PHILADELPHIA — WWE is now the kingdom of Cody Rhodes.
He was the chosen champion of the Paul “Triple H” Levesque era and defeated Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 40 at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday to become the undisputed WWE Universal Champion. champion, ending the story of Rhodes winning the championship he had never been able to hold before. .
This ended Reigns’ historic 1,316-day reign as world champion (the fourth-longest in company history), but Rose was forced to do so after losing to the Tribal Chief at WrestleMania 39. He needed a lot of help from WWE legends.
The celebration saw fans go wild to cap off a great weekend for the company in Philadelphia, with WWE backing up a strong Saturday with an equally impressive effort.
Drew McIntyre and Bayley had their well-deserved WrestleMania moment. Thanks to CM Punk’s help, we were able to get Damian Priest Money in the Bank deposited at the perfect time.
Sunday’s card wasn’t perfect, as Philadelphia Street Fight was more about fun moments than doing anything memorable with the weapons at its disposal. LA Knight vs. AJ Styles was solid, but it will be one of the most memorable matches of the weekend.
As we look forward to another WrestleMania, here are the highlights from the six matches on night two.
end game
The ending of Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes’ story was right out of a Marvel Avengers movie.
Reigns’ Thanos and the Bloodline have been terrorizing WWE for so long that it’s time for the wronged to finally team up with Rhodes’ Captain America and win the fight.
The cameo began after about 20 minutes of deliberately paced wrestling between Reigns and Rose, with each using their finishers on the other to no avail.
Interestingly, after Reigns used the Cross Rose and “American Nightmare” kicked out, he said, “That move sucks, no one can win with that move.”
Rose went for the Triple Cross Rose, but Jimmy Uso stopped him with a superkick from under the ring. So his younger brother Jay came to take care of him with a spear from the ramp.
Next, Reigns was in danger again when Solo Chicore tried to stop Rhodes with the Samoan Spike. The challenger then kicked out of a spike and spear combo from Reigns and Cicor.
This properly brought out John Cena’s loss to Sicoah at Crown Jewel last year, resulting in an attitude adjustment for him and Reigns. The look on Cena’s face when The Rock’s music hit was amazing and he knew he had to face his old rival one more time before taking The Rock Bottom.
Reigns rescued Rock from being hit with a chair by The Shield Seth Rollins and took control of Bloodline again, prompting the Undertaker’s gong.
Taker chokeslamming Rock in street clothes was nice, but it felt like a moment made for “Stone Cold” Steve Austin that you’ll never get back.
Reigns took his eyes off the prize for a moment, choosing to respond to The Shield’s betrayal by giving Rose a chair shot instead of punching him.
All the little moments came together to open the door for Rhodes to finally hit the triple cross and take down Reigns for good.
WWE said from the start that things could end differently for Rhodes, as Rhodes’ entrance included a battlefield image, he wore the same skull mask as the logo, and his wife Brandi joined WWE for the first time. I was letting you know something.
The final celebration was all about Rose’s family and babyfaces, with CM Punk, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, and Randy Orton also in the ring. We got the real end of the story when Rose handed over the championship to his mother Michelle as promised and Triple H let him put his hand up as the new face of the company. He still has unfinished business with Rock.
Reigns feels destined to become a babyface and date The Rock at WrestleMania 41.
It was over in a blink of an eye
Drew McIntyre’s third World Championship in WWE didn’t last as long as CM Punk’s second (three days) in AEW, thanks to “The Best in the World” himself.
McIntyre finally got his true WrestleMania moment, and he got the moment he deserved for the character work he’s been doing. It took four Claymores (the first one to arrive at the opening bell) to defeat Seth Rollins, but three unsuccessful stomps in the opening match.
It was McIntyre’s second world championship win in front of fans during the pandemic, and the emotion was evident on his face as he celebrated in the ring and with his family. Rollins emotionally said goodbye to the belt he held for 316 days, but McIntyre became greedy.
He walked over and started making fun of Punk in the commentary box. After McIntyre made a “no” gesture to Punk, Punk decked the champion, removed his arm restraint and hit him with it.
Then Damian Priest’s music became a hit. A chokeslam then ended McIntyre’s reign in just a few minutes and a new World Heavyweight Champion was crowned.
