WrestleMania 33: A final goodbye?

April 2nd, 2016

Location: Orlando, Florida

Venue: Camping World Stadium

Attendance: 75,245

Theme songs: "Greenlight" by Pitbull; "Flame" by Tinashe'

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​For the second time in history, WrestleMania headed to Orlando as the 33rd edition of the flagship show was ready to take the world on “The Ultimate Thrill Ride.”

With possibly the best stage in WrestleMania history set up and ready to go, fans were in for a long ride that included an ending that nobody was prepared for.

​Camping World Stadium (formerly Citrus Bowl) was once again the venue for the show of shows, but you wouldn’t have known that the stadium went through with the renovations and the biggest ramp WrestleMania ever had.

The New Day was tagged to be the hosts for WrestleMania and revealed the stage a few days before the big day. Those who watched it were instantly impressed.

Tinashe, who provided one of WrestleMania's theme songs, was asked to sing “America the Beautiful” before the show opened. Then, in the opening video package, WWE took fans on a roller coaster ride to remind everybody what they expected in the evening.

Once WrestleMania was underway, The New Day came out to address the crowd and get everybody pumped up, which they had no problem doing.

Ten matches were scheduled for WrestleMania 33, thirteen if you included the three in the pre-show.

Mid-2016, WWE brought back the brand exclusive rosters as the concept faded out of existence around 2010. Raw and SmackDown had their unique storylines leading up to WrestleMania.

The opening match saw a bitter A.J. Styles go up against now Commissioner of SmackDown Live, Shane McMahon. Styles got to the best of McMahon in an incredible opening match and picked up his first victory at WrestleMania.

From Raw, two former best friends went head to head for the United States Championship when Chris Jericho defended his title against Kevin Owens. After 16 minutes, Owens would overcome Jericho and left Orlando as champion.

Although many liked this match, Vince McMahon backstage was frustrated with how the match went and hated every second of it. Not as if there were worse matches later in the show.

Continuing with the red brand, the Raw Women’s Championship was on the line when Bayley defended her title in a fatal four-way elimination match against Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, and Nia Jax.

Jax was quickly the first to be eliminated after her three opponents teamed up on her. Banks went second after she ran into an exposed turnbuckle and pinned by Flair. Bayley honored her idol “Macho Man” Randy Savage and hit a diving elbow drop onto Charlotte to retain her Raw Women’s Championship.

​Real-life couple John Cena and Nikki Bella took on another real-life (married) couple in The Miz and Maryse in mixed tag team action. After Cena and Bella defeated the Mizanins, Cena took advantage of the stage he was on and asked the question a lifetime.

Cena got down on one knee and legitimately proposed to Nikki, who gladly said yes, and the two walked up the long ramp in happiness. Unfortunately, the pair would call off the wedding and split up nearly a year later. So much for that moment.

At the 2016 edition of SummerSlam, with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship becoming SmackDown exclusive, WWE thought it was time to introduce a new world title for Raw and introduced the Universal Championship.

That night, Finn Balor defeated Seth Rollins to become the inaugural champion. However, Finn was forced to vacate it the next night on Monday Night Raw when he suffered a shoulder injury that took him out for nearly a year.

That same night, a fatal four-way elimination match took place between Rollins, Kevin Owens, Big Cass, and Roman Reigns. After Cass was eliminated, Triple H made his first appearance since WrestleMania 32 and helped Rollins eliminate Reigns. Just as Rollins was about to eliminate Owens to become champion, Triple H turned on his former protégé and helped Kevin Owens become the new Universal Champion.

That incident led to a non-sanctioned match at WrestleMania between Rollins and Triple H and nearly didn’t happen. In January, Rollins re-injured the knee that kept him out for six months after Samoa Joe attacked him.

Rollins would be out for another eight weeks but was cleared right on time and went on with his scheduled match against Triple H. The match's conclusion would have Rollins hit Triple H with his Pedigree and picked up the win, gaining revenge for the turn back in August.

The next match from SmackDown had the WWE Championship on the line when Bray Wyatt (who shockingly won the title at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view the month before) took on the 2017 Royal Rumble winner Randy Orton.

I’m going to need to be blunt. This competes with WrestleMania 3’s WWE Championship match as the worst (for the title) in WrestleMania history. Orton and Wyatt tuned out the crowd and put on an odd performance.

Because Wyatt was one to use mind games, images of bugs and rodents began to project onto the ring to try and creep out Orton. It didn’t and instead creeped out everybody who was watching. Orton would top Wyatt to win his ninth WWE Championship.

