If you're not a pro wrestling fan or don't have any interest in pro wrestling, you can probably stop reading now. I'm changing the topic of the blog for one week only, and that's because I'm a lifelong wrestling fan who couldn't pass up the opportunity to do a WrestleMania review. (If nobody else reads this, I know that Frankie's got me since he requested it.) However, don't fret because Chicago sports pain will be back next week and BOY do the Cubs suck!
So, about WrestleMania 37. What a weekend (or week if you were able to grind through WWE's countless hours of programming they schedule during Mania week.) it was for pro wrestling fans. NXT, WWE's developmental/third brand, started things hot with their two night NXT Takeover: Stand and Deliver event on Wednesday and Thursday, and the main roster was able to pick up where NXT left off (a rare occurrence) with a fantastic two day event of their own, WrestleMania 37, on Saturday and Sunday. I genuinely enjoyed a majority of the matches on the big, two day card and thought it was a solid PPV. Obviously though, there was one really special factor that made this event the memorable one that it was, and that was the return of a live audience. Pro wrestling is a sport (or non-sport, depending on what you think of it.) that relies heavily on the audience. We saw how strange things could get over this past year without any live crowd there to react to the strange and awe-inspiring events that take place during a pro wrestling show, when WWE had to perform their shows in an empty warehouse for a few months. They eventually switched it up and created the "Thunderdome", which is a state-of-the-art, technological masterpiece of an arena that allowed them to pipe in crowd reactions and show the faces of thousands of fans digitally in the arena. While the Thunderdome was a step up from the empty warehouse, it still wasn't the same as having that real-life, raw energy from a live crowd. This past weekend, after being absent during shows for over a year, a live audience was at WrestleMania on Saturday and Sunday. The crowd at Raymond James Stadium, which was only at 33% capacity, was hot all weekend and you could just tell they were ready to burst in cheers or boos for the wrestlers after a year of waiting to do so. It was special to have fans back and you could see the impact it had on all of the performers. So to me, that's what I'll remember the most for making this year's Mania as special as it was.
I'll be going through the match card and ranking the matches from worst to best based off of my opinion. I'll also leave a little review of each match and then wrap the blog up with thoughts on the show overall. It was a large, 14 match card so let's dive into it!
Unable to Rank: Randy Orton d. "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt w/Alexa Bliss (Night 2)
I'm deciding to keep this match out of the rankings and just review it since it wasn't much of a match. This match was all about progressing The Fiend and Alexa Bliss' storyline, while ending the feud with Orton, which it honestly didn't do that great of a job of. This match kicked off night two and the crowd was hot for Randy Orton (they always are) and the Fiend's first Mania entrance in front of a crowd was spectacular. Everything after the entrances pretty much went downhill. They had a very short, standard Fiend match, until Alexa Bliss emerged from a giant box (previously used in the Fiend's entrance) at ringside with a completely new and dark look. She was in all black, had a crown of thorns, and had weird black ooze coming out of her head. It was cool, creepy, and had the crowd chanting "holy shit", which is usually reserved for crazy match spots, so it did its job. This emergence of Bliss and her new look caused a distraction for the Fiend, and Orton was able to hit one RKO for a surprise win, but then he just dipped. The Fiend and Bliss stared down for a moment until the lights went out and they both disappeared. This caused the crowd to erupt in a chorus of boos. Personally, I was okay with how this went down, since it adds an interesting new layer to the Fiend and Bliss's story, but what I'm not okay with is how this wasn't really a real match and it opened night two, which left the crowd sour for a bit. I also don't think this was a very good end to the month's long Orton-Wyatt feud. We were promised some crazy destruction of Orton, but instead he won quickly and just ran away. Overall, it's not the worst thing in the world, but it could've been done better.
13. Women's Tag Team Championship #1 Contenders Tag Team Turmoil (Night 1)
This match was a mess for the most part and easily the worst match of both nights. It was thrown together last minute, didn't have much story behind it, and was given very little time on the card. All of those factors are a recipe for a bad match. I feel bad for the women's mid-card wrestlers, because they had such a bad deal here. Basically, if you're in the women's division on the main roster and you're not in the singles title hunt, you get put in a random tag team and get minimal TV time to progress your stories. This match was a showcase of that and it shows that WWE still has a long way to go in getting its women's division right, even though they've made a ton of progress in the past 6 years. I don't blame any of the performers in the match for this, I pretty much just blame the writing team. Plenty of talented women's wrestlers were put in an unfortunate spot here. Tamina and Natalya picked up the win in the rushed match and earned a title shot on night two of WrestleMania.
12. Women's Tag Team Championship: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler d. Natalya and Tamina (Night 2)
The Women's tag title match wasn't as bad as the #1 contenders match for it on night one, but it also wasn't anything special. Much like the previous match, this match also had zero build. Natalya and Tamina had earned their title shot 24 hours before, and there was minimal heat between them, and Jax and Bazsler. However, this match was pretty solid, but it just didn't have anything special to move it up my rankings. Tamina and Natalya (who I'm pretty sure had been working as heels the past few weeks) did a good job at playing the faces and getting the crowd to cheer for them, especially Tamina. The match got to a point where the fans were chanting Tamina's name and it seemed like her and Natalya would finally get their long overdue WrestleMania moment after both being in the company for over a decade. That wouldn't be the case though, as Jax and Baszler would pick up the win, continuing their dragged out reign as champions. If there was ever a chance for WWE to pull the trigger on a Tamina WrestleMania win, it was right there, but they didn't do it unfortunately.
11. RAW Tag Team Championship: AJ Styles and Omos d. The New Day (Night 1)
It wasn't a good weekend for the tag team championship scene as you can see by where these matches are ranked. This match wasn't horrible, but it wasn't anything spectacular either. It actually played out kind of backwards with The New Day, the faces in the match, having the advantage the entire time, only for Styles to get the hot tag to Omos, who dominated and picked up the win for his team. It was an interesting twist on the old wrestling trope of the faces always having to get the hot tag, but besides that, not too much else made this match special. They did do a good job with making Omos look like a dominant force to be reckoned with though. Styles is also a grand slam champion now with this win, so there were at least a few positives coming out of this match.
10. Steel Cage Match: Braun Strowman d. Shane McMahon (Night 1)
The buildup to this match was horrible, so we could only hope that a big, death-defying spot from Shane at Mania could save this feud (and it did just that). This match was entirely built around Shane calling Braun stupid for weeks. A pretty lame buildup for a WrestleMania cage match. Luckily, this match did everything it needed to do. It gave Braun a cool monster spot when he ripped off the side of the cage with his bare hands, and Shane got thrown off the top of the cage, taking a nasty front flip bump all the way to the mat. Braun looked dominant and picked up the win, so hopefully he can move on to more serious storylines after this. Overall, a standard cage match with a big spot to end it, which is exactly what was expected of this match.
9. Intercontinental Championship, "Nigerian Drum Fight": Apollo Crews d. Big E (Night 2)
I don't really know why WWE felt the need to give this match a "Nigerian Drum Fight" stipulation, when it was literally just a street fight and the drums weren't even used. Big E and Apollo are two fantastic wrestlers, who don't need a weapons gimmick to have a good match, but I understand why they were given it. These guys have already fought 5 or 6 times in the past few months, so they needed something to spice it up. The match wasn't anything too crazy, but it had some good, stiff weapon spots and both men did the best they could to have a decent match with a weird stipulation. Crews would pick up his first championship win, on the WrestleMania stage, after an assist from RAW Underground's (remember that weird thing?) Daba Kato. Kato obviously isn't going by that name or gimmick anymore, because the commentary team pretended to not know who he was. It was a weird ending, but it leaves some intrigue in what comes next for Apollo and his new Nigerian royalty character. The match was only okay, but I'm happy to see Apollo get a Mania spotlight. Hopefully Big E can move more towards the main event scene after this, because that's where he belongs and will really get a chance to shine.
8. RAW Women's Championship: Rhea Ripley d. Asuka (Night 2)
A lot of fans would probably disagree with my placement of this match in the rankings, thinking that it should be higher. I'll do my best to explain. The match was good, but it just didn't deliver the way I thought it would. I think it almost had too high of expectations going into it from everyone, and something about it just fell flat to me. Rhea getting the title win in front of the fans at Mania, that she should've gotten last year, was awesome though. She defeated Asuka in a match that wasn't a squash by any means, but almost came off as pretty lopsided. I'm not sure where Asuka goes from here, but I feel like we need to see a rematch between these two that is more back-and-forth, and that is given a little more time. I liked this match, I really did, but I think between the hype for it and Banks/Belair setting the bar super high on night one set it up to be a bit of a disappointment.
7. WWE Championship: Bobby Lashley d. Drew McIntyre (Night 1)
Drew finally got his big pop from the WrestleMania crowd. This was supposed to happen last year when he defeated Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship in the main event, but unfortunately there ended up being no fans at Mania last year. Drew was rewarded with the first entrance in front of a live crowd in over a year and man, did they go crazy for him. The match was a solid, hard-hitting battle between two of the biggest and strongest men on the RAW roster. Lashley retained off of a weird MVP distraction that allowed him to make Drew pass out to the Hurt Lock. I think Lashley retaining was the right move for the long-term, even if Drew winning was the sentimental move. I'm glad WWE is sticking with Lashley and giving him a real run with the title. Overall, the match was good which earns it a nice ranking in the top-half of the card, but there were just a few more matches that I enjoyed more, personally. These guys delivered though!
6. Bad Bunny & Damian Priest d. The Miz & John Morrison (Night 1)
I'm not even joking, I almost put this match higher in my rankings. It was almost top 5 for me, I'm dead serious. I enjoyed it that much. However, the five matches above it contained legitimately better in-ring work and I just couldn't bring myself to put this one any higher than I did. Some may already be questioning why I would put this above the RAW Women's title and WWE title matches. It wasn't necessarily better wrestling than those two matches, but its entertainment and shock value is what earns it such a high spot. Bad Bunny may have delivered one of, if not the best, celebrity WrestleMania performances of all time. He moved to Florida months in advance to train for this and it showed. He was legit wrestling, bumping, and selling. He hit a Falcon Arrow, Canadien Destroyer outside the ring, and took a leap of faith off the top rope to the outside of the ring. These were all legit spots that many celebs wouldn't usually do. I think Bad Bunny blew everyone's expectations out of the water by putting on a legit wrestling match, rather than phoning it in and doing a spot or two, like most celebs often do (not you, Pat McAfee). After starting the match and being in the ring much longer than anyone expected, Bad Bunny made the hot tag to Damian Priest and they were able to pick up the win. I also have to give a huge amount of credit to Miz and Morrison here. They were total pros in this match with they way they sold for Bad Bunny. They played the obnoxious heels to perfection and made Bad Bunny look like a million bucks in the ring. Major props to everyone who was involved in this match as it exceeded expectations, and provided the fans with an unexpected and very cool WrestleMania moment.
5. Kevin Owens d. Sami Zayn w/Logan Paul (Night 2)
This is the part of the rankings where the matches really pick up in terms of in-ring quality. Owens and Zayn have had countless classic encounters over the years that go all the way back to their ROH days. This match was by no means their best, but it was still fantastic in-ring work and it had the crowd chanting "fight forever" (*cringes*). Logan Paul being at ringside worried me a bit, but thankfully he had no involvement in the actual match, and Zayn/Owens were able to do their thing in the ring with Owens picking up a clean win. After the match, Paul would proceed to dump Zayn to the curb and attempt to befriend Owens. This of course would lead to the moment the crowd had been waiting for since Paul made his entrance to a chorus of boos, and that was KO hitting Paul with a stunner. (Props to Paul for selling it funny). Overall, a good match that had a slight threatening of Logan Paul ruining it, which thankfully didn't come true. The stunner after was a perfect way to cap it off as well. Zayn and Owens are two of the best in-ring performers today and they were both able to showcase that on the grandest stage, without it even being their best match they've ever had together.
4. United States Championship: Sheamus d. Riddle (Night 2)
I personally thought this match was awesome. I definitely didn't expect it to end up ranked this high if you would've asked me before the show started, but here we are. This was another match with a pretty lame build that had barely any substance to it. Luckily for us, Sheamus and Riddle are two of the best when it comes to making pro wrestling look legit. These guys had a hard hitting, stiff battle that just looked brutal and real when watching it. The match ended with a cool Brogue Kick finish, as Sheamus was able to hit his finishing move on Riddle in mid air while he was doing a moonsault from the middle rope. The kick was legit enough to make Riddle bleed, adding another layer of brutality to the match. I'm not sure if it was the right choice to end Riddle's run with the title so soon, but Sheamus has consistently been one of the best in-ring workers during the pandemic era, so this was a nice reward for him. Even with a bad buildup and story, these two were able to deliver one of my personal favorite matches of the weekend.
