card, WrestleMania 25 was nowhere near the standard that I held WrestleMania to. A few years later, I eventually started to notice the build to WrestleMania slowly deteriorate. No longer did it feel that WrestleMania was built on the biggest and best feuds WWE had to offer, but whatever matches got the most people and the biggest stars on the card.

WrestleMania lost the spark that made it special in order to appeal the most casual audience possible. While I've reluctantly come to accept this fact, there are ways for WWE to make WrestleMania appeal to both casual and hardcore audiences. WrestleMania 30 and 31 are proof. The problem is that most of WWE — chief among them being Vince McMahon — is out of touch with the companies' fanbase and the current state of the industry, so they don't change their way of booking until they absolutely have to. The "Women's Evolution" is more than enough evidence of that fact.

With the stage set, let me say that the build to WrestleMania 35 has been the worst I've experienced in 16 years watching.

Mainly due to the card not being finalized backstage until early March, the last couple of months have been rudderless. As a viewer, it has felt like stories and possible matches changed dramatically from week-to-week with no real direction. Due to this haphazard approach to booking, the last two months following the Royal Rumble has been wasted. For proof, just look at the main event program.

Over the course of the last two months, Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey has gone from one of the most anticipated main events in WrestleMania history to a nonsensical mess. To help demonstrate how insane it has gotten, the build for this match has consisted of:

• Becky Lynch being suspended for not getting her injured knee checked by doctors;
• Becky attacking Stephanie McMahon, which led to Steph further injuring Becky's knee;
• Becky being reinstated after apologizing to Triple H and Steph;
• Vince McMahon suspending Becky until the after WrestleMania because he doesn't like her attitude; 
• Vince placing Charlotte Flair in the WrestleMania match in Becky's stead;
• At Elimination Chamber, Becky outrunning trained security guard while hobbling on crutches to attack Charlotte and Ronda Rousey with said crutches;
• Becky being arrested for doing the same thing on Raw a week later;
• Ronda "vacating" the Raw Women's Championship because she wanted to fight Becky;
• Becky being reinstated to fight Charlotte Flair for the "vacant" Raw Women's Championship at Fastlane;
• Ronda returning to take back the championship she previously vacated (that's not how vacating a title works!!) and turning heel by attacking Becky;
• Heel Ronda going on to remind the world that professional wrestling is fake ad nauseam;
• Becky finally being added to the WrestleMania match thanks to a Ronda rundown and beatdown;
• Charlotte beating Asuka for the Smackdown Women's Championship;
• Steph announcing both Raw and Smackdown Women's Titles will be on the line in the WrestleMania main event, and;
• All three getting arrested for brawling after their match against the Riott Squad.

All of that happened over the course of 10 weeks. Just take all that in. It didn't happen over a six months, a year, or some other reasonable timeline. No, it was all crammed in 10 damn weeks! 

As proved by the build to Survivor Series, WWE had an open goal with Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey. Instead, they overbooked this match way past the point of jumping the shark. They cleared the shark and have completely obliterated my confidence in this match. While the talent may be there, none of the booking has proven that this match won't be as big of a debacle — if not worse.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is KofiMania.

This campaign to get Kofi Kingston into the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania all started with an unfortunate twist of fate. Mustafa Ali was originally meant to compete in the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber but had to be pulled from the match following a concussion. Kofi would take Mustafa's place in the match and go onto steal the show in a gauntlet match on the Smackdown before the pay-per-view and in the Elimination Chamber itself.

Despite plans for the WWE Championship already being put in place, these incredible performances along with the thunderous crowd reactions forced WWE creative take notice and give Kofi the chance to finally shine in the main event scene.

While the road to the WWE Championship match being set in stone was a little rough, the story has been a resounding success. Much like Daniel Bryan's road to WrestleMania 30, Kofi's plight has felt organic and heartwarming. Little touches, like the entire face roster cheering on Kofi and callbacks to Bryan's plight with the "B+ player" verbiage, have gone a long way in making this feud feel well thought out and main event caliber. Instead of insulting our intelligence with overbooked nonsense, out-of-touch booking, and drastic changes on a weekly basis.

At the end of this long, long rant, all I really have to say is WrestleMania has the lost the magic that I remember from my formative years of watching. Although I don't hold it to the same reverence, it's not all doom and gloom. For all the underdeveloped stories, overpacked matches, and hotshot booking, there are some glimmers of greatness. You just have to expect it won't be for the entire eight-hour runtime.

Source: Digital Spy

March Madness

You can't talk about wrestling in March without talking about the New Japan Cup. However, this year New Japan's annual March tournament saw a few changes.

First, a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in the main event of G1 Supercard was on the line, instead of the winner getting a shot at the singles title of their choice. With these higher stakes, the field of competitors was expanded from the regular 16 to 32. Considering the entrants doubling for this year's New Japan Cup, entry was given to all comers including junior heavyweights, Young Lions, and champions.

As the biggest New Japan Cup in history, did bigger mean better?

Yes and no.

Doubling the pool of competitors opened the tournament to a lot of variety, be it in style, character, or even move set. Within a three week period, we saw epic strong style slugfests, stunning technical showcases, hilarious comedy matches, and unbelievable athletic performances. Out of the 31 matches, no bout felt the same — a very impressive feat.

Unfortunately, not everything was the best New Japan had to offer. Despite playing host to the best match of the tournament in Ishii vs. Nagata — no joke, it's a bona fide Match of the Year contender — the first round was a mixed bag as New Japan put everybody in this year's Cup including green newcomers, broken down older talent, and Taichi. Plus, some highly anticipated match-ups, such as Okada vs. Ospreay and Tanahashi vs. Sabre Jr., were a little disappointing in my opinion.

Although some may scoff at Okada, an established main eventer, winning the Cup over pushing somebody new into the main event picture, remember that the current IWGP Champion Jay White is that new star in the midst of a push. Plus, the New Japan Cup elevated talent in different ways. Just look at Young Lion Shota Umino's incredible performance against Tanahashi, Ishii getting the best out of Nagata, Taichi, and Yoshi-Hashi, Chase Owens' surprise victory over Juice Robinson, and Will Ospreay defeating two more heavyweights. On top of all that, Sanada had a career-defining run in this year's tournament beating the likes of Hirooki Goto, Minoru Suzuki, and Hiroshi Tanahashi before falling to Okada in the finals.

All-in-all, we won't fully know if the 2019 New Japan Cup was an outright success until we see its fallout at the G1 Supercard. However, we do know it put a spotlight a great wrestling and some upcoming stars.

Source: New Japan Pro-Wrestling

Must-See Matches of March

3/3/2019
Stardom
Momo Watanabe vs. Jungle Kyona

3/6/2019
47th Anniversary
Jay White vs. Will Ospreay

NXT

Aleister Black & Ricochet vs. Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner

#DIY vs. Undisputed Era

3/8/2019
New Japan Cup Night 1
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yuji Nagata

3/10/2019 
New Japan Cup Night 3
Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito

3/11/2019
New Japan Cup Night 4
Hirooki Goto vs. Sanada

3/16/2019
New Japan Cup Night 7
Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

3/21/2019
NXT
Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black vs. Matt Riddle vs. Ricochet vs. Velveteen Dream

3/23/2019
New Japan Cup Night 11
Kazuchika Okada vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Sanada

3/24/2019 
New Japan Cup Finals
Kazuchika Okada vs. Sanada