The SmarK Rant for WWE Wrestlemania 41 – 04.19.25 (Night 1)

The SmarK Rant for WWE Wrestlemania 41 – 04.19.25 (Night 1)

HHH joins us to start, hopefully not putting the audience to sleep with a 90 minute speech to open the show.

Live from Las Vegas, NV. I’m actually gonna be there next week because I really need a vacation and I haven’t been there since 2002. And then I’ll likely never go back to the US again.

Your hosts are Michael Cole & Wade Barrett and some shithead.

World Heavyweight title: Gunther v. Jey Uso

Ironically, Main Event Jey is jerking the curtain tonight. They slug it out and Gunther loses that battle and bails to the floor to start. Back in, Gunther tries for the chops and Jey hits him with an enzuigiri to chase him out again. Back in, Jey tries a slam and Gunther falls on top for two, but Jey gets the FULL BODY LIFT AND SLAM on the second try and Gunther is so mad that he chops Jey to the floor. Back in the ring, Gunther starts beating on him with chops, but Jey spears him for two. Gunther tries the powerbomb and Jey reverses into a samoan drop, but he goes up and Gunther brings him down with a superplex and follows with a powerbomb for two. A second one is reversed into a rana and Jey goes up with the flying splash, which gets two. So Gunther decides to grab the belt and leave, but Jey charges him, so Gunther defends himself with a beltshot and splashes Jey for two off that. Gunther with the sleeper, but the crowd YEETS him back to life and he makes the ropes. They should have done the old school arm drop spot so the crowd could go “Yeet” after each one. Gunther beats on him with more chops and Jey fights back with a clothesline to make the comeback. Jey with the german suplex, but Gunther cuts off the spear with a dropkick. But Jey actually gets his own powerbomb and follows with a superkick and another flying splash, but then he goes up for a second one to make sure, and then baby makes three before he hooks his own sleeper on Gunther and taps him out to win the title at 16:20. This was a good opener, although this feud felt ice cold going on. Match didn’t really ever hit third gear but they both worked hard. ***1/2. Also what the hell is with the Survivor Series graphics on the replays? This is the biggest show of the year, that’s incredibly sloppy.

World tag team title: The War Raiders v. The New Day

I literally had no idea that the Raiders were tag champs. That probably doesn’t bode well for the quality of their reign. The champs dump the New Day to the floor and Ivar hits them with a double splash out there, but Erik gets trapped in the New Day corner and Kofi hits him with a senton on the apron for two. Fameasser gets two. Xavier with a double stomp for two. Erik blocks a corner splash and it’s over to Ivar, who runs wild and smashes them with various stuff. He goes up and Xavier yanks him down and hits the Honor Roll, and Kofi takes out Erik with Trouble in Paradise, but Ivar hits him with a moonsault and Woods makes the save and puts Kofi on top for two. That moonsault looked terrifying on the replay. Erik slugs it out with Woods and that goes nowhere, so they try their finisher and their timing is all kinds of messed up and it takes a couple of tries to get into position. Kofi saves that and they hit Ivar with their double team flying stomp and pin him to win the titles at 9:20. These guys have had 80 zillion matches already, so I’m not sure why they couldn’t get their shit together here, as this was all over the damn place. Not bad, just completely forgettable. **

Naomi v. Jade Cargill

Jade tosses Naomi around to start and they fight to the floor, where Jade runs her into the railing, but Naomi cuts her off with a draping X-Factor from the apron to the floor. Wade notes that this is no longer the “Funkadactyl Naomi”, which now makes me fear that Brodus Clay could get another run coming up. Back in the ring, Naomi with a headscissor slam for two. Legdrop gets two. Jade fights back with a backbreaker and makes the comeback with a corner splash and a Jackhammer to block a bodypress, for two. Jade with a superkick and they fight to the top, where Naomi gets a bulldog to bring her down and follows with the moonsault for two. Jade tries Jaded and Naomi reverses into a cradle for two and then rolls her into a Rings of Saturn hold. Jade powers out of that, into an electric chair drop, and Jaded finishes at 9:20. Some nice power stuff from Jade but selling isn’t her strong suit. Naomi did a good job carrying this one, though. ***

US title: LA Knight v. Jacob Fatu

Knight dodges him and gets a neckbreaker out of the corner, but Fatu escapes the BFT and hits him with a samoan drop. Knight bails to the apron and tries a sunset flip back into the ring, but Fatu gets two. He suplexes Knight onto the top rope, but LA comes back with dropkicks to the knee and puts Fatu on the floor. Back in, he tries a bodypress and Fatu powerslams him for two. He tries a samoan drop and Knight reverses that with a crucifix that goes a bit wrong, and makes the comeback with a mudhole stomping in the corner. Knight with a flying elbow for two. Fatu superkicks him down again and goes up, but Knight cuts him off with a german suplex off the top for two. Swanton gets two. He goes up again, but Knight catches him with a BFT out of the air for two in an impressive spot. Knight goes up again and Fatu brings him down with a samoan drop, then hits the moonsault, twice, for the pin and the title at 10:39. And we even get a Haku appearance to celebrate with him! They were working really hard here and it was a good, hard-hitting match. ***1/2

El Grande Americano v. Rey Fenix

Wrestlemania debut for the legendary luchador here. Also for Fenix. Americano has a mariachi band for his entrance, so you know he’s legit. Americano goes after Vikingo at ringside and gets smacked around as a result. They do a knucklelock battle to start and Fenix sends him to the floor for a dive, but Americano gets a suplex for two back in the ring. To the top, but Fenix comes down with an armdrag and beats him down with kicks as we get another mention of Lucha Underground on WWE TV. Fenix with the rebound kicks off the ropes, but Americano suplexes him into the corner and goes up with a crazy 450 moonsault for two. This Americano is a hell of a luchador! Fenix with a Blackfire Driver for two, but he goes up and Americano trips him up to bring him down. Americano loads up the mask , but Fenix takes him to the apron with a rana and hits him with a springboard kick. But the (alleged) metal plate hurts Rey’s ankle, setting up Americano for an anklelock, which Fenix turns into a rollup for two. But then Americano puts him down with a headbutt and goes up with a flying headbutt for the pin at 8:00. El Grande Americano actually way outclassed Fenix here. Really clever finish. ***3/4. This didn’t come off as a Wrestlemania match, though, like at all.

