Recap and Review of WWE WrestleMania 38 Week

This week was the biggest week in WWE’s year. In the beginning, it was just one night in all its glory, glitz, and glamour. Now it spans four days starting on Friday and goes until the following Monday on Raw. With WrestleMania being two nights, there are some things I have to question. On Friday Night, you had a Triple Threat Match with for the Intercontinental Championship and the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. First, the face that Intercontinental Championship and United States Championship weren’t defended on an event that is two nights is a travesty. Both Ricochet and Finn Balor are both WrestleMania worth superstars as is Damian Priest who was involved in a marquee match at last years WrestleMania. With WrestleMania being two nights, there is absolutely no reason to have any matches on Friday Night Smackdown, which leaves me to the next event.

The WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony is now on Friday due to WrestleMania Night One being on Saturday. I have always enjoyed the Hall of Fame Ceremony and this year was no different. There were some incredible inductees like the Steiner Brothers and Vader. It was headlined by The Undertaker, who had one of the most incredible speeches of any hall of fame in sports or entertainment. I would love to see the Hall of Fame ceremony replace the Smackdown time slot and given the time that it deserves without having it start so late. One of the things I am glad they brought back this year is having the inductees being presented by someone.  I always love hearing the stories, the life lessons and to hear who each inductee credits for success. I want to hear more of it.

Before we got to WrestleMania Night 1, NXT had their Stand and Deliver show. Even though there have been some radical changes to NXT in the last year, they still put on incredible shows. We saw Cameron Grimes hard work pay off and become the new North American Champion in an incredible Ladder Match. The most shocking outcome of Stand and Deliver is Dolph Ziggler retaining the NXT Championship against Bron Breakker. It makes me wonder if Bron Breakker is being fast tracked to Raw or Smackdown with how popular he’s becoming. It’s not a secret that Raw and NXT have been cross promoting since they are both on the USA Network. One of the people has had a career resurgence on NXT is Mandy Rose. After splitting with Sonya Deville, she really got lost in the shuffle. She went back to NXT and changed her look, her attitude and has become a better performer. The most emotional moment during Stand and Deliver was watching Tommaso Ciampa what looked to be his last match in NXT. Triple H came out and acknowledged Ciampa and everything he has meant to NXT since his arrival in 2015. I’m very curious about his future coming of WrestleMania Weekend.

WrestleMania Night One had some incredible moments like the return of Cody Rhodes, the reaction of Stone Cold Steve Austin and Bianca Belair facing Becky Lynch. Those were the three big highlights for me. The crowd really gave Cody a great welcome back home reception and he had an incredible match with Seth Rollins. This past summer at Summerslam, Becky Lynch made her return and defeated Bianca Belair in a matter of seconds. I thought that was a terrible decision at the time and all the way up to the event. Belair and Lynch had one of the best matches in WrestleMania history and the wrong was made right. Stone Cold Steve Austin and Kevin Owens closed the show, and it was great for what it was. I don’t think anyone expected a five-star instant classic, but it was a cool thing to experience the nostalgia. The performances of Bianca Belair, Becky Lynch, Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, and Stone Cold Steve Austin gave us the WrestleMania vibes that we are use to seeing and feeling. They all deserve a ton of credit for making Night One an absolute fun show to watch.

