Hiya!

Well, we’re here. Wrestlemania 41 Day 2. While I was overall pleased with the results of Day 1, I do think the show was good but didn’t hit the notes to make it great. Still, I would like to judge the WWE‘s performance by what they’ve done during both Wrestlemania Day 1 and Day 1. I mean, if I didn’t, that would be like judging an entire television series based on the first episode. So, let’s go check out of they can move this year’s Wrestlemania from the “just good” category to “really great” with Day 2. We’ve got a lot to go through so let’s stop wasting time! Let’s go to the matches!

The first match of the night was a Triple Threat for the RAW Women’s Championship. This saw IYO SKY, the current champion, Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair taking on one another. This was one action packed match right from the get-go. There were only a few times when one of the competitors was sidelined and all 3 wrestlers were mostly involved with the action at all times. There were a lot of cool spots, like when Rhea tossed IYO SKY into Belair with a Razor’s Edge, that sequence where Ripley kicked Belair out of mid-air only to eat a springboard dropkick from IYO SKY… only for IYO SKY to eat a spear from Belair while she was celebrating as well as that other sequence which saw IYO SKY countering a second rope Riptide attempt by Ripley with an arm drag then go for her Over The Moonsault finisher only to land belly first into Ripley’s boot and then get hit by Bianca Belair’s KOD finisher! Holy crap, this is a great match!

All good things must come to an end, however. The finish saw Ripley and Belair get into a slugfest with The EST getting the upper hand by using her braid as a whip. Belair then hit her KOD finisher to Ripley and went for the pinfall. She didn’t account for IYO SKY, who was taken out earlier by Ripley on the top rope, to hit her Over The Moonsault finisher to hit both her opponents! IYO SKY manages to get the 3-count on Belair to retain her RAW Women’s Championship!

This was an extremely good match, with some of the best wrestling I’ve seen in a good while. I would even say it beat the Triple Threat from Day 1 between CM Punk, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins on a pure wrestling perspective. While that may have better storytelling, this had way better action overall. Great way to start Day 2!

The next match was a Sin City Street Fight between Drew McIntyre and Damian Priest. I never really understood why they don’t they just call it a No DQ match? I guess “Sin City Street Fight” sounds more dangerous? Anyway, this was oddly more brutal than I expected! Some of the more bombastic spots saw Damian Priest tossing the steel steps at Drew’s head, Drew leaping over the top rope to hit a senton to Priest and Priest hitting a Razor’s Edge to McIntyre through a table. The best spot, however, wasn’t really a brutal spot as it involved MyIntyre taking his brother’s cellphone and taking a selfie with himself and a beaten Damian Priest. That last one was a nice little reprieve from the carnage.

The finish saw both competitors in a slugfest with Priest coming out on top with a big clothesline. Priest then tried to mimic the Undertaker’s top rope walk but Drew countered by shoving him to the outside where Priest landed on the tables Drew set up earlier in the match. McIntyre then dragged Priest’s carcass and hit him with his Claymore kick finisher into a steel chair, leading him to get the pinfall victory.

This was a pretty good match. It didn’t overstay it’s welcome and there were enough cool spots to make it have some good intensity. I also have to say I like the very clean victory and giving Drew a victory here. So far, 2 really good matches. Day 2 is looking pretty good.

The 3rd match of Wrestlemania 41 Day 2 was a Fatal-4-Way for the Intercontinental Championship. Bron Breakker, the defending champions, has his work cut out for him as he had to face off against Finn Balor, Penta and… “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio? Oh, this is going to be good! There were some really good moments, like Bron Breakker simply flying at Penta with a flying shoulder tackle, Penta hitting both Judgement Day members with a pendulum kick and Breakker hitting a german suplex to both Penta and Balor at the same time. There was also a good amount of storytellling with “Dirty” Dom trying to hit his fellow Judgement Day member, Finn Balor, with a 619. Really good stuff here!

