WrestleMania 36 was the 36th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their Raw, SmackDown, and NXT brand divisions — the first to promote the NXT brand. It was filmed on March 25 and 26, 2020 and broadcast as a two-night event on April 4 and 5, marking the first time the event was broadcast over two nights as well as aired on tape delay. In addition to the WWE Network, the two productions were sold as individual PPVs, with both available as a package deal.
The event was originally scheduled to take place solely on April 5, 2020, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida and was to air live. In mid-March 2020, all WWE programming was relocated to the WWE Performance Center training facility in Orlando due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, with no audience and only essential staff present. WWE subsequently announced that WrestleMania would also be presented from the facility, and air across two nights. The majority of its matches were pre-recorded at the Performance Center between March 25 and 26. Taking advantage of the format, two matches — a "Boneyard match" featuring The Undertaker, and a "Firefly Fun House match" featuring Bray Wyatt — were filmed off-site in atypical, cinematic styles.
The card comprised nineteen matches which were divided between the two nights, including one match on each night's Kickoff pre-show and a dark match on the second night. In the main event for Part 1, The Undertaker, returning to his "American Bad Ass" gimmick, defeated AJ Styles in a Boneyard match, and Braun Strowman defeated Goldberg to win the Universal Championship in the final match from the Performance Center. In other prominent matches, Becky Lynch defeated Shayna Baszler to retain the Raw Women's Championship, and Kevin Owens defeated Seth Rollins in a No Disqualification match.
In the main event for Part 2, Drew McIntyre defeated Brock Lesnar to win the WWE Championship after which, McIntyre defeated Big Show to retain the WWE Championship in a dark match (this match was later shown on the April 6 episode of Raw). In other prominent matches, "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt defeated John Cena in a "Firefly Fun House match", Charlotte Flair defeated Rhea Ripley to win the NXT Women's Championship for a second time, which was the first time an NXT championship was defended at the event, Edge defeated Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match, which was Edge's first singles match since 2011, and Otis defeated Dolph Ziggler.
WrestleMania 36 received mostly positive reactions from fans and critics. While it was noted that the event suffered from the absence of a live audience and a poor lead-up (partly due to a number of wrestlers being pulled from the event shortly before its filming, mostly in relation to the pandemic, including Roman Reigns, The Miz, Andrade, and Dana Brooke, all of whom were slated to defend or challenge for championships), most felt that WWE exceeded expectations. The Boneyard and Firefly Fun House matches were singled out as highlights due to for their uniqueness and over–the–top tone.
NIGHT ONE (Saturday, April 4, 2020)
KICKOFF
Cesaro def. Drew Gulak
This shit right here that you can see in the gifs below. Cesaro is a freak of nature in pure athleticism and power. Why the hell can we get a competitive one-on-one match between him and Brock someday when he can do shit like this?
Let's not forget that this dude won a match with a fucking Airplane Spin in 2020. Holy shit that was awesome.
WWE WOMEN'S TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross def. Asuka and Kairi Sane (c) to win the Women's Tag Team Titles
I just have to ask is it too much to ask that Asuka gets a WrestleMania moment in this damn company? Splitting Asuka and Kairi up would give the RAW Women's Division two more strong challengers for Becky's title, but I think they could have done more with this tag team in the long run. Putting the belts back on Bliss Cross Applesauce (seriously that's REALLY a thing as they have a shirt on WWEShop...) just seems like the death kneel for this women's tag team division that they never seem to know what to do with in the first place. For the girls' credit though, they really tried to make this engaging enough for the most part, but ultimately the champions fell short to the challengers.
In my eyes, neither Asuka nor Kairi need to be losing to Bliss nor Cross in any shape nor form, but that's just me. This match could have been a LOT worse and I'll admit that it kept me interested from bell to bell with the near-falls and action. Asuka deserves more praise
Elias def. King Baron Corbin
I didn't give a flying fuck about this match when it was announced and I sure as hell didn't care when it happened on this card. This was the definition of a bathroom break for me for the night.
WWE RAW WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP
Becky Lynch (c) def. Shayna Baszler
I don't know how to put this. This was a good match, but it wasn't a "WrestleMania" match, y'know? We've all seen better from both of these women in the past, but I'll admit that this wasn't much to write home about outside of the constant brawling outside of the ring. I was definitely surprised when Becky pinned Shayna clean to boot. This would be the first of Triple H's prized prospects to take a L here over WrestleMania weekend.