Night Two of WrestleMania had a wild and chaotic moments. There are some traditionalists who absolutely hate celebrity involvement in the wrestling ring, but their performances the last couple of years have been stellar. Bad Bunny and Logan Paul really put in the work to have great performances and it shows they have a ton of respect for the business. Even though Johnny Knoxville was not as solid in the ring, he played his role well against Sami Zayn. Knoxville and the Jackass Crew were very entertaining to watch while they humiliated Zayn. It was the prime example of a gimmick match. Another great performance goes to Pat McAfee. He was very entertaining during his matches with Austin Theory and Mr. McMahon. Yes, you read that right. Vince McMahon was involved in a match at 76 years old. Mr. McMahon also took the worst Stunner of All Time when Stone Cold came out for Night 2 to close the rivalry he’s had with McMahon and get the best of Theory and McAfee. The best overall wrestling match of Night Two was between AJ Styles and Edge. Both men brought their best and it appears Edge has a new ally in Damian Priest. The one thing I would have changed is not having the tagline of Biggest Match in WrestleMania attached to Roman Reigns versus Brock Lesnar. It was not that great of a match. I’m not going to put it up there with the matches that Hogan, Rock, Cena, Austin, and The Undertaker have had. I feel like WWE have really backed themselves into a corner because with Roman now beating Brock on two separate occasions and having the upperhand most of the feud, who is credible enough on either Raw or Smackdown to defeat Roman Reigns?

The Night After WrestleMania usually provides a lot of insight into what direction WWE is headed going into the next several months. Usually, the Raw after WrestleMania provides us with returns, debuts, championship matches and wild crowd. This was an intriguing Raw after WrestleMania. Veer Mahaan finally made his debut, Elias returned under a new look and the name Ezekiel, and Bron Breakker winning back the NXT Championship. We also saw MVP turning on Bobby Lashley and align himself with Omos. At the end of the night, we were addressed by Roman Reigns, The Uso’s, and Paul Heyman. They talked about the success of The Bloodline. The show went off the air with no interruptions, no new challengers and very unclear what the future of Raw is considering Roman has primarily on Smackdown.

WrestleMania Week was exceptional this year. There were a couple of classic wrestling matches and a lot of fun and memorable moments. Going forward, I would like to see all the titles defended at WrestleMania and the return of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle on the show. If they’re going to have two four shows along with a two-hour preshow on both nights, there is no reason why the Battle Royal and other championships shouldn’t be defended. At the end of the week, I’m giving WrestleMania 38 week a 7 out of 10. It was a good showing for what they currently have, but I believe they could have done better with. Going forward let’s make use of guys like Ricochet, Finn Balor, and superstars you’re bringing up from NXT. Next year when WrestleMania goes Hollywood, I hope to see future stars get their time in the spotlight.

NXT Stand and Deliver Results
-Preshow: Raquel Gonzales and Dakota Kai defeated Toxic Attraction to win the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships
-Cameron Grimes defeated Carmelo Hayes, Grayson Waller, Solo Sikoa, and Santos Escobar in a Ladder Match to win the NXT North American Championship
-Tony D’Angelo defeated Tommaso Ciampa
-MSK defeated Imperium and The Creed Brothers to win the NXT Tag Team Championships
-Mandy Rose defeated Cora Jade, Kay Lee Ray and Io Sharai to retain the NXT Women’s Championship
-Gunther defeated L.A. Knight
-Dolph Ziggler defeated Bron Breakker to retain the NXT Championship

WrestleMania Night One Results
-The Usos defeated Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs to retain the Smackdown Tag Team Championships
-Drew McIntyre defeated Happy Corbin
-The Miz and Logan Paul defeated Rey and Dominik Mysterio
-Bianca Belair defeated Becky Lynch to win the Raw Women’s Championship
-Cody Rhodes defeated Seth Rollins
-Charlotte Flair defeated Rondy Rousey to retain the Smackdown Women’s Championship
-Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Kevin Owens

WrestleMania Night Two
-RK-Bro defeated The Alpha Academy and The Street Profits to retain the Raw Tag Team Championships
-Bobby Lashley defeated Omos
-Johnny Knoxville defeated Sami Zayn
-Sasha Banks and Naomi defeated Carmella & Queen Zelina, Natayla & Shayna Baszler, and Liv Morgan & Rhea Ripley to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships.
-Edge defeated AJ Styles
-Sheamus and Ridge Holland defeated Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods
-Pat McAfee defeated Austin Theory
-Mr. McMahon defeated Pat McAfee
-Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar to become the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion