Night One was a solid show last night. Each match delivered in its own special way and I can’t say that I was disappointed with anything they did last night. Was it the best start to WrestleMania? Probably not, but it was good. There were some title changes last night and even a big successful title defense. The weather delay was a bit of a bummer, because it delayed action for a little over 30 minutes, but that’s exactly what you can run into when you have these events outside. Since I’m doing these reaction articles together, I will briefly give my overall thoughts, then break down each match after I finish breaking down Night One.

I thought Night Two wasn’t very good. There were some good moments, but a lot of stuff just didn’t make sense. I’ll definitely break it down more in detail, but the second night was basically all upside down. I said this a few weeks ago, but I think there were plans made for WrestleMania and it feels like they couldn’t follow through with those plans, and they were forced to make quick audibles. Maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like that was the case. Overall, NXT TakeOver Stand and Deliver was the better event this week and I don’t think it was even close. Here’s the breakdown of each match starting with Night One in order, with Night Two to follow right behind.

- Men’s Singles Match: WWE Championship

Bobby Lashley (C) (with MVP) over Drew McIntyre

This match kicked off the show and it didn’t disappoint. There were some things that could’ve been better, but for an 18-minute match, this was pretty one-sided. McIntyre didn’t hit one Claymore Kick successfully if that tells you anything. Lashley dominated the match and while McIntyre technically didn’t tap out, it didn’t end the way I thought it would’ve. It was a smart way to end it, but then again, I thought McIntyre would’ve scored at least one near fall on Lashley. I think this feud will continue for another month or so, and I think the end game will be interesting to see.

GRADE: 9.0/10

- Women’s Tag Team Turmoil Match: No. 1 Contender for WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship

Natalya and Tamina over The Riott Squad, Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke, Billie Kay and Carmella, Lana and Naomi

The biggest takeaway from this match was the slips. Mandy Rose’s slip down the wet ramp and Dana Brooke’s… well, never mind. It’s still on the Peacock replay if you want to see for yourself. Anyway, the match wasn’t bad, it was probably the worst on the card for the first night, but not bad. It was a nice change to have Natalya and Tamina win and I think those ladies have earned that shot. They will take on the tag champs tonight and I think they have a real shot to win.

GRADE: 7.4/10

- Men’s Singles Match

Cesaro over Seth Rollins *MATCH OF THE NIGHT*

I would consider this the best match of the night, but it wasn’t the biggest moment. These two put on a wrestling clinic and it would’ve been cool to see this match with a title stipulation, but that wasn’t the case. With all of that being said, I would’ve been a bit of a surprise to see Cesaro lose with the way the storyline has played out. Cesaro has more than earned a big WrestleMania victory and Seth Rollins couldn’t have been a better opponent for him. Rollins pulled a few tricks out of his sleeve and it is difficult to dispute the fact that he is one of the best performers in the world. Hopefully Cesaro gets a title opportunity from this big win, but I think he is definitely on their radar as a singles competitor.

GRADE: 9.3/10

- Men’s Tag Team Match: RAW Tag Team Championship

AJ Styles and Omos over The New Day (C)

Before the match started, I was under the impression that The New Day was going to win only because it was Omos’s main roster debut and it happened to be at WrestleMania. I couldn’t have been more wrong. If you want to learn how to book a giant, look at this match. This match was perfectly executed. Styles carried the majority of the match for the team, but Omos was the centerpiece of the whole match, as he should’ve been. Again, The New Day losing did absolutely nothing to them, but having AJ Styles and Omos to crush a team like The New Day is huge. This was a wonderfully executed tag match.

GRADE: 8.7/10

- Men’s Steel Cage Match

Braun Strowman over Shane McMahon

I thought there was a good possibility that Shane would weasel his way out of a win, but that wasn’t the case. This match was actually really solid. The angle was stupid as all get out and it basically ruined the quality of the match. They utilized the cage in a good way and the biggest takeaway of the match will definitely be Shane getting thrown off of the top. He is 51-years old and still doing this. You can’t knock his dedication to the WWE and I always wonder when he is going to stop, because he is doing stuff that can go horribly wrong if not executed perfectly. With all of that being said, it was a good match, but it was diminished due to the fact that the storyline was complete garbage.

GRADE: 7.6/10

- Men’s Tag Team Match

Bad Bunny and Damian Priest over The Miz and John Morrison

I can’t get over the fact that Bad Bunny did so well in this match. I really thought that Damian Priest would carry the match, but it was all Bad Bunny. Don’t get me wrong, Priest did well, but Bad Bunny looked incredible. It was great to see him taking this so seriously and put in the time and effort to make his WrestleMania match great. I feel like they had a shot at making this a memorable match, and I think they did just that. This was a great job from everyone, especially for The Miz and John Morrison selling so wonderfully, and I thought it was a cool, entertaining match.

GRADE: 8.6/10

- Women’s Singles Match: SmackDown Women’s Championship

Bianca Belair over Sasha Banks (C)

This moment meant a lot to the competitors involved and it was a big moment for the women’s division. With that being said, it wasn’t a spectacular match, but it was very good. The result was always going to overshadow the match quality as a whole and I knew that going into it. Most people would probably put this match at the top of their WrestleMania 37 list and I won’t dispute it, but I don’t think it was the best of the weekend. It was good to see Belair win the belt, because she earned it. She put in the work all year on the main roster and is very deserving. I’m interested to see what her next feud will be.

GRADE: 9.0/10

NIGHT TWO

- Men’s Singles Match

Randy Orton over The Fiend (with Alexa Bliss)

The Opening match sets the tone of the whole match and in the beginning, it was very, very promising. The entrance was awesome and the match at the beginning was really good as well. There was a lot of momentum not only heading into the match, but as the match was happening. There was 5 months of build for the match to end horribly. The Alexa Bliss spot was interesting from a continuation aspect, but why do we need continuation? Orton wins in 5 minutes and defeats what is supposed to be the most “unbeatable” force in the WWE? What is that? Not only that, he did so cleanly. Watching what will happen next should be interesting, but this is WrestleMania for crying out loud. Why are we getting ambiguous endings? This was the start of what was a disappointing night.

GRADE: 4.5/10

- Women’s Tag Team Match: WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship

Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler (C) over Natalya and Tamina

Just like the results of the matches to follow, the ending was just not ideal in my opinion. The actual ending wasn’t bad, but I thought Natalya and Tamina should’ve won. They have built them up over the last few weeks to just crash and burn. The match was nothing spectacular, but I think this is a great opportunity for someone like Tamina to shine. She deserves a little push and hopefully she can get one pretty soon. With all of that being said, It was a decent match, not great.

GRADE: 7.2/10

- Men’s Singles Match

Kevin Owens over Sami Zayn (with Logan Paul)

For a match that was somewhat ill prepared, I think everyone expected a really solid wrestling match here and that is exactly what was presented. Owens and Zayn have worked with each other for nearly two full decades and know how to put on a really good match. This wasn’t match of the night, but in a night filled with letdowns, it was very good. You knew that Logan Paul was going to take a bump at some point and he took a stunner in the middle of the ring after the match. He sold it in an interesting way, but it was a good way to end the contest. I think you can always consider Owens a title contender at any given time and Sami Zayn is a guy that will likely be competing for the secondary titles, or we could see them team up again and possibly compete for the belts. we’ll see I guess.

GRADE: 8.4/10

- Men’s Singles Match: United States Championship

Sheamus over Riddle (C)

This was a nice match, but I think the result was a wrong decision. This could’ve been a great opportunity to for an experienced veteran and former world champion to proverbially pass the torch to the younger talent, but it didn’t go down that way. I don’t think this feud is done with and I think Riddle will ultimately win his title back, but I think WrestleMania is built for the moments where they favor newer superstars and/or underdogs in matches normally, but that definitely wasn’t the theme in this WrestleMania. It was a good match, but I felt like it would’ve been more beneficial if Riddle won the match.

GRADE: 8.1/10

- Nigerian Drum Fight: Intercontinental Championship

Apollo Crews over Big E (C)

Well, did we find out what a Nigerian Drum Fight was? Not really. Was it a good match? A hard-hitting aggressive match, yes. A good match? I don’t think it was great. They didn’t utilize the drums and most of the match was spent utilizing the steel steps. It was basically a worse version of an extreme rules match. I don’t really have a problem with the way it ended, and it was interesting to see the introduction of Crews’ new enforcer. Crews has a lot of momentum and I can’t argue the fact that he wasn’t worthy of the win, but I just thought Big E was going to retain. It was a decent match, but following the theme, not a great match.

GRADE: 7.9/10

- Women’s Singles Match: RAW Women’s Championship

Rhea Ripley over Asuka (C)

The match itself was good, but I have a big problem with the booking of this. I made no secret of the fact that I disliked the fact that Rhea Ripley just waltzed right into a title match at WrestleMania in her singles debut on the main roster. I mean, Ronda Rousey didn’t even get that kind of treatment, but the fact that she defeated one of the most, if not the most dominant women’s superstar currently in the WWE is horrible booking. Casual fans of wrestling who only watch RAW and SmackDown have little to no idea of who Rhea Ripley is and she wins the belt at WrestleMania in her debut? I hate I’m making this argument, because Rhea Ripley is a wonderful performer and I would even go as far to say that I have been a fan of hers ever since I saw her in NXT UK as the inaugural champion, but we have to face reality at some point. All I ask is give Rhea some time on RAW to “prove herself” to more casual fans. People who don’t watch NXT don’t know what she is capable of. I obviously know she can prove herself as champion, but to top it all off, they don’t have a clue how to book Asuka. I don’t really understand how you can screw up her booking so much. I get that her English skills aren’t great, but she doesn’t need to talk a lot. Her in-ring ability and her non-verbal actions are the things that make her a mega star. The match was good, but I hated the result at the moment and I realize I’m being a little petty but booking like this slowly turn fans off of the product.

GRADE: 8.2/10

- Men’s Triple Threat Match: Universal Championship

Roman Reigns (C) over Edge and Daniel Bryan *MATCH OF THE NIGHT*

This match was incredible, but following the theme, the ending was done horribly. All I heard after the match was how this win established Roman Reigns as the leader or the “guy” of the WWE. How? Seriously, how can you watch the ending of that match and tell me that he is the “guy” at the moment. The fact that he won and technically pinned both opponents definitely doesn’t tell me that. Last night’s main event ending told me that Roman Reigns can’t win on his own. That he has the potential to be the “guy”, but he needs help. Jey Uso was his crutch. The other guys didn’t need crutches in the match and they both legitimately had a shot to win. I had absolutely no problem with the result of the match, in fact, I predicted that Roman Reigns would win. Why can’t you book your “guy” to win cleanly over two all-time great performers. I get that he is a heel and he needed an “underhanded” way to win but did he really? He didn’t. He could’ve won cleanly and got even more heel heat, due to the fact that he is an even more unbeatable force. Fans would’ve been astronomically pissed off if he beat Daniel Bryan and Edge cleanly in the middle of the ring, thus making his heel character even stronger. I just don’t get how they can screw up something like this so often, but yet, they still manage to do it. It was a great match, but it gets a reduced grade because of the crappy final moments of the match.

GRADE: 8.5/10

Yacs

WrestleMania 37 Results and Reaction

NIGHT TWO