WrestleMania 35 results and recaps: Rollins beats Lesnar for Universal championship
WrestleMania 35 represents the culmination of the WWE year, as 75,000-plus people pack out MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey for what has come to be known as the “showcase of the immortals”. There’s an extra sense of history in the air for WWE’s annual supershow, as Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair will take part in the first women’s match ever to main event a WrestleMania show.
Starting at 5 p.m. ET Sunday and stretching well into the night, WrestleMania 35 will present 15 matches, including headlining bouts like Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins for the Universal championship, Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston for the WWE title and Triple H taking on Batista.
Tim Fiorvanti and Matt Wilansky are live at MetLife Stadium to break down all of the action. This file will be updated throughout the night.
Recap to come.
Although the tag team division has taken a backseat for the most part over the last few months, there’s no denying the level of talent that was packed into the Fatal 4-Way tag team match for the SmackDown tag titles.The Usos ultimately walked out with their gold still in hand, but as far as showcases for what could come in the future go, there’s plenty of depth in the division to work with once things reset in the coming weeks.
The quick tags between the four teams kept each sequence fresh and exciting. It was fast-paced, innovative and a lot of fun to watch.
Storytelling: 0.50
In-ring execution: 0.75
Match psychology: 0.50
Timing: 1.00
Innovation: 1.00
— Sean Coyle
Ricochet soon stole the audience’s favor with a bit of lucha libre trickery, but that got derailed in a hurry. Cesaro connected on an uppercut and then unleashed an extended cut of a WrestleMania Cesaro swing — one that spun Ricochet around for over a minute before Cesaro set Ricochet down, shook his head and settled into a sharpshooter in the middle of the ring.
As the match wound down, Ricochet once again took center stage, as he sat atop a tower of doom with The Bar, Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura — but for once, the guy on top survived as he spun out of the attack at the final moment. Black lined up Sheamus for a Ricochet 630, but the pinfall attempt was interrupted by every other competitor in the match.
A finisher bonanza wiped out most of the match, and ended with Sheamus in the ring with both Usos. They knocked Sheamus down with a series of superkicks and hit stereo flying splashes to secure the victory. On a chaotic night, they were the first champions to retain their titles at WrestleMania 35.
It was a tough act to follow. No one saw Seth Rollins and Brock Lesnar, one of the main attractions of this year’s WrestleMania card, kicking off the show and the crowd had little time to catch its breath when AJ Styles’ music hit.
The match was a slow build, but a psychologically-effective story. The execution was top notch, as you’d expect from two of the best. Very good match.
Storytelling: 0.75
In-ring execution: 1.00
Match psychology:1.00
Timing: 0.50
Innovation: 0.50
— Sean Coyle
Leave it to Styles and Randy Orton, though, two longtime veterans who have taken very different paths to reach superstardom level, to make us forget we have a new Universal champ.
On the surface, Styles and Orton was a matchup of two guys who deserve to be on this stage, but two guys who did not have a heated feud leading up to the event. So why not pair them up?
The beginning moments were slow, if not methodical, even as Styles landed a phenomenal forearm on Orton outside the ring before Orton returned the favor my slinging Styles into the barricade.
Styles picked up the pace, striking Orton in the back of the head with his knee. Styles’ locked in a calf crusher, causing Orton to howl in pain, but the hold was broken was Orton made it to the ropes. Styles kept on the pressure and narrowly ended the match with a perfectly executed 450 splash.
Orton took over and executed a daring superplex for a two count. Styles turned the tables and covered Orton for a two count, but as they got up Orton hit his signature RKO. To the shock of the stadium, Styles kicked out after two.
At this point, both competitors were breathing heavily and moving slowly — that is until Styles decided to bring out the phenomenal forearm. He struck Orton with one outside the ring and then once again inside the ring. Styles covered Orton and picked up a big win. Styles beat a solid opponent, and in the process gained some much-needed momentum, leading us to the obvious question: What now? He’s run through nearly every star on the SmackDown roster and with the Superstar Shakeup just over a week away, could we see a move to the red brand with some new rivals?
It seems like a logical move, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
Host Alexa Bliss kicked off WrestleMania 35 by creating a moment — a moment of Hulk Hogan. After screwing up the venue name on purpose, calling back to WrestleMania 30 by calling the stadium “the Silverdome”, Hogan called it the “MetLife Center”, which may or may not have been intentional. “Whatcha gonna do when Hulkamania, Alexa Bliss and WrestleMania run wild on you” Hogan predictably asked, and with that, Paul Heyman walked out to the ring to say that if Brock Lesnar wasn’t going to close the show, he wanted to get the business done early before flying to Las Vegas where he’s “Ultimately appreciated.”
This was an exciting way to open WrestleMania. The match itself wasn’t much to write home about, but the segment was ‘edge of your seat’ entertaining.
Storytelling: 0.50
In-ring execution: 0.50
Match psychology: 0.50
Timing: 0.25
Innovation: 0.25
— Sean Coyle
With that, Lesnar walked to the ring, followed by a “Beast Slayer”-themed entrance for Seth Rollins. The Universal championship match got underway not in the ring, but as Lesnar bumrushed Rollins while he stood on the apron. Lesnar tossed the challenger all over ringside, hit an early F5 and continued to manhandle Rollins before the bell ever rang. After getting tossed over the commentary desk, Lesnar picked Rollins up and tossed him into the ring — but the referee refused to ring the bell and start the match.
