Date: April 6–7, 2024
Venue: Lincoln Financial Field – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Attendance –
Night 1: 72,543
Night 2: 72,755
Combined: 145,298
Yeah, so despite some Network issues and a last minute decision to go watch the new Godzilla X Kong movie this weekend – great popcorn flick, by the way – I was able to watch both nights of Wrestlemania XL and, well, it certainly lived up to the XL part if nothing else.
I actually wanted to hold this off for another week or so before posting
So the show opens with Paul “Triple H” Levesque (who is actually introduced as such – thanks, Paul E!) coming out and welcoming us to a new era in WWE. You can tell that it’s a new era (yes, it is) because there’s a Prime bottle decal in the middle of the ring; something that WWE has never done before. Prime is the energy drink brand of that Logan Paul fellow. I tried some. It’s medicinal, but that’s about it. But more importantly, this is the first Wrestlemania without any involvement from [REDACTED] and that is readily apparently with a lot of the little touches you wouldn’t normally see, like backstage bits with the wrestlers walking to their entrance, unique camera angles, and things of that nature. This is stuff I noticed when watching the last couple PPVs, but seeing it at Wrestlemania really hammered home that a changing of the guard was needed to freshen things up from a production and visual standpoint. I like that personally.
With that in mind, on with the show…
Night One
April 6th, 2024
It is worth noting that I’m watching this particular night a couple days after the fact due to issues getting the ol’ WWE Network to work. Also, part of that weekend was spent watching that Godzilla/Kong flick, which turned out to be a pretty good decision on my part. Good popcorn flick.
Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley defeated Becky Lynch to retain the title. Good news; Becky got to open the show like she wanted, but she also had a cold… maybe if she felt better, she would’ve won the title. The match was alright, though I’d imagine not quite as good as it could have been since Becky was a bit sick. Rhea retaining is certainly a decision to go with and not one that I’m opposed to, quite frankly. I will admit that it did rob me of the opportunity to use the phrase “The Man milked Mami dry at Wrestlemania.”
What?
Undisputed Tag Champions Damien Priest and Finn Balor defended the titles againt Austin Theory/Grayson Waller, DIY, The New Day, and Miz/Truth in a ladder match for the tag titles in which both sets of tag titles need to be taken down, which was their big idea on how to split those titles. So Theory and Grayson claimed the Smackdown titles while Miz/Truth got the tag titles. Ladder match was a thing that happened; certainly not a bad match or anything as it had a couple fun bits here and there, but for something that’s normally a nice little party match, this was one fairly boring party… but then again, I feel the party is a bit crowded, but that’s just me. Still, they got the belts off Judgment Day, so Damien can finally think about cashing in that briefcase while Truth got some vindication over that group he wanted to join and turned on him.
Rey Mysterio & Andrade (who was a last-minute replacement for some other masked dude who got hurt in a backstage skit) defeated “Dirty” Dom Mysterio & Santos Escobar with help from some football players in cheap Rey Mysterio masks in what felt like a perfectly fine TV match, but for something on the Wrestlemania card… eh, I don’t know. This did nothing for me and honestly, I’m not feeling this whole LWO version 2289.826899173 edition whatever versus this Legado group… but I’m sure this pleases the Latin market, so…
Jey Uso defeated Jimmy Uso in a thing that happened… and that’s probably the nicest thing I could say about this match because it was BORING AS SHIT. Dude, this show ran almost four hours and the last thing I need is a boring match to put me to sleep. This almost killed the show for me and forced me to call it a night… but fortunately, I was able to stay awake and watch the rest of the show.
Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, and Glow Girl defeated Dmg Ctrl-Alt-Del (Asuka, Kairi Sane, and Dakota Kai) in another TV-quality match that did nothing for me. Hey, Jade got to show off some stuff and she looked fine, but other than that… this was just there.
Sami Zayn ended the 666-day long reign of Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER to win the title. It’s a fairly simple story here; underdog goes up against dominant champion, champion hits underdog with everything he has, underdog keeps going, champion gets cocky and eventually misses a move, underdog takes advantage and hits champion with his best moves (including a goddamn top-rope BRAINBUSTAH!) before eventually getting the win and the title. It was simple, it was straightforward, it was fucking beautiful, Sami was great, GUNTHER is fucking great, I loved this match with all my heart, and this was probably the best match on the show, bar none.
Some people would’ve preferred Chad Gable get the win and I would’ve been fine with that too, but Chad’s got one chance too many and he failed… so yeah, unless he’s coming back as Shorty G for one night only and eating another loss, I wouldn’t have cared. Also, Chad clearly didn’t watch enough El Generico vs. WALTER matches to know that this Sami fellow might know a thing or two about taking down ring generals… because he and Generico are good friends and all. Also, he’s beaten longest reigning NXT champions and tag champions in his career, so this sort of thing is right up his ally. Regardless, I’m just happy to see Sami finally be able to win a title and bring it home to Montreal… but that’s another story.
The Rock and Roman Reigns defeated Cody Rhodes and the walking clown emoji wearing the ridiculous get-up that somewhat looks like Seth Rollins in the main event tag match that went way too fucking long and quite frankly didn’t need to be that long. Forty five minutes? Seriously? You could have just went 20 minutes and still hit all the important bits; Rock taunting Mama Rhodes, Roman accidentally spear Rock and planting some seeds for that dissention in the future, and also Rock getting his belt shot in so he could hit the People’s Elbow on Cody for the win. As a result, it’s Bloodline rules on Night 2, which means anything goes, I guess. Hey, when the match gets to the bits that matter, there’s a bit of fun to be had and Rock did as much as needed to without getting too blown up, but this match ran way too fucking long and it really didn’t need to be.
So that was on Night One. On any other day, it would’ve been just a show top offed with a really hot match followed by a sleep-inducing main event, but for Wrestlemania, it was a little weak. Planting little seeds for the future is one thing, but that’s assuming those seeds would be allowed to grow in the first place. As a card in and of itself, this was fairly weak sauce due to some needless filler and a needlessly bloated run time. Fortunately, Night 2 would be a different story since it ran less time and the matches were of generally higher quality… let’s get into that.
Night #2
April 8th, 2024
Drew McIntyre defeated Consolation World Champion Seth Rollins to win the title in a fairly quick ten minute match that was booked much like a Brock Lesnar match; trading of big moves between the two before Drew eventually got the duke and the title… and this time, there’s a live audience for him to bask in the glory for a bit… and then he taunts CM Punk, who was doing commentary and after a crotch chop, Punk throws a tantrum and beats up Drew with his cast thing (he had another tricep injury, but seems to be taking enough Z-Packs that he’s doing a bit better). And then out comes Damien Priest to finally cash in his briefcase and beat Drew for the title. Well, at least Drew got his moment in front of fans, even if it was brief.
Bobby Lashley & The Street Profits defeated Karrion Kross & The Authors of Pain in what was dubbed a Philly Street Fight, but the fight, sadly, did not spill onto any streets… oh, and Bully Ray is the special ref for this match. Nice to WWE to offer Bubba a Mania payday about hearing his plight about being disrespected by some ingrate brat or something… couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Yeah, this was a thing that happened. Didn’t particularly care, but the crowd seemed to enjoy it, so… eh.
LA Knight defeated AJ Styles in a TNA Alumni match… see, ‘cuz both were in TNA and coincidentally, both are former TNA World Champions, so that’s another notch on that, I guess. This was a perfectly acceptable wrestling match. AJ Styles had new music that we didn’t hear a whole lot of because that fucker ran like the wind to take out LA Knight… and then he lost the match, so who’s the dummy, YEAH. Hey, at least they got paid.
United States Champion Logan Paul defeated Kevin Owens and Randy Orton to retain the title in a match that saw Owens and Orton riding together in a golf cart and teaming up against the Youtube guy for a bit before going at it with each other. And there’s also some stuff involving a guy in a Prime Bottle costume or something… hey, you know what? I actually enjoyed this somewhat. This Logan Paul fellow is slowly but surely starting to grow on me now that he’s embracing the role of being a douche – something I’d imagine comes along naturally for him. A pity that the KO/RKO alliance might be at an end at this point, but hey, it was fun while it lasted, I guess.
Bayley defeated WWE Women’s Champion IYO SKY to win the title. I actually enjoyed this one more than the Ripley/Lynch match on Night 1, but only because anything with Io Shirai is going to be a fun match and this is no exception. Bayley getting her big Wrestlemania title win is a nice, wholesome thing, though I don’t expect (nor want) a return to the Hugger days any time soon, because that would be a bit cringe… much like the Rosebud is a bit cringe to watch (is that even a new move? Stick with a brainbustah, kid.)
And in the main event – this overly long but not necessarily uneventful main event match that featured crowd brawling, some weapon shots, the eventual Bloodline run-ins, and cameos from John Cena and even Undertaker, Cody Rhodes defeated Undisputed WWE Champion Roman Reigns to win the title and finish the fucking story that should have been finished last year. Unlike last night’s tag team main event, this wasn’t boring. In fact, it was quite good from start to finish. We got a nice, clean match with some outside brawling for the first twenty-some-odd minutes before the first run-in in Jimmy Uso happened, with Jey coming out to neutralize his twin by going through a far-off table or two. They try a repeat of last year’s finish, but Cody would kick out… and then out comes John Cena to avenge his Solo loss in one of the Blood Money shows before Rock comes out and Rock Bottoms Cena out of his misery – the closest thing Rock will have to a DC Crossover event; he wanted Black Adam vs. Superman and instead he got Peacemaker… well, it could’ve been worse; he could’ve been stuck with Wish.com Aquaman and they would’ve stunk up the joint… Seth tries a Shield sneak attack – complete with old flak jacket garb, but Roman takes him out. And then the lights go out, Undertaker appears, chokeslams Rock, disappears, and then Roman strikes Seth in the back with a chair, allowing Cody enough time to recover and finish Roman off for good. And the crowd was into it from start to finish. What a main event match. Greatest ever? Probably not, but as a spectacle and a crowd pleaser, it certainly ranks right up there.
And then we get the post-match, which saw all the babyfaces come out and congratulate Rhodes for his victory over Roman and, as promised, he hands over the belt to his mother – the belt he couldn’t deliver to his father when he was alive. Cody takes the mic and calls out two men instrumental in his coming back to WWE – Bruce Pritchard (whom the crowd refuse to react to) and of course, ol’ HHH, who is treated and regarded as the architect of this new era; a new era that is lead by the new WWE Undisputed champion, Cody Rhodes.
And this is where it hits me. It’s not so much about Cody finishing his story or the end of the illustrious Roman Reigns championship reign. It wasn’t about the triumph of underdogs or the crowning of new champions. This was about celebrating the new “Paul Levesque” era. This was about celebrating the new creative visionary that is He Of The Three Hs. The stalwart leadership of McSon-In-Law from the turbulent period of transition to the company’s most prosperous heights. You see it in Hunter’s welcoming speech on Night 1, as well as Stephanie McMahon’s Night 2 hammering of that fact. This whole show was designed around the idea that this was indeed a new era in WWE and it was all thanks to one man.
Cynical? Perhaps… but in this case, I will give the man his praise because it’s well deserved.
WWE often likes to declare new eras on their television programs and more often than not, such proclamations hold less weight than a Tony Khan Important Announcement since it’s just more of the same shit. But in recent years, there were enough changes and shifts in the way WWE produces their television product; not just in terms of the creative aspects, but also in terms of the overall production. Different camera angles, unique backstage segments, less stringent verbiage that no normal human would say, just a lot of little changes that gave the product a freshness that it hadn’t experienced in decades. So when WWE tells you that we’re in a new era of prosperity, there’s more than enough evidence to support that claim and you would actually believe it.
Yes, there were stories told. Yes, those stories were finished… but when it was all said and done, if you could sum up what this show was all about… well, how does that song go?
It’s all about the Game… indeed.
I refrain from calling Wrestlemania XL the greatest Wrestlemania of all time for fear of recency bias… and in all fairness, it would be hard to make that claim for a two-night event where the first night felt much weaker than its second night. But in terms of pure fan satisfaction, compelling storytelling, and just the simple, effortless task of sending people home happy with a Wrestlemania main event that not only delivered the goods from an emotional standpoint, but also finished a story in a satisfying way… I would not be opposed to calling this the best Wrestlemania show in decades. The good stuff delivered the goods and while there were a couple bad spots, they didn’t take down the whole show and the good parts more than made up for it.
I can safely say that for the first time in a long time, I actually enjoyed a Wrestlemania from start to finish. And that is perhaps the highest form of praise that I could levy towards a modern-day WWE premium live event.
Game on.
dtm666 