April 10 & 11, 2021
Venue: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, FL
Last week we offered some predictions for this year’s WrestleMania, so it’s only natural that we follow up to see how we did. This will not be a full summary like our usual posts — we’re currently in the middle of WrestleMania XIII and will have a post on that to share soon. Instead, we’re just going to offer some initial reactions and tally up the accuracy of our predictions. If you’re looking for sparkling analysis, you might as well go back and re-read our WrestleMania XII post — that one was gold.
NIGHT 1 – Saturday, April 10
Man, we were all over the predictions for Night 1 — 5 for 6 for each of us. (To my eternal shame I didn’t pick Bianca Belair to win the main event and the SmackDown Women’s Championship; Rich can be forgiven for predicting a double countout for Cesaro and Seth Rollins.) It was a lovely night, so we watched Saturday night’s show on my garage door using a projector. It made the half hour rain delay a bit more bearable to be able to drink wine next to the portable fire pit while we waited.
Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre – WWE Championship
Our prediction: Bobby Lashley beats Drew McIntyre and retains the belt, probably for a lengthy run.
Results: A solid and entertaining match, even if the outcome was predictable. Great start to the evening!
Tag Team Turmoil Match
Hey, no fair! This wasn’t on the card when we wrote our preview, so we didn’t get a chance to make a prediction. We were rooting for The Riott Squad, but they didn’t quite make it.
Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins
Our prediction: Tim called it for Cesaro; Rich predicted a double countout in the great tradition of WrestleMania countouts. Neither of us were expecting too much from this one.
Results: Cesaro wins but dang, this was a lot of fun and we won’t underestimate Cesaro again. We still hope WWE can find some more interesting things to do with him.
A.J. Styles & Omos vs. The New Day, Raw Tag Team Championship match
Our prediction: We both called this for Mr. Flatironed Hair and his gigantic bodyguard. Rich predicted that the success of the whole thing would hinge on how well Omos was able to perform in his first major in-ring appearance.
Results: Nailed it, and Omos ended up being a great addition and complement to Styles. We loved his typical giant moves, the long build-up to his first tag into the action, and the way AJ jumped off his shoulders. It probably won’t be long ‘til they split up the band, though — probably the first time they lose or almost lose the belts.
Braun Strowman vs. Shane McMahon, steel cage match
Our prediction: We both picked Braun, though Rich thought Shane might actually die in the ring from doing one too many stupid moves.
Results: Sadly, Shane appears to still be among the living (though we haven’t checked the news today to confirm, so keep hope alive.) He kept the spotmonkey BS to a minimum, save for the final toss off the cage top into the ring (the Spanish announcers’ table breathes a sigh of relief) and we liked Braun tearing through the wall of the cage like he was unwrapping a Cadbury egg. At least Braun got the win so we were both right about that.
Bad Bunny & Damian Priest vs. The Miz & John Morrison
Our prediction: Tim called this for Bad Bunny & Damian Priest, the only ending that makes sense if the goal is to wrap up this angle. Rich predicted the sun crashing into the Earth and destroying all life, which I also interpreted as a pick for Bad Bunny.
Results: We can admit when we’re wrong — this match was fun as hell and Bad Bunny killed it. He and Priest had some great chemistry as partners, and Miz and Morrison were a perfect matchup for them. And holy crap, did you guys see that Canadian Destroyer the Rabbit hit on Morrison? 2 more correct picks for us, and a new sideline for Bad Bunny if ever decides to give up being a multimillion selling recording artist. We still think Morrison should go to AEW already — maybe he could teach those botchmasters how to actually wrestle without hurting someone.
Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair – SmackDown Women’s Championship
Our prediction: Rich called it for Bianca, Tim stupidly picked Sasha. Tim hangs his head in shame and regret.
Results: Match of the night, maybe match of the year so far. The ladies really went for it. Bianca getting emotional in the ring when they were getting ready to start choked us up a bit, as did her family flipping out over her win. What a beautiful thing, and the feel-good moment we all needed.
Overall a pretty impressive night of action and a fitting return to live sporting events, even if the number of people in the crowd and the intermittent mask wearing made us more than a little uncomfortable. Also why wouldn’t you have a backup plan for an outdoor event in the so-called “Lightning capital of North America”? (It’s even in the name of their hockey team!)
