WrestleMania 37 - Night 1 & 2 (April 10+11, 2021) -- Results & Afterthoughts

WrestleMania 37 was the 37th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. It took place as a two-night event on April 10 and 11, 2021 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. Following the merger of the WWE Network with Peacock in the United States, WrestleMania 37 was the first major WWE event for which U.S. subscribers could only stream the event via Peacock's WWE Network channel.

The event was originally scheduled to take place on March 28, 2021, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California; however, the COVID-19 pandemic in California made it unlikely that the event could be held there with in-person spectators. Florida, however, lifted those restrictions, and WWE in turn pushed the date of the event back and moved it to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, which was the originally planned venue for WrestleMania 36 before the pandemic forced it to be relocated and held behind closed doors at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. As a result, it marked the first time WWE had ticketed fans in attendance for an event during the COVID-19 pandemic, though to a limited capacity; the last WWE event to have ticketed fans was NXT on March 11, 2020, just before pandemic-related restrictions took effect. With a limited capacity, both nights of the event sold out of all available tickets, with WWE reporting that each night had an attendance of 25,675 spectators, totaling 51,350 for both nights combined.

The card comprised 14 matches that were evenly divided between the two nights. In the main event for Night 1, Bianca Belair defeated Sasha Banks to win the SmackDown Women's Championship. This was the first time two African Americans headlined WrestleMania, as well as the second time women headlined the event after WrestleMania 35. Other prominent matches saw Bad Bunny and Damian Priest defeat The Miz and John Morrison, Braun Strowman defeated Shane McMahon in a Steel Cage match, A.J. Styles and Omos defeated The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) to win the Raw Tag Team Championship, which was Omos' in-ring debut and also made Styles WWE's 32nd Triple Crown Champion and 22nd Grand Slam Champion, and in the opening bout, Bobby Lashley defeated Drew McIntyre by technical submission to retain the WWE Championship. In the main event for Night 2, Roman Reigns defeated Daniel Bryan and Edge in a triple threat match to retain the Universal Championship. In other prominent matches, Apollo Crews defeated Big E in a Nigerian Drum Fight to win the Intercontinental Championship, Sheamus defeated Riddle to win the United States Championship, Rhea Ripley defeated Asuka to win the Raw Women's Championship, and in the opening bout, Randy Orton defeated The Fiend.

This was the first WrestleMania since 2003 to not feature John Cena in any capacity and the first since 2012 not to feature Brock Lesnar. This was also the first WrestleMania since 1988 to not feature at least one of the following: Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and The Undertaker. The event was also the first WrestleMania since 2010 to have an on-screen appearance by WWE Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Vince McMahon, who opened the show to welcome fans to the event and welcome them back to a WWE event for the first time in over a year.

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Night 1 (April 10)

Match Results:

Singles Match for the WWE Championship
Bobby Lashley (c) (with MVP) def. Drew McIntyre by technical submission

For the first match in front of fans, I couldn't understand for the life of me why were they working so slow for the first half of this match. Maybe they were buying time for the storm to clear since the show was delayed at the start due to the rain, but it made for a pretty tame start to the show in the opening minutes.

It should be mentioned that WWE should take note that those promos and interviews from talent that were done on a whim to kill time during the rain delay(s) were all great because they weren't scripted like normal WWE promos are. We got to see a lot of talent show more personality and character than they typically do on WWE programming. More of this PLEASE! You have great talent, Vince. Just cut off some of the puppeteer strings and have faith in them to deliver.

Back to the match itself though, Drew and Bobby brought things together by the end, despite both men getting the opposite reactions from the crowd as I was expecting. I thought the right man won with Lashley retaining. It's not going to hurt Drew McIntyre to not win the title again in front of fans, but Lashley didn't need to have his reign cut short either. He's just as a pivotal piece of the puzzle that makes Monday Night RAW tolerable, just like Roman Reigns has done for the SmackDown! brand. I just wish that Vince didn't disband the Hurt Business the way that he did. It was completely unnecessary at this point of the game. Then again, he might have seen it as a distraction, much like the Kongtourage in IMPACT/TNA Wrestling.

Tag Team Turmoil Match

Natalya and Tamina won by last eliminating The Riott Squad (Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott)

Winners received a WWE Women's Tag Team Championship match on Night 2

Naomi and Lana were the first ones in this match and the first to get eliminated too. Thanks for comin', I guess. I feel even worse for those two when I saw the tweets that Miro and Lana's father came to see her match at WrestleMania too. I was under the impression that her and Naomi would at least last a while in this thing or at least survive to Night 2 and beat Shayna and Nia, but no dice.

