WrestleMania 32 (2016 TV Special) User Reviews (5)

Actually Quite Good. Not As Bad As People Say.

[Movie-ManDan · 7/10 · 9 April 2016]

Last year's WrestleMania received critical acclaim to the point where it is one of the highest regarded Mania's ever. Honestly, this year's Mania was a lot better. Why did so many people find last year's better? This year's Mania wasn't as good as XXX, or 24, or 3, but it was still pretty awesome.

The biggest flaw I'd say was that as the longest Mania ever, it drained the audience. The pre-show along with the regular show was about 7 hours. That is too long.

The first bout of the pre-show was Kalisto vs Ryback for the US Title. The US Title deserves to be defended in the regular show, but I guess the writers knew the match wouldn't be very good. Just a regular match between the two that we've all seen on RAW. Kalisto won, which I am happy about. 6.5/10

Team Total Divas defeated Team BAD and Blonde in a 10-girl tag match. I love matches of this magnitude. 8/10

The Usos defeated the Dudley Boyz. I know the Dudleyz are booked to make the younger guys look good, but I was underwhelmed with this. And I was expecting them to pull out tables after the match. It wasn't bad, just decent. 7/10

The first match of the regular show was Kevin Owens, Stardust, Zack Ryder, Miz, Sin Cara, Dolph Ziggler and Sami Zayn all went at it in a ladder match for the Intercontinental Title. Same thing happened at last year's Mania, but this was better. This was full of sheer intensity, wildness, and unpredictability at new heights. I was so happy to see Zack Ryder win. He lost it the next night on RAW to Miz, but I think they are slowly building him up again. 10/10

AJ Styles did not get his moment when he lost against Chris Jericho. He shouldn't feel bad because the match was awesome. Sure it isn't very different from their others, but these guys never put on a bad match. 8.5/10

The League of Nations defeated The New Day. I don't care for the League, but I can't stand New Day!!! I totally hate them!!! Their entrance sucked and the match was lame! 4/10

It was no surprise that Brock Lesnar would beat Dean Ambrose in the street fight. But this was so underwhelming, I don't blame people for saying this match sucked. A match where anything goes with two daredevils should have been amazing. Nope. No mayhem, and no insanity. The match was way too one-sided. People whine about John Cena being predictable as he never loses. At least Cena's matches can suspend your disbelief as he is on the verge of losing. Brock Lesnar does 95% of the attacks and pulls off the win. Too predictable. Also, the use of weapons was too safe. While the match wasn't great, it was watchable. Just like a RAW or Smackdown event. 6.5/10

Charlotte defeats Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks for the new WWE Women's Championship. What WWE has done with these gals is so awesome! I was rooting for Becky Lynch, but Charlotte's win didn't bother me. The match was awesome. 9.5/10

Undertaker vs Shane McMahon was perhaps the most important match of the night. Shane made his WWE return with demands to control RAW. The Authority is one of WWE's worst ideas ever that has been horrid since their start in 2013. If Shane could beat Undertaker at Mania inside Hell in a Cell, Shane would get his wishes. If Undertaker would lose, he would have to retire. The stipulations sucked. I really hope Shane gets control somehow since he lost. The match itself was a bit dull. Both guys were out of shape and really tired throughout most of the fight. The match was saved by some insane moments. It really elevated the match. 7.5/10

The Andre the Giant Battle Royal always get me going. This match saw the returns of Tatanka and Diamond Dallas Page, as well as the debuts of NXT's Baron Corbin and Shaquille O'Neal. Baron Corbin won, which was a pleasant surprise. 8/10

The Rock came out and did his thing. Then the Wyatt Family came out and exchanged with Rock. A quick match happened, but the whole segment was great. 8/10

The final bout Triple H vs Roman Reigns for the WWE title. Roman was booed and H was cheered. Why dump on Reigns? Think he is being forced down our throats? H has been doing that for nearly 20 years! Roman winning was predictable? He needed to win! The Authority is terrible! A younger guy needs a chance to shine. Does that excuse the match for sucking? Nope. Roman has put of some dazzling matches. I thought this would be one of them. What the hell happened!? The only good part was Roman spearing Stephanie. 6.5/10

Overall, a pretty good show. The look was better than last year's and there were some candidates for match of the year. Not winners, just nominees. I wasn't expecting anything massive, just what I got. People that trash this event need to chill out and remember Mania 9, 11, 27, and the other bad ones.

