Cageside Community Star Ratings results for WrestleMania 33

Last week the community at Cageside Seats was asked to assign star ratings for all 13 matches that took place at WrestleMania 33.

The votes have all been tabulated, and for every match I will include these summary statistics:

• Votes: Total number of votes cast for a given match.
• AVG: The weighted average of every vote.
• Q1: First quartile, which is the value that roughly 25% of the votes fall at or below.
• Q2: Second quartile (aka median), which is the value that roughly 50% of the votes fall at or below.
• Q3: Third quartile, which is the value that roughly 75% of the votes fall at or below.
• Meltzer: Dave Meltzer’s star rating for a given match.
• Meltz Gap: The magnitude of the difference between Meltzer and AVG.
• Cain: My own personal star rating for the match.
• 5-stars: The percentage of votes for 5 stars.
• 4-stars or more: The percentage of votes for at least 4 stars.
• 2.25 to 3.75 stars: The percentage of votes for more than 2 stars but less than 4 stars.
• 2-stars or less: The percentage of votes that did not surpass 2 stars.
• 0-stars: The percentage of votes for 0 stars.

The following sortable table includes all the results of the Cageside Community Star Ratings for WrestleMania 33.

Here is a graphical summary of some of the numbers from the table. For any given match, the bottom of the blue rectangle is Q1 and the top of the blue rectangle is Q3. In most cases the blue rectangle includes the values where roughly the middle 50% of the votes were cast for that match. The thin line above the blue rectangle shows where roughly the highest 25% of the votes were cast, and the thin blue line below the rectangle shows where roughly the lowest 25% of the votes were cast. The matches are displayed left to right, sorted by AVG in descending order:

Analysis

Neville versus Aries, the Raw tag ladder match, and Shane versus AJ all fell just short of a community AVG of 4.00 stars. Out of those three matches, Shane (11.36%) and the ladder match (14.83%) both benefited greatly from a strong showing in the 5-star voting category, while Neville’s match lagged behind with only 6.55% of votes for 5 stars. Neville’s match made up the gap with only 1.71% of votes under 2 stars, compared to 4.94% for the ladder match and 7.76% for Shane’s match. Shane’s match had the highest percentage of votes for 4 stars or more (74.10%) out of all 13 matches on the card (the next best was the ladder match at 65.70%), but Shane’s lower tail of 7.76% votes under 2 stars dragged its AVG back under the 4-star threshold.

With Neville just barely edging out the ladder match for the highest AVG on the show (3.99 versus 3.98 stars), this is the second consecutive event where Neville’s match achieved the highest community AVG.

The next two highest AVG scores go to Triple H’s match (3.81 stars) and Chris Jericho’s match (3.69 stars).

Jericho’s match had the same problem that Neville’s match had in terms of a sub par performance at the very top of the scale (only 6.36% of votes for 5 stars). The blue rectangle in the graph above shows that nearly half of the votes for Jericho’s match were condensed into a very small range, with 52.6% of votes falling between 3.50 and 4.00 stars, inclusive. That’s a very narrow range between Q1 and Q3 compared to the remaining 12 matches. In other words, the community generally agreed that this was a pretty good match that didn’t really hit that next level of greatness for most voters.

Triple H’s match had a pretty strong showing in most categories (12.50% 5-star votes, only 4.57% of votes under 2 stars) but it fell short of the top 3 matches due to 54.7% of votes being for 4 stars or more, compared to a 65% to75% range in this category from the three matches with the highest AVG. That number (54.7%) was still the 4th best result in that category out of all 13 matches, so on an absolute scale it’s still a pretty good mark.

The final 2 matches to eclipse an AVG of 3.00 stars were Goldberg’s match (3.48 stars) and Bayley’s match (3.29 stars). Goldberg’s match was more polarizing, with 14.19% of votes at 5-stars (2nd best in that category out of all 13 matches) but 12.89% of votes for less than 2 stars. Out of all 7 matches that scored an AVG of 3.00 stars or more, this was the worst result in that latter category, beating out Shane’s result of 7.76% of votes for 2 stars or less.

