Wrestlemania 31 Review and Reactions

Hello everyone and welcome back to Talk Wrestling World, I hope you are all well! I suspect most of you especially my fellow UK viewers are super tired right now after last night's four hour Wrestlemania spectacular. After months and months of building up, last night saw Wrestlemania thirty on finally go live and what an epic show it was! With a seriously strong card but a weak weak build up, the show could of gone either way but from where I was sitting I had a real good night. But what about you? Today, I'm going to be taking you threw everything that happened last night and in order, starting right from the kick off show! So make sure you have a cuppa and some biscuits beside you, as I awnser some questions including, Did Roman Reigns prove everyone wrong and beat Brock Lesnar to become the new WWE World Heavyweight champion? Did we see Seth Rollins finally cash in the money in the bank briefcase? Did the WWE really give divas a chance and allow the only female match of the night have a solid amount of time? Who won this years Andre the giant memorial battle royal? And plenty plenty more. I will also be mentioning how last night's big show will effect the next couple of months. Later today I will also be uploading my RAW Predictions so make sure to keep an eye out for the link to that on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr (all the links will be bellow to my social media). Before we get into today's blog post I just want to make a thew little reminders. First of all, April will see the start of my TNA Review and reactions and they will be up on either Sunday's or Monday's, let me know what day suits you best, the links to any recent posts will be bellow including all my prediction post from Wrestlemania season. And finally, talking of seasons, I'd love it if you could let me know down in the comments what series you would like next in May, whether it is NXT month again or something completely new that I haven't done yet. Lastly, you can let me know what YOU thought of last nights show and what your predictions are for tonight's RAW by leaving a comment bellow or by tweeting me at @TezangiVictoria. Right, let's get into today's post.

The Wrestlemania kick off show was a nice long two hours and we saw it hosted by the one and only Renee Young. I honestly love the idea of Renee hosting all the kick off shows including Wrestlemania. I know she get's a heck of a lot of hate but she really is amazing at her job and I think she is a seriously good example to women around the world who want to get into sport and the area in particular she works in. Seeing her go from a regular back stage interviewer, to NXT and Superstars commentator, hosting every pay per view kick off show including Wrestlemania. She did a great job once again last night and I really do think that she is going to have an amazing year and hopefully by the end of the year we will be seeing her join at least, the Smackdown commentary team. Anyway, joining Young last night was Booker T, Corey Graves, and Bryon Saxton, together all doing an amazing job. You guys know how much I love Graves and Saxton and they proved exactly why last night. One thing the WWE did do yesterday was every hour before the kick off show they gave updates on what was going on witch I thought was a nice little touch and really did add the feel back to Mania being a seriously important event. There were two matches booked for the kick off show, the first being the fatal four way tag team match for the championships and the second being the Andre the giant memorial battle Royal. Now,  I haven't mentioned this yet but I was really disappointed that the Andre the giant battle royal had been moved to the kick off show. I think with a four hour show the fact they took out a match that was hyped so much last year and placed on the kick off show was really frustrating, but hey, I was still pretty excited for it and I knew now only who I wanted to win but what I wanted to happen. The first match of the two saw Cesaro and Tyson Kidd defend the tag team championships in a fatal four way against The Usos, Los Matadores, and the new day. I have to say that Natalya looked freaking amazing! The live crowd last night were all four Cesaro and Tyson Kidd, throughout the match we had Cesaro chants and they made it clear that he was the man they wanted to see in action, witch I loved. The champs dominated the match very early on and Cesaro made sure he used Jey Usos' injury to he's advantage right at the start of the match.Kofi Kingston and Big E were also really big stand outs throughout the match, witch I was really glad to see. Kofi proved why he is such a great in the WWE and Big E proved to be one to watch and was honestly one of the men I was really watching last night.What I also loved about this match was the heavy involvement of Natalya and Naomi who just really added so much more to this match. We had Naomi going over the top rope, Nattie hitting the sharpshooter to El Torito, it was all just amazing. In the end the champs retained and all round this was a great quality tag team match. It came to a point where you honestly didn't know what time was going to win. It was great seeing two divas, two of the best divas in fact, have their Wrestlemania moment and at the same witness a really strong Mania tag team match. A nice Wrestlemania moment for Kidd and Cesaro too. This is how you kick off a show. After that we got a little Q&A with Lita witch was just amazing. I grew up a seriously huge Lita fan and I still am, she will always be my personal all time fave WWE diva and
female wrestler of all time so this was a great moment for me. I also really liked how much Lita answering questions on the divas match of the night added so much more to the actual match and the divas division. We then had the battle royal and I had three names in mind to win, Sandow, Rowan, and Hideo Itami, well they were my personal faves. In the end the big show ended up winning witch pissed off the entire WWE universe. I was honestly so mad last night I could of smashed something. I really don't understand why the WWE continue to push a man who's career is almost over. What I'm taking away from this battle royal is Sandows mania moment and the fact he finally turnt on the Miz. I will admit that apart of me does feel it makes serious sense for the big show to win and kind of cements and completes he's run in the WWE, I just can't help feeling that this win should of gone to a younger star to put them over and start at a new era.

