The WWE Rewind: WrestleMania 36 Night One

I’m taking the Rewind time machine away from NXT 2.0 for a bit (I’ll be back). I need a break from the POKER WARZ of Duke Hudson and Cameron Grimes. My original intent was to spin towards Money in the Bank 2020 after this past Monday’s Raw mentioned that MITB qualifiers for this year start next week. Then as I got into the MITB write-up, I realized there was only one other big event in this specific era before it and I might as well cover it too.

WrestleMania 36. It was going to be a grand spectacle at Raymond James Stadium on April 5, 2020. And then, well, plans changed. COVID-19 began rampaging across the world, becoming a pandemic in March 2020 with major sports organizations all cancelling or postponing their seasons and large gatherings shut down. On March 16th, WWE announced that WrestleMania would be moving (alongside their weekly programming) to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando with no crowds and only essential personnel. They also used this opportunity to declare WrestleMania “too big for one night” and make it a two-night event, something that would stick for later years.

A lot of the 2020 shows are weird to watch back, but WrestleMania is interesting in particular as it happening right in the thick of chaos happening around it. People were being told to stay home, work remotely, and do all they could to avoid any hint of COVID. The grand spectacle of WrestleMania being available to them, even in such a modified format, was a welcome relief. It’s also the only WrestleMania we’ve had that was pre-recorded. Let’s take a look at the first night.

Stephanie McMahon welcomes us from WWE Headquarters, telling us about the past of WrestleMania. This will be the most different of all due to current circumstances. They’re on a closed set with no audience but it is their commitment to us to provide a diversion during hard time, deliver hope and determination, and entertain. She thanks us and welcomes us to WrestleMania.

A video package mashes together various performances of “America the Beautiful” from Manias past.

Our opening video package features our various superstars in pirate-themed scenes before a Jack Sparrow impersonator takes over the voiceover duties. “The darkest hour… is just before the dawn.”

THIS is the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Snickers presents WrestleMania! Rob Gronkowski greets us as our host and tells us the party is too big for just one night. He tells us to forget everything in the world right now and let WWE entertain us. Mojo Rawley joins him and they do some chopping and hyping and general annoying things.

Our modified setup for the arena is unique as they had to do a rush job to figure things out and how to cram it all into the Performance Center. We have a basic entrance ramp and screen with a ton of lasers, mini trons above the ring, and the gigantic WrestleMania logo sitting on the floor behind the announce desk. And, of course, there are zero fans behind the barricades. Let’s not forget the Big Ass Fan slowly rotating over the entrance that would get its own WWE merchandise.

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka and Kairi Sane) vs Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross

Michael Cole and WWE Hall of Fame-Elect John Bradshaw Layfield greet us from ringside while Greg Hamilton is on the ring mic for the SmackDown side. JBL’s having fun, Maggle. Asuka and Kairi hook up at first as JBL starts making fun of Byron Saxton for reasons as Alexa bullies Kairi and tags in Nikki. In something we’ll hear for the rest of the pandemic, the wrestlers are being much louder and vocal. Some will really grow to excel and expand their characters with it. Other times, it’s a lot of grunting. Asuka slaps away at Nikki and taunts her. Nikki dives off the top onto Asuka to work the arm, but Asuka quickly punches her and tags in Kairi. They battle outside and all four women brawl for a bit, Nikki tossing Kairi into one of the few cameramen we can have at ringside during these times.

Back in, the fresh Bliss is tagged in and fights off both Warriors in the corner until they tie her up in the ropes and Kairi drops the boots on her for a two count. Kairi works over Bliss in the corner with kicks and a running elbow before Asuka tags herself in, continuing to work over Bliss. Nikki gets the hot tag and splashes Kairi, hitting her with a running bulldog, screaming very loudly, and hitting a crossbody off the top for a two. Kairi rakes the eyes and charges into the corner, Asuka comes in from a blind tag and Nikki puts her down with a DDT. Kairi elbows Cross from the top to break the pin. Asuka hooks the Asuka Lock on Nikki and Bliss lands on them with Twisted Bliss to break it. Kairi spears Alexa to take her out. Kairi signals for the elbow, Cross leaps up and is scooped up by Asuka, Kairi leaping off the rope to hit her with a LOD-style forearm. Asuka holds Nikki who dodges, Nikki swings Kairi into a spinning neckbreaker and tags Bliss. Bliss lands a second Twisted Bliss and we have new Women’s Tag Team Champions.

Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross defeat the Kabuki Warriors to become new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions when Alexa Bliss pins Kairi Sane. Listen, I’m not going to go super critical on any of these matches because a lot of this was very on the fly. A little long, but they had a lot of time to fill. This was a good little tag match, all together.

Kayla Braxton brings in Sami Zayn, Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura. Sami says they have a plan and it is inevitable that he is going to do something very few have done, walk in and back out of WrestleMania as Intercontinental Champion.

Shayna Baszler is shadowboxing in the back.

Elias vs King Corbin

And now our Baron Corbin portion of the evening. Baron, bless him, is a good performer who was stuck in quite the lengthy period of being pushed down our throats. A lot of us would come around on him, but this period felt like a channel-changer. This in particular followed up his feud with Roman Reigns that involved dog food. He cuts a promo to tell us that the King has arrived at WrestleMania and Elias is nowhere to be found, as he sends us video from eight days ago where he throws Elias off the balcony to the floor in this very building. He tells us how good it felt to send Elias flying off the balcony and he’s happy to get his second Mania win in a row when the referee forces Elias to forfeit.

A familiar guitar strum brings out Elias who has been upgraded to living. Corbin attacks on the ramp and Elias smashes his guitar over Corbin, something legal since the bell hasn’t rung yet. They fight in the ring for a few minutes, none of which are particularly interesting. Corbin works over the injured shoulder of Elias. After what feels like 28 minutes of Corbin doing heel work, Elias fights back and rips his shirt before stomping the King down in the corner. Elias drops Corbin with an inverted DDT for a two count. Elias heads up top and misses, Baron grabs him into Deep Six for a two count. Corbin charges into a flying knee that only gets him a two count. Corbin tries to pin Elias with his feet on the ropes, referee Jessika Carr stops the count and yells at him. Elias takes this opportunity roll up Corbin and get the pin.

Elias pins King Corbin. This was certainly a 2020 Baron Corbin match! Did it need to be ten minutes long? Probably not.

Various superstars tell us to download WWE Supercard.

Here’s a look at how we found our way to Lynch vs Baszler.

WWE Raw Women’s Championship: WWE Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs Shayna Baszler

The Man pulls up driving a customized truck because why not. I imagine the impact of this would’ve been a lot more pulling into the stadium in Tampa. Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton have taken over commentary as the Raw announce team and Mike Rome is here to do the in-ring championship introductions.

Baszler won this shot by eliminating the entire field in the Elimination Chamber and a lot of us were thinking yeah, she should win this. Baszler hooks on a clutch early and Becky rolls outside, so Shayna follows outside to kick her around. Shayna scoops up Becky for a powerbomb but Becky rolls out, tossing Shayna into the announce table instead. Becks slams Shayna into the steps and rolls Shayna back in, leaping with a dropkick from the top rope. Baszler slows Becky down and brawls to the outside with Becky, Becky yelling that it is her title as Becky drops Baszler onto the apron – the hardest part of the ring, notes Byron – with a Rock Bottom. This only gets her a two. Shayna hooks the arm, turning it into her own Disarmher. Lynch fights out, only to be smacked in the face with a knee for a two.

They brawl outside and Shayna bounces Becky off the announce desk, Shayna smiling at her destruction. Becky tries for the arm lock, Shayna spins her into the clutch and Becky fades to her knees before rolling it into a pin, being able to hold Shayna down for three. Becky retains and Baszler looks on in disappointment.

Becky Lynch pins Shayna Baszler to retain the WWE Raw Women’s Championship. A good match with probably the wrong result, but at least it was Becky being smart to get the pin. The title scene would change drastically in the next month regardless with Becky’s pregnancy announcement.

WWE Intercontinental Championship: WWE Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn (with Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura) vs Daniel Bryan (with Drew Gulak)

Gronk and Mojo are up in the balcony doing the yes chant for D-Bry. I think Gulak was with Bryan because Bryan was trying to teach him? I don’t remember and I am not further researching Gulak at this time. I only do research like that for random NXT competitors. Sami was in “The Great Liberator” mode at the time and his trio was The Artist Collective, a name that fits alongside Pure Fusion Collective as failed uses of names that sound like co-ops that sell candles and 3D printed dragons at local markets.

This has potential to be something really good with two men who would become world champions despite expectations. Sami hides out to start, ducking Bryan and taking referee counts. Bryan finally chases him and runs into Cesaro, then chases him in the other direction and finds Shinsuke. It takes a solid three minutes for Bryan to finally get his hands on Sami after Gulak dives on the group and knocks Nakamura and Cesaro over the barricade and Bryan tackles Zayn on the ramp.

