Wrestlemania 33 - The morning after the night before.

Wrestlemania 33 is in the history books and it was a great show! One of the better Wrestlemania's of the last decade and maybe even further. A few key points stopped the show from really pushing into contention for the greatest of all time but it is no doubt one of the most memorable.

Neville vs Austin Aries - Cruiserweight Championship (Kick off). The opening match of Wrestlemania 33 was a match that on paper could have stolen the show! Both Neville and Aries are red hot right now as well as both being great workers. Both competitors 100% deserved to be on the main show where they could have gotten those extra few minutes to really put on the clinic everyone expected from them. With the sun shining bright throughout, a few spots seemed to be hammered by a lack of visibility which took a little something away from the match as a whole. But all in all it was a good match, from a technical stand point it was the match of the night it just lacked the theatrics we would see from some of the later matches. Also being the first match of the night meant a good amount of the ground were still finding their way to their seats, missing the match entirely, again taking something away from the feud which has really made the Cruisterweight Championship mean something for the first time since it's return. Neville pinned Aries from a picture perfect Red Arrow, after clawing at the formerly injured eye of the challenger while locked in the last chancery submission.

Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal (Kick off)
Mojo Rawley won. Not Strowman who was the obvious choice. Not Sami who could use the momentum. Mojo Rawley won with the help of an NFL player. I refuse to talk anyone about this.

Dean Ambrose vs Baron Corbin - Intercontinental Championship (Kick off)
I feel so sorry for both of these guys.  A really well built feud over one of the most prestigious titles in the industry was bumped to the pre show, cut drastically and we got to see your typical TV match. The IC title has had such an incredible year, especially with The Miz, you'd think having Dean Ambrose would be great to elevate the title even more but instead, he'd defended it once in the two months he held it prior to Mania. Ambrose has gone a bit stale as champ and that's what this match was. Stale. Ambrose won by spinning out of the End of Days to hit the Dirty Deeds for the pin, this match deserved so much more, quite simply, it deserved to be on the main show.

AJ Styles vs Shane McMahon
Why AJ opened the show instead of headlining it still frustrates me but he still managed to put on the match of the night with a non wrestler who is almost 50 years old. The build on Smackdown had been great and I was actually pumped up for a match I initially didn't want to see. AJ pulled out everything we're using to seeing from him and somehow it looks more impressive every time! The story of the match was based around Shane proving he could hang with AJ and wow did he deliver. A few really good wrestling spots from Shane, countering the 450 splash into a triangle choke was brilliant, transitioning from an arm bar into a rear naked choke looked seem less and very smooth. We saw Shane counter a Coast to Coast attempt from AJ and hit one of his own to a big pop, before going for the elbow through the announce table which AJ avoided! The ending came after Shane hit a float over DDT on AJ and then went for a Shooting Star Press which drew a huge reaction! Aj avoided it, rolled to the apron and hit the forearm for the win  A great start for the main show, the only negative i'd give was Shane got in a lot of offensive, a lot of punches to AJ, which is a little unbelievable when you think about the guys in the ring but still a great match!

Chris Jericho vs Kevin Owens - United States Championships
After the festival of friendship was one of the best segments in WWE's history this match was always going to be great! And it was. Much like the match before I was surprised to see it out so early on the card, I soon forgot about that when Y2J came down with a light up scarf and a giant List of Jericho was on the stage, it was great! The two guys know eachother so well and the strory telling throughout was almost perfect! Jericho coming straight after KO early on was great, as was Owens slowing down the match and taunting Jericho whenever he got the chance. This was the first match on the main card that felt the effects of the huge card, with time tight they only went just south of 15 minutes. This feud has been building since September and I felt deserved the Main Event and the Universal title, so to see it cut down for time hurt me a little, but it didn't take too much away from a very good match! Jericho countered a pop up into a brilliant Codebreaker where Owens reached the rope to break the count with his finger! For the finish KO powerbombed Jericho on the apron and rolled him back in for the pin, exactly how the match should have ended! Again they deserved 5 more minutes but another very good match.

Bayley vs Nia Jax, vs Sasha Banks vs Charlotte - Raw Women's Championship Fatal Fourway Elimination Match.
This match had the tough job of trying to top the women's match from last year and failed to do so mainly due to time restraints. It started perfectly, with Nia dominating everyone, all three other women teamed up to take her down. First a big boot from Charlotte into a double team back suplex from Sasha and Bayley! Then a triple powerbomb and a triple cover put Nia away. From here on however the match felt rushed in a most part. We saw an incredible corkscrew moonsault from Charlotte which was one of the spots of the tight, and then after the turnbuckle became exposed Sasha's head crashed off of it and she was eliminated very unceremoniously. It came down to Bayley and Charlotte which went for just a few minutes. Charlotte missed a second moonsault attempt after having most of the offence during the match. For the finish Bayley hit the Macho Man elbow for the pin. Bayley deserved her moment but it could have been so much better with a bit more time and maybe a bit more storyline development regarding Sasha's heel/face persona. Syill a decent match but certainly weaker then the title match from Mania 32.

