Verdict on WrestleMania 33

[Everlong]

So...

What are your general thoughts on this WrestleMania? How good/bad did you think it was?

The best match for me had to be the tag team ladder match -- the Hardys coming back and Jeff's suicide dive were both markout moments. The GOldberg/Lesnar match vastly exceeded expectations and was a lot of fun. Speaking of exceeding expectations, Shane/Styles was far better than I'd have expected.

I was actually disappointed by KO/Jericho. Wyatt/Orton wasn't particularly exciting to say the least, and Taker/Reigns was not a great main event or match in general. But there were some good things that happened on this show.

In general though, holy fuck what a long show. Even the main sohw itself without the pre-show was over five hours long. Just way, way too much.

[Kreashko]

The crowd and myself seemed to have had enough after Cena proposed to Nikki. After that I lost interest.

All in all I'd give this WrestleMania a 7.5/10. It was...ok.

[Everlong]

The crowd and myself seemed to have had enough after Cena proposed to Nikki. After that I lost interest.

All in all I'd give this WrestleMania a 7.5/10. It was...ok.

I dunno, the crowd was pretty hot for Goldbeg/Lesnar. But they were definitely dead for Taker/Reigns. The match itself just lacked energy.

[AkydefGoldberg]

I actually liked the HHH-Rollins match as my favourite. It was a decent show, worth staying up til 5.20am for to see the end of the Undertaker.

The ending of the PPV was a tad weak with the Bray/Orton match, and the Undertaker match itself that IMO doesn't do much for Reigns.

[Everlong]

Ah yeah, I thought HHH/Rollins was also solid.

[Settee]

Well I expected shit, and was pleasantly surprised. I would give it a 7/10

[Str8Shooter]

The show peaked too early. I think it started to head downhill a bit after the ladder match. Almost 7 hours of wrestling is clearly too much at this point, you could tell the crowd was fading fast towards the end of the show. As evidenced by the lukewarm reaction to Taker/Roman, they couldn't even muster much to hate Reigns.

Orton vs Wyatt I thought was awful and brought the crowd down too. They just weren't into this story and the ridiculous ring graphics may have been the most interesting, what does that say?

I thought Shane vs AJ may have been the best match on the show. AJ is the King and Shane stepped it up, he did what he had to do to make this memorable. The missed shooting star press was insane.

I thought Jericho vs Owens was pretty good as well. Then the ladder match and the return of the Hardy's was cool, although my stream cut out for most of the match and I just saw the beginning and the end. I'll watch it later.

The two women's matches just felt "there", there was nothing that made them seem like they really mattered here. I liked the three women teaming up on Nia, but the eliminations after that felt rushed. The SD one was in the "death slot" on the card and was a quick match, although each person got a little bit of shine.

I thought Rollins/HHH dragged in parts, I'm not sure so much selling of the knee was necessary as it lulled the crowd until close to the end where the end stretch was well done. Stephanie getting some sort of comeuppance going through the table was a good ending. And who would have thought Trips would lose at Mania to his own move?

[Daz]

Really good show for the first 3 hours. Then the crowd died from fatigue, as did most of us at home I'd assume. Also, typical shitty booking for the Main Event, bizarre attempts to be different with Wyatt/Orton and Taker unfortunately demonstrating why he should have been done four years ago.

Overall, I enjoyed the show, but next year I'd like a little less of it.

[prophet]

Glad to see there was enough about the show to make it entertaining for people though reading your reviews I'm not sorry I missed it.

[JDD]

I really liked the show but damn it was way too long. I fell asleep during Taker/Reigns Neville/Aries, AJ/Shane, Jericho/Owens, The 4 Way, The Ladser Match and Seth/Trips were all good or really good. The ladder match was match of the night for me because of that amazing Hardy's moment. I knew there were rumours of them coming back but I didnt think it would be at mania. A great suprise.

As for the main events, they definatley werent as good as the undercard. Bray/Randy was really weird and somehow really boring. Glad that dodnt close the show because I honestly think it was the shows low point. Goldberg/Brock was exactly what it needed to be. A quick, fun beatdown. As i said earlier I fell asleep for Taker/Reigns so I have no opinion on the match

I woke up in time to see the ending and that was a great moment. Definatley the right call to close the show if that was Taker's last match. Overall, id give the show a 7 out of 10. A lot of solid matches that got held back by weird/abrupt finishes.

