Featuring over 70 WWE Superstars and Legends, WWE 2K Battlegrounds is an all-new, over-the-top, multiplayer arcade experience featuring interactive environments and devastating power-ups. Battle your friends online or on the couch in loads of match types, including the new King of the Battleground and online tournaments.
The first thing that I'm seeing as I'm watching the gameplay play out in this trailer is essentially WWE All-Stars at it's core. I'm seeing partials and fractured pieces of the distinct fighting styles from that game on display here. The only difference being with this game is that it's "chibi" models of recognizable WWE Superstars and Legends instead of roided out, comic book over-exaggerations for said personalities that people heavily criticized that game for going with in terms of the visual style.
I'm glad to see that women will be well represented here as I spotted Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Ronda Rousey, and Asuka in this trailer in the mix of the action.
I like to think that they borrowed a few elements from the defunct Def Jam series too with the weapons and "powered up" state I saw at the end of the trailer. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if those developers were picked up by 2K after floating around in limbo for so long.
For 2K's sake, I hope this is worth the investment, especially how things panned out for them with WWE 2K20 last year. September 18 seems like FAR too soon to be releasing a new wrestling IP when they never got on good graces with players after their last debacle.
SummerSlam (2019) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view and WWE Networkevent produced by WWE for their Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Livebrands. It took place on August 11, 2019, at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was the thirty-second event under the SummerSlam chronology and the second event to be held at this particular venue (the other being the 2004 event).
Twelve matches were contested at the event, including three on the pre-show. In the main event, Seth Rollins defeated Brock Lesnar to win the Universal Championship for a second time. In other prominent matches, Bray Wyatt in his new "Fiend" persona defeated Finn Bálor, Charlotte Flair defeated Trish Stratus by submission, Kevin Owens defeated Shane McMahon to keep his job, Kofi Kingston fought Randy Orton to a double countout to retain the WWE Championship, and Goldberg defeated Dolph Ziggler.
Results
Kick-Off Show:
WWE Cruiserweight Championship - Drew Gulak (c) def. Oney Lorcan
Buddy Murphy def. Apollo Crews by disqualification
WWE Women's Tag Team Championship - Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross (c) def. The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce)
Edge interrupts Elias to lay him out with a Spear
Submission match for the WWE Raw Women's Championship - Becky Lynch (c) defeated Natalya
I was surprised to see that Nattie and Becky would open this PPV at 7PM as the first non-Kickoff preshow match. That being said, they both tried to make this interesting, but it ultimately came off as any dime a dozen match that you would see on RAW or SmackDown between the women. That being said, there were some good spots to come out of this submission match, including but not limited to Becky and Nattie using each others' signature submissions on each other and Nattie wrapping Becky's legs around the ropes in the corner for a top rope variation of the Sharpshooter. I can't speak for anyone else, but I have never seen that move used in that capacity before. I have to tip my hat to Nattie in that regard. Can't say that I was surprised that this ended in a losing effort for her though either.
The sooner we get this belt off Becky Lynch the better. Her character, much like her boyfriend's (Seth Rollins FYI), has gotten stale in these months following WrestleMania. It's making it painfully aware that these babyfaces were so much better in the chase for the gold rather than actually defending said prizes. The sooner Becky gets knocked off her pedestal by a worthy challenger the better. There's no knowing when or if Ronda Rousey is coming back anytime soon, so WWE has slim pickings in that regard in terms of possible opponents. Fortunately, we weren't left to wonder those options for long as the problem resolved itself the following night on RAW.
The next night on Monday Night RAW (8/12/19), Nattie reverts back to being a babyface as she cherishes the memory of this match in her hometown as a dedication to her deceased father who passed away a year ago. Cue the return of Sasha Banks, who goes heel instantly and attacks Nattie. I have been ready for a heel Sasha Banks since her initial call up from NXT, but while I'm glad that we're FINALLY getting it here, the reasoning was pretty stupid to have her ruin Nattie's emotional moment when Becky has been the one popping off the handle in all of her interviews over the weekend about who needs to step up and Sasha couldn't hang. If anything, those two should have joined forces and beat the piss out The Man. I can't complain too much though since Sasha got the job done solo.
Goldberg defeated Dolph Ziggler
This was exactly what needed to be - short and sweet. The redemption that Goldberg needed to validate himself after the embarrassment at the last Saudi show. I didn't watch that nor the previous ones so I didn't care either way, but I got my money's worth from the sheer amount of laughter I had from Ziggler's sells off the first and third Spears. Ziggler sold that shit like death. Homie would've died if Rhyno ever hit him with The Gore back in the day.
WWE United States Championship - AJ Styles (c) (with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows) def. Ricochet
I wanted to like this match, but I couldn't when I know both men are capable of so much better. Someone thought it was a good idea to ground Ricochet in terms of match psychology and strip him of what makes him fun to watch in the first place. Perfect example? Case in point below.
I honestly was surprised to see that Styles retained the title here when I thought they were going to hot potato the title back and forth. Ricochet's Nightwing-inspired gear was pretty sick though.
On Monday Night RAW the following night, it seems that WWE is moving on from Styles defending the title against Ricochet and has inserted him into a program possibly with Seth Rollins going forward. The ending moments of the show saw him get bailed out by Ricochet and a returning Braun Strowman to even the odds against The OC. There was a moment where I thought Strowman was going to lay out Ricochet and Rollins, but that didn't happen at all as WWE.com has already announced that Braun will be challenging Styles for the US title next week.
(Sighs) So much for a possible champion vs. champion match at Hell in a Cell next month then...
WWE SmackDown Women's Championship - Bayley (c) defeated Ember Moon
I felt that this was another "nothing" match - something EASILY that could have been seen on RAW or SmackDown! on a regular basis. WWE has been handling Ember Moon like absolute shit, even before her "nomination" to be Bayley's hand-picked challenger for the title. One week I'm hearing about she's mad at Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville for breaking her Nintendo Switch and on the next, I'm hearing about her losing left and right on the weeks leading up to this title match. The worst being the go-home edition of SmackDown! last week where Bayley had to come out to save Ember Moon - her Summerslam opponent no less - from RAW Women's title challenger, Natalya, being trapped in the Sharpshooter. After all of this nonsense, I hope a heel turn is in the books for Ember Moon. She showed some impressive spurts of aggression in this match that was reminiscent of her NXT run, but ultimately fell flat as it resulted in nothing but a losing effort in this match.
Kevin Owens defeated Shane McMahon
Had Owens lost, he would have quit WWE.
Elias was the special guest enforcer
Outside of the pandering to the Canadian crowd, I thought this was a nothing match. Don't get me wrong. I was glad to see KO go over Shane here, but this match overstayed it's welcome. I get they are attempting to recreate the magic of Vince McMahon vs. Steve Austin with this feud, but those two are not those two Legends in the least.
To be fair, Owens was over with this Toronto crowd, but I think the ceiling is pretty low in terms of where he can go with this knock-off Steve Austin gimmick. Even Becky Lynch is losing steam in that regard.
Charlotte Flair defeated Trish Stratus by submission
For a long time, I had considered Trish's retirement match back in 2006 at the Unforgiven PPV as the best match in her career. This match right here EASILY tops that. Trish and Charlotte told an excellent narrative here and it ended with the right woman going over.