Sami yells that this shouldn’t have to happen and Daniel should join them. Bryan punches him in the face in response. Bryan drives Sami into the barricade and kicks him around before tossing him back in then drops him with a missile dropkick. Daniel pounds the shit out of Sami and slaps him in the corner, telling him that he is a nobody and that Sami hasn’t earned anything. Commentary questions if Sami is crying as Sami sneaks a punch into Bryan’s face, hitting him with a big clothesline. Sami yells and slaps Bryan, telling him that he made a huge mistake. Bryan nails Sami down with a flying clothesline and lays in the Yes Kicks. Gulak starts his own yes chants and Shinsuke and Cesaro reappear to attack, Bryan diving on him. That’s just the time Sami needs to regain his composure, nailing Bryan with a Helluva Kick to get the pin.

Sami Zayn pins Daniel Bryan to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship. This felt like a match straight off a SmackDown that would lead to a bigger PPV match. It wasn’t bad, but it just felt like the start of something more.

Triple Threat Ladder Match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship: WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champion John Morrison vs Jimmy Uso vs Kofi Kingston

This was originally set as a tag team ladder match, but Miz became ill and they broke it down to three men battling on behalf of their tag teams. I imagine a ladder match hurts a lot more when there is no crowd to give you adrenaline rushes. I know this one will be hard to call because these are three men ready to fly, so we’ll hit the highlights. Each man brings in a ladder at the same time and Morrison has drawn the short ladder. Morrison kicks over Uso’s ladder, Uso pulls Morrison down and Kofi crossbodies them both. Kofi misses Trouble in Paradise, Morrison misses in return, and Uso climbs. Kofi intercepts and headbutts Uso off the ladder. Morrison follows and knocks Kofi down, only for Uso to slide him down the ladder. Kofi launches off the top and through the ladder, Uso and Morrison catch him and dump him to the floor.

As Uso favors his knee, Morrison nails it with a ladder. Jimmy puts Morrison on the top rope under a ladder and then climbs, using the ladder as a platform. Morrison grabs the leg and lays Uso on the ladder and dives onto the man and the ladder. Morrison climbs, Kofi leaps onto him with a rana and they both land hard. Doing all of this with no audience is wild. Kofi dives onto Morrison on the outside. Uso climbs the barricade and Kofi yeets a ladder right into him. That’s one way to do it. Kofi build the mandatory ladder bridge propped up on the ring and barricade and lifts Jimmy onto it. Morrison walks the top rope like a tightrope and hits Kofi with a Spanish Fly, immediately followed by Jimmy hitting Morrison with the Uso Splash. Jimmy and Kofi climb before Jimmy punches Kofi down.

Kofi scales the inside of the ladder and knocks Jimmy down, readjusting himself to the correct side of the ladder to climb. Kofi leaps off the ladder with a stomp to Morrison. Jimmy makes a ladder bridge connected to the standing ladder and Kofi starts climbing, leaping into Jimmy and being driven face first into the ladder. “Eat that, Kofi! Flatten your face like a pancake!” Morrison springs from the bridge ladder into a superkick. Uso sets him up on the bridge and sets up another ladder to climb in the corner. Morrison rolls up and dumps Jimmy to the floor and slowly heads up the ladder, confident he’s got it now. He takes forever of course, so Kofi appears from off-camera to climb. Kofi headbutts Morrison as Jimmy climbs a ladder next to theirs. They all unclip the belts together and argue about who has them. Jimmy and Kofi headbutt Morrison, who falls to the floor with the titles. Well.

John Morrison wins the ladder match against Jimmy Uso and Kofi Kingston to retain the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Titles. That was certainly a creative way to end it. There were some good spots here. I’m not sure I would’ve done them to no crowd, but it is WrestleMania and we need WrestleMania Moments.

Here’s a look at some shows we have on WWE Network! Well, at least we’ll always have this network with an enormous library of original content and classic programs.

Byron and Tom tell us how you can watch any WrestleMania on the WWE Network before giving us a look at how we’ve gotten to Kevin vs Seth. Well, I’m watching this on Netflix.