[Messiah]

In my opinion, it had arguably the best undercard of any WrestleMania ever. It's at least really close with WM21, WM17, and WM19 in that regard.

Unfortunately everything starting with Wyatt/Orton was either bad or just not good, but Undetaker was limited physically and him retiring is still a huge moment. Even Brock/Goldberg had the fans in it and was alright for what it was. Overall I thought it was one of the best Manias ever, just too damn long. About what I expected.

[The Legend]

I thought it was a really solid show that was much better than I thought was capable, but it still had its flaws. The first of which is the fact that Vince is a sadist forcing fans to sit through 7 HOURS! of wrestling. The fact that I watched it with friends and had a 45 minute drive home after the show meant I didn't get to bed until 1 AM.

Also, while pretty much every match was "good" to "really good", everything was too flatlined without any real peaks or valleys. When there's 10 matches on a card some short matches with DQ or dirty finishes on the undercard are a blessing. They change things up and alter the pace of the show into a rise and fall pattern. When everyone goes out and puts on the best 15-20 minute match they can muster everything sort of bleeds together.

The other downside is connected to that in a sense, the WWE doesn't do enough storytelling in PPV matches, they don't do things to make any of the matches stand out in a good way and don't connect the payoff match to what's happened in the story nearly enough. They did great with it in the HHH/Rollins match, attempted it (it sucked) in the Wyatt/Orton match and mistook strategy for storytelling in every other match.

[Everlong]

What was with the maggots and worms and shit in the Orton/Wyatt match, too? Felt like they were trying way too hard to be creepy or some shit.

[The Legend]

What was with the maggots and worms and shit in the Orton/Wyatt match, too? Felt like they were trying way too hard to be creepy or some shit.

It's all stuff that flashes in the video of Wyatt's entrance, also there were worms and maggots in the ground where "Abigail" was buried before Randy burned the house down. I think they were trying to convey some shit like Abigail was helping Bray.

[AkydefGoldberg]

I wasn't expecting that show to finish at 5.20am that's for sure! But worth it to see the Deadman finish off a long career.

The match was poor - like I said before, they could have had anybody in with him and Reigns, contrary to what WWE will try to make you believe, will not benefit from winning a match in which the Undertaker was so lifeless. In fact, he'll get more heat. Did the Undertaker carry on for too long? Yes, and the rematches in the WM streak show that even the company was running out of ideas. I'll remember 2004 and the weekly anticipation that built ahead of his return at WMXX that was awesome to watch. Plus, the Tombstone as a finisher will be missed (despite Reigns botching two attempts to do it last night). I wonder if that's it or will Taker, out of character, will confirm his retirement on RAW?

As for the show as a whole, I enjoyed the chunk of it until the end. The early matches were good, and delivered slightly more than anticipated. Hardy Boys return was a nice surprise on the night. HHH v Rollins was my favourite match in terms of becoming invested in the match as it went on and the ending was fun as well, with the crowd really behind Rollins.

Goldberg v Lesnar did what it needed to do. Short, full of suplexes and spears and Brock v Reigns is likely to be the direction the title is heading towards. I'd be amazed if that wasn't Bill's last match either - he's been energetic in his comeback but looked off the pace physically hence the short matches.

Bray and Orton was another waste alongside the joke that was Cena's match. They booked Miz strong then in a matter of minutes it was all over for the 'payoff' for Cena proposing. The former match, well notable for a few ring effects than anything else.

But I didn't watch the last few Manias in full so can't compare but it was better than I thought it would be.

[KaiserGlider]

Pre-show - Didn't see all of this, and perhaps for the better as it's a 5-hour main show anyway. Definitely caught Aries/Neville though. Good match, good finish. Top-rope frankensteiner was sold perfectly by Neville. I'm a big Aries fan but Neville has been so solid that this could have gone either way really. Wouldn't be surprised if this feud continues down the line as I don't see who else can challenge the King at this point in time, but we'll see. I wasn't interested in Ambrose/Corbin so it was a good call that it got switched out of the main card with the Smackdown women's match, and it looks like they had a better Street Fight on Smackdown anyway. The battle royal was strange. I tuned it at the end and saw that the only two guys left were Mojo and Jinder Mahal. WTF? Anyway, I kinda dig Mojo so good for him. At best he'll get a push out of this, at worst it was a nothing preshow match that few will remember.

Opening Segment - Not sure what the point of New Day hosting Wrestlemania was, because this was a nothing segment that could have easily been scrapped for the opening match instead.

AJ vs Shane - Wow, this really surpassed my expectations. Glad it went on first as I don't think it would have had nearly the same impact if it was in the middle of the card. Shane looked gassed throughout the whole thing but he busted his ass, locking in all sorts of submissions and doing all sorts of flippy shit. The Shooting Star Press off the top rope was crazy, definitely was not expecting Shane to pull that off. Shane proves he's still got it and AJ ended up getting the showstealing Wrestlemania match everyone wanted him to have. Great opener.

Owens vs Jericho - I was surprised this was going on so quickly after the opener, they even played the video package during Kevin Owen's entrance. This was a good fast-paced match with some cool moments like the finger on the ropes and powerbomb-into-Codebreaker, but overall it felt more rushed and less important than I was expecting it to feel. 5 more minutes would have really allowed this match to breath and tell a better story. Still, good match with a good finish.

Raw Women's Fatal-4-Way - Good action here, the portion with Nia Jax being my favorite. Though the last two eliminations came out of nowhere, making this feel more like an attempt to get all these girls on the card rather than a meaningful match. I think I would have preferred this as Bayley vs Charlotte with Charlotte's PPV streak finally coming to an end.

Ladder Match - Holy shit! The Hardys returning was one of my favorite Wrestlemania moments ever and definitely the best moment of the night. I stayed away from spoilers/rumors over the weekend so I don't know if the Hardys were a true surprise or not, cause there was lots of "delete" chants before they were announced. But they were a surprise for me. Matt's Twist of Fate off the ladder, Brother Nero's Swanton off the ladder - classic Hardy stuff, and it's awesome to see them pulling out all the stops on their first night. Whether or not they deserved to win the tag titles is debatable, but they were over as fuck so giving it to any other team would have been a letdown. I approve.

Cena and Nikki vs Miz and Maryse - This match was kinda quick, I don't think Maryse even got any ring time in. I would have liked to see more teamwork here, given how entertaining this feud was, but on the other hand Miz was never going to be a real threat to John Cena and this match existed only for the proposal afterwards, so it's not that big of a deal.

Rollins vs Triple H - I was wondering what over the top entrance Haitch would have this year. So now that Undertaker's retired, he steals the American Badass gimmick. Rollins coming out with his shiny gear didn't click with me, would have been better if he came out in street clothes to sell the stipulation. I had high expectations for this match and it was pretty good - good pacing, psychology, storytelling throughout, even it did take a while to really get going. I only have two complaints - one, a lot of times it seemed like Seth actually helped his opponent out by doing high-risk moves and moves that clearly placed a lot of pressure on his knee. I get that he's a babyface now, but he's also supposed to be some kind of genius "architect", so try wrestling a little smarter. And this leads to the second thing, which is that this match didn't feel much different than a regular street fight. I feel they didn't do much to really sell the "anything goes" nature of an unsanctioned match, but they never have so whatever. All in all, Seth got a huge babyface moment and this was arguably his best singles match to date.

Orton vs Wyatt - This match never really clicked with me, but the Bray cockroach projection bullshit was cool, even if it did fuck all to distract Orton. Solid enough I guess, and again, as was the case for several matches tonight, the finish seemed to come out of nowhere.

Lesnar vs Goldberg III - Short and sweet. The story concludes very well, and Lesnar once again looks absolutely indestructible after taking like 5 finishers and then hulking up. I re-watched this several times. Well booked.

Smackdown Women's match - Fast-paced action, and I thought Naomi was the right choice, and not a bad one at least.

