Wrestlemania Count-Up – Wrestlemania XXXII (2017 Edition): Hitting One Heck of a Wall
Wrestlemania XXXII
Date: April 3, 2016
Location: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
Attendance: 101,763
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Byron Saxton
As we get ready for the pre-show matches, the place might be 10% full at this point as there was some confusion in opening the gates. There were no lines and it was just a sea of humanity trying to get inside.
Pre-Show: Ryback vs. Kalisto
Ryback plants him off a headlock and easily throws the champ outside. Kalisto gets in a quick bulldog for two but the kickout sends him outside. Some double knees to the chest get the same result and Ryback gets to show off by gorilla pressing Kalisto up the steps and back inside. We take a break and come back with Kalisto taking a hard elbow to the jaw for two.
Team Total Divas vs. Team B.A.D. and Blonde
Total Divas: Natalya, Brie Bella, Paige, Alicia Fox, Eva Marie
B.A.D. and Blonde: Naomi, Lana, Summer Rae, Tamina, Emma
Post match Nikki Bella comes out in her neck brace in what is supposed to be some big moment.
Usos vs. Dudley Boyz
Post match the Dudleyz load up some tables but get splashed through them instead. Cool visual if nothing else.
Fifth Harmony sings a very nice rendition of America the Beautiful.
Inter-continental Title: Kevin Owens vs. The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Zack Ryder vs. Stardust vs. Sin Cara vs. Sami Zayn
Cara hits the big dive to put Stardust through the ladder, leaving Owens and Zayn to slug it out above the ring. Sami gets the better of it and hits the half and half suplex to drop Owens head first into a ladder (sick looking landing). That lets Sami go up until Miz shoves him over but this time Miz takes too long going up, earning himself a big shove off from Ryder, who climbs the ladder for the huge upset at 15:24.
AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho
Jericho drives him into the corner to start and the AJ STYLES chants are already going nice and strong. Styles gets in a hurricanrana and a snappy armdrag before sending Jericho outside. That should mean a slingshot dive but Jericho dropkicks him out of the air to take over. Back in and a neckbreaker sets up a dragon sleeper for a change of pace.
AJ tries to fight back but gets pulled down into the Walls for some good old fashioned ASK HIM/AHHHH exchanges. A rope is grabbed so AJ can hit the moonsault into a reverse DDT for two. Both guys head to the corner for a super sitout gordbuster and one heck of a crash. The Pele is countered into a Walls attempt but AJ reverses that into the Calf Crusher.
The Styles Clash is broken up and a Codebreaker gets a delayed two (with Cole making sure to say the near fall was due to the delay in a nice touch). For a change of pace, Jericho loads up AJ for the Styles Clash but gets planted face first for two instead. A rollup exchange sets up the real Styles Clash for two and the springboard 450 gets the same. With nothing else left, AJ heads to the apron and loads up the Phenomenal Forearm, only to have Jericho shove the referee away and catch Styles with the Codebreaker for the pin at 17:08.
New Day vs. League of Nations
Dean Ambrose vs. Brock Lesnar
Anything goes and Heyman gives Brock a big, over the top intro. JBL gives us a good example of trying to be too smart by calling Lesnar a former NWA Champion (assuming he means NCAA), which of course he never won. Brock hits the first suplex inside of ten seconds and the huge video screen above the ring kept count (It had been all over the place all night with unicorns for the New Day and various three camera shot replays. In other words, it was annoying in a hurry.).
Hall of Fame time with a pretty good class:
Godfather (So completely out of place here.)
Stan Hansen (How was he not in already?)
Joan Lunden (Warrior Award, which seems to have been forgotten this year.)
Fabulous Freebirds (You could argue they were the headliners.)
Snoop Dogg (Harmless. Not exactly PG but harmless.)
Sting (Only entrance and the loudest reaction.)
Everyone trades rollups to start in a fast and pretty athletic sequence until Charlotte kicks Becky in the face. That earns a nice round of applause and you can tell the women are ready tonight. A hurricanrana sends Charlotte across the ring and Sasha throws in an Eddie dance. They botch (not bad) a sunset flip/German suplex spot before Charlotte it sent outside, leaving Sasha to elbow Becky in the face.
Charlotte poses and gets some pyro to really make this special.
The Cell is lowered for the 33rd time in WWE history. That stat kind of pulls things back a bit no?
Shane McMahon vs. Undertaker
Rating: D-. WAY too long here with a match that should have been a glorified squash (which this was) that ran only about half this long. The idea that Shane could hang in there with Undertaker under these or any circumstances (including a bunch of run-ins, which never happened), is a combination of insulting and stupid.
The pre-show panel chats for a bit.
Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
Konnor gets rid of Page a few seconds later as this is already pretty dull stuff. The yet to be official Golden Truth eliminates Konnor and Tatanka goes on a warpath that no one was asking for. Corbin tosses Tatanka to no reaction and Kane backdrops Swagger out. The Social Outcasts of all people clean house and get rid of Goldust and Truth. We get a victory lap until Kane and Corbin get rid of Rose and Axel.
Wrestlemania XXXIII is in Orlando.
The Rock vs. Erick Rowan
Rock Bottom, six seconds. Again, I saw this called Rock burying the Wyatts. You know, because people are worried about ERICK ROWAN needing protection.
WWE World Title: Roman Reigns vs. HHH
Rating: D. And a lot of that is just for having the guts to go out there and do a match this boring in this spot on this show. This match was twelve minutes of HHH working on the arm and then getting into the main event style that went exactly where we knew it was going. The lack of drama or really anything interesting (save for that Stephanie spear) killed this and there was no recovering given how long the thing ran.
A quick celebration sets up the traditional long music video to wrap things up.
Ratings Comparison
Zack Ryder vs. Stardust vs. Sin Cara vs. Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens vs. The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler
Original: B
Redo: B
AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho
Original: B
Redo: B
New Day vs. League of Nations
Original: C-
Redo: D+
Brock Lesnar vs. Dean Ambrose
Original: D+
Redo: C+
Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks
Original: B+
Redo: A-
Shane McMahon vs. Undertaker
Original: D
Redo: D-
Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
Original: D
Redo: D
The Rock vs. Erick Rowan
Original: N/A
Redo: N/A
HHH vs. Roman Reigns
Original: D
Redo: D
Overall Rating
Original: C-
Redo: D
Oh yeah I was still feeling the in-person vibe when I watched this back the first time. A C- is WAY too generous.
http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2016/04/08/wrestlemania-xxxii-strap-yourselves-in-this-is-a-long-one/
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