Wrestlemania 33 Reax

Read on for my thoughts on last night's WWE Network special event.

-- Kickoff:
- Guests:
Cool to see Sam Roberts, Maria Menounos, and Pete Rosenberg here.

- Neville vs. Aries:
I know people are upset at these two working the first match, but they can definitely start the night off in a big way.

Good stuff to start. Both men are more than just flippy guys.

Fine work so far.

Both men are impressive.

Neville's a tough guy, but Aries probably has more big matches to his name.

Neville's Germans are great.

I'm loving this!

Both men are really solid.

I loved the Last Chancery counter.

NICE. Good win for Neville. I hope he earned Aries' respect.

- Andre battle royal:
I love battle royal matches. Just pure chaos.

I'm enjoying the destruction!

As much as I've criticized Show over the years, I'm a little disappointed his last Mania appearance might be of such little consequence.

Fun work trying to get rid of the big guys.

Disappointing to see Braun lose, but maybe he'll send Taker back to Death Valley on a stretcher tonight.

It will be interesting if Killian gets the win.

God, I really hope it's not Ziggler winning.

It might very well be Henry's last Mania and some of these other guys', too.

Man, come on now. Eliminate Ziggler!

Well hopefully it's Harper now.

Ohh... so much for that.

Wow. This is unexpected.

Uh-oh. Mahal's about to get Gronked.

Well that was weird. I guess since Shaq didn't get a Mania moment, another sports star had to.

OK, I guess? I suppose they're going to try to make Mojo a thing as a singles star. Good luck with that. He could end up their next Bo Dallas instead of their next Roman Reigns.

- Heyman promo:
Hahahahaha Heyman recruiting Charly and Maria.

I'm so looking forward to that main event (if it doesn't just go three minutes).

- Ambrose vs. Corbin:
Baron going for the kill early!

Oh I'm enjoying this already.

This is pretty wild!

I'm liking the story being told. It's not as pretty as Neville vs. Aries, but it's not supposed to be a technical masterpiece. It's a fight! 

Uggh I might hate the rebound clothesline as much as the Giant Swing at this point.

WOW. I expected more from that one. I guess they're saving the crazy brawl stuff for AJ/Shane and Y2J/Owens.

-- Wrestlemania 33:
- New. Day hosts:
Well this is pretty crazy looking. Don't blame them for getting that video game money, though.

- AJ vs. Shane:
Wow. They're starting off with a pretty big grudge match!

Hahahahahahahahaha AJ doing Shane's dance.

Come on, like Shane's going to outwrestle AJ. Nice surprising him, though.

Shane has a lot of fight in him.

WOW. Shane's still got his A game.

I'm enjoying this a lot more than I expected. Shane clearly put some work in.

HOLY SHIT THAT 450 SPLASH COUNTER OH MY GOD.

NICE Styles Clash counter.

Uh-oh. Ref bump.

AJ trying to out-Shane Shane tonight. Of course, RVD did that move before Shane, but that's not important right now.

This is a demolition derby, in a good way.

Shane continuing to take crazy bumps. Jesus.

WHAT THE FUCK??? Shane just one-upped Brock Lesnar from WM19.

That was good! Glad AJ got the win.

- Jericho vs. Owens:
OHHHH MANNN this is going to be one hell of a battle.

Hey, don't count Jericho out! He just might pull it off here. He beat AJ last year, after all.

VERY impressive apron cannonball spot.

This is two guys out to take each other out. The U.S. Title is just a bonus.

Nice tease of the apron powerbomb.

This is already big.

Damn, these two are really good. Who would have thought Jericho would still be tearing it up at 46?

NICE Walls of Jericho spot by Kevin.

Jesus. People are going to be watching this one years later on WWE Network.

NICE pop-up powerbomb spot, too.

BEAUTIFUL counter into the Codebreaker. This match is off the charts!

LOVED Kevin getting one finger on the rope. The psychology here is better than anything ROH put on Saturday night.

