WrestleMania 33 is officially in the history books. The show probably had too much going for it to be called average, but there were certainly some shortcomings along the way.
As we all try to decode the near 7-hour long event, here are some initial questions we can all ask of the WWE as we head into the rest of 2017.
#1 Where was Braun Strowman’s WrestleMania moment?
After being booked like a monster since the brand split last year, Braun Strowman initially looked like he was on for a marquee match at WrestleMania. He was even rumoured to be facing The Undertaker himself at one point.
His feud with Roman Reigns in the opening few months of 2017 seemed to complement the rumours that this was, in some way, going to be Braun’s breakout WrestleMania.
Although we knew a one-on-one match with Taker was off the table by the time they had their mini staredown on RAW, you still felt as though he might have had a part to play in the match. Sadly, for him, it wasn’t to be.
Also read: 5 surprising moments from WrestleMania 33
When he was finally announced as part of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, people were a little bit surprised but thought that at least this would give him a half decent chance at marking his territory on the grand stage.
Instead, we got a brief tussle between him and the Big Show, before being unceremoniously dumped out of the ring by several other Superstars. This was certainly not the WrestleMania moment he or most of his supporters had in mind.
A secondary question therefore remains, where does he go from here?
#2 Does Dean Ambrose even care anymore?
For a while now, fans have come to realise that Dean Ambrose will probably be the one to come out of the Shield with the least to his name. Despite a WWE Championship reign, he has not enjoyed the heights of Roman or Seth in the past couple of years.
Nowhere was that more apparent than here at WrestleMania 33.
While Seth was defeating HHH in an unsanctioned fight (more on that later), and Roman was busy with the small matter of retiring the Undertaker (more on that later too), Dean was relegated to the pre-show to defend his rarely seen Intercontinental title against Baron Corbin.
Without knowing the full ins and outs, it would probably come as no surprise if this was revealed to be a last minute decision. Both men came to the ring looking slightly forlorn, and Dean in particular just didn’t seem up for the occasion.
Credit should go to Corbin here, as the guy tried his best to make this feel like an event, but the IC champ himself looked like he would rather have been anywhere else.
Anyone who has followed his career will know what a talent the man is, but it’s pretty clear that the WWE have run out of ideas for him, and perhaps Ambrose himself feels like his relationship with the company has run its course.
Who knows what will become of the Lunatic Fringe, but any more outings like that, and the fans will no doubt turn even further against him.
#3 Where does Shane Vs. AJ rank amongst the all-time great Mania openers?
A match that I think pleasantly surprised a lot of people was the opening contest between AJ Styles and the SmackDown Live Commissioner Shane McMahon. This match delivered on a number of levels.
They both managed to work their opposing styles into the match with Shane trying to prove to AJ that he could hang with him in a wrestling match, while the Phenomenal one would take the brawl to McMahon now and again just to show he could. There were a couple of high spots in there but nothing over the top.
As far as WrestleMania openers go, this was certainly up there.
WrestleManias 10 and 30 are generally considered to be host to the best openers of all time, but this match does deserve to be part of the conversation.
Whilst not having the spectacle and underlying drama of a Bret vs Owen or Daniel Bryan vs HHH, it brought something fresh and interesting at a time when most of the matches in the WWE follow a very similar pattern.
What do people think about this one?
#4 Are any of the RAW women worthy of main eventing WrestleMania yet?
One of the more surprising rumours floating around the Internet at the moment is the idea that Charlotte Flair could be the first female performer to headline a WrestleMania. While the Queen certainly is the standout talent of the roster, surely this would be too big a leap in the current WWE environment.
True, seeing a women’s match main event a RAW or SmackDown isn’t that big of a deal anymore, and we’ve experienced a couple of recent PPV main events here and there, but this is WrestleMania we’re talking about.
Did last night’s performance indicate that she might, in fact, be ready?
Saying that Charlotte was the standout of the match doesn’t feel like very much, sadly. The match itself was perfectly fine but I feel like fans will soon be forgetting it as the year goes by. Nia was eliminated too early for her to showcase her true talents, and Bayley and Sasha had pretty disappointing nights.
At times, it felt like Charlotte was carrying them, which puts her in good stead but also invites the question as to who she would oppose if she was given such an accolade.
There is still some polishing for Charlotte to do when it comes to her own work anyway, and until she can sort those issues out and gain the trust of management not to botch too many spots, a WrestleMania main event might be too far on the horizon. Never say never, though!
#5 Should this have been Enzo and Cass’s moment?
It seems out of place to be questioning anything about that RAW tag team title match.
The biggest pop of the night undoubtedly went to the return of the Hardy Boyz, and rightfully so. However, stepping back a little, you have to say that Enzo and Big Cass probably would be forgiven for feeling a little miffed at the eventual outcome of the match.
Enzo and Cass are the team that we all want to see succeed, and the fact that they often don’t manage to win the big one when the time comes makes us love them even more. When you have that kind of a talent, however, there comes a time when the trigger must be pulled.
The WWE did have a glorious opportunity to bestow the titles on them at a WrestleMania, but chose not to take it.
In theory, the Hardys could have returned on the RAW after Mania, which is traditionally when the returns and debuts happen. Or they could have still gone with the return at Mania, but had Enzo and Cass win the belts anyway.
There was a nice pop when Enzo climbed the ladder at one point after all. This would have been a feel-good end to a long journey for the pair but now it’s difficult to see when their chance will come again.
#6 Who taught Nikki Bella how to act?
So the proposal happened. The match itself was taken directly from the ‘Cena at Mania’ handbook, have him receive most of the offence throughout and come back at the end, without selling a single injury, and win out of the blue.
