Tony Nese def. Buddy Murphy (C) – Cruiserweight Championship
I was hoping this would get a slot on the main card, but alas, this year’s card just proved to be too big. Anyways, this was a solid match to open the night.
It lacked the energy and some of the craziness of previous CW matches, probably because there’s only so much they were allowed to do. I’ve seen Buddy have more intense matches.
That said, they did a good job keeping up the pace and the physicality. While I would have liked a bit more buildup to the finish, a decent start all in all. I had Buddy retaining, but I guess they want to go in a different direction. **3/4
Carmella wins Women’s Battle Royal
K. I mean, it’s a battle royal and nothing important was up for grabs. Ember Moon returned so that’s a thing that happened. I’m sure most were hedging their bets on Asuka.
Not only was she robbed out of a title match at WrestleMania, but she doesn’t even win the backup battle royal she was placed into. I personally had Lacey Evans but she didn’t even compete. Carmella is okay, I guess.
But she had nothing going for her up to that point and there were others that could have used the win more. The actual match was kind of dull. **
Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder def. The Revival (C) – RAW Tag Team Championship
We probably knew this would happen the moment the match was announced because WrestleMania is the perfect venue to end Curt Hawkins’ losing streak.
While I do think the heat segment on Ryder was a bit long, the match picked up in a good way down the stretch, especially when they were doing all that craziness out the outside.
The finish was also clever, as Hawkins figured out the only way to ensure victory was to play dead. What a thought. Match would probably be good on RAW. **3/4
Braun Strowman wins Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal
This sucked, no easy way to say it. First, what’s with the random returns tonight? First Ember Moon and now Luke Harper? Whatever.
Anyways, I can’t imagine being a WWE Superstar and watch SNL hosts get a WrestleMania entrance. WM is about the draw, but that’s just the thing. They’re not draws. The only reason to watch this match was to see what the payoff for the SNL feud was.
Clearly, nothing worthwhile. So Braun slaps Michael and sends Colin flying out the ring. All the big, scary talk from Braun before the event and he didn’t even hit his finisher. No one else was even made to look strong in this royal. What a massive waste of time all of this was. DUD
Seth Rollins def. Brock Lesnar (C) – Universal Championship
Yeah, so this weird all the way through. I did like the shocker that this went on first. It’s a great way to shock the crowd and to get them pumped for the night. You wouldn’t want a semi-dead crowd at 10 waiting for this to take place.
From a storyline sense it also makes sense because Seth probably wasn’t prepared to face Lesnar this early in the night, which might have led to him second-guessing himself. So in that sense, this was fun.
While Seth winning was a great moment and a bit of a shocker in lieu of the circumstances, a part of me was disappointed that we didn’t get, you know, a match that had a beginning, middle and end.
These matches where Lesnar only has about 7 minutes or so of actual in-ring stuff is disappointing. Seth winning is still a huge deal, and I did like the story of him having to overcome Brock getting the jump on him early.
But in spite of the wounds that developed on Seth’s back, I don’t think this lasted long enough for me to fully absorb the finish. It kind of reminded me of Goldberg defeating Brock at Survivor Series.
Anyways, I’m glad that the right choice was made in Seth winning, and while I wanted a full match, this was an energetic, adrenaline-filled start. The actual match was around 2 minutes, so no rating.
AJ Styles def. Randy Orton
Now this was the match I was expecting to start off WrestleMania. Styles and a game Orton makes for a good match at WrestleMania any day, and we got a solid outing here.
The story that permeated the match was how Orton was going to hit the RKO, Orton’s “one move” and what measures AJ would take to avoid it. Consistency would be key here, and I liked how there were callbacks to precious moments in this feud.
First, there was the mid-air RKO Styles got caught with last Tuesday. He did his homework and avoided that. He also attempted the RKO that he hit on Styles in the Elimination Chamber and Styles managed to fight out of that as well.
Even with all that Orton still managed to hit the RKO. When Styles kicked out of that, Orton essentially knew he was in trouble.
I wanted a bit more attention on Styles working Orton’s legs to build up to the finish and show Orton’s inability to hit it.
The crowd being distracted by something diverted a little of my attention away, but overall, from what I saw, both men carried their weight and it was a solid matchup. I suspect this isn’t over. ***1/4
The Usos (C) def. The Bar, Aleister Black and Ricochet, and Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev – Smackdown Tag Team Championships
This was exactly what it needed to be. A fun sprint that gave the strengths of all of the tag teams away. The work of Cesaro and Ricochet were especially impressive here, but all the teams were great.
