Last weekend was the pinnacle of the WWE’s year, as it is every year. However, this year’s Wrestlemania met, and even exceeded expectations. Not only was this year’s event the highest selling, and biggest gate ever for WWE, the event also lived up to the hype in the ring as well!
Since the start of Wrestlemania weekend, the theme has been a new beginning, and a new era for WWE. With Vince McMahon finally out of the picture for good (hopefully), WWE is now under the direction of Paul “HHH” Levesque. In Levesque’s first big test, he receives a passing grade!
The sheer hype of the card alone was off the charts, a hype that many thought would be hard to live up to, myself included. Let’s start with night one, Wrestlemania Saturday. We saw Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley taking on challenger Becky Lynch. Lynch, who was diagnosed with strep throat and had been battling 102 degree fevers leading up to WM put up a valiant effort, however, Ripley was able to retain. I
n what ended up contending for match of the night, the Raw and Smackdown tag team titles were on the line in a 6 pack ladder match. Ultimately, after a lot of back and forth, and some amazing ladder and table bumps, the Smackdown titles were won by Austin Theory and Grayson Waller. The Raw titles were won by R-Truth and The Miz.
A match that was probably the biggest surprise of the night, Sami Zayn came out victorious over Gunther, subsequently ending Gunther’s 666 day reign as IC Champ!
Other Saturday matches:
Rey Mysterio and Andrade def. Santos Escobar and Dominik Mysterio (Interference by Lane Johnson and Jason Kelce from the Philadelphia Eagles)
Jey Uso defeated brother Jimmy Uso in what was the “dud” of the night
Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, and Naomi def. Damage CTRL
In night one’s main event the WWE Universe saw The Rock and Roman Reigns taking on the team of Cody Rhodes and Seth “Freakin” Rollins. A match that featured brutal back and forth action, and numerous finishing moves from all the superstars involved ultimately led to a Reigns/Rock victory after The Rock threatened to fire the referee while being counted out. This victory assured that the title match on Sunday between Rhodes and Reigns would be fought under Bloodline Rules. The night ended with Reigns and The Rock standing tall on the ramp and leaving the fans wanting even more on night two!
Fast forward to the beginning of night two, we see a familiar face return as Stephanie McMahon made her way to the ring to welcome the fans to WM 40 night two.
As far as matches go, night two kicked off with Drew McIntyre challenging Seth Rollins for the WWE Heavyweight Championship. During this match, CM Punk was a guest commentator. McIntyre was able to secure the victory over Rollins becoming the new Champion. However, while talking trash to Punk, McIntyre was attacked by Punk and rendered incapacitated. This is when Damien Priest’s music hit and he sprinted ring side with a referee in tow. Priest was able to cash in his MITB briefcase, hit his finisher on McIntyre once in the ring and pinned him for the victory. Damien Priest is now your WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
In the United States Championship match, fans saw KO and Randy Orton team up to dismantle Logan Paul. However, there came a point where the alliance needed to end, and that it did. Ultimately, after Orton turned an attempted KO pop up power bomb into an RKO, Paul was able to throw Orton from the ring, land one hell of a frog splash and pin KO to retain.
In night two’s Women’s Championship match, the recently turned face and fan favorite, Bayley was able to defeat former ally Iyo Sky. This was Bayley’s first WM singles match and her WM moment!
Other Sunday Matches:
LA Knight (YEAH!) def. AJ Styles
Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits def. The Final Testament (Bubba Ray Dudley as special guest referee)
In night two’s main event, the WWE Universe saw The American Nightmare, Cody Rhodes challenging The Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns for the undisputed WWE Universal Championship. This match was being contested under Bloodline Rules per the stipulation of The Rock and Reigns winning on night one. The 2 combatants went back and forth for about 20 or so minutes. This is when the interference started. First to interfere was Jimmy Uso which drew Jey Uso from the locker room, as the brothers battled they ended up launching off the ramp, through numerous tables. Next to interfere was Solo Sikoa, and who countered his involvement? None other than John Cena which drew what we thought would be the biggest pop of the night. Then Seth Rollins appeared in his old Shield gear and to the Shield theme song and with a chair. Reigns, about to capitalize on Rhodes, instead saw an opportunity for revenge on Rollins for his betrayal years ago. Reigns then decided to attack Rollins with the chair. Now it was The Rock’s turn to head to the ring to try and help his Tribal Chief. Just as everyone watching and in attendance thought Rocky was going to take it to Rhodes, the lights went out and we heard that all familiar gong! If Lincoln Financial Field had a roof, it would have been sent into orbit with the pop of the crowd. When the lights came back up, The Undertaker was in the ring standing behind The Rock. The Rock then suffered a Taker chokeslam. This allowed Rhodes to hit three straight cross-rhodes on Roman Reigns leading to him being victorious, AND NEW WWE UNIVERSAL CHAMPION! Night two ended with Cody celebrating in the ring with family and fellow wrestlers. A lot of emotions were visible on the faces in the ring.
WM 40 was one of the better ones in recent memory. Beginning with the excitement leading up to WM weekend, the drama, the HOF ceremony, the actual in-ring action, and the 78% increase in sales/viewership from last year. The excitement and intrigue did not stop once the curtain closed on WM 40, either. On Monday Night Raw after Mania, we saw The Rock and Cody Rhodes face off with a to be continued story line where The Rock handed Cody something and told Cody “don’t ever break my heart again.” We saw John Cena come out to help The Miz and R Truth defeat Judgement Day, and we saw the feud between CM Punk and Drew McIntyre continue with Punk costing McIntyre a victory in the Heavyweight Championship #1 contenders match.
Perhaps even more intriguing was who we did not see. Both Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins were noticeably absent from Raw after Mania. Both superstars have been rumored to be taking some time off, so it will be interesting to see when they resurface on WWE programming again.
WWE is in a GREAT place right now, and having HHH in charge is only going to make things better. Yes, Vince created what the WWE is, but having someone who did the job, took the bumps, and performed the promos, and did it so well, is what will continue to make WWE great. I for one, cannot wait to see how the next several weeks play out between now and SummerSlam!
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