(Photo by the Sportster)
NIGHT ONE
Right off the bat, it was cold in Philadelphia as the personalities of WWE will tell you that throughout the two nights. This could have been a factor to some of the matches. I think of the first night of WrestleMania is the appetizer to what will happen on Sunday. The company decided to bring in acclaimed reporter Tom Rinaldi to have pieces regarding the emotional significance of life and WrestleMania. Coco Jones sings the National Anthem to kick off night one. Imagine if Koko B. Ware joined her? Paul "Triple H" Levesque welcomes the Philly crowd to WrestleMania. This is what he is going by now. This is where I noticed the "Santa Deserved It" sign. This should have won the Internet. Also, they will be using the overused term of "new beginnings" or "new era" throughout the show.
RAW WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP
BECKY LYNCH VS. RHEA RIPLEY
Becky comes out and right away, I noticed that she didn't look like herself. The band Motionless In White plays Rhea into the ring. (Side note: Our buddy, Chris and I are going to see them live at UFest.) The match, itself, seemed to not get out of first gear. The announcers state that Becky Lynch has a 102-degree fever, Aaah, there it is. Bret Hart had a 102-degree fever once. It didn't end well. By the way, WrestleMania is trending #1 on X formally known as Twitter. I was hoping that Nia Jax didn't come out to interfere in this. Rhea wins the match with a Riptide. It seems solid, especially if Becky is taking time off and putting over Rhea was the right decision. Also, Rhea Ripley is the best women's wrestler in the world right now. Change my mind on that.
SIX-TEAM LADDER MATCH FOR THE TAG TEAM TITLES
So, Pretty Deadly does a promo on the participants in the match. They also have the worst name in wrestling. Pretty Deadly......you mean like farts? This match was better than I expected. Tyler Bate used a Fireman's Carry to spin Finn Balor around while Balor was holding a ladder. Also, the New Day's gimmick has ran its course, time for a reset. Grayson Waller and Austin Theory capture the Smackdown Tag Team titles, but fail to get the Raw titles, meaning the championships are no longer combined. Good move. Waller lands onto a ladder on the outside, causing it to break in half. I bet Greyson would like to do that with that goof that mocked him in Australia. JD McDonaugh tries to help the Judgement Day but gets thrown onto two tables on the outside. He almost overshot them, which could have been catastrophic. Johnny Gargano and Pete Dunne nearly kill themselves with a DDT on a table. One spot saw the referee tell Damien Priest to switch ladders because the one they were using was bent. The ending saw R-Truth and the Miz capture the Raw Tag Team titles. For the Miz, another title to add to his impressive resume and for Ron Killings, aka R-Truth, he gets his first win at WrestleMania at age 52.
DOMINIK MYSTERIO & SANTOS ESCOBAR VS. REY MYSTERIO & ANDRADE
Again, another solid match, this will be a theme for the event. It wasn't as great as Dominik and Rey last year, but it wasn't a terrible contest. Also, Andrade finally gets his WrestleMania match. The ending saw two mystery men come into the ring to help Rey and Andrade get the victory. The men turn out to be Philadelphia Eagle legends Lane Johnson and Jason Kelce. Looks like JK is enjoying retirement thank you very much.
Corey Graves needs to stop using the word "gnarly" and ring announcer Samantha Irvin needs to put on a jacket since it is 48 degrees.
JIMMY USO VS. JEY USO
WWE is giving this match the Macho Man/Ric Flair at WM 8 treatment by putting it in the middle of the card. The promo before the match was, as the kids say, FIRE! This has the setup to be a classic. Lil' Wayne comes out to walk with Jey Uso. Here's the thing, the Weeknd has had the theme song for WrestleMania for five years, yet he can't make an appearance? During the bout, Jimmy tries to reconcile with Jey and just like wrestling logic, Jey is a dumbass and falls for it. Jey gets a quick pin on Jimmy. What happened? The match was good, just too short. People were lambasting the WWE with this one as Dave Meltzer gave it a half of a star. That tells you where Uncle Dave's mindset is at. Hopefully, they can build on this.
Michael Cole says that the temperature is 48 degrees and states that the eclipse is on Sunday. It is actually on Monday.
THREE-WOMAN TAG TEAM MATCH
Cole also makes a comment about Dakota Kai's outfit. This match didn't really set the world on fire, but it didn't sink to the depths of a dumpster fire. In the middle of the match, the crowd was chanting for Jade Cargill. Give Bianca, Naomi, Asuka, Kairi Sane and Dakota Kai all the credit in the world, they did everything to make Jade looked good. She gets the pin in her "she needs to bend backwards and lick her hand like a cat" cover.