Opening the show was a performance from Aloe Blacc. I'll be honest I don't really have a comment on this but it's just what comes with Wrestlemania. The first match of the night was the match I was convinced was going to steal the show, the Intercontinental ladder match witch would see Bad News Barrett defend the championship against Daniel Bryan, Stardust, Luke Harper, Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, and R-truth. I and everyone else had high high expectations for this match, it consisted of some of the best of the best and was truly an all star match. Plus if you look back at Wrestlemania ladder match history, it looks pretty freaking amazing. Very early on it was Ambrose who made himself centre of attention as did Stardust and Harper. Harper doing a suicide dive will never get old in my opinion. The crowd were very split between Ambrose,Bryan, and Ziggler throughout the match and they stayed as the top guys of the match throughout. Stardust played he's role as one of the bigger heels in the match and was strangely extremely barbaric and was a big big stand out. Harper did me very proud also. He maintained a dominate figure throughout and really proved he was at home in this stipulation. One of the best moments of the night was the superplex from the top of the ladder from Barrett to Stardust. When Ambrose was taken out it became all about Bryan and Ziggler and in the end Bryan left the winner. I wasn't angry about it at all. This was an outstanding match but Luke Harper was the stand out of this match for me. I could of watch this go on for an hour or more. It lived up to the expiations one hundred per cent, Great way to kick off the show.


Up next is a match that comes from my current fave feud, Randy Orton VS Seth Rollins. This is a feud months in the making and one that has been built up perfectly so I was all for this match and was most looking forward to it. Seth Rollins was of course accompanied to the ring by J&J Security, while Orton has the entire crowd on he's side. Once again, this was a match with such high expectations and I was really hyping this match up throughout Wrestlemania week.The action in this match was very high very early on and it was next to impossible to take your eyes away from the action. Orton dominated the match in the early stages and proved why he is the face of this business and a true veteran but Rollins did a good job holding he's own and really keeping up with Orton. There was a time in the match Rollins was truly the main focus of the match and took control. J&J security were a really good addition to the match, they added that unpredictability and uncertainty witch I liked a lot. Throughout the match we saw Rollins make himself at home on the top rope witch of course really got the crowd going. I did feel that at times the match fell a little slow but it was all put together really well and I honestly believe we saw the best of them both. After an incredible match it was Orton who won the match after hitting the RKO out of nowhere. Another great match but I do still think it should of been longer.

It was then time for the Icon VS Icon match, the match most people including myself was most looking forward too, Sting VS Triple H. The excitement surrounding this match was just insane. This was two generations just going at it and being a such a huge fan of both Triple H and Sting this was a dream match of mine and I along with the entire WWE universe was so pumped for it. The entrances's alone for this match were just amazing and added a whole new feel to it and I was so glad Triple H used he's original theme. It was Sting who took control and dominated the match very very early on and had the crowd going insane. Watching Sting compete really did give me WCW flashbacks and all the childhood feels came back to me. It did't take time at all for Triple H to turn things around and make things go at he's pace. The turning point was when Sting missed a vital move outside the ring where Hunter moved out of the way, leaving the icon crashing into the barrier. Halfway through the match we saw a surprise appearance from DX witch I'll be honest, made me mark out quite a bit. And then things got even better when the NWO made an appearance and I can officially say I marked the total fuck out! This was all one big child hood flashback and I swear there were tears of happiness in my eyes. The addition of Shawn Michaels was enough to actually make me cry a little. I will admit I hated the fact Triple H won the match, I was one hundred percent rooting for Sting but with a match like that you just cant be mad at all. This was how you put on a Mania match. Seeing all the legends in the ring after and the handshake between Sting and Hunter was just amazing and was a true history defying moment.