You can throw a tantrum all you want for the nostalgia and all of that, but Trish's time is over. Besides, it's LONG overdue for her to put someone else over on the way out. This woman had the fairy tale ending in 2006, winning the Women's Championship in her hometown in her retirement match. It doesn't get any better than that in terms of a last match. Trish put up a valiant effort here, even had me convinced that she was going over at certain points of this match, especially after that Stratusfaction near-fall.
Whether we like it or not, Charlotte Flair is pegged as their golden girl and WWE's going to continue padding up her resume with the laundry list of accolades. As for Trish Stratus, she will go down in history as the best of her era with this match being a testament to that fact. She has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of walking away from this match in a losing effort. She hung with arguably the best female talent that WWE has signed right now at 40+ years old.
I have to add this much too. As good as this match was on Sunday, do yourselves a favor and watch Gail Kim vs. Tessa Blanchard from a few months ago in Impact Wrestling. Trish and Charlotte borrowed a little from this match and rightfully so as it's the better "passing on the torch" match of the two in my humble opinion.
WWE Championship - Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Randy Orton ended in a double count out
After all of the build-up for this match playing off of Orton having backstage pull back in 2009 - the same year where Orton punted the WWE Chairman's skull in and attacked his daughter in kayfabe - it felt like they were setting this match up to be 2019 version of the Triple H vs. Booker T WrestleMania 19 feud without all of the not-so-subtle racism sprinkled all over it.
As for this match, it was another match that can be easily considered a massive waste of time - with a finish that easily soured the live audience and fans watching at home even more. The finish saw both men getting counted out for what seemed like the quickest count out in company history to end the match in a draw. This resulted in the Toronto crowd chanting "Bullshit" and I absolutely don't blame them in that regard. The RKO counter to Kofi's diving cross body was incredible. Too bad that wasn't the damn finish...
As much as I'm over Kofi Kingston and this title reign, the better finish would have been him going over Orton clean here then having the rematch in Hell in a Cell to justify a rematch with a different stipulation if they want to involve Kingston's family. I personally can't buy into him getting aggressive in a "blood feud" with Orton when he's going to come out with the New Day the next damn night with a smile on his damn face and throwing goddamn pancakes in the crowd like nothing happened. I would love to know what is WWE's obsession with the smiling and dancing black wrestlers as if they can't be anything else but traveling goofs. Only exception in recent memory seems to be Bobby Lashley, but who knows where the hell he is currently.
"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt defeated Finn Bálor
I don't know what drugs you have to be on to think otherwise, but this was easily the best thing on this show PERIOD. This new gimmick/character revamp for Bray Wyatt is money. I love absolutely everything about it: the mask, the entrance, the mannerisms, and sheer ferocity in the ring. I was glad that he didn't pull a Jeff Hardy and cook up a cool new gimmick (Willow during his Impact Wrestling tenure), only to work the EXACT same way as he did without it. Finn's supposed to be taking time off for a few months and this was the best role for him going out. Once he comes back, they should have the rematch with Finn gearing up as the Demon, only for that too to be bested by The Fiend. If they want to this thing to continue catching fire, he's going to have to keep ranking up wins.
I haven't been this impressed with the debut of a new monster character in wrestling in recent memory not since "Monster" Matanza Cueto's debut in Lucha Underground. Outside of that, Kane still has the all-time best "monster" debut in wrestling.
(On my knees begging) For the love of all things holy, PLEASE don't fuck this up, WWE.
WWE Universal Championship - Seth Rollins defeated Brock Lesnar (c) (with Paul Heyman)
I joked about it for about two weeks now that there shouldn't have been no way that Seth Rollins should have beaten Brock Lesnar unless either he showed up with a gun or drove a tank down to the ring and nuked the building after the biblical beating that Brock has given him on MULTIPLE occasions over the last few weeks. Instead, we got a really competitive match out of this and I was honestly quite surprised. I enjoyed this a hell of a lot more than their WrestleMania match earlier this year, but I was even more surprised that Rollins went over Brock clean here without any dick kicks or any other shenanigans.
I thought it was comical that Rollins could take all of this punishment and still put on a performance like this tonight. Great match, but logic went out the window before even the bell rung. The highlight of this match for me anyway was Paul Heyman's facials at ringside, ranging from absolutely beaming with pride (from the beating Brock was giving Rollins) to holding his heart in fear like Fred Sanford after every near-fall. Heyman's truly a legend at his craft. I'll never understand why WWE doesn't have more managers or at least train more in the business to fill roles like this in big matches.
Once again though, I have to pose this question: Where do we go from here? I mentioned earlier that on Monday Night RAW (8/12/19), WWE teased a title for title match between Universal Champion Seth Rollins versus United States Champion AJ Styles before The OC got involved, thus ending the match in a disqualification/no contest. Ricochet and Braun Strowman made the save for Rollins with WWE announcing shortly after the fact that Strowman will challenge Styles for the United States title while Ricochet will be competing in the 2019 revival of the King of the Ring tournament. That leaves the lingering question: What happens next with the Universal Championship? Is it going to be Brock versus Rollins again - in Hell in a Cell? I hope not as I don't want to see Brock and Rollins hot potato the title back and forth for the next few months.
Extreme Rules (2019) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view and WWE Networkevent produced by WWE for their Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Livebrands. It took place on July 14, 2019, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the eleventh event under the Extreme Rules chronology.
Note: I know some of these matches are out of order, but I'm writing this out from memory. So you have my apologies in that aspect.
Kick-Off Show: WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
Shinsuke Nakamura def. Finn Bálor
Kick-Off Show: WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match
Drew Gulak (c) def. Tony Nese
Roman Reigns & The Undertaker def. Drew McIntyre & Shane McMahon
I was surprised at first that they would open the show with The Undertaker, but after I thought about it more, I guess he didn't want to have the anxiety and pressure of having a dud of match close the show again like he did on the last Saudi show with Goldberg. This match played out very well. They played it smart and to Taker's limitations as they cut him off while allowing Roman to do most of the heavy lifting until they needed Taker to do his trademark spots.
Outside of that spot towards the end where Taker struggled to get Shane up for the Tombstone, I thought this was an excellent performance for Taker. If they are going to do Taker versus Drew next, then I'm all for it if he wants to do the honors and get McIntyre over to the next level. The rumor mill AKA dirtsheets are saying that Taker wants to do that match for WrestleMania next year, but I can't see WWE waiting that long. From the teases in this match right here, I can easily see this being a marquee match on the upcoming Summerslam card.
RAW Tag Team Championship Match
The Revival (c) def. The Usos
I can't complain when it comes to these two teams squaring off. I would have been happy with either team going over here. I have to wonder if The Revival are actually going to renew their contracts or not when their deals are up. It seems like WWE are bending over backwards to try to make them happy in the meantime. As for the Usos, they seem to be "on lock" (no pun intended) for a very long time with WWE and I don't blame them.
2-on-1 Handicap Match for SmackDown! Women's Championship - Bayley (c) def. Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss
The majority of this match was fucking boring. This would have fared better on the preshow/kick-off or better yet, on Monday Night RAW tomorrow night. The biggest takeaway here is that Bliss wasn't pinned, so she could easily point the blame on her so-called best friend and have her own agenda in terms of a rematch. I really liked the double submission spot towards the end, with the callback to Sasha Banks' Banks Statement applied on Bliss with the leglock on Nikki.
Wrestling With Wregret brought up an excellent question on Twitter during the show that I didn't realize until now.