Meanwhile, Bayley’s match resulted in 63.13% of its votes between 2.25 to 3.75 stars, which was the highest percentage in that category out of all 13 matches. Bayley’s match only scored 27.19% of its votes at 4-stars or more; all of the previous 6 matches discussed scored at least 40% in that category.

This is the point where there is a pretty clear drop in AVG for the 6 remaining matches; all of these next 6 matches scored at least 29.00% of votes for 2 stars or less, which makes Goldberg’s result in that category (12.89%) look insignificant.

Undertaker (AVG of 2.86 stars) and Ambrose (AVG of 2.84 stars) had similar results across the board. They came within 3.5 percentage of points of each other on every single category listed in the table above. These two matches had a very impressive showing in the 5-star category (10.61% for Undertaker, 12.63% for Ambrose), and that helped their AVG stand above the next two matches. Undertaker’s match also had the biggest voter turnout, with more than 1500 votes (which is at least 1000 votes more than Ambrose’s match), so there was a lot of support for this match at the highest level.

The SmackDown women’s championship match (2.77 stars) and Cena’s match (2.76 stars) had a nearly identical AVG. Overall, Cena’s match closely mirrored Ambrose’s percentages in the table above, with a range of less than one percentage point between nearly every category. The main difference was that Cena’s match (9.25%) trailed behind Ambrose (12.63%) in votes for 5-stars.

The SmackDown women’s match didn’t perform nearly as well as Ambrose or Cena at the 5-star level (5.95%) but it did make up the gap with Cena because of a better showing in the 2.25 to 3.75 star range (52.79% versus 44.05%) and a slightly better showing in the voting categories under 2 stars.

That leaves the worst AVG of the night for Wyatt (2.18) and the Andre Battle Royal (1.97). These were the only two matches with any of the following 4 characteristics: 50% of the votes were for 2 stars or less, more than 5.00% of votes for 0 stars (7.28% for Wyatt, 9.84% for the Battle Royal), under 15% of votes for 4-stars or more (10.82% for Wyatt, 5.74% for the Battle Royal), and under 5.00% of votes for 5 stars (4.25% for Wyatt, 2.05% for the Battle Royal). The community clearly saw these two matches as the worst of the night.

Dave Meltzer’s star ratings were very closely aligned with the community for 9 of the 13 matches, as indicated by a Meltz Gap value of 0.31 or less. The 4 closest matches (Goldberg, Bayley, Andre, and Shane) had a Meltz Gap value of no greater than 0.06.

The 4 biggest Meltz Gap values came in Naomi’s match (1.27), Wyatt’s match (0.93), Corbin’s match (0.84), and Cena’s match (0.51). Like usual, Meltzer’s value was lower than the community AVG in these cases, and that seems pretty typical considering that the AVG takes into consideration hundreds of votes and is less likelty to result in AVG values on the extremes. These matches did receive 4 out of Meltzer’s 5 lowest star ratings for the night, as well as 4 of the 5 lowest community AVG values for the night. So while the magnitude of difference here is larger than the other 9 matches, Meltzer and the community did agree that these 4 matches were among the worst that WrestleMania 33 had to offer (along with the Andre Battle Royal).

Community Feedback

Finally, here are some thoughts on these matches from various Cagesiders:

Neville vs. Austin Aries

Comment from: roversteve

4.5

I’m a massive fan of both guys and think that they had an amazing match. Outdoor shows are a challenge, even without that bright sunshine. They did everything I expected them to, with a slickness and precision that some others on the card could only dream of.

I loved the finish too, Aries selling the gouge was brilliant

Raw tag team championship ladder match

Comment from: JakeTheMilkmanMilliman'sMilkman

Went with 4.25

Loved this match! The insane electricity of the Hardy Boyz returning, all the ridiculous spots during the match from everyone, Cesaro swinging Anderson for about half an hour while Sheamus beat the crap out of Gallows’ chest….all wonderful stuff!

Shane McMahon vs. AJ Styles

Comment from: JDesthubert

I have it has a 4

AJ is good with anyone. Shane looked like a pro, and I think they were smart to focus on what Shane can do instead of trying to get him in an uncomfortable zone. No unnecessary risks were taken, and they told a damn good story in the match. AJ underestimated Shane, and Shane-o-Mac needed to pull out the stops to put AJ away. Overall, very entertaining and well put together.

Seth Rollins vs. Triple H

Comment from: bluejaysfansince2005

I’m read some sites calling it a masterclass of in ring storytelling and the best worked match on the card and others calling it a plodding affair that was 10 minutes too long. Those are two extremes that I think it falls in between. I think closer to the masterclass then plodding. I do agree a few minutes shorter could have added to the match, but I wonder if they were in there to give Rollins a little bit of a breather on his not 100% leg which makes me accept the length a little better. So 4 stars from me in a match that had there been no knee injury could have been better. The problem is with an injury like that, a wrestler would look like a moron for ignoring it, and the wrestler built up as one of the smartest ever shouldn’t ignore it.

Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens

Comment from: BellaRD3

The match didn't fit the buildup

There were some nice moments in the match, but it lacked intensity. This match had the best build of any match on the card, but it felt like the match got lost among all of the other big matches, and I did not get the feeling that these two were settling a very personal feud.

Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar

Comment from: Fruits

3.25

It was quite entertaining and had a few great spots, but it could have used more power moves, more move diversity (which especially Goldberg does not have), and more layers.

Having said that, I enjoyed it for what it was.

Bayley vs. Sasha vs. Charlotte vs. Nia

Comment from: muellermilch245

3.5

A couple more minutes and it would’ve easily been a 4 star match. Sasha’s and Charlotte’s eliminations just came a bit too sudden due to the lack of time.

Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns

Comment from: Bronck Lensnar

3.25

Taker went all out at first and it was looking more like a 4, but you could tell there was only so long he could put the pain by the wayside. A very surreal match to watch, but the tombstone botch aside, I still think it was pretty good.

Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin

Comment from: JJBashir

I just thought they could have gone much much harder

It lacked some intensity for a title match, though I did love the reversal into Dirty Deeds. it wasn’t awful, but maybe my expectations that these two would just go all in made it a ‘meh’ match for me.

SmackDown women’s championship match

Comment from: The Swiss Lasskicker

2.5 stars.

As a match, it was really quick, kinda sloppy and clearly a cool down segment. However, there were some really cool moments, and that combined with Naomi winning in the city she’s from is enough in my mind to bump the grade up to 2.5 stars. Oh, and the costumes were pretty cool imo.

Cena & Nikki vs. Maryse & Miz

Comment from: phlash74

2.5 stars

1.5 stars for the match itself (Cena as face in peril just does NOT work imo) – 1 star for the proposal afterwards, as cheesy and contrived as it may have been.

Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton

Comment from: Richie DiMaso

2.0 - Massive letdown

Shades of WrestleMania 25 for Orton. Comes into Mania off the back of a red hot feud, but the match lacked any heat. The first projection in the ring seemed pretty cool, but it was unclear what purpose they had as Orton no-sold them.

Didn’t like the finish at all, Wyatt was made to look like a chump taking one RKO, considering how many other wrestlers kick out of finishers last night.

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

Comment from: The Skinnyfatass

1

This started out as a really messy brawl where you had no idea what was going on. It got better as it went on, and Big Damo was pretty entertaining in it, but instead of having two guys in the last two that could put on a good little spell and one of those guys could have used that win to go onto better things, it was Raw Jabroni Jinder Mahal and Mojo Rawley, a dude that only really works well as the hot tag.

WWE could have used this to launch the career of a dude that has a far greater upside than the guy that won, and it felt like having Mojo win and Gronk involved was an attempt to garner mainstream attention.

Those are the results for the Cageside Community Star Ratings for WrestleMania 33. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Which number stands out to you the most?