WWE Wrestlemania 34 Review 04/08/2018

Hello Misfits! It’s the Wrestling Classic here with my Wrestlemania 34 review.  I know I’m extremely late with my review but I was in New Orleans live for Wrestlemania weekend this year and its taken me days to get back into my groove. In complete honesty, this might be my last written review as I’m debating doing all my reviews as audio podcasts rather than written blogs. When I started this website I thought I would enjoy writing reviews and blogs. I even thought I might do a weekly news update but I sooner than later realized that I’m not the biggest fan of writing. The Raw, Smackdown and predictions will continue and I might continue doing these reviews but highly debating doing them strictly in a audio format. We’ll find out. Anyway, lets get back to Wrestlemania. This is the grandest stage of them all and this years event returned to New Orleans and took place in the Mercedes Benz Superdome. I saw in 144R Row M and had a WONDERFUL time at the event. It was a long and I only got up once during the whole event to make a restroom run but in my experience the show did feel like it went by pretty fast. This show was absolutely stacked with matches with 14 matches in total. I believe I was 5-9 with my prediction which is my worst score in the past year. It really shows you how unpredictable this event ended up being. On that note, lets get to me sharing my thoughts on them from being there live and coming home and watching the event again.

Andre The Giant Battle Royal
Matt Hardy Wins
in 15:45 by being the last man standing
Jim Ross was on commentary for this match which was cool. This was exactly what you expected it to be for the kick off. There weren’t many special surprise entrants or anything this year. I think the most surprising would have been the fact that Kane was in it. I’ve mentioned before in my predictions about how winning this match has ultimately become meaningless. They made the finish of this one be a part of a storyline that was already going on between Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt. This way instead of the match feeling meaningless, it further developed an on-going storyline while getting majority of the roster on the Wrestlemania card. I thought it was pretty cool.

Cruiserweight Championship
Cedrick Alexander def. Mustafa Ali
in 12:20 by pinfall
This was the finals to crown the new Cruiserweight Championship after a tournament was held following Enzo Amore being released. Drake Maverick was sitting at ringside to crown the champion after the match ended. I am a fan of both guys but was rooting for Mustafa Ali due his promo work leading up to this match and my preference of his work. Also, the sub-zero looking gear that Mustafa came out in looked badass and I really dug it. Cedrick Alexander is fantastic and you can’t deny his talent. However, character-wise there is not anything really that stands out about him but his talent is undeniable. I really enjoyed this match and really think it belonged on the main card so they could highlight the cruiserweight division and 205 Live but in WWE’s mind everyone is watching the kick off just like they are the main show. I disagree. I thought this was a really good match with great spots. The spanish fly and the near falls for Mustafa had me hooked. Cedric got the win and became the cruiserweight champion and I was not disappointed at all. I’m sure they’ll meet again because they sure do have great chemistry with each other and Mustafa will be champion one day. If he needed to prove himself on a big stage, he did tonight.

Wrestlemania Womens Battle Royal
Naomi Wins
in 09:50 by being the last woman standing
This is the first ever Wrestlemania Women’s Battle Royal which I expect to become an annual match just like the Andre the Giant Battle Royal, to get all the women who aren’t booked for the card on the card. This was very well booked and it featured a handful of NXT girls including Kairi Sane, Peyton Royce, Dakota Kai, Kavita Devi and Taynara Conti. There was a moment where the NXT girls worked together to look super dominant and held the ring for a few seconds. This battle royal had a lot of great moments like that and a shocking finish. Especially for me being in the live crowd. All I saw was that Becky and Naomi were both on the floor at one point but I wasn’t aware that Noami didn’t go over the top rope. Take into consideration that the live crowd went nuts when it seemed like it came down to Sasha Banks and Bayley, I must have not been the only one who wasn’t aware that Naomi wasn’t eliminated. I was rooting for Sasha but I thought Bayley won and I was disappointed. Next thing you know Noami won and I didn’t expect that. I originally thought that similar to the Andre the Giant Battle Royal they were going to have the winner based on an on-going angle but they surprised us with an unpredictable Naomi win. Fun stuff and properly booked.

Wrestlemania 34 comes to us from the Mercedes Benz Superdome in New Orleans, LA.

– The opening video package aired.

– Both Raw and Smackdown are represented for Wrestlemania. For Raw it was Michael Cole, Corey Graves and Jonathan Coachman and for Smackdown it was Tom Phillips, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton.

