PHILADELPHIA — If night one of WrestleMania 40 was just the beginning of teasing a new era, what will WWE do with the encore?
Triple H and WWE had a near-perfect night at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday, with a perfect mix of action, surprises, glamor and a great story.
This is exactly what WrestleMania should be.
After Cody Rhodes lost to The Tribal Chief & The Rock with Seth Rollins to close out the show on Saturday night, Cody Rhodes defeated Bloodline in the main event with Roman Reigns’ Undisputed WWE Universal Championship on the line on Sunday. Play against the rules.
The longest reign of the Intercontinental Championship ended with Sami Zayn defeating Gunther. But that wasn’t the case with Rhea Ripley’s dominance.
WWE creatively split up the Undisputed tag team championships while giving R-Truth a WrestleMania moment.
Eagles great Jason Kelce also made a surprise appearance.
There’s a lot on the schedule and a lot going on Sunday, but here are five takeaways from WrestleMania 40 Night 1.
surrounded by bosses
After Saturday night, The Rock’s role in this story feels even more clear. The final boss filtered all of his real life power sitting on the TKO board and brought it into this story.
He told the referee not to count out or he would be fired as the act spread throughout the stadium, and then when Rock hit a low blow the referee was too scared to call a disqualification.
The final boss also saved his cousin Roman Reigns multiple times. He pulled Cody Rhodes from the pin after Seth Rollins and Rhodes hit the Stereo Superkick, Stomp, and Cross Rhodes for the champion.
Rose remained in control for the second half of the match, going for a triple-cross Rose on Reigns, but Rock crushed “American Nightmare” with his weight belt.
Rose’s mother Michelle played a big role in the front row, with Rose’s blood stained weight belt. She and The Rock had many interactions. (She needs to grace The Rock on Sunday.)
Finally, The Rock, retaining the People’s Championship awarded to him by the widow of Hall of Famer Muhammad Ali, passes the spear to Rose, who is tagged after Reigns, with Rock Bottom and a very intentional I killed him with a gunshot. people’s elbows.
Given how much control Rock had in this match and how much Reigns needed his help, anything could happen with the Pedigree rule, unless someone stands up to him on Sunday. Probably not.
The question is who that person will be.
His slim and toned locks looked great in this match. He brawled with Rollins in the crowd. Thanks to Rollins coming to Rose’s aid multiple times, he received two big hits with a Rock Bottom through the announce table from Rose and a Spear from Reigns after Visionary pushed his partner away.
All four had really great results tonight, and wins for Reigns and The Rock should make fans happy for Rose on Sunday.
Yo Adrian, Sami, we did it!
Before Sami Zayn left for his match with Gunter, they showed him backstage with his wife and son, with trainer Chad Gable and then-friend Kevin Owens pumping him up for the last time.
There was a big Rocky feel to this match.
Zayn had shown himself to be the favorite to win after months of discussions with his wife, who will be competing against Adrian, who sat in the front row cheering on her husband as Gunter beat down and mocked him and his family during the match.
However, the champion’s frustration, who had held the title for 666 days, continued to grow as Zayn continued to kick out. First there was one powerbomb, then two.
Gunter finally finished Zayn with a splash from the top rope, and just as it looked like he was about to launch another attack, the challenger began to flare up in the ring.
Zayn fought back with a helluva kick and a dangerous brainbuster that sent Gunther staggering into the opposite corner. Two more Helluva kicks made Zayn the champion again.
Yes, this is about to end his greatest reign of all time, but Zayn has been Intercontinental Champion before, this isn’t his first world championship, and he probably won’t use this moment to win someone else’s title. It would have been better to use it to create.
But there are some great things WWE could do after that. Gable said he owes Zane a debt of gratitude for training him.
Perhaps we can get a heel turn for Gable from this outcome and get him in a new and interesting direction. Also, with Gunther losing the title, the only thing he has to do next is Rose’s first feud on Sunday on who should be Reigns.
clean split
The booking and storytelling in the Tag Team Championship Ladder match was great as WWE was finally able to split the championship and have a match with great paced action with great moments for DIY and New Catch Republic. What a great piece of work, you can’t beat it even if they weren’t.
