So after an amazing night 1, how could night 2 follow up… Well let’s see…
We had the same opener from last night after the anthem.
Randy Orton defeated The Fiend (with Alexa Bliss)
Randy wore white gear. Bliss came out first and then unwound a HUGE Jack in the box … The fiend came out of it, only it was a fiend with a fresh new drip. Cleaner gear and cleaner mask, no burnt fiend anymore. So they fought in the red lights and Randy kept hitting the DDT and fiend no sold everything… then towards the end Bliss appeared sat on top of the box, and she had the black goo that was coming from Randy in recent weeks coming out her head or something… the fiend was totally distracted by this, he turned into an RKO and Randy pinned him. Then he got out of dodge real fast. The fiend was completely transfixed by Alexa… as the black stuff continued to come… then the lights went out and the fiend and bliss disappeared… I have… SO MANY QUESTIONS… I guess it’s good Orton won so he can do… normal… stuff now… he of course was not the story here… whatever Bliss has with the fiend now I’m absolutely fascinated to see… does she have the power over the fiend???? People will have different views on this as they always do on The Fiend. But I’m sat in a fiend hoodie, so you know I was completely transfixed by all this.
(I can’t rate this as I have no idea what I just watched)
Hogan, Titus and Bayley had a backstage segment…
I don’t think I’ve ever been less arsed about a Wrestlemania Championship match in my life… so apologies in advance…
Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler (C) defeated Natalya & Tamina to retain the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship
It wasn’t bad. In fact what they did looked good enough. I just had absolutely minimal interest from the off to be honest… Nia hitting a double crossbody off the top onto both Natalya and Tamina was insane! The crowd seemed to really be behind Tamina during the match… Nia loudly and clearly told Tamina “YOU AINT SHIT”… Tamina soon after got a VERY close nearfall after a Huge slam… Tamina went up for the big splash but Nia moved. With Nia having a bad knee Natalya had the sharpshooter on Nia but Shayna (who was legal apparently) ran in and got the Kirifuda on Natalya and she tapped. The champions retain.
*3/4
Kevin Owens defeated Sami Zayn (with Logan Paul)
Sami welcomed out Logan after he came out. Logan seemed reluctant to be Zayn’s pal. Logan was booed. Owens was cheered. Owens hit the powerbomb right away but Zayn rolled out the ring. Really good stuff when they went at it to be fair. Zayn hit the helluva, tried it again but KO hit several super kicks, then the stunner for the win. The angle after saw Logan and Zayn fall out… Logan try to parade KO as the winner… AND THEN KO STUNNED LOGAN!
********** (or **** if we are being serious)
Riddle and Khali had a backstage chat… I felt like I was smoking whatever Riddle likes… RVD came in after… they joked about weed basically and RVD pulled out his own rolling papers… this was so bizarre.
Sheamus defeated Riddle (C) to win the United States Championship
As you’d expect this was really hard hitting stuff at times, but was a pretty good match that the crowd were into. Riddle was really over. Sheamus hit a really stiff-looking knee for a close nearfall. Riddle hit a german suplex on the apron… and also a springboard move off the ropes to the outside. This was a proper RASSLIN match. The last match and this one felt like they were on a different planet to our first two matches tonight… After some jostling it seemed Sheamus slipped on the top rope trying for white noise, but he hit it on the ring floor after as normal. Then got a nearfall after a diving knee from up high. Riddle dodged a Brogue Kick, Sheamus dodged the knee, and as Riddle came off the second rope Sheamus hit a brogue/knee and Sheamus won the title. This was a good match.
****
Great video package ahead of our next match. I can’t wait for this one!
