9 Match Star Ratings For WWE WrestleMania 38 Night 2
5. Edge Vs. AJ Styles
Elements of Edge Vs. AJ Styles were excellent, at least when they explored the idealised version of their dynamic.
They are both fantastic defensive wrestlers with a super-creative grasp of the counter. When they constructed sequences around their strengths, the match was thrilling. To a point. The core problem is that the entire match was worked with a pretentious ambition. It was a quest to work an epic match, and the WWE Epic Match, loaded with stalling in a bid to make the next moves matter, requires fans to be totally lost within the story for it to reach those skyscraper narrative peaks. They never got there because the build was fairly dire and one-sided.
This was far removed from an emotionally resonant blood feud; Edge basically cut a few am-dram promos and AJ Styles sold an injury angle that felt more like a mandatory story beat than something people earnestly and intensely cared about.
Edge and AJ spent so much time labouring under the weight of fake gravitas. It didn't feel earned; it was just a bit boring. It was by no means a bad match, but it was so nakedly an attempt at a classic that it overstayed its welcome and didn't approach a special atmosphere.
Star Rating: ★★★