WWE WrestleMania 36 Results: Star Ratings for All Matches from Saturday's Card

Erik Beaston@@ErikBeastonX.com LogoFeatured ColumnistApril 5, 2020

WWE WrestleMania 36 Results: Star Ratings for All Matches from Saturday's Card

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    Credit: WWE.com

    The first half of the gigantic WrestleMania 36 card, too big for one night (haven't you heard?), exceeded all expectations from a match-quality perspective and left fans genuinely excited about the second night of action coming our way Sunday night.

    From the jaw-dropping athleticism of the Ladder Match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships to the sheer brutality and spectacle of the Boneyard Match between The Undertaker and AJ Styles, Saturday's WWE Network broadcast was an eclectic mix of sports entertainment at its finest.

    In the world of internet wrestling fandom, only one thing ultimately decides whether a match was good or not: star ratings. Obviously.

    On the heels of a successful night one, find out if your favorite match received the highest star rating of the show with this recap of the April 4 portion of The Showcase of the Immortals.

Kickoff Show: Cesaro def. Drew Gulak

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    Drew Gulak and Cesaro could have a phenomenal match with their eyes closed and 10 minutes to work with. Their eyes were open Saturday, but their match time cut in half. 

    Cesaro picked up the victory after breaking out the UFO (no-hand airplane spin), a well-deserved feat for a Superstar who has long been one of the very best workers in the industry. Gulak was also game, working his opponent’s arm and continuing to build on the momentum he has gathered over the last month.

    Though they did not quite reach that classic encounter their skill sets deem possible, they still warmed the viewing audience up with a good bit of grappling that set the stage for things to come.

          

    Star Rating: **½

Women's Tag Team Title Match: Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross def. Kabuki Warriors

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    The opening match of the evening saw Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross challenge The Kabuki Warriors for the Women’s Tag Team Championships. Hellbent on regaining the titles they lost six months earlier, the challengers absorb tremendous punishment from a focus Asuka and Kairi Sane.

    At times in the match, both Bliss and Cross found themselves cut off from their partner, isolated and worked over by the relentless double-teaming and fiery onslaught of the heel champions.

    Cross fought back, complete with unbuttoning her top in what has become the Scottish competitor’s equivalent to “hulking up.” The champions tried to put her away with the Doomsday Device, made popular by Hall of Famers The Road Warriors, but Alexa ultimately scored the win and titles for her team with Twisted Bliss.

    A fun and solid wrestling match, maybe a bit long at 15 minutes, it kicked the show off on the right foot and probably featured the right team going over.

         

    Star Rating: ***

Elias def. King Corbin

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    Elias vs. King Corbin never really felt like a match that belonged on WrestleMania, through no fault of the performers. It was a match that was certainly there and featured a refreshingly intense performance from the troubadour, but that was about it.

    That WWE’s resident songster had to cheat to defeat Corbin, even after bashing his back with a guitar, felt tonally off but it does seem to suggest at least one more match between the two is to come.

    For better or worse.

          

    Star Rating: **

Raw Women's Championship Match: Becky Lynch def. Shayna Baszler

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    We got our first real taste of a WrestleMania-worthy main event in the night’s third match, the culmination of Shayna Baszler’s tear through the women’s division and quest for Becky Lynch’s Raw Women’s Championship.

    The match earned a solid ½* just for Lynch’s totally badass entrance and kept tacking on stars for its physicality. The lack of fans really helped the viewing audience get a feel for just how hard they were laying their strikes in. For all the hard-hitting action that dominated the match, it was an old-fashioned wrestling counter right out of WrestleMania history that helped The Man retain her gold.

    Channeling the great Bret Hart in his match against Roddy Piper, Lynch shifted her weight, rolled back on Baszler’s shoulders during the Kirifuda Clutch and pinned her for the win. The psychology behind the finish, Lynch turning The Queen of Spades’ own unwavering desire to put her opponent to sleep, was smart and helped elevate the match.

    Even if you cite Kairi Sane using the same finish, the story becomes Lynch learning from the past whereas Baszler’s own intensity doomed her to repeat it. Great stuff early in the night.

         

    Star Rating: ***½

Intercontinental Championship Match: Sami Zayn def. Daniel Bryan

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    The Intercontinental Championship match between Sami Zayn and Daniel Bryan did not live up to the lofty expectations of many who look at the two Superstars involved and instantly think, “classic match.” 

    It was, however, a damn fine bit of storytelling that centered around Zayn constantly evading Bryan until the challenger got ahold of him and unleashed a bevy of kicks, and slaps to the face, on the loudmouthed heel.