This decision would easily make people assume those rumors about Vince McMahon not warming up to the reception of Shayna Baszler as the challenger to dethrone Becky Lynch as their main attraction, but after reading the results for Monday Night RAW (4/6/2020), it's obvious to see what WWE has in the pipeline. Nia Jax made her return and it's easy to see that Becky and Nia have an established history between them during Becky's rise to immortality that I could easily see them waiting until Summerslam to pay off. It's something that not everyone is going to be too keen about (I know I don't care to see this feud play out...) but it makes the most sense in terms of opponents that Becky has exhausted at this point.
WWE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Sami Zayn (c) def. Daniel Bryan
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| Bryan chasing after Sami like he stole something. |
Bryan gave Sami the beating of his life in this match from these sickening strikes to one scary suicide dive that gave me flashbacks to Chris Benoit's dive out of the ring and into the commentary table. I swear, between Edge and Bryan, I don't know who has been studying the Kota Ibushi and Tetsuya Naito book of unnecessary neck bumps harder.
Thinking back to Sami's heyday back on NXT and how Daniel Bryan and Drew Gulak put on a wrestling clinic on the previous PPV, I was expecting a lot more from this but I was entertained for th most part. I just wanted WWE to give this match enough time. Instead, it felt like it was over as soon as the coals were getting hot. I hope they do more with this program, especially once crowds can start filling the arenas again. We all know that once all five (once Cesaro, Nakamura, and Gulak all get formally involved with this program at some point) that this will end up being a wrestling clinic.
I'll admit that I was a little surprised that Sami retained here, but at the same time, I shouldn't have when Bryan has a history of a weakened immune system and asthma from an early age. If he manages to get sick, they would have to take the title off of him anyway. Additionally, didn't he say in an interview that he's almost done working as a full-time competitor when his current deal is up?
WWE SMACKDOWN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP (LADDER MATCH)
John Morrison (c) def. Jimmy Uso and Kofi Kingston
In terms of in-ring action, this was easily my favorite match of the night despite the fact you could tell that this match was edited to all hell at points to hide crash pads and what not. This was one of the few matches that benefited from the show being taped prior. If you don't watch any other in-ring match from Night 1 go out of your way to watch this match.
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| One thing people are failing to realize about this spot is that Morrison caught Kofi on the ladder to allow him to perform the Hurracanrana. Without JoMo's cooperation, that wouldn't have looked anywhere as smooth as it did here. |
Words don't do this match enough justice. Maybe The Miz needs to stay home and miss more matches for these three guys, especially Morrison, can go out there and kill it like this more often.
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| Even while he was away in Lucha Underground and IMPACT Wrestling, John Morrison's athleticism will never cease to amaze me. |
This is going to go down as one of - if not the best - matches from the entire weekend. Let it be on record that I absolutely LOVED the finish, even though that bump had to suck royally for Morrison though. Jesus...
NO DQ MATCH
Kevin Owens def. Seth Rollins
When this match ended initially by DQ, I threw my hands up in the air, convinced that we were going to have a typical Monday Night RAW finish to this match to continue dragging out this feud. I was relieved when the match restarted as a No Disqualification Match with both men brawling all around the ringside area before Owens ended it with that dive off the WrestleMania sign.
Not gonna lie but that was pretty sick, even though I wasn't too crazy about the rest of this match.
WWE UNIVERSAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Braun Strowman def. Goldberg (c) to win the WWE Universal Championship
After about 3-5 Spears and Running Powerslams each, Strowman endured Goldberg's assault and put him down for the 1-2-3. There's absolutely nothing to write home about this match, especially with the lack of building going into it when WWE clearly had more than enough time to change their plans around after Roman backed out of the event.
Too bad it's too little, too late to scrap the rocket on Braun when they have squandered that opportunity multiple times over the course of the past two-three years. This decision just marks Braun as the poster boy for the definition of a transitional champion.
