By Obadiah Golden
WrestleMania 41 was a two-night event starting on Saturday, April 19, and running through Sunday, April 20, and ranged from good wrestling to polarizing results and decisions.
Night one was on Saturday, and it was hyped up for the main event: a triple threat match between CM Punk, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins. This was later in the card, as there were five other matches before this started.
First was Jey Uso vs. Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship. Uso won the Royal Rumble in February, which guarantees a championship opportunity at WrestleMania. He can choose between the two top champions, Cody Rhodes or Gunther, and he chose Gunther.
Uso and Gunther have a history; before this night, Uso had lost to Gunther three times in a row. The match started slowly, but it built to a culmination of finishers between both competitors. The finishing sequence was Uso dropping him with Gunther’s powerbomb, doing three Uso splashes, and then putting Gunther in a submission, and him tapping instantly.
Uso did it. He is the World Heavyweight Champion; after building himself up as the fan favorite and losing so many title opportunities, he is now at the top of the mountain. But this didn’t come without any discourse.
User @HumbleWrestling posted on the social platform X about the finish: “After what was a good opening struggle, the match turned into a finishers spam, Gunther slowed down the pace a little after that, the little back and forth exchange was good, then the match just … ended. The Ring General tapped out five seconds after the submission. The climax to that Jey Uso win could have been done so much better than this. I didn’t get the feeling that his brother was left in a hospital a couple of weeks back with the match intensity.”
The next match was The War Raiders vs. The New Day. The New Day is a very prolific and legendary tag team, but they turned heel and were looking for their first tag team championships since displaying a new attitude. This match was good, but no one wanted it and people complained about it.
“That second match did not exist y’all.” said @reigns_era on X.
This match has no story, and many people were expecting Big E, who has been dealing with a neck injury for a couple of years now, to come and interfere as he was betrayed by them. Besides the discourse after and during, The New Day are the new World Tag Team Champions.
The next match was Jade Cargill vs. Naomi. Cargill was attacked by a mystery person a couple of months ago, and at Elimination Chamber, it was revealed to be her “friend” Naomi. Naomi turned “heel,” and this culminated in a WrestleMania match.
This match was the first women’s match at WrestleMania in 22 years that was not for a title. Cargill and Naomi were able to build off each other and have good chemistry.
Many people called out Cargill for having to be put into her spots instead of just knowing where to be, but this was her first singles match in an important feud. Cargill won, and she moves to being 2-0 at Wrestlemania and will be a significant piece in the women’s division moving forward.
The next match was LA Knight vs. Jacob Fatu for the United States Championship. Knight and Fatu had a fun match, and it woke the crowd up. Some of the sequences of moves were just insane. One of them was when Fatu went up for a moonsault off the top rope, and it was countered into a BFT, Knight’s finisher.
Fatu ended up capturing the United States Championship, and people loved it. Knight was a good champion, and it was a great time to transition to Fatu.
“The crowd wasn’t super into the match initially but LA Knight and Jacob worked very hard and the crowd got invested until the very end,” posted @HumbleWrestling on X. “This is a type of match you need in the middle of these long shows. Big fellas delivered.”
The next match was El Grande Americano vs. Rey Fenix. Rey Mysterio was injured on Friday night’s SmackDown, and Fenix was his replacement. Americano was given an AI-dubbed voice and an old feel for his entrance.
Sanitzap, a WWE YouTuber, posted on X, “I’M LEGIT CACKLING IN TEARS AT THIS EL GRANDE AMERICANO ENTRANCE.”
Fenix and Americano had a very good match in the ring, especially considering Fenix had to replace Mysterio at the last minute. Some of the storytelling aspect was missing, but they made up for it and El Grande Americano picked up the victory to continue this feud.
Then it was time for the co-main event: Tiffany Stratton vs. Charlotte Flair for the WWE Women’s Championship. The Stratton and Flair feud started when Flair won the Royal Rumble and was able to choose the champion she wanted to face and picked Stratton.
This feud became very personal as they would continuously go off-script and mention personal details that weren’t supposed to be aired on national television.
“I think it was a perfectly fine match on a show where all the other matches had delivered and the vibes were grand,” posted @HumbleWrestling on X. “But it has not been the case tonight so it will be seen with a magnifying glass because they also had the semi main event spot.”
Stratton picked up the victory and retained her title, which is what people wanted.
All that was left was the highly anticipated main event, which saved the night, starting with the entrances.
Seth Rollins came out with a flamethrower, the screen fading to black, and he changed into a grand white outfit. Roman Reigns came out with a white outfit as well, and he was missing an important piece of his entrance, his wiseman, Paul Heyman, who would have to come out with CM Punk and was an important part of this feud and match itself.
CM Punk, whose dream was to be in the main event at WrestleMania, was given the best entrance of the night. It began with a promo he had 12 years ago, and he would repeat the words with himself now. It was a promo package, and it had music from his previous entrance theme song, which people loved.
After this, Living Colour, the band that plays his now entrance theme, “Cult of Personality,” played live and gave an incredible performance. Punk came out with Heyman, and it was so nostalgic to see this entrance. These entrances were followed by a spectacular match.
Reigns, Rollins, and Punk all have hatred towards each other, and it was made known. They were fighting outside, in the crowd, trading finishers and having a great match by all standards. But the end of the match is where everything changed.
Heyman was the wiseman for Reigns for five years, but Punk is also his best friend, and he had to make a decision. Heyman grabbed a chair and decided to give it to Punk. He went into the ring to help Punk, but before Punk could do a chair shot to Reigns, Heyman betrayed Punk for Reigns and was back as Reigns’ wiseman.
