WWE WrestleMania 33 fan feedback
Just wanted to provide some feedback on WrestleMania. I gave the show a huge thumbs up since I thought it was a great card from start to finish. I would have to say the best match of the night was the tag title ladder match won by the Hardy’s, and the worst match of the night would probably be the Andre memorial battle royal since after so much build up, it was treated as a throwaway match on the undercard. But otherwise it was just a great weekend of wrestling. Hall of Fame on Friday, a great NXT show on Saturday and an awesome WrestleMania tonight.
Just some highlights that I enjoyed since it would take too long to go over a 12 match card and 5 hrs of action, lol! But even though the show ran long, it really didn’t seem like it since it was well paced for the most part and was just a good night of very good matches combined with great storytelling.
*I completely marked out when the Hardy’s entered the tag title ladder match and won the titles. Didn’t see that coming. I hope they can return to using the Broken Hardy’s gimmick. I think that they will since WWE has better resources and lawyers then TNA, lol.
*Was a cool moment to see John Cena propose to Nikki Bella after their mixed tag match. Another swerve I didn’t really expect, was a nice moment.
*Was hoping Bray Wyatt would retain the world title over Randy Orton as Bray deserves a good title run, and Orton again as champ is not appealing
*Was surprised to see Bayley retain the women’s title as I thought for sure Charlotte would win the title back. Charlotte is really above and beyond everyone else in the women’s division on either brand and her star is shining bright.
*Cool entrance of the night was Triple H putting himself over, lol. But at least Rollins got the win as it would have made no sense for Triple H to win the match. Just great ring entrances and visuals for everyone really. The Mania set was just awesome in general and made for a good visual on TV
*Great way to end the night with Undertaker retiring the way he did and Jim Ross calling the match. Would have preferred Taker winning the match, but still a great legacy of 22 and 2 which will never be touched anyway, as it would take another 20 years to build on that record. I’ve followed the career of the Undertaker from the very beginning when he was the Master of Pain to his “Mean Mark” days in WCW to his debut at Survivor Series in WWE. If this is really his retirement match, he went out on great terms with the main event of mania and leaving his trademark hat and ring gear in the middle of the ring. And such an awesome moment to see JR come out and call the main event, it was just the complete package of a great main event with the storytelling of the match.
Great weekend of shows, great night of wrestling, plenty of WrestleMania moments, was just a great night to be fan and enjoy a good show.
– Jon Southerland
**********
Thumbs up, mostly for the out-of-the-ring stuff. No match was really memorable and it fact almost all could have been better. The match order was a mess. Whoever put it together should be drug tested. What the hell they were thinking? The entrances were fine but not spectacular. The New Day were pretty much an afterthought. If anything this show proved that having two titles in the same division is just bad. The Smackdown titles all came across as second rate, especially the WWE title which is the historical one. Wyatt vs. Orton didn’t need the title at all.
The Women and the tag were totally overshadowed. I like the brand division but instead of two set of tags have one show with a Tag title and the other with a Trios Title (after all, some of their hotter acts are 3 or more people). One show with a women’s singles champion and the other with a women tag champions (they are going to hire more women anyway). One brand with the Heavyweight title and the other with the Cruiserweight (elevated as a real world title for lighter wrestlers like in boxing or MMA) and the IC title (so you can have main events guys fighting for it on the brand).
- Best Match: I guess Styles vs. Shane, at least it was the like I enjoyed the most, maybe because it was right after a mostly boring pre-show.
- Worst match: Smackdown’s women match.
1. Neville vs. Aries. This same match on another show would have been great, here it was just really good. Aries took a mid-90’s AJPW bump in that German suplex. Move of the show! ***1/2
2. Battle Royal. Boring for the most part but served its purpose. My only complaint is that Rawley needed to be double teamed in order for Gronk to level things up, the way they did it came across as like Rawley, the babyface, got unnecessary outside help. Still, they kind of flip a finger to Shaq with it. **
3. Ambrose vs. Corbin. At first I thought that the Smackdown women sneaked into the main show in exchange of this match but after seeing it I didn’t feel bad for them at all. Just boring. Ambrose reached a level and can’t get beyond it. Corbin is just weak. He should be in NXT. He and Alistair Black had pretty much the same gimmick so his days may be numbered since Black showed more in one match than Corbin ever did in his career. *1/2
4. Styles vs. Shane. So the main show’s first match has the best performer of the company against one of the authority figures, goes close to twenty minutes, has a referee bump, and all kinds of crazy spots. Not your typical opening match to say the least. That been said, it was great. Normal business for AJ but incredible for Shane. He wasn’t that good but at least didn’t mess it up. I’m going on a limb. ****1/4
5. Owens vs. Jericho. This was exactly what it needed to be. Even the finish coming out of nowhere was necessary to continue the feud. ****
6. Bayley vs. Charlotte vs. Banks vs. Jax. Totally rushed and anti-climactic. Now more than ever Bayley winning on Fast Lane makes less sense. They literally wasted like one full year of storylines in just a few months. Next on their brilliance plan to make home fans angry and the women division pointless is Bayley losing in San Jose. At that pace Charlotte will break Ric’s “record” by next year’s Mania. ***1/4
7. Hardys vs. Enzo & Cass vs. Cesaro & Sheamus vs. The Club. Delete! Delete! Delete! This match was the opposed of the Cruiserweight match in the sense that that was a great match but the crowd took it down; here the match was just good but the crowd made it great. Enzo & Cass big moment was always better for Brooklyn anyway. The Smackdown tag division REALLY needs helps now. Revival and DIY debuting on Tuesday at least. ****
8. Cena & Nikki vs. Miz & Maryse. Match was fine. Lawler was great. Post-match was perfect. Even Cena’s long proposal gave the feeling that for a moment he was going heel and turn on her which made their reaction came across better. The crowd pretty much took a break after this. **1/2
9. Rollins vs. Triple H. So-so match, the crowd never got to it. Everything that they did was well executed but nobody believed that HHH had a chance of actually winning. He is starting to get the same reaction that Taker had after the Lesnar match, people care about him but not his matches. For a No DQ match this needed more brawling and less in-ring stuff. Funny, of all the 3 guys from The Shield that he has faced Triple H had the best match with Ambrose and that was on a B-show where the result was more than obvious. ***
-They REALLY need to get rid of those WM concert, they all suck. It’s a waste of time that can be used for the undercard, or at least a well put together backstage segment.
10. Orton vs. Wyatt. JBL nailed it when he said that the people there were stun and didn’t know what to make of it. Yeah, they didn’t know who the hell was face or heel or who to care for. What a waste of the main championship! Bray’s very first title reign lasted until the very next PPV, not exactly historical. With the benefit of hindsight, the best possible WWE Title match for this show was Styles vs. Cena. On this show that match would have been a 5-stars match. But once Cena went with The Miz, the best title match option were AJ vs. Randy, or AJ vs. Bray vs. Randy in a triple threat, or Bray as a full blown face chasing Orton and having a Mania moment by winning; of all those scenarios they choose the weakest option. The only that can be saved from this is that maybe they are making Wyatt into the reverse Undertaker in the sense that he always lose at Mania so he is creating a new streak. If that’s the case they should start mention it from now on to start a storyline for next year. If they build it for a couple of years they could get to something because people actually care for those types of things. Every time that he hits his finisher fans would react to it thinking that he finally did it. Anyway, this was no better than a typical Smackdown main event. **
11. Lesnar vs. Goldberg. Probably the best five minutes main event match ever. ***1/2
12. Naomi vs. Lynch vs. Natalya vs. James vs. Carmela vs. Bliss. I bet that they will now claim that the women were the Smackdown main event. The reality is that this was a glorified pee-break. Another cheap trick to protect Reigns. *
13. Reigns vs. Undertaker. If this was Taker’s retirement match why it wasn’t promoted as such? I thought the job of a promoter was to promote and hype things up, maybe I’m wrong. Say what you want but at least Bellator gets the most out of its legends. So in Vince’s mind Roman retiring Undertaker is going to make him a bigger face. Like “he is going to take away from them what they like the most and they are going to love him for that”. Good luck! Another wasted opportunity to create a hot heel, and therefore a legit top face for the future. I kind of understand Vince logic, he once turned his biggest babyface (Austin) at the wrong moment and his business never recovered, so he is afraid of doing the same mistake again. The problem is that Roman is closer to the 2001 version of Triple H than to Austin’s. Somebody in the inner circle needs to tell him. Match was fine but lacked pace. The botched piledriver spot didn’t help either. That seemed like a key spot to get the fans going. Anyway, thank you Taker for all the greats moments.***
What happened to Bryan? Are they are so afraid of him walking away next year that they didn’t showcased him on their biggest event? Is Samoa Joe missing? He is ratter large to pass unnoticed. Does the rest of the cruiserweight division missed their flight? Or they all just decided to watch the Walking Dead season finale together since they weren’t booked anyway?
– Leonardo II Mendez Toledo
**********
Thumbs Up
- Best Match: Bill Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar
- Worst Match: Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt
Much like last year, I went into WM33 having already seen so many great matches over the weekend that I was there more for the spectacle than anything. And, to that end, the show delivered. It’s a unique brand of people-watching, especially the bizarro Halloween costumes.
The set looked great, especially with how they incorporated the lights and the LED screens. It was first-rate. I also enjoyed the ring facade above the ring lighting, complete with ropes that turned red for Raw matches and blue for SD Live.
Strangely, they were recording Kevin Owens after his match as he was walking back up the ramp, then when the camera cut off Owens stopped and double-back to the side exit.
The show went way too long, and I’m not one to normally complain about a long PPV. It didn’t bother me last year, but especially at an outdoor venue on a very hot Florida day, the sun likely sapped some of my strength. Thank goodness next year’s show will be in a climate-controlled dome in New Orleans.
I’ve never booed a match as much as I did Orton vs. Wyatt. They are the two most overrated wrestlers in the company, at least in my estimation, and WWE somehow managed to make it even worse with the stupid special effects.
But what I’m happiest about from all of this weekend’s great fun was snagging good tickets for both NJPW shows in Long Beach. Not front row like I had wanted, but close enough to have a great view.
– Lou Pickney
**********
Thumbs Up
Thought it was a very good show, that at times felt like a great show, & in a smaller building would’ve been a fantastic show, in those moments. Superb production & visual, some cool entrances, as is common with manias, & from an in-ring standpoint was a case of the good, the bad, the ugly & the downright depressing.
As is always the case with big stadium shows, tough-task generating good heat with such a large area, & tough to get huge chants going with fans so far apart, unable to hear each other in different pockets & challenging to sync-up, not to mention view & the way sound travels. All this of course intensified with no roof as the energy just escaped up in the air. With such a large venue show, the theory is you’re better off going slower & building to big moments in the match, to increase the likelihood of getting pops out of the whole building – which is all neither here nor there.
In the case of Shane-AJ, Jericho-Owens & Rollins-HHH, I think if you put any of those matches in the Barclays Center, All State Arena (or whatever the building in Chicago is called nowadays), or number of venues for that matter, they’d get a well-deserved 1/4*- 1/2* bump up. As happens often, to a great extent it was pretty much all or nothing in crowd response, but it did seem one of the quieter mania crowds in recent years, off the top of my head.
Aries vs. Neville ***1/2
Thought it was a good match that would’ve been better in a different setting, did lots of nice stuff, but also didn’t attempt to compete with future matches on the show from a spot & false-finish volume standpoint, by instruction you’d presume. Little surprised Neville won, honestly.
Andre Battle Royal **
Found this a real-scratcher from a booking standpoint. I mean, I got it in-terms of pub with the Football Player fella & his friendship with Rawley, but expected Strowman to win, & personally would’ve liked to have seen a victory for either Zayn or Harper, with the thought it would’ve been a welcome momentum-builder, & Strowman didn’t need it, & felt they were the other possibilities. On top of that, the order of eliminations.
Not so much Strowman, as if he wasn’t going to win, not a bad idea to get him out early to take emphasis off his exit, to decrease possible damage, but not too early, obviously. And in the case of he & Show, it promoted surprise & intrigue with the winner. But more Ziggler, Usos, American Alpha & such, going-out so early, & Dain & Jinder being left with the upcoming winner. Harper & Zayn not lasting longer I can understand, to give yourself time to distract the audience from their exits, & increase the chances of the big pop for Rawley.