BONEYARD MATCH
The Undertaker def. AJ Styles
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| This reveal, followed by the shot of AJ Styles' buried hand in the dirt, was the icing on the cake that was this cinematic masterpiece of a "theatrical wrestling match". |
From start to finish, this was the best thing to come out of Night 1 and closed out this show in spectacular fashion. WWE clearly took some cues from Matt Hardy's Final Deletion, with that not being a surprise since they have almost everyone who contributed to that endeavor in IMPACT Wrestling outside of Matt and Reby Hardy themselves on payroll now in that company. If this was going to be a traditional match, we knew that Styles would have bumped his ass off to make Taker look good to a lackluster, yet passable effort. With this cinematic style, WWE were able to hide the Deadman's shortcomings and paint him into a new light. If WWE wants to book Taker vs. Sting in a match of this capacity then I'm all for it. Otherwise, I hope Taker calls it quits sooner more than later.
It should be noted that Lucha Underground deserves from props from all of the praise that this "cinematic wrestling" style borrowed elements from. That style of presentation predates even the Final Deletion stuff on IMPACT Wrestling from Matt Hardy by a few years and definitely doesn't get enough praise from wrestling fans. It did make me smile a bit to see that Lucha Underground is still having an impact on wrestling today - from wealth of talent that WWE, AEW, MLW, Ring of Honor, NWA, and even MLW have all employed currently to that unique cinematography and Hollywood movie style presentation that they brought to the table.
Night One Closing Thoughts
Going into this show, I wasn't too enthusiastic about a WrestleMania without a crowd in any way, shape, nor form. I was just watching out of obligation since I'm still paying that $9.99 (plus taxes) for the Network each month, so I figured I should get my money's worth in that regard. If I were grade this show, I'd give it somewhere between a C+ or a strong B-, just for the TLC Triple Threat and the Boneyard Matches alone. There wasn't nothing that was just flat out rotten or god-awful outside of that Elias vs. King Corbin match that nobody asked for, but I went to make dinner throughout the majority of that for I wouldn't have to even entertain the thought of giving WWE my time of enduring all of that match from bell to bell. I'll admit that Night 1 left me satisfied for the most part and eager to see what WWE had in mind for Night 2, especially with the Firefly Funhouse Match after seeing what they pulled off with the Boneyard Match at the conclusion of Night 1.
NIGHT TWO (Sunday, April 5, 2020)
KICKOFF
Liv Morgan def. Natalya
NXT WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP
Charlotte Flair def. Rhea Ripley (c) to win the NXT Women's Championship
This was crazy to me that Night 2 would kick off with this match, but given the fact that Night 2 had multiple women's title matches involved, I suppose this was for the best as this match would have been lost in the shuffle if it was bumped up further up the card.
Like I mentioned several times over on social media this past weekend, I thought this was EASILY the best match on the entire card for Night 2, but I could have done without the loud groaning, moaning, and screaming like this was bad softcore porn on Cinemax.
I'm still not too crazy about the decision to put the belt on Charlotte Flair, but it's whatever. I'm sure that they would have gone with a different result if there were people in that building.
Otis def. Dolph Ziggler
This match served as the climatic finish (no pun intended) to the Mandy Rose, Otis, and Dolph Ziggler love triangle. A mysterious hacker (I jokingly stated that it was Sami Callihan over on IMPACT pulling overtime) revealed on SmackDown! that it was Sonya Deville that foiled the Valentine's Day date plans for Otis and Mandy, which set this match into motion. As a result, Sonya accompanied Ziggler to the ring for this match.
The match itself wasn't too much to write home about as this match was a PAINFUL reminder of how much better it would have been in front of a crowd, especially after Mandy Rose ran down to slap Sonya Deville down to the floor and Low Blow Ziggler in the family jewels for Otis could pick up the win. The kiss shared in the ring between Otis and Mandy was the icing on the cake for all of this, with the only omission was the live crowd's reaction to Mandy and Otis FINALLY getting together.
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| About damn time. Go 'head, Otis. Get dem Mandy draws tonight, son. You deserve it. |
Mandy Rose is allegedly dating Tino Sabbatelli (remember him?) from NXT behind the scenes, so don't get too excited that this relationship is legit. It was just cool to see the "every man" get the girl for once in one of these stories instead of the pretty girl giving him the shaft and going heel like how majority of these storylines end in wrestling, especially in WWE.
