Cody Rhodes wraps up his story in WWE WrestleMania 40 Review in todays Wrestling news
Bryan Rose recaps the two nights of WrestleMania.
Cody Rhodes’ ending to his story at WWE WrestleMania forty on Sunday was the most predicable WWE could have done. It worked because it was predictable.
In a match that was conducted under Bloodline rules and involving Roman Reigns, Rhodes won the WWE Universal Championship. This ended Reigns’ 1316-day reign. It was an incredible match that finally culminated two years of storytelling. This would never have happened under Vince McMahon, but it did happen during Triple H’s reign.
The first 20 minutes of the match were filled with good WWE action. Then, Jimmy Uso appeared. Then, Solo Sikoa came out. John Cena was beaten by Sikoa in the previous year’s match. This year, he is out to get revenge. The Rock then came to lay Cena out, but The Undertaker chokeslammed The Rock. Cody then hit Reigns with three Crossroads, causing a huge reaction.
After Cody won, there was a wonderful celebration with his family, Triple H and Bruce Prichard, as well as all the other babyfaces who were eliminated by Reigns in the last three year. It was the most satisfying finish to a WWE show I’ve seen in years. This main event will probably be surpassed by many matches on a technical basis this year. In terms of presentation, story and build, it was one the best matches WWE has had in a long time.
Booking pro wrestling isn’t difficult. Book talent that the fans want to win and sign them. Then book them against heels you want to lose. Vince McMahon, especially during the last decade of his reign, could not book a babyface. It was all about the heat. He booked terrible, terrible wrestling, with disappointing finishes, to the point that he couldn’t book anything happy during the pandemic. It was one of the worst events to happen to the world in decades.
All weekend, I heard the phrase “it is a new era for WWE” probably because the company forced that phrase down everyone’s throat. But what do you know? This time, unlike all the times WWE has promised change, it feels like a brand new era. An era in which storylines are rewarded. One where there is no more book-against-the-crowd and the stories actually make sense. Things work out. Triple H had an easy job convincing people that things have changed. By the end of Sunday he achieved this goal.
I’ll quickly go through the rest of the cards since I already talked about the story that everyone is interested in. Here we go!
The rest of Saturday night’s first:
The main event on night one was incredibly boring. The Rock and Roman Reigns beat Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins, in one of the slowest main event matches that I have seen for quite some time. They just kept wrestling. They just kept doing things until finally The Rock pinned Cody Rhodes. This is a sign of a possible singles match between these two. Rock looked great, you got to watch him wrestle for an incredibly long time, and he didn’t look out of place. This match would have been great if it was only 20 minutes longer. It was a dull, 40-minute bore.
Sami Zayn vs. Gunther was a fantastic presentation and the highlight of the night. Everyone told their story so beautifully, from Zayn hugging family members before entering the ring to Gunther harassing Zayn’s wife at the ringside. The match itself was the perfect David vs. Goliath fight. Zayn’s first turnbuckle brainbuster in years was also an impressive sight.
Rhea Ripley and Becky Lynch were good, but both had better WrestleMania matchups. This was a typical big WWE match, where everyone hit their finishers and scored big nearfalls. I expected Ripley would win and she did, as there is no one on the Raw roster that can match her aura.
The ladder match was used to separate the Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Titles. Awesome Truth won the Raw titles, while Grayson Waller and Austin Theory claimed the SmackDown Tag Team Titles. The match was good, with a lot atypical ladder scenes and some brutal ones. It felt like the same thing towards the end with one team climbing up the ladder and another team taking them down, rinse, and repeat. It was a good finish, as it was probably about time for Judgment Day’s tag title scene to be over. The next day’s situation proved this.
I don’t really have anything to say about Rey Mysterio and Andrade vs. Dominik Mysterio and Santos Escobar or Damage CTRL vs. Jade Cargill vs. Bianca Belair vs. Naomi. Both matches were a little bit there and didn’t seem like they were big-time matches. The matches did their job, however, as Philadelphia Eagles stars Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, and Cargill looked strong in her WrestleMania début.
I didn’t feel the Uso vs. Uso Match going into WrestleMania. I thought that there should have been more heat in this match because it was a brother-vs-brother one. I was surprised at how flat the match turned out to be. Jey and Jimmy had a nothing-match in front of an audience that didn’t care. Jey won. There’s nothing more to say, and it’s sad that a feud has lasted months.
The rest of the night two:
The match between Seth Rollins vs Drew McIntyre started off very well with McIntyre capturing the World Heavyweight Title…for a little while. Punk attacked CM Punk after mocking him at ringside. Damian Priest was able to cash in on the opportunity and win the World Heavyweight Championship. It’s going to be interesting to see how McIntyre reacts to the loss, and who will challenge the new World Heavyweight Champion.
Lashley and The Street Profits defeated the Final Testament in a Philadelphia Street Fight. Bubba Ray Dudley acted as the referee. It was a weapons game. It was fine. The Final Testament is not over. Next!
LA Knight defeated AJ Styles, and I thought it was a better match than expected. Styles isn’t my favorite anymore, but both looked great and had a great match.
Logan Paul retained the United States title by beating Kevin Owens and Randy Orton. I expected this finish, as it was assumed that Paul would be wrestling in Saudi Arabia the following month. It was a good match, even though I’m old enough to not know who iShowSpeed is. He was in this year’s Prime bottle and was beaten by Orton.
Bayley won the WWE Women’s Title in a great match. The final minutes were excellent, and I thought it was better than Women’s World Title match from the previous evening. Good chemistry and heat.
WrestleMania is over! We’ll see what WWE does next. All I can say, is that the Raw following WrestleMania will not be as bad as last years show. I think.
Cody Rhodes wraps up his story in WWE WrestleMania 40 Review in todays Wrestling news, Chatalong Chatbox, Results will be Hidden inside a spoiler Button so you will not bet spoiled about direct results.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~