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The first night of WrestleMania 36 delivered some incredible matches. The main event of the night stole the show with an epic Boneyard Match between two of wrestling’s biggest names, The Undertaker and AJ Styles.
The second night tried to take things a notch higher with even bigger and better matches, as the NXT Women’s Championship and WWE Championship were put on the line. Randy Orton looked to end what he started post Royal Rumble, while the RAW Tag Team Championships were also on the line during the night.
Amid several surprises, WWE delivered some great matches, none better than the one between John Cena and ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt in the Firefly Fun House.
All together, WWE managed to deliver an outstanding show keeping in mind the resources they had and the situation they had to work in.
In this article, we will look at the seven things WWE got right on the second and final night of WrestleMania 36.
#7 The EST’s WrestleMania debut
Led by Zelina Vega, Angel Garza and Austin Theory arrived at WrestleMania on the second night to take on The Street Profits for the RAW Tag Team Championships.
The heels cut Angelo Dawkins off from his partner as Montez Ford waited to get tagged into the match. The strategy worked until Dawkins finally got the tag to Ford and he exploded into the match.
Theory tried to keep control of the bout and delivered a TKO to Dawkins, but Ford managed to connect a frog splash on the newcomer soon after. Dawkins managed to get the pin and retain the titles for his team.
After the match, the heels attacked the Champions with Vega leading the pack. This brought out Bianca Belair who made the save and laid Vega out. The EST of NXT came out for her husband Ford, even though many of us were waiting to see her attack the winner of the NXT Women’s Championship match.
Does this bring The EST to RAW in the coming weeks? It’d make perfect sense as many NXT Superstars are getting tied up in storylines on RAW and making a smooth transition to the brand. Belair could turn out to be a great asset for the women’s division and a future contender for the RAW Women’s Championship.
#6 Aleister Black’s win
This match came out of nowhere and fans were puzzled by the booking when it was first announced. For no rhyme or reason and with no backstory whatsoever, Aleister Black was put in a match with Bobby Lashley at The Grandest Stage of Them All.
While that was the case, fans have been getting bored of watching Black take on inferior competitors week after week and score easy victories. Going after the All Mighty gave him a chance to prove himself against one of the big boys on the biggest stage there is.
Black controlled the match early on but Lashley took control once the action spilled to the arena floor.
The former NXT Champion was then manhandled by his mighty competitor, but a springboard moonsault on the floor brought him back into the match. Lashley then set up for the Dominator, but wrestling expert Lana decided to get up on the apron and demand that Lashley went for the Spear instead.
Lashley obliged and set up the Spear but ran into the massive Black Mass as he tried to deliver the Spear. This allowed Black to pick up his biggest victory.
Even though the match wasn’t much, it gave fans a look at what the company may be planning to do. Fans have been asking for Lashley’s World Championship shot for some time now. And, giving Black the win proves that they are more interested in giving the younger, newer competitor a considerable push.
Lana’s advice got Lashley in trouble and we could see cracks forming in their relationship from here on, helping Lashley get back on his feet and return to being a ruthless competitor.
#5 The Queen took over NXT
The Nightmare of NXT was ready to face off against the 2020 Royal Rumble winner and The Queen of WWE in an NXT Women’s Championship match.
Both women arrived in stunning gears, and Charlotte Flair got into the thick of things real quick. She targeted Rhea Ripley’s left knee, ensuring that she’d keep her options open for her submission hold.
However, the youngster countered and delivered a Riptide out of nowhere early on for a neat fall. The fight then spilled over to the floor, and even though Ripley had the advantage, Flair’s strikes to the knee once again took a toll on the reigning Champion. Flair wrapped Ripley's knee around the steel post and then launched a brutal assault on it to ensure that The Nightmare had no way to fight back into the match.
Ripley still stayed determined and delivered a few powerful moves, but could not keep control as her knee was slowly giving way. A Spear was followed by The Figure Four which turned into the Figure Eight submission. This was what it took for Flair to become a two-time NXT Women’s Champion.
One might argue that it made less sense to take the title off the young new Champion and put it on the veteran. However, WWE did the right thing by making Flair look like the evil Queen whilst injuring her opponent, and Ripley fought till her final breath.
The company is at war with other competitors, and having Flair as the Champion on NXT for some time could prove to be the right move. As for Ripley, no one can doubt her abilities after she defeated Shayna Baszler for the title not too long ago. She will be back for more in no time.
Even though The Queen won the match, The Nightmare came out as the real star.
#4 The Rated-R Redemption
Edge’s nine-year journey to return to the ring saw him face one of his former best friends, Randy Orton. Edge entered the arena with the same look of disbelief in his eyes as we’d seen during his return at the Royal Rumble. But Orton wasn’t going to go easy on the veteran.
He posed as a cameraman and attacked The Rated-R Superstar out of nowhere, taking him down with consecutive RKOs. The match went all over the Performance Center from thereon, and we saw the two men show no mercy. They unleashed hell on each other and delivered some powerful moves while using all the weapons in the arena to their advantage.
Orton seemed to have injured his ribs at one point, but that did not stop The Viper from carrying out some vicious attacks on his opponent.
The final moments of the long match saw Orton set Edge up for a Con-Chair-To to end it all and pick up the victory. However, he took way too long to deliver the move while teasing it, and Edge took Orton down into his new submission hold.
After Orton struggled to breathe due to his injured ribs, Edge set him up for the vicious maneuver himself. A Con-Chair-To ended it all as the referee counted to 10 and The Rated-R Superstar picked up the victory.
After the match, a regretful Edge placed his head on his opponent’s almost apologetically. Even though this match was a bit too long, maybe it was what was required to end this huge rivalry with just one single match.
The storytelling was spot on, and Orton being violent but succumbing to his injuries was the highlight of the match. This was emotional, yet brutal, and delivered everything the WWE Universe would have wanted from a return match for an Edge who had retired due to a career-ending injury.
#3 “Otis gets the win and Otis gets the girl!”
The commentary team was as happy as some of us were back home after the love triangle between Otis, Mandy Rose, and Dolph Ziggler finally came to an end at WrestleMania.
Sonya Deville, who was exposed by a hacker on SmackDown last week, accompanied Dolph Ziggler to the ring while Otis was ready to exact revenge from The ShowOff.
Otis used his size and strength to his advantage but Ziggler proved to be too smart and experienced for the big guy.
After Otis managed to get the control, things never worked out for The ShowOff who kept trying to use heelish tactics but failed to gain the upper hand. This led Deville to jump on the apron and provide the distraction that allowed Ziggler to deliver a low blow to the babyface.
Mandy Rose did not take the move lightly and appeared at ringside herself to slap Deville and deliver a low blow to Ziggler. This allowed Otis to deliver the caterpillar and pick up the win.
After the match, Otis scooped Rose up and the two shared a big kiss to bring this storyline to end on a happy note at The Show of Shows.
It was interesting to see how this bizarre storyline that started months ago turned into something so big that fans were waiting for it at WrestleMania. The match and the final moments did not disappoint, making it one of the best non-title matches of the event.
Now let’s just hope that the creatives stay clear of a Mixed Tag Team match between these four Superstars.
#2 Drew McIntyre’s moment
The match between Goldberg and Braun Strowman on Saturday lasted only about 130 seconds, and fans were looking for something more from these two heavyweights.
They tried not to disappoint and took their encounter to almost five minutes. While WWE Champion Brock Lesnar had the upper hand initially, Drew McIntyre did not sit back and exploded into the match with a Claymore Kick. However, one was not enough to keep The Beast down as we have seen earlier.
Lesnar then took his opponent on a short journey where a German Suplex was followed by a couple of F-5s. But just like Lesnar, McIntyre refused to give up.
Another F-5 nearly sealed the deal, but The Scottish Psychopath wasn’t ready to let this opportunity slip so easily.
He recovered and delivered a Claymore Kick followed by two more lethal finishers to pin The Beast and bag his first WWE Championship.
Even without a crowd, this was a huge feel-good moment for the Superstar and the fans back home. Watching McIntyre stand tall as the show came to a close was something fans wanted to see for the Superstar for a long time.
McIntyre had studied his opponent and frustrated him enough to find the opening he needed. This was the right move to make at the right time, and McIntyre has never been hotter in his wrestling career. Let us see where this reign takes him in his quest to become the best of the best.
#1 Another cinematic marvel
“This is such good sh**!” exclaimed the Vince McMahon puppet as we were treated to a match of a lifetime.
The match before the main event took the entire show away with its creativity and imaginative placements. Bray Wyatt took John Cena on a journey that he nor anyone else watching at home was ready for.
From Cena’s debut to everything major he did and every transformation he went through, Wyatt took him through everything after telling Cena that he was about to face his greatest opponent to date: himself. Cena was shown in all of his major gimmicks, and the career of the “Greatest Sports Entertainer of All Time” was exposed before the WWE Universe.
After all was said and done, The Fiend appeared to hit the Sister Abigail on Cena before applying the Mandible Claw. This happened as Cena’s own words from SmackDown about Wyatt being the most overvalued, overhyped and over-privileged Superstar in WWE were being played over.
The Fiend stood tall at the end of it all, and we saw the evil entity take away the greatest wrestler we ever knew away from us.
This was genius and Wyatt proved once again that he is the master manipulator and a great storyteller.
We’re sure that every single time we look back at this match, we will find something new to talk about. This was overall one of the greatest WWE segments of all time.
Kudos to WWE’s production team for this one
