Original Airdate: Sunday, April 5th, 2020
WWE Performance Center
Orlando, Florida
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Stephanie McMahon is here to remind us that they did this on a closed set.
Gronk is here and he is much quicker here than last night. I hope they didn't have to pay too much for him to appear.
NXT Women's Championship Match
Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley
This was a much better choice for the opener than last night in my opinion. We get a lot of trash talking to start things off. Charlotte gets some chops. However, when Charlotte goes for her handstand in the corner, Ripley greets her with a kick. Ripley hits the Rip Tide, but Charlotte kicks out. Ripley throws Charlotte through the ropes to the floor, but Charlotte retaliates with a thrust to the throat. Ripley quickly recovers and hits a somersault off the apron. Back in the ring and Ripley has her in a body scissors. They are doing their best here with making this match intense. Charlotte avoids a boot from Ripley and then pulls her leg on the top rope. Charlotte is now on full attack mode on Ripley's left knee. Ripley is able to pull her leg back, which causes Charlotte to ram into the ring post. Charlotte is back in though and hits her with a chop block. Ripley is able to pick up Charlotte and dump her face first. Both women are up and hitting each other with some stiff shots. Ripley gets a few knees to the face on Charlotte and then hits her with a kick to the back of the head. She follows that up with a dropkick while Charlotte is on her knees. Ripley leaps over to the apron, but Charlotte kicks her leg and she falls to the floor. Charlotte goes up top, but Ripley is able to kick her in head. Ripley drops her face first out of the electric chair position, but again Charlotte is able to kick out. Ripley hits a missile dropkick and Charlotte kicks out again. Charlotte again takes out her knee. Ripley battles back and gets her in a standing Texas Cloverleaf. Charlotte eventually is able to roll out of it and boots Ripley in the face. Charlotte goes for the Figure Four, but Ripley kicks out of it. Charlotte rolls into a pin, but Ripley kicks out. Charlotte puts on the Boston Crab. Ripley rolls it into a pin and we get a series of quick pins, but still no winner. Ripley is able to get in a boot to the face and again gets a 2 count. They are both up on the second turnbuckle and Charlotte is able to counter a superplex and dumps Ripley face first. Charlotte goes for a moonsault, but Ripley gets a boot up. Charlotte bounces back up and hits a spear, but Ripley is able to kick out. Charlotte gets the Figure Four slapped on and turns it into a Figure Eight and Ripley taps. I have to say, I didn't expect that. These two got plenty of time and delivered a really good match here. This was very stiff looking and despite being defeated, it made Ripley look to be on the same level as Charlotte. I'm not really sure where they'll go with Charlotte as the NXT Champion, but she has a ton of fresh matchups on that roster that would really help put them on casual WWE fans radar. Good opener.
Match Rating: ***3/4 (out of 5)
Aleister Black vs. Bobby Lashley
This match is so random, it feels like something that would have been on WrestleMania VI. I can't believe that Black doesn't something better to do here at WrestleMania. Black lands on his feet after missing a moonsault to the floor, but Lashley then hits a belly-to-belly suplex with a release. Remember Rusev? Lashley continues the assault and hits a neckbreaker. Lashley is actually looking pretty good here. Maybe he's so used to no crowd reaction that an empty building doesn't phase him? Black again goes to the air and misses and Lashley hits a big body slam. Black is able to get in a little bit of offense, but again Lashley is able to take control. Lana instructs Lashley to go for a spear and Black hits him with Black Mass and that is all. Based on the booking I have seen for Black, they are all in on him getting limited offense and putting over Black Mass. That wasn't bad for what it was.
Match Rating: **1/4
Sasha Banks and Bayley are backstage. Bayley says that tonight is the most unfair match in WrestleMania history. Bayley ends the interview early, but Banks tells us we'll have to watch and see what happens.
Gronk says that he wants to win the 24/7 title. Money well spent here, WWE.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Otis
I guess I'm the one person on the planet who would rather watch this match than the Boneyard Match. Dolph avoids a charging Otis and he is able to hit a superkick. Dolph hits a really nice looking dropkick. I know everyone loves to hate on Dolph, but I still enjoy his work and this angle is right in his wheelhouse. JBL shouting about fake news makes me want to vomit. Otis finally gets some offense in and hits Dolph with a slingshot. He gets a couple of clotheslines and a body slam. Otis dumps Dolph over his head and to the floor. Otis goes for the Caterpillar, but Sonya distracts the ref and Dolph hits a low blow. Out comes Mandy Rose and she slaps Sonya and then goes to Dolph and hits him with a low blow. Otis is back up and does the Caterpillar and the elbow. Otis pulls it off and gets to celebrate with Mandy Rose. The match was a typical TV match with the outcome we were all expecting. Otis works better as a tag team wrestler and also in front of a live crowd, but I'm glad to see him get a little bit of a spotlight here.
