It's the ultimate thrill ride. WrestleMania returns to Orlando
with a stacked card! Brock Lesnar looks to remove the only blemish of
his career against Goldberg for the Universal Championship and Roman
Reigns looks to be the second person in history to defeat The Undertaker
on the biggest stage of the year.
Match 6: Non-Sanctioned - Triple H vs. Seth Rollins
After losing to Roman Reigns in the previous year, Seth Rollins looks to follow in his Shield brother's footsteps and take out The Game on the biggest stage of the year. The two had a fantastic feud leading up to this match with much emphasis being placed on the injured knee of Rollins. As usual, Triple H came out to another spectacular entrance with a police escort as he and Stephanie McMahon rode down a sweet looking motorcycle. Like the veteran that he is, Triple H focused much of the match around that exact injured knee of Rollins and managed to really get a good control of the match. However, the match itself felt like it ran a little longer than it needed to and as a result, much of the crowd was taken out of the action. Even while trying to take out Rollins with the help of a sledgehammer, Triple H fell to a Pedigree after inadvertently knocking his wife off the top apron through a table. Solid match and solid win for Rollins despite the match itself being just a few minutes too much longer than it needed to be.
Winner: Seth Rollins
Rating: ***1/4
Match 7: WWE Championship - Bray Wyatt (c) vs. Randy Orton
Let me just say that Randy Orton cut one of his coolest (and probably corniest) promo ever where he burned down The Wyatt Family Compound. If you haven't seen it, go check it out! As for the match... Before we get into that, it is also necessary to note how ridiculous Orton's entrance was with a digital snake following him down the ramp. Even he bashed it and who could blame him? The thing looked ridiculous. Anyways, this match was probably one of the biggest disappointments in WrestleMania history and the crowd was just not into any of the action at all. Well, for the little amount of action there was. Wyatt's mind games reached its peak with images of bugs popping up on the ring canvas a few times throughout the match. Yes, you read that right. Everybody was just as confused. Orton hits an RKO on Bray Wyatt to secure the fairly quick win over Wyatt to capture another WWE Championship.
Winner: Randy Orton
Rating: 3/4*
Match 8: WWE Universal Championship - Goldberg (c) vs. Brock Lesnar
This is it, the third chapter to their rivalry and likely their last with Goldberg holding the two victories. As pretty much expected, this was a fairly quick match with the two exchanging their signature moves left and right. And well... it worked. The fans didn't expect a wrestling clinic from the two and nor did they really want it from them. Even with a Spear through the barricade outside the ring and another one inside the ring, Brock Lesnar is able to counter the storm and hit an F5 to win and capture the Universal Championship to the delight of the crowd. Again, the match wasn't anything amazing but it was really what it needed to be and that is more than enough here. Interesting to see this match not close out the night, though.
Winner: Brock Lesnar
Rating: ***
Match 9: WWE SmackDown Women's Championship - Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Becky Lynch vs. Mickie James vs. Carmella vs. Natalya vs. Naomi
To bridge the gap between the two main events, Alexa Bliss must defend her SmackDown Women's Championship against 5 other competitors. Standard and quick women's match here with a few cool spots before Naomi submits Bliss in the middle of the ring to capture the championship in front of her home crowd. Nice moment for Naomi but the crowd was barely invested into any of the action. This almost felt like a match that was quickly put together as an afterthought.
Winner: Naomi
Rating: *1/2
Match 10: No Holds Barred - Roman Reigns vs. The Undertaker
For the first time since WrestleMania XXVI, The Undertaker closes out a WrestleMania show. Ironically, he also closed out WrestleMania against Edge in 2008 at the very same stadium. This time around, he is older and almost a shell of himself as he faces the biggest dog in the yard... Roman Reigns. While The Undertaker seemingly looked like he could hang with Reigns early on, the tides very quickly changed and the age of The Deadman began to show. He looked slow and tired throughout much of the match and it became very disheartening to watch. Reigns would pour on an onslaught against The Undertaker with steel chair shots before finally finishing him up with a big running Spear. Reigns celebrated with an incredible display of pyro shooting off in the background. Finally, The Undertaker gets up to a rousing ovation before placing his attire in the middle of the ring as the screen quickly cut to black. Watching this in person was nothing short of emotional and watching it again a couple years later gave me the same emotions despite him coming back a year later. It was the perfect ending to an incredible career and certainly one of the coolest endings to a WrestleMania event ever.
