WWE WrestleMania 33 review: What we learned, takeaways, future projections

What we took away, what we learned and what the future holds for the superstars of WWE following WrestleMania 33 on Sunday night in Orlando.

Just like that, WrestleMania 33 is now a thing of the past. Okay, maybe not just like that given the fact that including the Kickoff Show, WrestleMania 33 lasted just over seven hours, but you know what I mean. Fans all over the world wait all year for the biggest night in wrestling and we were treated to some good, some bad, some ugly and everything in between on Sunday night.

I wouldn’t exactly call WrestleMania 33 “the ultimate thrill ride” like they might have wanted me to but there were some entertaining moments. So let’s go ahead and jump into the action and while I normally don’t cover much of the Kickoff Show action here, I did want to make a few comments before we get to the main card.

The very first match of the night was the WWE Cruiserweight Championship match that saw Neville defend his title against Austin Aries. For one, seeing Austin Aries at a WrestleMania was just a cool thing to see, and while I was initially against this match getting bumped to the Kickoff Show, it might be better that it did because these two were actually given some decent time to work, something that probably wouldn’t have happened on the main show. And they certainly made the most of it. Both guys looked really solid here and after each got in their share of offense, it was Neville who ended up with the victory in a match that was better than a lot of the ones on the main show. Good showing for Neville and Aries.

The Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal was up next and this was just very strange. Braun Strowman and Big Show each got a big entrance and were seemingly on a collision course to being the final two in the match after just tossing people left and right from the start. Things didn’t go down that way at all though, as both of them ended up being eliminated fairly early. I’m not sure where they’re headed with any of that. I thought this might turn into Sami Zayn’s moment following that but that didn’t happen either as he was tossed by NXT’s Killian Dain. But I should have known that WWE would capitalize on Rob Gronkowski sitting at ringside to support Mojo Rawley and that’s what they did. Once things got down to the last few guys, Jinder Mahal ended up on the outside, throwing water in Gronk’s face. Once the initial awkwardness of that security guard who didn’t understand this was part of the show went away, he got in the ring, did his thing and Mojo got the victory. Sure.

The most surprising aspect of the Kickoff Show came at the end when Dean Ambrose and Baron Corbin made their way to the ring for their Intercontinental Championship showdown. Maybe I missed something but I don’t remember this being advertised for the pre-show but they looked like they belonged there. Everything looked flat and the crowd wasn’t into this at all. Ambrose retained the title and that was that.

Let’s get to the main card.