Night one of WrestleMania goes Hollywood is in the books and what a special one it was! Let’s break down and review night one. For clarification, I’ll be using the ol Dave Meltzer five star scale for this, and unlike Dave, I won’t go higher than 5. I’ll also rate the show as a whole on a scale of 1-10. Let’s get into it.
John Cena vs Austin Theory for the WWE United States Championship
Was it weird to see John Cena bring out make a wish kids to see him lose? Possibly, but hey the gesture was really sweet. This was really a glorified squash match, with Theory being the argressor basically the whole match. The real life reason is probably something like John Cena has a fast and furious movie to promote right around the corner and didn’t want to do too much, so the fact that he even agreed to do the match is nice enough. Fun match to start the show with but not something we’ll be talking about years from now.
RATING: 2*
Braun Strowman & Ricochet vs. The Street Profits vs. Alpha Academy vs. Viking Raiders.
A fun spectacle match, there was flips from little guys, jumps from big guys, and even Vikings. These types of matches are always fun because the entire purpose of it is to entertain the crowd and do a bunch of fun stuff. The right team won as well as the Street Profits really needed the win and got exactly that.
RATING: 4*
Seth Rollins vs. Logan Paul
I mean what a fun match. I said this one had underrated banger potential and we got exactly that. Rollins showed off his technical prowess and Paul showed off his insane athleticism and just natural ability. The highlight of the match was when the person in the prime energy costume was revealed to be another YouTube sensation KSI who was there to help Logan Paul. However right as Paul was getting ready to hit a frog splash on Rollins on the announce table, Rollins pulled KSI and Paul frog splashed KSI through the table causing KSI to retreat into the prime bottle. Rollins was able to capitalize from there and get a much needed victory. A fun match.
RATING: 4*
Becky Lynch, Lita & Trish Stratus vs. Damage CTRL.
Another one I got wrong, and I’m actually going to stick to my guns on this one. You already had a ton of feel good moments for the show, it’s okay to let the bad guys win in one match at least. Damage CTRL takes another loss and really has about no momentum anymore at the expense of Lita and Trish who probably won’t be around by Summerslam, really wish Damage CTRL won, but that’s wrestling I suppose.
RATING: 3*
Dominik Mysterio vs Rey Mysterio
In my predictions piece here I actually predicted a low rider but not for Rey, so seeing that, along with Snoop Dogg accompanying Rey was amazing. Dominik’s entrance was amazing as well going all in on the prison stuff. It really has no right to be as good as it is but man Dominik has done a great job of pulling this off. Dominik did such a great job being a little douchebag and Michael Cole is just incredible describing his pure disgust in Dominik. I thought Dom would win but as the match went on it was clear that for this night, and especially with the dawn of the Latino World Order making a comeback and an assist from Bad Bunny, it was a fun moment to have Rey win and celebrate with his family, at least the people in his family he didn’t beat up that is.
RATING: 3.75*
Charlotte Flair vs Rhea Ripley for the WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship.
An absolute classic. These two built on their incredible match from the COVID Mania in 2020 and made this one a special one. Yes watching Charlotte continue to win title after title can get a bit old but there’s no doubt that she shows the hell out when the lights are at their brightest. These two brought it in an epic back and forth match that featured almost 3 broken neck spots and a ton of physicality. Rhea finally gets her big moment as well in a huge victory for her and a huge moment in Women’s wrestling history.
RATING: 5*
IMPROMTU MATCH: Pat McAfee vs The Miz
The cooldown before the main event, Pat McAfee interrupted The Miz and challenged him to a match and thanks to WWE Official and Doggfather of WWE Snoop Dogg, we got it. Not really anything to write home about, a fun match with a fun George Kittle cameo to help McAfee win.
RATING: 2*
The Usos vs Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship.
Tag team wrestling main events the first night of WrestleMania and what an epic this was. An incredible combination of storytelling and in ring ability paying off in an all time classic that will be talked about for years to come. These four men understood their the task and the moment and thoroughly delivered. The storytelling of the match with the false finishes harkened back to when Triple H was booking NXT, it was a thrill ride from start to finish and the end of it, with Sami finally putting away Jey Uso and ending the history making tag team reign of the Uso’s with an epic third Helluva kick to win the match. What an emotional finish and an incredible way to cap off night one of a classic.
RATING: 5*
OVERALL SHOW: 9/10
This was an amazing show. WWE is on absolute fire right now and when you enter a show with a ton of momentum, the payoff for it will follow through and that’s what we got. If night 1 was this good, then man are we in for something special for night 2 as we bring it home.