Kevin Owens vs Seth Rollins

Seth’s “Burn It Down” doesn’t hit as hard without fans. Tonight, WrestleMania is delivered to you by Papa Johns! KO has his cool KO-Mania IV shirt. Kevin squashes Seth with sentons early, setting up a cannonball before Rollins rolls out. Rollins continues trying to run from KO before he is finally able to catch Owens, backdropping him onto the hardest part of the ring. Seth picks KO up and drops him on the apron with a Falcon Arrow. Both of these men are great with this era because they’re good at talking. Seth asks Owens if he regrets this yet. Seth dives onto KO and into the barricade outside as Seth monologues that KO is making this too easy. “What are your kids going to think, Kevin?” This gets Seth a punch, but Seth puts Owens back down with a Slingblade. Owens tries for a stomp, Owens counters with a DDT. He hits his second cannonball attempt and follows through with a senton from the top, Rollins kicking out at two.

KO drags Seth to the corner and Seth blocks, poking KO in the eyes. Seth climbs up and sunset flips Owens, plowing him into the other corner with a buckle bomb and two super kicks. Owens catches him with a pop-up powerbomb for a two as the ref checks KO’s bloody nose. The men battle outside again, Rollins running to the timekeeper’s area, grabbing the bell and clobbering KO.

Kevin Owens defeats Seth Rollins by disqualification. A fine match until the end, the best of the show that happened in-ring. But wait, there’s more!

KO grabs a mic and yells at Seth, telling him he doesn’t get to end it this way at WrestleMania. “Those weren’t the actions of a god, those were the actions of a little bitch!” KO challenges him to finish it with no disqualifications and Seth comes on down.

No Disqualification: Kevin Owens vs Seth Rollins

And we continue. Kevin does still have a large object to dive from, after all. They battle to ringside and Seth drives KO into the barricade. Seth grabs the steel steps and slugs KO to the ground with them. Rollins grabs a chair from the timekeeper’s area and swings away, smacking Owens while yelling that Owens mouth is what always gets him in trouble. Rollins uncovers the announce table but gets his bell rung by KO hitting him with the bell. This leaves Seth across the announce table and KO climbs the giant WrestleMania sign, diving through Seth and the table with an elbow. KO gets to his feet first and limps over to Seth, dumping him into the ring. KO hits the stunner on Seth and covers for the three.

Kevin Owens pins Seth Rollins. All together with the first part, still a very good match and the best in-ring match of the show by a large margin. This one is worth rewatching.

Gronk and Mojo get hyped on the balcony but are interrupted by WWE 24/7 Champion R-Truth who tells them to quiet down because he’s trying to hide. He can’t go to picnics, church, or cookouts because of having to defend his title. Rob elbows Gronk down for the cover, Mojo shoves him off and pins Truth himself. Mojo Rawley pins R-Truth to become the WWE 24/7 Champion. Mojo runs off.

Charly is with Paul Heyman. He says that Drew McIntyre should be afraid because in 24 hours, he’s being exposed for being a “big bitch wannabe.”

WWE Universal Championship: WWE Universal Champion and WWE Hall of Famer Goldberg vs Braun Strowman

This was originally supposed to be Roman Reigns challenging Goldberg, but Roman pulled out on March 20th due to being immunocompromised from his battle with leukemia and not wanting to risk his health. Goldberg does his walk from the locker room. The locker room is a lot closer tonight with this being the Performance Center which is good for Pepaw Goldberg. They still hit the entrance smoke for him but they’re not trying pyro in this place.

The giants stare each other down before Braun scoops Goldberg up. Goldberg slides out and hits a spear, a second spear, and a third spear before covering Braun for a two. Goldberg spears a fourth time and sets up the Jackhammer, Braun countering into a powerslam. Braun slams Goldberg two more times. “GET UP, GOLDBERG!” Braun scoops Goldberg onto his shoulder and drops him with the running powerslam. We have a new champion in under three minutes.

Braun Strowman pins Goldberg to become the new WWE Universal Champion. Not a huge shock here and probably smart to belt the man more likely to appear during whatever might be coming in the months to come. Not much of a match but the preferred length of a Goldberg match.

Boneyard Match: The Undertaker vs AJ Styles

I wrote about this match over on Substack about a year ago, so we’re going to do some cut and paste magic here. If you’d like ten paragraphs about this match, I have a treat for you!

The Undertaker / AJ Styles feud began in Saudi Arabia at the Super ShowDown. Undertaker made a surprise appearance and quickly defeated AJ to win the Tuwaiq Mountain Trophy. Yes, we all remember that, right? (We do not.) Styles would taunt Taker from Raw, Taker would show up at Elimination Chamber to cost Styles a match. Then the fans went away with COVID. They would argue back and forth for weeks, with AJ calling Undertaker by his government name. The challenge would be set and the Boneyard Match would headline the first night of WrestleMania 36.

