It has already been a very newsworthy day for WWE.
After being injured on last night’s episode of Smackdown, Rey Mysterio wasn’t cleared to compete tonight. He will be replaced by Rey Fenix, who will face El Grande Americano.
Also, WWE social media accounts showed a backstage video that showed Bayley laid out backstage. It was said that she was attacked, and has been pulled from tomorrow’s match. As a result, Lyra Valkyria has 24 hours to find a new partner against WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez.
Perhaps the biggest story, however, is that WWE has acquired legendary Lucha Libre promotion, AAA. The acquisition will get underway with NXT Worlds Collide, which will put NXT stars against AAA stars, on June 7th at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles.
WWE news moves fast and furious at all times, but especially so during WrestleMania weekend.
After a very entertaining NXT Stand & Deliver show earlier today, how will the main roster fare on the first night of WrestleMania 41? Let’s find out together, shall we?
I’m ready.
Are you ready?
If we’re all ready, then I just need you to say it with me…
LESS DEW EET!!!
Gunther vs Jey Uso – WWE World Heavyweight Title Match
An absolutely perfect choice for the opener here. The match should be a lot of fun, but with the inclusion of Jey Uso, the live crowd is going to be amped up right off the bat.
For the life of me, I will never, ever, ever, ever understand how people can dance and/or move around to music and completely fuck up trying to stay on beat. You’re listening to the music! It’s right there! People are “yeeting” to Jey’s entrance music, and several folks are shown fighting for their lives to stay with the music. It’s a tragedy. Wrestling fans are truly a special breed.
If you’re keeping track, the opening bell is heard 19 minutes after the hour. Honestly, that’s earlier than I expected it to happen.
Jey is coming out hot to start the match, keeping the pace up. It goes along with his “I’m not afraid of you anymore” promo. I dig it.
Even with the pace, something to keep an eye on is Jey’s arm. He has been favoring it, even before the match began. It has people wondering if he somehow hurt himself during his entrance, which would be a ridiculously cruel twist. Maybe it’s the adrenaline, but Jey doesn’t seem like it’s anything serious. Again, though, it’s something to keep an eye on.
A PHYSICAL strike battle between both men saw Jey hold his own for a lengthy period of time. He was taking Gunther’s best and firing back with bombs of his own.
Whoa. What in the world? Jey had used a few of Gunther’s own moves against him here, but we just saw a finish that seemingly came out of nowhere. The challenger locked Gunther in a sleeper, and Gunther tapped out relatively fast. We have a brand new World Heavyweight Champion! I’m not surprised that Gunther lost here, but to lose by tapping out, and doing so that quickly? That stunned me. Yes, it came after three consecutive top rope splashes, as well as a powerbomb and a spear, but my point remains… I didn’t see a tap out coming at all.
The match was a really fun opener, getting the crowd excited and giving people the feel-good result. I’ll take it. 3.75 Stars
After the match, Jimmy Uso gets in the ring, and the brothers hug, with tears welling up in the eyes of both men. They “yeet” with the crowd in an amazing visual.
The Viking Raiders vs The New Day – WWE World Tag Team Title Match
Michael Cole says that Xavier Woods is 0-6 at WrestleMania, while Kofi Kingston is 2-13 at the event. That’s not exactly great, but they can make up for it with a win here. Well, Woods can make up for it. Kofi won the WWE Title at WrestleMania 35, so he’ll always have that to lean on.
LOL @ Pat McAfee doing the “RAWWWWW IS WARRRRR… RAIDERS” bit, only for Woi Bar-ruh to correctly point out that this is WrestleMania, not Raw.
Near disaster, as Ivar seemed to slip on the top rope as he performed a Moonsault on Kofi. He rotated and landed the move (albeit more on Kofi’s legs than anything else), but it looked ugly for a moment.
Xavier gets the pin on Ivar as Kofi holds Ivar’s leg down behind the ref’s back. We have brand new World Tag Team Champions. The crowd didn’t really react to much of anything in this one, including the title change. That’s probably not a good sign.
