The SmarK Rant for WWE Wrestlemania 41 – 04.20.25 (Night 2)

The SmarK Rant for WWE Wrestlemania 41 – 04.20.25 (Night 2)

So night one wasn’t great. Let’s see how the second try shakes down.

Live from Las Vegas, NV

Your hosts are Michael Cole, Wade Barrett and whoever the third guy is.

World Women’s title: Iyo Sky v. Rhea Ripley v. Bianca Belair

Apparently Minute Maid is the official juice of Wrestlemania this evening. I thought that was already designated as whatever AJ Styles has been using? Everyone trades dropkicks to start and Belair slugs away on both women, but Rhea tosses her and Iyo hits Bianca with a moonsault out there. Back in, Iyo with a double stomp on Rhea for two, and then rolls up Bianca for two. Bianca with rolling vertical suplexes in response, but she tries a handspring and Rhea trips her up and takes her to the floor. Back in the ring, Rhea uses Iyo as a weapon and tosses her into Bianca with a Razor’s Edge for two. Rhea tries the Prison Lock on Iyo, but Bianca breaks it up and everyone is down off that. They exchange kicks and Iyo is pretty pumped, but Bianca spears her and everyone is out again. Bianca up first with the 450 on Iyo, but then Rhea hits Bianca with the Riptide for two. Riptide on Iyo is reversed to a DDT, but Rhea kicks her out of the corner and follows with a Riptide from the middle rope, which Iyo escapes and turns into the moonsault, but that misses and Bianca gets the KOD for two. So Bianca slaps Rhea around, but they fight to the top and Iyo tries a poison rana on Rhea, but gets her head clunked onto the post. So Rhea and Bianca trade finisher attempts, but Iyo moonsaults out of nowhere and pins Bianca to retain at 14:33. I didn’t notice as much last night but here it was pretty clear that the commentary is mixed WAY too high because the crowd was clearly jacked for this one but you can barely hear them. Very fast paced opener that felt kind of choreographed at times, but Iyo was out of her mind with excitement and that was infectious. ****1/2

Sin City Street Fight: Drew McIntyre v. Damian Priest

Priest gets played out by Slayer, which it may shock you to hear were never my thing. I was never a metal guy in the 80s. They immediately fight up to the ramp and Drew suplexes him there, but Priest hits him in the face with the stairs, so Drew grabs his OWN set of stairs and smashes it into Priest’s face a few times before borrowing a phone and taking a selfie. We get some chairs and tables set up, but Priest fights back and Drew clotheslines him out of the ring again. And he follows with a dive, continuing the story of Drew hotdogging it at every opportunity, which will probably cost him. Back in the ring, Drew tries the Claymore and Priest counters with a flying chair, but Drew absorbs it and then hits the kick successfully for two. Drew tries to Pillmanize the neck, but Priest counters with a chokeslam for two. Priest with some chairshots, but he walks into a spinebuster. They fight to the top and Priest brings him down with a Razor’s Edge through a table, and that gets two. OH MY GOD SHUT UP MCAFEE. Yes it’s a reference to Scott Hall, we get it. Drew with the Future Shock on the stairs, and that gets two. They slug it out and slap some MEAT, and Priest tries the ropewalk but gets sent through the tables on the floor as a result, which is good because now we know near-falls actually mean something. Back in the ring, Drew sandwiches his head into a chair and hits him with a Claymore to finish at 13:52. Surprisingly, Drew DIDN’T pay the price for hotdogging. Good lesson for you there, kids. Really enjoyed this one, you need a big stupid brawl sometimes. ***3/4

Intercontinental title: Bron Breakker v. Penta v. Finn Balor v. Dominick Mysterio

Finn and Dom clear the ring to start, but Penta sends them to the floor and follows with a dive. And then Bron comes from out of nowhere and smashes him. Back in the ring, Penta tries a bodypress and Bron slams him and then spears Dom for two. Penta goes after Finn and snaps the arm, but Bron hits them both with a german suplex before missing a spear and hitting the post. This allows Dom to run wild with the rolling suplexes on Penta, while Carlito joins us at ringside for some offbeat shenanigans, no doubt. Bron smashes everyone again and hits Finn with a rana off the top rope, for two. But then Dom turns on Finn with a 619, and Finn catches him and puts the boots to him until Penta hits Finn with a Penta Driver for two. Carlito trips up Bron and Dom rolls up Penta for two, but Penta hits a Destroyer for two. So Carlito takes out Penta now, but Bron spears him through the Spanish table and Pat has the most ridiculous oversell reaction to it, trying to make it about himself. Back in the ring, Bron spears Penta, but Dom hits Bron with the 619 and then Finn takes out Dom and goes up with the Coup de Grace on Bron, only for Dom to hit a frog splash and steal the IC title at 10:38. I strongly disagree with that decision and Bron is clearly the future and should have held it for a long time. Kind of a weird match in that Bron didn’t really feel like he belonged here and would have worked better defending against someone like Sheamus again. The crowd certainly enjoyed the Dom win, though, so you have to give them credit for reading the room. ***

Randy Orton Open Challenge: Randy Orton v. Joe Hendry

Of all the names out there I would not have guessed that one. Orton goes for the RKO right away and Hendry rolls him up for two. Hendry gets all fired up, but Orton destroys him with the usual and hits the draping DDT. Hendry counters the RKO into the fallaway slam, but he does the meme and the RKO finishes at 3:00. Cute, I guess, but for me this was pointless. ½*. And hey, I still don’t get the Hendry thing and I don’t care about TNA, so if he made a good payday from this and he’s happy, good on him.

Logan Paul v. AJ Styles

Oh boy it’s Logan Paul. Paul dumps AJ and dives, but AJ traps him in the apron and slugs away on him before hitting him with a sliding knee on the apron. Logan fights back, so AJ whips him into the railing, and then Paul runs him into the post a few times in retribution. Also apparently this match is sponsored by some kind of cartoon general out of a mobile game? Speaking of which, Logan finds a drone and we get a shot from that while he chokes AJ on the apron. Back in, Paul with an inverted powerbomb for two and he does the big boot and legdrop for two and moonsaults AJ for two. AJ fights back with clotheslines and the sliding forearm and brainbuster for two. AJ with the Phenomenal Forearm, but Paul catches him with a rolling senton and moonsaults him for two. Logan goes up and AJ hangs him in the Tree of Woe, but Logan comes back with the Buckshot lariat for two. Logan slugs away in the corner, but AJ catches him with a rack bomb for two. Man AJ looks really blown up here for some reason. Sometimes age just catches up to you. AJ misses the 450 and Logan hits him with the Styles Clash, but AJ rolls through into his own. Man they rip off Hangman Page AND Will Ospreay now? So then Logan’s cohort “Jeff” tries to give Paul some brass knuckles, but Karrion Kross steals them and tells AJ to use them. But AJ turns on him instead, and Logan hits the Paulverizer to finish at 17:47 because AJ was too much of a weenie. This started good and then just kind of hit a wall and went too long, and started dragging by the end. And really we’ve all just had enough of Logan Paul for one lifetime. ***1/4

Women’s tag team title: Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez v. Lyra Valkyria & Becky Lynch

As we all expected, I think. The Irish side double-teams Raquel and dropkicks her to the floor, but Raquel boots Lyra on the way in and that gets two. Liv comes in with rolling suplexes on Lyra, and that gets two. Raquel with a slingshot suplex on Lyra for two. Lyra tries for the tag and the heels dump Becky to stop it, and Raquel gets a spinning slam on Lyra for two. But Raquel finally misses a charge and it’s hot tag Becky, who runs wild and goes up with a senton on Raquel and Bexploder on Liv. Becky with the Disarmer on Liv, but Raquel breaks that up and Liv hits Oblivion for two. Lyra saves and runs wild for a bit, but Becky hits the Manhandle slam on Liv and pins her to win the titles at 8:45. Just an average TV match. **1/4

Steve Austin joins us to announce the attendance number, nearly ramming his quad into the fans at ringside in the process, and he doesn’t believe it so he tries to count them all himself before giving up.

WWE title: Cody Rhodes v. John Cena

Cena’s heel entrance, with a black screen and no graphics, is pretty boss. Cody gets the BOOS from the Vegas crowd here in a crazy twist, but we know he can roll with it. Cody works for the hammerlock to start and Cena casually makes the ropes and brushes him off, so Cody dropkicks him to the floor and follows with a tope suicida. Back in the ring, Cena gets a cheapshot and puts the boots to Cody, which draws cheers from the bitter crowd. They slug it out and Cena puts him down with a kneelift and follows with a slingshot under the ropes. Cena with a sideslam for two, playing tribute to the hero of Wrestlemanias past, Dino Bravo. He goes up with a double axehandle, but Cody comes back until Cena pokes him in the eye and gets two. Tornado DDT gets two. Cena puts him down with shoulderblocks but pauses before continuing with the Five Moves, taking his time before the Blue Thunder Bomb, but Cody can in fact see him. So Cody comes back with the Disaster Kick and Cody Cutter, but walks into the Attitude Adjustment and that gets two for Cena. Cena with the Five Knuckle Shuffle and another AA, but Cody rolls him up for two. Cody goes up and Cena crotches him, and a top rope AA gets two. To the top again, but Cody catches him in a powerbomb coming down and that gets two. Cody tries for the Crossroads, but Cena hits another AA and into the STFU, but Cody makes the ropes and the ref gets bumped. So Cena exposes the turnbuckle, runs Cody into it, and hits yet another AA for two. This naturally brings out Travis Scott while everyone stops and waits for him to do his entrance ALL THE WAY DOWN THE RAMP. So Cody hits the Crossroads on Cena and Scott pulls the ref out to bump him for a second time. So then Travis gets into the ring and Cody gives him a Crossroads as this match has gone completely off a cliff at this point. Next up, Cody and Cena have a tug of war over the belt and Cody can’t use it, so Cena kicks him in the nuts and knocks him out with the belt instead and pins him to win the title at 25:00. What a stupid ending. Since when is Cody afraid to hit someone with the belt? He fucked up Kevin Owens so badly at Royal Rumble that the man had to go get neck surgery! And the announcers are like “JOHN CENA IS A HUGE PIECE OF GARBAGE!” while the entire crowd cheers for him winning the belt. The positive: John Cena is not a lowlife sex pest like Ric Flair and so I’m glad he has the record now. The negative: Everything else about the match, which was SLOOOOOOOOOW and dull and then somehow got even slower and duller and dumber with Travis Scott being the difference in the match for some reason. Cena took the whole match at half speed and I was waiting and waiting and waiting for someone to get it out of first gear and they never did. An all time disappointing Wrestlemania main event after what had been a pretty good show up until then. *1/2

Well I had the thumbs up all cocked and ready and then they just fell off a cliff in the main event and could not stick the landing. I’d call it better than Night 1, but really everyone was waiting for this main event and they did not deliver whatsoever. Thumbs in the middle.