The Miz was fantastic, however, and hopefully, this loss won’t kill the guy’s momentum too much.
However, the real stinker of the bout came after the pinfall when Cena got down on one knee and popped the much-anticipated question to Nicole. Cena’s little speech was fine and did seem pretty heartfelt. Nikki’s reaction was anything but.
Of course, we all know that John had already asked her to marry him by the time ‘Mania came around, so this wasn’t a ‘genuine’ proposal. But I thought that acting was supposed to be about pretending to have an emotion even if you’re not feeling it at the time.
Without shedding a single tear, Nikki just looked like she was ready to go backstage and fly home. It ruined what could have been a pretty decent moment. Instead, we got a half-hearted proposal and a half-hearted match to suit.
#7 In what way was that match ‘non-sanctioned’?
One thing about the current WWE product is that most of the content has been too homogenised. While this makes sense from a marketing standpoint, we’ve even got to the point now where all of the WWE’s ‘alternative’ matches blend into one.
HHH vs. Seth Rollins was not an unsanctioned match, it was a bog standard no DQ match. Both men walked down the ramp to their theme songs, a WWE official oversaw the match like he would any other no DQ match, and the whole thing just felt a little deflated as a result.
For two men who are supposed to hate each other’s guts, neither of them seemed willing to stretch the boundaries of acceptability at all. True, these aren’t the days of Mankind vs. HHH street fights anymore, but we could have still been given something more risqué than what we got.
If the two had just said from the start that this was a no DQ match to settle the score, the battle wouldn’t have been too bad. It was a pretty middle of the road outing for both of them, but I suppose we were just expecting more from it.
Why couldn’t both men come out in street gear carrying unconventional weapons like monkey wrenches or hammers? Things you would think to bring if someone you hated was challenging you to an unsanctioned fight.
Instead, the sledgehammer was the showcase weapon, just like every other HHH match at ‘Mania!
#8 Were Bray’s worm and maggot graphics cool or lame?
After enduring a pretty lengthy match between HHH and Seth Rollins, I was counting on the WWE Championship match to perk me up a little. After all, we were approaching 3 AM in the UK!
Sadly, this match was underwhelming, with one noticeable exception.
When Bray bent his body over to stare into the camera, and the lights went out to reveal the projection of maggots surrounding Randy Orton in the ring, I must admit that it did shake me up a little. I thought it was a fairly cool addition initially, but in retrospect, I’m not too sure.
Were they needed? Did they add anything to the match? It’s a difficult one, certainly.
The real let down of the night, however, was the finish to this match. Bray is now 0-3 at WrestleMania and is no longer the WWE Champion.
True, it was difficult to see him beating John Cena and the Undertaker at WrestleMania 30 and 31 respectively, but there was no reason whatsoever for Randy to go over here. If anything, this should have been Bray’s career highlight, maybe even capturing the belt from Randy after an impressive Royal Rumble victory in January.
The booking was just all off for this one and where Bray goes from here is anyone’s guess.
#9 Was the SmackDown women’s match demoted or promoted?
The Six-Pack challenge match was originally billed on the kick-off show, which caused quite a lot of resistance from the WWE Universe. If these are the days of the Women’s revolution, then it seems only fitting to find a place for both belts on the main card.
So when it was revealed that the IC title match would be taking its place, it appeared as though cooler heads had prevailed and the SmackDown women were being given the respect they deserved.
However, you could argue that going from kick-off show to pre-main event palette cleanser isn’t much of a promotion at all. In fact, the kick-off show might have been more desirable. On the kick-off show, the matches get a decent introduction from the panel, and the match also gets discussed by Hall of Famers.
True, you aren’t officially on the WrestleMania card, but in the days of the WWE Network, the difference between the two seems to be fading a little.
Most people who tuned in for the main show would have also watched the kick-off show, and at least here the SmackDown women could have presented themselves as the main attraction of the first two hours.
Far be it from me to decide what’s best for these women, however, and I’m sure that if given the options again, all six of them would have chosen to be on the main card. It’s just a shame that the match itself, and Naomi’s title victory, in particular, got swept under the radar a little.
#10 Will Professional Wrestling ever be the same again?
Despite some noteworthy moments, this show will forever go down as Undertaker’s last ride. With no overt indication that this was actually going to be the swan song, fans pretty much read between the lines as soon as they realised that Reigns and Taker would be closing the show.
After all, if you’re going to retire the Undertaker, what could possibly follow that?
The mood was sombre and ultimately pregnant with respect and admiration for arguably the greatest ever talent the WWE has seen. It’s hard to believe that the show is really over, and it will be a few more months before it properly sinks in.
Wrestling as we know it will never be the same again, how could it possibly be?
You see, we didn’t just lose The Undertaker last night, we lost Mark Calaway. If the Undertaker was just some cool wrestling gimmick, anyone with a bit of talent could have ran with it and maybe enjoyed a tiny bit of success for a couple of years.
Someone might have made the character an effective anti-Hogan heel back in the 80s, or the American Badass of the Attitude Era, but only Mark Calaway could have made the persona of the Deadman the consistent featured attraction that it was.
Calaway embodied an era of Wrestling that is unrecognisable today. The guy very rarely broke kayfabe, didn’t get his face to appear on social media accounts across the world, and garnered the highest level of respect from everyone he met in what is a pretty cut-throat industry.
He gave his life for the business and made sure his character stayed at the very top level day in and day out.
After everything the guy has given us over the decades, he has finally earned the right to step aside and enjoy his retirement. Sadly for us, we will never see another like the Undertaker ever again. #ThankYouTaker
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