Even when Ronda Rousey was on the warpath last year, Bliss got beat but she never wasn't written off nor portrayed weak even while injured. That's something I didn't think much of until now. After some of the stuff that shed light upon about Bliss in her WWE 24 special, I can't help but suspect that there's a bit of favoritism for her over a lot of the other women in the company. This is looking like the AJ Lee situation all over again.
Aleister Black def. Cesaro
This was essentially a rematch from their days in the wXw promotion in the United Kingdom roughly ten years ago when they were still going by their Tommy End and Claudio Castagnoli names in their pre-WWE tenures. Call me biased, but I thought this was the best match on this entire show from bell to bell. The right man won clean, but it still brings up a glaring question. WHY THE FUCK ISN'T CESARO POSITIONED AS A MAIN EVENT TALENT IN THIS COMPANY???!!!
Don't give me that brass ring quote from Vince McMahon on the Stone Cold podcast either. This dude has grabbed every brass ring that this company has waved in front of him, making shitty gimmicks and partnerships into chicken salad on a regular basis. This guy busted his teeth out for this company and came back to work the next week without taking time off, looking for more. His wife works there and it's obvious that he's not going anywhere, but toss the man a bone. There's nothing to lose on taking a chance on this guy.
Braun Strowman def. Bobby Lashley
I'm usually not a fan of big man matches, but this was actually better than I thought it was going to be starting off. The brawling around the arena was a bit hit or miss, but I enjoyed this match for the most part. I couldn't help but laugh at the finish where Braun Strowman did his best impression of the Kool-Aid Man bursting out of that box that they both fell into. This seemed like something out of the same vein of Matanza Cueto and Mil Muertes' first collison, but I'm glad that Strowman emerged as the winner. WWE damaged that dude's street cred enough over the past year and it's long overdue that they remedied that. He's not as far gone as someone like Ziggler, so there's hope to redeem him in the eyes of the fans. Lashley can easily shake off this loss too, but I honestly can see him leaving WWE again once his contract expires if he doesn't get that match with Lesnar that he essentially came back for.
WWE Championship Match
Kofi Kingston (c) def. Samoa Joe
If I was Samoa Joe, I would be just like Dean Ambrose/Jon Moxley, counting down the days when my contract expires. It's painfully obvious that this company has remotely no idea how to use this guy. This loss makes a whooping record of EIGHT WWE Universal and WWE Championship challenges that he's failed to capitalize on in losing efforts. It's the same song and dance - Joe talks a strong game but ultimately drops the ball when it matters most. Not to mention that WWE has made his submission hold pretty much laughable at this point. The only Samoan named Joe that they are firmly behind making a main eventer is Roman Reigns and you can easily BELIEVE THAT.
As for Kofi's WWE title reign, I'm not going to knock WWE's booking of Kofi as a legitimate threat. They've done an excellent job since WrestleMania giving him a lot of convincing wins against everyone lined up in his way. My major issue with him is he's just damn fucking boring in this role. Everyone was firmly behind him in support when he was in the chase going into WrestleMania as no one didn't think that WWE was going to actually put the title on him in the first place or consider him at all. It was a happy accident from Mustafa Ali's unfortunate injury that led to that turn of events. I'm happy to see one of my own kind win it big in WWE, but let's all be real here - the honeymoon is over. People aren't clamouring to see Kofi Kingston as champion nor are they filling up the arenas as a result. That could be said for all three of the top main eventers of the company right now, actually, but Kofi is the eye sore that sticks out more than the rest.
United States Championship Match
AJ Styles (w/ Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson) def. Ricochet (c)
Great match and excellent use of the Club at ringside here. They didn't come off as the crutch that Styles needed to win, but gave Styles the sprinkle of heel heat he needed to make this turn convincing. Besides, Ricochet didn't need the belt at this point. It's better to have him in the chase.
Triple Threat Match for SmackDown! Tag Team Championships
The New Day (Big E and Xavier Woods) def. Heavy Machinery and Daniel Bryan & Erick Rowen (c)
When commentary pointed out that New Day could be walking out of this PPV with all of the gold, I should have foreseen that they would have won this match. Nonetheless, it still pissed me off. WWE has so many great tag teams signed, especially some called up from NXT that they have been doing absolutely jackshit with outside of comedy segments, but they flock to the tired-and-true New Day gimmick as the ones who need to carry the gold. I'm not knocking the New Day's ability in the ring as all three of them are gifted athletes, but c'mon. Give someone else a chance to establish themselves in this tag division. At this point, New Day should be putting over other teams like the Usos have been doing on occasion. Heavy Machinery shouldn't get the gold right off the bat either, but I wouldn't have minded seeing Daniel Bryan and Erick Rowen hold the belts for a bit longer. You would think that Bryan would want to stick in a tag team a bit longer to work easier on his body.
Kevin Owens def. Dolph Ziggler in a squash
I thought I was going to be able to get a bathroom break at this point, but as soon as I stood up this match was over. After laughing hysterically about it, I came to the conclusion that this is exactly how Ziggler should be used at this stage of the game. He's too stupid to realize that his worth has been squandered in this company, yet renewed his contract, so let him lay in the bed of nails that he made for himself. I'm fed up with feeling sorry for him at this point. If WWE wants to continue the course with this rebel-type direction for Kevin Owens then I'm all for it. It worked for Becky Lynch last year, so I don't see the problem with it here. Just pick up the breadcrumbs where CM Punk left off about challenging the Authority at every turn and pointing out their bullshit and he'll EASILY keep people eating out of his hands with this babyface/tweener turn.
Winner Takes All - No Holds Barred Tag Team Match
WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins (c) and RAW Women's Champion Becky Lynch (c) def. Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans to retain
Before I proceed to shit on this match, I want to applaud the production values in that video package to highlight the feud that led into this match. That was some of WWE's best work there on display. Say what you will about the company as a whole, but when they want to sell you these big matches like a big deal, there's no one else who does it better - outside of maybe UFC or New Japan...
I thought the vast majority of this match was a waste of time as we've seen all four of these individuals butt heads in matches for what seemed like an eternity in the months and weeks following WrestleMania. This was just more of the same with the Extreme Rules stipulation attached. It got to a point where I just drowned the commentary team out of my mind in terms of listening to them ATTEMPT to explain the rules of this match when there's no rules in an Extreme Rules match.
Even though they tried to sell the narrative that men couldn't attack the women and vice versa, I applaud Becky Lynch for selling the shit out of that End of Days towards the end of the match. She took that better than most of the guys do. Of course that set off Rollins quicker than Krillin's death at the hands of Frieza in Dragon Ball Z and he hit a whooping THREE Curb Stomps on Corbin to pick up the victory for his team.
Brock Lesnar cashes in Money in the Bank and defeats Seth Rollins to become the NEW WWE Universal Champion for the third time
(Laughs) I'm not even mad to be quite honest. At this point, it was obvious that it was beneath Brock to go after Kofi's championship, especially after how WWE made a big deal about this was the first time that the New Day would all have championship gold. We all knew that would've went down just like Beast in the East if Brock came fishing for the New Day's titles. On top of that, WWE dodged the bullet on the least likely scenario of having the fans turn on them in that situation anyway.
At the same time, I absolutely LOVE Bryan Alvarez's proposed idea that he pitched for how Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch could have fought off Brock's cash-in together while simultaneously getting both of them over as megastars. Such a missed opportunity in that regard.
At the end of the day, Brock caught Rollins with his pants down and capitalized on his shortcomings. It's as simple as that. I'm just curious to see where they go with this from here.
Money in the Bank (2019) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and WWE Networkevent, produced by WWE for their Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Livebrands. It took place on May 19, 2019, at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. It was the tenth event under the Money in the Bank chronology.
Kick-Off Show: The Usos def. SmackDown! Tag Team Champions Daniel Bryan & Erick Rowan in a non-title match
Bayley def. Nikki Cross, Mandy Rose, Naomi, Carmella, Dana Brooke, Ember Moon, and Natalya to win the Women's Money in the Bank briefcase
This was miles above and beyond the original Women's Money in the Bank match along with the one from last year, but damn I was cringing watching the ladies take some of these spots here. I thought Mandy Rose legitimately soccer ball kicked Carmella's knee out of the socket from that one spot, especially after how Carmella told her to back off - pretty loudly after the fact before she was checked out by the medics at ringside. Naomi's Bumblebee (from Teen Titans) outfit was spoiled a bit from her tweets earlier that day, but still cool nonetheless.
Ember hits the Eclipse from off the ladder onto Nattie.
The highlight of the entire thing was that Eclipse from Ember Moon off the ladder to Nattie though. Holy shit off that.
In the end, Mandy Rose had the match won when Sonya Deville carried her up the ladder on her shoulders after she was laid out by the returning Carmella (who Mandy "injured" earlier in the match), but Bayley shoved both of them from the top and grabbed the briefcase for herself. Can't say that I saw Bayley coming out of this as the winner, but whatever. I thought she was pegged to be in line for a shot at the SmackDown! Women's title anyway whenever Charlotte got her dirty hands on it again. We never got a proper finish to that feud anyway. From what happened later in this show, it looks like we're going to get that anyway.
Rey Mysterio def. Samoa Joe for the United States Championship in a squash
Joe's nose was broken in the opening spot of the match so they rushed to the finish and had Joe do the post match attack while his son Dominic looked on in horror. I haven't been keeping up with any storylines since the Superstar Shake-Up started post-WrestleMania and I think this sounds stupid right off the bat.
Shane McMahon def. The Miz via over-the-top escape (Steel Cage Match)
This match was a massive waste of time. Can someone explain to me why they are still continuing this Miz versus Shane McMahon feud post-Mania anyway?
For the love of all things holy, can Shane put his goddamn shirt back on? There's children watching for Christ's sake (laughs). I don't need to see Shane's oily, sweaty face on my television attempting to kill himself in these matches.
Cruiserweight Championship -- Tony Nese (c) def. Ariya Daivari via pinfall to retain the title
No offense to Nese and Daivari but this was a pre-show match from start to finish. I don't understand why this was on the main card when the vast majority of people who tune into WWE programming don't even watch 205 Live. This was also nearing the time where WWE was about to compete with the Game of Thrones finale at 9PM so they were doing a great job of giving their viewer base the easy decision to tune out.
Sami Zayn hides from Braun Strowman, gets attacked
They were playing this up like Strowman did it, but I personally couldn't buy into it. Since when did Strowman start stringing up guys like he was Spider-Man or Batman? C'mon now...
Raw Women's Championship -- Becky Lynch (c) def. Lacey Evans via submission to retain the title
Even back on NXT, I never thought Lacey Evans was a bad wrestler. There were some interesting moments here and there in this match, but ultimately, I don't think her and Becky click well in terms of in-ring styles. It's not either woman's fault - it's just something that happens in wrestling from time to time and there's nothing one can do to avoid it. Not everyone can adapt or work around every style underneath the sun. Perfect example? Gail Kim and Mickie James. Go watch any of their matches from WWE and TNA/Impact Wrestling and you can see they really don't click at all to say as good as as they are individually as in-ring talents.
I know Vince wants to push Lacey Evans to the moon, but an instant title shot against the most over female - or rather talent - they have from over the past year isn't going to do her any favors. Not to mention, the comparisons to Charlotte Flair aren't helping either.
SmackDown Women's Championship -- Charlotte Flair def. Becky Lynch (c) via pinfall to win the title
I didn't like this from a creative standpoint. I get that they wanted to play up that Charlotte took advantage of Becky being worn out from beating Lacey Evans and their "alliance" is what did Becky in at the end of the match, but it makes Becky's win at WrestleMania look like a fluke now since she didn't pin/force Charlotte to submit. Charlotte still gets to stay that a "Queen" reigns supreme over The Man and all of that hype for Becky over the past year didn't mean squat since she's still coming up short over her rival. On top of all of that, Charlotte is at title reign number 9. Vince must really be jizzing his shorts over Flair's daughter, huh? She's got two up over Trish Stratus' record now. Soon, that's going to be an afterthought.
If that wasn't bad enough, Charlotte beat the piss out of Becky and Bayley like they were some jobbers before she rammed herself into the corner post.
SmackDown Women's Championship -- Bayley def. Charlotte Flair via pinfall to win the title after cashing in Money in the Bank
Bayley took forever and a day to make up her mind to cash in the briefcase. I was half-expecting Charlotte to kick out of that Diving Elbow Drop, but she didn't and Bayley managed to pick up the win.
I'll give WWE props for this booking here though. When they try, they actually make these special "feel good" moments like this truly mean something. They got it right with Daniel Bryan at the height of the Yes Movement. That was echoed throughout Kofi-Mania leading up to his win at WrestleMania this year. Same goes for Becky Lynch once her "The Man" gimmick caught fire.
For a lot of people, this moment felt like redemption for all of the times WWE dropped the ball with Bayley over the last few years, notably with how unceremoniously her and Sasha Banks lost the Women's Tag Team titles to the IIconics at WrestleMania. A lot of people on social media are calling this move a F-U to Sasha Banks who has been sitting at home on sabbatical from the company.
While I'm happy that Bayley got to dethrone Charlotte on her shortest Women's Championship reign to date, I'm holding my breath on celebrating for her until I see what the long-term plans are for Bayley. As far as we know as fans, Bayley could lose the title right back to Charlotte on SmackDown! Tuesday night, only to hot potato it back and forth with her like Sasha Banks did a few years ago over the course of several months. One more thing to note though is that after this title win, Bayley is official a grand slam champion for WWE, holding both RAW & SmackDown! Women's Championships, NXT Women's Championship, Women's Tag Team Championships, and winning the Women's Money in the Bank briefcase over the course of her career. Only accolade she hasn't won yet is the Women's Royal Rumble match.
Roman Reigns def. Elias via pinfall
After what felt like an eternity for that Elias segment, Roman hit a Superman Punch and followed up with the Spear for the win to close this out in like a minute flat. I don't see how anyone expected anything more here.
Elias might as well be El Kabong at this point...
On a side note, I'm sure people are going to be making memes of Elias sneaking up behind Roman for months (or rather years) to come. That was just begging to be made into a meme.
Universal Championship -- Seth Rollins (c) vs. AJ Styles
When this match started, I had a sense of deja vu from AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura last year, whereas there was a lot of hype and anticipation for that match, given their history in New Japan. In the same vein of that match there was a lot of anticipation for this match as well, given that this was Rollins and Styles first match against each other in WWE. I thought this match started out pretty tame, but they won me out by the end.
