10 Best Moments Of WWE WrestleMania 33 Weekend
In which THE Guy lives up to his billing.
It was a monumental weekend of and for professional wrestling, drastically superior to last year's depressing Dallas debacle - so much so that there are honourable mentions aplenty.
Jim Cornette's Hall of Fame speech did much to glamourise the 1980s territory scene, two of the key players of which, the Rock N' Roll Express, he inducted. Cornette is wildly entertaining in his secondary career as a ranting vanguard against modern wrestling, but his passionate, insightful and authoritative speech was equally absorbing.
NXT TakeOver: Orlando was excellent from top to bottom, even if for a second consecutive major show weekend it could not surpass its main roster counterpart.
The storytelling even its lesser bouts, like Asuka Vs, Ember Moon, was rewarding. It could not have done more to both engage in itself and create scope for a sequel. WrestleMania itself was one of the most momentous in its incredible history. That John Cena paid off a years-long storyline in a sweet but relatively low-key moment not worthy of inclusion here reflects as much.
Even Shinsuke Nakamura's promotion to SmackDown, as awesome (if pointless) as it was, failed to crack the top ten. The competition on RAW was simply too DELIGHTFUL.
10. The Awesome NXT Tag Team Title Match
The Authors Of Pain wrestled a WWE Match Of The Year candidate on Saturday night as part of a Triple Threat bout with The Revival and #DIY.
The same Authors of Pain widely derided as talentless and dangerous hosses. Those accusations were warranted once, but no longer. The loud chants of "Bullsh*t" were unfair. The entire match was hinged on their performance in it, and their performance was excellent. It was convoluted. Akam and Rezar had to remember a boatload of information, and their timing was without flaw.
It's hard to fathom what the supposedly discerning NXT crowd was up in arms about. Those fans flock to NXT because it represents the traditions of wrestling's past as much as it plans for the future. The Authors are a classic power tandem, and their considerable improvement has not been acknowledged but rejected. There was an ROH show across town - couldn't they have gone to that?
The reluctant teamwork between The Revival and #DIY (even going as far as to switch members for their respective finishers) was sublime - just one thread in a stunning and layered story.
The last five minutes suffered as a result of #DIY's elimination; the (over)reaction overshadowed the action, but the match remains another seminal entry into NXT's impeccable doubles canon.