Another WrestleMania has come and gone. This year there was a lot of concern over the match card, but I’ll be the first to say that it was overall a pretty good show. For the price of $9.99 on the WWE Network fans should be satisfied with what we got, even if it floundered at the end. Let’s take a look at the matches.
No coverage of the pre-show because that’s the freebie stuff to get people to buy the network. Sure, there was a title match, but WWE doesn’t care about the United States title since they put a money match on free show. Yes, I’m pissed about it…
Intercontinental Championship – Ladder Match
Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler, Sin Cara, Stardust, Zack Ryder, The Miz
This match was the perfect way to kick of WrestleMania 32! The action was fast and furious as the ring ended up littered with broken ladders and bodies from all the Superstars. Sin Cara was impressive with some cringe inducing falls and jumps from the ladder. Zayn and Owens traded blows to great fan pops, but after Owens was dropped onto a ladder he was out cold. That man can really sell looking dead! In the confusion Zack Ryder climbed the ladder and snatched the belt to become the new Intercontinental Champion! It was a shocking win and a great push for the once buried Zack Ryder!
Chris Jericho vs AJ Styles
A great technical match that showed off how great Jericho still is and what is yet in store for us from AJ Styles. These are two world-class technical wrestlers and they took the crowd on a masterclass. Everyone and their mother figured AJ Styles would walk away with the win and earn his WrestleMania moment. Turns out WWE would flip the script and have Chris Jericho get the clean victory. Sure seems like anyone that ever wrestled at TNA has to deal with getting buried when they get to WWE. Cough, cough, Sting, cough.
The New Day vs The League of Nations
The New Day took things to another level by coming out from a giant box of Booty O’s cereal, complete with life-size cheerio like food. They then cranked it up to 11 by going full Super Saiyan with their Dragon Ball Z gear. The crowd ate that shit up! It will go down on many a top 10 list of best WrestleMania moments. The match itself was also quite good with the league foursome keeping The New Day threesome in check. Since the belts weren’t on the line the League of Nations came away with the win but the fun wast quite over. After some mic time from King Barrett three WWE legends come out to lend some aid. Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, and Stone Cold Steve Austin come out an destroy the League of Nations. This in turn lead The New Day to dance with the three, even Austin! But Stone Cold drops Woods with a Stunner before flipping of the crowd in grand fashion. Really great stuff all around.
Brock Lesnar vs Dean Ambrose
The match that made no sense for either Superstar ended as most people expected. Dean Ambrose gave and took an impressive beating which was impressive for this PG era of wrestling. Lesnar took Ambrose to Suplex City a whopping 10 plus times (I lost count). He finally put down Ambrose with an F5 onto a dozen chairs that Ambrose tossed in the ring while channeling Terry Funk. It was a good match, but not one that pushed or created any real story-line for these two. Brock is still a beast and Ambrose now has nowhere to go.
Women’s Championship Match
Charlotte, Sasha Banks, & Becky Lynch
The only thing of substance from the pre-show was WWE legend Lita coming out to debut the new WWE Women’s Championship Title. I talked about this sometime back on our podcast (The FTC Wrestling Podcast on YouTube) and am glad that WWE dropped the silly Divas Title now that they have legitimate female wrestlers. Also, the belt looks beyond gorgeous and isn’t some small and dainty pink affair. If you showed it to someone they wouldn’t even be able to tell it was the women’s title other than the text. The match itself was outstanding and really showed what this revolution was all about. These three ladies pulled out all the stops and left it all on the mat at the end. Proficient technical wrestling, high-flying spots, and nail-biting moments made for a match that will go down in history as one of the greats. But, and that’s a big BUT, the ending was shameful. Charlotte got the surprise win with the help from her father Rick Flair. Sure, he has helped her before, but it felt like this time, with a new a legitimate Women’s Title on the line Charlotte should have won clean. It say a lot about WWE still that the new Women’s Title had to be won with the help of a man. Great match, but saddened by the finish.
The Undertaker vs Shane McMahon
Not since the Attitude Era have we seen a match like this. While it got off to a slow start, both of these Superstars proved why they are considered legends. The Undertaker looked better tonight than he has in years! For all the worry we had over Shane and his ability to perform, her silenced us all by jumping off the steel cage. He channeled his old self and must have freaked out his kids sitting in the front row. The Undertaker did manage to land a Tombstone Pile-Driver for the win. It was a great match from two guys that many people consider well past their prime. Still, this win takes away a years worth of possible stories as Shane McMahon won’t take over the company from his father, and Undertaker will go back into hibernation until next year. By then he’ll probably actually be dead…
Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royale
This match has always been treated as a joke match by WWE. Sure, Cesaro won it once, but his push never came, no matter how bad the fans wanted it. Also the Big Show won the damn thing because he needed his 50th push in the company… The majority of the Superstars involved didn’t get an entrance for whatever reason, but Mark Henry, Big Show and Diamond Dallas Page did. This was on purpose as there was a special entrant, and I’m not talking about Tatanka, even though I was pissed that one of my favorites didn’t get to have his WrestleMania moment. Instead we were treated to SHAQ coming out and towering over the rest of the competitors. It was fun while it lasted, but in a surprising move Baron Corbin from NXT won the event. Here’s to hoping he get a big push.
(Insert any Superstar(s) here) Beats The Wyatt Family
Bray Wyatt and The Wyatt family have become the got-to jobbers of the WWE Universe. It pisses me off to no end how WWE ruined one of the best gimmicks of the past 10 years. Bray must have really messed up with the boss because I can’t even remember the last time he has won a major event. This time he and the fam-bam took on The Rock and lost in six seconds in a new WrestleMania record. At least John Cena made his return to liven things up. He looks great and is ready to win every title that the company has.
WWE World Championship
Roman Reigns vs HHH
The match that nobody was excited for. The crowd showed their disapproval by being nearly comatose during most of the match. It’s surprising that the World Championship match was the one that fans were least into. Still, Stephanie McMahon stole the show from these two goof balls. The only time that Roman did get a pop from the fans was when he hit Stephanie with a spear. It would make sense that the only way for him to get cheers was to hit a woman… As expected Roman wins the title and the crowd boos him until the show goes off the air.
WrestleMania 32 was a pretty great show if you strip away the last match and the shitty ending to the Women’s Title match. Other than that it really hard to find fault in the show and fans should be excited that WWE can still put together really good PPV shows.
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