Wrestlemania XXXIII: General Discussion & Reviews

[Dagger Dias]

Wrestlemania 33

Pre-Show: Austin Aries VS Neville (c) [Cruiserweight Championship]
Fun match and one of the better ones of the night. Possibly the best pre-show match ever. I thought it deserved to make the main card but with a card as stacked as this one I can understand it getting moved down to the pre-show. Having it go first was a smart call not only to get the purple rope transitions out of the way but also to get everyone excited.

Pre-Show: Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
This was stupid and I can see why it belonged on the pre-show. Mojo!? Seriously!? If this Battle Royal wasn't pointless before, it is now.

Pre-Show: Baron Corbin VS Dean Ambrose (c) [Intercontinental Championship]
Having this on the pre-show was disappointing as Dean deserves better but like I said on the Cruiserweight match, with a card this stacked unfortunately something had to get pre-show'ed. The match was fine.

AJ Styles VS Shane McMahon
Good opener and it was much better than expected. I really hope Shane is done at this point, it cannot be good for him to keep taking such dangerous spots at this age. Are we moving on to Styles returning to the World Heavyweight Championship scene? I'd like to see that happen.

Chris Jericho (c) VS Kevin Owens [United States Championship]
Fun match that I thought would be a potential show stealer. I enjoyed it overall and there isn't much else to say other than it should have been for the Universal instead of the US Championship. The right guy won.

Bayley (c) VS Charlotte Flair VS Nia Jax VS Sasha Banks [Fatal Fourway Elimination Match for the Raw Women's Championship]
Nia was so out of place here so them teaming up to get her out first was a good call. The match from last year was a lot better though this was good too.

The Hardy Boyz (Matt & Jeff Hardy) VS Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson (c) VS Cesaro & Sheamus VS Enzo Amore & Big Cass [Fatal Fourway Ladder Match for the Raw Tag Team Championship]
The Hardys are back!!!! Everyone at my PPV party went crazy and marked out for that. Moment of the night by far and this was probably the best match overall also. Funny, considering a week ago I thought it would be my snack break.

John Cena & Nikki Bella VS The Miz & Maryse [Mixed Tag Team Match]
This sucked and we all knew the actual match would be nothing special. Out of the four of them, only Cena can wrestle. I felt bad for Maryse when the wind kept messing her hair up. Speaking as someone with very long hair, when it gets in your face it is incredibly annoying. Did not care about the proposal at all and I will never fathom what Cena sees in Nikki but at least she makes him happy and that is what matters. Maybe they will do the wedding at Summerslam.

Seth Rollins VS Triple H (with Stephanie McMahon) [Non-Sanctioned Match]
This was great. Trips' entrance with Stephanie on the motorcycle and Seth's with the torch were both well done. Seth finally got the big win he needed and can move on to better things. One of the better matches of the night, and even without any interferences by Joe!

Bray Wyatt (c) VS Randy Orton [Singles Match for the World Heavyweight Championship]
Ok, this was weird. Bray "summoning" the bugs in the ring was a pretty cool touch. Hope to see more of that in big matches. Orton winning was a major headscratcher though. I am guessing we get Orton VS Styles next and I would be fine with that.

Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) VS Goldberg (c) [Singles match for the Universal Championship]
This was going to suck no matter what. It never needed the title. All I will say is this.... Reigns or Rollins better challenge Brock ASAP. There is no point in even having Raw if there is no Universal Champion. If Brock holds the title hostage then I might be done with Raw for a while. Thank goodness for Smackdown....

Alexa Bliss (c) VS Becky Lynch VS Carmella (with James Ellsworth) VS Mickie James VS Natalya VS Naomi [6 Pack Challenge for the Smackdown Women's Championship]
Worst match of the night. It was a bit of a cluster mess when Alexa VS Mickie or Becky would have sufficed. Naomi sucks and her winning this brought the show down for me. Alexa retaining would have been the right call.

Roman Reigns VS The Undertaker [No Holds Barred Match]
Good match. If Taker truly is done then he will be missed. My guess would be Reigns uses this win to justify an immediate challenge to Brock. I liked both guys' entrances here also.

Overall Thoughts
Very good show for the most part and honestly the only major issue I had was with Naomi winning. Even Mojo's win sort of made sense due to the celebrity getting involved. I loved New Day's Red Mage outfits and the little Final Fantasy tributes like the Chocobo cart, Moogle plushes, and Xavier playing the victory theme. Hardys returning was a huge shock and loved them winning the belts. I'd say this was in the top 5 Wrestlemania events of all time. Awesome show. Sit back and watch it all if you missed it and have the time to spare.

Dagger's 2017 WWE PPV Rankings
1. Wrestlemania 33
2. Elimination Chamber 2017
3. Royal Rumble 2017
4. Fastlane 2017

 

[GOOZEKING]

My friend told me something this morning after digesting the match. He said I don't know what to say I not sad because I knew reigns was going to win, I'm more depressed because 1) match wasn't that good 2) undertaker is retiring. Then he said something about WWE/Roman Reigns. I feel like wwe is like that drunk friend who you keep telling them don't drink and drive, you have your whole life ahead of you, think long term and about the future and your friends and family. But they don't listen and they drink and drive and they are dead. Now when you are at the funeral your not sad or depressed because you warned them you knew what was going to happen and they did it anyway. We as fans right now are all waiting for wwe to inevitably crash with their Roman reigns experiment and they will.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Good show. Agree with most that Shane and AJ was the most enjoyable match. Although that may have more to do with exhaustion at some point. Way too long of a show for me. I don't think I could enjoy sex for seven hours let alone watching wrestling. The Hardy's return was memorable and the match was fun. Seems like Matt was pretty Broken. I don't remember ever seeing a dude put a finger on the ropes like Owens but otherwise that match felt unmemorable. Jericho really looked his age for some reason. I'm not sure I understand the whining about Nia's involvement. Her time in the match was the most entertaining part. It kind of went more and more downhill with each elimination. Charlotte is by far the greatest women's wrestler of all time. I don't care if it has only been a year and a half. She has done more in that time than anyone else I remember and probably more than anyone else I never paid attention to. SD were fine. I saw something in Carmella that I never noticed before. It all felt rushed though. Lesnar/Goldberg was the match I wanted to happen at Survivor Series. I missed Orton and Wyatt due to some coyotes outside my house scaring the crap out of me. No one has given me a reason to go back and watch. The mixed tag was what it was. Miz's effect on the crowd was kind funny, entertaining, and fucked up. I would have like to have seen more from Maryse. Did she get legit hurt? Didn't see Neville/Aries and probably won't go back. The battle royal was not bad. Didn't see much in the Chinese guy or the fat NXT guy. I think we need a new category to measure the "greatness" of a wrestler as "who do they know and can they get them to show up?" I'm guessing that WWE will start looking through LeBron's high school yearbook for their next superstar. I've already forgotten if I enjoyed Ambrose's match. Probably not too much is my guess. HHH/Rollins was good probably a top three match on the night. Maybe fourth, or fifth. Seriously, it was seven hours, I can't keep track of all this. Rollins attire made me think about whether or not I should continue liking him it was so bad. Fortunately Stephanie's attire made up for it. The main event was not as bad or good as it could have been. The sendoff was nice but I really just wanted to go to sleep at that point.

No Samoa Joe, not much celebrity involvement. The music act was fine. I don't hate that Greenlight song and I believe that transportation laws are very important. A definite dearth of legends this year. Glad no Hogan return. I didn't miss SC, The Rock, or HBK. No reason to drag that show any longer. Thought it was really odd to have JR back especially considering what he's been through lately but it was nice to hear his voice.

The set was fucking amazing. Probably the best part of the show. That ramp was sick.

All in all WWE did not get me too emotionally invested going in to this but as I expected they still put on a good show. I'm not sure why Vince seems to put so much investment in to one show once a year and not spread it out some more but it is his vision and not mine and he is the one making huge money while I'm wasting my time on the internet.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

It's only fitting that Roman Reigns closed Wrestlemania again. Like Roman Reigns I neither liked nor hated this Wrestlemania rather I had a feeling of indifference. There were some matches I liked, and there were some I didn't like but overall I felt empty at the end.

I didn't watch the pre-show and kick-off, I'd figure that's too much for me to watch so I only saw the main show. I woke up at 4:30 AM to watch this and this event ended at 9:55 AM so, even w/o the pre-show, this match was a whopping 5 hours and 25 mins long. Now if the card was great filled with 5 star classics then the running time would have been justified however w/o it the even just becomes over bloated.

