Recap and Review of WWE Wrestlemania 36 (Night One)

Since 1985, the WWE has bringing Wrestlemania to millions of people across to globe every year. It’s always been a spectacle, a glamorous sea of people and the Showcase of the Immortals. This year, it is different than any other Wrestlemania in history because of what’s been going on in the world and the country. Wrestlemania 36 was set to take place at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa but took place at the WWE Perfomance Center and Full Sail Arena instead. A lot of people criticized WWE for going forward without fans in the building but I wasn’t going to criticize the show until I saw it unfold. Before I begin with the thoughts on the show, here are the results of Wrestlemania 36:

-Kickoff Show: Cesaro defeated Drew Gulak
-Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss defeated The Kabuki Warriors to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions
-Elias defeated King Corbin
-Becky Lynch defeated Shayna Baszler to retain the Raw Women’s Championship
-Sami Zayn defeated Daniel Bryan to retain the Intercontinental Championship
-John Morrison defeated Jimmy Uso and Kofi Kingston in a Ladder Match to retain the Smackdown Tag Team Championships for his team.
-Kevin Owens defeated Seth Rollins.
-Braun Strowman defeated Goldberg to win the WWE Universal Championship.
-The Undertaker defeated AJ Styles in a Boneyard Match

The Kickoff Show featured Drew Gulak and Cesaro. This match was announced last minute but there was a good build to it. Cesaro and Gulak have been involved with the Daniel Bryan and Sami Zayn. I’ve never seen these two in a one on one match before so this was a treat for me personally. Even though it was a fairly short match, it was good and told the story it needed to. I do think they saved room for a much bigger match at a later date. It’s great to see these two in the feud with Bryan, Zayn and Nakamura. The Intercontinental Championship has always been the workhorse title and no one works harder than Gulak and Cesaro. The opening match to Wrestlemania was the Women’s Tag Team Championship Match. The Kabuki Warriors have held the titles for quite a while now, but Bliss and Cross finally threw out the challenge for a title match. This was a very hard hitting match and it was also getting very aggressive. After a back forth battle that could have gone either way, there are new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions.

Leading up to Wrestlemania, Elias at has been a thorn in the side of King Corbin. Elias has been singing his songs, but King Corbin finally got the better of him and threw him off the balcony on Smackdown two weeks ago. Elias somehow made a miraculous comeback and brought the fight to Corbin. Even though Elias showed up for the match, he was still dealing with nagging injuries as somehow he got the victory over the King. Speaking of Kings and Queens, this is the first Wrestlemania for the Queen of Spades Shayna Baszler and she challenged Becky Lynch for the Raw Women’s Championship. Baszler had been very dominant in NXT as she took down all comers until eventually losing to Rhea Ripley. Baszler had a very good first impression on her first Wrestlemania, but ultimately she came up short against Lynch. I think it was a bad move not to put the title on Baszler. Lynch’s time has come and gone, and she needs to be chasing for the title again to recapture that fire she once had.

The Intercontinental Championship Match had a very intriguing build and it also had an intriguing match. The match was very entertaining with the chemistry that Bryan and Zayn have. It also told a very good story of all the antics Zayn has been pulling for months. Even though Zayn finally had to get physical and took a lot of punishment, he somehow managed to retain the championship. I also don’t think this story is over between the five men involved around the Intercontinental Championship. One story that took a twist was the Smackdown Tag Team Championship Match. It was originally suppose to be The New Day vs. The Uso’s vs. Miz and Morrison in a Ladder Match. Unfortunately, The Miz was taken out of the match so it ended up being Kofi Kingston, vs. Jimmy Uso vs. John Morrison. The winner of the match wins the titles for their team. It made sense to have these three compete in the match given their history of ladder matches and athleticism. Even though the tag teams weren’t fully involved, this was one of the better ladder matches I’ve seen. This was one of the most creative matches I’ve seen in some quite some time. The ending with all three of them was as equally incredible.

One of the main stories on Raw has been the feud between Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins. Their story started a long time ago back when Owens and Rollins were feuding in Ring of Honor. They have crossed paths on and off since then but this feud has gotten personal in recent months. Originally, the match ended in disqualification when Rollins hit Owens with the ring bell, but Owens wasn’t satisfied but the match was restarted as a No-Disqualification Match. These two beat the crap out of each other and it ended when Owens dived off the Wrestlemania sign onto the announcers table. With all the creativity and re-direction that took place on this show, the biggest change had to be Roman Reigns being removed due to health concerns. This put Braun Strowman into the Universal Title Match against Goldberg. I knew this was going to be short and sweet and it sure was! Braun Strowman walks as the new Universal Champion. Honestly, it’s a long overdue moment and hopefully he keeps this title longer than he did the Intercontinental Title.

The night ended with the Boneyard Match between AJ Styles and The Undertaker. I can honestly say that this might be one of the greatest things WWE has ever produced outside of the ring. This had such an awesome cinematic feel to it. The entire production was absolutely phenomenal and probably should be nominated for an Academy Award. Night one was really solid and had some very must see moments. They put in a very great effort and that effort should be applauded. I have to give night one of Wrestlemania an 8 out of 10. Without a big arena and a crowd, they absolutely knocked it out of the park. Stay tuned for our coverage on night two of Wrestlemania 36.