WrestleMania 36 Review: Night One
Given the current situation of the world, WrestleMania 36 is bound to stand out as the most unique version of the 'Show of Shows'. The company didn't rest on its laurels to be just unique. Providing a mix of some classic hard-hitting action, with some cinematic individuality and aesthetics, this show, at least night one could go down as a classic.
Coming in with an air of mystique, the card filled itself with eight matches across a smartly booked three-plus hours and one kickoff warm up, with WWE having space, time and agency to tell its stories quickly but effectively.
It's hard to tell if night two will live up to a similar trajectory, but as Mojo Rawley and good pal Rob Gronkowski would say, "get hyped!", because the hype is real. WrestleMania moments were made, but how did each match fare on night one? Well, let's find out!
Kickoff: Warming Up
Drew Gulak vs. Cesaro
Announced earlier in the day, as an extension of the Bryan/Gulak vs. Artist Collective (Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Cesaro) feud, WWE could have gone all out in warming up its TV audience with a wrestling clinic. The company smartly kept this short and minimalistic, to let the rest of the night showcase their experimental chops with no audience at WrestleMania.
Even then, being as they are both Gulak and Cesaro, put on a smooth sprint to give us a better than average TV match up. Bryan's push for Gulak has given the technical master quite a rise in the company, in just a few short months.
Unafraid of swaying any crowd reaction, the match allowed Cesaro to pull off some old tricks that would have got a wild pop. Gulak tried to hit hard, but Cesaro countered the Gu-Lock to put away his opponent in style with the airplane spin, sans any hands.
Result: Cesaro beats Drew Gulak in short order to win.
Rating:
