Top 10 Moments from the Wrestlemania 34

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Wrestlemania 34 came on Sunday, and for the first time in a long time, it delivered in stunning fashion.

As good as Wrestlemania weekend as a whole is, it has had a hard time living up to the hype that surrounds it.

The card always seems to be stacked, and we always seem to be wishing for more in the end.

That wasn’t the feeling today.

I felt satisfied by the offering.

Here were my subjective top 10 moments from Wrestlemania 34:

10. The Bludgeon Brother Ruin the Usos Wrestlemania Moment

https://twitter.com/TheYearOfBliss/status/983150631568527360

There’s been a clamoring for over a month now for Smackdown Tag Team Champions, The Usos, to get their big Wrestlemania Moment this year.

Despite being one of the best tag teams in recent years, they’ve been on the sidelines every year.

The pop from the crowd when they made their way to the ring was one of hunger and electricity.

Their battles with the New Day have been some of the best of the last year, and this was to be the pinnacle of their battles.

Unfortunately for them and everyone’s dreams, the Bludgeon Brothers were also in the match.

And bludgeon they did.

They crushed both team in a matter of minutes and won the titles, resetting the tag team division after the lengthy reigns by both the Usos and New Day.

9. Braun Strowman and Nicholas Win the Tag Team Titles

Yeah, this was an awesome moment for the kid, and that’s sort of what these things are about.

Instead of having an NXT call-up or a superstar returning from an injury to be Braun Strowman’s partner for the tag title match, the WWE instead had Strowman scour the crowd for a suitable partner.

He landed on 10-year-old Nicholas.

I imagine kids around the globe just collectively lost their minds when they realized that they could possibly be in a match if they go to a live event.

I don’t think that’s necessarily a true sentiment, but that’s likely what was gained from this.

And hope is quite a motivating factor.

The WWE has made children a focus in recent years, and while that has drawn the ire of die-hard fans wanting a more mature product, it’s hard to argue the results.

This match allowed for a nice moment, a much-needed popcorn match, and a chance for Sheamus to make an appearance without having to do too much to aggravate his spinal stenosis.

8. Seth Rollins Becomes Grand Slam Champion

In the opening match of the show, Seth Rollins defeated Finn Balor and the Miz to win the Intercontinental Championship, making him the 11th Grand-Slam champion.

It’s one of those cool honors that people will forget about completely in a couple of weeks, but it is historical, nonetheless.

They opened the show with a fast-paced, technically proficient match that perfectly set the stage for what was to come.

Also, his entrance was pretty damn dope.

He put in some White Walker contacts and came out to freeze the joint.

https://twitter.com/wwefullthings/status/983126138800271361

7. Nia Jax Wins the Women’s Title

The culmination of months of working the women’s division on Raw led to a glorious moment for Nia Jax.

After months of being Alex Bliss’ lackey, Nia Jax finally learned the truth about how Bliss felt thanks to a hot mic.

It felt like a genuine moment. Alexa attacked real things, like Nia’s weight and the body differences between the two, things that I’m sure Nia has had cross her mind over the last several years.

Her anger also seemed to come from a real place:

The build-up made the moment perfect, complete.

Alexa Bliss finally got her comeuppance, and Nia Jax finally ascended to the pinnacle of her profession.

6. Roman Reigns Gushes Blood in Loss

https://twitter.com/KiingDeno/status/983204536696193024

This was a tough one to try to tank because of how much the crowd shit on the match during its entirety.

Cheers of “Boring” and “This is awful” filled the arena from the moment they came to the ring.

Everyone in the arena anticipated an inevitable Reigns win, and they were showing their distaste for such a call.

Before the would happen, however, Brock Lesnar would get his pound of flesh… er… blood.

He took off his gloves and opened Reigns up the hard way with an elbow to the forehead, gashing him to pieces.

It was a beautiful, bloody mess.

It’s a shame how much everyone shit on the match because it was the best possible match the two could have put on together. Even before the gloves came off, it was a hard-hitting, violent affair, the same kind of match the people would have been clamoring for if it was between any two other competitors.

And in the end, everyone was surprised to see Brock leave with the title.

5. Shinsuke’s Turn

The supposed dream match between A.J. Styles and Shinsuke was really a fantastic match.

The issue however, is that it came like six hours into the show and had unrealistic expectations thrust upon it.

Despite those issues, it still captured the attentions of the fans, particularly the ending sequence and what followed.

A.J. Styles nailed the Styles Clash for the win, surprising virtually everyone. It had become a foregone conclusion that Shinsuke Nakamura would win the title, so it was a happy swerve.

