Hart Murmurs # 103 by Bruce Hart
Greetings. WrestleMania 34 is now in the books and this week I’ll render my perspectives on the big show – the good, the bad and the ugly.
WWE Universal Title
Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar (Champion)
I was kind of surprised, like many others, to see the supposed “heir apparent” to the WWE throne – Reigns, get “squashed” (old school wrestling parlance for getting decisively beaten) by the Beast, because pre-match speculation had been that Lesnar was heading back to the UFC and would therefore likely be dropping the strap.
Aside from that, since Brock hasn’t exactly been setting the world on fire since he’s had the belt and Roman seemed to be on the threshold, it also seemed that Roman might finally be given the long awaited push that he’s been waiting for. That didn’t happen though and, at this stage, it appears that Roman’s status is up in the air. Brock, on the other hand, has been re-affirmed as the top dog, although there are no imminent opponents lined up for him – none of which reflects a particularly well-conceived booking strategy on the WWE’s part.
WWE World Heavyweight Title
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. A. J. Styles (Champion)
To nobody’s surprise, this was a great match, with both warriors rising to the occasion on the big stage and rendering a compelling, hard fought classic. In the end, A. J. emerged victorious to retain this world title, but even in defeat, Nakamura’s stock continues to rise, while the WWE world title – which had lost some of its magnitude in recent years, regained some of its “mojo” – which was nice to see. Props to Shinuske and A. J. for a job well done!
Intercontinental Title (Triple Threat)
The Miz (Champion) vs. Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins
This was another great match, as all three of the combatants were in top form – with “excellence of execution” (to quote my brother, Bret), impeccable timing and good intensity. When all the smoke had cleared, the Miz’s lengthy reign as the InterContinental champion had come to an end and Seth was crowned as the new champion. Hopefully Rollins’ win can inject some long overdue credibility back into the InterContinental strap, which hasn’t had that much cachet in recent years.
United States Title (Fatal Fourway)
Randy Orton (Champion) vs Bobby Roode vs. Jinder Mahal vs. Rusev
While this match wasn’t as good as the World and the InterContinental title showdowns, it, nonetheless, was a surprisingly solid encounter, with Orton and Roode, in particular, delivering great performances. The outcome – which saw Jinder capture the United States title was somewhat surprising, given that Orton had only recently won it, and was expected to hold it for a while. I’m pleased to see Jinder – who’s been a pretty dedicated team player, win the belt, but I think it probably would have been better to have left it on the Viper and let him re-establish it for a while.
WWE Cruiserweight Title
Cedrick Alexander (Champion) vs. Mustafa Ali
Even though this was a decent match, with both guys working hard and pulling out all the stops – with Alexander eventually retaining his belt, the very fact that the Cruiserweight world title wasn`t even deemed worthy of being on the main card at Wrestlemania and was confined to the pre-card warm-up speaks volumes about insignificant the cruiserweight belt has become.
Putting it another way, if, back in the day, the World Boxing Association had a show with the heavyweight championship – say Holyfield and Tyson in the main event, and then, as an undercard throw-in, they also had a middleweight title match, with, say, Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard going at it, it would have been a distinct slap in the face to the middleweight championship.
That`s pretty much what transpired with the cruiserweight title at Wrestlemania, which is too bad, because not that long ago, the belt was beginning to be taken seriously – courtesy of guys like Neville and Rich Swann, but now it seems to be more of an undercard nonentity. Hopefully the powers that be in the WWE will see fit to restore some semblance of respectability to the cruiserweights, because there`s a lot of great talent in the division and they shouldn’t be treated as undercard filler.
RAW Womens Title Match
Alexa Bliss (Champion) vs. Nia Jax
I have to admit that I wasn`t really expecting much from these two, but, to their credit, both girls came up with surprisingly good performances – with Jax, in the end, somewhat surprisingly, emerging victorious to win the title. I`m still somewhat skeptical that Nia can be a long term fix as the RAW women`s champion, but the victory at least enables the fans to take her more a bit more seriously.
As for Alexa, the loss shouldn`t hurt her, as even in defeat, she showed that she`s a terrific worker and not just another pretty face. I could see potential for her, down the road, in switching to a face – given her relatively small size. Either way, she`s become one of the better divas on the scene and ranks right up there with Flair and Asuka as the cream of the women`s crop.
Smackdown Womens Title
Charlotte Flair (Champion) vs. Asuka
This spirited encounter more than lived up to the hype, as both girls sustained a great pace throughout, in a hard hitting affair, which ultimately saw Flair, somewhat surprisingly, get her hand raised and thereby snap the Empress of Tomorrow`s lengthy undefeated streak. Even though she lost, Asuka didn`t lose much momentum and probably gained a lot of respect from her peers, for doing the job in the middle.
Not to be casting aspersions, but on SmackDown a couple of days later, the WWE, for some hard to fathom reason, had Charlotte double teamed by two NXT nondescripts, after which Carmella – whom most don`t take all that seriously, suddenly cashed in her hokey “money In the bank“ deed and is now the SmackDown Women`s champ. I’m not sure what the rationale for that was, as Carmella, at this stage, isn’t in the same league as Asuka or Flair and the manner in which the belt changed hands did nothing but cheapen the the propriety of the title and seemed to nullify all the hard work that Charlotte and Asuka had put in at Wrestlemania.