Pretty darn strange that they would link up Carmella and Billie Kay for this thing when they could have easily just put the IIconics back together. It's not like they were doing much individually since the split anyway.

I couldn't help but laugh at Mandy Rose slipping on the rainwater on the ramp during her entrance. She played it off well though.

I got behind the Riott Squad running the gauntlet of sorts during this match, but I wasn't mad when Nattie and Tamina picked up the win at the end. The veterans were trying to make this thing good, but it was a beautiful mess from start to finish - even though the ladies get an A for effort.

Singles Match

Cesaro def. Seth Rollins

For me personally, this match was the match of the night for Night 1. Great action and athleticism from both Superstars from bell to bell with Cesaro even pulling off an UFO spot in this match at one point. 

If you don't watch anything else on this show, go out of your way to watch this match and the main event. I cannot rave about this match enough. 

Tag Team Match for the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship

A.J. Styles and Omos def. The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) (c)

I don't know what else people were expecting from this match. AJ Styles did all of the work for three-fourths of the match while Omos came in and wreck shit the best he could with his limited experience. The little things that he did looked good enough, especially with both the New Day bumping like fools for him and AJ Styles coming in to hide in weak links in Omos' offense. For his first outing in a WWE ring in a major stage as this, Omos made the best of this golden opportunity and that's enough in its own right. 

Steel Cage Match

Braun Strowman def. Shane McMahon

Despite the shitty build of getting to this point, this match was far better than it had any right being going into this show. Strowman beat the holy hell out of Shane O'Mac throughout this thing - rightfully so too. Can we please stop allowing Shane to volunteer to jump off something at Mania every year before he kills himself? That definitely has to be taking a toll on his body. He's looking every bit of old as his father these days.

I'm about as tired as everyone else of these mandatory Shane McMahon matches every year just to see him drop off a building and shave another few years off his lifespan. Give these spots to some other deserving full-time talent(s) on the roster.

Tag Team Match

Bad Bunny and Damian Priest defeated The Miz and John Morrison

While I was pleasantly surprised at how well Bad Bunny performed here and have absolutely mad respect for his dedication to training for this event, I'm not going to say that this was the match of the night like a lot of people on my Twitter timeline were saying during the show. No way. I just thought that Bad Bunny got far too much offense in to the point that it felt like he was making this stuff look far too easy for any outsider to come in and get the upper hand on the established wrestlers. That could be credited to Miz and Morrison going out of their way to be bumping machines for him to look good too.

The biggest takeaway from this is that this match gave Damian Priest the elevation that he needed for his first WrestleMania appearance. That's one good nudge into the right direction for whatever they have planned for him next since this feud is (hopefully) over.

Singles match for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship

Bianca Belair defeated Sasha Banks (c)

Did I miss something but could someone explain to me why was Sasha dressed like she got dressed in Shotzi Blackheart and Naomi's dressing rooms? That being said, I thought Bianca and Sasha made the most of this main event spot. You couldn't watch this match and really feel for these ladies, especially seeing that Bianca was tearing up before the opening bell with Sasha about to join in before both women put their game faces on to get straight to business. I thought this was a much better match than the Women's Tag Team Turmoil match earlier in this show, but I still felt that Cesaro and Rollins delivered from the bell to bell in terms of performances tonight. That's not selling these women short either. There were some just as impressive - if not more so - spots in this match, such as Bianca military pressing Sasha Banks overhead while she climbed the steel steps.

The finish came at the appropriate moment - right after Bianca nailed her with her hair whip. That allowed Bianca to hit the KOD for the win. I don't have the slightest idea what Bianca has loaded in that hair extension to make that loud as hell crack noise, but it sure as hell left a nasty mark on Sasha's abdomen that you can see during the post-match celebration. Jesus.

In either case, the right woman won and we have the EST as the newEST SmackDown! Women's Champion.

In comparison to the RAW Women's Championship on Night 2, I think this was better of the two women's championship matches and deserved the main event spot here tonight. Much like Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, and Ronda Rousey main eventing for the first time a few years ago, you can't take this first ever main event against two black women away from Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair. I have my gripes about Sasha at times, but her and Bianca both earned this - black excellence was definitely on display in this main event. 

