When all was said and done, WWE’s most picturesque pay-per-view offering did live up to its hype, not in its entirety, but for major parts of the show.
WrestleMania 32 was prematurely branded as a failure waiting to happen, but all thanks to the nostalgia invoking moments and a madman called Shane O'Mac, the pay-per-view didn't draw the ire of wrestling fans all over the world.
Yes, there were a few major letdowns like the Lesnar-Ambrose match and the painstaking sight of seeing Reigns win his third WWE World Heavyweight Championship clean amid a chorus of boos. But, the positives out shadow the negatives here and that's always a good case.
While there were moments that were too obvious to miss out on, there were a few blink and you miss gems that really added to the overall impact of the show and in this article, we take a look at those very moments.
Here are the amazing moments you must have missed out on:
Mick Foley hands his beer to his daughter’s boyfriend
Watching HBK, Stone Cold and Mick Foley marching towards the ring to teach the League Of Booty a sound lesson on respect was a nostalgic throwback to the Attitude Era. The legends came, conquered the League Of Nations with the help of the New Day and ended the segment with beer, beer, and more beer.
While Stone Cold is known to gulp every single drop of the liquor in his can, Mick Foley may be the exact opposite. As the segment wrapped up, Mick Foley was seen handing over his beer to his daughter, Noelle Foley’s boyfriend while he made his way backstage. It was a great gesture from the WWE Hall of Famer.
Sasha Banks's tribute to Eddie Guerrero
Eddie Guerrero is by far is the most idolised wrestlers amongst the current crop of WWE superstars. Many of the up and comers have taken a page or two out of the late great star's book and the latest of the lot was Sasha Banks.
The Boss was sporting wrestling tights similar to that of Eddie and also showed off a few trademark Eddie Guerrero classics.
A tribute to Eddie can't be without a Frog Splash. Sasha didn't discontinue the tradition and delivered an impressive Guererro special on both Becky Lynch and Charlotte that yielded quite a pop from the capacity crowd at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
The Beast and Shaquille O'Neal bump into each other
The WWE Universe and the sporting world alike would have never imagined Shaq coming down to enroll himself in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. It was shocking and pointless at the same time but served its purpose of forcing the fans to take note of the match.
While Shaq's on-camera moments were all there to be seen, the fans may not know what happened prior to his appearance. Shaq bumped into WWE's Beast Incarnate backstage and the physically imposing giants posed for a photo thereafter.
The Undertaker slaps Shane McMahon
The Hell in a Cell match was everything that you'd expect it to be and more. The fans yearn for high spots, but stars jumping off a cell is something the fans could do without. But Shane McMahon isn't known to deprive the fans of the insanely, and I stress insanely high-risk manoeuvres.
The leap of faith wasn't the only thing that was worth taking away from this match.
The bout expectedly started off slow with the Phenom well on top of Shane. In one of the exchanges, Undertaker slapped a laid-out Shane in a bid to shove some sense into him. But as we all know, that didn't work out too well.
Dean Ambrose kisses the barbed wired baseball bat
All eyes were firmly fixed on the No Holds Barred match to deliver something out of the ordinary. While the match was quite solid, the finish hurt the impact and this ended up being a miss rather than a hit.
Nevertheless, apart from the relentless suplexes, chair shots and kendo sticks, there were moments from this match that really stood out. One was a top rope suplex by Lesnar on Ambrose and other was when Ambrose took to his recently acquired weapon – the barbed wired baseball bat.
The Lunatic Fringe had a sick look on his face and to make things even nastier, he went on to lick his prized possession. It was effective and brought out the unhinged character of Dean Ambrose to the fore.
The returns
While the majority of the fans would still be reeling from the returns of big names such as John Cena, Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mick Foley, there were a few other notable returns that were equally important.
Nikki Bella also came down the ramp after Brie’s match in the kick-off pre-show, but that was just a minor beginning.
Tatanka and Diamond Dallas Page were the surprise entrants in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal and both played their part in making the minimally-hyped match an entertaining watch. Shaquille O'Neal’s return was by far the most unforeseen, and his subsequent confrontation with Big Show, in particular, points to something big being in the works.
Don’t be surprised if the two giants clash somewhere down the line.
Shaquille O'Neal hugs Big Show after being eliminated
Call it a botch or just a work, but this moment was caught on camera for a brief moment. The Battle Royal was all about Shaq and Show as long as they were part of the match that stemmed from the history the two share.
The smaller stars ganging up to take the bigger men out of the equation is the way to go in a Battle Royal match and the same strategy was deployed at WrestleMania 32. Shaq and Show were sent crashing out at the same time after the two eliminated one fan favorite after another.
They may or may not have been oblivious to the camera being on them at that time and both shared a cordial hug, that is so not kayfabe, considering you are part of a live TV broadcast.
Big E botches a Belly to Belly
It is quite depressing when you realise that WWE booked this match just to facilitate a run-in from HBK, Stone Cold, and Mick Foley. The match was average at best that saw the New Day take a loss at the hands of the League Of Nations.
Botches aren’t pretty and usually derail the flow of the match. In this case, Big E was the culprit with a fair’s share of blame also vested upon Rusev. Big E went to Belly to Belly Rusev to the outside, but lost grip and Rusev had to manually push his way out with the help of the ropes. Not a good sight for wrestling purists.
How did Ric Flair spend $1500 at a pizza place? More details here