Winner: Roman Reigns
Rating: **
Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
On paper, this is a seriously stacked card. However, there was less substance to the actual show than what I expected. If you were to go back and remember this show, it would be for the moments rather than the actual in-ring stuff. However, much of those memorable moments quickly became forgotten or brushed aside quickly after. John Cena's proposal became void after he and Nikki Bella ended up calling things off. The Undertaker's perfect ending to his career very quickly became erased once he decided to continue wrestling. And Brock Lesnar's win over Goldberg felt underwhelming and not even remotely close to being as memorable as their previous encounters. Tough to rate this show considering how disappointing some of the matches were but also am quick to remember the good matches on the card and the cool moments it brought us. If I'm going to remember this show for one thing, then it's going to be watching Matt & Jeff Hardy return to the company.
Rating: 6.75/10
Thursday, April 25, 2019
Monday, April 15, 2019
WWE WrestleMania 33 Review (Part 1)
It's the ultimate thrill ride. WrestleMania returns to Orlando
with a stacked card! Brock Lesnar looks to remove the only blemish of
his career against Goldberg for the Universal Championship and Roman Reigns looks to be the second person in history to defeat The Undertaker
on the biggest stage of the year.
Match 1: Shane McMahon vs. AJ Styles
Awesome choice of an opening match with SmackDown Live commissioner taking on the frustrated AJ Styles. As unpopular of an opinion this may be in 2019, I always have and likely always will enjoy watching Shane McMahon wrestling in the ring, he always brings the goods when it calls for it. McMahon fought fire with fire here and used a lot of his wrestling skills against Styles as he elected to also display his MMA training background with a plethora of sweet submission holds and muay thai strikes. However, the match went up another gear once Styles accidentally kicked the referee in a the head. Trashcans were brought into the match where McMahon was able to hit Styles with his famous Coast to Coast before missing an elbow dive later on through an announcers table. Styles then capitalized with a Phenomenal Forearm to seal the win. Solid opening match to get the show rolling.
Winner: AJ Styles
Rating: ***1/2
Match 2: WWE United States Championship - Chris Jericho (c) vs. Kevin Owens
This match is their culmination of their huge breakup following their months of friendship. Action in the ring was fairly basic from the two and they didn't really give me the feeling they were fighting out of hate. It honestly just felt like I was watching a regular match on an episode of Monday Night Raw. Owens is able to hit a Pop-Up Powerbomb outside on the ring apron to secure the win and the gold from Chris Jericho. For a match that was so personal, maybe making this a no disqualification match or something could have helped a lot. I don't remember a match at WrestleMania being as big of a disappointment as this one. So much hype and not much of a payoff.
Winner: Kevin Owens
Rating: **
Match 3: WWE Raw Women's Championship - Elimination - Bayley (c) vs. Nia Jax vs. Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte Flair
Bayley's dream went from winning the Raw Women's Championship to walking in as champion to finally walking out as champion. With Nia Jax being the wildcard in the match, the three other women in the match were able to team up and eliminate her from the equation. Charlotte Flair let the best friends in Bayley and Sasha Banks fight it out themselves before entering the match again and elimination Sasha. Finally, it was down to Bayley and Charlotte. Bayley paid homage to the late Randy Savage with an elbow drop from the top to score the win. A bit of an underwhelming match when compared to last year's women's contest. Nonetheless, nice way to place these women on the card.
Winner: Bayley
Rating: **1/2
Match 4: WWE Raw Tag Team Championships - Ladder - Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson (c) The Bar vs. Enzo & Big Cass vs. The Hardy Boyz
Before the match begins, The New Day come out to the ring and announce that a new tag team has been added to the match... THE FREAKING HARDY BOYZ. I will never forget the pop they received and it was certainly one of the coolest moments I have ever gotten the pleasure to witness in person. As for the other competitors, they never stood a chance and the crowd wanted one thing... to see The Hardy Boyz leave as champs. Pretty fun ladder match that never overstayed its welcome with all teams getting in their offenses with the main part having Jeff Hardy hit a Swanton Bomb off the top of a ladder onto The Bar outside the ring. Matt Hardy climbs the ladder in the middle of the ring afterwards to grab the belts and secure the win for himself and his brother Jeff. The match itself wasn't anything too crazy but the ambiance of having The Hardy Boyz back was unbelievable. Certainly one of the coolest moments in WrestleMania history.
