The first day of WrestleMania is in the books with the end of Saturday’s event. There were a whole lot of matches to look forward to at this year’s WrestleMania, so here are Kayfabe Bugle’s favorite moments from the first day of WrestleMania 40.
The night kicked off with Becky Lynch taking on Rhea Ripley for the women’s championship. Off all the entrances for the first day of the show, both Becky and Rhea had two of the better ones. Lynch’s entrance featured some readings of her brand-new book, Becky Lynch: The Man, before she came out. Rhea Ripley, on the other hand, had her entrance theme played live by Motionless in White, which looked really cool.
The next match of the night was the six-pack challenge, which featured six tag teams all fighting for the Raw and Smackdown championships. This match was filled with all kinds of crazy moments, one of which was both members of New Catch Republic delivering top of the ladder moonsaults to the other competitors on the outside of the ring. It also had a feel-good moment with Awesome Truth members, The Miz and R-Truth, becoming Raw tag team champions.
The third match of the night featured Rey Mysterio and Andrade versus Escobar and Dominik Mysterio. This match seemed a little run of the mill, with nothing incredible really happening that wouldn’t normally be seen on TV, except for a run-in on the match that was anything but normal. Two enormous, masked luchadores came out and stopped Dominik from cheating. They threw Dom into the ring, where Rey and Andrade were able to get the win. It was then revealed that the green-masked wrestlers who interfered were none other than Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson.
Following that was the brother versus brother match, with Jimmy Uso taking on Jey Uso. This match didn’t have the gravitas of past blood feuds such as Bret versus Owen, but it was okay. Helping Jey Uso with his entrance was Lil Wayne, who sang part of his hit song A Milli, so that was cool.
Jade Cagill finally had her first WWE match next, the Royal Rumble notwithstanding, when she tagged with Naomi and Bianca Bel Air against Kairi Sane, Dakota Kai, and Auska. This match was a good showing for Jade, and Bianca Bel Air had a few nice moments as well, including a painful sounding whip of her hair on Asuka. The entrance for Cargill, Bel Air, and Naomi was a little rushed, but I really thought it hyped up all three women before the match started.
The next bout was my match of the night, which was Sami Zayn versus Gunther. Aside from the immense underdog status Sami had going into this match, what with Gunther towering over the wrestler, and beating him down in prior weeks, the way these two men battled one another felt like a throwback to the classics of the 80s and 90s wrestling matches. The two battled back and forth and it looked like Sami Zayn was truly out of it at multiple times during the match. But somehow, someway, Zayne was able to find an opening and did what many thought was impossible. He ended Gunther’s recording-breaking Intercontinental title reign, and became the new IC champion.
After both Smackdown and Raw general managers came out to announce the attendance at Lincoln Financial Field, it was time for the main event.
The Rock had a great entrance with a flaming Brahma bull he stepped through, while holding his People’s Championship belt that was presented to him from Muhammed Ali’s wife the previous night at the Hall of Fame ceremony. The match also spilled outside of the ring, with Roman Reigns and Cody fighting up the stage. While they were doing that The Rock and Seth Rollins fought outside through the crowd.
This final match of the night had an old school feel as well. But unlike Gunther and Sami, where it felt like a classic wrestling match, this match felt like an Attitude Era kind of fight. I’m not sure if that was just because The Rock was in it, but in any case, it was fun, intense, and a little on the edge.
While the match started off a little slower, it built and built until it seemed like Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins would defeat Reigns and Rock. But, alas, it was not to be. With stage fights, crowd fights, Mama Rhodes being taunted by The Rock, and Cody hitting the Final Boss with his own maneuver, a Rock Bottom through the announcer’s table, this main even was a great show-ending match and filled with highlights. In the end Cody succumbed to a Rock Bottom and a People’s Elbow, losing the match.
Cody will now have to fight Roman Reigns on WrestleMania Sunday in a Bloodline Rules match. We can only guess what the will mean for the American Nightmare.
Overall, WrestleMania Saturday was a fine day one of the weekend, but it didn’t quiet feel like WrestleMania. It felt like they were holding most of the more anticipated match for the Sunday show.
We’ll see how WrestleMania Sunday compares to Saturday tomorrow.
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