Well, Mania 42 was back for its encore, its 2nd day yesterday live from Las Vegas. The card was just as evenly if not a little more stacked Sunday night even though it was one match shorter than Saturdays. Mania 42 Saturday had some big moments and high spots don’t get me wrong, but it still felt like it left a little to be desired in the long term. My full review for Night 1 is up and available to read on the page now as well though so check it out if you haven’t already because we’re here to talk about WrestleMania Sunday! The show started off with one of the most anticipated matchups of the weekend, a battle of the beasts as Oba Femi went one-on-one with Brock Lesnar. This has been an intriguing build because Brock’s back has been up against the wall for nearly the entire time with Oba getting the upper hand on him every time the 2 come face to face, a position we’re not used to seeing ‘The Beast’ in. Lesnar was a bit too cocky coming into this Mania season because he’s never met his match power and overall dominance wise in the ring…until he ran into Oba Femi. The 2 had a couple tests of strength to start the match with Oba getting the upper hand on Brock in every exchange before sending him out of the ring reeling. Brock looked confused and angry on the outside of the ring before sending Oba into the steel post and steel steps to gain the upper hand. Back in the ring, Brock took Oba to Suplex City with his signature Germans before connecting with an F-5 and posing in front of the crowd. Oba got right back up to his feet following the F-5 though, shocking Brock before he was dropped with a chokeslam and a ‘Fall from Grace’ by Oba for the pin and win. The crowd popped big for Oba following the 3 count and following the match Brock left his gloves and boots in the ring before having a heartfelt goodbye with Paul Heyman. They’re teasing that this was the end for Brock, and maybe it was, but with SummerSlam being in his hometown and Gunther already talking about ‘a favor’ with Paul Heyman, I really hope we see a Gunther/Lesnar match at SummerSlam this year still. Maybe I’m in the minority there, but I love Gunther and he is ‘The Career Killer’ after all, plus I feel like he could bring Brock to a good match and really leave it all out there for his final time. That’s my hope but time will tell. Regardless of how it goes, this was a huge rub to Oba Femi from Brock and a huge vote of confidence from the company as a whole. Cool moment.
Next up was the 6-Man Ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship between champ Penta, Rey Mysterio, JD McDonaugh, Rusev, Dragon Lee, & Je’Von Evans. This match basically was just thrown together with no build but that didn’t matter once the match got in the ring, it delivered tenfold and was awesome. As you’d expect given the participants involved, but still. It was a lot of high spots and flying around the ring, but that’s also to be expected given the participants and that it’s a ladder match at WrestleMania. Rey had on some cool Deadpool inspired alternate Mania attire. Je’Von shined bright in this match, hitting a springboard clothesline to JD off the ladder early on in the matchup. Rey Mysterio and Dragon Lee went at it throughout the contest with Rey hitting a 619 on Dragon while his head was dangled between the rungs of a ladder and Dragon connecting with a Styles Clash onto Rey at one point as well. Rey was sent out of the ring by Penta only to incidentally hit a ‘West Coast Pop’ onto Rusev through a ladder that was set up between the announce table and ring apron. Penta and JD fought on top of a ladder until Penta delivered a Mexican Destroyer to JD off the top of a ladder and onto another one that was set up below it in a crazy spot. Je’Von found himself all alone in the ring and made the climb for the belt until Rusev made his way back into the ring and took the ladder out from under him leaving Je’Von dangling high above the ring by the belt before he dropped and fell into an OG cutter on Rusev. Penta came back just in time to nail Je’Von with a Mexican Destroyer and make the climb up the ladder to retain his championship. This was a hell of a match and a great way to end the first hour free on ESPN. They gave a hell of an hour away for free Sunday with Oba/Brock and this match, but I don’t know maybe it worked and ended up enticing people to tune into the rest.
