It’s time everyone! The grandest stage of them all, the ultimate thrill ride, Wrestlemania 33 is here! Let’s take a look at everything that happened. The good, the bad, the bitterness inducing writing choices….sorry. Here we go!
Kickoff Show
First we had the match for the Cruiserweight Championship between Austin Aries and Neville. It was a slow start for the high flyers, but that didn’t last long at all. They know what we expect to see from the 205 Live guys and they didn’t disappoint. Aries had a scary moment when he was slammed on his head from a German suplex. He regained his composure and came back with a vengeance. He hit a suicide dive and a 450 splash after a top rope hurricanrana which almost gained him the victory. Late in the match the challenger had Neville in trouble again with a submission attempt, but the king of the cruiserweights used some underhanded tactics and poked Aries in his previously injured eye. After that it was short work for Nevile, who hit a beautiful Red Arrow to pick up the victory.
Next we had the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. This match was typical for the type that it was. The two largest members of the match, The Big Show and Braun Strowman, laid waste to the rest of the field early. After a brief stare down between the two giants, it was Braun that would get the upper hand and eliminate The Big Show. His victory would be short lived however, as he was eliminated shortly after by a group of other superstars. It would be Mojo Rawley that would come out victorious after a little help from an honorary Hype Bro Rob Gronkowski, tight end for the New England Patriots. Gronk interjected himself into the match after Jinder Mahal disrespected the NFL star by throwing a drink in his face. Jinder was hit with a massive shoulder tackle as retribution, which allowed Rawley to eliminate Mahal with ease. It looks like Mojo will be getting the next big push, which surprised me as I had Braun Strowman winning this thing for sure.
Finally we had the Intercontinental Title match between Dean Ambrose and Baron Corbin. Once again the IC belt does not get the respect that it’s legacy demands. I’m sure that it was no surprise to anyone in attendance that the match started off in a straight up fight. Corbin’s size and strength were a problem for Dean early on, getting ragdolled at one point when Corbin ran him the entire length of one side of the outside of the ring and into the barricade. Corbin also made it a point to focus on the ribs of Ambrose during the match, as Dean was still favoring them from the injury he sustained when Corbin lowered the forklift arms onto him. Ambrose attempted Dirty Deeds a few times during the match, as well as some of his other signature moves but Corbin had him well studied, and was able to counter. Late in the match Corbin went for the End of Days, but Dean was able to back flip out of it, and finally hit Dirty Deeds on the Lone Wolf.
Main Card
AJ Styles vs Shane McMahon
The match started off in an unexpected way when Shane McMahon, who was expected to bring a fist fight to AJ, began to actually wrestle Styles. This was especially interesting because AJ had said that he was going to embarrass Shane during the match, claiming he was the best all around wrestler to ever step foot into a WWE ring. The match did eventually turn into a fist fight in which Shane put on a clinic, peppering Styles with a flurry of rights and lefts. Shane was actually getting the best of AJ for the most part during the first part of the match. Some highlights included Shane using BJJ to counter a calf crusher and later on catching AJ in a triangle choke when Styles attempted a springboard 450 splash. Then an exchange between the two in the corner caused the referee to get knocked out from a kick by Styles. AJ took this opportunity to go outside the ring and grab some garbage cans from under the ring, which any of us who have watched a Shane McMahon match knows is a horrible thing to introduce into the match. AJ attempted Shane’s signature coast to coast kick but Shane popped up and threw the garbage can into AJ’s face. Shane then hit a coast to coast of his own. The referee regained consciousness at this point. Shane attempted to hit Styles with an elbow onto the announce table but could not connect. Back in the ring AJ once again went for a Phenomenal Forearm but Shane was able to counter with a swinging DDT. Shane the attempted a shooting star press but Styles was able to avoid it. This would be Shane-O-Mac’s downfall as Styles was finally able to hit a Phenomenal Forearm and pick up the victory.
Kevin Owens vs Chris Jericho – US Title
Before I start the recap of this match can we just have a round of applause for Jericho’s scarf tonight? Amazing. Jericho wasted no time trying to put away his former best friend, attempting The Walls of Jericho right off the bat. KO was able to survive the early push from Jericho and gained control of the match. KO really shines at this slower more aggressive pace. The combination of ruthless moves and brutal verbal thrashing is excellent. This match was counter heavy, exactly what you would expect from two men who were former friends and partners in the ring. It was pretty much this way the entire match. There was an exchange where I thought both men’s knees were going to fall apart due to using them so much to counter each other. There was a frog splash from KO, a lionsault, and running senton that all got countered with knees. There was a point where KO was attempting a second pop up powerbomb but Jericho countered with a Code Breaker. KO would have lost but he got literally ONE FINGER on the rope. Owens was able to recover and while both men were outside the ring, he was able to powerbomb Y2J on the ring apron and get a victory and revenge for losing his title to Goldberg.