GREAT match. Both men should be proud of that effort.

-- Raw Women's Championship:
- Bayley vs. Nia vs. Charlotte vs. Sasha:
Good start. I'm glad they've pushed Nia as such a beast.

NICE tossing Charlotte to the outside.

This is great with everyone working against the big threat.

I'm loving this. Pretty fun.

LOVED that elimination. That was all done well.

- Bayley vs. Charlotte vs. Sasha:
Hahahaha no high-fives for Charlotte.

I would be fine with a Sasha heel turn here.

Wow. This is really wild.

Lots of big moves here.

Everyone going 100 mph. I'm a little split on that.

Really good stuff overall.

Fine to protect Sasha. Now I just hope Charlotte does the job. She's a great wrestler, but it gets stale having the same person as champion. She needs some credible challengers.

- Bayley vs. Charlotte:
Oh, Charlotte's determined to get that title back.

NICE counter of the Thesz press.

I'm liking the psychology of working on the knee.

That was pretty good! Glad Bayley's getting to be the champ.

- HoF:
Not a lot to say beyond really being proud of all these names being inducted.

- Addition to the ladder match:
So umm who signed off on this? Stephanie? Seems odd for her to approve a last-minute change.

I'm slapping myself for not seeing the ladder match stipulation being a nod to the Hardys coming in. Totally went over my head for some reason. Matt and Jeff went through hell at SCOH XI with the Bucks. They're going to be REAAAAAAALLLLLLLLY sore.

- Hardys vs. Club vs. Sheamus/Cesaro vs. Enzo/Cass:
The Hardys get around, don't they? Man.

Matt and Jeff not letting last night's battle slow them down.

Kind of funny the Hardys go from one part of the Club to another in tag title ladder matches in different promotions!

Quite the crazy battle.

I'm enjoying the team of Cesaro and Sheamus.

The ladder stipulation is definitely adding to the match. I wasn't really enthused with the feud before that was added.

This is still crazy. The Hardys back in WWE in 2017. Man.

This is a wild match!!

Fun work with all the physicality involved.

BAH GAWD WHAT A POWERBOMB TO THE LADDER!!!!

This is just nuts!!

Flying into a European uppercut always looks BRUTAL.

God, I really hope the Club don't beat three more talented and exciting teams.

Jesus Christ you two was the match with the Bucks not enough punishment to your bodies???

That was a lot of fun! I hope we see these two get BROKEN soon.

- Cena/Nikki vs. Miz/Maryse:
I don't have high hopes for this one. It could end up ROH ugly with Maryse in there.

Ha. Good decision, Maryse.

Ahhhhhh I love Miz.

Fun work so far.

Yeah, Miz. Be careful how much you taunt in a Cena match. Especially at Mania.

Nice getting heat for Nikki to get the hot tag eventually.

This is pretty fun, too. Nikki's game to make this match matter.

Hahahah pretty fun with Nikki doing some of Cena's big spots.

- Cena/Nikki:
How hard do you mark if Cena turns heel here?

Will this be the last time we see Nikki in a WWE ring?

God, this is legitimately pretty touching. I'm glad they're getting this moment.

Whoa, Cena. Breaking kayfabe big time with that name.

That was really cool. Loved it.

- HHH vs. Rollins:
I really hope Seth's not going to miss more time as a result of this one.

Oh God this is another big fight. I'm glad after sitting through Supercard. God.

Rollins is getting risky with all this flying around.

This is wild!

Rollins is gutting through not being 100%. Man.

I still hate the multiple dives spot.

BAH GAWD SETH HAS A FAMILY!!!!

I'm liking the story here.

Nice homage to Seth's first knee injury.

I'm really enjoying the story. Face in peril done right.

I'm very surprised HHH took a Buckle Bomb after what happened to Sting and Balor.

Seth is his own worst enemy with these dives.

Rollins throwing caution to the wind.

This is really insane. Seth is superhuman!!

Seth is one hell of an athlete. HHH chose him well.

