{"id":95634,"date":"2020-04-04T19:42:07","date_gmt":"2020-04-05T00:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=95634"},"modified":"2020-04-04T19:42:07","modified_gmt":"2020-04-05T00:42:07","slug":"wwe-wrestlemania-36-kickoff-show-report-4-4-drew-gulak-vs-cesaro-plus-panel-discussion-wit-graves-renee-henry-rosenberg-booker-t","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/04\/04\/wwe-wrestlemania-36-kickoff-show-report-4-4-drew-gulak-vs-cesaro-plus-panel-discussion-wit-graves-renee-henry-rosenberg-booker-t\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE WRESTLEMANIA 36 KICKOFF SHOW REPORT 4\/4: Drew Gulak vs. Cesaro, plus panel discussion wit Graves, Renee, Henry, Rosenberg, Booker T"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1753112301\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><h3>WWE WRESTLEMANIA 36: PART ONE KICKOFF SHOW REPORT<br \/>\nAPRIL 4, 2020<br \/>\nSTREAMED ON WWE NETWORK<br \/>\nREPORT BY MIKE F. MEYERS, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR<\/h3>\n<p><em>Kickoff Panel: Corey Graves, Peter Rosenberg, Booker T, Renee Young, Mark Henry<\/em><\/p>\n<p>-The panelists made statements about the excitement of WrestleMania weekend before robotically running through all of this weekend&#8217;s matchups. Corey believed Rollins would emerge victorious in his match, while Peter was betting on Owens. After commercials, the panel discussed Bliss \/ Cross and their chances against Kabuki Warriors.<\/p>\n<p>-Next the panel turned to Goldberg vs. Strowman. Corey briefly mentioned the controversy: \u201cGoldberg had prepared for the Big Dog, Roman Reigns. A change of plans finds the Monster Among Men as the challenger for the Universal Championship.\u201d Peter acknowledged Reigns by name once as well, but then all attention shifted to Strowman and Goldberg.<\/p>\n<p>-A rap video was shown, starring Miz and Morrison. They battle rapped about their opponents New Day and Usos, and the song&#8217;s hook was their chant: \u201cMiz and Morrison \u2013 Hey hey, ho ho.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>-While discussing Bryan vs. Zayne, Corey pointed out that both wrestlers started their careers on the independent circuit, and as such, might not be as affected by wrestling in front of a nonexistant crowd.<\/p>\n<p><em>Announcer: Michael Cole<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>(1) DREW GULAK vs. CESARO<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Cesaro covered for a two-count after an early tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Gulak worked Cesaro into an arm bar, but Cesaro got to his feet and dead lifted Gulak before slamming him to the mat to escape the hold. A tenacious Gulak applied another submission hold but Cesaro got to the bottom rope to break the hold. Gulak dumped Cesaro out of the ring to the floor.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2414627345\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>On the floor, Gulak took Cesaro down with a nifty arm drag, then fired Cesaro into each set of ringside steps. Back in the ring, Gulak leaped from the turnbuckle at Cesaro, but Cesaro caught him with a European uppercut. Cesaro covered for two.<\/p>\n<p>Gulak went back to work on Cesaro&#8217;s right arm, but Cesaro battled out. Cesaro reversed out of a dragon sleeper attempt and body slammed Gulak before leveling him with a big boot to the face. Cesaro set up for the Neutralizer but couldn&#8217;t complete the move due to his injured arm. Cesaro dropped Gulak to the mat and nailed him with another uppercut before hoisting him to his shoulders and twisted into a hands-free airplane spin. Once the spin cycle was complete, he planted Gulak to the mat and covered for the three count.<\/p>\n<p>WINNER: Cesaro by pinfall.<\/p>\n<p><em>(Meyers\u2019s Analysis: Visually, this first match of WrestleMania weekend looked very similar to the empty-arena matches of recent WWE television \u2013 no augmented reality or visualizations of fans viewing remotely. As will be the pattern for many matches this weekend, one wonders what the crowd reaction would&#8217;ve been for Cesaro&#8217;s impressive airplane spin with his hands on his hips. The match was brief and that move was the highlight.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Kayla Braxton interviewed Corbin backstage. They watched a replay of Corbin knocking Elias to his death from Maruo&#8217;s pedestal. Corbin laughed. Kayla asked if he had any remorse, and Corbin said he was sorry he didn&#8217;t also run Elias over with a road case. Corbin indicated that he has written a song for Elias and produced a harmonica, which he played badly. He sung about ending Elias and how his kingdom can&#8217;t be stopped.<\/p>\n<p>The Kickoff show featured an appearance by alternate panel members, each broadcasting via remote video: Renee Young, Booker T, and Mark Henry. Renee acted as host, and they discussed Lynch vs. Baszler.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>RECOMMENDED NEXT:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/04\/04\/wwe-wrestlemania-36-results-night-one-kellers-report-on-undertaker-styles-becky-vs-baszler-goldberg-vs-braun-seth-vs-owens-sami-vs-bryan-more\/\">WWE WRESTLEMANIA 36 RESULTS \u2013 NIGHT ONE: Keller\u2019s report on Undertaker-Styles, Becky vs. Baszler, Goldberg vs. Braun, Seth vs. Owens, Sami vs. Bryan, more<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-3041232409\"><div id=\"pwtor-223822367\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>WWE WRESTLEMANIA 36: PART ONE KICKOFF SHOW REPORT APRIL 4, 2020 STREAMED ON WWE NETWORK REPORT BY MIKE F. MEYERS, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR Kickoff Panel: Corey Graves, Peter Rosenberg, Booker T, Renee Young, Mark Henry -The <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/04\/04\/wwe-wrestlemania-36-kickoff-show-report-4-4-drew-gulak-vs-cesaro-plus-panel-discussion-wit-graves-renee-henry-rosenberg-booker-t\/\" title=\"WWE WRESTLEMANIA 36 KICKOFF SHOW REPORT 4\/4: Drew Gulak vs. Cesaro, plus panel discussion wit Graves, Renee, Henry, Rosenberg, Booker T\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tvshowsandevents","category-results_wweppvs"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/04\/WrestleMania36_Yellow_3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95634"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95635,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95634\/revisions\/95635"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}