WWE WrestleMania 42 Sunday Review

Well… the first night of WrestleMania 42 sure was something interesting, wasn’t it?

I don’t think I’ve seen anyone say that they LOVED the show, but I’ve seen just about every other grade there is. Some people HATED it, saying that it was the worst WrestleMania of all-time. Others say it was as average and boring as physically possible. Some say that it was better than critics are giving it credit for, even though there were some noticeable flaws that prevented it from being all that it could be.

It seems like most people agreed that, on paper, night two looked bigger and better than night one. Now it’s time to find out what the competitors on tonight’s card do with that, and if they’re given the proper amount of time to show the world what they can do.

At the very least, I’m hoping for a night that goes a lot smoother, with little-to-no technical issues.

90 minutes before the show went on the air, WrestleTix reported that there were 654 available tickets for sale, and that the setup for this show will feature 51,920 seats.

It’s time to find out what WWE has in store for us.

Let’s try to have some fun.

Oba Femi vs Brock Lesnar

Here. We. Go.

It’s so cool to see SO MANY people doing the “Oba Strut” with him as he marches his way to the ring.

Brilliant start to the match, with Brock trying to physically bully Oba around, but Oba is stopping him at every turn. Oba is taller and heavier than Brock is, and some feel he’s stronger than Brock is, so Brock’s usual game might not work as much.

The crowd is already hotter than it was last night. They’re solidly behind everything Oba does, and Brock carries his own aura that has everyone reacting.

F-5 to Oba, but Oba damn near beats Brock back to his feet! Oba with a Chokeslam, followed by his Fall From Grace powerbomb, and he gets the win! Brock hit Oba with everything he had, including taking him to Suplex City for a bit, and it barely slowed Oba Femi down. Wow. What a moment. A star is born.

It wasn’t a very long match, but nobody expected it to be. For what it was, it was a blast from start to finish. 3.5 Stars

After the match, Brock is in tears, and he removes his gloves and his boots in the center of the ring. Once the crowd realizes what he’s doing, they start cheering for Brock, eventually chanting “thank you, Brock” as he continues to cry. Paul Heyman gets in the ring, and Heyman is also crying. The two men embrace, and Heyman shares some words for his friend that we don’t quite hear. They leave the ring, and Brock slaps hands with a bunch of hands on his way back up the ramp. Man, I really didn’t think that was on the cards this weekend.

Obviously, as is the case with everything involving Brock Lesnar, this is going to get a mixed reaction. Some will be sad to see him go, while others think he needs a fate far worse than a simple retirement can provide. From a strictly professional perspective, it’s going to be super weird not to see Brock around anymore. I’ve been watching him in one sport or another for nearly a quarter-century now. Time will tell if he’s truly gone, or if we get something involving Gunther to bring him back for one more marquee match, perhaps in Brock’s adopted home state of Minnesota for SummerSlam.

Penta vs Je’Von Evans vs JD McDonagh vs Dragon Lee vs Rusev vs Rey Mysterio – Six-Pack Ladder Match for the WWE Intercontinental Title

Penta is wearing a helmet that is similar to that of Shao Kahn from Mortal Kombat. As soon as I type that, Michael Cole says that Penta is wearing a Shao Kahn helmet, so there you go. The upcoming Mortal Kombat 2 movie is one of the WrestleMania sponsors, so that makes sense.

Before Penta even got to the ring, chaos ensued, and now, everyone is fighting at the sound of the opening bell. This one could get crazy. As I always say for these types of matches, thank goodness I’m not tasked with doing play-by-play for it.

The crowd has continued their hot streak from the opening match, and they seem like they’re much better than yesterday’s crowd was.

I’m still not sure that Je’Von Evans is fully human. The things he can pull off in the ring, and how easy he makes those things look, tell me that he might be at least part alien.

West Coast Pop to Rusev, who was standing atop of a bridged ladder at ringside, sends both men crashing through said ladder. That looked cool.

Mexican Destroyer through a bridged ladder! JD McDonagh is selling it like he’s completely out cold. My goodness.

We’re very much seeing the usual multi-person Ladder Match trope where two people are fighting in the ring, while everyone else sells death at ringside, until someone in the ring sells death and is replaced by someone who has made a miraculous recovery. It’s difficult to do these matches without stretches like that.

