Seven Best WWE Matches From WrestleMania 37 Week

WrestleMania week is officially in the books for 2021, and between WrestleMania 37 and NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, WWE managed to produce some outstanding matches across four nights. Championships changed hands, celebrities wound up impressing fans and new faces emerged as top talent for the company moving forward. If you missed any of the action from this past week, or simply want to relive its best moments, check out the seven best matches from WrestleMania 37 week in the list below!

Here are the full results from both nights of WrestleMania:

Night One

• WWE Championship: Bobby Lashley def. Drew McIntyre
• Natalya & Tamina def. Lana & Naomi, Mandy Rose & Dana Brooke, Riott Squad, Billie Kay & Carmella (Tag Team Turmoil Match)
• Cesaro def. Seth Rollins
• Raw Tag Team Championships: AJ Styles & Omos def. Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods
• Braun Strowman def. Shane McMahon (Steel Cage)
• Bad Bunny and Damian Priest def. The Miz and John Morrison
• SmackDown Women’s Championship: Bianca Belair def. Sasha Banks

Night Two

• Randy Orton def. The Fiend
• WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler def. Natalya & Tamina
• Kevin Owens def. Sami Zayn
• United States Championship: Sheamus def. Riddle
• Intercontinental Championship: Apollo Crews def. Big E (Nigerian Drum Fight)
• Raw Women’s Championship: Rhea Ripley def. Asuka
• WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns def. Edge, Daniel Bryan

SmackDown Women’s Championship: Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair

 

From the moment the bell rang, fans could tell just how important this match was to both Banks and Belair, and the two put absolutely everything they had into the match. The story they told was simple — Belair had the raw strength to fold Banks like an accordion, but “The Boss” was the crafty veteran who had an answer for everything the challenger could throw at her (and wasn’t afraid to use her hair to her advantage). The finish was brilliant too, as Belair finally had enough of the hair-pulling, nailed Banks with her braid with a crack that rand through the entire stadium and nailed the KOD for the win. 

The emotion. The smoothness in the ring. The legitimate joy on Belair’s face when she won. All of it made this an outstanding main event. But by the end of the weekend it wasn’t the only one…

WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns vs. Edge vs. Daniel Bryan

There were so many ways fans though this would go. Maybe Bryan wins to send the crowd home happy? Maybe Reigns drops the title without being apart of the finish and spends months hunting down targets? Maybe Edge reaches the end of his decade-long journey? 

Instead, WWE went with another option and made Reigns a god-tier level heel by stacking both men on top of each other before pinning them both, looking utterly dominant (but still vulnerable, don’t forget how much Jey got involved) in his win. This was the perfect move to set up Reigns for that dream match down the road with The Rock. 

NXT Championship: Finn Balor vs. Karrion Kross

Heading into the week it looked like TakeOver was going to dominate this list, but a few matches didn’t make the cut for a few reasons. Io Shirai vs. Raquel Gonzalez was solid but felt constrained due TV time. Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly was wild but went a whopping 40 minutes and could’ve dropped at least 10. But Kross vs. Balor stands above both for how it was able to exceed expectations. 

Kross’ character is still weirdly undefined for this being his second reign as NXT Champion (Is he an assassin? A demon? A stalker? He’s got a sorceress girlfriend but he keeps talking about MMA? Why does his gear suddenly make him look like a gladiator? What’s with all the clock motifs? The list goes on…). But this match managed to simplify all of that down into the simple fact that he’s an unstoppable powerhouse. And yet Balor still looked strong in defeat, proving that he’s got the in-ring awareness to get around Kross’ power (kicking the liver always helps) and the viciousness to follow through with his plan. Kross still won, picking up where things left off last Summer, but this was head-and-shoulders above his bizarre first title match with Keith Lee. 

Bad Bunny & Damian Priest vs. The Miz & John Morrison

Bad Bunny might just be the best celebrity to ever compete inside of a WWE ring. Here’s a guy with no athletic background who spent months training at the Performance Center and stole the show at Night One. He’s received praise from wrestlers across the industry, and the enthusiasm he brought to the match can still be felt when go back and watch the highlights. This was just pure fun.

NXT UK Championship: Walter vs. Tommaso Ciampa

It might be physically impossible for Walter to have a bad match, and his back-to-back wins over Ciampa and Rampage Brown on Wednesday and Thursday enforced that theory. Now let’s finally see that match with Balor that was promised just before COVID hit. 

WWE Championship: Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre

At first glance this match felt like a miscalculation. Given that it was opening the weekend and it was the first match with a live crowd, you’d think WWE would give fans a quick five-minute, finisher-heavy sprint like with Brock Lesnar or Goldberg to start off on a high note. Instead we got an 18-minute psychological battle. And while it was a questionable move to put it as the opener, in a vacuum it’s actually pretty solid. 

McIntyre spends the match either setting up for the Claymore only to run into a power move from Lashley or works the arm in order to prevent The Hurt Lock from being applied. McIntyre’s final finisher attempt gets thwarted by a split-second distraction from MVP (considerably better than the usual distraction finishes WWE provides), and Lashley manages to keep his submission locked in no matter how many times Drew tries to power out.

Now Drew has to find himself again, and he’s got a few months to do it before the fans are back for good.

Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn

It was a Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn match, which means it was fun by default. Plus we got to see Logan Paul do a pretty good job at selling a Stunner!