My review of WrestleMania 35:
Oh, what an event it was, probably the first WrestleMania or any WWE event I had been excited about in the longest time! The men’s and women’s title matches were built up perfectly and the whole event came around in the best manner possible, and the show of shows lived up to the hype and delivered more than what I expected it to!
As the crowds started pouring into the MetLife Stadium, the pre-show started with the 205 Live’s main title defense, the WWE Cruiserweight championship being defended, which was followed by the men’s and women’s battle royals. Nothing exciting here as such, but there was one other match on the pre-show which was a last minute setup for the WWE Raw Men’s Tag Team Championship, with the champs – The Revival aka #FTR defending against Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins (Major brothers!); and guess what? The team of Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins won!
Curt Hawkins had a losing streak of 269 losses with 0 wins, which had started back in 2017!
The main show started with the Beast’s advocate – Paul Heyman being seen walking to the ring as the WrestleMania host – Alexa Bliss was having a segment with WWE legend and HoF’er, the immortal Hulk Hogan (side note – I have been uncomfortable watching the hulkster on screen ever since he was involved in the scandal where he was using the derogatory ‘N’ word) to hype up the crowd.
Paul Heyman started to tell people how it was insulting to the Universal Champion that he cannot main event, and he would rather want to not waste any more time and get done with his match and fly away to Las Vegas (*wink* AEW? *wink* or UFC? *wink*). As could be seen from my preview article, I called how one of the world title matches could be put up first since that has been the case for so many years now.
Match 1: Seth Rollins defeated Brock Lesnar (c) (with Paul Heyman)
Singles match for the WWE Universal Championship
An absolutely dull match to say the least, Brock had his typical arsenal of 2-3 moves, and at this point of time, the WWE Universe have been bored with a part-timer being the top champion of the Raw brand for almost 2 years now! Seth Rollins made the most of his long pending WrestleMania moment and just like 4 years ago, when he cashed in his MITB briefcase at mania.
My rating: 3.5/5
Match 2: AJ Styles defeated Randy Orton
Singles match
What could have been the best match of the show, had zero build up and could have been done on any random episode of SmackDown instead. And deservedly so, this match delivered. I have always been about the story being told inside the ring and it was brilliant.
Overall, it wasn’t the kind of match which you would be talking about in a few years when you remember this year’s WrestleMania and hence I would not rate it as well.
My rating: 3.5/5
Match 3: The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) (c) defeated Aleister Black and Ricochet, Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura (with Lana), and The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus)
Fatal four-way tag team match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship
This was the kind of match which deserved much more time in the event, and got me super hyped about this match.
All 4 teams in this match did their bit to make it memorable, and as was mentioned by the commentators, this was the 3rd straight WrestleMania where the Usos were entering as the Tag Team Champions. Great story telling by the teams involved, the tag match looked more like a free-for-all with the number of participants in the match, but the ending was sudden as the Usos capitalized the match’s momentum to retain. Not the kind of finish I was expecting and as much as I could call the result of this match (as can be read in my preview article), there was a part of me who was rooting for the NXT guys, Aleister and Ricochet, to win.
My rating: 4/5
Match 4: Shane McMahon defeated The Miz
Falls Count Anywhere match
This was a surprise and as much as the so called smarks say that Shane does not deserve a spot on the card for WrestleMania, this was, by-far the most memorable of all the matches from the entire event. A decent build up to the match and a long overdue success for the babyface version of the Miz. This match delivered more than any other, and the audience felt involved since the match went into the crowd and oddly-enough both Shane and Miz could use every single object they came across as a weapon while fighting around the stadium.
I would rate this as a well produced match, but the finish was a bit shady, with Shane going over with the Miz’s shoulders being on the mat and the referee counting to the 3 count.
My rating: 3.75/5 (an extra 0.25 for the Miz)
Match 5: The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce) defeated The Boss 'n' Hug Connection (Bayley and Sasha Banks) (c), Nia Jax and Tamina Snuka, and Beth Phoenix and Natalya
Fatal four-way tag team match for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship
The second Fatal four-way tag team match of the night, this one for the women’s title, and just like the SmackDown Men’s tag title match, this one too did not have enough time on the card and could have used some more time as well. The best part ofcourse was the amazing chemistry between all the teams involved and the whole production of the match. The IIconics won in the end with Billie Kay capitalizing on a sudden tag made from Beth Phoenix and covered Bayley for the 3 count telling the ultimate underdog story and becoming the newwww WWE Women’s tag team champions!
What a WrestleMania moment it was for the IIconics!
My rating: 4.5/5
Match 6: Kofi Kingston (with Big E and Xavier Woods) defeated Daniel Bryan (c) (with Rowan)
Singles match for the WWE Championship
What a match! Best story, great build-up, perfect ending. This was definitely the top match and the kind of match that we want on WrestleMania. The match was given enough time on the card and both the participants made the most of it. Kofi Kingston’s 11 year of struggle and his first ever singles world-title match paid off, and had so many fans and superstars in tears! The entire locker room could be seen backing the underdog here and as the referee made the 3 count, could be seen jumping around and celebrating. Many WWE stars, past and present have commented about the match and videos have surfaced about their reactions, being so emotional, with the WWE having their first ever black WWE Champion, a title which has a legacy of around 60 years!