Thanks to the brand split and the Women’s Championship staying on Raw, SmackDown introduced its own title for the women. At WrestleMania, Alexa Bliss defended her title in a six-pack challenge. Orlando native Naomi would catch Bliss and put the champ in her Slay-o-mission submission to become SmackDown Women's Champion.

That being said, let’s look at the three things that stood out to me from WrestleMania 33.

Welcome home

​At WrestleMania, the Raw Tag Team Championship was defended in a triple threat ladder match that saw Enzo Amore and Big Cass against The Bar (Sheamus and Cesaro) and Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows (who entered as champions).

Just as the match was about to start, the New Day interrupted, let everybody know that a fourth team would be added into the ladder match in a last-minute decision. The three teams in the ring erupted in anger when they were informed the match was now a fatal four-way.

New Day teased the crowd and took small steps to the ramp's edge, giving everybody the impression that they were adding themselves to the match.

That’s when music that hadn’t been heard in years blasted into Camping World Stadium, and everybody would lose their voices.

​Matt and Jeff Hardy made their massive return to WWE. Making their first appearance in eight years, the Hardy Boyz came jogging down the ramp to the biggest ovation of the night. The two men who helped innovate the ladder match reminded their opponents why they were known to excel in this type of match.

As the match neared its conclusion, Jeff stood on top of a tall ladder and hit his Swanton Bomb onto Sheamus and Cesaro, lying down on ladders outside the ring.

As that happened, Matt was all alone in the ring and retrieved the titles to become champion. A homecoming for the ages provided what was probably the best moment of the night. The Hardy Boyz were once again on top of the tag team division.

Redemption at WrestleMania

In 2004 at WrestleMania 20 in Madison Square Garden, Goldberg and Brock Lesnar were booed out of the building after fans were made aware it was their final night in WWE after a mediocre performance.

12 years later, Goldberg was on Sportscenter when he announced that he was ready to return to WWE to try and redeem himself from his first run between 2003-2004. When asked who he would want to face, Goldberg said Brock Lesnar's name to show that he still had his number.

Lesnar agreed, and Goldberg made his return to WWE, and the two would meet at Survivor Series in Toronto (which I’m happy to say I was there for the evening).

However, fans were reminded of their terrible encounter in 2004 and expected the same thing this time around.

Only, it wasn’t the case. In a stunning 1:26, Goldberg defeated Lesnar to a stunned crowd inside the Air Canada Centre (I lost it). The man who ended The Undertaker’s perfect WrestleMania record and beat John Cena in minutes was slain by a man who hadn’t wrestled in over a decade.

Everybody was stunned, and everybody wanted more.

At the 2017 Royal Rumble in San Antonio, Lesnar entered the Royal Rumble match at 26 and threw out three men in the process. Two entrants later, Goldberg entered his second Royal Rumble as the world was ready to see what happened between Lesnar and Goldberg. The former would gain revenge from his Survivor Series loss, right?

Wrong. Goldberg again took care of Lesnar and eliminated him from the Rumble match. Lesnar couldn’t figure out Goldberg and wanted that opportunity to take down his arch-nemesis.

The next night on Raw, Lesnar and his advocate Paul Heyman wanted one more shot, which would happen at WrestleMania. Goldberg agreed, and the WrestleMania 20 rematch was confirmed.

However, Goldberg wanted to accomplish more and challenged Kevin Owens for his Universal Championship. At the FastLane pay-per-view, Goldberg defeated Owens after Jericho distracted his former best friend to set up their match at WrestleMania.

Goldberg was a world champion again, and his match with Lesnar was suddenly for Raw’s biggest prize.

Jumping ahead to Orlando and, believe it or not (in my opinion), Goldberg and Lesnar put on the best match of the night. If you watched the match, you’d think it’s weird knowing it only lasted four minutes and forty-five seconds. The phrase “quality over quantity” could be applied here, and in their short match, the two kept it highly entertaining.

Both fired their signature moves on each other and wonderfully went back-and-forth, showing chemistry that wasn’t there in 2004.

Lesnar would gain the final bit of momentum when he hit Goldberg with his F-5 and became the new Universal Championship.

Their dark memory of WrestleMania 20 was erased and put on a classic in Orlando.

"This is my yard now"

​Roman Reigns left Texas last year with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship to the ire of fans who didn’t like the fact he was champion.

Over the year, he would feud with Rollins for the title and lose it to him before Ambrose cashed in his Money in the Bank Contract.

Roman would stay involved in the title scene but couldn’t find another chance to claim the gold. He came close to winning his second Royal Rumble but was last eliminated by Orton to miss out on a championship opportunity at WrestleMania.

Moments before his elimination, The Undertaker entered the Rumble at number 29, looking to relive his glory days.

