Monday, April 8, 2019

WrestleMania 35 | Review

WrestleMania 35 was LIVE from the Met Life Stadium, There's so much to talk about so let's get started. The Kick-off Show had four matches and here are the results..

Cruiserweight Championship: Buddy Murphy (c) vs. Tony Nese 
Winner: AND NEW Cruiserweight Champion. Tony Nese.

Women's Battle Royal 
Winner: Carmella - Eliminating Sarah Logan last for the win.

Raw Tag Team Championship -- The Revival (c) vs. Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins
Winners: AND NEW Raw Tag Team Champions. Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins.

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal 
Winner of the match: Braun Strowman.

Main Card
Alexa Bliss kicked off the show as WrestleMania host, she promised a WrestleMania moment which resulted in Hulk Hogan walking out to the stadium to a decent crowd reaction. He made the tired old Silverdome joke, I'll be honest with you, I'm not a fan of Hogan and think he is overrated with the work he's done in the past. I'm happy this segment didn't last long. All of a sudden. Paul Heyman walked out in the middle of all this and said he wants Brock last on the card, what was surprising was that it went on first. 

Universal Championship Match: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins won the Universal Championship after being dominated by the Beast early on. I picked Lesnar to win, but, I'm happy to be wrong. WrestleMania was off to a great and unpredictable start. Brock was the "Architect" of his own downfall for taking Rollins lightly, thinking it was going to be an easy win. Nope! Winner: AND NEW Universal Champion: Seth Rollins.

AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton
This was a fun back and forth match between these guys, slow at times, that's a typical Orton match for you. AJ picked up the win with the Phenomenal forearm after countering the RKO. Winner: AJ Styles. 

SmackDown Tag Team Championship -- The Usos (c) vs. Ricochet & Aleister Black vs. The Bar vs. Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura:
A really entertaining match, every team played a nice part in the match. The right team prevailed in the end. The tag team titles remain in the Uso penitentiary. Winners: AND STILL SmackDown Tag Team Champions. The Usos.

The Hall of Fame class of 2019 was introduced next, with DX out last.

The Miz vs. Shane McMahon (Falls Count Anywhere)
This was your usual run of the mill falls court anywhere match, ending with Miz superplexing Shane off the scaffolding, that was a good spot to be honest. Shane landed on top of Miz and won via the three count. Winner: Shane McMahon.

Women's Tag Team Championship -- Sasha Banks & Bayley (c) vs. Beth Phoenix & Natalya vs. Nia Jax & Tamina Snuka vs. The IIconics
Billie Kay capitalised on Phoenix's finishing move and stole the win for her and Peyton Royce. They received a nice reaction from the crowd. Winners: AND NEW Women's Tag Team Champions: The IIcoincs.

WWE Championship -- Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Kofi Kingston
This was the match of the night, Daniel Bryan as a heel was fantastic, Kofi hit the Trouble in Paradise for the win. He deserved it. It's been eleven years and he's finally made it to the top of the mountain. KofiMania is here ladies and gentlemen. Winner: AND NEW WWE CHAMPION. Kofi Kingston.

United States Championship -- Samoa Joe (c) vs. Rey Mysterio
Joe made easy work of Rey, winning via the clutch in his first match at WrestleMania.
Winner: AND STILL US Champion. Samoa Joe.

Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre
The Big Dog picked up the win over McIntyre in a physical match via the SuperMan punch and Spear. Winner: Roman Reigns.

Elias was next, playing various musical instruments. Would he get interrupted? The answer was yes. John Cena went back to the Dr of Thuganomics days. Word Life! This was a great throwback to the Ruthless Aggression Era. This was their big plan for John Cena instead of putting him in a match vs. Kurt Angle? they've missed out on telling an easy story there. Creative booking isn't very creative is it? 

Triple H vs. Batista (No Holds Barred; Triple H's career on the line)
Perhaps the best thing about this match was the entrances. More so Triple H's. Actually, I take that comment back. The spear from announce table to announce table was class. The Game hit the Pedigree after an assist from Ric Flair for the win. Winner: Triple H.

Kurt Angle vs. Baron Corbin (Farewell Match)
Corbin won via the End of Days. After the match. Kurt thanked the crowd and walked away in a feel good moment. Another legend retires. It was about time to be honest. Winner: Baron Corbin. 

Intercontinental Championship -- Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Finn Balor
Predictably, Balor won the match. I would've gone into more detail about it but I was getting tired at this stage of the show. Winner: AND NEW Intercontinental Champion. Finn Balor.

Winner Take All -- Ronda Rousey (c) vs. Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Becky Lynch 
This was a history making match, the crowd was fading at this point of the event, trying their best to support "The Man" and they gradually woke up. This was a fast paced main event which featured near falls to keep us guessing who was going to win it all. That was "The Man" Becky Lynch, defeating Rousey with the reverse pin. Winner: AND NEW Raw and SmackDown women's champion. Becky Lynch.

Overall, this was a good WrestleMania, but too long. 7 and a half hours. I don't know how I got through the show still awake as it finished at around 5:30am UK time. There might be a Raw and SmackDown follow up if anything of importance happens. I'll see you for the upcoming WWE Draft / Superstar Shakeup. 

Thanks for reading.