If you were asking, yes, Santa did deserve it.
INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH
GUNTHER VS. SAMI ZAYN
They show Sami backstage with his wife, child, Chad Gable and Kevin Owens. All four try to hype him up for his biggest challenge against the greatest Intercontinental champion of all-time, Gunther. They are obviously playing the Rocky angle since this is in Philadelphia. Zayn is Rocky while Gunther is every opponent Rocky has faced. Gunther gives Zayn a healthy dose of chops to the chest. The floor general dominated the majority of this contest. Gunther continued to gloat and smile by Sami's wife, who is sitting at ringside. I also noticed a woman next to her and couldn't know who she was. Sami makes a great comeback and uses a combo of Helluva kick to pin Gunther and shock the world. Sami stops the longest Intercontinental title reign as.....666 days. That's not a lie. Also, Sami went from that stupid comedy match with Johnny Knoxville two years ago to winning a key match in WrestleMania XL.
WWE is really trying to push Wheatley Vodka. Someone posted on social media that Phoenix's sunsets are beautiful. Damn @#$%!ing right!
TAG TEAM MATCH
CODY RHODES & SETH ROLLINS VS. DWAYNE & ROMAN
Dear God, don't let Cody, Seth or Roman get hurt in their attempt to please no one. Cody comes out gives his weight belt to his father-in-law, who is battling cancer. Seth comes out and.....what the hell is he wearing? It looks like a second head was growing at the side of his head. The Rock comes out with the People's Championship on his shoulder. It was gifted to him by Muhammed Ali's widow. Roman now makes his entrance, these entrances seem to last 30 minutes. Pat McAfee apparently found a case of Prime energy drink and chugged them all. He doesn't need to scream, we can hear him. Roman taunting the crowd is a damn treasure. Also, will people stop referring to that Rock/Rowan encounter eight years ago as a match? Seth spits Prime energy drink on the Rock. After getting the upper hand, Dwayne yells at the referee to not count or he will be fired. He also let out an F-bomb that the censors don't catch until ten seconds later. Mama Rock is in attendance and hopefully, has a bar of soap handy. Dwayne returns the favor by spitting water on Seth. The announcers are undecided on who is face or heel in this situation. Seth is injured but continues to battle hard as he delivers a Stomp to Dwayne. People go through announce tables and barricades, this is what everyone expected for this match. Cody is showing some fire after slapping the Rock. Cole is yelling, "C'MON, CODY!" Seriously, who the !@#$% are the heel or the face between the announcers? Roman's nose is bleeding now. Rock is taunting Cody's mother with the custom-made belt the Rock made. Roman accidentally hit the Rock with the Spear. Rock sells it as if he suffered bad stomach pains. Cody tries to execute the triple-combo Cross Rhodes, but gets cut off at the path by Rock hitting him with the weight belt across the back. Roman hits a Spear and Rock finishes him off with a cutthroat sign and People's Elbow for the pin. It will be Bloodline Rules for the main event on Sunday.
I would give the first night of WrestleMania XL four out of five stars. Obviously, the main event was chaos, chaos and more chaos. The matches were solid, and it really didn't disappoint.
NIGHT TWO
During the pre-show, it looks like Jackie Redmond hasn't slept well. Her schedule is going to be insane with the NHL playoffs kicking off. JBL looked as if he enjoyed the two nights in Philadelphia with his eyes bloodshot and puffy. Meek Mill does a video package, welcoming everyone to WrestleMania. The band who was in the Rock's concert sang America the Beautiful. Surprise! Stephanie McMahon comes out and welcomes everyone to WM40. So much for a McMahon not being associated with the event.
RAW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
SETH ROLLINS VS. DREW MCINTYRE
Drew comes out first, then a band of extravagantly dressed people are playing Seth Rollins to the ring. They are the Mummers Philadelphia String Band Association, who participates in the longest-running folk parade in Philadelphia on New Year's Day. Rollins is wearing an outfit with a feathered hat. Is he supposed to be Jesse Ventura? The bell rings, and Drew already hits a Claymore kick for a two-count. Seth was showing some wear-and-tear on that knee as he tried some aerial assaults on it. Drew continued to take advantage of it. In the end, McIntyre connected on a Claymore kick to win and capture the Raw World Championship. Rollins is emotional outside of the ring as he tells Drew that he deserves it. Well, Drew gets his wish, to win a World Championship in front of fans. He goes to ringside and hugs his family sitting in the front row. He then turns his attention to CM Punk, who is at the announce table. He stands on the table and taunts Punk. Phil couldn't stand anymore and trips Drew on the table. He proceeds to strike Drew with his metal brace protecting his injured arm. Punk blows a kiss towards McIntyre's family as the crowd goes wild.