The finish came after Penta nearly pinned Dominik after a mexican destroyer. Carlito dragged Penta out of the ring and attempted to slam him through one of the announcer’s desks. However, Breakker rushed in from the opposite announcer’s desk to spear Carlito through the one he was standing on! Breakker hit a spear to Penta and Dominik hit a 619 to Breakker. Dom then went for a frog splash but Balor tripped him up. Balor then hit Breakker with a slingblade and a shotgun dropkick. Balor then went for his Coup De Grace finisher which connected. As Balor went for the pin, “Dirty” Dom hit a frog splash to both Balor and Breakker. Dominik then pins Balor, his fellow Judgement Day member, to become the NEW Intercontinental Champion!

This was an incredibly fun match. This was a showcase of both really good in-ring action as well as in-ring storytelling. Despite them both losing, this was a showcase for both Bron Breakker and Penta’s in-ring ability on the biggest stage. Having “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio is also a really good call as it adds much more tension to their ongoing storyline within Judgement Day. So far, 3 for 3! The WWE is doing great so far!

The 4th match, well, featured Randy Orton but, as his scheduled opponent, Kevin Owens, is out of commission, we have no idea who The Viper was going to face. After a speech from Orton, we did find out who it was: TNA‘s own Joe Hendy! He came out to a super loud pop!

Too bad this wasn’t really much of a match as Orton essentially made quick work of Joe Hendry! Hendry did get some offense in early but was stopped by Orton with a quick poke to the eyes. Orton then hit all of his signature moves but Joe Hendry blocked an RKO and hit a fallaway slam. Unfortunately for him, he did get hit by an RKO while he was doing his signature pose, allowing Orton to get the quick pinfall victory. After the match, Orton helped Hendry back to his feet to give him some praise… only to send him back to the mat with another RKO.

Although this was pretty much a nothing match, I did have a good time with it. It didn’t need to be a classic but a part of me did hope Joe Hendry could’ve done so much more here. This was ultimately a joke match and, with that in mind, it was fine.

The next match of the night saw AJ Styles take on Logan Paul. As both of these WWE Superstars are super athletic, I had high expectations for this to be good. For some odd reason, it… wasn’t. Things just came off as very slow, despite there always seeming to be something happening in the ring. I guess it was because there was just a lot of preening to the crowd so that either Logan Paul or AJ Styles could take a breather. I’m not sure. There were some cool moments, like Paul hitting his “Overbomb” to Styles and The Phenomenal One simply no-selling Paul’s version of the Styles Clash to hit his own. That weird drone shot, with the aerial view of the match, wasn’t cool, though. There were moments when a zoom-in to a better view of the action would have been much better! They only used it for that one moment, thankfully.

The finish was weird and confusing. One of Logan Paul’s lackeys who always seems to be with him during every pay-per-view match (seriously, WWE? What’s with your security?) tries to sneak in and give his boss brass knuckles. Out comes Karrion Kross from offscreen for some reason to take the weapon away. Kross hands Styles the knuckles and pleads for him to bash Logan Paul with it. AJ replies by smashing Kross with a knuckle sandwich? Anyway, this incident gives Paul enough time to recover enough to dodge Style’s Phenomenal Forearm attempt and hit him with his loaded knuckle. Logan Paul hits his Paulverizer finisher to get the pinfall victory.

You had a really good streak there going, WWE. You had 3 straight good matches and 1 okay one. This is the first real stinker for Wrestlemania 41 Day 2. This just seemed slow and plodding. There wasn’t any real in-ring storytelling to get me invested in what’s happening as well. That ending with Karrion Kross also seemed to come out of nowhere and is just there to set up a possible feud with AJ Styles in the future. Also, am I wrong in saying AJ Styles didn’t really get much offense in throughout the match? That’s just wrong!

The penultimate match of the night was for the RAW Tag Team Championships. This saw defending champs Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez take on Lyra Valkyria and a mystery partner. This was because Bayley, who was supposed to be in the match, was taken out before Day 1 even started. It turns out Lyra managed to rope in a returning Becky Lynch to be her partner! Despite this match getting injected with some big-name energy in Becky Lynch, the action wasn’t really all that exciting. Raquel did look impressive as she did get to showcase her size and power really well here. Everyone else, however, weren’t really doing anything special, despite this being a Wrestlemania match for the RAW Tag Team Championships.