Divas action next as the current divas champion Nikki Bella was set to team up with Sister Brie to take on two time divas champion Paige and the longest reigning divas champion of all time, AJ Lee. This match had a great build up and with Give divas a chance still taking over, I was expecting a lot. This is a four hour show, a lengthy, strong divas match is just was I and everyone else was expecting and nothing less. I found it great that Paige has not been on the roster a year yet she got a mania match last night, and she more than deserved it. Paige very quickly went on the attack and took control but Nikki was able to turn things around even quicker and allow things to go her way. Throughout the match the Bella's tried their best to make sure AJ was not able to get tagged in or tag herself in the match and Paige found herself fighting off both Bella's. We saw Nikki take control of most of the match but even when she hit the rack attack on Paige it wasn't enough to take her out. Things really did speed up however when AJ finally managed to get herself in the match, and in the end after locking in the black widow AJ and Paige walked away with the win. This was a much much better divas match. It was a little messy yes, and It wasn't as good as the NXT divas matches but it was a huge improvement I'm glad the girls got their moment at Wrestlemania, it was also nice having the crowd show them so much respect.

Up next was another match I was really looking forward too and another one I spoke really high of throughout the build up. Now, I have said it before and I will say it again, if you would of told me a couple of months back that I would of found the Rusev/John Cena feud one of the best feuds of the year so far, I would of told you you were insane, but the build up and the strong wrestling work from Rusev has just turnt my opinion on the feud completely around. Rusev's entrance last night was very very controversial, it looked great but even I thought it was kind of crossing a line. To be honest, I did feel like it didn't matter who won the actual match, either way it was going to be a great one and the end result will benefit the United States championship. I do think the title got a little lost in the build up but if you scrap everything back this was the first time in a very long time that the title has been made a major deal. In the first stages of the match it was Rusev who took control and dominated but it very quickly became a back and fourth thing when Cena turnt things around. I forgot to mention that it was great seeing Lana back last night also. We heard the crowd  chant for her throughout the match witch  I found pretty funny. Rusev was by far the man of this match. He really did prove himself last night and brought everything he had. Rusev proved he is apart of that top future in the WWE and proved to be a top star in the WWE. This match was so well put together, so well thought, and had so much energy, passion, and story to it that it was almost perfect. The closing moments saw Lana get on the ramp to then be knocked off by Rusev by accident giving him the distraction and allowing Cena to become the new United States champion. Finally, the US championship means something and had credibility. One of my fave matches of the night and a great ending.

We also got a great promo from Stephanie McMahon and Triple H witch would result in an appearance from the Rock causing me to once again mark out. Another thing that made me almost cry with happiness with the addition of Ronda Rousey, who the Rock brought to the ring to well...shut the face of Stephanie McMahon. This for me was probably the moment of the night. Ronda freaking Rousey and the Rock taking out Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, what more could you ask for.

It was then time for the match I had been waiting for all night, Bray Wyatt VS The Undertaker. From the moment these guys came out, I was so tensed and so on the edge of me seat. The first thing that actually came out of my mouth was how good  the Undertaker looked. He looked so so so much better than last year. He was in great shape, he's attire looked great, he's hair looked freaking awesome. Taker dominated the match from the very start with Wyatt getting very little to no offence. The one thing Wyatt did have on he's side was speed and he really did use that to turn things around for him. The crowd were so into the match and everyone online gave a great response. The match felt very well put together and the tensions were so high. You just didn't know what was going to happen next and I loved that. I really liked how split the match was also, it wasn't one sided or anything and

even though I did feel like the match should of been longer and could of been better it was well done and I was glad to see Taker get the win. I do worry however about what is next for Wyatt.

Finally, it was time for the big one, the main event, Brock Lesnar was set to defend the WWE World Heavyweight championship against one of the most controversial superstars in the WWE, Roman Reigns. You guys all know that I wasn't really looking forward to this match at all but thanks to Paul Heyman, I was looking much more forward to it then I was a month ago. The live crowd did not go easy on Reigns at all last night and I have to admit I did feel a little bad for him. At the end of the day, he is doing what he loves to do, he's doing what puts food on the plates of he's family, and to be fair it's not he's fault he is being pushed so early on he's career, it's not he'y fault he is being pushed when he's not ready, its all down to Vince and creative. The start of this match was one hundred per cent Brock Lesnar. He dominated this match in typical Lesnar style. Literally Reigns had next to no offence at all. The longer the match went on, the better it got and I did really get into it. Then out of nowhere Reigns manage to get back on top of things but just as he was closing in on the win Seth Rollins came out with the money in the bank briefcase and cashed in! Literally the best moment of my life and the biggest mark out moment of the night from me. Rollins becoming the new WWE World Heavyweight champion was the best moment of the night.In my opinion, Rollins had the best cash in in history.

All round I thought this was an amazing Wrestlemania, on of the best in history even. It was well put together, great matches, strong booking, amazing crowd, and a nice shock ending. A good four hour pure wrestling and entertainment product. Well done WWE.