Next up, the more hated by the day Sami Zayn defended his United States Championship against Trick Williams. They built this story really well and I was honestly kind of looking forward to this matchup, but I was hoping this wasn’t going to be their only match and that the story would kind of continue from here, but from the outcome and the payoff their rivalry may be done for now. They came out the gate hot, which should’ve been my indication that this match was going to be way shorter than it should’ve been, and they traded back and forth offense the first few minutes of the match. Lil Yachty got tossed into the barricade early by Sami before he hit a brutal Brainbuster on Trick on the apron. He followed up with a Helluva Kick to Trick over the barricade and nearly won the match by a count out. Trick fought back off a momentary distraction by Yachty and hit a Trick Kick for a near fall. Sami regained the upper hand and sent Trick into the turnbuckle with his patented exploder before lining up the Helluva, Trick caught him with a Trick Shot instead and got the 1-2-3 to become new United States Champion. This was fine, it just felt very rushed given the good story that we had been telling going in. They honestly would’ve been given more time on a random Smackdown to pay this off, but the match itself was fine and went the way it went. Trick Willy got his big payoff and Mania moment and hopefully this catapults a heel Sami into the world title picture soon.
Then it was Street Fight time as ‘Dirty’ Dominik Mysterio went up against ‘Demon’ Balor. This was a cool story coming into it. It could’ve been better told after the actual turning of the Judgment Day on Finn Balor happened, but all the history between Finn and Dom up to this point in time was nearly enough and the betrayal of the actual jumping that the Judgment Day gave Finn was enough to bring out that darker alter ego within him, the Demon, again. This match honestly was better than I initially thought. When it was just supposed to be a singles match I kind of figured the Demon was going to come in here and eat Dom and that would be the big Mania payoff moment, but after the Street Fight was announced last minute, I figured that may not be the plans. Dom put in a lot more offense and this was a lot more of a match than I figure, but I certainly wasn’t mad at that. Dom used the stipulation to his advantage and introduced chairs and kendo sticks into the match early to subside his fear of facing the Demon. Dom sent Balor through a table set up in the corner of the ring before hitting a 619 on him with a chair wrapped around his neck followed up by a Frog Splash but only got a 2-count. Dom tried to keep the Demon down with chair shots, but it just wasn’t going to happen as Balor wore him out with chair shots before connecting with a brutal looking Shotgun Dropkick with a chair wrapped around Dom’s head, followed up with a Coup de Grace through a table for the win. This was a cool, brutal match. The right guy got the win and it was neat seeing the Demon back for a special appearance at a big show. No need to overcomplicate it.
The WWE Women’s Championship was on the line next as Jade Cargill put her title on the line against the one, Rhea Ripley. Jade tried to establish a dominance early on, using the outside area and her surroundings to her advantage. She hit some of her signature power moves on Rhea, but the usual formulas weren’t getting the job done on her as she continued to kick out and fight back. Rhea began a comeback and the 2 went back and forth for a handful of minutes, but Jade looked good as she continued to stay a step ahead of Rhea at times and bring the offense to her. Rhea gained the upper hand and had Jade up for a Razor’s Edge, when Jade’s cronies Michin & B-Fab made their presence known ringside. Michin distracted the ref as B-Fab saved Jade from the move. As Rhea was distracted by them, she took a cheap shot, and Jade capitalized by hitting a Sandstorm for a near fall. Iyo Sky hit the ring backing up Rhea and took out Michin and B-Fab on the outside of the ring. As Jade was distracted by Iyo’s involvement, Rhea came from behind and hit her with a big boot followed up by a Riptide for the pin and win to become the new WWE Women’s Champion. This was one of Jade’s best matches in WWE, it’s either this or her match against Tiffany at SummerSlam last year, but she looked great in both contests. If we can get this version of Jade more often she has a lot of promise in the long haul in this business, I know she had excellent dance partners in both these matches but even still. She delivered in the biggest of stages so that says something. Not one of Rhea’s best Mania matches ever however, but it was still a good one and she picked up the win and the title again. Just could’ve done without all the distractions I guess, at least we got Iyo Sky at Mania in some capacity though if nothing else.
