After all of the hype. After all of the noise. It’s the one day of the year wrestling fans look forward to, perhaps more than any other: WrestleMania. We have a mega-card staring right at us tonight, with every major title on the line, every major grudge intended to be settled. It’s a night where anything can and will happen, so expect the unexpected. Will Sami and Kevin win their jobs back? Will Asuka’s streak continue on? Will The Undertaker even show up? Will Roman Reigns conquer The Beast (and the fans)? Who will Brock tag with? It’s a party on Bourbon Street, so let’s crack open this Nutshell and join in the fun!
Best Match of the night:
I shall give this to three matches, just because.
The Intercontinental Title match was really good.
Asuka and Charlotte was really good.
And, while not on that level, Undertaker getting the win was enjoyable.
Worst match of the night:
There were, quite honestly, a number of matches that came up short. But only one match, to my knowledge, got a chant of boring AND a chant of this is awful. That’s right folks…winner of the worst match: your main event, Universal Title match.
Crowd Chants of the Night:
This is awesome
Ronda Rousey
Break her arm
You suck
Rusev Day
Undertaker
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Daniel Bryan
Nakamura
Let’s go Roman
boring
this is awful
Star of the Night
Hmm…Nicholas? (kidding…sort of).
The opening trio, Rollins, Balor and Miz were very good.
So too were Charlotte and Asuka.
Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon, they looked good in winning.
Rousey looked good-WWE put her in good spots, so while she may have not been asked to do it all on her own, she did well when needed to.
Spot of the Night:
Nice top rope spot by Charlotte on Asuka, and nice save too, as she was wobbly and nearly got herself a botch.
Shane, going Coast to Coast and nailing Sami Zayn, who was hung up in a tree of woe.
Nia Jax with a Samoan Drop off the second rope, leading to her title win
Jobber of the Night:
This one is easy. And there actually WAS a jobber. Before we got to Cena/Taker, as John was walking out and the lights went out, folks thought they were actually getting the Dead Man-but it was Elias. He ran down the fans after Cena went back to his seat, so much so Cena came in and beat up on Elias.
Upset of the Night:
Honestly, I feel as though Charlotte beating Asuka was an upset. I never actually considered a world in which, at THIS WrestleMania, Charlotte would end the streak. But that is exactly what happened. It was a really good match, no doubt about that. I think the part post-match with Asuka saying “Charlotte was ready for Asuka” was a bit…odd…but generally just surprised that Asuka wasn’t walking out with the title.
Also, I feel as though Jinder winning the United States title has to be seen as an upset (though, once he won, I was like, OK, when does Hogan’s music start).
Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:
Hate to use this twice in succession…but it was definitely stunning to see Charlotte actually end Asuka’s streak. I had never expected Asuka to tap.
Then again, I also did not expect Shinsuke Nakamura to lose. Nor did I expect him to turn heel after the match, during a segment where we actually seemed to get a genuine display of sportsmanship (I actually expected such deeds during Charlotte/Asuka, NOT this one)
Botch of the night:
This one was a line on commentary, and I don’t know that was absolutely a botch, but it’s certainly a headscratcher…Cole said that Rousey was only the second to go from UFC to WWE, and that the other was Ken Shamrock. Either there is a minute distinction that I do not grasp at the moment, or somehow, Brock Lesnar doesn’t qualify.
Now, I feel sort of bad calling this out, but it was so blatantly obvious that I had to. In the match between Undertaker and John Cena, there were just a few sloppy spots. On one hand, Cena did a horrible job taking Snake Eyes, and followed that up by doing a really bad job taking ‘Taker’s big boot. I suppose it could be chalked up to lack of time to prep (maybe).
Commentary of the night:
The butterflies in Ronda Rousey’s stomach must feel like pterodactyls
Someone get a shovel and get Mickie James out of here
It’s not Mardi Gras, it’s Rex Manning Day!
Braun doesn’t play well with vehicles.
We don’t know who Braun’s partner will be, but we know it won’t be a Mardi Gras float.
