WrestleMania XL has just been held
Day 1 results [Attendance: 72,543]
SPOILER:
- The evening kicked-off with a Singles match for the Women's World Championship which ended when Rhea Ripley (who was played to the ring by the metalcore band Motionless in White) defeated Becky Lynch (who was suffering with strep throat and a fever) by pinfall to retain the women's world title in a time of 17.05
- There were a lot of spots (but not much storytelling) in the second match, which was a Six-Pack Tag Team Ladder match for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship. It ended after 17.25 with A-Town Down Under (Austin Theory and Grayson Waller) winning the SmackDown championship and The Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth) winning the Raw championship. Also invloved in the match were The Judgment Day (Finn Balor and Damian Priest), #DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa), The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) and New Catch Republic (Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate)
- Next was a standard tag team match which lasted for 11.05 and ended when Rey Mysterio and Andrade (with the LWO [Carlito, Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde, and Zelina Vega]) defeated Santos Escobar and 'Dirty' Dominik Mysterio (with the Legado Del Fantasma [Angel, Berto, and Elektra Lopez) ]by pinfall when Rey-Ray hit a double-619 followed by a top rope splash on Santos
- The mid-point match, which also lasted for 11.05, was a standard singles match that ended when Jey Uso defeated Jimmy Uso by pinfall
- This was followed by a Six-woman tag team match lasting 8.05 where Bianca Belair, Naomi & Jade Cargill defeated Damage CTRL (Asuka, Kairi Sane and Dakota Kai) when Jade gained the pinfall over Dakota
- The penultimate bout of the first night lasted for 15:30, and it was a Singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship which culminated with Sami Zayn defeating Gunther by pinfall to win the title. This brought an end to Gunther's 666 day IC title reign
- The final match featured the highly anticipated return of The Rock where he, and his tag team partner Roman Reigns (with Paul Heyman), faced Cody Rhodes and Seth "Freakin" Rollins in a tag team match that carried the stipulation ?if Rhodes and Rollins won, all members of The Bloodline would be barred from ringside during the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match at night two of Wrestlemania, but if the Rock and Reigns won, the match would be held under Bloodline [hardcore] Rules?. After a battle that lasted 44.45, it came as no surprise to anyone when The Rock pinned Cody
Day 2 Results [Attendance: 72,755]
SPOILER:
- Opening the second night was a Singles match for the World Heavyweight Championship which ended after 10.30 when Drew McIntyre gained the title by landing a claymore on Seth Rollins to get a pinfall. However, it wasn't over...
- ...Because Damien Priest cashed in his 'money in the bank' contract and pinned McIntyre (who had only held the title for 0.09 seconds)
- Bubba Ray Dudley was the special guest referee for the second proper match ? a Six-man Tag Team Philadelphia Street Fight between Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) [with B-Fab)] and The Final Testament (Karrion Kross, Akam, and Rezar) [with Scarlett and Paul Ellering]. After 8.35 it ended when Ford put Kross through a table and gained the win
- The third match was the battle of the initials where LA Knight defeated AJ Styles by pinfall in 12.25
- Next to be contested was a Triple threat match for the WWE United States Championship which saw Logan Paul retain the championship following a pinfall on Kevin Owens. Also involved in the match, which lasted for 17.40, was Randy Orton
- The penultimate bout of the second night was a Singles match for the WWE Women's Championship where Bayley gained the title following a pinfall on Iyo Sky at the 14.20 mark
- The final match of the evening was the Bloodline Rules match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship between Cody and Roman. There was almost 20 minutes of build-up from the time the 'hype video' started until the actual match began! There were numerous run-in's during the fight ? The Rock, Jimmy and Jey Uso (who both went through tables), Solo Sikola, John Cena, Seth Rollins and The Undertaker all got involved in the action. After 33.25, the match ended when (surprise surprise) Cody hit three Cross Rhodes to end Romans 1,316 day reign as champion
With the demise of WWE products gaining physical releases, it is currently uncertain whether Wrestlemania XL will get put out on DVD / Blu-Ray or not. It would be a shame if it didn't, but who knows!!
At time of writing, there is no indication when and where WrestleMania XLI will be held. The next scheduled WWE PPV is due to be Backlash France, which will be held at the LDLC Arena in D?cines-Charpieu in Lyon Metropolis, France on May 4. This will be the first time that the WWE has held any kind of PPV or livestreaming event in France, and the first time that Backlash has been held outside of North America