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The Rock & Roman Reigns Steal The Show at WrestleMania 40

Rhea Ripley, Sami Zayn, the tag team ladder match, and the main event helped create an entertaining opening night of WrestleMania

Justin Barrasso

Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns will wrestle the main event of WrestleMania 40 under Bloodline Rules.

And expect The Rock to play a part in it.

Reigns and The Rock defeated Rhodes and Seth Rollins in the finale of Night One, ensuring that chaos will ensue when Reigns and Rollins battle on Night Two.

Twenty-five years after The Rock headlined WrestleMania for the first time in his career, he returned to Philadelphia for WWE’s signature event. On a bitterly cold evening, he closed out the show by delivering a Rock Bottom and People’s Elbow before pinning Rhodes for the win.

Cody Rhodes
Cody Rhodes / Courtesy WWE

Despite a Prime beverage advertisement adorning the ring mat, there was an old-school feel to the first night of WrestleMania 40. There were some outstanding parts of the card, and all eyes were on the main event. Rock, incredibly, is older than Hulk Hogan was when they wrestled each other at WrestleMania 18. Hogan was 48 in that match, while Rock is now 51.

The match had a slow cadence for the majority of it. Some momentum was gained when Reigns re-injured Rollins’ left knee–likely a foreshadow that Rollins is dropping the world heavyweight title to Drew McIntyre on Night Two.

The match intensified when Reigns accidentally speared The Rock. That led to a double pedigree, followed by Rhodes and Rollins each pinning Rock and Reigns–and nearly getting the win. It continued to pick up from there. Rhodes hit a Rock Bottom on Rock on the broadcast table, Reigns speared Rollins through the barricade, and suddenly, this felt like the WrestleMania main event that was advertised.

Rhodes finally seized control of the match, and he was attempting the third consecutive Cross Rhodes on Reigns before Rock nailed him with a weight belt. That led to the finishing sequence, with Rock pinning Rhodes.

Here are the results from a very entertaining opening night:

  • Women’s world champion Rhea Ripley defeated Becky Lynch
  • A-Town Down Under’s Grayson Waller and Austin Theory won the SmackDown tag titles–and The Awesome Truth’s R-Truth and The Miz won the Raw tag team titles–in the six-pack tag team championship ladder match
  • Rey Mysterio and Andrade defeated Santos Escobar and Dominik Mysterio
  • Jey Uso defeated Jimmy Uso
  • Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, and Naomi defeated CTRL Damage’s Asuka, Kairi, and Dakota Kai
  • Sami Zayn defeated Gunther to win the Intercontinental championship
  • The Rock and Roman Reigns defeated Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins

The show kicked off with Triple H introducing everyone at a packed Lincoln Financial Field to a new era of WWE.

Triple H
Triple H / Courtesy WWE

In the opening match, Rhea Ripley extended her reign as women’s world champion–which began last year at WrestleMania 39–by defeating Becky Lynch. This was a back-and-forth physical affair, but the giveaway of the outcome was the commentary team of Michael Cole, Corey Graves, and Pat McAfee repeatedly mentioning that Lynch had strep throat and a temperature of 102 degrees. Ultimately, Ripley was too much for Lynch.

Rhea Ripley
Rhea Ripley / Courtesy WWE

A loss would have helped Ripley. Her popularity wouldn’t have been hurt whatsoever, and she would have gained what she desperately needs: a rival. But the victory does allow for Ripley to further her run as unbeatable, which opens the possibility of a feud against Bianca Belair at next year’s WrestleMania. Unfortunately, the victory celebration for Ripley was cut short as viewers were instead treated to an advertisement for a new show on Netflix (not exactly a WrestleMania moment).

Rhea Ripley
Rhea Ripley / Courtesy WWE

The six-pack tag team championship ladder match was next. In the best way possible, this was a car crash. Yet, throughout all the commotion, it became more interesting as the match developed. Every single person in this match–R-Truth, Finn Balor, Damian Priest, Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampo, Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate, The Miz, Grayson Waller, Austin Theory, and even JD McDonagh–all had incredibly dangerous spots that involved ladders. Waller and Theory won the SmackDown titles, giving the duo a shot to increase their position on the show.