Apollo Crews defeated Big E (C) in a Nigerian Drum Fight to win the Intercontinental Championship
Wale rapped Big E’s entrance theme which was cool. Big babyface reaction for E too. Big moment for the Tampa man. So essentially there looks to be various drums and instruments (I’m guessing from Nigeria) around the ring. They battered eachother with kendo sticks to get us underway, and those kendo sticks are NO joke. E hit a phenomenal move when he speared Crews through the ropes off the apron to the outside floor. E set a table in the ring… Crews went wild with a kendo stick on Big E and then put him on the table, went to the top rope and went for a splash but E moved and Crews crashed and burned. Then as he went for the big ending Big E got attacked by Daba Kato in some form of military outfit, and he helped Crews get the win and the title. Good match, I personally didn’t expect a Crews win but adds another layer now he has a big guy looking after him. Hopefully E continues to be booked well despite this loss at Mania.
***3/4
Long video recapping night 1. It was a great show.
They recapped Hall of fame next. It was a great class in fairness.
Asuka (C) Rhea Ripley to the Raw Women’s Championship
Rhea had her entrance music performed live. She was really over with the crowd. Both Rhea and Asuka came across as superstars just based off their entrances. The story of this match was both women trying to outdo one another, Rhea with her hard-hitting and power along with trash talk, Asuka would comeback with hard offence of her own at speed. Asuka utilised her technical arsenal as well. Ripley’s power was fully on show at various points, and it seemed Asuka would have to do a heck of a lot to keep Rhea down… Rhea hit kicks and a shoulder barges in the corner to wear the champion down, and looked for a move off the middle rope but Asuka got Rhea away and hit a missile dropkick. Asuka hit her own german suplex, before a running hip attack and soon after downing Ripley to her knees Asuka got a nearfall after another running attack. Rhea dropkicked Asuka off the top rope, and Asuka seemed to land hard on the apron. Rhea slammed her face first onto the apron not long after… Asuka hit a ddt off the apron to the floor on Ripley that kept both women down… Asuka got a nearfall from a running knee as soon as Ripley got back in the ring. Asuka went for another knee but Rhea caught her, hit a load of stomps and locked in her submission… Asuka soon transitioned into an armbar, Ripley though powered up and threw Asuka into the corner. Ripley suplexed Asuka from the outside of the apron into the ring, and got a nearfall. After a transition Asuka had the Asuka lock but was countered, Asuka went on a flurry but got hit with the Rip Tide and RHEA GOT THE WIN. A really solid match. What a moment. Crowd seemed happy with Rhea winning.
****
Hogan and Titus came out and said a lot of thank yous. Bayley came out after to complained about not getting a thank you… She was happy after she asked and got pyro… she complained some more… The Bella Twins then came out, Bayley wasn’t happy and made a John Cena joke. The Bellas sent her down the ramp, then posed and danced with our hosts.
They advertised the next PPV on May 16th. They are actually calling it ‘WrestleMania Backlash’… urgh…
A video package really put over hard our MAIN EVENT…
Roman Reigns (C) with Paul Heyman & Jey Uso defeated Edge and Daniel Bryan in a triple threat match to retain the Universal Championship
Daniel Bryan was popular with the crowd. Water is also wet. Edge got a GIANT ovation when he came out in some sublime white gear by the way. He looked real fired up. The ultimate irony was that Roman got cheered coming out; he and Heyman and Jey Uso had the traditional reef around their necks. He got more of a heel reaction as his entrance went on to be fair. No apologies from me because I just want to watch this match a lot so no in match analysis on this one, but it does have a serious big fight feel. I’ll let you know my thoughts after the finish… This was chaos. Really fun to watch and was exciting all the way through. The result was in doubt all match too. Really good shit. Edge hitting a con-chair-to (sorry about spelling) to Bryan was nuts. Jey Uso took a spear from Edge. Roman hit a spear to edge then tried for the con-chair-to and got it on Edge then he dragged Edge onto Bryan and PINNED THEM BOTH! Who the fuck stops this guy I’ve no idea…
****1/2
Night 2 was fun, but had it’s low points. I think overall I preferred night 1, but I would say overall WrestleMania 37 was a success. And as always, it ended with Roman being booed… but at least it was meant to be that way this time.
Josh.