WWE WrestleMania 34 Final Rating: Poor Finish Plagues Stellar Show
WWE WrestleMania 34 helped set an all-time Mercedes-Benz Superdome entertainment event attendance record and ignited many different emotions out of the WWE universe in the process.
For as good as WWE WrestleMania 34 was throughout the first part of the show, the finish of the show leaves a bad sour taste in fans’ mouths that will take quite some time to get rid of despite how many stellar matches took place.
The kickoff show began with the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal and for whatever the match might have lacked in the early stages, it left a lasting final impression. With the match down to Baron Corbin, Mojo Rawley, and Woken Matt Hardy, the return of Bray Wyatt helped get Hardy the win and the two former enemies are now on the same page after a memorable finish.
The Cruiserweight Championship match between Cedric Alexander and Mustafa Ali was a very solid match as most expected it to be to with some great storytelling involved as well. Alexander ended up getting the win to win the title and the tournament that has been going on for quite some time.
The first-ever WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal wrapped up the kickoff show positively with a memorable battle royal that outdid its men’s counterpart. It saw some memorable spots, an alliance of NXT stars, and a memorable finish with Bayley throwing out Sasha Banks and appearing to get the win, only for Naomi to rush in and eliminate Bayley to win the whole thing.
The main card kicked off with the Triple Threat Match for the Intercontinental Championship between The Miz, Seth Rollins, and Finn Balor and quite frankly, this might have been the match of the night. There was so much great action in this match and tense moments that it was the perfect opening match before Rollins won the Intercontinental Championship for the first time.
The highly-anticipated SmackDown Women’s Championship match followed with Charlotte Flair defending against Asuka and not only did this match deliver, it should be considered the best one-on-one women’s match in WrestleMania history. The ending was particularly shocking when Charlotte made the undefeated Asuka tap out to retain her title before a show of respect after the match.
The United States Championship was at stake next with Randy Orton defending against Bobby Roode, Jinder Mahal, and Rusev. The match didn’t get much time, but it was pretty good all things considered before Mahal pinned Rusev to win the U.S. Championship and get his WrestleMania moment, despite the fans wanting Rusev to get the win.
The marquee mixed tag team match pitting Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon was next and this match more than exceeded expectations. The argument can be made it was the best match of the night with all four individuals shining, especially Rousey for her in-ring debut that saw her make Stephanie tap out while also roughing up Triple H.
The SmackDown Tag Team Championship was on the line following that match with The Usos defending against The New Day and The Bludgeon Brothers. It was clear the WWE wasn’t going to give this match much of a chance, but it was pretty good before The Bludgeon Brothers took control of the blue brand’s tag team division and captured the titles.
The segment up next was one of legendary proportions all things considered. John Cena was ready for a match with The Undertaker, but instead of Taker coming out, Elias came out with the lights out in a perfect swerve. Cena ended up taking care of Elias and just when Cena was walking up the ramp to leave, The Deadman rose.
In a chilling entrance, The Undertaker made his way to the ring after weeks of not answering Cena’s challenge. And Taker took care of Cena in under five minutes to make a huge statement that he isn’t finished. It was an outstanding sequence of events and the match did everything it needed to do in a wonderful piece of storytelling.
The in-ring return of Daniel Bryan was up next when he teamed with Shane McMahon to battle Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. The heelish duo thought they had taken out Bryan before the match even started, but he got back in it and ended up making Zayn tap out to get the win for his team to likely send Owens and Zayn to Raw. It was beyond awesome to see Bryan look as good as ever.
In what has to be the most satisfying match of the night, the Raw Women’s Championship was at stake when Alexa Bliss defended against Nia Jax. Jax had been the brunt of bullying and body-shaming for weeks, so seeing her finally reach the mountaintop was an amazing moment. The storytelling in this match was on another level.
The dream match was on deck with AJ Styles defending the WWE Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura. And while the two put on a very solid match, it did not end up as great as everyone thought it would before Styles retained. But Nakamura’s heel turn after the match has shaken up the rivalry again and signifies that these two are far from done with each other.
The Bar defended the Raw Tag Team Championship against Braun Strowman and a mystery opponent that nobody saw coming. A kid in the crowd named Nicholas teamed with Strowman and The Monster Among Men got the pinfall victory to win the tag team titles alongside Nicholas. It was something to behold to put things mildly.
The main event closed out the show with Brock Lesnar defending the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns and there’s only one word to sum up this match, and that word is awful. This was awful and there’s no other way to describe it. The match had absolutely no substance whatsoever and was a shallow and lazy performance by Lesnar in the main event of the biggest show of the year.
And to make matters worse, Lesnar retained his title. The Lesnar era has gotten beyond bad and now it has ruined the main event of WrestleMania. Hopefully the WWE has something up its sleeve with this situation because how Vince McMahon would allow this match to be the main event at the biggest show of the year is mind-boggling.
The main event dud aside, this was a very good WrestleMania with several standout matches. There is a lot to look forward to moving forward. How will Rollins’ Intercontinental Championship reign go? How will Asuka respond to losing? Where does Rousey go from here? What does the future hold for the in-ring return of Bryan?
These questions will be answered soon enough. Not to mention, it should be very interesting to see how Styles and Nakamura plays out now that Nakamura is a heel. And then there’s the Universal Championship situation, which has to improve for the well-being of the Raw brand because in all honesty, Lesnar vs. Reigns last night was probably the worst main event in WrestleMania history.
But outside of a select few poor moments, this was a very good WrestleMania that gave fans a little bit of everything.
Next: WWE WrestleMania 34 Review