Grayson Waller and Austin Theory
Grayson Waller and Austin Theory / Courtesy WWE

The real excitement came every time R-Truth climbed the ladder, and the crowd exploded when Truth finally seized the SmackDown belts. Truth deserved a special moment like that, especially after delivering such compelling work after a nearly debilitating leg injury. The victory further amplifies his feud with Judgment Day, which will continue to add value to Raw.

R-Truth and The Miz
R-Truth and The Miz / Courtesy WWE

In a throwback to WrestleMania II, which featured plenty of involvement from NFL players, former Super Bowl champions Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson helped Rey Mysterio and Andrade defeat Dom Mysterio and Santos Escobar. The two linemen interfered while wearing Eagles luchador masks, which may have been trying to do too much–the crowd did not respond until after the match when Kelce and Johnson unmasked themselves (on the subject of gear Dom wore chest gear paying homage to La Parka, one of Rey’s longest rivals).

Celebrities certainly add to the show, but not during the matches. Wouldn’t the moment have meant more if Andrade had cleanly pinned Escobar? Or if Dragon Lee, as initially planned, was part of the match and beat Dom? Perhaps I am in the minority here, but I would have kept the focus on the wrestlers in the match and saved the celebs for the celebration.

For only the third time in WrestleMania history, there was a brother vs. brother match. Accompanied to the ring by Lil Wayne, Jey Uso defeated his brother Jimmy in their first-ever singles match in WWE. With a genuine connection to the crowd, Jey has the potential to be world champion. A run as Intercontinental champion would also make sense, and he took a giant step in that direction by overcoming his brother at WrestleMania. The possibility always exists for Jey to be involved in the Night Two main event, but this could be an opportune time to move him away from The Bloodline story and into his own title pursuit.

In X-Men inspired gear, Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, and Naomi defeated CTRL Damage’s Asuka, Kairi, and Dakota Kai. A six-man tag is a step down the card for Belair after headlining the opening night of WrestleMania 38 against Sasha Banks and then winning the title from Becky Lynch in an extraordinary match at WrestleMania 39, but this was a powerful showing.

Cargill has endless potential in WWE, and this was a return to WrestleMania for Naomi. But Belair remains one of the most dynamic talents on the roster, and there is every reason to believe she will be back in a WrestleMania main event.

In the prelude to the main event, Sami Zayn wrestled the match of the night against Gunther. It started in captivating fashion with Zayn backstage with his wife and son. That vulnerability was a stark contrast to Gunther repeatedly calling himself the greatest Intercontinental champion of all-time, which turned out to be a signal that the end was near for his record-setting run as champ. Very few capture the role of underdog quite like Zayn, and this match was the perfect embodiment of that. Michael Cole tapped into Al Michaels’ “Do you believe in miracles?” call, and Zayn finally got his singles championship moment–one that he should have had a year ago in Montreal against Reigns.

A real highlight of the match was Zayn’s top rope brainbuster, which was spectacular. All signs point to his next feud against Chad Gable, while Gunther can now move on to challenge for a world title (how does he not win one of the world title belts this summer in Berlin?). Unlike after Ripley won, we were treated to Zayn’s victory celebration in the ring.

In the main event, it was no surprise that Rock and Reigns were victorious. But Rock getting the winning pinfall opens the possibility for Reigns to beat Rhodes on Night Two. The notion that Rhodes would lose to Reigns two years in a row seems outrageous, but the creative storyline has left this matchup incredibly hard to predict.

After a successful opening night, the focus shifts to Reigns-Rhodes–and how The Rock plays a role–on Night Two.

Published |Modified
Justin Barrasso
JUSTIN BARRASSO

Justin Barrasso has been writing for Sports Illustrated since 2014. While his primary focus is pro wrestling and MMA, he has also covered MLB, NBA, and the NFL. He can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com and followed on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.

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