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The Boneyard Match will be nominated for Best Short Film at the Oscars right?
The idea of holding a WrestleMania without fans was an unpopular decision. Why hold a WrestleMania during one of the more tragic times in a generation? It was even more surprising when WWE decided to hold it over two nights.
However, with all being said and done, the first night of WrestleMania 36 delivered. It was full of good matches, incredible spots, an unexpected title change, and a cinematic main event, unlike anything we have seen before. For a pro wrestling show like no other, it delivered a fun night of wrestling. I am ready for night two!
As I am still trying to figure out how the WWE got my mind off the real world for a few hours, I will present my list of the five most surprising moments from Night 1 of WrestleMania 36:
#5 Becky Lynch retaining the RAW Women’s Championship
It was weird to see Becky Lynch driving her truck to the arena so quietly. It was the theme of the show. But it was the ending that was certainly quite the biggest surprise.
The match was a quick and hard-hitting affair. It was only an eight-minute match but the pacing was strong. Shayna Baszler controlled the offense for the majority of the match and went to get the submission over Becky Lynch. As Shayna was going for her submission finisher, Becky rolled her up to pick up the quick victory.
It was a surprising result, to say the least. Shayna destroyed the entire RAW Women’s Division at Elimination Chamber and looked like a great heel threat to Lynch. Then she lost suddenly and left. Becky Lynch has held the title for almost a year now. It seems they have damaged the most credible threat to her. Where will the story go from here?
#4 High-risk moves during the SmackDown tag titles ladder match
It was certainly strange to see a Triple Threat tag team match with just three competitors. But if you are to pick three people to put on a great match in this setting, you cannot do any better then Kofi Kingston, John Morrison, and Jimmy Uso. It was easily the match of the night.
Kofi Kingston was his usual incredible self with some great athleticism. That foot stomp on John Morrison was a great spot. It was nice to see Jimmy Uso get a chance to shine in a singles match as well.
Morrison was the standout performer of the match. He has the ability to show a unique style that is unlike anyone else in WWE. Not many people can run across the entire ring ropes like that. The ending with all three competitors fighting over the tag belts and Morrison falling with them to victory was amusing as well. This was a match that deserved a huge WrestleMania crowd. I hope they get a chance to do a match like this again in the future.
#3 Kevin Owens’ WrestleMania leap
You can’t accuse Kevin Owens of taking it easy in this empty arena WrestleMania.
The build-up to KO versus Seth Rollins has been one of the best of the WrestleMania season. Rollins has used every dirty trick in the book to foil Owens at every turn. Owens had not won a WrestleMania match in three years. Could he overcome Seth Rollins who has had a lot of success at the biggest pay-per-view of the year?
The match was quite back and forth until Seth Rollins used a ring bell. That would have been a disappointing disqualification ending to this match. But thankfully it continued with some good chair shots and some good use of the ring bell. The moment that made it a true WrestleMania spectacle was Kevin Owens leaping from the top of the WrestleMania sign and dropping about twenty feet onto the announce table and Seth Rollins. That was incredible.
Naturally, the match ended shortly after that big moment. It was a great ending to a good match. Kevin Owens deserved a big babyface win and to see it occur in a very dramatic way made for good storytelling.
#2 Braun Strowman winning the Universal Championship
Well, that was unexpected.
As Roman Reigns dropped out of his big match with Goldberg for health reasons, you had to wonder what the WWE would do to replace one of their biggest matches at WrestleMania. They decided to add Braun Strowman to the Universal Championship match. With no build to this new match and his history of losing in all his world title matches, it seemed Strowman would play the perennial runner-up again. I guess that is why they can still surprise us.
The match itself was unfolding like a traditional Goldberg match. He speared Strowman four times. I am sure a lot of WWE fans assumed that was the end. But Strowman kicked out. Then Braun hit his Powerslam on Goldberg four times. This was followed by the shocking pin. I didn’t expect to see Braun as Universal Champion but it is better than having a part-timer as champion. You have to wonder how Roman Reigns will fit into the Universal title picture in the future? It will be fun to see.
#1 The entire Boneyard Match
That was the old style Western movie that I never knew I wanted.
The Boneyard Match was unlike anything we have seen in the WWE and certainly ever seen at WrestleMania. AJ Styles, The Undertaker, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson and the entire WWE crew deserve credit for producing the most cinematic wrestling match in WWE history. Since the Undertaker is 55 years old, this might be the sort of match we should absolutely get out of him going forward.
You could show this match to a non-wrestling fan and I believe they would really enjoy it. It had excellent camera work, great special effects, great stunts and lots of surprises. You even had Undertaker arriving and leaving on a motorcycle to some great Metallica music which was fantastic.
The world has gone through a lot in the last few weeks. WWE have talked a lot about putting a smile on the faces of their fans. The Boneyard Match achieved this and the hero rode off into the sunset. Thank you WWE for the escape from the real world for a few hours.
