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WrestleMania 37 is officially in the books. The second installment of WWE's biggest event of the year featured a great card, but didn't quite live up to the standard set by Night One on Saturday.
The opening night of this year's WrestleMania was always going to feel special. Marking the first opportunity for WWE Superstars to perform in front of a live crowd in more than a year, the evening will go down in company history forever.
Just 24 hours later, though, it was tough to recapture the same vibe. With new champions crowned and a shocking storyline twist, Night Two of WrestleMania 37 still managed to generate plenty of talking points. Here are five big takeaways from the event.
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#5 WrestleMania works best as a two-night event
No matter who is involved, no professional wrestling show ever needs to last five hours. When WrestleMania 35 went nearly 20 minutes over that mark in 2019, many fans argued 'Mania needed to be split into two nights.
When COVID-19 forced WWE to move WrestleMania 36 to the Performance Center, the switch was made to a two-night format.
The company (rightly) felt that a closed set with nobody in attendance was not the setting to be putting on long wrestling matches. With this in mind, both nights of WrestleMania 36 clocked in around the three hour mark.
The call to split WrestleMania in half was positively received last year - and WWE chose to keep the same schedule in 2021.
Night One of WrestleMania 37 showed why two nights are better than one. Even with a 45-minute weather delay at the start of the event, the show was still wrapped up in just over three and a half hours.
Saturday's card received huge praise from fans, with none of the seven matches on the night lasting more than 20 minutes.
Realizing that longer doesn't always equal better, WWE kept a similar pacing on Night Two of WrestleMania 37. Only the main event between Roman Reigns, Edge and Daniel Bryan ran past 20 minutes on Sunday - and WrestleMania as a whole was more enjoyable for it.
The size of the modern day WWE roster makes it impossible for the promotion to properly feature all the superstars it wants on a single night at WrestleMania, without the show becoming far too drawn out.
The two-night option is best for fans, performers and production staff. By holding two events instead of one, WWE can also double its live ticket sales.
WrestleMania 38 has been confirmed for AT&T Stadium in Texas next year. The date of the event was not mentioned in the commercials that have aired for it this weekend though.
Hopefully, WWE will stick with the dual-night model for WrestleMania going forward.
#4 Night Two of WrestleMania 37 showed that WWE needs to do away with having guest hosts in future
The latest in a long line of superstars to perform the role, Hulk Hogan and Titus O'Neil were the joint guest hosts of this year's WrestleMania event.
Across both nights of the show, Hulk and Titus appeared in a number of segments. The problem was none of these had any direction or purpose. They were simply there to get the hosts on the show.
Hulk and Titus welcomed fans to the pay-per-view on both Saturday and Sunday. This wasn't necessary on Night One, as Vince McMahon had already greeted fans with a heartfelt speech. However, their opening segment on Night Two did fit slightly better.
Inspired by the theme of WrestleMania 37, the pair went back and forth with each other while dressed and speaking like pirates. This sort of comedy was fine, but overall the hosts added very little to the overall WrestleMania package.
The best part of most of these segments was the presence of Bayley. The former Women's Grand Slam champion did not have a match at WrestleMania and so was reduced to interrupting Hulk and Titus when they were on camera.
Bayley played the role well, but when her final segment of the weekend saw her embarrassed by The Bella Twins, fans could be heard booing.
There was speculation in the build-up to this weekend that Bayley might host a surprise episode of her Ding Dong, Hello talk show with a returning Becky Lynch - and fans wanted it to happen.
Even though this wasn't the plan, the time given to the Guest Hosts over the weekend could have been better spent elsewhere.
Countless WWE Superstars missed out on the WrestleMania spotlight when the annual Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal was shifted to a taped edition of SmackDown last Friday.
In the time devoted to the guest hosts across the weekend, the Battle Royal could easily have been placed on WrestleMania itself - giving the superstars involved a chance to work in front of a live audience.
When The Rock hosted WrestleMania 27 ten years ago, there was a genuine reason behind it. WWE was building towards a main event between Rock and John Cena the following year.
In recent times, the role has built to very little. It is time to retire the WrestleMania guest host spot.
