WWE WrestleMania 35 review: Highlights, takeaways and projections

Winner Take All Triple Threat Match for the RAW and SmackDown Women’s Championship

Ronda Rousey (c) vs. Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Becky Lynch

There’s quite a bit of controversy surrounding this historic main event featuring Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch battling it out for both the Raw and SmackDown Women’s Championships. However, even with all of the madness and the exhausted crowd, the ending sent people home with the outcome that just about everyone was looking for, Lynch hoisting both titles.

The helicopter entrance from Flair was a great throwback-callback to start things off. For those unaware, her old man, Ric Flair, did the same thing at NWA’s Great American Bash in Charlotte in 1985. Ronda came out to Joan Jett doing a live performance of “Bad Reputation” (her traditional entrance song) and Lynch seemed to be in awe of the moment during her intro.

Triple threat matches are always tricky, with someone usually having to be left out while two of the competitors go at it. While there was some of that here, all three mixed up for a large portion of the match in a nice change of pace. Seeing the different combinations of partnering up was fun and different for this rivalry, and some of the spots were done quite well. Was it the greatest WrestleMania main event we’ve ever seen? Of course not. But it was still solid, and all three put great effort into it. Things got a little choppy at points but the intensity was there throughout, even if the crowd seemed to be too tired to care as much as they wanted to.

But the big talk today surrounding this match is obviously the ending. Rousey’s shoulder was clearly off the mat during the three-count and she looked visibly upset after the match was over. If certain reports circulating are to be believed, she may have had a right to be. Word is that the entire finish was botched and done on the fly as Lynch was supposed to tap out Flair to get the win. However, things went down the way they did, and Lynch pinned Rousey and that was that, and it did result in the booked winner still getting the victory. It did seem like a quick finish but Lynch beating Rousey to win this match was the better way to go. It solidifies everything. Had she beaten Flair, it wouldn’t have meant as much since she’s done that before. Lynch is now the champ of everything, and that’s what the people wanted. As has been the case with the entire feud, we got where we needed to go, even if we didn’t get there in quite the most efficient way.

What’s next: It seemed like the finish was done to set up a one-on-one match between Lynch and Rousey for Monday Night Raw, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. The plan was always for Sunday’s match to be the last for Rousey in WWE, at least for a while, and that she has a broken hand to heal, we won’t be seeing her for a while. If she is gone for now or forever, she should be insanely proud of what she did over the last year. Rousey came into WWE and so many people didn’t think that she would do nearly as well as she did. But she came in and killed it. Now Rousey can go off and start that family she’s wanted forever, live her life and make a decision about her career whenever she wants.

As for what happens now with Lynch, it’s hard to say as we don’t know how her double-championship reign is supposed to work. Does she defend both belts all the time? Does she only defend the Raw Women’s Championship on Mondays and the SmackDown Women’s Championship on Tuesdays? Is she going to drop one of them at some point? Do she and Charlotte remain on the same show or separate from one another to start new rivalries? We got the payoff from this build, but that was the easy part. Now Lynch has to keep going and keep things interesting for the fans. But if there’s anybody in the women’s division that can pull this off, it’s The Man.

What are your thoughts on WrestleMania 35? What was your favorite match? Please feel free to join in the conversation in the comments section below.