Reigns vs Taker - This match had its moments, though it really started to drag by the end. Unlike some other matches on the card, this one needed less time, not more. Taker didn't look great, but I guess he was good enough for what could go down as his last ride. I gotta say I'm not as sad to see him go as I thought I would be. The entrances, match, and post-match felt like they took up the entire last hour of the show. I could do without all that next year, unless it's a great storyline. I get why this was the main event. It closed the show on an iconic moment

THE VERDICT - Overall, a good show. I enjoyed it. Shane/AJ, The Hardys, Brock/Goldberg, Rollins/Haitch and Angle coming out were all great. The wrestling for the most part was very strong, and nothing on this card was really bad or just pissed me off. The closest thing to that was Reigns botching the tombstone reversal in his match. I would say that the biggest weakness of this show was that some of the matches should have gotten more time so they could feel more significant, while the New Day opening segment and some of Reigns/Taker should have been cut to add time to said matches. Speaking of which, there was no 30 minute Rock segment this year, so that was a plus. The booking was better than last year in the sense that the right people won and the fans got some true feel-good moments like Rollins and Hardys, which didn't really happen last year.

Match of the night - Shane/AJ
Moment of the night - Hardy Boyz return
Best entrance - Triple H I guess'
Rating - 8/10

[Hanley!]

So I'm not going to give this a star rating or anything, because I didn't watch the entire show. I watched the matches that everyone said were the best matches in their entirety, and skimmed everything else. So I'm just going to give some general thoughts here.

It came off as an average enough show. It started strong, with the undercard delivering for the most part. But it finished weak. The 7/10 ratings that a lot of people/sites are giving it online seem quite high to me. That would suggest that the average match on the card was 3 and a half stars, whereas only the top matches on the card reached that level and some were well below that.

The length hurt the show a lot. Even skipping through stuff, I was getting tired as the show went on. And the crowd were just worn out towards the end of the show and didn't have energy enough to react the way they were supposed to. The second half of the show had less heat than it should have had as a result, which hurt those matches.

Some of the matches were weirdly short though, given the length of the show. I think the lesson here is we don't need a long video package before every single match, and some of the other frills could be done away with too. The concert needs to go for future Wrestlemanias. Some people say that it works live, but it's absolute death when watching the show at home and it eats up time that would be better served elsewhere. If they want artists to play at Wrestlemania, have them play wrestlers entrances. It always works much better, but they rarely do it anymore.

Speaking of which, I wasn't feeling the entrances this year. The set was great though, so props on that much at least. But I don't think any of the individual wrestlers got that cool unique entrance that made them look like a star. Triple H saved the biggest one for himself of course.

I also thought the lay out of the show wasn't handled all that great. Wyatt/Orton underwhelmed, but always seemed poised to do so. By the time we got to Wrestlemania, it wasn't seen as one of the important matches. But it was still featured in a prominent position on the card (albeit without being given much time). Meanwhile the match with the most heat (Jericho/Owens) was the second match on the card and wasn't given the opportunity to steal the show - which it probably would have done. Then there's the fact that we got a ref bump in the opening match. They put a battered Undertaker in a long main event when people needed an injection of energy. There's a way to lay out a show and this wasn't it.

Overall the show seemed just okay. It could have been good if they had cut down the length substantially and managed the card a bit better. Only a handful of the matches seemed of a real Wrestlemania quality, and there wasn't one of those that will make any Best Wrestlemania Matches lists. After all the speculation, the best match was probably Goldberg/Lesnar - it was close to the perfect version of what they were aiming for.

The other Wrestlemania moments that will live on after this show are the Hardys return and title win (great) and Cena's proposal (kinda weird). I still think the tag match with Cena was a mistake. He could have boosted the card by working an important singles match with a big star. And they still could have run with the Wrestlemania proposal. I think it would have been much more effective if people hadn't already guessed that it was going to happen.

I think if I had stayed up to watch Wrestlemania 33, I would have been more bothered by it than I ended up being. Watching the show after the fact and skimming through the less enjoyable parts, I got some fun out of it. But WWE will still probably put on a dozen better shows this year.

[DBSoT]

I haven't watched it on the network yet, but I can say that being there makes a major difference. I was able to ignore so many things that usually annoy me on television. I would give the live experience an 8/10. Seeing all the stuff that you miss on TV was very helpful and really made me appreciate it. It really feels like an event when your there and you feel so much more invested in what is going on.