by KaiserGlider » Apr 05, '17, 8:31 pm
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