I'm really enjoying the story of working on Seth's knee.

Fun Indian Deathlock spot on the outside of the ring.

Oh, man. You don't want HHH to use that hammer, Seth.

I would have bought that Pedigree ending it. It would have been a hell of a fight, too.

DID HHH JUST TEASE A PEPSI PLUNGE??????

This is really, really good.

I'm loving the psychology and the counters with the Pedigree.

OH SHIT STEPH TOOK A BIG BUMP!!!!!! Kudos to her for that.

Awesome, awesome match. They told a great story.

- Concert:
Deliberately skipping this since it isn't wrestling-related. 

- Bray vs. Orton:
I liked Orton trying to win ASAP. Hey, that's how Goldberg did his last two singles matches!

This is good so far.

Umm what the FUCK???? That was one of the weirdest things I've ever seen in a wrestling match.

I'm liking both men trying to hit a big finisher and end the match.

This is SO weird. I like it, though.

I'm liking the actual wrestling here.

OOUUUUCCCCHHH that Sister Abigail into the barricade.

More fun work on the outside.

I'm loving the counters here.

This is just insane. Surreal even.

Yeah, maybe Bray should have focused on beating his opponent instead of all the tricks. Fun for what it was, but I wish Bray would have gotten the win. Hopefully they do something better in the rematch when they can be let loose as wrestlers.

- Goldberg vs. Lesnar:
Oh yeah, Brock learned his lesson from their previous matches.

This is insane!!!

I mean, what do you do when each wrestler sticks to a few big moves?

Good counters here. This is wild.

WWWWHHHHHOOOOAAAAAA Brock going into full "guy who beat Taker" mode.

This is fun for the pure mayhem of it.

Suplexes everywhere!!!

That was really crazy. Good for a silly match of big moves.

- Alexa vs. Becky vs. Carmella vs. Natalya vs. Mickie vs. Naomi:
Looks like we're in for even more chaos tonight!!

Hahaha good for you Ellsworth.

Carmella's working Mania but Samoa Joe isn't. Man. I assume they're saving him for something big on Raw.

Alexa's just plain mean!!!

Becky's pretty good.

This is pretty crazy in a good way.

NICE double Sharpshooter.

This is wild.

Naomi's got her glowing working shoes on.

Not bad at all! Hopefully we see something more on a future PPV.

- More New Day:
I'm glad there wasn't a lot of non-wrestling stuff this year. Phew.

- Announcer change:
Wow. This is a really big occasion after all. I get the feeling this IS Taker's last Mania.

- Taker vs. Roman:
Oh this is going to be something else.

I'm liking the brawl atmosphere here.

This is just an out-and-out fight, as it should be. That's where both men excel.

Nice work so far.

I'm surprised Taker ate a Drive-By. I figured he'd catch him for a chokeslam or something.

Fun work.

I'm liking this from a physical standpoint.

This is pretty wild!

Man, Roman's going to need to put Taker through more than Brock and Goldberg did to each other.

OH MY THE LAST RIDE!! Cool move.

Oh shit. You don't want to piss Taker off with a chair.

MAN. He survived two Superman punches like it was nothing! Good luck, Roman!

This is big.

I love Hell's Gate. Taker's got a lot going for him as a wrestler.

OH SHIT ROMAN'S NOT BACKING DOWN.

Yeah, Taker's not going to stay down. You might want to call Braun out.

This is insane!

BAH GAWD WHAT'S IT GOING TO TAKE TO BEAT THE DEADMAN!!!!?????

This is really wild. Talk about needing a superhuman effort.

Man, Roman's looking to execute the legend right here at Mania.

OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT ROMAN DID IT!!!!!! That was really cool.

- Post-match:
Oh yeah, thank you Taker. For real. That was a hell of a bout to go out on.

This is really, really cool. Glad Taker is getting this kind of moment.

Wow. This is something else.

Thank you, Deadman. For all the years of great matches. That was a really good senfoff.