3. Cesaro d. Seth Rollins (Night 1)
This match was guaranteed to be one of the show-stealers of the weekend. Cesaro and Rollins are two of the best in-ring performers today, and they definitely proved it at WrestleMania. This match had everything you'd want in it. It was fast-paced, non-stop pro wrestling action at it's finest. The entire match built to Cesaro breaking his own record of swings (27!) on Rollins and then hitting a Neutralizer for the win. While the swings were impressive, they weren't even the best thing Cesaro did in the match. He pulled out some wacky move where he placed Rollins up on his shoulders and spun him around without using his arms. I don't know if there's anyone else on the roster who could even pull that off right now. Overall, the match was awesome and the live crowd loved it as well. Cesaro finally earned his big singles match spotlight at Mania that was long overdue, which will hopefully lead to a main event run for him. Rollins, despite the loss, continued his string of impressive WrestleMania matches and he won't be going down the card anytime soon either. These guys are both pro wrestling purists who know how to work a match. If you wanted to show someone who doesn't watch wrestling a match from this year's Mania to try and get them into wrestling, this would be your match to show them.
2. Universal Championship, Triple Threat Match: Roman Reigns d. Edge and Daniel Bryan (Night 2 Main Event)
This was a match worthy of being in the main event of WrestleMania, and it lived up to all the hype. Reigns, Edge, and Bryan had one of the better builds out of all the matches on the card, which gave it a great story to work with. All three of these men thought their careers were genuinely over at one point, but they somehow managed to all comeback and be in the main event of WrestleMania against each other. It's almost too good to be true and is something that even Hollywood wouldn't write. The match was a great display of wrestling, brutality, and emotion. The perfect mix for a main event title match at Mania. There were points in the match where it seemed like anyone could walk away with the championship, but in the end, it was Roman Reigns continuing his reign of dominance by pinning BOTH Edge and Bryan (a very nice callback to Reigns' "stack em up" promo on Smackdown) after hitting them with devastating con-chair-tos. A lot of people may be upset with the finish, even I was at first, but after letting it settle in and thinking about it, Reigns winning was the right choice. This guy is the best thing going right now in WWE. Why let his reign end now? WWE should milk it out for all it's worth and when the right time comes, put over a new superstar by giving him the big win over Reigns, rather than giving it to Edge or Bryan who are both already established. I know Edge and Bryan were both sentimental favorites, especially Edge, but this match is similar to the WWE title match from night one where the booking seemed questionable in the moment, but it's actually best for the long-term. If you need a bright side out of all this, at least now we may finally be able to see a really cool dream rivalry between Edge and Bryan that will have plenty of heat and emotion behind it. Overall, this was one of the top matches of the weekend and it was the definition of "main event".
1. Smackdown Women's Championship: Bianca Belair d. Sasha Banks (Night 1 Main Event)
The best overall match of the weekend, to me, was this one right here. Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks delivered an instant classic, while making history in the process. Much like the Universal title triple threat match, this match was a textbook definition of the term "main event". It was a back-and-forth battle that displayed athleticism, strength, pure pro wrestling ability, and plenty of emotion. After a crazy sequence of moves, featuring a brutal hair whip to the stomach from Belair to Banks, Belair was able to hit her signature KOD to pin Sasha Banks and win her first Women's Championship in the main event of WrestleMania. Seeing the genuine emotion from both women before the match, and from Belair after winning the match, was a great reminder of how incredible wrestling can be when given the chance. The crowd went nuts for Belair's win and it was much deserved for her. This match felt like it truly created a new star for the Smackdown women's division. We can't take any credit away from Banks though, as this performance can be added to her long list of classics, which continues to give us evidence that she may already be one of, if not the, greatest women's wrestlers of all time. Both night's main events were awesome, but this one gets the edge from me because of the fact it was a classic one-on-one match, it had the face overcoming the heel to send the Mania crowd home happy (which also creates more of a "WrestleMania moment", as WWE likes to call it), and it had a historical impact to it. Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair became not only the first two Black women to main event WrestleMania, but they also performed in the first WrestleMania main event to feature only Black superstars in the match. This gives the match a huge significance when it comes to representation in professional wrestling. The match was also a classic, as stated earlier, so the fact that it had historic implications AND was a legitimate, WrestleMania main event worthy match earns it the number one spot in my rankings.
Overall Review: 8/10
This WrestleMania should be considered a huge success by the WWE and from fans. Most of the matches were very solid and the live audience being back for the first time in a year gave the show an even bigger boost. It was a weekend packed with intensity, brutality, athleticism, shocking moments, and history. That's everything you want in a pro wrestling show, especially a WrestleMania. I really enjoyed the event and it just brought back that magic for one weekend that made me feel like a kid again. Both main events delivered as well, which is a huge plus. Overall, it was a great WrestleMania and definitely one to remember!
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