The finish came after Becky Lynch low-bridged Raquel out of the ring. Liv hit The Man with her Ob-Liv-Ion finisher but the pinning attempt was broken up by Valkyria. Lyra then dove through the ropes to hit Raquel with a tornado DDT on the outside. Liv then takes Lyra out with a through-the-ropes dropkick. This, however, allowed Becky to recover enough to hit her Manhandle Slam finisher to Liv Morgan. She gets the pinfall victory, allowing her team to become the NEW RAW Tag Team Champions!

While I will give the same notes for this match as the AJ Styles vs. Logan Paul match, at least this one was short. As it didn’t last that long, it didn’t feel like it dragged on for forever. Rather, it just dragged until we got to the closing moments. That made it feel like a standard RAW or Smackdown tag team match rather than something you would see at Wrestlemania. Nothing special but nothing terrible at the same time.

The final match of the night and the main event for Wrestlemania 41 Day 2 was for the top prize of Smackdown. This had Cody Rhodes defending the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against a heel John Cena. I will say, despite my feelings on how the WWE hasn’t really done anything with John Cena’s heel turn, this had a big match feel with the super noisy crowd. I do love the new attitude he was exuding, taking things slow instead of being the hothead when he was a babyface. That’s some attention to detail. Unfortunately, this made the match come off as very slow when John Cena was in control. This made the action, while not exactly special, more dramatic as it emphasized every move they both made.

The finish came when Cody Rhodes kicked John Cena into the referee to escape from Cena’s STF hold. Cody hit the Cross Rhodes but, as the official was knocked out, no one was there to count the pin. Cena took off the protective turnbuckle pad from one of the corners. Cena then smashed Cody’s head into the exposed metal. Cena then hit another Attitude Adjustment but Cody kicked out!

This is when something really stupid happened. All of a sudden, someone’s music hit and out comes… Travis Scott? Wait, where’s The Rock? You know, the guy John Cena sold his soul to supposedly get another championship opportunity? I get he was there during the initial beating but… Travis Scott? Really?

Anyway, Travis Scott lackadaisically sauntered to the ring and John Cena raises his hand like a doofus. Cena then hooked Cody and it appeared he was going to pull him over to Travis Scott to allow the rapper to throw a punch at the American Nightmare. Side Note: I dislike how many times I have to type in Travis Scott’s name in a review about a professional wrestling match.

Back to the match, Cody gets out of the hold and hits Cena with a Cross Rhodes but Travis Scott drags the referee out of the ring, breaking the count… and the referee is out cold? Travis Scott enters the ring and starts mouthing off on Cody Rhodes and eats a Cross Rhodes for his troubles. Cena then tries to deck Rhodes with the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship but Rhodes takes the belt away. Cena begs for Cody to not strike him with the belt and Cody relents. Cena then takes this opportunity to kick Cody in the groin and smash him with the belt. John Cena calls the referee in the ring, gets the pin and becomes the NEW Undisputed WWE Universal Champion!

Taken objectively and not considering any outside factors, this was an okay match. Nothing special but it did showcase a new wrestling style for a newly minted heel John Cena. It also told a story where Cody Rhodes was just too nice and it cost him the belt. Unfortunately, this finish totally ignores all the build up you did with The Rock! You can say The Rock wasn’t advertised so it’s no surprise he didn’t show. However, there is a storytelling concept called Chekhov’s Gun which states, when you introduce something early in your story, it will have to play out later. This is why you can see tables getting set up in a wrestling match at the start only for the wrestlers to go crashing through them later in the end. Well, in this case, The Rock is Chekhov’s Gun! You can’t build up a story where he tries to get Cody Rhodes to sell his soul to him and then not show up when the person who manages to sell his soul to him is in the match!

I’m sorry. Despite Wrestlemania 41 Day 2 having 3 really good matches at the start, the WWE bungled the latter half of the show. I was fine with Cody Rhodes losing the Championship but not in this way! Heck, if the entire Travis Scott thing didn’t happen and John Cena just low blowed Cody Rhodes to win the belt, that would’ve been much better than that tease of maybe getting The Rock. Ugh! I’m going to be remembering this Wrestlemania as the one where Travis Scott messed up the main event, aren’t I?

What did you think of Wrestlemania 41 Day 2? Does it become one of the worsts Wrestlemanias because of the ending? Let me know in the comments section below!