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Night 2 (April 11)

Match Results:

Singles Match

Randy Orton def. The Fiend (with Alexa Bliss)

I watched this finish at least three different times and I STILL don't get it. This was the worst thing all week on WWE programming and I sat through that go-home edition of RAW last week in its entirety... Why was the Fiend distracted by Alexa Bliss setting off the pyro? Did Orton really need a WrestleMania win at this stage of his career? I mean, come on. The dude already burnt The Fiend alive a few months ago. Shouldn't he be getting his win back by now? 

It just seems like WWE is dead set on killing the mystique of this character. Why keep beating this guy over and over into powder?

The only thing I could gather from this loss is that maybe they are setting up Alexa Bliss to "evolve" into being the new Sister Abigail as this storyline's endgame? I don't know. The only thing I know is that with that black ink/paint leaking into her face, it made her look like Senua from Hellblade. 

...Senua? https://t.co/FzjnLWoMtE

— Ninja Theory (@NinjaTheory) April 12, 2021

Ironically enough, the folks at Ninja Theory thought the same thing.

The following night on Monday Night RAW (April 12, 2021), Alexa Bliss would announce that she is now acting independently from The Fiend after amassing more power over the darkness that possessed and protected her to summon her own creatures to serve her. I guess they are hinting at Bliss truly becoming Sister Abigail in mind and body, but it still doesn't excuse WWE for the sheer amount of stupidity with the booking of this match. 

Why is this company so adamant about killing the mystique of this character?? The Fiend should be one of their most protected gimmicks/characters for years to come, much like The Undertaker and Kane before it. 

Tag Team Match for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship

Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler (c) def. Natalya and Tamina by technical submission 

I'm not going to lie but I was behind Nattie and Tamina 110% here, much like so many other fans who got invested into this match. It ran on a little too long, but overall, it was a great performance, especially for Tamina, who deserved a WrestleMania moment after all of these years. I thought the veterans were ultimately robbed of the win here when it was all said and done though. 

I cannot fathom what does WWE see in Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler as a tag team. I just don't see it. Shayna would be a MUCH better singles heel, same for Nia too. The only reason I could see why WWE didn't have them drop the titles to Nattie and Tamina is that they are going to do the switch on SmackDown! this week since they didn't want to do a complete landslide of title changes on this entire show. 

I've seen critiques and complaints from podcasters and other wrestling content creators state that Nattie and Tamina weren't an established team anyway so they didn't deserve to win. Bitch, what? They've been pushing this team on social media for a month or so on and off social media and they were feuding with Nia and Shayna on SmackDown! recently. It's not like they were coming out of the blue with the millionth challenge to them like Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke. I'm honestly surprised that they didn't put Lana and Naomi in the spot to win on Night 1 and to dethrone Nia and Shayna on Night 2. I could see the frustrations with fans about the Riott Squad not picking up the win too. Those girls desperately deserve a bone since they are essentially the only established women's tag team left that hasn't been broken up. I mean, they were but they brought them back together once Ruby Riott came back from injury. I really want to see them get a title run too, especially if go over two veterans like Nattie and Tamina in a lengthy program. Shayna and Nia should have been back in singles matches MONTHS ago. 

Singles Match

Kevin Owens def. Sami Zayn (with Logan Paul) 

After the wars that Owens and Zayn have put each other through not just in and out of WWE, no one should have been surprised that this was going to be a solid performance from both men. These guys know each other in and out of the ring and probably had the time of their lives working on a grand stage like this. I remember hoping that they would have gotten a WrestleMania match as the blow off to their original feud a few years ago actually. 

This match started a trend for the rest of the night where it was obvious that everyone had something to prove and the talent definitely had their working boots on.

Singles Match for the WWE United States Championship

Sheamus def. Riddle (c) 

Much like the match before it, this match definitely delivered in sheer athleticism. 

..the kick heard ‘round the world #maniamoment pic.twitter.com/tTqfLBi62o

— Sheamus (@WWESheamus) April 12, 2021

Sheamus' Brogue Kick connecting on Riddle while he was upside down during the execution of his Lionsault is going to be a key component to a lot of highlight packages for YEARS to come. Jesus Christ that spot looked awesome. It legit knocked the fuck out of Riddle too as when he came up he was bleeding from the mouth. 

Nigerian Drum Fight for the WWE Intercontinental Championship

Apollo Crews def. Big E (c) 

I was disappointed at the lack of drums here (excluding Wale's musical performance for Big E), but I'll be honest that I didn't care for most of this match - despite the guys both working hard. I thought their Fastlane match was better than this.

