Women’s World Championship: Rhea Ripley VS Becky Lynch
After Triple H welcomed everyone to WrestleMania, WrestleMania XL properly kicked off with Rhea Ripley putting her Women’s World Championship on the line against “The Man” Becky Lynch. Both Rhea and Becky got cool special entrances, and in terms of this match, I thought it was a great way to start WrestleMania! Not only was it cool to see the World Title starting the show, but both Ripley and Lynch are stars and they put on a very good match. Both women saw their finishing moves get kicked out of, but in the end, Rhea Ripley delivered a second Riptide onto the turnbuckle followed by a third one onto the mat to secure the victory meaning The Eradicator still runs the Raw Women’s Division! All of this felt big!
Grade: B+
Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships 6-Pack Ladder Match
The next match of the night saw the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships on the line as The Judgment Day, The New Day, DIY, No Catch Republic, A-Town Down Under, and The Awesome Truth collided in a 6-Pack Ladder Match! Interestingly enough, the Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Titles were on two separate hooks meaning two new champions could be crowned. This was a lot of fun, and some of the bumps were crazy. Firstly, Austin Theory and Grayson Waller won the SmackDown Tag Titles which was both awesome and very surprising, and Waller paid for it as he was sent crashing through a ladder on the outside. Elsewhere, we had a rather stupid moment where Johnny Gargano spiked Pete Dunne through a table on the outside whilst Tommaso Ciampa delivered an air-raid crash on Tyler Bate off of a ladder. Late on, JD McDonagh took a horrible bump to the outside after trying to interfere in proceedings, and in the end, it was R-Truth who was able to unhook the Raw Tag Team Championships meaning The Awesome Truth and A-Town Down Under left WrestleMania as Champions! Everyone here did a great job, and yeah, I honestly don’t have a problem with the winners, even if I would’ve loved to see DIY win.
Grade: A-
Andrade and Rey Mysterio VS Santos Escobar and Dominik Mysterio
It was then time for a traditional Tag Team Match as Andrade and Rey Mysterio teamed up to take on the pairing of Santos Escobar and Dominik Mysterio. I thought the video package for this match was great, and I thought the action was decent. It was cool as a fan of both Andrade and Santos Escobar to see them perform at WrestleMania whilst Dominik Mysterio deserves so much praise for just how much he’s improved! The other members of The LWO and Legado Del Fantasma also got involved at different points, but the big difference came when two big masked men attacked “Dirty” Dom. This ultimately opened the door for Rey Mysterio to hit the Splash onto Escobar to score the victory before the masked men were revealed to be Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson of the Philadelphia Eagles. I’m telling you, Rey is the villain in all of this!
Grade: C+
Jimmy Uso VS Jey Uso
In the “City of Brotherly Love”, two Uso’s collided as Jimmy took on Jey in a match I was really looking forward to. This honestly started pretty slowly to begin with and sort of pointed out that whilst The Usos are arguably the greatest Tag Team of all time, there are definitely better singles competitors out there. However, when the match “clicked into story mode”, it got really, really good! Jimmy and Jey both repeatedly delivered Superkicks to one another before Jey completely floored his twin with about another 5! Jimmy then pleaded with Jey to show mercy, and of course this was all a plan by Jim Uso as he delivered an Uso Splash for a really good near-fall. I genuinely thought Jimmy could’ve won here. In the end, it was not to be for the older twin as “Main Event” Jey Uso fired back with a Spear followed by an Uso Splash of his own to get the victory. I thought this was really good, and most importantly, what an awesome moment for The Usos!
Grade: B
Damage CTRL VS Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, and Naomi
It was then time for a six-woman Tag Team match as Damage CTRL’s Dakota Kai and WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Asuka and Kairi Sane took on the trio of Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, and Naomi. This match was what you expected it to be; Naomi got beat up by Damage Control, Bianca Belair got some offense in, and then Jade Cargill came in and destroyed the Heels. It’s not a bad thing as it made Cargill look like a beast, but you do feel that someone like Asuka probably deserved a bit more. Anyway, it was still fine, and it ended with Jade pinning Kai courtesy of the Storm Zero (I think that’s what it’s called).
Grade: C+
Intercontinental Championship: Gunther VS Sami Zayn
After Sami Zayn received love and advice from his Family, Chad Gable, and Kevin Owens backstage, it was time for Sami to face Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship. The story of this was simple; Gunther is a beast, but Sami Zayn just wouldn’t give up! Gunther delivered not 1, not 2, but 3 Powerbombs and Zayn still managed to kick out. However, The Ring General wasn’t done yet as he continued to wreck Sami with more Powerbombs and a massive Splash, but he still wouldn’t pin his opponent. The IC Champ then continued to trash-talk Sami’s Wife to the point that Zayn fired back and delivered a top-rope Helluva Kick followed by a quite ridiculous brain buster! Sami then delivered a third and then a fourth Helluva Kick to dethrone The Ring General meaning Sami Zayn is your brand-new Intercontinental Champion. I’ll be honest, I thought this was superb! Gunther is one of the all-time greats now, there’s no debate about that whilst Sami Zayn is such a brilliant underdog Babyface! Also, this felt big time and this also felt important which is a credit to everyone involved!
Grade: A-
The Bloodline VS Seth “Freakin” Rollins and Cody Rhodes
And in the Main Event of WrestleMania Saturday, the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns teamed up with his cousin The Rock to take on the World Heavyweight Champion Seth “Freakin” Rollins and the 2024 Men’s Royal Rumble Winner Cody Rhodes. I’m not kidding, the video package for this match combined with the entrances lasted more than 25 minutes! This match went nearly 45 minutes, and I thought it ruled! There’s honestly too much to talk about here, but one thing that’s worth mentioning is The Rock used his power against the referee, meaning it basically became a match with No Rules. We got a pretty good near-fall where Rhodes and Rollins delivered double Pedigree’s right after Roman accidentally Speared The Rock, and it also got crazy towards the end when The American Nightmare sent Rocky crashing through the announce table with a Rock Bottom before Roman Speared Seth through the barricade. At the end, it looked like Cody was going to beat The Tribal Chief, but a horrific shot to the back with a weight belt by The Final Boss put an end to that as Reigns delivered a Spear. However, Roman then tagged in his cousin and this allowed The Rock to deliver both a Rock Bottom and the People’s Elbow to pin Cody Rhodes meaning tomorrow’s Main Event will be contested under Bloodline Rules! I thought this was awesome, the best match of the night and one of the best Bloodline matches (which is saying something given their superb track record). I also want to shout out Seth “Freakin” Rollins as not only was it awesome to see Seth in the Main Event, but he didn’t hold anything back. Also, Roman Reigns’ hair was freakin’ wild and looked so cool, and yeah, the show going off the air with The Rock and Roman Reigns standing tall on the ramp whilst Cody Rhodes sat in the ring sad, just like this time last year, was just brilliant!