Triple Threat
Intercontinental Championship
Seth Rollins def. The Miz (C) & Finn Balor
in 15:30 via pinfall
What a match to kick off the show. These three had an awesome triple threat for the IC title on Raw a couple of months back that saw The Miz sneak away with the championship. I had no doubt they could recreate that magic. They all had unique entrances and the fans were split between Balor and Rollins. The Miz told his Miztourage to go backstage as he wanted to do this by himself. They did a really good job at making like anyone had the chance of winning. All three guys worked really hard to try to have the best match on the show. There were a ton of near falls and call backs to previous matches since these three guys have had plenty of matches against each other in the past months.. The finish was well done because it was done in a way where anybody could get the win and happened to be Rollins in this instance. Miz took two finishers to lose the match, so that makes Miz look tough because it took a lot to beat him. I picked Balor to win the match because I thought he could use a title reign since he hasn’t accomplished much since returning. Rollins took the victory which officially makes him a grand slam champion. It was a pretty cool moment and the live crowd was into it. I don’t doubt that we’ll see Miz as champion again soon down the road or that Balor might get a run soon too. This was an excellent match to set the tone for the show.

Smackdown Live Women’s Championship
Charlotte Flair (C) def. Asuka
in 13:05 via submission
This might have been the best in-ring wrestling match on the main card. They really put on a classic for women’s wrestling. Charlotte had a majestic entrance that was reminiscent to Triple H’s entrance at Wrestlemania 30 which she was a part of in the vert same venue. Charlotte really looked like a mega star. Asuka came out with her normal entrance surprisingly. These two told a great story in the ring and the stipulations surrounding the match helped. Asuka has been undefeated for more than a year and this was her first big championship opportunity of the main roster. Charlotte on the other hand is just Charlotte and has already created an amazing legacy for herself. It wouldn’t be shocking to see Charlotte being the one to end Asuka’s streak. The psychology in the match was good with Asuka working on Charlotte’s left arm most of the match and it played a part in the finish with Charlotte not using the left arm at the end of the match. I liked some of the unique spots they did with the suplex off the apron onto the floor and the Spanish Fly by Charlotte off the apron. I think somewhere in my mind, I just assumed it was a sure thing that Asuka was going to win because she was the winner of the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble and this was her first big match on the main roster where her undefeated streak actually felt threatened. The result of the match was a surprise because I thought Asuka’s undefeated streak would continue. The good thing about the streak ending is they can book Asuka like a normal wrestler now instead of having to book her in a way that protects the streak all the time. It’s not a bad thing for Asuka to lose a match. It also shows how much WWE values Charlotte. The moment after the match with Asuka and Charlotte was cool and I expected something to happen but it didn’t. This match was awesome but whats next for Asuka?

– Following this match John Cena gets words that the Undertaker is here and he runs to the back.

Fatal Four Way Match
United States Championship
Jinder Mahal w/ Sunil Singh def. Randy Orton (C), Bobby Roode & Rusev w/ Aiden English
in 08:15 by pinfall
This wasn’t the best match of the card and didn’t really compare to the first two thus far but it still kept up the same pace of solid wrestling. This match had its moments and delivered vintage storytelling of four guys all trying to beat the odds to become the United States Champion. All four guys are unique personalties and two of them are former WWE Champions and the other two are super over with the hardcore fans. Jinder Mahal was the only one in this match who has never won the United States Championship before and the one guy I think the fans were least behind since he is the last true heel. There were plenty of believable nearfalls and everybody got a chance to shine. Roode looked like was going to get the win after a glorious DDT. Randy Orton came through with a flurry of RKOs at one point. Rusev had the crowd on their feet with Rusev Day chants as it looked like he was going to take the W at Mahal’s expense. In the end though, a distraction from Sunil Singh allowed Mahal to his the Kallas on the super over Rusev for the win. I might have been the only person in my section marking out. Orton didn’t need the win as he’s a made-man and I feel like Roode needs a reason to turn heel. I was rooting for either Rusev or Mahal. Therefore, I was excited when it came down to those two. The Modern Day Maharaja had his Wrestlemania moment and I couldn’t be happier for him. Mahal deserved it. It was a perfectly fine executed match and a nice change of pace after two bangers and before the next match.

