Let's start with a quick review of NXT Orlando which took place the night before. The eight person tag match between Sanity and Team Perfect 10 was a great choice for an opener. It was fast paced and never let up. Ohno was obviously the fourth person on Tye's team and was far better in this role than No Way Jose. After his awesome "Fade to Black" promos, the former Tommy End delivered against Almas (who is seriously underrated). The three way tag match was the match of the weekend, just straight up awesome. I would question the booking of having DIY being eliminated first but maybe it was more of a send off for the Revival. I had high expectations for the Women's match and considering we've only seen Ember Moon in short matches, I feared it wouldn't live up. I was glad to be disappointed. Ember showed that she can hang with Asuka. I'm surprised Asuka retained but the dusty finish is the right call to set up a rematch. I do fear what the women's division will become when Asuka inevitably gets called up. The main event was good, not great but the crowd helped make it a main event style bout. I've never been impressed by Roode but he did good here. Overall, as normal a great show to watch. All matches above average which is what you expect from a TakeOver.
Onto the WrestleMania Pre-show. I expected Aries to go over but Neville cheating to win (like Asuka the previous day) opens up to a rematch. Neville has been great since returning and is the main reason why 205 Live is still interesting. The Battle Royal was a disappointment. Who the hell booked Braun to go out early and Jinder to be in the final two. I guess it makes sense for the celebrity involvement but I just don't understand how someone as awesome as Sami Zayn made it in here. I would have had Sami, Braun and Dolph as the final three. The IC title match was okay but nothing special, if it was on the main card they could have done with a hard-core stipulation but this was just the pre-show. I'm sure they'll get a rematch. A bit of a comedown for Dean as his Shield buddies take prominent positions on the card and he's stuck in a match that no one cared for.
Onto the main show. The New Day opened. I don't understand why they are 'hosting' and not in a match. Plus, I can't look at Xavier Woods in the same way anymore. AJ versus Shane was a blast and had the benefit for a very hot crowd. Props to AJ who could wrestle air and make it entertaining. He deserved better. It's not like he's a young guy with plenty of Mania's ahead of him. Also credit to Shane, not only did he pull out his insane stunts but he also looked like Zack Sabre Jr with his submission work and busted out a freaking SSP. Probably match of the night. Jericho and Owens went out next and put in a great match. Owens' finger on the bottom rope continues to show why he's one of the best. I bet facing Jericho at Mania meant a lot to Owens and he deserved it. The Raw Women's Four Way felt rushed for time. Considering the awesome match Charlotte, Sasha and Becky put on last year it felt a bit of a let down. The booking leading in wasn't the best either, clearly Bayley should have lost at the Rumble and won the title here.
The only spoiler I read was that the Hardys were back because WWE sent an email about it. Damn it. But it didn't stop me marking out when they came out. They were possibly my second favourite thing about wrestling when I first started wrestling (after the Rock) so it took me back to my childhood to see them hitting the Poetry in Motion and Twists of Fate. I've also seen their recent work for ROH including a contender for match of the weekend 24 hours prior to WrestleMania against the Young Bucks in a ladder match. Jeff did his silly dive like it's 1999 again and Matt got the belts to win. Strange they are doing the delete taunt but not the Broken gimmick. The mixed tag match was fine for what it was. Without the Miz it would have sucked but it worked in a kind of retro way.
I though Seth versus Hunter was a great match. The crowd didn't seem to agree but they may have been tired by this point. I read another review which I agree with which said if you watched the match on mute it may have been match of the night. After his sucky match last year, it showed Triple H can still go if he has the right opponent. Despite a long and interesting build, Orton versus Wyatt always felt like an afterthought. Both can put on great matches but probably need the right opponents, together it didn't quite work. Luckily, they had the projections onto the canvas of worms and other creepy crawlies which kind of saved this match. I'm sure they could have come up with a better finish but it was kept short so it's fine. Lesnar versus Goldberg must be the best under five minute match ever. Just pretty perfect. You have got to question bringing in Goldberg and leaving him squash the monster and win the title when he can't last more than 5 minutes in the match due to his age but nevertheless, the match rocked. Brock is a beast again and hopefully Goldberg is done. The Smackdown Women had to follow, it was fast a little sloppy and over pretty quickly. Did not care about Naomi. Yeah, it's a decent story that she had to give up the title and come back to win it in her hometown but I couldn't care less. After all this Women's Revolution talk, both women's matches were just thrown together multi-women matches that felt rushed.
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I'm always going to love Mania even if it sucks (see last year) because all of the pomp and ceremony but this one was everything you'd want in a WrestleMania.
On other WrestleMania Weekend shows, Evolve's highlight was Ricochet versus Keith Lee. Whilst from what I saw from Supercard of Honor, the ladder main event between the Hardy's and the Young Bucks killed it. I still need to watch Mercury Rising and hopefully the Progress event but overall, what a weekend for wrestling.
