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

Photo Source: WWE.com

Intercontinental Championship Match

The Miz (c) vs. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor

Result: Seth Rollins pinned The Miz to become the NEW Intercontinental Champion

Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

First great Mania moment of the night goes to The Miz with the text overlay in his entrance. It hits all the important Miz talking points – Hot Wife, for example – and if anyone gets that kind of treatment, it makes sense for it to be the pompous A-Lister.

Finn Balor being flanked by the LGBTQ community for his entrance was great in a (too) sweet way. And, uh, Seth Rollins looks like a White Walker? IT’S ON, BABY.

Things picked up in a big way right off the bat. A rapid fire sequence of pin attempts from all three superstars ended with Balor taking to the skies with a picture-perfect topé con giro. Rollins followed up back in the ring with a flying clothesline – and he got some height on it, too – and a double blockbuster. All this happened in the first five minutes of the match, too.

The battle of the Sling Blades between Rollins and Balor was predictable, but I guess necessary. There was more than enough good stuff in this one to let that slide. Tons of close near falls, crazy spots – that frog splash by Rollins to break up the figure four was one of the most beautiful moves I’ve ever seen.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/983122865229774849

Seth nearly killing himself by turning a Skull Crushing Finale into a Crown of the Head Spiking Finale was terrifying, but it capped off a great sequence from all three superstars – yes, there were a lot of those in the match. I don’t like Balor always being one step ahead of Rollins on the superplex-Falcon Arrow combo, but that’s a minor complaint in the greater context of this match.

There was so much going on at the end of this one. Miz hit a super Skull Crushing Finale – which Michael Cole inexplicably called a bulldog, which ugh – but Balor broke up the pin at 2.9999999 with a Coup de Grace.

After Balor hit another, Coup de Grace on The Miz, he was slow to cover, giving Rollins time to hit the Blackout on both superstars. A separate stomp to Miz sealed the deal, and Seth Rollins is the newest WWE Grand Slam Champion.

Man, what an opener. Clearly, these three guys were watching TakeOver the night before and did their damndest to top that fantastic show. But this was 20+ minutes of fire, and it sets a great tone for the rest of the show.