Wrestlemania XL is now officially in the books!
It would be more than fair to say a new era in not just WWE but Pro Wrestling itself has now dawned to say the least. If you haven’t seen it yet, go here for Night 1’s results before you read any further.
Here are the match results in the order that they happened:
- Drew McIntyre def. Seth Rollins to become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion
- Damien Priest def. Drew McIntyre to become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion (Money in the Bank cash-in)
- Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits def. Karrion Kross and AOP
- LA Knight def. AJ Styles
- US Champion Logan Paul def. Kevin Owens and Randy Orton (Triple Threat Match)
- Bayley def. Iyo Sky to become the new WWE Women’s Champion
- Cody Rhodes def. Roman Reigns to become the new WWE Undisputed Universal Champion
Stephanie McMahon, who attended the Hall of Fame Ceremony Friday evening opened Wrestlemania 40. Monday morning, it’s been confirmed she is officially back with WWE as of this past weekend.
Drew McIntyre beat Seth Rollins in front of a live crowd but it came at a steep price: Almost six minutes later, he would be cashed in on by Damien Priest. Priest now joins Rollins as the only two men to have cashed in the Money in the Bank briefcase at Wrestlemania. All because McIntyre couldn’t resist gloating in CM Punk’s face. Despite losing both sets of the tag titles the night before, The Judgement Day now holds both of RAW’s top titles.
CM Punk did commentary during the match and it wasn’t until McIntyre got in his face after winning the title and made an obscene gesture that Punk finally threw hands. Having now lost the title in such embarrassing fashion, it’ll be real interesting to see how McIntyre bides his time. Punk likely will not be back from injury until after Summer Slam so we’ll see. As for Seth Rollins, this would not be the last time we see him for the night.
Snoop Dogg joined the commentary team for Lashley/Profits vs. Kross/AOP. Although they weren’t officially a part of the match, B-Fab and Scarlett made their presence known and felt as Bubba Ray Dudley acted as the Special Guest referee. After 8 years, AJ Styles debuted a new entrance theme at Wrestlemania. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t enough to give him the win over LA Knight though.
Despite dealing with being double teamed almost the whole match, Logan Paul escaped Philadelphia with the U.S. Championship. It will never be officially confirmed but it’s obvious the real reason he won is because his company Prime just inked a deal with WWE to have the Prime logo on the mat. Money talks so….yeah. There is absolutely nothing Logan Paul or WWE could ever do or say to that would ever make me acknowledge him as anything more than a businessman. He has no business holding that title as far as I’m concerned either.
Damage CTRL didn’t get involved which made the Bayley/Iyo Sky title match 1 on 1. After a hard-fought battle, Bayley won the match and the title. It’ll be real interesting to see where Bayley and Damage CTRL, which still own the Women’s Tag Titles go from here. No doubt they’ll be looking for some payback but you can be sure there’ll also be a number of women looking to get a shot at the title Bayley just won.
Snoop Dogg returned to announce the attendance for Night 2 is 72,755 and 145,420 for the weekend. Cody’s wife Brandi Rhodes joined him for his entrance on the stage.
The first half hour of the match was a classic slugfest. Then we would see seven different people getting involved: Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, Solo Sikoa, John Cena, The Rock, The Undertaker and Seth Rollins in that order. There were a number of throwbacks from The Solo and Cena to The Rock and Cena to The Rock and The Undertaker to Reigns hitting Rollins with a steel chair.
In the end, Cody Rhodes won the match and ended Roman Reigns 1,316 day reign as the WWE Undisputed Universal Champion. Jey Uso, John Cena, CM Punk, Brandi Rhodes and several other superstars joined him in the ring to celebrate and personally look on as he presented the championship to his mother in honor of his father Dusty Rhodes. It was a touching moment that required no words.
