WrestleMania 36: Night ONE

Cesaro vs. Drew Gulak

They go under 5 minutes, but every single second they wrestle in the time they get, is great. "All killer, no filler", as the saying goes. Everything matters, and more importantly, everything is extremely compelling to watch. Gulak's focus on Cesaro's arm was all kinds of fantastic, which Cesaro paid right back w/ his terrific selling -- so many good moments like Gulak countering Cesaro's Neutralizer by going to the arm, countering Cesaro's pinfall attempt into one of his own & transitioning it into an Armbar, that armdrag spot outside the ring, etc, etc. This match was filled with greatness. All capped off with Cesaro introducing the WWE World to the UFO. Helllll yeaaahhhh! ****

Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. The Kabuki Warriors

Good match. Kairi & especially Asuka are so good -- everything they do looks great, and comes w/ great swagger & charisma, which translates very well into an empty arena setting like this. Good action from bell-to-bell, great energy. Fun match! ***

Elias vs. King Corbin

This doesn't go all that long, but it sure feels like 20 minutes or something. Drags badly as nothing is interesting or good. *

Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler

This had some good smacks, nice counters & great urgency throughout. Very good match, and I do like the finish too; you get the feeling that Becky just barely escaped, because Shayna gave her a fight like no one else has done so far in her title reign. Looking forward to the re-match. ***1/4

Daniel Bryan vs. Sami Zayn

This was just about the perfect use of the empty arena setting. It's all about them brutal looking & sounding strikes + the chatter between the competitors. That chatter part could've been big time cringe, but they pulled it off perfectly. Zayn is such a FANTASTIC chickenshit heel -- him talking that trash with his cocky smiley facial expressions while evading Bryan in the beginning half, was such great, great stuff. The build-up to Bryan finally getting his hands on him was superb, and when he finally does catch him, oh boy does it feel fulfilling. From then on it's a complete American Dragon murder-mode festival, and I can't think of many things better. Some DDT4 '09 Danielson & Strong vs. Young Bucks vibes, and that just happens to be one of my favorite tag matches. Bryan is incredible dishing out the punishment at Zayn; I could happily watch Bryan beat the shit out of anyone in that ring, but the fact that it was Zayn in this empty arena setting made it all the more better. Zayn's selling of the beatdown is perfect, especially when it comes down to his verbal selling. He actually reminded me of Terry Funk when it came to that, and I mean that in all the best ways. Not that there could be a bad way to compare someone to ol' Funker anyways. Maybe my favorite singular moment of this whole thing was when Sami got that brief comeback in, he only managed to piss Bryan off more with it -- all leading to Bryan kicking his head off, and then as he wraps his hands around Sami's wrists, getting ready for them stomps, Zayn with his last powers left tries to beg for mercy. Such a fantastic moment that kind of tells the whole story of the match. This was so, so good. Exactly my kind of shit. The beginning with Zayn doing his best to piss Bryan off with his antics, Bryan finally getting his hands on him & delivering an incredible beatdown w/ stiff slaps, punches, knees to the face & mid-section, crossface shots, and more! -- all absolutely amazing stuff. As for the finish, at first I wasn't the biggest fan, but the more I think about it, the more it suits the match. Such simple, yet such an unique match. I knew Bryan & Zayn would deliver something worthwhile, but I'm not sure was I expecting anything like this. I watched it twice in a row and actually had to pause the show after for a good 30-minutes or something close to that, 'cause I had to just really think about what I had just watched. Absolute brilliance from two of the best. To put it in complete cheese, this was two maestros painting a picture the way only they can. ****1/2

Jimmy Uso vs. John Morrison vs. Kofi Kingston

Gotta respect the effort & physicality that is showcased here. Loved Jimmy's banter throughout, and the finish was pretty neat n' unique. Gentleman's ***

Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins

The first match is solid action. There's a few indy no sell sequences, but they toned them down in a way where they didn't take me out of the match. The No DQ restart is very good stuff with Seth delivering a pretty good beatdown to start it off, using weapons & all. The bellshots by both men sounded pretty vicious -- I do think that having no crowd helped with that, and same goes with the constant trashtalk between the two. I especially liked Rollins' jaw-jacking throughout. Owens' big jump off of the Mania logo was also a helluva spot. I actually really ended up enjoying this a lot! ***1/2

Braun Strowman vs. Goldberg

4 Spears, 4 Powerslams. They kept it simple & short. Can't hate on it. NR

AJ Styles vs. The Undertaker

Hahaaa, holy fuck was this awesome. They went absolutely nuts with the presentation, and that was for the best. Some of the highlights for me were:
- The Graveyard Symphony playing when that car drove in the beginning, only for the casket to open w/ AJ popping up, laughing his ass off while his theme starts playing
- Taker driving with his motorbike to the scene w/ Metallica blasting
- "Wow there he is! I didn't think you'd show up!" -- "yeah?" -- "does Michelle know you're out this late?"
- AJ ducking Taker's murder attempt, making Taker's arm bleed in the process
- "HEY DEADMAN!" w/ Karl & Luke arriving with some banging guitar-tune in the background
- The sad music when AJ is talking trash to Taker who is selling like he is dying
- Taker teleporting behind AJ when AJ was about to bury him
- "HOW ARE YOU STILL STANDING? I HAD YOU DEAD BURIED?"
- "Stay with me boy, we're not done yet, we're just getting started!"
- Taker w/ that HUG when AJ was begging for mercy
- then that last scene w/ Taker's motorcycle fucking with him, only for it to fully ignite when Taker did his classic fist-up pose w/ Metallica once again starting to play
SO MUCH FUN