Wrestlemania 36 Night Two- A Review

So, Night Two of Wrestlemania 36 took place several hours ago and here's the review of it.

As I said, I watched this show with very less expectations, after suffering some disappointments the previous night.

Let's dive in.

Match #1: Natalya vs Liv Morgan

This was the match on the kick off show. Like the kick off match between Cesaro and Gulak the previous night, this match was a bit short. They trade holds and exchange some near falls early on in the match. Nattie dominates Liv for sometime, displaying her veteran experience. Some near falls later, Liv picks up the victory by a roll up, upsetting Natalya.

Again, a good short match which could have been better, given the talents of these two competitors.

Wrestlemania 36 Night Two officially starts and we're shown the same intro video package we were shown yesterday. My opinion on it still remains the same. 

We proceed to the next match.

Match #2: Charlotte Flair vs Rhea Ripley (c) for the NXT Women's championship

Both are my favourite wrestlers on the roster today and they didn't disappoint. Charlotte and Rhea engaged in a very physical match-up that easily outshone the performance of Becky-Shayna the previous night. They were both evenly matched in some ways. At no point did I get the feeling that Rhea was just a rookie facing off against a top star like Charlotte. She gave an impressive showing and this will be remembered as one the best matches in her career on the Grandest Stage. It is a good thing for Ripley.

Charlotte, as usual, showed shades of her daddy in her performance and put up a good match. Although I found the execution of some moves to be sloppy, this was really good. In the end, they executed some submission moves on each other with Charlotte picking up the win with the Figure 8 and becoming the new NXT Women's champion.

Charlotte seems to be building a career where she's drowning in gold. I agree with people when they say she's being over-pushed. But, I still can't find it in myself to hate her because I'm a huge fan of what she can do in the ring. Hopefully, Charlotte being back in NXT is just the thing the division needs.

Anyway, this match really satisfied me and put a smile on my face. 

 Match #3: Aleister Black vs Bobby Lashley

As I expected, Bobby tried to dominate Black with his power but the latter tried his best to fight back with his admirable striking abilities. Lashley gets the early advantage in the match and Black retaliates later on. What I liked about this match was the fine execution of the moves. It was really gratifying to watch.

As Lashley for going to put Black away for good, Lana screams at him to hit a spear on Black. Lashley listens to his on-screen wife and goes for a spear, only to run into a Black Mass. Aleister Black picks up the victory.

There was nothing special or "Wrestlemania worthy" about this match but it was a quality one.  

Match #4: Dolph Ziggler vs Otis

After a long time, WWE has managed to carve up a romantic storyline that is actually enjoyable. Otis and Ziggler have been entertaining us on Smackdown with this storyline. The recent reveal on Smackdown by the unknown "Truth stranger" as I call him (bad name, bear with me!) made this pretty interesting. The match was a decent one too.

Otis showed a bit of aggression on Dolph but the latter tries to wear him down with his skill. We reach the point where Sonya distracts the referee allowing Ziggler to go low on Otis. This leads to Mandy Rose interfering (obviously!) who slaps Sonya and low blows Ziggler when the referee wasn't watching. Otis hits the caterpillar and wins this one. 

Otis and Mandy unite and they share a kiss. I'm sure the crowd would have loved it, had they been there!

I'm interested to see where this one goes from here...

Match #5 Edge vs Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match

This rivalry has been carrying RAW on its shoulders since Royal Rumble. Edge and Orton have dished out a phenomenal feud that would be remembered for ages. And this match was a testimonial to how wonderful storytellers these two performers are.

Orton, disguised as a cameraman, hits an RKO before the match even starts. They then begin brawling in the gym, backstage area, office area and even a storage facility of sorts. They're both aggressive and this was a very physical match. Their supposed on-screen hatred for each other and the personal nature of their rivalry bled into this match and made it worth watching. 

However, there weren't many jaw opening spots during most of the match-up. They were just brawling. But as we reach the end, Edge dived off from a height onto Orton on a table. The latter then DDTed Edge on top of a pickup truck. Then, things got even more riveting as Orton goes for the punt kick but Edge spears him. He goes for another spear but this time, it's countered by an RKO. Orton then goes for the Con-Chair-To on Edge but gets stopped. Edge, then tearfully, with so much emotion in his eyes, hits Con-Chair-To on Randy Orton which earns him the victory.

The final moments were just magic! 

Match #6 Street Profits (c) vs Angel Garza and Austin Theory for RAW Tag Team Championships

Profits get the first bite and get fired up but then the heels manage to gain control. This was a very energetic match from the start to the end. Garza hit a beautiful moonsault that I absolutely loved watching. 

