By Ciaran James@TheCiaranJames
This was a WrestleMania of two halves, the first was dominated by a selection of well booked, wrestling orientated matches with a fitting end result. The second half, which commenced with the long, drawn out John Cena, Elias & Undertaker segment, which dependant on your opinion was a success or failure. From then on, the WrestleMania card fell apart, the matches and or segments didn’t impress and some of the results and conclusions left many with even more questions. I viewed this as an average WrestleMania saved by three of the first half matches, the IC Title Match, Charlotte defeating Asuka/The Streak and Ronda Rousey’s debut in the Mixed Tag Match. What remained couldn’t even come close to how good these matches were, it was as if Triple H booked the first half and Vince booked the second half, it was truly the best and worst of WWE.
Intercontinental Title
The IC Title was contested in arguably the best wrestling match of the evening, Miz, Balor and Rollins have proved over the last six weeks how well they can work together, and they proved it again. I was split between Miz retaining and Rollins being crowned champion, the action was fast and the match flowed nicely. All three men manged to fit in their signature moves which pleased the crowd, who were very accepting of this match. Even though Finn has received plenty of TV time he was the least likely to win, he and fellow cohorts Gallows and Anderson have been criminally wasted in WWE. Seth Rollins who according to all reports has the potential to be one of the very best, should be able to build a great series of matches as IC champ, this will only further rebuild him as one of WWE’s most untapped talents.
SDLive Womens’ Title
This was very good; however, it should have been exceptional, at only just over thirteen minutes the ultra-talented ladies were never given enough time. Opinion will be divided on if allowing Charlotte to end Asuka’s undefeated streak was best for business, but when is the best time to end a streak, without it Asuka’s options are well and truly open. Charlotte looked every inch the superstar, from her entrance to ring work, there is no reason why she cannot main event WrestleMania 35 against Ronda Rousey. Asuka looked good but ultimately, she wasn’t able to fully demonstrate what she can do, with an extra five minutes they could have had the MOTN. The end result was shocking yet acceptable, it now opens up the possibility of Asuka wanting to be on the same brand as Charlotte in her attempts to defeat her.
Ronda Rousey debut/Mixed Tag Match
All eyes were on this match as the former UFC women’s champion Ronda Rousey made her in ring WWE debut, reputation and respect was on the line. With Triple H & Kurt Angle in supporting roles the women took centre stage, Steph played her role beautifully as they built the hot tag for Rousey. Triple H worked his socks off as he made everything Kurt did looked brutal, then when it came down to Rousey he sold and sold again, it was terrific stuff. The audience were fully behind Ronda and she gave them what they paid for, what she did was done well and I think she proved to everyone how good she could be. Stephanie was great, she earned lots of respect and plaudits for her role, she played the cowardly heel to perfection and ending up getting what was coming to her. The result was a win for Rousey and now sets her on course to prove herself against WWE’s best women.
