Wrestlemania 33 Review

Jacob Van Divner

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(Photo credits via OntarioNow)

Last Sunday marked the 33rd annual Wrestlemania, and it was an interesting one indeed. It was definitely a huge step up from last years, but it was no Wrestlemania 20. Let’s go take a look at this card and see if it delivers on its tagline  of “The Ultimate Thrillride”.

The match that kicked off the show was definitely a surprise. It saw the Best In The World AJ Styles take on the Best Dad In The World Shane McMahon, but despite the absolute lack of expecting this match to be any good at all it might have actually been match of the night. As previously stated, AJ is by far one of the best wrestlers in the world, and he showed in this match that he can even carry a broom stick through a serviceable match. Now that’s not taking anything away from Shane O Mac who also put on a great energy filled performance with a couple of nice spots including Shane plummeting into a table after AJ moved out of the way. This match was definitely a highlight of the night and a great, fun match.

The first title to be defended at this Mania was Chris Jericho’s United States Championship as he took on challenger and ex-best friend Kevin Owens. This match was pretty good with the talent included in the match, and it worked well to get Kevin Owens a much needed title win. Hopefully this can be the start of prize fighter Kevin Owens come back. All in all a good match and the right guy one.

The next match was the Raw women’s match of the night, and it saw a fatal four way between Bailey, Nia Jax, Charlotte, and Sasha Banks for the Raw Women’s Title. This was a fun match that saw all of the girls getting their due with Nia Jax being particularly impressive in the earlier parts of the match showing off some impressive strength. The best part of the match was definitely when Charlotte hit the other three participants with a corkscrew moonsault to the outside. While the match itself was fairly good, the finish was tame and saw Bayley retain her title with an elbow drop. WWE really wasted the opportunity for Bayley winning the first title here, but it was still a good match and a good end.

The Raw Tag Titles were the only tag titles being defended at the show of shows and it saw the teams of Enzo and Cass, The Club, and Sheamus and Cesaro go at it in a ladder match, but by far the biggest shock of the night came when The New Day announced there would be another team added to the match. Instead of just some throw away team, but to the surprise (and delight) to fans it was the returning Hardy Boys. The Broken Hardys have slowly become the greatest thing in pro wrestling and seeing them return home on the biggest stage of them all was amazing. The match itself was good all the teams had something to do and it didn’t really drag on either. The finish saw The Hardys pick up the win and the titles after Jeff hit the swanton off of a 14 foot ladder and Matt captured the titles. It was an unexpected and amazing return and it will be great to see the Hardys back in action.

The next match was the mixed tag match that saw The Miz and wife Maryse take on real life couple John Cena and Nikki Bella. The match was fairly short and (of course) saw Cena  and Nikki pick up the win. The match was mainly carried by Miz’s heel work and ability to work a crowd, but the real big moment came after the bell. After they picked up the win, John dropped to one knee and proposed to his real life girlfriend. The moment was sweet enough, but it did come off as kind of forced and awkward. It’s a shame that The Miz had to basically be buried, but it was a feel good moment.

The next match saw Seth Rollins take on former mentor Triple H. This storyline has been building up for the majority of the year when Triple H nailed Seth with a pedigree to give the Universal Title to Kevin Owens. The Match was good and it served as a good end and a passing of the torch. The match did seem to drag on a little at points, but working in good storytelling with Seth’s knee was all enjoyable. Definitely a highlight of the show.

Definitely the lowest moment of the night was the WWE Championship match between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt. This match was just bad, there’s nothing else to really say about it. They wasted so much time and the Royal Rumble win on a throw away terrible match. It’s a shame that they wasted Bray’s title run on this. I hope WWE come back and fix this.

The next World title to be defended was the Universal Title where champion Goldberg took on Brock Lesnar. This match surprised as it was great. It was a hard hitting match between two big guys and it was exciting. It was full of suplexes and spears it even say Brock get speared through the Barricaded. The match saw Brock pick up the win and the title after kicking out of the jackhammer (which i’m pretty is the first time that happened) and hitting Goldberg with the F5. This was definitely the right way to end this story and the two men more than made up for their previous Wrestlemania match.

And the last match of the night was The Undertaker vs Roman Reigns in a No Holds Barred match. Now Roman picked up the win and the match was fine, but that’s not what matters. At the end of the match, Taker rose and left all his gear in the middle of the ring. This was Taker effectively retiring from wrestling. Undertaker has been one of the most beloved wrestling figures of all time and has given his everything to the company he worked for. Many fans including myself have grown up watching him and are just used to him being around, but at the end of the day he went out on his back putting a younger talent over like the old school wrestler he is. Thank you for everything Undertaker. You will be missed.

This Wrestlemania was definitely a good one and will go down as one of the most memorable. It will be nice to see new storylines come out and see where the roster will go.