Another Mexican Destroyer, this time to Je’Von Evans, who just hit an OG Cutter to Rusev off of a ladder, clears the path for Penta to climb the ladder. He’s the only man on his feet, and he makes it to the top of the ladder to pull his title down. The champion retains.

An exciting spot fest, as everyone would’ve expected. Lots to like here, and it is the clear choice for the best match at WrestleMania so far. 4 Stars. Penta is on quite the roll right now.

Sami Zayn vs Trick Williams – WWE United States Title Match

LOUD boos for Sami during his entrance. The WWE fan base has completely turned their backs on Sami, and that’s crazy to witness.

Lil Yachty handles the introduction for Trick’s entrance, and he actually did a good job of it. Boat is very charismatic, and he obviously is no stranger to speaking into a microphone. He seems at home in WWE.

The crowd is booing Sami more and more, and that amplifies when Sami attacks Yachty at ringside. Sami can’t help but smirk at their reaction, and he sends Yachty into the barricade. He’s definitely playing it up out there.

Sami lines Trick up for the Helluva Kick, but Trick intercepts it with a Trick Shot knee. One, two, three, and we have a brand new United States Champion as the crowd explodes! The match itself was somewhat short, but quite hitting the ten-minute mark, but at least the crowd wasn’t dead for it. 3.25 Stars. Another star is born here, and the future looks very bright for the company. If Je’Von Evans would’ve won the Intercontinental Title to go with Oba Femi and Trick Williams winning, people would be having some interesting conversations about Paul Levesque and whether or not he dislikes black people.

“The Demon” Finn Balor vs Dominik Mysterio – Street Fight

The Street Fight stipulation is a last-minute addition to the match, but it makes sense.

After talking a big game, Dom seems terrified of The Demon. He doesn’t know how to react to his look and antics.

It’s still difficult for WWE to have these types of matches. You already know that the competitors are handicapped a bit by not being able to get REALLY violent, so you get a fair amount of “safe” spots. It certainly doesn’t help when you compare them to these types of matches in AEW. If this match was taking place in AEW, both Balor and Mysterio would already be bleeding, and we would’ve seen some sort of broken glass, barbed wire, or a syringe used by now.

After a Coup de Grâce stomp that puts Dom through a table, Balor picks up the win. Both men worked hard here, but again, they’re in an uphill battle with any sort of “hardcore” match in WWE, and it really shows. There’s a ceiling on the matches, and they can only end up reaching a certain level. I will say that the match was given more time than I was expecting. It wasn’t as long as the Ladder Match, but it’s the second-longest match of the night so far, and is one of the longest matches of the weekend. 3 Stars

Jade Cargill vs Rhea Ripley – WWE Women’s Title Match

There is a lot of pressure on Jade here. A certain percentage of the WWE fan base doesn’t feel Jade can wrestle, and isn’t deserving of this type of spotlight. What better way to silence at least some of those critics than by having a great performance on the biggest stage in the sport?

I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating… Rhea Ripley carries a legitimate aura surrounding her. She dabbles in different looks, different hairstyles, different gear, and different makeup for big matches, and she keeps looking like a million bucks time and time again. It’s not a “look” that I’ve ever been a huge fan of in real life, but with her, she pulls it off and looks amazing.

Jade is dominating large chunks of this one so far. The story is that she is exerting her natural physical gifts, but also that Rhea is ready and willing to take a ton of punishment. Jade will beat Rhea down a bit, but then Rhea will taunt her by laughing and literally asking for more.

Michin and B-Fab have made their way to the ring, and they keep trying to interfere, so naturally, it’s time for Iyo Sky. Iyo makes her way to the ring to a big pop from the crowd, and she takes both of Jade’s cronies out.

Riptide! New champion!

That was EXACTLY the type of performance that Jade needed to have. I don’t know if it’s me being a prisoner of the moment, but I think that was definitely the best singles match of Jade’s career. She did a great job looking like an unstoppable monster, and she was tasked with leading the majority of the match. That was a lot of fun. 4 Stars

We get another attendance announcement segment with John Cena, but he is interrupted by The Miz and Kit Wilson. Miz demands his own “WrestleMania moment,” and then HE gets interrupted by Danhausen’s music. On stage, a group of little people dressed as Danhausen are dancing around, and Michael Cole refers to them as “midgets,” saying that they specifically asked Cole to refer to them by that name. Danhausen comes out driving the Danhausenmobile, and the whole thing is as ridiculous as you would expect it to be.

Kit shoves one of the Minihausens, and another Minihausen hauls off and punches Kit SMOOTH IN THE DICK as hard as physically possible. Jesus Herbert Christ. The Minihausens attack Kit, and that leaves Danhausen to attack Miz. He hits his own version of the Five Knuckle Shuffle, and Cena can’t stop laughing. All in all, this was a perfectly harmless segment that didn’t take up too much time, and the crowd enjoyed it.

CM Punk vs Roman Reigns – WWE World Heavyweight Title Match

Main event time.

Roman Reigns with the throwback, going back to the original Tribal Chief theme song. That was nice.

CM Punk, on the other hand, goes even further back, having AFI’s “Miseria Cantare” playing during a video package for his entrance. He’s coming out to the song! I love it.

Okay, I lied. The song merely played during his walk to the stage, when “Cult Of Personality” took him the rest of the way, but I still loved hearing “Miseria Cantare” on WWE programming.

This crowd is AMPED. They’re ready for this one, and gosh darn it all, so am I.

Seems like a pretty mixed reaction for both men. Half the crowd is solidly supporting Punk, and the other half is fervently cheering for Roman.

Everything about this just feels epic. It’s a true “big fight” feel in a city that has been known for hosting big fights for decades.

Punk puts Roman on the announce table, and then he climbs to the top turnbuckle, looking to hit a huge elbow drop. It pops the crowd, but Punk being told by the Referee not to do it was enough of a distraction to allow Roman time to get up. They fight away in the corner, and it ends up with Punk tied up in the turnbuckle by his feet, hanging upside down. Roman rains (lol) down on Punk’s face with some punches before hitting back-to-back Superman Punches, causing Punk to start bleeding from the mouth. Thinking it isn’t enough, Roman decides to hit Punk with the ring steps, which busts Punk’s forehead open, too. Two nights in a row of blood in a WWE match?!? To close this portion out, Roman Powerbombs Punk through one of the ringside announce tables, and Punk is a mess.

As Roman gets Punk back in the ring and goes to hit a Spear, Punk catches him and hits him with a GTS, getting a near fall from it.

Lots of taunting here. Roman taunts Punk with the “go to sleep” signal, then tries to land the move itself, but Punk slips out. Punk then responds by cocking the fist and he ends up landing a Superman Punk for another near fall. After that, Punk grabs an Ula Fala from someone at ringside and puts it on to taunt Roman some more.

LOL @ Punk hitting Roman with a headbutt, IMMEDIATELY regretting it and grabbing his own head in pain. Never headbutt a Samoan, folks.

Punk distracts the Referee, and then hits Roman with a low blow behind the Ref’s back, and a GTS gets a 2.999 count! The crowd seemed to really buy that as the finish, with a lot of shocked faces shown on camera.

Punk wants to go back up! He puts Roman back on the announce table, then climbs back up to the top turnbuckle before hitting a huuuuuge elbow drop, sending both men crashing through the table.

Another GTS sends Roman collapsing into the ropes, and he bounces back to land right back across Punk’s shoulders. Punk goes to hit him with another one, but this time, Punk collapses, and both men crash to the mat. As Punk gets back to his feet, he turns and is hit with a Spear, but Roman is unable to capitalize until he builds up some energy to hit another Spear. This time, it is enough, and we have a brand new World Heavyweight Champion.

Fantastic match. Every bit of the “WrestleMania main event” that it was being built up to be, with both men delivering tremendous performances. They’re masters of their craft, and this was a great way to cap off a night that was so, so, so much better than last night was. 4.5 Stars

We go off the air with Roman celebrating in the middle of the ring.

It wasn’t a perfect night of wrestling, but holy hell, this was so much better than last night’s show was. A better night of action, more newsworthy happenings, less technical issues, and a much better crowd. This is the type of show we should be getting at WrestleMania. Not much to complain about.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to keep working on my usual weekly column, set to go live to the world at some point 16-ish hours from now.

Thank you for reading and for taking time out of your schedules to hang out with me. I appreciate you more than you’ll ever know.