Sunday, April 11, 2021

WRESTLEMANIA 37: NIGHT ONE

 

WWE WRESTLEMANIA 37: NIGHT ONE


Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre
I wanted to love this, because they have a history of having good matches against one another, including a PPV one from last year which I enjoyed a lot. This one I didn't really care for much at all. Technically nothing wrong with it or anything like that, but felt like there was no real hook to it. With guys like these two, you could argue that "the hook" is watching two bad heavyweight mofos beat the shit out of each other (shout-out to Drew's recent matches vs. Sheamus), but it never felt like that was the case here except for the last 5 or so minutes when the action got legitimately hot. Very uninspiring for the most part, but there was some neat spots & counters here n' there alongside that mentioned nice finishing gear. **

Billie Kay & Carmella vs. Dana Brooke & Mandy Rose vs. Lana & Naomi vs. Liv Morgan & Ruby Riott vs. Natalya & Tamina
Obviously this was not good; it was very quick, and matches like this are rarely anything memorable, especially in a setting like this. I thought it was totally inoffensive though, and easy to watch. The first segments weren't good at all, but the Riott Squad breathed _some_ life into the thing, especially in that final seg where they sold very well for Natalya & Tamina. *1/4

Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins
This was a pure workrate bout w/ a sprint'ish feel to it. It was good! Cesaro is obviously a total king, and most of this was designed to put him over big by letting him play his hits & kick a lot of ass, so it's not a surprise this ended up being a good match. Seth was good too! Lots of neat offense by both men. That finishing sequence w/ the Uppercut counter to Seth's Curb Stomp attempt -> UFO -> Swing -> Neutralizer was badass. Also Cesaro's reaction to the win + him bringing back the old HEEEEEEY's, oh man. So awesome. ***1/4

AJ Styles & Omos vs. Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods
I really enjoyed this one. Beautiful tag team storytelling with the more experienced team cutting the ring in half for a long period of time, totally isolating AJ. Kofi & Xavier were really good controlling things, and watching AJ try to figure out how he could get the tag, but time after time get shut down by the New Day lads was extremely fun. Omos of course eventually got the tag & came to wreck shit up; that Bane-like backbreaker to Xavier was awesome, as was the forearm by AJ off his shoulders. Very fun tag number! ***1/4

Braun Strowman vs. Shane McMahon
There's your classic crazy Shane big match spot, but other than that, this wasn't good. Not a surprise there. I thought that Braun's beatdown of Shane towards the end dragged pretty badly. *

Bad Bunny & Damian Priest vs. John Morrison & The Miz
Bad Bunny was in there for most of the match which is a surprising route for a celebrity to take, but goddang it was awesome. The man was selling his ass off & busting out big moves beautifully, with the biggest one of 'em all being a mothafucking CANADIAN DESTROYER. Unbelievable. JoMo & Miz gave such selfless performances too, giving the man so much of the match & selling everything he did perfectly. The perfect guys for this spot. The whole match really was a WrestleMania moment™ tbh, one of the most memorable celebrity-spectacle-matches they've done. ***

Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks
When you lay it out, this was an excellent way to put over Bianca Belair, as the storytelling of the bout was on point. They put over Bianca's strength & athleticism over wonderfully; she really dominated a lot of the match with Sasha getting a big crafty counter here n' there, but it was always Bianca who got them bigger grooves going. It was one of those "you can't deny this title change" type deals. Sadly I didn't like the match much at all. I thought that Bianca's work was extremely uninteresting & the best bits were Sasha's big moments, but even most of those were just "there", and not anything REALLY-really compelling or interesting. Bianca's sell of the 450 kickout was also like the worst of Shawn Michaels' cheesy reactions, but even worse lol. The whole dancing routine finishing sequence also wasn't for me, but I did like the actual finish w/ Bianca's KOD putting a blunt end to things. Not a bad match, as while I didn't find it compelling, I can appreciate the strong storytelling, even if the actual action didn't hook me in at any point. *3/4

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