NIGHT 2 – Sunday, April 11
We shanked the predictions for Night 2, like, BAD.
Randy Orton vs. The Fiend
Our prediction: Tim picked The Fiend; Rich expressed a wish for both men to be set on fire.
Results: Umm, we’re not entirely sure. This felt like it ended abruptly, like maybe someone got hurt or something malfunctioned. Still trolling Twitter and the interwebs for someone to report the real story. Alexa Bliss popped up from a giant box beside the ring like the world’s worst bachelor party entertainment, The Fiend got distracted, and Randy got the win and dipped. Then the lights went out and The Fiend and the box disappeared, while the crowd quietly booed. We’re with them — wtf was that?
Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler vs. Natalya & Tamina, WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship
No fair, part II — not only do they sneak a match into Saturday night’s card, they follow it up by having the winner of that match contend for the Women’s Tag Team titles on Sunday night. But then Nia Jax and Baszler win and retain their titles. So what was the point? We could have skipped these matches to make up for the rain delay of Night 1 and shorten the over-long runtime on Night 2. *Grumpy old man noises*
Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn
Our prediction: We both picked Kevin Owens to win, and predicted that these BFFs would open up some sort of vegan food franchise afterwards. Tim thought a vegan BBQ foodtruck; Rich predicted a vegan taphouse.
Results: One of only three matches we both got correct for Night 2, and also one of the better matches of the night. A bit of a spotfest, but pretty exciting. No word yet on post-match plans re: restaurants, though we can picture Kevin Owens eating a ton of cream cheese pancakes at IHOP.
Sheamus vs. Riddle, United States Championship
Our prediction: We both picked Riddle over a past-his-prime Sheamus. After all, what else can they do with this walking can of talcum powder at this point?
Results: Welp, that didn’t turn out as planned. Riddle was extra sloppy — at one point we were pretty sure he was gonna paralyze Sheamus with a botched suplex. But Sheamus recovered and just about caved in Riddle’s face with a kick to gain the title (yet again.) Here’s hoping he can get some sun now that the weather is turning warm.
Apollo Crews vs. Big E, WWE Intercontinental Championship
Our prediction: We both called this one for Big E to retain the belt.
Results: We’ll admit to sort of tuning out during this one. We didn’t really understand what was going on with the drums ringside, and weren’t interested enough to rewind it. Oh well, the important thing is we both called this one correctly — Big E is still IC champion, hopefully for a decent run.
Rhea Ripley vs. Asuka, WWE Raw Women’s Championship
Our prediction: Rhea Ripley takes the belt
Results: Nailed it. This was a solid match, but we have to admit it suffers a bit from comparisons to Sasha vs. Bianca last night, which we realize isn’t fair. We’re happy to see Rhea get her push, and look forward to more good stuff from her!
Roman Reigns vs. Edge vs. Daniel Bryan, WWE Universal Championship, triple threat match
Our prediction: Edge wins. After all, why bring back a 100 year old vampire with a broken neck, let him win the Royal Rumble, only to bury him 3 months later?
Results: So apparently that was a rhetorical question. Roman Reigns wins, though we can’t really say why. Edge goes back to hanging upside down in Christian’s closet, we guesss? Daniel Bryan goes to work at a hipster coffee bar, or maybe busing tables at Kevin & Sami’s Vegan Hootenanny Brassiere. The crowd seemed restless and a little bored during this match (we thought we heard some boos) and we can’t say we blame them. If they also attended Night 1, this match edges the crowd over the 8 hour mark for watching live professional wrestling. Even without a 13-month layoff from live events, that’s too damn long to do anything, let alone something as hit-or-miss as Night 2 of WrestleMania.
Overall, here’s how we did: There were 14 total matches, but 2 were late additions so we only made picks for 12 of those 14. We both correctly picked 5 of 6 matches for nIght 1 (83%), but only 3 of 6 for night 2 (50%), which comes out to 8 of 12 correct (66%). As Meatloaf once said, two out of three ain’t bad. We’ll save a proper summary and grade for when we get back to WM37 in chronological order. How’d you do with your own picks? Leave us a comment and let us know, and come back soon for our report on WrestleMania XIII!
All the WrestleManias 