From surreal returns to a surprise finish to an instant classic, the Saturday card of WWE WrestleMania 38 provided plenty of great moments.
It was a true back-and-forth affair that highlighted the strengths of both and allowed each plenty of time on top. This was a WrestleMania moment, and it was a beautiful one. WrestleMania Sunday will have to be pretty good to match what we got from the first night. But it did, and it was done beautifully. And that was the case here. But I still have to go back and watch again just to get the number of beers Austin went through. It certainly got close a few times, but then the construction would go off the rails just a touch. It will never be seen as a WrestleMania classic, but it told the story it needed to tell. This bout easily had the most energy of the first three, and the WrestleMania crowd seemed to appreciate the upswing in pace, staying engaged throughout. Absolutely. And it certainly didn’t hurt him to be in there with a pair of veterans like The Miz and Rey Mysterio. I was hoping this is where we’d get the inevitable turn from Dominik on his dad, but we got The Miz turning on Paul instead, which was a little strange. The match used the basic formula we’ve seen thousands upon thousands of times before, but that was a unique moment.
The New Day, Sheamus, and Ridge Holland were involved in a WWE WrestleMania 38 card shuffle...
Theoretically, it should have been easy for WWE to switch the match to night two, though whether or not this would actually happen wasn't clear at the time. Holland and Sheamus from the lineup. This was due to time constraints.
Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar take part in "the biggest WrestleMania match of all-time." Johnny Knoxville and Pat McAfee take to the ring on Sunday.
The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) WrestleMania 38 will also be aired on the big screen. Night two of WrestleMania 38 will be held on Sunday, April 3.
Everything you need to know ahead of the WWE WrestleMania Night 2 pay-per-view this Sunday.
As entertaining as RK-Bro is as an act, you get the sense that WWE is getting antsy to break them up for a less entertaining feud. I'll side with Edge, hesitantly, but am rather confident that this will be Match of the Night. Pick: Edge wins -- Mahjouri Reigns can get his win over Lesnar down the road in the inevitable fourth Lesnar vs. Alpha Academy should have been afforded the opportunity for a longer Raw Tag Team title run, but Orton and Riddle were quick to reclaim their crowns. McAfee is so beloved by fans that it's hard to see him losing to Austin Theory, who has plenty of time in his career to recover from a loss to a pro-athlete-turned-commentator. He won't have that benefit against fellow heavyweight Lashley. "The Almighty" is coming off a recent WWE championship reign, has a winning MMA record and muscles for days. Pick: Sasha Banks & Naomi win the titles -- Shakiel Mahjouri Lashley is returning from several months on the sidelines and his return should result in a win. If there's any out here, it may be in finding the cheapest way for Lashley to lose, which could come down to MVP turning on him and moving on to manage Omos. That would benefit the monster by giving him someone who can work the mic and extend the program with Lashley for a while. Zayn is exactly the right kind of heel to lose this match and have that loss be a benefit in building him up. You would hope that WWE would not go so far as to have a quality superstar like Zayn take the L for "Jackass" star Johnny Knoxville. The no-disqualification stipulation should present opportunities for run-ins and fun stunts from other stars from the film franchise. It's undeniably the right move to have Knoxville get the win.
Outside of the title matches, the event will feature Bobby Lashley vs. Omos, Edge vs. AJ Styles, Pat McAfee vs. Austin Theory and Sami Zayn vs Johnny Knoxville.
* Carmella and Zelina Vega (c) vs. Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley vs. Alpha Academy (Chad Gable and Otis) for the RAW Tag Team Titles Sasha Banks and Naomi vs. * RK-Bro (Randy Orton and Riddle) (c) vs. The main event will feature Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns in a Winner Takes All match.
WWE WrestleMania 38 Sunday has some tough shoes to follow after a strong show on Saturday night.
Lesnar, of course, doesn’t need the victory, just as he didn’t need to beat The Undertaker at WrestleMania 30 to still get a massive push. Brock Lesnar, it wouldn’t be wrong to assume that “The Beast” will be the one to dethrone “The Head of the Table,” who has held the Universal Championship for nearly 600 days. McAfee is a likable babyface and master of the microphone who’s proven in the past to be very good in the ring, especially for a non-wrestler, and he’s playing his role perfectly here. WWE needs to give them time to do just that—with the match ending designed to be a clean one that is the icing on the cake of an unforgettable Mania encounter. In an ideal world, Omos would be losing to a fellow rising star at WrestleMania who could benefit from toppling the giant, but that’s not happening and his actual opponent, Bobby Lashley, has been too good to be used as fodder for the gargantuan star. Upon its initial formation last year, RKBro was widely expected to be a short-term experiment that ultimately imploded with an Orton heel turn, but it got over in a major way, so much so that now is not the right time to end it.
Burning question over so-called 'biggest WWE match of all-time': WrestleMania 38 live.
This time it’s in what WWE calls ‘the biggest WrestleMania match of all-time’. Winner Takes All match to unify the WWE Championship and WWE Universal Championship: Brock Lesnar (c, WWE) v Roman Reigns (c, Universal) For the sixth time in eight years, Universal champion Roman Reigns main events the company’s biggest show, and for the third time is up against WWE champion Brock Lesnar in said main event.