WrestleMania 32 was the thirty-second annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It took place on April 3, 2016, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Kickoff: Kalisto def. Ryback to retain United States Championship
Kickoff: Team Total Divas (Brie Bella, Alicia Fox, Natalya, Paige, and Eva Marie) def. Team B.A.D. and Blonde (Lana, Naomi, Tamina, Summer Rae, and Emma)
The Usos def. The Dudley Boys
Ladder Match for Intercontinental Championship - Zack Ryder def. Kevin Owens (c), Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, Stardust, and Sin Cara to become the NEW Intercontinental Champion
This was pretty much what I expected here - a spotfest. There wasn't little else going on other than high spot after high spot to keep the crowd buzzing. I did appreciate that they did take the time to keep people engaged in the Zayn/Owens rivalry so that's something to appreciate.
Chris Jericho def. AJ Styles
I don't understand the point of the finish recycling the same spot that they used earlier in the match. It made absolutely NO sense. I hope Jericho is sticking around; otherwise I don't see are reason for him going over on Styles. I understand that WWE are billing the Springboard Forearm as Styles' finisher but they are diluting the rest of his arsenal when Jericho was kicking out left and right to everything else, including the Styles Clash and Calf Killer.
League of Nations def. The New Day
Nothing outside of the ordinary if you've seen these two teams go head to head for the past few months.
I was glad that the LON went over but burying them to Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels, and Stone Cold Steve Austin killed any momentum they had from that win instantly. I understand sending the crowd home happy with cheap pops but c'mon WWE you're better than this, or I'd like to think so. At least the New Day got laid out too so I can't complain too much here.
Brock Lesnar def. Dean Ambrose in a No Holds Barred Street Fight
This was a really underwhelming match to say that it was billed as a street fight. Dean Ambrose and Brock Lesnar did the same thing they do all the time. Brock hits like a dozen suplexes for the first half of the match while Ambrose sells this punishment like a ragdoll. It was a nice tease that he was actually going to use the chainsaw and "Barbie" before Brock got his hands on him. This was pretty much a weak rehash of Dean Ambrose versus Bray Wyatt by the end of it.
Man, WWE really let me down on this one. I thought Ambrose would at least come close to beating the guy but there wasn't a second that I thought that he was going to win against the Beast.
Charlotte def. Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch to win the NEW Women's Championship and retire the Divas Championship
This was a great match to spark off the new direction for the WWE Divas, or rather Superstars now that they are integrated with the rest of the roster in terms of terminology, but the finish proved that brand labels and a new title isn't going to fix the lingering problems of the Divas division. Bad booking and creative still hinder this division from being truly great and the finish of this match made that fact painfully evident.
You can make all the excuses you want about the finish but that's what matters, despite the girls trying their hardest to put this division over. It's all for nothing if creative can't get with the program.
The Undertaker def. Shane McMahon in a Hell in a Cell Match
Much like Brock Lesnar versus Dean Ambrose, this was another match that didn't really live up to the hype behind it. It was strange that Vince didn't even take the opportunity to come out and gloat afterwards, especially after his own son risked life and death jumping off the top of the Cell for the finish. I'm glad that The Undertaker didn't lose here but I was expecting a LOT more from this match.
Baron Corbin wins the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
Why did they save this for roughly the last billed match before the main event? Outside of the moment that it looked like the Social Outcasts were going to win it and the Shaq and Big Show confrontation, this was completely forgettable, especially how Corbin won the damn thing after doing next to nothing the entire match.
If this was his first match to call/move him up onto the main roster, then I'm all for him making an impact with a win like this, but it's all for nothing then if they still have him hanging out on NXT for the next few months despite this huge win for his career.
The Rock announces the Record Breaking Attendance Record for WrestleMania; Wyatt Family interrupts
This turns into an impromptu match with The Rock defeating Erick Rowan in SIX seconds - a WrestleMania record. Bray and Braun Strowman storm the ring and out comes a returning John Cena in what is the most random thing ever on a WrestleMania card in YEARS. The Rock and Cena hit their finishers on the Wyatts to send them running.
I don't get what was the point of all this other than to give The Rock his annual WrestleMania payday, but it seemed more damaging for the Wyatt Family than anything else, even if their intentions were pure.
Roman Reigns def. Triple H (c) to become the NEW WWE World Heavyweight Champion
We were up what felt like hours 5 through 7 at this point and it didn't help that this match dragged along. I don't hate Roman Reigns like most people seem to do, but this match didn't do him any favors to make this conclusion to this night of questionable booking worthwhile. I don't want to say that the match was bad, because Triple H and Roman Reigns tried to keep things interesting but this crowd wasn't having any of it in terms of the boos for Reigns. It got to the point that WWE muted all of the crowd sounds to the point you could CLEARLY hear Stephanie McMahon talking shit at ringside LOUDER than the crowd itself.Reigns may have won the title after it was all said and done, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy having the fans shit down onto his parade.
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Post-WrestleMania Monday Night RAW (April 4, 2016) |
The New Day (c) def. The League of Nations to retain the WWE Tag Team Championships
Pretty weak match to start off RAW. This was actually worse than the match we saw the night before at WrestleMania. The only reason the crowd didn't shit all over it is because the New Day are over ask fuck with the smarks that compose the bulk of the post-WM crowd.AJ Styles, Chris Jericho, Sami Zayn, and Kevin Owens confront Roman Reigns for a title shot for the WWE Championship
Sasha Banks def. Summer Rae
Summer Rae calls out Sasha Banks and gets beat in a pretty quick fashion. I was honestly laughing to myself during this match, reading comments on Twitter seeing people say that Summer has improved a lot.Hello, Summer Rae was always decent since her days of feuding with Paige on NXT! It's just that she never got a chance to showcase said skills on the main roster. That being said I hope she knows that since Maryse is back (see below) that she's going to have to change her ring gear from being a clear ripoff of hers.
I'm sure the smarks won't admit that Sasha Banks and Charlotte would still be irrelevant on NXT if they weren't taken underneath Summer Rae's wing as part of the BFFs (Beautiful Fierce Females). Then again... Charlotte's still as bland as she was back then and Sasha just took ratchet and turned the dial to 11... so nothing really didn't change much.
The Miz def. Zack Ryder (c) to become NEW Intercontinental Champion with the help of the returning Maryse Ouellet
On one hand, I feel bad for Zack Ryder having a 24 hour title reign, but on the other hand, he got his WrestleMania moment and that's really all that matters. On top of that, he came out of this match with a feud when he was almost completely irrelevant on the main roster a few weeks ago.I totally didn't see Maryse coming back at all. That was a welcome surprise. I'm guessing that WWE is going to use her like Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis' pairing on Ring of Honor/Impact Wrestling, where she doesn't have to get too physical in the ring unless she wants to. Damn shame that we didn't get Maryse to come back during AJ Lee's title reign when she broke her record or while Nikki Bella was breaking AJ's. Oh well, it's all good. From what I've read, Maryse will be replacing the Bella Twins as one of the veteran Divas on Total Divas once they make their retirement official.
Baron Corbin def. Dolph Ziggler in his RAW debut
Good grief, Corbin dropped the ball on his first promo on the main roster. Same bland and boring shit from NXT and the crowd were more entertained at a beach ball in the crowd than his actual debut.I TOLD you guys that this guy is exciting as watching paint dry. At least Dolph Ziggler went out of his way to make the guy look good. I'll say that much.
Apollo Crews def. Tyler Breeze in his RAW debut
I'm sure this is one job that Breeze didn't mind doing even though Crews botched the finish. In the back of my mind, I got a feeling that Crews only got called up this soon only because Vince and the rest of the front office thinks that Bobby Lashley is back with the company.I just hope that his career doesn't end up like Lashley's WWE run.
Women's Championship "Celebration" Ceremony for Charlotte
In a bizarre bit of irony, this segment reminded me of the Championship Coronation Ceremony for the unification of the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship with all of the past and current champions invited to the ring. The expressions on the faces of the Divas in the background were almost as priceless as CM Punk facepalming and laughing during that segment those many years ago.To say that Charlotte has the honor to have her father, the legendary "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, accompanying her to the ring and acting as her manager, I wish she would pick his brain and get more advice and feedback on how to do promos. She comes off SOOO fucking bland and boring on the microphone. And to say that people were complaining about the Bella Twins on the microphone. This is just as bad, if not worse, in some aspects.
The one of two most interesting moments out of this segment was Sasha Banks storming out with the rest of the Divas following behind her. I dunno if that was a shoot or playing up real life emotions, but it was a nice touch that the entire division are disgusted with how Charlotte won on Sunday. Turn that ugly negative into a positive to move forward for the better of this division.
