If you had to decide which night of WrestleMania 40 was more fulfilling, this is it.
WWE announces The Rock’s first true return to the ring after 11 years, with Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley and Intercontinental Champion Gunther’s long undefeated records in jeopardy against credible challengers in Philadelphia. Start things off in a big way.
Jimmy and Jey Uso fulfill their dream of competing at WrestleMania, the cracks in the foundations of Judgment Day only deepen, and Jade Cargill gets her first non-Royal Rumble match in WWE.
What happens in the main event will be the story, as it will directly impact how Cody Rhodes’ quest to end the story on Sunday will play out. Rose and Rollins’ victory over Roman Reigns and The Rock means The Bloodline will be banned from ringside. It’s a bloodline rule where anything goes if you lose.
With much at stake, Post wrestling columnist Joseph Staszewski weighs in on what will happen on night one of WrestleMania 40 on Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field (7 p.m., Peacock). Try your best to predict.
Roman Reigns and The Rock beat Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins
There’s really only one way to resolve this. The Rock (The Final Boss) needs to pin Cody Rhodes to ensure the bloodline rule between American Nightmare and his cousin Roman Reigns in Sunday’s Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match There is. The question is whether it will be done cleanly and whether new bloodline members will be revealed.
I think we’ll get at least one more member to make Rose’s mission even more difficult and require additional support. The Rocks and Roses feud is as heated as anything between a challenger and a champion. So this could set up the Hollywood star as a potential enemy for Rose in the future, and could even increase the aid The Rock gave Reigns.
This will be The Rock’s first competitive match since suffering an injury in the main event of WrestleMania 29 against John Cena. We’ll find out just how much ring rust, if any, the future Hall of Famer has.
Rhea Ripley (c.) defeats Becky Lynch to retain women’s world title
Becky Lynch is someone who doesn’t need a championship to be meaningful, and doesn’t need the brilliance of finally beating Rhea Ripley. She’s also someone who could reasonably do that, even though her character has spent her past month easing herself into matches with Nia Jax and Liv Morgan. Still, losing her first meeting doesn’t mean the beginning of a bigger story with a positive ending for Lynch.
Considering Ripley was last locked to Liv Morgan in May 2022, WWE needs to protect her next lock at all costs. Mann might fight back later this year to get over this loss, but if Lynch ultimately defeats Mami, it won’t be at WrestleMania. Still, I’d rather see that moment create someone else or spark a rivalry for years to come.
Gunther (c) defeats Sami Zayn to retain Intercontinental Championship
Yes, Sami Zayn is currently training with Chad Gable, which should add a little hope that the challenger can defeat Gunther and end the longest Intercontinental Championship reign in history. Gable may be useful in the fight against the Imperium. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s hard to imagine Zayn winning.
Neither World Championship photo is ready for Gunther to step into it, and fans were lukewarm to Zayn taking this shot anyway. Whoever ultimately defeats Gunter should either force his shoulders to the mat or give Gunter someone to finally get redemption as a babyface. Zayn doesn’t check those boxes, so Ring General’s run continues.
Jimmy Uso vs. Jey Uso
Well, Jimmy lost both the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and the Intercontinental Championship to his twin brother Jay, so it’s only fair that he gets his revenge. But that doesn’t help achieve The Bloodline’s story’s larger goal of elevating the entire family as much as possible. To elevate Jimmy beyond just Roman Reigns’ muscle and move him closer to the level Jey has already reached, he’ll need to defeat the “main event” brother at least once, even if it means sabotaging him.
Maybe Jay will win in the end, but Jimmy needs some time to himself. It’s also likely that the two brothers will remain on opposite sides of The Bloodline for some time, which would give WWE a reason to try things again at a later date.
Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth) (Finn Balor and Damian Priest (c)), DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa), The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods), The New Catch Republic (Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate), and A-Town Down Under (Austin Theory and Grayson Waller) win the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships.
It feels pretty certain that Finn Balor and Damian Priest from Judgment Day won’t leave with the Undisputed Tag Team Championship. It’s just a matter of who WWE wants to win. Awesome Truth seems the most likely option, considering R-Truth was involved in the Judgment Day storyline for a month and was a merry, loose member of the group for a while before being kicked out by Priest. The crowd will go wild for that, and WWE will probably write a script where they win with a true accident.
If not for them, a DIY win could happen considering it’s Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa’s first WrestleMania. In the end, the stories and moments on Awesome Truth could be too good to pass up on a match that could steal the show earlier in the night.
Jade Cargill, Naomi, and Bianca Belair (Dakota Kai, Kairi Sane, Asuka) over Damage CTRL
Jade Cargill is undefeated in her first real WWE match, especially at WrestleMania. However, this is the perfect setup for her because she has some of the best that WWE has to offer and doesn’t need to be overexposed. The question is who will get the pin, as there are a lot of things that can be set up from this match.
If Iyo Sky defeats Bayley, Cargill will be included in the WWE Women’s Championship match, and Belair and Naomi could quickly become the No. 1 contenders for Asuka and Sane’s Women’s Tag Team Championship. The latter of the two options is more likely, so Belair will be included in the finish. I’d love to see her and Jade, or all three of them, get the fall at the same time and leave no room for doubt.
dominik mysterio and santos escobar that’s all Rey Mysterio and Andrade
Dominik Mysterio has had some bad luck lately, going 1-5 with four straight losses in televised matches this year, and Dom’s story needs to hit rock bottom for him to go anywhere. I feel like there is. Maybe this is it.
But everything changed on Friday’s SmackDown when Mysterio’s original partner Dragon Lee was attacked backstage by an unknown assailant. Then Andrade turned on his Phantasma and Zelina he was reunited with Vega and her LWO. It is not yet known who attacked Mr Lee. So this match will be decided by a double cross. My gut feeling is that Carlito is conspiring against Mysterio and LWO.