Mixed Tag Match
Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey def. Triple H & Stephanie McMahon
in 20:40 by submission
Ronda Rousey proved that she belongs here. I think we can all agree that this match was way better than we all expected. It was hands-down the most entertaining match on the entire show and had everyone either standing up or on the edge of their seat. It was such a roller coaster ride. Triple H and Stephanie looked amazing. I really enjoyed the water spit in unison during their entrance. Kurt Angle looked great and it was awesome to see him in his ring gear and performing his entrance with the full pyro. Ronda Rousey looked smoking and paid tribute to her mentor “Rowdy” Roddy Piper by wearing entrance and wrestling gear that resembled his look. I wonder if this is her official wrestling gear or if it was a one-off for Mania. Triple H and Angle carried the match at first with funny shenanigans going on with Stephanie trying to avoid Ronda Rousey while being a pain in the ass. Rousey looked like she had been wrestling for years and there were no noticeable mistakes from her, which is so impressive in a nearly 20-minute match. Stephanie did a great job the entire match getting some offense on usually in cheap fashion and she sold everything Rousey did pretty well too. I liked everything that Angle and Triple H did. There were some fun moments with Rousey going after Triple H too, which showed she was not going to back down. I was surprised with how much this match felt like a throwback to the old days with there being interaction between the men and women competitors. It was almost as if we went back to the year 2000 and brough Rousey along with us. They most likely planned this match out detail for detail over these past few weeks and rehearsed a lot of it because it seemed pretty flawless. This was great for Rouseys first big match and it made sense that she would pick up the win. As I mentioned before, this was the most entertaining match of the entire night.

Triple Threat
Smackdown Live Tag Team Championship
The Bludgeon Brothers def. The Usos (C) & The New Day
in 05:50 by pinfall
The New Day entrance was something else to say the least. I’ll just say if you didn’t see it, go watch it, This match was done before it even started. All three teams got some stuff in. It was a dominant win by the Bludgeon Brothers to put them over as the new champs on Smackdown. I thought The Usos and New Day might get more offense than they did, but this was all about making the Bludgeon Brothers look like a great team that can’t be stopped as the Smackdown Tag Team Champions. I understand if this match was booked to be shorter because they had 11 matches on the main card and the point was able to be made that the Bludgeon Brothers are unstoppable with a short match. The New Day don’t need the tag team titles. The Usos had a helluva a run and this is the perfect stage for them to lose them. I’m sure they’ll be champions again soon. I’m super happy for Rowen and Harper as this is the first time they have won the tag team titles on the main roster as it was something they didn’t achieve the entire time they were under the Wyatt Family gimmick.

– John Cena comes out ready for a match with The Undertaker.

The Undertaker def. John Cena
in 02:45 by pinfall
The Deadman rises and answers Cena’s call. I really enjoyed the tease that he was coming out, only for Elias to have a Wrestlemania moment. He got to do his thing in front of the massive Superdome crowd only to catch a beat down from Cena who still hoped for the Phenom. The lights go down for a second time and the gong sounds signalling that the Undertaker had arrived.  They did a cool thing where he zapped his gear he left in the ring with lightning bolts to address that fake retirement moment. I have seen The Undertaker make his entrance countless times in my life and once before as the Deadman at Wrestlemania but I still felt like a 10 year old and got goosebumps as he made his way to the ring. The facial expressions from Cena throughout the entire match/segment was great. Taker looked healthy and better than he has in years. I kind of felt like this might have been personal redemption for The Undertaker who might have felt he didn’t look so great last year and wanted to give his fans the old Undertaker one last time. This was a quick squash that went under 2 minutes.The Undertaker dominated that match, Cena barely got any offense and Undertaker won in less than time than his entrance took. It was like watching The Undertaker beating a jobber on an old episode of WWE superstars. I wouldn’t say this fulfilled our dream match desires between two of the greatest stars in WWE history at Wrestlemania but at least we got something. Thats more than we can say about getting a Undertaker/Sting moment. The Undertaker did his usual signature poses in the ring and the one arm up at the end of the ramp. There was no signs that this could have been his last match or he’s riding out in the sunset like we had last year. It was fun for a longtime fan like myself but it might have been underwhelming for fans expecting more. There was a little 7 year-old kid that was a huge Cena fan who was sitting next to me during this show that I didn’t see after this match. He got pretty upset when Cena lost that fast. I gave him my collector cup I got with my drink. That poor kid. Anyway, the little kid in me loved this segment/match.

