Wrestlemania Retrospect: The Three Matches That Left a Lasting Impression

Over the course of Wrestlemania weekend, there were many great matches and moments. There was Sanity vs NXT Super Friends, the return of the Hardyz, Naomi winning the Smackdown Women’s Championship and much much more. Although what follows me are the three matches that I felt had the best stories behind them and the longest last effect.

#3 – Seth Rollins vs Triple H

To me, this is the match that ‘made’ Seth Rollins as a main event talent. He had always sort of felt like an upper midcarder to me (in the Ambrose/Owens/Wyatt tier) but in this match, I felt like I was watching a main eventer. Triple H’s attack on Rollins’ leg was absolutely ruthless and really solidified the narrative that Triple H was trying to kill what he believed to be his creation. The video package going into this match was one of their best and I think it really gripped the people I was watching with that night that weren’t familiar with the storyline. Seth going for the sunset flip powerbomb and his leg giving out was such a great callback spot. Really his selling the entire match was great. Not even just the way he’d limp or hold his leg, but he was making sounds that really sold it too. Commentary was also selling any high risk attempt Rollins made as a potential career ender. Really nice touch. Another nice touch was the communication between Stephanie and Triple H. You’d hear Stephanie saying things like “he’s got a chair, Hunter” or “snap his leg, Hunter” during the match. And I felt Stephanie’s bump was great too. I liked that even though Rollins constantly seemed like he was on the defense, he got a good amount of offense in too. The match itself was just loaded with symbolism and other really significant story related spots. And there’s just something crazy about Triple H going down to his own finisher. Although on the other hand, Rollins debuting a new finisher and shedding himself of the Pedigree would have been just as fitting. In a way, I wouldn’t have minded Rollins losing because I think he could have gained a ton of sympathy, especially through a shady loss. But at the same time I think the hardcore fanbase would blame either the company for the decision or Triple H, rather than look deeper into the story. Going into this match, I was hoping for loads of shenanigans featuring Owens, Joe, Jericho, Zayn and maybe even Balor. But I was perfectly happy with how it went.

#2 – Authors of Pain vs DIY vs Revival

Right off the bat, I loved Revival and DIY teaming up to fight off AOP. They set the precedent very early that it’s going to take a lot to take out AOP. DIY and Revival have some good encounters early on and during the “let’s pretend we actually need to tag each other to get involved” portion, there’s some fun one on one stuff. Then we go back to chaos and the match keeps getting better. The table spot where DIY/Revival worked together again was great. Dawson and Gargano both locking in the dual submissions to one of AOP was so sick and I love how much the crowd was behind it. After that, Gargano/Dawson hitting DIY’s finisher and Ciampa/Dash hitting the Shatter Machine was so damn cool. Then Revival just can’t help but want to fight DIY again. My favorite part of the match is when Dash and Gargano are fighting in the ring, then they notice AOP starting to get up on the outside, look at each other for a second and dual suicide dive onto them. Followed by the absurd superplex into everyone! Commentary mentions how Dawson should have kept leading the pack to get AOP out instead of trying to eliminate Ciampa and it led to AOP neutralizing him, eliminating DIY and getting back in control. The shift to underdog status for Revival in the final minutes of the match was a unique spot for them and I thought they nailed it. There were some real close spots and while Revival was still outmatched, they wrestled a different style than usual to try to play the underdog and it worked so well. Loved the genuine heat AOP was getting after they eliminated DIY and seemingly had full control. AOP getting the win via straight up domination and not a flash finisher anything really put over just how dominant this team is. I know some people had an issue with AOP’s selling, which I totally understand, but to me it seemed like they were acting the way they were because it’s really putting over how much it takes to even wear them down. The question on my mind after this match is who the hell is going to be able to go toe to toe with this team? And that really intrigues me. Perhaps it’ll be Ohno Way Jose! What I really enjoyed about this match is how every single spot contributed to the story of the match that they started the second the match did. Everyone really impressed me in this one.

#1 – Roman Reigns vs The Undertaker

Match quality, to me, has nothing to do with how many moves each person does or how clean everything looked. It’s always been about the story for me and how people use the moves that they have to contribute to that story. And I think both guys knocked it out of the park with this one. In the opening minutes, Reigns seemed like normal Reigns and Taker felt like was still looking pretty solid. But around the time of the spear through the announce table, it started to become clear what the end result was going to be that evening. Reign’s character slowly started to change as the match went on, with him becoming more aggressive and even trash talking Reigns. Taker kept kicking out of Reigns’ finishers and Reigns sort of had that “when are you gonna learn your lesson, old man?” look. And seeing your childhood hero barely get back to his feet time after time, only to be speared or superman punched again was depressing. But it was absolutely meant to be. Not every match is supposed to be happy. Taker was using the last ounces of his energy to try and give people his final win, what would have been his 100th PPV win. You could see the false hope in the crowd as Taker kicked out of the 2nd to last Spear and they started a Yes chant. It was complete denial. And then the final spear hits and it’s definitely a shocking feeling when it actually ends. I’m honestly not sure it would have the same effect if it was someone other than Reigns because the reactions the crowd created were pretty unique. If that were, for example, Cesaro, the crowd might be a bit happy that Cesaro is winning which was not the intended emotion to be feeling during this match. They wanted you to be depressed over this. While the match wasn’t the cleanest match, the story really worked for me and even on a third watch, I found it easy to feel emotion during it. It was a sad match but I really think it was meant to be. I think they really wanted a definitive ending to Taker’s career too, not just him being caught with a finisher out of nowhere as if it’s a fluke. Over the course of the match, Taker’s age began to show and it became clear that this wasn’t the unstoppable man of year’s past. I’ll greatly miss Taker but I appreciate the way he went out. This is my current match of the year, just edging out the triple threat tag team from the previous night.