Match Rating: *3/4
Last Man Standing Match
Edge vs. Randy Orton
Orton is dressed as a camera man and slips in the ring and hits a RKO. Edge is instructed by the ref that he has to get to his feet for the match to start. He does and Orton hits a second RKO. Edge is able to get up around the 8 count. Orton grabs the camera and hits Edge in the head, causing him to go over the barricade. Orton continues his assault through the makeshift backstage area and into the gym. Orton ties Edge up in some of the equipment. Orton's methodical style gets the best of him and it allows Edge to make a comeback. Edge's Last Man Standing match with John Cena at Backlash is one of the better examples of this type of match that I can think of. Edge sits Orton down on a chair and he launches himself from a pull up bar onto Orton. Orton grabs some metal equipment and tries to drive it into Edge on the floor, but Edge is able to move. Edge slams Orton into a crate and they then move through the TV production area. Edge slams Orton a few times into an overhead door and then throws him back in the arena portion by where the spotlights are. Edge then throws him off there into the barricade. Edge barely gets up at the 9 count there. They go backstage again and Orton slams Edge into the wall. Edge throws Orton onto the conference table, climbs the fence that hangs over it and drops himself onto Orton with an elbow. They are trying their best to work with the unique environment, but it's pretty obvious this building isn't exactly the best place for this match to happen. They are now in the warehouse storage facility after knocking over one of the camera men. Orton continues with his maniacal offense until Edge is able to throw a sandbag at him. The constant changing of camera angles here is nauseating. Edge now climbs up a ladder and to the top shelf and hits an elbow drop driving Orton through a table. Both men get up at 8. I did not expect this one to go quite this long. Orton slams Edge into a pickup truck and Edge again barely gets up in time. They now go up to the top of the truck and Orton hits a draping DDT onto the truck bed cover. They both beat the count and Edge climbs some crates to get to the top of the NXT production semi truck. Orton meets him up there. Orton goes for the punt, but Edge hits him with a spear instead. They both beat the count. Edge goes for another spear, but Orton hits the RKO instead. Orton heads back down and Edge barely makes it up and then falls back down, but it's enough to break the count. Orton grabs two chairs and brings them up to the top and uses them on the back of Edge. Orton sets up Edge for a one man conchairto and tells him this is it for Edge. Edge catches him with a sleeper type submission hold and Orton is out cold on the chair. Edge stops the count for Orton, who is still not moving. Edge is fighting back tears and after a long pause decides to hit Orton in the head and that is all. That was a loooooong match for there to be no crowd for. This had some of the over the top stuff that I didn't love in the Boneyard Match, but it also had much more believable performances. However, Orton's offense is just too boring when he works at this pace and they could have easily shaved 15 minutes off here and had the same impact. I was pretty excited for this, but I think their ambition got the best of them here.
Match Rating: **
We get some more 24/7 shenanigans and I'm pretty sure this is more people than are supposed to be in a building at once for something that is non-essential. Gronk leaps off his little balcony area and takes out all of them and wins the 24/7 title. He runs out of the building and into the parking lot.
Raw Tag Team Championship Match
Austin Theory & Angel Garza vs. The Street Profits
Good for Theory here, but talk about a thrown together team. This could easily be a match on Main Event to most casual fans. Dawkins is thrown over the top rope and Garza hits him on the outside with a superkick. Garza is really good, let's hope they don't lose interest in him. Garza rips off his pants and hits a big dropkick for a 2 count. Theory hits a roll through somersault dropkick. Dawkins avoids some of Garza's offense and makes a leaping tag to Ford. Ford hits a standing moonsault and a DDT. Ford goes over the top and hits both Dawkins and Theory. Garza hits a moonsault onto both members of the Street Profits. Theory hits a TKO, but Ford hits a frog splash and that allows Dawkins to get the victory. After the match Garza attacks Ford with the help of Theory. Zelina Vega joins in. Bianca Belair comes in and takes out Vega. The Street Profits clear the ring and Belair hits the KOD. It's good to see Belair get a little shine here. The match was good as you would expect and the lack of build doesn't hurt it as much with an empty arena.
Match Rating: ***
Titus O'Neil is now here to finish off Gronk's hosting duties.
