Jay's 100 Takeaways From WrestleMania Weekend!!!

@jayRecher

Let's jump right into it!

Here are my 100 Takeaways from WrestleMania 37, that went down right here at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa!!

1. I know it was a crazy couple of days, but the WWE really did a fine job managing the weather and getting in TWO nights of action at Ray Jay!
2. Yes, the pirate ship the WWE created was MASSIVE!
3. No, the rumors are NOT true. I didn't sell half of my shares of Bitcoin to Vince McMahon to buy the ship & put it in the iHeart parking lot.
4. When Vince addressed the WWE Universe, the fans were REALLY into it. It's been a LONG time coming.
5. People were booing the hell out of Roman Reigns. A sign of things to come.
6. And then a Lightning delay. Yes, I capitalized the L. I cover the Tampa Bay Lightning. It was cool to explain to the traveling media how we're used to this and how it'll pass. It did.
7. The backstage promos were very interesting. The New Day's was pretty good.
8. You know Drew McIntyre & Bobby Lashley were just itching to get out there and throw down. Their promo just added to the intensity of the match.
9. Seth Rollins was hilarious calling Kevin Egan....Mike. Or was it Kevin-Mike? Or Mike-Kevin?
10. But the best one was from Kevin Owens. You could feel the passion in his voice & you know he was jacked up to have a live mic in his hand with no script.
11. I thought Titus O'Neil & Hulk Hogan did a fine job hosting during both nights, and adding Bayley was a nice little touch & recognition for one of the best performers WWE has.
12. Fans went absolutely ballistic when Drew McIntyre came out. That was the perfect guy to be the first one out in front of the WWE Universe. He carried the flag BIG TIME during the pandemic.
13. When Lashley and Drew locked up for the first time, fans popped there as well. It was just a standard wrestling hold, the collar-and-elbow tie-up, but it was a signal of normalcy that people really appreciated.
14. Bobby Freakin' Lashley retains!! A big shocker to start the night. He has come such a long way and his partnership with MVP has really taken his career to new heights.
15. The question is....who's next? Braun Strowman? Baron Corbin? Maybe Finn Balor? Probably not, but that would be cool to see.
16. Oh Mandy.
17. Great to see Billie Kay & Mandy Rose in this match, but why split them from their tag partners if they were just going to be in tag teams all over again?
18. I miss The Iconics!
19. Some great tag team moves from the Riott Squad. They have some of the best combo moves in the entire WWE.
20. People were really into Nattie & Tamina. They've been booked really strong the last few weeks & good for them, they deserve it.
21. The match that everyone thought would be awesome.....was. Bravo Cesaro & Seth Rollins.
22. This guy Cesaro pulled off the UFO move (no HANDS!!)
23. I didn't plan this to be #23 but it was destiny I guess. That's the number of swings from the Swiss Cyborg on Seth before getting the HUGE "W" on the big stage. Just fantastic!
24. How freakin' huge is Omos?? Damn that dude is from another planet. Great to see the former USF Bull on the big stage!
25. Was curious to see his ring gear. Still don't know what to make of it.
26. Really cool to see Big E come out and introduce his guys Kofi & Woods. AHHHHHH Tampa Bayyyyyyy!!!!
27. Xavier Woods talking smack to AJ Styles in the corner about how they're cutting off the ring like a real tag team was pure comedy. The New Day is so far ahead of people in their ring psychology and it's been like that for years. THE best tag team in the last 10 years.
28. When Omos FINALLY tagged in. There was a feeling of Here.....We.....GO!!!
29. The phenomenal forearm from the heavens!
30. That wasn't a squash match by any means, but as soon as Omos came in, it was all over for The New Day. To end the match with his big foot on Kofi's chest was a powerful message. #AndNew
31. Love how they added Elias & Jaxson Ryder to start the Braun Strowman/Shane McMahon match. I'm all in favor of getting as many people involved in WrestleMania as possible.
32. No shirt for Braun was a good decision. Dude is RIPPED and it just added to his aura of being "The Monster Among Men".
33. Him tearing open the cage reminded me of Kane when he first debuted in the WWE (more on that later) and he just tore the Hell in the Cell door of its hinges
34. What the hell is Shane going to do? That was the topic of conversation in the press box. We know he loves to go big in situations like this. Well.....
35. Braun throws Shane off the TOP of the cage. Has anyone taken more epic falls than Shane? Jeff Hardy? Mick Foley? Darby Allin? Wow!!
36. Even before the match, people were very eager to see Bad Bunny. All we kept hearing all week is that he was putting in the work to perform at a high level.
37. Love the entrance of him coming in off the top of the truck. You can tell that he totally gets the WWE product. A true fan who is ALL IN.
38. Most celebrities wait on the outside and get the hot tag and then do their thing. He STARTED THE FREAKIN' MATCH! And did ACTUAL wrestling moves.
39. The top rope splash? Cool. The Bunny Destroyer? Come on man. That was incredible!!
40. He got respect from EVERYONE after that match. Booker T, Randy Orton, JBL, they ALL put him over.
41. Really happy that both of the Hall of Fame classes got their moment in front of the live audience. The NWO music still brings people to their feet.
42. And congrats to our friend Georgia for her dad "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith finally getting in. Long overdue & well-deserved!
43. What a historic moment. Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair for the Smackdown Women's Championship. They'll never be another one like that.
44. That moment before the match where they show Bianca and she is on the verge of tears. E. Motional. I saw people about to lose it in the crowd.
45. The spot where Sasha dives through the ropes, Bianca catches her, stands up and holds her OVER HER HEAD and carries her up the steps and launches her in the ring. WHAT?!?!?!
46. We've seen Ricochet and Adam Page do a standing shooting star press, but when Bianca did it I was floored. She can do THAT.....AND pick up Otis?!?!?
47. After Bianca's win and WWE went off the air, Montez Ford FLEW.....not ran, FLEW down the ramp to celebrate with his wife. What a moment!
48. How the hell didn't Montez slip on the ramp wearing those dress shoes?? One of the more impressive things from the weekend that not many people brought up.
49. And to see the video of Sasha after the match on the floor trying to hide her smile. She did such a great job during the build of this program. She's freakin' unbelievable. A master psychologist in that ring. A Top 5 performer of this generation, male or female.
50. Really cool that the WWE helped promote Bad Bunny's upcoming tour, even though there's no stop in Tampa this time.
51. Weather worries for Night Two. Five different people texted me after a real nasty day in Tampa to see if the show was still gonna happen. My answer, "The Show Must Go On"!! And it did!
52. It was great to visit with my cousin Damien before the show started. He's such a talented director/producer/photographer/videographer. He was the camera guy for Tiger King & he's got something really awesome coming up. Stay tuned!
53. Love the outfits for Titus and Hulk to start the night. Buccaneers in the house!
54. Randy Orton came out and really seemed to soak it all in. You could tell he missed being in front of fans. He got a lot of time in the ring as well to strike his famous pose and "drink it in"....man.
55. The video package explaining The Fiend "walking through hell" and the costume change was perfectly done.
56. Did you see that big ass Jack in the Box or did it sneak up on you too? Where the hell did that come from?
57. I'm glad The Fiend jumped from the top of the box into the ring to attack Randy, but would have loved to see The Legend Killer hit him with an RKO in that spot.
58. A crazy ass visual seeing Alexa Bliss with the black ink, paint, whatever but THAT was the ending?? After ONE RKO?!?! People were NOT happy with that finish and booed vociferously. Let's see what happens next...
59. I thought Natalya & Tamina did a GREAT job carrying the momentum over from Night One. They were tremendous.
60. Tamina getting the hot tag was legit. People really wanted to see her and Nattie win the titles.
61. That catapult into the superkick was an awesome visual. That should be their finisher for sure.
62. Surprised that they didn't go over. That would have been a huge moment, especially here in Tampa. Still, a fantastic performance.
63. Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler were damn good as usual, but....
64. Where was Reggie?
65. We've seen Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens a million times, but people still wanted to see this match. A credit to how good those two guys are.
66. I was curious to see what people thought of Logan Paul. Thought he might have gotten involved in the match, but he didn't. He was booed pretty heavily. My buddy in the press box from London didn't really get it. He wondered why a guy who is pretty popular all over the world was getting showered with boos. The good ol' U.S. of A is a different animal. You better bring it 100% (like Bad Bunny) or you're gonna hear it.
67. People could smell the Stunner coming. There was a rumbling in the crowd that got louder and louder and then BOOM!!! Glad they did it, people loved it!
68. The Matt Riddle/RVD/Great Khali promo. Yeah, didn't think I'd ever see or type that one.
69. RVD pushing his rolling papers?!?!?! 2021 ladies and gentlemen!!
70. Kudos to Riddle for riding the scooter allllll the way down the ramp with no issues. He's so freakin' entertaining. Someone in the press box exclaimed, "I don't like his gimmick", to which a lot of us responded, "that's not a gimmick".
71. If anyone tells you that wrestling is "fake", show them this match. These dudes were not pulling ANY punches.
72. The best Brogue Kick ever.....or is it a "BROgue Kick"?? Damn, that was a helluva way to end that match. Sheamus is your NEW US Champ!
73. What a moment for Big E in front of his hometown crowd. You KNOW that had to mean a lot to him.
74. Great touch to have Wale' there to perform the entrance music but not sure how it came across in the crowd. I've seen people saying they were miffed he was lip-syncing it but I thought it was pretty good. What say YOU??
75. There were some CRAZY spots, especially on the apron and on the steel ring steps but.....
76. They didn't use any drums!! What's the point of a Nigerian Drum Fight if they're not a big part of the match? Maybe the time restraints affected this, but I thought it was a little misleading. Still a hard-hitting affair between two incredibly gifted athletes.
77. Holy smokes! Where did Dabba-Kato come from?? Dude is BACK! In a big WAY! I don't see Apollo losing the title for a WHILE with DK having his back.
78. Who had the best "drip"?? To me, it's Byron Saxton. Both of his suits were on point. Well done Byron!
79. Rhea Ripley EASILY had the best entrance of the weekend. With the badass pyro and incredible talents of Ash Costello, they hit a home run.
80. The spot where Asuka DDT'd Rhea onto the floor was a big "oh my god" moment. There was no way for Rhea to break her fall on that one. Damn!
81. Rhea wins with the Riptide and is your new Raw Women's Champion. She deserves it for sure, but some people are wondering why Asuka didn't get the big win at WrestleMania. Does she need it? That's a good question. Also.....
82. Everyone was waiting (me included) to see if Becky Lynch was going to come out but it never happened. Oh well.
83. The WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2021 was smaller than the 2020 Class but really cool to see the likes of RVD, The Great Khali & Kane get their due.
84. Kane is still super over. What an epic superstar. He deserves to be the headliner. One of the best debuts in WWE history. I can still hear Vince McMahon saying "That's gotta be Kane!" as he walked to the ring with Paul Bearer during the first ever Hell in the Cell match.
85. Hulk and Titus interrupted by Bayley. Bayley interrupted by....The Bella Twins!! The Role Model gets the taste slapped out of her mouth when she mentions the name "John Cena". That was good!
86. A nice ovation for Daniel Bryan but people went NUTS for Edge. 10 years to the day of his retirement and he's headlining WrestleMania. What a great story. You couldn't script that.
87. Roman Reigns made people wait for his entrance and I loved it. The boos hit as soon as the music hit, but it was a good 30-35 seconds before he popped his head out. Gold!
88. Find you someone that looks at you the way Paul Heyman looks at Roman Reigns. Dude tells a story every damn week without saying a word.
89. An incredible match for sure. My favorite spot was when Edge had the Crossface on Roman & then Daniel came over and put the Yes Lock on him at the same time! Incredible spot!
90. I loved how they told the story in this match. Adding in Jey Uso and covering BOTH Edge and Daniel Bryan were just magnificent.
91. How about the city of Tampa? Pulling off the Super Bowl AND WrestleMania in the same year. Congrats to everyone involved!
92. Great to see my guys Pat Donovan & Zac Blobner in attendance as well. Happy they were able to take in such a historic event.
93. WWE really is a global entity. To my left in the press box, my buddy Rick Ucchino who works for iHeart in Cincinnati & for Sportskeeda based out of India.
94. To my right, my guy Sohail Malik, from Al Jazeera's English Sport Reporter based out of London. An Arsenal fan, but he's got love for Manchester United so he's cool with me!
95. For all the foodies out there, the food in the press box was top notch!! Some incredible chicken and garlic mashed potatoes for Night One. Braised short rib & wild jasmine rice for Night Two. Well done Raymond James Stadium!
96. No 24/7 title change outside of a couple mentions on those Old Spice commercials? I wanted to see Hulk or Titus or even Eric Bischoff hold the title!!
97. The matches in Night Two seemed a little rushed to a lot of people. Would have loved to see more of The Fiend/Randy, Big E/Apollo & Rhea/Asuka but with the possible weather issues, I get it.
98. Two consecutive sellouts, 25,675 fans each night. #Success
99. A tip of the hat to our good friends at Crackerjack Media, who helped promote this awesome event. Jessica, Toiaya and the ENTIRE crew over there did such a wonderful job, as they always do, when big events come to town.
100. This one is for YOU!! What is YOUR biggest takeaway from WrestleMania weekend? Hit me up on all social media platforms @jayRecher & head over to my Instagram & Twitter to see all of the entrance videos from every match on the card.

Enjoy!!