Daniel Bryan & Shane McMahon def. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
in 15:25 by pinfall
The return of the American Dragon after being forced into retirement for three years in the same city where the miracle on bourbon street took place when he beat Randy Orton and Dave Batista in midst of the Yes Movement to become the Undisputed World Champion. The stipulation here was that Owens and Zayn are fired if they lose. This match had near 10 months of build up and due to that, the fans were invested in the match and it made it easier for them to tell a story here. They booked it where Bryan was taken out early leaving Shane to fend for himself only until The Dragon fought his way back into the match even though he might be hurt to even the odds. That was similar to when Bryan was taken out at WrestleMania 30 in the same building and came back to win the WWE Title. In this case, it was just a tag match.Shane McMahon did get some of his spots in such as the coast to coast for example. it was so great to see Bryan back in action again looking like he hadn’t lost a step. Everything was well done. The drama and excitement was fully there. The crowd would erupt anytime Bryan drew them in. Daniel Bryan eventually picked up the victory by making Zayn tap out. I thought there was going to be a heel turn by Shane or maybe even Bryan to try to surprise the audience, but that didn’t happen. What does this mean for Owens and Zayn? I’m not sure but it’ll be interesting to see. Overall, the biggest story here is that Daniel Bryan is back and it hasn’t really hit me yet.

Raw Women’s Championship
Nia Jax def. Alexa Bliss w/ Mickie James
in 10:15 by pinfall
At the show live, I missed their entrances because this was when I quickly ran to the restroom. However, I did watch this match again when I re-watched the show. I really enjoyed Alexa’s entrance and special entrance gear. I almost thought that Mickie James was not going to come out with her but she did. It was a predictable match with Jax getting the win after Bliss got some offense working on the knee. Bliss also used the eye gouge a few times to stay in control for some of the match too. Bliss using such moves made sense because in reality, Nia Jax should be able to and would crush someone of Alexa’s size real fast so they had to com up with ways to prolong the match with Alexa using cheap shots like that. Nia Jax eventually picked up the win by hitting a brutal samoan drop from the top rope crushing Alexa. It was a feel good moment in a pretty basic match. I’m sure Alexa will bounce back from this. This big win was long overdue for Nia Jax. I’m sure these two must’ve of loved that they got to have this moment on the biggest stage of them all since they are best friends in real-life.

WWE Championship
AJ Styles (C) def. Shinsuke Nakamura
in 20:20 by pinfall
This was the match hardcore fans around the world were waiting for and the one match that could have competed with Gargano/Ciampa from the night before. Shinsuke Nakamura made a spectacular entrance with Nita Strauss (guitarist for Alice Cooper) playing the electric guitar for his song along with violinists and drummers on the stage playing the song. The crowd was humming along to the song and it was just a big match feel throughout the Superdome. It was great to see Styles make his entrance again with pyro. It always felt weird when that pyro sound would hit but he wouldn’t have any.t was a good match that did not live up to the incredible hype with the crowd cheering for some of it, but there were plenty of quiet moments as well. Calling it a Dream Match gave this match so much pressure and they just couldn’t get the crowd behind them like you would think. The match started off slow and I was expecting it to pick up but it just never did. I was under the perception that this was going to be like a lot of the classic New Japan matches I’ve watched, where the match sort of starts off slow but eventually picks up mid match and never slows down. The only issue is, I dont remember this match picking up at all and next thing I knew it was over. There weren’t many false finishes which I’m not a huge fan of but felt were acceptable for this match. The mechanics and story of the match was really good. The match consisted of good wrestling, I mean maybe if the match was places earlier in the night I would have been more kind about it but there was just nothing about this match where I felt like it would make me want to sit through it again. The entrances were great and the heel turn following the match was great. I’m looking forward to heel Shinsuke. I guess we should also consider that this was a babyface vs babyface match so there wasn’t the same psychology whereas if one of them are heel, they might be able to have a match that does live up to the hype. We’ll see if we get that dream match we expected in the next couple of months. Great wrestling but lacked any emotion or drama until after the match.