Repackaging Dabba Kato makes sense if they want to give that big guy something to do, but I had to do a double take for a split second there because I thought he was Damian Priest at first. The biggest positive to come out of this match is that this loss frees up Big E to challenge for the Universal Championship while simultaneously giving Apollo Crews the much needed win for his heel turn. At least they have him doing something now other than just being a generic smiling babyface from week to week, even though I'm not too fond of him being the modern day equivalent of Saba Simba and Prince Nana, but that's just me.

Singles match for the WWE Raw Women's Championship

Rhea Ripley def. Asuka (c) 

I thought for sure that Rhea Ripley was going to lose following the fact that Ash Costello was performing her entrance music ("Brutality") to the ring. Isn't that one of the many unspoken rules of wrestling that if you get a big WrestleMania entrance/performance that you're heavily inclined to lose, much like Big E in the previous match? 

I'm not going to lie, but I wasn't feeling this match in the opening moments as there were a few rough spots as it seemed like Rhea and Asuka were feeling each others' styles out until they smoothed things out a few minutes in. From that point on to the finish, the match went off like clock work. Kudos to how hard Asuka and Rhea were laying their shots in too. It contributed to making this match feeling a lot more brutal than the Bianca and Sasha match that headlined the night prior. 

Sadly, I was disappointed with how Rhea hit one of the weakest looking Riptides I have ever seen her hit to win the title after ducking one of Asuka's kicks. It made for a rather unceremonious moment, despite this being a big moment for Rhea on the main roster, but the execution made it fall flat a bit for me. I'm still happy for Rhea regardless. I'm glad that she was able to return for a second WrestleMania appearance with a win in the history books instead of suffering a loss and leaving in tears again. Rhea Ripley had a pretty shitty year following that loss and worked her way back up to this point after doing the honors on her way out of NXT to put Raquel Gonzalez over and on the map. 

Let's hope that Rhea Ripley turns out to be that shot of adrenaline that RAW Women's division has desperately needed over the past year or so. 

Triple Threat match for the WWE Universal Championship

Roman Reigns (c) (with Jey Uso and Paul Heyman) def. Edge and Daniel Bryan 

Without a shadow of a doubt, this was the match of the night - and possibly of the entire weekend - for WrestleMania and rightfully so. Edge, Daniel Bryan, and Roman Reigns went out there and ran a clinic for this crowd. I'm sure Vince was happy to hear that they didn't need to pipe in boos for Reigns since he was easily garnering in the reaction they wanted here. I was a little surprised at the boos for Edge, but not surprised in the least that the Yes! Movement is alive and well in support for Daniel Bryan. This was a match where at any given moment that you could believe that any one of these competitors could have walked away as the winner. As a fan, I selfishly wanted Daniel Bryan to win (especially since he was playing it up that this could be his last WrestleMania appearance), but I had absolutely no qualms about Roman Reigns retaining. I went in-depth with my issues about Edge winning back during my Royal Rumble write-up, so I'm not going to repeat myself like a broken record here. He made the shift as a complete heel at Fastlane last month, so I didn't see the point of giving him a fairy tale ending to his comeback story this year. It's not going to kill him not to win the title right now. 

My favorite part of this match was the finish. Roman beat BOTH Edge and Daniel Bryan in such a convincing manner that neither one of them can go back and say that they were "screwed" for another rematch at Backlash next month. This ultimately frees up Roman's dancing card for someone new and fresh. There's a wealth of opponents that Edge can face and even more that Daniel Bryan hasn't worked a program with in the last stretch of his career. 

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Closing Thoughts

We had black excellence start and finish on Night 1, but we also had Hulk Hogan attempting to steal the spotlight from Titus O'Neil, who I thought could have handled the hosting duties on his own. 

WrestleMania returned this year with fans in the building and that was a good thing, especially with actual crowd noise instead of the canned cheers, boos, and various chants that have been fed into the shows in the Thunderdome over the past year. 

I thought Vince McMahon made a touching speech to open the show to welcome fans back, but we shouldn't be ignoring that there were a wealth of people completely ignoring the CDC guidelines and safety measures. There were numerous fans captured on camera not wearing masks and the seating looked like it was elbow to elbow without people 6 feet apart either. You could easily see this on the front rows at ringside and on the hard camera side throughout the show on both nights. It's no mystery why WWE had everyone sign those consent forms prior to entry.

 

We almost got rained out of Night 1 of WrestleMania...

The first portion of the show was delayed due to the heavy rain in the Florida area at 8PM EST time, but this forced WWE to stall for time with a lot of promos and interviews with talent on the fly to hype the upcoming matches for the evening (Night 1). These were completely unscripted and came off great because they were real and genuine, instead of the cookie-cutter processed bullshit that WWE Creative writes for a lot of these men and women. Like I mentioned earlier in this write-up, give these people a chance and trust them to talk for themselves. Give fans a reason to get invested in them as real, genuine human beings, instead of wrestlers fresh off the assembly line fresh out of the Performance Center or a bad acting class. 

This was a show that I dare say that was better than NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, despite some of the hiccups on both nights. The main roster delivered in the regard that they had more matches that held my attention from bell to bell and who can hate on those brilliant video packages to hype up the WrestleMania matches? Those were incredible for both nights. 

It should also be noted that this was a WrestleMania show that wasn't filled to the brim with part-timers and Legends taking the spotlight away from the main roster of WWE talent. The main roster should be praised for delivering two nights of great wrestling. Outside of Edge, Shane McMahon, and Bad Bunny, the majority of the current WWE roster got their time to shine. That was a victory in its own right. Let's just hope that WWE keep this positive momentum and move it forward into good programming on their weekly shows. 

After seeing Monday Night RAW (April 12, 2021) though, it doesn't seem like they are off to a good start...

WWE Elimination Chamber (Feb. 21, 2021) -- Results & Afterthoughts

WWE Elimination Chamber (also known as No Escape in Germany) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. It took place on February 21, 2021, and was broadcast from the WWE ThunderDome, hosted at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was the 11th event under the Elimination Chamber chronology and the final event to air on the American version of the WWE Network before its merger with Peacock.

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Match Results: 

Kick-Off: Fatal Four-Way Match

Winner joined the WWE United States Championship match on the main card.

John Morrison def. Elias, Mustafa Ali (with Mace, T-Bar, and Slapjack), and Ricochet

Elimination Chamber Match for an immediate WWE Universal Championship Match

Daniel Bryan def. Cesaro, Jey Uso, Kevin Owens, King Corbin, and Sami Zayn

SmackDown Elimination Chamber Match

Eliminated	Wrestler	Entered	Eliminated by	Method	Time
1	King Corbin	3	Cesaro	Submission	17:45
2	Sami Zayn	4	Kevin Owens	Pinfall	25:30
3	Kevin Owens	5	Jey Uso	Pinfall	26:50
4	Cesaro	2	Jey Uso	Pinfall	32:50
5	Jey Uso	6	Daniel Bryan	Pinfall	34:20
Winner	Daniel Bryan	1

Going into this match, I was all for Cesaro getting the win here and challenging Roman Reigns if he was going to get a proper title match later into the show. In hindsight, now that I have seen how they were going to lay all of this out, especially how they sent Roman out there to lay Daniel Bryan to waste after he survived the SmackDown Chamber match, then I was absolutely fine with Cesaro not getting the win. Anyone paying attention to my live tweets during the show last night could tell you that I was royally pissed off when he was eliminated though. 

Cesaro and Daniel Bryan were killing it since they were the two men to start this match. I had absolutely NO problems with Baron Corbin being eliminated first and rightfully so. Sami Zayn's cowardly heel antics, while occasionally funny, are getting stale at this point. I thought he was going to lure Kevin Owens to his side of thinking (again) after he has failed repeatedly to put down the Tribal Chief. 

A heel turn for Kevin Owens would be a logical course of action but at the same time, he's ran the well dry on that over the past few years. Alternatively, they could put him and Sami Zayn into a program for WrestleMania to rekindle that feud again since it's been a while since they have been at odds end. 

My heart sank like a brick to see Cesaro get eliminated by Jey Uso, who has been doing great work as one of Roman Reigns' cronies over the past year. This singles push for him in the wake of his brother being injured was the breath of fresh air that his career needed. I understand that they are simultaneously building credibility for him as a singles competitor and adding drama to the end of this match with the heels possibly getting the upper hand, but I didn't think it should have been done to Cesaro's detriment. The dude is already getting scraps as is with this current push or sorts - something that is highly unlikely that would be happening if Daniel Bryan didn't have creative influence on the SmackDown! brand. That being said, I wasn't mad with Cesaro's loss here in hindsight from how they followed up Daniel Bryan's narrow victory.

