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Wrestlemania 34 had the chance to be one of the best in recent memory and while it started like that, it slowly becoming less impactful as the show went on.
It wasn’t a bad Mania, far from it, it just wasn’t as good as it could have been.
However, we did get surprises and shock results throughout the night (including a death of a division) and it’s going to make this weeks’ Raw and Smackdown interesting viewing.
Kick-Off/Pre-Show
Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
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No one cares about this battle royal because it doesn’t mean anything.
It was great to see Mike Kanellis back in the ring that was many filled with tag teams and no NXT surprises, which was a surprise.
It came down to the two previous winners Mojo Rowley & Baron Corbin and WOKEN Matt Hardy. The two heels gang up on Hardy for only the broken one to be saved by a returning Bray Wyatt.
Wyatt helped Hardy win the battle royal and now everything is pointing to a Hardy/Wyatt tag team, so maybe this will free up Jeff Hardy to go to Smackdown to compete as a singles competitor.
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Result – Matt Hardy wins Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
Mustafa Ali vs Cedric Alexander – Cruiserweight Title Match
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If I’m being honest, I was listening to this match then watching it as I don’t watch 205 Live so I wasn’t invested in the title match as much.
However, it was a fast-paced, entertaining match felled with plenty of spots to get the fans excited with Alexander winning the title hitting his Lumber check.
Hopefully, this will begin a new era for the Cruiserweight/205 Live division
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Result – Cedric Alexander wins and becomes the new Cruiserweight Champion
Wrestlemania Women’s Battle Royal
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This first-ever, first-ever Wrestlemania Women’s Battle Royal was entertaining with a winner who probably wasn’t at the top of everyone’s predictions.
Will this become to mean something, doubt it but at least the wider WWE audience get introduced to some new faces from NXT!
Led by Peyton Royce the other girls from the brand chanting NXT was a great spot as well as, the developmental women beating down the main card talent.
Dakota Kai kicking Becky Lynch in the face, Kairi Sane hit her trademark elbow and Bianca Belair left as a star hitting a 450 splash and using her hair as a weapon.
The battle royal also moved the Sasha Banks-Bayley storyline forward with them shaking hands and Bayley eliminating Banks to what she thought was to victory, but with Naomi never being eliminated she ousted Bayley to victory.
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Result – Naomi wins the Wrestlemania Women’s Battle Royal
Main Card
Intercontinental Championship – The Miz (c) vs Seth Rollins vs Finn Balor
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This was a great match to open the show.
The Miz looked brilliant in this high-tempo match showing how good of a wrestler he truly is.
Miz, Rollins and Balor traded near falls early on, pinning each other as much as possible.
The champ showed real control of the match and cutting off both challengers whenever he could and pounced on either man.
Rollins and Balor went high-flying with the latter taking control on the outside.
Near-falls continued as they counted each other however Miz and Balor finisher couldn’t finish the job, but Rollins’ stomp did the job and his fantastic 2018 continues by completing the grand slam.
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Result – Seth Rollins wins and becomes the new Intercontinental Champion
Smackdown Women’s Championship – Charlotte (c) vs Asuka
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The placement of this match was a real surprise and I was truly pissed as I felt this should be closer to headlining the show with only the WWE and Universal title matches ahead.
Charlotte Flair looked every bit of a Queen in her entertain and this match cemented her as the best Women’s wrestler in WWE history.
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This match was brilliant that lived up to the hype, with both wrestlers battling back and forth leaving each other hurting.
It had that big match feel with Asuka smashing Charlotte on the outside ring floor, Flair throwing the Empress of Tomorrow over the top rope.
Asuka counted Flair’s moonsault into an armbar, but the Queen of WWE had too much for the Empress clamping her figure eight to force Asuka to tap and end her undefeated streak.
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Result – Charlotte Flair retains the Smackdown Women’s Title
United States Championship – Randy Orton (c) vs Bobby Roode vs Jinder Mahal vs Rusev
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A match fans found hard to get into before and during with only Aiden English welcomed Rusev day via song to get all wrestling fans invested in only the Lion of Bulgaria aka the most over man in WWE currently.
There’s nothing really memorable about the match apart from everyone gets an RKO party and it looked like the Bulgarian Brute was going to be victorious but sadly Mahal pounced on Rusev for the three-count.
Mahal was a crap WWE champ, but even though I want to be positive I can’t see anything but an underwhelming US title reign.
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Result – Jinder Mahal wins and becomes the new United States Champion
Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey vs Triple H & Stephanie McMahon
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This was a great wrestling match and showed the haters that Ronda Rousey is a decent wrestler.
