Let's start with the preshow. In the fifth annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, while the right man won the match, the contest was somewhat forgettable. Still, it was nice to see a decent new tag team, come from it. Anyways, this brings us to the tournament final for the vacant Cruiserweight Championship between Cedric Alexander and Mustafa Ali. The match was disappointing, as it was highly rushed. Plus, it was probably not a good idea to copy the finish to Ric Flair Versus Shawn Michaels from 2008's 'WrestleMania 24'. It was really jarring. Anyways, the WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal was next & thank goodness, they change the name. Moolah was indeed, not a good person with her sex trafficking. However, they should had thought of another old timey female wrestler to give tribute. Regardless, the choice of participants for this match was still bizarre has WWE didn't have enough main show female talents. So they fill it up with the misused big names and NXT extras. Still, the contest was a lot more entertaining match than the Men's. Nevertheless, the men's fought back, as the actual show opened with The Miz having to defend his Intercontinental Championship against Seth Rollins and Finn Balor in a triple threat match. Without spoiling it, there was great wrestling from all of them. Good contest. The next match between Champion Charlotte Flair & challenger, Asuka was also amazing. Both women work their ass off. To top it off, the entrance nod to Charlotte's appearance in 2014's 'WrestleMania 30' was epic. The climax to the match was also shocking. I get why they did it. That gimmick would had become very tiresome and highly predictable as the months goes on. Better to strike, when the iron is hot, I say. The only nitpick, I had, about the match, was the aftermath. They didn't give the women, enough time to thank the crowd, before WWE move onto the next sequence. It was horribly done. Anyways, that brings us to the fatal four-way match for the United States between champion, Randy Orton & challengers, Bobby Roode, Jinder Mahal, and Rusev. It was highly generic as nobody put that much effect into the feud. Not memorable at all. Next up, was the mixed tag team match between Triple H & Stephanie McMahon versus Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey. The build up to the contest was awkward, as the foundations for it, was over 3 years ago. This match should had happen at 2016, however, both Dwayne 'the Rock' Johnson and Rousey had scheduling problems, so it was push back way back, until tonight. Nevertheless, Johnson still couldn't make it, so he was replaced by the very old & limited Angle, 3 months prior. In the end, the match was still entertaining as Rousey show the world, that she indeed could wrestle. Just wish, she didn't adjust her outfit so much. Seeing Hunter calling out, 'spots', really loud to Angle was quite annoying as well. Anyways, the next fight, saw the Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso) having to defend their SmackDown Tag Team Championship against The New Day's (Big E and Kofi Kingston) and The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan) in a quick & brutal, forgettable triple threat tag team match. It was not good. I also didn't like the impromptu bout that follow this, between Cena and Undertaker. Taker is really past his prime & can't barely move, while Cena can't take that much bumps as he has one foot, out to Hollywood. It was embarrassing to watch. Both could had done, so much better. Thank goodness, the next tag match live up to the hype. Seeing Daniel Bryan being able to wrestle with Shane McMahon, after being force to retired due to multiple concussions, was out of this world amazing! It was also nice to see Shane being able to wrestle, coming out of a recent life-threating stomach injury. Unlike, other critics, I love the feud, they had with Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. The ring work from all four of them was also very impressive, despite how it was slowly told. It's still one of my favorite matches of the night. The Raw Women's Championship match between challenger, Nia Jax & champion, Alexa Bliss was next. Once again, I have to disagree with majority of critics, as I didn't like the buildup storyline to this meh contest. I thought the body shaming angle has been overdone. As for the hype for the WWE Championship fight between champion, AJ Styles & challenger, Shinsuke Nakamura, I love the teases. As for the bout. It was not as good as any of their previous NJPW matches, but regardless, this contest was outstanding enough to tune in. However, it's what happen, after the match; that was the highlight. Tag team match for the Raw Tag Team Championship was next. While, Braun Strowman choosing a child as his tag partner to face the champions, the Bar (Sheamus & Cesaro) made the titles seem like a joke. That jump the shark sequence was entertaining. I can't hate it, too much. At least, it wasn't awful like the main event between Roman Reigns challenging Universal Championship titleholder, Brock Lesnar. It was an exhausting match that nobody asked for it. Even so, it had no in-ring story, as both wrestlers didn't bother working it out. It was all over the top. So ill-fitting. As for the ending, money & politics got in the way. No wonder, why Brock tossed the title at Vince McMahon. His match was a crap staid, on otherwise, decent show. In the end, you might have to drown yourself with a bottle of Bourbon, when you choose to watch this 7 hours PPV. Parts of the event at the Superdome in New Orleans were very, very annoying. Others sequences, were decent enough to watch. However, overall, it's not the grandest stage of them, all. Not in the long shot. It could had been better.
Review of WrestleMania
WrestleMania
(2018 TV Special)
WrestleMania 34 didn't quite make the good times roll! It was a mixed bag of gumbo for me.
5 February 2019
Warning: Spoilers