Anderson & Gallows vs Enzo & Cass vs Cesaro & Sheamus... vs THE HARDY BOYS   - Raw Tag Team Championships Fatal Fourway Ladder Match.
When their music hit I lost it, suddenly I was a kid again watching the Hardy boys and I loved every second of it! The original three teams were in the ring when the New day came out. They informed the crowd that it would now be a fatal four-way match and the 'DELETE' chants began! They were deafening and after a round of the New day asking 'who? who? who?' The Hardy's Boyz music hit and the place went mad! Every Cole's terrible line 'Things are about to be broken' couldn't take away from one of the great moments in Wrestlemania history! It doesn't look like they're using the Broken gimmick yet but it didn't matter! And then we had the match, which was great, one of the matches of the night and it could be one of the best WWE tag matches we'll see this year! Jeff straight away hit a Poetry in Motion and then Whisper in the Wind which kept the pop building! Cesaro and Sheamus teamed up to beat on Anderson and Gallows with a big swing and the beats of the Bodran which seemed to go on forever which was great! In all honesty it didn't matter what went on during the match because the crowd was still going crazy for the return! And they just got louder when Matt hit a twist of fate off of the ladder to Anderson and then Jeff hit a Swantom Bomb off of a 20 foot later through Cesaro and hitting Sheamus. Matt then re-climbed up the ladder and pulled down the belts, The Hardy Boys are the tag Team champions... Nothing else needs to be said!

John Cena & Nikki Bella vs The Miz & Maryse. 

One of if not the best built match on the card, the match as a whole was simply filled to get to the post match moment. During the match however you could see how over the Miz and Maryse are, with the crowd cheering like crazy when the Miz taunted to them. Nikki and Maryse had little to do in this match and it was after a few minutes of offence by The Miz that Cena turned the match around. A double 5 knuckle shuffle a long side Nikki Bella was followed by tandem finishers and then pins in stereo to give Cena and Nikki the win. Cena that grabbed a mic and after a heartfelt speech proposed to Nikki Bella, which in reality was probably done months ago and this is just for a reality show but it was still a very nice moment! Congratulations to one of the best of all time and by all accounts an incredibly strong women. The match did serve as the starter to the proposals main course but one thing to take from it is that The Miz is in for a big year! He is a main event calibre heel now and should be treated like one.

Seth Rollins vs Triple H - Non Sanctioned Match. The match I was most looking forward to and felt was built better then any of the others on the card. The King vs The King Slayer. And they put on a great match! I think most people expected 15/20 minutes of weapons and carnage when in fact we get a very well balanced match which had a lot of great character moments! Triple H looked as brutal as he needed to, working the injured knee for a lot of the match, including swinging for the knee with a steel chair which looked great. Seth got in all of his typical offence, the Superplex into the Falcon's Arrow looked great as usual, as did the double Suicide dive we're used to seeing from him. Seth also performed a dive to the outside from on top of the ring post and then sold his knee injury brilliantly! A sledgehammer was brought into the match later on which led to it being in Seth's hands, Steph distracted Rollins and Triple H hit his Pedigree which Rollins could not have kicked out from any later, it almost gave me a heart attack! Seth managed to his the Phoenix Splash which will hopefully now become a more regular thing, but sadly it is no Seth's new finisher yet! Then for the finish triple H almost knocks Steph off of the apron before eating a superkick by Seth and inadvertently putting his wife through a table! Stephanie got her once piece of comeuppance of the year, and it lead to a kick to the gut of triple H, Seth hit is Pedigree for hopefully the last time for the win! A great match with lots of great spots and character moments, Seth finally looked like the baby face he's been building to during this run and hopefully now he'll push on into something bigger, back into the main event scene.

Bray Wyatt vs Randy Orton - WWE Championship.
By far the most disappointing match on the card, as well as being over booked and down right stupid from the start. Bray's entrance was the highlight of this match, even if he did come out first as the champion which really irritates me! The match never really got going, it was just very very slow, and then the lights would drop and an image of loads of insects would appear on the ring canvas, that happened three times and i'm struggling to see the point of it! Randy kicked out of a Sister Abigail which would have been a big moment if the match wasn't only 6 minutes in at that point, Randy then hit an RKO on the outside and the match looked to be going somewhere but then 2 minutes later another RKO and Randy Orton is a 13 time world champion. I understand this match was cut short, just over 10 minutes for a WWE title match is incredibly short but the use of the time was all wrong. A big disappointment when you thick this match had so much build and so many high points coming into Mania.


Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar - Universal Championship. German Suplex, German Suplex, Spear, Spear through the barricade, Jackhammer, kick out, incredible leap by Brock to avoid another Spear, eight more German Suplex's, F5, Brock is the new Universal champion. This match was exactly what it was supposed to be, it felt like a huge fight, a very big deal! It had been built like a heavyweight boxing match, and it paid off! The crowd were massively into this match and understandably after two great entrances really added to the spectical. Brock finally getting his win back after being squashed at both Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble, Goldberg still looks great after and incredibly successful run and now the Universal title feels huge for being around Brock's waist, who is a legitimate fighter and bad ass! Great match. It went longer then both of Goldberg's singles matches in his return leaning into Mania put together and it was a great way to close the feud and possibly the door on Goldberg's career.

Smackdown Live Women's Championship Six Pack Challenge.
This match should have been on the pre show, not the IC title match. It felt very much like a toilet break match before the main event, with rushed entrances and the match only going 5 minutes. With this match initially tipped to have plenty of returns included, maybe if it had stayed in the pre show we might have seen some of these names such as Eve Torres, Kelly Kelly, Victoria and other who were rumoured. In stead we got a filler match the most of the internet thought had been cut entirely, which saw the best women on the roster, Alexa Bliss, tapping out to Naomi. The women did okay with the time they had but it ultimately felt rushed, botch filled and a waste of a spot.

The Undertaker vs Roman Reigns- No Holds Bared Match. This match is the one which has fans opinion split on the show as a whole. JR returned to commentary which showed incredible heart and professionalism on his heart and I speak for the whole of the wrestling world when I wish Good Old JR and his family the best in these hard times. When Roman's music hit the boos were incredible and surely he was turning heel in this match? During Roman's entrance the match was also announced as no holds barred for whatever reason. Next came the gong and The Undertaker entered.  He appeared from a trap door half way down the ramp in his typically cinematic entrance. The match itself was... poor in all honesty. Taker looked unhealthy as soon as he stepped into the ring, he looked underweight compared to what we're used to, he struggled to stand and looked in bad shape! A few of the spots were botched, on two attempts Roman went for a tombstone on Taker but failed to get him up. We saw Taker make a real attempt to make the match mean something! A chokeslam onto an announce table, a last ride and a tombstone, neither delivered with much conviction in all honest. Roman also tried his utmost best but he much of known he was fighting a losing battle. A spear through the announce table was one of four he delivered to Taker throughout the match, as well as a lot of Superman punches. We did see one piece of excellent character work by the best character in the history of the business, after taking a Superman punch Taker attempted his typical zombie sit up, but couldn't make it and fell off to the side. Three spears in quick succession, including the last one being after Roman built up a lot of momentum was enough for the clean win. No heel turn. Nothing. Roman had pinned taker clean and again in rained the boos. It wasn't until a few moments later that everyone knew what was happening. The Undertaker stood in his attire in the middle of the ring and he proceeded to take off his gloves, his jacket and finally his hat, leaving them in the ring along with his career. Taker walked from the ring broke character for a moment to embrace real life wife Michelle before walking along the ramp. 'Thank you Taker' chants rang around the stadium, and to the sound of the lightening The Undertaker raised his arm for the last time, followed by one last gong, the lights went out on the show and the career of one of the very best.


Wrestlemania 33 will be remembered most moments. Shane's shooting star press, The Hardy Boyz returning, Charlotte's corkscrew moonsault, John and Nikki's engagement, Seth finally getting his revenge, Brock vanquishing Goldberg and biggest of all, The Undertaker surely retiring and leaving it all in the ring. There are a few points from this show I would change, for one the IC title match should never have been swapped with the SD womens title match. The concert half way through took valuable time from a show which didn't have any, Bray vs Randy was far too silly and wasted so much potential but with more time could have been saved. And last of all, I would have had Roman turn heel on Taker, just like i'm sure everyone who watched the match. Instead we got Roman winning clean, again, in the main event and I don't know where he goes from here but what matters now is that The Undertaker's career is over. One of the best of all time, we will never see his like again. Thank you Taker.

HSJP Expansion:

HSJP Wrestling is the first of several new blogs and sites planned for the coming months in an attempt to reach an even larger audience. The expansion of HSJP will see the sites tackling other aspects of sports and entertainment, providing you with news and updates, giving you opinions and reactions to the ins and out of each specialist area. HSJP Wrestling will begin with the first addition of 'The morning after the night before' an article which will be produced after each WWE pay per view.