Total score 7.5/10

Wrestlemania Does Dallas! Was it worth it? Somewhat. It was a very successful card.

[ironhorse_iv · 7/10 · 4 April 2016]

Everything is bigger in Texas, even Wrestlemania. While Wrestlemania 32 might not have the attendance record, that their saying, they have on their web site (101,763); they still did beat the 1987's WrestleMania 3 Pontiac Silverdome record, big time. They did all this, with a so-so show. Being the first to take place, Dallas, and the third, Wrestlemania to held in the state of Texas after 2001's WM17 & 2009's WM25. The PPV show was indeed somewhat interesting with the way, they were able to pull alright show, with the majority of the top wrestlers being injury. Yet, there is also a lot of flaws, with this show. Without spoiling too much of the show, the Pre-Show match between Kallisto Vs Ryback for the United States Championship was a little too short. They could really spent, more time for this match, rather than showcasing all the repetitive video match packages, and WrestleMania predictions from the pre-show commentaries crew. Because of that, I wasn't too engage in this match. The next match on the pre-show was 10 Women Tag Team Match with Team Total Divas (Brie Bella, Paige, Natalya, Alicia Fox and Eva Marie) VS Team B.A.D. & Blonde (Lana, Naomi, Tamina, Emma and Summer Rae) was surprising, pretty good, despite the fact, that this storyline is just a recycle feud from Survivor Series 2013. Eve Marie and Lana really show, their stuff. Their in-ring performances has really improved. I just can't behind the teams names. They were awful. The main event of the pre-show was The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso) Vs The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley). It was alright, but the ending to the match, wasn't what fans really wanted. The opening match for the PPV, the Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match, between Zack Ryder, Kevin Owens (c), Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, Sami Zayn, Stardust & Sin Cara was also great with all the extreme risk taking stunts. Love the tribute to American Dream, Dusty Rhodes as well. The winner was an absolute shocker to start off the evening, since he was pretty much, a jobber in the last several years. Nice to see him, get a push to the top, like he deserves. Chris Jericho VS A.J. Styles was next. It was good solid match, despite them, taking it slow, in certain spots, due to them, coming up in age. I just kinda wish, they add a match stipulation or variation to this normal match, since it's supposed to be, the end of their feud. They really need to spice it up, if they continue it. Anyways, the Six-Man Tag is next, with The League of Nations (Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio and Rusev) (with King Barrett) Vs The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods). Match was fine, but the entrance with New Day was the highlight. Love the big cereal box! I kinda dig, the after the match, beat-down with certain wrestlers. I know, that he can't wrestle, anymore, but I just wish, Stone Cold Steve Austin was in somewhat in shape and in his gear for this part with Shawn Michaels and Mick Foley. No Holds Barred Street Fight between Brock Lesnar VS Dean Ambrose was kinda disappointing. Not only do, I disagree with the results of who won, but the match was generic. Nothing really stood out. It was average, at best. Women's Championship: Triple Threat Match is next, with Charlotte (c) being against Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks. An argument can be made that this was one of the match of the night. The three ladies put together a tremendous performance with awesome near falls, great spots outside the ring and some interesting submission combinations. Love the fact, that the Divas Championship is retiring, but the results of the winner is mixed to me. Hell in a Cell with The Undertaker Vs Shane McMahon is also mixed, even with the crazy big bump. I hate the build-up to this match with Undertaker (A Face) helping Vince McMahon (Heel) to take out his son, Shane, because of a mystery lockbox. It makes no sense. Plus, there was really no point to this match if you watch Raw, the following night. I also don't like, how Undertaker looks. He really looks goofy with the cowboy leather bottom jeans. Plus, he really look pass his prime, with no shirt, on. Then, there is Shane, who isn't a train wrestler at all. Yes, he does crazy stunts, but come on, he's nowhere near the level of an average WWE wrestler. Still, McMahon went as far as he could in the match, and he deserves major props for his performance. Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal is fun with some returning legends, celebrities, and young wrestlers. The next match was a surprised, since Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson had been billed as participator, but not as a wrestler. Sadly, it was, in dispense of the Wyatt Family. It's also weird to see John Cena get a 'pop' from the crowd. The main event of the evening was the WWE Heavyweight Championship between Triple H (c) Vs Roman Reigns with the fans not really too much into the match. I wasn't into it. I found it to be mediocre. I love, Triple H's over the top entrance, better with Stephanie McMahon looking so hot, with evil queen outfit. Overall: WrestleMania 32 absolutely had its moments, but this exceptional event is more glamorous in its style, than its ring substance and billing. It's a fun watch, but in the overall ranking of WrestleMania. It's a run of the mill show. I'm sorry, but it is. Still, go see it, if you're a wrestling fan.

