WWE WrestleMania 34 Review (Part 1)

WWE WrestleMania 34
April 8, 2018
New Orleans, Louisiana

WrestleMania returns to The Big Easy! The 2018 edition of WrestleMania emanates from New Orleans where Ronda Rousey teams up with Kurt Angle to take on Triple H & Stephanie McMahon in a highly anticipated match. Also, The Undertaker answers John Cena's call for a match while Brock Lesnar puts his Universal Championship on the line against Roman Reigns in the main event.

Match 1: WWE Intercontinental Championship - The Miz (c) vs. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor
Absolutely perfect choice to open up the night, much respect to these three for bringing back some legitimacy to the Intercontinental Championship. The Miz was at his peak at this point, shame he never got to challenge for a World Championship around this time. Unfortunately for The Miz, Seth Rollins was pretty much destined to win this match here to open the night. Add Finn Balor to the mix and you get a recipe for a match that would steal the show on any day of the year. Fun action from the beginning to the very end here with everyone getting in their offense and giving us believable nearfalls. Loved the finishing sequence here with Balor not having enough energy to flip Miz over for a pin as he would then get struck with a Stomp from Rollins. Soon after, Rollins gave Miz a Stomp and boom, Rollins walks out as the Intercontinental Champion. Great stuff here, nothing too over the top but good enough to set the pace for the rest of the night.
Winner: Seth Rollins
Rating: ***3/4

Match 2: WWE SmackDown Women's Championship - Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Asuka
Before I get into this, let me just state that all of these matches are my first viewing since watching it live in attendance. This was my favorite match of the night, let's see how it holds up here. Fantastic build to this match with Asuka winning the Royal Rumble and wanting the biggest challenge she could possibly have in Charlotte Flair. Great action from the start, the two really going at it and definitely making this feel like a big match despite just being second on the card. They didn't have to rely on silly nearfalls scattered throughout the entire match, they built the match from scratch and gradually tuned things up a few notches as the match progressed. Awesome ending to the match with Charlotte hitting Asuka with a Spear before making her submit to a Figure Eight. The submission at the end was long enough to have us wonder or not if this was really the end of the streak and not too long to the point where it let the hype die down, it was just perfect. Awesome ending with the two embracing each other after Asuka exclaimed on the mic that Charlotte was ready for her. Great stuff.
Winner: Charlotte Flair
Rating: ****1/4

Match 3: WWE United States Championship - Randy Orton (c) vs. Bobby Roode vs. Rusev vs. Jinder Mahal
SmackDown Live counters Raw's Intercontinental Championship match with this loaded United States Championship match. Originally, it was supposed to be a triple threat match until the rising popularity of Rusev forced things to change. Great way to get all these guys on the card and give us a solid filler for the night. As you would expect, not the greatest match ever but certainly one that never bored me at all. It got its point across and didn't overstay its welcome, everybody got in their offenses and the crowd was pretty hot for everyone. They especially loved having Rusev on the card and the atmosphere was pretty electric for him here. Unfortunately for him, a distraction from Sunil Singh led to Mahal hitting a Khallas to secure the big win. Solid match for what it was and enjoyed seeing Mahal get the rub here. You gotta have your heels get wins at the biggest show of the year and a win from here was a great swerve to everyone.
Winner: Jinder Mahal
Rating: **3/4

Match 4: Triple H & Stephanie McMahon vs. Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey
This was probably the most hyped match of the night with Ronda Rousey making her in-ring debut with Kurt Angle by her side. Triple H is a master of these matches, nobody is able to play smoke and mirrors better than him, go back and watch his match with Sting if you don't know what I'm talking about. The hype around this match was obviously for Rousey and how well she was going to perform in this match. Welp, she delivered. As a matter of fact, she delivered big time and completely blew away all my expectations. She was hopping around the ring like she's been doing this for years and they did a great job in making her look like an animal as Stephanie McMahon did her best to get away from her throughout the match. Finally, Rousey was able to get Stephanie alone in the ring as Stephanie begged for mercy until Rousey submitted her in a split second. Fun match and a fantastic debut for Rousey as she gets the big WrestleMania victory. Had my doubts leading into this one but they more than surpassed my expectations, kept me on my edge throughout. Good stuff.
Winners: Ronda Rousey & Kurt Angle
Rating: ***1/4

Match 5: WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship - The Usos (c) vs. The New Day vs. The Bludgeon Brothers
Giving us a break between the last match and the upcoming match between John Cena and The Undertaker sees the SmackDown Tag Team Championship on the line. Finally for The Usos, they get a chance to showcase their skills on the main card of WrestleMania after being with the company for years. These are arguably the three best tag teams on the SmackDown brand so it's always cool to see them get some shine. Good match for what it was, just about what you would expect from these guys in the short time they were allotted. Kofi Kingston falls to a big powerbomb from the top rope by The Bludgeon Brothers. Great to see Erick Rowan & Luke Harper celebrate as they score the biggest wins of their careers. Sucks that Kofi had to eat the pin but at least he got his big moment a year later...
Winners: The Bludgeon Brothers
Rating: **1/2

Match 6: John Cena vs. The Undertaker
This match almost breaks my heart. I always felt like since the WWE didn't capitalize on this match years ago that this match was just better left off as one of those "what if" kind of things. Despite that, the build to this match was fantastic with John Cena losing two big matches that would have guaranteed him a spot on the card. With that, he called out The Undertaker and after weeks and weeks of no appearances, The Deadman finally came out to face off against Cena after Cena had taken out an interrupting Elias. This match was the first for The Undertaker since losing to Roman Reigns a year ago and he needed something quick to get back on the wagon. His match here against Cena was the biggest squash match in the career of Cena as Undertaker was able to hit a Tombstone fairly quickly on Cena to pick up the win. There it is, we finally get a match between the two here at WrestleMania and it was nowhere near what anybody wanted. The feud was great and this was a great way to not only get both guys on the card, but also give Undertaker back some credibility after taking a huge loss. Fine moment for the night but definitely one that I could've lived without.
Winner: The Undertaker
Rating: n/a