Hey guys, I am actually here live and in person for the Road to WrestleMania live event from Madison Square Garden, and I’ll be providing a live play-by-play along with my review of the show as it’s going on.
We kick off the show with a recording of Lillian Garcia singing the national anthem.
Alpha Academy (C) def. RK-Bro – RAW Tag Team Championships
Solid match to get the crowd warmed up for the main card. Nothing too special, but a well worked match. The finish came when Riddle went wild on Otis, but he reversed a top rope move by Riddle and hit his splash. **3/4
Finn Balor (C) def. Damian Priest by DQ – United States Championship
Balor retained by disqualification after Priest dodged a Coup de Grace and followed it up by kicking Balor in the junk.
After the match, Priest continued the assault and finished him off with a High Cross. Match was more or less the same in quality as the tag team match. And as always, a DQ finish rarely goes well with the crowd. Priest got booed heavy when he made his entrance, but got a brief pop when they remembered he’s from NYC. **1/2
The Usos (C) def. Kofi Kingston and Big E – SmackDown Tag Team Championships
Finish came with Usos pinning Kofi with the One and Done. This was every Usos/New Day match you’ve probably ever seen with mild alterations. There was one near fall where I could have sworn the ref counted 3 for Kofi pinning Jey and the crowd let them know, but alas, match continued. Pretty good. ***1/4
Becky Lynch (C) def. Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair – RAW Women’s Championship
The finish came when Bianca hit the KOD on Bianca only fro Becky to come in, throw Bianca out and steal the pin. A very well-worked match with a somewhat predictable finish. Match went a bit long for what they were going for, but once again, solid overall. Bianca and Rhea embraced in the ring after. ***1/2
Roman Reigns (C) def. Seth Rollins – Universal Championship
Reigns won after a couple of spears followed by the front face lock. He jumped Seth before the match started and continued the assault despite some brief offense from Seth.
Shortest match of the night by a mile. Unsurprising, since you want to protect your WrestleMania main event. Roman got the biggest pop of the night so far. Basically a sprint of a match, but they got to the point and hit all the big moves you normally see in their matches, such as Seth reversing the Spear into the Pedigree. **
We go into an intermission.
Back from the intermission we have Mia TV. He comes out and glosses over how much he hates the people of New York and their sports teams, because we’re rude, we don’t say please and we like flipping people off. He also glosses over Logan Paul, who shares his Hollywood roots and vows to embarrass The Mysterios at WrestleMania. His guest is Kevin Owens.
Kevin Owens says Miz hates New York almost as much as he hates Texas. But what he hates even more is that there are many people who don’t have a match at WrestleMania, himself included, but because of Miz, Logan Paul has one and he calls him a Hollywood ass. Then, he remembers something happened to Logan Paul last year. Miz is confused. Owens knows what happens and he gives Miz the Stunner.
Sami Zayn comes out and Owens hugs him back on the entrance ramp. Zayn is upset he is no longer Intercontinental Champion and blames us for not staging a mass protest on 6th avenue on Johnny Knoxville. He has a lot of pent up aggression and dares anyone to answer his open challenge. Out comes Drew McIntyre.
Drew McIntyre def. Sami Zayn
Drew defeats Sami with the Claymore. Basic squash match. Sami challenged a fan in the front row and then Drew chopped him a few times, suplexed him a few times and finished him off with a Claymore. *
Naomi and Ronda Rousey def. Sonya Deville and Charlotte Flair
Naomi and Rousey won when Ronda made Flair tap out with her armbar. The pacing of the match was pretty predictable with Naomi taking all the offense from Flair and Deville before she got the hot tag. Rousey’s hot tag was rather sloppy.
They misstimed a few of her high kicks on Deville and there was an awakard segment where she sort of lost control of Deville on her shoulders in the heel corner and had to kind of recover. It was kind of cringe. Also surprised they had Flair tap. I know it’s a live event, but still. *1/2
Brock Lesnar (C) def. Austin Theory – WWE Championship
Brock made his entrance first and he was followed by Paul Heyman, who says MSG isn’t the home of Vince McMahon, Bruno Sanmartino, or Bob Backlund but rather the home of Roman Reigns. Austin Theory comes out, takes the mic from Brock and recounts what he did to him at Elimination Chamber and claims he will get his revenge by taking his title.
Austin Theory did not get his revenge. German Suplex after German Suplex followed by an F-5 finishes him off. Crowd was a bit deflated the mystery opponent was Theory. Heyman teased earlier in the day that he has a lot of pull in WWE and can make an interesting night. Match went about as expected. *
After the match was over, Reigns came out and Superman Punched him from behind. Lesnar responded with some Germans and looked to finish him off before The Usos saved him. Lesnar takes out The Usos before Heyman attempts to come from behind with a chair. Lesnar spots him and appears to look to attack before Roman grabs it from behind and beats him ruthlessly. He then puts him down with the steel steps and Lesnar is busted open. He stands on top of a fallen Brock with both titles and tells Brock to acknowledge him and that’s the show. I didn’t see it, but I think Brock did a blade job. Blood was looking like fruit punch. You could literally see it blend in with his sweat.
After the show was over, a bloodied Brock gets his title and laughs like he did in his match against Undertaker at Summerslam 2015 and poses one last time before leaving. Funny story, a kid sitting next to me was crying as Brock was being bloodied saying she doesn’t want to watch anymore and wishes Roman would stop.
Review:
I mean live events are live events so there’s only so much you can expect, but live events at MSG are a bit different. I actually believe AJ Styles won a United States Championship at a live event here. Overall, the show accomplished its purpose. WrestleMania main eventers were protected.
Nothing too exciting, but live events are all about the experience. I actually got some relatively good seats, they were in the row behind the entrance aisle, closest I’ve ever been. I had a good time even if the show was relatively average. It’ll be interesting to see how WWE builds on the Brock/Roman thing tonight. Expect it to be mentioned ad nauseum on SmackDown.
