WWE WrestleMania 34 Review (Part 2)

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 7: Shane McMahon & Daniel Bryan vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
Perhaps the coolest backstory to any match for tonight is this one right here. Daniel Bryan stepping away from the ring due to injury but finally returning in the exact spot where he had his biggest career moment in 2014 was just perfect. Interesting to see three former Ring of Honor guys in a marquee match, seriously takes me back to the good days. Awesome to see Bryan make his way to the ring with the crowd roaring for him like it was 2014 all over again. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn attack both Bryan and Shane McMahon before the match and temporarily take Bryan out of the equation which left McMahon to fend for himself before Bryan was finally able to make his return. Once Bryan was able to insert himself into the fray, he took over the match and led his team to victory by submitting Zayn after hitting him with a Running Knee. Good match for what it was, nothing crazy but definitely served its purpose. A great way to get Bryan back in the picture and allowing him to overcome the odds and score the big win. 
Winners: Shane McMahon & Daniel Bryan
Rating: **3/4

Match 8: WWE Raw Women's Championship - Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Nia Jax
Before the bell even rings, Nia Jax attacks Mickie James to take her out of the equation. The match is finally just between Jax and Alexa Bliss. Interesting story leading to this one with Bliss basically ridiculing Jax for her size, almost like the WWE was trying to do a "feel good" type of story here with Jax defeating her bully at the biggest show of the year. The match really just saw Jax dominate Bliss for the most part throughout the match with Bliss getting a little bit of offense in but never did I feel like Jax was in any real struggle. Jax hits a Samoan Drop from the second rope to score the biggest win of her career as she breaks down in tears following the pin. Another decent match but another one that also worked for what it needed to be. Nobody was expecting or even probably wanting a long match between the two considering how deep we were into the show already so they delivered with what they were given. Great moment for Nia.
Winner: Nia Jax
Rating: **

Match 9: WWE Championship - AJ Styles (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
This was the match the internet was begging for, their two favorites going at it for the WWE Championship on the biggest stage. One of the biggest memories I have of watching this match live was how dead the crowd was. It certainly wasn't knocking anything against the two in the ring, just a long show and the majority of the fans were simply ready to move on to the main event already. Despite that, the action in the ring was actually pretty damn good. The action between the two was a slow build from the start with the two almost playing mind games with each other to score an upper hand. Once things picked up a bit, AJ Styles put an emphasis on working on the left knee of Shinsuke Nakamura. Nakamura did a fantastic job in selling the attack throughout the match as the injury would eventually prevent him from pinning Styles or even throwing effective knees. Finally, Nakamura seemingly had Styles lined up for a Kinshasa before Styles reversed it into a Styles Clash. Awesome ending sequence there and a perfect ending to the match. Never mind the internet warriors putting down this match, it was a great battle between two great competitors that didn't have to rely on fancy flips and dives to do it right. Afterwards, Nakamura hands Styles his title before giving him a low blow for his troubles. Awesome stuff from the very beginning. If you were gonna have Styles go over, then something had to give and that was Nakamura turning heel. Shame this match has a pretty bad reputation. I enjoyed it a lot.
Winner: AJ Styles
Rating: ****1/4

Match 10: WWE Raw Tag Team Championship - The Bar (c) vs. Braun Strowman & Nicholas
Welp, we needed something to bridge the gap between the two world championship matches so here we are. Cesaro and Sheamus of The Bar come out on a Mardi Gras flavored float for their entrance which Braun Strowman would hilariously destroy soon after. Strowman walked through the crowd to pick his partner for the match and decided to choose a random kid in the stands named Nicholas. Apparently, he was the son of a WWE referee. Strowman basically wrestled the entire match and finally was able to pin Cesaro to score the win for himself and Nicholas. Quick match as you would expect, the main story here was Strowman winning the belts for himself and Nicholas. Served its purpose, on to the main event. 
Winners: Braun Strowman & Nicholas 
Rating: 3/4*

Match 11: WWE Universal Championship - Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Roman Reigns
Let me start off by saying how much I LOVED their encounter a few years back at WrestleMania 31. I was there live for that match and it was absolutely electric. I was one of the few fans who was actually looking forward to this match, the same cannot be said for so many others watching this. The build for this match was a little more personal and since we've seen the two go at it a few times before, the mystery and mystique of it all just wasn't as apparent compared to the first time. This was as physical as you could get in a pro wrestling match. Brock Lesnar was seemingly having his way with Roman Reigns for a better chunk of the match, suplexing him and hitting F5s left and right. As much as the two tried to win the crowd over, it just wasn't happening. They could literally do a dive off the top of the stadium and the nerdy fans would still be screaming for CM Punk somehow. Lesnar cut Reigns up with some nasty elbow strikes which made for a pretty gruesome scene of blood pouring out of Roman's forehead. Despite giving Lesnar a few Spears at the end of the match, Reigns would still fall to one last F5. Great match that was unfortunately ruined by spoiled fans in the stadium. They were physical from the start and gave it all they had. Great scene at the end with Reigns walking on his own terms as the show closed. At the time, it was unsure if Lesnar was going to ever return to wrestling again so Vince definitely threw us a curveball here and left the wrestling world wondering what would happen next. Smart, leaves more intrigue to what would happen in the proceeding weeks.
Winner: Brock Lesnar
Rating: ***3/4

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
Underwhelming? Sure. But I still enjoyed this show for what it was worth. However, I still question if having such a long show is beneficial or not for the show. It almost felt like the train was running out of steam as it continued to progress. Regardless, there's still a lot of good in this event to definitely look back at it with fond memories. This is far from the best offering the WWE has given us but it's certainly still a great installment to WrestleMania. 
Rating: 7/10