Another thing I'd like to note is that this is the first WM in the new brand split era. The original brand split inaugural WM was WM19. While WM19 was a tremendous event that showed the brand split could have promise with the way it showcased their respective talents, this WM didn't give me much hope for the brand split moving forward.

So what about the event ....

Opening segment shows a roller coaster with people in it as each stop shows one of the top cards or a superstar. Is it just me or does this opening looks like it more fitting at a "Kid's Choice" awards, I dunno the opening didn't get me pumped up for the event.

Oh did I mention that I can't stand The New Day?

Shane McMahon vs. AJ Styles - I know a lot of people actually liked this match but this did nothing for me. Bravo for AJ Styles doing his best to have a good match but Shane McMahon is a garbage wrestler. Shane can do his stunts and spots to get a reaction but when it comes to a regular one-on-one match Shane looked uncoordinated with some really bad timing in his moves and selling. Shane gets his spots in, AJ wins which is nice but I wished he had a better opponent. Grade C

United States Championship: Chris Jericho vs Kevin Owens This was a solid match but considering the build I was expecting a bit more emotion and violence here. Technically a good match but I wished there was more story incorporated in this bout and I thought the finish was a bit abrupt. Owens winning was the right move though it's sad to see him the World Champion in one month and winning the mid card title the next. Grade B

So in the course of the last 5 months in 2016 there were 4 World Champions. Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Dean Ambrose, and AJ Styles. Finn Balor is injured and should be returning soon. However for the other three, One was demoted to the pre-show, and two (KO and AJ) are in the two opening matches. So yeah great way to reward the folks who worked hard as World Champions the previous year. And also great for the fans since 2 months before WM was essentially a World Title Reboot, seems like the last year of story lines and feuds were thrown out the window.

RAW Women's Championship: Bayley vs .Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax - I am not a fan of Fatal Four Way Matches since these matches tend to be a clusterf***. Good thing, though, this had elimination stipulations so it turned out pretty well. Jax getting eliminated by being Tripled team made sense, and it was nice way to eliminate her w/o making her look weak. When it went to three of the four horsewomen I think fans were ready for Bayley and Sasha to go one on one but, in typical fashion, Sasha gets eliminated to the disapproval of fans. In the end Bayley wins eliminating Charlotte. Good match, the women worked hard, I liked the simple but effective use of the exposed turnbuckle. It wasn't as good as last years Triple Threat since this one needed another 5 mins. Good match but I was hoping WWE would make further progress in the Women's Revolution. Grade B

Ladder Match for the RAW Tag Team Championship Enzo and Cass, Sheamus and Cesaro, and Gallows and Anderson make their way to the ring then The New Day reveals a surprise 4th team. It's THE HARDY BOYZ!!!! Not really a surprise since the crowd was chanting "DELETE" but this was cool moment. The match was your usual spot fest though it wasn't very long but long enough for everyone to get their spots. In the end Hardyz win the Tag Titles to the fans delight. Now some might say this is another example of the older guys going over the younger full time talent and, in a way, I agree but the benefit of the doubt I have is the Hardyz have been active wrestlers before returning so it's not like they came out of retirement to beat up the main rosters (*cough* WM32 *cough*) so their win was believable. Plus it give me hope for some interesting programmes in the Tag Team Division. Overall fun match Grade B

Mix Tag Match: The Miz and Maryse vs John Cena and Nikki Bella - Firstly I'd like to shout out John Cena's promos in SD Live leading to this match, it's his best work in almost 14 years (and I am not kidding) he seemed less restraint and recaptured the "edge" he had in his promos once he became a main event talent. So kudos to Cena, maybe if he was doing promos like the wouldn't have been booed as badly during his run.

That said this match was a garbage squash match. Cena and Nikki destroys Miz and Maryse showing, once again, that part timers are better than full time folks. This wasn't even a wrestling angle, it's just to promote Total Divas. And of course, as expected, Cena proposes to Nikki in, perhaps, one of the most staged marriage proposals ever. So basically this bout is a scripted match promoting a scripted reality show ending in a scripted marriage proposal. Whatever, this was no Savage/Elizabeth at WM7. Matchw was blah. Grade C-

Non-Sanctioned Match: Triple H vs. Seth Rollins This probably is the least violent non-sanctioned match in WWE history. To make it easier for me i'd like to talk about the good things about this match. Firstly Seth Rollins won, which is great. Second Triple H didn't kick out of Rollins Finisher, third since Rollins' knee injury was legit it helped in the match since I was worried Rollins might hurt himself in the match, and fourth bell by bell it was a good match.

What didn't I like? This was exactly the same as Triple H's match last year with Roman Reigns. Triple H has an over produced entrance, Triple H dominates 70% of the match, Steph takes a bump getting the biggest pop of the match (lol she's more over than Trips), and Rollins/Reigns wins. Of course this match was better because there's no pressure of this being the closing show and Rollin's knee meant I was curious how this match would turn out. But really Triple H is a solid worker but his matches are so predictable now with the same formula over and over again. I know Triple H is a huge star but he really doesn't do anything for me anymore, if Triple H wasn't at WM it wouldn't have made this match better or worse.

The other problem I had with this match is, while it's nice for Rollins to get the win, this was a 2+ year build up and it was a non-sanctioned match. It was too basic for my taste and needed a bit more violence and intensity to justify the build. There was also no Samoa Joe (I have no idea why). Also it's a non-sanctioned match, it would have been cool if Rollins finished Trips with the Curb Stomp (I know it's banned but this is a NON-SANCTIONED MATCH!!!).

It was a good rub for Rollins to win but the win didn't make him a bigger star either.

Grade B

WWE Championship: Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton Oh boy where do I begin? Firstly while I have no violent reaction to Orton winning the 2017 Rumble, the win felt uninspired. Secondly Bray Wyatt winning and holding the title for only 40+ isn't enough time in establishing himself as a strong Champion. If Orton would win Wyatt it would make Wyatt look like a paper Champion and really hurting WM.

But Wyatt is a good worker and Orton can delivery good matches, so if the match is, at least, good then it would be fine. Was it? Nope, in fact, this was barley a match. This was a visual porn showing maggots and worms and seriously if I was eating while seeing the ring turn to a floor of insects I would have been sick. But while it wasn't making us vomit the match was 10 mins of lackluster finisher counters til Orton got the RKO.

So let's put it this way Orton wins the Rumble in front of 70,000 people in the first new Brand Split era, challenges the title in the 4th match from the top of the card at WM, with a Champion whose win felt too random to make him a serious Champion. Yeah this whole thing was a disaster.

The feud itself was hokey full of smoke and mirrors. Which is fine but if they were going to do that did the World Title need to be involved? It just pushed the title to the background where as this is WRESTLEMANIA ... you know as the voice over at the opening of WM14 said 'it's the allure of Championship gold that brought these people tonight the ... that immortalized Andre, Hulk, and Sammartino". That title

Urgh Grade D+

Universal Championship: Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar - I can't say I was looking forward to the match nor did I think making this a Universal Title Match was necessary. That said this was the MATCH OF THE NIGHT, it was longer than their Survivor Series encounter (by over 3 mins) but it played to the strengths of Lesnar and Goldberg. Hard hitting, physical, and in the end Lesnar won as many expected. However both looked good here and Goldberg losing was more about him making one fatal mistake than Lesnar being the better man. Very Good match for what it was and the crowd loved it so that mattered.Grade A-

Smackdown! Women's Title - A six pack challenge between 6 women's title to fill time? Yeah as expected this was all 6 women taking turns big move after big move until Naomi forces Alexa Bliss to submit. I have to admit here I am starting to like Alexa Bliss, shes kind of hot in a naughty girl type of way, I like it. That said it was what it was but Becky Lynch deserves better at WM especially with her contribution to the Women's Revolution last year. Still glad the main WM show had 3 match featuring women (I believe that's a record).

Grade C

Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns
The build to this match does nothing for me and hence this main event felt really underwhelming for some reason. We all know that there was a huge possibility this could be Undertaker's last match but if you weren't a smark or smart fan you wouldn't know that. To give this match a bit of gravitas, like Ric Flair at WM24, this should have been a career ending match with a stipulation if Undertaker loses he must retire. They could a story where Taker challenges Reigns but Reigns refuses because there is no streak to break but accepts only if Taker puts his career on the line.

Hence there would have been something on the line in this match and for fans to be invested in instead of it just being a regular match.

