Goldberg defeats “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt to win the Universal Championship for a Second Time
I believe this was a mistake and a case of Mr. McMahon wanting to revert to his nostalgic attitude he has exhibited in the past rather than sticking to the plan of building the persona of The Fiend. This victory for Goldberg doesn’t do very much for his reputation at this stage in his career, and it basically kills the mystique of The Fiend before WWE even got a chance to showcase its new toy at The Fiend’s first WrestleMania. So now the Saudi Arabia shows are proven to matter with the Universal Title changing hands in the kingdom twice in a row, but the title changes need to make sense within the context of WWE storylines. They cannot be a detriment to one of the company’s biggest potential stars like The Fiend.
The company is doing its best to erase the narrative that these Saudi Arabia shows exist in their own realm of WWE. The company does have time to right its wrong, so the WWE universe does not have to worry too much yet. Perhaps this is just a small hiccup on The Fiend’s road to WrestleMania.
WWE has grown so much from a business standpoint over the last 20 years despite the product not getting much better largely because of the company’s reputation it has built over the years. Mr. McMahon seems to be less and less willing, as time goes by, to create new stars. Maybe he should take advice from Chris Jericho and not be so reliant on nostalgia. The wrestling business is ever-changing, so one needs to constantly reinvent themselves to maintain success.
A perfect example of this is Kevin Owens. With the charisma he possesses combined with his in-ring ability, there is no reason why he shouldn’t be booked like a top-five star in WWE. But instead, WWE is reluctant to pull the trigger with him and is not quite sure what to do with him. Owens is being drastically misused, and rather than putting him in a top-level singles match with Seth Rollins at Mania, the company is hesitant because of the negative reaction it might get.
It’s as if WWE can easily get superstars to a certain level, but when it’s time to make the big jump into mainstream, the company gets cold feet and doesn’t know what to do with the talent.
The Undertaker gets a Victory in the Tuwaiq Mountain Trophy Gauntlet Match
Taker’s perspective: This was a fantastic way to begin building to a WrestleMania 36 match with AJ Styles (this generation’s Shawn Michaels – according to Taker. Pretty hard to disagree with since Michaels and Styles look like carbon copies of each other in the ring). It makes perfect sense for The Undertaker to make his presence felt in Saudi Arabia, as WWE always makes certain to bring back a few superstars from the past at these events.
AJ Styles’ perspective: The Phenomenal One got over in a major way as a heel by dancing when R – Truth was injured and orchestrating for The OC to attack Rey Mysterio before he even got the opportunity to walk out. Styles and The Undertaker at WrestleMania will have serious expectations to live up to because everyone will be comparing the match to Taker’s encounters with Shawn Michaels in 2009 and 2010.
R – Truth’s perspective: Truth was the sentimental favorite to win. He has done everything asked of him over the years and it would have been nice to see him get rewarded in the form of a high- profile victory. But it wasn’t meant to be. Maybe he will get the opportunity to work with Brock Lesnar before ‘Mania like The Beast has requested.
Mysterio’s perspective: Rey Mysterio is nearing his time to retire from in-ring competition. This will be a sad day, but his goal is clearly to put over as much young talent as possible and leave the business in a better state than when he was introduced to it. Styles is not young, but he is younger than Mysterio. The Master of the 619 will ultimately pass the torch to his son Dominic to carry his legacy.
Bobby Lashley’s perspective: The Almighty appears lost and like he is lacking direction for his character without his rival Rusev (who is in the midst of contract negotiations, and WWE probably doesn’t want to move forward with The Bulgarian Brute until they have him under a new contract).
Andrade’s suspension is now over and El Idolo can now resume his United States Championship program with Humberto Carillo. And no one cares anymore about what is in Erick Rowan’s cage because WWE has waited too long to reveal it.
The Miz and John Morrison defeat The New Day to become the new SmackDown Tag Team Champions
It was a smart decision by WWE to go with the fresher act to win the tag team titles. Both superstars are older and have been together before about 10 years ago, but most current WWE fans don’t remember that (or if they do, they are diehard fans). Most of them know that Miz and Morrison were going to win the titles eventually, so the company figured “why wait?” The New Day’s credibility is not hurt at all by this defeat. It will provide the WWE universe with new perspective if they are chasing the titles as opposed to holding them.
Angel Garza defeats his Cousin Humberto Carillo
This was a guarantee that Garza will become a regular on Monday Night Raw, and rightfully so because he has an immense amount of potential.
Seth Rollins and Murphy retain the Raw Tag Team Championships against The Street Profits
The Street Profits are an extremely entertaining duo and Montez Ford appears to be the ultimate breakout star of the team (because he is more verbal and has an awe-inspiring vertical leap), but it’s a smart idea to keep the titles with the most dominant faction on Monday Night Raw right now. For now, everything on Raw should revolve around the Monday Night Messiah and his disciples.
However, what might be more interesting is the possibility of Rollins and Murphy dropping the Raw Tag Team Championships to The AOP so Rollins and Paul Heyman can devote more attention to furthering Seth’s singles feud with Kevin Owens (who seems to be in creative limbo right now). This could lead to an ultimate match between them at WrestleMania.
Mansoor defeats Dolph Ziggler
WWE has proven that they will and absolutely should bring out the hometown hero Mansoor every time they go to Saudi Arabia. His next challenge will be to bring that success to the United States.
Brock Lesnar retains his WWE Championship against Ricochet
This is exactly what everyone expected. Realistically, Ricochet never stood a chance against The Beast Incarnate. He found out exactly why Lesnar is a draw, which is the answer to the question “why not me?”
Roman Reigns defeats King Corbin in a Steel Cage
This rivalry went on far too long, but I’m just thankful it has finally come to a definitive conclusion (even if it could have ended at Royal Rumble). Both men will now be able to turn their attention to WrestleMania and their respective programs. Corbin’s is undecided to my knowledge, but Reigns will look to win the Elimination Chamber match and go on to face Goldberg for the Universal Championship at the Show of Shows. The primary goal of this rivalry was to ensure that Reigns is still a fan favorite heading into WrestleMania, so it was a success from that perspective.
WWE’s goal by the time WrestleMania 36 comes around is to have Roman come out a huge babyface. Maybe Mr. McMahon is worried about having him go against a heel the audience loves so much in The Fiend. Perhaps instead Mr. McMahon will go with a Reigns-Goldberg encounter. I’m not saying I love it, but it may be a passing-of-the-torch moment between Goldberg and Reigns.
Bayley retains the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Naomi
Naomi and Carmella have been most likely buying time over the past several weeks for Sasha Banks to heal from her ankle injury. Then she can begin her program leading to ‘Mania on April 5 with Bayley, which was supposed to start right after Royal Rumble.