All week, I'd been waiting for that WrestleMania feel to creep up. Since I was a child, WrestleMania has been a thing; I was three when Hoganteamed up with Mr. T. As I got older, the week leading into WrestleMania felt as big as Super Bowl Week. The way COVID-19 is hitting, the world of pro wrestling had already been drastically different; the main conversation I'd been having for weeks was "should the WWE even put WrestleMania 36 on this year?" They did, taping the entire pay-per-view as well as the regular television shows before and after the main show and expanding it to two nights with 16-plus matches taking place, including Brock Lesnar and Goldberg defending the WWE Championship and WWE Universal Championship, respectively.
From figuring out which matches would take place on which night (something that wasn't announced until the pre-show on Saturday night) to the hard questions, like will people still be hooking themselves up with glorious feasts to celebrate, the timeline has been lit up about the show, but it definitely felt different. Here are five takeaways from Night One of WrestleMania 36.
Night Two is going to be the truest "WrestleMania"-feeling card
Leading up to WrestleMania, folks knew there were 16 matches booked throughout the two-part broadcast. When the announcement was made regarding what matches would take place on Night One, it definitely showed you that Vince and company wanted to make sure that WrestleMania Sunday was still a thing. Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre, John Cena vs. "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt, Edge vs. Randy Orton(!!!), and other larger matches booked for the second night, Night One felt like an extraordinary special event leading up to a truly stacked Night Two. That doesn't mean we wouldn't get fire matches during the first night, but it looked like the more vital matches were sorted out for Night Two.
The lack of crowd just made the entire show hit different
The one elephant in the room has always been "how the HELL can the WWE pull off WrestleMania in an empty arena due to coronavirus making everyone stay at home?" The answer was...awkwardly. Like most WWE pay-per-view matches, the actual wrestling during WrestleMania 36 is fine. They know the matches they do and are good at delivering a solid WWE-style match. They can be predictable, they are usually solidly worked, and all of the finishes will ignite the questions of one million marks, trying to craft theories out of wins and losses. (Present company included.) Without the crowd? It felt like what I envision the rumored practice runs and sessions of building multi-person matches—hell, vets like "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Diamond Dallas Page were notoriously known for having their matches scripted out to a T before getting into the ring. Night one of RonaWrestleMania 36 felt like a practice run before the main event in front of "a capacity crowd," which is an awesomely awkward exercise to sit through.
Asuka and Kairi Sane were a perfect example; a lot of their work is to elicit "heel" reactions from a crowd, but when there's no crowd, they just start shouting all kinds of stuff in Japanese during a taped Women's Tag Team Championship match in front of cameramen and announcers. It was exactly what we'd see if there was a crowd out there, but it just hits different when no one is there to react with what wrestling is. This leads us to the fact that...
The WWE hasn't really adjusted their booking style
Vince really stuck the course, it seemed. The dispute between Undertaker and AJ Styles (which we'll get into more later, I promise) had to end the way it ended. The WWE likes opening a pay-per-view with a title win, so the Kabuki Warriors losing wasn't really a surprise. While many didn't think it'd happen, you can't be surprised that Becky Lynch successfully defended her Raw Women's Championship at WrestleMania (although it begs the question "who can defeat Becky Lynch at this point?!?"). Both Kevin Owens and Elias got their comeuppance—word to Kevin Owens for that insane dive off the large Mania 36 logo. Pure beast mode. A lot of this was predictable—even though some decisions leave questions. Well, one decision: Braun Strowman's first WWE heavyweight title win.
Braun Strowman's first major title win was fashionably late
See, if we're keeping score, I remember being on the set of Black Panther the same week that Braun threw Roman Reigns into an ambulance, then proceeded to flip it on its side. That was three years ago; Braun should've held a major title back then. It's dope to see, even if you don't get the true Mania pop for a win this monumental, in a position that he lucked into based on Roman Reigns stepping down due to COVID-19 concerns with people who showed up to the WrestleMania 36 tapings sick.
The Undertaker is a damn movie star
Now The Undertaker? That Walker, Texas Ranger-ass mini-movie that closed out WrestleMania 36 Night One was...kinda insane. The Undertaker rolled out as close to Big Evil as we've seen him in a while and fought jeans-rocking AJ Styles on the grounds of some creepy deep woods horror flick. The Undertaker teleported, he threw Luke Gallows off of a roof, and he buried AJ. It was insane, confusing, but also the absolute best thing they could do with something they only pitched as a "Boneyard Match". How many bodies does "Mean" Mark Callous have out in the Boneyard?
Without knowing how Brock Lesnar versus Drew McIntyre ended, it's actually been awesome seeing how fourth wall-breaking the Taker/AJ situation has been. Shoot names being used, significant others being involved, the epic beatdown of supporting members of The OC in empty arenas; it's been an epic movie teased out for the last month. Their feud might not have needed to be a "Boneyard Match," but it's an example of the WWE doing something different, to the best of their abilities, to break up a show that's highlighting just how confusing watching a wrestling show with no crowd can be. At least this was vastly different than the rest of the show, and something I'd love to see a continuation of a couple times a year. Let me get four Undertaker-starring Walker, Texas Ranger-ass Network Specials and I'll be more than satisfied.
At the very least, the amount of energy they put into the "Boneyard Match" gives me high hopes for the Cena/Bray "Firefly Funhouse Match" that's been advertised. That could be an actual nightmare. We'll see when the WWE brings forth Night Two of WrestleMania 36, which begins at 7 PM EST, although there will definitely be a kick-off show. Maybe put that wings order in now (while still practicing social distancing).