That said about the match. I understood what they were trying to do here but this match went way too long. Undertaker was in no physical shape to go over 20 mins and this match should have been 13 to 14 mins tops. It could have still had the same layout but kept it shorter, Taker looked really bad here botching a lot of moves and spots like the Hell's Gate Submission and Last Ride. The ending was fine with Roman using the chair and Spearing Taker multiple times since Taker get getting up. A better finish would have been better if Roman Reigns hit Taker with the Chair 25 times (The number of WM apperances by The Taker) waited Taker to get up and SPEAR 1,2 3.

In any event it wasn't a bad match but it wasn't a good one either. It was way too long considering Taker's physical condition. Grade C+

Taker's send off was overly produced and way too long as well. It didn't get the emotion it deserved because there were too many effects going on. It should have been a simple send off where Taker breaks characters, hugs his wife, and walks to the ramp and to the stage with one final salute.

That said this is an end of an era. I believe Taker is the last active Wrestler from the Golden Age of the WWF so his retirement is an end of an era closing the chapter of the Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and Ultimate Warrior era.

So what about Roman Reigns, as of now if WWE is thinking of doing a DVD set they should think about doing a "Trying to make Roman Reigns Happen" Trilogy. Questions is will this angle retiring Undertaker work? I dunno but if the previous years is any indication probably not. Problem is WWE is pushing reigns too hard not realizing that he isn't THE GUY. He's not a terrible wrestler or talent and he does have potential in being one of the guys, but as THE GUY, it hasn't happened yet. Will there be a part 4 in the "Trying to make Roman Reigns happen" series? I'd count on it.

As for WM33 all I can say is that this didn't have a Wrestlemania feeling for me. I mean it's a spectacle just like all WM's due to the production and crowd size but there's nothing to get me emotionally invested in this event. Maybe it's because the Champions the company have been building up are pushed to the background at WM, maybe it's because part times who appear only a few months before WM to take the center stage, or maybe it's because the WWE titles matches felt like an after thought, or maybe WM always seems to expose the company their inability to create new stars, or maybe it's because NXT Takeover Orlando was the superior show, or maybe because it's just too long.

Whatever it is, I felt empty and someone uninterested in this event. There were some fine matches but the WM feeling just wasn't there and hasn't been there since WM30.

Overall event grade C

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Overall Thoughts
Very good show for the most part and honestly the only major issue I had was with Naomi winning. Even Mojo's win sort of made sense due to the celebrity getting involved. I loved New Day's Red Mage outfits and the little Final Fantasy tributes like the Chocobo cart, Moogle plushes, and Xavier playing the victory theme. Hardys returning was a huge shock and loved them winning the belts. I'd say this was in the top 5 Wrestlemania events of all time. Awesome show. Sit back and watch it all if you missed it and have the time to spare.

The Final Fantasy tie ins felt a bit tacked on too me. If Cole didn't mention Final Fantasy I would have missed it.

The most noticeable costume probably would have been the black mage but ... yeah if New Day did that my take is there might be some obvious media backlash involved.

 

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

The show is too fucking long.

The main card started at 7 and ended at around midnight. That's a 5 hour show, not counting the kickoff. Some of the fans were in that stadium for 7 fucking hours. That's how you kill a crowd.

Also, the show was terrible. Not a surprise given the build up.

I know that everybody loves and respects the Undertaker but that was an embarassing performance. As always, I watch Wrestlemania with a large group of friends, many of whom are casual wrestling fans at best, which often provides insight as to how a typical television viewer sees the product. The Undertaker match was sad to watch, not because of the retirement afterwards, but because of the match itself. He looked like shit, and should have hung up the boots a few years ago.

The show started off fine, Jericho vs. Owens was a good match, AJ vs. Shane was what you expected. Cena's proposal was nice, and was one of the only things my friends actually cared about and were emotionally invested in. The Hardy Boys returning in the ladder match was cool, and Triple H vs. Seth Rollins was probably the best match of the night. HHH vs. Rollins also had the strongest build probably. Funny how that works.

As I said before the show, Orton vs. Wyatt didn't need to be for the belt and wasn't a Wrestlemania title match feud. I was validated by that as the crowd was completely dead the entire time. To be fair part of that had to do with them not wanting to be in the arena any more because the show was too long. But yeah when Orton won the belt you could hear a pin drop. Mission accomplished. Fuck.