Street Profits secured the victory and retained their titles. But they get beat down by the heels following the match. Vega gets involved too. And in response, guess who shows up? The EST of NXT, Bianca Belair! She makes the save and Street Profits stand tall with Belair on their shoulders.

The crowd would probably have popped big for Belair's entry. We missed that. Hopefully, this is Bianca's debut on the main roster. More importantly, I hope they don't screw her booking like they did with many of the previous NXT call ups because I love Bianca Belair a lot!

Match #7: Sasha Banks vs Bayley (c) vs Naomi vs Lacey Evans vs Tamina in a Fatal 5 way elimination match for Smackdown Women's championship

I wasn't much interested in this anyway. I didn't enjoy Bayley's heel run till now and that made me lose interest in her matches. But I watched this match, hoping to see a rift between Sasha and Bayley.

As the match starts, everyone goes for Tamina but she powers out. She dominates for sometime but everyone joins forces to eliminate her first. Soon after that, Naomi gets eliminated. Banks and Bayley team up on Lacey for sometime and then Lacey manages to put away Banks, following a miscommunication/disagreement between Bayley and Sasha. Lacey and Bayley wrestle and put up a good show before Banks comes back and helps Bayley retain the title.

Bayley celebrates as Sasha looks on, with a questionable expression on her face.  

The subtle drama between Sasha and Bayley along with Lacey's admirable performance makes this match worth watching.

Match #8: John Cena vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt in a Firefly Fun House match

This is probably one of the most unique things that has happened in Wrestlemania history. You can't even call this a match. It was just a pure psychological manipulation of John Cena by Bray Wyatt.

As soon as Cena walks through the door of Firefly fun house, Bray Wyatt takes Cena in a journey into the past where he has to fight with his own demons, with his own former self. We see revisits (or parodies) of John Cena's debut, his Dr. of Thuganomics shtick and so on. In each of them, Cena tries to gain an upper hand but Wyatt simply disappears. Then comes the best part. Wyatt, channeling Eric Bischoff, introduces "Hollywood Hulk Hogan" who turns out to be Cena in NWO shirt playing guitar with the title. (At this point, Vince on commentary goes, "This is such good shit" and that made me laugh my butt off.) Wyatt thus, compares Cena to Hogan who turned into a bad guy when he joined New World Order. Then, we see a revisit of Cena and Wyatt from Wrestlemania 30 and this time Wyatt manages to get Cena to swing at him with a chair, something the latter refused to do six years ago. 

Thus, Cena successfully falls prey to his own demons and swings the chair at Wyatt, hinting a heel turn. At this point, The Fiend appears and squashes John Cena for the victory.

I'm really confused about a lot of things in this match. I don't know if I even understand it completely. Hell, I don't think any of us do. But, the storytelling in this match is way off the charts. Bray Wyatt psychologically manipulated John Cena into fighting his demons and made him lose the fight. That is some kind of psychological mind games I've never seen in WWE in recent memory. 

Although, I wish there had been more wrestling to this, I still appreciate the match. Those who don't understand 'The Fiend' gimmick are hating on this match but a vast majority of hardcore fans are loving this. I'm very eager to see how this goes from here. I'm literally praying John Cena turns heel following this...Please, Vince, make it come true!

Match #9: Drew McIntyre vs Brock Lesnar (c) for WWE Championship

This was a disappointment. This was a bit of a mirror image of Goldberg vs Braun Strowman from the previous night. Brock hits 3 F5s on Drew but couldn't get the job done. McIntyre retaliates with four Claymore kicks and wins this match.

I hate such matches. With Goldberg and Strowman, I didn't care much. Goldberg's career has many matches like that. That's how the guy works! But for Drew and Brock, I expected something better. Remember Brock Lesnar vs Daniel Bryan? Remember Brock vs AJ Styles? That was the type of match I was expecting and instead I was given a Goldberg-esque matchup.

Fine. Atleast, I'm happy we have full time Wrestlers as champions in Drew and Braun! Congratulations to both of them. Again, I wish there had been an audience to make this moment more special for them.

Conclusion

First, I respect the fact that WWE gave us Wrestlemania. They could have postponed it or cancelled it like many sporting events. But they decided to go forward. By doing so, they were taking a risk. A big one. So, I respect their courage to go ahead, do something like this and give the fans a show. Thank You WWE!

And, the show turned out to be pretty good. 

This wasn't one of the best Wrestlemanias ever. It certainly doesn't deserve that honor. But it is definitely the most unique Wrestlemania I've watched. Putting on a show without people, last minute changes to the line-up, cinematic match of AJ-Taker and pyschological exhibition of Cena-Fiend have made this Wrestlemania unique to me.

I agree, some matches could have been better. Some endings could have been better. But the other matches made up for those flaws.