Aleister Black def. Bobby Lashley (w/ Lana)
This match had absolutely no build-up since Lashley was immediately put on quarantine for two weeks following his trip to Africa to promote WWE over there. I couldn't believe that they flew out Lana just for this too while Lashley was wearing some ridiculous new tights for his ring gear. I swear that dude has to be regretting that decision to come back to WWE JUST to fight Brock Lesnar when he hasn't even sniffed towards the conversation of any sort of opportunity in that capacity. Then again, he could just happy for that paycheck since there's no telling what Kristal Marshall left him with after their divorce. We all know IMPACT Wrestling wasn't going to have big money contracts to hang onto him (and everyone else who were a big name in WWE prior) forever.
This match was short (for the most part) and to the point. It did it's job and I can't complain about that. I loved that finish where Lashley went for the Spear and Black instantly put him down with the Black Mass to counter. If they are building up Aleister Black as the point who will retire The Undertaker, then this is a step in the right direction. If I were to pick, they can't go wrong with either Drew or Aleister in that role. I'm personally more keen on Taker passing that torch to Aleister or Finn Balor if I'm perfectly honest, but between those three men that I mentioned, Black would be the most obvious choice, given his similar gimmick.
Other than the decision to have Black go over, the best thing to come out of this match is the tease of a fallout between Lashley and Lana. She was the one who told him to go for the Spear when he had Black beat which proved to be his downfall here. They could totally go that route and split them up if they want.
LAST MAN STANDING MATCH
Edge def. Randy Orton
Going into WrestleMania 36, this was easily the best laid out match going into this show. From the promos, the drama, and the emotions going into it, this match had all of the ingredients for an all-time classic. What transpired was a fucking boring as hell match that went on and on and on AND ON for roughly 40 minutes. What made the Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa brawl throughout the Performance Center cool was that it was over in less than ten minutes. This shit kept on going and going. I think they could have shaved off at least 15-20 minutes of this in the editing room and still would have had a much better match.
I can't speak for anyone else, but I didn't need to see Orton attempting to hang Edge from one of the weight machines backstage when I literally just saw the Dark Side of the Ring documentary of the Chris Benoit murders/suicide about two weeks ago. Whoever approved that spot for this match and didn't edit out of post-work needs to be slapped.
The emotions between Orton and Edge here were real and played into the closing moments of the match that saw a teary eyed Edge give his friend, Orton, a Con-Chair-to to put him out of his misery while simultaneously sealing his fate as the winner of this Last Man Standing Match.
I think my on and off collaborator Serena said it best concerning her feelings about this match though, given the fact that she has a much more emotional attachment to him growing up during the heights of his career.
I have to say... Never has a return to the ring made me cry. Never has a come back story from an injury made me cry. But seeing Edge back... Honestly, it does bring a tear to my eye
He deserves it. For some reason, I am so happy to see him back. At least for a little bit
I (along with a lot of people online) didn't much care for this match as a whole, but after being forced to retire, Edge did deserve this opportunity to come back to doing what he loved and that's performing in the squared circle. Sure, this match may not have been everyone's cup of tea, but at the end of the day, Edge is back doing what he loves and that's all what really matters.
SMACKDOWN! TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
The Street Profits (c) def. Austin Theory & Angel Garza
That's not a knock against anyone in this match either as both teams did what they could to keep this interesting, but there wasn't a single moment in this match where I felt that this was worthy of a spot on ANY WrestleMania card. This was a pre-show match at best.
The biggest takeaway from this match was the fact that Ford's wife, Bianca Belair, ran out to lay out Zelina Vega in the post-match brawl. I'm guessing that this is her formal call-up to the main roster and you can pretty much flush those hopes for her to challenge Charlotte Flair for the NXT title down the drain now.
SMACKDOWN! WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP 5-WAY ELIMINATION MATCH
Bayley (c) def. Lacey Evans, Tamina, Naomi, and Sasha Banks to retain
From the second that they announced this match, I had Sasha pegged to win this thing after FINALLY stabbing her "best friend" in the back. Boy, was I wrong on how this played out by the time it was all said and done. That goes without WWE teasing the hell out of it from the pre-match interview and even during portions of this match....Then Sasha Banks got unceremoniously eliminated and absolutely nobody cared about the rest of this match as it was down to Lacey Evans and Bayley. I was more surprised that they let Lacey Evans of all people got to eliminate Sasha than anything else here. Sasha came back into the mix and helped Bayley retain, which asks even more questions as it looked like their partnership was coming to a boiling point where there was a tease of a rift between them at one point. I was hoping for something in the post-match when Sasha handed the belt to Bayley, but nothing.
