7 Match Star Ratings For WWE WrestleMania 37 - Night 2
1. Roman Reigns Vs. Edge Vs. Daniel Bryan - Universal Title Match
This was an incredible WWE main event that once more underscored, highlighted, and italicised that Daniel Bryan is the best wrestler WWE has ever had on its books.
When this match heated up - and it built perfectly to a wild climax - Bryan's layout genius was programmed into it. This was a pulsating series of out-of-nowhere explosions, all of which accounted near enough perfectly for the damage sustained by each man in a genre that is so often plagued by contrived selling for selling's sake. There was a suspense bursting through carnage as beautifully arranged as it was thrilling
Edge, too, reminded everybody that he is a master by weakening Roman's gut early, by thrashing him between the apron and the barricade abdomen-first. He doused Bryan's fire and neutralised Roman's explosive power by countering virtually everything thrown at him from every direction with his supernatural ring IQ.
Roman Reigns meanwhile got over as a true heel in front of a real crowd with his sinister, dispassionate presence and dangerous-feeling breed of violence.
Bryan, awesome at disrupting the contrived genre patterns, feigned striking Edge before diving out of the ring to floor Reigns with a dive. He could not have picked a better time to trap his feet on the ropes. He's so good that he just might have done it in purpose; Roman caught him and wrecked him on the outside.
Everybody was on form and the dynamic complemented itself wonderfully, but Daniel Bryan was in a bravura mood. His Yes! kick hailstorm brought the house down, and that duelling crossface/Yes! Lock spot was exceptional intra-match storytelling. Demanding the advantage from Edge with a gruesome series of lunging headbutts, Bryan contrived to tell a bad retcon of a TV storyline brilliantly through the medium of an exhilarating PPV banger. This was his moment, not Edge's. He is a genius.
A really well-done Con-chair-to festival brought it all to a close.
The body-stacking visual looked cool, but why build a character like Jey Uso if he isn't going to eat s**t at WrestleMania?
Star Rating: ★★★★½