Away from the WWE World Heavyweight Champion win of Randy Orton and the return of the Hardy Boys, this year’s Wrestlemania was an absolute bore.
Sadly the best matches of the night were early on, as Neville and Aries had a wonderful match to start the Kickoff and the RAW Women’s Division stepped up and almost stole the show. AJ Styles and Shane McMahon were solid, but the match didn’t tell too much of a story. Luckily, the Hardy Boys’ return was amazing and made for one of the best tag team matches in recent memory and one that emblazoned the Hardy’s in wrestling folklore forever. After leaving TNA the Tag Team Champions, winning the ROH titles and now the RAW Tag Team belts, is there any argument left that they are the greatest duo ever?
Unfortunately, from there, the show just plummeted. John Cena’s wedding proposal was cute and Seth Rollins’ win over Triple H was cool, but neither had that Wrestlemania feel in the ring. The same can be said for the other title matches. The Randy Orton/Bray Wyatt match was passable at best and the Goldberg/Brock Lesnar match was all offense and quicker as hell. While the Smackdown Women’s match was an entertaining one, it was a rushed affair before the lengthy and overdone Undertaker/Roman Reigns snore-fest.
Overall, while the Hardy’s return was fun and a few titles changed hands, this year’s Wrestlemania was a heck of a lot of wrestling to take in, but failed to offer nearly as many memorable moments as in year’s past.
Kickoff:
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Adrian Neville vs. Austin Aries: This was a spot-fest, but a match about competition. In their Wrestlemania debuts, Aries and Neville brought it in the best Wrestlemania kickoff match ever. Aries was the first competitor to truly look like they were ready to win, nailing Neville with the Five-Arm, but Neville slopped to the outside to avoid being pinned. Aries continued to fight back however and hit a beautiful Super Frankensteiner and the 450 for a near-fall. Aries then locked on the Last Chancery, but Neville escaped and raked Aries’ injured eye before he hit the Red Arrow for the win.
Andre The Giant Battle Royal: Shockingly. The Big Show and Baron Strowman were eliminated early. Mojo Rawley, Killian Dane and Jinder Mahal were the final three. In a wild twist, the New England Patriots Tight End Rob Gronkowski ended up getting involved and helped Rawley get the win.
Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin: A decent back and forth that slowed down and got boring by the end. After Corbin told Ambrose to say goodbye, Ambrose countered the End of Days with the Dirty Deeds for the win.
Main Show:
AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon: This was another slow-paced encounter early on, but it eventually became an interesting one as McMahon used a variety of submission maneuvers and even kicked out of The Styles Clash. Styles also tried to go Coast to Coast, but McMahon nailed him with a trash can before he nailed Styles with the Coast to Coast Dropkick for a near-fall. McMahon then crashed and burned when he missed an Elbow Drop to the outside on Styles, who was on the announce table. Once the action got back in the ring, Styles missed the Phenomenal Forearm, but McMahon missed The Shooting Star. With McMahon down, Styles put the Smackdown commissioner away with the Phenomenal Forearm.
United States Champion Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens: Jericho fought hard, but Owens won with a pair of Pop-Up Powerbombs, the second one on the apron.
Fatal Four-Way Elimination: WWE RAW Women’s Champion Bayley vs. Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax: An enjoyable match that set the bar high for the Smackdown ladies. Jax was eliminated first following a Tower of Doom Powerbomb from Banks, Bayley and Flair. Banks was eliminated next after Flair sent her into the exposed turnbuckle and covered her. Bayley eventually got the win with the Macho Man Elbow.
Ladder Match: WWE RAW Tag Team Champions Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson vs. Matt and Jeff Hardy vs. Enzo and Cass vs. Cesaro and Sheamus: Too much action to write in an amazing match that saw The Hardy Boys win the WWE RAW Tag Team titles.
The Miz and Maryse vs. John Cena and Nikki Bella: This was a glorified Smackdown match as Cena and Bella won with their Rack Attack 1.0 and the Attitude Adjustment. After the match, Cena proposed to Bella.
Seth Rollins vs. Triple H w/Stephanie McMahon: A solid match that saw both competitors destroy the other. Rollins worked the injured knee angle and Triple H beat on Rollins with everything and McMahon helped. Triple H hit the Pedigree on Rollins, but he couldn’t put him away. After a series of counters, neither one could hit the move. Rollins then hit the Super Kick and Triple H bumped McMahon off the ramp and into a table before her husband walked into the Pedigree for the Rollins win.
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton: A disaster of a match that was more about screen overlays than in-ring action. Orion won with the RKO.
WWE Universal Champion Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar: Golberg hit five Spears and a Jackhammer, but couldn’t put Lesnar away. Lesnar hit 10 German Suplexes and after an F5, won the Universal Championship.
Smackdown Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch vs. Natalya Neidhart vs. Mickie James vs. Carmella w/James Ellsworth vs. Naomi: A quick match that Naomi won over Bliss via the All Slayomission.
Roman Reigns vs. The Undertaker:Â This match was a microcosm of the entire Wrestlemania event, long, drawn-out, with little pay off. Reigns beat Undertaker with a Spear in a match that ended in a whimper.
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