Damien Priest's music hits and he runs to the ring with the Money In The Bank briefcase. He hits McIntyre with it and tells the referee he wants to cash in. The "match" starts when Damien throws Drew into the ring and hits South of Heaven to get the three-count. Happy now? Everyone was wondering when Priest was going to cash in, and he did it at the Grandest Stage of Them All. Judgement Day comes in to celebrate with Priest. Also, listening the post show press conference, Damien stated that 10 years ago, he was homeless and didn't know when his next meal was coming. He got a job as security for the company and worked his ass off to become a WWE superstar. Now, he is one of the company's world champions. They should have a documentary on him.
PHILADELPHIA STREET FIGHT
THE FINAL TESTAMENT VS. HURT BUSINESS 2.0 or whatever their name is
Okay, so they had Snoop Dogg as announcer and Bully Ray as the guest referee for this. The six men here did their best to keep this program interesting. The WWE Universe just didn't click with them. Hurt Business 2.0 gets the win in this one. Again, not really the fault of these six men.
LA KNIGHT VS. AJ STYLES
AJ has a new entrance theme. It's weird to hear anything other than "They don't want none, they don't want none!" It's also weird when they call LA Knight "the fastest rising star in the business" considering he has been around for a long time and is in his 40's. This was basically the older vet putting over the newest vet since they are five years apart. The leadup to this match was excellent, the match itself was solid. So, this means that LA Knight gets his shot for a world title.
They introduced the newest members of the WWE Hall of Fame. Congrats to all inducted.
UNITED STATES CHAMPIONSHIP
RANDY ORTON VS. LOGAN PAUL VS. KEVIN OWENS
The champ was riding in a Prime truck to the ring. Kevin Owens is getting encouragement from his best friend and the new Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn is hyping him up as he heads to the ring. Owens goes to get a golf cart as Randy Orton makes his entrance. Owens tells Randy to get a ride on the back of the cart. The match starts off with Randy and Kevin teaming up on Logan. There was a sequence where either Owens or Orton wanted to pin Logan, so they decided to turn on each other. There was a spot where the Prime mascot revealed himself......and the announcers were amazed of who it was. Apparently, his name is IShow Speed. I'm old as @$#!%#, so I have no clue who he is. He is on Logan's entourage, just like KSI was at last year's WrestleMania, which I didn't cover for obvious reasons. Just like KSI, IShow Speed took a wicked RKO from the Viper. The ending saw Logan getting the upper hand and executing one of the most beautiful Frog Splashes that you would ever see. Logan gets the pin and retains the title. Kudos to Kevin and Randy for putting him over.
Also, a few years ago, I thought that Logan Paul was thinking WWE was beneath him. Over those last few years, he has improved in his wrestling ability and his cadence with the wrestling community has been improving. There is a video of him enjoying the main event match and he is excited to the point where he was emotional. To Logan Paul, I apologize. The WWE has an asset in you.
SMACKDOWN WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP
BAYLEY VS. IYO SKY
Bayley is brought in by a group of men, dressed up as she was the Queen of the Nile. She has a smile that is ear to ear. The match is a scientific battle since the two have been in a faction for almost two years. The ending saw Bayley hit her finisher, the Rose Plant, and she wins the Women's Championship at WrestleMania. Niners tight end George Kittle cheers her on since she is a huge 49ers fan. Bayley went to the mountaintop at the Grandest Stage of Them All. She earned it.
Main event time. The attendance for the two night was....145,298. It broke the record of the previous year's event. Endeavor and TKO did what they planned to do to and make this the greatest WrestleMania of All-Time. They did it with the numbers. Hats off to them.
UNIVERSAL WWE CHAMPIONSHIP or whatever it's called
BLOODLINE RULES
CODY RHODES VS. ROMAN REIGNS
It's the rematch everyone supposedly wanted. Also, they showed the Young Bucks, Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho during the video package. All of them work at the rival company, who decided to air some backstage footage from a certain event that involved a person who works this company.....I'm getting ahead of myself.