Winners: The Hardy Boyz
Rating: ***1/2
Match 5: The Miz & Maryse vs. John Cena & Nikki Bella
One thing I completely forgot about was how The Miz and John Cena actually headlined a WrestleMania way back in 2011 before meeting again here in 2017. As expected, this was as basic of a match you could really get here because the shine was saved for the moment after the match. But I'll get into that in a bit. Anytime Cena is in a WrestleMania match, the crowd will certainly be involved and the case was no different here. Cena is able to weather the storm from The Miz and hit an Attitude Adjustment as Nikki Bella hits her Rack Attack 2.0 on Maryse at the same time. The referee counts and Cena leaves WrestleMania with another big win... the only difference this time around, he did it with a tag partner. Afterwards, Cena proposes to Nikki in a very touching moment as the two hug, kiss and enjoy the moment. Shame they split up a year later.
Winners: John Cena & Nikki Bella
Rating: *3/4
Match 1: Shane McMahon vs. AJ Styles
Awesome choice of an opening match with SmackDown Live commissioner taking on the frustrated AJ Styles. As unpopular of an opinion this may be in 2019, I always have and likely always will enjoy watching Shane McMahon wrestling in the ring, he always brings the goods when it calls for it. McMahon fought fire with fire here and used a lot of his wrestling skills against Styles as he elected to also display his MMA training background with a plethora of sweet submission holds and muay thai strikes. However, the match went up another gear once Styles accidentally kicked the referee in a the head. Trashcans were brought into the match where McMahon was able to hit Styles with his famous Coast to Coast before missing an elbow dive later on through an announcers table. Styles then capitalized with a Phenomenal Forearm to seal the win. Solid opening match to get the show rolling.
Winner: AJ Styles
Rating: ***1/2
Match 2: WWE United States Championship - Chris Jericho (c) vs. Kevin Owens
This match is their culmination of their huge breakup following their months of friendship. Action in the ring was fairly basic from the two and they didn't really give me the feeling they were fighting out of hate. It honestly just felt like I was watching a regular match on an episode of Monday Night Raw. Owens is able to hit a Pop-Up Powerbomb outside on the ring apron to secure the win and the gold from Chris Jericho. For a match that was so personal, maybe making this a no disqualification match or something could have helped a lot. I don't remember a match at WrestleMania being as big of a disappointment as this one. So much hype and not much of a payoff.
Winner: Kevin Owens
Rating: **
Match 3: WWE Raw Women's Championship - Elimination - Bayley (c) vs. Nia Jax vs. Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte Flair
Bayley's dream went from winning the Raw Women's Championship to walking in as champion to finally walking out as champion. With Nia Jax being the wildcard in the match, the three other women in the match were able to team up and eliminate her from the equation. Charlotte Flair let the best friends in Bayley and Sasha Banks fight it out themselves before entering the match again and elimination Sasha. Finally, it was down to Bayley and Charlotte. Bayley paid homage to the late Randy Savage with an elbow drop from the top to score the win. A bit of an underwhelming match when compared to last year's women's contest. Nonetheless, nice way to place these women on the card.
Winner: Bayley
Rating: **1/2
Match 4: WWE Raw Tag Team Championships - Ladder - Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson (c) The Bar vs. Enzo & Big Cass vs. The Hardy Boyz
Before the match begins, The New Day come out to the ring and announce that a new tag team has been added to the match... THE FREAKING HARDY BOYZ. I will never forget the pop they received and it was certainly one of the coolest moments I have ever gotten the pleasure to witness in person. As for the other competitors, they never stood a chance and the crowd wanted one thing... to see The Hardy Boyz leave as champs. Pretty fun ladder match that never overstayed its welcome with all teams getting in their offenses with the main part having Jeff Hardy hit a Swanton Bomb off the top of a ladder onto The Bar outside the ring. Matt Hardy climbs the ladder in the middle of the ring afterwards to grab the belts and secure the win for himself and his brother Jeff. The match itself wasn't anything too crazy but the ambiance of having The Hardy Boyz back was unbelievable. Certainly one of the coolest moments in WrestleMania history.
Winners: The Hardy Boyz
Rating: ***1/2
Match 5: The Miz & Maryse vs. John Cena & Nikki Bella
One thing I completely forgot about was how The Miz and John Cena actually headlined a WrestleMania way back in 2011 before meeting again here in 2017. As expected, this was as basic of a match you could really get here because the shine was saved for the moment after the match. But I'll get into that in a bit. Anytime Cena is in a WrestleMania match, the crowd will certainly be involved and the case was no different here. Cena is able to weather the storm from The Miz and hit an Attitude Adjustment as Nikki Bella hits her Rack Attack 2.0 on Maryse at the same time. The referee counts and Cena leaves WrestleMania with another big win... the only difference this time around, he did it with a tag partner. Afterwards, Cena proposes to Nikki in a very touching moment as the two hug, kiss and enjoy the moment. Shame they split up a year later.
Winners: John Cena & Nikki Bella
Rating: *3/4
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