WrestleMania 33 entered the history books last night, and it was a hell of a show. From the Kickoff Show to the main event, every match was solid and there were a ton of great moments. From such a great show, what were the best moments and what were the worst?
The Best
The Hardy Boyz Return
It’s been nearly a decade since Matt and Jeff Hardy were in WWE, and during their time away, they wrestled for TNA, Ring of Honor, and other independent promotions. The night before WrestleMania 33, they lost the Ring of Honor Tag Team Championships to the Young Bucks in a highly acclaimed ladder match.
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson were scheduled to defend their Raw Tag Team Championships against Sheamus and Cesaro, as well as Enzo Amore and Big Cass. Right before the match started, The New Day (the hosts of the Ultimate Thrill Ride) announced that a fourth team would join the fray. While some might have thought it was the New Day themselves, it turned out to be none other than the Hardyz. In a mix of their Broken gimmick and their previous WWE gimmicks, they shocked the world by winning the Raw Tag Team Championships in their return.
AJ Styles & Shane McMahon Shatter Expectations
It is without a doubt that AJ Styles is one of the best in the world. When it was announced that he would be facing Shane McMahon, fans were nervous that it was a waste of a potentially great AJ Styles match. Almost immediately, those fears were put to rest. McMahon pulled his own weight, from mat wrestling Styles to hitting Coast to Coast and [almost] hitting a Shooting Star Press. The technical ability of Styles combined with McMahon’s death-defying spots led to a surprisingly great match.
John Cena Proposes to Nikki Bella
For weeks, The Miz and Maryse insulted John Cena and Nikki Bella about their relationship. They would make fun of how Cena never wanted to get married, which “proved” that their relationship was just a lie for the cameras. However, Cena changed that last night.
In a relatively short match, John Cena and Nikki Bella defeated the Miz and Maryse at the same time, then the 16-tim World Champion grabbed a microphone. This all but confirmed what was going to happen, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that Cena actually proposing to his now fiancée in front of 70,000+ people is an amazing moment.
The Worst
Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin Doesn’t Reach Potential
Dean Ambrose and Baron Corbin have been feuding for a couple months since the Elimination Chamber, and their feud got to a point where Corbin crushed the Lunatic Fringe with a forklift. Going into last night, it was assumed that they would beat each other senseless. Instead, their match was moved to the Kickoff Show and it resembled a match that would take place in the middle of SmackDown Live. While the match in itself was pretty decent, it lacked in quality compared to everything else on a stacked card. Hopefully, Ambrose and Corbin get another opportunity at Extreme Rules.
Women’s Matches Felt Too Short
Both women’s matches did a good job at showcasing both divisions and showing how far WWE has come in just a year with women’s wrestling. However, it seemed like both matches got the short end of the stick. The Raw Women’s Championship match was in between a lengthy match between Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens and the Raw Tag Team Championship Ladder Match, which had one of the biggest moments of the night. The SmackDown Women’s Championship match was moved from the Kickoff Show to the “cooldown” spot between Goldberg vs. Lesnar and Roman Reigns vs. The Undertaker. At that point, it seemed like they were just rushing to end the show.
Randy Orton Wins the WWE Championship
During the WWE Championship match between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt, it seemed like Wyatt had Orton beaten at every turn. Just as Orton would get the advantage, Wyatt would pull off something creepy, like having a projection of maggots or cockroaches fill the ring. This clearly got in Orton’s head until the very end of the match. Wyatt was doing his spider walk while Orton was prone in the ring on top of the cockroach projection when Orton hits and RKO out of nowhere and wins the title.
While an RKO out of nowhere tends to be a great ending to a match, it seemed anticlimactic here. Wyatt clearly put on the better performance during the match, but he ended up losing the title. Hopefully SmackDown Live this week will provide something to justify this ending.
Overall, WrestleMania 33 was a hell of a show. The “worst” parts of it were pretty nitpicky things to mention and compared to the couple previous ‘Manias, this one knocked it out of the park.