The second moment was Natalya being the one to confront Charlotte and call her out. I hope this doesn't mean that Natalya is going to do the job - as always, to make Charlotte look good by carrying her through another A+ performance in a high profile match. I'm guessing that WWE doesn't want to jump the gun on the Sasha Banks or Becky Lynch winning the gold quite yet, so they are stalling until roughly Summerslam.
The Dudley Boys def. The Usos in a Tables Match
This felt like a copy and paste of their match from the night before on the WrestleMania preshow. Damn shame that Lillian Garcia and the bell keeper botched the finish.What the fuck is up with that vignette for Primo and Epico "greeting from Puerto Rico"? I rather see those guys in Lucha Underground with Carlito than another lackluster WWE run...
Enzo Amore and Big Cass debut to confront the Dudley Boys
Unlike Baron Corbin, Enzo took this opportunity to step up to the plate and knocked out of the park with a home run. He had this crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. Cass' success is going to be entirely dependent on how much tied to the hip he is to Enzo with his superb mic work. Otherwise, he's going to be another boring big man on the WWE roster after the initial big push wears off.As for their feud with the Dudleys, I hope that they allow Bubba to fire back on the microphone against Enzo as they could make some magic in that department, as long as egos don't get involved.
AJ Styles def. Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn Cesaro to become the #1 Contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Sami Zayn got taken out after an attack by Kevin Owens so he wasn't medically cleared to compete in this match, so Shane McMahon names the returning Cesaro as his replacement. While I was happy as everyone else to see the Swiss Superman back, but I was bummed out that he didn't win this match. What was the point if he wasn't going to win this thing? It seems like they are only going to feed AJ Styles to Roman Reigns at Payback just to kill some of his buzz and take some the wind out of the sails of the ex-TNA guy or "internet darling" as how Triple H would refer to him as.I want to be wrong but with Roman Reigns acting tweener here, WWE would have to be pretty fucking stupid if they think that they can get the crowd to cheer for him at Payback against AJ Styles. Now is a good of time as any to pull the trigger on turning him heel and get the most out of it.
Closing Words
I'm going to elaborate this in detail in a future article, but I want to clarify that I don't mind the new design for the WWE Women's Championship, along with the change from "Divas" to "Superstars" and the retirement of the Divas Championship. I have a problem more with the idea that people found the term "Divas" was so offensive, rather that the way how WWE books and writes creative material for the women on the main roster. This sect of fans act like those changes will be an automatic instant fix to the issues that have been plaguing the division for years now. Proof of that was evident in tonight's Triple Threat Match. Charlotte, Becky, and Sasha put their bodies on the line for an amazing match, but that went down the drain with the piss poor finish. To say that WWE is all for establishing that this is a revolution for WOMEN, why does Charlotte need her dad to bail her out of every hairy situation? I understand that she is a heel, but there's more methods to drive that point home and at least provide a better finish than what we have seen on the typical episode of RAW or Smackdown.Ultimately, I felt that Brock got the win over Ambrose to satisfy Brock since he's running out of appearances on his current deal, but I can understand why a lot of fans are muffed about Ambrose losing the fight here since the win for Brock does nothing for neither of them. Brock has nothing to follow up on and Ambrose has nowhere to go from there.
I felt bad for Shane doing the bump of the night or better yet, the decade, only to lose the chance at winning his legacy. Everyone watching live in Dallas AND around the world would have been in an uproar if The Undertaker had to retire with Shane O'Mac being his last opponent of all people. What was more messed up was that Shane went through all of that and Vince STILL ended up letting him run RAW the next night... Talk about a lack of consistency in storytelling.
What a way to make RAW feel less important than WrestleMania though... NONE of the big names made an appearance the following night, none of the Hall of Famers, no Rock, John Cena, The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, nada... It just felt VERY odd to say that they went back to their lazy booking for RAW with just stacking the card full of debuts and returns. You can't debut that many people on one night and expect everyone to get over, especially with the post-WrestleMania crowd. I feel sorry that the Vaudevillains have to debut on Smackdown instead of getting the honor to be on RAW like everyone else, but damn, it just seems like they are dooming these new debuts to failure right off the bat. Outside of the main event, there wasn't really too much to write home about with this show. We're right back to mediocrity with typical WWE programming as we move towards WrestleMania 33 next year and to be quite honest, I'm really let down that they didn't give us nothing to sink our teeth into for the new season. Talk about a buzzkill...
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