WWE WrestleMania 36: Part 1 Review - April 4, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Kickoff Show: Cesaro def. Drew Gulak

I'm glad these guys got a WrestleMania match (if you can even call it that), but they went on to appear again later in the night during the Daniel Bryan vs. Sami Zayn. Thus, I would've given this spot to some other Superstars who weren't a part of the pay-per-view at all (Sheamus, Jeff Hardy, The Viking Raiders, Humberto Carrillo, etc). Nitpicking aside, this was a solid, hard-hitting affair for the four minutes it lasted. Needless to say, it would have been better with more time, but they maximized their minutes and gave fans a small taste of what they're truly capable of.

Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross def. The Kabuki Warriors to Win the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship

The WWE Women's Tag Team Championship have meant next to nothing over the last year. Although it was hard to care about the idea of the titles changing hands here, it was a perfectly fine match and the ladies worked hard. Kabuki Warriors could have had a much more memorable reign if there wasn't just three or four teams in the division. Bliss and Cross have been champions before, but I have no idea where you go with them or the titles from here.

Elias def. King Corbin

I had very low expectations for this outing coming into the event, and unsurprisingly, it wasn't very exciting at all. Despite being nearly murdered by Corbin recently on SmackDown, Elias evened the playing field by blasting him with his guitar beforehand. It lasted way longer than it needed to and everything in the middle bored me to tears. I realize Corbin retired Kurt Angle one year ago at WrestleMania, but I feel his character can lose matches like this and not be harmed it. Plus, Elias deserved the WrestleMania moment after being embarrassed by John Cena for the last two years.

Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch def. Shayna Baszler

This was a very good match with my only nitpick being the finish, which felt way too abrupt. They were just building steam before Lynch pinned Baszler. While I picked Baszler to win the title, I have no issue with Lynch retaining, assuming Baszler beats her decisively next time. I maintain that Lynch is better in chase mode, but we'll see what they have in mind for the rest of the rivalry. In case you forgot, Baszler lost her first opportunity at the NXT Women's Championship in 2018 and went on to become one of the best NXT Women's Champions of all-time later that year, so I hardly think this loss does much damage.

Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn def. Daniel bryan

If you came into this show expecting a mat classic between Bryan and Zayn, you were probably left disappointed. However, that isn't Zayn's character right now. He's been the pest heel for so long that it was more about Bryan attempting to get his hands on him, so I thought they told that story well and had a nice match. By the way, along with Chris Jericho, I think a case can be made for Bryan being one of the selfless performers in wrestling history. There was no rush in getting the belt onto Bryan (which is inevitable), so keeping him in chase mode a little longer is fine by me.

SmackDown Tag Team Champion John Morrison def. Kofi Kingston and Jimmy Uso in a Triple Threat Ladder Match

The SmackDown Tag Team Championship was on the line here despite only one member of each team taking part. The contest had to be changed to a standard Triple Threat due The Miz not being cleared to compete, which is a shame because the Triple Threat tag team match that was originally advertised could have been a banger. That said, these three put forth a hell of an effort and had a terrific Ladder matchup. It was weird without a crowd chanting "This is awesome!", of course, but they went all out anyway and it felt WrestleMania-worthy to me. The finish was wonky, but I'm glad Miz and Morrison are still the SmackDown Tag Team Champions. They're just getting started.

Kevin Owens def. Seth Rollins in a No Disqualification Match

These two had had a strong feud this year and have always had fantastic chemistry, so I wasn't surprised that this was as entertaining as it was. It told a simple yet engaging story and was going great until the dumb disqualification. Sure, they restarted it as a No Disqualification match, but that completely killed the flow. Thankfully, they picked the pace back up and delivered a hot closing stretch. Owens' huge leap off the set was terrific and him winning was the right call. This was my favorite matchup of the night up to this point in the pay-per-view.

Braun Strowman def. Goldberg to Win the Universal Championship

For those wondering, no, why Strowman replaced Roman Reigns, what he did to deserve the shot and why Reigns wasn't there was never explained. WWE made the change during a quick graphic 24 hours earlier on SmackDown. I realize they were put in a precarious position, but that's inexcusable. The match we got instead between Strowman and Goldberg was almost exactly what I expected it to be with both men hitting their finisher multiple times. I realize Goldberg is a part-timer and was never supposed to leave WrestleMania as champion, but the real story is with him and Reigns, not Strowman. Speaking of Strowman, I'd classify him as damaged goods at this point after all the bad booking he's endured over the years. Reigns will win the title eventually, making Strowman a transitional champion (much like when he held the Intercontinental Championship for a month). Congrats to Strowman for finally winning the big one, but it doesn't mean nearly as much as it would have two or three years ago.

The Undertaker def. AJ Styles in a Boneyard Match​

The reaction to this match has been polarizing from what I've seen so far online, but personally, I enjoyed the hell out of it and thought it was a cinematic masterpiece, much like Matt Hardy's Final/Ultimate Deletion matches a few years ago. It was filmed like a movie, and because we don't see that a ton in wrestling, it was unique and had my attention the entire time. Most importantly, it was amazing to have the American Badass incarnation of Undertaker back for the first time in over 16 years. I don't think this would have worked as well if he was The Deadman. Both guys did what they could to make it as epic as possible, and while I absolutely understand the criticisms that it was cheesy or cringe-worthy, I thought their acting was actually excellent and was the perfect way to end the evening. Styles can easily bounce back from the loss, and if nothing else, he can forever say he headlined a WrestleMania.

Overall Show

The Pirates of the Caribbean-inspired opening video package was a blast and I appreciated that Rob Gronkowski's presence on the pay-per-view was kept to a minimum. There were plenty of questions as far as how WrestleMania would be handled pre-taped with no crowd. All things considered, I thought they produced a pretty fun first night. Not everything was perfect, mind you, and there were a few questionable booking decisions, but they made the most of an unfortunate situation and nothing was egregiously terrible. Strowman winning the Universal title was an odd move, but we'll see what the followup is. The main event, as I just got done writing about, exceeded all my expectations and was the highlight of the night for me. There was enough quality stuff on the undercard to make it worthwhile and leave me looking forward to Night 2. I have never been happier to have a three-hour WWE pay-per-view in my life.