[2022-04-03-WWE-WrestleMania 38] Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns

[Microstatistics]

Man, WM31 really has lightning in a bottle, wasn't it? These two have followed up one of the all-time heavyweight bouts with nothing but poor to mediocre efforts.

This was somehow far worse than WM34. Notwithstanding all those ridiculous F-5 kickouts in that match, at least it had a few cool moments, violence, and some resemblance of a structure and story. This was just boring. Nothing but suplex and finisher spamming and a lame, anti-climactic finish. Awful match. *3/4

[ShittyLittleBoots]

This match oozed importance with its billing, video package, the entrances, the aura & demeanor by both men. This could've & should've been something so damn special... but it just wasn't. It was the usual post-WM31 Brock vs. Roman match. Signature moves galore. Suplex, suplex, suplex, Superman Punch, Spear, F5, F5, Spear, Spear. I still enjoyed it though; I would actually say that it's one of the better versions of the match, as watching 2022 Cowboy Babyface Brock do his thing, throw bombs, sell his ass off, you know the deal, it's extremely fun & feels fresh + Reigns definitely can throw bombs as well, but MAN, this really should've been something so much more. The ending in particular was so damn cold. ***1/4

[Tetsujin]

This was stupid. Not in a offensive way like the 2018 matches were, but in a dull, boring way: they just went full easy mode. The character work was very inconsistent as well: sometimes Reigns needed to cheat, but then he casually pinned Brock clean (I know some people say it was done that way due to a legit injury, but sadly it still hurts the match anyway). Combined with the awful build up and the fact they've been sacrificing the whole roster throughout eight fucking years, you have one of the worst WM big matches of all time, even if, as a match, I could go 2* or something like that and there's definitely worse matches out there. But damn. This is depressing. One of the worst sagas ever made in wrestling, only saved by one all timer at the verh beginning that now seems like an almost unbelievable miracle.

[RingoPlaysDrums]

So disappointing. I watched all of their previous matches in anticipation of this and found myself liking most of them more than I'd remembered (and Wrestlemania 31 remains a classic). I'd convinced myself that for this huge match they would at least try and do something different. Maybe something playing off their previous encounters, maybe Brock would do a couple of different moves to get across the magnitude of this match and emphasise his desperation attempt to remain as top dog... maybe some blood, which featured in both of their previous Wrestlemania matches. But we got none of that. The work is okay and the crowd was actually pretty into it... and yet it still felt so bland. I was surprised they didn't do go for more grandiose entrances as well. Between 2012 and like 2015, Brock matches were absolutely must watch. After that, he became a lot more predictable but would still have some absolute bangers. Those days seem to be long past us, unfortunately.