Singles Match for the WWE Universal Championship

Roman Reigns (c) (with Paul Heyman) def. Daniel Bryan by technical submission

Roman Reigns came out to defend his title immediately following the end result of the previous match, offering no breathing room for Daniel Bryan. Bryan managed to catch Roman out of the Spear with the Yes Lock, but there wasn't no moment of that hold where I thought he was actually going to make Roman submit. In my honest opinion, Roman Reigns shouldn't be losing that title until Summerslam - at the minimum. 

So yeah that means Edge (who came out there to lay out Roman with a Spear following his successful title defense) should go to WrestleMania and lose. That should serve as a grim reminder that none of these Rumble winners are guaranteed to win the big one at WrestleMania while at the same time, continue the show of force of Roman Reigns' monumental title reign.  

Triple Threat Match for the WWE United States Championship

Riddle def. Bobby Lashley (c) (with MVP) and Keith Lee John Morrison

As originally pictured above, Keith Lee was originally scheduled to be the third man in this match before John Morrison was added to this match after winning the Fatal 4-Way Match on the Kick-Off show. 

The first half of this match was simply a display of sheer force from "The Almighty" until Riddle and Morrison made the wise decision to work together in some capacity. I haven't seen Lashley look this dominant since his BDC (Beatdown Clan) run in IMPACT Wrestling when he was aligned with MVP in a similar manner as the Hurt Business there. The finish would come after Riddle took MVP's crutch and used it on Lashley, only to hit Morrison with his finish and steal the win from right underneath his nose. 

After that result, it was made painfully clear that Morrison was in there to eat the pin for Lashley could lose the title without getting pinned. Believe what you want from the dirtsheets and rumors floating around online, but it seems like WWE has enough stock invested into Keith Lee that they didn't throw him into this match merely to get pinned for another loss that he doesn't need right now, especially after joining the roster not too long ago. I would like to believe that they have plans for Keith Lee to challenge for the US title at WrestleMania in some capacity since he's clearly not in the conversation for the WWE Championship.   

This wasn't a bad match, but it merely felt like something that would be filling up time on your typical run of the mill episode of Monday Night Raw. I had to feel sorry for Morrison being regulated to mere filler here. Seeing him perform in this match makes me hope and wish that they have plans for him to have a singles run sooner more than later if the rumors of WWE signing his wife, Taya Valkyrie, to the company. Put those two together and let them paint the town red. I'm sure it would make for some good vignettes and segments. Hell... it can't get any worse, can it? Wait, wait, wait... lemme take that one back before someone on WWE Creative says, "Hold my beer..."

Tag Team Match for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship

Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler (c) def. Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks

During this entire match, I was hoping and praying that we didn't have to endure another Sasha Banks Women's Tag title reign just to give Bianca and Sasha something to fall out over for their inevitable WrestleMania feud to start. They would be merely recycling or rather rehashing the same storyline where Bayley turned on Sasha Banks to spark her own turn to babyface. I don't know what they are going to do to kickstart that feud as both women are at their best heel in my honest opinion, but Bianca is the one who has the babyface momentum behind her, so Sasha SHOULD be the heel going into their WrestleMania feud. If any hint/clue from her interview with Stone Cold Steve Austin should be taken away from that sitdown session, it's that Sasha Banks firmly believes that she's the best all-round athlete, performer, and wrestler in the entire WWE - whether it's male or female. That's no gimmick either - she really believes that. I'm not going to knock the woman for having confidence in herself and knowing her own worth, but I can't help thinking that I'm sure her colleagues are looking at this interview and thinking she's coming off extremely arrogant. 

As for this match, it was what it was - an absolutely nothing filler of a match. Naomi and Lana have won the #1 contender spot over on Raw. Then you have the winners of the Women's Dusty Tag Team Classic, Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzales, over on NXT who have a future title shot waiting for them too. I just couldn't fathom seeing Nia and Shayna lose to Sasha and Bianca here when they had such a great face-to-face encounter with Dakota and Raquel over on NXT last week. 

As of this posting, Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzales are set to challenge Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler for the titles on NXT next week (3/3/21), so we could see that title change then. 

The ladies tried to make this match work, but ultimately, it just wasn't clicking - at least for me as a spectator. Then the finish was all kinds of stupid. If Reginald was going to cost Bianca and Sasha the match, then why didn't he just offer to manage them to the ring then just casually throw the champagne bottle in there as planned? That would have made a lot more sense than him just randomly showing up at the end of the match for the same spot. 

Elimination Chamber Match for the WWE Championship

Drew McIntyre (c) def. AJ Styles (with Omos), Jeff Hardy, Kofi Kingston, Randy Orton, and Sheamus

Raw Elimination Chamber Match

Eliminated	Wrestler	Entered	Eliminated by	Method	Time
1	Randy Orton	2	Kofi Kingston	Pinfall	8:55
2	Kofi Kingston	4	Sheamus	Pinfall	23:35
3	Jeff Hardy	1	Drew McIntyre	Pinfall	25:15
4	Sheamus	6	AJ Styles	Pinfall	30:15
5	AJ Styles	5	Drew McIntyre	Pinfall	31:10
Winner	Drew McIntyre	3

Now the second Elimination Chamber match I can't say that I was overly crazy about. 

They definitely missed the boat on having Mustafa Ali (along with the rest of Retribution) attack Kofi Kingston during this match and take his spot. The story was RIGHT THERE and they failed to capitalized on it. I couldn't help but laugh at Kofi looking over his shoulder during his entrance like Edge was going to attack him and take his spot like a few years ago. Color me shocked as all hell that Kofi managed to eliminate Orton (out of nowhere) without any interference from Alexa Bliss nor The Fiend. 

Kofi didn't even get a chance to pat himself on the back before Sheamus gave him a Brogue Kick so hard that Kofi had that Jamaican accent wrestling on ECW again. 

I honestly don't even see why Jeff Hardy was even in this match. He was just THERE wasting a spot for this array of former World Champions. They could have given his spot to Ali if they wanted. When was the last time Jeff Hardy has done anything of merit in this company? At this stage of his career, he's just biding his time until his next court case and/or waiting until that contract expires for he can join his brother in AEW. 

I have to admit that AJ Styles' entry into this match was a stroke of genius though. Omos tore off the plexiglass for he could exit the pod early following Orton's elimination and took advantage of the situation following Orton's barrage of RKOs on his way out. Unfortunately, it didn't result in any eliminations on AJ Styles behalf though. 

Styles had a few rare botches on his behalf towards the end of this match though. He was trying to do the Springboard 450 Splash he occasionally alternates from doing with the Phenomenal Forearm from that position, but it seemed like he misjudged the distance from where Drew McIntyre and landed on him awkwardly. Styles would coarse-correct that maneuver with another attempt a few moves later, but it still wasn't that much better when he eliminated Sheamus. 

Drew would retain the title after connecting with a simply beautiful Claymore Kick during Styles' Phenomenal Forearm and covering him for the 3-count. The Hurt Business' former United States Champion, Bobby Lashley, came out and made short work of Drew shortly thereafter, making way for the match that came up in an impromptu manner to close out this show.  

Singles Match for the WWE Championship

This was Miz's Money in the Bank cash-in match.

The Miz def. Drew McIntyre (c)

The Miz races out with the Money in the Bank briefcase and cashes it in on a helpless Drew McIntyre. (Laughing hysterically) And now... The Miz is the WWE Champion... I can't even type that with a straight face. 

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Closing Thoughts:

(Still laughing) I can't believe that this is the image that WWE wanted to leave people with when this show came to a close...

At least Drew McIntyre kicked out of the first pin attempt until falling to the second to lose the title to The Miz (who has be booked like a complete loser for the better half of the past year), but shit man, this was the best idea that think tank at WWE HQ had in mind? "Oh let's put the title on The Miz for more buzz going into WrestleMania season!" Vince should be shot out of his chair just like Gorilla Grodd was in the video below. 

To be fair though, The Miz is a company man, has multiple television projects outside of WWE and still somehow has maintained his mainstream appeal from his time on MTV's The Real World (It blows my mind that the Pluto TV app even reruns the episodes of Fear Factor that he was on while affiliated with that reality show prior to coming into wrestling...). So I could KINDA understand why they want to elevate him in a sense, especially if the endgame plan for him is a tag team match between himself and John Morrison against Bad Bunny and Damian Priest. I honestly would NOT put it past WWE to book a Bad Bunny versus The Miz match for the WWE Championship either in the meantime.

My problem is that Drew McIntyre was the guy who ultimately got robbed of his crowning achievement of winning the WWE Championship last year from Brock Lesnar was without a crowd of cheering fans, but instead in an empty warehouse. You would think that WWE would stay on the course of making him the guy to beat, much like Roman Reigns over on SmackDown, and keep him undefeated until they were able to get fans back into arenas in some capacity. First Drew got pinned by Randy Orton in a nothing match as part of their feud last year, only to win it right back a week later. Now The Miz beats him in another nothing match. I don't understand what they are doing with Drew McIntyre at this stage of the game. They had a great thing going between him and Roman Reigns last year in their build to Survivor Series, making you think that they were planting the seeds for Drew to take the title from the Tribal Chief at some point - preferably at WrestleMania. Edge's return nixed those plans (despite going for Roman Reigns after tonight's turn of events) and now, Drew is without a dancing partner. They had a promising contender in the making with Keith Lee when he got called up, but he's had so many starts and stops to his pushes in this company over the past few months that I have absolutely no idea if he's in their WrestleMania plans at all. Don't forget that WWE already already blew their loads on what could have been a WrestleMania worthy feud with Sheamus turning on Drew and challenging for the title on free television. After tonight, the obvious course of action should be Drew against Lashley at WrestleMania, but if either one of those guys wins the title back from The Miz at Fastlane or any show prior to that, then it's going to be a complete wash. Lashley hasn't been a World Champion in this company in like forever - and that's even if you want to even consider his ECW World title win in that conversation at all. One would think that he would be deserving of a lengthy title reign, but it seems like WWE wants to do some course correction and have Drew get his crowning moment again at this year's WrestleMania with the limited fans in attendance. From as highly protected and strongly booked that the Hurt Business, especially Bobby Lashley himself, have been portrayed on WWE programming that might be a costly mistake and Drew could wind up with the opposite reaction with fans back in the arena. I'm optimistic for that match-up, but at the same time, I want WWE to be mindful that they may not get that fairy tale ending of Drew being showered with cheers either. 

One match that was left off of tonight's card was Asuka defending the RAW Women's Championship against Lacey Evans. That match was written off due to Lacey Evans' unexpected real life news of her pending pregnancy. As of this posting, WWE has completely ended the storyline between her, Ric Flair, and Charlotte Flair to boot. We were denied of how that match would have turned out. I would not have been surprised if by some fluke or miscommunication, Asuka would have lost the title to Lacey Evans, due to Charlotte Flair's interference and that would have caused the rift to dissolve their current partnership. Charlotte could have easily ended this filler feud with Lacey Evans at Fastlane, only to have her WrestleMania rematch with Asuka a month later.

Then there's something else to think about. Rhea Ripley has been confirmed to be joining the RAW brand, so I have to guess that Asuka's days as RAW Women's Champion are numbered. I'm guessing that she will drop the title to Charlotte Flair at Fastlane, only for Rhea Ripley to dethrone the Queen at WrestleMania in a rematch of their NXT Women's title match from last year. Alternatively, I think it would make for a fun match if they wanted to get a triple threat between Asuka, Charlotte Flair, and Rhea Ripley too. In Charlotte's case, there's a lot of ways they could go with this.

On the other end of the pond, I know Roman Reigns is breathing a sigh of relief now that Edge has selected him (as he SHOULD have to begin with) to face at WrestleMania for the Universal Championship. I will repeat myself too and say that Edge should be going to WrestleMania and losing that match too. I firmly believe that Roman Reigns shouldn't be losing to anyone - at least not until roughly Summerslam to the right opponent. At this point, let Goldberg fight Riddle or Big E at WrestleMania if he wants a payday for that show. He sure as hell doesn't need to be challenging for any World titles in 2021. 

WrestleMania 36 - Nights 1 & 2 -- Results & Afterthoughts

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.

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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

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.

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.

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

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.

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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.

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

This was essentially a match pulled from a typical Monday Night RAW with the champs defending the titles against a team that never came together until now. Garza and Theory never teamed up not once on NXT, but Austin Theory is getting his WrestleMania (and main roster) debut in a throwaway match on this card.

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.

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

The Prototype has returned, along with almost every other gimmick John Cena has been in the past. 

This was just something else... Where the Boneyard Match was a spectacle, this Firefly Funhouse Match was on par with The Final Deletion levels of bonkers and mindfuckery. I said it on Twitter and I'll say it here too - I REALLY hope WWE are cutting Matt Hardy a check for inspiring this "Broken" style influence into WrestleMania this year. That's really surprising too when Matt Hardy went on record in interviews to say that Vince McMahon didn't "get it" and pigeon-holed him back into being the "normal" Matt Hardy during his last run there.

My thoughts EXACTLY, Titus. 

The expression on Titus O'Neil's face was priceless here and worth watching whatever the hell that was alone.

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.