WrestleMania 33: Results, reaction, highlights, and much more

WrestleMania is always the biggest event of the year in wrestling, and WrestleMania is certainly no exception. Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida was the center of the wrestling world on Sunday, with a huge match card jam-packed with massively important and even historic matches for the Ultimate Thrill Ride. Over 75,000 WWE fans packed the stadium for an amazing night of wrestling, and from start to finish it was an incredible ride.

From Kevin Owens trying to get revenge on former best friend Chris Jericho, to John Cena and Nikki Bella trying to put down The Miz and Maryse, to Goldberg facing Brock Lesnar one more time, to Roman Reigns battling the Undertaker, to Seth Rollins facing Triple H in an unsanctioned match, to AJ Styles’ grudge match with Shane McMahon, to Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton’s intensely psychological battle over the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, to two excellent Women’s Championship matches, there was something for everyone in the WrestleMania 33 card. It was a long, emotional, intense, and fantastic night of wrestling.

The main event of WrestleMania 33 involved Roman Reigns facing The Undertaker, in a battle over who really owns this year. Or something. Either way, Reigns got the pin after a long match that wasn’t too exciting, and did nothing to inflate the crowd after nearly six hours of wrestling action.

The match got an emotional charge before it even started, when legendary commentator Jim Ross returned to the WWE desk to announce this match. It was also announced as a no-holds-barred match, heightening the main-event atmosphere.

The SmackDown Women’s Championship match was originally on the pre-show until WWE listened to fans unhappy about leaving a top card off of the main card of WrestleMania 33. So, they not only put it on the main card, but also moved it toward the end as the last SmackDown match on the card.

Alexa Bliss aggravated all of her coworkers and also her boss, SmackDown general manager Daniel Bryan, by bragging about how much better she was than, well, all of them. So, he put her in a WrestleMania 33 title defense against any available woman on the roster, which ended up being Mickie James, Becky Lynch, Natalya, Carmella, and, once she returned from her knee injury, previous champion Naomi.

Goldberg has gotten the better of Brock Lesnar every time they’ve faced each other, but the Beast got a win when it counted. He finally defeated Goldberg at WrestleMania 33, winning the WWE Universal Championship in the process.

Goldberg won the Universal Championship after destroying Kevin Owens at Fastlane, defending the title against Lesnar at WrestleMania. He already embarrassed Lesnar at Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble, but Brock wasn’t playing around this time.

Seth Rollins vs. Triple H was a long, convoluted journey, full of many confusing stops and turns. But in the end, at WrestleMania 33, Rollins got the revenge he’s been seeking for many months, pinning Triple H in a non-sanctioned match.

This match was building to a fever pitch for several months, but a wrench was thrown into the plans when Rollins re-injured his surgically repaired knee during a fight with Samoa Joe. Triple H agreed to have the match anyway, as long as Rollins signed a “hold harmless” agreement, essentially making this a non-sanctioned match where anything goes.

John Cena and Nikki Bella have had to listen to Miz and Maryse tear down their relationship for weeks now. They claim Cena and Nikki aren’t actually dating, but are just pretending for the cameras, and that Nikki will never be married to him because Cena is a terrible human being simply using Nikki to advance his own career — and, of course, vice versa.

Hey, it turns out the super mean things the bad guys have been saying to Cena and Nikki are not at all true!

Matt and Jeff Hardy became the talk of the wrestling world in 2016, reinventing their careers with the “Broken” characters. Now they’re back in WWE and hold tag team gold once again, winning the RAW Tag Team Championships in a ladder match at WrestleMania 33.

The match was scheduled as Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson defending their belts against Enzo & Cass and Cesaro & Sheamus. But before the match started, The New Day (the WrestleMania hosts) declared it’s now a four-way with a new team joining. That team? The Hardy Boys, making their long-awaited return to WWE. The crowd erupted in “delete” chants, referencing the Broken Hardy storyline that was all the rage last year.

Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, Nia Jax, and RAW Women’s Champion Bayley have dominated RAW since the brand split last summer, and the four were pitted against each other in an elimination match for the title at WrestleMania 33.

Even though Charlotte makes a point of never getting along with Bayley or Sasha, the three joined forces early to take out Nia Jax, who, if you listen to her entrance song, is not like most girls. (Also if you watch her wrestle ever, because she’s the kind of powerhouse that is found nowhere else in WWE’s women’s divisions.)

Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho had a nasty falling out over the past several months, with Owens turning on his friend and challenging him for the United States Championship. Their blood feud came to a head at WrestleMania, which ended with Owens pinning Jericho and winning the U.S. title.

There was no time for a feeling-out process — Jericho immediately put Owens in the Walls of Jericho before nailing him with a crossbody on the outside. The former friends got back into the ring and Owens stopped Jericho’s momentum with a superkick. Owens hit two cannonballs into the corner and went to work on Jericho.

AJ Styles wanted an opponent for WrestleMania 33, and SmackDown commissioner Shane McMahon offered himself up after Styles attacked him multiple times. Following a wild match that included some eye-opening spots, Styles eventually put away Shane for his first win at WrestleMania.

On the go-home SmackDown episode, Styles made it a point to emphasize that this would be a regular wrestling match. Indeed, they started off with a classic chain-wrestling sequence, and Shane used a series of arm drags before Styles went outside for a breather.

The final pre-show match of WrestleMania 33 saw Dean Ambrose reverse Baron Corbin’s finisher into his own, pinning the lone wolf to retain the Intercontinental Championship.

Ambrose got things off to a fast start with a suicide dive onto Corbin on the outside. However, Corbin took over and slowed down the match to his own pace, working over Ambrose in a methodical fashion.

With the help of New England Patriots star Rob Gronkowski, Mojo Rawley won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale at WrestleMania 33.

The ring quickly filled up with everybody, with only Big Show and Braun Strowman getting full entrances. There wasn’t much to the early portion of the match, with undercard geeks flying out of the ring left and right. Braun and Big Show had an early staredown before Sami Zayn jumped Strowman.

WrestleMania 33 kicked off with a strong match pitting Neville against Austin Aries for the Cruiserweight Championship. After a fast-paced, stiff affair, Neville pinned Aries to retain his title.

The two men started out with some smooth chain wrestling. Aries looked to get the upper hand diving to the outside, but Neville caught him with an enziguri on the apron. Back in the ring, Neville and Aries both traded stiff strikes and forearms.

WrestleMania 33 will take place on Sunday, and all of the biggest names in WWE will be in action, including a WWE Championship match between Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton and a WWE Universal Championship match between Goldberg and Brock Lesnar.

The show gets underway 7 p.m. ET and will be available on the WWE Network and via traditional pay-per-view. Subscribing to the WWE Network will grant you access to the event from any number of connected devices, and as luck would have it, they are currently offering a one-month free trial.

WrestleMania 33 has 13 matches, so let’s skip the preamble and get right to it. The main card of Mania 33 begins at 7 p.m. ET on the WWE Network and pay-per-view, while the kickoff show will start at 5 p.m. ET. We are in for a long night, but it could be a wonderful night, too!

What am I looking at here? Each year for the last four years, in memory of Andre the Giant, WWE hosts a battle royal at WrestleMania and hands out a trophy to the winner. It’s like the Stanley Cup if the Stanley Cup was a statue of Andre the Giant instead of a cup.