Csonka’s WWE WrestleMania 36 (Part II) Review

Csonka’s WWE WrestleMania 36 (Part II) Review

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Liv Morgan defeated Natalya @ 6:30 via pin [**]
– NXT Women’s Championship Match: Charlotte defeated Champion Rhea Ripley @ 20:20 via submission [****¼]
– Aleister Black defeated Lashley @ 7:20 via pin [***]
– Otis defeated Dolph Ziggler @ 8:10 via pin [**¼]
– Last Man Standing Match: Edge defeated Randy Orton @ 36:40 [*]
– RAW Tag Team Championship Match: Champions The Street Profits defeated Angel Garza & Austin Theory @ 6:30 via pin [**½]
– Smackdown Women’s Championship Elimination Match: Champion Bayley defeated Sasha Banks, Tamina, Lacey Evans, & Naomi @ 19:20 via pin [**½]
– Firefly Funhouse Match: The Fiend defeated John Cena @ 13:00 via pin [DUD]
– WWE Championship Match: Drew McIntyre defeated Champion Brock Lesnar @ 4:30 via pin [**]

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Liv Morgan vs. Natalya: Natalya grounds things right away, but they work back to he feet and Natalya cradles her for 2. They work into some chain wrestling, as Liv takes over, but is quickly cut off as Natalya hits a basement dropkick for 2. Liv fires back, and then eats a knee strike and rolling clothesline. Natalya follows with the Romero special, releases and Liv hits a code breaker of sorts for 2. Natalya cuts her off and picks up a near fall. Liv fights off the sharpshooter, and cradles Natalya for the win. Liv Morgan defeated Natalya @ 6:30 via pin [**] This was perfectly ok, with the right winner.

– GRONK welcomes us to night two: Electric Boogaloo.

NXT Women’s Championship Match: Champion Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte: Rhea’s Mania gear is pretty sweet. Charlotte grounds her right away and talks trash as she toys with her a bit. Charlotte follows with chops, Rhea cuts her off and hits riptide for 2. Charlotte powders and Rhea chases, and they brawl to the floor. Rhea follows with the cannonball off the steps and back in, hits the dropkick and takes control, grounding things. Charlotte fights back, attacking the knee and grounding the champion. Charlotte stays focused on the knee, talking shit and brutalizing the knee of Rhea. She post the knee, Rhea then pulls her into the post and struggles to her feet until Charlotte chop blocks her. Charlotte continues to control until Rhea cradles her for 1, and then cuts her off. They trade, knee strikes by Rhea and the head kick follows. Rhea fires up and hits clotheslines until Charlotte attack the knee and dumps her. Charlotte up top, cut off and Rhea hits the electric chair drop for 2. Charlotte follows with big strikes, Rhea counters back and heads up top as the missile dropkick connects for 2. Charlotte chop blocks her again, goes back to the knee until Rhea counters into stomps, and the inverted cloverleaf. Charlotte fights, and escapes but Rhea kicks her away until Charlotte locks on the crab. They trade cradles and Charlotte assaults the knee until Rhea cuts her off with the big boot for 2. She follows with strikes, they work up top and Charlotte fights and dumps her. The moonsault eats feet, but Charlotte rebounds with the spear for 2. Rhea then cradles her for 2, but Charlotte gets the figure eight, Rhea fights, and then taps. Charlotte defeated Champion Rhea Ripley @ 20:30 via submission [****¼] While I think that Charlotte inning was the wrong call, this was an absolutely great, physical match with great work from both, a strong layout, good psychology, and tremendous sense of urgency from both ladies. This was a great start to the show in terms of in ring action.

Aleister Black vs. Lashley: lanais out with Lashley. Lashley is skipping leg day, going to long tights. They circle as Lashley shoves him away. Black shoots, but Lashley cuts that off and lays the boots to him. Black dumps him and to the floor, Lashley hits an overhead suplex. Back in and Lashley covers for 2. He grounds things, follows with strikes and the neck breaker. Black counters the suplex, follows with kicks but Lashley counters into a powerslam for 2. The suplex connects for 2. Black counters the spear with a knee strike for 2. Black lays in a flurry of strikes, kicks and the knee strike and moonsault to the floor follows. Back in and Lashley cuts him off, Lana barks instructions and demands Lashley spears him. That was a mistake as he runs into black mass and Black wins. Aleister Black defeated Lashley @ 7:20 via pin [***] They did a good job of keeping the action moving, no down time and Black winning was absolutely the right call. It was good and better than expected.

– Bayley rants about her match tonight and leaves, while Banks tells us to watch and see how bad she wants to win the title.

– GRONK is here again and talks about the WWE 24/7 title, and wants it by the end of tonight.

