By Dennis DuBay
Last night, we witnessed a truly magical moment in the history of WrestleMania 36. In what was dubbed a "Boneyard Match," AJ Styles and The Undertaker put on a match that won't soon be forgotten.
Utilizing elements of Matt Hardy's "Broken Universe," Styles and Taker battled outside of a ring, in a farm/graveyard scene. It was at times brutal, at times humorous, at times cheesy, but in the very end, it was absolutely entertaining.
I know some of the WWE hardcores will lament that this was not Matt Hardy's "Broken Universe," and that's absolutely correct. Hardy recently signed with WWE's rival AEW and took the "Broken" concept with him - but one person very vital to the Universe remains with WWE.
Jeremy Borash.
While Borash works in the NXT sector of WWE, his fingerprints seemingly cover the canvas of this cinematic masterpiece. If you put this piece of film side by side with Total Nonstop Deletion, you'd be hard pressed to argue the similarities away.
Heading into WM36 many wondered how WWE would pull off a successful show without a crowd in attendance, as WM is just as much a optical event as it is a visceral one.
Overall, the show was pretty damn good. You can read the full recap by Kyle Combs, right here. Each match was entertaining, if not very brief.
Kevin Owens & Seth Rollins really stole the show with their match, though the highest rated affair on Cagematch.net was the SmackDown Tag Team (which wasn't a tag team) Triple threat ladder match.
But there was something missing all night - regardless of the talents efforts. Some of us actually went to youtube and turned on a stadium crowd sound effect video on Youtube to play in the background. If you drink enough, you almost forget that it's playing in the background.
Taking the Styles/Taker match out of that element was a stroke of genius on the part of whomever decided on the angle. Truly an iconic, albeit strange, WrestleMania Moment.
One wonders if tonight, we'll see Bray Wyatt return to the Universe he once visted against Matt Hardy so long ago.