I still don't think it was wise to give this match away on one of this throwaway PPVs between one of the Big Four PPVs (WrestleMania, Summerslam, Survivor Series, Royal Rumble) though. Maybe they are looking to stretch this out over the summer and make a program out of this "dream match" sorts. Then again, this could be an one and down feud just like that.
Lars Sullivan destroys Lucha House Party
As soon as they handed a live mic to Kalisto, I went to the bathroom once I heard Lars' music hit. From carrying piñatas to the ring and tossing candy to kids in the front row, I'm surprised that WWE doesn't have them selling tacos and nachos in concessions at this point. This act is dead in the water.
WWE Championship -- Kofi Kingston (c) def. Kevin Owens via pinfall to retain the title
I was happy for Kofi getting his moment at WrestleMania but let's all be real here. He sucks in this role. The honeymoon period is over and let's go ahead and put the belt on someone else. Kofi is one of those babyfaces that does better chasing rather than actually having the belt.
Color me surprised though as I thought Kevin Owens was pegged to take the title from Kofi here, but Kofi squeezed out a win in his first singles title defense - without the help of the New Day in his corner to boot.
By the way, what the fuck is up with that dent in Kofi's chest and that huge bump on his abs?
I still don't get what was the point of Kevin Owens removing Kofi's shoes and tossing them into the crowd. My best guess, like I jokingly mentioned to a friend last night, was that maybe KO thought they were the source of Kofi's powers like Hammer Man? (Shrugs) Who knows, I don't write nor book this shit...
Hammer Man for those not old enough to remember that SatAM cartoon...
Brock Lesnar wins the Men's Money in the Bank contract def. Finn Balor, Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre, Ricochet, Randy Orton, Andrade and Ali
"Brock wins LOL" is starting to become the new meme that needs to be on a T-Shirt or something.
Everyone seemed like they saw the Women's Money in the Bank earlier in the evening and said, "Hold my beer" in terms of crazy and stupid bumps to take from bell to bell. I thought Finn Balor either had a death wish or must have pissed in all of the boys' Cheerios to get beaten like a drum in this match. His spine has to be in turmoil after the sick bumps that he took in this match.
Dat bounce, yo.
My back hurt watching that.
Ali and Andrade trying to kill themselves here.
Going into this match I was pulling for Andrade to win this 200%. Anyone else seemed like a waste of time. Drew McIntyre doesn't need it as he can easily shift into the main event picture by the end of the year. Finn Balor is a former Universal Champion and current Intercontinental Champion; they aren't moving him up the ladder anytime soon. Randy Orton can jump back into the main event scene anytime he pleases. Mustafa Ali can play up the underdog role and slowly move his way up the ladder to recover some of that lost momentum that he gave towards Kofi's cause earlier this year. WWE can pull the trigger on Ricochet anytime since he's new to the main roster and they haven't beaten the tar out of his credibility (yet). And Baron Corbin... (Busts out laughing) Just no. They tried that already and John Cena personally made sure that WWE avoided that travesty. To be fair though, Corbin did a hell of a job thrashing guys in this match. I'll admit that much. He's a good hand to have around if you just need a big guy throwing around guys into furniture. I wouldn't want him the ring general for any of my matches though.
Afterthoughts:
I think Chris Jericho's sarcastic tweet hit the nail on the head concerning the finish of the Men's Money in the Bank match in a nutshell.
Awesome to see @BrockLesnar win the #MoneyInTheBank match...even though he wasn’t officially entered! Brock is the future of the biz and this perfect example of genius booking shows why @WWE will remain on top FOREVER! #GoBrockGo
As funny as this meme is, it's also a very sad, yet very true symbolic representation of the booking in the main event.
As much as I laughed hysterically at the finish, it's a bad look all around and shows that Vince McMahon has absolutely no faith in pushing new stars, despite having the largest talent roster in company history.
I didn't mention it earlier in this write-up but BotchaMania's Facebook page has a wonderful post on all of the referee fuck-ups and botches from this PPV.
WrestleMania 35 was the thirty-fifth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Networkevent produced by WWE for their Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Livebrands. It took place on April 7, 2019, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The event included the first-ever women's main event match in WrestleMania history.
People were still filing into the arena, but this was a nicely paced match to hold people over as they found their way into their seats. I thought it was time that Murphy finally dropped the gold and move up to the main roster in a proper manner, much like Mustafa Ali did earlier this year.
WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal for the WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal Trophy Carmella won by last eliminating Sarah Logan
Carmella sneaks her way into another win. Yay, I guess?
The thing that annoyed me watching this match was that there were some NXT talent in here (Kairi Sane for was one I spotted) along with Ember Moon returning from injury just in time to make it for WrestleMania just to compete in this match with little to no thought behind it without any hype or fanfare to promote the actual match nor it's participants properly. This just keeps feeling like a massive waste of the talent involved each consecutive year that they hold this match. Both Asuka and last year's winner Naomi were both dumped out of this match unceremoniously, while they teased a win from Sarah Logan of all people out of all of the talent involved. I should have known that Carmella was going to win this because she was balled up into the fetal position down into the corner from the moment it started, much like how Edge and AJ Lee infamously used to do in these over-the-top rope battle royals and Rumble matches until it was time to sneak out a win.
I still can't believe that there were people raving all over this match but shitting all over the G1 Supercard the night prior. I love to know what drugs those people were on...
WWE Raw Tag Team Championship
Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder defeated The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson) (c)
(Laughs) The streak ends - 1 and 269. There's nothing much else to talk about here.
André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal for the André the Giant Memorial Trophy Braun Strowman won by last eliminating Colin Jost
Man, I felt that bump there that Ali took into the commentary table. Hope he's alright.
This was a massive waste of time, even more so than the two matches that proceeded it. It was just for a massive comedy spot between Strowman and those twats from Saturday Night Live. I honestly don't see what was the point, when SNL wasn't even promoting WrestleMania nor their own talents appearing on said show.
Another meaningless win for Strowman at WrestleMania for the second year in a row. Who's girlfriend did this guy see naked for Creative to fuck him over this bad royally?
The Hostess of WrestleMania, Alexa Bliss, introduces Hulk Hogan
Bliss posing with Hogan like she's a damn Make-A-Wish kid...
As soon as I heard "Real American" cue up I went to the bathroom. That should tell you enough there on how I feel about the Hulkster.
WWE Universal Championship
Seth Rollins defeated Brock Lesnar (c) (with Paul Heyman)
I honestly busted out laughing when Paul Heyman pushed past Hulk Hogan and Alexa Bliss posing on the stage to the sound of Real American. It made absolutely perfect sense to put Brock and Rollins on first if they weren't going to be closing out the show. Besides, do you actually think that Brock's going to just wait around in catering for 6+ hours when he knows he has to lay down for Rollins AGAIN to drop the title? Vince McMahon better be happy that he didn't kill Rollins (looked close enough to it to me before the shot in the dick) then threw the belt back at him like last year in gorilla.
After that low blow, Rollins promptly hit Lesnar with three consecutive Curb Stomps and picked up the win to become the NEW Universal Champion. God bless Crossfit Jesus for dying for our sins.
AJ Styles def. Randy Orton
I heard about the "Turn The Lights Off" chants due to the bright lights in the arena obstructing the fans' view of the in-ring action.