Raw Tag Team Championship
Braun Strowman & Nicholas def. The Bar
in 04:00 by pinfall
The entrances were fun. The Bar coming out of a float with characters in costumes and throwing beads to the tune of “When the Saints go marching in” was brilliant considering we were in the Big Easy. Braun scaring the characters in costumes and detroying the float was vintage Braun. Everything after that just had me going “what?!” Strowman did not have a surprise partner but instead picked a 14 year-old boy named Nicholas who just happens to be the son of referee John Cone. If you were wondering if it was a plant, it most definitely was. This was a easy win for Strowman with a kid as a partner that showed he didn’t need any help to beat the champs. It makes the entire tag team division on Raw look bad, but it was a funny moment with a young kid involved. The kid got really over fast as the fans continued to chant for him during the next match and at the Raw after Mania. This is Strowman’s first title win in WWE but I’m curious to see how they play this out week for week because I’m sure the kid isn’t hitting the road full-time while he’s still in school. In the moment this was fun and cute. Once it was all done, I just didn’t get it and it seemed like a colossal waste.

Universal Championship
Brock Lesnar (C) w/ Paul Heyman def. Roman Reigns
in 15:55 via pinfall
Well here we go. Its the main event. The fans in my section of the live crowd did not really seem into the match. If anything we were distracted by the one mega Roman Reigns fan who was drunk and wouldn’t sit down. He was getting pissed at the boos that Roman was getting and he wasn’t so happy with the outcome of the match either. This match consisted of a lot of brawling. suplexes, F-5’s and superman punches. They worked hard and did a match with a bunch of kickouts all match long, but the crowd had no interest in the match because they thought they knew what the outcome would be especially with Reigns kicking out of the F5 so many times. It was really trip because every time I’d turn my attention back to the match it was Reigns getting hit with a F-5 and kicking out in the exact same spot in the ring with the exact same camera angles that it almost felt like deja vu. After watching the match back, I understand the story they were trying to tell but the lack of variance in moves really hurt it. The addition of colour to Reigns really helped from a visual standpoint and a storytelling standpoint but it still wasn’t enough to get the fans into the match. I think everyone was expecting Reigns to win, especially with the beating he was getting, it seemed like the best way to put him super over. Therefore it was shocking when Lesnar got the three after an F-5.  It was yet another shocking win for Lesnar in the Mercedes Benz Superdome, with the last one being when he ended The Undertaker’s undefeated Wrestlemania streak. I think the match would be considered better if the crowd wasn’t shitting on it the entire time and if us fans weren’t tired of the same old Lesnar match. I will say that I was shocked with the finish. I am not a Roman hater and I actually dont mind him but even I felt like I went home happy knowing he didn’t win here because I think it felt too predictable so I’m glad they shocked us. I’m interested to see what happens next for both guys now and to see when Lesnar actually loses the Universal Championship.

Final Thoughts
The show started with a bang and kicked off with four solid matches in a row.
A great opener, an amazing women’s match, a fun fatal four way that allowed the fans to regroup after the rush of the first two matches and then an unforgettable and entertaining mixed tag match. It was followed by a super quick and forgettable three way tag match that served its purpose and then went back to a high with the return of Undertaker and Daniel Byran. The Undertaker moment could have been better but I’m satisfied with what it was because The Phenom looked great and could have looked bad if it was a longer match. It’s unclear if we’re going to see him again next year. Bryan’s return was great to be a part of but the match was not nearly as entertaining as the Ronda Rousey tag match earlier in the night yet it was still solid. The Raw Women’s Championship match was decent. Shinsuke and Styles didn’t live up to the hype but the heel turn following the match is what left everyone talking and we could possibly see that dream match we expected in the next couple of months. While the tag team title match was fun in the moment, it was absolutely ludicrous when I thought about it after. They tried with the main event but the fans just weren’t into it but at least they swerved us all with Lesnar winning.
The first half of this card was great and the last three matches left you wanting more. It was the end half of this show that really stopped this years Wrestlemania from being in the conversation of greatest Wrestlemania’s of all time. It started off feeling like it had the potential to be in the conversation but by the end of the show you realized more than one match didn’t live up to expectations. It was a solid show though and the biggest show of the year. it had its highs but definitely had its lows. Therefore, if you did miss it, check it out. Dig it!
Final Rating – 8/10

What were your final thoughts on Wrestlemania 34? What final grade would you give the event? Where would you rate it on a scale of ten? Do you agree with my review? Leave your comments, opinions and thoughts below in the comments section.