Fatal 5-Way Match For The SmackDown Women's Championship
Sasha Banks vs. Lacey Evans vs. Tamina vs. Naomi vs. Bayley
Wait, this is an elimination match? Why is Tamina in this match? They all go after Tamina and she fights them off because in WWE's mind, she is a future hall of famer. Sasha and Bayley double team her to get her out of the ring. Bayley and Sasha continue to work together on Lacey. Lacey and Naomi then team up to take out the best friends. Tamina comes in and hits a clothesline on Evans and Naomi and then on Sasha and Bayley. Lacey tries to roll up Tamina, but Tamina throws her across the ring. She does the same to Naomi and hits them both with a double knee in the corner. Tamina, Sasha and Naomi are in the ring and they all get together to call a truce. Tamina then kicks Sasha and Naomi hits a variation of the Stunner on Tamina. Evans comes in and joins the fun. Bayley is now in there and goes up top and hits an elbow drop and then Sasha hits a frog splash. Lacey joins in and hits a second rope moonsault and Naomi hits a split legged moonsault and is eliminated. For some reason Tamina was playing the role of Goldberg tonight. Bayley shows off her aggressive side on Naomi outside of the ring. Naomi comes close to eliminating both Bayley and Sasha. Bayley saves Sasha from elimination and Sasha eliminates Naomi with the Bank Statement. Bayley and Sasha again team up to work on Evans. Evans moves out of the way and Bayley hits Sasha with a running knee. Evans gets some pin attempts in, but Bayley kicks out. Bayley is attacking Evans when Sasha runs in and pulls Bayley off to confront her. Bayley pushes Lacey out of the way, but then she hits Sasha with the Women's Right and eliminates Banks. Bayley was down, but could have tried to help break up the pin there. Bayley goes right on offense to Evans. This is already a million times better than their match at Royal Rumble. Bayley is taking the tag rope and ties Evans' wrist to the top turnbuckle. Evans is able to get out and she goes up and hits the moonsault, but Bayley is able to kick out. Banks comes into the match and hits Evans with a backstabber and Bayley is able to retain the title. That was a much better match than I expected. Sasha then puts the title around Bayley's waist. It's fair to say that the women more than delivered here tonight.
Match Rating: ***1/2
Firefly Fun House Match
John Cena vs. The Fiend
Bray Wyatt welcomes Cena to the Firefly Fun House set. Cena is then there once he closes the door. One of the stupid puppets tells him he went out the door. Cena walks out and is in darkness. The Vince McMahon puppet pops up and asks Cena if he has enough ruthless aggression. I don't know if I have it in me to sit through this. Bray is shown in a ring and is cut together with the Kurt Angle challenge of when Cena made his debut. Cena is in his old gear and is now face to face with Wyatt. Wyatt then makes fun of Cena as he keeps saying ruthless aggression and missing Wyatt. We then get a Saturday Night's Main Event intro and now Wyatt is behind the big blue steel cage and introduces Cena as his tag partner who comes out lifting weights. Wyatt then throws Cena and he lands in front of the SmackDown fist wearing his rapper gear. Cena is only able to talk in rhyme and takes a shot at Husky Harris. Bray then starts showing his soft side saying that he's had to work hard to earn everything he's got. He says that Cena is a bully and gives him the floor. Cena then makes a deez nuts joke and charges towards Wyatt, but he teleports to the center of the ring. He knocks Cena out and then we cut to a vintage Bray Wyatt promo in the shed. He then attacks Cena and goes for Sister Abigail, but Cena escapes. Wyatt hands Cena a chair and gets to his knees. He tells him that 6 years ago, Cena made the wrong choice as they show a clip of WrestleMania XXX. Cena swings at him, but he disappears. Now Wyatt is dressed up like Eric Bischoff and introduces Cena in nWo gear acting like Hollywood Hogan. He starts attacking Wyatt while they flashback to some of Cena's losses and then he realizes it's one of the stupid puppets. Then from behind, it's the Fiend. He gives Cena the Mandible Claw and hits Sister Abigail. He puts the claw back on and Bray Wyatt counts to 3. The Fiend stands up and Cena disappears. We then pan to Titus, who says he doesn't know what we just saw. Um, yeah. I don't think I can properly rank that one. Considering it involved The Fiend, it was more entertaining than I thought. However, that bar was set really low. Really, really low. Much like the Boneyard Match, I don't think I'll be watching this any time soon or possibly ever again.
Match Rating: No Rating
WWE Championship Match
Drew McIntyre vs. Brock Lesnar
After a short back and forth, McIntyre hits a Claymore Kick, but Brock kicks out. He goes for another one, but with an assist from Heyman, Brock avoids it and hits a suplex. Lesnar hits German suplex number two. Lesnar hits a third after a struggle. Lesnar hits the F5, but McIntyre kicks out at 1. Lesnar hits a second F5 and McIntyre kicks out again. Lesnar hits another F5 and again McIntyre kicks out. This is such a shame that there is no crowd here. I love the atmosphere that Lesnar matches provide. McIntyre gets out of the F5 and hits a Claymore Kick. He follows it up with another one. He gets back in the corner and hits another Clayore Kick and that is all. Drew McIntyre is now the WWE Champion. Who would have thought six months ago that Drew McIntyre and Braun Strowman would be the champions? The match was disappointing, but like I said Brock matches thrive on the atmosphere they create. These two deserved the chance to provide that.
Match Rating: *
This is another tough show to rate. I really enjoyed both women's matches and thought they were worthy of WrestleMania status. I feel for McIntyre, who was robbed of a true special moment. On the other end the Edge/Orton match was so slow and so long and the Firefly Fun House was something that could have just been on SmackDown instead of the biggest show of the year. Bravo to the performers for giving it all on both nights, but this was an uphill battle that only a few that were really able to overcome. I was entertained throughout with the exception of The Fiend and it was nice to see something new after watching lots of old wrestling to review here.
Overall Rating: 60%
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