WWE is a fan of throwing in all the tag teams in tornado style matches at WrestleMania, so there’s rarely a story here. I can only rate how fun a spotfest it was. I don’t think we got anything too crazy, but I enjoyed what I got. Imagine if this got 5 or so more minutes. ***1/2
Shane McMahon def. The Miz – Falls Count Anywhere
This was sports entertainment at its finest if I ever saw it. This reminded me of all the main event style matches WWE would have in the late 90s and early 2000s where it’s just straight brawling without a specific structure.
However, I found there to be a lot of nonsense in between that interrupted the flow. I mean, the whole deal with Miz’s dad was just unnecessary and didn’t add anything. All it did was waste time.
The brawling that took place afterwards was pretty okay, but it kind of felt like they were just fighting as opposed to competing to win. And Shane is freaking crazy for co-signing to some of the spots that took place here.
The finish was also clever as it technically protects Miz and allows Shane to run around saying that he’s still the best because he won. Miz getting so angry at Shane he forgot to actually win the match and check who was on top was a terrific twist, but I believed Miz could have used a win here.
Nonetheless, good for what it was I suppose l, but I’ve seen a version of this match done much better by Shane before. **3/4
The IIconics def. Sasha Banks (C) and Bayley (C), Nia Jax and Tamina, and Beth Phoenix and Natalya – Women’s Tag Team Championships
WOW! The only actual tag team in this match winning the tag titles? What an ingenious move. Don’t think I could have thought of that myself.
In all seriousness, a well deserved victory by Billie and Peyton as they deserve this moment.
The overall match was pretty dull though. Thankfully, Nia and Tamina barely did anything. There were some good near falls and good action from all teams while the IIconics wisely just took the scraps. Nothing over the top, but it was okay and didn’t overstay its welcome. **
Kofi Kingston def. Daniel Bryan (C) – WWE Championship
I legit got emotional here, folks. This is about as great as a feel good story can get. Kofi Kingston, a man who was thought to be permanently a mid-career and never smash that glass ceiling. And that came crashing down tonight.
First off, all the credit in the world to Daniel Bryan because it was his ability that made this moment worthwhile. We had to learn how to love Bryan in order to hate who he became. We wanted him to lose so bad because Kofi was fighting against everything Bryan used to fight against.
Bryan was wrestling circles around Kofi and used everything he knew. Kofi isn’t half the technician Bryan is, but guess what? He doesn’t have to be because adrenaline can do a lot of things.
The match was just pretty stellar all in all. You’d think Bryan would have a contingency plan for outnumbering the people in Kofi’s corner, and that proved to be a massive oversight.
This is called a WrestleMania moment and it was incredible. The kickouts towards the end, the fight Kofi showed and his nerve to try some desperation moves were all wonderful. I enjoyed this to a great degree and this is a wrestling story well done. Sometimes, things are more real than it appears.
If anyone deserved this match and moment, it’s Kofi. What a moment. And the match delivered. Props to WWE for pulling the trigger and not robbing us of a feel good WrestleMania moment. ****1/2
Samoa Joe (C) def. Rey Mysterio – United States Championship
Thankfully this is what it needed to be. I’m sad Joe didn’t get to have a real match for his first WrestleMania, but it’s better than nothing. Between Rey’s injury and the lack of Joe feeling dominant in a while, this was exactly what it needed to be.
Obviously, with it being a 1 minute squash, there will be no rating here.
Roman Reigns def. Drew McIntyre
Yeah, so there’s nothing much to say here. It was a hard-hitting physical match that thankfully didn’t go too long. This wasn’t anything that you couldn’t see on a main event of RAW, but my expectations weren’t exactly high here.
This was just a match that was used to re-introduce Roman. The only thing this match failed in is making Drew look like a beast. They were still more or less even until Roman got pissed at the end there. Decent for 10 minutes of action, but nothing special. It was also very dull, as there didn’t appear to be a sense of urgency. The definition of a RAW quality match. **1/2
Triple H def. Batista – No Holds Barred
Man, they are just going to stick with this main event style formula for Triple H matches at WrestleMania until he dies, huh?
This was another match I had low expectations for and I am very glad I kept them low. This was technically fine, but just so dull for big portions of it. That’s because a lot of time was spent resting and catching their breath. I have no idea why this was made to be a 24 minute match. Did anyone not realize the combined age of the two competitors was about 100?
Also, HBK’s performance on commentary here was pretty cringeworthy. He was talking over people, botching lines and sounded like he had dementia. It was just all around poor and it didn’t add anything.