Bayley vs Sasha Banks vs Charlotte vs Nia Jax – Raw Women’s Championship
Strong start for Nia. None of the other superstars could handle her one on one. She threw them all around like children and was on her way to easily winning the match. Charlotte was the only one to slow her down a bit with some chops before getting thrown aside. It took all three of the other women to eliminate Nia with a triple power bomb. After this Charlotte pull off a tremendous corkscrew moonsault onto Sasha and Bayley outside of the ring. During the match Charlotte had exposed a middle turnbuckle, which would be Sasha’s undoing as she was driven into it after a rollup kickout by Charlotte. Once it was just Charlotte and Bayley the Queen drove Bayley’s knee into the same exposed turnbuckle. Charlotte attempted a moonsault but missed the champion. Bayley was unable to capitalize though, failing at her own high spot and ended up in a figure eight leg lock. Bayley was able to make it to the ropes but she was then put in a Tree of Woe for her efforts. Charlotte climbed the ropes and was attempting some sort of move when Bayley body dropped Charlotte off the top while still stuck on the ropes. Infuriated, Charlotte charged the corner but Bayley sat up at the last second, which caused Charlotte to crash into the turnbuckle. Bayley was then able to hit an elbow off the top rope, reminiscent of her hero Randy Savage, and pinned Charlotte to retain the title.
Anderson/Gallows vs Cesaro/Sheamus vs Enzo/Cass – Raw Tag Championships- Ladder Match
Before the match Wrestlemania hosts The New Day came out to address the crowd. They announced that they had just gotten word that the match would now be a fatal four way match. But who? WHO? WHO? WHO? would be the fourth team. The crowd thought it must be The New Day…..but no…..it was THE HARDY’S!!
RT if you STILL can’t believe your eyes! #WrestleMania #HardyBoyz @JEFFHARDYBRAND @MATTHARDYBRAND pic.twitter.com/vLSsAACsMI
— WWE (@WWE) April 3, 2017
The crowd went absolutely insane when The Hardy’s music started playing. As Matt and Jeff walked down to the ring you could hear the chants of “DELETE DELETE” from the crowd. As the match started the other three teams seemed to be stunned and The Hardy’s took full advantage. The match played out like you would expect. Every team got their high spots in, multiple failed attempts to grab the belts from every team. It would be the masters of the ladder match, Broken Matt Hardy and Brother Nero (yes I’m calling them that) that would shock the world and win the Raw Tag Championships. Welcome back guys! Let’s hope they don’t get written like The Dudley’s did on Raw.
Miz & Maryse vs John Cena & Nikki Bella
John and Miz started the match off. The Miz was probably more over than he has ever been. Prior to the two men even locking up the Miz climbed the ropes to face the crowd. He was greeted with thunderous applause. During the match the crowd cheered Miz’s every movement, and there were many. The Miz had John Cena on the ropes for the entire match. After a series of YES! kicks Miz walked over to Nikki and did the “You can’t see me” hand gesture, which got him a slap across the face. After the slap Cena was able to make the tag to Nikki. This was all it took to end the match. Nikki easily overpowered Maryse, and when Miz re-entered the ring, Cena and Nikki hit their tandem moves for the victory. But it was never about the match. This was all a vehicle for what happened next. After all this time and waiting, Nikki Bella finally got her wish. John told a short personal story and then, in the middle of the ring, proposed to Nikki. She obviously said yes.
Seth Rollins vs HHH – Non Sanctioned Match
In this match the real drama was Seth’s knee. Don’t get me wrong, Seth was fantastic and HHH played his part perfectly and proved that he still has it. The focus was the knee though. Every time Seth attempted a high spot I would hold my breath. In the beginning of the match it wasn’t an issue, but later on after HHH had worked it over, everything Seth tried would be hindered because of it. Seth did such an excellent job selling the injury there were a few times that I actually thought he might have hurt it again. He was a true fighter, no matter what HHH threw at him he would scratch and claw his way back into the match. Even though HHH was looking to cripple Rollins, that did not keep the Architect from pulling off some great high spots, including a superplex straight into a Falcon Arrow. The final sequence should have been called “The Pedigree”. Seth had grabbed a sledgehammer and was going to use it on HHH but Stephanie was able to sneak behind him and grab it away before he could do any damage. HHH was then able to hit the Pedigree, but Seth kicked out. HHH then attempted to Pedigree Rollin’s from the top rope but Rollin’s countered and hit the Phoenix splash. HHH then kicked out. A few more Pedigree attempts before Stephanie tried to interfere again, but Rollins kicked HHH into her, sending the billion dollar princess through a table that had been previously set up by Rollin’s outside the ring. This distracted HHH enough that Rollin’s was able to hit his own Pedigree and get the win.
Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt – WWE Championship
This match has had the best build up for the year for me. I’ve been a fan of Bray Wyatt since he started on the main card and have championed his career. Both competitors were impressive in the ring, I had no complaints there. There were a few points during the match when Bray would go upside down, almost channeling Sister Abigail. When he did this there would be vidoes of maggots, bugs and worms projected onto the stage. Definitely no complaints there, in fact, it was awesome. Randy played the part of confused and cautious after these videos very well. In the finale of the match Randy was able to pick up the win with an RKO. Here is my issue. Why do to all the trouble to build up Bray Wyatt as an almost supernatural being, something to be feared, if you are just going to have him drop his title to someone who doesn’t need it only a month after he won it. I really think WWE is dropping the ball with Bray again.
Brock Lesnar vs Goldberg -WWE Universal Championship
Here you go guys and girls. I’ll give you the whole match. All 4 minutes and 47 seconds.
Brock hits three suplexes. Goldberg pops up and spears him. He then spears him once more in the ring. Brock rolls out to the outside and Goldberg follows him. Spears him one more time through a barricade. There were both Jackhammer attempts as well as F5 attemps. Goldberg finally hit the Jackhammer but Lesnar was able to kick out. Goldberg went for another spear, but Lesnar was super quick and leapfrogged Goldberg which sent him crashing into the corner. Lesnar then suplexed Goldberg 10 times to the delight of the crowd. The Beast then hit Goldberg with an F5 and that was that. Lesnar got revenge on Goldberg. Aren’t you excited? Nah me either.
Carmella vs Becky Lynch vs Mickie James vs Natalya vs Naomi
This very short but chaotic match featured a few fun spots. Lynch intercepted an interfering James Ellsworth to block his No Chin Music and hit him with a Bexsploder. Natalya then put both Naomi and Carmella into a creative double sharpshooter while they were stacked up. Naomi also landed a splash over the top rope onto all five opponents on the floor. In the end, Naomi forced Alexa Bliss to tap out via submission in the center of the ring to capture the title she relinquished in recent months due to injury. This was great for her, as she was able to regain her championship in her hometown. I just hope with her back there can be some new storylines drawn up for the women’s division at Smackdown.
Roman Reigns vs Undertaker – No Holds Barred
On a side note, it was great to see Jim Ross back in the announcers chair. It brought back some great memories for me.
Taker got the match started with his signature strikes to Reigns, sending him to the outside. Reigns answered back with strikes of his own, before Taker threw him into the stairs on the outside.Reigns hit a Samoan Drop in the ring, and got to work on Taker while the crowd rained down boos. Reigns hit the Drive-By dropkick onto the apron against Taker. They exchanged some more strikes in the ring, before Taker lifted up Reigns for Snake Eyes in the corner and got a near-fall out of it. The two men fought around the ring and Taker chokeslammed Reigns on top of the announce table. Taker set up to do a move, but Reigns speared him through the Spanish announce table, sending both men crashing into the barricade. Taker took some corner punches before lifting up Reigns for a Last Ride powerbomb. He then took a chair and landed some shots on Roman. Taker eventually hit a Tombstone Piledriver, but Reigns kicked out at two. Reigns eventually hit a spear, but Taker hit the Hell’s Gate submission, which Roman fought out of. Reigns then used the chair on Taker. Another spear only got a two-count for Reigns. At this point the match began to look very much like the Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair career ending match. Roman was almost pleading with the Undertaker to stay down. You could tell that the Dead Man was hurting, even unable to do his signature situp move. After a few minutes of Roman looking down at the Undertaker with almost pity in his eyes, he hit the Undertaker with one more spear, this time bouncing off the ropes multiple times to put him away.
After the match the Undertaker rose and put on his hat and jacket. He stood in the ring, music playing, absorbing the love from the crowd. He was about to exit the ring, but then he stopped. He walked back into the middle of the ring, where he started taking off his gloves. At this point I knew that what I thought was going to happen tonight was actually occurring before my eyes. As the Undertaker laid down his jacket and hat in the middle of the ring all I thought to myself was what the crowd was chanting. “Thank you ‘Taker”
