Original Artwork Jason Jimenez-Garrido
With all the chaos and excitement going on leading up to ‘WrestleMania 40,’ the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) promised an epic event that would make history. And if you ask fans around the world, most would agree that they delivered.
On April 6 and 7, 2024, WWE held its annual ‘WrestleMania’ pay-per-view. The event which fans often refer to as WWE’s ‘SuperBowl’ has become too big for just one night, and for the past few years has taken place over two-nights.
Night One of this year’s event kicked off with a stellar match between two of WWE’s biggest women’s wrestlers; Becky Lynch and Rhea Ripley.
‘WrestleMania’ is well known for the extravagant ‘Superstar’ entrances and musical performances that have become tradition. The first came with Ripley’s entrance, in which she walked to the ring with metal group ‘Motionless In White’ performing her theme, “Demon In Your Dreams.”
Before the match, Lynch was suffering from a case of strep-throat, which was only worsened by the freezing temperatures at Lincoln Financial Field that plagued Night One.
Ripley also revealed that she dealt with a panic attack right before the match during a panel at ‘WWE World’.
She stated, “I legit was having a straight-up panic attack for 2 hours before I walked through the curtain. I was like violently shaking, just nervous.”
Despite these obstacles, both women were able to push through and pull off an amazing performance in which Ripley retained her Women’s World Heavyweight championship belt.
Ripley’s ‘Judgement Day’ teammates Finn Balor and Damian Priest weren’t as successful however. They defended their Unified Tag-Team championships in a ‘Six-Pack Tag-Team Ladder Match’ against Greyson Waller & Austin Theory, The Awesome Truth, DIY, New Catch Republic, and The New Day.
With the championship belts hanging above the ring, the rules stated that the match would not end until both sets of ‘RAW’ and ‘SmackDown’ tag-team championship belts had been retrieved.
Despite Balor and Priest’s best efforts, they were unable to retain, and two new champions were crowned. Waller & Theory captured the ‘SmackDown’ tag-team belts, while Awesome Truth took home the ‘RAW’ tag belts.
The biggest upset of the weekend however was Sami Zayn ending the ‘Ring General’ Gunther’s 666-day Intercontinental Championship reign. Gunther managed to dominate throughout the whole match, but was unable to put Zayn down for good.
Perhaps his biggest mistake was mocking Zayn’s wife, who was sitting front row as he destroyed her husband. This fueled Zayn to make a Rocky Balboa-like comeback that was too much for Gunther to handle.
This was a special moment for Zayn as a Muslim, who for the second year in a row has won a championship at Mania during Ramadan.
To cap off Night One, Seth Rollins & Cody Rhodes battled against Roman Reigns and ‘The Final Boss’ The Rock. With the stipulation for the main event of Night Two on the line, both teams threw everything they possibly could at each other.
In the end however, Reigns and Rock got the victory and assured that Rhodes vs. Reigns would be under ‘Bloodline Rules’. The question on everyone’s minds was whether Rhodes and Rollins were still in condition to compete on Night Two after the beating they received.
Unfortunately for Rollins, the reaggravation of a knee injury was enough to give Drew McIntyre the advantage.
In the first match of Night Two, Mcintyre defeated Rollins and finally achieved his goal of winning a Championship at ‘Mania’ with fans in attendance.
The celebration didn’t last long, as he let his hatred for CM Punk get in his head. After being provoked, Punk knocked him out with his metal arm brace, which opened the door for Priest to cash-in his Money in the Bank briefcase that grants him a title match at any time.
With Priest’s win, the World Heavyweight Championship changed hands twice in the same night.
In the long-awaited main event of Night Two, the WWE finally gave fans the moment they’ve been waiting for. After a match full of shenanigans by the ‘Bloodline’, Rhodes ‘finished the story’ that has been brewing for the past two years.
The Bloodline was unable to cost Rhodes the victory for the second Mania in a row thanks to a few rivals from their past coming to help Rhodes. Though it was known that Rollins and Jey Uso would be there to provide backup, fans were stunned by the surprise appearances of John Cena and The Undertaker.
Even with the odds stacked against him, Rhodes left ‘Mania’ as the new Undisputed Universal Champion. With his victory, the roster is finally free from the reign of terror of ‘The Tribal Chief’.
With the completion of Rhodes’ story, we now prepare for his next one to be written. We can look forward to embarking on a new era that has already begun with this week’s episode of ‘RAW’.
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