Night one of WrestleMania 36 aired last night from the Performance Center with zero in attendance, and WWE surprisingly delivered a decent event.
The night had some negatives, but they have made the best out of a terrible situation and tried their hardest to make WrestleMania the spectacle it should have been.
Yeah, it was missing the crowd cheer and awe-inspiring set, pyro and fireworks, but it did have a charm being back home in the PC. Night one did its job to the best of its ability and it has gotten me excited for what night two has in store tonight.
1. The Boneyard Match Was A Cinematic Phenomenon
The boneyard match between Undertaker and AJ Styles headlined night one.
After the video package that we have seen plenty times on Raw to fill time, the camera followed a hearse driving down a lonely road leading to a cemetery. The music was quite spooky and got us all anticipating the entrance of the ‘Deadman’.
We were all fooled as it was the ‘Phenomenal’ AJ Styles that rose out of the coffin. Undertaker had a different, unique entrance for this dastardly boneyard match.
With rock music playing, ‘Taker zoomed down the same road on his motorcycle, ready to start chaos with Styles. This wasn’t the ‘Deadman’, nor was it ‘American Badass’ – it seemed to be metal listener & tiger supporter, Mark Calaway, making this feud even more personal.
So, if you have gotten to this point and are still unsure about what the heck a boneyard match is, it basically is a buried alive match on location.
This match had violence, cringe and action flowing throughout. Styles had hired druids, Gallows and Anderson, and still couldn’t keep the ‘Phenom’ down.
‘Taker took the battle onto the house – which looked like it could collapse at any moment! Up there, he threw Gallows down to the stone-ground below and gave Anderson a vicious tombstone!
With flames sparking up, ‘Taker chokeslammed Styles and had the battle won right there.
He carried the corpse of AJ Styles, buried him and made him Rest In Peace.
Overall, this match was crazy! The score was engaging. It was flawlessly filmed and neatly structured. Critically, it was a bit goofy at times. Although, I couldn’t see them producing anything better if it occurred in the PC, so I was glad they went this way. If the Firefly Fun House Match between John Cena & “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt tonight is similar, it will be very interesting.
Undertaker ended this feud riding off into the sunset, lying in wait for WrestleMania 37. If he does wrestle there, please do a match similar to this!
2. Ladder Matches Are Amazing
You can’t go wrong with a Ladder Match, right?
WWE put on another great match last night when the SmackDown Tag Team Championship was defended in a ladder match: John Morrison vs Jimmy Uso vs Kofi Kingston.
Originally, this was slated to be the tag teams fighting it out. However, Miz fell ill and was forced to go home, even if WWE wants you to believe he was injured from the brawl on the go-home edition of SmackDown.
This match had all the high spots it required and will definitely be a match of the weekend contender.
The ending was very unique and I don’t recall it happening before. As the three men fought atop the ladder, Morrison crashed into the ladder below them. Meanwhile, Uso & Kingston were stunned to see Morrison managed to bring the titles falling down with him – meaning he retained for his team.
3. Becky Lynch Beat Shayna Baszler
It looks like the reports about Vince McMahon not seeing potential in Shayna Baszler could be true, as Becky Lynch defeated her last night to retain her Raw Women’s Championship.
The match was standard and gave the ‘Queen of Spades’ her best showing since moving up to the main roster. However, for being unstoppable in the Elimination Chamber last month, I would have expected a little bit more dominance in this match.
Lynch winning isn’t a problem, but Baszler losing makes the five other women in the Chamber last month look even weaker than they did previously.
The ‘Man’ seems to be truly on another level when it comes to the women’s division.
Beating Baszler in the overdone Kirifuda Clutch roll-up does give Baszler an excuse for a rematch. However, it is looking likely that Lynch is prey for Ronda Rousey to catch if she returns in the very near future.
4. Is WWE Setting up Mojo Rawley vs The Gronk?!
In probably a low talking point of the show, Mojo Rawley beat R-Truth to win the 24/7 Championship.
This happened when Truth interrupted Rawley and the Host of ‘Mania Rob Gronkowski while they were hyping up what had transpired down in the ring.
Gronk was the first to sneak a pin onto Truth, but, shockingly, Rawley dragged Gronk out of the cover and pinned Truth himself.
There looked to be friction between Rawley & Gronk here and I’d expect the 24/7 shenanigans to continue on night two. However, could this be building to a bigger match?
If Gronk beats Rawley for the title tonight, would it be seen as friendly banter or will a feud begin forming between the two best friends?
I’d rather see them face each other in the ring than the goofy comedy nonsense they are doing currently. Rawley works better as a heel anyway.
5. Kevin Owens Put A Stop To The ‘Monday Night Messiah’
In another match of the weekend candidate, Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins went to lengths that it is hard to come back from to put each other down for good.
Even though their feud has been going in strange directions with many others entering and leaving, it has always been mainly focused on these two. Owens has desperately tried to end the development of the ‘Messiah’ and dig his movement into the ground.
However, we must appreciate everything Seth Rollins has done since turning heel. He has literally poured his life and soul into making this character work and we can’t argue Rollins is one of sports entertainment’s finest.
With Rollins dressing as literal Jesus, Owens was ready to give him the gift of being punched in the face as these guys brawled relentlessly. Slingblade, senton, falcon arrow on the apron, so many sadistic moves only used to hurt the opposition.
Rollins then whacked Owens with the bell, automatically ringing for a disqualification.
If this was the conclusion to the match, it would have been awful. Why end a feud with a disqualification on wrestling’s biggest show? The feud has gone on long enough so it wouldn’t have been exciting if it continued. It had to end here and KO made sure of that.
He demanded that he won the correct way and asked if the match could get restarted.
Round two was a no disqualification match which allowed the bout to enter the final hard-hitting category we knew it could reach. Chairs, steel steps and malicious fists were used to inflict more pain, then the huge ‘Mania moment for Owens happened.
Kevin Owens climbed up the WrestleMania sign and leapt off with a massive elbow being driven into the soul of Seth Rollins, who was leaning atop of the commentary table. Fuelling his inner Shane McMahon helped Owens gain a victory over the ‘Monday Night Messiah’.
Raymond James Stadium clearly couldn’t host this finish, thus proving that WWE used the location to their advantage. Big thumbs up to that!
6. Braun Strowman Won The Universal Championship
In a match that was only made official on Friday, Braun Strowman defeated Goldberg to win the Universal Championship.
Strowman has had multiple opportunities to grab the Universal Championship and had always come up short. It is exciting to see what he, can deliver as champ but I’d say this title win has come a year too late.
The ‘Monster Among Men’ really should’ve beaten Brock Lesnar for the championship at Crown Jewel in 2018, which ironically enough was another match that Reigns was pulled from. However, you can’t change the past, and if there was another moment for Strowman to gain the top title it had to be this one.
He had to endure four spears by the Hall of Famer to continue being a tough monster, and unleash his own finisher, giving Goldberg four Powerslams to finish him off.
Personally, I’d like to see Strowman drop the title to “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt, so we can get the Wyatt vs Reigns match once the coronavirus pandemic is over. If not, then a three-way between Strowman, Goldberg and Reigns seems to be the best idea moving forward.
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