The Best and Worst of the Grandest Stage

During Spring Break, LoFi stadium and the area surrounding were filled with wrestling fans from all over the world all celebrating one special occasion, WrestleMania 39. Like most Professional Wrestling events, there were definitely odd moments that make me question the state of WWE’s creative team. But despite the downsides, Wrestlemania 39 is in the top 5 for best Wrestlemanias of all time. Ups and downs aside, here is my list of the top 3 best and worst matches of the Event.

Best matches:

#3: IC Championship – Gunter vs Sheamus vs Drew Mycltnre
This match was just pure entertainment. Needless to say, it was amazing to see these giants fight it out in the ring. The absolute athleticism of these superstars really carried the match to the 3 spot. The sounds you can here echo across the LoFi stadium when Gunter slaps across Drew’s chest are magical. A little bit upset with Gunter retaining, but also excited to see where he takes this IC Championship within the WWE.

#2: Smackdown Women’s Championship – Rhea Rhiply vs Charlotte Flair
By far this match shows that these two superstars are the best in the business. This match had amazing back and forth shots that made me question when it was going to end. Kickout after kickout. Highlight after highlight. Rhea took the win in the end, and it was honestly deserved. As much as I enjoy Charlotte being at the top, Rhea was long overdue for a championship reign. Let’s just hope that the mat is ok after taking a hard hit from Charolette’s face.

#1: Undisputed Universal Heavyweight Championship – Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns
Shocker. Who saw this coming? The amount of times this match had me on the edge of my seat was too many to count. I’ve watched Pro Wrestling all my life, and I haven’t seen a match with this many close calls in my life. The whole road to WrestleMania Cody was hyped as the golden child. He was supposed to finish the story, be the one to dethrone Roman Reigns. I’m so happy he didn’t. Ever since his return Cody has been handed every opportunity to him, without even competing on main shows like Raw or Smackdown until recently. Roman deserved the win hands down.

Worst Matches:

#3: Women’s Tag Team Match- Becky Lynch, Trish Stratus, and Lita vs Damage CNTRL
There wasn’t really anything wrong with this match, but there also wasn’t really anything good about it. Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky are ridiculously entertaining and Trish Stratus performed surprisingly well, but that’s really all that was good in this one. We didn’t get to see much from Becky Lynch who was obviously the best wrestler in this match, and Lita noticeably doesn’t have that much left. She was slow and didn’t sell or execute well. It’s understandable when you imagine the stress she put her body under working with the Hardys, but it is just sad to see her slowing down, and it really brought the whole match down.

#2: Women’s Tag Team Showcase- Natalya & Shotzi vs Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez vs Sonya Deville & Chelsea Green vs Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler

This match just was forgettable. No big names, no entertaining spots, nothing. The coolest thing was Natalia hitting the double sharpshooter. Like woah. So cool.

#1: United States Championship – John Cena vs Austin Theory
This was by far, the most disappointing match of the entire weekend. Austin Theory has been fantastic as the US Champ, and getting to face a guy like John Cena on the biggest stage of them all, that’s a dream come true. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a pretty bad dream, because the match was just awful. Cena looked dominant for maybe two minutes and then it was all Austin Theory. While he was in control for most of the match, Theory didn’t look dominant at all. He would do the same move twice and then on the third attempt Cena would counter. Cena would get a bit of momentum and then Theory would get a cheap shot in to do it all over. This happened like five times. I think putting Theory over was good, but this match was just so weak that the win didn’t do a whole lot for him.

Some other matches worth mentioning are Edge vs Finn Balor and Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens vs the Usos. Both of these matches were phenomenal and the only reason they aren’t listed is because of how solid the entire show was. There were at least five matches that all could have easily been main events. Like I said, this was easily a top five Wrestlemania of all time, and I’m glad we got to see Triple H book the grandest stage of them all before the company was sold.