Corbin vs. Ambrose **1/4
Were definitely problems with flow & a bit of clunk, but thought it was ok for the most part. Surprised Corbin didn’t win, but with it being relegated to the pre-show, probably better to do a title change on TV or a future PPV, if it’s coming.
Shane vs. Styles ****
Thought it was a very, very good match. Enjoyed the physicality, some spectacular stuff, good layout, Shane added some new tricks to his arsenal, worked very hard. Solidity wasn’t always there, but thought it was really fun.
Best Match: Owens vs. Jericho ****
Thought they had a great match, but struggled to fully get the crowd. In a different venue I truly believe this would’ve been a fantastic match. Worked very hard, lots of nice & creative stuff, great layout, really enjoyed it.
Bayley vs. Nia vs. Sasha vs. Charlotte ***1/4
I came out thinking something must’ve gone long & they had their time cut, it seemed quite the rush job. Some spectacular stuff & pretty solid, but again, rather rushed. Relieved Bayley won. Went in thinking she really needed to win with them hitting you over the head with the Sasha storyline, as if she would’ve successfully screwed her over here felt it would’ve done Bayley no favours whatsoever.
Thought perhaps Bayley may beat Sasha in the final two, then Sasha raise her arm & whatnot while giving subtle facials to suggest she wasn’t being totally genuine, before turning on her tomorrow. Interested to see where it goes & I don’t think anyone could make a good case as to why Bayley couldn’t have won her first title here after what has unfolded.
Enzo & Cass vs. Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Good Brothers vs. The Hardys ***1/2
Hardys arrival sent the place berserk, fantastic moment. Bit too much of a hectic affair to have a high-quality Ladder Match, but thought it was good stuff. Enzo & Cass seemed careless with the ladder at times & Cesaro was incredibly lucky regarding his incident with the ladder. Noticed Matt didn’t play-up the Broken gimmick too much, but at the same time didn’t ignore it. Interested to see what happens going forward. Also, Raw is absolutely rammed with babyfaces right now, need some folks to turn.
Miz & Maryse vs. Cena & Nikki **1/2
Really just a standard tag match where got heat on Cena from the get-go, built to the hot-tag & then went to the finish fairly quickly. There were plenty of matches on the show that were attempted show-stealers though, it was all about the aftermath, it was fine & with what little they did they got far more reaction than a lot of matches. Happy the crowd didn’t boo the proposal.
Triple H vs. Rollins ****
Some silliness with the lack of selling of Rollins’ knee from the off-set with him walking down the gigantic ramp with no problems, then leaping into the ring, given all the drama during the build, but I let it slide & thought they had a very, very good match, although Rollins left a lot to be desired as the babyface in peril.
Wyatt vs. Orton **3/4
Didn’t mind the special effects on the canvas the first time, second was a little silly, third was ridiculous. Thought it ruined the tone of the match & disrupted the flow & momentum. Aside from that, I thought it was ok but underwhelming to say the least.
Lesnar vs. Goldberg ***1/2
It was a quick, four move affair, but they executed it well & thought it was really fun while it lasted. Was pleasantly surprised, enjoyed the physicality, intensity, Goldberg gave it his best, it flowed well & was fairly solid. Was what it should’ve been – two heavyweight boxers throwing bombs from the first bell till someone hits the canvas. Think this could’ve easily gone last & people would’ve been satisfied, but of course it couldn’t with the aftermath of the main event.
Bliss vs. Becky vs. Mickie vs. Carmella vs. Natalya vs. Naomi **1/2
Not a lot to it. Was a real rush job with them urgently trying to get their stuff in, but thought it was ok. Think putting it back on Naomi is a good move. Say what you will about her, but she’s got charisma, some flashy moves & people dig the gimmick. With that short few week period where they pushed her hard, she’s really garnered some support, & gotten more over quicker than a lot of other people. I say go with her.
Worst Match: Reigns vs. Taker *3/4
Thought this was really depressing & saddening. Such a shame. The layout was there, but with Taker’s condition the rhythm, solidity & fluidity wasn’t, plus there were some misunderstands. He tried & I enjoyed his vulnerability towards the end, but he just didn’t have it in him & this was a terrible way to go out. Aftermath was fantastic though, very special stuff. Also, given Reigns’ expressions towards the end looks like the turn isn’t coming.