Otis vs. Dolph Ziggler: Sonya is out with Dolph. Dolph tries to avoid Otis but is caught, and then counters into a superkick. he then posts Otis, and back in, covers for 1. Dolph grounds the action, and the dropkick follows for 1. It’s all Dolph now, as he picks up near falls. He keeps things grounded, but Otis counters back and fires up. he runs wild with clotheslines, and whips him to the buckles. He dumps Dolph and slams him to the barricades and post. Sonya takes the ref, stopping the caterpillar, low blow by Dolph and Mandy arrives, beats down Sonya low blows Dolph. Otis hits the caterpillar and wins. Otis defeated Dolph Ziggler @ 8:10 via pin [**¼] The match was ok, but the important thing was that in the end, true love prevailed.

Last Man Standing Match: Edge vs. Randy Orton: Poor Edge & Randy have to follow the culmination of the ultimate love story, tough spot. Orton with the sneak attack, disguised as a cameraman, and hits the RKO… OUTTA NOWHERE Orton hits another and the count is on. To the floor and Orton hits him with a camera. They brawl backstage, into the gym and Orton controls. He ties him up in gym equipment and just beats Edge’s ass. Edge fires back, taking over with strikes and slams Orton to a table. Edge sits him in a chair, beats on him and launches off of a pull up bar into a Thezs press. Orton fires back, whipping him into a wall, and uses a sled to try and kill him until Edge moves. Edge slams him into garage doors and brawl to the staging area, Orton slams him to the LED boards, and tosses him into a barricade. Orton follows with strikes, they then battle deeper into the PC. Into the conference room they go, Edge takes control, working Orton over on the table. They brawl through the halls, to the storage portion and Orton dick kicks him. Orton then slams him to some steps, Edge survives and so Orton keeps beating on him. Edge fights back, hits him with a sandbag, and he climbs onto a some shelves and hits an elbow drop on Orton thorough a table. Orton’s shoulder is bleeding. It just keeps going, despite the fact that this has lost all steam and should have ended. Orton hits a draping DDT in the bed of a truck, they climb to the top of a big rig NXT trailer and they need to send Dark City. Edge spear him on the trailer and Orton survives, RKOs him and follows with chair shots. Edge counters into a head and arm choke, chokes out Orton and stops the ref’s count. He cries, and conchairtos Orton. It’s finally over… Edge defeated Randy Orton @ 36:40 [*] I think the best thing they did was using the various parts of the PC to change up things away from the ringside area. The worst was the constant counting for every little down spot, which became really annoying. This also went too long (over 30-minute sin Edge’s return singles match was a horrible call), and really suffered without a crowd to get invested into the counts, which again happened WAY too often. Last man standing matches are a tough puzzle to solve even with the best of crowds and great workers, so with no crowd, I felt really bad for them here. The announcers sucked here, adding no energy to the story either; Jim Nantz is more enthusiastic at the subdued Masters in his calls. They undoubtedly tried hard, Edge did his best and I think Orton tried to give him a special return moment, and it sucks because the build was excellent, but whether it be the circumstances or the overly long setting, they couldn’t climax it properly here It breaks my heart to say this, but it was bad. Like no one though to edit it down a tad?

– The 24/7 geeks fight, GRONK dives off the perch and wins the title.

RAW Tag Team Championship Match: Champions The Street Profits vs. Angel Garza & Austin Theory: Vega is at ringside. The champions control early on and isolate Theory with double teams. Garza takes out Dawkins and that allows Theory to tag him in; THE PANTS ARE OFF! The challengers settle into control, taking the heat on Dawkins and working quick tags. Dawkins counters, tags in Ford and he runs wild, picking up near falls. It breaks down, Ford hits the tope and Garza moonsaults to the floor, wiping out the champions. Back in and the springboard moonsault follows for 2. It breaks down again and Ford hits the frog splash for the win. Champions The Street Profits defeated Angel Garza & Austin Theory @ 6:30 via pin [**½] This was short solid, and energetic a nice change of pace following Orton vs. Edge, which some say is still going on.

– The heels attack post match until Bianca makes the save and lays out Vega. The plan was the post Mania call up so here we go.

– Titus replaces GRONK as host.

