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The stars were out and shining as bright as ever inside the Mercedes Benz Superdome as the Superstars of WWE took over The Big Easy for WrestleMania 34. Over 78,000 members of the WWE Universe packed the Superdome to witness history and the company did not let us down with a total of 14 huge matches on the card.
From top-to-bottom, this year's WrestleMania gave fans plenty to cheer about. Now that the dust has settled on another historic Nola night, it's time to look back and point out the best decisions of the event as we list the top 5 things WWE did right at WrestleMania 34.
#5 Theatrics: capturing the flavour of The Nola'
The WrestleMania stage reveal is one of the most highly anticipated moments of each year. Some years the company is criticized for the setup being too bland or "boring." While other years they are applauded for going all-out and creating an elaborate scene. Nevertheless, it's an exciting spectacle all within itself.
As far as the setup for this year, the company simply knocked it out of the park. It's not always an easy task to incorporate the specific elements into a theme or a show, which are needed to introduce it properly.
However, WWE nailed it this year with the WrestleMania setup. The company successfully incorporated the essence and the flavour of The Big Easy. From the colour schemes, down to the very minimal details, they absolutely killed it.
#4 The Nia Jax Story
Nia Jax made her WWE main roster debut as a part of the 2016 WWE Draft. At the time of her arrival, Jax had less than 2-years of professional training under her belt. When she was drafted to the RAW brand, there was a lot of concern over her ability to hang with the Superstars of the main rosters.
After all, her work in NXT consisted of mostly squash matches and short segments. Thankfully, Nia brought a major chip on her shoulder along with her. This would prove to be the driving force behind her ultimate success.
Despite being related to The Rock and being a member of one of wrestling's most elite families, Nia was never given anything. In fact, she would actually go on to outwork nearly anyone on the roster in route to her WrestleMania moment.
Nia Jax defeated Alexa Bliss on the Grandest Stage of them all, WrestleMania 34. By doing so, Jax became the newly crowned WWE RAW Women's Champion. While this moment was obviously very special for Jax, she has made it crystal clear that her journey has been a victory for everyone who needs a voice, everyone who has ever felt left-out and for everyone who has ever been doubted while chasing their dreams.
The entire feud has been perfectly executed by WWE creative staff, but more importantly, it was performed flawlessly by both Jax and Bliss.
#3 Nakamura's unthinkable heel-turn
Going into WrestleMania 34, there was one match that I had circled ever since The Royal Rumble. That match was obviously the WWE Championship bout between Champion AJ Styles and Challenger Shinsuke Nakamura. On paper, this appeared to be a dream match situation and when the bell finally rang to start the match, these two combatants did not disappoint.
For over 20-minutes, these two top-tier athletes delivered on the absolute highest level. Unfortunately, in this situation, there can be only one winner and in this match, neither choice would have been a bad decision to come out on top. But, when it was all said and done, AJ Styles won the bout, thus retaining his WWE Championship. However, it was what happened after the match that has everyone talking.
At the conclusion of the match, Styles and Nakamura embrace multiple times, proving they are such good sports...or are they? Just as everyone was getting their share of the good vibes and butterfly feels, Nakamura delivers a low-blow that would have dropped Goliath, subsequently indicating that he had indeed crossed over to the dark side and turned heel.
I have heard and read a variety of mixed opinions regarding Nakamura's actions. While some fans are distraught at the idea of such a friendly-faced character becoming a "bad guy." But, when you really break it down, this will prove to be a very wise decision.
Nakamura has a strong language barrier which he is trying to break through and considering heels typically remain quiet for the most part, this would help Shinsuke focus on his in-ring action, rather than labour over promo scripts, hoping to get good enough to deliver a 4-minute spot. Not only that, but Nakamura has the perfect demeanour to succeed as a dominant heel for months to come. Don't be surprised if he goes right back after AJ, in pursuit of that elusive title.
#2 A monster becomes the face of WWE
I sat on my recliner watching the events of WrestleMania unfold and as Braun Strowman selected a child from the crowd to join him as his partner in the title match for the WWE RAW Tag Team Championships, I honestly didn't know what to think. At first, I rolled my eyes in disbelief. But, as the unlikely duo won the match and became the new champs, it all started to make sense.
Sure, it was a hokie move, so-to-speak, but it was all part of the plan to turn this monster, Braun Strowman, into the new face of WWE...and it worked.
Despite being forced to relinquish the titles the following night at RAW, there was a lot accomplished in that less than 24-hour reign as tag champions. For one, Strowman was able to prove just how dominant he was and that even with just the assistance of a child, he's still capable of defeating anyone...or two Superstars.
Moving forward, WWE must feel very confident in knowing that they have a monster on their side now, instead of against them.
#1 Ronda is ROWDY!
If there were any questions regarding the in-ring ability of Ronda Rousey heading into WrestleMania, those doubts and concerns should all be laid to rest at this time.
The former, first-ever UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion has already solidified herself as one of, if not the greatest women's MMA competitor of all-time and now she's destined to duplicate that very success inside the squared circle. Needless to say, Ronda got off to a tremendous start by manhandling WWE's resident power couple at WrestleMania 34.
For those who expected some sort of trainwreck scenario during Ronda's in-ring debut, I am sorry to disappoint you because this match was as close to perfection as one could have scripted.
With Rousey having such an outstanding debut, it looks like the sky is now the limit for this Superstar. As long as she can stay healthy and humble, Rousey will be around for years to come, dominating everyone in sight.
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