#3 WrestleMania 37 marked a new dawn for the women's division across all of WWE
The Women's divisions of both RAW and SmackDown have fresh direction following WrestleMania 37.
Having lost to Charlotte Flair in her WrestleMania debut in 2020, Rhea Ripley returned to WWE's grandest stage this year and defeated Asuka to claim the RAW Women's Championship.
The Nightmare received the full superstar treatment at WrestleMania 37, with Ash Costello performing a live version of her 'Brutality' entrance theme as she made her way to the ring.
Ripley won her first-ever main roster championship after hitting Asuka with the Riptide, with her win getting a huge reaction from the crowd.
Following Bianca Belair's SmackDown Women's Championship victory over Sasha Banks on Night One of WrestleMania, WWE now has two fresh faces at the top of its women's divisions.
Asuka, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Bayley and Sasha Banks have been the lynchpins of the title scene in WWE for much of the last five years.
Ripley and Belair, as champions of their respective brands, bring a whole host of new matches and feuds into play, as the newcomers seek to cement themselves as headline attractions.
An exciting time for women's wrestling in WWE.
#2 Alexa Bliss turns on The Fiend at WrestleMania 37
WrestleMania 37 showcased the best and the worst of The Fiend character.
Appearing in his first match since being burned alive at TLC last year, Bray Wyatt's supernatural alter ego made a WrestleMania worthy entrance for his revenge bout with Randy Orton.
Before The Fiend walked into the arena, he was shown undergoing a metamorphosis where he recovered from his burns and transformed into his normal look.
Alexa Bliss then came down the ramp and revealed a revitalized Fiend from inside a massive jack-in-the-box. The production behind this was perfect for WrestleMania and really added to the big-fight feel of the bout.
Unfortunately, the bell then rang.
The action itself was fine, but WWE insisted on using red lighting during the match. The effect was distracting at times - taking away from the match rather than helping it.
The Fiend had the upper hand for much of the five-minute contest and was on the verge of beating Orton when he had The Viper set up for Sister Abigail.
At this point, flames suddenly shot out of the ring posts. Alexa Bliss then appeared on top of the jack-in-the box, dressed in black with ooze gushing from her face. This distracted The Fiend, who was soon nailed with an RKO by Orton for an upset victory.
After the match, The Fiend and Bliss had a brief staredown, before the lights went out and both disappeared. No explanation was given for Bliss' actions, but it appeared she was deliberately attempting to cost The Fiend the match.
The issue here is The Fiend character has undergone so many reboots since his debut at SummerSlam 2019 it is hard to keep track of what has happened and why.
WWE has never done a great job of explaining The Fiend's storylines - and this latest twist involving Alexa Bliss might well end up the same way.
The Fiend is one of the most unique superstars in WWE history, but the way he was booked at WrestleMania 37 took a lot of steam away from him.
#1 Roman Reigns dominates both top contenders to his Universal Championship at WrestleMania 37
Roman Reigns is still the WWE Universal Champion after defeating both Daniel Bryan and Edge in the main event on Night Two of WrestleMania 37.
Leading into the match, Reigns was concerned about losing his title without being pinned in the Triple Threat bout. In a poetic twist, though, Reigns pinned both Edge and Bryan at the same time to retain his gold.
The finish saw Reigns booked to be as dominant as we have ever seen a heel champion in the main event of a WrestleMania.
Yes, Reigns did have assistance from Jey Uso in the moments leading up to the end of the match, but the visual of Reigns pinning both of his challengers simultaneously was a strong one.
Bryan and Edge freely admit that they both have far more matches behind them than they do in front of them. By booking Reigns in this fashion, the company backed The Tribal Chief as the mainstay of the Universal Championship picture for many years to come.
The nature of Reigns' win was shocking on the surface, but it makes a lot of sense for WWE moving forward.
To truly build a top tier superstar, moments like this are necessary. The treatment of The Fiend in the opening match of the night proves how damaging inconsistent booking can be.
Since he returned at SummerSlam 2020, Roman Reigns has been positioned as WWE's biggest star. The main event of WrestleMania 37 only enhanced that status.
Ex WWE writer blasts Liv Morgan HERE