The match was good. Good, not great, but it got the point across. Physical work from all four men. The title change makes sense. Nothing against Erik and Ivar, but Kofi and Woods as the champions make the titles a lot more interesting. 3.25 Stars
Jade Cargill vs Naomi
This is the first non-title women’s singles match at WrestleMania since Torrie Wilson faced Candice Michelle in a Playboy Pillow Fight at WrestleMania 22. It is the third (counting the aforementioned WM22 match and Terri Runnels vs The Kat in a Catfight at WrestleMania 16) such match in the history of the event, and the first ever to not feature an attached stipulation.
Jade is a freak of nature. She just caught a diving Naomi, who was almost completely horizontal in the air, powered her up into a vertical position, and then delivered a Jackhammer. That shouldn’t be possible to do to another grown human being. My goodness.
The match was something that certainly happened. I don’t know what I was expecting, but the match wasn’t much of anything. As expected, Jade Cargill picks up the win. Outside of a couple power spots from Jade, nothing is going to be remembered. It wasn’t terrible or anything. Just… kinda there. Expect to see a lot of “Jade isn’t ready” takes coming soon, even if she didn’t have a bad performance here. 2.5 Stars
LA Knight vs Jacob Fatu – WWE United States Title Match
Fatu makes his entrance wearing a cool looking werewolf mask, accompanied (at least to the stage) by Solo Sikoa. Solo is very fired up, acting as a hype man. It was cool to see them say they loved each other before hugging, right before Solo walked to the back.
The crowd has been pretty dead since the opening match ended. That’s a major problem for a show like this. It shouldn’t be a huge surprise, though. The price of WrestleMania tickets means that less true fans are in the building than usual, and that there are more celebrities, influencers, and rich businesspeople there.
Dueling chants of “Let’s go, Fatu” and “LA Knight” from the crowd, who are getting more into this one as it goes on. As I typed that, Fatu kicks out of a BFT, drawing a HUGE “Fatu” chant. His work has really started to win over these fans.
After two beautiful Moonsaults from the top rope, Jacob Fatu wins the match to become the brand new United States Champion. The first one to congratulate him? Uncle Tonga himself, Haku, who shows up at ringside to give love to the new champion. 3.5 Stars. The match had a relatively slow start, but picked up nicely as it went on, getting the crowd’s attention. Big night for the Anoa’i family, with Jey Uso winning the World Heavyweight Title and now Jacob Fatu winning the United States Title. Can Roman Reigns keep it going in tonight’s main event?
Rey Fenix vs El Grande Americano
I feel terrible for Rey Mysterio. At the age of 50, it’s safe to say he probably doesn’t have a ton of WrestleMania matches left in him. For him to get injured 24 hours before Mania is really sad.
I have it on good authority that the man under the El Grande Americano mask is none other than the returning Rusev. That would explain his lengthy absence, as he traveled to Mexico to learn and master the Lucha culture.
Before the match, EGA gets in the face of Vikingo, who is in the front row to help promote WWE’s acquisition of AAA. Vikingo ends up kicking EGA in the face, though. On Rusev Day, no less. Side note… it’s SO FUCKING WEIRD to see Vikingo on WWE programming.
EGA just hit a reverse 450 Senton! What in the holy hell? That was fantastic.
You know what isn’t fantastic? Rey Fenix takes the loss, two weeks after making his WWE debut. EGA puts the metal plate in his mask and uses it to get the win. The match was good, but it was obviously thrown together at the last minute, and you could tell. It didn’t reach the ten-minute mark, and I don’t even think it hit eight minutes. There were some fun spots while the match lasted, but Rey Mysterio’s injury really threw a wrench into things. 3 Stars
Tiffany Stratton vs Charlotte Flair – WWE Women’s Title Match
Who’s ready for a shoot?!?
How about a “shoot” instead?
At the sound of the opening bell, it has degenerated into a cat fight. They’re beating the hell out of each other already.
The crowd has gotten into this one early. They’re celebrating Tiffy Time, and they really dislike Charlotte. As much as they dislike Charlotte, they still deliver loud “WHOO” chants whenever she delivers a chop.
I like that they’ve kept up the physical action. Tiffany appears to have a bloody lip.
Now Tiffany has a welt on her forehead to go with that bloody lip. This is when the Charlotte haters will chime in that she’s “dangerous” or “unprofessional,” I would assume.