– Tom Griffiths
**********
This mania I had very little expectations but it delivered. It was long sure but I have no issue with that once a year if it’s enjoyable and this was. 100x better than last year.
Thumbs up for sure. No blow away match but almost all delivered entertainment.
- Worst match: miz-cena mix tag. For the build it was just flat and proposal came off real robotic and cheesy.
- Best match: cruiser match was terrific. I really enjoyed Owens-Jericho, tag match, triple-Seth, taker-Roman was a good story. Goldberg-Brock was booked perfectly. Aj is so freakin great that match was actually really good.
I will go with ladder match just because of the pop for Hardys and how into it the crowd was. It peaked here.
Good luck getting some rest,
– Mike Flynn
**********
Hey, Dave. I’m not sure if you’ll hear this from other viewers but my cable provider cut off Wrestlemania exactly at the five hour mark, so it ended abruptly on a freeze frame of Roman Reigns with fireworks above him and Taker lying on his back staring at the sky. The entire retirement ceremony didn’t air and I had to read about it on your site. A very poor end to the Deadman’s career for Canuck fans.
Ah well. There’s always YouTube.
– Doug Trueman
**********
Thumbs up
- Best Match: Brock vs Goldberg
- Worst Match: Orton vs Wyatt
Show was entirely too long. The projector gimmick in the Wyatt match may be the dumbest special effect they’ve ever done, and that’s saying something. Hardy’s return was a highlight. Killian is awesome, so unique. He needs to be on the main roster yesterday. Absolutely loved the Brock match, perfect for what it was, violent and it got the crowd going crazy.
– Erin Hotovy
**********
As much as I hate to type this, THUMBS DOWN.
- Best Match: Hardys win the title, not because the match was great, but the Hardys return was the most exciting thing on the show. (I do wish the Hardys were going to Smackdown.)
- Worst Match: Mixed tag match with marriage proposal ending. Wrestling is best when it feels real. And a telegraphed marriage proposal did not feel real. At all. And the match was not good. At all.
Honorable mention for Performance: Roman Reigns. He was not in an easy position. I actually felt sympathy for him when it became clear to me that the torch was being passed to him was the story of this match.
It was very good to hear Jim Ross again. A very professional job.
Goldberg’s match was not good, but it wasn’t a disaster. But he looked great. I think the crowd would have been more behind him if he had one longer match before this one.
But missed opportunities abound. Undertaker’s retirement was wasted. Flair’s retirement was much more emotional because it had a great build that was reality-based. I missed the AJ/Shane & Owens/Jericho matches. Of what I saw, there was not a great WRESTLING match on the whole card, even though there are a lot of great wrestlers, both on the card (Styles, Cena, Rollins) & not on the card (Samoa Joe) in WWE. AJ Styles should have had a real opponent.
I hope lessons are learned from this. I started watching at about 8:20, and the show STILL felt very long. And a few great promos don’t equal a great build. Cena, Miz, & HHH all did really great promos leading up to their matches, but I still didn’t care about their matches. I like HHH, but his in-ring WM career should be over. Same with Shane. I don’t really know what to say about the show. It felt flat, and not just because none of the titles mean anything.
Nevertheless, I have high hopes for the next 2 days of TV. I hope Kevin Owens is figured prominently in future plans.
– Richard Orloski
**********
Thumbs Up Show – A great production and the best WrestleMania since 30.
- Best Match; Undertaker vs Roman. Such a great story to this match, psychology was great.
- Worst Match: Battle Royal. Can’t even say it was bad but nothing else sucked.
With no shame I will admit that I cried at the end of the show. I am 33 years old and have seen Undertakers entire career. Incredible end to a great career and a great show.
– Frank Fonte
**********
Thumbs in the middle
Best match: Brock Lesnar-Bill Goldberg
Worst match: AJ Styles-Shane McMahon
The commentary on the Shane match did not help. My wife overheard it and said it sounded like the guys hyping up John DuPont’s talents in Foxcatcher. I thought it was an apt, if a bit morbid, observation.