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| Outside of the Diva stans on Twitter, who actually remembered that Team BAD was a thing? |
I'll give the ladies of SmackDown props. They tried here and this was watchable. Tamina was a wrecking machine for the first portion of the match before she was eliminated by everyone dog piling on top of her - very reminiscent of how Big Show used to get eliminated in battle royals all of the damn time back in the day. Naomi got plenty of time to shine before she fell victim to Sasha and Bayley's double team tactics. Even though I'm still not sold on her as a babyface but Lacey's endurance throughout the punishment that Sasha and Bayley were laying onto her was commendable. Bayley still comes across as so goddamn uncomfortable as a heel at times - at least to me anyway. It doesn't seem organic like how most people warm up at the chance to play "villains" in wrestling.
If they aren't going to do anything with neither brand's Women's Championships, I suggest that they unify both titles. These two divisions have been exposed to the core and it shows that there's a severe lack of depth in these two divisions. Becky, Bayley, and better yet, Charlotte Flair, have all exhausted their credible opponents and match-ups to the point where almost anyone else seems redundant at this stage.
FIREFLY FUNHOUSE MATCH
"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt def. John Cena
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| The Prototype has returned, along with almost every other gimmick John Cena has been in the past. |
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| My thoughts EXACTLY, Titus. |
I got no words on that. I wasn't offended by it nor was I blown away by it. I just want to know exactly what combination of drugs and alcohol were involved to produce something like that.
That being said, there's a GREAT explanation/breakdown of that entire sequence by an indie wrestler going around.
WWE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Drew McIntyre
Simply put, this was a complete rehash of Strowman and Goldberg from Night 1. As the main event of this show, this felt so fucking lazy on WWE's behalf.At the end of the day, I'm glad Drew McIntyre got his moment, especially after seeing his WWE 24 special where he was going through the emotions and anxiety of this year's WrestleMania possibly being cancelled among the ongoing coronavirus concerns. It just sucks that there wasn't a crowd there to share that moment with him. What a way to end WrestleMania though... A new champion is crowned but there's no pyro nor confetti to shower him among the roars of the fans to welcome in the new apex predator at the top of the food chain.
Night Two Closing Thoughts
If I was to choose between which night had the better of the two shows, I have to go with Night One. Night Two opened strong with the NXT Women's Championship but dragged on and on, no thanks to the Last Man Standing Match between Edge and Orton. That was coupled with the fact that the majority of the matches on this card were matches that you would normally see on one of the throwaway PPVs and not one of the Big Four PPVs of the year. I'm still disappointed that both Otis and Mandy and especially Drew McIntyre were robbed of the fan response to their triumphant victories. That would've made their WrestleMania moments complete in my eyes. Not some taped show in an empty building.
Looking back at these results, it a little telling that we could be looking at the Four Horsewomen butting heads sooner more than later. The only one of them who isn't holding gold is Sasha Banks and with Money in the Bank still scheduled for May 10th as of this posting, I could see her getting the women's briefcase and starting a sort of clash with the other Horsewomen in terms of who she is going to cash in the opportunity against. This could lead to some playful back and forth between all of them until Sasha ultimately cashes in on Bayley like we all know she should do.
When this show was over, my best friend sent me a message over Facebook. It said, "WWE should've cancelled WrestleMania. This show as a mistake." The more I think about, the more I'm inclined to agree with his opinion. Outside of a handful of matches, this wasn't a must-see event, nor lived up to the reputation of WrestleMania. I don't think we should be grading this show on a curve either since WWE went out of their way to ensure "the show must go on" in the middle of this pandemic while simultaneously putting their talents' health and well-being at risk. While I applaud WWE for providing a lot of people, myself included, in a means of escapism this weekend by watching WrestleMania among the stay at home/lockdown orders in the middle of this ongoing pandemic, I can't say that this is an event that I'm going to fondly remember. I hate saying it like that as there were a lot of great efforts here by the talent to make this show worth our time, but I can't lie to myself and say that this was a "good" WrestleMania. This was a slightly above-average show and that's about it.
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