Lightning, Bad Bunny and HERstory: Takeaways from night one of WWE Wrestlemania 37
Night one of Wrestlemania 37 was electric, and that's not including the lightning that delayed the start of the show. Nearly 26,000 fans were inside Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, for the first time fans were present for a WWE event in over a year.
Here are the key takeaways from night one:
WWE Championship: Bobby Lashley (champion [c] entering match) defeats Drew McIntyre: Credit to these two for putting on a performance after having to wait through the delay. This match gave a solid WWE title match that the company missed last year. It was a true battle of power, but Lashley retained the gold after applying his signature Hurt Lock. The win shows Lashley will have a deep run as champion and be the dominant face of the male division.
NO STOPPING THE ALL MIGHTY!!! WHO WANTS NEXT??? #WrestleMania @WWE pic.twitter.com/VJmpRPsrl3
— Bobby Lashley (@fightbobby) April 11, 2021
Natalya & Tamina win women's tag team turmoil match: The gauntlet-style match to decide the contenders for the women's tag team title Sunday night gave some exciting moves, but the stars of the match were the team of Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan. Being the oldest tag team in the match was evident by their ability to perform, but Natalya and Tamina capitalized on being the last team to enter the ring. They were dominant, capped off by Tamina saluting her late-father Jimmy Snuka's superfly to secure the win.
⛵️ BUSINESS.#WrestleMania #TagTeamTurmoil @NatbyNature
▶️ https://t.co/4s81ZgavHC pic.twitter.com/D1UsVO1ELU— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) April 11, 2021
Cesaro defeats Seth Rollins: Two of the best technical wrestlers in the business had fans on their feet for what was a no-stakes match. In his first singles match at the event after being with the company for nearly 10 years, Cesaro showed he's more than a tag-team wrestler and now might be getting the chance to be a singles performer. From the spins to the impressive UFO, Cesaro would be pushed over — much to the delight of the crowd — giving the Swiss Cyborg a path to a successful 2021.
🛸🛸🛸🛸🛸#WrestleMania @WWECesaro pic.twitter.com/I211PYqL9p
— WWE (@WWE) April 11, 2021
Raw Tag Team Championship: AJ Styles and Omos def The New Day (c): Centered around not letting the 7-foot Omos get in the ring, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods did a good job of making this match entertaining for as long as it could be. However, once AJ Styles was able to make the tag, Omos tore apart The New Day in quick fashion to get him and Styles the title in his in-ring debut. While shown to be a force, Omos is going to have to prove that he has in-ring abilities to ward off any critics.
Braun Strowman defeats Shane McMahon in a steel cage match: It seems Shane McMahon only ever appears at Wrestlemania to get tossed around, which exactly what happened when Strowman threw him off the top of the steel cage.
Shane McMahon is 51 years old pic.twitter.com/4ZcXc0b1Iy
— Marc Raimondi (@marc_raimondi) April 11, 2021
Credit McMahon for the performance in making Strowman look once again dominant, but this was probably the least impressive match of the night because there weren't many surprises.
Bad Bunny and Damian Priest defeats The Miz and John Morrison: After first appearing at the Royal Rumble in January, all eyes were on whether the international rap star Bad Bunny could perform. He wowed everyone.
The duo of @sanbenito & @ArcherOfInfamy is on 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 against @mikethemiz & @TheRealMorrison!
Stream #WrestleMania on @PeacockTV ▶️ https://t.co/Wp5S57WLnr pic.twitter.com/iUbXF3sOWK— WWE (@WWE) April 11, 2021
Arguably the most impressive celebrity to ever appear in a WWE match, Bad Bunny showed all the work he'd been putting in training paid off by pulling off moves not even current roster stars perform. Fans were praising the Grammy Award-winning artist for his work.
Bad Bunny easily was the best celebrity to have a match in WWE #WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/54jlLLcJ4N
— David 🇬🇧⌛️🌺🧢🧦 (@DavidAtkins42) April 11, 2021
Put Bad Bunny in the Hall of Fame
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 11, 2021
If Vince McMahon don’t hand Bad Bunny a contract man got the biggest reaction of the night my god 🙌🙌#WrestleMania
pic.twitter.com/kn94Pqh9Dq— A.W💎 (@AWV23) April 11, 2021
SmackDown Women's Championship: Bianca Belair def. Sasha Banks (c): The main event of the night provided history as it was the first time two Black women headlined Wrestlemania, and good on WWE announcer Michael Cole for acknowledging it. Both wrestlers knew what their match meant and the emotions and crowd reaction was everything.
This moment made me come to realization and I finally cried. Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair are here and they did it.🥺💙🙌🏽 pic.twitter.com/IHTiYuTZ9o
— 𝑀𝓇. 𝒯 𝒟𝒾𝓅𝓅𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓃 𝒲𝑜𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇 𝒲𝑜𝓂𝒶𝓃 (@TheBpKrew) April 11, 2021
WWE saved the best for last: Belair's power mixed with Banks' technical skills had fans thinking each performer would come out on top. In the end, Belair used her signature hair to hit the whip heard around the world and hit her signature KOD to win the women's title. The match deserved high praise, and even in defeat, Banks couldn't help but smile at what she was part of.
I did it!
SMACKDOWN WOMEN’S CHAMPION#ESTofWWE#wrESTleMania pic.twitter.com/YD6rZK6p3P— Bianca Belair (@BiancaBelairWWE) April 11, 2021
Follow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jord_mendoza.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Wrestlemania 37 WWE Night 1 takeaways: Lightning, Bad Bunny, HERstory