Six Biggest Takeaways From WrestleMania 36 (Night One)

Night one of WrestleMania 36 aired last night from the Performance Center with zero in attendance, and WWE surprisingly delivered a decent event.

The night had some negatives, but they have made the best out of a terrible situation and tried their hardest to make WrestleMania the spectacle it should have been.

Yeah, it was missing the crowd cheer and awe-inspiring set, pyro and fireworks, but it did have a charm being back home in the PC. Night one did its job to the best of its ability and it has gotten me excited for what night two has in store tonight.

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1. The Boneyard Match Was A Cinematic Phenomenon

The boneyard match between Undertaker and AJ Styles headlined night one.

After the video package that we have seen plenty times on Raw to fill time, the camera followed a hearse driving down a lonely road leading to a cemetery. The music was quite spooky and got us all anticipating the entrance of the ‘Deadman’.

We were all fooled as it was the ‘Phenomenal’ AJ Styles that rose out of the coffin. Undertaker had a different, unique entrance for this dastardly boneyard match.

With rock music playing, ‘Taker zoomed down the same road on his motorcycle, ready to start chaos with Styles. This wasn’t the ‘Deadman’, nor was it ‘American Badass’ – it seemed to be metal listener & tiger supporter, Mark Calaway, making this feud even more personal.

So, if you have gotten to this point and are still unsure about what the heck a boneyard match is, it basically is a buried alive match on location.

This match had violence, cringe and action flowing throughout. Styles had hired druids, Gallows and Anderson, and still couldn’t keep the ‘Phenom’ down.

‘Taker took the battle onto the house – which looked like it could collapse at any moment! Up there, he threw Gallows down to the stone-ground below and gave Anderson a vicious tombstone!

With flames sparking up, ‘Taker chokeslammed Styles and had the battle won right there.

He carried the corpse of AJ Styles, buried him and made him Rest In Peace.

Overall, this match was crazy! The score was engaging. It was flawlessly filmed and neatly structured. Critically, it was a bit goofy at times. Although, I couldn’t see them producing anything better if it occurred in the PC, so I was glad they went this way. If the Firefly Fun House Match between John Cena & “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt tonight is similar, it will be very interesting.

Undertaker ended this feud riding off into the sunset, lying in wait for WrestleMania 37. If he does wrestle there, please do a match similar to this!

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2. Ladder Matches Are Amazing

You can’t go wrong with a Ladder Match, right?

WWE put on another great match last night when the SmackDown Tag Team Championship was defended in a ladder match: John Morrison vs Jimmy Uso vs Kofi Kingston.

Originally, this was slated to be the tag teams fighting it out. However, Miz fell ill and was forced to go home, even if WWE wants you to believe he was injured from the brawl on the go-home edition of SmackDown.

This match had all the high spots it required and will definitely be a match of the weekend contender.

The ending was very unique and I don’t recall it happening before. As the three men fought atop the ladder, Morrison crashed into the ladder below them. Meanwhile, Uso & Kingston were stunned to see Morrison managed to bring the titles falling down with him – meaning he retained for his team.

• BONEYARD MATCH
• WrestleMania
• BRAUN STROWMAN
• wwe

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