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Welcome to my Wrestlemania 37 Night Two Live Thoughts direct from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida!
While it was raining earlier, the weather has lightened up. It looks as if the crowd may be lighter than it was last night but it also seemed to be a much later arriving crowd today.
They got through America The Beautiful, the jets flying over, the fireworks and the cold open and the heavens haven't opened up. A GOOD OMEN hopefully!
Hulk Hogan and Titus O'Neil came out dressed as pirates. Hogan was booed out of the place, in his hometown no less. OUCH! They had some truly pirate-y dialogue.
Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt is opening us up. Randy came to the ring so it's not cinematic, at least not yet. The lights go out and a giant box is at ringside. I am guessing it won't hold Abdullah the Butcher. Alexa came out and it's a giant jack in the box. She cranked it and Bray emerged out of the box. It's not Hamilton but you can't say it's not theatrical. They used drones to spell LET ME IN in the sky above the stadium.
Bray dove off and nailed a lariat Orton to start the match. It was all Bray early. He went for the punt kick but Randy rolled to the floor, The battle continued. When Randy would hit a big move, Wyatt rose from the dead unphased by it. He worked over Randy with forearms. Randy went for the RKO but ate the Mandible Claw.
Alexa rose out of the box in full demonic looking glory. She made the pyro explode from the ring posts. The crowd went "Holy sh**" when they saw her on the screen. It was full on Tom Savini craziness. Wyatt reached out to her but that allowed Randy to hit the RKO and score the pin. Wyatt stared at Alexa and the lights went out. When they came on, the box was closing so that's how they shipped them out. If you wanted special effects, you probably enjoyed this but it was blah, at best, especially if you take all the effects out.
Unless there are mitigating circumstances, a five minute match after months of a build was a weird choice.
Backstage, Bayley tried to get in with Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff and Titus. They all blew her off. Poor Bayley deserved something better this year!
The Women's Tag Team Championship is next. Shayna spent a lot of time working over Nayalya on the mat, then focused on the knee. Nia tagged in and dropped the leg on the knee to follow up. Fans began chanting for "CM Punk" in the stadium. The champ kept working over Natalya. Nia missed a charge and ate a discus clothesline. Tamina saved Natalya from being pinned after a chokeslam.
Shayna battled Snuka and went after her ankle as well. Shayna ate a Samoan Drop for a two count. The battle continued until Tamina got a BIG POP slammed Jax and almost scoring a three count. She went for the Superfly Splash but missed. Natalya tried to fight her way out of a double team and succeeded, going for the Sharpshooter. She locked it on Jax but Shayna locked on the choke and Natalya faded. The Champs retain. It was OK. It felt like a way to give the vets, Natalya and Tamina, a moment on the Mania stage more than anything.
Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens is next. They are a long way from Montreal and Ring of Honor. Sami did a great job milking his introduction for Logan Paul to make sure he was booed. Nice pop for Kevin Owens. Will he get to jump off the pirate ship? We will soon find out. Logan Paul is sitting ringside. Big "KO" chant - the biggest chant of the night by far. Tampa then began chanting that Logan sucks. Owens was in charge until he was caught and slammed onto the apron outside. Sami nailed a Falcon Arrow and set Owens on the top rope. Owens fought back and nailed a big slam for a two count. The crowd is chanting "This is awesome." It's good but we are so early on, it can't be awesome yet folks.
Sami regained control and hit a Head & Arms Tazplex, followed up by another suplex for a two count. They battled to the top. Owens reversed a superplex into a sit-out slam. Owens nailed a series of lariats but Sami fired back with a harsh helluvakick. They are really laying the shots in and they certainly have taken a step closer to awesome. Owens nailed the stunner and scored the clean pin. I can't help but be thrilled for these two. They went all the way from the smallest of independents to having their match forever included in the Wrestlemania time capsule. That's pretty damn cool.
Is Logan Paul eating a stunner? He's getting in the ring. He checked on Sami and then got in Owen's face. Sami began yelling at Logan, who shoved him down. Sami left the ring. Logan raised Owens' hand. Owen didn't like that he was touched. He grabbed Logan and stunned him as TMZ rushed to post the clip.
More thoughts on Page 2!
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