Today’s the day. WrestleMania 36 has finally arrived and with that, our final WrestleMania Rewind is here…WrestleMania 35.
If you’ve missed any of the past reviews, you can check them out, below!
Let’s get into WrestleMania 35…
Location – MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey
Date – April 7th, 2019
Attendance – 82,265
- Cruiserweight Championship – Tony Nese defeats Buddy Murphy (C)
Headline – This was an awesome match between 2 fantastic in-ring workers and Nese would become the new Cruiserweight Champion after hitting Murphy with the “Running Kneese”.
Rating – 3.5 out of 5
- Women’s WrestleMania Battle Royal – Carmella defeats Asuka, Candice LeRae, Dana Brooke, Ember Moon, Kairi Sane, Lana, Liv Morgan, Mandy Rose, Maria Kanellis, Mickie James, Naomi, Nikki Cross, Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan, Sonya Deville and Zelina Vega
Headline – Much like the year prior, when Bayley thought she’d won the match but Naomi (who was close to being eliminated, but wasn’t) came in the ring and threw her out, this time, Sarah Logan eliminated Asuka and celebrated but Carmella came in and tossed her out to win the match.
Rating – 2.5 out of 5
*Skip to 45 minutes to watch the match*
- Raw Tag-Team Championships – Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins defeat The Revival (C)
Headline – Hawkins would fake like he was knocked out to confuse Scott Dawson and roll him up for the win, gain the titles and end his 269-match losing streak.
Rating – 2.5 out of 5
*Skip to 1 hour, 14 minutes to watch the match*
- Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal – Braun Strowman defeats Ali, Andrade, Apollo Crews, Bo Dallas, Bobby Roode, Chad Gable, Colin Jost, Curtis Axel, EC3, Gran Metalik, Harper, Heath Slater, Jeff Hardy, Jinder Mahal, Kalisto, Karl Anderson, Konnor, Lince Dorado, Luke Gallows, Matt Hardy, Michael Che, No Way Jose, Otis, Rhyno, Shelton Benjamin, Titus O’Neil, Tucker, Tyler Breeze and Viktor
Headline – Strowman eliminated about 100 people and won the match. Probably the world Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal to date.
Rating – 1.5 out of 5
*Skip to 1 hour, 40 minutes to watch the match*
- WWE Championship – Seth Rollins defeats Brock Lesnar (C) (with Paul Heyman)
Headline – Before the match began, Lesnar would obliterate Rollins on the outside of the ring for several minutes…once the pair were back in the ring and the match officially began, Rollins countered an F-5 attempt from Lesnar and pushed him into the referee. While the referee was down, Rollins hit Lesnar with a low-blow, a super-kick and 3 straight “Curb Stomps” for the 3-count and the win to become the new WWE Champion.
Rating – 3 out of 5
- Singles Match – AJ Styles defeats Randy Orton
Headline – A great match between 2 of the very best in the business. Styles would win with the “Phenomenal Fore-arm”.
- Fatal-Four-Way Tag-Team Match, SmackDown Tag-Team Championships – The Usos (Jimmy and Jey) (C) defeat Aleister Black & Ricochet, Cesaro & Sheamus and Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura
Headline – This was a very entertaining match between 8 of the best workers in the company and The Usos would retain after both Uso brothers would hit simultaneous “Super-fly Splashes” on Cesaro and got the 3-count.
Rating – 3.5 out of 5
- Falls Count Anywhere – Shane McMahon defeats The Miz
Headline – This match wasn’t the greatest but had a funny spot where Miz’s dad got into the ring and Shane attacked him. The match would end with both men falling off of a platform and Shane accidentally landed on top of Miz to get the 3-count.
