WrestleMania 36 is the ongoing 36th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their Raw, SmackDown, and NXT brand divisions — the first to promote the NXT brand. It was taped on March 25 and 26, 2020; Night 1 aired on April 4 with Night 2 to air
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WrestleMania 36's unique, unplanned and uncertain circumstances being pre-taped from the empty WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida,
left fans with no idea what to expect from the event as it started its two-day schedule Saturday night.
With WWE deciding to move forward after the first night of
the Raymond James Stadium show in Tampa during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic
The boneyard match between AJ Styles and The Undertaker has been
a mystery heading into the night as the whole event itself.
What fans were treated to was a "cinematic experience" of the WWE
that felt like a larger budget version of Broken Universe by Matt Hardy.
There was also a major title change on the evening, and Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins turned in a high-quality performance with a true "WrestleMan(
WWE WrestleMania 36 card, matches
Complete results and grades from each Night 1 match can be found below. Here is the card for Night 2 on Sunday.
- WWE Championship: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Drew McIntyre
- Edge vs. Randy Orton (Last Man Standing)
- John Cena vs. "The Fiend' Bray Wyatt (Firefly Funhouse Match)
- NXT Women's Championship: Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Charlotte Flair
- SmackDown Women's Championship: Bayley (c) vs. Lacey Evans vs. Naomi vs. Tamina vs. Sasha Banks (Elimination Match)
- Raw Tag Team Championship: Street Profits (c) vs. Angel Garza & Austin Theory
- Otis vs. Dolph Ziggler
- Aleister Black vs. Bobby Lashley
- Natalya vs. Liv Morgan (Kickoff Show))
- The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles (Boneyard Match): This was, as anticipated, a WWE "cinematic experience." An elaborate hearse entrance at the cemetery was a swerve with Styles being revealed as in a coffin in the back. Undertaker arrived for the "match" on a motorcycle with Metallica playing over the video. The match turned into a brawl that ranged from the graveyard to a barn to the barn's rooftop with Taker battling Styles, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows -- as well as hooded "druids." At one point, Styles had Taker in an open grave before Taker somehow materialized behind him. From that point, it was all Undertaker, as he brutalized Styles before throwing him off the barn roof. Styles attempted to apologize and begged Taker not to bury him. Taker said he wouldn't because of the fight Styles had put up, before kicking him into the grave and using a tractor to fill the grave, winning WWE's first boneyard match. The experience was campy, corny and somehow incredibly entertaining. It was not a wrestling match in any sort of traditional sense, but it was as well done as anything involving Undertaker can possibly be in 2020 and on entertainment alone, it was a success.
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