WWE WrestleMania 35 review: Highlights, takeaways and projections

AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton

Coming into this matchup between AJ Styles and Randy Orton, it appeared that it had show-stealing potential. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. This match wasn’t bad, but it was merely good and never got to great and that was disappointing.

It’s always difficult to go on second at WrestleMania. The first match is always booked to get the crowd hot and get them going again after the Kickoff Show. Following that is never an easy task as the live crowd tends to die down a bit after a hot start. Given what went down between Seth Rollins and Brock Lesnar, Orton and Styles had their work cut out for them, ultimately putting on a decent match. It just never got to that next level.They told a nice story in the ring, with Styles continually trying to avoid the RKO while getting in his normal array of offense.

The pace was a little slower than expected but there were still good spots. The methodical nature of it all worked well enough, but again, everyone was expecting just a little bit more from two of the best performers of their generation. It felt more like the main event of SmackDown Live than a WrestleMania match.

What’s next: Things probably won’t go much further than this with Styles and Orton, unless they have one more match to qualify for Money in the Bank next month. There’s nowhere else this rivalry can go so we’ve likely seen the last of it. Given their past history, it would be interesting if Orton could somehow sneak his way into the WWE Championship scene with Kofi Kingston but that doesn’t seem very likely, especially after taking a loss here.