9 Match Star Ratings For WWE WrestleMania 36 (Night Two)
1. Brock Lesnar Vs. Drew McIntyre - WWE Championship Match
This match genre has lost its lustre.
This was a diminished return of the Brock Lesnar Vs. Goldberg formula of three years ago. That felt like an innovative and welcome infusion of combat sports dynamics. This felt like WWE's patented and passé version of it - shock value that has lost its capacity to shock. Drew McIntyre rocked Lesnar with an instant Claymore. Lesnar kicked out. A trade-off of bombs and pin attempts followed. McIntyre won. He deserved it, but he also deserved better.
It was familiar, formula and wasteful. These two men have a far better match in them. They have a slapper of a hoss fight in them, and Drew McIntyre isn't Goldberg. He's at his physical peak, he's a more well-rounded worker, and he can go the distance. This felt like a Heyman idea imposed upon him, and not a match laid out to maximise his skills. This was his match, or it should have been.
It didn't work without a crowd. The urgency of the layout is meant to gear them up for a white knuckle ride. The kick-out-at-one spot is a near-fall too far without a crowd to pop for it. It felt more like a glitch or a trope than a badass moment.
Star Rating: ★★½