WWE WrestleMania 36 carried on tonight with the second half of the event that was “too big for one night.” Just as with yesterday’s show, I kept track of my thoughts throughout each segment as part of a stream of consciousness list of my reactions.
As per usual, these thoughts aren’t the only review, as my regular Smack Talk Pay-Per-Viewpoint post-show podcast (which will be at the end of this post) is a review of the event as a whole in more detail, rather than the miscellaneous thoughts at random.
Without further ado, here’s what was running through my mind during WWE WrestleMania 2020 Part 2:
The Kickoff
- Not having an arena has really made Liv Morgan’s screeches seem like she’s in significantly more pain. That’s a positive for this match. It helps sell the submissions better, in particular.
- The match itself? Well, look. If you tell me this is a WrestleMania match, it’s not good. If you tell me this is something on Monday Night Raw on a random night, then this was the best thing that Morgan’s done in a while.
- Corey Graves saying you should never, ever, under any circumstances mix business with pleasure got a chuckle out of me.
NXT Women’s Championship Match: Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Charlotte Flair
- Hm. I didn’t think this would go on first, but if they’re given enough time, this could be a really good call.
- I’m digging Ripley’s gear, even though I’m not fond of the blue/gold/white color combination.
- Weak Riptide.
- Is Charlotte bleeding? Jeez, she inherited that from Ric.
- It’s a shame Mauro Ranallo isn’t doing the commentary for this. He probably would have packed so much energy into the Performance Center that it would have seemed like Raymond James Stadium.
- I’m digging this match. I like how even it is.
- No way is Flair tapping out.
- Flair should stop doing the spear. Not only is it overdone with Reigns, Lashley, Edge, Goldberg, etc, it’s also something she doesn’t do super well.
- Damn it. Why the hell would you book Ripley to lose?! That sucked the wind out of this and now, I’m annoyed as hell.
Aleister Black vs. Bobby Lashley
- You don’t give me a disappointing outcome and then follow it up with this match. Mistake.
- I didn’t care about this match at all from the start. Why would I care about it any more after that disappointing Flair win?
- Cool coat on Aleister Black.
- Yeah, I’m not even really watching this.
- Good. It’s over.
Otis vs. Dolph Ziggler
- Nothing to say yet…for quite a while, actually.
- Ouch. Ziggler’s fall to the outside, hitting the apron a bit sounded like it hurt.
- So they still haven’t even clarified what Sonya Deville gets out of this, did they? Or did I just delete that from my memory in a defrag or something?
- Hell of an outfit on Mandy.
- I like the idea of the low blow being Ziggler’s loss. It’s poetic, given the whole nature of this story.
- Otis gets a kiss!!
Last Man Standing Match: Edge vs. Randy Orton
- Starting the match with an RKO out of nowhere was great.
- So those lights turning on in the gym area. Was that because they realized at that moment that it was too dark? Was that planned to look more spontaneous? Curious. We’ll never know, though. It’s too small of a detail and nobody cares but me, I’m sure.
- I’m so glad Edge is getting this match. Even without the audience and all, I’m sure this feels so good for him to be back in competition with a good story that he can follow through with.
- Thumbs up for the cameraman bump.
- “You don’t need to count. I’ll tell you when you need to count.” Awesome.
- However, Orton wasn’t able to tell the referee to count after that, which I found funny.
- I can see that some people think this is going on too long. I’m still enjoying it, though.
- Yeah, I liked this match. Of course, it would have been better in front of a crowd, but that’s the same with everything.
24/7 Championship Segment
- Who the hell are some of these people?
- So was winning the 24/7 Championship everyone’s idea of Gronk doing things that nobody could have possibly seen coming? Because if so…you’ve got the wrong idea. That was the simplest thing for him to have done. A bunch of celebrities have done it. It’s not special.
Raw Tag Team Championship Match: The Street Profits (c) vs. Angel Garza and Austin Theory
- I like these guys, but I’m not feeling this.
- Yeah, just like that, it’s over, and I had nothing to really talk about.
- Oh hey, Bianca Belair! This would have been a cool moment at Raymond James Stadium.
- And now, Titus O’Neil is our host, instead of Gronk. What is he hosting? They’re not doing any hosting job, really.
SmackDown Women’s Championship Fatal 5-Way Elimination Match: Bayley (c) vs. Lacey Evans vs. Naomi vs. Sasha Banks vs. Tamina
- Boy I am not enjoying Bayley’s commentary during this match. Yikes.
- Can we skip to the point where it’s just Banks and Bayley left?
- Really? Banks is eliminated? This is so lame. This was one of the weakest matches they had going into this, as it proved how lazy WWE can be, and they couldn’t even do the one interesting scenario?
- Good lord. That salute into the moonsault. I cringed.
- So WWE’s big idea for Bayley’s title reign has been that she doesn’t do much of anything, has a few random matches here and there where she beats people with little to no feuds each time, and then beats everyone again at Mania. Wow. People get PAID to be “creative” and this is what they come up with.
Firefly Fun House Match: Bray Wyatt vs. John Cena
- I hope Rambling Rabbit never turns heel.
- The Vince McMahon puppet is great, but it could be so much better if Vince would actually voice it.
- What the hell am I watching?
- What’s the in-universe explanation for why John Cena is going along with humiliating himself?
- I love all the references and stuff, but this isn’t a match. This is a great promo/vignette/video package, but it’s not a match.
- “This is such good shit!” – Okay, you get a point.
WWE Championship Match: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Drew McIntyre
- With the way things are going, I wouldn’t be shocked if this is less than 3 minutes and ends with Lesnar still champion.
- McIntyre kicks out at 1 from an F-5. I’m even more so thinking he’s going to lose and that was WWE saying “well, he’ll kick out, so he’ll look strong even though he’ll lose.”
- Second F-5 is a two-count. Third one is a three-count?
- Fair enough, he kicked out at 2 for the third one. You’re still not getting me to think McIntyre will win. Not after some of the booking decisions made earlier.
- Good. McIntyre needed to win. If they would have had Lesnar retain, after some of the decisions earlier, I’d be so pissed.
For the full review of WrestleMania 36 in podcast form, stay tuned and check out the video soon to be posted below:
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