Starting on the Kickoff show, the first match was the cruiserweight title match between Buddy Murphy and Tony Neese. Honestly, i don't watch 205 live but as usual, like every time i see the cruiserweights, they delivered an exciting and fun match to kick off this massive show and got fans off their seats. This match saw Tony Neese get the victory ending Murphy's lengthy reign as champion and kicking off a new era for 205 live.
The second match on the Kickoff was one of the low points of the show for me, which was the women's battle royale, the in-ring action wasn't the greatest in my view, even though there were a few good moments in there like Dana Brooke's comeback which surprisingly received a large pop. Also, the result was disappointing, seeing Carmella win the battle royale. For me, Carmella doesn't need this win and it would have been better going to Asuka after her terrible treatment recently or even Sarah Logan.
Following this, there was a great underdog tag title win for Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, ending Hawkins incredible 269 matches long losing streak and there was no better way to do it than on the grandest stage of them all. This was a nice moment for Ryder and Hawkins, who are long-serving and loyal stars for the WWE and even though it's a shame that their victory had to come at the expense of The Revival, who is one of the best tag teams in the world in my opinion; it would be nice to see them have a couple month reign with the belts.
The Kickoff show then concluded, with The Andre the Giant memorial battle royale. (The AMBAR for short.) This was a fun match with some good showings from the like of Andrade, Apollo Crews, Heavy Machinery and The Hardy Boyz which was nice to see. The match was really about Braun Strowman finally getting his revenge on Michael Che and Colin Jost from Saturday Night Live. Strowman was dominant throughout eliminating most superstars in the match, finally at the end of the match getting his revenge on the SNL duo, with Jost getting the most punishment after Strowman was on the ropes and nearly eliminated by the SNL star which had me fooled for a second. Strowman after the beatdown eliminated Jost to win the ARMBAR. Strowman winning was a predictable result and it would have been nice to see someone else such as Ali or Andrade win the match, but the result was fine and it was nice seeing the Monster among Men get his revenge on the SNL stars.
Wrestlemania 35 kicked off with the shock announcement from Paul Heyman that his client Brock Lesnar was defending his title straight away against Seth Rollins. This was a fantastic way to kick off the show and it was a smart decision to keep the big title wins far away from each other on the colossal card to make sure they don't take anything away from each other. Brock Lesnar started the match by viciously assaulting Rollins on the outside with a brutal F5 on the outside as well. When Lesnar attacks like that, it's the Beast as his best for me it looks so real. Rollins grew back into the match though eventually getting on top, and eventually with the help of a ref bump and a low blow he hit three straight curb stomps to surprisingly win the championship. For me, this was my favourite title win of the night. Rollins is one of my favourite wrestlers and is a fantastic talent all around in my view, and completely deserves this win and it's great to see Lesnar's stranglehold of the Universal championship being broken.
The next match on the show was Randy Orton vs AJ Styles, this match for me was having one of the best builds going into the showcase of the immortals. With some great back and forth promos between the two, the match for me was an Indy guy vs an original WWE guy, the old WWE style vs the new. This for me was a good match, not amazing though and was slow at times, i did enjoy the match all the same and it was good to see The Phenomenal one defeat The Viper with the Phemonal forearm for a victory that does more for Styles through beating a modern day WWE legend.
Following this, there was a fatal way match to decide the Smackdown Live tag team championships, between the champions The Usos, The Bar, Nakamura and Rusev and Alistair Black and Richocet. This was a fun high octane match which you would expect from tag team specialists such as The Bar and Usos and talents such as Alistar Black and Richocet, who was incredible in this match and definitely the MVP of it. Even Nakamura and Rusev held there own, but the USOS retained after a superkick party and the double UCE on Sheamus. The result was fine because The Usos are in my view the greatest tag team in WWE in this era and the only team that would have made sense other than them to walk out with the belts was Black and Richocet which would have been great, but we will have to wait and see if Ricochet and Black capture the belts anytime soon.
The next match on this stacked card was The Miz vs Shane Mcmahon. This match was a hardcore car wreck in the best way. It had some crazy moments, like the Miz's potato-faced dad getting in the ring and squaring up to Shane Mcmahon and getting beat down before the Miz stepped in. The ending was insane as well with The Miz following Shane to the top of a very high platform with a camera on and then superplexing him of it into the crash tables below it was incredible. Unfortunately for The Miz, it led to Mcmahon landing on top of him and pinning him to win the match. This finish was great in my view and probably means that this feud will continue which i am glad to see and hopefully lead to The Miz on his fantastic new babyface run, get revenge on Shane 'O Mac.
Next up was the fatal four-way match for the Women's tag team championships. The match was between the champions, The Boss 'N' Hug connection, The Iconics, Nia Jax and Tamina and Natalya and the returning Hall of Famer Beth Phoneix. Beth Phoneix was shockingly good on her return to the ring after not wrestling for years and definitely still has it. The Glamazon was also involved in the finish, where she hit the Glamslam off the top rope on Bayley only for it to be broken up by Royce of the Iconics allowing her partner to run in and steal the victory. This was a shocking victory but it was nice to see a talented tag team like The Iconics get a good moment at the showcase of the immortals, but it would have been nice to have seen Banks and Bayley have a longer reign as the first-ever Champions.