Rating – 2 out of 5
- Fatal-4-Way Tag-Team Match, Women’s Tag-Team Championships – The Iconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce) defeat Bayley & Sasha Banks (C), Beth Phoenix & Natalya and Nia Jax & Tamina
Headline – Earlier in the year, Sasha Banks and Bayley would become the first-ever WWE Women’s Tag-Team Champions after defeating 5 other teams in an Elimination Chamber. However, in this match, The Iconics would become champions after Beth Phoenix nailed Bayley with “The Glam Slam” off of the top rope and Billie Kay would tag the back of Pheonix while Peyton Royce tossed Phoenix out of the ring and Royce would pin Bayley for the win.
Rating – 2 out of 5
- WWE Championship – Kofi Kingston (with Big E and Xavier Woods) defeats Daniel Bryan (C) (with Erick Rowan)
Headline – What an unbelievable match and WrestleMania moment. This was Kofi’s first singles match for the WWE Championship in his 11-year WWE tenure and it would culminate in the ultimate WrestleMania moment when he would hit Bryan with “The Trouble in Paradise” and get the 3-count and claiming his first WWE Championship. After the match, Kofi would celebrate with his “New Day” brethren, his wife and 2 sons.
Rating – 4.3 out of 5
- United States Championship – Samoa Joe (C) defeats Rey Mysterio
Headline – Samoa Joe would choke Mysterio unconscious in under 1-minute to retain his title. It was rumored that Mysterio had some nagging injuries but didn’t want to miss WrestleMania, so out of respect for Mysterio, WWE kept him in the match but needed a way to not have him take any bumps and lose quickly, so he could get out of there.
Rating – 1 out of 5
- Singles Match – Roman Reigns defeats Drew McIntyre
Headline – This was Reigns’ first WrestleMania since his hiatus due to his cancer coming back, luckily he was and is cancer-free and hope he never has to deal with that again. Reigns would win this one after hitting McIntyre with a “Superman Punch” and a spear.
Rating – 3 out of 5
- No-Holds-Barred Match – Triple H defeats Batista
Headline – This was an extremely personal feud and had the added stipulation that if Triple H lost, he had to retire from in-ring competition. Instead, Triple H would win after nailing Batista with his patented Pedigree finishing move and then Batista would retire from in-ring competition. It’s worth noting that Triple H hasn’t competed in a match, since and doesn’t have a match scheduled for WrestleMania 36.
Rating – 2.5 out of 5
- Singles Match – Baron Corbin defeats Kurt Angle
Headline – Regardless of outcome, Kurt Angle announced that this would be his retirement match and it seemed as if Corbin was the perfect opponent for Angle to beat on his way out. However, Corbin would shock the New Jersey crowd and defeat Angle after hitting him with “The End of Days”. After the match, Angle would thank the fans and say goodbye before leading them in one final, “You Suck” chant.
Rating – 2 out of 5
- Intercontinental Championship – Finn Balor defeats Bobby Lashley (C) (with Lio Rush)
Headline – In a very rushed match, Balor would win the title after hitting Lashley with “The Coup De Grace”.
Rating – 2 out of 5
- Triple-Threat Match, RAW and SmackDown Women’s Championships, Winner Take All – Becky Lynch defeats Ronda Rousey (C) and Charlotte Flair (C)
Headline – This was the first women’s main event in WrestleMania history and quite possibly the biggest Women’s match in WWE history. Becky Lynch would win both belts after rolling up Ronda Rousey for the 3-count. “The Man” movement that swept the entire nation would reach it’s peak and “Becky 2 Belts” was born and entrenched in WWE history forever.
Rating – 3.2 out of 5
WrestleMania 35 Rating – 3.2 out of 5
Summary – WrestleMania 35 had 2 enormously emotional moments in Kofi winning the WWE Championship and Becky Lynch being crowned the “double-champ” and becoming the face of the company. It was a solid show, overall.
Thanks for reading! That’ll do it for my WrestleMania Rewind series and hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did! Follow me on Twitter (@CJ_PSE) for immediate reaction and highlights from WrestleMania 36!