Right after the match, Cody Rhodes called Bruce Pritchard and Triple H down the ring. He embraced both men and Triple H gave some words to Rhodes during their embrace and again at ringside a short time later. After Rhodes finally left the ring, he went around and shook the hands of the commentary team and some of the camera crew. The last person he approached before going up the ramp was none other than Nick Khan. No relation to AEW’s Tony Khan on that note.
Rollins was clearly hurt as Kevin Owens helped him out of the ring. Based on the exchange Rhodes and Rollins had, you can’t help but wonder if that may have been the last time we see him–and his wife Becky Lynch–in WWE. Both of their contracts are expiring soon and there’s been speculation among wrestling fans in recent months that they both may decide to go elsewhere. For now, Rollins is getting the injuries he was working through properly treated. He’ll likely be out for most of the year.
It goes without saying Seth Rollins sacrificed his own championship run–as a reminder, he is and always will be the inaugural WWE World Heavyweight Champion–for Cody Rhodes…and to stick it to Roman Reigns one more time. Those who know their wrestling history remember THAT iconic moment from 10 years ago when Rollins turned on The Shield, hitting both Reigns and Dean Ambrose with a steel chair. When The Shield’s music hit, I was probably the only person in the world who knew it was a throwback to when Rollins came out like that a few years ago at The Royal Rumble. Rollins has been living rent-free in Reigns’ head for TEN YEARS.
Reigns finally got his pound of flesh from Rollins but it came at great cost. Both men walked in with a title that night, both men leave Wrestlemania without one and broken.
The Press Conference started almost 30 years after Wrestlemania went off the air which is understandable all things considered.
- Damien Priest said he plans to continue the legacy Seth Rollins created as a Workhorse Champion. The question we probably won’t see answered until after the draft is weather Priest will stay on RAW or be moved to Smackdown. Of course, the same could also be said about Cody Rhodes at this point. This is sure to piss off people who feel otherwise but Priest also said the current era is doing things the Attitude Era could only dream of. He’s not wrong to say that and more so given the face of WWE was a part of that era.
- Likely not wanting to reveal too much about upcoming storylines, Bayley said she has a lot ot think about this coming week.
- Cody Rhodes revealed many of the roster’s current top stars coming out to join him in the ring after winning like had happened with his father 33 years earlier was not planned. He also revealed the watch he was wearing was actually the same type of watch his father pawned so he could go to acting school years ago. He got it a short time earlier from Triple H, Nick Khan and Bruce Pritchard.
- This time Triple H confirmed his wife Stephanie McMahon IS officially back with WWE though he declined to say in what role or capacity. He spoke kindly of the three new champions who spoke before him though unsurprisingly, he declined to talk about The Undertaker and John Cena being involved.
…Whew. It’s more than fair to now say that was the greatest Wrestlemania ever. PERIOD.
I mean both nights combined, not just Night 2. That makes me VERY excited for Wrestlemania XLI.
According to various reports, WM41 will be held in either Minneapolis or Las Vegas. The formal announcement on where is expected anytime now.
Two potential matches you can probably safely predict happening a year in advance are Roman Reigns vs. The Rock and The Rock vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin. As a reminder, originally it was going to be Roman vs. Rock at WM40. They could run it back and do the match next year.
Buzz around Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker and John Cena being involved at WM40 started a week before the event. We saw ‘Taker and Cena get involved with the main event but not Austin. I’m pretty excited by his absence as it means he’s saving his next return for a better time against his greatest rival. Hell, you could make it a tag team match so Austin and The Rock don’t do too much heavy lifting. Austin is 2-1 against The Rock at Wrestlemania but when he took his one loss, it was his retirement match. They could build their renewed feud around just that more or less. They could even tease ‘Taker vs. The Rock and then swerve it with Austin stepping in for ‘Taker.
Barring another injury before then, CM Punk and Charlotte will both be back for WM41. It’ll be exciting to see who they share the ring with to say the least. I’ve got more to say on not just the 12 months to come but other stuff too. I’ll break those up into several posts over the course of this month though so stay tuned.
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