The Lapsed Fan: Dave Meltzer on WrestleMania 21

[@ThaIcePlaya]

Dave Meltzer is da bomb! Hats off to his genuine insider knowledge of the biz. His factual unbiased conveying of the events. People who love this business hands down are in his debt. Props ta The Lapsed Fan, don't know your name playa, for bringing this superb series to the true fan! Hoping to gain insights of more such dope stories of all wrestling news. Feed us more! Oh hell ya, keep the torch burning. Great work, baleev dat!

[@romans52345-cy3tq]

Tha Ice-Playa Meltzer is th best worker in the business

[@ThaIcePlaya]

Word life da dat playa! :)

[@travismcdonald6576]

romans52345 So says Al Snow.

[@LipWisbech]

romans52345 original

[@romans52345-cy3tq]

LipWisbech Thank You..I Know

[@StonyHeatbag]

My favourite part of wm 21? Kurt Angle Making Shawn TAP. Also, Motorhead playing Triple H Theme live.

[@RagingLion]

I'm suriprised there wasn't any mention of the Angle v Shawn Michaels match because I just watched that for the first time and I thought that was really something special. I was completely hooked on that match - more so than any others on this WM card.

[@skipbayless557]

+RagingLion I love that match and it's really underrated when it comes to Wrestlemania history. They're snippets of the podcast but you can listen to it's entirety on Wrestlezone.

[@aruiz90]

These videos are more about the aftermath of the shows and the HBK/Angle match although great didn't necessarily mean a whole lot in the bigger picture since both guys were established. The bigger story of this show is the elevation of a new wave of stars in Batista, Cena, Orton, and Edge.

[@zzz_97]

I think the problem with Batista is that there where a lot of guys he was incompatible working with. If you compare him with Cena, John Cena has had good to great with basically everyone he works with. Batista had a significant number of guys who he struggled working with. He's had matches with Booker T, Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio, Edge, Eddie, and doesnt have quality matches with any of them. Another issue with Batista was injuries, which were not only untimely, but also limited the variety of moves he could do. This meant that many Batista matches, especially as a babyface vs smaller guy, were very similar and weren't very exciting. That's my two cents on it.

[@DontDrinkthatstuff]

Love this little web series. Hopefully Meltzer covers some of the other PPVs aside from Wrestlemanias. Would like to see him cover Summerslam 2003 & Summerslam 2001.

[@wweTNAfan1000]

I really wish they would take a chance with multiple top guys like they did back in the day

[@ronniebobbyedition993]

Dave Meltzer on Shelton Benjamin. They always say he couldn't cut a promo. Neither could Batista, Lesnar, etc..

[@Mrazmatmahmood]

Batista definitely could.

[@johnselwitz5362]

@@Mrazmatmahmood Babyface Batista was awful at promos, so generic and boring. But heel Batista in 2010 was awesome, one of those guys who is way more entertaining as heel.

[@Redhotshawntexas]

Lesnar had the size and natural charisma, and had Heyman. Batista also had size and the son-in-law in his corner, even though Cena, who was a good promo, shortly took him over and never looked back

[@borednow5838]

The first Money in the Bank match and win for Edge was a highlight of this Mania. And his push to the top was perfectly handled. People forget now that for awhile Edge was a much bigger draw than Cena. Cena turned things around when WWE embraced that a section of the fans didn't like him. This was an entertaining Mania, but the two main events were really poor.

[@ProjectDelta1]

To me Smackdown wrestlers were better. From Brock Lesnar, Eddie Guerrero, JBL, and John Cena.

[@drekball7245]

What about angle taker and edge

[@BishopM1]

And RVD and Kurt

[@Mrazmatmahmood]

How could you not mention Taker and Edge among those SD wrestlers?

[@reeseangle9621]

It wasn’t that it was the cool thing to do, the problem was in 2005 we wanted Christin Cage to take the title.

[@Marooshaz]

Reese Angle lol no. Maybe you wanted it, and I love Christian, but he was nowhere near as over to conclude that the fans wanted him on top.

[@CLB_Industries]

Of course Batista didn't do well because of his opponents during his first reign. He feuded with Jbl, and Eddie Guerrero. Then he teamed with Rey and feuded with Big show and Kane. Then he and Rey fought MNM. And he was starting to feud with Mark Henry when he got hurt. Yah terrible people to feud with except Eddie but unfortunately they didn't get to progress their feud much

[@joeygana8864]

Batista should of been the Guy, yeah he was already 34, going on 35, but he looked great, didn’t look old, Batista always Legend to me.

[@andertonchigoneka5243]

John Cena became the face in 2005

[@markmenning1804]

They shouldn't have 2 world champions in WWE.

[@jamesedward3619]

Fact

[@markwilliams7054]

It’s funny because if you back and listen to old 2005 WO radio shows, Dave and Bryan spend most of the year saying Cena is a horrible wrestler and only over with kids. Now Dave is looking back like he was the most over in the company

[@shawnmoney8055]

Shelton Benjamin chose the wrong profession. He would of made it in NFL or NBA

[@BrianIngham]

Would Have*

[@jamesedward3619]

@@BrianIngham would have*

[@sheriffdraws8789]

I disagree kinda. It was pretty obvious John Cena was THE MAN right from 2004... heck some would say 2003

[@bdot187um]

Not really, Cena was B1 Until he was drafted to raw, while batista was positioned as the man since late 04.

[@sheriffdraws8789]

@bdot187 I disagree... Cena showed signs of being the man right from WM20. Heck Orton was even positioned as the man before Batista until they realized Orton was better as the mega heel.