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For the second time in four years WWE returned to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans for their annual shows of shows, the incomparable WrestleMania! Titles changed hands, Phenoms rose from the grave, streaks were broken, barriers were shattered and minds were blown in what has to be considered one of the greatest shows in history… For about three hours out of the five that WrestleMania 34 was on the air.

Visually, it was by far and away the most stunning WrestleMania in history. From the thousands of laser beams flickering in and out of sight to the numerous lighting rigs, to the extraordinary entrance set adapting to each and every superstar’s unique personality. They must have spent a literal fortune on designing this year’s stage alone, but even the most elaborate of WrestleManias in past years doesn’t touch what they cooked up for us. The pageantry and breathtaking performance art on display made some Super Bowl halftime shows look like amateur hour on public access television.

Where the show fell short was its final act.

Four years ago Brock Lesnar ended the Undertaker’s undefeated WrestleMania streak in New Orleans. Since then virtually every decision the company has made has centered around one idea: Roman Reigns defeating Brock Lesnar on the biggest stage possible to establish him as the WWE’s greatest superstar. The time and place was WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans. That much was known since the minute the show was announced in 2017. Fans may not have liked it, but everyone knew it was the plan and had essentially resigned themselves to the idea. There’s always the OTHER world title… Except that Sunday night, after three years of being told “this is the plan”, WWE decided at the last minute to scrap it all and Brock Lesnar pinned Roman Reigns clean in the middle of the ring.

The decision came as a shock to pretty much everyone, including those in attendance who spent all their time ignoring the main event in favor of playing with giant, inflatable beach balls that kept popping up all across the arena. It became slightly less of a shock 24 hours later when it was announced that Lesnar had signed a new deal with WWE despite numerous reports to the contrary.

It was business as usual the next night on RAW, with no trace of the champion or his advocate Paul Heyman, who has reportedly also signed a new deal. A rematch between Lesnar and Reigns has been announced for The Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia, this time in a steel cage.

Another major story heading into WrestleMania was John Cena calling out The Undertaker as his last ditch attempt to get on the card. It seems kind of a foolish decision to treat The Deadman like a consolation prize, especially for a guy who’s been booked to lose every important match he’s had all year, but that’s where we are I guess. After weeks of call and zero response, Cena hit the ring in New Orleans and was met by… Elias. After Cena dispatched of Elias with relative ease, The Undertaker did appear and accept his challenge, leading to what was essentially a three-minute squash match in which the company’s biggest mainstream star of the last 15 years was beaten down like a first year rookie.

Charlotte Flair ended Asuka’s undefeated streak to retain the Smackdown Women’s Championship in what was at first a shocking decision, but almost immediately felt like the right call. Asuka did a promo backstage after the match saying she was glad it was Charlotte who beat her and that the loss will ultimately make her stronger. At the very least losing the streak makes her easier to book. Clearly we saw at WrestleMania that she doesn’t need to win every match to put together a compelling story in the ring.

Seth Rollins won a triple threat match to become the new Intercontinental Champion, completely his BINGO score card to become the final member of the SHIELD to become a WWE Grand Slam Champion. Several more titles also changed hands throughout the night in what ended up being one of the most unpredictable major events in recent memory, which was essentially the opposite of what fans thought on paper going in.

In the end, after a two hour pre-show and five hour main card, WrestleMania 34 was an entertaining show closer to the top of the pack than the bottom, that delivered on almost everything until the last quarter of the night. Two excellent women’s matches – both great for different reasons – joined what was probably the highlight of the entire evening in Ronda Rousey’s in-ring debut, along with several other quality performances; it felt like one of the best WrestleManias of all time until the final three matches. And really, you could argue that the Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon was also a very good match, albeit one that ran too short and fell far short of expectations.

There were mixed opinions on Braun Strowman choosing a 10-year-old boy as his partner, and then going on to win the RAW Tag Team titles. Some considered it a cute moment while others felt cheated out of a potentially big moment with a returning Samoa Joe, Big Show, Jeff Hardy, etc. There were many names discussed, but to WWE’s credit they never really teased anything on that level; the fans, myself included, sort of dug their own grave on that one. Of course there were also wrestling “purists” who hated the segment on principal for obvious reasons.

More WrestleMania NewsNew Cruiserweight Champion crownedWoken Wyatt helps Matt Hardy win Andre Battle RoyalAlicia Fox pulled from card due to altercation Naomi wins WM Women’s Battle Royal in twist endingOfficial definitely not made up attendance figuresTop NJPW stars in attendance at WrestleManiaOther Wrestling NewsROH releases statement on Supercard streaming issuesNew WWE Network subscriber countRAW After WrestleMania

The most anticipated WWE television show of the year, the Monday Night RAW immediately following WrestleMania, did not disappoint when it comes to delivering on surprising moments and NXT call-ups, which have come to be expected at this point. Full 4/9 WWE Raw results. 

Braun Strowman and 10-year-old Nicholas vacated the RAW tag team titles due to a scheduling conflict; it’s hard to defend the belts when one of the champions is in the 4th grade. An “eliminator” was set up by Kurt Angle, which is basically a one-sided tournament where the winner faces Cesaro and Sheamus to crown new champions. Matt Hardy and Brother Wyatt defeated Titus Worldwide to move on to next week, where they will face The Revival, who defeated Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. The winner of that match gets The Bar at The Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia at the end of the month, to crown new champions.

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Former NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain made their main roster debuts, defeating Rhyno and Heath Slater, but it would appear that they have dropped Paul Ellering as their manager. It will be interesting to see how they are able to progress with a mouthpiece, although Ellering wasn’t exactly the most talkative of characters to begin with. No Way Jose also made his debut with a whole gaggle of people accompanying him, nearly identical to the Adam Rose character, as did former NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon.

Jeff Hardy and Samoa Joe both returned from injury as expected. No real clear direction for Jeff yet, although he did have an awkward backstage moment with his Woken brother and Bray Wyatt, before main eventing with Seth Rollins and Finn Balor in a six-man tag team match. Samoa Joe looks to be challenging for the Universal Championship at Backlash, as he confronted Roman Reigns harassing him for losing at WrestleMania and claimed that he would face whoever was champion after The Greatest Royal Rumble. Bobby Lashley also made his return after more than a decade away, squashing Elias in two moves.

This Week’s Schedule

– Join us for Smackdown Live coverage tonight at 8/7c. It’s the first Smackdown after WrestleMania and we may still see some call-ups from the NXT brand ahead of next week’s Superstar Shakeup. We may also find out more on Daniel Bryan’s future as an in-ring competitor and whether or not he plans to stay on as General Manager. Charlotte Flair will also be on hand after ending Asuka’s undefeated streak, as will Miss Money in the Bank Carmella whose time to cash-in is quickly running out. WWE Champion AJ Styles will likely have something to say to Shinsuke Nakamura after the “Artist” turned heel following their match…

– We’ll have full 205 Live coverage tonight at 10/9c. It’ll be the first show with new Cruiserweight Champion Cedric Alexander, so anything can happen.

– WWE NXT at 8/7c on Wednesday. War Machine will be making their debut in segments that were recorded last weekend at NXT Takeover: New Orleans.

– IMPACT Wrestling in its usual slot at 8/7c on Thursday night. This will be an interesting show because Alberto el Patron was just fired for skipping two events this past weekend, but all the footage of him as challenger heading into IMPACT Redemption were already filmed. They’ve promised to address the situation on Thursday.