It feels weird to call a match this big and this good underrated, but resulting from it happening at a time limit where many fans had tuned out of wrestling, primarily because wrestling with no crowds was just too weird to stomach, this match doesn’t get as much love because it should. That is a shame, because for my money, this probably ranks somewhere in the highest ten relating to rating one of the best WrestleMania fundamental events in history.
Due to Triple Threat matches having no disqualifications, this match starts as if it has been shot out of a cannon. All three men bullrush one another, and when either Daniel Bryan or Edge land on the surface, Jey Uso is there to fulfill them with a Superkick. Roman Reigns and his fundamental event-ready cousin direct traffic on the surface, and although only minutes have passed by, the announce desk has been stripped, and the ringside area looks like a tornado just ran through it as bodies, chairs, and steel steps are opened up in every single place.
When the motion does eventually get within the ring, all three men play their roles perfectly. It’s hilarious to think that Bryan was so mentally checked out at this point in his WWE profession that he felt so empty he thought he was going to die, because he’s on fire on this match. Balancing the face and heel dynamic where he has the vast majority of the fans on his side while being vicious enough to get some heat in the method. Edge is the clear fan favorite, a sentence that is very strange to write down all these years later, however the people really wanted him to a feel-good moment to shut out the show.
Nonetheless, it’s “The Tribal Chief” that basically steals the show for me. It obviously helps that he’s in there with two guys who he has great chemistry with, but he really comes across as if he’s reached his final form here. He bullies Bryan by throwing him around, Powerbombing him through the announce table within the back half of the match. His selling can also be implausible, particular in his exchanges with Edge as he looks genuinely terrified when he’s locked in a Crossface with a chunk of a steel chair in his mouth, and he seems like he will cough up a lung after taking a Spear on the surface.
The interference from Uso within the closing moments does result in the finish feeling a bit flat for the live audience, but this plays into what Reigns had talked about leading as much as the show. Edge gave Bryan a Conchairto, Reigns gave one to Edge, and “The Tribal Chief” stacked each of his opponents’ lifeless bodies on top of one another to get the emphatic victory. This match runs as fast as it will possibly, and although it’s over 20 minutes in length, it flies by and is one of the crucial entertaining WrestleMania fundamental events you will ever see.