WWE’s biggest annual event WrestleMania came and went this past weekend, leaving most fans with a unpleasant taste in their mouths.
The 32nd incarnation of WrestleMania delivered with solid matches but had some of the most questionable booking decisions in quite some time. Let’s breakdown exactly what happened this weekend in Dallas, Texas.
Zack Ryder wins then loses Intercontinental title
The seven-man ladder match that opened WrestleMania came with a surprising twist when longtime fan favorite Zack Ryder somehow pulled down the Intercontinental Championship. It was a great moment as Ryder’s dad come into the ring to celebrate with his son.
However, Ryder’s championship reign didn’t last long as the following night on RAW he lost the belt to The Miz.
The quick ending to Ryder’s reign puts a little bit of a damper on his WrestleMania moment. Ryder’s win does feel like it was just meant to pop the crowd and that was it.
It was still nice to see Ryder finally get his moment in the spotlight after years of being pushed to the side. The ladder match itself was filled with several high-risk spots and won’t be forgotten anytime soon.
AJ Styles loses to Jericho
Besides the main event, fans were livid when longtime veteran Chris Jericho defeated AJ Styles at WrestleMania.
Obviously WWE had bigger plans with Styles when he won the main event of RAW, a fatal four-way to determine the No. 1 contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Even with Styles earning a shot at the title, the decision for Jericho to win at WrestleMania is still a questionable one. Jericho doesn’t really need any victories at this point in his career because he has enough clout to sustain any loss.
Styles first big rivalry in the WWE should’ve had him come out on top and not on the losing end of things.
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Women show off
The triple threat for the Diva’s Championship – which was changed to the Women’s Championship after the match – between Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks was one of the best matches of the night.
All three women delivered and put on easily the best women’s match in WrestleMania history. Prior to the show, WWE Hall of Famer Lita presented a new Women’s title belt that would be presented to the winner of the triple threat match.
The new belt design is a smaller version of the men’s championship, except that it has a white strap with red surrounding the WWE logo in the middle.
It’s nice to see how seriously WWE is taking the women after years of putting them on the back burner. A new era of women’s wrestling is here and it’s about time.
Shane captures his moment
Easily the most memorable moment of the night came when prodigal son Shane McMahon came crashing down off the Hell in a Cell into the announcers table.
Being there live and in person was just unbelievable. Even though it had been foreshadowed, the sight of seeing a man jump 20 feet of a steel cage shook the crowd.
At the last possible moment, The Undertaker was able to move out of McMahon’s way and escaped any possible injury.
McMahon once again solidified himself as being one of the biggest risk-takers in WWE history right alongside Mick Foley.
The match itself was a little bit slow towards of the buildup of that huge spot, but that one moment was worth it. Everyone should expect seeing McMahon’s jump off the cell for as long as the WWE is around.
Status Quo: Roman Reigns vs. Triple H
In the end, it really doesn’t matter how the crowd feels about Roman Reigns.
Reigns, who was feverishly booed from start to finish, came away unsurprisingly with the WWE title after he defeated Triple H in the main event of WrestleMania.
If there ever was a slogfest in the final bout of WrestleMania this was it. The crowd’s energy was about done after The Rock’s 30-minute segment and nothing Triple H or Roman Reigns did reignited the fans.
Just about the only thing that did get the crowd going again was when Stephanie McMahon was speared by Reigns, but that was at the tail-end of the match.
The toughest part about this decision isn’t that Roman Reigns won. It’s the fact that the WWE didn’t do anything shocking in the match.
Reigns won clean without much of a challenge from Triple H and that was it. There was a clear opportunity to do something with Reigns like turn him heel, but the WWE decided to just stay bland and have him win clean.
Despite a lackluster ending, WrestleMania 32 delivered with good matches and some very memorable moments. This WrestleMania does feel a bit hollow though after it’s all said and done.
The WWE has chosen to manufacture WrestleMania moments at the cost of making any logical sense. There was a lot of style at WrestleMania but there was plenty of substance lost.
Thomas Romero-Salas is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @ThomasRomeroS.