WWE Women’s title: Tiffany Stratton v. Charlotte Flair

They immediately fight to the floor and back in for chops from Charlotte. This is really weird styling, because both women basically look the same and are dressed the same and they usually take care not to do that sort of thing. To the floor again and Charlotte drops her on the railing and runs her into it as well. Back in the ring, Charlotte chokes her out and then steals Stephanie Vacquer’s headscissor slams to take over. Charlotte with a Boston crab, but Tiffany reverses for two and comes back with a handspring elbow. Spinebuster gets two. Moonsault misses and they trade rollups and it’s just so weird and distracting because they look exactly the same. Charlotte gets two and the match grinds to a halt for some reason, so Charlotte takes over with chops and a superkick. Despite their mirrored appearances they are definitely not on the same page in the match. Charlotte reverses a rana attempt into a powerbomb for two. Also there are WAY too many replays during this match where they cut away with a big graphic wipe and take you out of the match. Charlotte goes up and they do an extended awkward sequence where Charlotte comes down after a couple of attempts to do something, and then Tiffany hits a spinebuster and we get ANOTHER replay break. Charlotte goes up and Tiffy rolls through for two. Charlotte goes up and Tiffany brings her down and goes to work on the knee, but Charlotte boots her down for two. She goes to work on the knee as well and gets the figure-four, but Tiffy hits her in her own bad knee to break free and then goes to work on Charlotte’s knee again. Moonsault hits the knees and Charlotte cradles for two off that. The crowd did NOT appreciate that one. They head to the top again and Charlotte comes down with Natural Selection for two. They slug it out and Charlotte tries another figure-four, but Tiffy escapes that and sends her into the corner with a buckle bomb of sorts, and another moonsault finishes to retain the title at 19:11. I think everyone in the building breathed a sigh of relief that Charlotte didn’t win yet another title here. This thing took FOREVER to get going and they were never really together on it. The work was fine when it was rolling but this is supposed to be a main event of Wrestlemania and Charlotte is supposed to be this elite worker, and it just didn’t feel like either thing was true. ***

Buy One Get One Free Two Night Extravaganza Main Event: CM Punk v. Roman Reigns v. Seth Rollins

Speaking of taking forever, it takes FORTY MINUTES between the end of the last match and the opening bell for this one. At least Punk gets Living Colour to play him down live, which is pretty awesome. Roman cleans house and sends Punk to the floor to start, and they all brawl into the crowd off that. Roman gets taken out and Seth fights Punk by himself, slamming him onto a garbage can. Roman dives off the railing to take them both out, however, and beats them down with the PRIME BOTTLE OF DOOM. Back in, Roman sets up for the superman punch, but Punk escapes that and hits both guys with the running knees in the corner and a nice double DDT. To the top for a flying elbow on Rollins, but he tries again and Seth cuts him off. So Roman and Punk team up with a Doomsday Device to take him out, but Roman turns on Punk with a superman punch for two. Punk blocks the spear with a knee strike, and they slug it out until Punk hits a uranage for two. Into the Anaconda Vice, but Rollins breaks that up with a frog splash on both guys and pins them both for two. Seth with a buckle bomb on Punk and one on Roman, but he tries the Pedigree on Punk and Roman breaks that up. So Seth tries the Pedigree on Roman, hits it on a second try while countering a spear , and then follows with the curb stomp for two. Seth goes up and misses the Phoenix splash, and Punk hits the GTS on Roman for two after Reigns spears Rollins out of the ring. Punk tries another GTS, but Rollins breaks that up and Pedigrees Punk for two. So then Rollins pitches an alliance with Roman, explaining that they should be working together because Punk is the outsider and cancer. He’s got a point. So apparently Roman is down with that and they team up for the Shield Bomb on the floor, but then Roman changes his mind and takes out Rollins before hitting Punk with his own powerbomb through the table. And Rollins gets one for himself, too. Back in, with the spear, for two. Next up, Roman hauls Punk in and chokes him out while staring Heyman down, but Punk rolls him over for two and switches him to the Anaconda Vice. But then Rollins breaks that up with a Sharpshooter on Punk, and Roman breaks THAT up with the guillotine on Rollins. Rollins reverses to a northern lights for two, but Punk breaks that up with a GTS on Rollins for two. We get a GTS, spear, and curb stomp all at one and it’s a triple down. This finally prompts Paul Heyman into action as he grabs a chair and presents it to Punk, but then turns on him with a low blow to reaffirm his loyalty to Roman. So Roman beats Punk down and goes after Rollins…but Heyman also turns on Roman, revealing that Rollins was the real mastermind all along. And we get one more curb stomp and Rollins gets the pin at 31:35. Well THAT was an interesting twist that I didn’t see coming. This one absolutely delivered with a great match and a great storyline to pay it off. ****3/4

The main event absolutely delivered and was basically the only thing I was really interested in seeing, so that’s the fine. Honestly the rest of the card didn’t feel like WM-caliber matches or particularly high stakes that would justify running four hours. An OK show with a GREAT main event, and really night 2 has the stuff everyone is waiting for anyway.