WRESTLEMANIA 38 NIGHT 1

 

WWE WRESTLEMANIA 38 - NIGHT 1

The Usos vs. Rick Boogs & Shinsuke Nakamura
I actually thought that this was very solid. It was essentially tag wrestling 101; you got a good starting shine by Nakamura, followed by an okay heat seg, and then a solid hot tag by Boogs. The finishing stretch with Nakamura fighting alone was really good, definitely a very strong way to finish the match off, as it was probably my favorite section of the thing. A pretty good opener! **3/4

Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Corbin
Not bad, but about as memorable as one would expect. A passable little number, but certainly nothing anyone will remember for a long time. I will say that it was probably better than I would've expected, clearly a bigger-match effort by both McIntyre & Corbin, and it showed. **1/2

Dominik & Rey Mysterio vs. Logan Paul & The Miz
Haha, this ruled! You could see how Logan got more & more comfortable as the match went on. Him hitting the 3 Amigos & Frog Splash was so awesome. I also thought that Dominik had one of his best individual showings so far, and of course Rey was great. ***1/4

Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair
Yeah, this was damn great. They wrestled it like a Big Title Match, which is more than fitting, because that's exactly what it was. Excellent flow, big time feel, both women upped the intensity & violence + busted out stuff that you would in a match of this caliber. I loved it. Excellent performances by both Becky & Bianca in an excellent match. ****

Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins
Cody's entrance & the reaction he got gave me goosebumps, thinking about how everything after his exit from the company in 2016 has lead to this. Then the bell rang. It was exactly the kind of a "worst case scenario" between Cody & Rollins, except that it's kind of what I would expect from them. Plodding, uninteresting action w/ no interesting hook or any soul to the thing whatsoever. *1/2

Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey
Wow, what an anti-climatic finish. Other than that, I thought that this was good. Sure it had its share of outright awkward & rough moments, but in some ways some of those added to the rugged feel of the bout. Ronda always brings something unique to these big singles matches, and such was the case here. ***

Kevin Owens vs. Steve Austin
This whole thing was just a shitload of fun. Austin's still a master at his profession, and KO was a brilliant foil for him. A more-than feel-good end to this show.