Here’s our final thoughts on Raw and SmackDown Live’s WWE WrestleMania 33!
WWE SmackDown Live Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss to Defend Against All SmackDown Women Who Are Available to Compete
Reactions: So this match turned out to be a situation where whoever got the 1st pin/submission wins. This was obviously placed after the Lesnar/Goldberg war to give the crowd a bit of a breather. But thankfully, it was a quick affair that was fun while it lasted. Every woman included in this encounter pulled out their best moves, so at least we got to see everyone shine. Becky Lynch sent her opposition on her own trip to Suplex City, Natalya locked two women into her Sharpshooter, Mickie James broke out her nasty DDT finisher and Naomi went buck wild on everyone. Like we predicted though, Naomi ended up returning to her hometown to get the title she was forced to relinquish. This flew by, but we paid close attention to it all the while. This was pretty decent, actually.
Rating: 2 & a Half out of 5 Stars
4th Annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
Reactions: This battle royal broke down into the usual mayhem of other multi-man brawls. There were a few zany moments strewn throughout it, such as Strowman’s opening elimination spree, Strowman and Show’s staredown and Ziggler’s sneaky heel tactics run. Other than those moments though, the action on display here was pretty basic and it was pretty disappointing to see no major surprise entrants (Shelton Benjamin is 100-percent again, so why didn’t he get a last minute entry?). WWE got its major media outlet moment out of this match at least with the participation of the NFL’s Rob Gronkowski. Mojo got the biggest win of his career, which is cool. But this was easily the weakest of all the Annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal matches put on thus far.
Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars
Neville (c) vs. Austin Aries (WWE Cruiserweight Championship)
Reactions: With these two men on the card against each other in a singles encounter, the chances of it being good were high. They made sure to deliver a fun, spirited matchup with a good bit of methodical grappling and high-flying moves. Aries kicked himself into high gear here and Neville wasn’t too far behind. The match started out with some back and forth countering that built up perfectly into Neville’s mid-match domination. But the action picked up even more once Aries came back to life. We got to witness his Heat Seeking Missile, top rope Double Axe Handle and the return of his patented 450 Splash. Neville may have been as surly as ever, but he still pulled out all the impressive moves that made fans adore him during his babyface days. The false finish from Aries even made us jump out our seat. Kudos goes to Neville for being a cheating dirtbag and bringing back his Red Arrow. This was a very pleasing opener for ‘Mania 33.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars