Brock Lesnar was dethroned as Roman Reigns once again reigned supreme in a WrestleMania main event, after some Vince McMahon madness on night two.
Reigns unified the two world titles by pinning Lesnar out of nowhere, once again putting him on top of the WWE with questions over where they go next, given how dominant those two have been over every other member of the roster.
Before that, ex-NFL punter turned commentator Pat McAfee was brilliant in his match with Austin Theory, but then things got wild as 76-year-old McMahon called for an impromptu match.
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The frail WWE chairman won before his old rival ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin came down and gave him a stunner for old times’ stake.
The Sunday (US time) show was not as strong as Saturday’s, but certainly felt big-time in the last two segments.
MANIA REPORT CARD: McMahon’s bizarre cameo; Ronda’s missed redemption creates a puzzle
NIGHT ONE WRAP: Austin’s 19-year comeback stuns, Rousey shocked in title bout
1:49pm – Roman Reigns def Brock Lesnar
After escaping a lengthy Kimura submission, Reigns got out of an F5 and speared Lesnar out of nowhere for the three count to unify the WWE and Universal titles.
This was exactly what you imagined when you thought about what this match would be in your head coming into the show, but the ending was quite abrupt, and there’s absolutely no sign of a new plan at the top of the company other than Reigns dominating. ***1/2
Reigns came out first and told everyone to acknowledge him in his funny deep voice, before he and Lesnar traded booming ring intros, Reigns’ coming from Paul Heyman, Lesnar doing his own.
The match quickly moved into the classic Lesnar PPV style, with finishers and big moves being traded.
Heyman suckered Lesnar into being speared through the ringside barricade, then he copped a second spear in the ring but kicked out.
Two Superman Punches, no pin attempt, Lesnar began the suplexes. (By the way, ‘Suplex City’ was going on when these two had a WrestleMania main event seven years ago. Feeling old?)
Spear reversed into an F5, two count. Reigns speared both Lesnar and the ref in the corner, then hit a low blow and whacked him with the title, two count.
There was a weird bump where Reigns kinda speared Lesnar in the side and it looked more like a bulldog.
So… Reigns vs The Rock next year, hey?
1:13pm – Pat McAfee def Austin Theory, then Vince McMahon def Pat McAfee
It’s not a shock because he wrestled a couple of times in NXT before becoming a commentator on SmackDown, but McAfee is pretty damn good in the ring.
Theory went for his finisher but McAfee rolled him up and got the three. He might’ve been the most over guy on the show, by the way. This was fun! ***3/4
Mr McMahon came out first – the original rumour was that he’d be wrestling McAfee here, though they thankfully chose to avoid that potential disaster – to introduce Theory.
McAfee came out to Seven Nation Army (aka the song they play at US sports events), which was smart because that song is super over, and punted a ball into the stands (that you, Snitsky?).
McAfee did the old Booker T in TNA gimmick of talking on commentary while wrestling, missed a giant Swanton Bomb from the top but successfully backflipped after a superplex attempt, then leapt back up and hit it in an awesome spot.
McMahon then took off his shirt to reveal the old black tank top and got in the ring… as a referee appeared and after Theory hit McAfee from behind, the ref rang the bell and a match started.
They slowly moved around for a while as the 76-year-old McMahon took no bumps, and then punted a ball into McAfee’s guts for the three. This ‘match’ was bizarre. NO RATING
Of course it was all a set-up for Stone Cold to come out again and give Theory, and then Vince a stunner. (Theory’s sell was amazing, Vince’s… was the worst in history. Worse than any than Linda ever took.)
McAfee celebrated with Austin but of course got stunned. This segment was awesome then weird then awesome again.
The main event is next.
12:27pm – Sheamus and Ridge Holland def The New Day
Kofi copped a Brogue Kick on the outside as ‘Butch’ – Pete Dunne – kept getting involved. Sheamus gave Woods a Brogue Kick when the ref wasn’t looking and Holland pinned Woods.
A very basic TV match and the New Day, who were wearing Big E tribute gear after they showed a replay of Big E having his neck broken, were beaten in two minutes. Yeah. **
Another Hall of Fame celebration followed – Undertaker came out again – before Pat McAfee v Austin Theory, then the Lesnar-Reigns main event.
12:22pm – Another claimed attendance figure
They declared 78,453 fans were in the building for WrestleMania Sunday, more than Saturday’s 77,899.
In reality 65,653 tickets were distributed (with fewer tickets than that sold) for the show according to WrestleTix, slightly fewer than last night. (So Lesnar-Reigns didn’t draw a bigger crowd than Austin, interesting.)
New Day v Sheamus/Ridge Holland is next.
12:16pm – Edge def AJ Styles thanks to distraction
This was a traditional, semi-main event WrestleMania singles match. But it was also pretty slow and it lacked heat because of that.
And then we got a TV finish. Damian Priest distracted AJ and thus delayed him before going for a Phenomenal Forearm, Edge hit a mid-air spear and pinned him. Priest celebrated with Edge afterwards.
A distraction finish at WrestleMania. Seriously? The more invested you are in these two, the more you would’ve liked it, but this finish weighed down the match heavily. ***
We’re happy for you if you’re enjoying this Evil Edge character but all we’ll say is he was a better actor in Money Plane.
As Styles made his way to the ring, he was seen bleeding from the face leaving the commentators confused.
Multiple pro wrestling writers reported Styles was hit by his own fireworks.
11:39am – Sasha Banks and Naomi def Zelina and Carmella, Ripley and Morgan, Natalya and Baszler for the tag titles
The two actual stars in this match, Banks and Ripley, got a reasonable pop starting things off. Some nice spots including stereo multi-woman superplexes.
This was otherwise your typical multi-team, everyone-in-and-out-of-the-ring, pins broken up constantly PPV match.
Carmella kicked out of a Banks frog splash before Zelina broke up a Bank Statement. Meteora on the outside, a finisher we can only explain as a combination Glam Slam/Codebreaker and Banks pins Carmella to win the titles for her and Naomi.
Correct call because Banks is arguably their biggest women’s star (even if they won’t present her as such), plus this is her first Mania win in seven attempts. ***
Edge v Styles is next.
11:15am – Johnny Knoxville def Sami Zayn
This was so good and so dumb and Sami Zayn is the best. ****
Also worth calling out here: Michael Cole and Pat McAfee were tremendous on commentary. What a joy to watch.
Knoxville took a Helluva Kick to open the match and that was the end of the wrestling portion of this contest.
Items used in this match: Fire extinguisher, cookie sheet, crutch, trash can and lids, stop sign, table (Knoxville took an exploder suplex through it), airhorn, table covered in mouse traps (Zayn flew through it from the top rope), a special machine with a fake leg on it to kick Zayn in the balls, bowling ball (to hit Zayn in the balls), that giant hand from Jackass, tongs (to Zayn’s balls), taser, human-sized mouse trap.
‘Party Boy’ Pontius showed up and stripped down to his underwear (and got compared to Naked Mideon – nice one, Cole) and grinded on Zayn. Then Zayn pushed Pontius under the ring but Wee Man came out and kicked him in the shins before giving him a body slam (very well taken by Zayn).
Tornado DDT by Knoxville got a two. Zayn went up to the top rope with Knoxville on the ground but somehow Knoxville had a button that sparked fireworks behind him.
Knoxville then trapped Zayn in a human-sized mouse trap and pinned him.
The women’s tag title four-way is next.
10:51am – Bobby Lashley def Omos
It’s weird seeing a giant vs little guy match when the ‘little guy’ is the freakishly big Bobby Lashley.
Lashley suplexed Omos and then hit two spears for the win. This certainly could’ve been worse.