The match itself was filmed on a closed set in Orlando prior to the event. It would be one of many cinematic matches WWE would present during COVID, such as the Firefly Fun House match on the second night of the event.

We start with shots of a graveyard and the famed Undertaker bell tolling. A hearse pulls up and into the cemetery. Druids exit and open the back of the hearse, pulling out a black casket. They open it and there sits AJ Styles, his music taking over as he declares, “What a ride!” He talks about how it isn’t scary and calls for the deadman.

AJ hears the sound of a motorcycle in the distance, and we see angles of that motorcyle pulling up with the familiar American Bad Ass look of the Undertaker riding it to the tune of Metallica’s “Now That We’re Dead.” AJ rubs his hands in excitement as Taker stares him down.

Styles tells Taker he didn’t think he would show up and shows off a freshly dug grave. Taker tells Styles that he dug his own grave. The brawl is on as Taker punches styles down. Styles runs to the hearse and Taker throws him on top of the casket. Taker finds a metal object and rams it at Styles, but smashes the hearse’s window and cuts his arm instead. “Son of a bitch!” Styles kicks Taker, who grabs him and throws him on top of the hearse, breaking its windshield. Styles crawls to the top of the hearse and Taker follows, punching him to the ground.

Taker says he has “a lot more” as Styles crawls away. Styles throws a handful of dirt in Taker’s eyes and lays in a bunch and a crotch kick, as one does in a graveyard. Styles says he is putting Taker’s ass in the grave. They trade blows and Styles tumbles into the grave. Taker asks how it feels as we hear “Hey Deadman!” It’s Gallows & Anderson, who say “we’re just getting started.” Lights shine from a structure behind them as doors fall and a legion of druids walk out, surrounding Taker. The fight begins again, Taker taking out as many druids as he can.

Gallows and Anderson attack Taker, pounding him to the ground. Anderson swings a shovel at Taker, who kicks past it. Taker gets the shovel and takes it to both men, evening the odds once again. Styles runs from behind with a block and shatters it against the back of the Taker, telling the “old man” he doesn’t have what it takes. Styles punches at Taker but rolls off yelling, noting that Taker made him break his finger. “Stay down, old man.” The old man does not stay down, so Styles spears him through a fence. Styles is up first as Taker crawls off, Styles taunting him and calling him a broken down old bitch. Styles breaks a shovel across Taker’s back, who falls into the empty grave plot.

After dropping a handful of dirt on Taker, Styles eyes a big John Deere tractor next to the grave. He climbs up, cranks it up and is shocked by a light behind him, the Undertaker standing right there. Taker beats Styles on the tractor, knocking him around the grave plot. Styles runs towards the house behind them, climbing a ladder to the roof. Taker tells Styles he can run but he can’t hide. Taker climbs behind him, meeting him on top of the roof. Taker raises his arms and causes a large flame to shoot up behind AJ, who catches a book when running towards Taker. Anderson and Gallows have joined them on the roof, Taker throwing Gallows off. Taker grabs Anderson and Tombstones him on the roof. That again leaves just Taker and AJ.

They trade blows on top of the roof, but Taker catches AJ with a choke and chokeslams him off and into a pile of easily breakable wood. Taker climbs down the ladder and walks over, asking AJ about his taunts of Michelle McCool. Taker tells Styles that they’re just getting started. Taker grabs the hand of Styles and helps him to his feet, then carrying him over his shoulder toward the grave. “You won’t last as long as I did.” Styles begs Taker to not bury him, apologizing. Taker kicks him into the grave, hops on John Deere, and dumps the dirt on top of Styles. The bell tolls as he turns off the engine. Taker moves moss off its tombstone to reveal “AJ Styles” as we see one gloved AJ hand sticking out of the dirt. Taker gets on his motorcycle, puts his bandana back on, raises one arm, igniting fire and a Taker logo on the building behind him. Metallica starts playing again as he rides off.

Undertaker defeats AJ Styles. For a thirty minute mini-film, it was pretty good. I think you could probably cut about 5-10 minutes out of it and not miss much. That said, for the first cinematic match of the Pandemic Era, it was good. Thumbs up.

Overall, an interesting experiment of a show. There were genuinely good things – the Boneyard, the Intercontinental Title match. There were things that might’ve worked better in front of a crowd. In the vacuum of 2020, it was still a treat. Watching it back, it is interesting but you could probably just start watching with the Intercontinental Title match until the end.

Next time, night two!