Top 5 Ways I Was Wrong At WrestleMania 34 (And The One Way I Was Really Right)

WrestleMania 34 is in the books, and it is sure to go down as one of the most polarizing shows in WWE history. Given the nature of the WWE product lately, that might be the feel they were going for. As an analyst covering the product, I of course made some predictions. On the big ones, I was dead wrong. Except for that one—and it’s a doozy.

What were they? Let’s take a look at the my Top 5 “Wrongs” from WrestleMania 34, and the big one that I got “right.”

(I put them in quotes because I don’t mind being wrong—it’s more fun that way. But I do like getting the major one right.)

I told you The Undertaker would most definitely not wrestle at WrestleMania 34

In hindsight, I am okay with it. But I did not expect The Undertaker to compete at WrestleMania 34, not against John Cena or anyone for that matter. In fact, I didn’t expect The Undertaker to wrestle anyone, anywhere, ever again.

And I was dead wrong.

(Pun basically intended.)

The Undertaker came back at WrestleMania 34 and squashed John Cena. It was the second major squash of John Cena’s career, and it was really beautiful. John Cena was informed that The Undertaker was at WrestleMania, so he had to leave his seat in the crowd and run to the back (upstaging a major moment a little, but we’ll get to that).

Later in the show, Cena returned to call out The Undertaker, but he didn’t show. Again. Instead we got Elias, who Cena disposed of. At this point I expected The Undertaker to come “rollin’” down the stage, but it didn’t happen. Cena’s music played, and he left. Except he didn’t get all the way up the ramp before his music stopped. And he didn’t get a chance to do much before it went dark. And it wasn’t dark long before The Undertaker’s coat and hat were once again left in the ring.

And lightning struck, and it was gone.

What followed was the typical entrance from The Undertaker, which was apparently enough for Michael Cole to inform us that The Undertaker accepted John Cena’s challenge. It was indeed a match, and The Undertaker did indeed dispatch of John Cena with relative ease.

The Undertaker looked better than he looked at WrestleManias 30 and 33, both of his lone WrestleMania losses. It appears that the hip surgery worked out well enough, and The Deadman is back.

What does my “wrongness” lead to? I think it’s easy to assume it’s a WrestleMania 35 showdown with John Cena—a proper showdown with a proper build. I also expect The Undertaker to be an entrant in the Greatest Royal Rumble.

Why did The Undertaker leave his gear in the ring at WrestleMania 33? I can’t answer that question. My best educated guess is that it was a “just-in-case” as his status was likely up in the air due to his surgery. Once it went well enough, they told the story they told—and to me it worked in the end.

I told you Roman Reigns would most definitely beat Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 34

Look, I am not alone in this one. Almost everyone told you Roman Reigns was going to beat Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 34. But I was sure of it.

I was so sure of it that I went so far as to say that Brock Lesnar should have won at WrestleMania 31, holding the title for over three years and finally losing it to Roman Reigns in their New Orleans rematch.

None of that happened. Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns gave you an amazing fight that you likely don’t appreciate enough, and then Roman literally bled for the company. Roman Reigns was the complete embodiment of this storyline, and he was proven right. “Vince’s Boy” won.

What does that mean? Well honestly it means a heel turn, but that’s another article that comes out later today!

For now, just bask in the fact that I couldn’t have been more wrong about this one. Brock Lesnar shocked the world and left WrestleMania 34 still your WWE Universal Champion.

I told you AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura would deliver a match worthy of being called a WrestleMania main event

Outside of the waste of space that was the Kickoff, this match was easily the most disappointing of the night. For a “Dream Match,” this was a nightmare.

I’ve seen people blame the crowd, but watch this match with the sound muted. It was an okay match, many many many notches below what you’d fairly expect from AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura.

The payoff to this match was…a nutshot? At that point the nutshot was somewhat satisfying because it finally made me care about the match. But what about the 20+ minutes that came before it? Not good.

These two are capable of more. They’ve given us more in the Tokyo Dome. They did not deliver at WrestleMania.

(I was right about AJ winning btw. Check our staff predictions!)

I told you Rusev had to win the United States Championship to put a lid on the “Rusev Day” chants

Rusev Day is obviously over. Is Rusev? I am not so sure.

But I firmly believed that if you added Rusev to the United States Championship Match, he had to win it. I mean, why else do you add him?

I figured the win for Rusev would put the kibosh on the Rusev Day chants, and I was wrong. He didn’t need to win at all!

Jinder Mahal, the guy who I wanted to win all along, did win. And we didn’t hear another Rusev Day chant for the rest of the night. I guess the fans still got it out of their system.

At least the IWC’s resident Jinder Mahal apologist still have his champion, right?

Honorable Mentions

• I told you The New Day was finally getting their WrestleMania Moment. Instead, they jumped the shark (even for them) and it’s finally time to put the gimmick to rest.
• I told you Shane McMahon was obviously turning on Daniel Bryan, with a Bryan turn as a potential back-up claim. That allows Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn to win, right? Nope—none of that happened.

I told you Finn Balor was the only choice to leave WrestleMania 34 as the Intercontinental Champion

Yep, unequivocally I said that Finn Balor must win the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 34.

The reasons were obvious:

• Seth Rollins was headed to Smackdown to carry the blue brand along with AJ Styles.
• The Miz was moving onto the main event scene, likely to feud with Roman Reigns over the Universal Championship (which Reigns was obviously winning, right???).

Well I was wrong. Balor didn’t win, and Rollins doesn’t seem to be headed to Smackdown. Instead, Seth Rollins adds his name to the WWE’s Grand Slam Champions by capturing the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania.

So that’s bad, right? I had a terrible WrestleMania, but I got something very big, very right.

I told you Charlotte Flair was going to defeat Asuka, end her Streak, and retain the Smackdown Women’s Championship

I didn’t even have a hard time making this decision. Asuka’s mystique was definitely infectious, but it wasn’t such that she couldn’t possibly lose. And her Streak was impressive, as any streak is, but most of it was compiled in NXT, canon that’s largely ignored on the main roster.

The biggest part of Asuka’s Streak was always going to be the end, and it almost seemed appropriate that the WWE created a streak so they could end it in New Orleans.

That’s exactly what happened, and exactly what I said would happen.

Charlotte Flair is wrestling royalty by birth, but WWE is building up her career to match that birthright. And it’s not changing anytime soon.

If women are going to main event WrestleMania in the next few years, it’s not going to be because of Asuka. It’s going to be because of Charlotte Flair, and a step in that direction was her being the one to end Asuka’s streak.

Sound off in the comments and let me know how you were wrong (and right) about WrestleMania 34. You can also hit me up on social media @ChairshotGreg.