WrestleMania 36 Review & Reaction

In this edition of The Wrestling Estate roundtable, we give our WrestleMania 36 review and reaction.

What did you think of WrestleMania 36?

Neal Wagner: It wasn’t a bad show. Even though Night 1 was far superior, I’ll keep this format of two nights rather than a one-night 17-hour show.

John Corrigan: It was as good as I expected it to be. Although I appreciate the effort of WWE and the distraction the company provided during this time, I just can’t get into pro wrestling without an audience. I wish the entire show was comprised of cinematic experiences like the Boneyard match. But I agree with Neal that Mania should be two nights going forward.

David Gibb: It was good! I honestly haven’t loved any of the last few Manias, but this exceeded my expectations and was my favorite in recent memory.

Jack Goodwillie: This a borderline top-10 Mania. Some popular influencers on Twitter were calling it borderline top five and while I’m not there, this card had several matches overachieve (for better or worse) and the circumstances surrounding it will make it that much more memorable. How it will be remembered is going to take a great deal of time to manifest.

What did you like least about it?

Wagner: No fans. Drew’s big win just didn’t seem so big when there’s no crowd reaction.

Corrigan: Edge vs. Randy Orton. It was the match I was most excited for and Jesus, did it end yet? For over a half hour, they punched each other around the Performance Center. Grunt, punch, groan, punch. I know a Last Man Standing match is supposed to take time, but if that’s the case, why not just make it a 10-minute Street Fight? Edge and Orton could have followed the Terry Funk-Jerry Lawler playbook and had a quick, wild brawl in half the Center, and still kept the same finish. It was also disturbing to see Orton try to hang Edge with the gym equipment. C’mon now, if you saw that and didn’t immediately think Chris Benoit, you just started watching wrestling on Sunday.

Gibb: Trying to start Night 1 with a tag match (great talent; it’s just near-impossible to have a tag match with no crowd) and then Corbin-Elias. It felt like a really tepid start and had me worried.

Goodwillie: While I don’t think it hurt the show too bad, I really disdained the Firefly Fun House “Match.” I use match in quotations because it wasn’t a fucking match! Meanwhile, it was sold as one, but I seem to be one of the only people to point this out. People liked it because it was silly and random, and anyone who wants to call whatever that was six stars is a troll; an internet meme lord, if you will, that knows nothing about anything that’s real. One guy replied to my critique and said, “there always has to be one person with a dissenting opinion.” I just thought that was dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. I’m not allowed to have an opinion if it doesn’t jive with yours? Fuck off. I asked another guy to break it down for me. He said he could only take it so far because he was admittedly stoned!

Read my lips: Bray Wyatt is a bad wrestler. With all the ring time he’s had, he’s never improved, and it has taken a gimmick as wild and in your face as The Fiend for him to gain traction. Vignettes (it was a vignette, not a match) like what we saw on Sunday is just a cover to hide his copious flaws. At least The Undertaker has an excuse, he’s been employed by WWE longer than I’ve been alive! I get there’s a lot of symbolism to what Wyatt does, but this is pro wrestling, not a Christopher Nolan movie. I consider myself an intellectual of sorts. If I want that type of experience, I’ll go seek out a film or read a book. Having said that, at a glance, there was nothing coherent to the Cena-Fiend encounter and it shouldn’t take me having to psychoanalyze it like “A Tale of Two Cities” or “Wuthering Heights” to have enjoyed it. That’s not a knock on cinematic matches, though. Ironically, with a worse build (a really, really bad build), the AJ Styles-Undertaker match delivered on every level and hit every emotion.

What was your favorite match?

Wagner: Boneyard Match. That was excellent despite it not being in an actual ring.

Corrigan: Boneyard. I loved both entrances, the trash talking, the action, Undertaker popping up behind AJ, everything. If WWE does this once a year, Undertaker just extended his career another decade. Hell, you could bring in other legends like Mick Foley (who already made his plea to be in next year’s) and do the cinematic match in other environments. Hmm, that sounds like an idea for an article…

Gibb: Charlotte vs. Rhea. It wasn’t perfect, but they had a tough, hard-fought match that felt like two wrestlers giving it their all.

Goodwillie: Even though I will defend the Edge and Randy Orton match maybe even to a fault, it was not my favorite match. This may not be popular with how it was overshadowed by cinematic matches and world title opportunities, but Seth Rollins-Kevin Owens was incredible. Character work went from being Seth Rollins’ weakness to perhaps his greatest strength during his stay on the main roster, and the feeling I got when the supposed finish ruined the match, to when the match started back up again and Owens won in the fashion he did, it was an incredible roller coaster of emotions. What’s funny is these guys have been feuding for months, but hardly touched in an actual match and it almost got to the point where the fans wanted them to just get it over with. But the promos both guys cut in the weeks leading up gave their encounter the right kind of heat, and even though a title wasn’t involved and there weren’t a ton of bells and whistles, I couldn’t help but love this match. The Boneyard Match comes in at a close 1A.

What was your favorite moment?

Wagner: KO jumping off the sign was a great visual and a good way to cap off the match and feud with Seth Rollins. Those two busted their asses in that match.

Corrigan: Otis getting the girl!

Gibb: The last few minutes of the Boneyard Match, after Styles took the big chokeslam. Him begging off and saying “Please!” over and over was so good. It reminded me of the big fight scene in an ‘80s action movie.

Goodwillie: While I’m sentimental for Drew McIntyre’s big win and Kevin Owens’ exclamation elbow drop, and even John Morrison’s Elix Skipper impression, it was the final moments of the Edge-Orton match, which really brought everything together. Yes, you could have chopped five minutes off the run time and in a perfect world, maybe they shouldn’t have done the weight set spot, but the idea of Edge being in a position to put Orton away for good, then feeling conflicted before ultimately doing the deed in an emotional finish had me on the edge of my seat. When Orton failed to answer the count of 10, I just kind of mouthed to myself, “woah.” Without that finish, the match becomes much more critiquable, but was it the most boring match in the history of WrestleMania? Of course not, Meltzer!

Who was the MVP of WrestleMania 36?

Wagner: Charlotte. She had probably the best actual match on both nights and she utilized the empty arena aspect best by talking trash throughout the whole match with Rhea.

Corrigan: Michael Cole. We’ve all given him shit over the years (a lot of shit), but he’s been on top of his game during these empty arena shows. WrestleMania 36 was no exception, and in fact, his talent became even more noticeable when compared to Byron Saxton and Tom Phillips (who I usually like). Having his buddy and longtime partner JBL working with him again certainly helped, too.

Gibb: This was an all-time team effort. Singling anyone out doesn’t feel right.

Goodwillie: Triple H. And everybody who had a hand in the production of this event. Because as hard as the wrestlers worked, it was apparent in many cases the power of the edit prevailed and enhanced several matches. Everybody who worked overtime behind the scenes to give us a WrestleMania deserves a bonus this year. I couldn’t be more appreciative of the time and thought that went into making this show a success. Those who refused to watch out of moral turpitude OR made light of the fact that the show was held in an empty arena are scumbags and not worth our time.