WrestleMania 36: 7 things WWE got right on Night 1

After months of buildup, the show that was too big for just one night delivered its first night of matches in front of an empty arena. While fans were unhappy with the way things had progressed at first, we’re sure they would be much more content after seeing what went down during the show.

It’s always difficult to perform in an empty arena, that too when you have the WrestleMania sign hanging over, but the Superstars managed to deliver a good show against all odds. This shows how good the personnel in WWE actually are and can always make the best out of a bad situation.

Several Championship and grudge matches took place during that night where we saw a few titles change hands. The heels took the fall during night one, but Sami Zayn wasn’t ready to let his brethren fall so hard.

Shayna Baszler had a good first WrestleMania match, while Braun Strowman bagged his biggest victory to date. Even the SmackDown Tag Team Championship match did not disappoint even though it was held between just three Superstars.

In this article, we will look at the seven things WWE got right on the first night of WrestleMania 36.

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#7 New Women’s Tag Team Champions

The Kabuki Warriors have been dominating the Women’s tag team division for months now. However, it’d been a long time since the dup defended their titles, that too against former Champions.

The first match after the pre-show saw Asuka and Kairi Sane put their titles on the line against Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss. Asuka and Sane had won the titles from these two women several months ago.

While it seemed like Cross and Sane were missing the crowd and did things they’d usually do to get the crowd pumped up, it felt like Bliss was the best suited for such a match and gave a good performance.

During many spots, it looked like the match had been edited in several places. But that did not ruin the overall quality of the match, and even made it better at some points.

Both teams used a lot of double-team tactics and there was a lot of action at ringside. Bliss and Cross finally hit their finisher on Sane to end the match and win back the Women’s Tag Team titles.

This was a good opening match for the big stage and allowed the babyfaces to win a title early on in the show. Asuka and Sane need to get back in the chase again as they were making the titles largely forgettable at one point. Putting the titles back on a team like Cross and Bliss who’ve done well in the past was the right move.

#6 The unique Tag Team Triple Threat Match

The SmackDown Tag Team Championships match could have taken a hit as The Miz was out unfit. Instead, the company made it a unique match by having one member from each team compete in the match.

Jimmy Uso from The Usos, Kofi Kingston from The New Day, and one-half of the SmackDown Tag Team Championships John Morrison took to the ring for the fight.

All three men did well to trade blows, and none of them got the upper hand for too long.

While Jimmy is used to having his partner by his side during such matches, he did well to keep the flow going as Kingston and Morrison are more than used to singles bouts.

At the end of it all, all three men pulled down the belts at the same time, but Morrison fell off the ladder with the belts in hand.

While fans would have wanted to see new Champions be crowned at the event, it was the right move to make. Morrison losing the titles on behalf of the Champions could have created some controversy.

Having the match in this way rather than canceling it all together was another good move from the company. After all, they were trying to make the best out of their resources.

The trio got some high spots and that would have drawn huge reactions if a live crowd was present. But the fans at home would have certainly enjoyed it. This was a good match for the titles. Maybe the lack of chaos helped the three men get some top spots without worrying too much about injuring themselves.

#5 The Man came around

This match took place rather early during the first night of the event even though this was one of the biggest clashes from the flagship brand. Becky Lynch defended her RAW Women’s Championship against the ruthless Shayna Baszler.

Baszler had destroyed and eliminated five other women during the Elimination Chamber No.1 contender’s match. Naturally, she did not hold back on her punches as both women started to take shots from the opening bell.

Baszler took control of the fight and took it out of the ring where she punished The Man. Both women continued to throw harder punches to ensure they made enough impact for the WWE Universe to see the physicality and continued to try and pick up the victory. At one point, Lynch almost tapped out when Baszler caught her in The Man’s dis-arm-her.

Lynch was able to counter The Queen of Spades’ finisher and pick up the pinfall victory to retain her title.

The match was as physical as you’d expect, even though we all know who’d win in a real fight. If the company wanted to keep the title on Lynch, even though fans were backing Baszler, it was the only way they could have done so.

Baszler is still new on RAW and Lynch is too big a star to shoot down to easily. Hence, it was the right call to keep the title on Lynch while allowing Baszler to build up to the next challenge.

#4 Sami Zayn retained the Intercontinental Championship

Sami Zayn may not be your favorite character on television today, but that’s because he is playing a great heel character. If you’ve been following him since his days in NXT, or even before that, you’d know how incredible the Superstar is in the squared circle.

Sami Zayn picked up his biggest victory in over five years as he pinned Braun Strowman for the Intercontinental Championship at Elimination Chamber.

He was up against Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania on the first night to defend his title against The Planet’s Champion. While both men gave an incredible fight, Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro kept running interferences. After Drew Gulak took them both out, The Great Liberator decided to let himself be counted out to lose the match but retain the title. However, Bryan chased him down and got him back into the ring.

Once Cesaro and Nakamura took on Gulak, Zayn took advantage and picked up the win over Bryan to retain his title. This was the best way to allow the heel to win while making Bryan look extremely strong in the match.

Zayn needs a longer reign as the Champion, and the company needs to let him retain the title on his own too at times as he’s an excellent wrestler. The heelwork in the match was topnotch, while Bryan got all the offense in but still lost the clash.

#3 The Monday Night Messiah took the fall

Complete and utter CARNAGE. #WrestleMania @FightOwensFight @WWERollins pic.twitter.com/JSS74WZL6I

— WWE WrestleMania (@WrestleMania) April 5, 2020

We’ve been watching these two men go toe to toe since the night after Survivor Series, and it seems like we’ve finally reached the end of their epic rivalry.

With several Superstars in the storyline suffering injuries, it was down to The Messiah and The Prizefighter to bring an end to what they started months ago.

Seth Rollins took to the ring in nice ring gear to take on the babyface Kevin Owens with no one around to interfere in the match.

The two men did not hold back and went after each other as if they did not care about the rules of the match. They took each other down with all they’d got to ensure they’d get the beating of their lives.

Rollins hit KO with the ring bell to get himself disqualified, but KO grabbed a mic and asked him to keep fighting him under no-disqualification rules. The Messiah thought it was a great idea and used weapons against him opponents before KO hit him with the ring bell.

In the final epic moment of the clash, Owens laid Rollins out on the announce table and climbed the top of the WrestleMania sign. He delivered a big elbow to flatten The Messiah before taking him to the ring for the three-count.

This was a big match for the big event and allow the two men to give it their all to end the rivalry. This was the match the show needed to show what WrestleMania is all about, and the two veterans sold everything to perfection for the sake of the fans at home.

#2 Braun Strowman won his first big one

Braun Strowman may be the unluckiest man in the company today, but the Superstar has two RAW Tag Team Championship reigns and one Intercontinental Championship reign to his name. However, the combined time he’s held the three titles is less than two months.

Every time Strowman has been put into a big Championship match, he’s ended up on the losing side. But this time things were in his favor.

Roman Reigns had to pull out of the event due to health reasons and Strowman replaced him for the clash against Goldberg for the Universal Championship. While Goldberg had defeated ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt for the title, he was met with one of Wyatt’s former stablemates.

The Monster Among Men was shaken by the veteran early in the match and a series of Spears flattened him. However, Strowman recovered to deliver a handful of running powerslams to pick up the victory and claim his first major Championship in WWE.

While Strowman lost his Intercontinental Championship in his first defense, we hope that the big man will finally have a long reign as Champion and do justice to the title.

Allowing Strowman to replace Reigns and come out on top against Goldberg was the right thing to do. He is one of the fan favorites who’s been waiting for his chance for some time. What a WrestleMania moment for the big guy!

#1 The Boneyard Match

How many Boneyard Matches had you watched before this one? None.

Yet, WWE managed to make the best out of the situation at hand and give fans an epic clash between AJ Styles and The Undertaker. As it turned out, the match was much more than what the fans were expecting.

Styles and Undertaker are WWE’s biggest Superstars, and it was fitting to have them play out their characters in this bizarre match that saw The O.C. intervene but unable to get over The Deadman.

The entrances in this one were really good and allow Styles to come across as the heel once again before the match could begin. The Undertaker arrived on a motorcycle to reveal he was back as The American Badass.

Styles tried to grab weapons to use against Taker but he was unable to get much offense. Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows arrived with a group of cloaked men, but none could match the intensity of The Undertaker.

At one point, Styles got the better of Taker and managed to knock him in an open grave. But the power of editing and a little bit of magic brought The Deadman back to life.

After some more drama and a little more conversation, Taker kicked Styles into an open grave and ended the match by dumping a pile of dirt onto Styles.

This was a great way to take the match at a time when WWE was struggling to find innovative ways to keep the fans in the zone. Not having commentary was the right thing to do. And, the cinematic theme helped knock up the rating of the show. The match felt a little like Matt Hardy’s Ultimate Deletion, but we aren’t complaining.

The entire thing will help WWE by getting more fans to tune into the second night of WrestleMania to see and compare what the company does in the Firefly Fun House match between John Cena and ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt