Weirdest Mania Ever: Night One

[OYDK]

This is high drama.

[BaconBits]

They’re going to have a hard time topping this tomorrow with anything.

[Yer Maw]

Best thing I've ever seen

[OYDK]

Not bad, not bad at all.

[#AbsoluteUnit]

They wrapped this up real well.

[klunderbunker]

Wrestlemania XXXVI Part 1
Date: April 4, 2020
Location: WWE Performance Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentator: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield
Host: Rob Gronkowski

Sweet goodness that does not feel right. I’m not sure what to expect tonight because WWE didn’t feel the need to tell us what was going to be taking place on either night. This show is going to have about a hundred asterisks in the history books and that’s perfectly fine, but it doesn’t make things any less disappointing (not that it’s WWE’s fault). Let’s get to it.

Click on the link below for the full review.

Broken Undertaker

[Fallout]

With everything considered, this was a miracle.

[Jack-Hammer]

My internet connection rapped out on me last night. I got up early to watch the second half of the show as everything after the IC title match I missed.

WrestleMania Kickoff Show

1. Drew Gulak vs. Cesaro - This match was short but it had a good deal of action packed into a roughly 5 minute time frame. From a purely in-ring standpoint, Cesaro and Gulak are two of the best guys on the roster and it was a good mix of styles. In NXT, this could have been a good middle of the card feud with a few months worth of build up that would lead to a killer match at TakeOver. On the "main roster", it's pretty meaningless as a whole but it served its purpose here. Cesaro getting the win doesn't hurt or help either one of them as neither of them are going any further under Vince's watch. **3/4

[B]WrestleMania Night I

1. WWE Women's Tag Team Championship - The Kabuki Warriors vs. Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross - All in all, not a bad match. Both teams brought some good energy to the match and I'd say a live crowd would've given this a pretty warm reception. It's just something of a shame how far Asuka and Kairi Sane and fallen; they're still highy talented but they're mostly a couple of jabbering, dancing fools now. The match went on longer than it needed to and, truth be told, this is a match that could've been saved for TV instead of the biggest show of the year. Alexa and Nikki winning isn't a bad call, Asuka and Kairi held the titles for 6 months after all, but it's not like anyone cares or that the titles mean anything. As of right now, these are pretty much the only two female teams in all of WWE so I guess Alexa and Nikki get to hold the belts for a while. **3/4


2. Elias vs. Baron Corbin - This is another match that should've been saved for TV and just feels out of place on one of the top PPV events. With that being said, I thought the match was actually pretty decent. I enjoyed Elias showing this aggressive, intense side of himself much more than seeing him as the wandering minstrel or whatever, I'm bored to death with that shit as he's been doing it for years and that's ALL he's done. Elias is a powerfully built guy, he's just a big slab of burly muscle and I thought his behavior in this match suited his look. I know he's going back to being the Drifter but I'd rather they tried making him into a tough guy as he has a look that makes it believable. The match had a good pace with both of them getting in a good amount of offense. This sort of reminded me some of Corbin's NXT matches in which the action was constant, the pace was good but not like Speedy Gonzalez on meth and it didn't overstay its welcome as it came in at about 9 minutes. Elias getting the win was something of a surprise but I'll take it. ***

3. WWE Raw Women's Championship - Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler - A good, physical match that could have been better with more time and a different ending. The match had a sense of urgency about it and both women did look good during it. Shayna looked dominant while Becky looked like the classic never-say-die babyface by enduring Shanya's onslaught, including a couple of nise powerbomb swings into the commentator's table. I honestly wasn't sure which way this match would end as I could see either one winning but personally, I think Baszler should have won. The way Becky retained, rolling upwards out of the Clutch felt hackneyed as that's the only way she lost in NXT except for her final match there against Rhea Ripley. It was a good effort overall but Shayna's mystique has been really damaged by this. Of course, her losing isn't so surprising as, allegedly, Vince was disappointed with her first match on Raw. I mean....shit man, everybody has an off night where things just don't click every once in a while. It happens to the best there's ever been. At any rate, Becky didn't need the win here as now there's nobody left. As a result, don't be at all surprised a little bit down the road, say maybe for SummerSlam, if we see Becky vs. Charlotte Part 3,968. ***1/2

4. WWE Intercontinental Championship - Sami Zayn vs. Daniel Bryan - This match just sucked in my eyes. I'm fine with Sami retaining, I like the guy, but I would have preferred a real match. This could've been a helluva match but it came off as mostly sports entertainment bullshit. For about 99% of the match, Bryan beat the crap out of Zayn and Gulak took Cesaro & Nakamura out of things for most of the match. I did like that there wasn't any real outside interference but ultimately, Zayn hits one single move and retains the title. I just thought this made Bryan look bad. This is the guy who beat Triple H, Batista and Randy Orton all in the same night at WrestleMania XXX to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship but he gets beaten by a Helluva Kick as the only major offense Zayn hits in the entirety of their 9 minute match? I hate Vince sometimes, I really do. *1/2

5. WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship - John Morrison vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Jimmy Uso - In yet another change to the card, the tag title match was turned into a singles ladder match in which individual members of the three teams competed to see who'd win. So basically, it's a singles ladder match to determing Tag Team Champions. Okay. At any rate, this was a lot of fun and would have been even better with a crowd. The spots were awesome, a few of them were quite unique, the wrestlers worked hard and I like that they went with the more overall athletic members of the teams. Jay Uso and Jimmy are pretty much equal in that sense but JoMo and Kofi are easily the more athletic members of their teams and that's the sort of athleticism you want in a ladder match. It was athletic, highly physical and the sort of chaos that you expect in ladder matches. The ending felt kinda unique as all three of them pulled the hook the titles were hanging from down at once, all three headbutted each other at once, JoMo falls down but takes the titles with him, thus giving him the win. JoMo and Miz retaining was the right call and it's time to move them onto some fresh challengers as they've been owning New Day and the Usos for the past 6 weeks or os. ****

6. No Disqualification Match - Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins - The match was pretty good overall but it's not one that really captured my attention. Again, this is one of those matches that I think would've been better served by being on Raw than on the biggest show of the year. The storyline of Owens never having had a WM moment and that somehow made Rollins superior is the sort of thing that makes me feel that, aside from Owens calling Rollins a dipshit, this was almost entirely Vince's vision. I thought the last 7 minutes or so of the match were a lot better than the first 10 as that's when the no DQ thing kicked in since Owens got under Rollins' skin for him taking the cheap way out. At any rate, Owens wins via the Stunner. ***

7. WWE Universal Championship - Goldberg vs. Braun Strowman - Basically, this match consisted of a little over 2 minutes of Goldberg hitting Strowman with four spears, Strowman then countering the Jackhammer slam, then delivering four powerslams and finally pinning Goldberg after the fourth to become Universal Champion. This is a couple of years too late when you get right down to it but, at the same time, at least they didn't feed Strowman to Goldberg. I have a feeling this means WWE will be starting up the Reigns vs. Strowman feud from a few years back, which might not be a bad idea as they did have a great program that featured some really good, physical matches. N/A

8. Boneyard Match - The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles - This was...extremely different than anything WWE has done in a long time, possibly ever. To get it out of the way: was this inspired by Final Deletion? Yes it was and, to me, it was VASTLY more entertaining because there wasn't any of the screwy, cornball comedy crap going on and the fact that I've just never, ever really been much of a Matt Hardy fan. The whole thing lasted maybe 5 or 10 minutes longer than it should have but this was the best overall performance we've seen out of the Undertaker in a good many years. I don't know who came up with the idea to do it this way but, in my eyes, it worked beautifully. Taking Taker out of a traditional type of match environment and going down this road looks like it was the best way to get the most out of him. Styles was his usual great self and the overall cinematic theme to this...I dunno, it just worked this time. It didn't work with Final Deletion, it didn't work a few years back with Orton & Wyatt, which was a fucking disaster, but it worked here. Taker looked strong, he looked fit and, all in all, he just seemed like he was just plain ol' better than he had been in forever. I've read reports in which Kurt Angle told about a talk he had with Taker earlier this year, that Taker was feeling down, that he was disappointed with himself for how things turned out with his last singles match against Goldberg, etc. and Angle suggested working with Styles if he wanted to have the best match he's had in years. The cinematic stuff isn't for everybody, I get that and I actually rolled my eyes when I first saw how this was going to be but I was wrong. MOTY candidate here, at least for me. ****3/4

Final Thoughts - Night I of WrestleMania 36 wasn't bad. It wasn't an epic show by any stretch but I thought the Boneyard and Ladder Matches saved it. The undercard was pretty good and Goldberg losing the Universal Championship was the right call to make. Personally, what happened with Goldberg last night is what should have happened at Super ShowDown with Bray Wyatt but at least WWE didn't make the same mistake here. Becky vs. Shayna was a strong match, though one that could've benefitted from some more time and a different ending. I was just really disappointed in the IC title match, I just thought it was lousy booking all around. Again, no problem with Zayn retaining but I would have liked to have seen an actual match rather than Bryan squashing Zayn 99% of the time, getting hit with one move and then losing clean. Maybe I'm overreacting to it, but I can't help it as it pisses me off to see talented wrestlers poorly used and booked. Owens vs. Rollins was like most of the rest of the card: solid but unspectacular. The Tag Team Championship Ladder Match was a lot of fun and it would've felt even better being in front of a live crowd. The Boneyard Match is probably something you'll either love or hate and I loved this. It was obviously inspired by the cinematic feel and all that of Final Deletion but it came off infinitely better.

Grade: C+

[#AbsoluteUnit]

Undertaker has now main evented WrestleMania in 4 different decades. That's wild.

[OYDK]

Everyone's cheesed about Lynch beating Baszler, but if you distance yourself from the weekly show, it was kind of obvious. It reminds me of the Wyatt/Cena match from 30 where a lot of people expected Wyatt to beat Cena, myself included. Watching Mania 30 over again 6 years later, it becomes abundantly clear that Wyatt's role consisted of being the unstoppable monster that gets beat by the top face of the company. You can see it from the video package and the way the announcers were discussing the match. I got the same vibe from Baszler and Lynch. Baszler was strictly put in this position so Lynch could overcome her in my opinion, at least as pertains to Wrestlemania. Whatever happens going forward is a different story.