A Prettiest Moonsault Ever that lives up to its name wins it for the champion. I guess Charlotte can’t be that “unprofessional,” huh? Upon closer look, Tiffany seems to be bleeding from inside her mouth, not her lip. Either way, this was definitely a physical battle. Good stuff from both women here. 3.5 Stars
Upon even closer look, it looks like Tiffany has at least one broken tooth. Ouch.
CM Punk vs Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns – Triple Threat Match
Main event time.
Rollins with the white and gold ring gear. Some of the greatest performances of his WWE career have been in matches where white was the main color of his ring gear. He’s ready for this one.
Roman is wearing wrestling boots that are inspired by the Jordan 11 “Concord” colorway. He continues his unofficial official partnership with the Jordan brand. Very cool stuff.
As expected, Living Colour is here to play “Cult Of Personality” for CM Punk’s entrance. Always cool to see Corey Glover, Vernon Reid, Will Calhoun, and Doug Wimbish killing it like they always do. Vernon Reid is still my favorite guitarist of all-time.
They’re taking advantage of the fact that there are no disqualifications in Triple Threats. Punk and Rollins brawled through the crowd, hitting each other with multiple objects including a steel chair and a trash can. Back at ringside, Roman has used the giant Prime bottle as a weapon on Seth’s back.
Doomsday Device! Roman had Seth on his shoulders, allowing Punk to come off the top with a clothesline, turning Rollins inside out.
Punk and Roman with the “boo/yay” punch-off, with Punk clearly getting the “yays” out of the crowd.
The build for this has been very personal and hate-fueled. That has allowed for things here to be very physical, and more of a fight than a wrestling match.
Rollins turns a Roman Spear attempt into a Pedigree, then delivers a Stomp to Roman for 2.99999, and the crowd lost their mind. Incredible back-to-back spots there.
Roman goes to hit Punk with a Spear, but Punk dodges, and Roman hits Rollins. Punk capitalizes with a GTS on Reigns… for 2.99999, and the crowd loses their mind again.
Rollins is trying to build up a pairing with Reigns, saying that they should team up and take the “outsider” (Punk, of course) out. Roman, with welts on his face in multiple spots, looks like he agrees to a Shield Bomb on the announce table, but he punches Seth and delivers a Powerbomb to Punk onto the table on his own. He follows it up with another Powerbomb to Rollins onto the Spanish announce table. A Spear to Rollins gets another 2.99999 count. This is wild.
LOL @ Paul Heyman, drenched in sweat, nearly collapsed on the ring steps as Rollins kicks out of a GTS from Punk. Dude is spent.
Heyman, looking completely conflicted, grabs a steel chair from the timekeeper’s area. He stares at Roman, then stares at Punk. He slides the chair to Punk, but he gets in the ring and hits Punk in the Little Phils just as Punk was set to hit Roman with the chair. Heyman berates Punk for making him “choose,” saying that Roman is his Tribal Chief. Roman gets the chair and hits Punk with it.
Heyman directs Roman to hit a fallen Rollins with the chair, only to hit Roman in the Little Joes. Heyman hands Rollins the chair. Wow. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be a heel turn, but the crowd is still loudly “singing” to Seth’s music.
A chair shot to the back of Roman, followed by a Stomp, gives Rollins the pin and the win. Helluva match, featuring the finish that many people predicted, whether you think it makes sense or not. On commentary, Michael Cole is certainly painting it like it was a heel turn for Rollins, saying that Seth “sold his soul” to advance in the business once again.
Either way, this was a great match. 4.5 Stars, completely saving the show with its first real WrestleMania worthy match.
LOL @ the cameras showing the referee whispering something in Punk’s ear as Punk was on the mat, and then Punk laughing. Whoops.
We go off the air with Rollins, chair in hand, staring back at his two fallen opponents from the ramp as Heyman looks on. The start of the after show sees Punk and Roman sitting in the ring, with a mixture of anger and sadness. Roman looks as if he’s ready to cry.
LOL @ some random woman in the crowd screaming at Roman as he walks up the ramp, continuously telling him how much she loves him, as well as some other things that I couldn’t quite make out.
Well… as an overall show, this probably isn’t going to go down as one of the best WrestleMania events of all-time. It was plenty newsworthy, though, with three title changes, a wild heel (?) turn, and a good setup for tomorrow night’s show.
I’m giving the show a recommendation if you haven’t seen it yet, but temper your expectations a bit.
