18 WWE WrestleMania 36 Impulse Reactions

5. Edge Vs. Randy Orton

John Cena Bray Wyatt
WWE.com

At the risk of enraging the comments section further after not heaping boundless praise on the Boneyard Match, was it at all possible - at all possible - that this didn't quite meet the high expectations from the build?

A decent enough fake fight saw them grunt and groan all over the Performance Center, which was quite nice, but it veered between slightly dull and slightly stupid for a programme that had been built so masterfully on television.

It was at least bookended by excellent spots, even it suffered from an awful lot of drag in between. Orton struck first with an RKO having disguised himself as a cameraman in the exact way Edge used to to get The Undertaker when he was the sort of piece of sh*t Orton is today. Edge choking him out and hitting a Conchairto on top of a truck was a strong enough visual set-piece for the finish.

Elsewhere...ehh. 'The Rated-R Superstar' was far too keen on using the environment considering the fury he was supposed to be harbouring, whilst Orton's Shane McMahon-adjacent selling noises were more than a little off-putting in the heat of an otherwise-silent battle.

The match was far from a miss, but it'd be a touch generous to consider it a hit.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett