WWE WrestleMania 34: Results, Highlights, Analysis, and Grades

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Universal Championship Match

Brock Lesnar (c) (w/ Paul Heyman) vs. Roman Reigns

Result: Brock Lesnar defeated Roman Reigns via pinfall

Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars

For the fourth consecutive year, Roman Reigns is in the final match at WrestleMania. He’s only the second man to do this, after the orangest man in the business Hulk Hogan (WrestleMania V-VIII, and no, IX doesn’t count).

After the BS with the tag title match, this was honestly the perfect match to send people home with. Problem was, it was laid out like absolute garbage. These guys don’t belong in a 20 minute classic – they need a 10 minute brawl that’s nothing but pure aggression. Brock needs to just do suplexes, Reigns needs to stick to his bread and butter, and everyone will go home happy.

Of course, a crowd who’s been in the building for nearly eight hours is going to be a little antsy. Hence the awful CM Punk chants early on in this one. And hence the nearly deafening silence during the vast majority of the match. I mean, Reigns hit a pair of spears – enough to pin BRAUN STROWMAN – and Lesnar kicked out, and the crowd didn’t make a peep.

Even worse, Lesnar hit an F5 – and Reigns kicked out to no response. Two more F5s, two more kickouts – nothing. The only thing the crowd paid attention to was the beach balls being passed around the crowd, which is disgusting. The F5 has been the most protected move in professional wrestling for YEARS – Reigns kicks out of half a dozen, including one through an announce table, and the crowd couldn’t care less.

Hearing “This is awful” chants tells me one thing – they just didn’t even want to give this match a chance. It was never going to be a 5-star classic. Hell, it wasn’t going to be the best match on this card. But Roman getting busted open, working his butt off, and getting thrown around the ringside area at least deserved a chance.

Yes, the match was pretty bad. But the “This is awful” chanting started way earlier than would have been warranted from the in-ring action. I’ve been seeing people on Twitter saying it was the worst main event in WrestleMania history, so clearly those people haven’t seen WrestleMania XI. But trying to get something out of Lesnar when he’s clearly not interested because the crowd is going to dump all over it regardless is impossible.

By the time Lesnar won, the crowd popped a little. WELL, IF YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN PAYING ATTENTION INSTEAD OF PLAYING WITH BEACH BALLS, IT MIGHT HAVE HAD EVEN MORE IMPACT. The match may even have been better overall to you! Hate Reigns all you want, but don’t torpedo a gosh dang WrestleMania main event because your feelings are hurt at not being catered to.

Next: NXT TakeOver: New Orleans Review

The main event clearly wasn’t up to the same level as the first encounter between Reigns and Lesnar at WrestleMania 31, but it wasn’t the worst thing on the card, no matter what the live crowd may think. It was bad, no doubt, but the tag title match immediately preceding it was a bigger slap in the face. At very least, this main event gives a big reason to tune into Raw tomorrow night to see where things go from here.

With the marathon of WWE WrestleMania 34 over and done with, what did you think of the show this year?