Five takeaways from WrestleMania 35

Brian Fritz

Five takeaways from WrestleMania 35 image

WrestleMania 35 is in the books with the women taking center stage in the main event for the first time in the annual extravaganza's history. 

When it was all over, Becky Lynch proved that she is "The Man," while both Kofi Kingston and Seth Rollins earned some gold in what turned out to be both a fun, yet taxing night for fans who tuned into the "Showcase of the Immortals."

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Here are five takeaways from WrestleMania 35. 

Main event finish leaves door open for Rousey-Lynch rematch

After more than 20 minutes of action, the ending of the women's Triple Threat match seemingly came out of nowhere when Becky Lynch "pinned" Ronda Rousey to score the biggest win of her career and close out the first all-women main event in WrestleMania history.

However, it came with controversy as Rousey's shoulders were obviously not down as the referee made the three count. Rousey looked surprised and upset as you would expect, considering it was her first WWE loss. So, the question is was that planned?

The disputed finish leaves the door open for a rematch between Rousey — who can claim that she didn't really lose — and Lynch. But when does that happen? 

Rousey has been wanting to start a family, but will she take a leave to do that now or will be she be sticking around longer before doing so? She still has two years left on her WWE contract, so she's not going anywhere. A Lynch-Rousey match feels like the right bout to headline WrestleMania 36 in Tampa come 2020.
 

Less is definitely more

With 16 matches announced, everyone knew it was going to be a long show. While four of those took place on the kickoff show, that still left 12 for the main card along with filler segments, including a throwback John Cena appearance as the "Doctor of Thugonomics" after an Elias musical performance and a seven-second dance break that wasn't as quick as advertised.

Add to that the methodical, this went WAY too long 25-minute match between Batista and Triple — that also included elaborate entrances — and the show dragged beyond seven hours with the crowd dying down the stretch. 

It's not just that the show was too long, but it's also the pacing of the show and the timing of various matches. Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan was an excellently timed match that went nearly 24 minutes, but Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre only got 10 minutes in a spot where the crowd was in dire need of a power nap. 

Sure, WrestleMania is supposed to be a big WWE celebration, but the company is not helping its cause by shoe-horning too much into its signature event and dragging it down. WWE brass needs to take a hard look at how it can pack the show, but also showcase the right highlights along the way that keeps the event flowing with entertainment rather than hitting a wall with several hours to go.

We’ll actually see the Universal championship on "RAW" every week

Seth Rollins being the Universal champion — after dethroning Brock Lesnar on Sunday night — comes equipped with the freeing of the title that has been held hostage over the last few years with “The Beast” Brock Lesnar as champion.

It was a rare occasion to see Lesnar on "Raw" unless he was making a token appearance leading up to one of his handful of matches on pay-per-view. Well, those days are now gone.

Not only will Rollins be on the show every week as Universal champion, but expect him to be a fighting champion who takes on any and all comers along the way. Who his future opponents will be remains to be seen, with the “Superstar Shake-up” coming in a week and plenty of talent likely changing brands.

Kofi gets emotional win; what's next?

After 11 years with WWE, Kingston finally got his first shot at a world championship and made the most of it by defeating Daniel Bryan under the biggest spotlight of them all.

So, will he get the chance to have a real run with the title or will he simply be a placeholder champion? That’s the big question.

Hopefully, WWE has a sound plan to let Kingston get some time as champ, but that will probably be just a few months unless he catches more fire. He’s an awesome person and talent, but will have to prove that he can draw as champion if he’s going to carry the title for a prolonged period. Let’s just hope he doesn’t drop it quickly as he’s earned this opportunity to be champ and see what he can do in this role.

Reigns not in the title picture...yet 

Roman Reigns is thankfully healthy and looking good in the ring following his recent battle with leukemia. And at Mania, he scored a clean, decisive win over Drew McIntyre.

That would seemingly put him in line for a shot at either the Universal championship or the WWE championship if he ends up on “SmackDown” as part of the upcoming shake-up. But neither makes sense right now since both Rollins and Kingston are babyfaces and a Reigns heel turn probably isn’t in the cards anytime soon — if ever.

For now, Reigns might say he wants to be a world champion again, but it will be just talk for the time being. His time will come sooner than later, but for now, he’ll have to wait and feud with someone else.

 

Brian Fritz

Brian Fritz Photo

Brian Fritz is a contributor with The Sporting News covering the NBA and NFL who previously worked at BasketballNews. He is a 20-year veteran of sports talk radio in Orlando, Florida, after graduating from the University of Central Florida. He now resides in Durham, North Carolina.