As for the match itself, I didn't think it was anything out of the ordinary, but it seemed like they dialed things out a bit for this match, much like Styles and Nakamura's performance at WrestleMania last year. I guess we're going to see these two continue to feud throughout the summer as I was expecting a HUGE RKO counter to seal the deal and send everyone home happy but there was nothing like that here. I did like all of the RKO teases though. Not many people get hip to Orton's tactics and change up their game to avoid eating a RKO.
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship
The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) (c) def. Aleister Black and Ricochet, Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura (with Lana), and The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus)
I guess this was the boys' attempt at the forming their own Megazord.
Outside of a few spots in this match, I felt that this was largely a match that we could have seen on SmackDown! Tuesday night. It just felt like a ton of spots without rhyme or reason, just because they could do it. While I did enjoy the Cesaro Swing spot on Ricochet, I can't say anything else here was widely something I remembered a few minutes later. No offense to the talents involved but I wasn't blown away by anything presented here. Like I said before, it just felt like your average run of the mill, RAW/SmackDown! tag team match.
I was surprised to see that the Usos retained, but I guess that was because they signed new contracts before this event came to pass. The Usos ain't going nowhere, folks. I guess we can cast away those hopes of Young Bucks vs. Usos or Usos vs. Lucha. Bros. feuds.
Falls Count Anywhere Match Shane McMahon def. The Miz
I thought this match was bland as hell, even when they took things outside of the ring and started brawling into the crowd.
The finish didn't help matters either where it looked like Miz superplexed Shane onto the roof of a bouncy house.
WWE Women's Tag Team Championship
The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce) defeated The Boss 'n' Hug Connection (Bayley and Sasha Banks) (c), Nia Jax and Tamina, and Beth Phoenix and Natalya
Pretty cool to see Bret Hart walk out with the Divas of Doom.
After what transpired the night prior during the Hall of Fame with the random fan tackling Bret Hart to the ground, I'm glad that he wasn't so hurt that he couldn't share this moment with Nattie and Beth. Damn the police - they should've given the talent the free reign to beat the living piss out of that guy and break his legs for even considering to do that. Bret was paying tribute to his departed friends and family from the Hart Foundation. You have to be the lowest bottom-feeder on this planet to want to ruin that moment for him and Nattie.
I'm not even going to sugarcoat this. I thought this match was a massive disservice to the talents involved. That being said, Beth Phoenix looked like she never left the company and stopped wrestling, even though the bulk of this match came off as something you would see on RAW or SmackDown! every week. I hope this isn't the last time we see of her in the ring. I wouldn't mind seeing the Glamazon get one more run with the championship or even her and Nattie hold the Women's Tag Team titles once or twice.
Speaking of which, the IIconics of all people won the match off a blind tag spot following a top rope Glam Slam from Beth Phoenix to steal the win. I saw people on social media say that they never seen Beth do that before and I'm like where the fuck have you been?
The IIconics' emotions here were real and I'm happy for them as fans turned wrestlers living their dreams, but as part of the direction for this division, I didn't agree with them winning the titles here, especially when they were shoehorned into this match to begin with by some stupid fluke win.
Just ugh at the IIconics winning this. I guess WWE wanted to use the belts to help them get over, but man, that even stupider from how they even got into this match to begin with. I'm not a fan of the gimmick, nor their in-ring ability (or lack of). I just see them both as a waste of spot on the roster if they aren't being used to put over other talents like they were on NXT.
If the rumor(s) are true about Sasha Banks wanting to quit the company following that decision, I don't blame her. Her and Bayley didn't even get a chance to pick up steam with the belts only to end up losing them during their first big title defense.
WWE Championship Match
Kofi Kingston (with Big E and Xavier Woods) defeated Daniel Bryan (c) (with Rowan)
I was going to write a completely different article about this Kofi thing before this PPV came to pass, but I'm going to rant about this here.
Let's get this out of the way first. Kofi Kingston is one of the hardest working veterans on the entire roster and a model employee for the past eleven years. The one time he was considered for a main event push in the past, he fucked that up in a match against Randy Orton and found himself floundering in midcard hell until he paired himself up with Big E and Xavier Woods to form the New Day faction. This was a faction designed to epic fail, but the trio turned it into a massive success. I'm not a fan of their antics - whether they were heel nor face - so don't come at me for acting like "black people can't have shit" when it comes to appreciating their hard work and success in WWE.
The thing is - and African-American fans like myself have noticed this for a long time - is that WWE allows their minority performers only to rise up to a certain point on their ladders of greatness in that company before they pigeon-holed into a niche role for majority of their careers. Case in point: R-Truth/Ron "The Truth" Killings returning to WWE following his success in TNA/Impact Wrestling as a main eventer, notably a former NWA Champion after defeating Ken Shamrock of all people.
So when Mustafa Ali got injured a few months ago at the crisp of his major push in a program with Daniel Bryan, fans rallied in support of Kofi Kingston taking his spot in the Elimination Chamber for the WWE Championship. Kofi fell short, despite narrowly coming so close to defeating Daniel Bryan that everyone in that arena could taste it. From this point to the weeks leading up to WrestleMania, Vince McMahon would continue to "fuck with" Kofi with teases and false promises of a WrestleMania match against Daniel Bryan. WWE was clearly recycling the angle they pulled with Daniel Bryan in the same role leading up to WrestleMania 30, only to sprinkle a bit of Triple H's (not so) subtle racism in his WrestleMania XIX feud with Booker T. WWE made this feud about race and I thought that was really in bad taste, because it didn't need to be. Instead, WWE made this whole feud about damage control and an attempt to rectify their past mistake(s) with the black talent on their roster over the years. Mind you, they are doing all of this while welcoming back Hulk Hogan (who was blacklisted from said company for his racist comments a few years ago) back into the company for the event.
My biggest issue with all of this is that Kofi Kingston NEVER was part of their original plan/build for WrestleMania, much like Daniel Bryan a few years ago despite WWE are over the moon patting themselves on the back about it. WWE had to brought into this kicking and screaming in fear of fan backlash at their biggest event of the year. The difference being that this feels like a cheap "thank you for your participation" award than the climax to a proper WrestleMania build. I'll give WWE props on the hoops they had Kofi jump through to put him over as a legitimate threat and challenger to Daniel Bryan. That notion that anyone can beat anyone else in WWE has been lost in their mindset/logic for a few decades now and it's a breath of fresh air to see it effectively used here.
This whole thing just seems like an agenda to quell a part of their fanbase from speaking out before screwing them over again in the long run. Don't forget how many times in the past they've strapped the gold on minorities on their roster just to cater to a certain demographic and quell the negative reactions from that corner of their fanbase/viewers. Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero, and even Jinder Mahal about a year or two ago to sweeten their deal prior to going to India for their first Saudi show - just to name a few.
Want another case in point? Look at where both Asuka and Shinsuke Nakamura are in comparison to their careers about a year ago. Both of them won the Royal Rumble to earn WrestleMania title matches (only for WWE to be able to say that they've had two Asian Royal Rumble winners getting to headline title matches for WrestleMania that year), only to lose at said even and WWE Creative stumbled and fumbled around on what to do with them in the months that followed. That resulted in Asuka losing her SmackDown! Women's Championship to Charlotte Flair a week prior to WrestleMania without an opponent in sight at all as her entire title reign - despite besting Becky Lynch at the Rumble this year - was treated like a mere afterthought. Shinsuke Nakamura didn't fair any better either. He was handed a string of losses against AJ Styles in their program of dick shots and low blows. He did win the United States Championship for a while, but even that was short-lived as he currently finds himself in mediocrity in a half-assed tag team with Rusev. I fear the same happening for Io Shirai and Kairi Sane getting called up to the main roster.
I admire Jay Lethal as Ring of Honor's World Champion with or without their top title because even when he's doing his comedy bit as Black Machismo, he's not adhering to negative stereotypes of black culture nor tossing pieces of chicken and watermelon slices into the crowd. That's what I want for the New Day in a sense. When I say things like "I wish the New Day would take themselves more seriously", I don't mean that in disrespect at all. They are the only African-American Superstars to be given such a high profile spotlight on WWE's programming on a regular basis and are in positions of being role models to men, women, and children of color watching and wanting to imitate everything they see them do. I just want them to be mindful of that. Before anyone gives me shit about it or revoke my black card (laughs), hear me out. I have seen the New Day's stuff for Be A Star and their efforts to give back to the black community. I applaud them for that, I really do. I don't want this to turn into this negative connotation that I'm shitting on them when I'm not. I can make the distinction to not like their act/gimmick but like them as individuals/in-ring talents. I just wished that they would have scrapped the pancakes, unicorns, and trombones ensemble, at least for one night, when their partner in arms was going for one of the top titles in the company. I'll flip it in perspective for a second. The current Elite members and former Bullet Club members, the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega are all fun and games at times, but they know when and where to flip the switch and take things extremely serious instead of presenting themselves like a trio of traveling goofs.
To be fair, the New Day have come a long way from initially being handed what looked like a trio of mock preachers gimmick that was doomed to fail right off the bat as people were passing it off as Nation of Domination 2.0. Over time, the New Day turned the gimmick into their own, winning fans over with their sexual innuendos and insider jokes about unicorns and pancakes. There's moments where I think they are absolutely hilarious and others where I'm just cringing or rolling my eyes with disgust.
Fortunately, this wasn't one of those times. Over the past few weeks, we saw three black men rally together in support to see their "brother", or rather partner-in-arms and best friend, win the coveted WWE Championship. They can do "serious" and we saw that with their imitate promos as WWE Exclusives on the WWE YouTube channel talking about how much this opportunity meant to them and whether or not staying in WWE was worth their while or not throughout the course of the narrative with Vince McMahon fucking around with them. Is it too much to ask for more of THAT? The WWE Championship was a white whale that many African-Americans Superstars have been chasing for a very long time but have been denied that elusive title until now. Kofi Kingston joins an exclusive club where very few African-American wrestlers have ever been a part of in the history books of black world champions in wrestling.
Bobo Brazil - first African American to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, Ron Simmons - First ever African-American WCW Champion. Booker T - WCW & WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Bobby Lashley - ECW & WWE World Heavyweight Champion & even Impact World Champion, Mark Henry - WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Ron "The Truth" Killings - NWA-TNA World Champion, and now finally Kofi Kingston - WWE Champion.
I'm sure that I'm forgetting a few others, but those are the ones off the top of my head...
All in all, this was the best match of the whole night without question. The narrative and drama/suspense was here and WWE delivered on the feel-good ending to send people home happy. Unfortunately, that what was the problem with the rest of this show. People were ready to go home after this moment that it was hard to revitalize the crowd to care about anything else as passionately as this for the rest of the night. I applaud WWE for NOT making this a repeat of what happened to Booker T against Triple H at WrestleMania XIX.
Throughout all of this, let's not forget to give props to Daniel Bryan. I'm sure at this stage of his career, especially since returning to the ring after being forced to retire, that he has a lot of leverage on who he wants to work with or who he wants to drop the title to. It was looking like he was going to give that honor to Mustafa Ali, but he ultimately laid all down for Kofi Kingston tonight. Daniel Bryan was the perfect villain for Kofi here, facing against his mirror opposite from exactly what he was five years ago - the babyface underdog willing to put it all on the line. I hope we haven't see the end of evil environmentalist Daniel Bryan here.
I'm still sad that we didn't get him come out to a remix to the Captain Planet theme or something along of those lines for a big elaborate WrestleMania entrance.
At the end of the day, this was the highest point of the night in my honest opinion - for a multitude of reasons (narrative, cultural significance for African-Americans, match quality & pacing, etc.) and gave everyone that feel good moment that could have closed out this event. Sadly, this wasn't the main event and the crowd didn't get behind anything else as highly as they did here.
WWE United States Championship Match
Samoa Joe (c) def. Rey Mysterio
At this point of the show, I went to get a sandwich from the fridge and by the time I came back this was over. All that talk about bringing in Rey's son Dominic to watch and all that for nothing. At the same time, I understand why they went with a quickie finish since Rey's knee was probably still messed up and they just wanted to give a quick win to Samoa Joe and move on to save time on this card.
Elias in Concert crashed by "Doctor of Thuganomics" John Cena
Oh shit, son. The Doctor is IN.
I'm pretty sure my black card is going to be revoked (if it wasn't already) after I admit that I marked out for this more than anything else on this card tonight. Long story short, this was the Cena verbal burial session live and in color. Damn, this was a sweet surprise to see this version of Cena here tonight.
As much as I enjoyed that, I'm still irked that they couldn't have him come out later and wrestle Kurt Angle in his final match. It's not like he was doing anything else important on this show.
Roman Reigns def. Drew McIntyre
I was half surprised to hear the crowd half-boo, half-cheer Roman after beating cancer. I guess that the WrestleMania crowd already wasn't buying into Roman's babyface push. If WWE were smart they would have turned Roman heel the next night on RAW, but I guess they want to milk his babyface comeback from beating cancer for as much as it's worth. It just seemed like the crowd wasn't into either of these guys. Not a bad match, it just suffered from being placed too far deep into this marathon of a PPV.
I'll say this much though. If Drew isn't a World Champion or at least in the main event conversation for WrestleMania next year, then this company is fucking stupid. If WWE has nothing but more plans of shoving Roman Reigns down our throats following Dean Ambrose's departure, then they are going to get the same result as before Reigns' leukemia flared back up or fans just reverting back to booing him out of arenas.
No Holds Barred match
Triple H def. Batista
Had Triple H lost, he would have been forced to retire from in-ring competition
I'm sure BotchaMania is so happy that this match gave them so much material for those "I AM THE TABLE" bits until it finally broke here.
This match was TOO DAMN LONG for this late into the card. They could have accomplished this match in a fraction of the time that this dragged out going past 11PM. This was the point where I was getting pissed off that this card was still dragging along with three matches left.
Dafuq is this shit, a Superman Punch with the Sledgehammer?
As for the match itself, I'll give HHH and Batista props on some of the spots, but those tables weren't having any of it in terms of cooperation and wanting to break. I'm sure BotchaMania is going to have a ton of "I AM THE TABLE" memes ready for this one. The spot where HHH forcefully pulled out Batista's nose ring was a nice touch, but I could've sworn Dave stopped wearing those ages ago. I'm sure I wasn't alone in being distracted by his back tattoos that made it look like he was more fucked up than he actually was throughout this match. It's the same effects that I find myself being distracted with Bray Wyatt's arm tattoos colored with bright red ink that I mistake as blood at times.
Y'all are so wrong with these Avenge the Fallen memes, I swear.
Oh yeah, props to whoever made this meme. I'm still laughing my ass off at this.
Baron Corbin def. Kurt Angle
This was Angle's farewell match
#ThankYouKurt
You deserved MUCH better than this shit.
As SOON as I saw Kurt go for that Diving Moonsault that never hits shit, I knew he was going to lose. Corbin hit the End of Days shortly thereafter and unceremoniously pinned Kurt for the three count. Kurt asked the crowd to rally in support for his final request - "You Suck" chants to the sound of his entrance theme.
I won't lie but I thought this was a sad way to have Kurt Angle go out. I understand that he left his best years competitively back in TNA/Impact Wrestling, but this is was a weak ass way to see a legend of his caliber go out. I'm sure he wanted to put over Corbin on his way out, but I'm sure he was a far cry from who he wanted as a final opponent. Those chants fired at John Cena the night prior of "Fight Kurt Angle" during the Hall of Fame was a clear clue on who should have retired Kurt Angle instead.
Sadly, what could have been...
I would love to know what was WWE's reasoning behind having Baron Corbin of all people be Kurt's final opponent instead of giving Cena that honor after getting his start from facing him. I guess that story will come out in interviews sooner more than later. Everyone was disgusted with this decision - in and out of WWE, from fellow wrestlers, fans, friends, and even his own family, including Kurt's own wife. No one can't say Kurt isn't a class act as he even put Corbin over on the way out.
Intercontinental Championship Finn Bálor def. Bobby Lashley (c) (with Lio Rush)
That was as good at that hit Lashley gave Pope and EC3 back in TNA a few years ago.
At this point, I mentally checked out once the bell rung. I was happy that Finn Balor was able to get to do a WrestleMania entrance as the Demon for once, but boy, I didn't want to see a match recycled from Monday Night RAW for the past few months rehashed here tonight, especially at this point in the evening as we were gunning towards midnight and this show isn't over yet. My best friend (who I was chatting and watching with over Facebook) pointed out that Lashley was wearing the Riddick (Pitch Black) contacts, but we both have no idea why.
Glad Finn got the Intercontinental title back, but this match definitely couldn't hold a candle on Naito and Ibushi from the night prior for the IWGP Intercontinental title during the G1 Supercard. That goes double, even if it wasn't at this ungodly hour on this card.
Winner takes all triple threat match for the WWE Raw Women's Championship and the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship Becky Lynch def. Ronda Rousey (Raw) and Charlotte Flair (SmackDown)
I'm guessing Almas showed that off to Charlotte in bed last night...
For the most part, the ladies proved here that they deserved to be in this spot in terms of match quality and build. As for the finish, I felt that it tainted an otherwise great match. Ronda's shoulders were nowhere near the mat during the three count and you could tell by the reactions of the crowd live that there was some kind of a fuck-up/botch somewhere. If you listen to/read the reports the following day, it was allegedly all part of the plan to make it look like there was some kind of controversy to set up a rematch between Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch.
As cool as that spot looked live, I know that had to be the spot where Ronda got hurt off of.
Ronda broke her hand during this match and I'm pretty sure it was during the awkward landing she suffered as a result of the spot shown in the gif above. That didn't look fun at all there. To Ronda's credit though, she's had the best rookie year out of ANYONE in this sport in recent memory or if ever.
As you can clearly see, Ronda's shoulders were NOWHERE from being pinned to the mat.
I read the reports that WWE fined the referee who made the count during this decision, but I feel like multiple people are at fault here. Becky Lynch is the one who has Ronda's arms locked up in that vise without anywhere to go. Ronda spent too much time looking clueless in this situation rather than shifting her body weight backwards to roll out of it until too late, making this look even more botch-worthy than it already was. Even commentary was to blame for questioning the call as well as they looked back at the replay. You could tell that the fans in attendance didn't know what to make of it by the reactions on their faces until they went, "Fuck it, Becky won anyway, let's go home."
It was just a bad look overall on WWE's behalf to end WrestleMania on that questionable manner. You know WWE knew it looked bad as they didn't even show the replays on RAW and SmackDown! over the past week of the finish.
WrestleMania ended with Becky Lynch becoming "Becky Two Belts", holding both RAW and SmackDown! Women's Championships with pride.
Afterthoughts:
In a bizarre twist of fate, WWE gave fans not one, not two, but all three of the marquee title changes for the babyfaces up and down the card tonight. I think everyone had them pegged for two out of three tops, not ALL babyface wins for the major title changes going into this show.
I can't speak for anyone else, but I didn't think that WWE would give us all babyface wins for the three marquee major title matches booked on this card. I thought Charlotte Flair was going to walk out with both titles while Rollins would be the last member of the Shield that Brock Lesnar had finally vanquished in singles competition. I was afraid that WWE was going to be stupid and repeat the same mistake that they made with Booker T during WrestleMania XIX in his feud with Triple H, but I'm glad they had the foresight and common sense to not repeat that mistake.
Just because WWE gave fans mostly what they wanted on this show in terms of these babyface victories, I wouldn't dare say that this was a WrestleMania caliber show. The vast majority of this card came off as the same blandness that we see week-in, week-out on RAW and SmackDown! Live with little to nothing presented here coming off as a PPV caliber match period. That's the result of a lot of poor, weak builds going into this show, outside of the builds for the women's triple threat and KofiMania, even though those storylines had their stumbling blocks too. I'm happy for Rollins, Becky, and especially for Kofi, but at the end of the day, I'm still walking away from this year's WrestleMania with a huge 'meh' impression as I reflect back on it.
As I post this, we're in the swing of the Superstar Shake-Up/WWE Draft, so I hope that we get some significant changes to the rosters of both the red and blue brands as WWE really needs to liven things up a bit going forward to keep these title changes made at WrestleMania continue to mean something.
Ronda Rousey's out with a broken hand and has hinted on her social media that she's taking time off to have her first child, so Becky's without a dancing partner for at least one of her two titles. I don't think they want to rehash Becky vs. Charlotte so soon after 'Mania, so that's out too. Not to mention that you don't want to waste Becky's first title defenses on handing someone who she could have a lengthy program with down the road during the down time of the post-WM months. Kofi's in a similar boat. Daniel Bryan was reported hurt after this event, but word is that it's not too severe. Kofi's going to need another strong, capable villain to challenge him much like Bryan did to get the crowd behind him in the weeks leading up to WrestleMania or this reign is going to be as forgettable as Jinder Mahal's. He also has the added challenge of establishing that he can carry the gold on his own without having to rely on his New Day brothers to carry him in segments/promos. The pressure is on both Kofi and Becky to either sink or swim in this post-WrestleMania landscape.
I don't fear for Rollins in this position as he's been here before. In his case, my primary concern is who are they going to throw at Rollins to challenge him next? Rollins does better chasing than being the champion. A heel turn would definitely be the wrong way to go with the "burn it down" catchphrase so over right now and he's the savior to a lot of fans after dethroning Brock Lesnar for the title - hence the "Beast Slayer" moniker. I know I don't want to see another stale Roman vs. Rollins feud, so they definitely going to have to deliver something good if they want to hold fans' interests. Post-Shake-Up, I wouldn't mind seeing Rollins in programs with AJ Styles or even Andrade "Cien" Almas, but they don't have to jump the gun on either of those right off the bat.
Everyone else seems to be in this state of flux for post-WrestleMania where WWE Creative (or rather Vince McMahon) is going to start throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks for the next few months.