Grayson Waller and Austin Theory took down the SmackDown Championship midway through the match, giving the blue brand an incredible heel championship.
With the Raw Championship still a possibility, it’s time to settle the months-long saga surrounding R-Truth’s loose membership in The Judgment Day membership before he is officially ousted. came.
J.D. McDonagh came out to help his Judgment Day pals Finn Balor and Damian Priest by keeping R-Truth from climbing the ladder too soon.
By the end, Truth threw Priest off the ladder and out of the ring. That was the opening he needed to finally take the title down to a big pop.
This was Truth’s first career WrestleMania victory, and he and Miz shared a great moment at the top of the ladder.
Truth and Miz’s Judgment Day story is set to enter a new chapter with Rhea Ripley, currently the only gold medal holder in the group.
The more truth you see on TV, the more truth you have, which is never a bad thing. This guy hit the hot tag on John Cena and went for the pin during the ladder match and was counted in. National treasure.
face of new generation
Rhea Ripley and Becky Lynch gave us a great story to clarify things. Lynch continually treated the champion’s injured arm and set up multiple disarmers.
But each time, it felt like Ripley fought back with her powers, including a double powerbomb. Her frustration showed every time she was unable to finish off The Man, including her first Riptide attempt.
When Ripley lifts Lynch from Disarm Her and places him on her shoulders, the two have a pretty great show. They flip the ropes and are dropped backwards on the outside with Lynch somehow staying on his shoulders.
Eventually Ripley gives Lynch a Riptide into the turnbuckle, catches her with a ricochet, and gives her another Riptide to get the 1-2-3. She defeated all four horsemen with this.
It was discovered late in the game that Lynch had a 102 degree fever and strep throat, but she still came out and performed at a high level, which is great.
take care of business
The rest of the card was very businesslike, with some short matches. The most disappointing one was Jimmy Uso vs. Jey Uso because I felt they deserved a chance to tell a more layered story.
The match started with Jay being very aggressive, beating Jimmy to the point where he had to beg his brother’s forgiveness for losing his two championships. The crowd seems to be booing Jimmy’s sleaze, but it also feels like they don’t like Jey’s sleaze when he’s brought into the ring by Lil Wayne.
Things change as they shake hands and Jimmy hits a superkick and splash, but Jey kicks out.
Jay then counter-speared Jimmy’s spear try to make it count. Uso then made a splash and it was over.
Jade Cargill, Bianca Belair and Naomi donned light-up superhero-themed costumes and were hoisted onto a platform beside the stage before confronting Asuka, maximizing their time with the best entrance of the night. It was used for , Kairi Sane and Dakota Kai.
The babyface pretty much came into his own in this match, and Cargill had grown a lot to finally step into the ring for his first real WWE match. The former AEW star looks like he belongs in the role she played, and it looks like she will be used in a stronger role. She fended off all three with a chokeslam and a backbreaker.
Belair came to her aid when she was outnumbered in the KOD to Asuka. Cargill followed Dakota Kai with Jaded and her signature pin for the win.
It was a great show for the three strong women on the babyface side, but I didn’t feel like Damage CTRL was any weaker after this.
WWE’s big surprise of the night was former Eagles center Jason Kelce helping out Rey Mysterio and Andrade.
Kelce and current Eagles offensive lineman Lane Johnson jumped out of the stands wearing green Rey Mysterio masks when Dominik tried to bring chairs into the game.
Kelce threw Dominik into the ring post and rolled him into the ring.
Andrade delivered a message to Dom, and Rey finished off Santos Escobar with a top rope splash.
There was some thought that Carlito or Andrade would take on LWO and Rey Mysterio here, but WWE didn’t do that.
Biggest winner: Sami Zayn
Biggest loser: Judgment Day
Best match: The Rock & Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins & Cody Rhodes
Best entrance: Jade Cargill, Naomi, Bianca Belair
prediction: 4-2-1
School year: a