Smackdown Women’s Championship Elimination Match: Champion Bayley vs. Sasha Banks vs. Tamina vs. Lacey Evans vs. Naomi: They all attack Tamina, she does the roar spot as Banks & Bayley double team and dump her. Banks & Bayley work together early on covering Lacey for 2. Naomi and lacey work together, battling back and picking up near falls. Tamina returns, dumping Bayley and tossing Lacey & Naomi around. She picks up near falls, it breaks down and the old Team Bad face off. They fist bump, superkick by Tamina until Naomi hits the stunner for 2. Lacey joins in and Banks 619s Tamina and Bayley follows with the elbow drop, frog splash by Banks, moonsaults by Lacey & Naomi and they all eliminate Tamina @ 6:45. The faces attack, to the floor and Bayley cuts them off. Back in as Banks & Bayley isolate Naomi. Naomi battles back, and sunset flips both for 2 She take control and stuns Bayley, rear view to Banks and the disaster kick connects on Bayley. Bayley saves Banks and the Banks statement finishes Naomi @ 10:10. Lacey makes it back in the ring, they beat her down and Bayley talks mad shit. Double teams follow and Lacey kicks out. Bayley accidentally knee strikes Banks and Lacey cradles Bayley for 2. Bayley cuts her off, follows with ground and pound as Banks is back. They argue and Bayley apologizes. Women’s right to Banks and she’s gone @ 13:20. Bayley takes over and delivers strikes until Lacey fires up with clotheslines. Bayley stops that and posts her. Bayley ties up Lacey with the tag rope, follows with strikes and Lacey fires back with the boot, escapes and kicks away at Bayley. The broncobuster connects and the Merosault connects for 2. The women’s right is stopped by Banks, and the rose plant finishes it. Champion Bayley defeated Sasha Banks, Tamina, Lacey Evans, & Naomi @ 19:20 via pin [**½] This was a solid match, with a good layout that advanced the upcoming Banks & Bayley split, but it went too long and lost some steam the longer it went along.

Firefly Funhouse Match: The Fiend vs. John Cena: Cena arrives and Bray appears in the Funhouse. He welcomes Cena to the Funhouse and Cena magically appears in the Funhouse. Ramblin Rabbit greets him and tells him to follow Bray. Cena enters wacky land and puppet Vince is there. We get Bray doing the original Angle challenge and Cena arrives in boots & tights. Bray mocks him for almost being fired, avoids strikes and sings Nikki’s theme. The Buzzard & puppet Vince are on commentary. Bray does a Hogan Saturday Night’s main event promo and Cena arrives lifting weights to 80s montage music. His arm stop working and Cena turns into Thuganomics Cena on the Smackdown fist stage. Cena does a rap, talking about Bray’s little joke, making fun of Husky Harris and calling his a disappointment and a slut or opportunity, blowing every chance. Bray does a after school special monologue, calling Cena a bully and horrible person. I feel like Cliff Booth smoking that acid-laced cigarette in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Bray is back to Wyatt Family Bray. He attacks, hands Cena a chair and talks about Mania 6-years ago, and tells Cena to fix it and disappears. Bray turn into Eric Bischoff in WCW, introducing Cena as Hollywood Hogan as puppet Vince says it’s such good shit. Cena has flashback, beats up Huskins and the Fiend arrives. Mandible claw, sister Abigail, mandible claw, and “Bray” counts the pin.The Fiend defeated John Cena @ 13:00 via pin [DUD] While creative and even amusing in parts, this missed the mark as much as the Bone Yard match nailed it. The bone yard match had me completely captivated, while I just wanted this to end. I can appreciate them being different and that’s all well and good, but this one wasn’t for me. Mileage will vary and I can see people loving this, but for me it missed the mark. At least Bray won.

WWE Championship Match: Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre: They brawl at the bell, claymore by Drew and Brock kicks out. Brock avoids a second, hits a German and another. Brock hits another, and the F5 follows for 1. Another F5 gets 2. The third F5 gets 2 again. Paul demands he keeps attacking, but Drew counters into a claymore, hits another and one more finishes it. Drew McIntyre defeated Champion Brock Lesnar @ 4:30 via pin [**] the right decision I just wish Drew could have had his moment in front of a crowd.

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 103. On the show, 411’s Larry Csonka & Mark Radulich preview this weekend’s WrestleMania 36 shows, while Steve Cook joins to talk AEW vs. NXT (4.01.20). The show is approximately 178–minutes long.

* Intro
* WrestleMania 36 Preview: 14:00
* AEW (4.01.20) Review: 1:51:51
* NXT (4.01.20) Review: 2:23:40
* The head to head comparison: 2:45:48

* iTunes
* Spotify
* Stitcher
* Google Play

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

5.0

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

WrestleMania 36 (Part I)was a good an enjoyable night that was smartly laid out and executed. Unfortunately for me, WrestleMania 36 (Part II) didn’t live up to night one, with some matches that went too long and the overall quality not matching up in my opinion. It was all downhill following Rhea vs. Charlotte, who in terms of pure wrestling, stole the weekend.