However, Reigns crushed that dream and eliminated The Undertaker, which frustrated him and had his eyes set on “The Big Dog.”

Reigns barked to Undertaker upon the elimination, saying, “This is my yard,” something that ‘Taker has said for nearly his entire career.

A few months later, the two met again and made their match in Orlando official.

In a decision that made no sense in terms of the build-up to WrestleMania, Roman Reigns and The Undertaker would close the show, upsetting everybody and continuing the frustration of Reigns getting the top spot.

With the decision to have Roman and ‘Taker close the show, most fans were frustrated and concluded that Reigns would be winning the match. After all, with WWE pushing Reigns heavy, why would he lose? Especially knowing it was his third consecutive main event.

Jim Ross returned to the commentary booth to call the match with Michael Cole and Jerry “The King” Lawler.

Their encounter would be changed to a No Holds Barred match in a last-minute decision to try and attract some interest with the crowd.

The match began, and the stipulation was taken advantage of with Undertaker chokeslamming Reigns through a table and Reigns using chairs to weaken his opponent. Midway through the match, Reigns would hit Undertaker with two of his spears and still could not pin the Deadman.

As Undertaker attempted to sit up like he usually does in matches, he immediately went back down to the mat, and Reigns would finish the job.

Reigns began running the ropes to gain momentum and hit him with a third spear as he dragged The Undertaker up. It would be the final blow as the referee hit three for the pinfall, and Roman Reigns would become the second person to defeat The Undertaker at WrestleMania.

Reigns quickly left the ring, stood at the ramp for concluding fireworks, but it wouldn’t be the last thing we see before the broadcast ended.

Undertaker put on his robe and hat and stood in the middle of the ring with his purple light illuminating on him. In Camping World Stadium, fans gave Undertaker a standing ovation as he looked at the crowd with a sad face.

In the eight-minute video below, Undertaker would leave his gloves, hat, and robe in the middle of the ring, break character as he kissed his wife Michelle McCool, and walk up the ramp with his back turned to the crowd.

He raised his fist in the air for what felt like the final time and descended the ramp, which was his entrance point for the night, and the closing image of WrestleMania 33 would hear his gong and all the lights in the stadium would shut off.

Final thoughts

​So, that was an interesting WrestleMania.

Once again, the show's timing affected it badly as the main card reached five hours. Like the previous year, I was once again tired by the time midnight (EST) came around when the show ended. However, this time around, I was glued to my screen with what was unfolding with The Undertaker.

When he began to take off his gear, we immediately thought that he was beginning his retirement. With how fragile Undertaker was getting over the years, it was something we knew would happen eventually. The way that it was done hit you hard for a long time and suddenly flashed back to all his best moments in his career.

As for Roman Reigns? That poor man who was doing his job and getting pushed by WWE would be booed for eternity. Yes, I think that Roman can be better in the ring and on the microphone, and I wonder what WWE sees in him.

Would I have personally put Reigns in that situation? Let alone make his match the main event? Probably not.

I thought the Hardy Boyz return was done to perfection. The surprise was so genuine; it’s hard to get such a natural reaction like that again without the internet taking over and ruining those moments to be an insider.

Yes, the rumors ran wild for the Hardy Boyz but kept the secret long enough for Matt and Jeff to sneak into Camping World Stadium just after the show started and enter the tag team ladder match.

In conclusion, the event wasn’t spectacular but could have been much better for those in attendance.

The following year would take us back to The Big Easy, and once again, WWE wanted to run the “Roman Experiment” one more time.

Until they realized a certain beast could keep pushing through.

Results:

- A.J. Styles def. Shane McMahon

- Kevin Owens def. Chris Jericho (c) - United States Championship

- Bayley (c) def. Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, and Nia Jax - Fatal-four-way elimination match for Raw Women's Championship

- The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff) def. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson (c), The Bar (Sheamus and Cesaro), and Enzo Amore and Big Cass - Fatal-four-way ladder match for the Raw Tag Team Championship

​- John Cena and Nikki Bella def. The Miz and Maryse

- Seth Rollins def. Triple H - Non-sanctioned match

- Randy Orton def. Bray Wyatt (c) - WWE Championship

- Brock Lesnar def. Goldberg (c) - Universal Championship

- Naomi def. Alexa Bliss (c), Becky Lynch, Carmella, Natalya, and Mickie James (via submission) - Six-pack challenge for SmackDown Women's Championship

- Roman Reigns def. The Undertaker - No Holds Barred match

Rating: C-

Thanks for reading. Look out for the final article tomorrow when I take a look at WrestleMania 34.

2 days away until WrestleMania 35.