Also, for a match that is supposed to be about a man’s career on the line and avenging a 70 year old man, this match was too many moments of comedy such as Triple H laughing about ripping Batista’s nose ring clean from his face.
And maybe it’s because this match was a joke? I don’t know. I’m grading on a curve because Triple H is a 50 year old man recovering from a torn pectoral muscle and Batista is a 50 year old movie actor who hasn’t had a formal match in 5 years. So I’ll cut them some slack.
I did dig the bit of imagery they had when they teased the ending of their match at Vengeance when Batista hit a Batista Bomb with Triple H holding a sledgehammer. However, between the slow paced action and cringeworthy commentary, I didn’t dig this.
Some of the spots were brutal so I’ll give them an A for effort, but how great did you expect a 25 minute match between two 50 year olds can be? *1/2
Baron Corbin def. Kurt Angle
Don’t get me wrong. I’m sad Angle won’t be performing anymore. But I wasn’t as emotional as I probably should have been. Why? Well, first, the match sucked. Angle has clearly lost it, but Corbin was not the man to be in this position.
The thing is WWE kept teasing how we were displeased with Corbin being chosen and how many wanted John Cena. This naturally led to speculation that Corbin would be replaced. But no, what did we get? A 6 minute RAW match.
Obviously I wasn’t expecting a great match, or even a decent one, but I was at least expecting a great moment. I mean, I guess Angle trying to kill himself with a lionsault was okay, but whatever. Angle deserved a way better send-off than this.
I respect Angle honoring wrestler’s code by taking a loss in a retirement match, but if that’s the case, a man like McIntyre should have gotten the honor.
I thank Angle for everything he’s done for this industry and how he’s probably the greatest pure wrestler WWE ever employed. He will be missed. But when you compare this retirement match to the retirement matches of legends who came before him, this missed the mark big time. *
Finn Balor def. Bobby Lashley (C) – Intercontinental Championship
Another RAW quality match. The sell of this match comes in the form of of Balor’s demon form. That was it. The actual match wasn’t anything special aside from Lashley’s spear. Only good thing is that it didn’t go too long, although I was expecting this to be a squash. **
Becky Lynch def. Ronda Rousey (C) and Charlotte Flair (C) – RAW and Smackdown Women’s Championships
Oh, man. So, I’m gonna be honest and say this match fell beneath my expectations. I was expecting this to tear the house down. Now, the crowd was sent home happy because the right person won here.
Unfortunately, the match wasn’t up to par. There are a variety of factors that might have influenced this for me. For one, they didn’t start until damn near midnight. I’m pretty sure this is the first WrestleMania main event to start in a Monday. Naturally this can cause lethargy.
I also think they also might have gotten too excited to be in the main event, which caused some of their moves to not be as crisp. Some of the spots were kind of rushed and sloppy whereas other spots took kind of long to set up.
Most of the crowd didn’t even really react to most things that didn’t involve weapons.
And then of course, there’s the finish. Here’s how I view it. If that was the planned finish, that was pretty weak. Becky spent weeks talking about how she would make one of them tap, and instead she got a roll-up that she’s proud of. Kind of goes against what she wanted.
They were also teasing the fact that there might have been an inconclusive finish because of Ronda’s shoulders. If it wasn’t the planned finish and it was truly botched, then that doesn’t bold well as a first impression.
All in all, Becky won. Not in the fashion that I liked, but she did it. The match was more good than bad, but considering what I expected for the match, I was left wanting more. ***1/4
Conclusion:
This WrestleMania was weird. For me, I think they were trying to focus more on creating memorable moments than great matches. For WrestleMania, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
The really great moments for me, unfortunately, are too few and far between to justify a 7 hour marathon, especially since the main event flopped to a certain extent.
That being said, WWE should be commended for having the right people go over. There were a lot of skeptics that said Kofi, Seth and Becky wouldn’t all win on the same night, and thankfully they were all wrong.
At last year’s WrestleMania, both the WWE Champion and Universal Champion retained their titles. Styles would go on to have an unproductive, boring feud with Lesnar and Brock would do nothing with the title until Summerslam.
This year, it feels like we have a fresh direction and reason to be encouraged. Can I recommend this show as a whole? Honestly, no. But the show is filled with individual great moments.
To offset the great booking decisions with the questionable match quality of some, I’ll give WrestleMania 35 a thumbs in the middle to be safe. I will say I enjoyed it more than I was disappointed though.