LOL Moment of the night:
The women’s battle royal trophy. I have to think someone didn’t really look at the trophy next to, say, an anatomy book.
Fashion Police and Mick Foley. Yes, it was an ad, but it was still funny.
Maybe not as obviously funny, but it made me laugh. Hunter and Stephanie-on trikes-were led to the ring by a group of bad ass biker women, on two wheeled Harleys. Now, I get it, perhaps one or both of the power couple can’t actually ride…but then perhaps choose a different entrance? I thought it just looked odd, and it made me laugh. What made me laugh even harder was when the announce team tried their hardest to make it as though that was one of the best entrances in history….and it wasn’t even close. Wasn’t even in Triple H’s top five entrances, to be honest.
Braun scaring off the Mardi Gras characters.
Braun saying he was picking his partner from the crowd. And then he did…and it was like a ten year old kid…
Noteworthy Moment:
Bray is back, and apparently on Matt’s side now. Now, will Bray assume a Brother Nero role, or will we have a new trio if/when Jeff returns.
The Royal Rumble winners were a combined 0 for 2, with both Asuka and Nakamura losing. I never imagined a scenario in which even one of them lost tonight, much less both.
Why on Earth did they have The Bar first come out on a Mardi Gras float? It was just so weird. And then Braun came out and heaved it off the stage, so it all made sense.
Braun’s tag partner is officially the youngest champion in WWE history. I think it’s a safe bet that record won’t be broken any time soon.
No major cameo-we didn’t get any Hogan+Rock+Austin moments.
Overall lowlights:
I can honestly say I hated the New Day entrance. While I get that pancakes are their thing, and I get that WWE loves their new laser projection fun, having the huge piles of pancakes on the stage and then the little people in pancake costumes? It was just too much.
I really did not like, at all, what WWE did with Cena at the conclusion of Charlotte and Asuka. While yes, the match was over, both women were still either in the ring or on the ramp. There was no need to have the ref run down to get to Cena, and then to have Cena leap over the wall and run up the ramp. I felt it was disrespectful to the women.
5+ hours (not including the pre-show) is too long for what we got. It wasn’t five hours of awesome work. It was like, maybe an hour of really good, a couple hours of pretty good, and a couple hours of meh. Plus, I am spoiled. The best wrestling of the weekend happened on Saturday at the SmoothieKing Center.
Also, the main event…ugh. I mean…hey Vince…your main event, of your biggest show of the year? It got a pretty audible boring chant. Let that sink in. Oh, and a “this is awful” chant. It was a re-do of Cena/Lesnar from SummerSlam, in terms of how it was virtually all Brock. When it was over, I think the cheers were more for the fact that, you know, it was over.
Overall highlights:
Nice couple opening matches, as both the IC and SmackDown Women’s title matches were very, very good. Surprised that they had the Asuka/Charlotte match so early.
Daniel Bryan looked good after his long layoff
Ronda did well in her debut.
At least WWE maybe realized fans aren’t into Reigns as a champion right now, so they didn’t force him on us…even though we still had to watch that as our main event…
After the final bell:
I missed the part where Brock and Roman became no DQ/no count-out, I think.
Maybe my hopes were too high, but when you say the show is going to run more than five hours, not counting the three pre-show matches, then forgive me if I want to really be wowed. Nothing, and I really do mean nothing, on tonight’s entire card really made me overly impressed. You can call me crazy all you want, if you want, but here’s the reality: each and every match on NXT Saturday night was better than any match on WrestleMania’s card. A couple Sunday night came close, or could at least be in the conversation-Charlotte and Asuka, and I’d say that Daniel Bryan+Shane McMahon versus Owens and Zayn entertained. Perhaps the mixed tag match too. But outside of that, a lot of matches felt like let downs. I did like Undertaker/Cena, because it’s The Undertaker, and they kept it short and sweet and let the Dead Man have a nice (possibly last) ‘Mania win.
Here’s hoping the post-‘Mania RAW has more excitement…
