Road to WWE Wrestlemania 33: Week 1
This week began the Road to Wrestlemania and on April 2nd the WWE will be in Orlando at the Citrus Bowl. The Road to Wrestlemania started on Sunday at the Royal Rumble. I can say I was honestly disappointed with how the Royal Rumble turned out. I really felt the Rumble match was a let down and the booking of it was absolutely terrible. I kept telling myself that I hope the end of the road would be better then the start of the road to Wrestlemania. During these next couple of months I will be bringing you in-depth coverage of Raw, Smackdown, NXT, and 205 Live on the Road to Wrestlemania. Each week I will be talking about the storylines, matches, dirt-sheets and more leading up the biggest day of the year for WWE.
On Monday Night Raw, things kicked off with Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho and Braun Strowman. Strowman interfered the night before during Owens match with Roman Reigns. Strowman showed video of Owens promising him a title shot if he retained the title against Reigns. Strowman got his title match but before it happened he took out Chris Jericho at the commentators title leaving Owens all alone. Before Strowman could win the title Roman Reigns came out and laid waste to both Strowman and Owens. Speaking of Jericho, his night was already bad due to his loss to Sami Zayn in a non-title match. It appears that Jericho could be defending the United States Title against Zayn presumably at Fast Lane. One thing that’s been talked about for a long time is Seth Rollins versus Triple H. At Takeover Rollins interrupted the show which led to him not even being on the Royal Rumble show. That was part of the disappointment but it made to a good ending for Raw. As Rollins was about to get in the ring, he was attacked out of nowhere by Samoa Joe. Raw ended with Joe standing tall over Rollins. The most obvious story going into Wrestlemania is Goldberg versus Lesnar 3. Lesnar showed up to Raw to challenge Goldberg for one match at Wrestlemania. It was announced that Goldberg would be on Raw next week.
The following night on Smackdown the show started off with a huge announcement for the Elimination Chamber. John Cena will defend the WWE Championship inside the chamber against AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt, The Miz, Baron Corbin and Dean Ambrose. John Cena came out to discuss his championship victory until Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton interrupted him. Wyatt and Orton were going to attack Cena until Luke Harper intervened. This setup a tag match between Orton/Wyatt and Cena/Harper. I loved the psychology and story behind this match. The Wyatt Family is the best thing that is happening on Smackdown right now. The one thing that sticks out to me on Smackdown is how better the Women’s Division is from an overall standpoint. All the women are involved each week and it’s just not centered around 2 or 3 women. I think Alexa Bliss is the most improved out of any of the NXT call ups since the WWE Draft. Hopefully this Wrestlemania season she is rewarded. The Main Event of Smackdown was Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles who have had some great matches in the past. I still believe Styles should have been the WWE Champion heading into Wrestlemania but unfortunately the powers to be don’t think so. I personally would love to see Styles in a big time match that he deserves. Dean Ambrose also deserves a big time moment and the match they had on Smackdown proves. it. Smackdown ended with Corbin taking out Ambrose and The Miz following an incredible match between Ambrose and Styles.
Tuesday night concluded with 205 Live which is a great show but reports are saying viewership isn’t so great. One thing I noticed from Monday is Austin Aries was taking some shots at Tony Nese on the mic. It carried over on 205 Live where Aries has been a regular on commentary since he’s been injured. I think an Austin Aries-Tony Nese match-up would be incredible. The Main Event of 205 Live was a tag team match with Cedric Alexander teaming up with Jack Gallagher and Neville teamed up with Noam Dar. All four men have some great stories going right now. Gallagher is arguably the most entertaining part of 205 Live while Neville has seen his career resurrected due to this show. I absolutely love the storyline between Alexandar, Dar and Alicia Fox. For awhile there were no storylines on the show but the stories are getting better and more intriguing. Towards the end of the match Neville walked out on Dar which I like. It shows Neville doesn’t need anyone and he is doing it all on his own. I like the way 205 Live is headed but other people need to get behind it as well.
On Wednesday night the NXT tapings aired and they recapped the events of Takeover San Antonio. The one thing that caught my eye was the debut of United Kingdom Champion Tyler Bate. He took on NXT standout Oney Lorcan. This was a very physical match which is good because it needs to be more physical. I like enjoyed the aggressiveness of both competitors. I really enjoyed the tribute they paid to Corey Graves time in NXT. He turned a huge negative into a huge positive and has become one of the best commentators WWE has ever heard. It was fitting that Graves last night featured an Elias Sampson match. He gets so worked up about Sampson it’s so funny to listen to. NXT ended with Sampson losing to No Way Jose and ending Graves time in a NXT on a high note.
This concludes the first week on the Road to Wrestlemania 33 in Orlando. Each week I will list my favorite match of the week from each show so people can see who is putting in the work and making the most out of their opportunities. With that being here are matches of the week:
Matches of the Week:
Raw- Sami Zayn vs. Chris Jericho
Smackdown- Dean Ambrose vs. AJ Styles
205 Live-Neville/Noam Dar vs. Cedric Alexander/Jack Gallagher
NXT- Tyler Bate vs. Oney Lorcan
Check back week for more on the Road to Wrestlemania 33.