Lesnar vs. Goldberg woke the audience up from their slumber but I remember legit saying "Holy fuck I forgot about this" when the SmackDown women's match started after it. I was burnt out and just wanted to get the main event started. Then the main event was borderline a disaster and was embarassing to watch.

The problems with Wrestlemania 33 were in the event's conception more than it's execution. There was no marquee match, there was nothing to get excited about. The WWE has a serious problem in that they are seemingly unable to take two full-time wrestlers and have them compete in a main event level title match at Wrestlemania that means something. There is no modern Hogan/Savage, or Rock/Austin, or HBK/Bret. This is a huge problem, but one you can't easily fix.

Also, there were so many moments that should have been built up to happen on this show that they just blew their load with prematurely. Charlotte was undefeated on PPV, Bayley was the underdog chasing the title. Common sense says have her chase it to Mania and win it there for the first time. Don't do it on a random Raw. Same with Naomi, who won the SmackDown Women's Title at Mania in her hometown. But she had already won the belt a few weeks before for the first time. Why not save that moment for Mania? Then there's the obvious problem of booking a WWE Title match between a heel and a face that are not the top heel or the top face on SmackDown. You are setting yourself up for mediocrity.

AJ should have went in as the reigning champion, and defended in a 3 way against both Bray and Orton, with Bray and Orton seemingly working together. You could build tension between Bray and Orton and tease that Orton would turn on Bray at Mania to win the belt. The Shane vs. AJ match was not a draw and was unecessary. This approach would have added meaning to the WWE Title match and cut down on show length by eliminating a hole other match. It also would have been a better angle, and would actually make sense. Orton's "master plan" was stupid. He won the Rumble, reliquished his shot, only to want it back and reveal it was all an act. Why do the act? You risked almost losing your title shot in a one on one match with Styles on SmackDown. What a great master plan.

 

[berlinbrawler]

Did anyone else catch JBL dropping the F-bomb during the main event? He proceeded to go eerily quiet right afterwards, as if Vince was chewing his ass through his headphones as the other commentators struggle to cover for him.

 

[blueskyy]

The AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon match far exceeded my expectations. I really didn't expect it to turn out this good. Seth Rollins vs. Triple H match on the other hand, didn't live up to my expectations. And, the worst match goes to... nah, not going to comment about the worst match. They all did fairly well.

 

[XXJJ]

Most disappointing match was Triple H/Rollins. I thought that would of been a lot of better. I didn't get the whole point of making it an unsanctioned match either.

Everything else was fine. Too many matches though. You get a lot of quick matches throughout the ppv. None of them were bad it's just you don't get anything too great either.

 

[thebarber]

AJ VS SHANE MCMAHON: Great opener, exceeded most expectations.
OWENS VS JERICHO: Exactly what you would expect from these two.
RAW WOMENS TITLE: Hmm, didnt go much on it.
RAW TAG TITLES: Delete delete delete, far and away the greatest, and only Wrsetlemania moment was this match
CENA NIKKI VS MIZ MARYSE: As shitty as expected, a contrived proposal...gee it was tacky. Nikki rejecting Cena and slapping him would have been GOLD television....but hey, go film a movie and see you at summerslam champ
TRIPLE H VS SET ROLLINS: Bad, just terrible for the calibre of guys in the match
WYATT VS ORTON: Ditto, terrible to see how far the WWE Title has plummeted
LESNAR VS GOLDBERG: Exactly what it needed to be. Hard hitting, zero psychology, no blood which surprised me
WOMENS SMACKDOWN MATCH: Moved to main card as Naomi couldnt glow during the daylight on the pre-show. Rubbish match, cluster fuck
REIGNS VS TAKER: Neither guy looked good coming out of it. Reigns got the win etc, which is great if they push him now as a cocky arrogant heel, but having that Raw moment and then being forgotten will be a waste and a travesty

 

[Mitch Henessey]

I was there, and when you're at Wrestlemania in person, it's easy to lose yourself in all the excitement. Still, I thought it was a good show from top to bottom, and if I'm going with a grade, Wrestlemania 33 gets a B from me.

The setup for the stage was amazing and breathtaking, probably the best I've seen in years. Camping World Stadium is next door to Disney World, Universal Studios, and Islands Of Adventure, and other theme parks, so I guess they were going for a theme park theme, with the roller coaster, and you could say the globe resembles the Universal Studios globe.

I was surprised to see Neville retain, but Aries VS Neville was a strong match, and a top contender for the best match on the card.

I'm not all that surprised Mojo won the ATGM Battle Royal. After the video of Gronkowski chopping Mojo popped up, you had to know he was the front-runner to win. I just get the feeling it's another case of Vince wanting mainstream appeal, but the crowd was into Gronk, and his reaction, when he climbed over the barricade, and when he finally stepped in the ring proves it.

Corbin VS Ambrose was a solid match, but I was a little surprised Ambrose retained.

Shane VS AJ was an excellent opening match to get the crowd pumped up for the main card.

There was no doubt Owens was walking away with the US Championship, and a win over Jericho doesn't have the same impact anymore, but he did what he does best after putting Owens over on a big stage.

The Fatal 4 Way delivered, and I was honestly shocked Bayley retained, because I was sure they were dead set on having Charlotte win the title again. Charlotte doesn't need the Raw Women's Championship anytime soon, and it's a good sign they're really trying to establish Bayley as one of the top stars on Raw. You can't go back and forth between Sasha and Charlotte forever, Nia is not ready yet, and it's too soon for Emma.

The Fatal 4 Way for the tag title was a fun match, with some good jaw-dropping spots, and the pop for The Hardy Boyz return was something to remember, easily one of the more memorable and loudest return pops you'll ever hear, and the crowd went absolutely nuts, when the music hit.

Nikki Bella and Cena VS Miz and Maryse was about what I excepted. A harmless match, and Cena proposing to Nikki was a nice little moment. I could hear prenup chants from my section, but overall, the crowd didn't completely shit on Cena wanting to give Nikki something special.

You could see Stephaine taking the bump through the table coming from a mile away, and Triple H and Seth Rollins started out slow, but the match turned into a good brawl. Also, the sequences, where Rollins and Triple H were fighting each other to see, who could hit the Pedigree first really worked.

Orton defeating Bray was a strange choice, and the ending was kind of anticlimactic. Although, it's not a big surprise, when you consider the direction of the storyline, and Bray was supposed to be the bad guy here. Bray playing mind games fits with his character, and the images with the insects covering the ring was a bizarre visual in person.

I was surprised how good Lesnar VS Goldberg was. The match told a good story with Goldberg wanting to stick with what worked at Survivor Series, throwing all the heavy artillery at Lesnar out of the gate, and not giving Lesnar a chance to get his hands on him. I honestly don't expect too much from Lesnar's reign as world champion, and WWE is really not trying to hide the long road to Lesnar VS Reigns, and Reigns being the one to dethrone Lesnar after a dominant title reign.

The Six-Pack challenge for the Smackdown Women's Championship served its purpose: a chance to give the crowd a breather before the main event, and after three featured matches back to back. Naomi winning the title in her hometown was a given, but Naomi winning in her hometown and coming back after being forced to vacate the title for a feel good moment worked.

Reigns VS Taker had some good "young lion vs the old lion" storytelling, with a battered and broken Taker taking one last stand to protect his yard. The Tombstone botch was noticeable, but for me, it was an emotional match with a sad ending, with Reigns having to put Taker out of his misery once and for all.

Taker getting the main event slot and the big sendoff was well-deserved. WWE started playing up Taker's career winding down, and Taker not being what he used to be at Wrestlemania 27, but looking around at the crowd, the standing ovation, and the "Thank you Taker" chants is something I'll never forget.

Stephanie looked great, and I loved WWE playing up the seriousness of The Destroyer, with Triple H needing a police escort to the ring. But outside of Triple H and Sasha Banks, I can't think of too many entrances that stood out as something special.

I went to a concession stand to get some water during the Pitbull/Flo Rida performance. The length of the show did feel tiresome at times, but it's not as bad as Wrestlemania 32, because the overall match quality was much better.

 

[ShinChan]

Easily better than Wrestlemania 32.

No Match Of The Year candidates. I thought that it could be one at least. The whole card consisted of some good matches, some average and some below average matches. The set was admittedly too huge. The Undertaker's retirement made it much more important. Cena's proposal was expected but I'm happy that the crowd respected Cena enough to not boo that particular segment.

Just three words, Thank You Undertaker.