    Taking that into context and living for the story rather than expecting a five-star mat classic, this was a damn fun and entertaining match that continued to position Zayn as the most effective heel on the roster.

    Furthermore, it elevated the Artist Collective’s Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro, who figured prominently in the match as distractions for Bryan and tackling dummies for Drew Gulak.

        

    Star Rating: ***

Ladder Match: John Morrison def. Kofi Kingston and Jimmy Uso

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    Kofi Kingston, Jimmy Uso and John Morrison all know what it feels like to be left off the WrestleMania card entirely, or shoved into a meaningless pre-show match that no one remembers once the pyro explodes and the main attraction starts.

    If the lack of fans in attendance dramatically affected the willingness of the Superstars to leave it all in the ring, someone forgot to tell them.

    The three competitors, battling on behalf of themselves and their tag team partners,  approached their Ladder Match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships with the determination to steal the show and turn in an unforgettable performance.

    High spots, jaw-dropping bumps and underrated psychology made up the ingredients of a spectacular match that showcased the creativity of the three grizzled veterans involved.

    It was that same creativity that led to the finish in which Morrison narrowly wrestled the tag titles out of his opponents’ hands and crashed into a ladder propped up below, the pain and agony no match for the sheer joy of escaping the match with the championship reign of him and The Miz intact.

          

    Star Rating: ****

Kevin Owens def. Seth Rollins

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    “Failure after failure after failure…”

    The words of Seth Rollins surely hung in the mind of Kevin Owens as he stepped through the curtain for his showdown with The Monday Night Messiah, in search of his first real WrestleMania moment. 

    Obviously fueled by the critics who claimed the lack of fans in attendance would somehow diminish the product, Owens and Rollins proceeded to have an excellent match that appeared destined to end disappointingly when the heel utilized the ring bell to bash KO in the face with, drawing a disqualification.

    Hellbent on finishing the match and getting his moment, Owens demanded the bout restarted under No Disqualification and called his foe a “bitch” on top of that.

    The fight continued for several more minutes until Owens scaled the WrestleMania 36 sign and propelled himself off it, crashing into Rollins and through an announce table below. Back inside, an apologetic Rollins received no sympathy from Owens, who delivered a stunner and picked up the win.

    A back-and-forth battle with high drama late as a result of Owens’ incredible dive, it may prove to be the sleeper match of the entire show when things wrap up Sunday night.

         

    Star Rating: ****

Universal Championship Match: Braun Strowma def. Goldberg

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    Braun Strowman defeated Goldberg in two minutes to win the Universal Championship, answering the Hall of Famer’s succession of spears with three straight powerslams for the pinfall victory.

    There was no real story, no rhyme or reason for anyone to care about it before the match and nothing they did between the ropes changed that.

    The match accomplished its goal, got the title off of Goldberg, and we moved onto the night’s main event.

    The Monster Among Men told Sarah Schreiber after the match in a YouTube exclusive video, "you can accomplish anything if you put your mind to it."

    Or, if the top star in the company pulls himself out of his match for totally valid reasons and WWE desperately needs a replacement.

    You know, to-may-to, to-mah-to.

         

    Star Rating: ZERO

Boneyard Match: The Undertaker def. AJ Styles

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    The main event of WrestleMania 36, Night One was a cinematic masterpiece. It was a fantastic production from a much-maligned WWE Creative team and the perfect example of what it can accomplish when it thinks outside of the box.

    Taking place in a remote cemetery, or “boneyard” in this instance, the match saw AJ Styles pull out every possible shortcut to defeat The Undertaker. Neither interference from Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows nor druids could earn The Phenomenal One the victory.

    Even when he placed a clearly beaten down, out-of-breath Undertaker in the grave and attempted to proceed with the burial, Big Evil rose from the great beyond and pummeled him into mush. He systematically eliminated the rest of The OC before chokeslamming Styles from the tin roof of a barn.

    From there, he talked. He talked a lot, asking Styles if this is what he wanted and mocking asking him if he was an “old man” now. Then, he buried him to earn the win and ride off on his motorcycle, his symbol emblazoned on the side of the barn.

    There was a great deal of uncertainty heading into this match. WWE has a long history of overproduced, cheesy, unintentionally comedic pre-taped vignettes so there was genuine reason to be concerned that Saturday’s match would be a cluster of epic proportions.

    Instead, it was a revolutionary match on wrestling’s grand stage that may have created the template for The Deadman’s matches to come.

    Spectacular. 

    Phenomenal. 

    Outstanding. 

    Somebody get WWE an Emmy because this one just broke the star system.

          

    Star Rating: **********½

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