The entrances saw Cody come out to a Triple H-like theme. His wife, Brandi, was by his side and kissed him good luck. Roman comes out to an orchestra, playing his entrance theme. Reigns has had a title "reign" that has lasted 1,316 days. It is the fourth longest reign in WWE history, but it could be the most influential that the company has ever produced.
The twenty minutes are a textbook of wrestling that keeps the fans invested. Roman executes a Cross Rhodes to a two-count. Roman tells the crowd that no one gets pinned because of that maneuver. Foreshadowing is coming. They are basically repeating the script of last year's WrestleMania. The announcers think that all of the WWE Universe has short term memory, because they have to tell everyone that this under Bloodline Rules, which means NO HOLDS BARRED. I got the memo.
So, the first twenty minutes was good, but it's the last 10 or 15 minutes is what everyone will be talking about for years to come.
Cody gets the offense and tries for a triple combo Cross Rhodes. Jimmy Uso comes in to interrupt the third attempt, because of the rules. Jey Uso comes to combat his twin brother. They go up the stage and Jey hits Jimmy with a superkick and decides to spear his brother off the stage onto a table underneath! Jimmy had a bad week. After Cody again tries for the dreaded TripleComboCrossRhodes, but Solo Sikoa comes in for a Samoan Spike. Shades of last year's WrestleMania where Solo cost Cody the title. It's a two-count this time. Solo is shocked. He and Roman do a Samoan Spike/Spear combo. Cody kicks out at two. The Bloodline tries to dominate, but John Cena's music hits. Cena runs out to the ring as the crowd goes nuts. John assaults Solo, who retrieves out of the ring. He gives an Attitude Adjustment on Roman and goes out of the squared circle to execute an AA on Solo onto the announce table. The Rock's music hits, and he comes out. He and Cena look at each other in the center of the ring, then they observe around at the crowd, ala Rock and Hogan at Mania 18. Dwayne hits a Rock Bottom on Cena and gets the weight belt. Now, the Shield's music hits, and I'm thinking that a certain someone from the other company. It's Rollins with the Shield's garb on, steel chair in hand. Unfortunately, Roman hits a Superman punch to cut him off. Rock is still standing there with the weight belt, then you hear DONG! The crowd comes alive, AGAIN!. DONG! The lights go out. The lights come back on and....ITS THE UNDERTAKER! behind the Rock. It becomes a meme, instantly. Undertaker chokeslams the Rock as the Linc goes wild. Yes, this is overbooked as hell, but at the same time, I am enjoying this. After the chaos calms down, Roman grabs the steel chair and sees Cody and Seth, lying motionless in the ring. The Tribal Chief needs to make a decision. He decides to hit Seth with the chair on the back as Seth goes forward onto the ropes. This is the callback to Seth betraying the Shield ten years earlier by hitting Roman in the back and he fell to the ropes in the same manner. Roman goes after Cody, but the American Nightmare kicks him and is going to deliver the TripleComboCrossRhodes.......he mustered him to execute the third one. The referee gets the one-two-three. Cody Rhodes is the new Universal WWE Champion!
Here's a side note, Michael Cole was in unison with the referee, Charles Robinson, as Robinson delivered the three-count, Cole said Finish, The, Story, that was good managing on that. Ring announcer Samantha Irvin's voice is cracking because of emotion. There is a video of her, tearing up as she made the announcement of Cody being the new champion.
Brandi goes into the ring to celebrate with her husband. Cody's family enters to the ring to join in the celebration. Many WWE superstars join in as Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, CM Punk, Randy Orton, LA Knight and John Cena come in and enjoy the happiness of Cody. The American Nightmare gets the mic and brings out Bruce Prichard and Paul Levesque. He thanks them and even hugs Nick Khan at one point. The show fades in black.
So, WM40 was an exceptional show. There wasn't a match that was one of the greatest of all-time. The two main event matches are the one's people will talk about. Endeavor/TKO wanted to make this the biggest WrestleMania of All-Time. Numbers wise, it was. According to Triple H's Instagram account, it had the biggest gates, most viewed, most social and highest WrestleMania merchandise of all-time. Rock being put in the situation helped. I was really critical about it, but it worked out. I was wrong, there I said it.
At the end if the show, Michael Cole says, "I love professional wrestling." We all do Michael. Hopefully, it continues forward.
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