Listen, Omos is certainly tall, and he’s slowly improving, but his matches (ironically) have a ceiling. And if you’re not giving him the win here, perhaps they’ve recognised that he’s never going to be worthy of the world title picture. That may be for the best, but that doesn’t make watching it any better. **
Johnny Knoxville v Sami Zayn is next.
10:35am – RK-Bro retain over Street Profits, Alpha Academy
A fast-paced three-way tag match before a brilliant finishing sequence.
First it was a springboard top-rope RKO from Riddle that lit up the crowd, and an RKO from Orton on a flying Chad Gable gave the champs the victory. ***1/4
Corey Graves tried to claim they were the best RKOs in WrestleMania history, but nothing compares to Orton’s curb stomp reversal against Seth Rollins from a few years back in Santa Clara.
The faces invited amateur wrestler turned WWE signee Gable Steveson into the ring for a toast, but Gable interrupted and did his goofy gimmick. Steveson took off his shirt – he’s got awful tattoos, he’s perfect for pro wrestling – and gave Gable a belly-to-belly suplex.
Omos v Bobby Lashley is next.
10:15am – Triple H retires in opening segment
Hey, he’s back! A few months after a very scary heart issue that could’ve cost him his life, Triple H opened up WrestleMania.
‘The Game’ suffered heart failure after viral pneumonia and was “at the one-yard line” and thinking about his mortality when he fortunately recovered.
He hugged his kids on the way to the ring and it’s wild seeing them as teenagers, makes us feel so old.
Given his medical issues – he now has a defibrillator in his chest – he’ll never wrestle again, so he left his boots in the ring to signify his retirement.
He’s doing a lot less backstage too, given that his baby NXT has been transitioned from a WWE version of an indie into a showcase for the company’s youngsters.
9:32am – Who are the favourites for WrestleMania Sunday?
Two underdogs got up on day one – Charlotte Flair ($4.50) and The Miz & Logan Paul ($2.75), though to be fair those were odd booking decisions – so will we see many surprises today?
In the main event Roman Reigns is a $1.42 favourite to unify the titles by beating Brock Lesnar ($2.75) – though he was the hot favourite the last time they met at Mania, too – while Edge ($1.38) is perhaps a surprisingly strong favourite over AJ Styles ($2.85).
RK-Bro ($1.65) is tipped to retain the tag titles over The Street Profits ($2.50) with Alpha Academy ($6) rank outsiders; a title change is expected in the women’s tag bout, with Rhea Ripley & Liv Morgan ($2.25) and Sasha Banks & Naomi ($2.25) equal-favourites to take the belts off Queen Zelina & Carmella ($4) and Shayna Baszler and Natalya $10 outsiders.
The New Day ($1.50) are expected to beat Sheamus & Ridge Holland ($2.50) in their match rescheduled from night one, with Bobby Lashley ($1.74) just tipped to take down Omos ($2.05).
In the two non-wrestler versus wrestler matches, the celebs are favoured – as they should be – with Pat McAfee $1.66 to beat Austin Theory ($2.10), and Johnny Knoxville $1.40 to beat Sami Zayn ($2.70).
WWE WRESTLEMANIA 38 NIGHT TWO CARD AND RESULTS
Winner Takes All match to unify the WWE Championship and WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (c, Universal) def Brock Lesnar (c, WWE)
Vince McMahon def Pat McAfee
Pat McAfee def Austin Theory
Sheamus and Ridge Holland def The New Day [Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston]
Edge def AJ Styles
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: Sasha Banks and Naomi (c) def Queen Zelina and Carmella (c), Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan, Natalya and Shayna Baszler
Johnny Knoxville def Sami Zayn [Anything Goes match]
Bobby Lashley def Omos
WWE Raw Tag Team Championship: RK-Bro [Randy Orton and Riddle] (c) def The Street Profits [Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford] and Alpha Academy [Chad Gable and Otis]
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