Lesnar soon tossed Rollins over the German announce table, tossed him through the hood of the table and then carried the action back into the ring — forcing the official to finally ring the bell.
Suplex City was Rollins’ next destination, which he endured for a couple of minutes until he wriggled out of an F5, sent Lesnar into the ref and nailed a low blow to even the score. Rollins hit a stomp, then another, then a third to finish the deal. Rollins covered Lesnar, picked up the three-count and kicked off WrestleMania with a shockingly quick Universal title win.
In a lot of ways, this shock victory is the opposite bookend to Rollins closing out WrestleMania 31 getting the best of Lesnar and Roman Reigns. He even stood atop the stage and spun the title around in a clear callback to that moment.
After wrestling for the Universal championship in its inaugural match at SummerSlam 2016, and losing to Finn Balor, Rollins finally stands atop the Raw men’s roster coming out of the biggest show of the year. It’s a long overdue reset, which will be further clarified in the weeks to come in the annual superstars shakeup, and it’s a clear hint of where Lesnar’s future may lie.
Given the amount of star power, the first reaction we heard was a spirited jeer as Colin Jost of “Saturday Night Live” walked to the ring wearing an Odell Beckham Jr. Browns jersey. Ouch.
The ring was overcrowded with all shapes and sizes, including the biggest and baddest of them all, Braun Strowman, who was easily the odds-on favorite.
And just like that they fell fast and furious. But not Jost or Michael Che, who ducked under the ropes and under the ring. Shades of Carmella?
Almost.
As the action got rolling, Strowman was unstoppable, eliminated everyone in sight, including Heavy Machinery, Luke Harper and Ali before the “Saturday Night Live” boys returned. But their in-ring presence would last only so long as they failed to help save the Hardy Boyz from Strowman.
At that point, it was down to just the three of them. But before Strowman could take out the jokesters, Jost called in his therapist to work out another solution.
“Braun, there are other solutions,” Jost said. “Not everything has to end in violence, right? That’s why I have invited my therapist to work through some of this anger.”
Strowman would have none of it. First he took out Che, then tossed Jost like a ragdoll over the rope to lift the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
Hardly the showcase Strowman wants, but a nice consolation prize for now.
Raw Tag Team Championship: Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder def. The Revival (c)
Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder walked into a hometown WrestleMania and made it three-for-three for locals on the Kickoff Show — defeating The Revival to become Raw tag team champions and end Hawkins’ historic losing streak for good.
The last time Hawkins won a match prior to Sunday night on the WrestleMania Kickoff Show was on Nov. 8, 2016. That losing streak, which WWE set at 269 losses (though there may have been some Goldberg-esque math involved), ended with Hawkins rolling up Scott Dawson. The Revival, who were dogged for much of their reign as Raw tag team champions with losses in a number of non-title contests and “already in the ring” match starts on Raw, walk out of WrestleMania empty-handed.
This tag team title win is the second for Ryder and Hawkins in WWE, whose previous win came in July 2008 at the Great American Bash.
The truth is there was no real payoff for the women’s battle royal winner where, with everything on the line in the main event later Sunday night.
But there was a question of whether Asuka would find some redemption after losing her SmackDown women’s title just a couple of weeks ago. Early on, it seemed promising, as last year’s winner, Naomi, and one of Raw’s finest, Ember Moon, were eliminated.
One by one they went, until there were only three: Sonya Deville, Asuka and Sarah Logan. First went Deville and then, shockingly, Logan mustered the energy to knock out the favorite Asuka, winning the battle royal — or did she? Out of the blue came Carmella, who had spent copious time outside the ring playing hooky until she hopped back in to take care of Logan and win the battle royal.
The surprise ending gave the crowd at MetLife Stadium, which was still filling in, a reason to cheer wildly. Carmella has been out of the championship mix for some time, but this might be the momentum she needs to get her back in hunt.
Tony Nese stole the spotlight in the early stages of the match, with a suplex into the turnbuckle that put Buddy Murphy on his head and a springboard moonsault onto a suspended Murphy hanging in limbo between the ropes. He also landed a reverse trapped-leg moonsault and a running fosberry flop onto Murphy, followed immediately by a 450 splash, which only drew a two-count. In between, Murphy was his typical, devil-may-care self, throwing himself and Nese all over the ring in increasingly impressive fashion throughout. Murphy hit his finisher, Murphy’s Law, only for Nese to get his foot on the ropes, and Nese came through in the final moments with a superkick, a head-first German suplex into the second turnbuckle and a Running Knee-se to earn what has to be called a shock victory to open up the WrestleMania Kickoff Show with an action-packed 13-minute cruiserweight showcase.
Still to come:
Women’s Raw and SmackDown championship: Ronda Rousey (c-Raw) vs. Charlotte Flair (c-SmackDown) vs. Becky Lynch
WWE championship: Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Kofi Kingston
Intercontinental championship: Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Finn Balor
United States championship: Samoa Joe (c) vs. Rey Mysterio
Women’s tag team championship: Sasha Banks & Bayley (c) vs. Beth Phoenix & Natalya vs. The IIconics vs. Nia Jax and Tamina
No Holds Barred Match: Triple H vs. Batista