Hiya!

So, Wrestlemania 41 just happened over the weekend. Can I just say I’m super happy the WWE made the wise decision of breaking up The Grandaddy of Them All to 2 separate days? I mean, Day 1 is roughly 4 hours long! That’s the length of an entire pay-per-view right there!

The only downside is there is undoubtedly going to be a “lesser” day between the two. Will it be Day 1 or Day 2? Well, we won’t know until I get to check out Wrestlemania 41 Day 2 for the I’ll Review Anything section! Yep, I’m pulling double duty and try to talk about what’s going to be roughly 8 freaking hours of WWE programming in quick succession! Wish me luck!

Anyway, let’s go check out what happened on Wrestlemania 41 Day 1 first.

The first match of the night was for the top prize of RAW, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. This had GUNTHER defending the belt against the winner of this year’s Royal Rumble, “Main Event” Jey Uso. As I mentioned last week, this was one of the matches I was strangely interested in as I wanted to see what direction the WWE was going to take with Jey Uso. Are they really going to try to make him a “main event” star? Will he rise up to the challenge and prove he is one? Well, if I were to judge his performance based on this match, I do think Jey Uso has a ways to go.

There’s just something so… lacking. The necessary intensity seems to be missing. His selling is also kind of lackluster, too. Also, his spears tend to look like running cuddles rather than a devastative attack. To be fair, there were some good moves here, such as Jey reversing one of GUNTHER’s powerbomb attempts with a hurracarana and that bit where GUNTHER smashed Jey with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship belt while the referee ducked for cover was well choreographed.

The finish came of as rather uncharacteristic for both wrestlers. GUNTHER started walloping Jey with strikes but he was shrugging it off and laughing? GUNTHER then went for a sleeperhold but Jey Uso reversed it into a german suplex but The Ring General retaliated with a shotgun dropkick. GUNTHER then went for another powerbomb but Main Event countered with a powerbomb of his own! Jey Uso hit GUNTHER with a superkick and another weak looking spear. Jey Uso then hit 3 consecutive Samoan Splashes but, instead of going for the pin, he locked in a sleeperhold, leading to… GUNTHER tapping out? Anyway, we have a NEW top dog in Smackdown as Jey Uso is your new WWE World Heavyweight Champion!

This was just okay. Sadly, this wasn’t exactly a star making moment for Jey Uso. Like I said, he needs a little more intensity with his wrestling. Maybe a little more killer instinct or something more definite. I just got confused by the ending as it made Jey Uso come off as some wrestling savant, using GUNTHER’s own finishers against him instead of his own style. Also, he really should stop doing that weak looking spear.

The next match of the night was for the RAW Tag Team Championship. This had The (New) New Day, featuring Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston, challenging the current champions, The War Raiders, featuring Erik and Ivar. I will say there wasn’t that much build up to this match and I believe it did hurt it. There were some really cool moves, such as that Erik tossing Woods in mid-air so Ivar can hit his foe with a splash and Woods planking Erik so Kofi can hit a senton on the ring apron. Ivar was extremely impressive as he was doing some very athletic moves, like that flipping double back elbow and a decent looking moonsault, especially for a man of his size.

The finish came shortly after the aforementioned moonsault. Ivan went for a pin but Woods hit a top-rope elbow to break up the count. Both teams went for a tag and Xavier Woods tried to hit Erik with his honor roll signature but Erik blocked it and hit a full nelson knee strike. The War Raiders went for their War Machine finisher but Kofi low bridged the rope Ivar was going to jump off on. This allowed The (New) New Day to hit Ivar with their UpUpDownDown finisher to get the pinfall victory and become the NEW RAW Tag Team Champions!

Despite the crowd not being totally into it, I do appreciate how good this match was. I can’t say this was an exceptional match and there were no real “Wrestlemania Moments” that happened. Then again,, not every match in Wrestlemania has to have a “Wrestlemania Moment,” do they? Even so, both teams really tried to do some good wrestling and it’s just unfortunate the live audience didn’t care all that much.

The next match was a grudge match between Naomi and Jade Cargill. When this was announced, I was already predicting this would be the worst match of Wrestlemania 41… for both Day 1 and Day 2! Was I right? Well, for right now, I can safely say this was the worst match of Day 1! I still have to check out Day 2 as of this writing! This was the kind of match I would call “spotty” as both Jade Cargill and Naomi would take some arduous pauses to set up for the spot. Sure, these were spots to showcase Jade’s power and all that. The problem is the match slows down to a halt while Naomi positions herself and Jade readies herself to do the spot!

The finish came after Naomi hit a pretty impressive bulldog from the second rope and a split legged moonsault to get a 2-count. Naomi hit Jade with a couple of front kicks. Jade blocked a 3rd kick and went for her Jaded finisher but Naomi rolled through for a 2-count but she transitioned to a Rings of Saturn double armbar. Jade powered up back to her feet and attempted to slam Naomi down but Naomi landed on her feet. Naomi swung wildly with a roundhouse kick but Jade ducked the attack. Jade then hit an electric chair transition into a powerbomb! Jade then hit her Jaded finisher to get the pinfall victory.

While things did pick up during the final moments, the rest of the match was just a slog. Too much setup led to the match slowing down too much. I’m not sure what happened to Jade Cargill as she seemed so much better when she was down at AEW. She just seems so much slower in WWE. Maybe she’s trying to be a safer wrestler but it’s not doing her any favors for right now.

The next match had LA Knight defending his United States Championship against Jacob Fatu. In my mind, as much as I am an LA Knight fan, it just didn’t make sense for him to squeak out a win against Jacob Fatu. This was the Samoan Werewolf’s chance to show what a monster he is and, for the most part, he did. There was a rather understated moment when he blocked LA Knight’s BFT finisher and it looked very clean. Some of the better spots had Fatu reversing LA Knight’s crossbody into a powerslam, Knight countering a samoan drop with an arm drag, The Megastar hitting Fatu a wicked looking back drop from the top rope and, of course, that phenomenally gorgeous counter LA Knight hit his BFT finisher out of the Samoan Werewolf’s moonsault.

The finish came after the aforementioned BFT. Knight went for the pin but Fatu broke it by reaching for the bottom rope. Knight climbed to the top once again but Fatu kicked his foot off. This allowed Fatu to hit a senton over Knight who was draped over the top turnbuckle. Fatu then hit a samoan drop from the second rope and hit 2 consecutive springboard moonsaults to get the pin and become the NEW United States Champion!

This could have been the match that stole the night. This could have been the dark horse match which surprised everyone. Both Knight and Fatu did really well in the ring but this is one match where a really big “Wrestlemania Moment” was needed to make it stand out. Overall, however, even though this was a good match, it never really hit the highs it could’ve.

The next match was between Chad Gable El Grande Americano taking on Rey Fenix, who is replacing an “injured” Rey Mysterio. I’m kind of disappointed with the WWE of not going 100% with the bit as El Grande Americano doesn’t have an official bio on their Superstars page. Now, I was already familiar with Rey Fenix with his time with AEW but I was curious on how he would work well with a “fake” luchador in El Grande Americano. Honestly, they did really well! I’m really surprised with El Grande Americano adapting some luchador style offense as that 540 reverse senton was really good! That wasn’t the only cool spot as Rey Fenix did all his cool springboard attacks and tightrope walking skills to really hype up the action.

The finish came after El Grande Americano applied the metal plate into his mask after tripping up Rey Fenix. Fenix blocked a headbutt attempt and connected with a frankensteiner. Fenix then hit his tightrope kick to El Grande Americano’s head, not realizing he would also get hurt thanks to the metal plate in the mask. El Grande Americano then attacked the injured foot with an ankle lock but he eventually countered with a roll-through pin. Americano kicked out and Fenix went for a springboard crossbody. Unfortunately for Fenix, Americano was ready and hit him out of the air with a headbutt, knocking Fenix out cold. Americano then added the exclamation point with a diving headbutt from the top rope to get the pinfall victory.

This was, in simple terms, an unimportant match. However, both Chad Gable El Grande Americano and Rey Fenix put on a fun show for the fans. It kind of felt like a throwback to old gimmick-y wrestling where the heel would have something on their person and use it in plain sight of the official and get away with it. My logical mind does think a metal plate in a mask shouldn’t do that much damage but my wrestling mind, which allows for me to believe it can, overpowered that side because it was just fun. A really good and entertaining match.

The second-to-the-last match of the night was for the Smackdown‘s Women’s Championship. This saw Tiffany Stratton defending the belt against Charlotte Flair. Things did start out slow but quickly became more heated. There were some moments where it looked like there was some miscommunication between the two but there were still some really good moments, such as Charlotte hitting a picture perfect sitout powerbomb and Charlotte hitting Natural Selection from the top rope.

The finish did come off as somewhat disappointing as it did come out of nowhere. Charlotte went for her Figure Eight finisher but Stratton countered with a small package attempt. The Queen powered out of it and went for a spear. The Buff Barbie dodged it, however, sending Charlotte headfirst into the corner. Tiffany then hit an Alamaba Slam to Charlotte into the corner turnbuckles. Stratton hit her rolling fireman’s carry slam and then she transitioned to her Prettiest Moonsault Ever to get the pinfall victory and retain her Smackdown Woman’s Championship.

This was a pretty good match but I can’t say it was a pretty great match. There was just something lacking overall. The spots they did execute were good but nothing I would say sticks out in my mind. I do wish the finish was much better rather than Statton just ending it out of nowhere. Good match but nothing to write home about.

The final match of the Wrestlemania 41 Day 1 was a Triple Threat with 3 of the biggest WWE Superstars on the roster today. This was CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins. There is a running storyline as well regarding Paul Heyman who has sided with CM Punk when he was formerly with Roman Reigns. Hmm, I wonder who Paul Heyman is going to finally align with by the night is over. It’s a mystery… even to those who are longtime WWE and wrestling fans!

This Triple Threat initially looked like it was going to be a throwback to older Triple Threat matches. What I mean by that is, even though there are 3 wrestlers, only 2 of them will be competing while the other is going to be incapacitated until the time a switch is needed. It started out that way but, by the midpoint, things gradually became more involved for all the participants. I will say there was slight overabundance of finishers getting hit and no one getting a pinfall. I would be okay with that if the 3rd wheel of that segment breaks the pin. That didn’t happen as everyone was just kicking out of finishers! I know this is the Grandest Stage of Them All but for god’s sake! Protect the finisher a little bit, guys!

Anyway, the finish saw everyone getting knocked out with finishers. Both CM Punk and Roman Reigns then beckoned to Paul Heyman, who had a steel chair in hand. Paul Heyman handed the chair to Punk but, as the Second City Savior went to strike the Original Tribal Chief, The Wise Man delivered a low blow to Punk! Heyman then handed the steel chair to Reigns who then walloped Punk out of commission. Instead of going for the pinfall, Paul Heyman then turned Reigns’ attention to Seth Rollins, who was still recovering. As Reigns went to attack The Visionary, Heyman delivered a low blow (and kind of grinded his arm in there deep?) to his former Tribal Chief! Rollins then took the steel chair from Heyman and took Reigns out with the weapon. Seth then hit his Curb Stomp finisher to get the pinfall victory.

Despite the overabundance of finishers, I really liked this match as everyone was telling a really good story in the ring. I will say it was obvious Heyman was going to side with Rollins at the end because they made him look like the 3rd wheel in this Triple Threat match. Still, everyone hit their spots and everyone got their chance to shine.

Overall, I will say Wrestlemania 41 Day 1 was pretty good. While I can’t say there was anything exceptional, the entire package was mostly entertaining. Hopefully, Day 2 can keep this streak going.

Byee!

What did you think of Wrestlemania 41 Day 1? Let me know in the comments section below!