Then in my view, came the match of the night. Kofi Kingston vs Daniel Byran for the WWE championship. This was an incredible pure wrestling match between to of the best workers in the world today. With a bunch of WWE's face lockerroom cheering him on Kofi Kingston finally won the big one. Bryan played the vicious heel brilliantly with some brutal submissions and vicious stomps to the head but Kingston eventually came out on top with the Trouble in Paradise to the joy of capacity crowd in the Metlife Stadium. Kingston at the end of the match celebrated with his New Day wrestling brothers who looked just as emotional as he did. They then tossed Daniel Byran's eco-friendly title aside to unveil the classic WWE championship with Kofi's own side plates for a huge pop in the arena. This was a great match followed by an amazing moment for Kingston which for me was the moment joyful and emotional moment of this emotion-filled show.
Next up, Samoa Joe and Rey Mysterio followed up that incredible match with their United States title bout. Samoa Joe surprisingly beat Rey in a matter seconds after Joe caught Rey after an early 619 and put the ultimate underdog to sleep and retain his title in lightning quick fashion. It was a shame not to see a longer match out of these two fantastic workers but after Mysterio's recent injury the squash victory makes complete sense and puts him over as the monster he always should've of been during his run in the company, which hasn't always been the case.
Following this, there was the grudge match between Drew Mcyntire and Roman Reigns, this was a solid match but nothing incredible containing some heavy brawling and hard hits between the two superstars which was expected. The match reached it's conclusion when the Big Dog hit a spear to defeat the Scottish Psychopath. This was the expected result and it was nice to see Reign's win after his health problems, but for me, it would have been great to have seen the Scotsman win to get a huge rub over the biggest star in the company today.
Then there was the small matter of Triple H vs Batista with the stipulation if The Game loses his career was over. The entrances for both men were great for different reasons, Batista unintentionally tripped over the ropes on his way to the ring which was hilarious. Then Triple H had a Mad Max-inspired entrance which was badass even with Michael Cole's commentary. The match itself was slow and wasn't very exciting. The spectacle of the match itself was better than the in-ring action. There were some cool spots in the match though like the King of Kings ripping out Batista nose ring with a pair of pliers. The match ended when the Nature Boy came down to the ring and distracted The Animal who had assaulted him on his birthday, for long enough to allow Triple H to hit the Pedigree to win the match and allow his career to continue. Later on, Batista announced his retirement from pro-wrestling on social media, which was a sad sight to see after The Animal was an icon in the company from the mid-2000s and would have been good to see his career go on for a few more years but this was a fine way to end his career.
Now, the following match is considered by some to be a terrible way to a legend's career, and of course, i am writing about Kurt Angle vs Baron Corbin. There were no surprises, unlike what was theorised by many fans and it was a straight up match between The Olympian and the Lone Wolf. Once again this was a solid match but nothing fantastic which in a way you would expect out of ageing Kurt Angle with an average worker in Corbin. Corbin taunted the crowd with "U can't see me" which riled up the crowd. The match ended when Angle went for a signature moonsault which still looked good, but Corbin dodged and hit Angle with the end of days for the victory. After the match Angle got a standing ovation, followed by a chorus of "You Suck" chants after the Hall of Famer requested them. Let me just say this, i agree with fans that think a Wrestling legend such as Angle deserves a bigger and better match to end his career, but fair play to Angle for putting Corbin over this way and as I've written before this is great for Corbin and gives WWE the chance to make him a huge heel star.
Next up on this mammoth card, was the Intercontial title match between Bobby Lashley and for the first time at Wrestlemania, "Demon" Finn Balor. This was a decent match that was relatively short with Balor looking strong as he always does in his "Demon" persona. The match ended when Balor impressively powerbombed the Almighty Bobby Lashley and hit him with the Coup de grace to win the match and capture his second intercontinental championship. It was nice to see a fan favourite such as Balor capture the title now hopefully he can hold onto the belt for a while and have some fantastic matches with it like we know the Irishman can.
Finally the main event, the huge winner takes all match between Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair for both brands women's championships. This was a pretty good main event with some good moments such as when Flair set up a table in the ring and then Flair was later put through that table as she attempted the spear, unfortunately, it didn't fully break through. Also when Rousey locked both Lynch and Flair in an armbar in the ropes which looked awesome. The match did have some pacing issues at times though, with wrestlers trying to go too fast at times and unfortunately, there was a botched finish, when Rousey went for the Pipers Pit on Lynch, the Man countered into a pin where Rousey's shoulders came up at one, but the Ref continued counting went back down for two and three. It was a shame because it did take away from the main event match and did make Lynch's win not as look convincing as it should have been. With that said though it was still a great moment for The Man and it was a feel-good moment to end in my view, the best Shows of Shows since Wrestlemania 30.
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