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Linus O'Howell

WrestleMania XL Night 2 Review

World Heavyweight Championship: Seth “Freakin” Rollins VS Drew McIntyre

Credit: X

After Stephanie McMahon made a surprise appearance to start the show, Night 2 of WrestleMania properly got underway with Seth “Freakin” Rollins putting his World Heavyweight Championship on the line against Drew McIntyre. Straight away, I need to talk about these entrances as whilst Drew’s was really cool, Seth Rollins' entrance might’ve been the most ridiculous and wonderful thing I’ve ever seen. Straight away, McIntyre nailed Rollins with a Claymore Kick for a really close near-fall, and the biggest praise I can give this match is I bought multiple finishes. Seth hit multiple Stomps whilst Drew was able to hit 4 Claymore’s to no result. However, in the end, a 5th Claymore from McIntyre to Rollins was enough for The Scottish Psychopath to finally get his big moment and become the brand-new World Heavyweight Champion. After the match, Drew showed really emotion with his Wife before he confronted Special Guest Commentator CM Punk. This backfired massively on the new Champion as Punk attacked Drew despite being injured before Damian Priest’s music hit! Senor Money in the Bank then cashed in his contract, delivered the South of Heaven on Drew, and pinned McIntyre meaning Damian Priest is your new World Heavyweight Champion! This was amazing, the match between Seth and Drew was great, and this stuff afterwards was just so well done! Also, I’m really delighted for Damian Priest, he’s really earned that big moment!

Credit: Wrestling Observer

Grade: A

 


Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits VS The Final Testament: Philadelphia Street Fight

Credit: TVLine

After Bubba Rey Dudley arrived as the Special Guest Referee and Snoop Dogg (yes, Snoop Dogg) arrived as the Special Guest Commentator, it was time for the second match of the night as Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits took on The Final Testament. There were actually some good moments here, with AOP wrecking Lashley with a bunch of kendo sticks and B-Fab and Scarlett going crashing through a table together. Snoop was also actually quite a lot of fun on commentary, and it was Montez Ford who ultimately pinned Karrion Kross with a Frog Splash through a table after Bubba Rey started helping the Babyfaces (because that’s fair)! This wasn’t amazing by any stretch, but it served its purpose well.

Grade: B-

 


AJ Styles VS LA Knight

Credit: Wrestlezone

After LA Knight gave away a Slim Jim Car, it was time for The Megastar to go one-on-one with AJ Styles. I think both AJ Styles and LA Knight have done a great job making this feel like a WrestleMania match, and I thought this was also a good contest. AJ is an all-time great, whilst LA is still so over with the crowd which is great to see! In the end, a BFT was enough for The Megastar to pin The Phenomenal One so yeah, good job by both men.

Grade: B-

 


United States Championship: Logan Paul VS Kevin Owens VS Randy Orton

Credit: USA Today

After Logan Paul, Kevin Owens, and Randy Orton technically all got special entrances, it was time for the three men to collide in a Triple Threat Match with the United States Championship on the line. The story of the match was simple; Kevin and Randy destroyed Logan to begin with before they ultimately realised that they had to fight each other because obviously only one man could be victorious. I thought this was another good match, everyone involved is really good, and I have to bring up the fact that Orton RKO’d IShowSpeed onto the announce table! Amazingly, in the end, it was actually Logan Paul who delivered a superb Frog Splash onto Kevin Owens to pick up the victory and retain his United States Championship! I honestly have no problem with Paul winning whatsoever.

Grade: B

 


WWE Women’s Championship: Iyo Sky VS Bayley

Credit: Sacnilk

In the penultimate match of WrestleMania Sunday, Iyo Sky put her WWE Women’s Championship on the line against her former Damage CTRL partner, Bayley! Both women had really cool entrances, but that was nothing compared to the match itself as this was superb! Iyo-Bayley has been a true dream match of mine for years, and to actually get this match and see it deliver is so, so cool! Some of the moves Iyo did, including doing a handspring to reverse Bayley’s attempt at the Rose Plant, but in the end, a massive elbow drop followed by the Rose Plant was enough for Bayley to pin Iyo Sky meaning The Role Model is the brand-new WWE Women’s Champion! Honestly, this was so good, and I’m so damn pleased for Bayley as she deserves it!

Credit: WhatCulture.com

Grade: A-

 


Undisputed WWE Universal Champion: Roman Reigns VS Cody Rhodes

Credit: Forbes

And in the Main Event of WrestleMania XL, Roman Reigns put his 1,316-day reign as Champion on the line as Cody Rhodes looked to finish the story by winning the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship! Firstly, Cody Rhodes had a great entrance, but Roman Reigns’ might be the single greatest thing I’ve ever seen (even better than Seth’s entrance)! The first part of this match was a standard Roman match, with a couple of decent kickouts, but the real stuff started when Jimmy Uso nailed Cody with a Superkick before Rhodes was able to kick out of a following Reigns Spear. Jey Uso then arrived to Spear his brother off the stage (it was bloody wild) before Solo Sikoa arrived to nail The American Nightmare with a Samoan Spike. We then got the Spear/Samoan Spike combo, but Rhodes was once again able to just about kick out! It then got even madder as John Cena’s music hit and the 16-time World Champion delivered an AA to Roman Reigns before he delivered the same move to Solo through a table. The Rock’s music then hit as The Final Boss came down to quickly drop Cena with a Rock Bottom before the freakin’ Shield’s music hit! Unfortunately, this didn’t work out too well for Seth “Freakin” Rollins as he straight away got dropped by a Superman Punch from The Tribal Chief before, and I’m not kidding, The Undertaker’s music struck! The lights then went off and back on to reveal that The Deadman was in the ring before Taker dropped Rocky with a Chokeslam. The lights then went back off leaving Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, and Seth Rollins in the ring. And at this moment, Roman’s rage and hatred got the best of him as he nailed Rollins in the back with a steel chair, just like how Seth did all those years back (to end The Shield), and this allowed Cody to hit not 1, not 2, but 3 Cross Rhodes in a row to pin The Head of The Table for the 3 count meaning Cody, Cody Rhodes is the new Undisputed WWE Champion! After the match, a bunch of the top Babyfaces mixed with The Rhodes Family and even Triple H celebrated in the ring as WrestleMania 40 went off the air! I honestly can’t fathom what happened here, but I do want to mention that Roman losing because of Seth Rollins’ mind games is just sublime. Also, am a big fan of Cody Rhodes, no, not at all! Do I think Cody Rhodes was the right person to beat Roman Reigns, honestly, I think there were better options! However, was this the perfect time to take the belt off the Greatest of All Time, and give it to The American Nightmare, yes, yes it was!

Credit: WhatCulture.com

Grade: A+

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