My rating: 5/5
Match 7: Samoa Joe (c) defeated Rey Mysterio
Singles match for the WWE United States Championship
A squash match with Samoa Joe going over the legendary Rey Mysterio. Rey’s injury this past Raw was probably the reason why this went the way it had been, and as the former World Champion got pinned in just a minute, the reaction of the live audience was exactly what was needed for the push for Samoa Joe.
My rating: 4.25/5
Match 8: Roman Reigns defeated Drew McIntyre
Singles match
This was Raw’s version of the AJ vs Orton singles non-title match, where the top dog(s) went head to head for bragging rights for the red brand.
A decent match, although I just did not get the point of the match being on the card when I finally saw it. Drew had a nice entrance for a change, and the bagpipers led him to the ring playing his entrance music.
Just like the similarly booked SDLive match, this too had the babyface going over with Roman pinning Drew after a superman punch outta nowhere.
My rating: 4/5
WrestleMania Concert: Walk-with-Elias
What a fun segment it was with the ever charming heel Elias coming out and playing with 2 other versions of himself on screen. One version was him playing the piano, another playing the drums and ofcourse the live version of Elias in the middle of the ring playing the guitar!
The crowd absorbed up the whole segment, and just as the whole atmosphere was getting intense with Elias’ tactics, the titantron started playing a clip of NY’s own Babe Routh (a baseball legend) playing against Chicago!
As I was watching this segment, I remember thinking who it could be!
Could it be the ultimate swerve in the form of CM Punk, with the Chicago mention in the video clip?
Basic Thuganomics started playing and just like that out came the Doctor of Thuganomics himself, John Cena! This got a huge pop from the crowd and the fan-favourite version of Cena was loved by the live audience. John Cena delivered an epic rap insulting the villainous Elias and the whole segment which had previously happened, which ended with the F-U (the original name for Cena’s finishing move, now called the AA)!
My Rating: 5/5
Match 9: Triple H defeated Batista
No Holds Barred match; with Triple H’s career on the line
A match multiple years in the making, Batista finally got his way and had his farewell match on the grandest stage of them all against his friend and favourite in-ring rival Triple H. This match was another which was given enough time, with the 2 legendary superstars going head to head for the first time in almost 10 years, and Triple H finally getting a ‘W’ over his prodigy and Evolution team-mate, Batista.
As the match progressed, one could wonder who exactly the babyface in this match was, as Hunter went full-villain using pliers on Batista’s fingers and pulling out Batista’s nose-ring too. He was the good-old cerebral assassin just the way we have all learnt to like him over the years. I could not really see Hunter losing the match since his career was on the line, so the finish was pretty much spoilt because of that. Overall a good match and it was great to see Batista being in the ring this one final time.
My rating: 4.5/5
Match 10: Baron Corbin defeated Kurt Angle
Singles match; This was Angle's farewell match
A randomly thrown together match, with the fans booing the entire setup from day 1. The legendary Kurt Angle had handpicked Baron Corbin, but the fans called it bullshit with nothing special being told from a storyline perspective. The match was over before there could be any interest from the audience and Corbin sent Angle riding into the sunset.
My rating: 2.5/5
Match 11: Finn Bálor defeated Bobby Lashley (c) (with Lio Rush)
Singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
The demon king version of Finn Balor returned for the first time in 3 years and was involved in his rematch with Lashley for the legendary Intercontinental Championship. The entrances were brilliant and the audience had soaked up the entire story leading up to the grandest stage of them all. A quick match though, lasting around 5 minutes and soon enough, Finn became the newwww IC champion!
My rating: 3.5/5
Match 12: Becky Lynch defeated Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair
Winner takes all triple threat match for the WWE Raw and SmackDown Women's Championships
The first ever women’s main-event at the show of shows, extremely well built and well deserving of closing the grandest stage of them all. The heavy responsibility of the expectations of the entire women’s division and girls everywhere aspiring to be future WWE superstars rested on the shoulders of these 3 superstars, and what a great performance.
The 3 of the best of the best wrestlers in the WWE set the bar for future WrestleMania main events and more than delivered with amazing responses seen across the web and mainstream media moments after the event finished.
Becky and Charlotte were the technical superstars who were carrying Ronda along in the match, the tensions between the 3 could be clearly seen as the kicks and punches were stiff and the superstars could be seen to be hurt as the match progressed.
They made the match look real hurting their opponents really bad and making the fight look legitimate. Great story telling inside the ring and the match got its due having a run-time of around 30 minutes, women’s wrestling has come a long way from being an after-thought just a few years back to headlining ‘Mania!
The main event of the show of shows, was a delight and even though it had its ups and downs as the time went on, and ending was one which every fan wanted to see and Becky going over the established names in the business was a great underdog story to see!
Comments