– Michael Da Silva
**********
Thumbs up. Show was waaaaaay better than I expected based on build/how unwatchable RAW is/WM 32.
- Best match: Tag Team 4-Way.
- Worst match: Battle Royal. Has a random celebrity gimmick ever sold 1 goddamn ticket to a WWE event? Somehow Mojo attained more apparent nepotism than the McMahons on this show by knowing someone important. 30 hard-working wrestlers more or less jobbed to an NFL player. Also, Jinder overachieved in this match. Guess steroids is still the best way to get ahead in this business.
Also not impressed by Wyatt vs. Orton. Even with the cool gimmick, this did not feel like a WWE Championship match.
Undertaker vs. Roman wasn’t great as a match either, but Roman carried it pretty well considering. Jim Ross was also as great as ever, the highlight being his save of the dumbass rope break that pervades this promotion. I guess that’s what you get when you have a monopoly and you don’t have to try.
Also convinced AJ Styles could get a 3-star match out of Dana Brooke at this point.
– Danny West
**********
Thumbs Up
Wow that was a long show. Not the best wrestling ever, but worthwhile for the memorable moments.
Good start with the Aries vs. Neville Cruiserweight Title, although I hate when they establish things as not worthy by having them on the preshow. How about doing a quick preshow of no matches and just have everything on the main show maybe.
Battle Royal was next and it was pretty bland even by basic Battle Royal standards. Thought Zayn or Strowman made the most sense for the win. Mojo is fine, but they did nothing with the participants during the match to establish anybody as more than a group of jobbers That’s a pretty lousy send off if Big Show is finishing up as he claims.
Was really surprised at the IC Title being on the preshow and even more surprised that the title didn’t change hands. Pretty basic match.
The main show starts with Shane vs. AJ Styles. Enjoyed this one. Some good action and Shane always delivers some big moments. AJ really is Phenomenal. Hope he gets back into the title picture now.
Jericho vs Owens was next. I felt like they were putting some of the better stuff on early. Good match and Owens won which I expected. A lot of the matches seemed to kind of just end abruptly.
Womens four way for the Raw Title was next and again not a bad match, but the finish seemed like it just happened. Bayley retains and I assume Banks will finally go heel to give Bayley a new opponent.
Raw Tag Titles were next and the tease of New Day coming out to enter the match but instead bringing out the Hardy’s was fantastic. Good to have them back and giving them the titles was the right thing. Best surprise of the night since they didn’t bring anybody else back or really have any interference in most of the matches. No Hogan or Rock or Austin or anybody this year.
Mixed tag match was pretty basic, like what’s been on TV lately. Cena and Nikki win as expected and they did the proposal. Is this going to air on Total Divas or do at SummerSlam like Randy and Elizabeth.
Rollins vs. Triple H was a good match. No Samoa Joe and no sign of Finn Balor as well. Rollins wins and now he will probably get attacked by Triple H’s destroyer tomorrow.
Wyatt vs. Orton for the WWE Title was really pretty lame. Not much to it and Orton again kind of wins abruptly. Not sure if they were rushing because the show was going so long. Could have been much better. Time to move this guys away from each other.
Goldberg vs. Lesnar was what it needed to be. Longer than the previous encounter, but still short and each guy hit the big moves and Lesnar picks up the win and the title.
Smackdown Women’s Title was nothing special especially this late in the show. Naomi wins which was nice. No surprise entrants after all the teasing and having the former women competitors in town for the weekend. Guess they just were their for the Hall of Fame.
Glad to see and hear Jim Ross for the final match of the evening with Taker and Roman. Not a great match, but you could see Taker was ready to be done. This still probably have the most emotion of any match of the night and even though Roman won he didn’t get booed out of the building and Taker was given a proper send off leaving his gear in the ring. Thank you Undertaker.
– Robb Block
**********
Thumbs in the middle
- Best match: AJ Styles vs Shane McMahon
- Worst match: Roman reigns vs The Undertaker
The show that started great then fell off a cliff. If Lesnar vs Goldberg closed the show or would’ve been a hot and exciting finish, instead that match fell in the middle of a dull ending to a show that went too long
– Shane Mousseau