Reigns hit Punk with multiple chair shots and looked to see Rollins in the same position Reigns was in years ago when Rollins betrayed him for Triple H in the 2010s. As Reigns geared up for a chair shot, Heyman betrayed Reigns and shockingly teamed up with Rollins.
Rollins picked up the victory, ending night one.
During the first match of night two, there was another triple threat match, but this time for the Women’s World Title between Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley, and Iyo Sky. Belair won the Elimination Chamber and was guaranteed a championship opportunity against Rhea Ripley.
But then, Sky was given a championship opportunity, and she won. Sky walked in as champion and was looking to come out of this match as champion as well. This match was excellent and followed the trend of triple-threat matches this weekend.
Ripley and Belair’s strength and power style, mixed with Sky’s creativity in the air, meshed so well together. The finishing sequence came with Belair hitting Ripley with a KOD and was trying to pin her, but Sky hit a splash on both of them and pinned Belair to retain her title. Sky walked in and walked out of Allegiant Stadium as champion in arguably one of the best matches of the night.
The next match was Drew McIntyre vs. Damian Priest in a Sin City Street Fight. This match was fun and a great way to follow up that banger of a triple threat. McIntyre and Priest utilized tables, the outside floor, ramps, and so much more.
McIntyre posted a picture of Priest during the match and claims he was bored at work because he was winning too easily. The finishing sequence came when Priest tried to go “old school,” but McIntyre countered and pushed him into two tables. He then set up a chair on his face and proceeded to do a claymore kick and picked up the victory.
The next match was a Fatal 4-Way between Bron Breakker, Dominik Mysterio, Finn Bálor, and Penta for the Intercontinental Championship. The most memorable spot was when Breakker speared Carlito from one announcer’s table to the other and broke it. Penta’s high-flying ability, mixed with Bálor’s technical wrestling worked as well.
Mysterio’s ability to be a heel came into play in the finishing sequence. Bálor caught Breakker in a moment of weakness and landed his finisher from the top rope, but before he could record the pin, Mysterio came flying and did a frog splash on both men. Mysterio pinned Bálor to win the Intercontinental title. Mysterio received a crazy reaction from the crowd, and he got his WrestleMania moment in another excellent match on night two.
Next, Randy Orton was supposed to have a match with Kevin Owens, but Owens is dealing with a real-life neck injury, and Orton was forced to have an open challenge. The challenge was answered by viral sensation and TNA World Champion, Joe Hendry. Hendry and Orton had an approximately three-minute match. The finishing sequence came when Hendry was able to counter Orton, and when he turned to the camera and smiled, Orton came with an RKO out of nowhere and picked up the victory.
Logan Paul vs. AJ Styles was next. Paul was the heel in this match and played the role perfectly. The finishing sequence came when Karrion Kross stopped Paul’s manager from giving him brass knuckles. Kross then begged Styles to use it and stop this run of Paul. Styles didn’t, and Paul used this moment of weakness to pick up the victory.
Next was the co-main event, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez defending their tag titles against Lyra Valkyria and a mystery partner. Now, the day before this match, Bayley, Valkyria’s original partner, was attacked and forced out of the match.
Lynch, who had been out of action for almost a year, was put into this match. This had mixed reactions as Bayley wasn’t injured or anything, just replaced, and Bayley is a legend, so for this to happen to her rubbed many fans the wrong way.
“This whole set up and vibes around this match leaves a bad taste in the mouth,” posted @HumbleWrestling on X. “Can’t even get completely happy about Becky returning after a year because of how bad they did a veteran like Bayley here.”
This match was decent, and it saw Lynch and Valkyria shockingly win the tag titles.
The main event of the night was John Cena against Cody Rhodes for the WWE Undisputed Championship. Cena shockingly turned heel at Elimination Chamber and was criticizing the fans, claiming that they never really loved him, and he did all he could for them, but they never checked on him.
Rhodes countered that point and claimed that he did not deserve to win this title because the fans helped him get to the position he is in now. Cena wanted to win another title and wanted to be the last “real” world champion.
Cena came out to his theme song and a blank titantron that said only his name. Cena claimed in his first promo that the audience “get nothing” as they don’t deserve a grand entrance, new theme, or new clothes. This version of John Cena is his true self and he claims the audience is leeching off his success.
Cena took the match slow at first and was using heel tactics to get the match in his favor. Then it naturally progressed into a good wrestling match. Cena was pulling out everything and did an avalanche attitude adjustment from the top rope into a submission move, but it was not enough.
Then Travis Scott came out to help distract Rhodes, but Rhodes hit him with a cross Rhodes finisher to knock him out. Cena tried to hit Rhodes with the title, but was countered.
Ahead of their match, Cena told Rhodes that he would have to choose between being a good guy and winning the title– this foreshadowing played out in real time, as Rhodes did not want to hit Cena with the title, and Cena kicked him below the belt.
Cena grabbed the title, hit Rhodes with it, got referee Chad Patton back in the ring, who counted the pin to crown Cena as the new WWE Champion, breaking Ric Flair’s record for the most world championships won in professional wrestling history
Many people called the result of Cena winning great, but how it went down just didn’t sit right with fans.
“I absolutely hated how they ended the main event,” posted @HumbleWrestling on X. “This is a guy that ended the historic title reign of Roman Reigns and the best you had for his title reign ending was a Travis Scott interference ONLY. I mean sure get those mainstream clicks and views but a horrible way to do things.”
This WrestleMania had amazing highs but also had the lowest of lows. WrestleMania 41 is historic because of the legendary record-breaking 17th championship victory from Cena, but it will be remembered in a bad light because of how Travis Scott interfered and was the main catalyst for his victory.