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Last year’s WrestleMania seemed like the most magical night in the history of the women’s division in the WWE. Many wondered if the follow-up could deliver. This year boasted two title matches and a high profile mixed tag team match. Let’s see how the women fared in “The Ultimate Thrill Ride”.
Our first matchup was the RAW Women’s Title Fatal 4 Way Elimination Match with Bayley defending against Nia Jax, Sasha Banks, and Charlotte Flair. The action was fast paced and hard-hitting with an array of creative spots. The best friends Bayley and Sasha teamed with their strained Horsewoman Charlotte to combat the powerful Nia Jax. She constantly overcame the 3-on-1 handicap until the Horsewomen nailed an impressive triple powerbomb to eliminate Jax. Moments later, Charlotte would expose a turnbuckle and would use it as a counter to eliminate the Boss. The dust would settle after Bayley delivered a Macho Man Elbow Drop to pin Charlotte to retain her title in an emotional celebration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwug0eaMpTY
WWE.com caught up with the Champion soaking up all the emotions from a successful first WrestleMania.
Up next was the battle of the “It Couples” when Maryse and The Miz battled John Cena and Nikki Bella. After several minutes of the Miz overcoming John Cena and Maryse’s dastardly tactics, the stars of the real “Total Bellas” hit stereo finishers to win this WrestleMania match.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNbBeBSeCrc
The newly engaged couple have a sweet moment after the very insane engagement WrestleMania moment and Nikki’s twin Brie made a video on her YouTube channel as well.
Another notable moment for the women was the insane table bump Stephanie McMahon took in the Triple H and Seth Rollins.
Stephanie McMahon THROUGH A TABLE!!! #HHHvsRollins #WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/57n6VcFgEy
— Riz. (@johncenaAm) April 3, 2017
After a bunch of stress and speculation on if this match would happen, the women of SmackDown Live took center stage as Alexa Bliss defended the SmackDown Women’s Title against Mickie James, Naomi, Carmella, Natalya and Becky Lynch. These women left it all out at Camping World Stadium in ultra-quick action and it would be the hometown girl, Naomi to defeat Bliss via submission to reclaim her title in a nice hometown WrestleMania moment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEPF2enaUlI
The New SmackDown Women’s Champion spoke with WWE.com and described how much this title win meant for her and the city of Orlando.
Thoughts: What a jampacked night for the women’s divisions! Overall, I think this was more of a positive night than a negative one. The gear, the entrances, and the action made this another landmark WrestleMania in the history of women’s wrestling. With that being said, there were some things I would have tweaked to get more out of this night.
The RAW’s Women Title Match was up first. I felt that Bayley’s entrance was a tad underwhelming. I love Sasha’s entrance a lot, that little town car was cute and the funniest thing was that I thought I was getting heel vibes from The Boss, obviously not. Charlotte continues to be the Queen of gear (Chyna tribute?) and entrances. The match’s start was my favorite. I loved the psychology of the onslaught on Nia Jax. Her overcoming the odds several times was a great way to protect her going forward. I thought Sasha’s elimination was lame. After all of the Hell in a Cell, Falls Count Anywhere and Iron Man matches, hitting an exposed turnbuckle takes her out? It should have taken more. I wished it would have came down to Sasha and Bayley so they can have their moment, but I guess they are still saving that for down the road. Charlotte nailing that double corkscrew moonsault was the highlight of the match. The action was okay but the finish of Charlotte losing to a move she has kicked out of several times was odd. I think that this was just an okay match. There was no way they could recreate the magic of that triple threat in Dallas, but the women tried their best and it showed. However, this should have been a singles match with a better story. Lastly on this match, Bayley had NO business winning the title on RAW, when she won it if the plan was for her to win this match at WrestleMania. This would have come across much better for the crowd and the viewers at home if this match was her title win. I couldn’t help but think about this over and over during Bayley’s post match celebration. Decent match, but the booking in retrospect could have been altered to make things an overall better match and moment.
I have NO IDEA why in the blue Sam hell anybody would think the mixed tag team match would some mat classic. This feud was built on promos, shade, and theatrics. The match was fun for the male side, however I was a little disappointed for the action with the women. I will say that the few times Maryse played dastardly heel wife was entertaining. I will say, I was expecting a major fashion moment from the former Divas Champion and was a tad disappointed. Also, Nikki’s gear was a MAJOR letdown. Maybe it was a tribute to her initial Fearless Nikki attire, but I wasn’t feeling it. The stereo finishers with Nena was exactly what I thought would happen. It was fun seeing The Miz get slapped by Nikki, though. Fun match for what it was.
The proposal was sweet and made for a nice WrestleMania Moment. I am so glad the crowd was respectful and allowed this to be special. THAT RING THO! (And now Nikki Bella haters have nothing to try to shade her about anymore. Try something else.) I’m happy for them and can’t wait to see what happens next.
Stephanie McMahon SLAYED WrestleMania in her own way with the looks and that table bump was insane. Much respect to her. The entrance gave me chills and weirdly made me feel like it was 2000 all over again.
The waiting for the SmackDown Women’s Title Match was the most exhausting, stressful, anxious time of the whole night. I’ll admit, I was READY to go off if it were to get cut. Thankfully, it still went on. However, you can still the producers told them to hurry up and get to the ring. The action was very rushed, but it was very fun to watch. I loved Ellsworth getting involved and taking a suplex from Becky. I’m happy Naomi got the win here, but again, was it really necessary for Naomi to have lost her title when she was cleared anyways? I think this was a fun match and depsite it being in the “death slot”, the girls still got that very exhausted crowd to react. Queens. And THAT is what this evolution is all about.
In terms of fashion, my top five looks for tonight were Mickie James, Natalya, Sasha Banks, Charlotte and Stephanie McMahon. They looked great but I think I’d give the edge to Sasha. The look and the entrance won the night for me in this regard.
Overall, this was a pretty successful next chapter from WrestleMania 32’s complete overhaul for the women in WWE. We have three matches involving the women, which is a ‘Mania first. It was nice seeing attention to detail happen for the girls within their entrances and the time they got. Across the board, the ladies got over twenty-seven minutes of ring action. I think the divisions are in good hands and can’t wait to see how things heat up towards next year in New Orleans. We still have challenges of preferential treatment, questionable booking, and uncertainty. But you can still feel progress in the air. We still have work to do, but The Next Chapter in the story of women’s wrestling in the WWE is still shaky, but we are definitely on the right track.
What was your favorite WrestleMania match? What was your favorite attire? What matches do you think will take place next year? Sound off in the comments and thanks for reading!