Priest becomes WWE’s first Puerto Rican-born world champion since Pedro Morales 50 years ago.
Judgment Day is currently doing a very “Monday Night Raw” run with him and Rhea Ripley holding the gold medal.
With no official news that McIntyre has re-signed with WWE, conspiracy theories may start to emerge, but McIntyre and Punk will be locked into an instant feud if Punk is cleared to wrestle again. It seems so.
Oh baby bye
It’s been about five years since we’ve seen the real Babyface Bayley, and we were reminded of just how much of a bond she can develop with audiences. Outside of the main event, the match the crowd couldn’t have been more excited about as Bayley, who earned her entrance as the stunning Egyptian Goddess, defeated Iyo Sky in her first singles match at WrestleMania to win the WWE Women’s Championship. There was no.
Sky and Bayley brought things to a climax after the challenger rolled Sky hard into the corner and began suffering a knee injury. Skye performed a back-to-back bridge German suplex, garnering even more sympathy from the crowd.
Sky kept going for the moonsault with mixed results. Bayley took a knee on his first attempt. And when Bayley went to the top rope, Sky countered with a crossface before forcing Bayley into an STF.
Then it was time for Bayley to begin her comeback. We started with a bailey to belly which she didn’t use as a heel. Sky blocked Rose Plant’s attempt and both traded slaps and blows, but the champion seemed unable to dislodge the challenger.
Bayley had to step up her attack with a suplex, top rope elbow, and finally a rose plant to win the title.
Bayley started Damage CTRL in July 2022, putting her own star on the back burner, but now we get a babyface version of her for the first time since 2019.
paul’s command
There were more of Logan Paul’s brass knuckle shenanigans, but in the end he made the right decision to retain the United States Championship in a more traditional way.
As expected, Kevin Owens entered this match to get the pin and give WWE a chance at the next singles match between Randy Orton and Paul.
The Viper appeared to win the match, scoring a second RKO on Owens as a painful counter to a pop-up powerbomb. However, Paul was able to intercept Viper before Viper threw him out of the ring for the pin. Paul then holds with a frog splash.
This match was a moment. After Orton and Owens roughly agreed not to stop focusing on Paul, there was Orton trying to sneak in an RKO.
Late in the match, Paul finally went for his signature brass knuckles. Orton stopped them at first, but when Paul landed his right hand, Orton kicked out.
After the RKO, Orton had Paul perform his signature punt kick, but the champion was dragged out of the ring by his friend and YouTuber IShowSpeed, who was wearing a Prime mascot costume. Orton proceeded to RKO Speed through the announce table.
Although Owens was able to perform at WrestleMania, it’s unclear if he’ll be in the championship picture again soon after this.
table talk
We got some simple fun booking and a solid ending, even if the spot for the match itself was a little awkward in Philadelphia Street Fight.
After Karrion Kross DDT’ed Bobby Lashley into a chair, he questioned special guest referee Bubba Ray Dudley’s count.
Then things got a little silly.
Angelo Dawkins nailed D-Von Dudley’s “Wassup” dive off the top rope and connected with Bubba Ray’s chest smack to get a table, but the first one broke under the weight of the cross and two. Seconds were needed.
Ford hits Cross with a kendo stick and hits a frog splash on the table for Lashley to pick up the win.
B-Fab and Scarlets earned two spots in this match. B-Fab defeated Scarlett, who threatened Lashley with a kendo stick, and the two hit a Russian leg sweep from the apron, sending them both crashing into an outside table.
Whose game is it?
L.A. Knight hasn’t let up, and it looks like he just took a detour as he won a quality match against AJ Styles in his WrestleMania debut.
This one looked like a craftsman.
Styles, changing his music for the first time since his WWE debut, went for Knight’s knee. “Megastar” had a chance by ripping off the padding outside the ring, but ended up receiving a back body drop onto the ring and breaking the count of 10.
The finish came out of nowhere as Knight countered a Styles Clash attempt and blocked Styles from going for the Phenomenal Forearm.
Knight used it as a BFT finisher for the win, keeping the momentum going and solidifying Styles as a heel.
Biggest winner: cody rose
Biggest loser: Kevin Owens
Best match: Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns
best entrance: Cody Rhodes and Bayley
prediction: 6-0 (total: 10-1-2)
School year: a