It was basic storyteller told superbly with McMahon anger Rousey with continuous cheap shots and heel shenanigans and even though Angle and Triple H started the match well, it rocked once the former UFC star got into the ring.
She toyed with the Raw commissioner and then looked a badass taking on the 14-time World Champion and after a chaotic brawl, Rousey finally got a nasty armbar on McMahon.
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Result – Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey win
Smackdown Tag Team Championship – The Usos (c) vs The New Day vs The Bludgeon Brothers
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This match wasn’t on par with previous New Day-Usos barnburners but after three high-class matches giving fans/audience something different.
This was a Bludgeon Brothers squash match with Harper and Rowan dominating both teams.
I’m glad the Bludgeon Brothers won and now Smackdown have two tag teams chasing the belts and try to end Harper and Rowan continue dominance.
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Result – The Bludgeon Brothers wins and become the new Smackdown Tag Team Champions
John Cena vs The Undertaker
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This was one of the two question marks fans had going in and with Cena watching on and continue watching whenever the cameras went to him throughout the opening matches.
After the referee whispered that Undertaker was in the building to Cena, he bolted to backstage.
He finally came out and waiting for a fight against… Elias!
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It was superb trolling by WWE and gives massive heat now to Elias and after getting frustrated with the whole situation he took out The Drifter.
After a sombre celebration, Undertaker fully appeared to completely batter Cena and made short work of him delivering a Tombstone Piledriver for the win.
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Result – The Undertaker wins
Daniel Bryan & Shane McMahon vs Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
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Bryan got taken out early but Shane McMahon showed he’s the greatest wrestler currently on the roster keeping up with Owens and Zayn despite being injured.
Shane O-Mac couldn’t hold on much longer for only Bryan saved the day and withstood everything Zayn and Owens threw at him and delivered his best shots on the duo to the fans delight seeing the Smackdown GM back in the ring giving many knees.
The Yes movement got to their feet in celebration as Zayn tapped to the Yes! Lock.
Sadly, this means there’s no more Kevin Owens or Sami Zayn until tonight’s episode of Raw.
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Result – Daniel Bryan & Shane McMahon wins
Raw Women’s Championship – Alexia Bliss (c) vs Nia Jax
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This has been an awkward storyline but it had a wonderful ending.
It started off superbly with Jax smashing and removing Mickie James to make sure this was a one-on-one.
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Bliss used great heel tactics to take down the powerhouse and controlled the match.
There’s a great moment of an angry Jax screaming at Bliss with the Goddess screaming in fear.
Jax fought off Bliss’ continued cheap shots and finally finished off her former friend off with a Samoan drop from the second rope.
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Result – Nia Jax wins and becomes the new Raw Women’s Champion
WWE Championship – AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura
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This match had a hard time living up to the dream match podium and I had it down as stealing the show and be a five-star classic!
Sadly, this was a bit of a letdown. Even though there were moments of hard hits, counters and Nakamura entrance but you could tell the audience were flagging.
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Styles finally got the win by outlasting his foe and hit the Styles Clash to keep hold of the title.
This should’ve been an incredible showcase, but it just wasn’t. However, with Nakamura turning heel WWE could finally get the best out of the King of Strong Style and now with a chance to build an actual story, the rematch could be the dream match we wanted.
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Result – AJ Styles retains the WWE Championship
Raw Tag Team Championship – The Bar (c) vs Braun Strowman & mystery partner
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Wrestlemania 34 was the death of the Raw tag team division.
Was I laughing at Strowman picking an eight-year-old boy to be his partner? Yes. That’s the issue! The Raw tag division is a complete joke and it’s going to be a long time until this division was taken seriously again.
The monster among men fought off both members of The Bar as the child, who’s called Nicholas, and after getting a mini fightback Strowman powerslammed his way to victory.
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Result – Braun Strowman & Nicholas wins and becomes new Raw Tag Team Champions
Universal Championship – Brock Lesnar (c) vs Roman Reigns
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This was a surprise as we all thought Lesnar was going to UFC after Mania and it was the beginning of the Roman empire.
The match itself was brutal and resembled the Cena battering of 2014 and with the crowd now fully drained it was underwhelming.
I like Reigns and felt the match was built well but it clearly didn’t work and the audience are going to boo the Big Dog it won’t matter what WWE does.
The image of a bloody Reigns was a great visual but after getting his fifth F5, Lesnar winning is a shocker.
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Result – Lesnar retains the Universal Championship
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