Then Shinsuke hit Styles with a low blow, one of the must underutilized tools in a heel’s arsenal in this day and age, announcing to the world that he would be just that.

Beloved fan favorite Shinsuke Nakamura needed a change of some sort, and a heel run could elevate him to a level that he had yet to achieve in the WWE.

4. Taker Returned Looking 10 Years Younger

So, I should preface this by saying the Undertaker is my favorite wrestler ever, so there’s more than a little bias here.

But boy oh boy did I enjoy that.

Since his loss to Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania XXX, the Undertaker has seemed to have lost a step.

Sure, I’ve savored every moment I’ve gotten out of him.

I’ve been able to convince myself that he just needed the right opponent to become great again.

But deep down I knew that he wasn’t the same guy who put on the best match in WWE history against Shawn Michaels.

His loss to Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania last year, in which every step seemed to plague him, only solidified that for me.

I thought he was given a proper send-off after the match, and I made my peace with the fact that I was losing my favorite wrestler.

Imagine my surprise when his name came off Cena’s lips this month and I had to start the spin machine right back over again.

This time, however, it didn’t have to feel like a lie.

Taker came out climbing the ropes, flying around the rings, and performed his greatest hits to perfection with an energy I haven’t seen out of him in years.

If that was his last ever match, it can finally be one he was proud of.

And that makes me a happy fan.

3. Asuka’s Streak Ends

https://twitter.com/PWGifs/status/983362746333904896

I still don’t know how I feel about Asuka’s winning streak coming to an end like that with such a little build, but it was a hell of a ride to get there.

Since her debut in NXT in 2015, Asuka has been the dominant force in all of WWE, destroying all who stepped in her way. It was a Goldberg-esque run, if not more dominant.

The only woman who could have been in the same conversation with her was Charlotte Flair, so it made sense that they would finally meet at Wrestlemania.

And Asuka and Charlotte sneaky sort of stole the show with their match.

Nothing about their match was formulaic or ordinary; they went out to be something special and unique, and they accomplished that.

I mean look at this:

Despite having watched wrestling for the entirety of my life, I’ve never seen that before.

Charlotte and Asuka raised the bar entirely for the women’s division, and I would go as far as to say they will give the WWE brass something consider for the main event at Wrestlemania next year.

And that’s something I never thought I’d say.

It was that damn good.

2. Ronda Rousey’s Debut

https://twitter.com/returns_the/status/983752443778478081

For all of the technical excellency of Charlotte vs. Asuka, Ronda Rousey’s debut matched it with its shit showery.

It’s rather incredible, honestly.

This was so much better than it had any business being.

From the moment she debuted at the Royal Rumble, every moment that Rousey has been seen on WWE programming has been utterly underwhelming.

It’s been so bad that people were frankly preparing for the worst.

We were expecting groans and cringes, but we popped. We all popped.

Triple was the ring general he’s always been; Kurt Angle showed that he had plenty left in the tank; Stephanie was devoutly heelish; and Ronda Rousey showed the violence that made her a star in the UFC with a blend of poise and charisma needed to thrive in the WWE.

The match was set up to allow Rousey to look like a star, and she did her part to do just that.

Frankly, the match will be the most remembered match from a truly excellent Wrestlemania.

But it won’t be the most remembered moment because there was also…

1. Daniel Bryan’s Triumphant Return

I mean there was nothing else it could have been.

After two years of forced retirement thanks to concussions and seizures, Daniel Bryan finally returned to the ring at Wrestlemania to a roaring crowd, chants of “Yes, Yes, Yes” filling each blank space of silence.

It all began when Bryn began to secretly deal with seizures and the loss of strength in his arm.

After undergoing numerous tests, it was determined that Bryan would have to step away from the industry he loved so much.

He retired on Raw:

Since that day, Bryan has explored every possible avenue for more research on his condition and to find a way to return to the ring.

Over the past few months, Bryan has been telling people that he had been independently cleared by doctors, though he hadn’t yet been cleared by WWE doctors.

Rumblings have been coming out that he pledged to return to the ring on the independent scene once his contract ran out, creating this curious situation of “will they or won’t they” in terms of his clearance by WWE doctors.

We got our answer two weeks ago when it was announced via Twitter that he was cleared.

An assault by Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn added fuel to the fire for his return.

And when it finally happened, there was this all-encompassing love felt across the world, a collective glee in that fact that sometimes good things do happen to good people.

It was a perfect moment, the moment from Wrestlemania 34.