SmackDown Tag Team Title (Triple Threat)
USO`s (Champions) vs. New Day vs. Bludgeon Bros. (Harper & Rowan)
While the tag team belts in both SmackDown and RAWhave lost a lot of their prestige, due to lame storylines and uninspired performances, I thought this match was pretty good, all things considered, with all three teams putting in good performances and sustaining a decent work rate. Ultimately, Harper and Rowan emerged victorious, to win the titles – which was kind of nice to see, as they`ve been hard working, underrated performers, who have more than paid their dues. Congratulations to them on their victory and also props to the UO`s and the New Day, for going out of their way to get them over. Hopefully this might usher a new era of respectability in the tag team division.
RAW Tag Team Title
Sheamus and Cesaro (Champions) vs. Strowman and Nicholas
I`m sure the WWE probably thinks that they were rendering one of those sentimental, feel good stories when they had Strowman win the tag team championship with Nicholas, a skinny ten year old kid, as his partner, but to my way of thinking the whole illicit charade was contrived and hard to take seriously.
Putting it into context, if the same type of pretext had been put into play at, say, the Super Bowl game, the Stanley Cup playoffs, or if some race car driver had, for some strange reason, decided to have a kid in the back seat of his race car for the Daytona 500, there would have been all kinds of outcry about endangering a child`s life.
Even though the WWE has long since abandoned the notion of having the public take their product seriously, they, nonetheless, owe it to the fans to try to make it plausible and not too insulting to their intelligence – and this certainly didn`t do that. I`m not sure if the WWE plans to further embarrass themselves and reduce people`s perceptions of pro wrestling, by having Strowman and Nicholas defend the belts in future matches, but if I were them, I would re-consider going forward with this ill-conceived fiasco altogether. I`d also be apologizing to Cesaro and Sheamus and to the rest of the wrestlers on the roster, who bust their asses to make people take wrestling seriously, for having made a mockery of that.
Special Challenge
Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle vs. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon
This match was surprisingly good from start to finish, with pretty decent execution and surprisingly solid performances turned in by both Ronda and Steph. For the finish, Stephanie did the honors for Ronda, which should help pave the way for bigger and better things for Rousey. I`m not sure what the WWE has in mind for her at this stage, but I could certainly envision her doing some great business with the likes of Charlotte, Asuka, Alexa and some of the other divas, although there still needs to be a plausible transition for her, from UFC to WWE style.
Tag Team Showdown
Daniel Bryan and Shane O`Mac vs. Kevin Owen and Sami Zayn
Although Bryan`s long awaited return to the ring was somewhat lost in the shuffle, with all the other matches and hype and hoopla on the Wrestlemania card, this match still delivered the goods on the grand stage of Wrestlemania. In the end, Bryan overcame adversity and emerged victorious – which should solidify his position, once again, as one of the WWE`s most over faces.
At this stage, I`m not sure whom the WWE brass has in mind for him as far as suitable opponents go, but for now, there seems to be some obvious potential in keeping the conflict with him and Owens and Zayn going strong.
John Cena vs. the Undertaker
This was one of my favorite matches at Wrestlemania, because it allowed the fans and the wrestling fraternity to pay due respect to two of the most iconic and respected legends in the annals of the WWE. While the match was pretty basic and didn`t have that many awe-inspiring moves or dynamics, Cena and `Taker, being the old pros that they are, nonetheless had the crowd engaged, from start to finish.
In the end, Cena, to his credit, did the honors for the dead man – which was a nice way for the WWE to acknowledge the monumental contribution Taker has made to the wrestling scene in the past twenty five years. Props to both John and Mark for a memorable match.
Andre the Giant 30 Man Battle Royal
Even though this match tended to be needless overkill on an already overloaded card, it, nonetheless, exceeded my expectations, as they kept it pretty simple and to the point and didn`t go overboard on high spots and other nonsense. As for the outcome, Matt Hardy went over, which should enhance his somewhat hard to fathom program with Bray Wyatt.
30 Woman Battle Royal
As if the WWE needed another battle royal on the card, they also subjected the fans to the women`s battle royal. While many of the WWE`s top divas, including Charlotte, Asuka, Alexa and Ronda Rousey were ex-cluded from this match and it probably would have been better if they`d saved it for another occasion, it was okay, from an artistic perspective, with Naomi coming out on top.
One other aspect of the Wrestlemania weekend was the Hall of Fame inductions – which took place on Friday night, preceding Wrestlemania. I`d like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the inductees, including the Dudleys, Mark Henry, Ivory, Goldberg, Jeff Jarrett and my old buddy, Hillbilly Jim and to offer props to the WWE for a nice job, in honoring them.
On that note, I’ll call this a wrap but will look forward to catching up with you all next time for more perspectives on the wrestling scene, straight from the Hart.
