For those of us who stayed up until FIVE O' CLOCK THIS MORNING to watch WrestleMania 33 in it's entirety, the 'Ultimate Thrill Ride' did indeed end up becoming an emotional rollercoaster.
Not only did The Hardy Boys make a dramatic, long awaited comeback to win the Raw Tag Team Championships and John Cena propose to Nikki Bella in the middle of the ring, but three time WWE Champion Roman Reigns also beat the legendary Undertaker into retirement.
Ahead of last night/this morning's event, it had been strongly suggested for a while that WrestleMania 33 would by The Deadman's last ride and, following a convincing defeat to Reigns, those rumours were proven to be true as Taker made an emotional departure after the final bell had rung.
The defeat was only the Undertaker's second in 25 WrestleMania outings, with his only other loss memorably coming in New Orleans three years ago, against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 30.
Every year the same stories about 'Taker's retirement would do the rounds and somehow The Deadman would continue to defy the odds to return for 'one more match', although last night had a much grander sense of finality to it, with numerous current superstars and WWE legends paying their respects to one of the greatest of all time.
When asked to comment on The Deadman's demise, Reigns was less than complimentary, simply informing everyone that he did what he set out to do.
Of course, Reigns was simply staying in character, here and afterwards shared some more thoughts on his match with the Undertaker and what it meant to him:
"It almost feels like a loss, you know what I mean? Because, I've said this for the past three or four weeks, I've got nothing but respect for The Undertaker. If you've been a part of this business, and you know, everybody's got respect for that man.
"But at the end of the day, you've got to do what you've got to do. As a young man, as a family man, as a provider, I've got to go out there and fight for mine, and that's what I did tonight."
Reigns' victory will likely be the start of the path to the main event of next year's WrestleMania, with early rumours suggesting he could meet Brock Lesnar in a rematch of their classic bout from WrestleMania 31, two years ago.
(H/T Give Me Sport)
Topics: Wrestlemania, Wrestling, WWE, Roman Reigns