John Cena, the host of this year’s WrestleMania, came out to read off the attendance numbers for the weekend and thank everyone for coming to another WrestleMania. He was soon interrupted by The Miz and Kit Wilson only for Danhausen to make his way to the ring flanked by a band of mini-Danhausens and driving a Danhausen-mobile to the ring. Danhausen wanted the opportunity to shake Cena’s hand and tell him what a big fan he was before Kit Wilson pushed over one of the mini-Hausens causing all hell to break loose. Danhausen then sicked the minis on Kit Wilson before hitting a 5-Knuckle Shuffle on The Miz in front of Cena. He then unsuccessfully tried to disappear following a random puff of smoke before rolling under the ring with all the minis causing a bewildered Cena to say “Man. I love retirement.” through laughter.
Then it was time for the main event, and boy what a main event it was! The Best in the World CM Punk in his very first Night 2 WrestleMania main event of his career put his World Heavyweight Championship on the line against a man who’s walked these roads many times before, in his 11th WrestleMania main event, the OTC Roman Reigns. The 2 started at a pretty slow pace but I wasn’t upset by that. Just made me figure we were in for the long haul in this match and boy were we. The 2 exchanged offense all while talking trash in the beginning moments of the match. Roman was the first one to drop some heavy hitters after busting Punk open on the steel steps and following up with a pair of Superman punches and a running powerbomb through one of the announce tables. Punk caught Roman on his way back into the ring once and dropped him with a GTS for a near fall. He attempted another one but Roman wiggled free and hit a Spear for a near fall of his own. Reigns then tried to steal Punk’s signature (shades of last night) and hit a GTS of his own but Punk wiggled free also and connected with a Superman Punch to Reigns. Punk started feeling himself a bit too much maybe then and took a replica Ula Fala from a fan in the crowd before attempting Roman’s Spear on him. Roman reversed the Spear into a guillotine that stopped Punk in his tracks though he eventually got back out of it. Punk tossed his wrist tape at Roman, momentarily distracting the ref as he cleared the ring, and Punk capitalized with a low blow to Roman followed up by another GTS but still couldn’t keep him down for the full 3. Punk sent Roman to the outside and dropped him through an announce table of his own with an elbow drop, but both the men had reached a point of exhaustion in the contest that neither could capitalize. Punk brought a lifeless Roman back into the ring and attempted a GTS but collapsed from the pure exhaustion and physicality of the matchup. Reigns got to his feet first and hit a Spear on Punk, followed up by a Super-Spear after double rebounding off the ropes before connecting and laid him down officially for the 3.
The main event was absolutely awesome. I really had no personal fight in the match; I like both Punk and Roman decently well. Neither are like my guys particularly, maybe Punk a little more myself, but I highly respect and enjoy what both have brought to and done for the business. I called Roman to win, but was just hoping for a well wrestled, well told, long, physical, duke it out, hell of a main event matchup and that’s exactly what was given to me. I’m so happy there was no outside interference or shenanigans in this match and they just let these 2 go at it and bring the house down for 30 minutes. I have hardly anything negative to say about that match. For once the main event truly was the best match on the card, that’s not always the case at WrestleMania, but it was this year.
Match Ratings: 1-10 scale (.25’s applicable)
- Brock Lesnar vs Oba Femi- 8/10
- 6-Man Ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship: Penta (c) vs Rey Mysterio vs JD McDonaugh vs Rusev vs Dragon Lee vs Je’Von Evans- 9/10
- United States Championship match: Sami Zayn (c) vs Trick Williams- 6/10
- Street Fight: ‘Dirty’ Dominik Mysterio vs ‘Demon’ Balor- 7.5/10
- WWE Women’s Championship match: Jade Cargill (c) vs Rhea Ripley- 7.5/10
- World Heavyweight Championship match: CM Punk (c) vs Roman Reigns- 10/10
That’s going to do it for this one though folks! Make sure to like my page on social media or come back to the website often to keep up with all my latest posts over WWE, horror films (new & classic), newly released movies, NFL, and more! Thank you and until next time, be good to one another!