Disappointment but they tried.

[morantjavonte · 5/10 · 23 February 2022]

WrestleMania 32 Thoughts

WrestleMania 32 was the 32nd annual WrestleMania event produced by the WWE. It took place on April 3, 2016 at the AT&T Stadium in the suburb of Dallas of Allrington, Texas. WrestleMania 32 according to WWE, would gross over $17.3 million and claimed attendence record being of 101,763. It was arguably the most successful mania advertised of the modern era but unfortunately being one of the biggesr disappointments of the 2016. The biggest storyline heading into this show would be Roman Reigns challenging Triple H for the WWE World Championship. Roman was at the start of the being pushed up the top which unfortunately caused a negative reaction towards him for the upcoming years. Other mania highlights saw the beginning of the Women's Revolution Era and Shane McMahon's return.

The Good - In all these years, it was a huge jaw dropping moment of "what did we just see" that would be the Women's match. The WWE finally decided to dispose the divas era and established the women. All 3 women gave it their all and looked tremendous in the ring. The chemistry was incredible and these 3 for the next years would make their names even bigger. I think looking at it from a later view has made it an instant classic. The ladder match also was a great opener. Zack Ryder winning was a special moment and looked to be a clear path to a Journey he deserved (well at that time). I also felt Jericho vs. AJ Styles was really good. Maybe AJ should have won but it still ended up being a good feud. Also the segments of returning legends were special and fun.

The Meh - New Day vs. League of Nations was just a typical tag team match. It was mostly Memorable for its aftermath with HBK, Foley, and Austin. Brock Lesnar vs. Dean Ambrose was a bit of a disappointment considering it was a street fight. It lacked good hardcore violence due to the PG rating and according to Ambrose, Lesnar wasn't that interested in making this a fabulous highlight of his or Ambrose career.

The Bad - Well the main event was doomed to fail. It was so predictable and just straight out sad. The fans didn't care for it as the WWE fans were not into Roman as the top guy. It's unfortunate this continued for years. The only highlight of the match was Roman's spear on Stephanie. The Hell in a Cell match was also lackluster. The age between both stars was obviously the reason of the slow paced. The storyline also was odd as no one saw a single chance of Vince giving WWE to his son behind the scenes. Last the Battle Royal was just a typical bathroom break.

Overall - Well some can remember this WrestleMania losing stars as John Cena, Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, and Bray Wyatt were missing due to injuries (although 2 of them showed up for segments). That kinda was a huge blow. The NXT takeover 2 nights before can be argued to have taken over the spotlight as many of the same fans from attendance were there. I also feel a huge impact on this show and the upcoming manias were the time limit of 5 hours (7 if counting preshow). So much wrestling can drag out even the biggest fans. Overall a mediocre show.

Score - 5 out of 10: Mediocre

0 = Horrible: 1 = Bad/Lackluster: 2 = Decent: 3 = Good: 4 = Awesome: 5 = One of the Best of all Time:

1. Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz vs. Sami Zayn vs. Stardust vs. Sin Cara vs. Zack Ryder vs. Kevin Owens: Intercontinental Championship (Ladder Match) - 3.5/5

2. Chris Jericho vs. AJ Styles - 3.5/5

3. The New Day vs. League of Nations - 2/5

4. Brock Lesnar vs. Dean Ambrose (Street Fight) - 2.5/5

5. Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte: WWE Women's Championship - 4.5/5

6. Shane McMahon vs. Undertaker (Hell in a Cell) - 1.5/5

6. Andre the Giant Memorable Battle Royal - 0/5

7. The Rock vs. Erick Rowan - not worth it

8. Triple H vs. Roman Reigns: WWE World Heavyweight Championship - 1.5/5

Best Match - Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks

Worst Match - Andre the Giant Memorable Battle Royal

Most Memorable Moment - Rock and Cena return

Top Performers

1. Charlotte - Great Performance

2. Sasha Banks - Great Performance

3. Becky Lynch - Great Performance

4. Chris Jericho - Great Performance

5. AJ Styles - Great Performance.

Shameful. Just Shameful.

[HarryRidgway · 2/10 · 28 July 2016]

"Wrestlemania 32" is the offspring of unfathomable ego, stubbornness, insolence and laziness. Imagine a sequel that focused on the predecessors most critically panned character out of spite for the audience disliking the creation. Also imagine that that sequel killed off all fan favourites in a way that rendered all previous growth mute. That is "Wrestlemania 32" in a nutshell - where the dimensionless Roman Reigns is nauseatingly hailed as a magnetic phenomenon and almost every other character/match is configured so it will not take the limelight away from Vince McMahon's pet project.

Alright, good things out of the way:

Ryder winning, New Day's entrance, Women's championship/division/triple threat, Charlotte's moonsault, Corbin, Shane being my hero and Triple H's badass ""assault on the senses"" entrance.

And the rest:

Matches had no breathing room for reasons I hypothesize being so they didn't overshadow Vince's sole obsession - the stale main event that saw his boy Reigns go over massively. The two biggest and most unforgivable instances of this were the AJ/Jericho match and the Ambrose/Lesnar street fight. Both lacked space to innovate because both had to follow a strict schedule in order to be in and out without disrupting the main event build. Now, AJ losing is boggling but it was more the absence of chemistry, novelty and time that irked me. But the Ambrose dilemma is a whole different beast (no pun intended). I don't think I've ever seen a conclusion to a feud exude such disregard for audience and previous narrative and thematic establishment. Ambrose was illuminated as a fervid madman who craves pain and the opportunity to fight it until his body fails him. However, the match with Lesnar featured no moments of resilience to note and ignored strategy that was being hyped for weeks (dangerous weapons gifted by legends). Also, It's called a street fight, yet what transpired was about as thrilling and subversive as the Uso pre-show match (zilch). Revolting, considering Ambrose is a once in a lifetime gem who is being exploited as an instrument for WWE to laugh at audience expectation.

Also worth nothing was the disgusting amount of pandering. While it's great to see HBK, Stone Cold and Foley, what purpose did they serve? None, because they were simply there so the writing team could take the day off and not formulate a proper fruition to a storyline.

Also blood-boiling was the segment of the Wyatt's getting kicked around by legends that lead to absolutely no avail. The Rock just talked complete and useless garbage for 15 minutes (taking up time that could have been used for, I don't know, matches? Storyline? Jeez). Then the Wyatt's came out and Rock comically squashed them with the wave of his hand. The Wyatt's, predominantly Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper (although absent due to injury I thought I'd mention him anyway because he's awesome), deserve so much more but instead they are being exploited as boneheads so The Rock and Cena can have a ""Wrestlemania moment."" Just...go away for a bit Rock, your appearance did nothing but harm. Cena, all you did was throw a few punches so we're cool.

There's nothing much to say about the main event, because the earth- rumbling boos speak volumes. And I like Roman Reigns, he's just being written in the most noxious way possible that the end result is an empty shell of a ""character"" that bores me to death. Triple H and Stephanie tried their hardest to imbue some vigour into the proceedings but no amount of effort can alleviate the depression brought on by the most uninspired finish to a mania in recent memory.

All in all, I felt drained and dumber for sitting through FIVE HOURS of WWE teasing fans, disobeying mind- numbingly simple narrative rules, and obviously having dollar signs in their eyes instead of inspiration to create something substantial.

(Sorry for the (probably incoherent) rant, but good God I can't believe the drivel that was just hurled my way)

A Very good night 🌙 living short in the memory

[paudieconnolly · 8/10 · 23 October 2020]

So many solid matches every match good while not being spectacular is how I see this night made for a very enjoyable evening without holding to many moments that will live long in the memory . the Iconic moment of the event Shane O Mac looming large on top of the steel cage over the deadman. If never watched don't believe the criticism this is worth a 👀 look.